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02-06-2021 Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The US moved one step closer to the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan after it announced that it will be handing over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said Tuesday. The vast base, built by the …

02-06-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies GENEVA/ BEIJING: The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved China’s Sinovac Covid vaccine for emergency use. It is the second Chinese vaccine to receive the green light from the WHO, after Sinopharm. It opens the door for the jab to be used in the Covax …

02-06-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Three bombs rattled the Afghan capital Kabul martyring at least 10 people and plunging the city into darkness, an Afghan government spokesman has said. Two bombs exploded in quick succession in separate locations of a west Kabul neighborhood late on Tuesday, …

01-06-2021 RIYADH/ MECCA: Saudi Arabia’s Islamic affairs minister is defending a contentious order restricting the volume of mosque loudspeakers, saying it was prompted by complaints about excessive noise. In a major policy last week in a country home to the holiest Muslim sites, the Islamic affairs ministry said the speakers …

01-06-2021 BEIJING: A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday. The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was hospitalized on April 28 …

01-06-2021 GAZA CITY/ JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defence Minister has distanced himself from comments made by his Military Chief after Israel bombed a Gaza Strip high-rise  (Gaza Media Tower/ GMT) housing Al-Jazeera and The Associated Press (AP) offices as well as other news outlets, saying the remarks were not meant to be taken …

01-06-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA/ WELLINGTON: The leaders of New Zealand and Australia have presented a united front on China, expressing deep concern over Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang while pushing for a continued investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda …

01-06-2021 GENEVA: Coronavirus variants are to be known by letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid misreporting and stigmatizing nations where they were first detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced. The new system applies to variants of concern – the most troubling of which four are in circulation …

31-05-2021 BEIJING: China has relaxed its family planning policy to allow couples to have three children after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing, state media reported, in a major policy shift to boost birthrate in the world’s most populous nation. For nearly 40 years, China enforced a controversial …

31-05-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has been taken off the air just days after he spoke out against the country’s military at a protest against an attack on another journalist. Mir told Al Jazeera he has been informed he …