World News

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin says Pakistan has stood in the top three in the Economist normalcy index for the third consecutive time. The global normalcy index of the Economist has ranked Pakistan second in the world that measured recovery and opening up of society and economy post-COVID-19.                                                             

After inaugurating 17 new routes during 2021, Colombian carrier Avianca has announced seven new routes and the reactivation of two more beginning in March. In this way, its passengers will be able to travel non-stop from Colombia and Costa Rica to destinations in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Ecuador.

Members of the Armed Forces who were deployed in August 2021 to support the evacuation from Afghanistan will receive medallic recognition for their contribution. This was the largest humanitarian aid operation in over 70 years.

Personnel from across the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force will receive the Operational Service Medal (OSM) Afghanistan, with its own distinctive clasp, for their involvement in Operation Pitting – an evacuation effort to airlift thousands of Afghans and British nationals from Afghanistan as the Taliban seized control of the country.

The first foreign aid planes have arrived in Tonga, bearing much-needed supplies for the Pacific nation which was left devastated by the recent volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami. New Zealand said its military plane landed at Tonga's main airport after workers cleared ash from the runway.

Australia also confirmed the first of its relief planes had arrived. Aid efforts had initially been hampered by ash from the volcano.

Travellers to Cuba must now be vaccinated to enter, under new entry requirements now in effect.

In addition, all travellers 13 and older traveling to Cuba by air must present proof of a negative RT-PCR test taken no more than 72 hours prior to arrival. Previously, the island did not require tests for vaccinated travellers.

The US and Japan have advised people on their Pacific coastlines to get away from the shore as a precaution against tsunami waves caused by a volcano eruption in the South Pacific.

Japan has warned of waves as high as three metres, and waves of 1.2 metres hit the south of the country. The US warned of strong currents and waves, and coastal flooding.

The story of an Indian princess and suffragette has been immortalised in a children's book.

Sophia Duleep Singh was a daughter of the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singh, and grew up in Elveden, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. The young princess made history in the early 1900s by risking her royal status to campaign for women's rights.

An early Roman rare wooden carved figure has been discovered during work on the HS2 project. In July 2021, archaeologists from Infra Archaeology, working for HS2’s contractor Fusion JV, removed the well-preserved figure from a water-logged Roman ditch in a field in Twyford, Buckinghamshire.

Nuapay is helping Cocoon deliver a better way for customers to pay for automotive purchases. Its simpler, safer and more secure way for customers to make payments directly from their bank accounts helps automotive dealers address the highly compressed margins in car sales (typically <1%).

Due to the current global context, in which the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect in-person events and people's ability to move around, Habanos, S.A. has decided to cancel the 23rd edition of the Habano Festival -scheduled for February 2022-, the world's leading premium cigar event that has been bringing together experts, connoisseurs and aficionados from all over the world since 1999 to live a unique experience around a common passion: Habanos.

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that UK-based sports and hobbies retailer Fishing Tackle & Bait has successfully transformed its international fulfillment capabilities with Descartes’ cloud-based ecommerce warehouse management solution (WMS).

With Descartes, the multi-channel merchant scaled order processing capacity by 250% without adding labour.

Entre Ríos (Between Rivers) finds the origin of its name in the fact that, logically, it’s a location bounded by rivers (among which the Paraná and the Uruguay stand out). No wonder, then, that water is part of its identity and offers an unbeatable tourism offer: fishing, beach days, sports and a whole lot more.  

A province that delights those who decide to visit it with plans that is as adrenaline-filled as they are also calm.

The superstar, British born Nigerian athlete – who won gold at the 2012 Olympics in London as an amateur, before going on to become one of the world’s most successful and recognizable professional boxers.

Two-time World Champion heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, 32 said he would love to take part in a boxing match in Dubai and set up a training camp in the city, during a public Q&A session held at Expo 2020 Dubai’s Al Wasl Plaza. 

It has been announced that Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win a best actor Oscar, has died. The Hollywood star's death was confirmed by the office of Fred Mitchell, the Bahamas' minister of foreign affairs.

Poitier was a trailblazing actor and a respected humanitarian and diplomat. He won the Academy Award for best actor for Lilies of the Field in 1963.

Jamaica will roll out its own digital currency in the first quarter of 2022 after a “successful” pilot, the country’s central bank said. The pilot for the country’s prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) began on May 2021 and ended on 31 December 2021.

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) tested a range of services in the pilot, including minting CBDCs, issuing them to wallet providers and distributing them to retail customers.

The charity Oxfam has said its work in India will be "severely affected" after it lost its licence to receive funds from abroad.

The restriction came into effect from 1 January, Oxfam said. It added that it would contact India's home ministry to urge it to lift the restrictions.