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15-07-2021 WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: The US Senate has passed a bill to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region, in response to alleged abuses of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority group. The legislation would create an assumption that goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labour, unless proven otherwise. The Uyghur …

15-07-2021 Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have demanded the release of 7,000 prisoners as a condition for a three-month ceasefire, revealed a member of the Afghan government negotiator Thursday. “It is a big demand,” Nader Nadery said, adding that the Taliban have also demanded the removal of the Taliban’s …

15-07-2021 BAGHDAD: Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has announced he will not take part in Iraq’s upcoming election in October, saying he is withdrawing his support from the current government and the one that will be elected to replace it. One of the most influential figures in Iraq, al-Sadr led a …

15-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ WASHINGTON/ ISLAMABAD: The United States is set to begin evacuations of Afghan interpreters who assisted US-led forces during the conflict and are deemed to be at risk of Taliban. Operation Allies Refuge is set to start during the last week …

15-07-2021 DUBAI/ RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have reached a compromise deal in a standoff over OPEC+ crude output quotas, according to media reports citing sources within OPEC+. Earlier this month talks between OPEC and its allies led by Russia, a grouping known as OPEC+, fell apart …

15-07-2021 ISTANBUL/ JERUSALEM/ GAZA: Turkey and Israel agreed to work towards improving their strained relations after a rare phone call between their presidents; a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said on Wednesday. The two countries expelled ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out. Ankara has condemned Israel’s occupation of …

14-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: The Taliban continued with their onslaught against the Afghanistan government Wednesday, as a spokesperson of the group said they had captured the important Spin Boldak border crossing with Pakistan. “The (Taliban) Mujahideen have captured an important border town called Wesh in …

14-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies BEIJING/ ISLAMABAD: At least 17 people, including at least nine Chinese nationals and two Pakistani soldiers, have died after the bus they were travelling in plunged into a ravine in a remote region of northern Pakistan, officials said. In a statement …

14-07-2021 JOHANNESBURG: Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa on Tuesday with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in decades. Protests that followed Zuma’s arrest last week have widened into …

14-07-2021 GENEVA: The World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist Tuesday warned against mixing and matching coronavirus vaccines, referring to it as a “dangerous trend”. “It’s a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match,” Soumya Swaminathan told an …