23-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have arrested five women taking part in a protest in the Afghan capital, Kabul, against the ban on women attending universities. Three journalists were also arrested. Protests are also understood to have taken place in the Takhar province. Guards …

22-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry on Tuesday suspended access to universities by female students until further notice, drawing strong condemnation from the United States, Britain and the United Nations. A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry, instructed …

22-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Australia was again forced to confront what experts say is “deeply entrenched” racism this year after the alleged murder of a 15 year old Indigenous boy, Cassius Turvey, shocked the nation. Cassius of the Noongar Nation people of Western Australia was walking …

21-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies GENEVA/ ISLAMABAD: The United Nations on Tuesday named three women to lead a rights investigation into Iran’s violent crackdown on women-led protests that have rocked the Islamic republic for more than three months. Bangladesh Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain, Pakistani law …

20-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI/ KABUL: Pakistani security forces on Tuesday retook control of a counter-terrorism interrogation center in the northwestern city of Bannu, where a group of officers was being held hostage by fighters from the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). During …

20-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI/ KABUL: Pakistani authorities have opened talks to try to resolve a standoff with attackers holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counterterrorism facility in the country’s northwest. Security forces have surrounded the highly fortified military cantonment that houses …

17-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report AUCKLAND/ MELBOURNE: After a nine-year ordeal in Australia’s immigration detention system, six refugees are preparing for a new life in New Zealand after being granted permanent residency. The six are among more than 4,000 people who travelled to Australia by boat to seek …

16-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KABUL/ NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Britain’s leading defence think-tank International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) has said in a report it appears that both India and the Taliban in Afghanistan are eager to build trust and develop bilateral relations. The report titled …

15-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report PARIS/ ISLAMABAD: The number of journalists imprisoned around the world has hit a new record, according to an annual tally by press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres, or RSF). A total of 533 media professionals were imprisoned in 2022, up …

14-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Fight like wild and mad dogs has been started between Aussies after ethnic, religious, sectarian, social, cultural and criminals/ gang conflicts have already been become the routine in Australia just because either no-interest of Australian authorities, bureaucracy, politicians and other concerned …