DOHA: Two Al Jazeera journalists were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Qatar-based channel reported as the crisis rages in the Palestinian territory. “Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail Al Ghoul and his cameraman Rami Al Refee have been killed in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip,” the network reported adding the strike “targeted a car near the Aidia area, west of Gaza City”. Since the start of the conflict, Al Jazeera has aired continuous on-the-ground reporting on the effects of Israel’s campaign. The network’s office in Gaza has already been bombed in the conflict and two other correspondents killed. In a statement, Hamas condemned…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
GENEVA: Palestinians detained by Israel during the Gaza conflict have largely been held in secret and in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, thousands of Palestinians — including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters — have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually shackled and blindfolded”, the OHCHR UN human rights office said in a report. Thousands more have been detained in the West Bank and Israel, it added. “They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to…
WASHINGTON: Canadian authorities have uncovered a previously unknown plot to assassinate a Sikh activist on North American soil, according to reports from US media on Wednesday. Recent reports from various US and Canadian media outlets highlighted a Nov 3, 2023, police raid in Brampton, Ontario, which resulted in the arrest of five men on firearms charges. The arrests occurred just a day before the son of a prominent member of the Sikh independence movement was to be married in the Toronto-area city. Several well-known activists, including New York-based lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, were expected to attend the wedding. The accused include Swaranpreet…
Iran held funeral processions on Thursday amidst calls for revenge after the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel. The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Qatar, having earlier threatened a “harsh punishment” for his killing. In Tehran’s city centre, thousands of mourning crowds carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags gathered for the ceremony at Tehran University before a procession, according to an AFP correspondent. Haniyeh’s death was announced the day before by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who said he and his bodyguard were killed…
Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris had decided to “turn Black” for political gain, as he attacked his Democratic White House rival during a combative interaction with African American journalists in Chicago. The Republican former president’s inflammatory comments marked an escalation of the 78-year-old’s vitriol against Harris, whom he falsely accused of having identified as Indian but then, “all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she became a Black person”. Harris, 59, has long identified as Black and graduated from a historically Black university. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she…
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has held that law assists only those who are vigilant and not those who are sleeping over their rights. “Delay in invoking a lawful remedy by a person or entity that was sleeping over their rights may be denied,” observed Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi in a judgement he wrote on an appeal filed by Mumtaz Uddin Shaikh against the Feb 9, 2022 rejection by the Federal Service Tribunal (FST). Justice Rizvi was heading a two-judge bench also consisting of Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi. It is a well-settled principle of law that the question of laches (unreasonable…
QUETTA: After days of simmering tensions in the port city of Gwadar, which has remained under a communications and road blockade over the past several days amid protests by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), officials claimed a breakthrough in their talks with protesters, led by Dr Mahrang Baloch. The government was represented by Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove, whereas Mahrang led the BYC side in the talks, which commenced at the DC House in Gwadar on Wednesday. In a late-night statement, Gwadar Assistant Commissioner Jawad Zehri said that the negotiations between the BYC and the administration had succeeded and the government would release the…
QUETTA/KHYBER: Four personnel of law enforcement agencies were martyred while a traffic police constable sustained gunshot wounds in armed attacks in Pishin and Khyber districts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said on Wednesday. Pishin was rocked by two gun attacks within a span of eight hours, which claimed the lives of two Levies officials and left the traffic police constable wounded. The attackers used automatic weapons on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday to target a security check post in the Milizai area of Pishin district, police said. The Levies personnel, Yasin Alyas and Abdul Qadeer, embraced martyrdom in…
ISLAMABAD: A British-American author and journalist, who had been trying to secure a meeting with incarcerated former PM Imran Khan, was told by law enforcement agencies on Wednesday that his visa had been cancelled and he had five hours to leave the country. Charles Glass, 73, is an author, journalist, broadcaster, and publisher who specialises in the Middle East and World War II. He has served prominent media organisations such as Newsweek, ABC TV, and The Telegraph, among others, and currently works as a freelance journalist. Sources said that Mr Glass, who was recently spotted outside Adiala jail alongside Mr Khan’s sister Aleema,…
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has uncovered the use of illegally smuggled iPhone 14 Pro Max devices by customs officials, instead of destroying them in accordance with the rules. According to the documents available with Dawn, PTA in response to the letter sent to the authority in connection with the inquiry against the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) Collectorate disclosed that the expensive cell phones seized from passengers which were required to be destroyed were operational. Sources privy to the matter said that the decision to destroy the cell phones was taken by relevant authorities with a committee comprising senior officials…
