BOGOTA: Authorities in Colombia seized 130 poisonous frogs being trafficked through the Bogota airport on Monday and arrested the Brazilian woman carrying them.
The woman was transporting the colorful harlequin poison frogs (oophaga histrionica) inside film containers while travelling to Sao Paulo with a stopover in Panama.
She “claimed that a local community had given them as a gift,” Bogota Environment Secretary Adriana Soto said in a video shared with media.
Harlequin frogs are venomous, measure less than five centimetres (two inches) and live in damp forests along the Pacific coast between Ecuador and Colombia, as well as in other countries in Central and South America.
“This endangered species is sought after in international markets,” said Bogota Police Commander Juan Carlos Arevalo, adding that private collectors might pay up to $1,000 for each.
The police reported that the woman carrying the frogs was arrested “for the crime of wildlife tracking” before being handed over to the prosecutor’s office.
Animal trafficking is common in Colombia — one of the most biodiverse countries in the world — especially of amphibians, small mammals and marine animal parts, such as those of sharks.
A 103-year-old man from Bhopal, India, has gone viral after marrying a woman almost half his age.
Habib Nazar tied the knot with 49-year-old Firoz Jahan in a ceremony in the Itwara region of Bhopal, reported India Today.
The wedding came to light after a video of them returning back to their home in an autorickshaw circulated on social media, almost an year after the wedding.
Mr Nazar’s second wife passed away, prompting him to get married for a third time as he felt lonely.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Nazar said: “I’m 103 years old, and my wife is 49. I got married for the first time in Nashik.
“After she passed away, I went to Lucknow to tie the knot again. My second wife also left for the other world. I was feeling lonely. So I married again.”
The couple have been married since last year, but it wasn’t until January this year that their wedding went viral. In the video clip, Mr Nazar and his wife can be seen returning home after the marriage ceremony.
In the video, a person behind the camera is heard congratulating the couple while Habib is seen saying: “Kisi cheez ki kami nahi hai. Kami hamare dilon mein hai”, which translates to “I don’t feel a shortage of anything. I only feel loneliness”.
NDTV reports Mr Nazar’s first marriage was held in Maharashtra’s Nashik and his second marriage was held in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.
As for Ms Jahan, this is her second marriage after her first husband passed away. She reportedly agreed to the marriage with Mr Nazar as he has no one else to take care of him.
On her decision to marry Mr Nazar, Ms Jahan said: “My husband is absolutely fine and has no medical issues”.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to conduct a crucial meeting today, focusing on the worsening state of law and order in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, as general elections are set to take place on February 8, The News reported on Thursday.
In the past few weeks, there has been a significant increase in attacks on political rallies, camp offices, and candidates, as well as terror incidents, especially in the two restive provinces.
The ECP directed KP’s chief secretary and inspector general of police to submit a detailed report on the murder of independent candidate, Rehan Zeb Khan, contesting for the National Assembly (NA) seat from NA-8 Bajur.
The unidentified persons gunned down the young political activist on Wednesday in his hometown while he was canvassing for votes.
An ECP notification stated that “The scheduled meeting in Islamabad on Thursday at 3pm will be attended by the minister and secretary of interior, chief secretaries, inspectors general of KP and Balochistan, and officials from intelligence agencies.”
ECP also asked for an immediate report from the Balochistan chief secretary and inspector general of police on the bomb attack at a political party’s election office.
General Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), Chief of Army Staff (COAS) presided over the 262nd Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) held at GHQ, today. Forum paid rich tribute to the supreme sacrifices of Shuhadas including officers and men of the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement Agencies and the citizens who have laid their lives for ensuring peace and stability in the country.
Forum resolved that terrorists, their facilitators and abettors, working on behest of hostile forces to destabilise Pakistan, will be dealt with full might of the state. COAS stated that Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacrosanct and inviolable. Pakistan believes in peaceful co-existence with all states, however, there would never be any compromise over country’s sovereignty, national honour and aspirations of Pakistani people.
The forum was briefed on the callous Indian campaign of extra-territorial and extra-judicial killings, perpetuating state-sponsored terrorism and targeting Pakistani citizens. The forum agreed that blatant violation of international laws by India and its real face be exposed to the world. The international community has already shown serious concerns over the criminal behaviour of India and its use of state apparatus for killing spree around the world.
The forum reiterated unequivocal support for Palestine and the people of Gaza while noting the extremely negative fallout of the conflict and the potential to spill over in the wider region. The immediate need for a permanent ceasefire and enduring solution to the Palestinian question was unanimously recognised. In the same vein, Pakistan’s resolve to support the people of IIOJK for their right of self determination was reiterated.
Pakistan would continue to morally, politically and diplomatically support Kashmir brothers and sisters till justice is served in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions. The forum also discussed deployment of Pakistan Army to assist Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the peaceful conduct of General Elections 2024.
Pakistan Army will perform assigned duties as per the Constitutional mandate, under the guidelines of ECP. No one would be allowed to indulge in violence in the name of political activity and sabotage the quintessential democratic exercise of conduct of free and fair elections. The forum acknowledged and appreciated the steps taken against spectrum of illegal activities and criminal mafias including smuggling, hoarding, money laundering, power theft and illegal aliens. The participants emphasised that such actions and their positive impact on the economy and well being of the people need to continue without any let up. The forum was briefed on operational preparedness of the formations. COAS asked formation commanders to continue their focus on the training, administration and morale of the soldiers.
*ISPR* General Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), Chief of Army Staff (COAS) presided over the 262nd Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) held at GHQ, today.
Forum paid rich tribute to the supreme sacrifices of Shuhadas including officers and men of the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement… pic.twitter.com/pJDIqopyB5
After being sentenced by the Accountability Court in the Toshakhana case, former First Lady Bushra Bibi reached the jail to surrender herself for arrest.
The Accountability Court has earlier todat sentenced Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years imprisonment with hard labor in the Toshakhana case, while the court has also disqualified Imran Khan for 10 years.
According to sources in Geo, Bushra Bibi is currently sitting in the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Jail, and she has not been arrested yet.
A day earlier, Imran Khan and senior PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each in the cipher case.
Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain heard the cipher case and delivered the verdict at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
An Indian court weighed in on one of the country’s most sensitive religious disputes Wednesday by permitting Hindu worshippers to pray inside a mosque in the city of Varanasi.
The Gyanvapi mosque is one of several Islamic houses of worship that Hindu activists, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, have sought for decades to reclaim for their religion.
It was built in the 17th century by the Mughal empire in a city where Hindu faithful from across the country cremate their loved ones by the Ganges river.
The court in Varanasi ruled that Hindu worshippers — who believe the mosque replaced a destroyed temple to the deity Shiva — could pray in the building’s basement.
Its verdict ordered district authorities to “make proper arrangements within the next seven days” to facilitate worshippers.
The decision is the latest in a long-running legal saga over Gyanvapi’s future.
This month, India’s official archaeological agency said a survey of the site appeared to corroborate the belief that it was originally home to a temple, according to local news reports.
Emboldened right-wing Hindu groups have laid claim to several Muslim sites of worship they say were built atop ancient temples during Mughal rule.
Last week, Modi presided over a grand inauguration ceremony in the nearby city of Ayodhya for a Hindu temple built on grounds once home to the centuries-old Babri mosque.
Hindu zealots had torn down that mosque in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims.
The decades-long court battle that ensued over the future of the Babri site ended in 2019 when India’s top court permitted the construction of a temple to the deity Ram, who according to Hindu scripture was born in the city.
Members of Modi’s party routinely refer to India’s history of Muslim rule under the Mughal emperors as a time of “slavery”.
The prime minister described last week’s opening of the temple as “the advent of a new era”.
Calls for India to enshrine Hindu supremacy have rapidly grown louder since Modi took office in 2014, making its roughly 210-million-strong Muslim minority increasingly anxious about their future.
Dutch regulators said Wednesday they are imposing a 10 million euro ($10.8 million) fine on ride-hailing app Uber for lack of transparency in how it treats the personal data of its drivers.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority said it imposed the fine after a group of 170 French drivers complained to a French human rights organisation.
The complaint was handled in the Netherlands because it is where Uber has it European headquarters.
“The DPA found that Uber had made it unnecessarily complicated for drivers to submit requests to view or receive copies of their personal data,” the authority said in a statement.
DPA said the process for drivers to request access to their data “was located deep within the app and spread across various menus.”
“In addition, they did not specify in their privacy terms and conditions how long Uber retains its drivers’ personal data or which specific security measures it takes when sending this information to entities in countries outside the European Economic Area,” it said.
Uber has taken steps to improve the situation and has appealed the decision, the statement said.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has on Wednesday ordered equal media attention for all candidates taking part in the February 8 general elections, including jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Lahore High Court issued a directive in response to a plea filed by the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who claimed there was a ban on media coverage of his speeches.
Earlier this month, the LHC disposed of the PTI founder’s petition with the observation that directions with regard to telecasting the speeches of the PTI leader would be issued in a detailed judgement.
LHC’s Justice Shams Mirza Mehmood issued a 10-page written verdict on Imran Khan’s appeal regarding a ban on media coverage.
The LHC verdict stated that, according to Article 17, every citizen has freedom of speech.
The LHC also said that running an election campaign and promoting a party’s manifesto are fundamental rights of political parties.
You knew Taylor Swift was influential, but Republicans are now crediting the singer with James-Bond-villain-level powers in a wacky conspiracy theory claiming the singer’s romance with NFL star Travis Kelce is really a plot to rig the Super Bowl and get President Joe Biden reelected.
The relationship between the pop powerhouse and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has gripped the nation for weeks, with TV cameras repeatedly panning from the field during the team’s surging NFL season to a cheering Swift in the stands.
Fascination peaked this weekend when the Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens to book their berth in February’s Super Bowl and, in the midst of celebrations, Swift descended onto the field to kiss Kelce, fresh from playing one of the best games of his life.
It’s not much of a fairytale for Republicans in America.
Right-wingers — who, like their leader Donald Trump, increasingly see conspiracy theories under every stone — detected not a love story but a deep-state psychological operation against the American people and the November presidential election.
Fox News hosted a discussion with a former FBI agent asking: “Is Taylor Swift a Pentagon asset?”
A Trump media booster, Laura Loomer, told her more than 800,000 followers on X, the former Twitter, that “The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open.”
And Vivek Ramaswamy, a failed Republican presidential candidate now fully behind Trump’s bid for a second term, suggested there is a plot to boost Biden through a faked Swift-Kelce relationship and a rigged Chiefs victory in the Super Bowl.
“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple,” he wrote on X. “Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”
A major pro-Trump broadcast personality, Mike Crispi, said it all even more clearly: “EVERYONE knows Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is fake and the Super Bowl is rigged. You’re a whacko at this point if you DON’T believe it.”
Swift will appear on stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, he said, and endorse Biden.
The nutty furor has roots in long-running hatred on the right for Swift, who is not only a global entertainment megastar but openly liberal and against Trump. She endorsed Biden in his successful 2020 bid to unseat Trump and flexed her muscles again last September by urging fans to register to vote -tens of thousands did.
Kelce, something of a legend for his outsized personality off the field and heroics during games, has become an unlikely target of the right himself after promoting Covid vaccines and, now, for being the boyfriend of an even bigger female celebrity.
The saga has already veered into distinctly dark territory. AI-faked pornographic images made to look like Swift got millions of views on X before being removed last week.
And things may get weirder.
The Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on February 11 and the right-wing media-sphere is lining up behind the Californians – even though their team represents one of the most liberal cities in the world.
“I know we’ve all been roasting your city for years,” posted Rogan O’Handley, a hard-right personality with 1.3 million X followers.
“For 2 weeks, 99% of America will be 49ers fans but in return you MUST defeat the Chiefs,” he wrote. If they don’t, Biden will get reelected and “WW3 will likely follow.”
Update: The DPO in Sadiqabad issued an order for departmental action while suspending the ASI for misbehaving with a foreign cyclist.
Explaining the incident, DPO Rahim Yar Khan Rizwan Omar Gondal said that 3 foreign cyclists entered Sadiqabad from Rahim Yar Khan limits from Sindh on Saturday and they were provided security as per SOP.
The cyclists were adamant that no security should be provided to them, upon which the fight took place, says the DPO.
According to the police spokesperson, the foreign cyclist sprayed the ASI in anger, on which the ASI slapped the foreign tourist.
Moreover, departmental action is being taken against the concerned police official by suspending him for inappropriate behavior.
Previously, it was reported three foreign tourists cycling in the Sadiqabad area of South Punjab have raised serious allegations of assault and sexual harassment against the Punjab police. They claim to have entered their jurisdictions on January 25.
A video of the attack on the tourists surfaced on Saturday where a policeman was seen using foul language and snatching the camera from the one documenting it. It was one of many alleged assaults that the cycling tourists, namely Alex Sidney of Italy, Charlie West of the UK, and Motahhareh Abbasi of Iran, had been facing since they entered Punjab. They have always been having a Punjab police escort supposed to ensure their security but the police allegedly attacked them.
Dawn talked to the tourists and the details narrated by them included horrific details of abuse and being manhandled brutally by a policeman, earlier identified as ASI Liaqat. Alex said the situation escalated as the officers reportedly grabbed him by the hair and subjected him to physical abuse.
Regarding the version of police, the tourists were stopped from going to Kashmore, Sindh, an unsafe area, when the confrontation happened. However, Alex said they were not going towards Kashmore but Lahore. He said they had cycled in Sindh, mostly escorted by police, but did not face any such incident there. In Punjab, he claimed, they had taken the same route as was told by police. According to him, it was not the first assault by police. “We entered Punjab on January 25 and started having assaults and harassment from January 26. In earlier assaults, we were hit by police vehicles and motorcycles as they continued telling us that we were going the wrong way. We told them that we were going to a hotel on the national highway. They would try to knock us down.” Motahhareh said the policemen in Punjab would drive their vehicles or ride motorcycles very close to her, sometimes making her get off the road. “On January 26, I fell down and got injured when a policeman stopped his motorcycle suddenly in front of her. And it was quite deliberate. I fell down and injured my leg while my heavy bags fell on me.” Motahhareh later got medical treatment for her leg.
About this alleged assault, Alex said they went to Ahmedpur Lamma Police Station and asked the policeman on the desk to register a complaint, but he refused to do so, asking them to take help from social media.
Motahhareh also raised serious allegations of sexual harassment against police in Pakistan. “Many times, they asked me for my WhatsApp number and kept on insisting. When I asked them the reason, they would start insulting me. At the start I gave my phone number to some of them and they started asking for pictures and sending creepy messages. For the last one month, I have been receiving creepy messages from Pakistani policemen.” She alleged that policemen from all three provinces they travelled in harassed her and the situation was worse in Punjab.
A policeman in Punjab held her hand forcibly for many minutes, said Alex. When asked whether there was a language barrier between the policemen and the tourists, Alex said some of the policemen spoke good English. “Whenever we stopped at some point to have a break, they would continue telling us it’s not safe here and it would be safe after a few kilometers. In fact, they wanted us to go out of their jurisdictions quickly but the next escort would do the same, telling us lies about the route as well.”
Alex said they felt safer without police as the common Pakistanis were very good and hospitable towards them and added that many times in Sindh, they did not have police escort and it was very safe.
Alex said they were staying in Sadiqabad near the site where they were assaulted by police as Motahhareh’s leg was recovering, rejecting the earlier police report that they had left the area for Lahore. He said he wanted to cycle through Punjab and meet the people who are very good. He said they felt safe when they were on their own without police and were in fact more in danger in presence of their escort, which ironically was there to protect them. Charlie West wanted to cycle separately towards Lahore as he rides it fast but the situation is unclear now.
Police in Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad have not provided their official version. However, Dawn’s sources in Rahim Yar Khan police said the tourists had left Sadiqabad hotel they were staying in on Saturday and now they were staying at a restaurant along a filling station in the middle of Sadiqabad and Rahim Yar Khan. The sources denied the allegations of assault but insisted that police escort was there for the tourists’ security.
Alex started his travel on bicycle from Italy in 2022 and cycled through Europe during the last two years. He was joined by Mohtahhare in Tehran when he was travelling towards Pakistan. They entered Pakistan from the Balochistan-Iran border and cycled through Balochistan and Sindh. In Karachi, they were joined by Charlie West who landed in Karachi from the UK.
