30-03-2022 GENEVA/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: BA.2, a sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, has now become dominant globally, representing nearly 86 percent of all sequenced cases, according to the World Health Organization. First detected in the early days of January, the sub-variant is even more transmissible than its highly contagious …

30-03-2022 DUBAI/ RIYADH/ SANA’A: Gulf Arab states are gathering for a summit on Tuesday on the war in Yemen that the country’s Houthi rebels are boycotting because its venue is in Saudi Arabia, their adversary in the devastating conflict. The United Nations, diplomats, and others have pushed for another potential …

30-03-2022 KYIV: UN Chief Antonio Guterres announced Monday the world body was seeking a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine, with its aid chief Martin Griffiths soon to head to Moscow and Kyiv to try to secure a truce. Ukraine said Monday that over 5,000 people have died in the “catastrophic” humanitarian …

29-03-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have told airlines in Afghanistan that women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone, two sources told Reuters on Sunday. The move comes after the Taliban backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to …

29-03-2022 JERUSALEM/ DUBAI: Israel hosted the foreign ministers of four Arab nations and the United States in a bid to strengthen its position in a rapidly shifting Middle East. The gathering brought together the top diplomats from all but one of the Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel …

29-03-2022 MOSCOW: On March 16, Pope Francis held a video meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the 75-year-old leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin. The head of the Catholic Church warned the Russian patriarch against hiding behind religion to justify armed aggression and conquest. …

29-03-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies LONDON/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The UK High Court has ruled that the Home Office was wrong in denying British citizenship to an Afghan national on the grounds of “good character” because he was once a member of Afghan warlord Gulbadin Hikmetyar’s Hizb-e-Islami (HEI). The Afghan national, …

28-03-2022 MEXICO CITY: At least 19 people have been killed and several others wounded in a shooting attack in central Mexico, according to authorities. Authorities did not immediately release a motive for the attack on Sunday evening that targeted a gathering in the town of Las Tinajas in Michoacan state. …

28-03-2022 UNITED NATIONS/ JERUSALEM: Israel has been practicing “apartheid” against Palestinians over the past decades, an independent UN human rights expert said, calling on the world body to devise a list of measures aimed at effectively holding the occupying regime to account for the crime. In a report to the …

28-03-2022 SANA’A/ RIYADH: The head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council announced a voluntary and unilateral three-day pause in retaliatory strikes against targets in Saudi Arabia, saying that a permanent ceasefire would be possible if the Saudi-led coalition ends its attacks on Yemen. Mahdi al-Mashat said on Saturday that in line …