BANGKOK: Vietnam’s rubber-stamp parliament voted in public security minister To Lam as the country’s new president on Wednesday, after a major anti-corruption campaign forced his predecessor to resign. Thousands of people — including several senior government and business leaders — have been caught up in the Southeast Asian country’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on graft, led by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Analysts have said that Lam, who is deputy head of the steering committee on anti-corruption, has weaponised its investigations to take down his political rivals. In his first remarks as president, Lam said he was “determined to…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
WASHINGTON: The headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington was briefly evacuated on Wednesday morning after a suspicious package containing two vials of blood was delivered to the building. The RNC, the parent organisation of the Republican Party, is playing a major role in the campaign of former president Donald Trump, who will face Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in the Nov 5 election. The authorities initially closed off one downtown block and directed staff and other personnel to avoid the area. By mid-morning, employees were re-entering the building, and police were leaving the scene, according to a witness. “The…
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump drew disbelief and some support on Wednesday, after he suggested that standard language from an FBI search warrant executed in 2022 (on his Florida mansion), ‘showed’ that President Joe Biden wanted armed agents to ‘shoot him’. Trump’s latest incendiary claim was in response to a court filing outlining plans for the FBI search at the Mar-a-Lago club, where he kept ‘classified national security documents’ after leaving the ‘White House’. The filing included standard FBI wording, stating that agents are ‘allowed to use deadly force’ (if someone is in ‘imminent danger’). However, Trump, who is running to de-seat…
BANGKOK: Twenty people landed up in intensive care units in Bangkok’s hospitals on Wednesday after a terrifying ‘high-altitude plunge’ on a flight from London to Singapore. An elderly passenger died and over 100 people sustained injuries. Singapore Airlines flight ‘SQ321’ hit “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar (10 hours into its journey to Singapore), abruptly ‘rising’ and ‘plunging’ several times. One passenger stated people were ‘thrown around the cabin’ (so violently) that they put dents in the ceiling during the drama at 11,300 metres (37,000 feet). This left dozens with head injuries. Photographs from inside the plane portray that the cabin was in…
MADRID: Three European nations — Norway, Ireland and Spain — on Wednesday announced their intention to recognise a Palestinian state, prompting praise from Arab and Muslim nations and fury from Israel. Dublin, Madrid and Oslo announced they would recognise a Palestinian state next Tuesday. The announcement by prime ministers Jonas Gahr Store of Norway, Pedro Sanchez of Spain and Simon Harris of Ireland comes weeks after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly voted to support a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member. Sanchez, who has visited several nations to drum up support for recognition, said the move would…
WASHINGTON: Russia has launched a likely space weapon and deployed it in the same orbit as a US government satellite, the Pentagon said. “Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter-space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Pat Ryder told a press briefing on Tuesday. The Russian “counter-space weapon” launched on May 16 was deployed “into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” he said. Ryder added that Washington would continue to monitor the situation and was ready to protect its…
Indian police are working with detectives from neighbouring Bangladesh to investigate the suspected murder of a lawmaker from Bangladesh’s ruling party, police officials said on Thursday. Mohammad Anwarul Azim, a member of Bangladesh’s Awami League party, disappeared in Kolkata this month while seeking medical treatment in the Indian city, according to police inspector Akhilesh Chaturvedi of West Bengal state’s Criminal Investigation Department. Azim was reported missing on May 18 by family members, after they received text messages sent from his phone suggesting he had gone on business to India’s capital New Delhi. Chaturvedi said security camera footage showed Azim entering a building in Kolkata…
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday arrived in the United Arab Emirates on a day-long visit, where he is expected to discuss trade and investment with the Gulf nation’s president. Upon his arrival in Abu Dhabi, the premier was welcomed by UAE Vice President and Deputy PM Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the government said in a post on X. Pakistani Ambassador to UAE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, Emirati envoy to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim and senior officials from both countries were also present to receive the premier, the PML-N said. Shortly after his arrival, the prime minister described the visit…
Thousands marched in Iran on Thursday on the final day of funeral rites for president Ebrahim Raisi, who will be laid to rest in his hometown days after dying in a helicopter crash. Raisi, 63, died on Sunday alongside his foreign minister and six others when their helicopter crashed in the country’s mountainous northwest while returning from a dam inauguration. Thousands of people, holding placards of Raisi and waving flags, marched in the eastern city of Birjand on Thursday morning to bid the president farewell. His final resting place will be at the holy shrine of Imam Reza, a key Shia mausoleum…
ISLAMABAD: In an event organised by the International Governance and Sustainability Institute (IG-SI), the need for urgent action to address the underutilisation of women human resources was emphasised. During the programme held at Margalla College F-7, Founding Director and CEO of IG-SI Dr Sultan Azam Temuri spoke about the current state of gender equality in Pakistan, revealing alarming statistics from the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023. Pakistan ranked 142nd out of 146 countries, with significant disparities in economic participation and educational attainment. Women constitute 49.6pc of Pakistan’s population, yet the country ranks 142nd out of 146 in the…
