Author: Starvision News Desk

Islamabad, July 26 (IANS) Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has come under severe criticism on his sexist comments against female opposition parliamentarians. Asif’s comments have sparked anger among women’s rights activists and groups, who are demanding a public apology from the Minister.During a session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, Asif referred to his opposition benches, specifically the women members of the opposition PTI present at the session as “ruins of PTI”.“They (female PTI members) are leftover ruins. They are leftover waste. PTI’s garbage is left over which needs to be cleaned,” he said while addressing the flood of the…

Canberra, July 26 (IANS) Australian governments continue to make decisions that exacerbate the disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians, a new report revealed on Wednesday.The federal government’s principal review and advisory body, the Productivity Commission, published its first review of the 2020 overhaul of Closing the Gap, the national framework aiming to reduce Indigenous disadvantage, reports Xinhua news agency.Three years after federal, state and territory governments reached a landmark agreement on new targets for the framework, the Productivity Commission found that some are still making decisions that “disregard or contradict” their commitments.”This Agreement held and continues to hold significant promise. It…

Seoul, July 26 (IANS) Retail sales in South Korea rose 5.7 per cent on-year in the first half of this year amid eased anti-Covid curbs and people’s growing outdoor activities, the Industry Ministry said on Wednesday.The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers came to 85.4 trillion won ($66 billion) during the January-June period, compared with 80.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry.The increase was attributable to a low base effect as more people turned to outdoor activities amid the stabilised virus situation and the government’s lifting of anti-virus restrictions this…

Stockholm, July 26 (IANS) During the first six months of this year, a total of 3,949 companies went bankrupt in Sweden, the highest in a decade, state media reported.According to the Swedish Television (SVT) report, more than 28,000 jobs were lost due to bankruptcies in the period.Business and credit reference agency UC said that hotels and restaurants were the most affected sectors, especially in May and June when the number of bankruptcies was 90 per cent higher than in the same months in 2022, Xinhua news agency reported.As the hotel and restaurant industry is a staff-intensive industry, this caused a…

Seoul, July 26 (IANS) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited cemeteries to pay respects to the country’s soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War and to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the armistice, state media said on Wednesday.The Korean War ended with an armistice agreement on July 27, 1953, reports Yonhap News Agency.The North calls the war the Great Fatherland Liberation War and designated the armistice signing date as Victory Day.Kim visited the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery in Pyongyang on Tuesday on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, and was accompanied by…

Washington, July 26 (IANS) Two prominent Indian-American Congressmen have come out in support of Vivek Ramaswamy, who is seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, after a televangelist targeted his Hindu faith in a recent sermon asking citizens not to vote for him.Hank Kunneman, the senior pastor of the non-denominational Lord of Hosts Church in Nebraska, said Ramaswamy is Hindu and therefore anyone who supports him “will have a fight with God”. Reacting to Kunneman’s disparaging comments, Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Ro Khanna said they don’t agree much with Ramaswamy but condemned the “bigoted remarks” against the 37-year-old. “I don’t agree…

Beijing, July 26 (IANS) China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC) on Wednesday renewed the second highest orange alert for Doksuri, as the fifth typhoon of this year, which is expected to bring gales and heavy rain to the southern and eastern parts of the country.The typhoon, observed over the ocean about 350 km south of Taiwan at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, is expected to move northwest at a speed of 10 to 15 km per hour, Xinhua news agency quoted the NMC as saying in its latest update.It will enter the northeastern part of the South China Sea between Wednesday evening…

Seoul, July 26 (IANS) South Korea continued to report a natural decrease in population in May amid critically low births reflecting the alarming demographic challenge of Asia’s No. 4 economy, data showed Wednesday.Only 18,988 babies were born in May, decreasing 5.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to the monthly report from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest number for any May since the agency started compiling the data in 1981, reports Yonhap News Agency.The number of babies born in South Korea has been falling on-year for 90 consecutive months.In contrast, the number of deaths in the country moved…

Brussels, July 26 (IANS) A court in Brussels found six out of 10 suspects guilty of “terrorist murder” in the March 2016 suicide bomb attacks that killed more than 30 people at the Belgian capital’s airport and a metro station.Mohamed Abrini, Oussama Atar, Osama Krayem, Salah Abdeslam, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhoukhi were all found guilty of terrorist murder, CNN quoted Belgian public broadcaster RTBF as saying in a report.The Brussels court on Tuesday established a terrorist motive behind the attacks, ruling that the group’s intention was to intimidate the Belgian population and kill as many people…

Washington, July 25 (IANS) The International Monetary fund on Tuesday projected that the Indian economy will grow by 6.1 per cent in 2023, which is 0.2 points — 20 basis percentage points — higher than its April forecast.The fund attributed the upwardly revised projection to “stronger domestic investment”. The forecast for 2024 remained unchanged at 6.4 per cent. The fund also said the Chinese recovery from Covid-19 related restrictions and lockdown is “losing steam” after showing a big boost in February and March. The forecast for the Chinese economy remained unchanged — 5.2 per cent for 2023 and 4.5 per…