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29-07-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ WASHINGTON: NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a veiled warning Wednesday about Indian democracy backsliding in his first official visit to Washington’s important ally. Rights groups say civil liberties and the space for dissent are under increasing attack in the …

29-07-2021 ALASKA: A shallow earthquake of magnitude 8.2 has struck the Alaska Peninsula, prompting tsunami warnings across the Pacific Ocean. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at 10:15pm (06:15 GMT Thursday), was at a depth of 35km (22 miles). In Alaska, the National Tsunami Warning Center …

29-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ KANDAHAR/ ISLAMABAD: Last week, Kawsar Sama and her family packed up their belongings and got on a flight to the capital city of Kabul. For the 21-year-old and her family, life in the southern city of Kandahar had become dangerous …

29-07-2021 TEHRAN: The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said one of the realities that the outgoing Iranian administration experienced during two terms was that putting trust in the West is futile, since the Westerners do not offer any help and seize every opportunity to harm Iran. Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei …

28-07-2021 RIYADH/ LONDON: Saudi Arabia will impose a three-year travel ban on citizens travelling to countries on the kingdom’s ‘red list’ under efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday. It cited an unnamed interior ministry official as saying some …

28-07-2021 KANDAHAR/ KABUL: The arrest of four journalists in Kandahar by the National Directorate of Security, NDS, the country’s intelligence agency, has sparked reactions from watchdog organizations who say the four must be released and the reason for their detention should be made clear. Three of the journalists–Bismillah Watandost, Qudrat …

28-07-2021 KOLKATA/ NEW DELHI:  India’s ambitious railway project to connect a small northeastern Indian state along its border with China to the rest of the country is raising concerns among local forest dwellers and environmentalists. The 45km (28-mile) project, work on which began in 2009, connects Sevoke in eastern state …

28-07-2021 NEW YORK: Thousands of scientists have repeated calls for urgent action to tackle the climate emergency, warning that several tipping points are now imminent. The researchers, part of a group of more than 14,000 scientists who have signed on to an initiative declaring a worldwide climate emergency, said in …

27-07-2021 TEHRAN: People in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province are desperate. Suffering from drought and water shortages since March, they’ve taken to the streets in the last couple of weeks to express their anger with the government and its poor management of water resources. According to official sources, at least four …

27-07-2021 WASHINGTON/ BAGHDAD: President Joe Biden has said US combat forces will leave Iraq by the end of this year, though troops will continue to train and advise the Iraqi military. The announcement came after Biden held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House. There are …