Author: i2wtc

Former New York City Mayor and former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani (R) leaves the U.S. District Court on May 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Giuliani is sued by election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of Fulton County, Georgia, for defamation. Alex Wong | Getty ImagesFormer New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized on Saturday evening with a fractured vertebrae and additional injuries following a car accident in New Hampshire, according to a statement from his team.Giuliani, 81, was hit in his car from behind on the highway “at high speed,” Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head…

By Dr Syed Akhtar Ali Shah | PUBLISHED August 31, 2025 KARACHI: After sixteen long years, President Asif Ali Zardari has recently notified the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC). This has triggered both hope and despair throughout Pakistan. According to the constitution, the NFC is responsible for determining how the federal government’s collected revenues will be divided between the federal government and the provinces. Therefore, the provinces’ financial independence and the welfare of their citizens are directly impacted by its decisions. The NFC’s discussions hold existential significance for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a province that is heavily dependent on federal transfers and bears…

PUBLISHED August 31, 2025 KARACHI: Last month, a 12-year-old madrasah student in Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), died after what police and prosecutors allege was hours of torture by his teachers for missing class. Within days, eleven staff from the unregistered seminary were arrested; a Khwazakhela magistrate granted police custody. A parallel case emerged from Swabi where a cleric was detained for torturing a six-year-old for not memorising his lesson. The Swat boy’s father says teachers called later to claim the child had fallen in the toilet, but a FIR now cites sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code…

This picture taken from a position on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, shows destruction in the besieged Palestinian territory on August 20, 2025. Ahmad Gharabli | AFP | Getty ImagesA post-war plan for Gaza is circulating within President Donald Trump’s administration that would see the U.S. administer the war-torn enclave for at least a decade, the relocation of Gaza’s population and its rebuilding as a tourist resort and manufacturing hub, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The Washington Post said that according to a 38-page prospectus it had seen, Gaza’s 2 million population would at least temporarily leave…

PUBLISHED August 31, 2025 KARACHI: In 2016, I authored the report Terrorism Prosecution in Pakistan (open-source, accessible via Academia and ResearchGate), which critically examined Pakistan’s anti-terrorism prosecution system through an empirical review of Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) judgments and focus group discussions with police, prosecutors, and judges. That study highlighted systemic flaws: over-reliance on eyewitness testimony, neglect of forensic evidence, proliferation of tangential litigation, weak case management, and the pervasive “fear factor” discouraging witnesses from testifying. Nearly a decade later, Pakistan has traversed a turbulent trajectory in its fight against terrorism. While large-scale military operations after 2013 displaced militant groups from…

Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick gave Liverpool first blood against Arsenal with a 1-0 win in Sunday’s battle between the Premier League title favourites. A tense tussle at Anfield looked set to end in a stalemate until the Hungarian’s 83rd-minute strike ensured the defending champions remain the only side with a perfect record from the opening three games. In all three matches, Arne Slot’s men have scored late winners, also overcoming Bournemouth and Newcastle in dramatic fashion. Liverpool may still be a work in progress after overhauling the squad that romped to the title last season. But they remain the team…

 Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a banquet to welcome international guests at the Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin, north China, Aug. 31, 2025. Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on Sunday hosted a banquet in China’s port city of Tianjin to welcome international guests who are here to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)TIANJIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is shouldering greater responsibilities for safeguarding regional peace and stability, and for boosting development of various countries in a world of increasing uncertainties and…

LAHORE: Heavy rains and flooding across Punjab have disrupted the movement of food supplies to Lahore, leaving wholesale markets short of key perishable items and triggering sharp price hikes across poultry, vegetables, and fruits. Consumers reported that the shortage has not only reduced the availability of fresh produce but also pushed quality down, with many items arriving damaged or in smaller quantities. The absence of active government monitoring and enforcement has further allowed retailers to charge well above the official prices, deepening frustration among buyers already coping with rising costs of living. Traders at major wholesale markets said truckloads of…

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro speaks to members of the media near the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 21, 2025. Nathan Howard | ReutersPresident Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that “it will be the end of the United States” if the president’s sweeping tariffs are ultimately blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.Navarro’s comments echoed Trump’s own rhetoric as the president sharply criticized last week’s 7-4 appeals court decision, which ruled that most of Trump’s tariffs are illegal, placing a central tenet of the administration’s economic agenda on shaky ground.The final…

PUBLISHED August 31, 2025 Lahore, Gujarat, and Sialkot – what do these cities have in common? They are all major urban centres in Punjab, and they were all drowned in unprecedented floods this week, with Sialkot reportedly experiencing the most intense recorded rainfall in half a century, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. If this is the state of our major cities, one can only imagine the conditions in rural Punjab. One also wonders if departments like the PMD are only there to measure the loss, rather than prevent it. Weak coordination and unclear mandate Pakistan does not seem to…