03-01-2021 By SJA Jafri + Agencies WASHINGTON/ BAGHDAD: One of the four Blackwater Security Contractors pardoned last month by American President Donald Trump has said he “acted correctly” during a 2007 shooting rampage in Iraq in which 14 civilians were killed and 17 others wounded while the others also think their …

02-01-2021 By SJA Jafri + Agencies COLUMBIA/ WASHINGTON: A United States federal appeals court on Friday reversed an order that vacated the January 11 execution of the only woman on federal death row, but allowed for further hearings that could cause the execution date to be delayed. The ruling, handed …

01-01-2021 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s drug regulator has approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters news agency. Friday’s approval paves the way for its rollout in the world’s second worst affected country. A representative …

01-01-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: Australia has changed a line in its national anthem in an amendment designed to better recognise and honour the long history of the country’s Indigenous people. The change from “for we are young and free” to “for we are one and free” took effect on …

01-01-2021 TEHRAN: An Iranian prosecutor has said a British security firm and an airbase in Germany had a hand in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani almost one year after the top general was assassinated by the United States in Iraq. The allegations come amid mounting tensions between the two countries, …

01-01-2021 By SJA Jafri + Agencies + Bureau Report AUCKLAND/ SYDNEY/ LONDON/ PARIS/ NEW YORK: The world began ushering in the New Year on Thursday, with pandemic controls muting celebrations for billions of people eager to bid farewell to a virus-ridden 2020. After a grinding year that has seen at …

31-12-2020 RIYADH/ SANA’A: The Saudi-UAE coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has reportedly carried out air raids in parts of the capital, Sanaa, hours after explosions struck the main airport in the southern city of Aden killing at least 26 people. The coalition launched the air attacks overnight on Sanaa …

31-12-2020 TEHRAN/ UKRAINE: Iran is to give $150,000 (£110,000) to the families of each of the 176 people who died when its Revolutionary Guards shot down a passenger jet last January. Ukraine has called for negotiations over the compensation and for those behind the attack to face justice. The Ukraine …

31-12-2020 SANA’A/ RIYADH: A large explosion struck the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Saudi-backed cabinet landed there, security officials said. Yemen’s Interior Ministry said least 32 people were killed and 80 were wounded in the blast. The …

30-12-2020 BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s Senate voted early Wednesday to legalize elective abortion, marking a historic shift in the heavily Catholic country that is the homeland of Pope Francis. Following a debate that went well past midnight, the Senate passed the bill 38 to 29 with one abstention just over two weeks …