Posts published in “Day: June 8, 2016”

BEIJING: China has marked the start of Ramazan by restricting civil servants, students and children in a mainly Muslim region from fasting, government websites said as the holy month began on Monday. China’s ruling Communist party is officially atheist and for years has banned government employees and minors from fasting in Xinjiang, home to the more than 10 million strong mostly Muslim Uighur minority. It has also ordered restaurants to stay open. The region sees…

BEIJING: Residents of a border district in China’s mostly Muslim region of Xinjiang must now provide DNA samples when applying for passports, according to official local media. As of first of June, residents of the Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in China’s far northwest must give police DNA samples, fingerprints, voice prints and a “three-dimensional image” in order to apply for certain travel documents, the official Yili Daily said, citing the local public security bureau. Many…

By FELICIA SCHWARTZ and  MARK MAGNIER BEIJING—The U.S. and China made little progress on a series of disagreements during two days of high-level economic and security talks, as both countries prepare for leadership change and further economic uncertainty. Statements by officials from both sides on Tuesday suggested mostly incremental results from the dialogue. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Chinese officials reaffirmed a commitment not to devalue an already weakening yuan for competitive purposes and…

With more than 100 achievements, the eighth China-US Strategic & Economic Dialogue (S&ED) concluded on Tuesday. There were plenty of discrepancies between the two the media could hype up, but US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Tuesday evening that this was a “productive” dialogue. Regarding China’s law on foreign NGO management, he said that the two sides held “in-depth” and “thorough” discussions over it. It is often the case that China is…

The Taliban group in Afghanistan has beaten the world’s most dangerous terror group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to secure first place in the list of the world’s top terrorist group. According to the annual terrorism survey by the State Department, the Taliban group conducted 1093 attacks in 2015 while the ISIS terrorist group conducted 931 attacks. The number is relatively more higher as compared to ISIS terrorist group as the Taliban…

The writer is a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations. He is the author of “Envoy” In foreign policy, there are key moments—“golden hours”—when events create a finite window in which to achieve important things. Sometimes they are obvious, like in the aftermath of a successful military operation. More often golden hours are fleeting and apparent only in retrospect, when policy makers realize that they missed an opportunity. Based on my…

ISLAMABAD: The government is struggling to keep a lid on banned organisations which continuously resurface under pseudonyms and new aliases all the while challenging the state’s authority. The interior ministry is responsible for determining whether any group is to be banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. But their job does not stop there, it is supposed to keep tabs on such organisations and prevent them from re-emerging. However, the ministry has failed to take…

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has registered a case against inviting Daesh to strike Pakistan. Muhammad Jibran Nasir, representative of civil society Maulana Abdul Aziz, Umme Hassan and students of Jamia Hifsa for allegedly has filed the petition taking the plea that students of Jamia Hafsa have invited Daesh to Pakistan to take revenge of Lal Masjid operation and killing of Osama bin Laden through a video on social media, something Maulana Abdul Aziz supported.…