International

21-07-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Anger is growing in Australia as 13 million people – about half the population – endure fresh lockdowns to quash COVID outbreaks. A third state, South Australia joined Victoria and parts of New South Wales in lockdown on Tuesday. Fewer than 14% of Australians …

21-07-2021 BEIJING: Large swathes of China’s central Henan province were under water on Wednesday, with its capital Zhengzhou hardest-hit after being drenched by what weather watchers said was the heaviest rain in 1,000 years. In Zhengzhou, a city of over 12 million on the banks of the Yellow River, 12 …

21-07-2021 NEW YORK/ NEW DELHI: India’s excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic could be as high as 4.9 million, a new study shows, providing further evidence that millions more may have died from coronavirus than the official tally. The report by the Washington-based Center for Global Development co-authored by India’s …

21-07-2021 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced it has extended the validity of iqama (residency permit) and exit and re-entry visas of people stranded outside the kingdom, unable to travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Saudi Gazette, the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) has extended the permits, as …

21-07-2021 VICTORIA (BRITISH COLUMBIA): The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) has declared a state of emergency amid a surge in wildfires that have forced hundreds of people from their homes and could worsen in the coming days. According to a provincial wildfire tracker, 299 blazes were actively burning across …

20-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies ISTANBUL/ DOHA/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Anti-Pakistan terrorist and jihadi groups aligned in varying degrees to the Taliban on both sides of the border are angling to carry out new lethal attacks inside Pakistan, a drive that could intensify if Islamabad allows the …

20-07-2021 ARAFAT: Sheikh Bandar Bin Abdulaziz Balila in the Hajj sermon urged people to follow Prophet’s (PBUH) teachings regarding pandemics, saying that the Prophet (PBUH) had asked people to not go to an area where there’s a plague. “The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that people should not go out of …

20-07-2021 BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded dozens in a crowded market in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Monday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival. Body parts of victims lay scattered across the previously bustling market, which had been crowded with shoppers buying food ahead …

19-07-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Fifteen diplomatic missions and the NATO representative in Kabul have joined hands to urge the Taliban to halt military offensives across Afghanistan; just hours after a peace meeting in Doha failed to agree on a ceasefire. A senior delegation of Afghan leaders met the …

19-07-2021 WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: The UK and EU have accused China of carrying out a major cyber-attack earlier this year. The attack targeted Microsoft Exchange servers, affecting over a quarter of a million servers around the world. The EU was the first to put out a statement saying the attack came …