WORLD

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that Pakistan would not restore diplomatic ties with India until New Delhi revokes its decision of scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. India abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 on August 5, 2019 and bifurcated it into two Union territories.

“I want to make it clear that diplomatic relations will not be restored with India until it rescinds the illegal steps of 5th August 2019,” Khan said while addressing the National Assembly. Khan said that “entire Pakistan stands by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters”.

The US has appointed Indian-American career diplomat Atul Keshap, an old India-hand at the state department, as the country’s Charge’d Affairs in Delhi. Ambassador Keshap’s appointment will reinforce the close US partnership with the Government and people of India, demonstrated by our collaboration to overcome global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, the US State Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

Keshap, 50, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, will be departing for New Delhi to serve as Charge d’Affaires, ad interim, following the retirement of Ambassador Daniel Smith, it said. Keshap will bring a wealth of experience to the role, having served previously at US Embassy New Delhi and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, the statement said.

China began operating the world's second-largest hydropower station on Monday in what officials hailed as a milestone towards Beijing's carbon neutrality goals, despite warnings of environmental damage.

The 289-metre (948 feet) high Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China, second in the world only to the country's Three Gorges Dam in terms of power generation, began partial operation Monday morning, state media reported.

Baihetan was built with a total installed capacity of 16,000 megawatts, which means it will eventually be able to generate enough electricity each day once to meet the power needs of 500,000 people for an entire year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The speaker of Iran's parliament said on Sunday that Tehran will never hand over images from inside of some Iranian nuclear sites to the UN nuclear watchdog as a monitoring agreement with the agency had expired, Iranian state media reported.

"The agreement has expired ... any of the information recorded will never be given to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the data and images will remain in the possession of Iran," said Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

The announcement could further complicate talks between Iran and six major powers on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal. Three years ago, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran; Iran reacted by violating many of the deal's restrictions on its nuclear programme.

China on Friday began operations of its first fully electrified bullet train, connecting Tibet's provincial capital Lhasa with Nyingchi. Nyingchi is a strategically located Tibetan border town close to Arunachal Pradesh.

The 435.5-kilometre Lhasa-Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway has been inaugurated ahead of the centenary celebrations of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) on 1 July.

The electrified railway that opened in the Tibet Autonomous Region is the first of its kind. The "Fuxing" bullet trains entered official operation on Friday morning in the plateau region.