Archives: Shortcuts

UK PM Boris Johnson announced the end of Covid measures including the use of mandatory face masks. He said scientists believed the Covid wave had peaked and people would no longer need to work from home. He claimed the UK was the first in Europe to emerge from the Covid wave because it focused on […]Read More

Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine will build three advanced submarines for Israel at a cost of $3.4 billion to be completed in nine years. The deal includes a training simulator and spares.Read More

Chinese scientists have reportedly built an artificial moon with lunar-like gravity to help astronauts prepare for future missions. Engineers from the University of Mining & Technology built the artificial moon using a vacuum chamber and magnets that stimulate a powerful magnetic field.Read More

A bomb went off in Lahore’s famous Anarkali market, killing three and injuring 20 others. The bomb, believed to be a timer device, exploded in the Paan Mandi area of the market where police said Indian commodities are sold. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.Read More

Russia has no plan to invade Ukraine but Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said they want watertight guarantees from the U.S. not to admit Ukraine into Nato. On the ground, Russia has sent troops to Belarus ostensibly for winter exercises but given that it shares a border with Ukraine, the latter fears encirclement by Russia.Read More

The Israeli government has promised a full investigation that the controversial Pegasus spyware was used to spy on Israeli citizens including those who led protests against former premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Police have denied doing so but others say it was done with court approval.Read More

China appears to be fast-tracking a bridge connecting a gap along the north bank of the Pangong Tso. Satellite imagery has shown a heavy crane being used to lift and place concrete slabs between pillars. The bridge is expected to steeply reduce the travel time between Chinese troop posts in the area.Read More

A summit India planned with the leaders of five Central Asian states will now happen virtually. The five leaders were expected in Delhi as chief guests at the Republic Day Parade on January 26, and the summit would have then followed but Omicron concerns have torpedoed that.Read More

More than 70,000 people took to the streets of Berlin, Cottbus and other German cities in protest against Covid measures. In particular, they are against moves to enforce mandatory vaccination. Government ministers said this was preferable to lockdowns.Read More

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has approved plans to deploy the Royal Navy to stop boats carrying migrants trying to enter the country through the English Channel. With over 28,000 arrivals last year, the plan calls for sending the migrants to Ghana or Rwanda.Read More

China is urging its citizens to wear masks and gloves while opening mail from overseas, claiming that the first case of the Omicron virus variant could have originated in a packet from Canada. All overseas mail is being disinfected and postal staff have been directed to wear masks and gloves at all times.Read More

A UPA-era scandal came to an end with the Supreme Court ordering the winding up of Devas Multimedia, describing its satellite deal with ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix a “case of fraud of a huge magnitude”.  The deal was cancelled in 2011 but Devas went to the courts and a decade-long battle ensued.Read More

The British government is likely to scrap the law requiring people to self isolate if they are infected with the Covid virus. The idea is that no legal punishment or fine will be imposed. This is in tune with the view that people must learn to live with the virus in future.Read More

Three Iranian diplomats are in Jeddah to re-open its representative office to the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference).  The office had been shut six years ago following a diplomatic rift. Tehran also indicated it was ready to re-open the embassy in Saudi Arabia.Read More

Police in Texas have identified as Pakistani, a man who took hostages in a Jewish synagogue in Dallas-Forth Worth and was later killed. Malik Faisal Akram was a UK national from Jhelum district in Punjab province. He was a member of the Tablighi Jamaat and moved in circles known to favour jihad.Read More

Two Indians have been reported killed in a drone attack claimed by the Houthis in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi. The drone hit petrol tanks near an oil storage facility sending thick black smoke spiralling into the sky. The drones may have been sent from the Houthi-controlled Yemeni ports of Saif and Hodeidah.Read More

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have rejected a UN request to release the Emirati flagged vessel and its 11 member crew. The ship was seized in the Red Sea, off the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah earlier this month. The rebels say it was carrying military assets and weapons for extremists.Read More

Tamil Nadu will install the statue of a colonial era British engineer in his home town of Camberly in the UK. Chief Minister MK Stalin confirmed this, saying that Col. John Pennycuick is a revered figure in Tamil Nadu for building the Mullaperiyar dam that irrigates five districts.Read More

Police in the city of Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas shot dead a man who had taken four Jewish hostages in a synagogue and threatened to kill them unless his sister Aafia Siddqui was released. Siddiqui is a Pakistani-American neuroscientist who is serving an 86-year sentence for terrorism. Her lawyers later said the hostage taker was […]Read More

Nigeria restored access to twitter seven months after suspending it. Twitter had taken down a tweet by the president after he threatened a violent crackdown on secessionist groups. Twitter has agreed to open an office in Lagos, pay taxes and obey the law of the land.Read More