WASHINGTON: The US State Department stated on Tuesday that it expects India to address the alleged involvement of senior Indian officials in assassination attempts within the United States. “We continue to expect accountability from the government of India based on the results of the Indian inquiry committee’s work, and we are regularly working with them and inquiring for additional updates,” said the department’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel during a news briefing in Washington. Patel also emphasised that the United States continues to “raise our concerns directly with the Indian government at senior levels”. However, he declined to “parse into this further”…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
VIENNA: The world should establish a set of rules to regulate AI weapons while they’re still in their infancy, a global conference said on Tuesday, calling the issue an “Oppenheimer moment” of the time. Like gunpowder and the atomic bomb, artificial intelligence (AI) has the capacity to revolutionise warfare, analysts say, making human disputes unimaginably different — and a lot more deadly. “This is our generation’s ‘Oppenheimer moment’ where geopolitical tensions threaten to lead a major scientific breakthrough down a very dangerous path for the future of humanity,” read the summary at the end of the two-day conference in Vienna.…
NEW DELHI: Elon Musk’s surprise visit to China this week won concessions for Tesla but left India feeling spurned after he cancelled a scheduled trip there for earlier this month, with Indian commentators calling the move a snub. India’s pained reaction highlights the increasing rivalry between India and China, Asia two largest countries by population and among the region’s most dynamic economies. Business and diplomatic relations between them have been strained since a 2020 border clash left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. Musk was due to meet Modi last week and announce an investment of up to $3 billion in…
ISLAMABAD: The US and Pakistan on Tuesday reaffirmed their close ties and pledged to enhance cooperation on regional security, according to the Foreign Office. The FO, in a statement issued after a meeting between a visiting US delegation led by Acting Under Secretary for Political Affairs John Bass, and Acting Foreign Secretary Ambassador Rahim Hayat Qureshi, said the “discussions covered a broad range of bilateral issues, with both sides emphasising the importance of enhancing trade and investment ties”. The FO further noted that the talks were “productive” and resulted in reaffirmation of the commitment to enhance cooperation in the areas…
ISLAMABAD: PTI supporters have taken exception to an online campaign advocating the return of three former leaders from Rawalpindi — who had parted ways in the wake of the May riots — into the folds of the party, saying they threw former first lady Bushra Bibi under the bus to save their skin. These ex-PTI men are former PTI north president Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, who was MNA from Murree, ex-Punjab deputy speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi, and former Punjab Food Authority chairman Umer Tanveer Butt, also a Rawalpindi MPA. The PTI supporters said these individuals not only quit the party amid…
ISLAMABAD: After almost a month-long confusion among the party ranks, PTI founding chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday named Sher Afzal Marwat as their candidate for the post of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan made the announcement outside Adiala Jail after meeting Mr Khan. He said the decision had finally put to rest all speculations and disputes. The post of PAC chairman is coveted because the body, comprising members of both the National Assembly and Senate, audits the revenue and expenditure of the federal government. As per Charter of Democracy (COD), signed between PPP and PML-N, the PAC…
LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has taken up the serious complaints of students of the Avicenna Medical College about imposition of heavy fines, harassment and excessive punishments and issued directions to all the affiliated public and private sector medical colleges of Punjab to establish ‘Students Counselling Cells (SCCs)’. On the other hand, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has taken notice of death of girl student and launched a probe into the matter to ascertain facts. The UHS said the counselling cells must be represented by the senior faculty members, including the teachers from the psychiatry departments, besides the…
QUETTA: Hundreds of traders in the provincial capital took out a protest rally on Tuesday against what they called illegal raids during the anti-smuggling campaign launched by the authorities. The traders claimed that Customs, FBR, police and Frontier Corps raided their warehouses and seized goods worth billions of rupees. The traders closed their businesses and gathered in the Satellite Town area from where the rally was led by Markazi Anjuman-i-Tajran Balochistan president Abdul Rahim Kakar and other traders unions’ leaders. The protestors gathered in front of the Customs Intelligence office in Jinnah Town and staged a sit-in which was addressed…
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday acquitted former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail and others of corruption in the award of a contract for RLNG Terminal after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) withdrew the reference against them. The reference filed by the anti-graft watchdog in the accountability court stated that one LNG company had received benefits of billions of rupees because of the 15-year contract. The case, which was earlier closed by NAB in 2016 before being reopened in 2018, pertained to the LNG terminal contract allegedly awarded against the rules at a time when Shahid…
GILGIT: A fresh rain and snowfall spell brought life in Gilgit-Baltistan to a standstill, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) after it was blocked at various points due to landslides triggered by the deluge. According to rescue officials, intermittent rain continued across GB and adjoining areas on Tuesday, with KKH blocked at two locations in Basari and Lotter in Kohistan due to landslides. The Gilgit-Nagar section of the Karakoram Highway was also blocked along with blockades in Gandlo Nullah and Tatapani (Chilas). The Baltistan Road was also blocked at two points in Roundu, Skardu, due to…
