International

01-06-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA/ WELLINGTON: The leaders of New Zealand and Australia have presented a united front on China, expressing deep concern over Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang while pushing for a continued investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda …

01-06-2021 GENEVA: Coronavirus variants are to be known by letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid misreporting and stigmatizing nations where they were first detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced. The new system applies to variants of concern – the most troubling of which four are in circulation …

31-05-2021 BEIJING: China has relaxed its family planning policy to allow couples to have three children after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing, state media reported, in a major policy shift to boost birthrate in the world’s most populous nation. For nearly 40 years, China enforced a controversial …

31-05-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has been taken off the air just days after he spoke out against the country’s military at a protest against an attack on another journalist. Mir told Al Jazeera he has been informed he …

31-05-2021 TEHRAN/ GAZA CITY: Defense Minister of Iran Brigadier General Amir Hatami hailed the elevated unity of all Palestinians as a major achievement of their recent victory over the Zionist regime, saying Palestine’s missiles, drones and defense gear have turned into a nightmare for Israeli settlers. Speaking at an online …

31-05-2021 JERUSALEM: Israeli far-right politician Naftali Bennett, a kingmaker whose Yamina party has six key seats in parliament, has said he would join a governing coalition that could end the rule of the country’s longest-serving leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It’s my intention to do my utmost in order to …

30-05-2021 MIAMI: Two dead and dozens injured in a shooting outside a billiards club in Hialeah in the US state of Florida, Miami-Dade police director Alfredo Ramirez III said in a tweet early on Sunday. “I am at the scene of another targeted and cowardly act of gun violence, where …

30-05-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ DUBAI : The Dubai property market, which had seen a slump over the past five or six years, has seen an upsurge due to “lockdown dodgers” from Europe and other parts of the world, looking to escape coronavirus restrictions. The “lockdown dodgers” and wealthy …

30-05-2021 MINSK/ VILNIUS/ WARSAW: Thousands of people in Poland and Lithuania gathered for protests on Saturday to show support for the opposition in neighboring Belarus. They called for the release of a Belarusian dissident who was arrested along with his girlfriend when their flight was diverted to Minsk. The pair’s …

30-05-2021 LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson married his fiancee Carrie Symonds in a “secret ceremony” on Saturday, UK media reports said. Known for his colorful love life, 56-year-old Johnson wed Symonds, 33, in Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of close friends and family, the Mail on Sunday and ‘The …