Kabul: Dozens of militants have been killed during clashes between rival Taliban factions in the latest outbreak of an insurrection against the group’s leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, which flared up last year when the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was announced dead. Up to 100 fighters were killed in the Shindand district of Herat in western Afghanistan, officials told local media on Thursday, when followers of Mullah Mohammad Rasool clashed with Mansoor supporters. The hostilities…
Posts published in “Day: March 11, 2016”
China’s annual legislative meetings, known as the lianghui, have been underway in Beijing for the past week. While the big decisions typically get made by a small circle of top leaders behind closed doors, the meetings also provide a venue for delegates from across China to contribute their ideas on charting the country’s development – and each year, a few delegates raise some ideas that are decidedly outside the box. Here are five proposals that…
A Chinese government minister’s defense of ideology in the classroom has ignited a frenzied online debate over what it means to keep Western values out of the country’s schools. Last year, education minister Yuan Guiren attracted controversy when he declared that Chinese professors should be on guard against the infiltration of Western ideas and avoid using teaching materials that “disseminate Western values.” At a press conference Thursday, The Wall Street Journal asked Mr. Yuan if…
BEIJING — A Tibetan entrepreneur who is a vocal but moderate advocate for bilingual education in schools across Chinese-ruled Tibetan regions has been illegally detained by the police for one and a half months, his family said. The man, Tashi Wangchuk, 30, who lives with his parents in the western town of Yushu, has written about language policy on his microblog. He has highlighted the dearth of meaningful Tibetan language education and expressed concern that…
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif landed in Saudi Arabia to begin their 3 day long visit of the Kingdom. Arguably the two most powerful individuals from Pakistan were met by an equally high ranking Saudi delegation, which then ushered them to the closing ceremony of ‘Operation North Thunder’ – where Pakistani troops have been present for weeks taking part in the military exercises – described as “the…
rTwo members of Hezb-e-Islami party led by notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have been added to the list of global terrorists by the United States. “The Department of State has designated Abdullah Nowbahar and Abdul Saboor as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons that have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals…
QUETTA: Up to 14 suspects were nabbed on Thursday for their alleged links with the Afghan Taliban and a huge cache of weapons was recovered from them in the provincial capital. Sources told The Express Tribune that based on some intelligence reports, security forces conducted an operation in the Pushtunabad suburb of Balochistan’s capital and arrested 14 suspects believed to be associated with the Afghan Taliban, as well as seized a huge cache of weapons…