Violence erupts in Melbourne during protest against vaccine
MELBOURNE: Melbourne riot police used pepper spray, foam baton rounds and rubber ball grenades to disperse a violent protest against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for construction workers on Tuesday. More than 1,000 demonstrators wearing work boots and hi-vis jackets rampaged through the centre of Australia’s second-largest city, lighting flares, throwing bottles, attacking police cars and chanting […]
Volcanic lava destroys 100 homes in Spain’s Canary Islands
LOS ARIDANE: A surge of lava destroyed around 100 homes on Spain’s Canary Islands a day after a volcano erupted, forcing 5,000 people to leave the area, local authorities said on Monday. The Cumbre Vieja erupted around 3pm on Sunday, sending vast plumes of thick black smoke into the sky and belching molten lava that […]
Johannesburg mayor killed in car accident
JOHANNESBURG: The mayor of Johannesburg was killed in a car accident as he returned from campaigning with South Africa’s president on Saturday, just over a month after being elected, his office said in a statement. Jolidee Matongo, 46, was returning from a voter registration drive in Soweto township ahead of local elections when the accident […]
Pentagon apologises after admitting drone strike in Kabul killed 10 civilians
WASHINGTON: A drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the US military said on Friday, apologising for what it said was a tragic mistake. The Pentagon had said the Aug 29 strike targeted a suicide bomber of the militant Islamic State group who posed an imminent threat […]
South Korea tests sub-launched ballistic missile after North fires two into sea
SEOUL: South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday, becoming only the seventh country in the world with the advanced technology and raising the prospect of a regional arms race. The test, supervised by President Moon Jae-in, came hours after nuclear-armed North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, according to the […]
Putin in isolation after aides infected
Russian President Vladimir Putin is self-isolating as a precaution after several members of his entourage fell ill with Covid-19, but is “absolutely” healthy and does not have the disease himself, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Putin, 68, will not travel to Tajikistan this week for planned regional security meetings expected to focus on Afghanistan, but […]
Ex-US intel operatives admit hacking American networks for UAE
Three former US intelligence operatives who worked as cyberspies for the United Arab Emirates admitted to violating US hacking laws and prohibitions on selling sensitive military technology, under a deal to avoid prosecution announced on Tuesday. The operatives — Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke — were part of a clandestine unit named Project Raven, […]
US will look at Pakistan’s role in last 20 years, Blinken tells lawmakers
The US will look at the role Pakistan played in the last 20 years, Secretary of State Tony Blinken told angry lawmakers who expressed outrage over Pakistan’s “duplicitous” part in Afghanistan post 9/11 and demanded that Washington reassess its relationship with Islamabad. The US lawmakers also urged the Biden administration to reassess Pakistan’s status as […]
UN asks Taliban to stop targeting protesters, journalists
GENEVA: The UN on Friday criticised the Taliban’s increasingly harsh response to peaceful protests, including using live rounds, and warned that nearly all Afghan households weren’t getting enough to eat. “We call on the Taliban to immediately cease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly […]
200 people leave Kabul in first airlift since US pullout
KABUL: Some 200 passengers, including US citizens, left Kabul airport on Thursday, on the first flight carrying foreigners out of the Afghan capital since a US-led evacuation ended on Aug 30. The flight to Doha comes as the Taliban continue their transition from insurgents to governing power, less than a month after they marched into […]
