MADRID: Spanish officials expanded a lockdown in and around Madrid on Friday to cover one million people, as European nations faced up to a sustained spike in virus cases. Madrid’s health authority said new rules largely banning tens of thousands from leaving their districts — in addition to the 850,000 already living under similar restrictions […]
LOUISVILLE: More than 120 people were arrested overnight in the US city of Louisville, officials confirmed on Thursday, as the announcement that no one would be charged with the killing of Breonna Taylor sent fresh demands for racial justice billowing across the US. Protests were held in cities including New York, Washington and Los Angeles […]
NEW YORK: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz took aim at Iran during his debut on Wednesday at the annual United Nations meeting of world leaders, calling for a comprehensive solution to contain Riyadh’s regional rival and stop it from getting weapons of mass destruction. He said Iran has exploited a 2015 nuclear deal with […]
WASHINGTON: A number of Taliban prisoners who were released by the Afghan government as a condition for peace talks have taken up arms again, the government’s lead negotiator Abdullah Abdullah said on Tuesday. Abdullah, the chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, said discussions with the Taliban in Qatar so far have been positive. […]
Saudi Arabia will allow pilgrims residing inside the country to undertake the umrah pilgrimage beginning on Oct. 4, after a seven-month pause due to Corona concerns, state news agency SPA reported. Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina undertaken any time of the year, attracting 19 million people last year. Saudi Arabia had instituted […]
KANDAHAR: At least 14 Afghan soldiers and police were killed during intense fighting with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday, as unabated violence gripped the country despite ongoing peace talks. Taliban fighters launched an overnight assault late on Sunday on several Afghan security force positions in the southern province of Uruzgan, inflicting […]
Taiwan said on Monday its armed forces have the right to self-defence and counter attack amid “harassment and threats”, in an apparent warning to China, which last week sent numerous jets across the mid-line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Tensions have sharply spiked in recent months between Taipei and Beijing, which claims democratically run Taiwan as its […]
WASHINGTON: A US aircraft carrier passed the Strait of Hormuz to enter the Gulf on Friday amid Washington threats to enforce “UN” sanctions without the backing of Security Council partners, the Navy announced. A strike group led by the USS Nimitz and including two guided-missile cruisers and a guided-missile destroyer sailed into the Gulf to […]
JERUSALEM: Palestinian leaders on Sunday called for demonstrations against the “shameful” deals the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are set to sign with Israel. Officials from both Gulf states are due to attend a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday to formalise ties with Israel, prompting Palestinian factions to unite in appeals for protest. “We invite our population, […]
SALEM: Around half a million people in Oregon were ordered to evacuate as dozens of extreme, wind-driven wildfires scorched US West Coast states on Friday, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 24 people, state and local authorities said. In southern Oregon, an apocalyptic scene of burned residential subdivisions and trailer parks stretched for […]