03-11-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced a ban on the use of foreign currencies on Tuesday, threatening further disruption to an already ailing economy. Since the group seized power in mid-August, the national currency Afghani has depreciated and the country’s …

03-11-2021 NEW DELHI: Late last month, one of India’s largest and most trusted consumer goods companies released an advertisement that featured two women swooning over a jar of skin bleaching cream. The advertisement drew outrage – not for promoting a skin-lightening product – but because the women it depicted were …

03-11-2021 ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s council of ministers has declared a nationwide state of emergency effective immediately, according to state-affiliated media. “The state of emergency is aimed to protect civilians from atrocities being committed by the terrorist TPLF group in several parts of the country,” Fana reported on Tuesday, referring to …

03-11-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ PARIS: Australian PM Scott Morrison has escalated a row with France over a scrapped submarine deal, saying his nation will not accept “sledging” and “slurs”. On Sunday French President Emmanuel Macron said he knew Morrison had lied to him about his intentions to renege on the …

Hyderabad, Nov.2 (PMI): Sentiment and sympathy has upper hand in Huzurabad by poll as BJP candidate Etala Rajender won the battle and the ruling TRS lost it. Etela Rajender won the fray for seventh consecutive time as he got 1130 votes lead to a total of 23,865 votes majority in 22nd being …

02-11-2021 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: At least 19 people were killed and 43 wounded when two explosions, followed by gunfire, hit Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital in the capital Kabul, interior ministry sources told PMI on Tuesday. The gunshots were also heard near the Sardar …

02-11-2021 GLASGOW: More than 100 countries promised to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by the end of 2030, underpinned by $19bn in public and private funds to invest in protecting and restoring forests. The joint statement issued at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow late on Monday …

02-11-2021 By SJA Jafri KARACHI/ LAHORE/ ISLAMABAD: At least 23 Pakistani journalists have been penalized under the country’s draconian cyber-crime law in the last two years, establishing a “chilling pattern” of using the threat of legal action to silence dissent, a new report by a media rights watchdog says. Freedom …

02-11-2021 GLASGOW: India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s …

02-11-2021 LONDON/ NEW YORK: More than five million people are known to have died of Covid-19 worldwide, 19 months since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University. Vaccines have slowed the death rate, but some health experts say the true toll could be far higher. The milestone comes amid …