Author: Suayb Khosa

BEIJING — China and Iran have urged mutual neighbor Afghanistan to end restrictions on women’s work and education. The call came in a joint statement Thursday issued at the close of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, during which the two sides affirmed close economic and political ties and their rejection of Western standards of human rights and democracy. Since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have banned women and girls from universities and schools after the sixth grade and forced out those in elected offices and other prominent positions. “The two sides … called on…

Christian devotees attend a Palm Sunday service at the Sacred Heart Cathedral church during the government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Lahore on April 5, 2020. LAHORE, Pakistan — Arif Gill said he lost hope of finding his 15-year-old daughter — abducted by a 60-year-old Muslim who forcibly married her and converted her to Islam — until police in Pakistan finally registered a case after nearly two months. Sitara Arif, also known as Saira, was kidnapped on Dec. 15 by Rana Tayyab in the Yousafabad area of Faisalabad, Gill said. Tayyab is the husband…

The government has decided to mark the period from 2023 to 2033 as the Visit Nepal Decade (VND). While the short-term goal of the VND is to revive the country’s tourism sector which was battered by the Covid-19 pandemic for two consecutive years, the long-term goal is to take the Nepali tourism to newer heights, including establishing Nepal as a leading destination in the global tourism market. In fact, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has already prepared a Strategic Action Plan to make the VND 2023-33 successful. Last Thursday, the tourism minister received a draft of the…

Chinese nationals in Nepal are involved in illegal activities from hacking the banking system to heinous crimes such as human trafficking, epardafas.com reported citing Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau Kathmandu. According to the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau Kathmandu, the Nepalese were duped by Chinese nationals and were illegally sent to Laos with offers of high salaries. Earlier, Police Superintendent of the Bureau Daan Bahadur Malla informed that two Chinese nationals have lured and sold 10 Nepali youths. He said that further investigation is ongoing on the suspicion that they have sent more Nepali youths abroad. The two accused Chinese citizens, involved…