MIDDLE EAST

Israel claims ‘excellent vaccine in hand’; set to start human trials

7:48 pm August 6, 2020

Jerusalem : Israel on Thursday claimed that it already has in hand an “excellent” vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic, but it has to go through regulatory processes which are set to begin with human trials following the autumn holidays. Israel’s Defence Minister Benny Gantz visited the Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) where he met with its director Prof Shmuel […]

Suicide car bomb, gunmen attack prison in east Afghanistan

11:39 pm August 2, 2020

Kabul: A suicide car bomb and multiple gunmen attacked a prison in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, Afghan officials said, killing at least three people and injuring 24 others. The gunbattle between Afghan security forces and insurgents in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, was still ongoing Sunday evening, and casualties were likely to rise, according […]

CMS holds Global Interfaith Convention to promote communal harmony

Afghan officials say Pakistani rockets kill 9, wound 50

11:40 pm July 31, 2020

Quetta: Pakistan fired a barrage of rockets across its southwestern border, killing nine people and wounding 50 in an Afghan frontier town, Afghan officials said Friday. Pakistan said Afghan border guards fired first and blamed them for the previous night’s exchange. The shooting that led to the casualties in the town of Spinboldak was the latest cross-border exchange between the two countries. Earlier this month, Pakistan fired […]

Pilgrims pray on peak day of Hajj in shadow of coronavirus

2:16 pm July 30, 2020

Dubai: Masked pilgrims arrived Thursday at Mount Arafat, a desert hill near Islam’s holiest site, to pray and repent on the most important day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The global coronavirus pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage, which last year drew 2.5 […]

Turkey vows to expand anti-PKK operations in northern Iraq

Turkey: Social media law’s passage raises censorship worries

11:27 pm July 29, 2020

Istanbul: Turkey’s parliament approved a law early Wednesday that gives authorities greater power to regulate social media despite concerns of growing censorship in a country where critical voices are already muted. The law requires social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to maintain representatives in Turkey to deal with complaints about content on their platforms. Companies […]