13-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: The Biden administration, struggling to contain the rapid collapse of much of Afghanistan to Taliban forces, on Thursday announced it was pulling most U.S. Embassy personnel out of Kabul and urged American citizens for the second time in …

13-08-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The Indian National Congress said on Thursday that Twitter has locked the party’s official account, as well as, accounts of 5,000 of its leaders and workers as “selective” action for sharing a photograph of the family of a nine-year-old rape victim, reported NTDV. …

13-08-2021 LONDON: Police in Plymouth have confirmed six people – including a suspected gunman – have died in a firearms incident. Devon and Cornwall Police were called to Biddick Drive in the Keyham area at about 18:10 BST on Thursday. Police said three females, two males and the suspect died. …

13-08-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies BENGALURU/ NEW DELHI: An Indian rocket carrying a powerful earth observation satellite failed to fire fully on Thursday, the state-run space agency said, in a setback for the country’s space program. The satellite, meant for quick monitoring of natural disasters such as cyclones, cloudbursts and …

13-08-2021 SICILY (ITALY): Fires stoked by hot winds tore through southern Italy on Thursday, a day after a monitoring station in Floridia, Sicily reported temperatures of 48.8C (119.8F) – levels some scientists believe could be the highest in European history. Wednesday’s record temperature, which still needs to be verified by …

12-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: Taliban fighters could isolate Afghanistan’s capital in 30 days and possibly take control of it in 90, a US defence official said Wednesday, citing US intelligence. The official, speaking to PMI on condition of anonymity, said the new …

12-08-2021 TEHRAN: The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, welcomed the enhancement of relations with France on the basis of mutual respect, stressing that the rights of Iranians must be fulfilled in any negotiation. President Raisi on Monday held an hour-long telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. Iran welcomes …

12-08-2021 OTTAWA/ RIYADH: Canada is violating international law by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a new report by rights groups Amnesty International Canada and Project Ploughshares, which are urging Ottawa to suspend all arms exports to Riyadh. Released on Wednesday, the report, titled ‘No Credible Evidence’: Canada’s Flawed …

11-08-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: The Taliban has captured two more cities in Afghanistan, taking the number of provincial capitals the group has seized since Friday to eight. Farah city of the eponymous southwestern province and Pul-e-Khumri of the northern province of Baghlan …

11-08-2021 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: India sent a military plane to northern Afghanistan on Tuesday to pull out its citizens, officials said, as fighting raged between Afghan security forces and the advancing Taliban. The Indian government shut its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest city in the north, and …