Author: i2wtc
Thailand defends deportation decision as US says it will impose visa restrictions on official complicit in the deportations.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sanctions against an unidentified number of officials in Thailand for deporting at least 40 Uighurs to China last month, despite apprehensions they could be persecuted. Rubio said in a statement on Friday that he was immediately imposing visa restrictions on current and former officials responsible for or complicit in the deportations. No Thai official has been named. For years, rights groups have been accusing China of widespread abuses, including the mass detention of Uighurs, a…
NEW DELHI: England batsman Harry Brook has been banned from the Indian Premier League for two years after he pulled out at the last minute to focus on international cricket, local media reported Friday. The 26-year-old, considered a frontrunner to replace Jos Buttler as England’s white-ball captain, was signed to Delhi Capitals for the IPL season beginning next week. Brook also withdrew from his contract with the Delhi side last season after the death of his grandmother. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been informed about Brooks’s ban, an unnamed official from the Board of Control for Cricket…
Chinese national flags flutter on boats near shipping containers at the Yangshan Port outside Shanghai, China, February 7, 2025. Go Nakamura | ReutersChinese national flags flutter on boats near shipping containers at the Yangshan Port outside Shanghai, China, February 7, 2025. Go Nakamura | ReutersChina has lashed out at accusations it is endangering maritime safety made by top diplomats from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies in a joint statement, saying the G7 members are “filled with arrogance, prejudice and malicious intentions.”Even for China’s generally overheated diplomatic language, the statement issued Saturday was unusually vitriolic, although it did not threaten any retaliation.In the Friday…
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 18, 2024 shows a view of the Laoniuwan section of the Yellow River on the border between north China’s Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Li Zhipeng)HOHHOT, March 15 (Xinhua) — This spring, the challenging task of afforestation at the edge of the Mu Us Desert in northern China takes on a futuristic feel, with drones soaring through the air, transporting seedlings across vast sand dunes, while intelligent planting machines carve through the sands, embedding saplings with precision.”It only takes five seconds for these robots to plant a seedling in the desert,”…
Listen to article LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) remains unconvinced that its meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at Governor House on Saturday (today) will yield any meaningful outcome, a senior party leader revealed. The meeting, being held to address PPP’s concerns over being denied political space in Punjab, is unlikely to yield any significant results, the party insider claimed. “It is in PML-N’s genes to treat its benefactors with the utmost contempt,” he bemoaned, expressing deep-rooted scepticism within PPP ranks regarding any tangible progress. He further said that the real battleground for PPP at this juncture is not Punjab but the…
CHRISTCHURCH: Pakistan will have another go at testing their emerging resources when they take on New Zealand in the five-match Twenty20 International series, which starts at the Hagley Oval on Sunday. Following their group-stage ouster from the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, Pakistan decided to pick a host of youngsters for the series and gave Salman Ali Agha the charge to lead in place of regular captain Mohammad Rizwan. In a press conference before the team headed to New Zealand, Salman said Pakistan would look to play a modern brand of cricket which would feature the intent to attack from…
Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Electricity consumers are likely to get a tariff relief as power distribution companies (DISCOs) have asked for a reduction of 30 paisa per unit on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for February 2025. To review a petition in this regard, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has scheduled public hearing for March 26. The hearing will be held at Nepra Tower that can be accessed online. The downward tariff revision, sought by the Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) on behalf of DISCOs, indicated a reduction of Rs0.2984 per unit compared to the reference fuel…
The captain of the Solong container vessel, Vladimir Motin, to appear in court over the death of a crew member after his cargo ship crashed into a US fuel tanker.British police have charged the Russian captain of a cargo ship that crashed into a United States fuel tanker in the North Sea this week with manslaughter and gross negligence over the death of a crew member. Humberside police said on Friday night that Vladimir Motin, 59, from Primorsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was remanded in police custody and will appear at Hull Magistrates Court on Saturday. On Monday, the Portuguese-flagged…
A farmer adjusts an unmanned ploughing machine at an agricultural machine cooperative in Dongxinzhuang Town, Zunhua City of north China’s Hebei Province, March 14, 2025. Various modern technologies are being used during the spring ploughing farm work across the country. (Photo by Liu Mancang/Xinhua)Workers lay smart underground water-saving drainage system at a farm in Huanghua City, north China’s Hebei Province, March 12, 2025. Various modern technologies are being used during the spring ploughing farm work across the country. (Photo by Yuan Liwei/Xinhua)A farmer operates a drone to spray pesticide in a field in Zhaozhuangzi Village, Cangzhou City of north China’s…
Listen to article ISLAMABAD: With the Balochistan issue dominating discussions in the National Assembly, the lower house on Friday saw fiery exchanges as PTI parliamentary leader Zartaj Gul tore into the government over its handling of terrorism and the deteriorating security situation in the province. During a debate on the presidential address and Balochistan, Gul expressed deep sorrow over the Jaffar Express terror attack, which claimed the lives of several passengers and security personnel. She lamented that while the operation against the attackers was successful, terrorism continued to spiral out of control despite the interior ministry being crowded with half a dozen…