14-10-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + BBC ISLAMABAD/ KABUL/ ASADABAD: Seventeen-year-old Israr was fast asleep when his phone rang. It was 2am and the teenager was exhausted. He’d been working all day as a guard. On the other end of the line was his brother, who told Israr …

14-10-2021 KAOHSIUNG/ TAIPEI CITY: A fire in a residential building in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung has killed at least 46 people and injured dozens, according to officials. The blaze in the 13-floor building in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng district broke out in the early hours of Thursday and was extinguished …

14-10-2021 DUBAI/ JERUSALEM: An Israeli has been arrested in Dubai on Wednesday on a drugs charge and may seek repatriation for any trial or resulting prison term, his lawyer said. The suspect denies wrongdoing. His Israeli lawyer, Ori Ben-Nathan, said the suspect was arrested on October 5 at a Dubai …

14-10-2021 PARIS: With about six months to go, the 2022 presidential election is already a major talking point in France. Much of the French media is not focused on Macron’s chances of becoming the first president to be re-elected since Jacques Chirac in 2002, but rather on the rise of …

14-10-2021 JERUSALEM: Israel “reserves the right” to act against Iran, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has said, suggesting that “force” may be necessary to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Speaking at a joint news conference in Washington, DC with his Emirati and US counterparts on Wednesday, Lapid said the “civilized …

14-10-2021 OSLO: A man armed with a bow and arrows has killed five people and injured two others in the southeastern Norwegian town of Kongsberg, local police said. The suspect was arrested, police said, but the motives behind the attacks on Wednesday remain unclear. “The man has been apprehended … …

13-10-2021 By SJA Jafri +Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Kabul resident Rahela Nussrat, 17, is in her final year of high school, but she has not been able to attend classes. The reason: Afghanistan’s new rulers have decided to keep teenage girls out of school for now. Last month, …

13-10-2021 NEW YORK: Workers in the United States are quitting their jobs at a record pace. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey – JOLTS – from the US Labor Department showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August. That is 2.9 …

13-10-2021 BAGHDAD: Pro-Iranian parties and armed groups have denounced early results from Iraq’s elections as “manipulation” and a “scam”. Sunday’s parliamentary election the fifth in the war-scarred country since the US-led invasion and overthrow of ruler Saddam Hussein in 2003 was marked by a record low turnout of 41 percent. …

By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies DOHA/ KABUL/ WASHINGTON/  MADRID/ ISLAMABAD: : The Taliban will hold joint face-to-face talks with European and US envoys, the EU said on Monday, as the Afghan leaders pursue their diplomatic push for international support. Afghanistan’s new rulers are seeking recognition, as well …