20 KILLED IN MASTUNG BLAST IN BALOCH
At least 20 people lost their lives while over 30 others including Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri were injured in a roadside blast in the Mastung area of Balochistan, police sources confirmed on Friday.
The PRO of the Civil Hospital Mastung, Malik Jibran told Geo News that over 20 bodies were brought to the hospital. Meanwhile, a District Health Officer in Mastung, Dr Sher Zaman said “25 bodies have been shifted to two hospitals in Quetta,” adding that 35 injured were also being transferred to Quetta.
Maulana Haideri’s convoy was targeted in the blast with pictures showing the extent of damage to his vehicle. The deputy chairman was returning from an event at Ittehad Bainul Muslimeen at Jamia Masjid Hammadia when the explosion took place.
The deputy chairman Senate has been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Quetta, said DIG Abdul Razzaq Cheema. Geo news
NAWAZ LEADS HIGH-LEVEL DELEGATION TO CHINA
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with four chief ministers and several federal ministers left for China on a six-day visit early Friday morning.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited the premier to attend the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited the premier to attend the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
In the six-day sojourn, the premier is also scheduled to meet high-level Chinese leadership.
Sharif is accompanied by chief ministers of all four provinces, as well as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Saad Rafique, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir and IT Minister Anushay Rehman, among others.
The high-level delegation left Friday morning in a special plane from Islamabad airport.
“Pakistan is an important partner of China in promoting One Belt One Road Initiative and we believe that Prime Minister Sharif’s visit and his attendance at the forum will give a boost to our cooperation in the relevant fields,” Geng Shuang — a spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry — said while responding to a question during his regular press briefing.
The spokesperson said, as an organiser and host of the forum, China will warmly welcome all the guests from around the world, including Pakistan.
“The forum will be held from May 14, 15 and we all are looking forward to it,” he added.
According to official sources, during his stay in China, the prime minister will also hold important meetings with the top Chinese leadership, particularly Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Kaqiang, to further promote bilateral relations between the two countries.
On the first day of the forum, the prime minister will attend the inaugural session of the One Belt One Road Summit, a plenary meeting of high-level dialogue and the state banquet.
The prime minister will also attend leaders’ roundtable sessions scheduled to be held on the second day of the forum.
As many as 28 heads of state and government, over 50 leaders of international organisations, over 100 ministerial-level officials, as well as over 1,200 delegates from various countries and regions will participate in the forum.
The forum will build consensus and connect development strategies of various countries and will also examine cooperation in key areas and finalise major projects in infrastructure connectivity, trade and investment, financial support and people-to-people exchanges, according to a senior official of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Medium and long term cooperation initiatives will be announced and long-term cooperation mechanisms explored to build a closer and more result-oriented network of partnerships, he added.
ERDOGAN FOR BREAKTHROUGH IN DISPUTE ON ARMING KURDS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday his visit to the US next week would herald a new beginning in relations between the two countries. Relations between the NATO allies have been strained by differences over Syria policy. The US has announced a plan to arm the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against Islamic State, infuriating Turkey, which sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Erdogan told a news conference that he believed the US was still going through a “transition period,” and that decisions such as the arming the YPG dated back to policies from the previous administration. Erdogan is due to meet President Donald Trump during his May 16-17 trip to Washington.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he hopes that talks with US President Donald Trump will lead to a “breaking point” in the US decision to arm Syrian Kurdish rebels. He was speaking to reporters before leaving for China, followed by a trip to Washington. Turkey has been angered by a US decision to provide arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters that Turkey considers terrorists. The US considers the Kurdish fighters as the most effective group in the fight against Islamic State militants. Ankara wants the decision reversed, concerned that the weapons will end up in the hands of Kurdish militants in Turkey.
MACRON TO VISIT MERKEL
French President-elect Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday in Berlin, one day after his planned inauguration on Sunday. The visit was announced on Friday by Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert during a regular government news conference.
SHAMITA SHETTY STUNS FILMMAKER SUPARN VERMA ON THE SETS OF HER WEB SERIES!
Shamita Shetty will soon be making her debut in the digital world with a web series, directed by Suparn Verma.
While everything related to her character and the show has been kept under wraps, Shamita has been thoroughly enjoying the experience of shooting for her debut digital show.
Suparn who is directing the show was blown away by Shamita’s stupendous performance while shooting recently. According to sources, Suparn is very impressed by her fabulous performance and the way she has progressed as an actor over the years.
Having worked with Shamita closely, Suparn feels Shamita has opened up a lot as an actor. He says, “The idea was to break the walls between the actors as well as open up the actors from their polished styles. After the awkward first few minutes the room we were rehearsing in was bursting with screams of the choicest abuses and actor’s letting it loose.”
“Once Shamita let loose and went with the flow we discovered a hidden side to her. The shoot maybe over but I think she is still carrying the character with her,” he adds.
PRESIDENT LULA FACES GRAFT CHARGES IN COURT
Brazil’s sweeping investigation into the Petrobras corruption ring, named Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), reached new heights of media and public attention on Wednesday as former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was interrogated by judge Sergio Moro.
At 2 p.m. local time, Lula’s interrogation began at the federal tribunal of Curitiba, capital of the state of Parana, with Moro seeking answers to charges of corruption and money laundering against the charismatic politician.
Upon arriving at the court, Lula received applause and cheers by a large number of supporters, which were kept back around 150 meters from the building.
Thousands of activists from Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), the Central Workers’ Union (CUT) and others had gathered to celebrate the former leader and denounce what they see as a conspiracy against him. Lula’s successor and friend, former President Dilma Rousseff, was also on hand to lend her support.
A smaller group of protesters, who support Lula’s appearance in court, also made their voices heard.
The interrogation saw Moro interviewing Lula for around three hours, before turning the witness over to federal prosecutors and then allowing the defense team to have their turn.
Earlier in the day, Brazil’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by Lula’s defense team to postpone his testimony.
His lawyers claimed they had not had enough time to review all the documentation related to the case and requested 90 days to analyze it. They stated they had received around 5,000 documents, with a total of around 100,000 pages, over the last couple of weeks.
Lula is accused of having received bribes worth 3.7 million reais (1.15 million U.S. dollars) from the OAS construction company, in the form of a three-floor apartment in Guaruja, a resort town on the coast of Sao Paulo.
Should he be found guilty and should the sentence then be upheld by a higher court, Lula would be automatically barred from standing for president in the 2018 election. Opinion polls constantly show him as the most favored candidate by the Brazilian electorate.
Also on Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello said there was no current motive to detain Lula.
Speaking to the press during Lula’s interrogation, Mello said the court case into Lula was not concluded but that, for the moment, “it is not necessary to halt the natural order of the judicial process.”
He said that this order should be “investigate, prove guilt and carry out the sentence… What should be an exception, provisional prison…has become the norm.”
Moro, the head judge for Lava Jato, has been criticized for maintaining various accused people in preventive prison for long periods.
There is no precise date for Moro to give his ruling on Lula’s case but it is expected to take several weeks.
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