International

01-04-2021 WASHINGTON: To beat China and modernize America’s crumbling transport network, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled a “once-in-a-generation” $2 trillion infrastructure plan. The first phase of Biden’s “Build Back Better” program, which he set out in a speech in Pittsburgh, details massive investment spread over eight years. Putting infrastructure …

01-04-2021 VICTORIA: A court in Hong Kong has found seven prominent pro-democracy politicians and campaigners guilty of unauthorized assembly over their role in a peaceful protest that was one of the biggest rallies in the Chinese-controlled city in 2019. Those convicted on Thursday include media tycoon Jimmy Lai, as well …

01-04-2021 ADDIS ABABA: The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS/ Daesh/ al-Qaeda/ Taliban) killed at least 30 more Shia civilians in an attack on a village in the Ethiopian region of Oromia, witnesses said on Wednesday, the latest outbreak of ethnic violence to challenge the …

31-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Agencies + Bureau Report WASHINGTON/ ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani-American man has been nominated by US President Joe Biden for the position of a Federal Judge on the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. Zahid Quraishi will be the first Muslim American to serve …

31-03-2021 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Heavy rains have caused poisonous mushrooms to start popping up around Melbourne and regional Victoria, including the potentially fatal death cap fungi. Victorians have been warned not to pick any wild mushrooms. “The recent conditions have been ideal for poisonous mushrooms, and recent rains have seen them …

31-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report TEHRAN/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The foreign minister of Iran called on the United Nations to facilitate the intra-Afghan negotiations, which he described as a requisite for peace and stability in Afghanistan. In an address to the 9th annual ministerial meeting of the Heart of …

31-03-2021 NEW YORK/ BEIJING: A group of 14 countries has raised concerns over a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the origin of the coronavirus, citing delays and a lack of full access to data, while the agency’s own chief called for further investigation into a theory …

30-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Agencies UNITED NATIONS/ BAMAKO/ PARIS: A French air attack in central Mali on January 3 killed at least 19 innocent unarmed Shia Muslim civilians, according to excerpts from a United Nations investigation, due to be released later on Tuesday. In the assault, French warplanes struck …

30-03-2021 Bureau Report YANGON/ MYANMAR: After the bloodiest day since last month’s military coup with 114 deaths on Saturday, security forces opened fire at a funeral Sunday, witnesses said. On Monday, a man was killed and several were wounded when security forces fired in a Yangon neighborhood, the Democratic Voice …

30-03-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Over a thousand civil society activists gathered in Kabul on Monday to call for the inclusion of women, youth, the disabled and the media in the Afghan peace process. More than 1,300 representatives assembled in the open at the Chihilsitoon Garden …