Author name: admin

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/20/live-irans-president-raisi-fm-amirabdollahian-killed-in-helicopter-crash

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/20/israels-war-on-gaza-live-al-awda-hospital-runs-out-of-drinking-water

The Awami Action Committee (AAC)-led long march on Monday left for Muzaffarabad, capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as the shutter-down strike against inflated utility bills and taxes continued for fourth day. Demonstrators have blocked the 40-kilometres long Kohala-Muzaffarabad Road at various points paralysing the entire transport system around it. The demonstrators would take the same artery from Dhirkot via Kohalad town to reach Muzaffarabad. A large number of Rangers and AJK police personnel have taken positions in the territory after the AJK government summoned them following clashes between the police and protestors in Mirpur during protests that killed a police official and injured more than 70 other people. Heavy contingents of police have been posted at roundabouts and sensitive locations, while markets, trade centres and educational institutes remain closed, while transport is suspended. PM Shehbaz summons meeting On the other hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss the ongoing situation in AJK as the negotiations between the protesters and the state government ended in a deadlock. Expressing deep concerns over the violent clashes between the AJK police and the protesters, PM Shehbaz on Sunday said that there should be “absolutely no tolerance for taking the law in one’s own hands”. The premier further said that he had spoken to AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and also directed all Pakistan Muslim League-N office bearers in AJK to talk to the leaders of the action committee. “I urge all parties to resort to peaceful course of action for resolution of their demands. Despite best efforts of detractors, the matter will hopefully be settled soon.” President calls for restraint As part of his efforts to calm down tensions, President Asif Ali Zardari urged all the stakeholders to exercise restraint and resolve the issues in AJK through dialogue and mutual consultation. He stressed that the political parties, state institutions and the people of AJK should act responsibly so that hostile elements could not exploit the situation to their benefit. The president highlighted that the demands of the people of AJK should be addressed as per law, adding that he would take up the grievances of the people of AJK with PM Shehbaz to find a way out of the current situation. The president regretted the current situation and offered condolences over the unfortunate death of the police officer and prayed for swift recovery of all those who were injured in recent clashes. As part of his efforts to calm down tensions, President Zardari urged all the stakeholders to exercise restraint and resolve the issues in AJK through dialogue and mutual consultation. AAC distances itself from violence Meanwhile, the central leadership of the AAC has distanced itself from the violent incidents that occurred during the protests. One of the AAC members, Sajid Jagwal, said their movement was peaceful. He said that they had been sitting for two days and no incident had happened. Another member, Tauseef Mansoor, said that the committee had nothing to do with the two to three incidents that had happened during the protests. Anjuman Tajran President Sahabzada Waqas said that the protest was not against the state or any institution. “This army is ours and this country is ours. We are neither against the army nor against Pakistan or any other institution,” said the president. AJK demonstrations The AAC called for a shutter down and wheel-jam strike across the state to protest the electricity price hike and taxes. However, the situation escalated as the protestors and police clashed. A sub-inspector was killed while dozens other policemen and protesters also got injured during the teargas shelling by the police and stone pelting by the demonstrators. The violent protesters damaged multiple vehicles, including a magistrate’s car at the Poonch-Kotli road. Moreover, markets, trade centres, offices and schools and restaurants remained closed across the AJK. Police also launched a crackdown against the protesters after the events of violence, arresting dozens of individuals in the AJK capital. A day earlier, the government also suspended mobile phone and internet services in different parts of AJK including Bhimber and Bagh Towns. Meanwhile, in Mirpur, all the mobile networks and internet service had been suspended. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1188500-march-heads-toward-muzaffarabad-as-strike-against-inflation-enters-fourth-day

At least 41 people have now been confirmed dead after hours of torrential rain triggered flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend. A local disaster official told the AFP news agency that 17 other people remained missing after the downpour on Saturday night swept ash and large rocks down Mount Marapi, the most active volcano on Sumatra island. Three people are missing in the Agam district and 14 in Tanah Datar, both the worst-hit areas of the flood and home to hundreds of thousands of people, Ilham Wahab, an official with the West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told AFP. About 400 people, including police, soldiers and local rescue squads, have been deployed to search for the missing, using at least eight excavators and drones. Marapi erupted in December, killing more than 20 people. Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain. The rain turned roads into muddy rivers, swept vehicles away and damaged homes and other buildings. Damage to the roads has hampered rescue efforts. Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season. In 2022, about 24,000 people were evacuated and two children were killed in floods on Sumatra island, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/13/death-toll-in-indonesian-floods-volcanic-mud-flows-rises-to-41

At least 151 people have been killed in flash floods in northern Afghanistan triggered by torrential rains, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior Affairs has said. On Saturday, ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani put the number of injured at 135 people, the Reuters news agency reported. Heavy rains on Friday led to flooding in several areas of the country, with fears of the death toll rising. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, said in a social media post on Saturday that “hundreds … have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries”. Apart from Baghlan in the north, the provinces of Badakhshan in the northeast, central Ghor and western Herat were also heavily affected, he wrote on X, adding that “the extensive devastation” had resulted in “significant financial losses”. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the AFP news agency on Saturday that more than 200 people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged in the worst-hit province of Baghlan alone. The air force had started evacuating people and moved more than 100 injured people to military hospitals, the Taliban Ministry of Defense said on Saturday, without mentioning from which provinces. “By announcing the state of emergency in [affected] areas, the Ministry of National Defense has started distributing food, medicine and first aid to the impacted people,” it said in a statement. Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of Baghlan’s natural disaster management department, earlier told AFP that the toll “will probably increase”, adding that light rain had continued into the night in multiple districts of the province. Residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water set off by the heavy downpour in recent days, he added. Emergency personnel were “searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police”, Hamdard said.Play Video Since mid-April, floods have killed about 100 people in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, with no region entirely spared, according to the authorities. Farmlands have been submerged in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive. Mohammad Akram Akbari, the provincial director of natural disaster management in Badakhshan, said the mountainous province had seen “heavy financial losses in several areas … due to floods”. He said casualties were feared in Tishkan district, where floodwaters had blocked a road and cut off access to an area where about 20,000 people lived. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/11/more-than-150-killed-in-afghanistan-flash-floods-government-says

A Pakistani researcher, who had gone to Portugal for a cancer research project, was killed in a robbery incident after he resisted to it, Geo News reported on Friday.  The young victim, identified as Anthony Shoukat, hailed from Lahore. His family members said that the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital had sent Anthony for a research project to Porto.  They said that the deceased had done his masters from Sweden and PhD from Germany. The family requested the government to help them bring the Anthony’s body soon and bring the culprits to justice. Recently in March, a Pakistani-German, Fahimuddin, was murdered in the Ulm city during a knife attack on his family. He had left Karachi’s Azizabad neighbourhood and permanently settled in Germany. The victim’s close friend Ahmed Saeed had said the assailant first attacked Fahimuddin’s wife and daughters, then fatally attacked Fahim. Saeed said the assailant was alive and undergoing treatment at a hospital. “Fahimuddin’s neighbours and friends are also saddened by his death. Fahim spent many memorable moments with us. The condition of Fahimuddin’s wife and daughters is critical, while two of their daughters managed to save themselves by hiding.” Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1187474-pakistani-national-gone-for-cancer-research-project-killed-in-portugal

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/11/israels-war-on-gaza-live-battles-rage-in-rafah-as-tanks-troops-advance

Russia carried out a “massive” missile attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure overnight into Wednesday, according to local authorities, in the biggest aerial onslaught by Russian forces for weeks. Russia used 76 air attack weapons in the assault, including 55 missiles and 21 drones launched from Russia and Russian controlled areas, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk. At least 59 weapons were destroyed overnight, he added. The attacks targeted power generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine’s Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions, the country’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko posted on Telegram. “The enemy wants to deprive us of the ability to generate and transmit electricity in sufficient quantities. Saving electricity is a contribution of each of us to the victory,” Halushchenko said. At least three people were injured, including a woman and a man with multiple limb injuries and shrapnel wounds taken to the hospital in the Kyiv region, and an 8-year-old child in the Kirovohrad region, local authorities said. Rescuers assess the ruins of a building, damaged by a Russian missile attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine on May 8, 2024. Handout/Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP Moscow has stepped up efforts to paralyze Ukraine’s energy system in the past month, as Kyiv’s troops struggle to hold positions on key frontlines particularly in the east. The five-month wait before US Congress approved $61 billion in military aid to Kyiv may have caused lasting damage that will be felt on the frontlines for months to come. Russian forces have used the “artillery drought” hampering Ukraine’s defenses since December to push forward on the eastern front near Avdiivka, making the largest advance since the early months of the war, and ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive in late May. The latest Russian attack hit three thermal power plants run by Ukraine’s biggest power company, DTEK. It was the fifth time its infrastructure was targeted in a month and a half. Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, also reported “damage to generation facilities.” Two critical energy infrastructure facilities in the Lviv region were attacked, one in the Chervonohrad district and another in the Stryi district, regional military official, Maksym Kozytskyi, said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “all necessary services are already working to mitigate the consequences of Russian terror.” “The entire world must understand who is who. The world must not give a chance to new Nazism,” he added in a post on X. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/08/europe/russian-attack-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-intl/index.html

Seven barber shop staffers were killed Thursday by unidentified gunmen in Balochistan’s port city while they were sleeping in their residential quarters. The unidentified gunmen, according to Gwadar Police Station Station House Officer (SHO) Mohsin Ali, opened fire at the workers who lived near the Gwadar Fish Harbour in the Surbandar area. At least seven of the workers were killed, while one of them got injured in the attack. As per the police official, all these men worked in the area’s barber shop and hailed from district Khanewal in Punjab. The SHO told Geo News that the dead bodies and the injured individual have all been shifted to the Gwadar Hospital. At least five among the seven labourers murdered in Gwadar belonged to Mian Channu, the Tehsil’s assistant commissioner told Geo News. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the killing of the barber shop workers in Gwadar extending his sympathies towards the families of the victims. CM Bugti also sought a report on the matter, maintaining that “all kinds of force will be used to arrest the terrorists and their facilitators”. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zia Ullah Langau has ordered an investigation into the killing of the seven deceased, terming it “open terrorism”. The minister said the killing of workers is a cowardly move, terrorists will be dealt with strictly. Meanwhile, provincial government’s spokesperson said that the families of the workers are being contacted. ‘Cowardly act’ In the wake of the brutal killing, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a strong condemnation, terming the terrorism incident a cowardly act of the enemies of the country. “We are determined to eradicate the scourge of terrorism,” he said. PM Shehbaz shared his grief for the victims’ families. Bilawal condemns workers’ killing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has condemned the killing of the workers. “Brutal killing of innocent workers is open terrorism,” the politician said, adding that people of the entire country, including Balochistan, are extremely angry over this brutality. “The monsters involved in the crime should be brought to justice,” the PPP chief maintained. This incident comes at least three weeks after unidentified assailants gunned down 11 people in separate terror incidents in the Nushki district of Balochistan. At least 11 people were gunned down by unknown assailants in two separate terror incidents in Nushki district of Balochistan. Nine of the deceased, who belonged to Punjab, were travelling in a bus on the National Highway from Quetta to Taftan when they were stopped by the militants, pulled out of the bus and abducted. The police launched a search operation for the abductees, however, their bodies were found under the bridge near a hill. All of them had been shot dead. The murdered men belonged to the Mandi Bahauddin, Wazirabad and Gujranwala areas of Punjab. According to Nushki Superintendent of Police (SP) Allah Bukhsh, the deceased men were labourers. The police said that six people belonged to Mandi Bahauddin and were from the same village Chak Fateh Shah. Their family members said that the men had left for Iraq three days before Eid. Meanwhile, two more were dead and three others sustained injuries in another incident in the city the same day. Similarly, on March 20, security forces acted swiftly and foiled a fierce attack after a group of gunmen stormed the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) colony. Eyewitnesses said that they heard multiple explosions after firing in the complex which houses passport office, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office, and other government offices. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1187030-gunmen-in-gwadar-kill-7-barber-shop-workers-from-punjab