Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Afghan women will no longer be allowed in parks, a spokesperson for the Taliban's morality ministry said, in part because they had not been meeting its interpretation of Islamic attire during their visits.

Mohammad Akif Muhajir, the spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, made the comments in an interview with local media and, when asked about the restrictions, referred Reuters to audio of the interview.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- India's top court Friday ordered the release of six people convicted for the assassination of the country's former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

The convicts were serving life sentences and had spent more than 30 years in jail.

"The appellants are directed to be set at liberty if not required in any other matter," the Supreme Court of India ordered.

In May this year, the top court used its extraordinary powers to free a seventh convict. The same order applied to the rest of the convicts, the court said.

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed with a cost of Rs 1 lakh a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of Justice D Y Chandrachud as the Chief Justice of India.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad termed the petition as a "publicity interest litigation".

The bench said the petition was filed only to gain publicity without there being any material.

New York, Nov 11 (PTI) An Indian national in the US has been charged with a USD 8 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted, according to court documents.

MUMBAI, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- India's financial capital Mumbai has banned the use of drones, remote-controlled micro light aircraft, para gliders and other flying objects till Dec. 12, said a senior police official referring to an order on Thursday.

Anti-social elements might use these flying objects to endanger the life of the public at large, destroy public property and cause disturbance to the law and order in the city, the order said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban are banning women from using gyms in Afghanistan, an official in Kabul said Thursday, the religious group’s latest edict cracking down on women’s rights and freedoms since they took power more than a year ago.

The Taliban overran the country last year, seizing power in August 2021. They have banned girls from middle school and high school, despite initial promises to the contrary, restricted women from most fields of employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 09 (APP): Speakers at a webinar while expressing serious concerns over India’s noncompliance with the recommendations agreed during UPR’s 3rd cycle, have said that despite strong protests from human rights organizations including the United Nations and the OIC, the Indian Government has failed to address the key human rights concerns expressed during third Universal Periodic Review.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 9 (NNN-APP) – At least two policemen were killed and three others injured, in a terrorist attack last night, in the South Waziristan district of Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the police.

Unknown terrorists attacked a police station in the district’s Raghzai area, at midnight, resulting in casualties of policemen, the media reported.

Police said, the terrorists burnt an ambulance and torched the police station.

NEW DELHI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - India will continue buying Russian oil because it benefits the country, India's foreign minister said on Tuesday after meeting his Russian counterpart for the fifth time this year, adding that the two countries were expanding their trade ties.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is visiting Moscow for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. His trip comes as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits New Delhi this week to hold talks with Indian officials, including possibly on capping Russian oil prices.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- A policeman and a wanted terrorist were killed in a counter-terror operation in the Khyber district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said on Monday.

The operation was jointly conducted by the CTD and security agencies in the Ghariza area of the district, according to the CTD officials.