Indian Sub-continent

COLOMBO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will release 588 prisoners on Saturday on presidential amnesty to mark the country's 75th Independence Day, a senior official said on Friday.

Commissioner of the Department of Prisons and Spokesman Chandana Ekanayake said 557 of them are those rehabilitated by courts on drug-related offences.

He said 31 inmates, who were jailed for other offenses but deemed to have displayed good behavior during their imprisonment, will be released too.

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan coast guards seized 26.2 kg of narcotics from a 12-year-old boy in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, a statement said on Friday.

The coast guards were searching passenger vehicles at a check post when a passenger bus heading to the southern port city of Karachi arrived and its passengers were checked, the statement said.

The coast guards discovered narcotics worth 1.69 million U.S. dollars in international market from the boy disguised as a woman, it added.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Shares in troubled Adani Enterprises gyrated Friday, tumbling 30% and then rebounding after more than a week of heavy losses that have cost it tens of billions of dollars in market value.

The company, the flagship of India’s second-largest conglomerate, canceled a share offering meant to raise $2.5 billion earlier this week after U.S. short-selling firm Hindenburg Research issued a report accusing it of market manipulation and other fraudulent practices. Adani denies the allegations.

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's textile export suffered over 12 percent fall from a year earlier in January, said the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), a trade organization representing the country's textile.

Last month, textile exports of the country declined to 1.36 billion U.S. dollars, as compared to 1.55 billion dollars in January 2022, the APTMA said in a report on Thursday.

NEW DELHI, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Thursday that it has issued notices to the federal and local state governments over reported high death rate of workers in accidents in factories across the country.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police arrested a prominent political figure in an overnight raid on his home near Islamabad days after he accused the former president of the country of plotting to kill ex-prime minister Imran Khan, officials said Thursday.

The latest government move is likely to deepen political turmoil at a time when the government is facing one of its worst economic crises and is in talks to convince the International Monetary Fund to revive a $6 billion bailout.

COLOMBO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka received over 100,000 tourists in January 2023, Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando said on Wednesday.

Fernando told the media that 82,327 tourists arrived in January last year and the number has risen to 102,545 in January this year.

He said tourist arrivals are increasing due to the improved situation and the promotional activities carried out in the South Asian island country.

According to the minister, 719,978 tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2022.

DHAKA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's largest annual book fair kicked off in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday.

The Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, which literally means "Immortal Twenty First Book Fair," is being held in Dhaka's Bangla Academy premises and its adjacent Suhrawardy Udyan (garden).

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the month-long book fair.

Bangla Academy Director General Poet Nurul Huda said police have tightened security in and around the Bangla Academy premises to ensure security of book lovers and publishers at the fair.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s Peshawar was once known as “the city of flowers,” surrounded by orchards of pear, quince and pomegranate trees. It was a trading city, situated at the gates of a key mountain valley connecting South and Central Asia.

But for the past four decades, it has borne the brunt of rising militancy in the region, fueled by the conflicts in neighboring Afghanistan and the geopolitical games of great powers.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bombing that struck inside a mosque at a police and government compound in northwest Pakistan reflects “security lapses,” current and former officials said as the death toll from the devastating blast climbed to 100 on Tuesday.