INTERNATIONAL

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked the Government of India to drop the investigation charges against Mir Junaid from The Kashmiriyat and Yashraj Sharma who works with independent media website, The Kashmir Walla. The CPJ also asked the administration to drop charges against a Bandipora based reporter- Sajad Gul. CPJ- the International committee highlighting and fighting for the freedom of the Press globally has said that it tried to contact Amritpal Singh, senior superintendent of police for Shopian district, Colonel K. Arun of the army’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information, and Sajad Malik, police deputy superintendent of Hajin, for comment via messaging app, but they did not respond. The cases filed against The Kashmiriyat and Kashmir walla on 31 ...

In an interview to Press TV, Iran’s state television news channel, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for the need to respect the rights of the people of Kashmir in ‘determining their own destiny’ and offered to mediate and play a “constructive role” in bringing the conflict to an end.   Responding to a question on “What has been the policy of president Rouhani” and what does he tell India about the situation, Zarif said, “our policy has been very clear. We emphasize the need to respect the rights of people of all places, including Kashmiris, their human rights, their right to determine their own destiny.”   “We have been in constant dialogue with our friends in India and our friends in Pakistan about how we can play a constructive role in bringing t...

Myanmar police began to disperse protesters in the capital, Naypyitaw, on Monday as businesses around the country shut in a general strike called to oppose the military coup despite a threat from authorities that confrontation could cost lives.   Three weeks after seizing power, the junta has failed to stop daily protests and a civil disobedience movement calling for the reversal of the Feb. 1 coup and release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. There were protests in cities and towns across the country on Monday, from the northern hills on the border with China to the central plains, the Irrawaddy river delta and the southern panhandle.   Images posted on social media showed a police water cannon truck and numerous other vehicles closing in to break up a processio...

Four women working with a NGO were killed in North Waziristan's tribal district. According to reports, there were shots fired on their vehicle in the mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan (which is now under districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan). The activists died after suffering major injuries while the driver was injured in the attack. While the gunmen remains unidentified, all roads and highways are blocked by forces and civilians. The women belonged to 'Sabawoon NGO', but the names of the killed women are withheld due to the sensitive nature of the region and protection of other volunteers, workers and members of the NGO. The news comes in after an armed conflict was reported between Dotani and Zalikhel Wazir tribes in Sou...

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran for crisis talks on Saturday as the clock ticked down on an Iranian ultimatum for a US return to the deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, according to a report by AB news. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he would “meet with senior Iranian officials to find a mutually agreeable solution, compatible with Iranian law, so that the IAEA can continue essential verification activities in Iran.” He added: “I am looking forward to success — this is in everybody’s interest.buy clomid online gaetzpharmacy.com/clomid.html no prescription ” The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed in 2015 to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the lifting of economic sanctions....

Israel agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of doses of Russian-made coronavirus vaccine for Syria as part of a prisoner swap deal, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday, without saying where it got the information. According to the report, the vaccine purchase was stipulated in a secret clause in a Russian-brokered deal to return an Israeli woman who crossed the border into Syria. In exchange, Israel agreed to return two shepherds who crossed from Syria into Israeli territory, and pardoned a Druze woman from the Israeli-held section of the Golan Heights who had been sentenced to community service. The woman was convicted of monitoring and photographing Israeli soldiers along the frontier. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency denied the report of the vaccine clause, saying it was ...

At least four rockets struck an Iraqi airbase Saturday night, the Iraqi military said in a statement, while other officials said one person was wounded at the base where an American defense company services combat aircraft, according to a report by Associated Press. Four security officials said that the individual wounded at Balad airbase in Salahaddin province worked for the company, and one of them said his nationality was South African. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. They said U.S. defense company Sallyport has its headquarters within the airbase, and currently has 46 personnel there contracted to provide base services to support Iraq’s F-16 program. The attack comes days after over a dozen rockets targeted coalition forces outside Irbil...

First case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu to humans was detected by Russian scientists and the authorities have alerted the World Health Organization. "Information about the world's first case of transmission of the avian flu (H5N8) to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organization," the head of Russia's health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said in televised remarks. The highly contagious strain is lethal for birds but has never before been reported to have spread to humans. Popova said that scientists at Russia's Vektor laboratory had isolated genetic material of the strain from seven workers of a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak was recorded among the birds in December. The workers did not suffer any serious h...

Less than 24 hours after NASA’s science rover Perseverance landed on Mars, the United States space agency released a number of colourful images of the Red Planet.   The spacecraft has been equipped with a record 25 cameras and two microphones. Several of these cameras were turned on during the rover’s descent to the planet, thereby capturing striking images which show phenomenal details of the rover’s landing till about 2 meters off the ground. The landing photo was taken by a camera placed on the “sky crane” descent-stage, just above the rover.     The images were snapped during the crucial last minutes of the rover’s descent, also referred to as the “seven minutes of terror”, when it was travelling at 12,000 miles per hour.   Speaking at a NAS...