Indian Sub-continent

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi is permanently closed, it announced Friday, due to challenges from the Indian government and a lack of diplomatic support.

In a press release, it said the decision was already effective from Thursday and follows the embassy’s earlier move to cease operations starting Oct. 1 due to the absence of a recognized government in Kabul. At the time, it had said it would continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court accepted on Wednesday a bail application from detained former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer said, a day after another court declared illegal his trial on charges of leaking state secrets.

The former cricket star is fighting various legal battles in the hope of securing release from jail and leading his party in a campaign for a Feb. 8 general election, which his arch rival, another former prime minister, is hoping to win.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A soldier and three terrorists were killed in two separate operations against the militants and an attack on security forces in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistani military said on Tuesday.

One of the operations was conducted in Dera Ismail Khan district, where security forces launched an intelligence-based operation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Arm, said in a statement.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- India's top health research body, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said on Tuesday a comprehensive study showed that COVID-19 vaccination was not responsible for unexplained sudden deaths among young adults in the country.

The investigation, titled "Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India, a multicentric matched case-control study", was conducted between October 2021 and March 2023.

NEW DELHI (AP) — The 41 construction workers who have been trapped in a collapsed tunnel in northern India for over a week are finally getting hot meals Tuesday, provided through a newly installed steel pipe, as rescuers work on an alternate plan of digging toward them vertically.

The meals, made of rice and lentils, were sent through a 6-inch-(15.24 cm) pipe pushed through the rubble late Monday, said Deepa Gaur, a government spokesperson.

NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (Reuters) - India's capital Delhi re-opened schools and some building sites on Monday amid signs of receding air pollution, although it remained classified as hazardous, while a toxic foam besmirched stretches of the Yamuna river flowing through the city.

The world's most polluted capital resumed its annual battle on pollution this month, despite government pledges to improve. Monday's air quality index (AQI) of 336 was down from Thursday's level of 509, but still "hazardous", Swiss group IQAir said.

COLOMBO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives government Saturday formally requested India to withdraw its military personnel from the Island nation, according to information from Male.

The request was made by the new President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, during his meeting with a representative of the Indian government.

"At the meeting, President Muizzu had formally requested Government of India to withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives," a statement issued by the office of the Maldives President said.

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Officials trying to reach 41 workers who have been trapped in a collapsed tunnel in northern India for eight days were contemplating alternative rescue plans Sunday after snags with a drilling machine caused them to halt digging.

A new drilling machine arrived at the accident site in Uttarakhand state on Saturday to replace one that was damaged while breaking through the rocks and debris. They had been using the drill to create a space to insert wide pipes through which the trapped workers could crawl to their freedom.

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Forty workers were trapped in a collapsed road tunnel in northern India for a seventh day Saturday as rescuers waited for a new machine to drill through the rubble so they could crawl to their freedom.

On Friday, the drilling was interrupted when some machine bearings became damaged by the breaking of rocks and clearing of debris, officials said, adding a new challenge to the long-drawn rescue efforts.

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Rescuers drilled deeper into the rubble of a collapsed road tunnel in northern India on Friday to fix wide pipes for 40 workers trapped underground for a sixth day to crawl to their freedom.

Drilling with a new machine started on Thursday and has covered a stretch of 24 meters (78 feet) so far, Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official, said.

It may require up to 60 meters (195 feet) to enable the trapped workers’ escape, Patwal told The Associated Press on Friday.