Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The death toll from a late-night suicide bombing at a crowded wedding party in the Afghan capital rose to at least 63 on Sunday, including women and children, officials said. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul this year.

Another 182 civilians were wounded in the Saturday night explosion, government spokesman Feroz Bashari said. Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi confirmed the casualty toll as families began to bury the dead. Some helped to dig graves with their bare hands.

Kanpur: Like Ahmedabad and Mumbai, one Indian Institute of Skill (IIS) will be opened here. This will cover the whole of the state, said Mahendra Nath Pandey, union minister for Skill development & entrepreneurship at Circuit House here on Saturday. 

He stressed that the central government was determined to train the youths with skill development in order to link them with employment.

He pointed out this kind of Institute would train the youths in accordance with the needs of the industrial units. It would run on a baseline of one product, one district.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 17 (APP): The occupation authorities continued strict curfew and other restrictions across the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) on the 13th consecutive day Saturday to prevent the people from holding demonstrations against India’s move of ending special status of the IoK.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Srinagar after Friday prayers yesterday to express their resentment against New Delhi’s move of repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted autonomous status to the territory.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 17 (APP): A team of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Lahore Region Saturday launched a crackdown against cable networks airing illegal Indian channels and contents.

During the raid, the PEMRA team confiscated transmitters, illegal Indian DTH (Direct To Home) receivers, computers and other equipment of New Star Cable Network, Magic Cable Network, Inn Cable Network, Malik Cable Network, Sameer Cable Network and Vision Multimedia for airing the banned channels and contents, a press release said here.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 17 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Saturday said the statement of Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was reflective of the extremist thinking of RSS that they could endanger peace of the world to achieve their nefarious designs.

In a tweet on social media platform Twitter, she said the statement of Rajnath Singh was a threat to the whole world.

LAHORE, Aug 17 (APP): Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Saturday said Pakistan would respond befittingly if India attempted any misadventure.

He expressed these views while talking to the media after visiting the residence of martyred Lance Naik Taimoor Aslam to condole with his family.

He said that Taimoor Aslam sacrificed his life to protect the country and his sacrifice would not go waste. The whole nation was standing with the family of the martyred soldier and we would never leave them alone, assured the Governor.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 17 (APP): Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Saturday termed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) deliberations on the grave situation in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IoJ&K) as a huge development in the last five decades which vindicated Pakistan’s stance over the Kashmir issue.

RAWALPINDI, Aug 17 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi has conferred military medals and honours upon valiant sons of the soil for their remarkable performance during recent standoff, a Pakistan Navy press release said Saturday.

During post the Pulwama standoff, Indian Navy deviously deployed its submarine against Pakistan.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 17 (NNN-NNA) – An Israeli drone violated Lebanon’s airspace, over the southern district of Bint Jbeil, then headed towards Marjeyoun, while throwing combustible materials, causing fire to erupt, off the border town of Houla, local media reported.

The fire extended into the occupied Palestinian territories.

Also, 15 land mines left behind by Israel exploded, due to the flames.

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday refrained from examining the legal challenges posed to the changes made in the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the petitions filed on the "serious issue" of abrogation of provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution suffer from defects.

The apex court, which was dealing with the first petition filed on August 6, a day after the decision to scrap Article 370 was announced, expressed its anguish that there have been six petitions on the issue and all were filed with the defects.