Indian Sub-continent

Islamabad, Sep 7 (PTI) Pakistan has refused a request by India to allow President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace for his flight to Iceland, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday.

Kovind will embark on a visit to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia from Monday during which he is expected to brief the top leadership in those countries on India's "national concerns", especially in view of terror incidents this year, including the Pulwama attack.

BENGALURU, India (AP) — India’s space agency said it lost touch Saturday with its Vikram lunar lander as it made its final approach to moon’s south pole to deploy a rover to search for signs of water.

The fate of the lander — whether it crashed or landed — wasn’t immediately known. A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover there.

The space agency said the lander’s descent was normal until 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the lunar surface.

The Delhi Police on Friday booked former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid on charges of sedition, promoting enmity and intentions to cause riots. Rashid has called the charge “frivolous, politically motivated and a pathetic attempt to silence” her.

According to Hindustan Times, FIR was filed against her on Tuesday based on a complaint by a Supreme Court lawyer, Alakh Alok Srivastava, against a series of her tweets.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 6 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said Pakistan appreciated the principled position of Iraq on human rights violations in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) and expected its consistent support at all international fora for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The president in this regard appreciated the recent visit by the head of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Shaikh Hammoudi, to Kashmir in July 2019.

6 September 2019; AFP: The historic deal between the US and the Taliban leaves unresolved the fate of Afghan women, whose fragile gains could come under threat as the brutally repressive insurgents seek to expand their influence.

Strictly patriarchal Afghanistan has long been one of the world's worst places for women, but for a relatively small group -- mainly in urban cores like Kabul -- key freedoms such as education and the right to work proliferated after the Taliban fell in 2001.

JANGALAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A “secretive” peace deal between United States and the Taliban could face wide resistance in Afghanistan if it opens the door to the insurgents’ hardline regime, said the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the slain hero of the anti-Soviet resistance.

Ahmad Massoud, who was 12 years old when his father was assassinated days before the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, is among several Afghan politicians critical of the accord reached with the Taliban this week.

5 Sep 2019; AFP: The Taliban killed at least 10 people including two NATO troops in a Kabul bombing on Thursday, another attack on the Afghan capital just as a US envoy returned to talks with the insurgents on a troop withdrawal.

The car bomb blast shook Shash Darak, a heavily fortified area adjacent to the Green Zone and home to several important complexes including the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service.

Bengaluru, Sep 6 (PTI) Hours before Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module's proposed soft landing on the Lunar surface, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said on Friday things are progressing as per plan for the much-awaited event.

"We are eagerly waiting for the event. Everything is going according to the plan," Sivan told PTI on Friday.

Ghazipur (UP), Sep 6 (PTI) A woman was allegedly abducted and raped by a policeman and his friend, and thrown near a canal in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place at a village in the district's Mardah area on Wednesday evening.

Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary jawan Abhay Yadav has been arrested, while his friend is at large, they said.

New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the amendments made in the UAPA.

The petitions challenges the changes to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on various grounds, including that these infringed upon fundamental rights of citizens and empowered agencies to declare a person a terrorist.