Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 (APP): Fourteen members of the European Parliament have written a letter to European Commission’s President Von der Leyen and Vice President Borrell conveying serious concern over the ‘grave and systematic human rights violation of the Kashmiri people.’

The letter signed by 14 members of the European Parliament, said that the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) had been subject to “intolerable suppression of their freedom and fundamental rights over the past seven decades”.

NEW DELHI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - India has offered to sell 18 light-combat aircraft (LCA) "Tejas" to Malaysia, the defence ministry said on Friday, adding that Argentina, Australia, Egypt, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines were also interested in the single-engine jet.

The Indian government last year gave a $6 billion contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HIAE.NS) for 83 of the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 - four decades after it was first approved in 1983.

Kanpur: Two old people died tragically after being buried under the rubble when a wall collapsed during the rain. Three people have been injured in the accident.

The wall of Allahabad Bank located near Bada Chauraha in Kanpur collapsed during the rain on Wednesday afternoon.

Two people, including an old woman, died after being buried under the spilt rubble. Three people were reported to be injured.

Police reached out after getting the sad information and admitted the injured to Ursala Hospital here. After the incident, there was shouting on the spot.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 04 (APP): The Indian government has blocked access to the Twitter account of Mushaal Mullick, wife of Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik after she wrote to Indian prime minister seeking her husband’s release.

“My twitter account has been withheld/blocked in India and IIOJK for raising a voice for my oppressed people of Kashmir under Indian Occupation & Jailed Husband Kashmiri Freedom leader Yasin Malik in response to legal demand,” she wrote on Twitter.

In her tweet, she also used hashtag #NoFreedomInIIOJK and #YasinWifeWritesLetter2Modi.

ISLAMABAD/KABUL, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The Taliban on Thursday said the government had no information about al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri "entering and living" in capital city Kabul and warned the United States to never repeat an attack on Afghan soil.

The United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his Kabul hideout on Sunday, U.S. officials said, in the biggest blow to the militants since U.S. Navy SEALS shot dead Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago. 

KATHMANDU, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The general elections in Nepal will be held in a single phase on Nov. 20, the government said on Thursday.

A cabinet meeting made the decision upon recommendation by the Election Commission.

"The cabinet has decided to hold the elections for the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies on Nov. 20," Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki told the press.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 3 (APP): Pakistan has so far contributed $1 billion to support the reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan by building hospitals, schools and roads to manifest its commitment for a prosperous Afghanistan and falsify the impression of using the country as its proxy state.

Since September 2021, over 14,945 tons of humanitarian assistance had been sent to Afghanistan via 694 trucks and four C130 planes under arrangements of Pak-Afghan Cooperation Forum.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s new president said Wednesday that his government is preparing a national policy roadmap for the next 25 years that aims to cut public debt and turn the country into a competitive export economy as it seeks a way out of its worst economic disaster.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his speech to Parliament said Sri Lanka needs long-term solutions and a strong foundation to stop a recurrence of economic crises.

New Delhi, Aug 3 (PTI) The government has halved the windfall tax on the export of diesel and scrapped the levy on jet fuel (ATF) shipments but raised the tax on domestically produced crude oil.

The tax on the export of diesel was cut to Rs 5 per litre from Rs 11, according to an official notification issued on Tuesday evening.

Export of petrol will continue to attract nil tax.

New Delhi, Aug 3 (PTI) BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Wednesday said before questioning freebies given to the public, there should be a discussion on pension and perks of parliamentarians.

Referring to his party leader Sushil Modi's notice in the Rajya Sabha demanding a discussion on "ending the culture of freebies", Gandhi in a tweet said, "Before pointing fingers at the relief given to the public, we should look within."