INTERNATIONAL

February 12 After Tahir-ul-Qadri’s recent speech in which he had said: “Kashmiris should be able to choose freedom through a plebiscite.” his visit to India has run into trouble as security agencies red-flagged his recent speech, The Hindu reported. Qadri’s visa was cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs, but the Home Ministry is learnt to have blocked it, sources said. He has been associated with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s campaigns in the past, and his visit was being seen as a confidence-building measure. Qadri said in a video message posted on January 2 that he was coming to India at the request of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and the invitation was extended to him through the Lucknow-based Shia cleric Kalbe Jawad. Jawad could not be reached for comments. Qadri ...

February 12 Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to India next week. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement here. During the visit, the Crown Prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice president of Saudi Arab...

January 31 The Kabul government is steadily losing its grip over parts of Afghanistan even as American forces intensify their air campaign against insurgent groups, a US government watchdog said Thursday. The latest grim assessment of Afghanistan’s security situation comes as the US pursues talks with the Taliban and urgently seeks a way out of the 17-year war. Numbers provided by Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, show that as of October 31, only 63.5 per cent of Afghans are living in areas controlled or influenced by the Kabul government — down from 65.2 per cent the previous quarter. According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which compiled the data, the decrease came as Kabul’s control or influence over Afgha...

January 29 Suman Kumari has become Pakistan’s first Hindu woman to have been appointed a civil judge after passing an examination for induction of judicial officers. Kumari, who hails from Qambar-Shahdadkot, will serve in her native district, Dawn reported. Suman Kumari passed her LL.B. examination from Hyderabad and did her masters in law from Karachi’s Szabist University. She then worked for Advocate Rasheed A. Razvi’s firm. Suman Kumari fears that her community would not appreciate her decision to become a lawyer, but “I am confident my family will stand by me come what may”. According to Dr Pawan Kumar Bodan, her father, Suman wants to provide free legal assistance to the poor in Qambar-Shahdadkot. “Suman has opted for a challenging profession, but I am sure she will ...

January 21 A coordinated Taliban assault on a military base and police training center in eastern Afghanistan on Monday morning killed at least 12 and wounded over 30 people, provincial officials said. Salem Asgherkhail, head of the area’s public health department, said that most of those killed in the attack in Maidan Wardak province were military personnel. Some of the wounded were taken to provincial hospitals for treatment while the more serious cases were sent to the capital, Kabul. Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior minister, said a suicide car bomber struck the base first, followed by insurgents who opened fire at the Afghan forces. At least two Taliban fighters were killed by Afghan troops, he added. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, claimed respo...

January 18 A car bomb exploded at a heavily guarded police academy in Colombia’s capital on Thursday, killing 10 people and injuring dozens in an attack that recalled the bloodiest chapters of the country’s drug-fueled guerrilla conflict. The scene outside the General Santander police academy in southern Bogota was chaotic in the aftermath of the midmorning attack, the biggest against a police or military facility in Bogota in years. Videos circulating on social media show panicked officers hauling injured colleagues on stretchers with debris and body parts strewn in front of red tile-roofed cadet barracks. In the distance, the skeletal steel remains of the truck used in the attack can be seen still burning while approaching ambulances blare. President Ivan Duque rushed back to...

January 17 The global organisation's own #MeToo survey has found that one in three employees responding to it have said that they have suffered sexual harassment in the last two years. Sharing the survey results in a letter to UN employees on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "The results confirm that these have a debilitating effect on staff morale and on work performance and there are continued barriers to reporting, including fear of retaliation and perception that perpetrators, for the most part, enjoy impunity." Guterres, who has made empowering women and ending sexual harassment and abuse one of his priorities, commissioned the consulting firm Deloite Touche Tomhatsu to survey the employees of the UN system worldwide. Deloitte said that 10,032 UN employees had...

January 16 The Pakistani forces have gunned down four militants, including a top Taliban commander. Those killed in the exchange of fire include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Islam and Mohibullah who were allegedly involved in November bombings which killed 31 people including Sikhs.. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from their possession. Intelligence agencies raided a house near Qazi pump area where the militants were believed to be hiding. The owner of the house was also killed in the firing between the militants and security forces. In November, 31 people including three Sikhs were killed and over 40 others injured in the bomb blast at the Friday Market (Juma Bazar) near an Imam Bargah, a Shia religious place, in Orakzai tribal distr...

January 16 The Taliban issued a statement Tuesday threatening to end contact with the US even as Washington’s peace envoy makes another round of the region in pursuit of a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s protracted conflict before a frustrated President Donald Trump makes good on his 2016 campaign promise to end America’s involvement. Earlier in the day, the US Embassy in Kabul said Zalmay Khalilzad had arrived in Kabul following visits to India, the United Arab Emirates and China. Khalilzad was to meet President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other political leaders to discuss the next steps in US efforts to get an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process started.buy sinequan online salempregnancy.org/wp-content/languages/new/buynoprescription/sinequan-no-presc...

January 12 A HUGE swarm of locusts have descended on Islam's holiest site Mecca - leaving worshippers covered in insects. Footage shared on social media shows the plague of insects surging around the Great Mosque in Mecca earlier this week as cleaners battled to fumigate after the phenomenon. In the clips, the insects can be seen flying around the holy site as well as on the walls and tiled floor. Officials have said that specialised teams have been working to eliminate the black grasshoppers from the site. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ls9vDi9m1A[/embedyt] In one image posted on Twitter, worshippers can be seen covered in the insects while at the site which experiences over 15 million visitors a year. It's estimated 130 cleaners have been tasked with clea...