International

29-07-2020 RIYADH/ MECCA/ MEDINA: Hajj – the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca – has begun, but under dramatically different circumstances due to the coronavirus outbreak. One of the five pillars of Islam, the Hajj is required for all Muslims who are physically or financially capable of undertaking it at least …

28-07-2020 KUALA LAMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak faces 12 years in jail after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur found him guilty of all charges in the first trial to test corruption allegations flowing from multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali found the prosecution had successfully made …

28-07-2020 TEHRAN/ DUBAI: Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired a missile from a helicopter targeting a replica US aircraft carrier in the strategic Strait of Hormuz; state television reported on Tuesday, an exercise aimed at threatening the US amid tensions between Tehran and Washington. The exercises – dubbed “Prophet Muhammad 14th” …

28-07-2020 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Over three (3) billion animals were killed or displaced by Australia’s devastating wildfires in 2019 and 2020, according to a new report, with experts calling it “one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history”. The study, released on Tuesday by scientists from several Australian universities, …

27-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ TEHRAN: The Taliban’s political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, warned the US that an appropriate decision will be made if the American forces fail to pull out of Afghanistan according to the agreed timetable. In an interview with Tasnim, Abdul Ghani Baradar …

26-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban has accused the Afghanistan government of recapturing previously released prisoners from its ranks, an allegation rejected by the Afghan authorities. The government has released more than 4,000 Taliban fighters, while the group has released nearly 700 prisoners under a US-Taliban agreement …

26-07-2020 SEATTLE (WASHINGTON): Seattle police declared a riot Saturday following large demonstrations in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and deployed flash bangs and pepper spray to try to clear an area near where weeks earlier people had set up an “occupied protest zone” that stretched for several blocks. Via Twitter, …

25-07-2020 WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK: A week after revoking sweeping new restrictions on international students, federal immigration officials have now announced that new foreign students will be barred from entering the United States if they plan to take their classes entirely online this fall. In a memo to college officials, US …

25-07-2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies WASHINGTON: The American dollar’s status as the dominant global currency is at risk of being eroded because of mounting government debt, according to Zhu Min, former senior executive with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With the United States expected to double down on its …

24-07-2020 CHENGDU/ BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu, retaliating against Washington’s move earlier this week to shut down the Chinese consulate in the city of Houston. The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday the Chengdu mission’s closure was …