KABUL: The Taliban tightened their territorial stranglehold around Kabul on Saturday, as refugees from the insurgents’ relentless offensive flooded the Afghan capital and US Marines returned to oversee emergency evacuations.

CHON BURI: Another 13 Covid-19 deaths and 1,254 new cases were reported in this eastern province on Saturday as the rate of infections remained high.

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple on Friday defended new child protection features that would check images uploaded to its cloud storage and on its messaging platform, rejecting concerns the updates pose threats to privacy.

Thanpuying Boonruen Choonhavan, the widow of late prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan, died in the early hours of Saturday after being diagnosed with Covid-19. She was 101 years old.

FIFE, Scotland: Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand holds a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Women’s Scottish Open at Fife and put her success down to “just chilling”.

Demand for rapid antigen test kits is soaring in the industrial sector as more than 1,000 factories need to conduct Covid-19 tests on their workers to contain the virus spread, says the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

A doctor who lost his parents and sister to the coronavirus is urging the government to allow private parties, such as the Private Hospital Association, to directly import vaccines from manufacturers.

A legal expert on Friday warned the government it would face a backlash if it bowed to pressure to curb exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to ease supply shortages at home.

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook on Friday began rolling out encryption for voice or video calls made through its Messenger texting app, ratcheting up privacy for users.

Anti-government protesters are planning more demonstrations for Sunday in Bangkok and some other provinces.