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21-09-2020 By SJA Jafri ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI/ MELBOURNE: Bishop John Joseph, 65, one of Pakistan’s most prominent human rights activists, had been campaigning for decades to reform the country’s strict blasphemy laws. On the morning of May 6, 1998, he led a procession to the steps of the court in the …

21-09-2020 GABORONE (BOTSWANA): Toxins made by microscopic algae in water caused the previously unexplained deaths of hundreds of elephants in Botswana, wildlife officials say. Botswana is home to a third of Africa’s declining elephant population. The alarm was raised when elephant carcasses were spotted in the country’s Okavango Delta between …

21-09-2020 TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said the Islamic republic’s 1980-88 war with Iraq showed the country can defend itself, without directly addressing the current circumstances. “Trying for eight years, doing everything they can, and yet achieving nothing — is there a greater victory for Iran?” …

21-09-2020 AGRA/ NEW DELHI: The Taj Mahal is set to reopen to visitors after a six-month closure, even as the pandemic has accelerated in recent weeks with India set to overtake the US to become the nation worst-hit by COVID-19. India, home to 1.3 billion people and some of the …

21-09-2020 TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON/ GENEVA: Iran has promised to inflict a “decisive response” against the United States for acting like a bully to adversaries and allies alike after Washington said it would reimpose UN sanctions – without United Nations’ approval. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressed the nation in a live televised cabinet …

21-09-2020 NINGBO, China: Authorities in China’s northeastern Jilin province have found the novel coronavirus on the packaging of imported squid, health authorities in the city of Fuyu said on Sunday, urging anyone who may have bought it to get themselves tested. One of the packages had arrived in the city …

20-09-2020 (With input from wires) TEHRAN/ GENEVA: The world community should oppose the United States’ use of sanctions to impose its will as a “bully,” or expect to face sanctions itself, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday. Separately, the chief of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards rejected …

20-09-2020 MINSK: Military trucks and vehicles have rolled into the centre of Belarus’s capital, Minsk, before a planned opposition march, as anonymous hackers leaked what they said was the personal data of more than 1,000 police officers in retaliation for a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations. The protest movement calling for …

20-09-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Almost 11 civilians were killed and more than 10 others wounded on Saturday in twin air strikes on a Taliban base in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunduz, a provincial official said. The Taliban issued a statement accusing Afghan forces of …

20-09-2020 TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief said Saturday that Tehran will avenge the US killing of its top commander General Qasem Soleimani by targeting only those involved, in an “honourable” retaliation. Soleimani, who headed the Guards elite Qods Force, was killed in an American air strike near Baghdad airport in …