March 2022 - Page 7 of 25

All 132 on crashed China Eastern plane confirmed dead

All 132 people aboard the plane that crashed into a mountainside in southern China this week have been confirmed dead, the country’s civil aviation authority said Saturday.

Dozens of victims’ relatives have been waiting for days as rescue teams combed heavily forested slopes for plane debris and signs of survivors from Monday’s crash near the city of Wuzhou, Guangxi province.

“All 123 passengers and nine crew members of flight MU5735 of China Eastern airlines have been killed on board on March 21,” Hu Zhenjiang, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press conference.

“The identity of 120 victims has been determined by DNA identification.”

Aviation officials confirmed they had found a black box they believed to be the cockpit voice recorder, which should provide important clues to the cause of the crash.

The cause has mystified aviation authorities, who have scoured rugged terrain for clues in what is almost certain to be China‘s deadliest plane crash in nearly 30 years.

The disaster provoked an unusually swift public response from President Xi Jinping, who ordered a probe into its cause as aviation authorities vowed an extensive two-week check-up of China‘s vast passenger fleet.

The safety message has rippled out across sectors since the crash.

A notice from the State Council and Ministry of Emergency Management on Wednesday called for industries across the board to “rectify potential safety hazards”.

Bilawal Bhutto meets Turi and Bangash tribes’ elders

Bilawal Bhutto and Turi and Bangash tribes elders discussed the political and social situation in the region.

Bilawal also offered condolences to the families of martyrs of Peshawar Imambargah belonging to Parachinar.

Bilawal offered condolences to the families of Prof Zafar Ali, Akhtar Hussain, Nasir Ali and Mazahir Hussain Bangash of Parachinar who were martyred in Peshawar’s Imambargah.

Bilawal offered condolences to the families of Jaber Hussain Bangash, Fahim Abbas, Ali Agha Khushi, Akbar Khushi and Eid Muhammad Khushi of Parachinar who were martyred in Peshawar Imambargah.

He also offered condolences to the families of Arif Hussain Khushi, Nazir Hussain Khushi, Sabit Hussain Khushi, Dr Asad, Abdul Ali and Atiq Hussain of Parachinar who were martyred in Peshawar’s Imambargah.

Bilawal expressed his condolences to the President of Anjuman-e-Hussainiya Inayat Turi and President of Tehreek-e-Hussaini Agha Syed Tajmal Hussain and the families of martyrs of Peshawar tragedy.

Unknown persons hurl stones at JUI convoy in Islamabad, 2 vehicles damaged

The main convoy of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) was pelted with stones by unknown persons in Islamabad on Saturday night.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, due to heavy stoning on the participants of the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Mehngai Mukao March, two vehicles were damaged.

In response to it, security guards of the JUI—Ansar ul Islam—came into action and chased the attackers but they succeeded to run away from the spot.

The JUI workers alleged that PTI workers have pelted stones at their convoy and some policemen were also accompanied by them.

Islamabad ready for ‘biggest’ political power show

ISLAMABAD: The federal capital is all set to host a major political power show as the workers of ruling PTI from different parts of the country have started reaching the Parade Ground, where Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI will stage the “biggest” rally.

PTI is ready to stage its “Amr-bel-Maroof” public gathering successfully in Islamabad as the political pressure mounts with the Opposition parties also marching towards Islamabad ahead of the vote of no-confidence against PM Imran Khan.

The PTI has called their public gathering “Amr-bel-Maroof” in response to the Opposition’s no-trust motion to show support to the prime minister.

“Today is a battle for Pakistan […] and not for PTI, it’s a battle for the future of our nation,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a message issued hours before the gathering.

The premier urged the citizens willing to attend the rally to leave their homes early as there would be rush and blockages on the roads. He said that he fears that the people might not reach the venue on time.

“We are out to make Pakistan’s history today,” PM Imran Khan concluded.

Stage set

As the clock ticks towards PTI’s rally, all the preparations of the event also move towards completion. The stage for the “biggest” rally has been made using 36 containers while a special container has been placed for the senior leadership.

Moreover, a special enclosure has been prepared for women where 800 seats have been arranged. The enclosure has been surrounded by safety sheets and barbed wires for security.

For the male participants of the rally, 6,000 chairs have been placed, while the organisers say that an order for 30,000 seats has been made.

Meanwhile, the workers and leaders of the JUI-F, representing the Opposition parties’ alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), are already at the venue of their rally to be held tomorrow (Monday) at Srinagar Highway. Whereas, PML-N caravan, “Mehngai Mukao March”, led by Maryam Nawaz and leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz are also on their way to join PDM to “say goodbye to the already ousted prime minister”.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had tasked party leaders to gather one million people for the rally. Addressing a rally in Swat recently, the premier had urged the nation to reach Islamabad on March 27 to tell the world that Pakistanis “stand with the truth and are against corruption”.

‘No one allowed to enter Red Zone’

The interior minister said that everyone is allowed to hold public gatherings in Islamabad; however, according to the directions by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, no one will be allowed to enter the Red Zone.

He warned that nobody will be allowed to take the law into their hands as the apex court has tasked the interior ministry to maintain the law and order situation in the federal capital.

‘Those who stage sit-ins will be arrested’

Responding to the Opposition’s warning to stage a sit-in in Islamabad, the interior minister cautioned them against doing so and said action will be taken according to the directives issued by the court.

He said that the Opposition would have to seek permission again if they wanted to hold a rally today as well since they had been permitted to hold a gathering on Saturday only.

“If they stage a sit-in they will be arrested,” he said, adding that the federal government also has the authority to call army under Article 245 following approvals from the prime minister and the cabinet.

Security

Rasheed told the journalists that the Srinagar Highway has been handed over to Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) while JUI-F has only been granted permission to hold its public gathering today “if they want to hold their rally tomorrow, they need to submit another request.”

“Mehngai Mukao March”

PML-N’s “Mehngai Mukao March” kick-started on Saturday from Lahore’s Model Town in the leadership of party’s vice president, Maryam’s leadership.

“[Prime Minister] Imran Khan‘s government has gone he is shouting every day. The government has gone we are going to say goodbye to it,” Maryam told Geo News in an interview on her rally’s container.

The PML-N leader said that the “people are echoing” the name of party supremo Nawaz Sharif due to the “incompetent government and inflation”.

“The government has gone a goodbye is left only. He’s (Imran Khan) is pleading but nothing will happen now,” said the PML-N leader. She added that move to oust PM Imran was taken by the government and not the Opposition.

Talking about the government allies who are yet to make a decision, Maryam said that no one will stand with the premier as his own party members were ditching him.

Since then all eyes have been on Islamabad as the Opposition is trying to cajole the PTI allies to leave the government, while PM Imran Khan and his ministers are trying to ensure that the allies do not jump ship.

Apart from the allies, many PTI lawmakers have also come out in the open and started to express their frustrations against PM Imran. However, they are yet to decide whether they would support the motion or go against it.

‘We are going to Islamabad to say goodbye to PM Imran Khan’, says Maryam Nawaz

LAHORE: As PML-N’s “Mehngai Mukao March” kick-started on Saturday from Lahore’s Model Town, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that the government has “already been ousted” and the Opposition was heading to Islamabad to say “goodbye” to PM Imran Khan.

“[Prime Minister] Imran Khan‘s government has gone he is shouting every day. The government has gone we are going to say goodbye to it,” Maryam told Geo News in an interview on her rally’s container.

The PML-N leader said that the “people are echoing” the name of party supremo Nawaz Sharif due to the “incompetent government and inflation”.

Talking about the government allies who are yet to make a decision, Maryam said that no one will stand with the premier as his own party members were ditching him.

“Imran Khan is the nation’s culprit, not Nawaz Sharif or Maryam Nawaz,” said the PML-N vice-president. She added that no matter comes to power, it will take time to fix the “destruction” done by PM Imran Khan.

“If there is an external conspiracy against Imran Khan, then the name of this conspiracy is Imran Khan himself. Imran Khan is not such a big personality that the world would conspire against him,” said Maryam in response to the claim made by the premier that the Opposition was being backed by foreign powers.

Maryam is leading the “Mehngai Mukao March” with Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz. They had kicked off the march from Lahore’s Model Town, earlier today. Their final destination is Islamabad and the duo will arrive in the federal capital after multiple stops along the way.

The PML-N march will join the Opposition’s rally in Islamabad that is set to be held on March 28.

The march is being held amid a no-confidence motion submitted against Prime Minister Imran Khan. The Opposition had submitted the motion on March 8 at the National Assembly secretariat.

No-confidence vote against Imran Khan likely be held on April 3, 4: Pakistan Minister

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said on Saturday that the no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan will most likely be held on April 3 or 4, indicating yet another delay in the motion, Friday Times reported.

Although the no-confidence motion was on the agenda of Friday’s National Assembly session, Speaker Asad Qaiser had adjourned the session until Monday.

Leader of the Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, then wrote to Qaiser in which he criticised his handling of the no-confidence motion and alleged that the Speaker had failed to fulfil his constitutional obligations by delaying the no-confidence vote.

Rasheed maintained that the Opposition had actually played into the hands of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, whose popularity he claimed has increased since the no-confidence motion was moved. He also termed the opposition as ‘fools’ for helping Prime Minister Imran Khan gain more support.

Answering further questions, Rasheed said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA, Jam Abdul Karim, would be arrested upon his return to Pakistan from Dubai. Karim has been named in a murder cases in Sindh, but he is currently out of the country.

Imran Khan’s fate hangs in balance amid changing power equations; no-trust motion soon

Pushed to the wall in the face of the spirited Opposition campaign, the survival of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government hangs in balance as the National Assembly is slated to take up the no-trust motion against the ruling dispensation soon. The 22nd Pakistani Prime Minister is seen to be running out of favour with the Army known to call shots in the power game of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s only World Cup-winning cricket captain was pitchforked to the centre stage after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lost favours with the top brass of the Army.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi is a former Pakistani cricketer, who after leading the country to victory in the 1992 World Cup Final, retired from cricket and joined politics. He is the founding Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

His political front, which he founded in 1997, remained on the sidelines of Pakistani politics until he found favour with the military establishment, which began propping him after 2013, to counter the growing political assertion of the two traditional mainstream parties led by Sharif and the Bhutto families.

The military establishment is widely known to have given its tacit approval to Khan in 2016 when he organised a massive rally and threatened a lockdown of Islamabad over the Panama Papers leak which had implicated the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The rally propped Khan as a serious contender for power, who enjoyed the blessings of the all-important Pakistani Army.

In 1997, he founded his own political party ‘Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Khan contested for a National Assembly seat in October 2002 elections and served as a Member Parliament from NA- 71, Mianwali until 2007. In 2018, Imran Khan stormed to power in Pakistan by winning 176 votes.

Imran Khan, the seventh member of his family, was born on November 25, 1952, to a Pashtun family in Lahore, Pakistan. He attended Aitchison College in Lahore and later moved to Oxford for higher studies.

Hailing from a cricketing family, his cousins, Javed Burki and Majid Khan, both preceded him in going to Oxford and captaining Pakistan. Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, an English socialite, who converted to Islam on May 16, 1995, in Paris. The marriage ended in divorce after eight years in June 2004 as Jemima Khan was allegedly unable to adapt to Pakistani culture.

Khan started playing cricket at the age of 13. Initially playing for his college and later representing English county Worcester, he made his debut for Pakistan at the age of 18 during the 1971 English series at Birmingham.

Soon, he acquired a permanent place in the team. Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple in 75 tests.

His career came to an end after the first and only ODI World Cup victory for Pakistan in 1992 with a record of 3,807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket.

He founded Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust in 1991, which actively worked on the research and development of cancer and other related diseases. He also founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research centre in 1994. He passionately pursued healthcare interests in the wake of his mother’s untimely death, who died of cancer.

Khan was awarded ‘The Cricket Society Wetherall Award’ in 1976 and 1980 for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket. He was also named as the Wisden Cricketer of the year in 1983 and received the ‘President’s Pride of Performance’ award in 1983.

He also got the Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year Award in 1985 and served as Unicef’s Special Representative for Sports during the 1990s. Khan was inducted in the ‘ICC Hall of Fame’ on July 14, 2010.

(With inputs from ANI)

Ukraine says 300 died in theatre attack

KYIV: About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theatre that was being used as a shelter, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday in what would make it the war’s deadliest known attack on civilians yet.

The bloodshed is certain to fuel allegations Moscow has committed war crimes by killing civilians, whether deliberately or by indiscriminate fire. For days, the government in the besieged and ruined port city was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 bombardment of the grand, columned Mariupol Drama Theatre, where hundreds of people were taking cover, the word CHILDREN printed in Russian in huge white letters on the ground outside to ward off aerial attack

EU envoy to visit Iran seeking to close gaps in nuclear talks

The European Union’s coordinator for talks to restore the Iran nuclear deal, Enrique Mora, said he was hoping to close gaps in the negotiations ahead of his expected arrival Saturday in Tehran.

Iran has been engaged in negotiations to revive the accord with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and the United States indirectly since April 2021.

The EU diplomat, who coordinates talks between Iran and the US, is due to arrive in Tehran on Saturday night, state news agency IRNA reported. He is scheduled to meet Iran‘s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri on Sunday.

“Working on closing the remaining gaps in the #ViennaTalks on the #JCPOA,” Mora tweeted ahead of his trip. “We must conclude this negotiation. Much is at stake.”

Concerned parties have signalled for weeks that the negotiations are close to an agreement, but that “political decisions” are required from Tehran and Washington.

Western parties have been pushing for the talks to be concluded “urgently” given the accelerated pace of Iran‘s nuclear programme.

Following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the deal in 2018 and the re-imposition of crippling economic sanctions, Iran began rolling back on most of its commitments under the accord from 2019.

The negotiations have been paused since March 11, after Russia demanded guarantees that Western sanctions imposed on it following its invasion of Ukraine would not damage its trade with Iran.

Days later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a joint news conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that Moscow had received the guarantees.

Consultations between Amir-Abdollahian and his counterparts had continued since delegations returned to their capitals, IRNA said.

DIFFICULT ISSUES

The 2015 agreement gave Iran much-needed sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme that would guarantee that Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon — something it has always denied wanting to do.

During the negotiations, Iran has repeatedly called for guarantees from the United States that there will be no repeat of its 2018 pullout.

That is one of two key demands that experts believe Iran is holding out for, with other being the removal of its Revolutionary Guards from a US terrorist blacklist.

The US said on Tuesday that it was now up to Iran to make hard decisions in order to restore the deal.

“The onus is on Tehran to make decisions that it might consider difficult,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

“There are a number of difficult issues that we are still trying to work through.”

Iran‘s top diplomat reiterated on Wednesday calls for the US to take steps to conclude the deal.

“Although Americans claim that they are interested in resolving issues and reaching an agreement, they must also show goodwill in practice,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

Tehran would not give up its “red lines, which are not sacrificing the interests and rights of the people”, he added.

A record number of people in Scotland had Covid last week, according to official estimates – with one in 11 returning a positive result.

The latest weekly sampling by the Office for National Statistics suggest 473,800 people in Scotland had the virus in the week ending 20 March.

It came in the same week Covid patients in hospitals reached a record high.

And NHS Lanarkshire warned its three acute hospitals – Hairmyres, Wishaw and Monklands – were beyond full.

Medics said they were regularly running with capacity over 100% and they urged people to attend its accident and emergency departments only if their condition was urgent or life-threatening.

The surge in case numbers has been attributed to a more infectious Omicron sub-variant, BA.2.

The one in 11 rate was the UK’s highest, with England and Wales reporting one in 16 and one in 17 in Northern Ireland.

The number of cases in Scotland has risen from 376,300 last week – when one in 14 had the virus – to 473,800 people in this week’s data.

Meanwhile, there were 2,326 hospital patients with the virus on Friday – the fifth day in a row that Covid patient numbers hit a record high.

There were 10,100 new cases reported, with 41 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive.

Official figures also showed there 28 people in intensive care with recently-confirmed Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 4,341,965 people have received their first dose of a vaccine, 4,089,894 have had their second dose, and 3,446,630 have received a third dose or booster.

Despite the sharp rise in patients in hospital with Covid, fewer of them are requiring intensive care treatment than in the past.

This is partly because Omicron is believed to be milder than previous strains such as Delta, most people have been vaccinated and doctors have better treatments for the disease.

However, people with Covid still need to be kept separate from other patients to limit the spread of infection – something that puts pressure on ward capacity. It is also leading to increased staff absences.

Hospitals ‘beyond full’

NHS Lanarkshire said the number of Covid patients was putting pressure on services at University Hospital Wishaw, University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride and at University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie.

Dr Jane Burns, executive medical director, said many were patients waiting several hours to be seen in emergency departments, and urged people to consider whether A&E is the best place for them to seek healthcare.

“Our three acute hospital sites are beyond full with capacity regularly over 100%,” she added.

“This has been the case for a number of weeks and the situation is not easing. In fact, this week hospitals across Scotland including Lanarkshire have seen a record number of Covid patients.

“Unfortunately, this is resulting in many patients in our emergency departments waiting well in excess of our target of four hours for a condition that could have been treated by another healthcare service. It is also putting pressure on how quickly we can admit patients who require emergency care.

“The rising Covid number is also having a severe knock-on effect to our staff. We have high staff absences due to Covid and self-isolation which is resulting in challenges across all our health services and our staff are struggling to cope.”

She urged people to think of alternatives to the emergency department if their condition is not critical or life-threatening.

Other services include minor injuries units, their local GP or pharmacy or a call to NHS 24 on 111, day or night.

She added: “If someone does have to come to one of our emergency departments, they need to be prepared to face long waits to be seen, in some instances several hours.”

It comes after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde this week urged people not to attend accident and emergency departments unless their condition is “urgent or life-threatening” amid significant pressures.

Having visited a number of hospitals recently, the national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme that the NHS was under the most pressure he had ever seen.

He said people should “do what we can as a population” to reduce the pressure on the NHS – but urged them to use emergency services if needed.

He added: “We don’t want people not to come if they need it – what Glasgow and Lanarkshire are asking is just use it wisely.

“Use NHS24, your GP, your dentist, your optician – don’t just use A&E as your one stop shop. But if you have an emergency, 999 is available to you and you should use it if you need it.”

Latest official figures this week showed that the number of people waiting more than four, eight and 12 hours at Scotland’s emergency departments has hit its highest recorded level.

Commenting on the figures, the Scottish government said: “Unfortunately, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has now reached the highest level since the start of the pandemic and this rise in recent weeks has inevitably had an impact on services like A&E.”

Month: March 2022