Who will be next Pak PM? Here are 6 aspirants

Agencies
July 29, 2017

Islamabad, Jul 29: With Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quitting his job after the Supreme Court disqualified him on Friday, questions are swirling over who will succeed him.

The court’s decision to dismiss the thrice-elected Prime Minister followed a petition by the Opposition, which had levelled corruption charges against him and his family members. Mr. Sharif will now face criminal charges.

Legal experts say that under constitutional rules, Mr. Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League will have to nominate a lawmaker to replace him. That nominee will then have to be elected by the National Assembly, where the party enjoys a comfortable majority.

Here are the prime minister probables:

Ahsan Iqbal, minister for planning and development, is an engineering graduate who has been a member of Mr. Sharif’s party since 1988. He studied business in the United States and is considered a close ally of Mr. Sharif. He was elected from Narowal, a city in Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, where 60 per cent of the country’s 200 million people live.

Yaz Sadiq, Parliamentary Speaker, was elected from Lahore, capital of eastern Punjab province. He defeated a close associate of Mr. Sharif’s chief opponent, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who spearheaded the Opposition petition that triggered the Supreme Court’s ruling. Political analysts say Mr. Sharif could select Mr. Sadiq as his successor just to annoy Mr. Khan.

Hurram Dastgir Khan, commerce minister, is also an engineer. He was elected from the industrial city of Gujranwala, also in eastern Punjab province, a stronghold of the Sharifs.

Hahid Khaqan Abbasi, petroleum minister, is another close ally of Mr. Sharif. He faced charges along with Mr. Sharif following the 1999 bloodless coup by Gen. (retd.) Pervez Musharraf. Abbasi was elected from the mountain resort area of Murree, also in Punjab.

Hwaja Muhammed Asif, defence minister, has been a harsh critic of Pakistan’s powerful military and its propensity to involve itself in the country’s civilian affairs. He was elected from Sialkot, also in Punjab.

Shahbaz Sharif, who is the Chief Minister of Punjab province and Mr. Nawaz Sharif's brother,would first have to win a by-election for a seat in Parliament if his brother chooses him.

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SYED
 - 
Saturday, 29 Jul 2017

Our MP Mr. Kateel is hiding behind MATCH BOX....Haahahaha LOL

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Washington, Mar 8: An attendee at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which also saw the participation of US President Donald Trump, has tested positive for COVID-19, the American Conservative Union (ACU) said.

The exposure occurred prior to the conference held in National Harbor, Maryland, just south of Washington D.C., Xinhua news agency quoted the ACU as saying in a statement on Saturday.

A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the positive result, said the statement.

"The individual is under the care of medical professionals in the state of New Jersey, and has been quarantined," it said.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the gathering, which took place from February 26-29.

Also present at the event were a number of administration and cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and newly-appointed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Saturday that the White House was aware of the development.

"At this time there is no indication that either President Trump or Vice President Pence met with or were in close proximity to the attendee," Grisham said in a statement.

"The President's physician and US Secret Service have been working closely with White House Staff and various agencies to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the First Family and the entire White House Complex safe and healthy."

The news emerged as Washington D.C. and neighbouring state of Virginia respectively confirmed their first cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.

In a press conference on Saturday night, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said a resident in his 50s showed symptoms of a respiratory virus in February. He was admitted to a hospital in the District on March 5.

The patient had no history of recent international travel, nor had he been exposed to anyone who was confirmed to be infected, according to Bowser.

The Mayor said D.C. health authorities were investigating the man's contact with other people before he went to the hospital.

A US Marine assigned to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, tested positive on Saturday for COVID-19 and is currently being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

"The Marine recently returned from overseas where he was on official business," tweeted Jonathan Rath Hoffman, adding that Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and the White House have been briefed.

As of Saturday night, more than 420 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the US with 17 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Beijing, Feb 6: The number of confirmed fatalities from China's coronavirus outbreak rose to at least 560, after authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province reported 70 new deaths on February 6.

In its daily update, the health commission in Hubei also confirmed the number of confirmed infections in the outbreak has reached 28,018 nationwide with 3,694 new cases reported.

The epidemic, which has spiralled into a global health emergency, is believed to have emerged in December from a market that sold wild game in Hubei's capital Wuhan.

Hu Lishan, an official in Wuhan, warned Wednesday that despite building a hospital from scratch and converting public buildings to accommodate thousands of extra patients, there was still a "severe" lack of beds in the region.

There was also a shortage of "equipment and materials," he told reporters, adding that officials were looking to convert other hotels and schools in the city into treatment centres.

Authorities in several other cities in China have placed restrictions on the number of people allowed to leave their homes.

Global concerns have also risen about the virus, with cases confirmed in more than 20 countries.

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Agencies
June 24,2020

Washington, Jun 24: Twitter has once again flagged a tweet from US President Donald Trump which promoted violence by saying if protesters tried to set up an "autonomous zone" in Washington, DC they would be met with "serious force".

This is the fourth time Twitter has red flagged Trump's tweet for glorifying violence or violating its policies.

Trump has been critical of the "autonomous zone" in Seattle, an area occupied by protestors for much of this month.

"We've placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behaviour, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group," Twitter's safety team tweeted late Tuesday.

Trump had tweeted: "There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone' in Washington, D.C., as long as I'm your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!"

Twitter earlier labeled a video tweeted by him which mocked CNN as manipulated media.

According to Twitter, "this Tweet has been labeled per our synthetic and manipulated media policy to give people more context".

In May, Twitter labeled two Trump tweets that made false claims about mail-in ballots in California.

Twitter later labeled another Trump tweet glorifying violence in which he said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Facebook also removed a Trump campaign ad featuring a symbol used by Nazis for political dissenters, saying the ad violated its policies.

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