14-12-2020 By SJA Jafri ISLAMABAD/ BEIJING: Learning of the Urdu language has become a new trend among Chinese students, said the Urdu professor of a Chinese university on Sunday. Prof Zhou Yuan is heading the Urdu Department at the School of Asian and African Studies of the Beijing Foreign Studies …

14-12-2020 JEDDAH/ DUBAI: An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah has been hit by an unidentified “external source” that caused a fire and an explosion, a shipping company said, suggesting another vessel has come under attack off the kingdom amid its years-long war in Yemen. In a …

Hyderabad Dec 14 (PMI): The style of the Majma-e- Olama wo Khutba Hyderabad Deccan is that they meet once in every two months to review the current situation and to be aware of each other’s preaching activity and to solve problems related to preaching. It should be taken out and …

Hyderabad Dec 12 (PMI): On receipt of information from reliable sources Malkajgiri Zone, Rachakonda, along with Nacharam Police nabbed two interstate Ganja peddlers namely Mamidi Ratnam and Lacha Naga Venkata Krishnaveni for illegal possession of Ganja in order to sell the same to the needy customers to earn easy money. …

13-12-2020 MAKKAH/ RIYADH: Swarms of desert locusts invaded the holy city of Makkah, while millions of them landed on Makkah Tower’s clock to completely hide it from people’s view. The Saudi Environment Department took timely action and immediately destroyed the locusts. According to Saudi authorities, locusts have attacked various cities …

13-12-2020 PARIS: Paris police took nearly 150 people into custody at what quickly became a tense and sometimes ill-tempered protest Saturday against proposed security laws, with officers wading into the crowds of several thousand to haul away suspected trouble-makers. Police targeted protesters they suspected might coalesce together into violent groups …

12-12-2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies PARIS: French authorities have shut down the only school in Paris that caters to Muslims, media reported, saying that the crackdown on the community was intensifying. According to the publication, the 4.5 million strong ‘Muslim Community’ in the country is facing increasing pressure from …

12-12-2020 TEHRAN: Iran has executed a once-exiled journalist over his online work that helped inspire nationwide economic protests in 2017, authorities have said. Iranian state television, the state-run IRNA news agency and the semi-official Nour news agency all said Ruhollah Zam was hanged early on Saturday morning. In June, a …

12-12-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies LONDON/ MELBOURNE/ KARACHI: A British-Pakistan has accused officers of the Metropolitan Police as well as Immigration and Newham Council officials of a “campaign of discrimination, harassment, and persecution”. Iqbal Sethi’s troubles started on September 19 last year when a joint team …

11-12-2020 RABAT/ WASHINGTON: Morocco on Thursday agreed to normalize ties with Israel under a US-brokered deal, becoming the fourth Arab nation to set aside hostilities with the Jewish state in the past four months. It joins the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in beginning to forge deals with Israel, …