Surprisingly, two members of the probe committee namely Kaleemullah and Nasir Ali are also the national selectors, who gave the nod for the 20-member team after a briefing on the selection of the team that lasted an hour and a half and included head coach Siegfried Aikman. Another member of the inquiry committee is Zahir Shah of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association.
The national selection committee did not announce the team, which toured Europe in March, before the Asia Cup. However, for the Asia Cup the team management, headed by Aikman briefed the selectors over his decision of picking the players.
President PHF Brig (retd.) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, while forming the probe committee demanded a report by June 20 to take action against the responsible personnel.
Pakistan will not be at a World Cup for the second time. They also failed to qualify for the 2014 edition.
“As of 6pm (2100 GMT) this Sunday, the number of people killed as a result of the rains has reached 79,” the civil defence authority of Pernambuco state, where the affected communities of Recife and Olinda are located, said in a statement.
The disaster is the latest in a recent series of deadly landslides and floods triggered by extreme weather in Brazil.
The number of dead has mounted steadily over the weekend, including dozens in landslides, as heavy rains caused rivers to overflow and torrents of mud swept away everything in their path.
The latest statement from the civil defence did not offer an update on the number of people missing, though the agency had earlier reported 56 people still unaccounted for and nearly 4,000 who had lost their homes.
“We still don't have an exact number, but there are still reports of victims ... who have not been found,” Pernambuco Governor Paulo Camara said during a press conference.
“The search will continue until we can identify all the missing people,” he said.
Authorities warned that rain was forecast to continue on Monday, but in the meantime, while the storm subsided some 1,200 personnel — some in boats or helicopters — resumed search and rescue work, state officials said.
Minister of Regional Development Daniel Ferreira urged caution in a press conference on Sunday in Recife, the capital of hard-hit northeastern Pernambuco state.
“Although it has stopped raining now, we are forecasting heavy rains for the next few days,” he said. “So the first thing is to maintain self-protection measures.”
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, rainfall volume reached 70 per cent of what was forecast for all of May in some parts of Recife.
Images circulated on local media showed rescue workers and volunteers clearing heaps of debris in Jardim Monteverde, on the border between Recife and the municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes, where 19 died on Saturday morning in a landslide that ripped through precariously built homes.
Luiz Estevao Aguiar, who lives in a different municipality, lost 11 relatives in the disaster, he told TV Globo.
“My sister, my brother-in-law, 11 people from my family died. It was difficult ... I did not expect this,” he said tearfully.
Nearby, Flavio Jose da Silva has been desperately looking for his stepfather Gilvan in the rubble of what was once his house.
Shortly after it collapsed, he heard Gilvan say, “I'm here, under the ground."
"We hope to find him alive,” an emotional da Silva said, pointing to a mountain of debris.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday he would travel to Recife on Monday.
Over the past year, hundreds of Brazilians have died in flooding and landslides brought on by torrential downpours.
In February, more than 230 people were killed in the city of Petropolis, the19th-century Brazilian empire's summer capital, in Rio de Janeiro state.
Early last month, 14 more were killed by flooding and landslides in the state.
Experts say Brazil's rainy-season downpours are being augmented by La Nina — the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean — and by climate change.
Because a hotter atmosphere holds more water, global warming increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.
Risks from heavy rains are augmented by topography and poor construction in shantytowns built in steep areas.
According to meteorologist Estael Sias of the MetSul agency, the heavy rains lashing Pernambuco and, to a lesser extent, four other northeastern states, are the product of a typical seasonal phenomenon called “eastern waves.” He explained that those are areas of atmospheric disturbance that move from Africa to Brazil's northeastern coastal region.
“In other areas of the Atlantic this instability forms hurricanes, but in northeastern Brazil it has the potential for a lot of rain and even thunderstorms,” he said.
The appointment of Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, to the envoy role was announced as part of a series of royal orders decreed by King Salman.
The announcement did not include details about the envoy's mandate.
Jubeir, who previously served as foreign minister and ambassador to Washington, will continue in his role at the foreign ministry.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, has been cashing in on the spike in energy prices resulting from Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
In early May, the kingdom announced that economic growth in the first quarter had risen 9.6% compared to the same period in 2021, which the statistics authority said represented "the highest growth rate in (the) last 10 years".
It has resisted US entreaties to raise oil output in an attempt to bring prices down in the wake of the Ukraine war, instead of stressing its commitment to the OPEC+ oil alliance, which Riyadh and Moscow lead.
Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said earlier this month that the country expected to ramp up its daily oil production capacity by more than one million barrels to exceed 13 million barrels by 2027.
Yet last year, Saudi Arabia pledged ahead of the COP26 climate change summit to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, sparking scepticism from environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
With increasing urgency to limit global warming, experts warn of the need to reduce fossil fuel use.
Speaking on a panel last week at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Saudi economy minister Faisal Al-Ibrahim disputed the notion that his country´s policies were in conflict.
"We will continue to advocate increased capacity. We will also continue to advocate... reducing emissions," he said.
"These two points do not contradict each other. The last thing we want is focusing on climate change without focusing on energy security."
According to available reports shared by Times Of India, two others were also injured in the incident in which more than 30 rounds were fired.
Moose Wala was rushed to the civil hospital in Mansa in a critical condition where he was declared dead.
“Three people were brought to the hospital, out of which Sidhu Moosewala was dead. After giving primary treatment, the two injured have been referred to a higher institute for further treatment,” said Dr. Ranjeet Rai, Civil surgeon of Mansa Hospital.
Moosewala, 28, was among the 424 persons whose security was withdrawn by Punjab police on Saturday.
For the unversed Sidhu contested the February 20 assembly elections on a Congress ticket from the Mansa assembly constituency and had lost by over 63,000 votes.
The Tara Air plane took off from the tourist town of Pokhara, some 125 km (80 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, for Jomsom, about 80 km to the northwest, the officials said.
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said the missing De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter aircraft with registration number 9N-AET made its first flight in April 1979.
"One search helicopter returned to Jomsom due to bad weather without locating the plane," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.
"Helicopters are ready to take off for search from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jomsom once weather conditions improve. Army and police search teams have left towards the site."
The airline said the plane was carrying four Indians, two Germans and 16 Nepalis, including three crew. Seven of the passengers were women, it said.
The plane lost contact with the control tower five minutes before it was due to land at Jomsom, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site, an airline official said on condition of anonymity.
The country's weather office said there had been thick cloud cover in the Pokhara-Jomson area since the morning.
Police official Prem Kumar Dani said a land rescue-and-search team had been sent to the area near Mount Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak at 8,167 m (26,795 ft).
Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents. Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically sited in difficult-to-reach mountainous areas.
In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
In 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
Shigenobu was one of the world’s most notorious women during the 1970s and 1980s, when her radical leftist group carried out armed attacks worldwide in support of the Palestinian cause.
She left the prison in Tokyo in a black car with her daughter as several supporters held a banner saying: “We love Fusako”.
“I apologise for the inconvenience my arrest has caused to so many people,” Shigenobu told reporters after the release. “It’s half a century ago... but we caused damage to innocent people who were strangers to us by prioritising our battle, such as by hostage-taking,” she said.
The former soy-sauce company worker is believed to have masterminded the 1972 machine gun and grenade attack on Tel Aviv’s Lod Airport, which left 26 people dead and injured about 80. She was arrested in Japan in 2000 and sentenced to two decades behind bars six years later for her part in a siege of the French embassy in the Netherlands. She had lived as a fugitive in the Middle East for around 30 years before resurfacing in Japan.
Her daughter, May, born in 1973 to a father from the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), hailed her mother’s release on social media.
Shigenobu maintained her innocence over the siege, in which three Red Army militants stormed into the French embassy, taking the ambassador and 10 other staff hostage for 100 hours. Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded. France ended the standoff by freeing a jailed Red Army guerilla, who flew off with the hostage-takers in a plane to Syria.
She did not take part in the attack personally but the court said she coordinated the operation with the PFLP.
Shigenobu was the daughter of a World War II major who became a grocer after Japan’s defeat. Her odyssey into extremism began by accident when she passed a sit-in protest at a Tokyo university when she was 20.
As Japan was in the midst of campus tumult in the 1960s and 70s to protest the Vietnam War, she quickly became involved in the leftist movement and left Japan at the age of 25.
She announced the Red Army’s disbanding from prison in April 2001, and in 2008 was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer, undergoing several operations.
On Saturday, Shigenobu said she would first focus on her treatment and explained she would not be able to “contribute to the society” given her frail condition. But she added: “I want to continue to reflect (on my past) and live more and more with curiosity.”
"The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens. The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens," he told members of the National Rifle Association.
Trump’s remarks came as he headlined an NRA event in Houston, three days after a gun massacre at a Texas elementary school reignited the tinderbox debate about US gun control.
"The various gun control policies being pushed by the left would have done nothing to prevent the horror that took place. Absolutely nothing," he said.
An 18-year-old gunman with a legally-bought AR-15-style rifle killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, marking the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.
Trump read out the names of all 19 children, whom he described as victims of an out-of-control "lunatic," before suggesting that efforts at gun control were "grotesque."
"All of us must unite, Republican and Democrat – in every state, and at every level of government – to finally harden our schools and protect our children. What we need now is a top-to-bottom security overhaul at schools across this country," he added.
Multiple speakers, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, pulled out of the event after the murders but Trump confirmed on Wednesday he would not be canceling his appearance at the NRA’s annual "Leadership Forum."
President Joe Biden, who upbraided the US gun lobby in the wake of the shootings, is due in Uvalde on Sunday with first lady Jill Biden to "grieve with the community," White House officials said.
The NRA is considered the most powerful gun rights organization in the country, although its influence has waned as it has become mired in legal battles linked to a corruption scandal.
It has rejected most initiatives to prevent mass shootings, including expanded background checks on gun purchases, although it said ahead of Trump’s speech that audience members would not be allowed to carry firearms.
Republicans in Washington have suggested "hardening" schools with beefed up security – including armed guards posted at a single entry and exit point – rather than restrictions on gun ownership.
They have also spoken of the need to focus on mental health, although critics point out that other nations with stricter gun controls face the same issues and don’t see regular mass shootings.
There have been 214 mass shootings this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
They include a racist massacre at a supermarket in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, just 10 days before the Texas killings.
The world's two most populous nations redirected tens of thousands of additional troops into the high-altitude Himalayan region after a deadly hand-to-hand battle in June 2020 left at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead.
“Seven soldiers killed, 19 injured in the remote Nubra area,” a senior police officer in Ladakh told AFP.
The incident happened early Friday when a vehicle carrying the soldiers for deployment close to the contested frontier skidded off the road and plunged about 15 metres (50 feet) into the Shyok River, according to the official.
India and China, after fighting a full-scale border war in 1962, have long accused each other of trying to seize territory along their unofficial divide, which is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Relations have soured dramatically since a June 2020 clash along one section between Ladakh and Tibet.
Both sides have since reinforced the region with extra soldiers, military hardware and new infrastructure as multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks have failed to de-escalate tensions.
The New Zealand Prime Minister emphasised the importance of democratic systems, echoing Bhutto's 1989 speech at the university, in which she emphasised the "fragility of democracy."
In her speech, Arden shared that she had met Bhutto in Geneva in 2007, seven months prior to her assassination.
The PM said that despite all the political differences that exist in the world, two things about Bhutto were undeniable.
"She was the first Muslim female Prime Minister elected in an Islamic country, when a woman in power was a rare thing," she said mentioning the first thing.
"She was also the first to give birth in the office," continued Arden.
She mentioned how 30 years later she was "the second and the only other leader to have given birth in office almost 30 years later."
"My daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, was born on the 21st of June 2018, Benazir Bhutto’s birthday," she told the audience.
She underscored how she had walked a path similar to the former Pakistani PM.
"The path she carved as a woman feels as relevant today as it was decades ago, and so too is the message she shared here in this place," she said.
Echoing Bhutto, she said, "This imperfect but precious way that we organise ourselves, that has been created to give equal voice to the weak and to the strong, that is designed to help drive consensus, it is fragile."
She ended her speech by giving the message of kindness.
"After all, there are some things in life that make the world feel small and connected; let kindness be one of them," she said.
Taking to Twitter, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari shared Ardern's speech and said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto "continues to inspire & guide us from her grave."
The mindset that assassinated shaheed Benazir Bhutto must know their mission failed. You assassinated a women, a mother, a leader. You canot assassinate her vision, her ideology or memory. She continues to inspire & guide us from her grave. Benazir Bhutto lives. ? @jacindaardern https://t.co/vyTui7csvC
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 27, 2022
As the fighting intensified, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba aired Kyiv s increasing frustration with the West, accusing allies of dragging their feet on arms deliveries and telling his German counterpart that Ukraine needs heavy weapons "as soon as possible."
Russian forces are now closing in on several urban centres, including the strategically located Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Lugansk is part of the Donbas, the industrial basin comprising that region and Donetsk.
"The situation remains difficult, because the Russian army has thrown all its forces at taking the Lugansk region," regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a video on Telegram.
"Extremely fierce fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. They are simply destroying the city, they are shelling it every day, shelling without pause."
Russian forces also bombarded Ukraine s second city Kharkiv, killing nine people, and five civilians were killed Thursday in the Donetsk region to the south, according to the governor.
In his daily televised address, Zelensky said Moscow was pursuing an "obvious policy of genocide" in the Donbas -- after failing to take the capital Kyiv -- and its bombardments could leave the entire region "uninhabited".
Kyiv has been losing patience with what it views as the West s failure to quickly arm Ukraine and impose a ban on Russian oil exports on top of punishing economic sanctions already in place.
"We need more heavy weapons delivered as soon as possible, especially MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) to repel Russian attacks," Kuleba wrote on Twitter after speaking with Germany s Annalena Baerbock.
Just before midnight in Senegal, Macky Sall announced on Twitter that 11 infants had died in the blaze.
"I have just learned with pain and dismay about the deaths of 11 newborn babies in the fire at the neonatal department of the public hospital," he tweeted.
"To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy," Sall added.
The tragedy occurred at Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in the transport hub of Tivaouane, and was caused by "a short circuit", according to Senegalese politician Diop Sy.
"The fire spread very quickly," he said.
The city s mayor Demba Diop said "three babies were saved". According to local media, the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital was newly inaugurated.
Health minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was in Geneva attending a meeting with the World Health Organization, said he would return to Senegal immediately.
"This situation is very unfortunate and extremely painful," he said on radio. "An investigation is under way to see what happened."
The tragedy in Tivaouane comes after several other incidents at public health facilities in Senegal, where there is great disparity between urban and rural areas in healthcare services.
In the northern town of Linguere in late April, a fire broke out at a hospital and four newborn babies were killed. The mayor of that town had cited an electrical malfunction in an air conditioning unit in the maternity ward.
Three months to the day since Russia launched its invasion, Zelensky mourned the thousands of Ukrainian men and women who have perished and he renewed calls for heavy weapons from foreign partners saying arms for Kyiv were "the best investment in stability in the world."
Read more: From Missiles To Helicopters: US Says 20 Countries Offer New Arms For Ukraine
Sergiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, said Russian forces were bombarding the industrial city of Severodonetsk with air strikes, rockets, artillery and mortars in an effort to solidify control over the province and move further into Ukraine.
"The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse. It is getting worse with every day and even with every hour," Gaidai said in a video on Telegram. "The Russian army decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk."
He added: "They are simply erasing Severodonetsk from the face of the earth."
In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei made it clear Russia was bedding in for a long war in Ukraine.
"We will continue the special military operation until all the objectives have been achieved," Shoigu said, using Moscow s name for the war.
In his daily address to the nation late Tuesday, Zelensky called the situation in Donbas "extremely difficult," saying Russian forces were mounting a massive assault on Severodonetsk and several other cities.
Read more: Ukraine rejects concessions as Russians attack in east and south
"All the strength of the Russian army which they still have was thrown there for the offensive," Zelensky said. "The occupiers want to destroy everything there."
Supplying Ukraine with rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship missiles and other weapons is "the best investment in maintaining stability in the world and in preventing many serious crises that Russia is planning or has already provoked," Zelensky said.
"The longer this war lasts, the greater will be the price of protecting freedom not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole free world."
Biden's comment, made during his first visit to Japan since taking office, and as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looked on, appeared to be a departure from existing US policy of so-called strategic ambiguity on Taiwan.
China considers the democratic island its territory, part of “one China”, and says it is the most sensitive and important issue in its ties with the US.
When a reporter asked Biden during a joint news conference with the Japanese leader if the US would defend Taiwan if it were attacked, the president answered: “Yes.”
“That's the commitment we made,” he said. “We agree with a one-China policy. We've signed on to it and all the intended agreements made from there. But the idea that, that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not, is just not appropriate.”
He added that it was his expectation that such an event would not happen or be attempted.
Following Biden's comments, a White House official said there was no change in policy towards Taiwan.
China's foreign ministry said the US should not defend Taiwan's independence.
The president's national security aides shifted in their seats and appeared to be studying Biden closely as he responded to the question on Taiwan. Several looked down as he made what appeared to be an unambiguous commitment to Taiwan's defence.
Biden made a similar comment about defending Taiwan in October. At that time, a White House spokesperson said Biden was not announcing any change in US policy and one analyst referred to the comment as a “gaffe”.
Despite the White House insistence that Monday's comments did not represent a change of US policy, Grant Newsham, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and now a research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, said the meaning was clear.
“This statement deserves to be taken seriously,” Newsham said. “It is a clear enough statement that the US will not sit by if China attacks Taiwan.”
While Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, it has long followed a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
'Toughen the policy'
Biden made other tough comments about China's increasingly assertive posture in the region, saying he hoped Russian President Vladimir Putin would pay a price for his invasion of Ukraine in part to show China what it would face if it were to invade Taiwan.
“They're seeking to toughen their policy but without necessarily provoking China,” said James Brown, an associate professor at Temple University Japan.
Biden's remarks are also likely to overshadow the centrepiece of his Japan visit, the launch of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a broad plan providing an economic pillar for US engagement with Asia.
His trip includes meetings with the leaders of Japan, India and Australia, in the “Quad” group of countries.
Japanese PM Kishida emphasised Tokyo's readiness to take a more robust defence posture, something the US has long welcomed.
Kishida said that he told Biden that Japan would consider various options to boost its defence capabilities, including the ability to retaliate, signalling a potential shift in Japan's defence policy.
That would include a “considerable increase” in its defence budget, Kishida said.
Japan's role in any conflict over Taiwan would be to enable a US operation and help the US defend its assets, said Yoji Koda, a retired Maritime Self Defence Force admiral and former fleet commander.
“Japan's role in that would be substantial. Japan is an enabler of that security deterrence,” he said.
Kishida said that he had gained support from Biden on Japan becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council amid growing calls for reform of the council.
China and Russia are permanent members.
Kyiv s stance has become increasingly uncompromising in recent weeks as Russia experienced military setbacks while Ukrainian officials grew worried they might be pressured to sacrifice land for a peace deal.
"The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine s territorial integrity and sovereignty," Andriy Yermak, Ukraine s presidential chief of staff said in a Twitter post on Sunday (May 22).
Polish President Andrzej Duda offered Warsaw s backing, telling lawmakers in Kyiv on Sunday that the international community had to demand Russia s complete withdrawal and that sacrificing any territory would be a "huge blow" to the entire West.
"Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to (President Vladimir) Putin s demands," Duda said, the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since Russia s Feb 24 invasion.
"Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future," he said.
Speaking to the same parliamentary session, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed a plea for stronger economic sanctions against Moscow.
"Half-measures should not be used when aggression should be stopped," he said.
Shortly after both finished speaking, an air raid siren was heard in the capital, a reminder that the war raged on even if its front lines are now hundreds of kilometres away.
Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Duda that 50 to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day on the war s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties.
Russia s flattening of Mariupol has drawn multiple accusations of war crimes, including over a deadly attack on a maternity ward, and Ukraine has begun a legal reckoning for captured Russian troops.
The first post-invasion trial of a Russian soldier for war crimes neared its climax in Kyiv, after 21-year-old sergeant Vadim Shishimarin admitted to killing an unarmed civilian early in the offensive. The verdict is due on Monday.
Shishimarin told the court on Friday that he was "truly sorry". But his lawyer said in closing arguments that the young soldier was "not guilty" of premeditated murder and war crimes.
While Ukrainian forces fended off the Russian offensive around Kyiv, helped by a steady infusion of Western arms, both eastern Ukraine and Mariupol in the south have borne the brunt of a remorseless ground and artillery attack.
"Russian occupation forces are conducting intense fire along the entire line of contact and trying to hit artillery deep into the defences of Ukrainian troops," Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters.
The fighting is fiercest in the eastern region of Donbas, a Russian-speaking area that has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.
"In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address late on Thursday. "There s hell -- and that s not an exaggeration."
In the eastern city of Severodonetsk, 12 people were also killed and another 40 wounded by Russian shelling, the regional governor said.
Bush made the comments in a speech during an event in Dallas on Wednesday, while he was criticizing Russia's political system.
"The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,” Bush said, before correcting himself and shaking his head. "I mean, of Ukraine."
He jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter.
In 2003, when Bush was president, the United States led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The prolonged conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many more.
Bush's remarks quickly went viral on social media, gathering over three million views on Twitter alone after the clip was tweeted by a Dallas News reporter.
Speaking in Dallas this afternoon, former President George. W Bush made a significant verbal slip-up while discussing the war in Ukraine.
— Michael Williams (@michaeldamianw) May 19, 2022
He tried referencing what he described as the “wholly unjustified and brutal invasion” — but said Iraq, instead of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/tw0VNJzKmE
The former US president also compared Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill, while condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching the invasion of Ukraine in February.
NDTV stated that the 58-year-old would have to surrender before a court to serve a year's rigorous imprisonment.
“… we feel there is an error apparent on the face of record .. therefore, we have allowed the review application on the issue of sentence. In addition to the fine imposed, we consider it appropriate to impose a sentence of imprisonment for a period of one year," the Times of India quoted the supreme court bench as saying.
The Congress leader appeared to accept the verdict, simply tweeting that he would "submit to the majesty of law".
Sidhu was involved in a car accident in his hometown of Patiala in the northern state of Punjab in 1988. The then cricketer was accused of getting into a fight with the occupant of the other car and beating him up, leading to his death. A lower court had acquitted the cricketer in 1999.
The verdict was later challenged in 2006 and the Punjab and Haryana High court had convicted Sidhu of culpable homicide and sentenced him to three years in jail, the NDTV report said.
In 2018, the politician had approached the top court, which subsequently set aside the high court order saying there was no evidence the man had died of a single blow. However, the court held Sidhu guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen and fined him 1,000 Indian rupees.
Today, the scope of punishment was enhanced by the apex court while hearing a review plea filed by the victim’s family on the issue of the sentence awarded to Sidhu, Hindustan Times reported.
According to the report, Sidhu had told the court that there was “no conclusive evidence to show that the single fist blow led to the death of the 65-year-old man” and had accused the victim's family of making a "malicious attempt” to get the case reopened.
The visits are being touted as proof that the United States is building on recent moves to cement its years-long pivot to Asia, where rising Chinese commercial and military power is undercutting decades of US dominance.
But highlighting competing demands from two sides of the world, Biden will meet at the White House with the leaders of Finland and Sweden to celebrate their applications for joining NATO before he boards Air Force One for Seoul.
The Democrat is headed to South Korea, then Japan on Sunday to hold summits with the leaders of both countries, as well as joining a regional summit of the Quad — a grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States — while in Tokyo.
During the first leg, he will visit US and South Korean troops, but will not make the traditional presidential trek to the fortified frontier known as the DMZ between South and North Korea, the White House said.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan insisted there was no "tension" between the European and Asian issues, calling them "mutually reinforcing."
"There's something quite evocative about going from meeting with the president of Finland and the prime minister of Sweden to reinforce the momentum behind the NATO alliance and the free world's response to Ukraine, then getting on a plane and flying out to the Indo-Pacific," Sullivan said.
Reflecting the brutality of the conflict which has reinvigorated the transatlantic alliance, Ukraine held its first war crimes trial since Moscow poured troops across the border beginning February 24, with a 21-year-old Russian soldier pleading guilty to the cold-blooded murder of a Ukrainian civilian.
Read more: Russia says hundreds of Ukrainians surrender at Azovstal, Kyiv urges swap
The launch of Kyiv s judicial reckoning over alleged atrocities committed on its soil after 12 weeks of war and thousands of deaths came as President Vladimir Putin was forced to confront the vexing prospect of NATO sharply expanding its reach on his borders.
Abandoning decades of non-alignment, Finland and Sweden formally submitted a joint application to join the military alliance at its headquarters in Brussels.
Throwing America s full weight behind the Nordic nations, President Joe Biden said he "strongly" backs their NATO bid and offered US support in the event of "aggression" during the application process.
In a sign of Washington s resolve to stand firm with Ukraine, the United States reopened its embassy in Kyiv after a three-month closure, with employees raising the Stars and Stripes in a modest ceremony.
Biden s comments came one day before he was to welcome Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson to the White House for meetings set to underscore the strategic reach of their decision.
Reacting to the NATO applications, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said they would not have been expected a short time ago, "but Putin s appalling ambitions have transformed the geopolitical contours of our continent".
An economic crisis unprecedented in the country's history since independence in 1948 has led to a critical shortage of foreign exchange, that saw it miss two coupon payments on sovereign bonds on April 18.
Sri Lanka has already said it is unable to make the coupon payments, and a 30-day grace period ends on Wednesday.
S&P has said the ratings on the bonds, maturing in 2023 and 2028, have already been cut to 'default' and the country's overall rating could be further cut to 'D' on confirmation of the non-payment after the grace period ends.
Sri Lanka currently has no dollars to pay for petrol shipments, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera told parliament, appealing to people to stop queuing for the next two days.
A petrol shipment has been at Colombo port since 28 March but the government has been unable pay, he added.
"There aren't enough dollars available to open letters of credit," he said.
"We are working to find funds but petrol will not be available at least until the weekend. The very small reserve stock of petrol is being released for essential services like ambulances," he said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday the country had secured $160 million in bridge financing from the World Bank, but it was not clear if the funds could be used for fuel payments.
"The statistics have gone haywire," he said. "But the reality is we don't even have $1 million."
Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts, Sri Lanka's dire economic situation has led to spiralling inflation and shortages of essential supplies, bringing thousands of onto the streets in protest.
Violence between pro- and anti-government factions and police left nine dead and more than 300 injured last week, and was followed by the resignation of former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The United States “will continue to work bilaterally on ways to grow investment and trade opportunities to build a prosperous and stable Pakistan.
The United States also “welcomes the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) deliberations with Pakistan,” the spokesperson added.
Also, IMF sources in Washington confirmed that Pakistan and the IMF would start their review talks in Doha on Wednesday (today) to strike a staff-level agreement for the release of a $1 billion tranche under an Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The week-long review will be an opportunity for Pakistan to convince the IMF to revive a stalled $6bn package for stabilising its cash-starved economy.
A public expression of US support would boost Islamabad’s efforts to revive the programme and could smooth bullish market trends as well.
The spokesperson also confirmed media reports of a one-on-one meeting between Secretary Blinken and Mr Bhutto-Zardari.
“We confirm Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Bhutto-Zardari will meet one-on-one and cover a number of bilateral concerns in a follow-up to their May 6 call,” the US official said.
Earlier, the foreign minister told journalists in New York that he would share Pakistan’s perspective on various issues with the international community in his UN engagements.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari is attending a UN ministerial meeting of Global Food Security Call for Action and the Security Council’s open debate on maintenance of international peace, with a focus on conflict and food security.
The US mission to the United Nations initiated both meetings to highlight how the Feb 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine was threatening global food security.
“We are here to share Pakistan’s message with the United Nations,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari while talking to a group of Pakistani journalists at New York’s JFK airport.
The PTI had earlier planned a protest on his arrival but later they canceled the programme. Even PML-N supporters stayed away from the small PPP crowd that gathered at the airport to welcome their leader.
The foreign minister took an Emirates flight, which was delayed by a medical emergency. Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s entourage included a senior official from his ministry and some members of his personal staff. He was received by Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, its US envoy Ambassador Masood Khan and other senior officials of the two missions.
Renewal of ties with US
Speaking about Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s maiden official visit to the US, other upcoming overseas trips, and the external policy priorities of the new government at Foreign Office in Islamabad, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the media the government was committed to renewal of ties with the US.
She said Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s meeting with Secretary Blinken provides “a useful opportunity” for strengthening bilateral engagement with the US.
Sharing the broader contours of foreign policy operations under the new minister, Ms Khar said promoting national interest would be the foremost priority; trust and confidence with partners would be rebuilt; old friendships would be consolidated and new ones would be forged; stability and continuity in policies would be provided while retaining the flexibility to adapt as required; focus would be on immediate neighbourhood as well as on balanced, objective, broad-based, mutually beneficial relations with major powers.
The strategic port city fell to Russian forces last month, but a relentless Ukrainian military unit held out in the maze of tunnels under the plant, hailed as heroes and celebrated for stalling Moscow s invasion.
On Tuesday, 265 of them were taken into Russian captivity, including 51 who were heavily wounded, the Russian defence ministry said.
The ministry, which published images showing soldiers on stretchers, said the injured were transported to a hospital in the eastern Donetsk region controlled by pro-Kremlin rebels.
The defence ministry in Kyiv said it was hoping for an "exchange procedure... to repatriate these Ukrainian heroes as quickly as possible".
The government would do "everything necessary" to rescue the undisclosed number of personnel still holed up in the Soviet-era bunkers, the ministry said, but admitted there was no military option available.
The fate of the captured Ukrainians was unclear Tuesday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refusing to say whether they would be treated as criminals or prisoners of war.
President Vladimir Putin "guaranteed that they would be treated according to the relevant international laws," Peskov said.
Trust between the two sides is in short supply, with Kyiv saying negotiations on ending the three-month conflict were on hold, blaming Moscow for a refusal to compromise.
Russian forces stand accused of committing war crimes during a conflict that has left thousands dead and forced millions to flee their homes.
These include the summary killing of civilians in places like Bucha, a small town outside of Kyiv, where AFP reporters witnessed bodies abandoned in the streets by retreating Russian invaders.
The International Criminal Court said Tuesday it was deploying its largest-ever field team to Ukraine, with 42 investigators, forensic experts and support staff being sent into the field to gather evidence of alleged crimes.
And the US State Department also announced it was creating a special unit to research, document and publicise Russian war crimes.
The Conflict Observatory will "capture, analyse, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine," the department said.
Saudi TV ran a video clip showing the monarch walking slowly using a cane as he left King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the city of Jeddah, where he was admitted on the evening of May 7.
An entourage kept close and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, appeared in the clip.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Press Agency said on Twitter that King Salman underwent "medical examinations and successfully completed the treatment plan and recovery period."
The kingdom has for years sought to quell speculation over the health of the 86-year-old monarch. A week ago, state media reported that the king's colonoscopy results were "sound" and that doctors had "decided to keep him in the hospital for some time to rest".
In 2017, Saudi Arabia dismissed reports and mounting speculation that the king was planning to abdicate in favour of Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler.
King Salman, the custodian of Islam's two holiest sites, became ruler of the world's top oil exporter in 2015 after spending more than two and a half years as the crown prince and deputy premier.
He underwent bladder surgery in 2020 and had the battery of his heart pacemaker replaced in March.
Before this latest hospitalisation, he was most recently admitted in March for what state media described as "successful medical tests" and to change the battery of his pacemaker.
Under his rule, Saudi Arabia has launched ambitious economic reforms for a post-oil era and given more rights to women, while adopting a more assertive foreign policy, including entering a war in neighbouring Yemen.
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