Author: khaleejpress.com
MANILA: At least 12 people have died and 36 others were injured in the Philippines in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Basyang, as emergency officials continued to validate casualty reports and assess damage from flooding and landslides that hit parts of Mindanao and the central Philippines. The storm, known internationally as Penha, has weakened and dissipated, but local authorities said the impacts lingered across multiple regions where residents were displaced and transport and livelihood activities were disrupted. Government disaster officials said fatalities were concentrated in Northern Mindanao and the Caraga region. In Cagayan de Oro City, four people were killed when a landslide struck…
NEW DELHI: India’s updated baggage framework took effect on February 2, 2026, changing how returning travelers can bring personal goods into the country and revising long-standing limits on jewellery carried in baggage. Under the Baggage Rules, 2026, eligible passengers may bring gold, silver and other precious metal jewellery under a special duty-free allowance that is set by weight, without a rupee value ceiling that existed under the previous rules. The rules define “jewellery” as ornaments made of gold, silver, platinum or other precious metals, whether studded or not. The special allowance applies to a resident or a tourist of Indian origin who has been…
BEIJING: China’s rapid shift to electric vehicles is reshaping the world’s largest auto market and dulling growth in the transport fuel demand that once underpinned its appetite for imported crude, including heavy oil from Venezuela. The International Energy Agency said China sold over 11 million electric cars in 2024, with electric models accounting for almost half of all car sales, a scale that has few parallels in other major economies. Electric car sales in China rose sharply in 2024, expanding China’s share of global electric car sales to nearly two thirds, the IEA said. On a monthly basis, electric car sales in China overtook…
LYON: Nearly four in 10 cancer cases worldwide could be prevented by reducing exposure to known, modifiable risk factors, according to a new analysis from the World Health Organization and its cancer research agency released for World Cancer Day. The assessment estimated that 37% of new cancer diagnoses in 2022, about 7.1 million of 18.7 million cases, were linked to risks that can be reduced through public health measures and individual prevention. The study, led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, analyzed 185 countries and looked across 36 cancer types. Researchers assessed 30 preventable causes spanning behavioral risks, infections, environmental exposures and occupational…
MENA Newswire, SEOUL: South Korea’s consumer inflation eased to 2.0% in January from 2.3% in December, as measured by the consumer price index, government data released Tuesday showed. The CPI, with 2020 set to 100, rose to 118.03 in January. On a month-to-month basis, prices increased 0.4%, following a 0.3% rise in December. The CPI report, published by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, showed inflation at its slowest annual pace since August 2025, when prices rose 1.7% from a year earlier. Annual inflation had been 2.4% in October and November 2025 before easing to 2.3% in December and 2.0% in January, based on the same…
MENA Newswire, NEW YORK: Gold and silver prices tumbled in a sharp, disorderly selloff that erased an estimated $7 trillion in notional value across precious metals, after a record-setting rally gave way to forced liquidations, margin pressures, and a stronger U.S. dollar. The drop reverberated across commodities and global equities, underscoring how quickly leveraged positioning can unwind even in markets often used as defensive holdings. Gold posted its biggest daily fall since 1983 on Friday, January 30, sliding about 9% after touching a record high the prior day. The selling extended into Monday, February 2, with spot gold down another roughly 3% to…
MENA Newswire, NEW DELHI: India’s government has proposed a tax holiday through 2047 for foreign companies that provide cloud services to customers worldwide while running those workloads using data centre services based in India, a long-horizon incentive unveiled in the Union Budget 2026 to strengthen the country’s role in global digital infrastructure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The proposal, announced in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, sets out a clear condition for domestic business: qualifying foreign companies must provide services to Indian customers through an Indian reseller entity. The budget also proposes a safe harbour of 15% on cost when the…
MENA Newswire, ATLANTA: Mercedes-Benz USA has unveiled the 2027 S-Class Sedan as a major update to its flagship luxury sedan, adding new lighting signatures, a revised cabin technology stack and expanded personalization choices. The automaker said the model introduces an illuminated front grille with three-dimensional chrome star accents, and for the first time offers an illuminated standing Mercedes-Benz star hood ornament, positioning the exterior refresh around brand-identifying design elements. Lighting is a headline change. Mercedes-Benz said the 2027 S-Class adopts next generation DIGITAL LIGHT headlamps using micro-LED technology, paired with Adaptive High Beam Assist+. The company also highlighted new twin-star headlamp designs intended to…
MENA Newswire, SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Jan. 26 introduced Maia 200, the second generation of its in-house artificial intelligence accelerator, built to run AI models in production across Azure data centres. The company said Maia 200 is designed for inference, the stage where trained models generate responses to live requests, and will be used to support a range of Microsoft AI services. Maia 200 is manufactured on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process and includes more than 140 billion transistors, Microsoft said. The chip pairs compute with a new memory system that includes 216 gigabytes of HBM3e high-bandwidth memory and about 272 megabytes of on-chip SRAM, aimed at…
MENA Newswire, JAKARTA: The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia’s West Java province has risen to 50, police said Wednesday, as rescuers continued searching for dozens of missing people in steep terrain hit by days of heavy rain. The landslide struck before dawn on Saturday, January 24, in Pasir Langu village in the Cisarua area of West Bandung Regency, about 100 kilometers southeast of Jakarta. Saturated hillsides gave way, sending mud, rocks and uprooted trees into residential areas and burying homes while many residents were asleep. Police said 33 people remain missing. Disaster victim identification teams have been working to confirm identities as…