International

14 July, 2019 LONDON: Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the Iranian tanker detained by Royal Marines near Gibraltar could be released, if the UK is guaranteed the oil is not bound for Syria. The tanker, seized on 4 July, was suspected of breaking EU sanctions. Iran claimed the seizure …

13 July, 2019 NEW YORK: US regulators have approved a record $5bn (£4bn) fine on Facebook to settle an investigation into data privacy violations, reports in US media say. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating allegations that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained the data of up to …

13 July, 2019 By SJA Jafri MELBOURNE/ WELLINGTON: Gun owners in Christchurch have handed over their weapons in exchange for cash in the first of planned gun buyback events in New Zealand. Dozens of Christchurch gun owners have handed over their weapons in exchange for money, in the first of …

13 July, 2019 “I was not surprised by what I saw”: US Vice President By SJA Jafri + Agencies MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON: US Vice President Mike Pence visited an over-crowded and foul-smelling border facility in south Texas yesterday packed with nearly 400 immigrant men held in sweltering cages without mats or pillows …

12 July, 2019 ISTANBUL/ MASCOW: Turkey has received the first parts of a Russian S-400 missile defence system despite opposition from the US. The shipment arrived in an airbase in the capital Ankara on Friday, the Turkish defence ministry says. The move will anger the US, which has warned that …

12 July, 2019 KABUL/JALALABAD: At least six people have been killed and 14 others wounded after a suicide bomber, believed to be in his early teens, targeted a wedding celebration in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, according to local officials. The attacker set off his explosives early on Friday inside the …

12-07-2019 By SJA Jafri RAWALPINDI/ N.WAZIRISTAN: Recently, in North Waziristan, rouge armed PTM protestors opened fire at the army check-post that took away the precious lives of brave soldiers of Pakistan army and injured several. The protestors kept provoking and disrespecting the deployed army to the point that they launched …

12-07-2019 WASHINGTON: As news broke that US President Donald Trump stopped a military strike on three Iranian targets June 21, the region came face to face with the prospect of war. Now, with the United States threatening even more sanctions and Iran breaching the 2015 nuclear deal in response to …

11-07-2019 DUBAI/ WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: The United Kingdom’s government has said three Iranian vessels unsuccessfully tried to impede the passage of a British commercial vessel through the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement on Thursday, the UK government said that the Iranian ships on Wednesday only turned away after receiving “verbal …

11-07-2019 By SJA Jafri + Agencies CANBERRA/SYDNEY: Australian Media Chiefs and the Federal Opposition are urging Peter Dutton to abandon any legal action against journalists targeted in recent federal police raids. Two ABC reporters and a News Corp journalist are under police investigation after publishing separate stories based on leaked …