Breaking News LIVE: Scores Of Foreigners Fly Out Of Kabul In First Mega Civilian Evacuation Post US Withdrawal
Breaking News LIVE Updates September 9, 2021: This blog brings to you the latest breaking news from across India and the world. Refresh the page to find the latest updates.
Dozens of foreigners, including Americans, have left Kabul on an international commercial flight, marking the first large-scale evacuation since US and NATO forces left Afghanistan late last month. A senior US official said that Americans, green cardholders and other nationalities including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians are on the flight.
Some 200 foreigners, including Americans, boarded the international commercial flight from Kabul airport.
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extends the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for the assessment year 2021-22 till 31st December.
Afghanistan should not become a threat to its neighbouring countries, a source of terrorism and drug trafficking: Russian President Vladimir Putin during 13th BRICS Summit
The withdrawal of US forces & its allies from Afghanistan has led to a new crisis, and it's still unclear how this will affect global & regional security. It is for good reason that our countries have paid special attention to this issue: Russian Pres Vladimir Putin at BRICS Summit
Afghanistan's acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund has appealed to former officials of past governments to return to the country and assured them "full protection", saying the period of bloodbath is over and they face a humongous task to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.
"We paid a heavy price for seeing this historic moment in Afghanistan," Mullah Hasan said on Wednesday, a day after the hardline Islamic insurgents unveiled an interim Cabinet after seizing power in Kabul.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton will visit India from Sep 10 to 12 to take part in the inaugural two-plus-two ministerial dialogue between 2 countries: Ministry of External Affairs
Mumbai Police issues an order prohibiting darshan of Ganapati idols in pandals on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, says organisers should arrange digital darshan, ANI reported.
A media report citing Taliban officials and technical teams said on Thursday that the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul will be ready for international flight services in the next three days.
According to the Khaama News report, the technical teams from Qatar and Turkey are working alongside Afghan engineers at the airport.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan asked Qatar and Turkey to send their experts and help them in repairing the airport which was made ready for domestic flights in three days but international flights are yet to take off and land from the airport.
"Big screens, computers, scanners, and other electronics have been donated by Qatar and UAE and the technical teams are now busy installing them in terminals," the report added.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have allowed people with documents to travel abroad following the announcement of the caretaker government on Tuesday night.
Khaama News said that that damages worth up to $20 million were inflicted on the airport amid the US troops withdrawal which was completed on August 31.
Five Naxals, three of them allegedly involved in torching machines and a vehicle engaged in the construction of a water treatment plant, were arrested from different places in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said on Thursday.
Three cadres were apprehended from a forest between Kader and Japeli villages under Naimed police station areas, while two others were nabbed in the jungles of Munder village in Mirtur police station limits, an official said.
Personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and district police were involved in these operations that took place on Wednesday in the district, located around 400 km from capital Raipur, he said.
Supreme Court stays all proceedings before the Delhi High Court relating to the Amazon-Future-Reliance case; asks NCLT, SEBI & CCI not to pass any final order relating to the case for four weeks, reports ANI.
Whenever an out-of-the-box idea is proposed, apprehensions emerge. But glad for the support from the Defence Ministry and Airforce that has led to the successful launch of this 3 km long road-cum-air strip: Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in Jalore, Rajasthan
Having an emergency landing field so close to the international border shows that India is always prepared to defend its unity, integrity, & sovereignty. It shows that India is capable to deal with any challenge, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Jalore, Rajasthan
During a demonstration at the Emergency Field Landing at the National Highway in Rajasthan's Jalore, fighter aircraft including Jaguars and Su-30 MKIs landed and take off.
Indian Air Force informs the first aircraft to land during the demonstration in Rajasthan's Jalore was C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft. Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft also landed at Emergency Field Landing at the National Highway in Jalore.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari & Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria were present on the occasion.
PM Modi meets Indian para-athletes who participated in Tokyo Olympics.
The United States is not in a rush to recognize the new interim government in Afghanistan, the White House said on Wednesday, asserting that it is talks with the Taliban to get American citizens out of the strife-torn country.
"No one in this administration, not the President nor anyone on the national security team, would suggest that the Taliban are respected and valued members of the global community. They have not earned that in any way, and we have never assessed that. This is a caretaker cabinet that does include four former imprisoned Taliban fighters," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.
The administration has not validated that, she said.
"We have not conveyed we're going to recognize it and nor are we rushing to recognition. There's a lot they have to do before that. What we are working to do is to engage with them because they oversee and control Afghanistan right now to get American citizens, legal permanent residents, SIV applicants out of Afghanistan," Psaki said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the annual summit of the five-nation grouping, BRICS, today in the virtual format. The summit is expected to focus extensively on the situation in Afghanistan.
The meeting will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
This is the second time Prime Minister Modi will be chairing the BRICS summit. He had chaired the Goa summit in 2016. The Indian Chairship of BRICS this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of BRICS.
The theme for the summit is: ‘BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus’.
The Cabinet Committee on Security Wednesday approved the procurement of 56 C-295 MW transport aircraft from M/s Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain giving a big boost to the Indian Air Force.
The transport aircraft will gradually replace the ageing Avro fleet of the IAF.
As per a statement from the Ministry of Defence, 16 aircraft will be delivered in flyaway condition from Spain within 48 months of signing the contract. The rest 40 will be manufactured in India by TATA Consortium over a period of ten years.
The United Nations warned on Wednesday that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the subsequent position of the new rulers on women's rights have generated an “incredible fear” across the country. “The lack of clarity of the Taliban's position on women's rights has generated incredible fear,” said Alison Davidian, a senior UN official. “And this fear is palpable across the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to meet the Indian contingent of the 2020 Summer Paralympics today, just as he had earlier met with all the Olympians who returned after participating in the multi-sports event in Tokyo.
The 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo proved to be the most successful season for India yet, with athletes securing a total of 19 medals - five gold, eight silver, and six bronze. Before this edition, India had won 12 medals (4 medals of each colour) in all previous Paralympics appearances combined.
Background
Breaking News LIVE Updates, September 9, 2021: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to meet the Indian contingent of the 2020 Summer Paralympics on Thursday (September 9), just as he had earlier met with all the Olympians who returned after participating in the multi-sports event in Tokyo. Announcing on Sunday that the Prime Minister will be hosting the Paralympians this week, Union minister for youth affairs and sports Anurag Thakur said that Modi has always had a “vision” for inclusive participation in sports, so creating more opportunities for specially-abled athletes was a part of that idea.
“He [the Prime Minister] had hosted the Olympians when they arrived in India, and now he is going to host the Paralympians as well,” the sports minister later told reporters, adding a congratulatory word for all the medallists this year. He pointed out that in 2016, the contingent for the Paralympics was 19 and now in 2021, the country's para-athletes managed to win 19 medals.
The 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo was held from August 24 to September 5 this year entirely behind closed doors due to the prevailing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation. Just like the Olympics, the multi-sports event was branded as Tokyo 2020 despite being delayed a year due to the pandemic.
The World Health Organization called Wednesday for countries to avoid giving out extra Covid jabs until year-end, pointing to the millions worldwide who have yet to receive a single dose.
"I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.
Speaking from WHO's headquarters in Geneva, Tedros urged wealthy countries and vaccine makers to prioritise getting the first jabs to health workers and vulnerable populations in poorer nations over boosters.
"We do not want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people who are fully vaccinated," he said.
The WHO called last month for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until the end of September to address the drastic inequity in dose distribution between rich and poor nations.
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