International

25-12-2021 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Victoria has recorded 2095 new COVID-19 cases as the country’s toughest mask rules came into force. There are 397 people in hospital with the virus including 75 in intensive care, and eight more people have died after testing positive to the coronavirus. At least 27 of …

25-12-2021 TEHRAN: Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has fired 16 surface-to-surface ballistic missiles at the close of five days of military drills that generals said were a warning to archenemy Israel. The official IRNA news agency on Friday reported that the names of the missiles fired during the …

25-12-2021 WASHINGTON: In the wake of concerns around surging Covid-19 cases, the United States is waiving of in-person interviews for H-1B and other certain non-immigrant visa applicants, the State Department said. In a bid to reduce the visa wait time, United States is temporarily dropping an in-person interview requirement for …

25-12-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies MOSCOW/ ISLAMABAD: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said insulting Prophet OF Islam (PBUH) does not count as freedom of expression. Insults to the prophet are a “violation of religious freedom and the violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam”, Putin said on …

24-12-2021 ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: A summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Islamabad recently, became a platform to highlight the plight of Afghan people. Envoys from 57 Islamic nations as well as observer delegates participated in the session. It was the first such meeting in Afghanistan that also …

24-12-2021 BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: Amid worsening relations between Beijing and Washington, President Joe Biden signed a new law on Thursday banning products made in China’s Xinjiang region because of China’s oppression of its largely Muslim Uighur minority population. Pushed by members of the United States Congress, the law passed in both …

24-12-2021 DHAKA: At least 37 people have died when a packed ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh, according to police, in the latest maritime tragedy to hit the impoverished low-lying nation. The incident happened early on Friday near the southern rural town of Jhalokati, 250km (155 miles) south of the …

24-12-2021 TOKYO: A Japanese university student tells a machine she wants to eat chocolate and moments later a transparent film with liquid droplets slides out on top of a screen showing luscious gooey chocolate. She licks the film and then says: “It actually tastes like milk chocolate. It’s sweet and …

23-12-2021 Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber was killed at the gate of a passport office in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, a government spokesman said, and several people were injured in the blast, according to unconfirmed reports. A spokesman for Afghanistan’s interior ministry said the attacker was …

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 …