Funnel web spider venom may be used to prevent damage caused by heart attacks


© Getty Images

By Jason Goodyer
Published: 04th July, 2022 at 11:44

Human clinical trials are set to begin on the drug within a year.

Funnel web spiders are one of the deadliest spiders in the world. A bite from one can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, high blood pressure and, in more serious cases, fluid in the lungs, unconsciousness and even death.

However, it turns out that a molecule found in this deadly venom could potentially be used to prevent damage caused by heart attacks and strokes, a team based at the University of Queensland, Australia, have found.

The compound, named IB001, was isolated from the venom of the K’gari funnel-web spider, Hadronyche infensa, in a previous study. The local Butchulla people call it mudjar nhiling guran, or 'long-toothed spider', thanks to its large, intimidating fangs.

In a further study carried out last year by UQ’s Professor Glenn King and Dr Nathan Palpant, IB0001 was seen to prevent cell death caused by loss of oxygen to the heart and brain during heart attacks and stroke.

The team now plan to begin human clinical trials of the drug within a year after receiving an investment of 23 million Australian dollars. They also hope to raise another round of funding to work on the development of drugs to extend the life of donor hearts used in organ transplants.

It could prove to be especially important as there are currently no drugs in use that can prevent the damage caused by heart attacks, the researchers say.

After a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is reduced, resulting in a lack of oxygen being supplied to heart tissue. This causes the environment to become acidic and eventually leads to death of heart cells.

“The heart can’t regenerate muscle cells that die during a heart attack, which is why these injuries cause permanent damage and can lead to heart failure, disability and reduced quality of life,” said lead researcher Dr Mark Smythe, a research fellow at UQ.

“IB001 blocks the signals that causes heart cells to die, and when given immediately to heart attack victims could reduce damage to the heart and significantly improve outcomes for people with heart disease, particularly in rural and remote regions.”


“This is a game-changing technology that could have world-wide impacts and is being developed and funded right here in Australia."

Canada says its officials were denied access to trial of billionaire in China

Mon, July 4, 2022 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have blocked Canadian government representatives from attending the trial of Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, the Canadian embassy said on Tuesday.

Xiao, who went missing in Hong Kong five years ago, was due to go on trial in China on Monday and Canadian consular officials had been pressing for consular access, the embassy said earlier in a statement.

"Canada made several requests to attend the trial proceedings," public diplomacy counsellor at the embassy, Nadia Scipio del Campo, said in an emailed statement sent to reporters.

"Our attendance was denied by Chinese authorities."

When asked for further details such as to confirm the location of the trial, the embassy said it would not comment further due to privacy considerations.

A spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, said on Monday he was not aware of the situation, when asked about Xiao's trial at a media briefing.

China-born Xiao, known to have links to Communist Party elite, has not been seen in public since 2017 after he was investigated amid a state-led crackdown on conglomerates.

Officials have not disclosed the specifics of the investigation.

Xiao was whisked away from a Hong Kong hotel, in a wheelchair with his head covered, in the early hours of the day he went missing, a source close to the tycoon told Reuters at the time.

Xiao was ranked 32nd on the 2016 Hurun China rich list, China's equivalent of the Forbes list, with an estimated net worth of $5.97 billion at the time.

At the centre of Xiao's empire is the financial group Tomorrow Holdings Co.

In July 2020, regulators seized nine of the group's related institutions as part of a crackdown on risks posed by financial conglomerates.

In 2021, regulators extended the one-year take-over period of the nine financial enterprises by another year to "further promote risk disposal work and defuse financial risks".

The extended custody is set to end on July 16.

The seizures were preceded in 2019 by a takeover by regulators of Baoshang Bank, a lender once controlled by Tomorrow. Regulators cited severe credit risks.

The lender, which had operated nationwide, was revamped into a much smaller lender in its home region of Inner Mongolia in northern China.

In recent years, a number of executives at big Chinese companies have been investigated or prosecuted amid a broader crackdown on corruption spearheaded by President Xi Jinping that has also ensnared politicians and bankers.

Among those who have fallen from grace was Jiang Jiemin, former head of China National Petroleum Corp, who was jailed for 16 years for bribery and abuse of power in 2015.

In 2017, Ai Baojun, a former chairman of Baoshan Iron and Steel who later became vice mayor of Shanghai, was jailed for 17 years for bribery and graft.

(Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard; Additional reporting by Meg Shen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Robert Birsel)

MAKING LABOUR THE BETTER TORY PARTY

'Make Brexit work': Sir Keir Starmer rules out rejoining EU as he lays out Labour's plan to tackle problems


The Labour leader insists his party is "claiming the centre ground of British politics once again" as the Conservatives deal with further scandal. He revealed Labour's Brexit plan, from what to do with the Northern Ireland Protocol to removing trade barriers.


Alix Culbertson
Political reporter @alixculbertson
Monday 4 July 2022 19:54, UK

Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out rejoining the European Union as he laid out Labour's plan to tackle issues caused by Brexit.

Presenting a five-point plan to deal with Brexit, the Labour leader said his party has been "claiming the centre ground of British politics once again" while the Conservatives are "flailing around".

He said the plan is part of getting "Britain's economy growing once again" - and he will be saying "a lot more" about how to achieve that in the coming weeks and months.

Sir Keir was clear that Labour will not try to rejoin the UK to the EU as that would "simply be a recipe for more division" and would ensure Britain "remained stuck for another decade".

And in a play on Boris Johnson's campaign slogan "get Brexit done", he said the plan will "make Brexit work".


This is his plan:

1. The Northern Ireland Protocol: Labour would build trust by being an "honest broker" and eliminate most border checks with a new veterinary agreement for agri-products between the UK and EU.

It would work with business to put in place a better scheme to allow low-risk goods to enter Northern Ireland "without unnecessary checks".

2. Trade barriers: Labour would "make trade easier" outside the single market and customs union by extending the new veterinary agreement to cover all the UK.

It would "build on agreements and mechanisms already in place between the EU and other countries".

3. British industry: Labour would have mutual recognition of professional qualifications so British services "can compete".

It would also restore access to funding and vital research programmes.

4. Keep Britain safe: Labour would seek new security arrangements to defend the borders, including sharing data, intelligence and best practice.

A joint intelligence network would be set up between the UK and Europe.

5. Invest in Britain: Labour would work with businesses to "bring the good, clean jobs of the future to our shores".

Together, they would "open up new markets and create new opportunities", using the flexibility of being outside the EU "to ensure British regulation is adapted to suit British needs".

Read more on Sky News:
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why does it matter?
EU chief tells UK 'it's high time we got Brexit done'

Ahead of the announcement, Sir Keir told Sky News' Beth Rigby: "We're not going back to the EU, to the single market, to the customs union or freedom of movement.

"We are going forwards not backwards, not reopening those divisions.

"I don't think reopening all the old wounds and going backwards is going to help us on that mission to drive the economy."

The current Brexit deal is "not a good deal", he said, adding that it is causing problems in Northern Ireland and the agreements on services and security are not good enough.

"This is a forward-looking plan, it's not a plan to go back, it's not a plan to rejoin the EU," he insisted.

Sir Keir said he is "absolutely convinced" there are "practical ways" to solve the current issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol - part of the Brexit deal that has effectively placed a border in the Irish Sea despite Mr Johnson insisting it would not.


Looking ahead to the next general election, which is supposed to be in 2024, he added: "This will be the driving mission of an incoming Labour government - to grow the economy."

Sir Keir said he did not regret campaigning for a second Brexit referendum, something that is credited with helping Labour to lose the last election.

"We made our policy in the circumstances that were then the live circumstances, but we've left the EU now and the government has said we need to get Brexit done, but it hasn't really got a plan to do that," he added.

"I want to make Brexit work."

But responding to Sir Keir's five-point plan, Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the Labour leader of seeking to leave the EU in the same way as the Conservatives, but "half-cock".

"I'm fascinated by what he's got to say, or reports of it... and what he wants to do, by and large, is things either that the Conservatives are doing (because) they want to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, so I hope he'll support us on our bill," he told LBC's Tonight With Andrew Marr.

"And he wants recognition of qualifications, which we've already legislated for. So you do wonder if he was half asleep last year.

"I think all that Sir Keir is going to be saying later on today is that he wants to do what the Conservatives are doing but half-cock, so it's not much of an announcement by him today."

Stigmatise nuclear weapons!

The Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was a signal at the right time. Nuclear threats are unacceptable

01.07.2022 | Anne Balzer

The first Conference of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which took place at the United Nations in Vienna from 20 to 23 June, was signal just at the right time: threats to use weapons of mass destruction are unacceptable. After the treaty was adopted at the United Nations in 2017, the first Conference of the States Parties was held a good year after its entry into force in January 2021, with 49 states parties and 34 states participating as observers. Among the observers were representatives of the German government, who emphasised for the first time that the conference was ‘seen as an important event in international disarmament diplomacy.’

The TPNW builds on existing norms, such as the ban on nuclear weapons testing and the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Treaty (NPT). For the first time, the treaty comprehensively outlaws nuclear weapons because of their catastrophic humanitarian consequences and prohibits the use, development, testing, production, acquisition, possession, and stockpiling as well as the threat of use of nuclear weapons for member states.

Nuclear deterrence is an outdated technology from the last century, which even a bitterly poor state like North Korea could develop.

Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine demonstrates clearly how necessary the stigmatisation of the threats of nuclear weapons really are. Suddenly, the international community and above all the Europeans are confronted with a long-forgotten threat: a confrontation between nuclear-armed Russia and the nuclear alliance of NATO, whose members support Ukraine. In the process, Russia’s President Putin is expanding on this by his implicit nuclear threats – ‘Whoever tries to stop us and threaten our country and our people should know that there will be consequences. Consequences like you have never seen in the West in their history’ – the concept of deterrence in a disturbing way. The reference to nuclear weapons is not only used in case of an existential threat, but to contain the room for manoeuvre of Ukraine’s supporters.

The Conference’s results

That’s why it is so crucial right now that states have united in a multilateral UN forum to raise their voices against nuclear weapons. Every step in the practical design of the TPNW strengthens the norm of the ban on nuclear weapons and undermines the practice of the nuclear-weapon states. The TPNW Conference of States makes it very clear once again: it is a political decision on which concepts states build their foreign and security policy. Nuclear deterrence is an outdated technology from the last century, which even a bitterly poor state like North Korea could develop. It offers no answer to the challenges of our time and is an additional risk in a multipolar world with accelerated communication and decision-making structures.

With regard to the accession of nuclear weapon states, existing arsenals must be destroyed within 10 years in a verifiable process.

The agenda for the conference, which lasted only three days and was chaired by the Austrian diplomat Alexander Kmentt, was understandably packed. Even the short negotiation time of the 2017 treaty, with only two times two weeks, left some legal and technical questions unanswered. Nevertheless, the states were able to find solutions to some issues, including:

First, with regard to the accession of nuclear weapon states, existing arsenals must be destroyed within 10 years in a verifiable process. Second, with regard to the accession of nuclear sharing states, nuclear weapons must be withdrawn in advance or within 90 days. Third, an action plan has been adopted that provides for concrete steps to strengthen the norm against nuclear weapons and to promote the accession of more states. Fourth, formalities and structures for the further implementation of the treaty were elaborated. Fifth, a political declaration was adopted emphasising that ‘the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is a violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations. We condemn unequivocally any and all nuclear threats, whether they be explicit or implicit and irrespective of the circumstances.’

In the midst of new arms race

In order to make the best possible use of the limited time available at the conference, the states parties have already worked out so-called ‘working papers’ on urgent topics in advance in working groups. A novelty of the TPNW, for example, is the focus on the victims and environmental destruction caused by nuclear weapons testing, production, and deployment. Therefore, states led by Kiribati and Kazakhstan have been working for months to initiate a kind of international trust fund to provide funds for victim assistance and environmental clean-up. The idea of this fund now needs to be further developed, but it can be a practical step in the process towards nuclear justice.

The statement of the representatives of the German Foreign Office was perceived as particularly constructive in this context. Ambassador Rüdiger Bohn said: ‘We are interested in learning more about the “positive obligations” of the treaty. Indeed, we believe that helping victims and cleaning up the environment after the long-term damage of nuclear testing deserve broader attention and commitment’. If the working groups continue to cooperate so effectively and constructively in the future and prepare the actual conferences in the intersessional meetings now planned, ground-breaking results can also be expected for the second Conference of the Parties at the end of November 2023 under the chairmanship of Mexico.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is an important piece of the puzzle in the international disarmament and arms control regime.

The conference was a signal at the right time. For a recent SIPRI report warns of a new nuclear arms race and research by ICAN highlights the increased investment in nuclear weapons systems. The German government is also joining this new nuclear arms race with the planned acquisition of the new F-35 fighter jets worth billions for nuclear sharing. This step also thwarts the commitment to a ‘Germany free of nuclear weapons’ as formulated in the coalition agreement. The investment in nuclear sharing will make Germany’s position as a credible actor for disarmament and non-proliferation more difficult in the future, among other things in the negotiations with Iran.

The first Conference of States has shown: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is an important piece of the puzzle in the international disarmament and arms control regime. It is a treaty of the 21st century: multilateral, inclusive, and anchored in civil society, with a focus on human security. Only with a norm that fundamentally prohibits nuclear weapons, states that shape this norm concretely, and a civil society movement that pushes this norm, is there a chance for future initiatives for bilateral or multilateral disarmament. The resources of the treaty’s member states are limited. But last week’s first conference made it clear that members are serious: they do not accept the nuclear threat, but will use available resources, expertise and dedicated diplomacy to outlaw nuclear weapons.

‘The worst flood in the region in the last 122 years’

Shadhan Kumar Das on the devastating impacts of the historical floods in Bangladesh — and how the country can adapt to climate change

Reuters

In Bangladesh, monsoon rains swamped huge areas of the country, leaving millions of homes underwater

INTERVIEW 05.07.2022

While Bangladesh is used to severe downpours during the monsoon season, the floods that have hit the north of the country have been the most extreme in more than a century. Can you walk us through what exactly happened?

Flooding is normal during the monsoon season in Bangladesh. Each year, the northwestern part of the country experiences floods. But 2022 was unprecedented. Two floods within a month in the region of Sylhet have caused severe suffering for more than 7.2 million people. Their houses, paddy fields, fish ponds, and livestock washed away. Sylhet city and district and the neighbouring Sunamganj and Netrokona districts have been most affected. As of today, nearly 70 people have died in different parts of the country. The neighbouring regions in India were also severely affected.

The first round of flooding occurred on 10 May 2022. It was a massive and unprecedented pre-monsoon flood. When flood waters began to recede on 22 May, a second round of flooding occurred on 16 June because of heavy rains in the upstream Indian region of Assam and Meghalaya. The runoff rainwater flowed down the Himalayan hills into Bangladesh’s northeastern plains. With 2.5 metres above normal tidal surge, it was the highest amount of rain recorded in the region in the last 122 years. It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of the northeastern regional was inundated.

Why was this flood so severe compared to previous ones?

According to the World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists tracing the impacts of climate change, global warming has made extreme rainfall more common and more intense across most of the world. It is predicted that climate change, together with urbanisation and housing patterns, will further aggravate the risks of flooding in the coming years.

In addition, Bangladeshi environmentalists say that the flood was worse because the high volume of rainfall has remained stuck in the Haor region of Sylhet and Netrokona in northeastern Bangladesh. Human intervention has destroyed the 124km passage for discharging stormwater from Cherrapunji in India to Bhairab in Bangladesh. The huge amount of silt brought along by the downpours flows down not only the tributaries and distributaries, but also the flood plains. The recent development of a road network — the ‘All Weather Road’, connecting the three Haor regions Itna, Mithamoin, and Ashtagram — has blocked the drainage passage.

Experts have also spoken about poor waste management as another reason for severe flooding. Municipal waste generated in Sunamganj and Sylhet are all dumped in the Surma river, blocking the discharge system of the floodwater in the cities.

How does the international response to the disaster look like?

Right now, the situation in the northwestern region of Bangladesh is improving. Flood water is receding, and people are returning home from their shelters. But they suffered for quite a long time – they were not only captured in the floodwater but are still encountering post-flood emergencies in terms of rehabilitation, health, and employment.

International development partners and aid agencies have come forward to support this humanitarian cause. Within a very short time, they have allocated funds and provided daily essentials to feed flood victims. For instance, the European Union has allocated €2 million to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to families affected by the flash floods. The EU funding has supported the Bangladesh Red Cross Society in delivering immediate assistance, providing drinking water, emergency sanitation, health services, hygiene parcels, and cash assistance in the Sylhet and Sunamganj districts. Moreover, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an emergency appeal of $7.8 million to support the Bangladesh Red Crescent to scale up and expand the reach of its localised response and recovery efforts.

Other than those, international and donor-funded national development agencies including UNICEF have been working around the clock to provide relief and rehabilitate the flood victims. The total amount of international support in cash and kind has yet to be calculated, but their contribution has helped the government to enhanced its relief and rehabilitation works.

However, most likely the amount of humanitarian aid from rich countries is less than expected and needed because the economies of many developed countries are facing challenges from the fallout of the recent Russia-Ukraine war, abrupt global inflation including rising food prices, and the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The impression remains that there are too many crises to solve, too many catastrophes to be tackled.

These severe floods are a result of climate change. So it’s crucial that action is taken sooner rather than later and before flooding becomes even more severe in the years to come.

What does the country need to rebuild the northeastern region?

First and foremost, the government has to prioritise the rehabilitation works as well as infrastructural and environmental recovery works to rebuild the northeastern region of Bangladesh. It has to set a short-term and a long-term agenda while developing policies and implementing development projects.

However, there is lack of trust between the two major political parties. They have the support of most of the people in Bangladesh to implement their agenda. But they don't work together. The oppositional Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Secretary-General said that ‘the government is busy with a festival during this difficult time. They are so busy with the inauguration of the Padma Bridge that they have no time to look at the welfare of people and public sufferings.’ At the same time, the ruling Awami League’s party leaders have heavily criticised the BNP leaders for their lacklustre response to support the flood victims. Thus, the relief and rehabilitation work suffers. If they work together during this national emergency, it would help the country as well as the people living in the flood areas.

The government has to find out a sustainable and permanent solution to the flash floods in the Haor region. An expert group comprising environmentalists, climate change expert, engineers, political leaders, bureaucrats, and journalists has to be formed to investigate the underlying reasons for such devastating flash floods. The recommendations of such a committee have to be implemented in full.

River dredging has to be made a priority task. In addition, unplanned embankment and link roads have to be stopped because human intervention to the ecological and natural system has a severe negative impact. Long-term, the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 – the country’s far-reaching plan to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP to secure the future of water resources and mitigate the likely effects of climate change and natural disasters – needs to be implement if the Haor areas are to be preserved.

Since Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, how can the country prepare for a future with an even more unstable climate? What needs to be done in terms of infrastructure and environmental management to avert future catastrophes?

Bangladesh is prone to natural calamities including floods, cyclones, and droughts. A World Bank report published earlier this month said that salinity, rising sea levels, and other adverse climate impacts could displace as many as 13.3 million people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh by 2050. According to the International Institute for Environment and Development, families in rural Bangladesh spend as much as $2bn a year to prevent climate-related disasters or repairing damages — twelve times the amount the country receives in aid to mitigate climate change effects. Thus, the country has to prepare for a future with an even more unstable climate.

Experts suggest to adopt indigenous knowledge to protect the lives and properties of flooding victims. One environmental expert said that ‘we have to change and update the housing pattern in the disaster-prone regions. And, to build physical infrastructures in a way so that those can protect lives and property, including cyclones in coastal regions, floods in plain land, and landslides in hilly areas.’

The government has a plan for dredging rivers, a very costly endeavour. At the same time, the government has to reclaim grabbed rivers and wetlands and update the drainage system in the cities.

The interview was conducted by Valentina Berndt.

UN mission uncovers new suspected mass graves in Libya

By Cecilia Ologunagba   July 4, 2022

New suspected mass graves have been uncovered in Tarhuna, Libya, a UN Human Rights Council probe reported on Monday.

The report highlighted continuing extreme rights abuses in the country that have affected children and adults alike.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr Mohamed Auajjar, chairman of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, told journalists that a culture of impunity still prevailed across the war-torn country.

This, Auajjar said, represented “a great obstacle’’ to national reconciliation, truth and justice for victims and their families.

The report gathered testimonies and found evidence of “widespread and systematic perpetration of enforced disappearances, extermination, murder, torture and imprisonment amounting to crimes against humanity in Tarhuna.

“These were committed by Al Kani (Kaniyat) militias,’’ he said.

Auajjar noted that the mission’s investigations “previously uncovered mass graves in the town’’ which is around 65 kilometres from Tripoli, through the use of advanced technology.

“We don’t know how many now need to be exhumed, but there have been hundreds of persons who have not yet been discovered; who have disappeared,’’ he added.

According to Auajjar, more than 200 individuals are still missing from Tarhuna and the surrounding area, causing “untold anguish to their families, who are entitled to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones’’.

Women and girls have not been spared the fallout of Libya’s destructive spiral since the overthrow of former President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Auajjar said in spite of recent progress in trying to resolve longstanding differences, the internationally-recognised Government in Tripoli was still at odds with a rival administration and parliamentary authority in the east.

He noted that a disturbing finding was the fact that women who presented themselves in yet-to-be-held national elections became targets of discrimination or violence.

“Some have been abducted, part of a pattern of enforced disappearances which continue unabated in Libya,’’ Aujjar said, citing a member of Parliament Sihem Sirgiwa, who was taken in 2019.

“Discrimination and violence are a feature of daily life for most women and girls in Libya.

“Of particular concern to the Mission is that the failure of the domestic law to provide protection against sexual and gender-based violence is inherent to and contributes to impunity for such crimes,’’Aujjar stressed.

He noted also that cases of violence against women and children, summary executions, arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and torture had been on the rise

This, he said, was in spite of the creation of two dedicated courts to rule on such crimes.

The Fact-Finding Mission is to present its third report to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday, July 6. (NAN)

Pakistan imports 3,000 tonnes of Afghan coal per day

By

 News desk

 -

July 5, 2022

1912

According to the reports, Pakistan is using Afghan coal for power plants in various cities.

Pakistan is importing around 3,000 tonnes of coal from Afghanistan each day and this is expected to jump to 20,000 tonnes after the beginning of a coal operation from Kundian in Mianwali district and Sibi in Balochistan, Pakistani media reported, citing the country’s officials.

According to the reports, Pakistan is using Afghan coal for power plants in various cities. The Afghan Ministry of Petroleum and Mines said there is no official contract with the Pakistan government or any Pakistani organization regarding the export of the Afghanistan’s coal.

“We don’t have any contract with any foreign country or any foreign company about the coal. Of course, we have our sales to the private sector and companies and traders,” said Islmatullah Burhan, a spokesman for the ministry.

Economists said that selling Afghanistan coal for Pakistani rupees affects the Afghan economy. “The sale of the coal with Pakistani rupees to Pakistan is an illogical economic movement, I think. This belongs to Pakistan and will benefit Pakistan, but the Afghan government should not do such a thing,” said Sayed Masoud, an economist. This comes as the Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines expressed concerns over the increase in the price of the coal.

“We hope a plan will be formed in which the price will not be very high,” said Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, deputy head of the ACIM. Earlier, Pakistani officials said that Pakistan would make $2.2 billion in savings annually from importing the Afghanistan coal because it us buying in Pakstani rupees to save on conversion costs.—Tolo News

CALLS KHAN A DRAMA QUEEN

Maryam Nawaz Dubs Imran Khan's Foreign Conspiracy Claim As Biggest Drama In Pak History

PML-N's Maryam Nawaz slammed former PM Imran Khan for stagging the "biggest drama" in the history of Pakistan under the name of a foreign conspiracy.

Written By Ajeet Kumar


Image: AP/Facebook/Imran Khan

Ahead of the by-polls in Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League (N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz slammed former Prime Minister Imran Khan for stagging the "biggest drama" in the history of Pakistan under the name of a foreign conspiracy. Notably, ever since a no-confidence motion against his government was tabled in the Parliament in April this year, Khan has been dubbing "foreign conspiracy" behind his ouster. According to him, the United States played a crucial role due to his "independent" foreign policy-- potentially pointing fingers at his trip to Russia during the initial days of the war.

Reacting to the allegations levelled by Khan, Nawaz, who was addressing a public rally in Lahore on Monday, said as quoted by Pakistan Today, "Unfortunately, Pakistani politics met with a person who is the biggest liar, chaos-maker and imposter. He used to say to people that we are US slaves. He kept people busy with his conspiracy claims. This is the biggest drama in Pakistan’s history." Lashing out at the PTI chief for ignoring Punjab province, the PML-N leader said that Khan had ignored the aspirations of the country’s most populous province with 120 million people and added the biggest scandals in the country's history surfaced during his tenure.

Maryam Nawaz accuses Khan's wife of indulging in illegal activities

"LNG scandal, Bushra Bibi involvement, sugar scandal you name it… all these scandals came during Imran Khan’s government," she said. She even accused Khan's wife Bushra Bibi of indulging in the illegal activities and added the former PM and his "gang" ruined the country's resources. However, assuring the people of Punjab province, she said the "lion is back" and added the state will prosper as it used to in the past. Notably, the scathing attack comes in the wake of the by-polls on the 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly scheduled to take place on July 17.

Khan speculates rig voting in the forthcoming by-polls

Khan, who has been campaigning for the upcoming by-polls, during a public rally at Islamabad’s Parade Ground last week, cautioned his party workers regarding possible rigging in the elections. According to Khan, the incumbent government has fielded its "umpires", police and all national agencies for the forthcoming elections which would ensure their victory. However, he appealed to the PTI supporters to vote for the "noble cause" and added the party would definitely win the polls. "We have 20 by-elections [coming up] in Punjab. The only way they can win is through the rigging. The people are against them, [but] the umpires are with them," Khan said as quoted by Dawn newspaper. "No matter what tactic they use … whether they rig the election or use the police, the nation will never accept them," added Imran.
Image: AP/Facebook/Imran Khan

State Leaders Raise Constitutionality Concerns After Feds Call For Stop To Protesting Outside Justices’ Maryland Homes

SCOTUS IS THE THIRD BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT

CHEVY CHASE, MD - JUNE 08: A Montgomery County Police officer stands guard as protesters march past Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home on June 8, 2022 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. An armed man was arrested near Kavanaugh's home Wednesday morning as the court prepares to announce decisions for about 30 cases. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

By Ava-joye Burnett

July 4, 2022 

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Protests continue more than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade., even outside the houses of the justices who voted to strike the precedent down.

Pro-abortion rights protesters have brought their outrage outside the private homes of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts in Chevy Chase, Maryland, sparking some security concerns.Top VideosStar Spangled Celebration: Mayor Scott Makes ASpecial Entrance At Baltimore's Fourth Of July Celebration

The Marshal of the United States Supreme Court has asked the governors of Maryland and Virginia to enforce local and state laws that “prohibit picketing at the homes of” the justices.

But that request is getting pushback because limiting protests on public property could be a violation of a person’s First Amendment rights.

A spokesperson for the office of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said “had the marshal taken time to explore the matter, she would have learned that the constitutionality of the statute cited in her letter has been questioned by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.”

Hogan “has directed Maryland State Police to further review enforcement options that respect the First Amendment and the Constitution” due to the fact that multiple federal entities refuse to act,” the spokesperson said.

The safety of Supreme Court justices started to garner attention in May after a draft opinion on overturning the landmark abortion case was first leaked to the public.

The following month, a man who had traveled from California was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home.

Officers arrested 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske had several items in his possession, including a gun, knife, and pepper spray. Roske allegedly wanted to assassinate Kavanaugh.

Two U.S. deputy marshals watched Roske arrive in a taxi at Kavanaugh’s home in the middle of the night. He was dressed in black and carrying a suitcase, CBS News reports.

Shortly after he arrived outside of the house, he called 911 saying that he had a gun and was having suicidal thoughts, according to court documents.

WJZ obtained a recording of the suspect calling 911 outside the justice’s home.

911: You said you came from California. Did you know someone from down here?

CALLER: Brett Kavanaugh. Brett.

911: Red, like the color?

911: Brett?

CALLER: The Supreme Court Justice

911: Again, you’re sitting at the curb?

CALLER: I’m standing now, but I can sit. I want to be fully compliant. Whatever they want me to do I’ll do.

Roske pleaded not guilty on “federal charges of attempting to murder a justice of the United States” in late June.

As safety continues to be a concern, local police are also helping to keep justices safe while protecting the right to protest.

“We have the specific rules that people have to abide by,” Chief Marcus Jones, the head of the Montgomery County Police, said. “They are allowed to be in the neighborhoods but they must continuously walk – they cannot stand specifically in front of the neighborhood with signs and bull horns and yelling.”

In light of recent safety concerns, Congress recently passed a law that would extend security to Supreme Court Justices and their immediate family.

"To save NATO, destroy it"

Portal Politico published a comment that "NATO needs to be destroyed in order to save it", actually calling for the reform of the alliance, as it's "failing".

SOURCE: JUTARNJI LIST FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2022 | 

EPA-EFE JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO

"The transatlantic alliance needs more than a rethink. It needs to be reborn", Politico points out.

At the close of what leaders across the West billed as a “historic” summit on Thursday, which included dinners in the Spanish capital’s sumptuous royal palace and the spectacular Prado museum, superlatives were flying fast and furious.

Calling the summit “transformative” and “far-reaching,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg predicted at the close of the three-day affair that the decisions made there would “ensure that our Alliance continues to preserve peace, prevent conflict, and protect our people and our values.”

Look beyond the staged backslapping, bonhomie and self-congratulation in Madrid, however, and one can see that while the alliance’s unity might be a mile wide, it’s also only an inch deep; its collective sense of purpose as varied as its 30 members.

Start with the issue at hand: That the leaders managed to declare Russia — which has been threatening European security since at least 2007 - the “most significant and direct threat” to security, peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area is more of a sign that they are masters of the obvious than of grand strategy, according to Politico.

The other signal achievement cited by Stoltenberg was a much-heralded deal to bring in Sweden and Finland. This was less the result of high diplomacy and mutual defense than what might politely be called extortion on the part of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish President held the pair’s accession hostage over his desire to buy new F-16 fighters from the U.S. - and got what he wanted.

That portal even wonders whether Turkey would even send its army in the event of a Russian invasion of the Baltic countries. "Does anyone really believe he can be counted on to send troops to help the Baltics in the event of a Russian invasion? Hardly", Politico concludes.

The text further states that Erdogan and Viktor Orbán's membership in the Alliance not only undermines NATO's claims that it is a community that shares liberal values, but also makes a mockery of them. And they’re not the only ones undermining NATO‘s legitimacy.

Up until Russia’s February 24 assault on Ukraine, France and Germany were still fantasizing about “strategic autonomy” — the notion that Europe should liberate itself from the American security guarantees that allowed the Continent to flourish in the postwar era, and instead seize the reins of European security for itself.

Indeed, just weeks before the Russian invasion, prominent German politicians, including Annalena Baerbock, now foreign minister, were demanding that the U.S. withdraw all of its nuclear warheads from German soil.

Overnight, the same German leaders who had for years ignored U.S. pleas to stop "starving Germany’s military of resources" and start contributing more to NATO defense were transformed into true believers.

This new commitment to NATO, Politico assesses, is the result of fear, not conviction. The glue that binds it is not a unity of vision, but the instinct to cower under America’s nuclear umbrella.

That’s not enough to hold it together — especially if Washington starts to suspect it’s being left to do most of the heavy lifting.

Much of the European public remains divided on how far to go in confronting Putin, in part because their own governments have shied from acknowledging the degree to which all of the Continent is at risk.

If Ukraine continues to lose territory and human lives because it lacks means for defense, Politico assesses, the blame will lie with NATO. Although Biden has now put the USA back in the saddle of NATO, after Trump, who fiercely distanced United States from the Alliance, this does not mean that the USA will continue to see NATO as a priority because of its own problems with China, which again means that it will be less concerned about the situation in Europe.

That is why NATO, as suggested by Politico, should implement a radical reform, stop relying exclusively on the US and expel from the Alliance member countries that do not respect basic democratic norms. Namely, if members don’t adhere to basic democratic norms, they should be forced out.

Similarly, those not willing to contribute to their own defense should be encouraged to seek their security guarantees elsewhere.

"In military circles, the tactic of “destroying a town to save it” is controversial. In NATO’s case, there’s no other option", Politico concludes.