international

30 Sep

Border incidents with China will continue till boundary agreement is reached, says Indian Army chief

editor0 CommentsIndia, international

Developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh have added to the ongoing legacy challenges on India’s active and disputed borders on the western and eastern front, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Naravane said on Thursday. According to him, such incidents will continue till such time a long-term solution is reached, which is to have a boundary agreement. He also said that the unprecedented developments at the Northern Borders necessitated large scale resource mobilisation, orchestration of forces and immediate response, and all this in a Covid infested environment. Recent developments in Afghanistan “have definitely been…

26 Sep

Meet IFS officer Sneha Dubey who gives befitting reply to Pakistan PM Imran Khan at UN

editor0 CommentsIndia, international

India again castigated Pakistan as it gave blistering retort to Prime Minister Imran Khan raking up the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. India said in its response that Pakistan, where terrorists enjoy free pass, is an "arsonist" disguising itself as a "fire-fighter". Khan in his address spoke about the 2019 decision of India to abrogate Article 370 as well as the death of pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. "The worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India," Khan said in an address, delivered by video due to Covid precautions. In…

20 Sep

India to restart COVID vaccine exports to COVAX, neighbours

editor0 CommentsHealth, India, international

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on September 20 said the government will resume exports of COVID-19 vaccine under the Vaccine Maitri initiative from October. Mandaviya told the media that India will resume vaccine exports to fulfil the country's commitment towards the world in the collective fight against COVID. This announcement has come just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US where the issue of vaccine export was likely going to be raised by US President, Joe Biden. Addressing the media, Mandaviya said that this is an effort to restart the 'Vaccine…

20 Sep

Several killed in shooting at Russian university

editor0 Commentsinternational

A student opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding several, law enforcement said. The gunman was himself killed after the shootings at Perm State University, around 1,300 km (800 miles) east of Moscow, Natalia Pechishcheva, a university spokesperson, said. It is the second mass shooting at an education facility in Russia this year. Students and staff locked themselves in the rooms, and the university urged those who could leave campus to do so. Some reportedly fled through windows. The perpetrator, who was an 18-year-old student at the…

18 Sep

Taliban rename women’s ministry as department ‘for promotion of virtue and prevention of vice’

editor0 Commentsinternational

The Taliban have replaced the country’s ministry for women with an office for what is known as the group’s moral police, residents of Kabul have said, as videos showed female former employees of the department apparently locked out of the building. Workers in Kabul were photographed on Friday replacing the sign on the women’s ministry building with a new one, which read, in a mixture of Dari and Arabic, “Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”. The Taliban has earlier carried out anti-human rights activities in Afghanistan during its rule between 1996 to…

16 Sep

India and UK aims to launch the negotiations on FTA by November 1

editor0 CommentsBusiness, India, international

India and the United Kingdom plan to launch negotiations on a trade deal between the two nations by 1 November 2021, the commerce and industry said on Tuesday.Both nations are looking at an interim trade deal by March next year, which will be followed by a comprehensive FTA. The interim deal will involve early concessions on certain key high-priority products and services related to tariffs or market access Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that an interim trade agreement is the first step towards an FTA that would allow both nations to immensely benefit from the early gains of…

14 Sep

India willing to stand by Afghans: Jaishankar, calls for non-discriminatory distribution of humanitarian aid across Afghanistan

editor0 CommentsIndia, international

With a grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, India on Monday said it is willing to stand by Afghans and called for unimpeded access to aid providers to the country as also a "non-discriminatory" distribution of relief supplies across all sections of the society. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that as an immediate neighbour, India is monitoring developments in Afghanistan with "understandable concern", and noted that the issue of travel and safe passage that can emerge as an obstacle to humanitarian assistance should be immediately sorted out.In a brief virtual address at the UN high-level meeting on the humanitarian…

12 Sep

Veiled protest: Afghan women rally in support of the Taliban

editor0 Commentsinternational

Afghan women wearing full face veils sat in rows at a Kabul university lecture theatre Saturday, pledging commitment to the Taliban's hardline policies on gender segregation. About 300 women -- covered head-to-toe in accordance with strict new dress policies for education -- waved Taliban flags as speakers railed against the West and expressed support for the Islamists' policies.A handful wore blue burqas, which have only a small mesh window to see from, but most wore black niqabs covering most of the face apart from the eyes. The women attended an event at a university, in which women speakers spoke in…

09 Sep

Islamabad teachers banned from wearing jeans, some Pakistanis are calling it Talibani

editor0 CommentsEducation, international

Education authorities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have issued a formal dress code and new restrictions on the teaching and non-teaching staff. The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which oversees more than 400 schools and colleges in Islamabad, has banned female teachers from wearing jeans and tights during office timings. According to a notification issued by FDE Director Academics and Quality Assurance Saadia Adnan, all subject staff have been asked to maintain a formal dress code while on the official workspace, institutional premises, during official gatherings and ceremonies and meetings alike. A letter in this regard was sent to the principals…

06 Sep

Former France, PSG defender Jean-Pierre Adams dies 40 years after falling into a coma

editor0 Commentsinternational, Sports

The former France defender Jean-Pierre Adams has died at the age of 73, almost 40 years after falling into a coma as a result of a medical error, his former clubs, Paris St-Germain and Nîmes, said on Monday. In 1982, Adams was administered a near fatal dose of anaesthetic before a routine knee operation, which caused brain damage. The Dakar-born Adams won 22 caps for Les Bleus in the 1970s, forming with Marius Tresor what was known as ‘the Black Guard’. He played for Nîmes from 1970-73 and for PSG from 1977-79 after joining from Nice. Since the accident, Adams…