Lieutenant General Asim Munir has been appointed as the new Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The Army Promotion Board approved the promotions of six generals in place of five generals who retired on October 1. Munir previously served as DG Military Intelligence. According to another report, Lt Gen Muhammad Adnan was appointed as the new vice chief of the general staff while Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki was also assigned as commander of Mangla Corps. In addition to these assignments, three other officers were assigned to staff positions at the General Headquarters (GHQ). Lt Gen Azhar Saleh Abbasi was appointed as chief of logistics staff, Lt Gen Abdul Aziz as the new military secretary and Lt Gen Waseem Ashraf as IG Arms.
Pak HC judge sacked over remarks against ISI
A senior Pakistani judge, who was in line to become the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court next month, was sacked for his controversial statement that the country’s powerful spy agency ISI was manipulating judicial proceedings to get favourable decisions. The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had recommended to remove Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who was facing a case of alleged misconduct over his speech targeting the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was sacked by Pakistan President Arif Alvi. Justice Siddiqui while addressing the Rawalpindi District Bar Association on July 21 had alleged that the ISI was manipulating judicial proceedings to constitute panel of judges to get favourable decisions. The army had asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take the notice of the remarks after IHC Chief Justice, Anwar Kansi rejected the allegations against Siddique. The Supreme Court after hearing the case issued its decision asking Prime Minister Imran Khan to remove Siddique as his conduct was unbecoming of a judge.
Imran's party wins less seats than expected
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party didn't win as many seats as it expected in special elections held for 35 seats that remained up for grabs after July's parliament elections. The party of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif won 11 seats in the national and provincial seats, out of 35 contested in Sunday's balloting. Khan's candidates secured 15 seats. Other small parties won the rest. The vote doesn't change anything but is still a setback for Khan, who in July didn't get an outright majority but had to form a coalition government. Under Pakistani law, candidates can run for multiple seats and if they secure more than one seat in parliament or provincial assemblies, they have to give up all but one seat. Special elections are then held for the vacated seats.
Pak TV channel pulled up for ‘fake news’
Pakistan’s electronic media regulatory authority has issued a notice to a private TV channel for airing news reports deemed to be against two federal ministers, a media report said. “From the tickers it was transpired that the PM had expressed displeasure over the performance of federal finance minister for his policies,” Dawn reported, citing the notice issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The authority asked the TV channel to prove authenticity of its reports and submit a reply, the paper reported. It also said that if the channel failed to provide evidence, it should tender an apology. It said the channel had violated the code of conduct.
In first such case, a Chinese spy is extradited to US
A Chinese intelligence official was arrested in Belgium and extradited to the US to face espionage charges, justice department officials said. The extradition of Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director in China’s main spy agency, the ministry of state security, is the first time that a Chinese intelligence official has been brought to the US to be prosecuted and tried in open court. Law enforcement officials said that Xu tried to steal trade secrets from companies, including GE Aviation in Ohio, one of the world’s top jet engine suppliers for commercial and military aircraft. The indictment details what appears to be a dramatic international sting operation to lure Xu to what he believed was a meeting in Belgium to obtain proprietary information about jet fan blade designs from a GE Aviation employee, only to be met by Belgian authorities and put on a plane to the US. China rejected the charges, saying that the US had conjured up the allegations “out of thin air”
Hurricane Michael kills 17 in US
The death toll from hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in the US mainland, has increased to 17, with coastal Florida cities damaged beyond recognition, and homes, businesses and agriculture torn or swamped from Georgia to Virginia. More than 1 million people were left without electricity, and emergency officials have no access to many towns, CNN reported on Saturday. The toll is also expected to climb as search and rescue efforts continue. "I expect the fatality count to rise as we get through the debris," Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said. The 17 victims comprised eight from Florida, five in Virginia, three in North Carolina and a child in Georgia. Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane - the strongest on record to hit the area - and charged north through Georgia and into the Carolinas and Virginia, wreaking havoc and causing emergencies.
UN chief visits Indonesia quake, tsunami survivors
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the survivors of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi killing 2,073 people. Accompanied by Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Guterres examined the damage caused by the September 28 disaster in the city of Palu. More than 75 per cent of the 2,073 fatalities, according to the latest official data, occurred in this city where giant tsunami waves caused havoc to areas located hundreds of meters from the coast. The UN chief also plans to visit Palu's Balaroa neighbourhood, where thousands of homes were swallowed up by land liquefaction, a phenomenon that occurs when a strong shaking, such as that of an earthquake, liquefies soft soil, making the affected terrain sink and release waves of mud. According to local estimates, some 5,000 people remain missing in Balaroa and the town of Petobo.
Storm kills 9 climbers on Nepal mountain
Nine climbers, including five South Korean nationals, who were part of a trekking expedition, were killed after a snowstorm destroyed their base camp on a Himalayan peak in western Nepal, the police said. Wangchu Sherpa of Trekking Camp Nepal said that five Korean climbers, including their team leader Kim Chang-ho, were killed when the storm struck their camp on Mount Gurja on Friday evening. Kim Chang-ho was the fastest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen. Other four climbers were Nepali. All the dead people were identified by the authorities, the report said. The heavy snowstorm followed by a landslide buried the base camp when the climbers were awaiting a fair weather to head towards the high camp, Sherpa quoted the eyewitnesses as saying.
Landslide kills 31 in eastern Uganda
At least 31 people were killed when a floods triggered by a landslide in eastern Uganda, destroying homes and burying livestock, a government official said. The landslide, which followed heavy rains, struck Bukalasi, situated on the slopes of Mount Elgon. "Most of the people were caught at the market, the landslide pushed huge boulders into a river which burst its banks and the water swept away the people," said Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Management Martin Owor. A picture tweeted by Uganda Red Cross showed uprooted and twisted trees. The aid agency said both "animals and people were swept away in this disaster." An avalanche in the same area in 2010 killed at least 80 people.
Malaysia to abolish death penalty
Malaysia has decided to abolish the death penalty, a senior minister said. The announcement offers a reprieve to more than 1,200 people who are currently on death row in the country. The minister in charge of law Liew Vui Keong said there would be a moratorium on executions for inmates currently on death row, according to local media. "Since we are abolishing the sentence, all executions should not be carried out," the Star newspaper quoted him as saying. Executions are currently mandatory in Malaysia for murder, kidnapping, possession of firearms and drug trafficking, among other crimes, and are carried out by hanging. Human Rights Watch hailed the “fabulous news”, with its deputy director for Asia Phil Robertson saying the move would increase pressure on other countries in the region to follow suit.
Flight delayed as woman brings squirrel for support
Police had to remove a woman who brought an “emotional support squirrel” on a Frontier Airlines flight headed from Orlando, Florida, to Cleveland. Frontier says the passenger had noted in her reservation that she was bringing an emotional support animal with her on Flight 1612. But she did not indicate it was a squirrel. The airline says rodents, including squirrels, are not allowed and called police when the passenger refused to leave the plane. Police requested the other passengers to disembark while officers dealt with the woman, who was eventually escorted into the main terminals. The flight left for Cleveland about two hours later.
Now, gay couples can register child as own in Poland
The lesbian parents of a Polish boy have been given the right to register him in Poland as their child, a high court has decided, in an unprecedented ruling for the deeply Catholic country where same-sex marriage is illegal. The case first came before a local administration in 2015 when a Polish woman requested to register her son, who was born in London in 2014, for a Polish birth certificate, the daily Rzeczpospolita said. The Polish woman and her female partner were registered as the child’s parents in Britain, but local administrators in Poland rejected the woman’s request. An official of the Supreme Administrative Court said the court had now ruled in favour of the gay couple. Polish media said the ruling was the first of its kind in Poland.
Russian town hires cat chief to attend to strays
It was an unusual job advert. Wanted: Cat chief. Location: Zelenogradsk, Russia: Duties: Tending to the town's approximately 70 stray cats. Some 80 applicants applied for the new role with the municipality in the small town in the Kaliningrad region, which has also erected a cat statue and added a feline to its emblem in a bid to rebrand itself as Russia’s foremost cat-loving community.
Greece bars donkey-riders weighing above 100kg
Tourists in Greece who weigh more than 100kg will no longer be able to ride donkeys, thanks to new animal protection legislation. The country’s government published new regulations about the wellbeing of donkeys following complaints and media coverage of their suffering in the island of Santorini back in July.
