Category: WORLD NEWS

Two Pakistanis were killed when Iran’s border security forces fired at a group of people allegedly trying to enter the country illegally, according to a media report. On April 12, a group of 15 Pakistanis belonging to different cities of Pakistan tried to illegally enter Iran, Express Tribune reported. The Iranian Border Force fired on the people who crossed the border, killing two. Iranian force then arrested five people, while the remaining eight disappeared after crossing the border, it said quoting Pakistani authorities According to reports, Iranian authorities have handed…

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Terming as “horrific” the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice. The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community disappeared near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area. She was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a village temple for a week in January. The victim was drugged, rapped…

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Over 100 death sentences were handed out last year by courts in India which also expanded the scope of capital punishment by enacting new laws against hijacking, human rights watchdog Amnesty International said. In ‘The Death Sentences and Executions 2017’ report released here yesterday, Amnesty said it has recorded at least 993 executions in 23 countries in 2017, down by four per cent from 2016 (1,032 executions) and 39 per cent from 2015 (when the organisation recorded 1,634 executions, the highest number since 1989). At least 2,591 death sentences in…

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China today announced live-firing military exercises in the Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions over increased American support for Taiwan’s government. The announcement by the maritime safety authority in the coastal province of Fujian coincided with a statement from their counterparts in Hainan province that the navy was ending a three-day exercise in the South China Sea one day early. No explanations were given in either case and the Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to questions. The Fujian authorities said the one-day Taiwan Strait drill will be held next Wednesday.…

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are scheduled to be in Beijing on April 24 to attend different meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and interact with their counterparts from the member states. The eight-member SCO, in which India was a latest entrant along with Pakistan, is due to hold its summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the summit and also hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The SCO comprised of China, Kazakhstan,…

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Syria today described US President Donald Trump’s threats of missile strikes on the country in response to an alleged chemical attack as a “reckless escalation”, state news agency SANA said. “We are not surprised by such a reckless escalation from a regime like the United States which has fostered and continues to foster terrorism in Syria,” SANA reported an official source at the foreign ministry as saying. Damascus, which refers to all rebels as “terrorists”, has almost entirely expelled opposition fighters from their former bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus…

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UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said that India and Russia enjoy excellent relations due to the legacy of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and successive Indian prime ministers for consolidating that legacy. She was speaking yesterday at the inauguration of a photo exhibition organised here to celebrate the Centenary Anniversary of India’s first woman prime minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi said the exhibition on her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi tells the story of a courageous, compelling and charismatic leader who left an indelible imprint not only…

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Trouble-plagued Deutsche Bank today ousted its British CEO John Cryan, replacing him with one of his deputies in a bid to get Germany’s biggest lender back on track after years in crisis. Following weeks of speculation, the bank announced that German Christian Sewing, 47, would succeed Cryan who has been at the helm since 2015 with Sewing as deputy CEO and head of private banking. “The supervisory board of Deutsche Bank has named Christian Sewing to the position of CEO, effective immediately, to succeed John Cryan who will leave the…

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French President Emmanuel Macron accused Damascus of “chemical attacks” against civilians in the Syrian rebel enclave of Douma in a call with US leader Donald Trump today, as international outrage mounts against the alleged use of the weapons. The statement from the Elysee Palace said Macron “strongly condemned the chemical attacks on April 7 against the population of Douma”. It added that the two leaders shared information “confirming” the use of chemical weapons and would coordinate their efforts at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York later…

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Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to take action against fugitives and the irreconcilable militants under a bilateral agreement for regional peace and security, the Foreign Office said today. In a statement, it said that the two sides have agreed to “operationalise the working groups under Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS)” during Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s visit to Kabul on April 6. It said that Pakistan was committed to “support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation.” “The two countries to undertake effective actions against fugitives and…

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