31-07-2020 Bureau Report MELBOURNE/ CANBERRA: Australia’s Victoria state recorded its second-highest day of new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on Friday as it emerged that one in four people diagnosed with the disease could not be found at home, and the state’s leader flagged the prospect of more rigorous steps to curb …

31-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ PARIS/ BEIJING/ ISLAMABAD: The first five Dassault Rafale fighter jets bought from France in a multi-billion-dollar deal landed in India on Wednesday and the defence minister used their arrival to launch a veiled warning to neighbouring China over territorial …

31-07-2020 WASHINGTON: Top Republicans have rejected Donald Trump’s suggestion that November’s presidential election should be delayed over alleged fraud concerns. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both dismissed the idea, sources reported. Trump does not have the authority to postpone the election. Any delay would …

31-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Over dozen people were killed in another car bomb explosion in an Afghan city as crowds shopped for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, officials and a medic said. “Seventeen bodies and 21 wounded people were brought to our …

30-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: A man accused of blasphemy for claiming that he was a prophet has been shot dead in a courtroom in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say, the latest violence associated with Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Tahir Ahmad Naseem …

29-07-2020 RIYADH/ MECCA/ MEDINA: Hajj – the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca – has begun, but under dramatically different circumstances due to the coronavirus outbreak. One of the five pillars of Islam, the Hajj is required for all Muslims who are physically or financially capable of undertaking it at least …

28-07-2020 KUALA LAMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak faces 12 years in jail after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur found him guilty of all charges in the first trial to test corruption allegations flowing from multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali found the prosecution had successfully made …

28-07-2020 TEHRAN/ DUBAI: Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired a missile from a helicopter targeting a replica US aircraft carrier in the strategic Strait of Hormuz; state television reported on Tuesday, an exercise aimed at threatening the US amid tensions between Tehran and Washington. The exercises – dubbed “Prophet Muhammad 14th” …

28-07-2020 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Over three (3) billion animals were killed or displaced by Australia’s devastating wildfires in 2019 and 2020, according to a new report, with experts calling it “one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history”. The study, released on Tuesday by scientists from several Australian universities, …

Hyderabad Jul 28 (PMI): The Commissioner of Police Rachakonda has arranged a third grand welcome to the 45 Covid 19 Conquerors of Rachakonda Police Commissionerate on today Rachakonda Commissionerate at Neredmet. The Covid 19 defeaters namely Sri T. Kiran Kumar CI of Nacharam PS, Sri R. Saidulu DEFETERS DI of …