ISTANBUL: Overnight, vandals entered a Jewish cemetery in Istanbul and destroyed numerous grave markers. In a tweet, it shared images of the destruction and said that gravestones in the Haskoy cemetery had been demolished.
We anticipate that the vandals will be caught as soon as possible. It stated, “The matter has been reported to the appropriate authorities with all the photographs and night recordings. Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister, denounced the “heinous” attack on Twitter.
With the careful work of our Istanbul Police Department, two of the offenders were apprehended; the investigation is ongoing, he added. He continued, “Those who want to undermine our solidarity and unity with such outrageous attacks will never be permitted.”
The 81 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery were destroyed, according to a statement from the governor’s office in Istanbul, by five children between the ages of 11 and 13. It was discovered after reviewing the security camera footage that 81 gravestones in the cemetery had been demolished, and that minors between the ages of 11 and 13 were responsible for the crime.
The crisis-ridden country’s house speaker announced on Friday that the president’s resignation had been accepted after he told him from Singapore that he was leaving the country earlier this week.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, often referred to as “The Terminator” for his merciless suppression of Tamil separatists, has officially announced his resignation, becoming the first head of state in Sri Lanka .
He flew to Singapore from the Maldives, where he had initially fled when protesters overran his palace at the weekend, and submitted his resignation through email. A tiny throng gathered late on Thursday to celebrate his resignation at a seaside avenue that has served as the centre of the protest movement that forced him out.
Rajapaksa resigned from power after months of unrest over what his critics claimed was his bad management of the island nation’s economy, which led to significant misery for its 22 million residents.
A tiny throng gathered late on Thursday to celebrate his resignation at a seaside avenue that has served as the centre of the protest movement that forced him out.
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Even if there are little prospects for a peace process with Israel, US President Joe Biden stated during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Friday that Palestinians need to see a route to statehood.
Prior to a flight to Saudi Arabia, whose officials on Friday amended aviation regulations in what appeared to be a gesture of openness towards Israel, Biden paid a visit to Bethlehem. By declaring it will ease restrictions on “all carriers,” Riyadh opened its airspace to Israeli aircraft, a move Biden hailed as “historic”.
The president’s trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will come after meetings with Abbas, the most recent high-level diplomatic encounter following the one with the Israeli government on Thursday.
In order to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Biden reaffirmed his administration’s support for a two-state solution, stating there “must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can truly see.”
The Palestinian president declared he was “taking initiatives” to strengthen bilateral ties and wanted to see Trump establish the US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem once more.
Recently, an old interview with Johnny Depp’s lawyer surfaced, in which he talked about having a warm relationship with the actor.
This interview reappeared after a video of Camille, Ben Chew, and other friends were made public and showed her beaming smile as she greeted Johnny Depp upon his arrival from Prague.
When speaking with The Fat and the Skinny for the first time, Vasquez wore her heart on her sleeve and discussed her relationship with the actor.
She first discussed her initial silence during the programme and acknowledged that it was because of the court’s rules.
According to a quote from Vasquez, “I couldn’t answer,” because the court had told us not to give interviews or make any statements in front of the jury.
Before and after the trial, she did not hesitate to publicly show her friend affection.
She was so concerned about it that she explained her motivations, especially in light of the romantic rumors.
Despite the fact that “he is my friend, but first he is my client, and he was going through something very difficult and I love my clients very much,” she admitted, “Yes, of course (I hugged him).”
She briefly discussed her own background before adding, “I’m Hispanic, and I like to hug and touch people.” Whereas I do, kisses do not
Even though the six-week defamation trial involving Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is over, the situation is far from resolved. Many of the case’s important participants have been speaking out since the jury announced its decision almost two weeks ago. (Depp himself signed up for TikTok, and Heard responded to his first message.)
One of Depp’s attorneys, Camille Vasquez, talked about Heard not connecting with the jury in a recent discussion. The specifics of the case were not mentioned in her most recent remarks, though. Instead, she addressed rumours that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and she are dating.
During a significant portion of the defamation trial, these dating rumours circulated online. The rumours were “entirely, 100 percent, unequivocally untrue,” a source told People in May.
Additionally, Camille Vasquez reiterated the allegations and expressed her displeasure with them when she addressed the trade directly: It’s also an unethical charge being made. That is sexist. Although unfortunate and disappointing, it also sort of goes with the territory. I won’t say that I was overly shocked.
Johnny Depp
The fact that there was video and pictures of her and Johnny Depp hugging during the court case may have contributed to the rise in rumours about their alleged relationship. During the interview, the attorney also addressed that, stating that her
During a significant portion of the defamation trial, these dating rumours circulated online. The rumours were “entirely, 100 percent, unequivocally untrue,” a source told People in May.
Additionally, Camille Vasquez reiterated the allegations and expressed her displeasure with them when she addressed the trade directly: It’s also an unethical charge being made. That is sexist. Although unfortunate and disappointing, it also sort of goes with the territory. I won’t say that I was overly shocked.
The fact that there was video and pictures of her and Johnny Depp hugging during the court case may have contributed to the rise in rumours about their alleged relationship. During the interview, the attorney also addressed that, stating that her I have developed a strong bond with my clients because I genuinely care about them.
However, I mean the whole team—including Johnny, of course—when I say “we.” I’m also Colombian and Cuban. I’m touchy. What exactly should I say, then? I embrace everyone. And I’m not embarrassed by it.
This is a charge that is “unethical,” as Camille Vasquez noted. The legal system has rules that address the interactions between attorneys and their clients. For instance, an attorney and those they represent should have a fiduciary relationship, per California state law (per Daily Breeze), in which the former has a duty not to take advantage of the latter.
It should be noted that getting involved with clients is not specifically forbidden for lawyers. However, it has been established by Rule 3-120 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct and Section 6109.9 that legal representation must end if it is directly hampered by a sexual relationship. Vasquez has debunked this idea about herself, as well as revealed that she has a boyfriend and is “very happy in [her] relationship.”
The way Camille Vasquez has lived since the defamation case suggests that Johnny Depp wasn’t the only person to gain significantly from the outcome. Vasquez was recently made a partner at the Brown Rudnick law firm, whereas Depp received millions of dollars.
According to reports, she is currently under the scrutiny of talent agents who describe her as “a smart, savvy, poised attorney.” Depp thanked his “unwavering legal team who did an extraordinary job in helping [him] to share the truth” in his statement following the verdict.
Thanks to her victory in the libel case, it is obvious that the attorney is on the rise. And if her recent remarks are any indication, she’ll probably ignore any rumours or noise that are spread her way as well.
UK: At Mousehole Harbour in the United Kingdom, a man repeatedly kicked a seagull , which resulted in its death in less than 24 hours. When it was discovered, the bird was severely hurt and had trouble standing.
The rescue facility stated: “We were startled and dismayed to have admitted what was a perfectly healthy adult seagull after it was kicked repeatedly by a member of the public for kicking an ice cream out of a child’s hands in Mousehole Harbour.” Prior to the occurrence, the bird was deemed “totally healthy,” and it might be laying eggs.
Due to population losses of more than 50% over the previous 25 years, seagull are designated in the UK as a species of conservation importance and have been on the red list since 2015.
They may appear to be in great numbers, but as they leave their original habitat and move into ours, they merely take on a more common appearance because we encounter them more frequently. They pleaded with residents to respect local animals and noted that it is illegal to harm or kill a seagull.
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With her most up-to-date engagement outside the Palace walls on Fri, British Queen Elizabeth delighted the nation’s royal enthusiasts.
The monarch, 96, and her female offspring aristocrat Anne attended the inauguration of the new river Hospice building, consistent with the categorical United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
As she had been managing periodic quality problems over the previous months, Queen Elizabeth surprised the royal fans along with her most up-to-date outing, allaying health worries.
She did, however, seem to be walking with a cane throughout her most up-to-date royal engagement.
The Queen looked happy and healthy in the latest photos of her.
Queen Elizabeth
During her surprising visit, Queen Elizabeth conjointly unveiled a plaque and signed the guestbook. Queen’s Sep strategy was antecedently unconcealed.
ON could 2022
Elizabeth II is presently on the go! The 96-year-old royal, WHO resides at Buckingham Palace, created an associate surprising look at the Royal Windsor Horse Show on Fri reception Park in Windsor, England. She hadn’t appeared publicly since March because of in-progress health problems.
ON the seventeenth could 2022
The Elizabeth line’s completion has prompted the Queen to pay Paddington Station associate a surprising visit.
The deferred Crossrail project can finally receptive the general public on legal holiday, consistent with Transport for London (TfL).
The 96-year-old joined her youngest son, the Earl of geographic area, for the official visit before the gap.
Just over fortnight stay till the noble metal day of remembrance weekend to commemorate the longest-reigning head of state’s seventy years as monarch.
“In a contented development, Her grandness The Queen is attending today’s event to mark the completion of the Elizabeth line,” an interpreter for Buckingham Palace aforementioned. The organizers were created responsive to the engagement and Her Majesty’s potential attending by the organizers. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, London city manager Sadiq Khan, and TfL Commissioner Andy Byford all greeted the Queen and Edward Antony Richard Louis.
They met key personnel for the project, once called Crossrail, similarly as train drivers, station staff, and apprentices WHO can run the railway.
A demonstration of a way to use an associated Oyster card on a price ticket machine was conjointly given to the Queen.
The Monarch spent ten minutes within the station unveiling a plaque and “officially opening” the Elizabeth Line, which was named in her honor. Edward Antony Richard Louis escorted the monarch as she left. Following the event, Mr. We are all incredibly grateful to Her Grandness for returning to officially inaugurate the Elizabeth Line today, Johnson said.
“Seeing her was fantastic.”
The Earl went back to the concourse before taking the train back from Paddington to Tottenham Court Road. He was allowed to require a seat within the driver’s cab for the come-back trip.
While the train was moving, he spoke with the motive force, Carinne Spinola, describing it as “brilliant”.
The Earl continued once obtaining off the train at Paddington: “That was terribly clever. That was gratifying. it absolutely was gratifying.” Even though having a road named once you is uncommon, there wasn’t a lot of anticipation that the Queen would attend today’s Elizabeth line official gap.
With Edward Antony Richard Louis declining to perform the ceremonial duties, it had solely been a “possibility.”
However, with the associated oyster card in hand and a healthy look despite health issues, the Queen was conjointly gifted.
She unveiled the plaque carrying Circle Line Yellow, showing to resume her attendance at such public events once associated with extended absences throughout the autumn and winter. The Queen seems to be addressing her own quality problems while holding a stick as if the printing operation can aid the public’s quality.
It will even be viewed as a symbol that she is going to be ready to participate within the agitated calendar of events for the noble metal day of remembrance which will turn up next month. According to TfL, the Elizabeth line can speed up travel throughout the capital and increase capability.
From Reading, Berkshire, and Heathrow landing field in west London, it stretches to Shenfield, Essex, and Abbey Wood in south-east London.
Although a whole timetable will not be accessible till 2023, services can run each 5 minutes between 06:30 and 23:00 in central London once the route is open.
LEIRIA/LONDON: While flames scorched territory in France, Spain, and Portugal on Friday, authorities in Europe issued health warnings for the impending heatwave.
Since Tuesday, more than 1,000 firemen and water-bomber aircraft in southwestern France have fought to contain two fires that have been stoked by the extreme heat, tinder-box conditions, and strong winds. Although temperatures in Portugal decreased slightly, they were still predicted to reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some locations, according to officials.
Five districts were placed on red alert, and more than 1,000 firefighters were battling 17 wildfires. The environment ministry in Spain announced that it was assisting in putting out 17 wildfires around the nation.The Po, Italy’s longest river, was reduced to little more than a trickle in some parts by the worst drought in more than 70 years.
With temperatures set to soar next week, Italy has declared a state of emergency along the Po, which supports approximately a third of the nation’s agricultural production. This comes after the country experienced its hottest July since 1800.
With warnings issued for worse to come in Britain in particular, officials are concerned about the consequences of the searing heat on people’s health and on healthcare systems already struggling with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The World Meteorological Organization predicted that the heatwave would make the air even worse, particularly in urban areas.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have consistently found radio signals coming from a galaxy billions of light-years away from Earth.
Astronomers
Astronomers believe that neutron stars may be the source of the radio waves, despite the fact that they have not been able to locate them. Within this window, the researchers found radio wave bursts that repeat every 0.2 seconds in a certain rhythm, suggesting a beating heart.
The statement made it clear that this wasn’t the first time a signal had been discovered. In December 2019, the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada, also found proof of a FRB.
According to postdoc Daniele Michilli of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, the signal itself is periodic for the first time. Using data on bursts, such as their frequency and frequency distribution, scientists can calculate the rate of the universe’s expansion.
Radio signals were released after the release of images from the James Webb Space Telescope that sent us back in time to 13 billion years ago.
LAHORE: A 20-year-old Lahore College for Women student vanished on Friday. Laiba Khan, 20, of Al-Hafiz Town Marghazar Colony, allegedly left with her brother at the university’s entrance on Jail Road early in the morning, according to a number of sources.
This is true, according to the original information report provided to the police. Her brother called her mobile phone at 11:30 a.m. as he was enroute to pick her up, but it was off. However, after waiting until the evening, the police finally got a FIR.
Police are looking for the student, and they say “she will be found shortly.”A student who went missing in May of this year was later discovered to have been snatched in Lahore’s Shadbagh neighbourhood by her ex-fiance. She was later found in Pakpattan’s Arifwala tehsil.
After the viral video of the kidnapping incident, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti of the LHC was made aware of the problem. He has allowed the girl’s return to be ensured by CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana and IG Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan until 10 p.m.
PUNJAB: This weekend, a by-election for 20 assembly seats in the province with the most people will test the popularity of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan.
The Punjab vote on Sunday is seen as a possible portent for the national elections that must be held by October of next year, even though Khan has been aggressively campaigning across the country for an early election since being ousted by a no-confidence vote in April.
Twenty seats in Punjab fell vacant when the electoral commission, at Khan’s request, invalidated PTI members who crossed sides.As a result of the planning, the province is currently under the leadership of Hamza Sharif, the prime minister’s son.
According to the story, Khan will be able to assess the success of his campaign’s public relations drive.
Since being removed from office, Khan has gathered sizable audiences to rallies around the country while delivering lengthy speeches about how the US-led conspiracy pushed Pakistan to adopt the present government.
Friday morning saw a global outage of the photo-sharing app Instagram, according to t o the website Down Detector, which tracks app outages.
Outages were reported worldwide, including in Pakistan, according to Down Detector. However, after being inactive for about two hours, the platform resumed its operations.
According to data gathered by the tracker, 73 percent of outages were reported by Instagram app users, followed by logging in issues for 23 percent of users and issues with uploading videos and photos for 4 percent of users.
Instagram users
Users who couldn’t access Instagram flocked to Twitter’s microblogging platform instead to share hilarious memes about the Instagram outage.
A number of users worldwide are beginning to report #InstagramDown on other platforms like Twitter, despite the fact that there are no reports on WhatsApp or Facebook, the other platforms owned by the companies.
A few weeks ago, the platform experienced some loading problems, but these problems were quickly resolved.
Today, over 24,000 users reported their app as having problems, according to downdetector.com.
Pakistan had the most affected users overall. Pakistan was one of the countries where outages were reported, according to Down Detector. Users of the Instagram app reported 73 percent of outages, followed by problems logging in for 23 percent of users and problems uploading videos and photos for 4 percent of users, according to data gathered by the tracker.
Twitter was the first platform to display loading errors and to report that “A problem has occurred” on this Thursday, July 14 in the morning, but after a few hours these reports faded and they started to appear in one of Meta’s social networks: Instagram.
Several users began to report problems with the social network around 3 p.m. CT, including loading problems and session restarts that forced users off the website.
Downdetector
According to data from Downdetector, worldwide reports of the outage peaked at around 3 a.m. ET on July 15 with close to 5,000 individual complaints.
A few users on July 15 early in the morning were unable to access Instagram. In fact, nearly 5,000 complaints about not being able to access the social media platform were made globally, according to data from Downstetector.
Before it went viral, Instagram quickly fixed the problem. According to data from Downdetector, worldwide reports of the outage peaked at around 3 a.m. ET on July 15 with close to 5,000 individual complaints.
In a statement sent via email, a Meta representative said, “W “We are aware that some users are experiencing access issues with Instagram. We are sorry for any inconvenience and are working to restore things to normal.” By 4 am, the majority of the problems had been fixed, and Instagram has been successful ever since. The Twitter outage on July 14 lasted nearly three hours and at its peak affected up to 50,000 users, according to Downdetector.com, which occurred shortly before the Instagram outage.
Like Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager platform, which you can see in this screenshot, Instagram’s Creator Marketplace will let advertisers look for potential creators to collaborate with on campaigns.
According to Instagram
“Instagram’s creator marketplace is a brand-new location where businesses can locate creators they might want to collaborate with. They can filter creators by gender, age, number of followers, and interests using the desktop application of Meta Business Suite.
They will also be able to see creators who have expressed interest in working with them, have tagged them, or follow them, as well as creators who are similar to those they have already discovered through the platform. These filters include gender, age, interests, country, and city.
According to Meta, Facebook’s flagship social network is introducing features that will allow users to manage up to five profiles, a significant departure from the “real name” requirement the company has upheld since its inception.
Facebook
Each user must maintain a single Facebook account, with their primary profile continuing to use their real name, per company policy. After logging into that account, users can access any additional profiles they make.
The modification gives users official permission to partially conceal their identities on the largest social network in the world, keeping up with features provided by rivals like TikTok and Twitter as well as Meta’s own photo and video app Instagram.Facebook
According to a statement from Meta, the product change would “help people tailor their experience based on interests and relationships,” such as posting different types of content intended for family versus friends.Facebook
According to Meta’s statement, all profiles will continue to be subject to its policies prohibiting impersonation and other forms of false identity representation.
A spokesperson for Meta said the business was testing the new strategy in a few nations, but she would not say which ones.
In order to promote the creation of industry standards that would make the businesses’ developing digital worlds compatible with one another, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech behemoths competing to build the emerging metaverse concept have formed a group.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), as well as other well-known standards-setting organizations, are among the participants in the Metaverse Standards Forum, according to a statement released by the group on Tuesday announcing its formation.
Apple is conspicuously absent from the membership list at the moment, but analysts predict that once it releases a mixed reality headset this year or next, it will dominate the metaverse race.
Additionally absent from the forum’s attendees were the crypto-based metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Decentraland as well as the gaming companies Roblox and Niantic.
Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged its plans for a headset, but Bloomberg claims the company gave its board a sneak preview of the device. An inquiry for a comment regarding the new metaverse forum received no immediate response.
By releasing such a product, Apple would be in direct competition with Meta, a company that has pinned its future on the expansion of the metaverse and has made significant hardware investments to realise its vision of interconnected virtual worlds.
A mixed-reality headset with the codename “Cambria” will be released this year, according to Meta, formerly known as Facebook until it changed its name as part of its metaverse pivot last year.
In the past, Apple has contributed significantly to the development of web standards like HTML5. Apple collaborated with Pixar on the “USDZ” file format and with Adobe to make sure it was supported for three-dimensional media in the metaverse.
Any organization is welcome to join the group, including participants from the crypto world, according to Neil Trevett, an executive at chip maker Nvidia who is leading the Metaverse Standards Forum.
Without addressing how Apple’s absence would affect that objective, he said that the forum aims to facilitate communication between a variety of standards organizations and businesses to bring about “real-world interoperability” in the metaverse.
Following years of allegations that it ignored online abuses that stoked real-world violence in nations like India and Myanmar, Facebook owner Meta on Thursday published its first annual human rights report.
The report, which covers due diligence completed in 2020 and 2021, contains a summary of a contentious study on India’s human rights impact that Meta hired the legal team at Foley Hoag to complete.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two human rights organisations, have demanded the full release of the India assessment and have accused Meta of holding it up in a joint letter sent in January.
LAHORE: Iftikhar Ali Malik, president of the Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that trade and investment should be the determining factors for achieving Pakistan’s development goals rather than aid flows.
On Thursday, he made the case that aid would initially stifle and ultimately obliterate prospects for economic growth in a country while speaking to a delegation of industrialists and traders led by Momin Ali Malik, a member of the executive committee of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Aid debilitates
Additionally, “aid debilitates a nation that tries to stand on its own two feet and makes its recipients tremendously dependent on the donors and aid agencies. Unfortunately, Pakistan has experienced exactly that.
He emphasized that the massive amounts of foreign aid that Pakistan had requested since its inception to meet its development needs had more negative effects than positive ones. “The country has been relying more on foreign assistance and other capital inflows, such as foreign remittances, than on foreign trade and investment to meet the needs of development and achieve economic growth.”
The president of the Saarc chamber emphasized that those in charge of the nation’s affairs must take immediate action and make sincere efforts to address the serious situation.
He said, “The government must set its priorities correctly and take decisive action to reverse the dire economic situation.
Speaking at the event, Momin Ali Malik claimed that it was “a well-known fact” that trade had significantly reduced poverty levels throughout the world.
He made the point that trade liberalization has always benefited the fight against poverty and long-term economic growth.
Syed Aminul Haque, the federal minister for information technology and telecommunications, stated on Thursday that Pakistan was making ambitious efforts to reach the goal of $15 billion in IT exports over the following three years.
He was participating in a panel discussion at the National Incubation Centre (NIC) Karachi, part of the NED University of Engineering and Technology, on “Promoting US-Pakistan Innovation and Investment.”
The target for FY 2022–23 was set at $3 billion, and the IT ministry was fully committed to increasing that amount to $15 billion over the course of a three-year plan, according to the minister, who noted that Pakistan’s IT exports reached $2.6 billion in 2021–22.
According to him, the IT ministry has taken a number of initiatives to advance the industry as part of the Digital Pakistan vision, which has led to an increase in cellular, broadband, and internet connectivity.
Masood Khan, Pakistan‘s ambassador to the US, said on Saturday that Imran Khan, the former prime minister, had increased Pakistan’s exports to the US.
It was ironic that it happened when the former PM was blaming the US for supporting “the change in government” in the nation.
He claimed that Pakistan’s exports to the US increased 23% year over year and crossed $5 billion for the first time in the most recent fiscal year, primarily under the previous government of Imran Khan.
Imran’s claims that his removal from power was a result of a US plot to prevent him from pursuing an independent foreign policy seemed to stand in sharp contrast to the country’s increasing exports to the US.
The ambassador stated that Pakistan’s exports increased to $6.16 billion in the period of July through May of the previous fiscal year (July-June 2021–22), and that the figures for June, which were still to be released, would further increase the overall volume of exports.
“The US is Pakistan’s top export market and a significant trading partner. The increase in our exports is an extremely encouraging trend, he said.
He noted that Pakistan’s technology start-ups recently invested and received $1 billion, and he added that the digital businesses were quickly going global and getting ready for exponential growth.
KARACHI: After the market’s excitement over the restart of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program subsided on Friday, the US dollar once more soared past the 210-rupee threshold in the interbank market.
The dollar appreciated by 0.55 percent to close at Rs210.95 against the Pakistani rupee in the interbank market, according to information provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
After Pakistan and the Fund reached a staff-level agreement the day before, the rupee made a small recovery against the dollar, closing at 209.80, according to the central bank.
There is still time before Islamabad receives the $1.17 billion loan because the disbursement is still pending IMF Executive Board approval.
According to AA Commodities Director Adnan Agar, the market feels that Pakistan’s $1.17 billion IMF loan tranche is “insufficient.”
Investors are closely monitoring global oil prices in the hopes that a decline in these costs will help save the nation’s economy, the official said.
The analyst did, however, add that Pakistan would benefit if oil prices fell to between $60 and $70 per barrel on the international market, though this appears challenging given that Brent crude is falling as a result of calls for a global recession. “Oil prices will rebound once this passes,”
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Pakistan to restart a loan program that had been put on hold. The $1.17 billion loan will help Pakistan’s ailing economy.
According to an IMF statement, a “staff level agreement” will increase the amount distributed under an extended fund facility (EFF) to $4.2 billion, with the potential to rise to $7 billion and last until June of the following year. This agreement is still subject to board approval.
Imran Khan, a former prime minister, signed a $6 billion bailout package in 2019, but it repeatedly stalled because of his administration’s violation of subsidy agreements and poor tax collection.
The new agreement comes after Shehbaz Sharif‘s administration, which took office in April and has effectively eliminated fuel subsidies and introduced new measures to broaden the tax base, spent months making extremely unpopular budget cuts.
The IMF team’s leader, Nathan Porter, stated in a statement that “Pakistan is at a challenging economic juncture” and added that both external factors and domestic policies were to blame.
To satisfy the demands of international financial institutions, the new government has drastically reduced the number of subsidies, but by doing so, it runs the risk of angering the electorate, which is already suffering from double-digit inflation.
Khan was overthrown by a parliamentary no-confidence vote, and a new coalition government took office after that. The coalition has promised to make the difficult choices necessary to revive the economy.
The price of electricity has increased, effectively ending the subsidies introduced by Khan, and three fuel price increases totaling a cumulative 50 percent have been imposed by Prime Minister Shehbaz in an effort to secure the IMF loan.
Islamabad has already received $3 billion from the program, but officials requested an extension until June 2023 because the facility is set to close later this year.
The agreement required “a lot of hard work,” according to development economist Maha Rahman.
“It was necessary to make difficult choices that will have a domino effect on inflation and purchasing power. However, it is a relief that the decision has been made
Rahman acknowledged that despite this, it is one of those difficult pills to swallow that one wishes one didn’t have to.
To start weaning Pakistan off the IMF and other external assistance, she said, “We need to start developing domestic productivity.”
Aamir Sohail, a former captain of Pakistan and a witness to match-fixing, says the flood of legal revenue into cricket, which has seen players earn millions in championships, is a good thing because it lessens the temptation for corruption.
Aamir Sohail
Sohail’s prime playing years were from 1990 to 2000, which is far too soon to take advantage of the T20 revolution that the Indian Premier League started.
However, the 55-year-old, who exposed match-fixing in Pakistan in the 1990s — a term he despises —
It’s good that players now make good money, said Sohail, who participated in 156 one-day internationals and 47 tests.
Although there are temptations, there hasn’t been any wrongdoing reported recently.
“So I think that’s very good for the game if things are under control and cricketers, are getting legitimate money.”
After the nation’s cricket board established a judicial commission to look into allegations of match-fixing made by a number of players, including Sohail, Salim Malik, the former captain of Pakistan, was given a lifetime ban for match-fixing and pace bowler Ata-ur-Rehman was charged with perjury.
The two Test matches involving Pakistan that begin on Saturday will be called by Sohail, a TV commentator in Sri Lanka, who also added that current players shouldn’t be grumbling about playing too much cricket.
Sohail, a left-handed opener who was instrumental in Pakistan’s 1992 50-over World Cup victory, said of modern cricketers: “If he is aspiring to play top level of the game then he should be prepared for its demands.”
“Your level of hunger and fitness should correspond to the standard of play for your nation.”
He praised Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, for setting an example for the nation’s younger players through his work ethic and prolific run-scoring.
Sohail remarked that Babar had “demonstrated himself with his performance.”
“He now has to live up to those standards he’s set for his batting and keep getting better.”
The second Australia Test, which ended in a draw, saw Babar, 27, score 196 runs and have an average of over 45 in 40 Tests. Pakistan suffered a 1-0 series loss.
Old ball, new tricks
Sohail believes the current Pakistani Test team is talented, but he also believes that the fast bowlers need to learn new strategies to improve the effectiveness of the old ball when the reverse swing is not available.
“In Test cricket, there is undoubtedly room for improvement. In the middle overs, we used to spook the opposition’s batting with our reverse swing “said Sohail.
Former speedsters Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, who later became prime minister, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis were pioneers in reversing the ball.
The practise of maintaining the old ball with saliva, which helps reverse swing, is prohibited by the new COVID-19 rules, and pace bowlers, including India’s Jasprit Bumrah, think sweat is less effective.
However, Sohail, who was also a left-arm spinner during his playing days, insists that the reason reverse swing has occasionally lost its effectiveness is not saliva but rather the shifting characteristics of pitches. He urged the quicks to make changes.
He spoke. “They have nothing new when the ball isn’t reversing,” he said. “They are good with the new ball, good in the middle overs.”
“Our team will succeed in the long run if our fast bowlers master the art of using the old ball,”
After the batter lost form and was benched for the upcoming West Indies series, Pakistan captain Babar Azam pleaded with the former Indian captain Virat Kohli to persevere on Thursday night.
Babar Azam
“This will also pass. Stay steadfast, “In tweets and Instagram posts, Babar expressed his support for Kohli, who has come under fire for his underwhelming performance.
The 18-person squad announced by selectors for the upcoming five-match Twenty20 series in the West Indies lacked India’s struggling star batsman, Virat Kohli.
The 33-year-old former captain Kohli has been going through a protracted slump and hasn’t scored a century since 2019. His future is currently the subject of heated public discussion in his cricket-obsessed nation.
On Friday, President Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia to discuss energy supply, human rights, and security cooperation as part of a mission to rebuild US ties with a nation he once vowed to make a “pariah” on the international stage.
Joe Biden
A senior Biden administration official told reporters that Biden will meet with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, as well as other government officials.
Body language and rhetoric will be closely scrutinized during the visit.
Biden will likely shake hands with the prince, who is the de facto ruler of the kingdom, but White House advisers have declined to confirm this. A summit taking place in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Saturday will see Biden interact with a larger group of Arab leaders.
The president will greet them as usual when he meets with about a dozen leaders, the administration official said.
Officials advised Biden to avoid close contact, such as shaking hands, before his trip to the Middle East as a precaution against COVID-19. But in the end, the president shook hands with Israeli officials.
Although Biden stated that he would bring up human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, he did not specify whether he would bring up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi with the country’s leaders.
Reema bint In an article published in the American magazine Politico, Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, reiterated the kingdom’s “abhorrence” of the killing. She called it a gruesome atrocity and said it cannot define U.S.-Saudi relations.
She added that the “outdated and reductionist” oil-for-security paradigm should not be used to frame the relationship.
“The world has changed, and without a strong U.S.-Saudi alliance, it will be impossible to address the existential threats facing us all, including food and energy security and climate change,” she said.
The president and his advisors decided against isolating the kingdom, the top oil exporter in the world and a regional powerhouse that has been bolstering its ties with Russia and China, for reasons related to energy and security, particularly at a time when Gulf nations were concerned about what they perceived to be an American withdrawal from the region.
The United States wants Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners to increase oil production to help lower the high price of gasoline and lower the highest inflation in the country in four decades.
According to Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global and an authority on international energy markets, “The Saudis definitely intend to increase capacity and with oil prices so high they have the wherewithal to do that, particularly as they see production constraints elsewhere in a market that is still growing.”
regional protection During his visit, Biden will push for greater Middle Eastern integration and promote peace, the official said.
He said, “We will cover a variety of bilateral and regional issues, really capping many months of diplomacy and positioning the United States and our partners for the future in a manner that advances our interests and theirs.”
He mentioned issues like bolstering a cease-fire in the Yemeni conflict, “balance” in the energy markets, and technological collaboration in 5G and 6G.
To combat the “vision of chaos promoted by Iran,” the Saudi envoy said U.S.-Saudi efforts to maintain peace and security should concentrate on fostering cooperation and “reinforcing a rules-based system.”
Concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs as well as Tehran’s proxies in the area, where Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia have competed for influence, are shared by Gulf states with Israel.
On the first leg of his trip to the Middle East, Biden stopped in Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Yair Lapid and signed an agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies seeking.
The White House claims that Biden’s flight will serve as a “small symbol” of improving ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which two years ago gave the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain permission to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. Biden will be the first American president to travel directly from Israel to Jeddah.
Prior to Biden’s visit, Saudi Arabia announced that it would make its airspace open to all airlines, allowing for more overflights to and from Israel. Washington applauded this move as paving the way for a more cohesive, secure, and stable the Middle East.
Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump, passed away on Thursday, the former US president announced.
Donald Trump
Ivana Trump passed away at her New York City home, and I am deeply saddened to inform all of her many admirers, Donald Trump wrote in a post on the social media site Truth Social.
In 1977, they got hitched, and they got divorced in 1992. Together, they had three kids: Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr.
“Ivana Trump overcame adversity. She embraced this nation after leaving communism. She instilled in her kids the values of compassion, perseverance, and grit “In a statement, the Trump family was quoted. She was raised in former Czechoslovakia under communist rule.
ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet gave its blessing on Friday to the creation of a committee that will decide whether to file treason charges under Article 6 against the PTI’s top officials, including party chairman Imran Khan.
Cabinet
The cabinet approved the formation of a committee under the direction of Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar, according to Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb during a press conference following the cabinet meeting.
The cabinet, which met under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reportedly welcomed the Supreme Court’s thorough ruling in a suo motu case involving the decision made by former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri regarding the no-confidence motion against then-PM Khan.
Before voting against Khan could begin on April 3, Suri rejected the vote, calling it “unconstitutional” and supported by “foreign powers.”
However, the SC’s thorough ruling rejected PTI’s allegations of a foreign conspiracy and stated that the courts reach decisions based on evidence, not conjecture.
The court noted that no investigation was ordered to determine the type or degree of any Pakistani person’s involvement in seeking or receiving support from a foreign state in order to move the motion of no-confidence.
In addition, Justice Mazahar Alam Khan Miankhel noted that former law minister Fawad Chaudhry, President Arif Alvi, former Prime Minister Khan, former NA speaker Asad Qaiser, and ex-deputy speaker Suri had all violated their positions of authority and left it up to the parliamentarians to determine whether their actions could be punished under Article 6.
In her briefing today, Aurangzeb stated that “a special committee has been formed under the chairmanship of law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar […] and will present its recommendations in the next meeting of the federal cabinet.”
Case of Tayyaba Gul
Aurangzeb stated that a commission has been established to look into Tayyaba Gul’s allegations that she was made to stay at the Prime Minister’s House for nearly 20 days while Khan was in power.
The information minister reported that Tayyaba Gul told the PM’s Office that she was kidnapped and held hostage at the PM’s House for 18 days.
When Gul complained about sexual harassment and abuse on the PM’s Portal, according to Aurangzeb, the woman was “held captive” at the PM’s House rather than having her complaints heard.
Gul, who previously accused Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the former head of the National Accountability Bureau, of sexual harassment, asserts that Khan, the former prime minister, used her videos to have the then-opposition blackmailed and his cases against the NAB closed.
When she refused to share a flat with Iqbal, she allegedly faced backlash from NAB.
Gul claims that after filing a complaint on the prime minister’s portal, she was summoned to the PM’s residence by former principal secretary Azam Khan.
The information minister said the PM’s Office, through these tactics, “compromised” a national institution.
Gul, who previously accused Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the former head of the National Accountability Bureau, of sexual harassment, asserts that Khan, the former prime minister, used her videos to have the then-opposition blackmailed and his cases against the NAB closed.
When she refused to share a flat with Iqbal, she allegedly faced backlash from NAB.
Gul claims that after filing a complaint on the prime minister’s portal, she was summoned to the PM’s residence by former principal secretary Azam Khan.
The PM’s Office, according to the information minister, “compromised” a national institution with these strategies.
Imran Riaz Khan, a senior journalist who was detained earlier this month, was kept in a “cage” where civilized nations wouldn’t even keep animals, according to the former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Imran riaz
Riaz, however, spent a few days in jail before being later released on bail. The entire PTI leadership has spoken out against the journalist’s treatment, labelling it “unjust.” The arrest and the allegations against him were widely condemned.
Imran Khan posted a video from a cramped prison cell where Riaz was being held on Twitter. Riaz was allegedly "poisoned" in jail, according to him.
The PTI leader continued by saying that those responsible for Riaz’s mistreatment should be ashamed of it and that failing to do so would only fuel the public’s ire toward “this cabal of crooks & their handlers.”
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif promised to offer additional relief to the populace “as soon as” the government has the chance to do so after announcing a nearly Rs19 per litre decrease in the price of gasoline.
The message was sent by the PM a day after he announced a significant reduction in the cost of petroleum products, allowing people to feel relieved that oil prices had fallen on the world market.
Taking to Twitter, PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the coalition government successfully shifted the benefit of the drop-in petroleum product prices in the international market directly to the masses in Pakistan, as promised.
As soon as it has the “financial cushion to do so,” the government, according to him, will continue to provide relief to the populace.
“The coalition government has moved quickly to spread the benefits of the drop in oil prices to the people, in keeping with my commitment to the country. As soon as we have a financial cushion, we will continue to offer assistance. I support open dialogue with the public, “He composed.
In his address to the nation last night, Prime Minister Shehbaz blamed the previous administration for all of the nation’s economic problems and vowed that his administration would put the nation on the path to economic growth and prosperity over the ensuing 14 months.
The premier declared that in the upcoming months, the current administration will concentrate on three crucial sectors of the economy: agriculture, information technology (IT), and export-based industries.
He claimed that when his government took over a few months ago, it did so with a failing economy.
He stated that oil prices were “touching the sky” that inflation was at its “highest,” and that the previous government of Imran Khan had signed an agreement with the IMF with “tough conditions.”
Before being ousted, the Imran Khan administration “did not make any additional allocation for the reduction in the budget,” he continued, despite the abrupt drop in oil prices.
Imran claimed he did it “to create economic difficulties” for the new administration.
“Earlier, we had to raise the price of oil due to a hike in the international market,” PM Shehbaz said.
He claimed that while the increase in oil prices was a burden on the average person, his government had “no other option.”
The prime minister noted that there are countries in the world that, 25 years after signing their final agreement with the IMF, took a new path and eventually stood on their own two feet.
“I want this to be the last agreement with the IMF and after that, we should move towards self-sufficiency and stand on our own feet with dignity and honor.”
He said the path to self-sufficiency was “not an easy one and was laid with thorns” but the nation can achieve the goal with hard work and sincerity.
JERUSALEM: As North American vice chairman Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, the administration proclaimed that it had extended a request to the departed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s family to go to Washington.
Sullivan, Vice Chairman Biden’s national security authority, told reporters on board Air Force One that Secretary of State Antonius Blinken “has invited the family to the U.S. to be able to sit down and have interaction with him directly.” Air Force One later landed in Israel at 1200 GMT.
Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American, was killed while covering an Israeli army raid within the occupied geographic area.
The Palestinian-American journalist was killed by an Israeli fireplace, in line with the world organization. However, Washington acknowledged that this was probable, but said that there was no proof the murder was planned.
The “abject response” of the Biden administration to Abu Akleh’s passing has been criticized by her family. Shireen’s cousin Lina Abu Akleh confirmed that she had spoken to Blinken on Wednesday.
She said that: “We received a decision a couple of hours ago, around noon, and that we reiterated our demands and our request to fulfill the president upon his arrival” in the national capital.
According to her, the family expressed its “disappointment” with Washington’s legal holiday statement relating to the murder of Abu Akleh, that perceived to label Israeli forces of any deliberate wrongdoing.
North American
According to Lina Abu Akleh, Blinken made no mention of whether or not the family would meet a senior North American country official, whereas Biden’s delegation was in the national capital.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian journalist, was killed, and Israeli police brutalized mourners at her funeral. On Friday, as thousands of individuals carried Shireen Abu Akleh’s casket through Jerusalem’s previous town during a show of grief and outrage over her murder, Israeli law enforcement officials charged at Palestinian mourners carrying her coffin.
Dozens of Palestinians jammed around Abu Akleh’s coffin and started moving toward St. Joseph’s Hospital’s gates, whereas some waved Palestinian flags and sang, “With our soul and blood, we are going to redeem you, Shireen.”
Israeli law enforcement officials stormed through the grounds gates and charged at the gang, some beating pallbearers with batons and kicking them, in an understandable effort to stop them from automobilerying the coffin by foot instead of by car. When the cluster carrying her coffin came up against a wall, they nearly broke the coffin. However, they managed to catch it simply in time as stun grenades went off.
The transient but bloody incidents fueled Palestinian anger over Abu Akleh’s murder, making them vulnerable to an increase in the violence that has been on the increase since March.
For over twenty years, Abu Akleh covered the Middle East and Palestinian affairs. On Wednesday, he was shot while covering an Israeli raid within the occupied geographic area.
Israeli forces area unit was accused of assassinating Abu Akleh by Palestinian authorities. Initially, the Israeli government instructed that Palestinian shots could be responsible. However, officers later expressed they could not rule out Israeli shots. Qatar and Al Jazeera denounced the actions of the police. The North American country’s Ambassador to the world organization, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, aforementioned she was “deeply distressed by the pictures,” and the EU aforementioned it was absolutely aghast, in line with Deputy world organization proponent Farhan Haq.
Following the police’s intervention, the ceremonial service for Abu Akleh was conducted while not incident at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of mother in Jerusalem’s walled previous town.
As the coffin was transported to the close Mount Zion burial ground, throngs of Palestinians lined the previous City’s confined alleyways. Wreaths were placed on her grave, and therefore the Palestinian flag was draped over the grave cross as mourners solemnly gathered around it to pay their respects to Abu Akleh.
“Because we have a tendency to run around yelling for justice, we have a tendency to run around here.” Shireen Abu Akleh deserves justice, and Palestine deserves justice. ” One lamenter, who wanted to stay anonymous, said this:
RAWALPINDI: Maryam Nawaz, vice president of the PML-N, said on Thursday that the party had cleared every landmine set by the late “fitna” [Imran] Khan by making difficult choices with a heavy heart.
PML-N
Before the by-elections in the 20 constituencies of Punjab, Maryam said in a speech to a crowd in Rawalpindi that the PML-N’s responsibility to the people of Pakistan. She declared that in his address to the nation tonight, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would lower the price of petroleum products.
“He [Khan], who used to say that he hasn’t come into power to know the price of aloo and tamatar [potatoes and tomatoes], is now announcing prices of coriander and mint during all his public gatherings.
Fitna
“All your candidates are in the field, then why are you afraid ‘fitna’ Khan,” she questioned, urging the PTI chairman to come and contest the elections.
‘Historic SC judgment’
Terming the Supreme Court’s judgment in the suo motu case of former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling, related to the no-confidence motion against the ex-prime minister as “historic”, the PML-N vice president said: “Imran Khan is the first Pakistani politician to violate the Constitution”.
“He [Khan] used to say that he didn’t get into power to know the price of aloo and tamatar [potatoes and tomatoes], but now he announces the price of coriander and mint during all his public gatherings.
She urged the PTI chairman to participate in the elections by asking, “If all of your candidates are on the ballot, why are you afraid of ‘fitna’ Khan?”
“Historic SC decision”
PML-N The PML-N vice president referred to Imran Khan as “the first Pakistani politician to violate the Constitution” and said that the Supreme Court’s decision in the suo motu case involving the no-confidence motion against the former prime minister and the former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri was “historic”.
She pleaded with the coalition government to accuse the offender of treason.
She continued, saying that the supreme court noted that no evidence of the alleged conspiracy has been discovered. “The apex court, while rejecting his [Khan’s] claims regarding the involvement of a ‘foreign conspiracy in his ouster, labeled him a liar and fraud,” she said.
According to Maryam, Khan is the first politician in Pakistan to have the Supreme Court of Pakistan declare them to be a liar.
The phrase “Nawaz lives in people’s hearts” According to Maryam Nawaz, who cited Khan’s address, a picture of Nawaz Sharif was seen on a highway. “How could you possibly have missed that image of Nawaz Sharif? People’s hearts are where he lives. Every home will have his pictures.”
By-elections on July 17 are a “war for Punjab’s development,” according to Maryam Nawaz
In a new attack on the PTI, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz claimed on Monday that a Bani Gala gang was in charge of Punjab. She also warned her supporters that the by-elections for the vacant Punjab Assembly seats on July 17 are a battle for the growth of the region.
Speaking to party members in the PP-170 constituency, Maryam referred to the PTI chairman as the region’s greatest foe.
Imran Khan is the adversary of Punjab’s development, declared Maryam. She informed the former prime minister that Pakistan as a whole, not just Punjab, would witness the “funeral of his politics.”
A gang known as the Bani Gala gang was in charge of a 120 million-person province, claimed Maryam. In order to plunder the treasury, the former prime minister also established the “Gogi Pinky Economic Corridor,” she continued.
Maryam declared, “The war on July 17 is a war for Punjab’s development; it must be won.
The PML-N leader continued to criticise the former prime minister by calling him the “biggest fitna” in Pakistani politics.
Maryam claimed that the PTI chairman had urged people “to believe a conspiracy,” but two days ago Imran Khan dispatched party office bearers to apologise to US official Donald Lu.
He made this joke about Pakistan, not us. His wife’s audio has recently come to light, and he used to call people traitors,” said Maryam. She continued by calling the politician who was a cricketer the “biggest imposter.”
An important member of the Pakistani Army, Lieutenant Colonel Laiq Baig Mirza, accepted martyrdom after being shot by terrorists, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed in a statement on Thursday.
The military’s media wing claims that on the night of July 12/13, a group of 10–12 terrorists kidnapped Lt Col Laiq Shaheed, who was stationed in DHA Quetta, along with his cousin Umer Javed, as they were traveling back to Quetta from the residence of Quaid-e-Azam in Warchoom, Ziarat.
Army Quick Reaction Forces were sent out right away to pursue the evading terrorists after receiving the information. They were followed as they made their way to their hiding places near Mangi Dam.
Security forces then began a focused search operation with the help of Special Service Group (SSG) soldiers and helicopters.
As a result, on the night of July 13, one of the security forces’ teams noticed a group of 6–8 terrorists heading towards a nullah in the nearby mountains. Terrorists attempted to flee the scene after shooting Lt. Col. Laiq Shaheed after detecting their potential encirclement.
Two terrorists were shot dead by security forces during the ensuing gunbattle, and their hideout also yielded a sizable quantity of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), explosives, and ammunition.
The other kidnapped man, Omer, and the remaining terrorists, however, managed to escape for the time being.
Security forces have been conducting a sanitization operation in the area for the past 36 hours despite bad weather, determined to free the innocent civilians from hostage and capture the criminals.
Security Forces are still determined to thwart such cowardly attempts to undermine Balochistan’s peace, stability, and progress, according to the ISPR.
The 150th British Open began to play on the Old Course in St. Andrews on Thursday. Despite the ongoing fallout from the breakaway LIV Golf series, organizers wanted to keep the focus on a historic championship.
The R&A decided against banning the rebels, in contrast to the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, and some players who joined the Saudi-backed tour are competing in this week’s Open.
Several LIV series competitors are in St. Andrews, including Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and former Open champion Phil Mickelson. A victory for one of them this weekend may not do much to calm the sport’s tensions.
Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive, insisted that whoever triumphs on Sunday “will have their name carved in history, and I’ll welcome them onto the 18th green.”
“This event is a golf match. The Open needs to feature the best players in the world, so on Sunday night, I’m interested in seeing who shoots the lowest score.”
However, Slumbers also criticized the Saudi-backed series, which provides prize money of $25 million for each 54-hole competition, as opposed to a $14 million prize pool for this week’s Open.
“The LIV model is not in the best long-term interests of the sport as a whole and is entirely driven by money,” he claimed.
The merit-based culture and spirit of open competition that makes golf unique are undercut, he continued.
Rory McIlroy is among the players who have voiced opposition to the new series and the Northern Irishman would prefer not to see one of the rebels triumphs in St Andrews.
In his defense, he admitted, “I believe it would be better for the game.”
There is a long list of competitors hoping to succeed Collin Morikawa, who won at Royal St. George’s last year, whether they are connected to the new series or not.
Although US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England may disagree, McIlroy, who won 2014 Open at Hoylake, currently holds the top spot among the European candidates after finishing second at the Masters and fifth at the US Open this season.
Scottie Scheffler, the Masters champion and current world number one, is at the top of a long list of American competitors, but he claims to feel no additional pressure because of his position.
“Being the home of golf and the Open Championship amplifies things a bit, but that’s across the board,” the 26-year-old said on Wednesday.
“I think it doesn’t matter if I’m ranked number one in the world or number 50 in the world; I want to win this tournament as badly as or more than anyone else,”
With Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann, Scheffler takes the first shot of the round.
The Olympic champion who won the Scottish Open last week, Xander Schauffele, plays alongside Morikawa and McIlroy.
The Open is anticipating record attendance for the week of 290,000, so the first championship following the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions will have a packed house.
For the first time since Zach Johnson’s victory here in 2015, when bad weather forced the finish to be moved to the following Monday, the course is hosting the championship for the 30th time.
Even though winds have picked up over the last two days and rain seemed to appear out of nowhere on Wednesday, there seems little chance that the weather will cause such havoc this time.
With Branden Grace’s 62 at Birkdale in 2017 holding the record for the best round at a major, stiff breezes may put an end to any hopes of a record low score being set.
“This golf course has withstood the test of time despite technological advancements. It’s still extremely challenging, and, weather-dependent “Tiger Woods, a two-time winner of the Open at St. Andrews, said.
The 46-year-old, who has been recuperating from serious leg injuries sustained in a car accident last year and missed the US Open, tees off with Fitzpatrick and Max Homa at 2:59 p.m. (1359 GMT).
Paul Lawrie of Scotland, who won the Open at Carnoustie in 1999, had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the competition in the calm but cool conditions at
Karsten Warholm, the reigning world champion in the hurdles from Norway, insisted on Wednesday that he would give it his all as he battled back from an injury to pursue a third world championship gold.
When Warholm broke the 29-year-old world record to win the 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Games in a time of 45.94sec, he delivered a performance that is regarded as one of the most outstanding Olympic track performances of all time.
However, the 26-year-old pulled up hurt at the Diamond League competition in Rabat in early June with a “muscle fiber tear” in his hamstring, which he described to reporters on Wednesday ahead of the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, as a “personal disaster.”
Warholm, who has been receiving treatment in Germany and combining swimming workouts with physiotherapy in the hopes of being fit for Eugene, said: “The last five to six weeks have been close to hell.”
It’s been difficult because you don’t know how each day will turn out when you get this thing.
His hopes are still very high, but the Norwegian proverb says: “We conducted some testing before this.
“I believe it is safe to say that we are going in there completely at this point.
“There is no such thing as feeling just OK before a championship. I feel 100 percent ready to go; when I say that, I always mean 100 percent “recent .”
Warholm emphasized that his first competitive outing in 2021 had seen him win gold in a world record in Tokyo, saying that a lack of competitive outings was neither here nor there.
Naturally, you should participate in some races to build your confidence, but on the other hand, I’m not worried about confidence, he said.
“I don’t know what I can bring to the table, so it’s going to be challenging, but I know for sure that all of my training up until the injury was excellent.
Naturally, it’s not the best way to enter a championship.
Warholm added that his competition, a physically and technically demanding effort to clear 10 hurdles in one lap, was not for the weak-willed.
He acknowledged, “This is probably the hardest task I’ll ever take on in this part of my career.”
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday ruled in the Margalla Hills National Park case that neither the Remount, Veterinary and Farms (RVF) directorate of the army nor the General Headquarters (GHQ) have the legal right to own state land under the Constitution or the law.
According to the strongly worded ruling by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, land is allotted for the use of the various branches of the armed forces and is managed and retained in accordance with the governing law’s plan and, that too, by the entities and public functionaries designated thereunder.
Other than as permitted by the Constitution and the aforementioned laws, neither the RVF Directorate nor the GHQ are permitted to own, acquire, or manage land provided for their use. The federal government allots the land for the branches of the armed forces to use in a specific and stated manner.
The federal or provincial governments, as appropriate, continue to be the owners of the land. The aforementioned laws specifically state that the nature or character of land designated for military use cannot be changed without the express consent of the federal government. Additionally, once the land is no longer being used for the intended purpose, it will, as appropriate, revert to the federal or provincial governments.
The federal government allocated the land for its use, and neither the Pakistan Army nor any other branch of the armed forces can claim ownership of it. In the event that the land is returned to the original owner after being used for another purpose, it is also ineligible to make any compensation claims. No matter what, neither the GHQ nor the RVF Directorate has locus standi to disobey the designated civilian authorities in charge of handling and managing lands.
The detailed order was issued more than six months after the IHC had made a brief ruling regarding petitions filed by Prof. Zahid Baig Mirza, a specialist in biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystems, and local residents who had called attention to the “lack of will” in the area.
The IHC ordered the CDA to seal the Monal Restaurant on January 11 and to take control of the Margalla Greens Golf Club, which had been built on the encroached property. It also deemed the military’s claim to 8,602 acres of the Margalla Hills National Park to be “illegal.” On March 8, the Supreme Court, however, ordered the IHC ruling regarding the sealing and seizure of the Monal Restaurant to be suspended.
The Pakistan Army was given access to the entire E-10 sector, and the IHC noted in its detailed order that the petitioners, who resided in a village outside of the sector, claimed that the army had infringed upon the Margalla Hills’ notified area.
Although there has recently been construction in the allotted sector, the CDA chairman informed the court that because of some unresolved land acquisition disputes, possession of the entire allotted sector had not yet been taken over. Once these disputes were resolved, the allotted land would be demarcated.
To prevent encroachment into the protected area, the defence secretary also promised on behalf of Pakistan’s Surveyor General that the notified area outside the land designated for the use of the Pakistan Army would be demarcated.
The IHC claimed that no activity of any kind could be carried out outside the boundaries of the E-10 sector and that doing so would constitute an illegal encroachment on state property subjecting the officials to civil and criminal sanctions, including those under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Act and the CDA Ordinance 1960.
The IHC noted that neither the Remount, Veterinary and Farms (RVF) Directorate nor the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army had any authority over the 8,602 acres of the integral land inside the Margalla Hills that they claimed to be theirs and that the Punjab government had allotted through a notification dated April 23, 1910 for the purpose of producing “hay” for the army’s animals.
Thus, the court ruled that the GHQ or RVF directorate’s claim of ownership of the 8,602 acres of land in the Margalla Hills notification area was unlawful, made without proper authority, and violated the relevant legal framework.
The IHC noted that institutions were flagrantly breaking the law in disregard of the constitutionally intended system, and that this development made it clear that “state institutions felt compelled to act as a state within a state.” The judgement regretted that the authorities tasked by statute to prevent violations appeared to be “helpless or complacent,” and it added that the actions and stance of the RVF directorate and GHQ had serious repercussions for the rule of law.
According to the court order, “They acted on their own and in so doing they have seriously undermined the rule of law in derogation to their declared functions under the Constitution,” adding that the sanctity of the Margalla Hills’ protected and preserved notified area had been violated.
According to the judgement, the IHC anticipated that the federal government would carry out its duty to look into the situation and hold those responsible who decided to break the law by desecrating the sanctity of the Margalla Hills’ protected and preserved notified area and thereby violating the rights that are guaranteed to not only the present but also future generations.
