LONDON: The trial of 31-year-old Gohir Khan, a British Pakistani based in the United Kingdom, began at the Kingston-upon-Thames crown court on Thursday, with the prosecution revealing details of an alleged plot to murder exiled blogger and activist Ahmad Waqass Goraya who is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The prosecution maintained that Khan was hired by persons who appeared to be based in Pakistan to carry out the “intended killing” of Goraya. The financial rewards for his actions were believed to be significant, with a payment of £100,000 on offer. At the time, the prosecution claimed, the defendant was in significant debt, with…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
NEW YORK: Earth simmered to the sixth hottest year on record in 2021, according to several newly released temperature measurements. And scientists say the exceptionally hot year is part of a long-term warming trend that shows hints of accelerating. Two US science agencies Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a private measuring group released their calculations for last year’s global temperature on Thursday, and all said it wasn’t far behind ultra-hot 2016 and 2020. Six different calculations found 2021 was between the fifth and seventh hottest year since the late 1800s. Nasa said 2021 tied with 2018…
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fighting for his political future on Thursday as his Conservatives descended into open warfare after he belatedly apologised for attending a party during the coronavirus lockdown. The apparent breach of coronavirus restrictions has enraged the public, who were forced to abide by rules that prevented them from visiting sick and dying loved ones, or attending funerals. Most cabinet members rallied around Johnson after his mea culpa but the backing given by some, such as Rishi Sunak, his powerful finance minister and potential successor, was distinctly lukewarm. The prime minister himself went to ground on Thursday, cancelling…
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday rejected Indian army chief’s allegations about the existence of launch pads and training camps in Azad Kashmir as fallacious and warned that Delhi’s expansionist designs posed a threat to regional peace and stability. In a rejoinder to Gen Naravane’s remarks at a press conference ahead of India’s Army Day, the FO said: “Pakistan categorically rejects the Indian Army Chief’s fallacious comments insinuating the presence of so-called ‘launch pads’ and ‘training’ camps across the Line of Control (LoC).” The FO said Gen Naravane’s allegations were part of India’s continuing malicious anti-Pakistan propaganda being pedalled by…
WASHINGTON: In Pakistan, authorities have expanded draconian laws to stifle dissent and in India the government is encouraging discrimination against religious minorities, especially Muslims, says an international report on human rights released on Thursday. The World Report 2022, compiled by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group, also regrets the rise of autocracy in recent years, but points out that pro-democracy forces are challenging this tendency all over the world. The report covers the events happened in 2021. In a separate chapter on Pakistan, the report points out that Pakistani “authorities expanded their use of draconian sedition and counterterrorism laws to stifle dissent,…
BREST: European Union ministers said on Thursday that they would not negotiate with Russia over Ukraine’s future while Moscow was massing troops at its neighbour’s border. While stopping short of threatening President Vladimir Putin with a military response, defence and foreign ministers from the bloc said an invasion by Russia of Ukraine would prompt severe sanctions and ruin Moscow’s relationship with the EU for decades. “Russian movements are part of the pressure,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence and foreign ministers in Brest, France. There “should not be negotiation…
North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on Friday, its third test in two weeks, just hours after criticising a US push for new sanctions over the previous launches as a “provocation” and warning of a strong reaction. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected what it presumed were two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) launched eastward from North Pyongan Province on the west coast of North Korea, near the border with China. Japan’s coast guard also reported that the North fired what could be a ballistic missile. The missiles appeared to have landed in the…
KABUL: The Taliban said on Thursday they have approved their first budget for Afghanistan since the Islamists returned to power in August, with no mention of foreign aid. International assistance represented 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP and made up 80pc of its budget when the former US-backed government was in control. When it crumbled in August and the Taliban took command, Western powers froze billions of dollars in aid and assets in what the United Nations described as an “unprecedented fiscal shock”. “For the first time in the last two decades, we made a budget that is not dependent…
Hundreds of thousands of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India’s Ganges river on Friday for a holy bath despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus cases in the past month. Hindus believe a bath in the holy river on the January 14 Makarsankranti festival washes away sins. A large number of devotees were taking a dip in the sacred river where it flows through the eastern state of West Bengal, which is reporting the most number of cases in the country after Maharashtra state in the west. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of devotees, few wearing…
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government bulldozed 16 pieces of legislation, including the two controversial bills required to meet the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), amid an opposition uproar — both inside and outside parliament — during a seven-hour sitting on Thursday night. Although the government managed to get both — the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 — passed from the lower house, it fell four short of the key figure of 172 votes, which are required for the election of the prime minister, during voting on one of the amendments.…
