Seoul, Aug 6 (IANS) A special counsel team plans to question former South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun next week over his alleged role in the botched martial law episode, judicial sources said Wednesday.Special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk’s team will visit a detention facility in eastern Seoul, where Kim is being held in custody, at around 2 p.m. Monday to question him as a witness as part of an investigation into jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration late last year…

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met a delegation of young political leaders from Nepal in New Delhi on Wednesday as the two sides discussed close cooperation and deep people-to-people ties between both nations. In a post on X, Jaishankar wrote, “Pleased to interact with a delegation of young political leaders from Nepal, on a visit to India. Discussed our close cooperation and deep people to people linkages.”On Tuesday, Nepal’s Embassy in India welcomed the l…

Washington/New York, Aug 6 (IANS) Hours after his 24-hour deadline passed, US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a punitive 25 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil, which would raise the total tariffs on India to 50 per cent. He is singling out India for the additional tariff, even though China, Turkey, and other countries also buy Russian oil.India said it was extremely “extremely unfortunate” that the US was imposing “additional tariffs on India for actions that several o…

Phnom Penh, Aug 6 (IANS) A six-year-old girl from southern Cambodia’s Takeo province has been confirmed for H5N1 human avian influenza, bringing the number of cases to 15 so far this year, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday.”A laboratory result from the National Institute of Public Health showed on August 5 that the girl was positive for H5N1 virus,” the statement said.”The patient has the symptoms of fever, cough, fatigue, and breathing difficulty, and she is currently bein…

Wellington, Aug 6 (IANS) New Zealand has pledged support to Samoa amid a severe dengue outbreak that has so far claimed the lives of five Samoan children.Acknowledging the close ties between the two nations, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Wednesday that the New Zealand government will dispatch a small team to Apia, the Samoan capital, to provide clinical assistance and work with Samoan authorities on further medical support requirements.Additionally, New Zealand will provide…

Beijing, Aug 6 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be held in Tianjin City from August 31-September 1, reports cited on Wednesday. This will be PM Modi’s first visit to China since the Galwan clash in 2020, which severely strained bilateral ties. PM Modi had earlier travelled to China in 2019. He also held a meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan…

Islamabad, Aug 6 (IANS) Although the core mission of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) was to enhance access and quality in higher education in the country, it continues to be crippled with administrative and organisational deficiencies due to faulty decisions, systemic lacunas and a lack of direction, local media cited on Wednesday.”Over the years, the HEC has been experiencing mission creep and now finds itself involved in internship programmes, laptop distribution schemes, deliveri…

Guangzhou, Aug 6 (IANS) Rain-triggered landslide left seven people missing in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, on Wednesday morning, local authorities said.A total of 14 people were trapped in the landslide that occurred at about 8.30 a.m. in Dayuan village in the city’s Baiyun District, with multiple houses damaged, according to the district’s emergency management bureau.As of noon, rescuers had pulled seven of them from the debris, all in stable condition, Xinhua news ag…

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) The Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was once a dangerous terror outfit operating out of Bangladesh, threatening India’s national interests. However, since the past eight years, it had gone down considerably, and there were no signs of any activity from this proscribed terror group.With Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, many radical groups have run amok, and this has led to the revival of several terror groups, including the JMB.The Indian Intelligence agencies have warned…

Dhaka, Aug 6 (IANS) Three more people have died due to dengue in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours till Wednesday morning, raising the death toll from the mosquito-borne disease in 2025 to 92. The fatalities have been recorded in the Chattogram and Rajshahi divisions and the Dhaka North City Corporation, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). During this period, 428 more people were admitted to hospitals due to viral fever, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 22,812 …