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NEW YORK / WASHINGTON: Demonstrators at Columbia University barricaded themselves inside a campus building on Tuesday, escalating a standoff with officials, but the White House chided them for using “the wrong approach”. Demonstrators vowed to remain at the hall until their demands are met, including that Columbia divest all financial holdings linked to Israel, after administrators began suspending protesting students for failing to comply with an order to disperse. Protests have swept through US higher education institutions, with many erecting tent encampments on campus grounds after around 100 protesters were first arrested at Columbia on April 18. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, police moved in Tuesday morning to clear one encampment, detaining some protesters. TV footage showed police at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond on Monday evening pushing and shoving away protesters, with students saying teargas and pepper spray was deployed. ...

Seven new deaths from rain-related incidents has raised the death toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since April 26 to 17, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. PDMA spokesperson Anwar Shahzad confirmed the death toll to Dawn.com today and said 23 were injured in different parts of the province. Shahzad said that nine men, three women and five children were among the deceased whereas nine men, three women and 11 children were injured. He said the Bajaur district of Malakand division was the most affected district where five people died, ten were injured and 20 houses were damaged. The KP PDMA spokesman said that 116 houses were damaged due to landslides, roofs and wall collapses. According to the PDMA report dated April 29, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , 148 cattle also perished in different areas of the province in the landslide and collapse of houses. Four schools and nine other government infrastructures were damaged during rainfall since April 26. ...

The Institute of Space Technology on Tuesday said Pakistan’s “historic” lunar mission iCube-Q will be launched on May 3 at 12:50pm on board China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe from Hainan, China. According to the Institute of Space Technology (IST), the satellite ICUBE-Q has been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan’s national space agency Suparco. ICUBE-Q orbiter carries two optical cameras to image the lunar surface. Following successful qualification and testing, iCube-Q has now been integrated with the Chang’e 6 mission. Chang’e 6 is the sixth in a series of China’s lunar exploration missions. The launch activity will be telecast live on the IST website and IST social media platforms. China’s lunar mission will touch down on the moon’s far side to collect samples from the surface and return to Earth for research. The mission holds significance for Pakistan as it will also take a CubeSat Satellite iCube-Q, developed...

ISLAMABAD: The Karachi-based K-Electric has sought approval to charge up to Rs18.6 per unit additional fuel cost from power consumers at an average monthly burden of about Rs2 per unit to mop up about Rs28bn additional funds and clear a backlog of about nine months (July 2023 to March 2024). In a series of petitions filed before the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), the KE presented three different options for additional fuel cost recovery from consumers on a “provisional basis” to clear the backlog and avoid a sudden increase in burden on its consumers. Nepra has called a public hearing on May 9 for the KE’s petition on provisional monthly fuel charges adjustments (FCA) for the period of July 2023 to March 2024. The KE explained that since its multi-year tariff (2024-30) was currently under regulator’s deliberation, it has filed FCAs based on three scenarios with the request for the approval of any one of the three scenarios and guide recovery mechanism for these...

WASHINGTON: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday approved the immediate disbursement of approximately $1.1 billion to Pakistan. The board met in Washington on Monday and completed the second review under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan, allowing for bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to about $3 billion. All board members favoured releasing the last installment except India, which abstained. “The completion of the second and final review ref­lects the authorities’ stron­ger policy efforts under the SBA, which have supported the stabilisation of the economy and the ret­urn of modest growth,” the IMF said in a statement. “To move Pakistan from stabilization to a strong and sustainable recovery the authorities need to continue their policy and reform efforts, including strict adherence to fiscal targets,” the statement added. The Fund also reminded Pakistan that while doing so, it also needs to protect the vulnerable from ...

PEOPLE stand near a flower arrangement reading ‘Free Palestine’ during a demonstration against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, on Saturday.—Reuters At 7am on Thursday, minutes after a fifth-year PhD student at Princeton University’s economics department stepped on campus, he was arrested and detained in a holding cell. His crime? Being at the site of a protest camp, set up by students demanding the university divest from organisations and companies facilitating or profiting from Israel’s ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza. The student, a US national of Pakistani origin, told Dawn that he was held by the university police, detained in a holding cell and charged with trespassing. “[It] felt quite surreal,” he said about the charge, given that he was a university student and had the right to be present on campus at the time. Pakistani-American protester from Princeton recounts arrest; student says ‘hijabs ripped ...

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ISLAMABAD: The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the Islamabad Bar Association filed two separate petitions on Saturday to become parties in a Supreme Court case concerning alleged interference by intelligence agencies in judicial affairs. The petitions, moved by senior counsel Salahuddin Ahmed, urged the Supreme Court to order the federal government to devise appropriate mechanisms for effective scrutiny and oversight over the functioning of intelligence agencies to ensure they should not transgress their lawful domain and are duly regulated through requisite legislation. The petitions come as a six-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will resume the “judicial meddling” suo motu case on April 30 (Tuesday). Other bench members include Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah, Musarrat Hilali and Naeem Akhtar Afghan. Justice Yahya Afridi has already recused himself from the bench and will no longer participate. Islamab...

DOHA / JERUSALEM: As a delegation from Gaza truce mediator Egypt arrived in Israel on Friday, criticism of Qatar over its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas prompted a rare pushback by the Gulf state against its detractors. Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political leadership since 2012 with the blessing of the US, has been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes talks, but in the face of calls — particularly from Israel and the US — for Qatar to exert pressure on Hamas, the emirate has warned it could walk away as a mediator. This week, foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the decision to re-evaluate its role was pro­m­pted by frustration with pol­itical attacks including from figures in the Israeli government. “They all know what the Qatari role is, its nature, and its details during the previous stage and they lied,” the Qatari spokesman said, referring to November’s week-long truce when scores of Israeli and foreign hostages were released through Doha’s med...

• Farmers advised to secure harvests, citizens asked to avoid unnecessary travel • Rain, falling prices put wheat crop in Punjab at risk ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a nationwide alert on Friday, cautioning against severe weather conditions expec­ted to persist until April 29. The forecast predicts rain, storms, and hail, potentially leading to flash floods and landslides across the country. “Hailstorms can damage crops and infrastructure. People should avoid unnecessary travel and crossing rivers and canals. Repair mud houses and ensure water drainage,” the NDMA said, urging citizens to stay away from electric poles and trees in case of lightning. It advised farmers to plan their harvest, especially wheat, according to the weather. The warning comes at a time when crops are ready to be harvested, especially the wheat crop. Prolonged spells of rain have already delayed wheat harvest in the Potohar region. Farmers in the area have co...

PTI founder Imran Khan ruled out any “deal” in a message released on Friday for the party’s 28th Foundation Day. The PTI marked its 28th Foundation Day on April 25 (Thursday). In a message released today on Imran’s account on social media platform X to mark the occasion, he said that the “worst dictatorship” was imposed on the country which was becoming the basis for the “destruction of the economy, government rule, democracy and judiciary”. He called on every individual to play their role in stopping this descent towards the country’s ruin. “It is my message for the nation that I will give any sacrifice required for actual freedom but will never compromise on my or my nation’s freedom.” Saying that he was kept behind bars for the past nine months due to “fake [and] concocted cases”, Imran said: “I will remain in jail if I have to for nine more years, or more, but I will never strike a deal with those who have enslaved my nation.” The message was issued shortly after PTI lead...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday accorded formal approval to reform the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and formed a “special cell” to ensure their implementation. In a meeting on the reforms in the electricity sector, the premier also directed the authorities to chalk up a comprehensive plan for the provision of power-efficient fans to the needy at affordable prices, according to a statement issued by the PM’s Office. The meeting was informed in detail about issues and reforms and recommendations were also presented regarding the power distribution companies, their losses, privatisation, and outsourcing. It was also informed about tariff rationalisation and power tariffs for industries and domestic consumers. PM Shehbaz also asked the authorities to prepare a comprehensive plan to supply electricity to the industrial sector at a low cost to improve the performance and efficiency of industries. He said that industries should be provided electri...

Balochistan Assembly Speaker Abdul Khaliq Achakzai was reinstated on Thursday after the Supreme Court annulled the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) orders to suspend him . The ECP’s order of re-polling at 12 polling stations in Balochistan’s PB-51 (Chaman) constituency was also declared null and void. Achakzai was removed from his position following the ECP decision earlier this month to suspend his election notification and order re-election in 12 polling stations within PB-51. The directive for the re-election came after a challenge to his victory by three contenders: Muhammad Asghar Ach­akzai of the Awami Natio­nal Party (ANP), Abasin Achakzai and Muham­m­­ad Sadiq, all of whom were defeated in the general ele­­ction for the PB-51 seat. Achakzai, a PML-N member, challenged the decision in the apex court and a three-member bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan conducted the hearing on the matter today. With the consent of PB-51’s candidates, the court sent the matter bac...

BENGALURU: Countries, mostly middle and lower-income, have been burdened by surcharges on top of interest payments on their borrowings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), widening global inequities, according to a report by US think tanks. Indebted member countries paid about $6.4 billion in surcharges between 2020-2023, the report from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre and Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue released on Tuesday showed. And the number of countries paying these surcharges has more than doubled in the last four years. The IMF is expected to charge an estimated $9.8 billion in surcharges in the next five years, according to an earlier report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Critics of the policy argue that surcharges do not hasten repayment and instead punish countries already struggling with liquidity constraints, increase the risk of debt distress and divert scarce resources that could be used to boost the s...

• Federal govt sees it as ‘internal matter’, unlikely to furnish own stance on judges’ letter • Premier legal body yet to work out proposals sought by apex court • SCBA says consultative meeting to be held on May 8 ISLAMABAD: Disquiet is gro­wing within the ranks of the Su­­p­reme Court Bar Association (SCBA) over the indecision on its response to a letter, written by six judges of the Islamabad High Court, alleging meddling in judicial affairs by intelligence agencies. A similar reluctance is evident on the part of the government, which may not furnish any reply or suggestion to the Supreme Court, since it believes that it is an institutional matter and should be decided by the institution itself. The SCBA has been hesitant in charting a course to ensure the independence of judiciary, as required by the Supreme Court, which is seized with a suo motu case against the backdrop of the March 25 letter written by the six IHC judges. In its April 3 order , the apex court had asked th...

Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that the former has suffered more due to the latter’s internal situation than its three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained. Ambassador Durrani was speaking at the one-day International Conference “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). Durrani said over 80,000 Pakistanis died during the past two decades of the War on Terror, saying that the country was still counting its dead and injured. “After the withdrawal of Nato forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived.” He said attacks by the outlawed militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 per cent, while suicide attacks increased by 500pc. “The TTP’s enhanced attacks o...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that male family members deciding the terms of Nikah on behalf of the bride is “accepted as a cultural and social norm”, but it puts her at a disadvantage in the later stages of marriage. The order, released on Tuesday, was pronounced by a two-member Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Aminud Din Khan and Athar Minallah, in the case of determining the bride’s entitlement to a plot mentioned in Nikahnama. In 2022, the Lahore High Court (LHC) decided in favour of a woman, Huma Saeed, who had married Mohammad Yousaf in May 2014. Mr Yousaf, who divorced his wife in October 2014, challenged the decision in Supreme Court on grounds that the said plot, mentioned in column 17 of the Nikahnama, cannot be interpreted as part of the dower or gift. In case of any ambiguity in Nikahnama, benefit should go to the wife, Justice Minallah holds The title of column 17 was ‘special conditions’, “making it distinct from the other columns which have been s...

Pakistani mixed martial arts fighter Shahzaib Rind on Tuesday lamented that it was the government’s “bad luck” that it did not support its country’s heroes after his 2-1 victory over India at Dubai’s Karate Combat 45 event over the weekend. Karate Combat, which describes itself as the world’s “premier full-contact karate league”, held a “night of martial arts excellence ” with its debut event in Dubai on April 20. The match between India and Pakistan in the combat sport was played over three ties with Rizwan Ali knocking out Pawan Gupta in the first round. The Indian side had equalised the contest after Himanshu Kaushik defeated Faizan Khan by decision. Rind and India’s Rana Singh took on each other in the final battle of the contest, leading to a quick victory for the former. Rind, who was “unstoppable” in the pit, had raised both nation’s flags after his victory helped Pakistan take an unassailable lead in the contest. He had later explained that the purpose of carr...

Buildings and streets are flooded after heavy rains hit China’s southern Guangdong province.—AFP QINGYUAN: Floods swa­mped cities in southern China’s densely populated Pearl River Delta following record-breaking rains, sparking worries about the region’s defe­nces against bigger deluges induced by extreme weather events. The province once dubbed the “factory floor of the world” is prone to summer floods. Since Thursday, Guangdong has been battered by unusually heavy, sustained and widespread rainfall, with powerful storms ushering in an earlier-than-normal start to the province’s annual flooding season in May and June. In Qingyuan, a relatively small city of four million, residents counted their losses. “My rice fields are fully flooded, my fields are gone,” Huang Jingrong, 61, told Reuters . Over the weekend, waterways in Guangdong overflowed including the river near Huang’s village. Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2024 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/hdTpICM

Three suspects were arrested on Monday for an alleged honour killing in the Bataira area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kolai Pallas district, according to the police. Kolai Pallas Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Abdul Raoof had told Dawn.com a day ago that a youth was killed “for honour” on Friday night, allegedly due to his brother who had eloped with a girl, a family member of the suspects, a year ago. SDPO Raoof had said since the girl and the older brother of the deceased were missing, the girl’s family had allegedly opted to kill Matiur Rehman. Rauf told Dawn.com today that the police arrested three suspects, the father of the prime suspect and his two cousins, adding that they had helped plan the murder. A first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , was lodged on the complaint of the deceased’s uncle Attaur Rehman on April 19 under Section 109 (abetment) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The uncle said that Rehman, men...

MALE: The party of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu won control of parliament in a Sunday election landslide, results showed, with voters backing his tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India. Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Comm­ission of Maldives results, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member majlis, or parliament. The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu’s plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China. The PNC and its allies had only eight seats in the outgoing parliament, with the lack of a majority stymieing Muizzu after his presidential election victory in September. In 93-member parliament, Muizzu’s party wins 66 of the first 86 declared seats The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) — which had previously had a super-majority of its own — was headed for a humiliating defeat with just a dozen ...

PERUGIA: The rise of artificial intelligence has forced an increasing number of journalists to grapple with the ethical and editorial challenges posed by the rapidly expanding technology. AI’s role in assisting newsrooms or transforming them completely was among the questions raised at the International Journalism Festival in the Italian city of Perugia that closes on Sunday. What will happen to jobs? AI tools imitating human intelligence are widely used in newsrooms around the world to transcribe sound files, summarise texts and translate. In early 2023, Germany’s Axel Springer group announced it was cutting jobs at the Bild and Die Welt newspapers, saying AI could now “replace” some of its journalists. Generative AI — capable of producing text and images following a simple request in everyday language — has been opening new frontiers as well as raising concerns for a year and a half. One issue is that voices and faces can now be cloned to produce a podcast or present news on ...

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Muhammad Aura­ngzeb revealed on Saturday that an IMF team is anticipated to visit Pakistan by mid-May to negotiate a new long-term process, aiming to secure a staff-level agreement by mid-July. Speaking to US-Pakistani media at the conclusion of his week-long visit, the minister mentioned the Fund’s intention to expedite the process. “The contours of the new programme will shape up later. We will start getting into granularity of the programme by mid-May,” he added. Addressing journalists at the Pakistan Embassy, Mr Aurangzeb expressed the hope that the IMF’s board of governors would convene to consider the last tranche of the current programme by the end of this month, with the final installment released shortly thereafter. Pakistan is seeking a $6-8 billion new loan package from the end. In earlier statements, he said Pakistan would prefer a long-term, preferably a three-year programme. Aura­ngzeb says debts can be repaid only after CPEC-II Bu...

PESHAWAR: With nea­rly two dozen lives lost in a single day, death toll from the inclement wea­ther in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa climbed to 59 on Saturday, according to the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA). Officials and rescue sources said life came to a standstill in some areas as the current spell of rains continued to wreak havoc on the fourth consecutive day, claiming at least 21 lives and leaving many houses damaged. Most of the deaths were caused by roofs collapse, road accidents and drowning. Among the victims were mostly women and children. The rains also resulted in power breakdown in some localities. Besides, tra­ffic on various roads re­mained suspended due to windstorm coupled with heavy showers during the day. Data collected from rescue workers and officials indicated that four people were killed in Bajaur, three in Mardan, two each in Malakand, Khyber, Swat, Lakki Marwat, Upper Dir and Mohmand, and one each in Lower Dir and Bannu. In Bajaur, an elderly ...

Thirteen new deaths from a second spell of heavy rain in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raised the death toll to 59 on Saturday, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had predicted more spells of rain across the country on Tuesday, extending until April 22 as “another strong westerly wave” was likely to enter western parts of the country. In KP, the PMD had predicted “rain-windstorm/thunderstorm (few heavy, with isolated very heavy falls) with snowfall over high mountains” in areas including Shangla, Buner, Bajaur, Khyber and Peshawar from Wednesday night until April 21. The rain, which started on April 12, triggered flash floods in the northern areas of the province and caused landslides and house collapses across KP. According to the KP PDMA report issued today, 33 children, 14 men and 12 women are among those killed in rain-related incidents since April 12 with a total of 72 people injured. Further, 2,883 houses and...

PESHAWAR: The Pesh­awar High Court (PHC) has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and cabinet to convene the assembly session within a fortnight to ensure that those elected on reserved seats for women and non-Muslims take oath. A PHC bench comprising Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmad, in its 24-page detailed judgement on three identical petitions filed by around 20 MPAs-elect of the opposition in KP, also ordered the provincial assembly speaker to administer the oath to the said MPAs-elect in the session to be requisitioned in accordance with the court order. While the bench in its March 27 short order had not issued any such directive to the CM and the provincial cabinet, the court in its detailed judgement ord­ered both to “take all material steps in terms of Arti­cle 109 along with all enabling provisions of the Cons­titution for summoning the session of the provincial assembly within fortnight positively, after receipt of this judgement, so ...

Palestinians attempt to salvage their belongings from the rubble of a damaged building in the city of Nuseirat, in central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.—AFP RAFAH / UNITED NATIONS: Birds sang and planes rumbled overhead as Abdeljabbar al-Arja dug the remains of his dead neighbours from the rubble in Gaza. An overnight Israeli strike hit the home where a displaced Palestinian family was sheltering in the southern city Rafah, relatives and neighbours told AFP as they scraped at the soil with their hands. “We retrieved the remains of children and women, finding arms and feet. They were all torn to pieces. This is horrifying, it’s not normal,” Al-Arja said, adding that at least 10 people were killed in the blast. Soon after the war began on October 7, Israel told Palestinians living in the north of Gaza to move to “safe zones” in the territory’s south like Rafah. Guterres warns against ‘full-scale regional conflict’; Washington expected to veto Palestinian bid for UN membership But ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said he would personally monitor the completion of projects with Saudi investment, adding that negligence regarding these ventures was not acceptable. Chairing a meeting in Islamabad to review matters related to the visit of a recent high-powered Saudi delegation and Saudi investment in different sectors, the premier said the trip under the leadership of the Saudi foreign minister was the beginning of a “new era of commercial and strategic partnership” between the two countries, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. The meeting’s participants were briefed that the Saudi delegation discussed investment in mining and minerals, agriculture, energy, information technology and infrastructure development. They were also told that both sides had deliberated on making Pakistan a part of the global supply and value chain while the Saudi delegation had also praised Pakistan’s preparedness. The participants termed the arrival of ...