Month: April 2023

LAHORE: The ruling alliance will meet today with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair to discuss the prevalent political crisis in the country and cases being heard at the Supreme Court.

According to Geo News sources, the meeting will be held at PM’s residence in Model Town where leaders of the allied parties will devise a strategy to deal with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and legal challenges.

The apex court is hearing a case over the delay in elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies amid controversy over the suo motu notice taken in this regard.

The PTI had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) March 22 order of postponing elections in the two provinces. A five-member bench originally formed to hear the plea had been dissolved twice after two judges recused themselves from the case following a Supreme Court order postponing all proceedings under Article 184(3).

However, after the recusal of two judges a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar is now hearing the PTI plea.

On Friday, the government’s request to form a full court was also rejected by the court, deepening the ongoing crisis as the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has rejected the bench.

According to The News report, the ruling alliance is anxiously waiting for the findings of the joint investigation team’s (JIT) report that has initially gathered some startling information about the people who were hiding in the Zaman Park residence of Imran Khan.

The sources said the government alliance wouldn’t support dialogue with the PTI or Imran since “they are not reliable people”.

It has been pointed out that Imran is approaching leaders of the ruling alliance through backchannel for talks. The alliance leadership, in its meeting today, will also discuss Imran’s impatience for dialogue and its motives.

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarrar will brief the meeting about the overall situation in the legal battle being fought in the Supreme Court on the question of elections for provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP and a disputed suo motu.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan had an important meeting with PM Shehbaz in Islamabad before the latter’s departure for Lahore. He has also left for Lahore and will also be available for consultations during the meeting.

The sources said that the government would consider the option of boycotting the three-member bench proceedings of the Supreme Court that has come down from the strength of nine to three after judges recused from the bench.

The ruling alliance leaders would also consider a proposal to knock on the door of the Supreme Judicial Council on certain matters.

A political strategy to deal with the upcoming agitation by the PTI and Imran would be drawn up in the meeting.

The sources indicated that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif will also join the discussion from London.

One person has been killed and dozens more injured after a storm caused a theatre roof to collapse in Illinois at a packed heavy metal gig.

Around 260 people were in the Apollo Theater, Belvidere, when the roof caved in at 7.55pm local time, the local fire department said.

Fire chief Shawn Schadle said that five people were in a serious condition.

A series of fierce tornadoes ripped through several US states on Friday, killing at least four people in total.

Extensive damage was reported in parts of the South and Midwest – with the states of Arkansas and Missouri declaring states of emergency. Tens of thousands were left without power.

More than 40 tornado reports were made across six states on Friday night, according to the US government’s Storm Prediction Center.

A major tornado tore through the Arkansas state capital Little Rock, flipping cars, smashing roofs and toppling trees. Local officials said one person was killed and the city’s mayor reported that at least 24 people were injured.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, the region’s only major trauma center, declared a level-1 mass casualty alert after the tornado struck Little Rock, the state’s capital and most populous city, at mid-afternoon.

“At this time, we know of 24 people who have been hospitalized at Little Rock hospitals and we are not aware of any fatalities in Little Rock,” Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said on Twitter.

He said property damage was “extensive,” though the full scale of devastation remained unclear.

“We’re operating in red status, with all hands on deck,” said Aaron Gilkey, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) agency.

Aerial footage posted by The Weather Channel showed a heavily damaged area of the city spanning several blocks with numerous homes missing roofs and walls, some of them collapsed, and overturned vehicles littering streets.

Local media reported that adjacent communities, including North Little Rock just across the Arkansas River and Jacksonville, also sustained heavy damage. KATV posted an image of a heavily damaged high school in the town of Wynne.

The turbulent weather came one week after a previous swarm of thunderstorms unleashed a deadly tornado that devastated the Mississippi town of Rolling Fork, destroying many of the community’s 400 homes and killing 26 people.

Close call in nail salon

Video shot on Friday from a window in a Baptist Health facility and verified by Reuters showed a towering, swirling black column of air, moisture and dust plowing slowly through the landscape in the near distance.

One woman recounted in a live interview aired by KATV that she was visiting a salon to have her nails done when she looked out the window and saw leaves swirling moments before the building’s roof was torn off.

She and others in the shop took cover in a back room as the twister struck and emerged to find the ceiling gone, said the woman, who seemed unhurt.

Little Rock mayor Scott Jr. said on Twitter that he had asked Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to mobilize National Guard troops to assist in the emergency response.

Sanders signed an executive order to immediately authorize $250,000 from the state disaster response and recovery fund, a local reporter tweeted.

The twister struck as an immense blast of extreme spring weather swept much of the United States, menacing the nation’s midsection from Texas to the Great Lakes with dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes.

The National Weather Service was tracking more than two dozen unconfirmed tornado reports, mostly in Arkansas and Iowa.

Tens of millions of Americans across the Great Plains, Midwest, South and East were under warnings and advisories for various weather hazards on Friday evening and into the weekend, the NWS said.

Besides Arkansas, southern Missouri, western Kentucky and western Tennessee were deemed at greatest risk of severe thunderstorms capable of producing violent tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds, the weather service said.

The northern, colder edge of the storm system, stretching from the High Plains to the upper Great Lakes, was expected to bring heavy snow, combining with winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph) to create blizzard conditions.

Somewhere in the middle, arching across parts of several states, was a swath of the northern Midwest expected to be besieged by intense ice storms, with freezing rain wreaking havoc on roads and power lines.

Meanwhile, the southwestern flank of the system featured gusty conditions and low humidity, which combined could pose a heightened threat of wildfires.

Donald Trump’s court hearing has been set for Tuesday afternoon, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The former president is expected to fly from Florida on his private plane and hand himself in with federal agents there to protect him.

A grand jury has indicted Trump in connection with a $US130,000 pay-out to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The charges are not yet public, and a lawyer for Trump said on Friday that he too has yet to read the indictment.

A law enforcement official told CBS that Trump is expected to fly his private plane to New York on Monday before surrendering to officials on Tuesday.

The process is likely to involve dozens or possibly hundreds of Secret Service agents, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump will not be handcuffed, the official added, saying that shackles are typically only used on suspects who are thought to be a flight or safety risk.

The hearing is due to take place at 2.15pm local time.

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told ABC News that Trump will “probably” appear in court on Tuesday, “but nothing is certain”.

Prosecutors “will try and get every ounce of publicity they can from this thing”, he said, adding “the president will not be put in handcuffs”.

“I understand they’re going to be closing off blocks around the courthouse, shutting down the courthouse,” he continued.

Security is being co-ordinated by the FBI, NYPD, Secret Service and New York City court officers.

Sources tell CBS that they are bracing for possible scenarios that include attacks against Trump, prosecutors, jurors or members of the public. The district attorney’s office has received “many threats”, the sources said.

On Friday morning, the streets around the courthouse were calm but the barricades were going up in anticipation of what may come next week.

Police officers were on patrol and security plans were being put into place. Many expect the area to go into lockdown when the former president attends court.

The district attorney’s office had initially asked Trump to surrender on Friday, according to Politico, but the request was rejected because more time was needed for security preparations.

Trump, 76, denies wrongdoing. He is the first serving or former US president to face a criminal charge.

It is unclear how many charges are contained in the indictment, which is still sealed.

Media reports have said the ex-president faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud and Tacopina said on Thursday he thought there would be 34. But on Friday, he said he did not know how many.

“We know what the subject matter is, we know the basis of the charges. We don’t know the exact counts or how they’re formulated,” he said.

On Friday Trump began attacking the judge assigned to his case in an effort to undermine the credibility of the investigation and rally his base to his defence.

Republicans – including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – have accused the Manhattan district attorney of weaponising the criminal justice system to influence next year’s presidential election. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who Trump recently suggested should run for Senate, called on followers to protest and said she plans to be present in New York next week.

In response, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the charges had been brought by citizens of New York doing their civic duty – and neither the former president nor Congress could interfere with proceedings.

In Washington, the US Capitol Police, which are tasked with safeguarding lawmakers in Congress, said the force believes protests will take place across the country and have plans in place to increase security at the US Capitol.

In 2016 adult film star Stormy Daniels contacted media outlets offering to sell her account of what she said was an adulterous affair she had with Trump in 2006 – the year after he married his current wife, Melania.

Trump’s team got wind of this and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet. This is not illegal.

However, when Trump reimbursed Cohen, the record for the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors say this amounts to Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour – a criminal offence – in New York.

President Joe Biden declined to comment on the indictment, despite being pressed on the issue by journalists as he left the White House on a trip to Mississippi.

Tacopina said Trump was being “pursued by a prosecutor who has obviously very diverse political views from the president. So it’s a very troubling case”.

He said the former president was “not worried at all” about the charges.

“He’s upset, angry. He’s being persecuted politically. That is clear to many people, not only on the Right but on the Left.”

After refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the United Nations and procurement of oil from the country by New Delhi, visible cracks have emerged in the “strategic relationship” between the United States and India.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, there has been a direct clash between Russia and the west and things have gone beyond a certain point where other states have to take sides: whether with the west or Russia.

According to an article published in Eurasia Review — a senior research fellow at a think tank — India which has a strategic partnership with the US did not side with the west despite efforts on the part of the US to persuade India on two things: condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stop India purchasing Russian oil.

On one hand, India has adopted a neutral posture on Ukraine and on the other hand, it has continued buying Russian oil which has frustrated the US and portrays India as an unreliable partner.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the West under the US imposed stringent sanctions on Russia. However, there was a difficulty in that most of the European countries depend on Russian oil and gas. By the start of March and the second week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden announced: “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,” Biden said in remarks from the White House. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”

Similarly, Washington convinced the European Union and other European allies to cut Russian oil imports in addition to sanctions aimed at hitting the Russian economy. In early May, the European Union proposed a ban on Russian oil and gas.

Besides, to put pressure on Russia, the US moved a resolution to the UN General Assembly in early March. Though the resolution was passed, there were some countries which abstained from voting. India was one of those countries which abstained.

However, India is a strategic partner of the US and the latter had asked the former to condemn the Russian invasion of Afghanistan which India didn’t do.

Likewise, the US has time and again warned India over the imports of Russian oil, however, India has maintained its imports from Russia. India imports 600000 barrels of oil daily from Russia which adds a considerable amount of money to the Russian exchequer. The Biden administration’s leading international energy adviser warned India not to increase discounted oil imports from Russia which can create hurdles for them. India has continued its imports of Russian oil which is causing frustration in the west. The Russian oil and gas exports have remained stable despite the sanctions and cuts in supply to Europe. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has recently found in a report that Russia has earned $100 billion from oil and gas exports in the 100 days which has shocked the west as despite sanctions, Russia managed to export its oil and gas.

When Russia offered its oil at a discounted price, India greatly benefited from it despite being a strategic ally of the US. In March, the import of Russian oil to India was three million barrels which rose to 7.2 million barrels in April. However, in May, it reached 24 million barrels, which is alarming for the west as India pours its money into the Russian exchequer that is used in its war in Ukraine. In the coming months, it seems India will further increase its oil imports from Russia. Thus, it is concluded that India didn’t care about the US interests while dealing with its strategic partner: the US. Likewise, the Indian approach towards the Ukraine war portrays that India is an unreliable partner of the US.