26-11-2020 BUENOS AIRES: Football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo “could not even dream” of being admired as much as Diego Maradona was, says his former Argentina team-mate Ossie Ardiles. Three days of national mourning have begun in Argentina after Maradona died on Wednesday at the age of 60. His body …

25-11-2020 DAMASCUS/ DUABI/ RIYADH/ SANA’A: The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen says a commercial vessel has suffered minor damage from a blast in what it described as a foiled “terrorist act”, state media reported. The blast on Wednesday hit the MT Agrari, a Maltese-flagged, Greek-managed vessel offs …

25-11-2020 DAMASCUS/ DUBAI/ RIYADH/ SANA’A: Blast off the coast of Shuqaiq near Yemen border hits a Maltese-flagged, Greek-managed vessel. An explosion has damaged an oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea near the border with Yemen, according to a private security firm. The blast on …

25-11-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: A convicted terrorist has been stripped of his citizenship ahead of his release from Victorian prison. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton confirmed Algerian-born Abdul Nacer Benbrika, spiritual leader of Australia’s largest terror network, had his Australian passport cancelled on November …

25-11-2020 WASHINGTON/ WILMINGTON: Declaring “America is back,” US President-elect Joe Biden introduced selections for his national security team Tuesday, his first substantive offering of how he’ll shift from Trump-era “America First” policies by relying on foreign policy and national security experts from the Democratic establishment to be some of his …

24-11-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ BAMIYAN/ ISLAMABAD: Dozens more Shia Muslims martyred and injured when two explosions ripped through the city of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, according to officials. Police Chief of Eponymous province Zabardast Safai said on Tuesday the explosives were hidden at the side of …

24-11-2020 BEIJING/ VATICAN CITY: China has criticised Pope Francis over a passage in his new book in which he mentions the suffering of China’s Uighur Muslim minority group, saying his remarks have “no factual basis at all”. “People of all ethnic groups enjoy the full rights of survival, development, and …

24-11-2020 RIYADH/ JERUSALEM: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has denied reports that a meeting took place between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. “I have seen press reports about a purported meeting between HRH the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during the recent visit …

24-11-2020 WASHINGTON: United States President-elect Joe Biden has been formally given the go-ahead by a federal agency to begin his transition to the presidency, shortly after the battleground state of Michigan certified him as the winner there. With the rapid-fire developments on Monday, President Donald Trump’s already languishing efforts to …

23-11-2020 KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: An average of five children have been killed or wounded every day for the past 14 years in war-torn Afghanistan, a charity has found. Data from the UN showed at least 26,025 children were killed or maimed from 2005 to 2019, said Save the Children. The …