Germany needs further coronavirus restrictions to combat a record surge in infections and “get through this winter”, the country’s likely next leader Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, calling a national meeting to decide new curbs. The EU’s most populous country recorded 50,196 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute مزید پڑھیں

US President Joe Biden is expected to hold a hotly awaited virtual summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday, US media reported, as tensions mount over Taiwan, human rights and trade. Both CNN and Politico, citing unnamed sources, said the meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday. Relations between the world s two largest مزید پڑھیں

The Afghan flag carrier, Ariana Airlines is beginning regular twice-weekly aviation services from Kabul to Islamabad, the state-owned operator said on Thursday, joining Kam Air which has begun flying five times a week between the two cities. Ariana, which began regular services to Dubai this week, will operate flights between Kabul and Islamabad on Thursdays مزید پڑھیں

South Africa’s last apartheid-era president Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk died on Thursday morning at his home in Cape Town, the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement. “Former President FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer,” the statement said. He was مزید پڑھیں

Bangladesh’s former chief justice was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in jail for corruption on Tuesday, in a case that opposition groups and supporters say is politically motivated. Surendra Kumar Sinha, 70, headed the Supreme Court when it ruled in 2017 that parliament could not sack judges, a move hailed by lawyers as safeguarding مزید پڑھیں

China is ready to properly manage differences with the United States, President Xi Jinping has said, ahead of a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden. In a letter read on Tuesday by China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, at a dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in Washington, Xi said مزید پڑھیں

Days after Pakistan declined to attend a regional security dialogue on Afghanistan hosted by India, China has also backed out of the moot, it emerged on Tuesday. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin cited “scheduling reasons”, saying it was “inconvenient” for Beijing to attend the meeting. “We have already given our reply to the Indian مزید پڑھیں

World Bank President David Malpass indicated on Monday that the institution is unlikely to resume direct aid to Afghanistan, after suspending financing at the end of August when the Taliban seized power. “I would not envision us operating inside given the full breakdown” of the economy, he said in a conversation at the Center for مزید پڑھیں

Iran said on Monday that the United States should provide guarantees that it will not abandon Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers again if talks to revive the agreement succeed. Indirect talks between Iran and the United States, which stalled in June after the election of hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, are set to مزید پڑھیں

The man who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at mosques in Christchurch is considering appealing against his life sentence, saying his guilty plea after the 2019 attack was obtained under duress, his lawyer told state radio on Monday. White supremacist Brenton Tarrant, 31, was sentenced to jail for life without parole last year for the murder مزید پڑھیں