PAKISTAN
Caretaker PM sworn in
Former chief justice Nasir-ul-Mulk was yesterday to be sworn in as caretaker prime minister for two months, hours after the president dissolved the powerful lower house of parliament. It is only the third time in Pakistan’s history that the National Assembly finished its five-year term. The constitution mandates new elections to be held within 60 days. Mulk, who has a reputation as a defender of democratic institutions, is to run the interim government pending results of a July 25 vote. Incumbent prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi resigned late on Thursday, ending his turbulent tenure since July last year, when he replaced Nawaz Sharif following his removal from office by the Supreme Court for concealing financial assets abroad. Sharif now faces trial over corruption. The electoral process is to begin tomorrow with the filing of nomination papers for the seats at the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. Candidates have until June 6 to register. Meanwhile, former foreign minister Khawaja Asif is to be allowed to contest in the election after the Supreme Court overturned his disqualification from politics, in a boost to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party.
SYRIA
Al-Assad threatens attack
The Pentagon on Thursday warned President Bashar al-Assad not to carry out an offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces that control the northeast. “Any interested party in Syria should understand that attacking US forces or our coalition partners will be a bad policy,” Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the joint staff, said told a news conference. His remarks came after al-Assad told Russian broadcaster RT he would not hesitate to use force to retake the third of the nation held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “The only problem left in Syria is the SDF,” he said, adding that he saw “two options. The first one: We started now opening doors for negotiations. Because the majority of them are Syrians, supposedly they like their country, they don’t like to be puppets to any foreigners,” al-Assad said in English. “We have one option, to live with each other as Syrians. If not, we’re going to resort ... to liberating those areas by force.”
ISRAEL
Myanmar signs school pact
The nation on Tuesday signed an education agreement with Myanmar allowing each country to “mutually verify” how their histories are taught by the other. The agreement allows the countries to “mutually verify school textbooks, particularly ... passages referring to the history of the other state and, where needed, introduce corrections.” Israel has similar agreements with other countries, especially involving Holocaust education in Europe.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of