IMRAN KHAN: PAKISTAN POLICE CHARGE EX-PM UNDER TERRORISM ACT

Pakistan's police have charged the country's former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, under anti-terror laws.

Their investigation comes after he accused the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing his close aide.

Tensions are high in the country, with the former leader's supporters gathering outside his house vowing to "take over" if he is arrested.

Since being ousted from power in April, Mr Khan has been a vocal critic of the government and the country's army.

Police announced the charges after the cricketer-turned-politician accused authorities of torturing his close aide, who is himself being detained under sedition charges.

In a public speech on Saturday, Mr Khan condemned Islamabad's police chief and a female judge for the detention and alleged mistreatment of his party colleague.

"You should also get ready as we will take action against you," he said in the speech, referring to the pair directly.

Officials accused Mr Khan of breaching the country's anti-terrorism act for allegedly making threats against the state officials.

Hundreds of the former prime minister's supporters gathered outside his home in Islamabad after news of the investigation broke, vowing to "take over" the capital if police tried to detain him.

Police who were present at the scene said they were not there to arrest the former leader, but to maintain law and order.

SOMALI SECURITY FORCES END HOTEL SIEGE, RESCUE 106 HOSTAGES

Somali authorities on Sunday ended a deadly attack, in which 21 people were killed and dozens more wounded, when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital.

It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the fighters who had stormed Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that started with loud explosions.

The siege ended around midnight, police commissioner Abdi Hassan Hijar told reporters. Mr. Hijar said that a total of 106 people, including children and women, were rescued during the siege, which ended around midnight.

Health Minister Dr. Ali Haji Adam reported 21 deaths and 117 people wounded, with at least 15 in critical condition.

Ismail Abdi, the hotel's manager, said that security forces were still working to clear the area. No more gunfire could be heard after 9 a.m. local time. Onlookers gathered outside the gates of the badly damaged hotel on Sunday morning, surveying the scene.

The Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab, which has ties with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent attempts to strike places visited by government officials.

'TOXIC TREND': CHINA FUMES AS ANOTHER US LAWMAKER VISITS TAIWAN

China has expressed its outrage after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb landed in Taiwan on Sunday to hold talks with the leadership of the self-ruled island amid increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

This is the second such visit by the US delegation after the short trip of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that angered China and set off military tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

"I landed in Taipei to kick off an economic development trip in Taiwan & South Korea. Indiana's home to 10 Taiwanese and 12 South Korean businesses. This week marks my 2nd trip to South Korea as Governor & I'm proud to be the first governor to visit Taiwan since before the pandemic," Holcomb tweeted.

"Our delegation will spend this week meeting with government officials, business leaders and academic institutions to further strengthen Indiana's economic, academic and cultural connections with Taiwan and South Korea," he said in another tweet.

Chinese state media outlet said this visit "shows a toxic trend of US politicians using Taiwan as a pawn after Pelosi's provocative visit to this island earlier this month." According to Global Times.

"Holcomb's visit is apparently a toxic sequel following the visit made by Pelosi, who encouraged US politicians to believe that since her visit has intensified the tensions across the Taiwan Straits, others can exploit such tensions to achieve their personal political gains and show their presence," Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The Chinese expert further added that after Pelosi's "provocative" visit, China has been upping the ante of strengthening its posture, "when the US move crosses the redline, we can take whatever measures that are necessary, that's what matters now." China says Taiwan is the most important issue that dedicates its diplomatic ties with Washington.

China's military drills are continuing around Taiwan, which some analysts say is a simulation of a full-scale scale attack on the island of 22 million people.

SINGAPORE PM: WILL DECRIMINALISE GAY SEX, BUT NO CHANGE IN MARRIAGE RULES

Singapore will decriminalise sex between men but has no plans to change the legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, PM Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday. LGBTQ groups welcomed Lee’s decision to repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, but also cautioned that ruling out same-sex marriage would help to perpetuate discrimination.

In his annual national day rally speech, Lee said Singaporean society, especially young people in the city-state, were becoming more accepting of gay people. “I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept,” he said.

It was unclear when exactly Section 377A would be repealed. Singapore becomes the latest Asian country to move toward ending discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. In 2018, India’s highest court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex, whileThailand has recently edged closer to legalising same-sex unions. Under Singapore’s Section 377A, offenders can be jailed for up to two years under the law, but it is not currently actively enforced. There have been no known convictions for sex between consenting adult males for decades and the law does not include sex between women or other genders.

LGBTQ groups have brought multiple legal challenges attempting to strike down thelaw, but none has succeeded.

On Sunday, several LGBTQ rights groups said they were “relieved” by Lee’s announcement, however an alliance of over 80 churches expressed disappointment over the decision.

ZELENSKY WARNS OF ‘UGLY’ RUSSIAN ATTACK AROUND INDEPENDENCE DAY

President Volodymyr Zelensky urged vigilance ahead of celebrations of 31 years of Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule on August 24, as shells rained down near Europe’s biggest nuclear plant and Russian forces struck in the south and east.

Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to “spread despondency and fear” ahead of the events, which also mark six months since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Saturday.

“We must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious,” Mr. Zelensky said.

The nightly curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, regularly hit by Russian shelling, will be extended for the entire day on Wednesday, Governor Oleh Synehub told residents on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Facebook early on Sunday that over the past 24 hours Russian forces had conducted several attempted assaults in Donbas. The eastern border region controlled in part by pro-Moscow separatists has been a prime target of Russia’s campaign in the past months.

The area on the Black Sea coast has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the past weeks.

DARYA DUGINA: DAUGHTER OF PUTIN ALLY KILLED IN MOSCOW BLAST

The daughter of a close ally of Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been killed in a suspected car bombing.

Darya Dugina, 29, died after an explosion on a road outside Moscow, Russia's investigative committee said.

It is thought her father, the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known as "Putin's brain", may have been the intended target of the attack.

Mr Dugin is a prominent ultra-nationalist ideologue who is believed to be close to the Russian president.

Alexander Dugin and his daughter had been at a festival near Moscow, where the philosopher gave a lecture on Saturday evening.

The "Tradition" festival describes itself as a family event for art lovers which takes place at the Zakharovo estate, where Russian poet Alexander Pushkin once stayed.

The pair were due to leave the venue in the same car, before Mr Dugin reportedly made a decision at the last minute to travel separately.

A Ukrainian official has dismissed accusations of Ukrainian involvement in the incident.

NSO CHIEF STEPS DOWN AS ISRAELI SPYWARE FIRM RESTRUCTURES

Jerusalem : The CEO of embattled Israeli spyware maker NSO has stepped down as part of a corporate reorganisation, the company announced on Sunday. NSO has been connected to scandals resulting from alleged misuse by customers of its flagship Pegasus surveillance software. Last year, US placed restrictions on the firms, saying its tools had been used to “conduct transnational repression. ” NSO denies wrongdoing.

The company said CEO Shalev Hulio, one of its founders, would be stepping down. Yaron Shohat, the firm’s chief operating officer, will lead the firm on an interim basis and manage the reorganisation process while it searches for a new CEO. A company official said Hulio is to remain with the company.

Pegasus allows operators to invade a target’s cellphone, giving them access to contacts, messages and movement history. Sunday’s statement said firm’s reorganisation will examine “all aspects of its business, including streamlining its operations.

PAK. SINGER NAYYARA NOOR PASSES AWAY

Celebrated Pakistani singer Nayyara Noor, adored by millions from both India and Pakistan for her soulful melodies, passed away after a brief illness, her family said on Sunday. Noor was 71.

Noor was born in Guwahati in 1950. Her father was an active member of the All-India Muslim League and hosted Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah during his trip to Assam before the Partition in 1947. Sometime in 1958, her family migrated to Lahore.

Her famous ghazal renditions included Ae Jazba-e-Dil Gar Main Chahoon, written by Behzad Lucknavi. Barkha Barse Chat Per, a Hindi poem by Faiz, which she rendered with her husband Sheharyar Zaidi in 1976, was perhaps her most celebrated work.