The Biden administration said Sunday it remains open to talks with Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal despite Tehran’s rejection of an EU invitation to join a meeting with the U.S. and the other original participants in the agreement. A senior administration official said the U.S. was “disappointed” in the rejection but was flexible as […]
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved an operation to kill or capture a US-based journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified US intelligence report released on Friday that could escalate pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew bipartisan and international outrage. The […]
The United States launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops. The airstrike was […]
GENEVA: The World Health Organisation on Monday blasted wealthy countries for not only hogging Covid vaccines but in doing so, hindering the pathway for poorer nations to get them too. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some rich countries’ direct deals with manufacturers had meant that previously-agreed vaccine allocations for poorer countries, via the […]
Kabul:Three separate explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least five people and wounded two others, a police official said, amid a surge in violence in the war-torn country. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the first two explosions took place 15 minutes apart and a third targeting a police vehicle took […]
UNITED NATIONS: Sixty-five journalists, media professionals and human rights defenders were killed in Afghanistan between Jan 1, 2018 and Jan 31, 2021, says a UN report released this week. And 11 of these media workers have lost their lives since the start of peace negotiations last September, which led to a peace deal between the […]
GAZA CITY: Hamas on Tuesday blasted Israel’s refusal to allow some 2,000 coronavirus vaccine doses destined for Gaza health workers through its blockade of the territory and termed the move a “violation” of international law. The Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had planned to send the Russian Sputnik V doses through Israel […]
A volley of rockets targeting an airbase in Iraq’s Kurdistan region killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others and an American soldier, the United States-led coalition said. The attack late on Monday was the first time in nearly two months that Western military or diplomatic installations have been targeted in Iraq, after a […]
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday suspended entry from 20 countries to combat the spread of Covid-19 in the country. According to a local agency report, the ban doesn’t apply on Saudi citizens, diplomats, medical practitioners and their families. The temporary ban, effective from today, includes travellers arriving from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Germany, the […]
Hundreds of members of Myanmar’s Parliament remained confined inside their government housing in the country’s capital on Tuesday, a day after the military staged a coup and detained senior politicians including Nobel laureate and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, meanwhile, released a statement calling for the […]