Khushab, 05 May 2021 (Geo News)

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N)  has won the PP-84 Khushab by-election with a significant margin as he retained the seat that was vacated after the death of party lawmaker Malik Muhammad Waris Kallo in March.

According to an unofficial and unconfirmed count that concluded early Thursday morning, Moazzam Sher Kallu, PMLN candidate came out on top with 73,081 votes, while sitting Prime Minister's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) got second place.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the public and victorious candidate Moazzam Sher Kallu. “The people of Khushab have rejected the wheat and sugar thieves,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the PML-N’s official Twitter handle.

He said the victory was the public’s acknowledgement of the services rendered during the PML-N’s tenure. “By the grace of Allah Almighty, Nowshera, Daska, Wazirabad and now [the people of] Khushab have placed their seal of trust in the PML-N,” Sharif added.

He thanked God for the election victory, the workers, party supporters and the people. “This vote is a vote for the development of Pakistan and Punjab under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif,” the opposition leader said.

He also said given the opportunity, “we will serve Punjab and Pakistan with more passion” than ever before.

 

Washington, 03 May 2021 (Anadolu News)

Bill and Melinda Gates are getting a divorce following nearly three decades of marriage, the couple announced on Monday.

"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," Bill and Melinda Gates said in a statement. "Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives."

The couple said they would continue their work at the Gates Foundation, but said "we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives."

Bill Gates is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of over $130 billion, according to Forbes. He has donated some $35.8 billion in Microsoft stock to his foundation.

kalcuta, India, 02 May 2021 (AlJazeera)

The incumbent chief minister’s party in India’s West Bengal state has defeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party in state elections held as the coronavirus pandemic surged to crisis levels.

Modi has been criticised for focusing on the elections instead of making the pandemic his top priority.

Mamata Banerjee, 66, is set to be the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time after her Trinamool Congress party (TMC) won a two-thirds majority, taking more than 200 seats in the 294-seat state assembly, election commission officials said. Final counting for some seats was still under way.

Banerjee is currently India’s only female chief minister. In a victory speech on Sunday, Banerjee said West Bengal’s “immediate challenge is to combat COVID-19 and we are confident that we will win”. “This victory has saved the humanity, the people of India. It’s the victory of India,” Banerjee, a fierce critic of Modi, added.

Despite the defeat, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made substantial gains in West Bengal, making it the main opposition party as its tally in the state legislature went to nearly 80 seats from just three seats won in 2016.

In Assam state, the BJP managed to retain political power. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK – the main regional opposition party – secured victory. In Kerala state, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) was set to form the government, while the BJP led-alliance won no seats. In the union territory of Puducherry, the All India NR Congress-led alliance was leading in 14 of the 30 assembly seats.

Modi, his colleagues and regional politicians campaigned aggressively in five state elections despite the pandemic.

On Sunday, India recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic yet with 3,689 deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of cases surged to 19.5 million on Sunday with 392,488 new infections, government data showed. India became the first country to cross 400,000 daily cases on Saturday.

30 April 2021 (Daily Dawn)

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for a review of the GSP+ status granted to Pakistan in view of an "alarming" increase in the use of blasphemy accusations in the country as well as rising number of online and offline attacks on journalists and civil society organisations, it emerged on Friday.

The resolution also calls on the Government of Pakistan to "unequivocally condemn" incitement to violence and discrimination against religious minorities in the country, and expresses "deep concern" at the prevailing anti-French sentiment in Pakistan.

The EU Parliament "calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to immediately review Pakistan’s eligibility for GSP+ status in the light of current events and whether there is sufficient reason to initiate a procedure for the temporary withdrawal of this status and the benefits that come with it, and to report to the European Parliament on this matter as soon as possible", according to the resolution.

Member of European Parliament (MEP) Charlie Weimers of Sweden, who co-authored the resolution, in his speech during the parliament's latest session cited various incidents of members of religious minorities killed or imprisoned in Pakistan over accusations of blasphemy.

"Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, rather than defend his citizens' human rights against false accusers, [...] equated denial of the Holocaust and genocide to criticism of Islam's Prophet (PBUH)," he said in his remarks.

The lawmaker also tweeted: "Should Europe reward Pakistan’s mob justice targeting Christians and its Prime Minister relativising the Holocaust? My answer is no."

Responding to the passage of the resolution, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari while apparently referring to Weimers said: "It is unfortunate that the co-sponsor of the EU's anti-Pakistan resolution was a member of a party that the Swedish PM Stefan Lofven referred to as 'a neo-fascist single-issue party' with 'Nazi and racist roots'."

She said the pertinent question now was "whether GSP Plus is getting muddied in Islamophobia?"

"We have issues to resolve but there has been more movement now on our Human Rights International Convention commitments than in previous governments. The way forward is dialogue & negotiations, which we have been doing, not extreme public positionings. Unfortunate," she wrote, tagging the EU ambassador to Pakistan in her tweet.

Ankara, 01 May 2021 (Anadolu News)

Iran’s Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said Saturday that Saudi Arabia and Israel are believed to be behind the recent leak of an audio recording for Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Jahangiri said in statements cited by local media that the recording was released in a "sensitive time" amid talks taking place in Vienna over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. "I think there is an Israeli-Saudi conspiracy behind the audio recording," Jahangiri said.

He added that President Hassan Rouhani gave instructions to his intelligence services to probe the issue to know how such a recording has reached Saudi media.

On Monday, the New York Times published segments from a leaked audio recording for Zarif which stirred controversy in Iran, with many lawmakers and former officials demanding Zarif resign.

Zarif said in the recording that Qasim Soleimani, a former Iranian general who was killed in January 2020 by the US, was working with Russia to oppose the Iranian nuclear deal.

Zarif also said in the recording that Iran is ruled by the "military field."

Geneva, 01 May 2021 (Anadolu News)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that it listed the Moderna vaccine for emergency use for the coronavirus -- the fifth injection to receive emergency validation from the UN agency.

"One of the things done under the process is to review how the manufacturing is done," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told journalists at a UN news conference.

The WHO said the Emergency Use Listing assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines -- a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply. .

COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by Gavi, the vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.

It also allows countries to accelerate their regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.

The US pharmaceutical company’s vaccine has already been reviewed by the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), making recommendations for vaccines' use in populations.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine on Dec. 18.

And a marketing authorization valid throughout the European Union was granted by the European Medicines Agency on Jan. 6.

The Moderna vaccine is an mNRA-based vaccine, a new type of shot to protect against infectious diseases. SAGE found it to have an efficacy of 94.1%.

Although the vaccine is provided as a frozen suspension at -25 C to -15 C (-13 F to 5 F) in a multi dose vial, vials can be stored refrigerated at 2 - 8 C (36 - 46 F) for up to 30 days before the withdrawal of the first dose.

WHO has also listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India and Janssen vaccines for emergency use.

Ankara, 01 May 2021 (Anadolu News)

A Taliban delegation led by deputy leader Mullah Baradar met Thursday with Washington’s special envoy for Afghanistan and his delegation in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Baradar and Zalmay Khalilzad discussed “the current situation of Afghanistan, the peace process and matters pertaining to them,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter.

The meeting was held in the wake of the postponement of an Afghan peace conference, because of non-participation by the Taliban, that was slated for April 24. Turkey announced on April 20, the postponement of the conference in Istanbul until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Taliban declined to attend the conference, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops by May in line with the Doha Agreement with the US.

The meeting was scheduled for April 24-May 4 to fast-track an agreement between the Taliban and Kabul amid an announcement by Washington that foreign troops would leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11.​​​​​​​

US President Joe Biden announced earlier this month that the US would be withdrawing all of its forces by Sept. 11 -- the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that prompted the US military operation.

Deployment of foreign troops began in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, when the US, together with the UK, launched Operation Enduring Freedom.

Currently, there are 9,592 troops from 36 nations stationed in Afghanistan. The US tops the list with 2,500 soldiers.