Category: Uncategorized

  • NGO World Central Kitchen says seven of its workers killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

    NGO World Central Kitchen says seven of its workers killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

    An Israeli strike killed several people working for US-based charity World Central Kitchen in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the organization’s founder.

    World Central Kitchen “lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza. I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family,” chef Jose Andres posted on social media site X.

    Earlier, the Gaza health ministry had said the bodies of four foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver were brought to the hospital in the central town of Deir el-Balah after an Israeli strike targeted their vehicle.

    Hamas said in a statement that the aid workers included “British, Australian and Polish nationalities, with the fourth nationality not known”, and that the fifth person killed was a Palestinian driver and translator.

    US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the White House was “heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike.”

    “Humanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened,” she wrote on X.

    The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident”, adding that it had been “working closely with WCK” in the effort to provide aid to Palestinians.

    At the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, an AFP correspondent saw five bodies with three foreign passports lying nearby.

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday confirmed one of the killed aid workers was Australian national Zomi Frankcom.

    “This is completely unacceptable. Australia expects full accountability for the deaths of aid workers,” Albanese said

    World Central Kitchen has been involved in delivering the aid arriving by boat from Cyprus, and in the construction of a temporary jetty in Gaza.

    Gaza has been under a near-complete blockade since October 7, with the United Nations accusing Israel of preventing deliveries of humanitarian assistance urgently needed by all 2.4 million Palestinians.

    UN agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of famine, calling the situation a man-made crisis because aid lorries are backed up on the Egypt-Gaza border awaiting long checks by Israeli officials. Israel has denied responsibility.

    Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed at least 32,845 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

  • Ajay Devgn doesn’t know why he married Kajol

    Ajay Devgn doesn’t know why he married Kajol

    Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn hax been married to superstar Kajol since many years. However, Ajay himself admits that he doesn’t understand why he married Kajol.

    An old interview of the actor is going viral once again, where the host asks him why he married Kajol. “Honestly, even I don’t know why I married Kajol,” he replied.

    “We met, liked each other, started feeling comfortable without even proposing, and then we got married.”

    The two tied the knot on February 24, 1999, and have two children together.

  • New Palestinian government gets wary greeting

    New Palestinian government gets wary greeting

    Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – A new Palestinian government that contains both Gazans and four women was sworn in Sunday, but was already facing scepticism from its own people.

    The Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas is under pressure from Washington to prepare to step into the breach in the aftermath of the Gaza war and undertake reforms.

    Newly-appointed prime minister Mohammed Mustafa said his government’s “top national priority” was ending the war as he named his new team.

    He said his cabinet “will work on formulating visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza”.

    President Abbas, 88, is being nudged by the United States to shake the creaking authority up so it can reunite the occupied West Bank and the devastated Gaza Strip under a single rule after the war.

    The Palestinian Authority has had almost no influence over the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power there in 2007 from Abbas’s Fatah party.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Abbas to make “administrative reforms” when the two men met in January.

    Abbas’s Ramallah-based administration has been hamstrung by Israel’s decades-old occupation of the West Bank and his own unpopularity.

    Mustafa, an economist and longtime Abbas advisor, said the “reconstruction” of the Palestinian territories was his main goal, with Gaza in ruins after six months of Israeli bombardment in retaliation for the October 7 attack.

    His new cabinet is made up of 23 ministers and includes four women and six ministers from Gaza, among them former Gaza City mayor Maged Abu Ramadan who has been given the health portfolio.

    Among the new female faces is Varsen Aghabekian, a Palestinian-Armenian academic who will work alongside Mustafa in the foreign ministry, which he also controls.

    ‘Deepen divisions’

    The premier, who previously worked for the World Bank, said the thorny issue of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem was also a top priority along with the “fight against corruption”.

    But many doubt whether the Palestinian Authority — which has been dogged by divisions, corruption scandals and the authoritarian tendencies of its ageing leader — can be a credible player in any future deal.

    Ali Jarbawi, a former PA minister and political scientist, said it faces massive challenges on all fronts.

    “It is broke and it’s in debt and can’t pay its salaries, so it needs immediate financial support,” he said.

    And it needs to be accepted by both Palestinian factions — Fatah which controls the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.

    “Thirdly it needs a political horizon, from the international community, and a commitment to the two-state solution,” Jarbawi said.

    And none of that can happen unless the “Israeli government, the army and settlers in the West Bank ease the pressure” on Palestinians, he added.

    Senior Hamas member Bassem Naim criticised Abbas’s policies.

    “His hijacking of the unified Palestinian decision-making” is dangerous for “our cause at this very critical stage in the history of our people,” he told AFP.

    He said Hamas “proposed sitting down for the sake of national dialogue and rebuilding the political system… but Abbas blocked all these attempts.”

    Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a joint statement earlier this month declaring that Mustafa’s appointment would only deepen Palestinian divisions.

    People on the streets of Ramallah, where the authority is based, were equally sceptical.

    “Changing the government will not solve anything because change to us comes only from the outside,” said Suleiman Nassar, 56.

    “We know very well that any minister or any Palestinian government will not get in without an American or Israeli” approval he said.

  • Will Shaheen be rested against New Zealand?

    The selection committee will begin consultations with captain Babar Azam today in Kakul to select the national team for the home series against New Zealand.

    According to the Geo News sources, today the captain will meet with Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi to decided on a rotation policy against New Zealand.

    The national selection committee will start the consultation process today with Babar Azam. The selectors will also meet Naqvi and give feedback on the fitness camp.

    Sources say that 17 to 18 players will be announced soon for the five-match series, out of which the team for the T20 World Cup will be announced.

    The deadline for announcing the squads for the T20 World Cup is May 1. Squads can be changed by May 25 after which permission from the ICC will be required.

    A rotation policy will be adopted in the series against New Zealand so that maximum number of players can be tested and especially the fast bowlers can be given rest.

    Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will played under the rotation policy.

    This month the New Zealand cricket team is arriving in Pakistan for a series of five T20 matches, beginning  from April 18.

  • Guess which superstar was supposed to play Pyare Afzal?

    Guess which superstar was supposed to play Pyare Afzal?

    Nadeem Baig has made many TV shows and movies. He’s been focusing more on making films lately, but he’s also made hit TV dramas in the past. Some of his popular dramas include ‘Pyare Afzal’ and ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’.
    Baig was a guest on Ahmed Ali Butt’s podcast where he disclosed the name of the actor who was initially supposed to play the lead role in Pyare Afzal.

    The host asked him if the cast had ever been compromised. He said, “I never compromised on the script, but there are times when you have to give a chance to a new actor, even if you’ve already decided on someone else. You know that the actor you want will also excel in that specific role. Well, Humayun [Saeed] was supposed to play the character of Afzal in Pyare Afzal, but I told him, ‘This role isn’t for you.’ He accepted it, and that’s how it went to Hamza Ali Abbasi.”

  • PCB stops Shaheen Afridi from issuing any statement

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stopped former T20 captain Shaheen Afridi from issuing any statement, says Jang.

    Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Mohsin Naqvi will visit the national team camp in Kakul today where he will meet Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi to discuss future plans.

    Sources say that Afridi had written a detailed tweet, but later he was stopped at the last moment from posting it. The bowler will put forward his reservations on the statement, allegedly issued without consultation.

    Mohsin Naqvi will also take Iftaar with the players in the camp.

  • Lawyers call upon the SC to use suo moto powers to probe IHC judges letter

    More than 300 lawyers across the country have urged the Supreme Court to initiate proceedings under Article 184(3) on the Islamabad High Court Judges’ letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan alleging “interference” by the executive in judicial matters.

    On March 26, six IHC judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Fafat Imtiaz — wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), demanding a judicial convention over the alleged meddling of spy agencies in legal matters.

    Last week, the CJP met with the Prime Minister to discuss this matter and it was mutually agreed to make an inquiry commission chaired by a retired judge to investigate the allegations.

    “We further call upon the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take cognisance of the matter in its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution as this issue eminently relates to the public interest and to the enforcement of fundamental rights,” the lawyers’ statement came after the commission was approved by the federal cabinet.

  • PTI alleges widespread rigging, boycotts Sindh Senate elections

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that it will not take part in Senate polls in Sindh on April 2, citing alleged widespread rigging.

    “Senate elections are being won through rigging,” PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday.

    He said that the people who won elections according to Form 45 are not members of the Sindh Assembly. Pointing out that six candidates supported by PTI were participating in the Senate elections in Sindh, he said they have decided to boycott the upcoming polls.

    “The incumbent government is going to be buried in a mass grave. We won elections on 180 seats in the general elections, but most of them were taken away,” he alleged.

    On Wednesday, 14 candidates decided to withdraw their nomination papers for the Senate elections in the province. Following this, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is expected to secure one of the two Senate seats reserved for women without facing any competition.

  • All-rounder Aliya Riaz gets engaged to commentator Ali Younis

    Pakistan women cricket team all-rounder Aliya Riaz and Waqar Younis’ younger brother and commentator Ali Younis are engaged.

    The engagement ceremony was held in Wah Cantt with close relatives and friends joining in.

    Aliya Riaz has represented Pakistan in 62 ODIs and 83 T20Is. She has scored 1209 runs and 10 wickets in ODI matches, 938 runs in T20 matches and dismissed 20 players.

  • ‘Workload management’; PCB’s reason for removing Shaheen Afridi

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given it’s reasons for removing Shaheen Shah Afridi from captaincy.

    In a statement, PCB has said, “Removing Shaheen Afridi from the leadership and handing over the responsibility to Babar Azam was a strategic step, which was aimed at ensuring high performance of the players considering the workload.”

    “Shaheen Afridi has undoubtedly proven himself to be a star fast bowler, he has led Pakistan’s pace attack for many years, the board understands the importance of rotation and rest to maintain his best performance” the statement said.

    The PCB said the decision was taken keeping in mind “workload management” to ensure that key bowlers remain at the top of their game.

    “The board does not want the national team to suffer from an injury crisis in terms of bowling resources like Shaheen Afridi was injured before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and Naseem Shah before the ICC One Day Cricket World Cup 2023.”

    The decision to change the captain shows the board’s determination to protect the players’ long careers and fast bowlers from injuries.