PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s office spent nearly one million euros on two lavish banquets for Britain’s King Charles III and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country’s top auditors said as they urged the Elysee Palace to tighten its belt. The Cour des Comptes (Court of Accounts), which keeps an eye on state budgets, lamented a “sharp rise” in presidential spending last year, shooting up to 125.5m euros ($135m) — 8.5m more than its budget. A significant slice of that overspend went on a glittering dinner at the Palace of Versailles for the British monarch in September and an equally starry…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
DHAKA: Bangladesh will ban the country’s largest religious party Jamaat-i-Islaami and its student wing Shibir in the wake of this month’s deadly nationwide unrest, road transport minister Obaidul Quader told reporters on Tuesday. Representatives of Bangladesh’s governing coalition “unanimously decided to ban Jamaat and Shibir, taking into consideration their past and present activities,” said Quader, who is also general secretary of the ruling Awami League. Jamaat is already banned from contesting elections but the new order would outlaw the party and prevent it from holding any public gatherings. Party leader Shafiqur Rahman condemned the order as “illegal, beyond jurisdiction and anti-constitution”.…
WASHINGTON: Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians rose by about 70 per cent in the United States in the first half of 2024 amid heightened Islamophobia due to Israel’s aggression in Gaza, the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said on Tuesday. Human rights advocates have reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the eruption in October of the Israeli invasion which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. In the first six months of 2024, CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, a rise of nearly 70pc…
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, Palestinian group Hamas said on Wednesday, drawing fears of a wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s offensive in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating. Iran’s state-owned news agency IRNA also confirmed Haniyeh’s killing, adding that one of his bodyguards was also killed in their residence in the Iranian capital early on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli military said…
Relentless downpours and howling winds hampered Wednesday’s search for survivors of landslides that struck Indian tea plantations and killed at least 150 people, most believed to be labourers and their families. Days of torrential monsoon rains have battered the southern coastal state of Kerala, with blocked roads into the Wayanad district disaster area complicating relief efforts. Heavy rain in Kerala, one of India’s most attractive tourist destinations, led to the landslides early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people away to their deaths as they slept. Senior police officer M.R. Ajith Kumar told AFP that…
ISLAMABAD: The government has notified a three-member committee comprising top intelligence officials to aid in the recovery of missing persons, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed on Tuesday. A larger bench of the IHC, including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir, heard the cases related to missing persons. During the proceedings, the bench sought separate reports concerning the missing individuals. The court was informed that the committee is headed by Qazi Jamilur Rehman, the joint director general of the IB. One brigadier each from the ISI and MI are also on the…
Designer Khadijah Shah announced that she is relinquishing her US citizenship to accept a reserved National Assembly seat for women on the PTI’s ticket, after former premier Imran Khan offered it to her. Pakistani law prohibits dual nationals from serving as members of parliament. “Making the decision to relinquish my US citizenship, which guarantees freedom, safety, and opportunity, was not easy,” Shah wrote in an Instagram post. “However, Pakistan is my motherland, the place I call home, and the country where I’ve built my life. I cannot give up on it and my people.” She maintained that she personally experienced…
PESHAWAR: A United Nations vehicle came under fire from militants in Tank district on Tuesday, but no one was hurt. Reports suggest that around seven militants opened fire on the unmarked, armoured vehicle. Two staff members from the were United Nations Office For Project Service were on board the vehicle at the time, but both escaped unhurt as the vehicle was armoured. They had no armed escort and no UN logo on the vehicle” a police official said.
KARACHI: Political, religious and nationalist leaders and civil right campaigners on Tuesday criticised the provincial government’s plan to give 6,000 acres to the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) for a housing scheme in the coastal belt of the city and demanded withdrawal of the decision. At a multiparty conference (MPC) called by the Sindh United Party, speakers asked the provincial government to withdraw the decision of allotment of land to the DHA and give lease of land to residents of the locality. They urged the provincial government to provide legal protection to the local population in Deh Allah Banu, Deh Mendiari and Deh…
ISLAMABAD: A new scam in record-keeping of answer sheets of Higher Secondary School Certificates (HSSC) exams has hit the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), the country’s largest education board, which also conducts exams of overseas Pakistani students. Sources in the board said that during the scanning of answer sheets of HSSC papers, some were found to have been allegedly replaced with new ones, a step which raises eyebrows as annual results of HSSC are expected to be announced next month. The sources said that since every page of answer sheets carries a QR code, when replaced sheets…
