International

NAJAF: Iraqi authorities have exhumed the remains of 15 people from a mass grave believed to hold dozens more likely killed under dictator Saddam Hussein, an official said on Saturday. The mass grave was first discovered in April near the southern city of Najaf, during work to build a residential compound. It is believed to date back to the 1990s, …

KABUL: Scores of civilians have fled fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley after an insurgent group launched an offensive against Taliban forces, residents said on Saturday. The Panjshir Valley is famed for being a site of resistance by Afghans against Soviet forces in the 1980s and as a base for rebels opposed to Taliban rule during the Islamists’ first stint in …

SEOUL: North Korea announced 21 new “fever” deaths on Saturday and said more than half a million people had been sickened nationwide, two days after confirming its first cases of Covid-19. Despite activating its “maximum emergency quarantine system” to slow the spread of disease through its unvaccinated population, North Korea is now reporting tens of thousands of new cases daily. …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka lifted a nationwide curfew for 12 hours on Saturday, further easing tight curbs as new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made his cabinet appointments after clashes between pro- and anti-government groups. More than a month of predominantly peaceful protests against the government turned violent this week after supporters of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stormed an anti-government protest …

KYIV: Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive near the Russian-held town of Izium in eastern Ukraine, a regional governor said on Saturday, in what could prove a serious setback for Moscow’s plans to capture the entire Donbas region. Russian forces have focused much of their firepower on the Donbas in a “second phase” of their invasion that was announced on …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has touched down in the United Arab Emirates to offer condolences over the death of its former president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, state-run PTV reported. The prime minister made a brief detour to the wealthy Gulf nation on his way back from the United Kingdom after the UAE’s ailing president passed away on Friday. The late …

KABUL: Afghanistan faces a budget deficit of 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million) this financial year, the country’s Taliban authorities said on Saturday without clarifying how the gap between expected revenues and planned spending will be met. Announcing the first annual national budget since the Taliban took over the war-torn country in August last year, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi …

JERUSALEM: Israel’s police chief on Saturday ordered an investigation into the actions of officers at the funeral of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after they charged the procession and beat pallbearers, sparking global outrage. Thousands of mourners packed Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday for the burial of the 51-year-old Al Jazeera reporter. The Palestinian-American was killed two days earlier during an …

A heavily armed 18-year-old white gunman shot 10 people dead on Saturday at a Buffalo, New York grocery store in a “racially motivated” attack that he live-streamed on camera, authorities said. The gunman, who was wearing a helmet and tactical gear, was arrested after the massacre, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told a news conference. Gramaglia put the toll at …

US State Secretary Antony Blinken spoke with the family of slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh after criticising Israel’s use of force at her funeral, an official said on Sunday. Blinken, during his flight on Saturday to Berlin for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers, offered “deep condolences” in a phone call with family members of Shireen Abu Akleh, a …