Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD, Jun 17 (NNN-APP) – Authorities in Pakistan’s south Sindh province, said yesterday that, normal life activities can be resumed in the country from today, as the threat of Cyclone Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea, off the coasts of Sindh has been averted, after it weakened into a cyclonic storm.

In a statement, Muhammad Iqbal Memon, the commissioner of Sindh’s capital city, Karachi, said that, all halted exams and educational activities can be resumed, as the threat of cyclonic danger has reduced.

NEW DELHI, Jun 17 (NNN-PTI) – The house of federal Junior Minister of External Affairs, R.K. Ranjan Singh, was set on fire by a mob, Thursday night, in a fresh flare-up of violence, confirmed a state government official.

The development followed the burning of two houses and clashes between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur, and a mob in the heart of Manipur’s capital city of Imphal on Thursday.

Ranjan expressed grief over the incident, saying “I am shocked. The law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed,” local media reported, yesterday.

HERAT, Afghanistan, June 17 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out at a big market, engulfing nearly 200 shops, in Afghanistan's western Herat province, Abdul Wadood Faizzada, the provincial head of craftsmen union said Saturday.

"The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. local time at Qasr-e-Herat market in 2nd Municipality District of the Herat city, engulfing 200 shops of different commodities, mostly clothes and cosmetics, costing 100 million Afghanis (about 1,163,000 U.S. dollars)," Faizzada told Xinhua.

JAKHAU, India (AP) — Over 100,000 people who had sheltered from Cyclone Biparjoy in relief camps in western India have begun to return home after the storm weakened and headed toward Pakistan, officials said Saturday.

In the coastal village of Jakhau, where the cyclone made landfall in India’s Gujarat state on Thursday, over 130 people had shifted back to their homes from a government-run shelter by midday Saturday.

India’s powerful home minister, Amit Shah, was expected to visit the village later Saturday and take stock of the situation.

AHMEDABAD, India/KARACHI, June 16 (Reuters) - Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted, leaving thousands without power as a severe cyclone made landfall and rain lashed both the Indian and Pakistani coasts early on Friday.

At least two people died in India's western state of Gujarat after being swept away by flood waters just before the cyclone hit.

More than 180,000 people were evacuated in India and Pakistan in the last few days as authorities braced for the cyclone, named Biparjoy, which means 'disaster' or 'calamity' in the Bengali language.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan doesn’t have approval from its government yet to compete in the Cricket World Cup in India in October.

Cricket board chairman Najam Sethi said on Friday he has written to the International Cricket Council to say the PCB cannot unilaterally approve the World Cup draft schedule which has the marquee match between Pakistan and India at Ahmedabad on Oct. 15.

“We have written to the ICC that we can’t give approval or disapproval to this (schedule),” Sethi said in Lahore.

NEW DELHI, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The extremely severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy made landfall on Thursday evening in India's western coastal state of Gujarat, causing uprooted trees, hoardings and electric poles with wind speeds over 100 km per hour.

This is reportedly the longest cyclone witnessed in several years.

As a precautionary measure, power has been suspended in the affected regions and highways near the coastal areas have been closed. All schools and educational institutions have also been shut until Friday.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Monetary Fund slammed Pakistan’s government on Thursday over its proposal for the new annual budget, saying it failed to implement a more fair tax system in the draft.

The harsh criticism by Esther Perez Ruiz, IMF’s representative for Pakistan, raised new concerns about the success of monthslong talks between the cash-strapped Islamic nation and the lender over a stalled bailout tranche.

However, Perez Ruiz also said the IMF was offering to “work with the government in refining its strategy” for the budget.

AHMEDABAD/MUMBAI, June 14 (Reuters) - Roads will be flooded along parts of India's western coast, crops could be damaged and some houses destroyed when a very severe cyclonic storm makes landfall late on Thursday, the country's weather department said.

On Wednesday, the storm Biparjoy was situated in the Arabian Sea about 280 km (174 miles) from Jakhau Port in the Indian state of Gujarat and 340 km from Pakistan's largest city Karachi, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

NEW DELHI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 47,000 people have been shifted to shelter homes in India's western state of Gujarat, as the catastrophic cyclone "Biparjoy" approaches the country's western coastal areas, said government officials on Wednesday.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday.

A senior official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Mohsen Shahidi told media persons that the process of evacuation of people from the coastal areas had been underway for the past two days.