Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday offered condolence to Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the loss of precious lives and assets due to an earthquake that hit West Java region, last week.

In a telephone conversation held with the Indonesian president, the prime minister observed that the people of Pakistan could feel the anguish of their Indonesian brothers and sister, having recently suffered immensely due to natural calamities.

DHAKA, Nov 28 (NNN-BSS) – In an apparent bid to conserve eroding forex reserves, Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, directed the country’s relevant authorities to squeeze imports of luxury items.

Sheikh Hasina, however, stressed the need for importing more essentials. She gave the directives at a secretary-level meeting, held in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, yesterday.

Bangladeshi cabinet secretary, Khandker Anwarul Islam, briefed journalists about the premier’s directives, after the high-profile meeting.

Kanpur: The Chief Medical Officer of Kanpur has banned public and private hospitals from holding any eye check-up camps until further orders.

The decision comes days after eight Kanpur residents lost their sight following a cataract surgery at a private hospital here.

A notice communicating this decision has been issued to the hospitals in the district.

An advisory has also been issued asking people to remain careful in the context of medical procedures.

BENGALURU, Nov 26 (Reuters) - The startup behind India's first private space launch plans to put a satellite into orbit in 2023 and expects to be able to do so at half of the cost of established launch companies, the founders of Skyroot Aerospace told Reuters in an interview.

The Hyderabad-based company, backed by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, says the $68 million it has raised will fund its next two launches. Skyroot has been in contact with more than 400 potential customers, it says.

Kanpur: The officials of the education department initiated a probe against a teacher for badly injuring a student.

This happened by piercing his forearm with a driller at the Sisamau area here.

The teacher had done this act as punishment to the Class 5 student. He was left writhing in excruciating pain.

The brutal punishment was meted out to Vivan, a student of Class 5, studying at Higher Primary School at Premnagar in Sisamau.

The punishment was given when he was unable to recite tables of 2.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has named the country’s former spy chief as head of the military, the information minister said Thursday, ending months of speculation about the new appointment.

The army has historically wielded huge political influence in Pakistan, ruling it for half of its 75-year history, and also oversees the country’s nuclear program. Like neighboring China and India, Pakistan has nuclear arsenals and a missile system, which is mainly aimed at India.

23 Nov 2022; MEMO: Bilateral trade between the UAE and India is set to surpass $88 billion in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, up from last year's fiscal figures of $73 billion. The development follows the signing of a landmark free trade deal between the two countries during a two-day visit by UAE Foreign Minister, Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, where he met External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar.

Kanpur: Several dog bite cases have taken place in recent days at IIT here. A section of faculty members and other officials have demanded a ban on stray dogs on its premises.

The institute's animal welfare cell had already decided to remove the dogs. The dog feeders alleged that they were being harassed.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The recent layoffs in companies like Facebook and Twitter may cast a shadow on the information technology (IT) or software firms in India, particularly those which cater to outsourced works from foreign-based companies.

Over the past couple of weeks, while Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced a layoff of around 11,000 employees, Twitter's new owner Elon Musk too shed nearly 75 percent of the workforce over the past month. Though, a day ago Musk was learnt to have announced keeping the layoff drill on the back burner.

GANDAKHA, Pakistan (AP) — Maryam Jamali should have been preparing for an economics exam. Instead, the teenager from the flood-hit Pakistani province of Baluchistan was helping organize postpartum clinics and shelter for people neglected by relief efforts.

Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, plagued by under-development, bad governance, corruption, and a long-running insurgency. When catastrophic floods submerged vast swaths of Pakistan this summer, about 75% of Baluchistan’s population was affected, the largest proportion of any province in the country.