25 people killed, over 50 injured in Kabul hospital raid
At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in an attack on Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital on Tuesday which saw two heavy blasts followed up by gunmen assaulting the site in central Kabul, officials said. The explosions took place at the entrance of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital and were […]
Uzbek traders learn to do business with Taliban
TERMEZ (Uzbekistan): As lorries arrive in bursts of dust at a logistics hub in Uzbekistan’s southern city of Termez, squatting drivers share complaints about how trade has suffered since the Taliban seized power next-door. “Before, our journey there and back took three days, now we are there for a week,” said Rafik Khujakov, an Uzbek […]
G20 agrees on 1.5°C target ahead of UN climate talks
ROME: G20 leaders meeting in Rome on Sunday committed to the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and pledged action on the use of coal, but fell short on a target of zero emissions, according to a final draft communique. The pledges by the Group of 20 major economies, which emit […]
Flights, weddings cancelled as China tackles Covid cases
BEIJING: Beijing officials on Friday told residents to postpone weddings and keep funeral ceremonies short, as disease controls across China were tightened just months before the Winter Olympics kicks off in the capital. The world’s most populous nation has reduced infection numbers to a trickle since its initial epidemic last spring thanks to a zero-tolerance […]
Facebook asks workers to preserve internal documents since 2016
Facebook has told employees to “preserve internal documents and communications since 2016” that pertain to its businesses because governments and legislative bodies have started inquiries into its operations, according to a company email sent on Tuesday night. The move, known as a “legal hold”, follows intense media, legal and regulatory scrutiny over the social network’s […]
Israel gives final OK to 1,800 West Bank settler homes
JERUSALEM: Israel on Wednesday advanced plans for building more than 3,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a move condemned by the Palestinians that came a day after the US forcefully criticised such construction. The Civil Administration’s high planning committee gave final approval to 1,800 homes and initial endorsement for another 1,344, a spokesman […]
Biden govt issues sharpest rebuke to Israel over settlements
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration issued on Tuesday its harshest public criticism to date of Israeli plans for Jewish settlement expansion in occupied West Bank, saying that it harmed peace prospects between Israelis and Palestinians. “We are deeply concerned about the Israeli government’s plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep […]
Erdogan steps back from threat to expel Western envoys
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday backed down from his threat to expel 10 Western ambassadors over their joint statement of support for a jailed civil society leader. He spoke after the United States and several of the other concerned countries issued identical statements saying they respected a UN convention that required diplomats not to […]
Colombia’s most wanted drug lord captured
BOGOTA: Colombia’s most-wanted drug trafficker “Otoniel” has been captured, officials said on Saturday, a major victory for the government of the world’s top cocaine exporter. Dairo Antonio Usuga, who headed the country’s largest narco-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, was captured near one of his main outposts in Necocli, near the border with Panama. […]
Nato agrees on plan to deter Russian threat amid China focus
BRUSSELS: Nato defence ministers agreed a new master plan on Thursday to defend against any potential Russian attack on multiple fronts, reaffirming the alliance’s core goal of deterring Moscow despite a growing focus on China. The confidential strategy aims to prepare for any simultaneous attack in the Baltic and Black Sea regions that could include nuclear […]
