WORLD

Kathmandu, Sep 13 (IANS) Nepal's President Ram Chandra Paudel on Saturday appealed to all sides to cooperate in successfully holding the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5 next year, following criticism from the country’s major political parties over the dissolution of the lower house Friday midnight.Dissolution of the lower house was a key demand of the Zen-G protestors amid the impression that current members of the parliament are involved in corrupt practices. As per the recommendation of newly-appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki, the house was dissolved, ensuring a premature death after formation in 2022.Issuing a press statement on Saturday evening, President Poudel said that a peaceful way-out has been achieved in an extremely difficult and frightening situati...

Washington, Sep 13 (IANS) A naturalised United States citizen from Pakistan residing in Wayne County, Michigan, has been charged with attempted kidnapping of a minor child, according to the federal authorities.The US Attorney Jerome F Gorgon Jr., accompanied by Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Stentz of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Detroit, announced that a criminal complaint had been unsealed charging 46-year-old Pakistani-origin man Shahzad Hameedi.According to the criminal complaint, Hameedi began dating a single mother in Windsor, Canada, under the alternate name Sheraz Hameed. After she restricted his access to her minor child, Hameedi embarked on an operation to kidnap the child in June 2025.In an official statement on Thursday, the US Attorney General’s office said ...

Dhaka, Sep 13 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League party on Saturday once again slammed the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, accusing it of using arbitrary arrests as a weapon to suppress dissent and neutralise political opposition in the country.The party alleged that everyone from grassroots activists and former ministers to noted intellectuals and ordinary citizens participating in a procession is detained not for proven crimes but simply for expressing political allegiance or exercising their right to assembly.“The surge in arbitrary arrests across Bangladesh is neither random nor isolated; it is systematic, targetted, and designed to dismantle the very foundations of political organisation. Each case reveals a disturbing pattern: pervasive surveillance, preemptive detention, and the...

Islamabad, Sep 13 (IANS) As many as 12 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in various attacks conducted by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit since September 10, the country's media reported on Saturday.Confirming the deaths of soldiers, Pakistan military's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that they were killed during an intense fire exchange in KP's South Waziristan district in two separate engagements from September 10 to 13.Citing the state-run Radio Pakistan, the local media mentioned that the country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday vowed to continue responding to terrorism with "full force" after the attacks which continued on Saturday."Radio Pakistan reported that PM Shehbaz and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal As...

Peshawar, Sep 13 (IANS) In a horrific incident, a 21-year-old Afghan woman was allegedly gang-raped by five men in a refugee camp set up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Haripur city, the local media reported on Saturday. According to the First Information Report (FIR), the victim was on her way to Camp-16 for work when five men forcibly dragged her into nearby fields and raped her for two hours."The FIR further stated that the perpetrators also snatched Rs3,000 in cash and a gold nose pin from the victim. She identified the suspects as Bacha, Nadi, Rozi Khan, Javed, and Naseer. The complaint added that when she tried to resist, the men physically assaulted her, leaving her injured," Pakistan's leading newspaper The Express Tribune reported on Saturday."The Khalabat police have booked all five sus...

Hong Kong, Sep 13 (IANS) Reflecting the Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the world is one family, the Indian Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau (Special Administrative Region) on Saturday donated 30 Hindi books to Li Ka Shing School of Professional and Continuing Education (LiPACE) at Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU), ahead of the Hindi Diwas.The 'Hindi Corner' was inaugurated to mark the beginning of the celebrations aimed at promoting a deeper appreciation for the Hindi language and culture among students and faculty of the university.“The celebrations began with the inauguration of the Hindi Corner, fostering appreciation for the richness of Hindi language and literature among students and faculty — echoing the Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam," the...

Port Moresby/New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita will be visiting Papua New Guinea (PNG) on September 16 to represent Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the commemorative events marking the country's 50th anniversary of Independence.During the visit, which will take place at the invitation of the Government of Papua New Guinea, MoS Margherita is expected to have bilateral meetings with the political leadership of Papua New Guinea. He will also have interactions with the Indian diaspora and the business community in Papua New Guinea."Following the historic 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2023 in Port Moresby, the visit of MOS (PM) to Papua New Guinea would provi...

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam's state visit to India has further strengthened bilateral relations, as New Delhi announced a $680 million special economic package aimed at enhancing healthcare, infrastructure, energy and maritime security in Mauritius, a report has said.The multifaceted outcomes reinforce the strategic partnership in regional security, socio-economic development, education, science, and culture, as bilateral ties between two nations have entered a more dynamic and forward-looking phase.The special economic package blends grants and lines of credit for impactful delivery. The package comprises the construction of a 500-bed national hospital, an AYUSH Centre of Excellence, a veterinary school, animal hospital and Mauritius's first Ja...

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Calm returned to Nepal with the swearing in of a new interim Prime Minister, Shushila Karki, who is also the former Chief Justice of the country. Violent protests had broken out in Nepal following an agitation by Gen Z, which eventually led to Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and dozens of ministers resigning.Many had expected the crisis to drag on, but there was a firm message from President Ramchandra Paudel and Nepal’s army chief, General Ashok Raj Sigdel. The President had written to the representatives of Gen Z that a leader must be appointed soon, and they had to decide immediately on it. The President also said that upholding the Constitution was supreme, and hence, normalcy must be restored. He also told them not to delay the process of picking a leader and t...

Seoul, Sep 13 (IANS) The water storage rate at South Korea's drought-stricken Gangneung's main water supply reservoir rose Saturday for the first time in 52 days following heavy rain overnight, weather officials said.The storage rate at the Obong Reservoir, which supplies 87 per cent of residential water to Gangneung, about 210 kilometres east of Seoul, stood at 12.1 per cent at 10 a.m., up 0.6 percentage points from the previous day, according to the regional weather agency.It marks the first increase since July 23, though the drought remains far from over, officials said. A state of national disaster was declared for the East Coast city on August 30, reports Yonhap news agency.The water increase followed heavy overnight rain in Gangwon Province's coastal and mountainous regions, includin...