US lawmakers struggled on Saturday to clear final hurdles to a $900 billion coronavirus aid bill, including a dispute over Federal Reserve emergency lending authorities, pushing any deal closer to a Sunday night government funding deadline. The US Senate adjourned a rare Saturday session with a call from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to avoid مزید پڑھیں

A car bomb killed eight people and wounded more than 15 others in Kabul Sunday, officials said, the latest attack to rock the Afghan capital. Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian blamed “terrorists” for the attack, and said casualties included women and children. A security source said the car bomb detonated in the west of the مزید پڑھیں

An oxygen tank explosion at a hospital in southeastern Turkey left at least nine coronavirus patients dead, the Turkish health ministry said on Saturday. A blaze in an intensive care ward of the hospital in Gaziantep broke out when a tank on an artificial respirator exploded. “We are profoundly saddened by this tragedy,” Turkish Health مزید پڑھیں

US Vice President Mike Pence received a Covid-19 vaccine live on television Friday in a public display designed to boost national confidence in the drug, while President-elect Joe Biden is set to receive his shot on Monday. “Building confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning,” Pence said after being injected, quipping: مزید پڑھیں

The British government is making a concerted effort to persuade the Trump administration to lift or soften travel restrictions that bar most people in the United Kingdom from traveling to the United States, sources briefed on the matter said. On Nov. 25, Reuters reported the White House was considering rescinding entry bans for most non-U.S. مزید پڑھیں

At least 15 people were killed and 20 others injured when a bomb exploded early Friday evening in the Gelan district of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, TOLO News reported, citing the country’s interior ministry. According to TOLO News, the bomb had been installed in a motorcycle outside a house. Interior ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian confirmed the مزید پڑھیں

United States President-elect Joe Biden has appointed Pakistan-born Ali A Zaidi as the White House’s Deputy National Climate Advisor. A statement issued on Biden-Harris Transition website said Zaidi will be part of the team that advances the president-elect’s “agenda leading the world to confront the climate crisis creating good-paying jobs, building resilient communities, and making مزید پڑھیں

A new national lockdown in England cannot be ruled out after Christmas, British schools minister Nick Gibb said on Friday, although he emphasised the regional “tiered” system of COVID restrictions was effective. Northern Ireland and Wales have both outlined plans to head back into lockdown after Christmas to control infection rates, raising suggestions that England مزید پڑھیں

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, after an incoming White House adviser, Cedric Richmond, contracted the deadly respiratory disease, a spokeswoman for Biden said in a statement. Richmond was not in close contact with Biden as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, the presidency said, adding that he would now self-isolate for the next week. “The president tested positive for Covid-19 today,” it said in a statement, adding that he had been tested after the “onset of the first symptoms”. Macron will now, in accordance with مزید پڑھیں