Posts published in “Day: April 16, 2016”

The death of a woman and her young child as they were caught in a stampede at the Torkham border crossing while trying to cross from Afghanistan to Pakistan highlights a major problem of policing our porous border with Afghanistan. The Durand Line has always been a theoretical border and those separated by it have treated it either as if it doesn’t exist or as a mere formality. Since the war in Afghanistan, though, both…

A senior police official was killed in Taliban ambush in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan, officials said. The incident took place earlier today leaving the commander of Kunduz highway dead along with his 7 bodyguards. The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the incident so far. Takhar is among the relatively volatile provinces in northeastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militant groups are actively operating in a number of its districts and often carry…

The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has warned that the US interference in internal affairs of Afghanistan is not acceptable, pointing towards Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks regarding National Unity Government duration. In his speech during a gathering in Kabul, the former President said Kerry’s remarks regarding the Government of National Unity are a clear interference in internal affairs of the country. He said continued US interference in Afghanistan’s affairs is not tolerable, emphasizing…

Upto 40 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have been killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the airstrike was carried out in Achin district around 8:20 pm tonight. It is yet not clear if the airstrike was carried out by the Afghan Air Force or the US forces in Afghanistan but MOD said further details would be released later. This comes…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday said efforts were being made to revive fragile Afghan peace process even as the Taliban this week announced the start of their ‘spring offensive.’ Speaking at the weekly news briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakria hinted at convening the four-nation meeting to discuss prospects of direct talks between the Afghan government and the insurgent group. The initiative, led by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) made up of Afghanistan, Pakistan,…

HONG KONG — China’s growth rate slowed as expected in the first three months of the year, but a notable pickup in debt-driven industrial activity last month probably cushioned the slowdown. Growth slowed to 6.7 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, according to official data released on Friday morning in Beijing. That was the slowest quarterly rate since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, but it was also exactly…

Beijing : China is to punish 357 officials for selling illegal vaccines, a case which has reignited public fears over the standard of health care in the country. China’s cabinet said that 202 people had already been detained during the investigation into a ring that sold vaccines which had expired or been improperly stored. A mother and daughter who were held last year were said to be at the centre of the trade which had…

Washington: A Chinese state-owned nuclear power company and a US citizen were indicted on Thursday on charges of conspiracy to produce special nuclear material outside the United States without the required US authorisation, the Justice Department said. The China General Nuclear Power Company and Allen Ho, a naturalised US citizen and a nuclear engineer, were charged in a two-count indictment in the Eastern District of Tennessee, the department said in a statement.http://www.smh.com.au/world/chinese-stateowned-firm-us-citizen-charged-in-nuclear-case-us-20160414-go6w6t.html    

KARACHI: Saudi Arabia has banned shrimp imports from Pakistan, a worrying development for the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) as other countries may follow suit. Pakistan exported about 2,016 tonnes of seafood (valued at $7.494 million) to Saudi Arabia, including 189 tonnes of shrimp ($2.175m) in 2015. The country’s overall annual fish and fish preparations’ exports stand at around 140,000 tonnes, fetching around $350m. The share of shrimp exports is around 12,000 to 14,000 tonnes a…

At least 30 Afghan Local Police (ALP) soldiers have reportedly joined the Taliban ranks in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan. Sources have said the ALP forces have joined the Taliban ranks in Dand-e-Ghori district where heavy clashes have been reported among the Taliban and Afghan security forces. The sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said the ALP forces have also taken with them 25 weapons. The Taliban militants group has commented regarding the report…