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Former Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk Named Pakistan's Caretaker PM

Agencies
May 29, 2018

Islamabad, May 29: Pakistan's former chief justice Nasirul Mulk named as the country's caretaker prime minister for a two-month period, ending the political wrangling between ruling PML-N and the Opposition ahead of the general elections on July 25.

The announcement was made by Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah at a press conference here which was also attended by incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

Mulk, 67, is likely to be sworn in on Friday, June 1. The present government will complete the tenure on May 31 and the caretaker government will remain in office until a new government is set up through elections.

Shah expressed hope that Mulk will successfully conduct free, fair and impartial elections in Pakistan on July 25.

The announcement came after weeks of deadlock between the PML-N and the Opposition over the name of the caretaker prime minister.

It took the government and the opposition six meetings to decide on a name for the position.

Though, Abbasi spoke first but he let Shah announce the name of the caretaker leader.

Abbasi described the agreed-upon candidate for the caretaker prime minister as someone "who no one can object to".

"His role as a caretaker PM will be in favour of the country and the democratic process," he said.

Announcing the name, Shah said the NA speaker had played a major role in both parties reaching an agreement.

"We have made a democratic decision. I am thankful to the PM, to the speaker, for making this decision with patience, setting aside emotion. The name of the person I would like to present is very respectable," the veteran PPP leader said.

"The name is Nasirul Mulk, who has remained a chief justice. He has played a historic role... in the judiciary and when he was a lawyer," he said.

The job of the caretaker prime minister is to keep the country running between the dissolution of parliament and the new government being sworn in.

Earlier, several names including retired Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, former State Bank governor Ishrat Hussian, former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani and former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf were reportedly discusse by the two sides.

Mulk was born on August 17, 1950 in Mingora, Swat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He worked as lawyer and judge for several years before his appointment as the 22nd Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2014.

President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday approved July 25 as the polling date for general and provincial elections.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf is expected to be the main challenger to the ruling party in the general elections.

In its 70-year-long history, the country experienced its first democratic transition of power in 2013, when Pakistan Peoples Party handed over the power to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which had won the general elections.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Washington, Aug 7: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) signed executive orders halting all transactions with Chinese applications TikTok and WeChat within 45 days, citing national security concerns, further escalating the tensions between Beijing and Washington.

"WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States. Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. 

This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," Trump said in a statement.

Citing reasons for the ban on WeChat, the US President said that the application captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the US, thereby providing the CCP a mechanism to keep tabs on the Chinese citizens who may be "enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives".

"In March 2019, a researcher reportedly discovered a Chinese database containing billions of WeChat messages sent from users in not only China but also the United States, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia. WeChat, like TikTok, also reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive and may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP. 

These risks have led other countries, including Australia and India, to begin restricting or banning the use of WeChat. The US must take aggressive action against the owner of WeChat to protect our national security," he added.

Earlier, Trump had issued an order banning TikTok as it "reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China's treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. 

TikTok may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP."
US politicians have repeatedly criticised TikTok, owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China.

The development comes as China and the US are at loggerheads on a variety of issues including Hong Kong national security law, the South China Sea, the novel coronavirus and trade.

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News Network
July 26,2020

New Delhi, Jul 26: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday saluted the valour and grit of the Indian soldiers on the occasion of 21st anniversary of the 'Kargil Vijay Diwas'.

Shah took to Twitter and said that 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' is a symbol of India's proud, valour and steadfast leadership.

"Kargil Vijay Diwas is a symbol of India's proud, valor and steadfast leadership. I bow to the soldiers who, with their indomitable courage, drove the enemy from the inaccessible hills of Kargil and waved the tricolor there again. The country is proud of the heroes of India, who are dedicated to protecting the motherland," Shah tweeted (translated from Hindi)
The country is celebrating the anniversary of the 'Kargil Vijay Diwas'.

The Indian armed forces had defeated Pakistan on July 26, 1999. Since then, the day is celebrated as 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' to rekindle the pride and valour of the soldiers who took part in Operation Vijay.

The day marks the victory of Indian soldiers in recapturing the mountain heights that were occupied by the Pakistani Army on July 26, 1999, known as the Kargil War. 

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Washington, Jul 7: The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will grill the CEOs of US tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon during an antitrust hearing on July 27.

Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Amazon's Jeff Bezos will testify before the antitrust panel that is working on proposals to reform and regulate the digital market.

The hearing would mark the first time all four top executives testify together in front of Congress, virtually or in-person depending on the panel's call in the COVID-19 pandemic times.

"Since last June, the Subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) said in a statement on Monday.

"Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming. As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation.”

The House Judiciary Committee announced its antitrust probe into the four tech giants in June last year.

Last month, the committee sent letters to technology giants Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet (Google's parent company), asking them to confirm if their chief executives will testify as part of the committee's tech competition investigation.

Committee chair David Cicilline said the documents that the investigators sought were "essential" to the probe and that requests like this were part of the "appropriate process" to obtain them.

"The only CEO who has expressed reservation about appearing, through a representative, has been Amazon," Cicilline said. "No one in this country is above the law ... nobody is above answering a congressional subpoena".

The lawmakers want the tech giants to furnish documents that have been produced in relation to other competition probes and internal communications.

The letters that the committee sent also posed questions related to possible harms to competition in the market.

In addition to the antitrust probe, Apple's App Store policies are also facing scrutiny from the US Department of Justice.

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