DUBAI: The United States is negotiating with Kuwait and other countries whether they can host Afghans who supported the American war effort and could face Taliban revenge attacks if they stay in Afghanistan, America’s top diplomat said on Thursday. During a visit to tiny, oil-rich Kuwait, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not announce any deal or disclose critical …

Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it would reopen its borders to fully vaccinated foreign tourists after a 17-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the state news agency said. However, Riyadh did not announce any lifting of restrictions on Umrah, which can be performed at any time and usually attracts millions of Muslims from across the globe each year. …

Four people were reported dead on Thursday and more than 180 injured as thousands of firefighters battled huge blazes spreading across the Mediterranean resort regions of Turkey’s southern coast. Officials also launched an investigation into suspicions that the fires that broke out on Wednesday in four locations to the east of the tourist hotspot Antalya were the result of arson. …

spo ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday welcomed China’s engagement with the Taliban, underscoring the importance of Beijing’s role in the Afghan peace process. “We believe that China being a neighbouring country to Afghanistan does have an important role to play in the Afghan peace process,” FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at his weekly media briefing. A nine-member Taliban …

DHAKA: Days of heavy rainfall have pounded Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, destroying dwellings and sending thousands of people to live with extended families or in communal shelters. In the 24 hours until Wednesday afternoon, more than 30 centimetres (11.8 inches) of rain fell on the camps in Cox’s Bazar district hosting more than 800,000 Rohingya, the UN refugee …

The International Space Station (ISS) was thrown briefly out of control on Thursday when jet thrusters of a newly arrived Russian research module inadvertently fired a few hours after it was docked to the orbiting outpost, Nasa officials said. The seven crew members aboard — two Russian cosmonauts, three Nasa astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a European space agency astronaut …

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s king on Thursday rebuked Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government for misleading parliament over the status of coronavirus emergency measures, sparking renewed calls for the embattled leader to resign. Muhyiddin obtained royal consent to declare the emergency in January, allowing him to halt parliament and rule by ordinance without legislative approval. Critics have slammed the emergency as a …

They spit. They wait. They hope. About 30,000 people from scores of nations are spitting into tiny plastic vials at the Olympics in a daily routine that’s grown crucial in going ahead with the pandemic-era Games, according to organisers. If you do the math for the two-week duration of the Olympics, that adds up to a half million saliva samples …

Alex Rodriguez – who turned 46 on Tuesday (July 27) – stunned fans with his incredible physique as he shared a shirtless picture of him cooling off on a yacht. The Jennifer Lopez’s ex also uploaded a suited up photo, in which he looks sharp. The former baseball pro has been working on his fitness for a longtime. In the …

The national security advisers (NSA) of Pakistan and the United States met in the US capital on Thursday, where they discussed the “urgent need for reduction in violence and a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan”. NSA Moeed Yusuf and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan waited till Thursday evening to confirm their meeting, posting brief tweets stating that their talks also …