WORLD
Taliban Culture Ministry calls IS 'headache', not 'threat'
Adding the group would soon be "suppressed", Zabihullah Mujahid, the Deputy Minister of Information and Culture, said: "We don't call Daesh (IS) a threat, but we call it a headache... It creates headaches in some places but is immediately taken out in every incident; (they) have been chased out and their sanctuaries found."
US secretly training Taiwan forces
About two dozen US special forces soldiers and an unspecified number of marines are now training Taiwanese forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The trainers were first sent to Taiwan by the administration of former President Donald Trump but their presence had not been reported until now.
Filipino, Russian journalists awarded Nobel Peace Prize 2021
Announcing the coveted prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it chose Ressa, the founder and chief of Rappler, digital media company for investigative journalism, and Muratov, the founder of Russian daily Novaya Gazeta, for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, "which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."
Greek Parliament ratifies defence pact with France
The agreement, which was signed last week in Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, passed on Thursday by 191 votes in favour in the 300-member assembly, reports Xinhua news agency. "It is an accord that upgrades bilateral cooperation in defence, security and foreign policy," Mitsotakis said in Parliament.
N.Korea seems to maintain strict land border controls: Seoul
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it has begun shipping Covid-19 medical supplies to North Korea through the Chinese port of Dalian, indicating that Pyongyang might be opening a maritime route that has been blocked since July last year due to the pandemic, reports Yonhap News Agency.
WHO set to vaccinate 40% population of every nation by year end
"Today, the WHO is launching the Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination by mid-2022," Xinhua news agency quoted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying at a press briefing here on Thursday. According to Tedros, achieving these targets will require at least 11 billion vaccine doses, which is an allocation problem instead of a supply problem
Russia invites Taliban for talks in Moscow
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Zamir Kabulov, who also serves as the director of the second Asian Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that an invite has been extended to Taliban officials. However, the precise details of the meeting and who might attend it have not been disclosed yet.
China's biggest airshow showcases military prowess
Air show China was held in the southern city of Zhuhai after a year-long delay as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The six-day event showcased China's home-grown aviation and space technologies, amid growing strategic rivalry in the Asia Pacific. The air show attracted nearly 40 countries and nearly 700 exhibitors online and offline exhibition sites signed more than $12.5 billion of the cooperation agreement.
Rights activists demand UN fact finding mission over targeted killings in J&K
"We also ask that you publicly support the creation of a much-needed UN fact finding mission to assess the scale and nature of terror attacks and targeted killings of innocents in Jammu and Kashmir by terror groups that have a haven in Pakistan yet carry out these attacks on the Indian citizens in Jammu and Kashmir", the letter by the human rights organisation to Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
Pakistan's Kashmir agenda faces opposition at the international level
In the European Union (EU) circles, the Pakistani narrative is referred to as the "'K'acophony". Usage of this jargon has become common among EU members who tend to ignore the push made by Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. Western countries are increasingly beginning to believe that there is no role for them to play in the Kashmir issue and that the matter has to be settled through dialogue between the two countries.
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