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Pakistani police have filed terrorism charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities said Monday, escalating political tensions in the country as the ousted premier holds mass rallies seeking to return to office.

The terrorism charges come over a speech Khan gave in Islamabad on Saturday in which he vowed to sue police officers and a female judge and alleged that a close aide had been tortured after his arrest.

Khan himself appeared to still be free and had not immediately addressed the police charge sheet being lodged against him. Khan’s political party — Tehreek-e-Insaf, now in the opposition — published online videos showing supporters surrounding his home to potentially stop police from reaching it.

Hundreds remained there early Monday. Tehreek-e-Insaf warned that it will hold nationwide rallies if Khan is arrested.

Under Pakistan’s legal system, police file what is known as a first information report about charges against an accused person to a magistrate judge, who allows the investigation to move forward. Typically, police then arrest and question the accused.

The report against Khan includes testimony from Magistrate Judge Ali Javed, who described being at the Islamabad rally on Saturday and hearing Khan criticize the inspector-general of Pakistan’s police and another judge. Khan went on to reportedly say: “You also get ready for it, we will also take action against you. All of you must be ashamed.”

Khan could face several years in prison from the new charges, which accuse him of threatening police officers and the judge. However, he’s not been detained on other lesser charges levied against him in his recent campaigning against the government.

The Pakistani judiciary also has a history of politicization and taking sides in power struggles between the military, the civilian government and opposition politicians, according to the Washington-based advocacy group Freedom House.

Khan came to power in 2018, promising to break the pattern of family rule in Pakistan. His opponents contend he was elected with help from the powerful military, which has ruled the country for half of its 75-year history.

Source: AP News

A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail on Wednesday (27) after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases against her, according to a source with knowledge of proceedings.

The Nobel laureate, who led Myanmar for five years before being forced from power in a coup in early 2021, has been charged with at least 18 offences, which carry combined maximum jail terms of nearly 190 years if found guilty.

The judge in the capital Naypyitaw handed down the verdict within moments of the court convening, said the source, who declined to be identified because the trial is being held behind closed doors, with information restricted.

The case centred on allegations that Suu Kyi, 76, accepted 11.4 kg (402 oz) of gold and cash payments totalling $600,000 from her protege-turned-accuser, former Yangon chief minister Phyo Min Thein.

Suu Kyi had denied the charges and called the allegations “absurd”.

It was not immediately clear if Suu Kyi would be transferred to a prison. She has been held in an undisclosed location, where junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said she could remain after earlier guilty verdicts in other cases.

The international community has dismissed the trials as farcical and has demanded her immediate release.

The military says Suu Kyi is on trial because she committed crimes and is being given due process by an independent judiciary. A spokesman for the junta was not immediately available for comment.

Since her arrest on the morning of the Feb. 1 coup last year, Suu Kyi has been charged with multiple crimes from violations of electoral and state secrets laws to incitement and corruption, accusations her supporters say are trumped up to kill off any chance of a political comeback.

Suu Kyi already serving 11-year jail term in other charges brought by the military, which deposed her government.

A court in Myanmar has convicted deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in corruption cases, adding six years to her prison sentence, according to a legal official.

She already had been sentenced to 11 years in prison on sedition, corruption and other charges at earlier trials after the military deposed her elected government and detained her in February 2021.

Suu Kyi, 77, was convicted of misusing funds from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation – an organisation she founded promoting health and education – to build a home, and leasing government-owned land at a discounted rate.

The trial was held behind closed doors, with no access for media or the public and her lawyers were forbidden by a gag order from revealing information about the proceedings.

In the four corruption cases decided on Monday, Suu Kyi was alleged to have abused her position to rent public land at below-market prices and to have built a residence with donations meant for charitable purposes.

She received sentences of three years for each of the four counts but the sentences for three of them will be served concurrently, giving her a total of six more years in prison.

She denied all the charges and her lawyers are expected to appeal.

Russia declared a partial ceasefire on Saturday to allow humanitarian corridors out of the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.

“From 1000 am Moscow time (0700 GMT), the Russian side declares a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Mariupol and Volnovakha,” Russian news agencies quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying.

Lawmakers chose India’s first president from the country’s tribal communities on Thursday (21), which could boost the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party among marginalised groups ahead of the 2024 general election.

Droupadi Murmu, a 64-year-old teacher turned politician, will be the second woman to hold the largely ceremonial role as head of the republic when she takes office on 25 July at the start of a five-year term.

More than 4,500 state and federal lawmakers voted in the presidential election on Monday and ballots were counted on Thursday. Murmu’s victory was assured as she was backed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which dominates federal and state politics.

“A daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President!” Modi said on Twitter.

Born into a family of the Santhal tribe from the state of Odisha, Murmu started her career as a school teacher and actively participated in community issues.

She later joined mainstream politics and served as a BJP state lawmaker in Odisha before becoming governor of the eastern state of Jharkhand.

Her election is seen as the BJP’s outreach to India’s tribal communities, which comprise more than 8% of its 1.4 billion people.

“The BJP will want to offset any anti-incumbency of the last 10 years in 2024, and one of the ways to do that is to go for a new vote-base,” political columnist Neerja Choudhary told Reuters.

Murmu beat the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP finance minister and now a fierce critic of Modi, winning nearly twice as many votes.

The Indian president acts as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces but the prime minister holds executive powers. Murmu will take over from Ram Nath Kovind.

The president, nevertheless, has a key role during political crises, such as when a general election is inconclusive, by deciding which party is in the best position to form a government.

Source: Reuters

Ukraine has told its citizens not to visit Russia and warned any Ukrainians already there to leave immediately.

"The foreign ministry recommends that citizens of Ukraine refrain from any trips to the Russian Federation, and those who are in this country to leave its territory immediately," a statement says (in Russian).

It says the "intensification of Russian aggression against Ukraine" means it won't be able to offer consular assistance to Ukrainians in Russia.

The move could affect several million Ukrainian nationals who are estimated to live in Russia.

(BBC)

U.S Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung has reiterated the necessity to maintain peace during protests.

“Violence is not an answer. If you are going to protest, please do so peacefully,” the Ambassador tweeted.

She also requested military and police personnel to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so.

Ambassador Chung further stressed that chaos and force will not fix the economy nor would it bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now.

A court in India has sentenced 38 people to death for their role in a series of bomb blasts in 2008 in the western state of Gujarat.

Fifty-seven people were killed and hundreds injured in the bombings, which took place in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat.

The court in Ahmedabad also sentenced 11 other convicts to life in prison until death.

The accused can challenge their sentences in a higher court.

On 26 July 2008, around 20 bombs exploded in the space of an hour across residential areas, market places, public transport and hospitals in Ahmedabad. Several unexploded bombs were also found.

The Indian Mujahideen - then an unknown Islamic militant group - had claimed responsibility for the attacks in an email sent to some media outlets.

The Indian government declared the group a terrorist organisation and banned it in 2010 after it was accused of an attack on a German bakery in Pune in which 17 people were killed and scores injured.

In the Ahmedabad blasts, 78 people had faced trial - one of the accused, Ayaz Saiyed, later helped investigating agencies.

The remaining 28 have been acquitted.

The prosecution examined 1,163 witnesses over the course of the trial, according to The Indian Express.

Special Judge AR Patel also ordered to give compensation of 100,000 rupees (£982; $1,337) each to families of the victims.

In 2013, authorities had said they foiled an attempt by some of the accused to tunnel their way out of jail.

(BBC)

Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died, public broadcaster NHK said today (08).

Abe, 67, had been delivering a stump speech near a train station in the western city of Nara when he was shot by an assailant.

At least 13 people have died after falling into a well during a wedding ceremony in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Police said the victims - all women and children - were sitting on a metal slab covering the well when it collapsed under their weight.

Two more people have been injured in the accident, which took place in Kushinagar district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the deaths "heart-wrenching".

The tragedy took place on Wednesday evening during the traditional "haldi" ceremony, in which relatives apply turmeric paste to the faces of the bride and groom as a marker of prosperity.

When the slab broke, other guests ran to rescue the victims and took them to a nearby hospital.

While 11 people were declared dead immediately, two others died later during treatment, police said.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has asked district authorities to assist the families of the victims.

(BBC)

A small passenger plane operated by a private airline in Nepal went missing today (29) with 22 people on board, including four Indians, airline officials said.

The Tara Air 9 NAET twin-engine aircraft lost contact while flying from the tourist town of Pokhara, some 200 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, to Jomsom, about 80 km to the northwest. The aircraft, which was on a 15-minute scheduled flight, lost contact shortly after take-off at 9:55 am local time.

“The aircraft was seen over the sky of Jomsom in Mustang district and then had diverted to Mt. Dhaulagiri after which it hadn’t come into contact,” Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma said.

The aircraft was hosting four Indians and three Japanese nationals. The remaining were Nepali citizens and the aircraft had 22 passengers including the crew, according to the State Television.

As per the police officials, the aircraft has been suspected to have crashed in the “Titi” area of Lete in the mountainous Mustang district, which is the fifth-largest district of the Himalayan nation and hosts the pilgrimage of Muktinath Temple.

“Locals from Titi have called and informed us that they have heard an unusual sound as if there was some bang. We are deploying a helicopter to the area for the search operation,” Ram Kumar Dani, DSP of District Police Office, Mustang said.

The Nepal government has deployed two private helicopters from Mustang and Pokhara for the search for missing aircraft. Nepal Army chopper is also being prepared to be deployed for the search, said Phadindra Mani Pokharel, spokesperson at Home Ministry said.

Tara Air boasts of having the “widest domestic flights network” in Nepal. “No other airlines in Nepal flies to the remote STOL (short takeoff and landing) sectors as extensively and frequently as we do. We transport essential supplies to the hinterlands, including food grains, medicines, relief materials and operate flights for rescue purposes,” the airline website says.

Nepal, home to the world’s highest mountain, does have a record of accidents on its extensive domestic air network, with changeable weather and airstrips in difficult mountain locations.

Source: NDTV

U.S. Special Operations forces carried out what the Pentagon called a “successful” counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria early Thursday.

The risky commando assault targeted someone believed to be a senior jihadist leader, but rescue workers said women and children were among at least 13 people killed during the raid.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said the target of the raid was the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, but U.S. officials did not confirm that and have not said who the target was.

The helicopter-borne commando assault resembled the raid in October 2019 that culminated in the death of Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, the previous leader of the Islamic State.

That raid took place not far from the one on Thursday.

“Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place,” President Biden said in a statement. “Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi—the leader of ISIS.”

(Source: The New York Times)