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31-03-2022 BEIRUT/ TEHRAN: Iranian officials have once more chosen to engage in a blame game after women who purchased tickets to watch a World Cup qualifier football match were greeted with pepper spray. Iran ended up defeating Lebanon 2-0 in the match in the northeastern religious hub city of Mashhad …

30-03-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: A prominent Indian journalist and activist says she has been barred from boarding a flight to London where she was scheduled to address an event on targeting of journalists in the world’s largest democracy. Rana Ayyub, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra …

30-03-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban has instructed all government employees to wear a beard and adhere to a dress code or risk being fired, three sources told media, the latest of several new restrictions imposed by the hardline Islamist administration. The sources said representatives …

30-03-2022 SAN SALVADOR: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele issued an ultimatum Monday to gangs considered responsible for dozens of homicides in three days, threatening to increase punishments on their more than 16,000 imprisoned members. The Central American nation declared a state of emergency Sunday as it endures a fresh wave …

30-03-2022 GENEVA/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: BA.2, a sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, has now become dominant globally, representing nearly 86 percent of all sequenced cases, according to the World Health Organization. First detected in the early days of January, the sub-variant is even more transmissible than its highly contagious …

30-03-2022 DUBAI/ RIYADH/ SANA’A: Gulf Arab states are gathering for a summit on Tuesday on the war in Yemen that the country’s Houthi rebels are boycotting because its venue is in Saudi Arabia, their adversary in the devastating conflict. The United Nations, diplomats, and others have pushed for another potential …

30-03-2022 KYIV: UN Chief Antonio Guterres announced Monday the world body was seeking a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine, with its aid chief Martin Griffiths soon to head to Moscow and Kyiv to try to secure a truce. Ukraine said Monday that over 5,000 people have died in the “catastrophic” humanitarian …

29-03-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have told airlines in Afghanistan that women cannot board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone, two sources told Reuters on Sunday. The move comes after the Taliban backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to …

29-03-2022 JERUSALEM/ DUBAI: Israel hosted the foreign ministers of four Arab nations and the United States in a bid to strengthen its position in a rapidly shifting Middle East. The gathering brought together the top diplomats from all but one of the Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel …

29-03-2022 MOSCOW: On March 16, Pope Francis held a video meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the 75-year-old leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin. The head of the Catholic Church warned the Russian patriarch against hiding behind religion to justify armed aggression and conquest. …