International

16-01-2022 TEHRAN/ BEIJING: A 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement signed between Iran and China last year has now entered the implementation stage, according to Iran’s foreign minister. Hossein Amirabdollahian, in his first visit to China as foreign minister, announced the news late Friday after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang …

16-01-2022 LONDON: Calls are growing for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign after more revelations came to light about regular parties organized at Downing Street that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules, with Labour party leader Keir Starmer saying Johnson was “unable to lead”. The UK prime minister witnessed weekly “wine-time …

15-01-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies TEHRAN/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ PARIS: A recent meeting in Iran between the Taliban and the only opposition group left in Afghanistan produced no concrete results, a prominent opposition figure told AFP in an interview. Ali Maisam Nazary, the foreign relations chief for …

15-01-2022 DOHA/ KAMPALA: A Canadian doctor has told of her joy after delivering a “Miracle” baby on an overnight flight to Uganda. Dr Aisha Khatib, a professor at the University of Toronto, was about one hour into her Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Entebbe when the call went out. …

15-01-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic has been detained in Australia ahead of a court hearing that will determine whether the tennis star can stay in the country unvaccinated. The Serbian faces deportation after his visa was cancelled for a second time, with the government …

15-01-2022 COLOMBO: Apart from looking after her toddler, Maram Khalifa’s days consist mostly of trying to find ways to bring her husband home. Hejaaz Hizbullah, a prominent Sri Lankan civil rights lawyer, has been in prison for about 20 months, under anti-terrorism charges. Prosecutors accuse him of hate speech and …

15-01-2022 Bureau Report KERALA/ KOTTAYAM/ NEW DELHI: An Indian court has cleared a bishop accused of raping a nun between 2014 and 2016 in a case that had shocked one of the country’s oldest Christian communities. Franco Mulakkal, 54, was arrested from the southern state of Kerala in 2018. He …

15-01-2022 WASHINGTON/ PYONGYANG: The Biden administration on Wednesday imposed its first sanctions over North Korea’s weapons programs following a series of North Korean missile launches, including two since last week. The sanctions targeted six North Koreans, one Russian and a Russian firm Washington said were responsible for procuring goods for …

15-01-2022 TEHRAN/ BEIRUT: A high-ranking official of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement said the West and Saudi Arabia have failed to know the nature of the resistance and the strength of Lebanese people and faith. Hashim Safi al-Din, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council slammed Saudi Arabia for interfering in the …

15-01-2022 VIENNA/ WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken says there are only “a few weeks left” to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal before Tehran’s advancements will become too difficult to reverse. Blinken spoke on Thursday as negotiations in Vienna between Tehran and the other signatories of …