Afghanistan hails US plan to review deal with Taliban on January 25, 2021KABUL: The Afghan government is welcoming the new US Biden administration moving to review the February 2020 deal with Taliban insurgents. Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a statement Saturday that the US-Taliban agreement has so far failed to deliver the desired goal of ending Taliban violence and bringing a ceasefire. “The Taliban did not live up […]
Pakistan, India, China tensions spike in 2020 on December 19, 2020indian-pakistan-chinaThe relations between three Asian nuclear neighbors – Pakistan, India, and China – plummeted to new depths in 2020, with experts foreseeing no “detente” next year either. The tumultuous year saw the first deadly clash between Indian and Chinese armies in the last 45 years in the mountainous Ladakh region in June. The ties between […]
‘Politicization’ of COVID-19 leads to confusion on December 18, 2020Pakistani health experts accuse both the government and the opposition of “politicizing” the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created a “widespread confusion” among the general public about the disease. “The government and the opposition have politicized a pure health issue, sending conflicting messages to the general public about the disease,” Dr. Rana Jawad Asghar, an Islamabad-based […]
Erdogan doubles down in backlash against Macron’s Islam comments on October 26, 2020ISTANBUL: The backlash against President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Islam intensified Sunday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again urging him to have “mental checks” and protests in Muslim-majority nations. Speaking after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils in a lesson on free speech earlier this month, […]
Nearly 20,000 Amazon employees contract Covid-19 on October 8, 2020ANKARA: Amazon said almost 20,000 of its workers have contracted the novel coronavirus since March, the first time the e-commerce firm has disclosed a figure since the start of the pandemic. Amazon said Thursday in a blog statement 19,816 employees have tested positive or been presumed positive for Covid-19. “We have done a thorough analysis […]
Activists demand release of detained journalist in IIOJK on August 27, 2020SRINAGAR: Hundreds of journalists have written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for the release of Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan who was detained two years ago. The letter, released by the Committee for Protection of Journalists, has been signed by 400 journalists and civil society members worldwide. Sultan was arrested on Aug. […]
‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ star meets terminally ill Pakistani children on August 19, 2020ISLAMABAD: Turkey’s leading actor Engin Altan Duzyatan on Tuesday met three terminally ill Pakistani children via video link, reported The actor is best known for his role as Ertugrul in the Turkish series Diriliş: Ertuğrul which became popular worldwide. The event was arranged by Make-A-Wish Foundation in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. It was attended […]
‘Israeli prime minister secretly visited UAE’ on August 14, 2020Israel’s prime minister secretly visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ahead of the two countries’ deal to normalize ties, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday. “During the past two years, [Benjamin] Netanyahu has made at least two visits to the UAE, as part of contacts to formulate the agreement,” read a report published by the daily […]
India 3rd country to cross 2M Covid-19 cases mark on August 7, 2020NEW DELHI: India’s coronavirus tally crossed the 2 million mark on Thursday evening, also giving it the dubious distinction of trailing only the US and Brazil in total case numbers. It just took 20 days for the country to go from 1 million cases to 2 million, according to Health Ministry figures. The country registered […]
India: Massive landslide kills 5, many trapped on August 7, 2020NEW DELHI: At least five people were killed while 10 were rescued Friday morning from a massive landslide in the southern Indian state of Kerala, local officials said. “Some more families are trapped in the area and the search is ongoing,” Idukki’s district police chief, known as Karuppasamy. R, told Anadolu Agency over the phone. “More details […]