Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Saturday rejected an attempt by former prime minister Imran Khan's party to retain its traditional electoral symbol of a cricket bat, in the latest setback for the jailed leader ahead of a general election.

Khan's party, at odds with powerful army generals, has been grappling with a military-backed crackdown that has gathered pace ahead of the Feb. 8 vote. The party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleges the military is attempting to keep it out of the election race, a charge the army denies.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of members of India’s main opposition Congress party and its supporters began a 2-month cross-country march Sunday in a bid to regain some of the popularity it has lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party ahead of a crucial national vote this year.

MALE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- "Doctor, I can see your name tag now. Thank you," Ahmed Kalo said right after Chinese doctors at the China-Maldives Ophthalmology Center removed the bandages covering his eyes.

The 69-year-old has been blind for many years due to a stroke. Kalo's son, Shafraz Ahmed, said his father was dealing with hypertension, diabetes and heart disease but had not received the required medical attention from multiple hospitals due to the intricate nature of his condition.

NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Indian Navy on Friday rescued the crew of a merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in the Arabian Sea and said it had not found any pirates on board.

An Indian Navy warship intercepted the Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk bulk carrier less than a day after it received a report that the vessel had been hijacked about 460 nautical miles off Somalia.

KABUL, Jan 2 (NNN-ANA) – Afghanistan’s exports in 2023 reached nearly two billion U.S. dollars, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, said.

“The volume of Afghanistan’s exports in the past year reached 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, and the figure shows a two percent increase, which is equal to 41 million U.S. dollars, against the export volume in 2022,” the private television channel, Tolonews, quoted Jawad as saying today.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 01 (APP): Pakistan and India on Monday exchanged the lists of their nuclear installations and facilities as part of an annual practice of the new year.

The list of Pakistan’s nuclear installations was officially handed over to a representative of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Simultaneously, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs also handed over the list of its nuclear installations and facilities to a representative of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (NNN-APP) – Pakistan earned 892.972 million U.S. dollars through IT exports in Jul-Nov, the first five months of the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said, yesterday.

On a year-on-year basis, the sector saw a 4.45 percent growth, as compared to 854.918 million U.S. dollars recorded during the corresponding months of fiscal year 2022-23, the bureau said.

DHAKA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - A court in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to six months in prison for labour law violations, prosecutors said, for what he said was a crime he did not commit.

Yunus, 83, and his Grameen Bank won the 2006 peace prize for their work to lift millions out of poverty by granting tiny loans of under $100 to the rural poor of Bangladesh, pioneering a global movement now known as microcredit.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s independent human rights commission said Monday there is little chance of free and fair parliamentary elections in the country next month because of “pre-poll rigging.” It also expressed concern about authorities rejecting the candidacies of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and most other members of his party.

At a news conference in Islamabad, the co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Munizae Jahangir, said other political parties have been subjected to similar tactics to varying degrees.

COLOMBO, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan police have arrested 217 suspects with narcotics within 500 meters of selected schools in a special operation, police said in a press release on Saturday.

Police said that between Dec. 18 and Dec. 25, they educated workers and owners of business establishments where students congregate about the importance of creating a drug-free environment for children.

The establishments were located in 45 police divisions where drug use is prevalent, with 30,000 workers and owners having been educated, police said.