Indian Sub-continent

18 August 2019; DW: The huge blaze razed around 2,000 tin shacks in a crowded Dhaka slum, making at least 3,000 people homeless. Fires are frequent — and many a time deadly — in the Bangladeshi capital due to lax safety measures.

A massive fire swept through a crowded residential area in Dhaka, destroying thousands of shanties, Bangladeshi officials said on Sunday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan Taliban officials said on Saturday the killing of the brother of their leader in a bomb attack would not derail talks with the United States aimed at securing the withdrawal of U.S. troops after 18 years of war.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bomb that killed the younger brother of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada near the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday.

SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Indian authorities reimposed restrictions on movement in major parts of Kashmir’s biggest city, Srinagar, on Sunday after violent overnight clashes between residents and police in which dozens were injured, two senior officials and eyewitnesses said.

In the past 24 hours, there has been a series of protests against New Delhi’s Aug. 5 revocation of the region’s autonomy. This followed an easing in curbs on movement on Saturday morning.

17 Aug 2019; AA: Turkey on Saturday called on the United Nations to play a "more" active role in resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute within the framework of the UN resolutions. 

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed the consultations held by the UN Security Council on Friday on the recent developments in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Saturday said there is a need to look at the role and functioning of lawyers and understand why a law graduate's natural choice is not the legal profession in spite of great attractions and opportunities.

The CJI said lawyers act as advocates and advisors of litigants and help them secure their rights under the law. While working for their clients, they interpret and mould the law and help the judges in laying down the legal propositions that have binding effects on the future generations.

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the government on Saturday, asking on what grounds her party's leaders were taken into custody in Jammu and Kashmir.

She asked whether it was a crime to speak to the media after the state unit of the Congress was prevented from addressing a press conference on Friday as police detained its chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and place its Jammu and Kashmir president Ghulam Ahmed Mir under house arrest.

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday dubbed the detention of party's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir as "outrageously illegal" and hoped that the courts will take cognizance of the matter.

In a series of tweets, the former finance minister said Mir is under house arrest in Jammu since Friday.

"There was no written order of detention. Outrageously illegal ... I hope the courts will act and secure the liberty of citizens," he wrote.

Indore, Aug 17 (PTI) Eleven persons are feared to have lost vision due to bacterial infection following cataract surgeries conducted at a private hospital here last week.

Thirteen patients underwent surgeries under the National Programme for Control of Blindness at Indore Netra Chikitsalay on August 8, and some of them later complained of blurred vision, Indore Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Praveen Jadia had told PTI earlier in the day.

Gorakhpur, Aug 17 (PTI) A man who allegedly sexually assaulted his 19-year-old daughter for two years and later killed her was arrested here, police said on Saturday.

He was arrested on Friday following the complaint by the woman's elder sister, they said.

Police said the man raped his younger daughter several times in the last two years and killed her by cutting her neck on the night of July 26.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The latest on a suicide bombing inside a crowded wedding hall in Afghanistan’s capital (all times local):

2:45 a.m.

A witness to a suicide bombing at a wedding party in Afghanistan’s capital says the attacker set off the explosives near the stage where children had gathered.

Gul Mohammad tells The Associated Press that everyone gathered there was killed. Another witness, Mohammad Toofan, says that “a lot of guests were martyred.”