Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban have waged a systematic assault on the freedom of Afghanistan’s people, including women and girls experiencing “immeasurably cruel” oppression, the U.N.'s human rights chief said Tuesday.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that human rights are in a state of collapse in Afghanistan more than two years after the Taliban returned to power and stripped back institutional protections at all levels. He urged U.N. member states to help fill the void.

NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia could set up an office of its sovereign wealth fund in India's Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), its investment minister said in New Delhi on Monday.

GIFT City is India's tax-neutral financial services centre and a key project for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the aim of rivalling financial services centres in Dubai and Hong Kong.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday said the Taliban administration had tried to encroach on its territory with the construction of an 'unlawful structure' and accused Afghan forces of "indiscriminate firing" in an incident that led to the closure of the main border transit point last week.

The Torkham border crossing between the neighbouring nations has been closed since Wednesday after forces from both sides exchanged fire, stranding hundreds of trucks laden with goods and thousands of travellers.

NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A new ports and railway corridor for the Middle East and South Asia will include train links to India, an Indian foreign ministry official said on Monday, offering new details about the plan unveiled over the weekend at the G20 summit in Delhi.

Asked about the proposals, Ausaf Sayeed, a secretary in the Foreign Ministry, spelled out that the corridor would include trains to India and not just links by port.

NEW DELHI, September 10. /TASS/: Russia regrets Armenian intentions to hold joint drills with the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following the G20 summit.

"This move by the Armenian leaders is regrettable," Russia’s top diplomat said, commenting on Yerevan’s decision to hold a joint military exercise with the United States.

Russia can see little good coming from NATO’s attempts to infiltrate into South Caucasus, Lavrov emphasized.

NEW DELHI, September 10. /TASS/: Russia cannot be excluded from the grain deal as it is fraught with the growth of tension in the region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday after the Group of Twenty summit.

NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The G20 summit in New Delhi ended on Sunday as India handed over the bloc presidency to Brazil, while both the U.S. and Russia praised a consensus that did not condemn Moscow for the war in Ukraine but called on members to shun the use of force.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the group's leaders to hold a virtual meeting in November to review progress on policy suggestions and goals announced at the weekend.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president said Sunday he will appoint a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate allegations made in a British television report that the South Asian country’s intelligence was complicit in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people.

The attacks, which included simultaneous suicide bombings, targeted three churches and three tourist hotels. The dead included 42 foreigners from 14 countries.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Maldivians will return to the polls on Sept. 30 to vote in a runoff election between the top two candidates in the country’s presidential race after neither secured more than 50% in the first round, the elections commission said Sunday.

Main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz managed a surprise lead with more than 46% of votes, while the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was seen as the favorite, got only 39%.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted his country as well-placed to bridge gaps in the Group of 20 top economies and solve global problems, but many were skeptical ahead of the weekend’s summit given grave divisions within the bloc over the Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He was able to dispel those doubts, announcing a unanimous final agreement a day before the G20 summit ended Sunday that included language on the European war which both Russia and China signed off on.