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Taliban insurgents tightened their grip on Afghanistan on Friday, wresting control of its second and third biggest cities while Western embassies prepared to send in troops to help evacuate staff from the capital, Kabul. The capture of the second-biggest city of Kandahar in the south and Herat in the west …

Prosecutors in Libya have issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, over suspected ties to Russian mercenaries. A BBC World Service investigation has revealed links between the shadowy Wagner group’s activities in Libya and war crimes committed against Libyan citizens. …

The United States grew significantly more diverse over the past decade, as the populations of people who identify as Hispanic and Asian surged and the number of people who said they were more than one race increased, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday. Overall population growth slowed dramatically over the …

Tunisia has taken 14 officials into custody on suspicion of corruption in the phosphate industry, Mohsen Dali, a judiciary spokesman, said on Thursday. The suspects included a former junior minister, a mines director, and procurement director at the Industry Ministry, and six managers, Dali said.

Afghanistan’s third-largest city, Herat, was on the verge of falling to the Taliban on Thursday amid heavy fighting, as the militant group also established a bridgehead within 150 km (95 miles) of Kabul. The group claimed control over Herat and, in what would be its most significant two victories since …

On Thursday, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc rejected the Central Bank of Lebanon’s decision to lift fuel subsidies, saying that it contradicts the policies applied by parliament and the government. In addition to the statement issued by the Banque du Liban regarding hydrocarbons, the Banque du Liban had written to the government …

RAMALLAH, Thursday, August 12, 2021 (WAFA) – The Palestinian presidency today expressed its strong rejection and condemnation of the new Israeli settlement expansion projects in the Palestinian territories, particularly plans for the construction of 2,200 settlement units in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories. …

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has slammed the United States’ interventionist measures in Yemen, saying Washington is hindering a political resolution of the conflict gripping the impoverished country. In a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the movement’s spokesman, said, “The US meddling in Yemen has led to the …

China has urged the United States to stop interfering in the affairs of Chinese Taipei and sending wrong signals to separatist forces in the self-governed Chinese island. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, made the remarks at a regular news conference in Beijing on …

The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has pushed cases and hospitalizations in the United States to a six-month high, with some states like Hawaii saying they will re-impose COVID restrictions to avert straining their healthcare. “I’ll be signing an executive order that will limit social gatherings, …

Haiti will hold a presidential election on November 7, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last month, which threw the country into political chaos. According to reports, Haiti’s provisional electoral council said legislative elections, delayed since 2019, and a constitutional referendum that had been twice postponed due to the …

The administration of US President Joe Biden is ramping up deportations and prosecutions of migrants crossing the southern border, under a Trump-era order, that left vulnerable asylum-seekers subjected to sexual abuse and murder at the he hands of drug cartels and human traffickers, right organizations warn. US authorities are lately …

Most of parents in the United States are opposed with Covid-19 vaccination mandates at schools even after the FDA’s full approval of the existing vaccines, a new poll revealed. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll released on Wednesday, 58 percent of parents whose children are eligible for the …

Belarus has told the United States embassy in Minsk to reduce its staff against the backdrop of the latest sanctions imposed by Washington, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry says. Anatoly Glaz, a foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday that Minsk had informed the US it wanted the embassy …

Sudan’s foreign minister says the country will hand over former President Omar al-Bashir and other officials wanted over ‘genocide’ charges and war crimes in the Darfur region to the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to reports, the “cabinet decided to hand over wanted officials to the ICC,” state media quoted …

Zambians were voting for a new leader on Thursday, with long queues pointing to a high turnout in an election showdown between President Edgar Lungu and main opposition rival Hakainde Hichilema that looks too tight to call. The two rivals, who voted at different stations hours apart, were both confident …

Dr. Anthony Fauci says an additional COVID-19 booster shot will be recommended for previously vaccinated people with weakened immune systems. He told NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday that he expects the booster recommendation to come “imminently.” People have compromised immune systems for a variety of reasons, including organ transplants, cancer, …

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended his government on Thursday as public anger grew over the response to wildfires that have ripped through thousands of hectares of forest over the past 10 days. On Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, where some of the worst fires have occurred, rain provided some relief …

Nine people were killed in flash floods in Kastamonu in Turkey’s Black Sea region that sent water and debris rushing through streets and damaged bridges, authorities said on Thursday. There was also flooding in the Black Sea provinces of Sinop and Bartin, where one person went missing on Wednesday and …

Russia has detained the head of a research facility that specialises in hypersonic technology in Moscow on suspicion of state treason, the TASS news agency cited a source as saying on Thursday. Russia’s Federal Security Service will ask a court to hold him in custody for two months, the report …