International

TEHRAN: Iran’s atomic agency said on Friday that its stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms (463 pounds), the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West. The figure, attributed to agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvan, was carried in a report by the semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies. Under the historic 2015 nuclear deal between Iran …

BAGHDAD: Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq’s capital on Friday, leaving more than 100 people injured as they vented their fury over last month’s election result, medical and security sources said. “There were 125 people injured, 27 of them civilians and the rest from the security forces,” the health ministry said. The political arm …

At least eight people were killed and many others injured in a crush when fans surged toward the stage during the opening night of the Astroworld music festival on Friday in the US city of Houston, officials said. Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena confirmed the casualty figures at an early morning news conference outside NRG Park. Pena said that at …

A confidential Israeli dossier detailing alleged links between Palestinian human rights groups and an internationally designated terrorist organisation contains little concrete evidence and failed to convince European countries to stop funding the groups. The 74-page document appears to have been prepared by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service and shared with European governments in May. The Associated Press obtained the document from …

Four women have been found dead in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government said on Saturday, following reports that activists had been killed. Two suspects have been arrested after the four bodies were found at a house in the city’s fifth police district, interior ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosti said in a video statement. “The …

A trial of Pfizer’s experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 was stopped early after the drug was shown to cut by 89% the chances of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of developing severe disease, the company said on Friday. The results appear to surpass those seen with Merck’s pill, molnupiravir, which was shown last month to halve the likelihood …

Australia on Friday postponed its first-ever cricket Test against Afghanistan, after the country’s ruling Taliban regime effectively banned women from playing the sport. Australia’s cricketing authorities said that after consultation with “relevant stakeholders”, they decided the men’s Test, to be played in Hobart this month, would not go ahead as planned. After the Taliban ousted Afghanistan’s elected government in August, senior leaders …

WASHINGTON: The FBI released hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents on Wednesday about its long effort to explore connections between the Saudi government and the Sept 11 attacks, revealing the scope of a strenuous but ultimately fruitless investigation whose outcome many question to this day. Agents for years investigated support given to several of the hijackers upon their arrival …

Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton has resigned in the fallout from former player Azeem Rafiqs racism allegations against the English cricket club, citing an unwillingness by the club to accept the claims and a refusal to apologise. “Today I announce my resignation as chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, with immediate effect,” Hutton said on Friday. “There has been a constant unwillingness from …

GLASGOW: In the fight to curb climate change, several major coal-using nations announced steps on Thursday to wean themselves at times slowly off the heavily polluting fossil fuel. The pledges to phase out coal came on top of other promises made at the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that the head of an international energy organisation said trimmed a …