28-03-2022 BEIJING: China confirmed late on Saturday that all 132 passengers and crew on a China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed this week had died. Flight MU5735 was travelling from the southwestern city of Kunming to the port city of Guangzhou on Monday when it plummeted from cruising altitude to …

28-03-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Women’s rights activists pledged Sunday to launch a wave of protests across Afghanistan if the Taliban fail to reopen girls’ secondary schools within a week. Thousands of secondary school girls had flocked to classes on Wednesday after the group reopened their institutions for …

28-03-2022 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing hijab ban in schools of India which has drawn the ire of Muslims and rights activists from across the globe, Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu has spoken up for the rights of Hijabi girls. According to The Print, Sandhu, during a question and …

27-03-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/WASHINGTON: The United States abruptly cancelled meetings with the Taliban in Doha that were set to address key economic issues, officials said on Friday, after Afghanistan’s rulers reversed a decision to allow all girls to return to high school classes. The cancellation of talks was …

27-03-2022 WASHINGTON/ MOSCOW/ KYIV: US President Joe Biden says Russia’s war in Ukraine has been a “strategic failure” for Moscow and that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”. The Kremlin slams comments and says it is up to Russians to choose their president. Russian forces capture Ukraine’s Slavutych, where workers …

27-03-2022 SEOUL/ WASHINGTON: North Korea likely has “more in store” after successfully test-firing its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile this week, a top US official said Friday. Thursday’s launch was the first time Pyongyang has fired Kim Jong Un’s most powerful missiles at the full range since 2017. It was conducted …

27-03-2022 (Courtesy Al Jazeera) UNITED NATIONS/ DOHA: The first-ever Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week runs from March 28 to 31 as one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change seeks ways to address its dire threat. About 600 million people, or 50 percent of MENA’s …

26-03-2022 Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Friday rejected India’s “totally untenable and irresponsible statement” on the unanimously adopted outcomes and resolutions of the 48th Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) held in Islamabad. Foreign Office spokesperson, in a statement, reminded New Delhi …

26-03-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: About two dozen girls and women chanting “open the schools” protested in the Afghan capital Saturday against the Taliban’s decision to shut their secondary schools just hours after re-opening them this week. Thousands of jubilant girls across Afghanistan had flocked to …

26-03-2022 JEDDAH: A Yemeni rebel attack on a Saudi oil plant set off a huge fire near Jeddah’s Formula One circuit during practice sessions on Friday, part of a wave of assaults on Aramco facilities. Smoke billowed near the circuit and drivers complained of the smell in the most visible …