NAIROBI: Police fired on demonstrators trying to storm Kenya’s legislature on Tuesday and at least five protesters were shot dead, with sections of the parliament building set ablaze as lawmakers inside passed a bill to raise taxes. In chaotic scenes, protesters overwhelmed police and chased them away in an attempt to storm the parliament compound, with Citizen TV reporting protesters had managed to enter the Senate chamber. Police opened fire after tear gas and water cannon failed to disperse the crowds. A journalist counted the bodies of at least five protesters outside parliament. A paramedic, Vivian Achista, said at least…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
SAO PAULO: Setting aside an additional 1.2 per cent of the world’s land as nature preserves would prevent the majority of predicted plant and animal extinctions and cost about $263 billion, according to a study published on Tuesday. The world is racing to meet a goal to protect 30pc of the world by 2030 to protect wildlife that is being decimated by climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. Global policymakers will meet at a United Nations summit in Colombia in October to discuss plans for reaching that goal. The study in the journal Frontiers in Science aimed to identify the…
WASHINGTON: The United States warned Israel on Tuesday that a conflict with Hezbollah could spark a regional war, as UN agencies said 10 children a day are losing one or both legs and half a million Palestinians suffer “catastrophic” hunger in Gaza. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon, saying diplomacy is the best option as fears of a major war against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon have grown after months of cross-border fire. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East,” Austin said.…
GAZA STRIP: Hamas said an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed 10 family members of its Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh, who vowed to continue the “resistance” movement against Israel. Israel’s military said that it “was aware of the reports but we cannot confirm” them. The strike hit the Haniyeh family home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas and Gaza’s civil defence agency said. “There are 10 martyrs […] as a result of the strike, including Zahr Haniyeh, sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh,” Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defence, said. He said…
GENEVA: Alcohol kills nearly three million people annually, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, adding that while the death rate had dropped slightly in recent years it remained “unacceptably high”. The United Nations health agency’s latest report on alcohol and health said alcohol causes nearly one in 20 deaths globally each year, through drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse and a multitude of diseases and disorders. The report said 2.6 million deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2019 — the latest available statistics — accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths worldwide that year. Nearly three-quarters…
RAWALPINDI: Another PIA flight attendant has ‘gone missing’ after landing in Toronto, taking the total number of crew members who have disappeared in the Canadian capital this year to seven. At least 14 crew members have not returned after landing in Toronto since January 2023. A PIA spokesperson confirmed that the missing crew member, Noor Sher, was on board flight PK-781, which left Islamabad on Monday, the first day of Eidul Azha. His disappearance was reported when he did not report for duty on the return flight. Mr Sher is an experienced flight attendant who joined the national flag carrier…
QUETTA: Three of the 10 picnickers, who were kidnapped by unknown armed men from Shaban picnic spot in the Zarghoon Ghar area of Harnai district last week at gunpoint, returned home on Tuesday. Officials claimed that security forces recovered the three picnickers, but other sources suggested that they were released by the abductors. Meanwhile, the remaining seven individuals, who were kidnapped along with them, are still being held captive by the armed men. On June 20, the armed men abducted 14 people from the Shaban picnic point after checking their national identity cards. They later released four of them the…
ISLAMABAD: Despite their annual revenues touching Rs12 trillion, the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) remain a substantial and increasing drain on taxpayers’ money, with power sector firms leading the losses and eating up the value of the nation’s assets. According to the Aggregate Annual Report on Federal SOEs for Fiscal Year 2023 released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, gross revenues reached Rs11.92tr, a 15 per cent increase from the previous year, primarily driven by inflationary pressures, with the oil and financial sectors leading the growth. “Total aggregate profits were Rs703 billion, while loss-making SOEs reported an aggregate loss of Rs905bn, up 23pc…
ISLAMABAD: Taking part in the budget debate in the National Assembly, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday called for efforts to create a political consensus to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as lawmakers from the opposition parties, while decrying their alleged political victimisation, questioned huge budgetary allocations for various institutions, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the judiciary. “We realised that NAB and the Pakistani economy cannot coexist,” said the PPP chairman who had come for the first time to the assembly since the presentation of federal budget by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on June 12. He had come…
ISLAMABAD: PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman on Tuesday called for a thorough review of the upper house’s limited powers in budget making. Speaking in the house, she suggested convening the Committee of the Whole house to deliberate on this matter and decide on a concrete plan of action. She said the Senate was the upper house of parliament, but had no meaningful role in approving the budget. “As per rules, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance has 14 days to submit its recommendations, which the National Assembly can accept or reject at its discretion,” Senator Rehman asserted. She…
