Indian Sub-continent

KABUL (Reuters) - Many Afghans believe that the United States is putting them at the mercy of hardline Islamist Taliban insurgents after President Joe Biden’s announcement that U.S. troops will leave the country by Sept. 11.

The withdrawal date was pushed back four months from the May 1 deadline agreed to between the Washington and the insurgents last year - but, this time, there have been no conditions attached to the pullout.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Biden administration’s surprise announcement of an unconditional troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 appears to strip the Taliban and the Afghan government of considerable leverage and could ramp up pressure on them to reach a peace deal.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India reported more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, skyrocketing past 14 million overall as an intensifying outbreak puts a grim weight on its fragile health care system.

In the capital, New Delhi, more than a dozen hotels and wedding banquet halls were ordered to be converted into COVID-19 centers attached to hospitals.

“The surge is alarming,” said S.K. Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi.

RAWALPINDI, Apr 14 (APP): Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in a telephonic conservation with United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Wednesday said Pakistan would always support “Afghan led-Afghan Owned” Peace Process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders.

During the conversation matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including latest developments in Afghan Peace Process and bilateral cooperation in various fields were came under discussion, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) media release.

(APP) --- The government on Wednesday announced a ban on the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said, following two days of clashes and road blockades by the party workers across the country, over the arrest of its top leader.

He said the ban has been placed under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and said the Punjab government has moved a summary to the federal cabinet to ban TLP.

“Today we have decided to ban TLP and we will get the approval of the cabinet,” Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said at a news conference.

NEW DELHI, April 14 (NNN-Bernama) — India’s palm oil imports from Malaysia rose 50 per cent in March compared with February’s volumes as the country’s monthly overall edible imports grew.

Latest data from Mumbai-based trade group Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) showed Indian imports of palm oil from Malaysia in March were made up of 270,195 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO), 1,500 tonnes of RBD palmolein and 11,082 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO).

In February, the country imported 187,387 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil.

KABUL (Reuters) - Nearly 1,800 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in the first three months of 2021 during fighting between government forces and Taliban insurgents despite efforts to find peace, the United Nations said in a new findings on Wednesday.

Fighting has increased in several parts of Afghanistan in recent weeks while the peace process between both warring sides has made no progress despite international calls to reduce violence.

Allahabad, Apr 13 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Tuesday moved an urgent petition before the Allahabad High Court in the Kashi Vishwanath Mandi-Gyanvapi Masjid case in which the trial court at Varanasi allowed an ASI study of the mosque on April 8.

Sunni Central Waqf Board's standing counsel Puneet Kumar Gupta argued that the trial court passed the order illegally and without its jurisdiction as the matter is in the high court and Justice Prakash Pandia reserved its order on March 15 this year.

Guwahati, Apr 13 (PTI) The Gauhati High Court has set aside an order of a tribunal of Assam declaring a man "foreigner" and observed that the person does not need to explain the linkage with all his relatives featured in voters lists to establish his citizenship.

The Foreigners Tribunal III of Barpeta had ordered that Mohd Haider Ali is a foreigner as he could not establish his linkage with some of his relatives whose names figure in the voters list, though he did so in the case of his parents and grandparents.

Lucknow, Apr 14 (PTI) Voting for the first of the four-phase Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, seen as a semi-final to the 2022 Assembly election, will be held on Thursday in 18 districts with ballot papers.

More than 3.33 lakh candidates in the fray in over 2.21 lakh seats in the first phase for the posts of zila panchayat (district council) members, kshetra (block) panchayat members, village panchayat heads and wards.

Polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm.