International

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 …

05-07-2021 NAYPYITAW: Myanmar’s armed forces killed at least 25 people in a confrontation with opponents of the military at a town in the centre of the Southeast Asian nation, villagers said on Sunday, as people increasingly take up arms against the generals who seized power in a coup six months …

05-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban’s march through northern Afghanistan gained momentum overnight with the capture of several districts from fleeing Afghan forces, several hundred of whom fled across the border into Tajikistan, officials said. More than 300 Afghan military personnel crossed from …

04-07-2021 MANILA: At least 45 people have died and dozens were injured when a Philippines Air Force plane carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south. The Department of National Defence said 45 people had been killed, including three civilians on the ground, …