President Recep Tayyip Erdogan poured cold water Sunday over a plan in which Turkey operates Kabul airport and the Taliban provides security, adding Ankara would be in a tough position if another attack occurs. Turkey had long planned to help secure and run the Afghan capital’s airport, but appeared to drop the idea when it started Wednesday to withdraw its approximately 500 non-combat troops from Afghanistan. Erdogan on Friday said Turkey had held its first […]
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Crematorium priest, three others charged with rape, murder of nine-year-old Indian girl
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A priest and three other men have been charged with the gang rape and murder of a low-caste nine-year-old girl, Indian police said, in a case that sparked days of protests in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly assaulted by the priest, 53, and three workers on August 1 after she had gone to a crematorium to fetch water. The four men, who have been in custody since they […]
Japan detects more Moderna vaccine contamination
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Okinawa region suspended the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday after another contamination was spotted, the local government said. It comes a day after the Japanese health ministry said it was investigating the death of two men who received shots from tainted Moderna batches — though the cause of their death is unknown. The Okinawa prefecture, in southern Japan, said Sunday’s vaccination programme was partially postponed. “We are suspending […]
Anger after UK embassy ‘left Afghan staff details’ in Kabul
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — UK politicians on Friday slammed British diplomats for reportedly leaving Afghan staff’s contact details on the ground as they evacuated the Kabul embassy compound, now guarded by the Taliban. The discovery comes as the UK has acknowledged its hurried evacuation effort left hundreds of eligible Afghans behind. The Times in a front-page story by veteran war correspondent Anthony Loyd reported that he found unshredded documents revealing contact details of […]
UK evacuating last civilians from Kabul on Saturday
LONDON, United States (AFP) — Britain said it will run its last evacuation flights from Kabul on Saturday before pulling out its troops, leaving several hundred Afghans otherwise eligible to fly to the UK behind. The UK is winding up its operation to airlift civilians ahead of the August 31 deadline for US troop withdrawal as Taliban forces prepare to take over the airport. “We’re reaching the end of the evacuation, which will take place […]
Japan probes two deaths after jabs from tainted Moderna batch
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is investigating the death of two men who received jabs from batches of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine suspended from use due to contamination, the health ministry said Saturday. The men aged 30 and 38 died earlier this month after getting their second Moderna doses from one of three manufacturing lots suspended by the government on Thursday after several vials were found to be contaminated, the ministry said in a statement. […]
US strikes IS target in Afghanistan, pushes airlift into final stage
by David FOX Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — The US conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings and encroaching Taliban forces primed to take over Kabul airport. US forces overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of […]
India vaccinates 10 million in one day
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India has given more than 10 million Covid-19 jabs in a single day for the first time, authorities said Saturday, as the South Asian giant bolsters its defences for a predicted new surge. The health ministry said the 10 million landmark was passed on Friday, beating the country’s previous daily record of 9.2 million. The government has been stung by criticism after a brutal coronavirus wave in April and May […]
JUST IN: US drone strike targets IS ‘planner’ in Afghanistan: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military said Friday it had carried out a drone strike against a “planner” of the Islamic State-Khorasan, the group which claimed credit for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport. “The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target,” said Captain Bill Urban of the Central Command. “We know of no civilian casualties,” he added in a statement. © […]
JUST IN: Biden warns Kabul bombers ‘we will hunt you down’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden pledged on Thursday to hunt down the perpetrators of the suicide bombings in Kabul that killed 12 American troops. “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said in an address from the White House during which he praised the slain US troops as “heroes.” Biden also vowed on Thursday that the United States […]
Islamic State claims deadly bomb attack at Kabul airport: SITE monitoring
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide attack at the airport in Kabul on Thursday during the US-led evacuation from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the SITE monitoring agency said. The bomber “was able today to penetrate all the security fortifications” and get within “five meters (16 feet)” of US forces before detonating his explosives belt, the jihadist group’s propaganda arm Amaq said, according to a translation by SITE. The statement only appeared to […]
12 US troops killed, 15 wounded in Kabul attacks: US general
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Twelve US servicemen were killed and 15 wounded in suicide bombing attacks in Kabul on Thursday by Islamic State militants, the head of US Central Command said. “A number of Afghan civilians were also killed and injured in the attack,” General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters. “We’re still working to calculate the total losses.” McKenzie said the US airlift in Kabul would continue despite the attacks. “Let me be clear. […]





