14-03-2021 Bureau Report KABUL/ DOHA/ ISLAMABAD: A Taliban spokesman has expressed scepticism over a proposal by the United States for an interim government in Afghanistan, saying transitional governments have proven ineffective and that the group’s vision for the country revolved around a strong central administration capable of enforcing their definition …

14-03-2021 RIYADH: Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are now able to switch jobs without their employers’ permission after the long-awaited labour reforms in the Gulf region’s most populous country went into effect. In November last year, the country’s ministry of human resources and social development announced plans to amend the Kafala …

13-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report COLOMBO/ ISLAMABAD: Sri Lanka’s government says it will ban the wearing of the burqa and close more than 1,000 Islamic schools, the latest actions affecting the country’s minority Muslim population. Separately, the government on Saturday announced using a controversial anti-terror law to deal …

13-03-2021 Bureau Report CHRISTCHURCH/ WELLINGTON/ MELBOURNE: New Zealand has marked the second anniversary of one of its most traumatic days, when 51 worshippers were killed at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman. Several hundred people gathered at the Christchurch Arena on Saturday for the remembrance service, which was …

13-03-2021 MUSCAT/ DUBAI/ TEHRAN: An Iranian container ship was damaged in an attack in the Mediterranean, the state-run shipping company said on Friday, adding it would take legal action to identify the perpetrators of what it called “terrorism” and naval piracy. The ship, Shahre Kord, was slightly damaged in Wednesday’s …

13-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE/ SYDNEY: Australian politics appears set to face a reckoning after a wave of allegations of sexual assault and harassment committed by multiple politicians and staff at Parliament House in the country’s capital. Allegations have so far been made against a male …

13-03-2021 MINNESOTA/ WASHINGTON: The Minneapolis, Minnesota city council voted unanimously on Friday to pay $27m to settle a lawsuit filed by George Floyd’‘s family. In July, Floyd’s family sued the city and the four police officers charged in his death last May. The suit alleged the officers violated Floyd’s rights …

12-03-2021 ABUJA: Gunmen in northwest Nigeria kidnapped about 30 Shia students from a forestry college near a military academy, in the fourth mass school abduction since December while it has become the routine in Nigeria that armed attackers or some anti-Shia groups especially one of worst most terrorist organization known …

12-03-2021 ANKARA/ KABUL: Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Friday that Turkey plans to host Afghanistan peace talks in Istanbul in April, adding that Ankara will appoint an Afghanistan special envoy. Cavusoglu’s comments come after the United States shared a draft peace plan calling for replacing Afghanistan’s government with a …

12-03-2021 DAKAR: Scores of French-owned businesses across the Senegalese capital, Dakar, are still coming to terms with the devastation of smashed windows, broken liquor bottles and burned-out premises after days of nationwide anti-government protests in the West African country. French supermarkets, petrol stations and mobile phone booths were torched and …