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Daily Archives: July 17, 2021

Kabul, Taliban negotiators meet in Qatar as Afghan fighting rages


July 17, 2021

Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban met in Doha for talks on Saturday, AFP correspondents said, as violence rages in the country with foreign forces almost entirely withdrawn. The two sides have been meeting on and off for months in the Qatari capital, but the talks have lost momentum as the insurgents have made battlefield gains. Several high-ranking officials, including former Afghan former …

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Cannes Film Festival cold shoulders its ‘Queer Palm’ prize


July 17, 2021

CANNES: It has been won by big-name Hollywood directors and is headed by one of France´s top comic stars, but the “Queer Palm” prize which celebrates LGBTQ movies at Cannes still has no official place at the world´s top film festival. Awards for films with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer content are already an integral part of other major …

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Afghan peace conference postponed: Foreign Office


July 17, 2021

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Friday the Afghan Peace Conference being hosted by Pakistan had been postponed. “The new dates of the said conference will be announced later,” the FO said. The conference was postponed after President Ashraf Ghani, reportedly in his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, called for its cancellation. President Ghani, while speaking at a regional …

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South Africa president says unrest was ‘planned’


July 17, 2021

DURBAN: President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said a week-long spree of violence and pillaging that has shocked South Africa had been “planned” and vowed to hunt down those responsible, as the death toll from the unrest reached 212. “It is quite clear that all these incidents of unrest and looting were instigated — there were people who planned it and …

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APEC leaders agree to cooperate on vaccine push


July 17, 2021

WELLINGTON: Pacific Rim leaders vowed to ramp up the production and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines on Friday at an emergency virtual meeting to develop an action plan that will contain the global pandemic. The unprecedented talks brought together heads of state from the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. New …

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Shops in Saudi Arabia can stay open during prayer times: local media


July 17, 2021

Shops in Saudi Arabia may now stay open during prayer times, a leading government-linked newspaper said on Friday, relaxing the kingdom’s strict rules on closing shops and businesses for prayer five times a day. It is the latest in a series of social and economic reforms intended to modernise the kingdom and boost the private sector’s contribution to its oil-dependent economy. The …

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PM delivers stinging rebuke after Ghani’s outburst


July 17, 2021

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday gave a robust response to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s allegation about Pakistan’s “negative role” in the Afghan peace process and said it was “extremely unfair” to blame Islamabad for the situation in Afghanistan. Fearing influx of Afghan refugees in Pakistan due to growing violence in the neighbouring country, the prime minister called upon …

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Afghan leaders leave for Doha seeking to revive stalled peace talks


July 17, 2021

A delegation of Afghan political leaders led by top peace official Abdullah Abdullah left for Qatar on Friday to attempt to breathe life into stalled talks with the Taliban as violence escalates around the country. Abdullah, head of the country’s High Council for National Reconciliation and former government chief executive, said that even as conflict rose and districts toppled to …

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Iraqi doctors plead for donations as hospital fire deepens Covid crisis


July 17, 2021

BAGHDAD: No beds, medicines running low and hospital wards prone to fire Iraq’s doctors say they are losing the battle against the coronavirus. And they say that was true even before a devastating blaze killed scores of people in a Covid-19 isolation unit this week. Infections in Iraq have surged to record highs in a third wave spurred by the …

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