‘Zalmay Khalilzad’s visit is not to resume Afghan peace plan’ The Taliban announced on Wednesday they are sending a high-level delegation to Pakistan’s capital as part of a tour that has included Russia, China and Iran in a push to resurrect an Afghanistan peace deal with Washington that seemed imminent …
Read More »Italy PM approved U.S. talks with secret services: report
Meet aimed to discredit claims of Trump-Russia link: report Italy’s Prime Minister gave permission for a top U.S. official to meet Rome’s intelligence services as part of Trump-lead efforts to discredit claims he has ties with Russia, media reported on Wednesday. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte approved two meetings U.S. Attorney …
Read More »Johnson offers Brexit ‘compromise’ to EU
Prime Minister says U.K. will leave the grouping by October 31; promises that there won’t be checks at the Irish border The U.K. offered the European Union a proposed Brexit deal on Wednesday that it said represents a compromise for both sides, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the …
Read More »Taliban forms 14-member team for peace talks
Militants include Haqqani leader in it The Taliban announced on Tuesday a 14-member team to meet American negotiators this month in Doha, including five former Guantanamo Bay inmates and a high-profile militant behind bars in Afghanistan. U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has undertaken extensive recent peace talks with the Taliban …
Read More »Pakistan censors NYT article critical of its powerful military
The piece was about denial of rights to the ethnic Pashtuns An opinion piece in the International New York Times criticising Pakistan’s powerful Army was censored by its local publisher on Tuesday, replaced with blank space in a country where it can be dangerous to reprimand the military.The article by …
Read More »Hundreds of Indians confirmed as UK citizens under govt’s ‘Windrush Scheme’
Windrush Scheme: 455 Indians get citizenship More than 450 Indians have confirmed their British citizenship under the government’s ‘Windrush Scheme’, set up in the wake of an immigration scandal last year. In an update to Parliament on Thursday, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said at least 455 Indians confirmed their nationality …
Read More »Bills introduced to remove per-country limits on green card
Two identical legislation backed by top companies from Silicon Valley, like Google, have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to end the per-country limit on green cards. They could benefit thousands of Indian professionals waiting to gain permanent legal residency. In the Senate, Republican Mike Lee …
Read More »France defends decision to recall envoy from Italy
The French government took a dig at Italy’s populist leaders and the country’s economic problems on Friday, while defending its decision to recall its Ambassador to Rome. Paris summoned back its Ambassador in Rome for consultations on Thursday for the first time since Second World War, a symbolic move that …
Read More »Taliban demands new Afghan Constitution
The Taliban demanded a new Constitution for Afghanistan and promised an “inclusive Islamic system” to govern the war-torn country at a rare gathering with senior Afghan politicians in Russia on Tuesday that excluded the Kabul government. The manifesto, outlined in Moscow, comes a week after the Taliban held unprecedented six-day …
Read More »Russia to develop new missile systems by 2021
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday said the country must develop new types of missile systems in the next two years after Washington and Moscow ripped up a key arms control treaty. The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement and on …
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