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The "hijab and chastity law" in Iran proposes stricter penalties for girls and women who do not fully cover their hair, forearms, or lower legs, including fines, prison sentences of up to 15 years. However, Iran's National Security Council has put the brakes on this antiquated and contentious law after it was supposed to come into effect last Friday. This comes in after the law received worldwide and domestic backlash. President Masoud Pezeshkian said the legislation was "ambiguous and in need of reform", whereas Amnesty International, a human rights organisation said the Iranian authorities were "seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression." Pezeshkian voiced his disapproval of the country's mistreatment of women regarding hijabs earlier this year during his presidential campaign. "Just as they could not forcibly remove hijabs from women's heads in the past, they cannot now force it onto them. We have no right to ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that issues related to the livelihood of fishermen were discussed during his meeting with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and both sides agreed on the need for a humanitarian approach to address the issue. During a joint statement at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday, PM Modi expressed hope that the Sri Lankan government would meet the aspirations of the Tamil community. He emphasized the importance of implementing the Sri Lankan constitution in full and holding provincial council elections as committed. "We also discussed issues related to the livelihood of fishermen and agreed that we should move forward with a humanitarian approach in this matter. On reconstruction and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, President Dissanayake told me about his inclusive approach. We hope that the Government of Sri Lanka will meet the aspirations of the Tamilians, and fulfill its commitment to fully implement the Constitution of Sri Lanka and hold...

Britain's foreign minister said Sunday that London had established diplomatic contact with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group in Syria, which led the offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad. They remain "a proscribed terrorist organisation, but we can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact, as you would expect", said Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "We want to see a representative government, an inclusive government. We want to see chemical weapons stockpiles secured, and not used, and we want to ensure that there is not continuing violence," he added. "So, for all of those reasons, using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and of course intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/ybLIfjx

An inquiry commission set up by the interim government in Bangladesh said in a provisional report that it has found ex-premier Sheikh Hasina's involvement in alleged incidents of enforced disappearance. The Commission for Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance estimated that the number of enforced disappearances would be over 3,500. "The commission has found evidence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's involvement as the instructor in the incidents of enforced disappearance," the press wing of the office of Chief Adviser (CA) of de facto Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus said in a statement on Saturday night. It said the deposed premier's defence adviser, Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre and sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, and senior police officers Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid and several other senior officials were found to be involved in those incidents. The ...

Harshita Brella, the 24-year-old Indian woman who was found dead in the boot of a car in London, allegedly told her mother that her husband "was going to kill her". Ms Brella was found dead on November 14. Her husband Pankaj Lamba, 23, is the prime suspect in her murder. According to The BBC , cops believe that the 24-year-old, who was born in Delhi and moved to the UK in April this year after marrying Lamba in August last year, was fatally strangled days before her body was found in the car's boot.  Now, in an interview with the BBC , Ms Brella's mother, Sudesh Kumari, said she spoke to her daughter just weeks before her death. "(Lamba) was making her life miserable," she told the outlet. "She said I will not go back to him. He will kill me," the mother added.  Ms Kumari said her daughter was "very simple, very innocent". "She did not fight with people," she added.  Ms Brella's family believe that Lamba is in India, but ...

Switzerland has taken a unilateral stand after the Supreme Court of India's ruling in the Nestle case. It has revoked the 'Most Favoured Nation' or MFN status accorded to India under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement or DTAA treaty. Switzerland's move marks a significant shift in bilateral treaty dynamics and will result in a big impact on Indian companies operating in Switzerland as well as on Swiss investments in India. In its official statement on December 11, the Swiss finance department named the Supreme Court of India and cited its 2023 ruling as the reason for its decision to remove India's MFN status. In its order, the Supreme Court had said that the MFN clause between two nations does not apply automatically when a country joins the OECD, especially if the Indian government already had a prior tax treaty with that country before joining the grouping. The OECD or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was established in 1961 and is h...

The Biden administration announced another package of weapons aid for Ukraine, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday, without revealing the amount of contents of the package. Kirby said the U.S. would continue to provide additional packages for Ukraine "right up to the end of this administration." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/jCz3H4P