Mianwali police on Wednesday arrested an Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) for raping a woman in the Mianwali district of Punjab.
Police said the incident reportedly occurred in the Highway Colony area of Mianwali. A case was registered against the ADC, adding that the woman is a resident of Lahore.
The accused has been shifted to City Police Station for further investigation.
According to the rape survivor’s statement the ADC raped her on the pretense of marriage.
Trigger Warning: Murder
Two young girls became victims of honour killing in a neighborhood in Kasur on Tuesday.
Police said the tragic incident took place at Haveli Nathuwali, a village on the outskirts of Kasur, where a man named Saeed shot and killed his daughters in what is being suspected to be a case of honour killing. The father later escaped.
The deceased have been identified as Alishba and Nadia. Both the bodies have been shifted to a hospital, the police have confirmed.
Officials further said a case has been registered against the runway suspect and further investigation is underway.
Meta Platforms plans to launch a microblogging app called Threads, which aims to compete with Twitter. This development comes shortly after Twitter CEO Elon Musk faced criticism for implementing a temporary cap on the number of posts users can read on the platform.
According to a listing on Apple’s App Store, Threads is expected to be released on Thursday. The app will enable users to maintain their followers from the photo-sharing platform Instagram and keep the same username.
This rollout represents a direct challenge to Twitter, which has encountered several controversies since Musk acquired the company for $44 billion in 2022. Last week, Musk introduced new restrictions on the app, limiting the daily number of tweets users can view. This move sparked outcry among many Twitter users.
Although alternative microblogging sites like Mastodon and Blue Sky have experienced an increase in user numbers following Musk’s acquisition, neither has managed to rival Twitter. However, Instagram already boasts hundreds of millions of registered users and has a track record of incorporating successful features from other social media platforms.
In response to the growing popularity of Snapchat, Instagram introduced a feature called “stories” in 2016, allowing user posts to disappear after a certain period. More recently, Instagram’s “Reels” feature has aimed to compete with the rising prominence of TikTok.
The launch of Threads poses a credible threat to Twitter under Musk’s leadership. His attempts to boost revenues and reshape the platform in his own image have faced significant criticism. Following the acquisition last year, Musk downsized the company by approximately 80 per cent and reinstated several banned accounts, including those of former US President Donald Trump and the conservative satirical news site Babylon Bee.
Concerns over an increase in harmful content on the platform led hundreds of advertisers to pause their spending on Twitter. Internal documents viewed by Reuters also revealed a decline in engagement among the platform’s most active users.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council is set to convene an urgent meeting in response to a request from Pakistan regarding the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, as stated by a spokesperson on Tuesday.
“The UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate to discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, as manifested by the current desecration of the holy Quran in some European and other countries,” council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters, citing a request from Pakistan on behalf of some members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as reported by AlArabiya News.
Salwan Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, set fire to a copy of the Quran in front of Stockholm’s central mosque on Eid-ul-Azha.
Acting President and Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has issued an order, raising the monthly salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges of the Supreme Court. The salaries have been increased to 12 lacs 29 thousand 189 rupees and 11 lacs 61 thousand 163 rupees, respectively.
The order, issued on July 3, states that the monthly salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan would be 12 lakh 29 thousand 189 rupees and the other judges of the Supreme Court would take 11 lakh 61 thousand 163 rupees.
According to a previous order issued last month by the President, the salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan was 10 lakh, 24 thousand, 324 rupees, and the salaries of the other judges of the Supreme Court were 9 lakh, 67 thousand, 636 rupees.
After the new order was issued by Sadiq Sanjrani, the previous order was cancelled.
The Taliban authorities have imposed yet another restriction on womenfolk in Afghanistan, issuing an order to shut down beauty salons within a month, according to the morality ministry.
Afghan women continue to struggle under the rule of the Taliban government as the directive marks another step in limiting public spaces for them.
A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, Mohammad Sadiq Akif, shared the news as he referred to a notice issued by the ministry.
“The deadline for the closing of beauty parlours for women is one month,” he said.
As foreign forces withdrew and the Taliban regained power in 2021, access and freedoms for Afghan women have faced increasing restrictions. Since then the authorities have closed most girls’ high schools, prevented women from pursuing higher education, and hindered the ability of female Afghan aid workers to carry out their duties. Numerous public places, including bathhouses, gyms and parks, have also been off-limits to women.
The administration claims to respect women’s rights based on its interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs. However, recent actions further curtail the freedoms and opportunities available to Afghan women.
Foreign governments and UN officials have criticized these measures.
Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service issued warnings on Monday regarding Pakistan’s financial sustainability, despite the recent acquisition of a much-needed $3 billion lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Last week, Pakistan signed a short-term (nine-month) loan programme worth $3 billion with the IMF, as the previous $7 billion programme was prematurely ending on the same day.
The objective of the new loan programme is to provide the necessary foreign exchange to reopen imports, support listed companies in gradually resuming partially closed production, and stimulate economic activities within the country.
Additionally, this programme serves as a signal to other donor agencies and friendly nations, which had pledged $9 billion at a Geneva meeting in January 2023, to extend new financing to Islamabad.
However, the two global rating agencies caution that risks persist for Pakistan’s economy, particularly as the government faces a daunting $25 billion debt repayment challenge in the upcoming year starting in July.
Krisjanis Krustins, Fitch’s Director of Sovereigns for APAC, emphasised that Pakistan will require significant additional financing beyond IMF disbursements to meet its debt obligations and support an economic recovery.
While the IMF likely sought and received assurances for such financing, there remains a risk that it could prove insufficient, especially if current account deficits widen again.
In order to secure the initial agreement with the IMF, Pakistan had to implement measures such as tax increases, spending cuts, and raising its primary interest rate to a historical peak.
Although the markets responded positively to this initial agreement, leading to a significant surge in stocks and improved performance of dollar bonds, it still awaits approval from the IMF Executive Board.
Moody’s analyst Grace Lim, based in Singapore, expressed doubts about Pakistan’s ability to secure the full $3 billion IMF financing during the stand-by period of the loan programme. Lim stated that it remains uncertain whether the Pakistani government will be able to secure the complete amount.
Furthermore, she highlighted that the government’s commitment to implementing ongoing reforms will be tested as the country approaches elections scheduled for October 2023.
It is worth noting that Pakistan had previously obtained a $1.1 billion loan in August, which was subsequently halted due to Islamabad’s failure to comply with certain stipulated conditions.
According to Moody’s, the towering $25 billion debt repayment comprises both principal and interest, amounting to nearly seven times Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
Lim further added that only after the elections will it become clear whether the country will be able to enter into another IMF programme.
Until a new programme is agreed upon, Pakistan’s ability to secure loans from other bilateral and multilateral partners in the long term will be severely limited, she cautioned.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has reportedly suffered an injury that left his nose bleeding, according to E Times.
Sources revealed to the news outlet that the Badshah of Bollywood was in Los Angeles in the US shooting a scene for a film when he suffered an injury and was immediately taken to a hospital.
Reports have revealed that the injury was minor, requiring Khan to undergo a small surgery after which he was back at his home resting:
“Post the operation, SRK was spotted with a bandage on his nose and is now back in the country, recuperating at home,” the source revealed to E Times.
The Bollywood Badshah is set to make share space on the big screen with his daughter Suhana next year in a film that he is also co-producing.
A Pakistan International Airline (PIA) aircraft enroute to Canada has returned back to Pakistan midway due to hydraulic dysfunction during the trip, The News has reported.
The technical problem was discovered when flight PK-797 was flying over Russia, forcing the plane to return to Allama Iqbal International Airport.
The aircraft took off from Lahore at 4:30 a.m. on Monday and landed back at 1:30 p.m at the same airport.
According to the PIA spokesman, due to delays in repair, the passengers of the flight would be sent to Toronto on an alternative flight.
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif advised India at the 23rd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday to not use terrorism for diplomatic point scoring. The Premier emphasized that terror activities remain a huge hurdle for peace in the region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the current chair of the SCO, invited Shehbaz Sharif to attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The PM noted that all the members of the SCO have shared interests in maintaining peace and economic stability in the region.
“The hydra-headed monster of terrorism and extremism, whether committed by individuals, societies, or states, must be fought with full vigour and conviction,” the premier said.
Earlier, Narendra Modi said that the SCO should stand together to fight terrorism and condemn the countries that support it. He also added that Afghan soil should not be used to destabilise the peace and stability of the neighbourhood.