Author: News Desk

Tokyo : Japan approved new restrictions on Friday to curb a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the three most affected southwestern regions of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Yamaguchi “Given the sudden surge in infections, the medical system runs the risk of suffering a heavy burden in the near future,” Daishiro Yamagiwa, the minister in charge of COVID-19 responses, said at a government panel meeting. The new measures include earlier closing hours for restaurants, a ban on serving alcohol and restrictions on large-scale events. Details on these measures, which will begin Sunday and last through the end of the month, are…

Seoul :  Samsung Electronics expects that its fourth-quarter operating profit will rise about 52.49 per cent from last year, reflecting solid demand for server memory chips and higher margins. The company projects quarterly sales will increase 23.48 per cent. The South Korean tech giant projects operating profit of about 13.80 trillion Korean won (11.48 billion US dollars) in the fourth-quarter, compared to 9.05 trillion won reported last year, while it reported operating profit of about 15.82 trillion won in the third-quarter. The company also expects fourth-quarter consolidated sales of about 76 trillion won compared to 61.55 trillion won last year.…

Louisville :   Boxing great Muhammad Ali would be 80 this month, and the center in Kentucky that bears his name said a virtual celebration is planned next week. The one-hour program on Wednesday will include an introduction by his widow, Lonnie Ali. Guest speakers will include PBS filmmaker Ken Burns, Muhammad Ali’s daughter Hana Ali and others, the Ali Center said. Burns will share some comments and a segment from his PBS documentary, “Muhammad Ali.” The program is presented by the Ali Center in Louisville, PBS Books, USA Today, the Courier Journal, Metro Louisville United Way, the Association for the…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4tgMApVGIU

Melbourne : Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defence and security cooperation at a virtual summit on Thursday, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cancelled trips to Australia and the United States due a surge in COVID-19 cases. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two leaders will sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will for the first time set out a framework for the two countries’ defence forces to cooperate with each other. “This treaty will be a statement of our two nations’ commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security…

PHILADELPHIA :  A large fire tore through a two-unit house early Wednesday in Philadelphia, killing 13 people, including seven children, and sending two people to hospitals, fire officials said. They warned the numbers could grow as firefighters inspected the rowhome, where officials said 26 people had been staying. The four smoke alarms in the building, which was public housing, did not appear to have been working, fire officials said. https://youtu.be/Zbwmjr9Dhus “I knew some of those kids — I used to see them playing on the corner,” said Dannie McGuire, 34, fighting back tears as she and Martin Burgert, 35, stood…

NEW YORK : Beneath a pale winter light and the glare of television cameras, it seemed hard not to see the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot for what it was. The violent storming of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters bent on upending the election of Joe Biden was as clear as day: democracy under siege, live-streamed in real time. Yet a year later, when it comes to a where-were-you moment in U.S. history, there is far from national consensus. A Quinnipiac poll found that 93% of Democrats considered it an attack on the government, but only 29% of Republicans agreed. A poll…

Bahrain : Speaker Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal met European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman David McAllister. They discussed ways to promote and develop relations between the Council of Representatives of Bahrain and the European Parliament in various fields. The speaker affirmed the council’s keenness on cooperation and participation in regional and international parliamentary forums, the importance of holding meetings and exchanging visits, and exchanging parliamentary expertise and experiences. The meeting discussed various issues and challenges facing countries and societies and finding solutions to them, noting the council’s endeavor to activate parliamentary diplomacy and highlight Bahrain’s democratic image under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa…

New York : The extensive music catalog of David Bowie, stretching from the late 1960s to just before his death in 2016, has been sold to Warner Chappell Music. More than 400 songs, among them “Space Oddity,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Fame,” “Rebel Rebel” and “Let’s Dance” on 26 Bowie studio albums released during his lifetime, a posthumous studio album release, Toy, two studio albums from Tin Machine, as well as tracks released as singles from soundtracks and other projects, are included. Financial details of the sale were not released. Warner Chapell is the music-publishing wing of Warner Music Group Corp. Bruce…

California: Apple Inc on Monday became the first company to hit a $3 trillion stock market value, before ending the day a hair below that milestone, as investors bet the iPhone maker will keep launching best-selling products as it explores new markets such as automated cars and virtual reality. On the first day of trading in 2022, the Silicon Valley company’s shares hit an intraday record high of $182.88, putting Apple’s market value just above $3 trillion. The stock ended the session up 2.5% at $182.01, with Apple’s market capitalization at $2.99 trillion, Reuters reported. The world’s most valuable company reached the…