Ousted Pak PM picks brother Shahbaz Sharif as successor

News Network
July 30, 2017

Karachi, Jul 29: Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday picked his brother and Punjab province Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as his successor and nominated former Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as interim Prime Minister for 45 days.

“Now that I have left the Prime Minister’s Office, I propose the name of Shahbaz Sharif as Prime Minister. But it will take some time as he has to contest election on a National Assembly seat. So for an interim period, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has agreed to become the Prime Minister,” Mr. Sharif said in an address to party legislators in Islamabad.

Defiant note

Mr. Sharif, who was disqualified on Friday by the Supreme Court after a probe into his family’s assets following last year’s Panama Papers revelations that linked his children to offshore companies, struck a defiant note in the speech, taking credit for Pakistan’s nuclear tests and recalling the history of the country’s military coups.

“I have made Pakistan a nuclear power. I was offered $5 billion not to conduct nuclear tests, but I refused. I have made relations better with our neighbours. But I was handcuffed for that…. Whenever martial law is imposed in the country, it was because of a handful of people, not by the entire military,” he added.

The five-member bench of the top court unanimously ruled that Mr. Sharif had been “dishonest” in not disclosing his earnings from a UAE-based company in his nomination papers.

Mr. Sharif, however, said the Supreme Court ruling surprised him. “I was not holding any public office when my son set up the company in Dubai and we were in exile. I have not received any salary from my son’s company. I have not received any kickback and done anything wrong.”

He also recalled how prime ministers in Pakistan have been sent packing in the past 70 years. “Our 70 years’ history is regrettable. If the practice of sending Prime Ministers home is not stopped, the country will face greater problems.”

No Pakistani Prime Minister has completed a full five-year term.

Pakistan Muslim League-N sources said Mr. Shahabaz Sharif would contest from Mr. Sharif’s NA-120 constituency, a stronghold of the party. The Election Commission will issue the date of the election next week. Till the elections are over, Mr. Abbasi will remain the interim Prime Minister.

Mr. Abbasi, a Sharif loyalist, has been a member of the National Assembly since 1998. He has a masters degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University in Washington and had served as the chairman of the Pakistan International Airlines and the chief executive of private airline Air Blue. He was the Petroleum Minister in the out-going Sharif cabinet.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Minneapolis, Jun 2: An official autopsy released Monday ruled that George Floyd, the African-American man whose death at police hands set off unrest across the United States, died in a homicide involving "neck compression".

George, 46, died of "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression," and the manner of death was "homicide," the Hennepin County Medical Examiner in Minneapolis said in a statement.

Floyd's other significant health conditions were listed as "arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; recent methamphetamine use."

The statement added that the "manner of death is not a legal determination of culpability or intent."

It emphasized that under Minnesota state law "the Medical Examiner is a neutral and independent office and is separate and distinct from any prosecutorial authority or law enforcement agency."

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Unnao, Feb 26: Ever heard of someone wishing a 'bright future' for the dead? In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, a village head issued a death certificate with the wish for an elderly man who had died last month.

The incident took place in the Sirwariya village in Asoha block where an elderly person Laxmi Shankar died after a prolonged illness on January 22.

His son went to the village head Babulal and requested him to issue a death certificate that he needed for some financial transactions.

Babulal not only issued the death certificate, but also 'wished' 'a bright future for the deceased' on the document.

The village head wrote in the death certificate -- "Main inke ujjwal bhavishya ki kaamna karta hoon (I wish him a bright future)."

The letter went viral on the social media on Monday after which the village head apologised for the error and issued a new death certificate.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Hundreds of Central Americans trying to reach the United States were stuck at the Mexico-Guatemala border on Wednesday after the Mexican government beefed up security to meet US demands to contain migrant flows.

Under sustained pressure from President Donald Trump, Mexico's government has adopted tougher measures to reduce the number of people heading towards the U.S. border.

Migrants in Tecun Uman, on the Guatemalan side of the border, were taken by surprise.

"We thought we'd be allowed through just like with the October caravan when they reached Tijuana," said Honduran migrant Ritzy Anabel, who did not give her surname.

"People from Mexico and Guatemala treated them well. But now it's changed because Mexicans don't want (us) to enter."

Many Central Americans migrants heading north are fleeing economic hardship and violence at home. A large caravan of migrants crossed into Mexico and went north in October 2018. Migrants crossing into Mexico earlier this week faced tear gas from security forces, who delivered a firmer response than in previous mass movements at the border.

Even so, about 1,000 migrants, most of them from Honduras, managed to reach Mexican soil on Tuesday. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said several hundred of the new arrivals were immediately deported on planes and buses.

On Wednesday, Mexican authorities said that 460 Honduran migrants were deported throughout the day. Other migrants from the group, including families traveling with children, were pondering their next moves.

Honduran Carlos Amador said that while some of his compatriots were returning home, others were hoping for positive news.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to punish Mexico and Central American countries if they fail to clamp down on the migrant flows. That has resulted in a series of agreements aimed at delivering on Trump's campaign promises to curb immigration.

Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf called the measures put in place by the Mexican National Guard "effective", adding that dozens of his personnel was on the ground in Central America assisting local immigration and security officials. Trump tweeted: "Sorry, if you come you will be immediately sent back!"

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