08-02-2021 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ KABUL: Afghanistan has received 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from India, the first vaccines it has received to date. The country is still waiting for emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) before it can use the vaccine, according to Afghanistan’s Acting Minister …
Read More »Israeli PM pleads not guilty as corruption trial resumes
08-02-2021 JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister (PM), Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to court and pleaded not guilty to corruption charges as his trial enters an intensified phase six weeks before an election. The Monday hearing, which was pushed back multiple times because of coronavirus restrictions, is where he has to deliver …
Read More »Biden sets out firm line on Iran sanctions
08-02-2021 WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: US President Joe Biden says he will not lift economic sanctions against Iran until it complies with the terms agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal. Biden was speaking in a CBS News interview aired on Sunday but Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran would only …
Read More »America ending aid to Saudi-led forces in Yemen
08-02-2021 WASHINGTON/ RIYADH/ DAMASCUS: United States President Joe Biden last week announced plans to end US support for Saudi Arabia’s “offensive operations” in war-torn Yemen, including ceasing relevant arms sales to the government in Riyadh. The move signaled a distinct shift in Washington’s approach to the conflict and a renewed emphasis …
Read More »Over 150 people dead as Himalayan Glacier burst in India
07-02-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Almost 110 to 160 of people are feared dead in India after a Himalayan glacier broke apart and crashed into a hydroelectric dam with people hurriedly being evacuated amid rising water levels on a nearby river. Footage from TV channels …
Read More »2nd day of protest against military coup in Myanmar
07-02-2021 MYANMAR/ NAYPYITAW: Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Myanmar for a second consecutive day to protest against the country’s military seizing power, despite a nationwide internet blackout imposed to stifle dissent. In the main city Yangon, large crowds gathered on both Saturday and Sunday …
Read More »Iraq’s Yazidis bury 104 victims of IS massacre
07-02-2021 BAGHDAD: The Yazidi community of northern Iraq has brought home 104 of its members who were killed by the Islamic State group during its reign of terror in 2014. Their remains had been identified and exhumed from mass graves, and they were laid to rest in the village of …
Read More »Trump should not get US Intel briefings: Biden
07-02-2021 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump should not continue to receive intelligence briefings normally available to former presidents because of his “erratic” behaviour, President Joe Biden said in a US media interview. “I just think that there is no need for him to have intelligence,” President Biden said in an interview with …
Read More »Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Hussein released from jail in Egypt
07-02-2021 CAIRO/ DOHA: Egypt has released Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after more than four years in detention without formal charges or trial. Hussein, an Egyptian national held under preventive detention since December 2016, was released from jail on Saturday. In a statement, Mostefa Souag, acting director general of the …
Read More »Turkey’s student protests: New challenge for Erdogan
06-02-2021 ANKARA: Over the last month, protests at a university overlooking the Bosphorus have spiraled into a challenge that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared with nationwide demonstrations that threatened his government eight years ago. Student outcry against a government-appointed rector at Bogazici University, one of Turkey’s most prestigious, …
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