BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces have launched an operation to clear the Islamic State (IS) militants from the rural areas in the eastern province of Diyala, the military said.

ISLAMABAD: Five people were killed and six others injured in separate rain and windstorm-triggered incidents in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said.

KABUL:Seven civilians were killed and six others injured in two explosions targeting public mini-buses along a busy road in Kabul, police in the Afghan capital confirmed.The explosions occurred in Sari Pul and Mahtab Qala localities in Dashti Barchi, in Police District 13 and Police District 6 on Saturday, causing panic among the residents in the neighbourhood, which has witnessed serial explosions in recent weeks, Xinhua news agency reported.

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday expressed his sadness over the death of William Swing, a former leader of the UN migration agency.

LONDON: The UK government is considering delaying the lifting of the remaining restrictions in England by another month amid concerns over the spike in new Covid cases and the further transmission of the Delta variant, informed sources said on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Indian fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was on Friday denied bail by the High Court in Dominica, citing him to be a flight risk, local media reported.

HIONG KONG: Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has again appeared in a court here along with 19 other defendants for their involvement in an illegal assembly in 2020.

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has announced $150 million of security assistance package for Ukraine to enhance its defense capability.
The US will provide Ukraine with counter-artillery radars, counter-unmanned aerial systems, secure communications gear, electronic warfare and military medical evacuation equipment, and training and equipment to improve the operational safety and capacity of Ukrainian Air Force bases, according to a Pentagon statement, Xinhua reported.

NEW YORK: Kevin Kishore Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit who arrived in South Dakota on a student visa 30 years ago is wading into a crowded field of candidates betting that California will likely hurtle into a recall election for Governor in 2021.

WASHINGTON: The US Senate has confirmed Zahid Quraishi to become the first Muslim American federal judge in the country's history.

SAN FRANCISCO: Staring from June 15, the city of San Francisco will fully reopen and eliminate capacity limits, according to an announcement by Mayor London Breed.

MOSCOW: Just days ahead of the much-anticipated meeting between Russian President Vladmir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order to nullify the Moscow-Washington Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on "open ground" that facilitated travels for diplomats in their host country.

SAN FRANCISCO: Popular virtual gaming platform Roblox has been sued by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) in the US, seeking $200 million in damages for allegedly allowing users to upload music from famous artists without paying a licensing fee.

SYDNEY: International tertiary students will soon be allowed back onto campuses in Australia's New South Wales (NSW), if a state government proposal announced on Thursday gains federal approval.

OTTAWA: Canadian Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced that the country is looking to ease some Covid-19 restrictions in stages, starting in early July.

BANGKOK: At least 100,000 people in eastern Myanmar are on the run because of violent "attacks" by the army, the United Nations estimates.

ISLAMABAD: The death toll from the collision between two passenger trains in Pakistan's Sindh province has increased to 62, a government official said on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD: Unidentified gunmen assassinated a senior officer of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) in capital Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

KABUL: At least 50 militants loyal to the Taliban outfit were killed and dozens more injured in a series of air raids by government forces in Afghanistan's Paktia province, a top official has confirmed.

KABUL: As the level of violence remains high in Afghanistan despite efforts to jumpstart the stalled peace process, a total of 119 people were killed in clashes and security incident in just two days, June 3-4, an official said here.

ISLAMABAD: At least 30 people were killed and 50 others injured after two passenger trains collided on Monday in Pakistan's Sindh province, authorities said.

MIAMI: At least three people were killed and multiple others injured during a shooting at a graduation party in Miami-Dade County located in the US state of Florida, police said.

WASHINGTON: Two people were killed and two others injured after a shooting at a parking lot in Indianapolis, the capital of the US state of Indiana, police said.

BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday warned Russia and Belarus against threatening the alliance's allies, following the forced landing of a passenger plane within the European Union (EU0 by Belarusian authorities.

JERUSALEM: A correspondent for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel was arrested during a protest in the Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.

CANBERRA: Leader of Australia's opposition Labor Party Anthony Albanese on Sunday said the country cannot wait until 2022 to open dedicated quarantine facilities for international arrivals.

TOKYO: The number of newborn babies in Japan dropped to a record low in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, marking the lowest level since the Health Ministry began keeping records in 1899, the government said in a report.

KOLKATA: More than 100 days after they sailed out of Cox's Bazar in the coastal region of Bangladesh, 81 Muslim Rohingya refugees have reached Aceh in Indonesia.

OTTAWA: Former Canadian Senator Murray Sinclair has called for an independent investigation into the sites of indigenous residential schools across the country.

MINSK: Belarusian state television has aired a long interview with imprisoned government critic Roman Protasevich for the first time since he was jailed after being offloaded a Ryanair flight on May 23.

NEW DELHI: After a Dominican High Court adjourned the hearing in fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi's case, the eight member team of CBI, ED and MEA are now en route to India, without the diamond jeweller that duped millions in the PNB multi-crore fraud.

UNITED NATIONS: President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Volkan Bozkir said that the effects of corruption are "detrimental to all of society" and it should not be allowed to continue unchecked.

TORONTO: Canadians fear there could be more graves of indigenous children after the discovery of the remains of 215 kids from the grounds of a former native school.

BANGKOK: The Thai government announced to reverse a decision made by authorities in the country's capital Bangkok to ease some Covid-19 bans.

NEW YORK: A technology company has admitted to committing fraud to bring Indians on the coveted H1-B visas to the US, according to a federal prosecutor.