Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD, May 19 (APP): National hockey team manager Olympian Khawaja Muhammad Junaid has said that qualifying for the next year’s World Cup would be the key objective for his side at the Asia Cup.

“The top three teams will secure berths in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in India in 2023. Hence, we are focused only at a podium finish at the event,” Junaid told APP on phone before flying to Indonesia along with the Pakistan team on Wednesday night.

NEW DELHI, May 19 (NNN-Bernama) — Pakistan has reduced this year’s export target for its mangoes prized for their sweetness and flavour.

The arrival of summer means the season of mangoes in South Asia, and Pakistan grows a huge variety of “the king of tropical fruits”.

Chaunsa, Langra, Sindhri, Dussehri and Anwer Ratol are among some of the popular succulent mango varieties exported to various countries.

NEW DELHI, May 19 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian travel sector companies are strongly engaged with India, a significant source of Malaysia’s foreign arrivals, as they expand their tourism recovery efforts.

Participating in a tourism fair in Greater Noida near New Delhi, Malaysian representatives held meetings with Indian tour operators to update them about the reopening of hotels and theme parks and resumption of flights.

KABUL, May 19 (Reuters) - Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have asked television broadcasters to ensure that female presenters on local stations cover their faces when on air, an official said on Thursday.

The move comes days after authorities ordered women to cover their faces in public, a return to a policy of the Taliban's past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions that are causing anger at home and abroad.

COLOMBO, May 19 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central bank has secured foreign exchange to pay for fuel and cooking gas shipments that will ease crippling shortages, its governor said on Thursday, but police fired tear gas and water canon to push back student protesters.

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday granted interim bail to jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a cheating case, saying it is a fit case to invoke its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant relief.

A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao also directed Khan to file for regular bail within two weeks and asked the trial court to decide it on merits without being influenced by any of the observations of the top court.

Varanasi (UP), May 19 (PTI) A commission appointed by a court here to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque-Shringar Gauri complex filed its report on Thursday, submitting documents, videos and photographs.

Special Advocate Commissioner Vishal Singh said he has submitted the report on the survey conducted on May 14, 15 and 16.

"I do not have the right to tell what is in the survey report. Now the court will take further action on it," he told the media outside the court.

Sambhal (UP), May 19 (PTI) Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rehman Barq on Thursday said the claimed discovery of a Shivling in Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque complex was false propaganda and urged opposition parties to counter it.

The local MP said Hindus and Muslims should ensure that such propaganda is stopped as every mosque is now being seen with suspicion.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Faced with rising violence, Pakistan is taking a tougher line to pressure Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to crack down on militants hiding on their soil, but so far the Taliban remain reluctant to take action — trying instead to broker a peace.

Last month came a sharp deterioration in relations between the two neighbors when Pakistan carried out airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan. Witnesses said the strikes hit a refugee camp and another location, killing at least 40 civilians. UNICEF said 20 children were believed to be among the dead.

COLOMBO, May 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – Two Sri Lankan parliamentarians, Sanath Nishanatha and Milan Jayathilake, were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) yesterday, over attacks on protesters in Colombo on May 9.

The CID also arrested former provincial council member, Amal Silva, and an employee of the Moratuwa Urban Council, over the same charge.

The Attorney General, on Monday, instructed the police to arrest and produce the 22 suspects, including several parliamentarians, in connection with the violence.