03-08-2022 BEIJING: China is planning to ramp up large-scale military drills around the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which began as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew into Taipei for a visit that has angered Beijing. The unprecedented six days of military exercises began on Tuesday night after Pelosi landed on …

03-08-2022 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: The Australian government has said it is confident its greenhouse gas reduction target will be enshrined in law after negotiating amendments with senators from outside the new administration’s ranks. A bill to enshrine the centre-left Labor Party’s election pledge to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions …

03-08-2022 BAGHDAD: Supporters of influential Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who have camped inside Iraqi’s parliament since Saturday, have been instructed to leave the building but to continue their protests outside the parliamentary offices. In a tweet, Mohamed Saleh al-Iraqi, a senior pro-Sadr loyalist, told hundreds of supporters to leave …

03-08-2022 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Hundreds of women have been hospitalized after a gas leak at an apparel manufacturing plant in India, police said on Wednesday. The workers complained of nausea and vomiting at a plant in the Atchyutapuram district of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday night. …

03-08-2022 MAKKAH: The Saudi government has removed the protective barriers around the Holy Kaaba as it eases restrictions imposed due to coronavirus. The Saudi Gazette reported that directions to lift the barriers were given by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the head of the general presidency for the affairs of the …

02-08-2022 BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that those US politicians who “play with fire” on the Taiwan issue will “come to no good end”, according to a ministry statement. China has been in communication with the United States over US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy …

02-08-2022 By SAJ Jafri + Bureau Report KARACHI/ LASBELA/ ISLAMABAD: A top Pakistani army general and five senior military officials were martyred when their helicopter crashed while on a flood relief operation in troubled Balochistan province, the army said on Tuesday. The six individuals on board included the Commander XII …

02-08-2022 WASHINGTON/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States had killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists and suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks. In a televised address, Biden said the strike in Kabul, Afghanistan had been carried out …

01-08-2022 JERUSALEM/ TEHRAN: The secretary general of Hezbollah resistance movement did not rule out going to war with Israel over the regime’s attempts at impinging on Lebanon’s natural resources. Seyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks on Sunday amid a maritime dispute that escalated in early July, after the Israeli regime …

01-08-2022 COLOMBO: The mainly youth-led protest movement in crisis-hit Sri Lanka is divided on whether to withdraw from a sea-facing camp they set up months ago near the presidential secretariat in capital Colombo. The GotaGoGama camp, also called Galle Face Green, is the epicentre of the protests in Sri Lanka …