Category: World

LVIV – The Russian military initiated a temporary cease-fire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported Saturday, the first breakthrough in allowing people to escape the war. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for the strategic port […]

LASHKAR GAH – Once the winter residence of sultans from illustrious Islamic dynasties, the ruins of a thousand-year-old royal city in southern Afghanistan have become home to hundreds of people who have fled Taliban clashes. The astonishing ochre clay complex juts from the cliffs along the Helmand River, threatened by decay and encroaching urban sprawl […]

LONDON – Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair a crisis meeting Monday as a growing number of countries from France to Argentina blocked flights to Britain over a new highly infectious coronavirus strain the UK said was “out of control”. The World Health Organization also called for stronger containment measures across Europe, which has […]

BAGHDAD – A volley of rockets exploded near the US embassy in Baghdad Sunday, as tensions mount ahead of the anniversary of the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on Iraqi soil. AFP reporters in the capital s east heard at least five booms on Sunday night, followed by whistling sounds. A few moments later, […]

CAIRO – Saudi Arabia suspended late on Sunday all international commercial flights for a renewable week except for the foreign flights already in the kingdom which will be allowed to leave, state news agency SPA reported quoting an interior ministry source. The source added the entry to the kingdom through land and sea ports will […]

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI -Tens of thousands of Indian farmers on Sunday intensified their protests against three new agricultural laws aimed at overhauling food grain procurement and pricing rules by allowing private companies direct access to the vast agrarian sector. Angry farmers staged demonstrations near New Delhi after rejecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurances that the laws […]

WASHINGTON – The US government confirmed Sunday that its computer networks had been hit by a cyberattack, as The Washington Post reported at least two departments had been targeted by Russian state hackers. “We have been working closely with our agency partners regarding recently discovered activity on government networks,” a spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and […]

RIYADH – An explosion rocked a Singapore-flagged oil tanker off the Saudi port city of Jeddah Monday, the vessel s owner said, in the latest apparent strike on energy sector targets in the kingdom. All 22 sailors aboard the tanker BW Rhine escaped unhurt after the blast struck just after midnight, Singapore-based shipping company Hafnia said, […]

WELLINGTON – New Zealand security services did not focus enough on the threat from right-wing terror in the run-up to last year s Christchurch mosques attack, but could only have prevented the murders “by chance”, an inquiry reported Tuesday. The royal commission — the most powerful judicial probe available under New Zealand law — called for […]

NEW DELHI – Indian farmers who have been blockading New Delhi on Tuesday launched a one-day, nationwide general strike to push their demands for the government to repeal reform laws opening up trade in agricultural produce. Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of the capital since November 27 in protest […]