At least 19 people, including nine children, have been killed in a devastating fire at an apartment building in Bronx, New York City. The incident happened on Sunday morning local time. Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the death toll. He said the dead children were 16 years of age or younger. Of the 63 people injured in the blaze, 13 are in critical condition.…

The WHO chief on Friday implored the G7 to prioritise equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines around the globe, branding the current imbalance morally inadmissible. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the uneven distribution of vaccines among rich and poor nations would not help to end the coronavirus pandemic. “For the G7 now, the most important and the…

The overall number of coronavirus cases is fast approaching 307 million with the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus across the globe. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 306,913,042 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,488,375 Monday morning. That means 2,054,267 cases were reported all over the world in the last 24 hrs. The US has recorded…

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 96, successfully underwent an "elective medical procedure" and is expected to be discharged in a few days, the National Heart Institute said on Sunday. "The procedure was uneventful and went as planned," the institute said in a statement. Mahathir was admitted into the institute on Friday, the second time in as many months that he has been hospitalised.Mahathir,…

The United States and Russia open talks Sunday in Geneva on soaring tensions over Ukraine, with Moscow seeking a wide-ranging new security arrangement with the West but facing strong pressure to pull back troops. The high-level discussions start a week of diplomacy in which Russia will meet with NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the US trying to assure European…

Americans returning home from holiday travel had to battle another day of airport chaos Sunday, with more than 2,600 flights cancelled due to bad weather or airline staffing woes sparked by a surge in Covid cases. Further disruptions are predicted for Monday, as a winter storm blows eastward. As of 10:00pm (0300 GMT Monday), more than 2,650 domestic flights or international ones starting or finishing…

Air travel continued to be severely disrupted in the United States on Saturday, with bad weather in parts of the country adding to the impact of a massive spike in Covid- 9 infections fuelled by the Omicron variant. The United States had 2,604 cancelled flights, more than half of the 4,529 cancelled worldwide, shortly after 4:30 pm (2130 GMT), according to tracking website FlightAware. In addition,…

The Omicron coronavirus variant dampened new year festivities around much of the world with Paris cancelling its fireworks show, London relegating its to television and New York City scaling down its famous ball drop celebration in Times Square. The illuminated ball made of Waterford crystal panels slid down its pole at midnight in Times Square, but only 15,000 people were allowed into the official…

Bangladeshi-born Shahana Hanif and Soma Sayeed have made history by winning in New York City election of the United States. Shahana Hanif, a former City Council employee of Fatikchhari upazila of Chattogram, was elected the first  Muslim woman at the New York City Council election by a landslide victory while Attorney Soma Sayeed of Delduar upazila of Tangail , has won as a judge in Queens Civil…

The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for the urgent development of a vaccine against a bacterial infection responsible for nearly 150,000 stillbirths and infant deaths each year. A fresh report by the UN health agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that the impact of Group B Streptococcus infection (GBS), which is estimated to live harmlessly in the intestinal…

India's economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country's prime minister announced Monday at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. "By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions," Narendra Modi told more than 120 leaders at the critical talks. India is the last of the world's major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that…

Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies have agreed to tackle “the critical and urgent threat of climate change” but angered activists by offering few concrete commitments to limit global warming. Wrapping up a summit in Rome, the leaders of the G20 pledged on Sunday to stop funding coal-fired power plants in poor countries, but set no timetable for phasing it out at home. They…

Climate change and the re-launch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world's most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic. Looming over the two-day talks in Rome is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, ahead of the key COP26 summit kicking off in Glasgow Monday.The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General…