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Seven Pakistani soldiers and at least 13 militants were killed in clashes in restive Balochistan province, the army said on Thursday, while separatists claimed dozens more had died in fighting that was still ongoing. Baloch separatists have stepped up attacks against Pakistan forces in recent weeks – including with a deadly bomb blast in the eastern megacity of Lahore last month. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said Pakistan forces came under attack late on Wednesday in the Naushki and Panjgur districts of Balochistan, an oil- and gas-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan. A total… Continue reading “Pakistan says 7 troops killed in Balochistan clashes”

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Yew Lun Tian BEIJING (Reuters) – Mixed doubles curling opened competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday as the shadow of war in Ukraine, and the impending arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, loomed over an event already transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. Curling teams from Sweden and Britain clashed inside Beijing’s “closed loop”, where the world’s athletes will compete until Feb. 20 in front of crowds made sparse by COVID-19 curbs. Basketball great Yao Ming and a Chinese soldier wounded in a border clash with India joined in a torc… Continue reading “Olympics-Curling kicks off Beijing Games ahead of Putin-Xi main event”

From left: EDB Additional Director General Development Malani Baddegamage, EDB Chairman Suresh de Mel, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena, and EDB Director General Chithranjali Dissanayake at the media briefing yesterday on the export sector’s performance Country achieves total merchandised and services exports worth $ 15.12 b up 23% from 2020 sustaining resilience amidst unprecedented economic crisisTrade Minister Bandula Gunawardena lauds export community, targets $ 20 b earnings in 2022Points to exports as a key driver for economic development, assures to support sectorEDB Chief Suresh de M… Continue reading “Exports soar in 2021 | Daily FT”

The director general of Iran’s Chabahar Free Zone, an economic development project in the country’s southeast, has been arrested for “major offences”, state news agency IRNA reported Sunday. It said the prosecutor in Sistan-Baluchistan province placed Abdorahim Kordi in custody, citing a statement from the intelligence branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic’s ideological army. Details on the alleged infractions were not provided. Kordi had been named to his post in 2016 under the former government of moderate president Hassan Rouhani, who was replaced last year by ultracon… Continue reading “Head of Iran’s Chabahar trade zone arrested: media”

Narayan Debnath in his study. 2011. Image via Wikipedia by Bonyoraj. CC BY 3.0. Indian comics artist, writer and illustrator Narayan Debnath was perhaps not known in the international arena but he is hailed as the father of Bengali language comic strips. His popular comic strips such as Handa Bhonda (1962), Bantul the Great (1965) and Nonte Phonte (1969) popularized Bengali comics and entertained Bengali speaking children and teens in India and Bangladesh for generations. On January 18, 2022, Debnath passed away at the age of 96in a hospital in Kolkata after prolonged illness. His fans on soci… Continue reading “Fans mourn Narayan Debnath, creator of the first Bengali comic-strip superhero”