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05-07-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: As supplies get scarce in Australia despite the growing coronavirus pandemic, a top health official admitted that getting vaccinated in Australia is like “The Hunger Games”. A vaccine shortage has led to panicked efforts by people looking to get jabbed, said Brad Hazzard, health …

05-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghan government forces are planning counterattacks in the country’s Northern provinces after losing ground to the Taliban; sources claimed. National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib told media in an interview on Monday that government forces had not expected the Taliban …

05-07-2021 DUBAI/ RIYADH/ VIENNA: The United Arab Emirates has pushed back against a plan by the OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries to extend the global pact to cut oil production beyond April 2022, a rare statement revealing the country’s frustration with the group. The Emirati Ministry of Energy …

05-07-2021 NAYPYITAW: Myanmar’s armed forces killed at least 25 people in a confrontation with opponents of the military at a town in the centre of the Southeast Asian nation, villagers said on Sunday, as people increasingly take up arms against the generals who seized power in a coup six months …

05-07-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban’s march through northern Afghanistan gained momentum overnight with the capture of several districts from fleeing Afghan forces, several hundred of whom fled across the border into Tajikistan, officials said. More than 300 Afghan military personnel crossed from …

04-07-2021 MANILA: At least 45 people have died and dozens were injured when a Philippines Air Force plane carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south. The Department of National Defence said 45 people had been killed, including three civilians on the ground, …

04-07-2021 Bureau Report + Int’l Monitoring Desk CALGARY/ ISLAMABAD: Seven Pakistanis, including four children, died in a Canadian city when their house caught fire, police said Friday prompting concerns from the community whether it was a result of Islamophobia. According to the police, the blaze tore through the home in …

04-07-2021 ALBERTA/ BRITISH COLUMBIA: Residents in parts of British Columbia (BC) have been ordered to evacuate as wildfires are raging across the Canadian province following a record heat wave that officials say contributed to hundreds of deaths. Around midday on Saturday, 176 fires were considered active across BC, including 76 that were …

04-07-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies PARIS/ NEW DELHI: A French judge has been tasked with investigating a controversial 2016 multi-billion-dollar sale of Rafale fighter jets to India on “corruption” suspicions, the national financial prosecutors’ office (PNF) said Friday. The 7.8-billion-euro ($9.3-billion) deal for 36 planes between the Indian government and …

04-07-2021 CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO: For Claudia, the journey from her small Guatemalan village to the US-Mexico border was complicated by the fact she could speak only her native Ixil, one of 21 Mayan languages in Guatemala. On way to what she had hoped would be asylum in the United States, …