Dubai: Iran has exempted commercial ships from four countries, including India and China, from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, a top Iranian official has said, amid continued attacks on vessels attempting to cross the strategic waterway. Amir Hayat Moghadam, Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the announcement in...

Kathmandu: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri paid a courtesy call on Nepal's Minister for Energy and Water Resources Biraj Bhakta Shrestha Wednesday and discussed expanding cooperation in the energy sector, according to an official statement. Misri is in Nepal on a two-day visit at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Amrit Bahadur Rai ahead of Prime Minister Balendra...

Islamabad: Pakistan Wednesday ratified a defence cooperation agreement with Kuwait, nearly five months after the two countries concluded the pact to strengthen bilateral military ties. The decision was taken at a federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad. The federal cabinet ratified a defence cooperation agreement between Pakistan and Kuwait, the Prime Minister's...

Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader R Ashoka Wednesday criticised the Congress-led Karnataka government over the bus fare hike, alleging that it had failed to clear Rs 5,650.95 crore in dues to the state-run transport corporations and was passing the burden of its failures on to the public. The Leader of Opposition said the hike could have been avoided...

New Delhi: Climate change is already cutting into India's food supply, disrupting farm-to-market systems and driving up food prices, with losses now running into billions of dollars a year, according to a report published Wednesday. For instance, heat stress alone costs India an estimated Rs 2,661 crore annually in lost milk production, equivalent to approximately 1.8 million...

New Delhi: In a major success in international law enforcement cooperation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), UAE authorities and Delhi Police, has secured the extradition of fugitive Sajeer Palli Mooppam from the United Arab Emirates to India. The accused was wanted in...

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the tendencies to implicate husband's relatives in matrimonial disputes through sweeping allegations of cruelty, the Delhi High Court Wednesday stressed the importance of timely support from a woman's family when she speaks of violence in her marriage. The court said the married woman's concerns should not be brushed aside by her family...

New Delhi: Supreme Court Wednesday directed the National Medical Commission to examine the issue of mandatory rural service for doctors after completion of their MBBS course. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe passed the order while hearing a petition that raised the issue of mandatory rural service for doctors. "We direct the National...

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government is planning to relocate villages located on hilltops and foothills to prevent casualties from landslides during disasters, senior minister Suresh Pujari said Wednesday. Of the six deaths reported during Cyclone Arnab in the state, five people died in landslides in Kandhamal and Ganjam districts. Ten other landslide victims remain missing in Ganjam. Home to...

Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik Wednesday wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, urging him to take up with the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government the escalating tension over the neighbouring state's move to hold rural elections in the disputed Kotia region. Patnaik's letter came a day after officials of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh reportedly...