Author: i2wtc

Listen to article Pakistan has decided to upgrade its Chargé d’Affaires in Kabul to the rank of Ambassador, announced Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on X, Radio Pakistan reported on Friday. He expressed confidence that the upgrade would enhance engagement and deepen Pakistan-Afghanistan cooperation in economic, security, counter-terrorism, and trade sectors. Additionally, it is expected to promote further exchanges between the two fraternal countries. Announcing the decision to upgrade diplomatic representation, Dar said bilateral relations had been on a positive trajectory since he visited Kabul with a Pakistani delegation last month. “I am confident this step would further contribute towards enhanced…

Gaza is the “hungriest place on Earth”, the United Nations has said, as Israel continues to block all but a trickle of humanitarian aid from entering the Strip, where famine stalks the entire Palestinian population, and the Israeli military relentlessly bombs the besieged enclave. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on Friday that 100 percent of the 2.3-million population of Gaza is now on the verge of “catastrophic hunger”. The “limited number of truckloads coming in [Gaza] is a trickle – it’s drip-feeding food,” Laerk said. “The aid operation that we…

Hester Peirce, commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), speaks during the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.Valerie Plesch | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLAS VEGAS — Now that the SEC is out of the business of regulating meme coins, investors shouldn’t expect any guidance on $TRUMP, according to Hester Peirce, one of the agency’s veteran commissioners.The SEC said in February that it does not deem most meme coins securities under U.S. federal law. That took the crypto tokens out of its purview just weeks after President Donald Trump launched his own meme coin…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Naeem Akhtar Afghan on Friday released a dissenting opinion in the case concerning the trial of civilians in military courts, declaring such court-martials unconstitutional. The 35-page minority decision firmly states that the jurisdiction of court-martials was exclusively limited to military personnel and cannot be extended to ordinary civilians. The judges ruled that the application of military jurisdiction to civilians was unconstitutional. The dissenting note critically examines the broader assumption that civil courts are incapable of dealing with high-profile terrorism cases, suggesting instead that this narrative was misleading. It observes that it…

Israel is expanding its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank while it wages its war on Gaza.Israel says it plans to build 22 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank – the largest number approved to be built at one time. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says the settlements are intended to block the creation of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its expanded offensive, destroying homes, roads and facilities, such as waterways and hospitals, essentially making areas of the occupied West Bank uninhabitable. And settler violence against civilians, including destroying crops and uprooting trees, is…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday convicted and sentenced 11 accused to various jail terms and fines in cases related to the violence on May 9, 2023, over charges of attacking the Ramna police station, attacking policemen, setting properties on fire, and spreading terrorism. The convicted men include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) member of the National Assembly Abdul Latif and former member of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (MPA) Wazirzada Kailashi. After the verdict, four convicts were arrested from the court premises, while warrants were issued against seven others. The four arrested convicts were Muhammad Akram, Mira Khan, Shahzeb,…

Susie Wiles, an ally of President Donald Trump, was reportedly the target of an impersonation campaign using her voice.The United States government has opened an investigation into apparent efforts to impersonate White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in communications to politicians. On Friday, a White House official confirmed to The Associated Press that a probe had been opened, following a report about the impersonation in The Wall Street Journal a day prior. Anonymous sources told The Journal that governors, business leaders and senators had received messages and phone calls from someone posing as Wiles, who is a close associate…

A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is seen on its building headquarters on Feb. 18, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.Kayla Bartkowski | Getty ImagesPBS on Friday sued President Donald Trump to block his effort to cut off federal funding for the public broadcaster.The U.S. Constitution and the half-century-old law governing public television “forbid” Trump from attempting to defund PBS or “serving as the arbiter” of its programming, PBS wrote in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.The lawsuit from PBS and one of its member stations in Minnesota came three days after NPR filed a similar suit against Trump and…

The ruling means people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua can be targeted for deportation as lawsuits continue.The conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court has handed President Donald Trump another major victory, allowing his administration to revoke a temporary legal status from more than 500,000 immigrants as legal challenges continue in lower courts. Friday’s decision applies to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan people who were granted humanitarian parole under the administration of former President Joe Biden. That parole status allowed them to enter the US due to emergencies or urgent humanitarian reasons, including instability, violence and political…

Three wickets Abrar by followed fifties by Sahibzada and Nawaz as the hosts took a 2-0 series lead against Bangladesh.Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 57 runs in the second T20 international in Lahore to seal the three-game series 2-0. Opener Sahibzada Farhan was named Player of the Match after he top scored with 74 for the hosts, who won the toss at Gaddafi Stadium before posting 201-6. It was a fair fight back from Bangladesh to restrict the hosts after Hasan Nawaz recorded the best strike rate of the innings with an unbeaten 51 off 26 balls. Tanzim Hasan gave some…