07-08-2021 KABUL: The Taliban say they have taken control of the city of Sheberghan in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan. It is the second regional capital to fall to the militants, after Zaranj in the south-western province of Nimroz fell on Friday. It is a major blow to security …

07-08-2021 ATHENS: Thousands of tourists and residents have been evacuated from towns north of the Greek capital, Athens, as wildfires spread across the country. Strong winds and high temperatures are making it difficult to control the blazes, which have killed at least two people, including a firefighter. Huge clouds of …

07-08-2021 JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave, Israel’s military said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attack that targeted what the Israeli military said was a rocket …

07-08-2021 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Additional funding will be provided to Victoria businesses as they struggle through another COVID-19 lockdown. The new package follows the $400 million package announced last week. Minister for Industry Support and Recovery Martin Pakula said the latest payments were being funded by the federal and state governments. “It means …

07-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: Demanding a complete dismissal or leniency in the visa requirements for Afghans by Pakistan, the Taliban on Friday closed a major frontier with Pakistan. “No one would be allowed through until Islamabad dropped or relaxed its visa requirements for …

07-08-2021 LONDON: Hundreds of fully vaccinated people in England have been hospitalized with the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant, scientists said on Friday. In its latest COVID-19 update, Public Health England (PHE) also warned there were early signs that people who have been inoculated may be able to transmit the …

06-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Like millions of people across Kabul, Afghans in other provinces on Thursday night chanted the slogan “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest), in a show of support for Afghan forces fighting the Taliban. The rallying cry began earlier in …

06-08-2021 BEIRUT/ DAMASCUS: The Lebanese group, Hezbollah, has said it fired rockets at open ground near Israeli positions in response to Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon, drawing retaliatory Israeli strikes. In a statement on Friday, Hezbollah said it had fired “dozens” of rockets in the disputed Shebaa Farms area …

06-08-2021 TEHRAN: Ebrahim Raisi has been sworn in as Iran’s eighth president. At the ceremony in the country’s parliament in Tehran on Thursday, Raisi, with a hand on a Quran, read the inauguration oath before adding that he will make Iran stronger and engage with the world. The 60-year-old Raisi, who …

06-08-2021 LONDON/ ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s request for an extension in his visit visa has been turned down by British authorities, it emerged on Thursday. Nawaz’s six-month visit visa had expired, after which he had put in a request with the UK Home Office to grant him an …