16-08-2021 OTTAWA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap summer general election as Canada enters into its pandemic fourth wave. The general election comes as polls indicate his minority Liberal government looks within reach of forming a majority. The 49-year-old Liberal leader says “Canadians need to choose how we …

15-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: Taliban insurgents entered the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Sunday, an interior ministry official said, as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter. The senior official told Reuters the Taliban were coming in “from all sides” …

15-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: Taliban fighters have arrived at Kabul’s surrounding areas but have not yet entered the city, confirmed Afghanistan authorities Sunday. European Union embassy staffers and envoys have been shifted to an undisclosed, safe location, said NATO authorities. A US …

15-08-2021 RIYADH: The Kindom of Saudi Arabia has allowed non-Saudis, who are legal residents of the Kingdom, the entitlement to a single property in the kingdom. Presenting some infographics, an e-service platform Absher indicated that the non-Saudi residents can now avail themselves of the facility to own a property in …

15-08-2021 NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON: The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 has hit a record-high in the United States, which continues to grapple with the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. Pediatric hospitalizations hit 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the …

15-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies WASHINGTON/ KABUL/ NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: India has played a constructive role in Afghanistan in the past, the Pentagon acknowledged on Monday. ”India has played a constructive role in Afghanistan in the past in terms of training and other infrastructure improvements,” Pentagon …

15-08-2021 PORT-AU-PRINCE: At least 304 people have been killed after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southwest Haiti, reducing buildings to rubble and sending terrified residents running out of their homes in search of safety. In a news conference on Saturday evening, the head of the country’s civil protection agency, Jerry …

14-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL: The Afghan Taliban tightened their territorial stranglehold around Kabul on Saturday, as refugees from the insurgents’ relentless offensive flooded the capital and US Marines returned to oversee emergency evacuations. With the country’s second- and third-largest cities having fallen into Taliban …

14-08-2021 NEW YORK: Drug-makers Pfizer Inc, BioNTech, and Moderna Inc are expected to make billions of dollars from COVID-19 booster shots in a market that could rival the $6 billion in annual sales for flu vaccines for years to come, analysts and healthcare investors say. For several months, the companies …

14-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report CHAMAN-SPIN BOLDAK BORDER/ ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: Pakistani forces have clashed with hundreds of Afghans stranded on Pakistan’s side of a commercially vital border crossing with Afghanistan after its closure by the Taliban, Pakistani security officials say. The disturbances broke out on Thursday after a …