Nepal’s Prez confers honorary title on Indian Army chief
Kathmandu, Nov 21: Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel on Thursday conferred the Honorary Rank of General of the Nepal Army to Indian Army chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, in continuation of an age-old tradition that first started in 1950, reflecting the strong ties between the two militaries. Gen Dwivedi, who is leading a five-member delegation, arrived here on Wednesday for a five-day official visit at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Gen Ashok Sigdel. President Paudel conferred the honorary rank to Gen Dwivedi at his official residence Shital Niwas. (IANS)
Australia introduces bill to ban social media for under 16s
Melbourne, Nov 21: Australia’s communications minister introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children under 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges. Michelle Rowland said TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram were among the platforms that would face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts. “This bill seeks to set a new normative value in society that accessing social media is not the defining feature of growing up in Australia,” Rowland told Parliament. (AP)
FBI arrests man accused of planning attack on New York Stock Exchange
Washington, Nov 21: A Florida man was arrested Wednesday and charged with a plot to “reboot” the US government by planting a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange this week and detonating it with a remote-controlled device, according to the FBI. Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Florida, was charged with attempt to use an explosive device to damage or destroy the building used in interstate commerce. The FBI began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was storing “bombmaking schematics” in a storage unit. They found bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices, according to the FBI. (AP)
N Korea, Russia agree to expand economic cooperation
Seoul, Nov 21: North Korea and Russia reached a new agreement for expanding economic cooperation following high-level talks in Pyongyang this week, the North’s state media said Thursday, as they continue to align in the face of their confrontations with Washington. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency didn’t elaborate on the details of the agreement signed Wednesday between its senior trade officials and a Russian delegation led by Alexandr Kozlov, the country’s minister of natural resources and ecology. The Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday said officials following an earlier round of talks agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the countries to promote tourism. (AP)