RABAT: The death of 5-year-old Rayan Awram despite a massive effort to rescue him from a deep well sparked an outpouring of sympathy on Sunday, from his village in northern Morocco to the Vatican, from King Mohammed to international football clubs. The saga of the ultimately failed rescue attempt gripped the country and many people abroad for days. Rayan fell into the well in Ighran village near the town of Chefchaouen on Tuesday and his body was finally pulled out late on Saturday, following an operation that involved cutting much of the adjacent hillside and then tunneling towards the bottom…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LONDON: Pakistanis living in exile have been warned by the UK police forces of threats to their lives and asked to keep a low profile, a report published in British newspaper The Guardian this week revealed. The advice came from the Counter Terrorism Policing, which is a collaboration of the UK police forces that work with UK intelligence personnel to help prevent and investigate terrorist activity. The development came just a week after a jury convicted Muhammad Gohir Khan, a 31-year-old British man of Pakistani descent, who agreed to kill a Pakistani dissident based in the Netherlands as part of a contract killing conspiracy. A photo…
TORONTO: A former US ambassador to Canada said groups in the US need to cease interfering in what many call an occupation in Canada’s capital as protesters opposed to vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions held rallies in cities across the country in a show of solidarity with a week-long demonstration in Ottawa. Under no circumstances should any group in the USA fund disruptive activities in Canada. Period. Full stop, Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador under President Barack Obama, tweeted. After crowdfunding site GoFundMe said it would refund or redirect to charities the vast majority of millions raised by demonstrators…
LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday became the first British monarch to reign for seven decades, announcing her “sincere wish” that Camilla, the wife of her heir Prince Charles, should ultimately be known as Queen Consort. Britain’s longest-serving monarch acceded to the throne aged 25 on February 6, 1952, following the death of her father King George VI. She marked the historic date quietly at Sandringham, her estate in eastern England where her father died. But in a major statement on the future of the royal family, the 95-year-old released a message to the nation, saying “it is my sincere wish…
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said she never accused anyone of sexual assault, according to an interview published on Monday, again walking back an allegation that sparked worldwide concern about her safety. That was the statement that the Chinese tennis player delivered Monday in a controlled interview in Beijing that touched on sexual assault allegations she made against a former high-ranking member of China’s ruling Communist Party. Her answers — delivered in front of a Chinese Olympic official — left unanswered questions about her well-being and what exactly happened. The former doubles world number one alleged in a social media…
Every day for the last three months, an average of six or seven families in Myanmar have posted notices in the country’s state-owned newspapers cutting ties with sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who have publicly opposed the ruling military junta. The notices started to appear in such numbers in November after the army, which seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government a year ago, announced it would take over the properties of its opponents and arrest people giving shelter to protesters. Scores of raids on homes followed. Lin Lin Bo Bo, a former car salesman who joined an armed…
Israeli police allegedly used spyware on the phones of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son and members of his inner circle, an Israeli newspaper reported on Monday. Calcalist has published a series of recent reports alleging that police used sophisticated spyware to target protesters and other Israeli citizens, prompting condemnation from across the political spectrum. The police commissioner has joined those calling for an independent investigation. In recent days, Israeli media have reported that spyware was used against a key witness in Netanyahu’s corruption trial. Calcalist says it was also used against his son, Avner, two communications advisors and the wife of…
KIEV: Ukraine on Sunday pushed back at “apocalyptic predictions” over a potential Russian invasion, after officials in the United States sounded dire warnings that Moscow had stepped up its preparations for a major incursion. US officials said the Kremlin has assembled 110,000 troops along the border with its pro-Western neighbour but intelligence assessments have not determined if President Vladimir Putin has actually decided to invade. The Russian force amassed on the frontier is growing at a rate that would give Putin the firepower he needs for a full-scale invasion — some 150,000 soldiers — by mid-February, US officials have said.…
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will deliberate, on Monday, whether the local government elections in Islamabad should be held under the presidential ordinance or otherwise. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani is hearing identical petitions filed against the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government Ordinance 2021. Under the ordinance, the local government elections are proposed to be held in May this year. The Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) ceased to exist on Feb 15, 2021, after completing its five years terms. The last LG elections held in November 2015 were won by the PML-N. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has promulgated the…
KARACHI: It is almost one month since the Green Line bus service became fully operational. It is very popular with people, too, but many, especially the elderly, complain that most escalators and lifts are out of order or they have been switched off at many of the 22 bus stations making it very difficult for them to use the bus service. Tabbasum Shabbir eyed the flight of stairs before her at the Hyderi Station before taking a deep breath and attempting them. She would stop and wait after every five or six steps. “I have often asked the men in uniform…
