23-10-2025

Month: April 2023

US Senate passes bill to form AI Task Force

WASHINGTON: The United States Senate presented a bill that would enable the creation of a task force to examine the United States’ policies on artificial intelligence, and specify how best to reduce hazards to privacy, civil freedoms and due process.

The runaway popularity of AI outlets such as ChatGPT and others, which have been used for years to create text, imagery and other content, has spread a rush around the planet to figure out if and how to control its use.

In the US, national security specialists have voiced their apprehensions concerning its use by foreign antagonists, and teachers have grumbled about it being used to fudge in exams and projects.

The job of the AI Task Force, which could contain cabinet members, will be to determine shortfalls in the regulatory supervision of AI and advise reforms if needed.

“There’s going to have to be a lot of education around this set of issues because they’re not well understood,” said Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado. “There’s going to be a lot of improvisation and iterative approaches to try to wrestle with this because AI is so new to everyone in the government.”

Under the bill, the task force would include an official from the Office of Management and Budget, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Science and Technology Policy as well as privacy and civil liberties officers from the Departments of Justice, State, Treasury, Defense and other executive branch agencies.

Under the terms of the bill, the task force would work for 18 months, issue a final report and then shut down.

Lawyers warn of nationwide protest if SC stay on bill limiting CJP powers not vacated

QUETTA: The representatives of Bar councils from across the country have expressed their support for the Constitution and warned of countrywide protest if the Supreme Court does not annul its stay order by May 2, issued against the bill clipping the powers of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).

The apex court had on April 13, stayed the operation on the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023. Despite the top court’s stay order, the bill was notified as an act by the federal government on April 21.

On Saturday, a lawyers’ convention was held at the Balochistan High Court under the aegis of the Balochistan Bar Council (BBC) and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), The News reported.

The convention was attended by vice-chairmen, presidents and representatives of all the provincial bar councils, high court bar associations and district bar associations, who objected to the CJP‘s decision of not forming a larger bench to hear the polls case.

Addressing the convention, Barrister Salahuddin wondered why the CJP always sends sensitive cases to specific judges. He said the current crisis had engulfed the whole country and the judicial crisis was even greater than the issue of elections.

The lawyer said that given the current situation, the CJP should form a larger bench. There must be some reason that the top judge did not form a larger bench, he wondered.

Meanwhile, Advocate Imam Rizvi said that the top court calls upon everyone to create unity, but does not create unity in itself.

IHCBA Vice Chairman Adil Aziz observed the current government and the Supreme Court wanted to bequeath to us such judiciary in which no one will repose trust. He exhorted to revive public and lawyers’ trust in the apex court.

Meanwhile, SHCBA Vice Chairman Arif Abbasi also endorsed Aziz’s point of view, saying if a person does not want a judge to hear his case, the judge should recuse himself from hearing.

Balochistan Bar Council’s Advocate Saleem Lashari was of the view that the current crisis emerged out of the Supreme Court ruling.

“Had the apex court not trampled the Constitution, the crisis would not have emerged. The chief justice should have kept himself aloof from this matter,” he said.

The demand comes as the Supreme Court is set to resume the hearing on pleas challenging the constitutionality of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, on May 2 (Tuesday).

Imran Khan sees ‘ill intentions’ behind PDM’s bid to hold polls post-budget

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday saw the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government’s “ill-intentions” behind its proposal to hold elections simultaneously after this year’s budget.

The budget is traditionally presented within the first two weeks of June and the federal government has maintained that it would be too early to hold general elections the next month, stressing for holding polls later this year.

The federal government and the opposition party PTI are in negotiations over a date for holding elections across the country on directions of the Supreme Court — and a final meeting is expected next week.

“[The government] is saying that first, it would pass the budget, and then hold the election. This shows its ‘ill-intention’,” Khan — who was ousted as the prime minister in April last year — said during a session with PTI workers in Lahore.

The deposed prime minister said his party would be ready to move forward with the negotiations if the government dissolves the national and provincial assemblies before May 14.

The Sindh and Balochistan assemblies and the National Assembly have not yet been dissolved, while the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa legislatures were dissolved in January on Khan’s directions.

Civil society has urged political forces to reach a consensus over the elections and end the persistent impasse, which has severely hurt Pakistan’s fragile economy.

And Khan is insistent that his party does not want to delay the elections, stressing that “we will not accept polls after the budget” — as suggested by the ruling coalition.

“If the hope of elections ends, then Pakistan could face a worse situation than Sri Lanka. I am not frightening you; I am just expressing my opinion,” the PTI chief told his workers.

PTI’s senior leaders — Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi — had a day earlier warned of the election talks derailing if the government does not stop arresting its workers.

Hours after their warning, police and anti-corruption officials raided PTI President Parvez Elahi’s residence in Lahore, but failed to arrest him despite a more than six-hour-long operation.

Although the party has not yet announced exiting the talks, Khan had condemned the arrest and said “enough is enough”.

Spain to invest 1.3 bn euros in vocational training to fight unemployment

Spain will invest 1.3 billion euros ($1.43 billion) in vocational training to fight youth unemployment, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday.

The measure will create 824 new training centres for digital skills, 45,000 vocational training places and 1,500 classrooms for technology and entrepreneurship, he said.

It will be approved at a cabinet meet next week he added, during a Socialist party event in the northern city of Pamplona.

Boosting vocational training is the best way to reduce youth unemployment “which remains one of the main ills of our labour market,” Sanchez said.

“We are creating more and better jobs,” he added.

The new investment joins the 6.6 billion euros already invested in this area since this government was sworn in for a second term in January 2020, the prime minister added.

The announcement comes ahead of regional and local elections on May 28 and what promises to be closely-fought national elections at the end of the year.

Spain’s overall unemployment rate stood at 13.26 percent during the first quarter, up from 12.87 percent the final quarter of 2022, according to national statistics institute INE

But among those aged 16 to 25, the jobless rate stood at 30 percent in the period between January and March.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reappeared on the campaign trail in western Turkey on Saturday in the flesh, and in thundering form.

He arrived in the port city of Izmir to a sea of flags, and a large crowd that had been waiting hours under a hot sun. It was a strong turnout in an opposition stronghold.

There was no sign of the illness which caused him to drop out of key events for three days this week – just a fortnight ahead of critical elections. The polls – for the presidency and parliament – will be his toughest challenge yet, after twenty years in power.

The president spoke for almost 40 minutes, in a strong voice, mocking the opposition, raising the spectre of “terrorism”, and saying only he could deliver growth for Turkey. It was a combative performance which will have reassured his supporters and may have worried his detractors.

Many women were present at the rally, which was segregated

His main rival for the presidency, Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a secular candidate backed by an alliance of six parties – will hold a rally in the same spot on Sunday. Opinion polls give a slight lead to Mr Kilicdaroglu – a softly spoken former civil servant – but the election could well be a photo finish.

The Turkish leader, who is 69, startled TV viewers on Tuesday night when he became unwell during a live broadcast, which had to be halted. He blamed it on a stomach bug.

“When I heard the news about his health, I asked God to give me his illness,” said Gurbet Dostum, a 42-year-old Mother of two. “I am ready to be in pain for him. He gives us everything.”

But many here have less and less, due to rampant inflation which is officially around 50%. Experts have blamed the President’s unorthodox economic policies, but not Gurbet. She said those who complained were “greedy and ungrateful and just wanted more and more”.

Like many women at the rally – which was segregated – she was wearing a headscarf. The president’s bedrock is religious conservatives, but there were secular supporters there too.

“He changed the country,” said Guldana, a 57-year-old with a diamond in her tooth. “Before him Turkey was a village.”

Religious conservatives are the bedrock of Erdogan’s support – but there were secular supporters in the crowd too

An unemployed young woman called Ayse said she would vote for Erdogan for love of her country. “He will make us rise, and get stronger,” she said.

Those who back the president want him to extend his long rule and continue with his vision for Turkey. Many Turks want just the opposite. The electorate – like the country – is divided.

Some of those who had waited hours for the president to arrive drifted away while he was still speaking.

Sudan’s former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has warned that the conflict in his country could become worse than those in Syria and Libya.

The fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) would be a “nightmare for the world” if it continued, he said.

Early on Sunday, warplanes and heavy anti-aircraft fire were heard over the capital Khartoum, residents said.

The army said it was attacking from all directions, using heavy artillery.

The fighting that started on 15 April has left hundreds dead, while tens of thousands of people are fleeing the country.

Thursday night’s extension of an uneasy ceasefire between the rival factions followed intensive diplomatic efforts by neighbouring countries, as well as the US, UK and UN. But the 72-hour extension has not held.

Meanwhile, there are chaotic scenes in Port Sudan where people are desperate to board ships, some of which are heading to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The UK government said it had ended its evacuation operation. The Foreign Office said the last flight left Khartoum at 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday, and in total nearly 1,900 people were flown out.

The US government meanwhile said a US-organised convoy had reached Port Sudan to evacuate more US citizens by ship to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. It said hundreds of Americans had already left Sudan, in addition to the diplomats evacuated by air a week ago.

 

Speaking at a conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Mr Hamdok called for a unified international effort to persuade the Sudanese army chief and the RSF leader to hold peace talks.

“This is a huge country, very diverse … I think it will be a nightmare for the world,” he said.

“This is not a war between an army and small rebellion. It is almost like two armies – well trained and well armed.”

Mr Hamdok – who served as prime minister twice between 2019 and 2022 – added that the insecurity could become worse than the civil wars in Syria and Libya. Those wars have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, created millions of refugees and caused instability in the wider regions.

Tens of thousands of people are attempting to flee Sudan

Army commander Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF chief Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, disagree about the country’s proposed move to civilian rule, and in particular about the timeframe of the 100,000 strong RSF’s inclusion into the army.

Both factions fear losing power in Sudan, partly because on both sides there are men who could end up at the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in the Darfur region almost 20 years ago.

Millions of people remain trapped in Khartoum, where there are shortages of food, water and fuel.

Sudan’s army has urged people in Khartoum to remain indoors and stay away from windows, as it deploys tanks and other artillery in an effort to recapture areas held by the RSF.

The RSF says the army is widening the conflict by deploying the Central Reserve police – a unit with a reputation for brutality against civilians.

Violence is also reported to have been particularly bad in El Geneina, a city in Darfur in western Sudan, with claims that militia groups have looted and torched markets.

 

Hemedti has told the BBC he will not negotiate until fighting ends.

He said his fighters were being “relentlessly” bombed since the truce was extended.

“We don’t want to destroy Sudan,” he said, blaming army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for the violence.

Gen Burhan – the head of Sudan’s regular army – has tentatively agreed to face-to-face talks in South Sudan.

Around 2,000 people have arrived in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah

Around 2,000 people have arrived in Jeddah from Port Sudan. Most are expected to be flown home via charter flights arranged by their governments within the next few days.

Speaking to BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet in Jeddah, Nazli, a 32 year-old Iranian civil engineer who fled with her fellow engineer husband, recalled the fighting they fled.

“We couldn’t even sit on our balcony; the gunfire was everywhere,” she said.

“Please please help our family in Sudan,” cried Rasha, a Sudanese-American mother of four children – who spoke of hiding for three days, terrified.

“I call on the world to protect Sudan,” she pleaded, underlining fears that once all the foreign nationals have fled, the fighting will intensify.

People watching the Coronation will be invited to join a “chorus of millions” to swear allegiance to the King and his heirs, organisers say.

The public pledge is one of several striking changes to the ancient ceremony revealed on Saturday.

In a coronation full of firsts, female clergy will play a prominent role, and the King himself will pray out loud.

The Christian service will also see religious leaders from other faiths have an active part for the first time.

The Coronation on Saturday will be the first to incorporate other languages spoken in Britain, with a hymn set to be sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic.

Despite changes designed to reflect other faiths, the three oaths the King will take and form the heart of the service remain unchanged, including the promise to maintain “the Protestant Reformed Religion”.

Full details of the Westminster Abbey service – the theme of which is “called to serve” – have been published by Lambeth Palace.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said it would “recognise and celebrate tradition” as well as contain “new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society”.

The public will be given an active role in the ceremony for the first time, with people around the world set to be asked to cry out and swear allegiance to the King.

This “homage of the people” replaces the traditional “homage of peers” where hereditary peers swear allegiance to the new monarch. Instead everyone in the Abbey and watching at home will be invited to pay homage in what Lambeth Palace described as a “chorus of millions”.

The order of service will read: “All who so desire, in the Abbey, and elsewhere, say together: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”

It will be followed by the playing of a fanfare.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will then proclaim “God save the King”, with all asked to respond: “God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever.”

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s office, said: “The homage of the people is particularly exciting because that’s brand new.

“That’s something that we can share in because of technological advances, so not just the people in the Abbey, but people who are online, on television, who are listening, and who are gathered in parks, at big screens and churches.

“Our hope is at that point, when the Archbishop invites people to join in, that people wherever they are, if they’re watching at home on their own, watching the telly, will say it out loud – this sense of a great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King.”

King Charles (right) will be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (left), in a service that will use traditional language and texts from the King James Bible.

While the oaths – which have remained unchanged for centuries – will retain their Protestant pledge, Lambeth Palace said the Archbishop of Canterbury will “contextualise” them.

He will say beforehand that the Church of England will seek to create an environment where “people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely”.

“The religious and cultural context of the 17th Century was very different to today’s contemporary, multi-faith Britain,” a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said. “So, for the first time there will be a preface to the Oath.”

The BBC’s religion editor Aleem Maqbool said over the years, there has been much speculation about whether the King would change his oaths to reflect an aspiration to protect the practice of all faiths and beliefs, though it would have been a move that would have caused consternation among some Church of England traditionalists.

He added that it may appear a neat solution to leave the oaths unchanged and have the Archbishop of Canterbury express that forward-looking sentiment, but progressives will be left wondering why the protection of the practice of all beliefs could not be part of the oral contract with the nation that the King enters into.

As part of the service Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh peers will present the King with pieces of the coronation regalia, including bracelets, the robe, the ring, and the glove.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a practising Hindu, will read from the biblical book of Colossians.

The blessing will be shared by leaders of different Christian denominations for the first time, including the Catholic Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

After the religious service has ended, the King will receive a greeting by Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist leaders.

The move reflects Charles’ deeply-held belief in promoting unity between different faiths through championing interfaith dialogue and celebrating the major religions practised in the UK.

A Lambeth Palace spokesperson described the greeting as “an unprecedented gesture that will reflect the religious diversity of the Realms of King Charles III”.

The greeting will not be audible for most watching outside Westminster Abbey because the Chief Rabbi will be observing the Jewish Shabbat which prohibits the use of electricity, including microphones.

The screen will hide the sacred act of anointing a monarch with holy oil, which can be traced back to the 7th and 8th centuries, and signals the monarch has been chosen by God

The King will pray aloud using words inspired from the hymn I vow to thee my country and from the biblical books of Galatians and Proverbs.

Female clergy will be involved in the service for the first time after the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, and the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, will administer communion alongside the archbishop.

Justin Welby said the coronation was “first and foremost an act of Christian worship”.

“It is my prayer that all who share in this service, whether they are of faith or no faith, will find ancient wisdom and new hope that brings inspiration and joy,” he said.

Taliban ‘consulted’ Gen Bajwa before allowing Indian diplomats to return

ISLAMABAD: Taliban’s interim foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held a detailed meeting with then-army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa before asking India to send back its diplomats to Kabul, says a new book by a former Pakistani police officer.

“The Return of the Taliban” offers other insights into the close ties between the Taliban and Pakistani military, as well as Islamabad’s persisting worries about an Indian role in Afghanistan.

Hasan Abbas, who wrote the book, is currently a senior adviser at Asia Society and a distinguished professor at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre at the US National Defence University.

After shutting down its consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif, India pulled out all its officials and security personnel from Kabul after the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021, largely on account of security concerns.

In June last year, India deployed a technical team led by a middle-ranking diplomat in Kabul to re-establish its presence in Afghanistan.

Abbas writes in the book that Muttaqi “had a detailed meeting” with Pakistan’s then army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, “before he could request that India send back its diplomats and technical staff to the Indian embassy in Afghanistan”.

Given the Pakistani side’s belief that India used its access to Kabul during the Ashraf Ghani government’s reign to “restrict Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan”, it was “nothing short of a big surprise that Pakistan signed off on the Taliban’s diplomatic relationship with India”, the book states.

“Regardless, it couldn’t have happened without Pakistan – and Pakistan acted this way because it just might open up prospects of some aid for the Taliban in Afghanistan,” Abbas writes.

The book cites an unnamed Pakistani general as saying that the Pakistani military is “fully in the picture as to how India attempted to access Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Siraj Haqqani, via the Iranian IRGC (International Revolutionary Guard Corps)”.

Anas Haqqani is currently one of the top leaders of the Taliban setup in Kabul.

In recent months, Indian officials have met several leaders of the Haqqani Network, one of the main factions of the Afghan Taliban, during their visits to Kabul.

However, the book states that Pakistan’s intelligence services continue to harbour suspicions about Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a former member of the Taliban’s Doha political office and currently the deputy foreign minister, solely because he graduated from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in the 1980s.

“This last qualification, though, was enough to make him a suspect in the eyes of Pakistan’s intelligence services as they never trusted him fully even though he worked closely with them at times,” Abbas writes.

Stanikzai was a key contact in the Indian side’s secret talks with the Afghan Taliban before the group assumed power in Kabul in 2021. In recent months, however, he has been sidelined.

At the same time, the book details how the Afghan Taliban sought to play down their continuing close links with Pakistan’s military. While the Taliban have turned to Pakistan to obtain counter-terrorism capability to fight Daesh, including drones and other hi-tech equipment, the group is “increasingly conscious of their reputation as closely aligned with Pakistan’s army and intelligence services — and they know that the relationship is not particularly popular in Afghanistan”.

“Consequently, when the Taliban requested Pakistani military and intelligence leaders to publicly keep their distance from them, it still came as a surprise. Islamabad was initially unclear if it was Taliban diplomacy or hypocrisy. Relations even started deteriorating once Kabul expressed its inability to pursue Pakistani Taliban roaming around in Afghanistan the way Pakistan wanted,” Abbas writes.

Abbas, who served as an officer in the administrations of former premier Benazir Bhutto (1995-1996) and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf (1999-2000), writes that the reason the Afghan Taliban are “hesitant to take strong action against the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] is due to their considered opinion that TTP cadres currently hiding in Afghanistan could easily drift toward joining Daesh ranks in the event that the Afghan Taliban are seen to be ditching them”.

PM Shehbaz to attend King Charles III coronation in UK next week

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to undertake a visit to the United Kingdom next week to attend the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla on May 6, the Foreign Office said on Friday.

PM Shehbaz will also participate in an event for Commonwealth leaders scheduled to be held in London on May 5. He is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders participating in the celebrations.

The FO said Pakistan and the UK had a long history of relations strongly anchored in the dynamic Pakistani-British community.

“We see the British monarch and the royal family as friends of Pakistan and its people and look forward to further strengthening of ties between Pakistan and the United Kingdom,” it said.

Charles III will be officially crowned king next month, in a solemn religious service eight months after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

The set-piece coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6 is the first in Britain in 70 years, and only the second in history to be televised.

Charles will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at the central London church since King William I in 1066.

Outside the UK, he is also king of 14 other Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Camilla, his second wife, will be crowned queen.

Charles and Camilla’s grandchildren will take part in the ceremony, watched by more than 2,000 invited dignitaries — a quarter of those in attendance in 1953.

US, Iran confiscate each other’s oil tankers amid sanctions tension

As oil markets remain jittery, the cargo seizure is the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran after years of sanctions pressure by the US over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran does not recognise the sanctions, and its oil exports have been rising.

Tehran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes while Washington suspects Iran wants to develop a nuclear bomb.

Maritime security company Ambrey said the US confiscation took place at least five days before Iran’s action on Thursday.

“Ambrey has assessed the seizure by the Iranian Navy to be in response to the US action,” it said in an advisory to clients.

“Both tankers were Suezmax-sized. Iran has previously responded tit-for-tat following seizures of Iranian oil cargo.”

The sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Washington took control of the oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan after securing an earlier court order.

The tanker’s last reported position was near southern Africa on April 22, ship tracking data showed.

The vessel’s Greece-based manager, Empire Navigation, and the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The US Navy said Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, the latest seizure or attack by Tehran on commercial vessels in sensitive Gulf waters.

Iranian state TV said on Friday the tanker ignored radio calls for eight hours following a collision with an Iranian boat, which left several crewmen injured and three missing.

“Before using force, we tried to call the vessel …to stop but they did not cooperate,” Iranian deputy navy commander Rear Admiral Mostafa Tajodini told the broadcaster.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was aware of the Gulf of Oman seizure and reaffirmed support for international maritime law, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.

Last year the US tried to confiscate a cargo of Iranian oil near Greece, which prompted Tehran to seize two Greek tankers in the Gulf.

Greece’s supreme court ordered the cargo returned to Iran. The two Greek tankers were later released.

In a step likely to exacerbate tensions, 12 US senators on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to remove Treasury Department policy hurdles that have prevented the Department of Homeland Security from seizing Iranian oil shipments for more than a year.

In 2020, Washington confiscated four cargoes of Iranian fuel aboard foreign ships that were bound for Venezuela and transferred them with the help of undisclosed foreign partners onto two other ships which then sailed to the US.

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