03-08-2021 TEHRAN: Iran’s incoming President Ebrahim Raisi has promised to take action to lift harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and bridge the gap with dis-satisfied Iranians but said he will not tie the country’s future to the West. After being officially endorsed on Tuesday by Supreme Leader Ayatollah …

03-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + BBC KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Ferocious fighting is taking place in a major Afghan city, amid fears it could be the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban. Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province is under heavy assault from the militants, despite persistent US and Afghan …

03-08-2021 JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israel’s Supreme Court adjourned an appeal from four Palestinian families against their forced expulsion from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, as the families say they have rejected a court proposal for them to stay as “protected tenants” but recognize Israeli ownership. The cases …

03-08-2021 SEATTLE: The divorce between Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, cofounders of one of the world’s largest private charitable foundations, was finalized on Monday, a court document showed. The couple filed for divorce on May 3 after 27 years of marriage but pledged to continue their philanthropic work together. …

02-08-2021 Bureau Report LUCKNOW/ NEW DELHI: Tushar Vishwakarma, a 12th class student from Lucknow, India, born with a disability, passed his 12th-grade exams with 70% marks by writing with his toes, Indian media has reported. Vishwakarma was born with a disability that prevented him from being able to use his …

02-08-2021 BEIJING: A fresh COVID outbreak in China has spread to more locations, raising concerns over the country’s vulnerability to the highly contagious Delta variant. More than 300 cases have been detected within a span of 10 days. Chinese media is dominated by news on the outbreak, and the country’s …

02-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghan forces fought fierce street battles and bombed Taliban positions as the group’s fighters swarmed major cities amid an intensifying nationwide offensive. Hundreds of commandos were deployed to the western city of Herat while authorities in the southern city …

02-08-2021 BEIRUT: Unidentified gunmen in the Lebanese town of Kaldeh have killed at least two people at the funeral of a Hezbollah commander killed a day earlier, the group said. Iranian-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful armed group, said two of the mourners were confirmed dead in what it said was …

02-08-2021 OTTAWA: After years of campaigning by Black legislators and community advocates, Canada on Sunday is officially marking the abolishment of slavery nearly 200 years ago in its first nationwide Emancipation Day. Canadian parliamentarians unanimously voted in March to recognize Emancipation Day across the country on August 1, the same date …

01-08-2021 This story is based on reporting by PMI correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection with reporting by AFP and Reuters.   KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Rockets struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan overnight as government forces continued to battle major Taliban offensives that …