Pakistan Press International
Pakistan Railways today (Wednesday) launched air conditioned coach service in Rehman Baba Express from Peshawar.
Fares for AC coach range from onethousand and fifty rupees to sixthousand and twohundred rupees from Peshawar to Karachi.
It will facilitate passengers with aircondition service in the hot weather.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Responding to the reports that Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman freed from death row in 2018, has left Pakistan and arrived in Canada, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director Omar Waraich said:
If the news is true, it’s a great relief that Asia Bibi and her family are safe. She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone faced the death penalty. That she then had to endure the repeated threats to her life, even after being acquitted, only compounds the injustice. This case illustrates the dangers of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and the urgent need to repeal them.
Background
Asia Bibi is a Christian farm worker, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. After an eight year ordeal, Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted her of all charges and released her in October 2018. Following which Pakistan’s government insisted the Supreme Court to hear a review petition in her case. On 29 January 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed the review petition and upheld its acquittal. Asia Bibi received repeated death threats from religious extremists in Pakistan, following the Supreme Courts orders.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are broad, vague and coercive. They have disproportionately targeted religious minorities, including in false cases brought forward to pursue personal vendettas.
Source: Amnesty International
Rome Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte held talks with visiting Prime Minister of the UN-backed Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj in Rome on Tuesday.
The Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of Italy’s prime minister, said in a brief statement that the talks lasted one and a half hours, without revealing further details about the meeting.
Italy is trying to mediate between Sarraj and eastern Libyan Army General Khalifa Haftar, who has launched an offensive on Tripoli.
Speaking after the talks, Conte said the situation in Libya was one of stalemate amid a critical scenario, adding that Italy had always been against a military solution to the North African nation’s crisis.
“In all my talks, I am continuing to insist that the military option does not lead to any stable solution,” he said, expressing hope to meet Haftar soon.
Sarraj, who is also the chairman of Libya’s Presidential Council, is in Rome as part of a European tour that will also take him to Berlin and Paris.
Source: International Islamic News Agency
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is engaged to her longtime partner Clarke Gayford after a proposal over the Easter holidays, her spokesman said Friday.
Gayford, the 41-year-old host of a TV fishing show, takes care of their 10-month-old daughter Neve Te Aroha, while Ardern, 38, runs the country.
Her pregnancy announced in early 2018 was seen by many as a symbol of progress for women in leadership roles. She is only the second elected leader to give birth while in office, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
Ardern was asked by the BBC while visiting London in January if she would consider asking Gayford to marry her or wait for him to propose.
Absolutely, I’m a feminist, but I want to put him through the pain and torture of having to agonize about that question himself. That’s letting him off the hook, absolutely not, she said jokingly.
News of their engagement broke after journalists noticed Ardern wearing a ring at a public event Friday.
Her spokesman Andrew Campbell confirmed she had been wearing the ring since Easter. He did not give details of the proposal.
The couple met about six years ago when Gayford went to complain to a member of parliament about the then National Party government’s proposed changes to security legislation.
He bumped into Ardern, a rising star in the Labour Party, they had coffee and were living together not long after.
Gayford’s television show, Fish of the Day, takes him around the Pacific, fishing and finding recipes for his catch. The series has been sold to 20 countries and won a gold award at the Houston International Film Festival in 2016.
While Ardern was breastfeeding her infant daughter, the family traveled to New York for the United Nations General Assembly last September.
The family divides their time between the capital Wellington and Auckland, where they own a house in a central city suburb.
Ardern’s calm and compassionate response to the killing of 51 Muslims in March burnished the credentials of a leader who has been criticized domestically over her handling of the economy and flip-flops in government policy.
Source: Voice of America
Minister for National Food Security Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan has said that government is making all efforts for enhancing exports of agriculture commodities.
Addressing an event of US-Pakistan Partnership for Agriculture Market Development in Islamabad today, he said that use of modern technology in agri-sector has witnessed significant increase.
The Minister appreciated the support of USAID for the development and uplift of local agriculture and livestock sectors and hoped that the cooperation would continue for further development of these sectors and improving the farm productivity.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Mission Director of USAID Clay Epperson said that goal of the project is to help Pakistani agriculture products gain access to bigger markets and provide supports for international marketing and sales efforts.
He said that USAID has provided technical assistance to farmer’s organizations and agriculture business.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Ramallah The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is coming up on difficult times as its mandate comes up for renewal in September, a UNRWA official said Thursday.
UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha told Voice of Palestine radio that the coming weeks and months are going to be difficult in light of attempts by some countries, mainly the United States and Israel, to delegitimize its work and therefore end its mandate.
He said UNRWA’s mandate and renewal of its operations for three more years will be discussed at the UN in September. At the same time, an international conference for donor countries will be held in September to discuss the financial crisis facing the humanitarian agency following last year’s decision by the US, the largest donor to UNRWA with over $360 million annually, to stop all funding to the UN agency.
Mshasha said UNRWA needs $1.2 billion in funds to be able to continue to provide all services, such as health, education and social services, to around 5 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory and neighboring Arab host countries.
Source: International Islamic News Agency
Riyadh Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court called on all Muslims to sight the crescent of the holy month of Ramadan on Saturday evening, 29 Sha’ban 1440 AH (4 May 2019), signaling the start of the blessing month of fasting.
In a statement carried Thursday by Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Supreme Court said that due to the decision confirming that no one saw the crescent on Friday evening, 29 Rajab 1440 AH, the Court calls on whoever sights the crescent moon of Ramadan by naked eyes or through binoculars to report to the nearest court and register his testimony, or report to the authority of the region’s center, where he sees the crescent.
If nobody reports seeing it on Saturday, the crescent will have to be sighted on Sunday evening, 30 Sha’ban, according to Umm al-Qura calendar, the statement added.
Source: International Islamic News Agency