International

30 Sep

Piyush Goyal urges U.S. firms to push for trade agreement

editor0 CommentsBusiness, India, InternationalECONOMY

India and the US should engage in a much bigger way and New Delhi is ready and willing to expand the economic partnership with America, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. He also called for setting an ambitious bilateral trade target of $1 trillion in the next 10 years. Addressing the 4th Annual Leadership Summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Piyush Goyal said though a lot of effort had gone into negotiating a trade agreement between the two countries during the previous US administration, unfortunately it did not work out. The minister said India is…

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30 Sep

Border incidents with China will continue till boundary agreement is reached: Army chief

editor0 CommentsIndia, InternationalArmy, chinaborder

Developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh have added to the ongoing legacy challenges on India’s active and disputed borders on the western and eastern front, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Naravane said on Thursday. According to him, such incidents will continue till such time a long-term solution is reached, which is to have a boundary agreement. He also said that the unprecedented developments at the Northern Borders necessitated large scale resource mobilisation, orchestration of forces and immediate response, and all this in a Covid infested environment. Recent developments in Afghanistan “have definitely been…

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26 Sep

Meet Sneha Dubey, the young diplomat hailed for her fiery response to Pakistan’s Imran Khan at UN

editor0 CommentsIndia, InternationalPAKISTAN

India again castigated Pakistan as it gave blistering retort to Prime Minister Imran Khan raking up the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. India said in its response that Pakistan, where terrorists enjoy free pass, is an "arsonist" disguising itself as a "fire-fighter". Khan in his address spoke about the 2019 decision of India to abrogate Article 370 as well as the death of pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. "The worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India," Khan said in an address, delivered by video due to Covid precautions. In…

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20 Sep

Six killed in Russian university shooting, gunman ‘liquidated’

editor0 CommentsInternationalRussia

A student opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding several, law enforcement said. The gunman was himself killed after the shootings at Perm State University, around 1,300 km (800 miles) east of Moscow, Natalia Pechishcheva, a university spokesperson, said. It is the second mass shooting at an education facility in Russia this year. Students and staff locked themselves in the rooms, and the university urged those who could leave campus to do so. Some reportedly fled through windows. The perpetrator, who was an 18-year-old student at the…

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20 Sep

India To Resume Export, Donations Of Surplus Covid Vaccines Next Month

editor0 CommentsCovid-19, India, International

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on September 20 said the government will resume exports of COVID-19 vaccine under the Vaccine Maitri initiative from October. Mandaviya told the media that India will resume vaccine exports to fulfil the country's commitment towards the world in the collective fight against COVID. This announcement has come just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US where the issue of vaccine export was likely going to be raised by US President, Joe Biden. Addressing the media, Mandaviya said that this is an effort to restart the 'Vaccine…

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18 Sep

Taliban replace women’s ministry with Ministry of Virtue and Vice, employees locked out

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Women’s safety

The Taliban have replaced the country’s ministry for women with an office for what is known as the group’s moral police, residents of Kabul have said, as videos showed female former employees of the department apparently locked out of the building. Workers in Kabul were photographed on Friday replacing the sign on the women’s ministry building with a new one, which read, in a mixture of Dari and Arabic, “Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”. The Taliban has earlier carried out anti-human rights activities in Afghanistan during its rule between 1996 to…

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16 Sep

India, UK aim to start FTA talks by November 1

editor0 CommentsBusiness, India, International

India and the United Kingdom plan to launch negotiations on a trade deal between the two nations by 1 November 2021, the commerce and industry said on Tuesday.Both nations are looking at an interim trade deal by March next year, which will be followed by a comprehensive FTA. The interim deal will involve early concessions on certain key high-priority products and services related to tariffs or market access Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that an interim trade agreement is the first step towards an FTA that would allow both nations to immensely benefit from the early gains of…

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14 Sep

India willing to stand by Afghan people as it did in the past: Jaishankar

editor0 CommentsIndia, InternationalAfghanistan, S Jaishankar

With a grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, India on Monday said it is willing to stand by Afghans and called for unimpeded access to aid providers to the country as also a "non-discriminatory" distribution of relief supplies across all sections of the society. “Today, I wish to underline that in the face of a grave emerging situation, India is willing to stand by the Afghan people, just as in the past,” he added. The world community must come together to create the “best possible enabling environment” for helping the Afghan people and addressing challenges such as efficient logistics in…

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12 Sep

Afghan women rally in support of the Taliban

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghans, Taliban

Afghan women wearing full face veils sat in rows at a Kabul university lecture theatre Saturday, pledging commitment to the Taliban's hardline policies on gender segregation. About 300 women -- covered head-to-toe in accordance with strict new dress policies for education -- waved Taliban flags as speakers railed against the West and expressed support for the Islamists' policies.A handful wore blue burqas, which have only a small mesh window to see from, but most wore black niqabs covering most of the face apart from the eyes. The women attended an event at a university, in which women speakers spoke in…

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09 Sep

Pakistan bans teachers from wearing jeans and t-shirts, no tights for women staffers

editor0 CommentsInternationalPAKISTAN

Pakistan's Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has issued a notification asking women teachers not to wear jeans and tights. The same notification goes on to prohibit male teachers from wearing jeans and t-shirts. A letter in this regard was sent to the principals of schools and colleges by the director of academics on Monday, reported Dawn. The letter asked principals to ensure that each staff member "observes reasonably good measures in their physical appearance and personal hygiene". It goes even further to describe such good measures as a regular haircut, beard trimming, nail cutting, shower and use of deodorant or…

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