ISLAMABAD: Dispelling the impression of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) getting bogged down, the Foreign Office said on Friday the economic venture was progressing well despite all odds. “I would like to share a roundup of major achievements in CPEC, which has continued to move forward as a flagship of the Belt and Road [Initiative] despite the Covid-19 pandemic,” said FO spokesman Asim Iftikhar at the weekly media briefing. His remarks came in the backdrop of reports in the media that CPEC had slowed down reportedly because of Covid-19 pandemic, China’s concerns about its workers security in Pakistan, no major new…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
WASHINGTON: Lawmakers investigating the 2021 US Capitol assault asked Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump on Thursday to cooperate with their inquiry, in a significant escalation of attempts to seek testimony from the inner circle of the former president. The House Jan 6 select committee told the 40-year-old businesswoman — then a senior advisor to her father — it had evidence that she had pleaded with him to call off the violence as his supporters stormed Congress. “Testimony obtained by the committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade…
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to “pressure” China and condemned North Korea’s spate of missile tests, while Biden underlined US commitment to defending Japan, in virtual talks on Friday. In a video meeting that lasted about one hour and 20 minutes, Biden also agreed to visit Japan in the first half of this year for a summit of the Quad, which groups Australia, India, Japan and the United States, the White House said. Biden has made restoring the importance of the US-Japanese relationship a priority since taking office exactly a year ago, following…
KABUL: The European Union said on Friday it was re-establishing a physical presence in Afghanistan for humanitarian purposes, but stressed it was not formally recognising the Taliban-led administration. It was the first such announcement by a Western power since the 27-nation EU and many governments withdrew staff and diplomats from Afghanistan as Kabul fell to the hardline Taliban last August. “The EU has started to re-establish a minimal presence of international EU Delegation staff to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and monitor the humanitarian situation,” said European Commission foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano. A Taliban foreign ministry spokesman had…
GENEVA: Washington and Moscow’s top diplomats agreed on Friday to keep working to ease tensions over Ukraine, with the United States promising a written response to Russian security demands and not ruling out a presidential meeting. As fears grow that Russia could invade its pro-Western neighbour, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed warnings of severe Western reprisals as he met for 90 minutes Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva. But Blinken described the high-stakes talks as “frank” and not “polemical”, with Lavrov also voicing hope for a lowering of the temperature between the former Cold War foes. Russia has…
SAADA: More than 100 people were killed or wounded in an air strike on a prison and at least three children died in a separate bombardment as Yemen’s long-running conflict suffered a dramatic escalation of violence on Friday. The Houthi rebels released gruesome video footage showing bodies in the rubble and mangled corpses from the prison attack, which levelled buildings at the jail in their northern heartland of Saada. Further south in the port town of Hodeida, the children died when air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit a telecommunications facility as they played nearby, Save the Children said. Yemen also suffered…
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 jolted southwestern Japan early on Saturday morning, injuring 13 people, the authorities and local media said. No tsunami warning was issued after the quake struck with an epicentre 45 kilometres deep at 1:08am off the coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The quake caused shaking in Oita and Miyazaki prefectures that measured five+ on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, which has a maximum of seven, the agency said. Thirteen people were injured in nearby regions, including two people in their 80s who were seriously…
The Taliban’s first official talks with the West on European soil since seizing power in Afghanistan will help to “transform the atmosphere of war” after a two-decade insurgency against North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces, the group’s top spokesperson told AFP on Saturday. The group stormed back to power in August as US and foreign troops began their final withdrawal from the country following a stalemate on the battlefield. No country has yet recognised the Taliban’s government — notorious for human rights abuses during a first stint in power between 1996 and 2001 when they were ousted by a US-led invasion. “The Islamic Emirate has…
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday granted protective bail to seven former and serving officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) in a case pertaining to allotment of extra land, illegal conversion and approval of the building plan of Nasla Tower. A single-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar allowed protective pre-arrest bail for seven days subject to furnishing solvent surety of Rs50,000 each. It directed the applicants to surrender before the trial court within the stipulated period as the protective bail would cease to have its effect on Jan 27. SBCA officials including Ashkar Dawar, Ali…
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday disposed of the petition seeking action against National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the relevant authorities after they failed to rescue citizens stuck in Murree snowstorm, which claimed 23 lives. Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan informed the Chief Justice Athar Minallah that NDMA and PDMA had timely issued the threat alert to the officials concerned. During the previous hearing, Justice Minallah remarked that apparently NDMA has failed to perform its responsibilities. However, the AG told the court that contrary to the impression that the authority was huge organisation, it comprises about 130 officials. He,…
