International

KABUL: The Taliban seized another Afghan provincial capital on Tuesday — the seventh in less than a week — as tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the north for the relative safety of Kabul and other centres. A provincial lawmaker said the insurgents had taken Farah city, capital of the same-named province in western Afghanistan, while a …

The United States wants Afghanistan’s neighbours not to recognise any government in Kabul that has been imposed by force. The demand — made at a Tuesday afternoon news briefing at the US State Department — preceded a meeting of the Troika Plus nations in Doha on Wednesday. The group, which includes the US, Russia, China and Pakistan, is aimed at finding a …

Taliban insurgents tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday, now controlling 65 per cent of the country, as US President Joe Biden urged the nation’s leaders to fight for their homeland. Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to the Taliban on Tuesday evening, according to residents who reported Afghan security forces retreating towards the Kelagi desert, …

The Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday, putting nine of the nation’s 34 in the insurgents’ hands amid the US withdrawal from the country. The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west put increasing pressure on the country’s central government to stem the tide of …

RIYADH: Saudi citizens will need two COVID-19 vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom starting today as it announced the past month, the ministry of interior clarified Monday. Those under the age of 12 will get a veracious health insurance to get medical treatment when necessary if they contract COVID outside, the ministry said. The insurance must extend …

DUBAI: Dubai Chamber has launched a new online business intelligence tool to help Dubai traders identify the untapped potential for exporting commodities to 30 promising markets across the MENA region, Asia, Africa and Europe. There are 26 major commodities listed on the platform, worth an estimated US$10. billion of untapped opportunities that exporters can capitalise on. The analysis is based …

Expo 2020 Dubai has revealed the calendar for its ‘Programme for People and Planet,’ a schedule of events, experiences, thought-leadership and public conversations that aims to find solutions for some of the most pressing problems facing our world. Designed with and for the global community, the programme will harness the connecting power of World Expos to catalyse a legacy of …

The United Nations panel on climate change told the world on Monday that global warming was dangerously close to being out of control – and that humans were “unequivocally” to blame. Already, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere are high enough to guarantee climate disruption for decades if not centuries, the report from the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on …

More than half a million Tunisians received vaccinations on Sunday as part of a national campaign to control the outbreak of COVID-19 after the country received more than 6 million vaccine doses from Western and Arab countries. The slow pace of vaccinations and the handling of the pandemic caused a wave of protests against the government of Prime Minister Hichem …

LAHORE: The PML-N has announced resisting the arrest of party president Shehbaz Sharif by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Speaking at a joint press conference, Punjab party leaders Ataullah Tarar and Azma Bukhari said that unlike in the past at no cost Shehbaz Sharif would be allowed to be detained and if the FIA attempted to do so its offices …