International

07-07-2021 WASHINGTON/ LONDON/ TEHRAN: The United States and European powers have condemned Iran’s decision to produce uranium metal enriched to 20 percent purity but the US said the window for diplomacy to allow both to resume compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal remained open. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) …

07-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban will present a written peace proposal to the Afghan government next month, according to the group, despite their major territorial gains in the country, as severe fighting breaks out with the imminent withdrawal of foreign forces from …

07-07-2021 HELSINKI: Finland’s northernmost Arctic Lapland region has recorded its hottest temperature for more than a century at 33.6 degrees Celsius (92.5 Fahrenheit), during a heatwave that has been afflicting the entire Nordic country for weeks. The temperature was measured on Monday at Finland’s northernmost Utsjoki-Kevo weather station near the …

06-07-2021 MOSCOW/ KAMOHATKA: A passenger plane with 28 people on board crashed into the sea on Tuesday off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula as it was preparing to land, RIA news agency reported on Tuesday. The plane, an Antonov AN-26 twin-engined turboprop, was en route from regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to …

06-07-2021 NEW DELHI/ JAKARTA: India may now be past the peak of its latest coronavirus surge, but some other countries in Asia are experiencing rising infections. The Delta variant is contributing to a rapid rise in case numbers in Indonesia, where a crisis over oxygen supplies is unfolding. Meanwhile, vaccination …

06-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ DUSHANBE: Thousands of Afghan security personnel fled across the border into Tajikistan on Sunday after Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan, the Tajik border guard service said. Taliban captured dozens of other Afghan security personnel. The crossings underscore a rapidly deteriorating …

06-07-2021 ABUJA: About 140 students are missing after armed men raided a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kaduna state on Monday, and police said they were in hot pursuit alongside military personnel. The attack is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed …

05-07-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: As supplies get scarce in Australia despite the growing coronavirus pandemic, a top health official admitted that getting vaccinated in Australia is like “The Hunger Games”. A vaccine shortage has led to panicked efforts by people looking to get jabbed, said Brad Hazzard, health …

05-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghan government forces are planning counterattacks in the country’s Northern provinces after losing ground to the Taliban; sources claimed. National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib told media in an interview on Monday that government forces had not expected the Taliban …

05-07-2021 DUBAI/ RIYADH/ VIENNA: The United Arab Emirates has pushed back against a plan by the OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries to extend the global pact to cut oil production beyond April 2022, a rare statement revealing the country’s frustration with the group. The Emirati Ministry of Energy …