Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Aug 30 (NNN-ANA) – A total of 75 Afghan inmates, imprisoned in Pakistan, have been set free and returned to their homeland, Afghanistan, through the Torkham border yesterday, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported today.

So far, Pakistan has handed over around 2,516 Afghans, jailed in Pakistani prisons to Afghan authorities, through the Torkham border, according to Bakhtar.

Weeks ago, the ministry also reported that, 52 Afghan detainees had been released from Pakistani jails and returned home.

TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Aug 30 (NNN-ANA) – Three miners have been killed, after they were trapped underground, in a collapsed mine in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province, an official said today.

Several miners were working in a tunnel of the gold mine in Rastaq district this afternoon, when the tunnel caved in, killing three miners, provincial police spokesman, Abdul Mobin Safi, said.

Without providing more details, the official added that, an investigation had been initiated into the exact cause of the accident.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 29 (APP): Health officials on Tuesday said that 76 new coronavirus cases were reported during the last week across the country.

As per the data shared by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the case positivity ratio was 0.82 per cent while two patients were in critical condition.

No death was reported from the coronavirus last week while 9,318 Covid-19 tests were conducted.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A Pakistani high court on Tuesday suspended jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's sentence on corruption charges, but he will remain behind bars as a judge had already ordered his detention in another case.

The 70-year-old former cricket star has been at the centre of a political crisis since he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022. The worst economic conditions in Pakistan in decades have compounded the crisis.

NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Rising air pollution can cut life expectancy by more than five years per person in South Asia, one of the world's most polluted regions, according to a report published on Tuesday which flagged the growing burden of hazardous air on health.

The region, which includes the world's most polluted countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, accounts for more than half of the total life years lost globally to pollution, the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) said in its latest Air Quality Life Index.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani appeals court on Tuesday suspended the corruption conviction and three-year prison term of Imran Khan in a legal victory for the hugely popular embattled former prime minister, his lawyers and court officials said.

Although he will face a retrial in due course, the ruling will enable Khan, 70, to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections. Khan has denied the charges, insisting he did not violate any rules.

NEW DELHI, August 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he will not be able to attend the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi from September 9-10, so the Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Indian prime minister’s office said in a statement.

"President Putin conveyed his inability to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023 and informed that Russia would be represented by Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov," the statement said.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Monday quashed a sedition case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, a relief for the embattled leader whose appeal against conviction in a separate corruption case will be decided on by a high court on Tuesday.

The 70-year-old former cricket hero had filed an appeal in the Islamabad High Court, seeking to suspend his three year sentence on corruption charges handed to him earlier this month, saying he was convicted without being given a right to defence.

DHAKA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bangladeshi government Monday signed a 300 million U.S. dollar loan agreement to strengthen skills base and training programs for Bangladesh's workforce.

The Skills for Industry Competitiveness and Innovation Program aims to increase the technology-oriented skilled workforce across emerging and priority sectors, and promote inclusive skilling and upskilling opportunities for women and socially disadvantaged groups, said the Manila-based lender.

NEW DELHI, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday formally announced that it would launch "Aditya-L1", the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, on Sept. 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center located in Sriharikota of India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, off the Bay of Bengal.

"The Aditya-L1 will be the first Indian space-based observatory-class solar mission to unlock the mysteries of the Sun," added the ISRO.