International

23-12-2021 PHILADELPHIA: A US congresswoman has had her car and possessions snatched from her at gunpoint in a daylight carjacking in the city of Philadelphia. Mary Gay Scanlon’s government phone and ID were among belongings that the two robbers took. The Democrat was not injured, her office said. The FBI …

23-12-2021 PARIS: Dozens of French academics have warned that freedom of expression is at risk after a German professor was suspended over a row with politics students. Klaus Kinzler has been locked in dispute for months over accusations of Islamophobia at Sciences Po Grenoble. In a case that has provoked …

23-12-2021 GENEVA: As the new COVID-19 variant Omicron spreads rapidly across the globe, the World Health Organization’s European head has warned countries to brace for a “significant surge” and advised using boosters for protection from the widespread virus. As reported by The Guardian Tuesday, during a news conference in Vienna, …

23-12-2021 Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan´s national museum is once again welcoming visitors and exhibiting pre-Islamic artefacts with the Taliban´s blessing, a stark contrast to when the group ransacked and shuttered the facility during their last stint in power. A trickle of citizens made their way around the sprawling exhibit …

23-12-2021 UNITED NATIONS/ SANA’A: The World Food Program has said it has been “forced” to cut aid to Yemen due to a lack of funds and warned there will be a surge in hunger in the war-torn country in the coming months. Nearly eight years of fighting between Saudi-backed government …

22-12-2021 NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON: The United States is providing the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund and five other global aid groups an additional $580m to fight COVID-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. The pledge came on Tuesday as health officials in the US said …

22-12-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies UNITED NATIONS/ BEIJING/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: China, with Russia’s backing, has opposed a resolution proposed by the United States in the UN Security Council that would have provided a system for humanitarian exceptions to economic sanctions imposed on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. “They want the deletion” of a …

Bureau Report + Agencies 22-12-2021 LONDON: A major New Year celebration in London will be cancelled, the British capital’s mayor said on Monday, as worries mount over a surge in virus cases sparked by the Omicron variant. Sadiq Khan said infections were at record levels in the city and he …

21-12-2021 NAYPYIDAW: The Myanmar military carried out a series of mass killings of civilians in July that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men, a BBC investigation has found. Eyewitnesses and survivors said that soldiers, some as young as 17, rounded up villagers before separating the men and …

21-12-2021 ZURICH: The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday postponed its annual meeting in Davos due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, putting off the event scheduled for January until mid-2022. A month before world business and political leader were due to gather in the Swiss ski resort, …