Author: News Desk

Kabul  : Commander Supranullah was busy as we were ushered out of the monsoon rain for shelter on his front porch. The porch doubles as office and bedroom, which is convenient because since becoming the Taliban’s point person sorting problems and authorizing visiting journalists at the border with Pakistan, Supranullah — who like many rural Afghans uses just one name — has been slammed. He has a three-mile back up of heavily laden trucks waiting to leave Afghanistan at the Torkham border crossing. When we entered into his world, he was scribbling details relayed by an armed underling into a notebook. Clad in…

Mainz : The German company BioNTech is to apply for approval of its coronavirus vaccine, jointly developed with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, for use in children aged between 5 and 11 years, chief executive Ozlem Tureci said. “Over the weeks ahead we will submit the results of our study on 5-to-11-year-olds to the authorities worldwide and apply for approval for this vaccine for these age groups, here in Europe as well,” Tureci told Der Spiegel news magazine in remarks published on Friday. She said the company, based in Mainz in western Germany, had begun preparing production of the vaccine for…

Beirut : The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Cabinet, Mahmoud Makkieh, today announced the issuance of a decree, forming a new cabinet, led by Najib Mikati, and including 24 ministers. The decree was issued after a meeting between President Michel Aoun, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Lebanon has been without a fully empowered government since the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast in August 2020.

Lisbon : Jorge Sampaio, a former two-term president of Portugal and one of the most prominent political figures of his generation, has died. He was 81. The current Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced Sampaio’s death on Friday. He did not give a cause of death, though Sampaio had been in delicate health for several years and had been in hospital for the past two weeks, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Sampaio “prepared himself to be a fighter, and the banners of his fight were freedom and equality,” Rebelo de Sousa said in a televised statement.

Copenhagen: After 548 days with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, Denmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic restrictions. The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass — a proof of having been vaccinated — is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall. More than 80% of people above the age of 12 have had the two shots, reports AP today. “I wouldn’t say it is too early. We have opened the…

Manama: Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa has valued His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s issuance  of Decree-Law 24/2021, amending Article (13) of Law 18/2017 on penalties and alternative measures. It states: “The relevant authority at the Interior Ministry may request the executive judge to substitute the original penalty by one or more of the alternative penalties set forth in Article (2) of this Law, provided that it would not pose a threat to public security, and that the convicted person must have paid all the financial liabilities handed down against them by a criminal…

Bahrain : Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan received Al Kawther Social Care Society Chairman Hussein Al Ali, along with board members, and discussed cooperation to enhance charity and voluntary work in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Ala’ali outlined planned programmes and activities as part of its drive to support development and voluntary efforts, serve the community and build strategic partnership with other civil society institutions. Humaidan commended the efforts exerted by Al Kawther Social Care Society in supporting social and humanitarian schemes and cooperating with other competent authorities to bolster community partnership. He reiterated the ministry’s…

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has had only one Senate-confirmed director since 2006 — B. Todd Jones in 2013 — and it won’t have a new one anytime soon. The White House said Thursday that President Biden has withdrawn the nomination of David Chipman, a former ATF agent who later advocated for new gun safety laws as a top official at the gun violence prevention group Giffords, after it couldn’t find 50 Senate votes to confirm him. Sen. Angus King (I-Vt.) had told the White House he wouldn’t support Chipman’s nomination, and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) were…

US: Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez, who turned 19 this week, and 18-year-old British player Emma Raducanu both won upset semifinal victories at the U.S. Open on Thursday, earning the right to face each other in the final Grand Slam of the season. “Over the past two weeks, they have turned the U.S. Open into joyous coming-out parties that have thrilled the crowds at Arthur Ashe Stadium and left the Grand Slam aspirations of more seasoned and accomplished players in tatters. Fernandez, ranked 73rd in the world and playing in her second U.S. Open, beat the world’s No. 2 player, Aryna Sabalenka…

Washington : President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant that is killing thousands each week and jeopardizing the nation’s economic recovery. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. Biden is also signing…