BERLIN: German police on Wednesday arrested a 74-year-old man suspected of hitting a former mayor of Berlin in the head, the latest in a rash of assaults against politicians in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz blasted the attacks against politicians as “outrageous and cowardly”, stressing that violence did not belong in a democratic debate. Franziska Giffey was at a library on Tuesday afternoon when the suspect came up from behind her to hit her in the head and neck with a bag containing hard objects, police said. Giffey, who is now Berlin state’s economy minister and a member of Scholz’s Social…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The decision of the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) to dole out driving licences to every citizen irrespective of their residential address stands in stark contrast to relevant laws, as these documents can be only issued to the citizens by the respective licensing authority – separate for each district. According to law experts, there is a traffic police department in each district police headed by the SSP, which is the competent authority to issue licences under Section 7 (Grant of Licence) of the Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965. According to Section 7 of this law, “Any person who is not disqualified…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s inaugural lunar satellite, ICUBE-Q, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully entering the moon’s orbit on Wednesday afternoon, as confirmed by Institute of Space Technology. ICUBE-Qamar was successfully deployed in lunar orbit on May 8, at 1:14pm. According to the Institute of Space Technology, the pivotal development highlights its importance in potentially unlocking larger-scale space missions for Pakistan in the future. “Satellite after deployment is performing as per design specifications. All sub-systems’ health data is excellent. The imaging payload is fully functional,” IST said, adding, “The next two days will be spent conducting thorough in-orbit testing. Images will be…
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Aamer Farooq on Wednesday constituted two different larger benches to hear complaints of senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Babar Sattar. According to a senior official of the court, the bench comprising CJ Farooq, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir will hear the complaint of Justice Kayani. Another larger bench comprising Justice Kayani and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will hear the complaint of Justice Sattar. The IHC registrar office would notify the date of hearing in a couple of days. IHC registrar office to notify hearing within…
ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad-based think-tank on Wednesday warned that political instability in Pakistan significantly heightens the risk of unrest, underscoring the need for a national reconciliation to restore stability. Islamabad Policy Institute (IPI) in its report titled ‘Mapping the Policy Agenda 2024 – 2029’ identified political instability as the foremost challenge facing the country and addressing this critical issue will ultimately pave the way for the much needed economic reforms and attracting foreign investment. The think-tank stressed that the process should be all inclusive and more than just political maneuvering within the assemblies or the streets. Faisal Ahmed, head of research…
ISLAMABAD: Declaring an education emergency in the country, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday vowed to get around 26 million out-of-school children enrolled and promote literacy so that the motherland could regain its lost space and transform it as one of the most educated societies in the world. “Today, with iron conviction, and the support of provinces, we will handle the challenge of 26m out-of-school children. We will bring them back to school…I declare from this moment an Emergency in Education all over Pakistan…The way we did it in Punjab, we will do it in Pakistan,” the prime minister said…
BRUSSELS: The world witnessed the hottest April on record, adding to an 11-month streak in which every month set a (fresh) temperature record, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service stated on Wednesday. Every single month since June of 2023, has ranked as the planet’s hottest on record, as compared to the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in its monthly bulletin. Including the month of April, the world’s mean temperature was the highest on record for a period of 12-months (1.61 degrees Celsius above the average), in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period. Some of…
As the government observed the anniversary of the May 9 riots on Thursday, political leaders held press conferences throughout the day and issued statements to strongly condemn the violent events while assailing the PTI for them. Former premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 last year in the £190m graft case had resulted in widespread violence and saw important military installations come under attack, on the basis of which the state had launched a severe crackdown against his party. While Imran was released a few days later (he has since been rearrested in a separate case), thousands of PTI workers and almost the entire top-tier leadership were rounded up, with many still…
BRUSSELS: More than 100 staff members of European Union institutions gathered in Brussels on Wednesday in a protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. Protesters laid three rolled-up white sheets with red stains on them on the square outside the European Commission’s head office in the Belgian capital. On the three ‘bodies’ the words International Law, EU Treaties and Genocide Convention were written, in a protest of the way Israel has responded to the Gazans. “We’re coming together in a peaceful assembly, to stand up for those rights, principles and values that the European institutions are build on,” EU Commission staff…
WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday emphasised its ‘shared interest’ with Pakistan in addressing the critical threat that terrorism poses to the entire region. At the State Department’s daily news briefing, Spokesperson Matthew Miller also focused on the treatment of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and urged Islamabad not to repatriate them due to the dire situation in Afghanistan. “We remain committed to working with Pakistan to address the shared threat posed by terrorist groups throughout the region,” said Miller, commenting on a recent ISPR statement about the involvement of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in a series of terrorist attacks in the…
