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The Russian military says Syrian air defense units intercepted most of the missiles fired during a recent Israeli raid on the capital Damascus, shooting down 21 projectiles during the attack launched from the Lebanese airspace. “At about 1:30 September 3, four Israeli Air Force F-15 tactical fighters fired 24 guided …

Britain’s biggest supplier of influenza vaccines said on Saturday it was postponing deliveries due to a Brexit-related shortage of lorry drivers, delaying the government’s winter inoculation campaign. Medics say the campaign offering free flu vaccines to more than 35 million people is even more important this year after lockdowns for …

Taliban and opposition forces were fighting on Saturday for control of the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, the last province in Afghanistan holding out against the extremist group, according to reports. Taliban sources had said on Friday the group had seized control of the valley, although the resistance denied it …

New blood donor research suggests that more than 80 percent of American adults now have COVID-19 antibodies due to vaccinations or infections. Published in the open-access medical journal JAMA on Thursday, the study estimated that more than 80 percent of Americans above 16 years of age had COVID-19 antibodies as …

Taliban forces have taken full control of Afghanistan including the Panjshir valley where opposition forces had been holding out, three Taliban sources said on Friday as heavy celebratory gunfire was heard in the Afghan capital Kabul. “By the grace of Allah Almighty, we are in control of the entire Afghanistan. …

A delegation from Lebanon’s caretaker government will visit Syria on Saturday in the highest-level visit in years, aiming to pave the way for a plan to ease a power crisis in Lebanon by transmitting electricity via the Syrian grid. Lebanese government officials have mostly avoided Syria since the war began …

Iraq registered 60 mortalities and 5672 new cases, according to the daily COVID-19 report issued by the Ministry of Health today. The report said that 7828 patients have recovered from the virus in the past day. According to the Ministry’s stats, 1908079 citizens have tested positive for the virus since …

Key air pollutants temporarily plunged by unprecedented levels during coronavirus lockdowns last year, with fine particle pollution falling by more than a third across parts of Asia, a U.N. agency said on Friday. Particulate matter (PM 2.5) fell by up to 40% across Africa, South America, and Southern Asia and …

Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga has announced he will not run for the leadership of his governing party later this month – paving the way for a new premier after just a year in office marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response. Mr. Suga was appointed to the role in September …

Britain will not recognise the Taliban as the new government in Kabul, but must deal with new realities in Afghanistan and does not want to see its social and economic fabric broken, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday. Speaking during a visit to Pakistan, Raab said it would not …

Fighting broke out in Tripoli early on Friday between rival armed forces, witnesses said, the heaviest clashes in the Libyan capital since the conflict between eastern and western factions paused a year ago. A resident of the Salah al-Din district in southern Tripoli said shooting began at about 2.30 a.m. …

New Zealand police on Friday shot dead an Islamic State-inspired attacker after he injured six people in a supermarket knife rampage, despite round-the-clock surveillance by undercover officers. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was “gutted” the man, a Sri Lankan national, had managed to carry out his “hateful” assault even …

Mullah Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, will lead the new government in Afghanistan, at least three sources in the group said on Friday. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai will take senior positions in the government, the …

The European Commission and AstraZeneca said on Friday they had reached a settlement on delivering remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses by the British drugmaker and also ended pending litigation in Brussels. The settlement clears a major overhang for AstraZeneca, whose cheap and easily transportable vaccine has faced several setbacks, including the …

A stunned US East Coast woke to a rising death toll, surging rivers and destruction after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, filling low-lying apartments with water and turning roads into car-swallowing canals. At least 12 people died in New York City in flooding caused …

A new study of breakthrough Covid-19 infections finds that vaccines not only reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization, but can lower the odds of having long-term Covid-19 symptoms too. “We found that the odds of having symptoms for 28 days or more after post-vaccination infection were approximately halved …

The US reportedly used a secret CIA compound to rescue Americans, along with members of elite Afghan special forces, amid the chaos in and around the Kabul airport. The compound, known as the Eagle Base and located less than three miles north of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, …

The Ministry of Planning announced, on Thursday, that it will conduct a new survey of unemployment in Iraq. Ministry spokesperson Abdul-Zahra Al-Hindawi said in an interview, “It is hoped that a new survey of unemployment in Iraq will be conducted soon,” noting that “the Ministry is still dependent on previous …

A British-born man who was a member of a team of Islamic State terrorists in Syria nicknamed “The Beatles” accused of beheading American hostages was due to plead guilty on Thursday to U.S. criminal charges, according to a federal court record. A docket entry for the U.S. District Court in …

Authorities blanket disputed region with troops and clamp down on communications to prevent protests over Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s death. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the veteran separatist leader from Indian-administered Kashmir, has been laid to rest as the Indian authorities crackdown on public movement and impose a near-total communications blackout …