Indian Sub-continent

COLOMBO, May 8 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka earned nearly 700 million U.S. dollars from tourism, in the first four months of 2023, an increase of 17.8 percent from the same period last year, an official said today.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman, Priantha Fernando, told media that, the country earned 166.5 million dollars from tourism in Apr.

According to figures from the SLTDA, Sri Lanka received 335,679 tourists in the first three months of this year.

BAMYAN, Afghanistan, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Millions of kids around the world dream of becoming football legend Lionel Messi, but Afghan boy Amir Husain is not one of them. He has never even seen a live game of the Argentinian national football team.

Hussain, 14, lives in central Afghanistan's Bamyan Valley where the famous Buddhas of Bamyan stand. Although the old-fashioned TVs, which have been used for several years there, can receive sports channels, few children in the village have the chance to stay up all night watching a football match.

NEW DELHI (AP) — A double-decker boat carrying more than 30 passengers capsized Sunday night off a beach in southern India, and more than 22 people including children died, officials said.

Police officer Abdul Nazar said the rescue teams were expecting to recover more bodies from inside the boat after pulling it ashore from the muddy waters. He said India’s National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Coast Guard personnel were engaged in rescue work and trying find those who were still missing.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A U.N. report on Monday strongly criticized the Taliban for carrying out public executions, lashings and stonings since seizing power in Afghanistan, and called on the country’s rulers to halt such practices.

In the past six months alone, 274 men, 58 women and two boys were publicly flogged in Afghanistan, according to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA.

Islamabad, May 7 (PTI) Pakistan, China and Afghanistan have agreed to combat terrorism and enhance cooperation in different economic fields, the foreign office here said on Sunday.

The foreign ministers of the three countries participated in the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue held in Islamabad on Saturday, it said in a statement.

Karachi, May 8 (PTI) Pakistani authorities are expected to go ahead with its goodwill gesture to release on Friday 199 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly fishing illegally in the country’s waters, despite the death of an Indian civilian who was to be repatriated with them.

Amritsar, May 8 (PTI) One person was injured in a low-intensity explosion that took place on a heritage street near the Golden Temple here on Monday morning, close to the spot where a blast was reported on May 6, police said.

No detonator has been found and it appears that the explosive was kept in a container, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said, adding that it is too early to say whether the blast was someone's "mischief" or there's a terror angle to it.

New Delhi, May 8 (PTI) The BJP on Monday moved the Election Commission seeking action against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and derecognition of her party for her use of the term "sovereignty" for Karnataka during the state poll campaign.

A BJP delegation headed by Union minister Bhupender Yadav submitted a memorandum to the poll watchdog over the issue.

New Delhi, May 8 (PTI) Crisis-hit airline Go First on Monday requested the National Company Law Tribunal to take an early decision on its voluntary insolvency resolution plea, saying lessors have started deregistering the carrier's aircraft.

On May 4, after a hearing, the tribunal had reserved its order on the budget carrier's petition.

08 May 2023; AA: A MiG-21 jet of the Indian air force crashed in the western state of Rajasthan on Monday morning, killing three civilians on the ground, the air force and officials said.

In a statement, the air force said: "The aircraft had got airborne for a routine operational training sortie from the Air Force Station at Suratgarh. Soon thereafter, the pilot experienced an onboard emergency, following which he attempted to recover the aircraft as per existing procedures."