IMRAN KHAN ADMITS LOSING CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT

Islamabad : Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently incarcerated, has confessed to misplacing the diplomatic cipher that he had previously alleged was part of a conspiracy against his government by the US. This admission occurred during an interrogation conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Attock jail, where Khan is serving a three-year sentence related to a graft case involving the failure to report gifts from the state treasury in annual asset declarations.

The FIA had filed a case against Khan and his PTI party's vice chief, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, based on a report by the US media outlet "the Intercept," which disclosed the contents of a diplomatic cipher allegedly missing from Khan's possession.

During the interrogation, Khan reportedly acknowledged, "I cannot recall where I kept it (the cipher)." He cooperated with the FIA's three-member team during the hour-long questioning and clarified that the document he displayed at a public gathering last year was not the cipher but rather minutes from a cabinet meeting. He argued that, as the Prime Minister, he had the right to possess such a document but could not explain why he presented it as the cipher in public.

The cipher controversy emerged just before Khan's removal from office through a no-confidence vote in April 2022. At that time, he displayed a paper claiming it was a cable from Pakistan's embassy in Washington, implying that US authorities were attempting to overthrow his government. In October 2022, the coalition government initiated action against Imran Khan, and the case gained further attention after Khan's principal secretary, Azam Khan, who had been missing for some time, reappeared and revealed details about the US cipher.

1969 UK MEDICAL EXPERIMENT: INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMEN GIVEN RADIOACTIVE CHAPATIS

A member of the UK Opposition Labour Party, serving as the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, is urging the initiation of a statutory inquiry into medical research dating back to the 1960s. This research involved the administration of chapatis containing radioactive isotopes to Indian-origin women as a solution to iron deficiency.

Around 21 Indian-origin women, identified through a general practitioner (GP) in the city, were provided with chapatis containing Iron-59, a type of iron isotope. This was part of a research trial conducted in 1969 to address iron deficiency within the South Asian population of the city. Later, they were invited to a research facility in Oxfordshire to assess their radiation levels.

Expressing deep concern for the women and their families who were subjected to this study, the Labour Party member stated, "My foremost concern is for the women and the families of those who were experimented on in this study." She intends to initiate a parliamentary debate on the matter upon Parliament's return in September, followed by a comprehensive statutory inquiry.

The inquiry aims to investigate how such an experiment was permitted to take place and why the recommendations of the Medical Research Council (MRC) report, which suggested identifying the women involved, were never acted upon. This would enable the affected individuals to share their experiences, receive necessary support, and ensure that valuable lessons are learned.

The MRC claimed that the study demonstrated the need for "Asian women to take extra iron because the iron in the flour was insoluble." The MRC emphasized its commitment to the highest standards, including "engagement, openness, and transparency," in a statement regarding the matter.

RUSSIA: GENETIC TESTING CONFIRMS PRIGOZHIN DEATH

Russian investigators said on Sunday that genetic tests had confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group, was among the 10 people killed in a plane crash last week.

Russia’s aviation agency had previously published the names of all 10 people on board the private jet which crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow on Wednesday.

They included Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped found the Wagner group.

There had been some speculation, especially on pro-Wagner Telegram channels, about whether Prigozhin had really been on the doomed flight.

Authorities have yet to say what they believe caused his private jet to fall from the sky.

2ND SHIP EXITS ODESA VIA NEW BLACK SEA ROUTE

A vessel carrying steel products to Africa has left Ukraine’s Odesa port through a temporary Black Sea corridor, the second ship to do so since Russia withdrew last month from a UN-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be safely exported, a senior Ukrainian government official said on Sunday. Deputy PM Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Liberian-flagged ship PRIMUS had begun sailing through a temporary corridor set up for civilian vessels, confirming a report on Saturday by a Ukrainian lawmaker. Russia threatened to treat all vessels as potential military targets after pulling out of the deal last month.

PROTESTS IN PAK AGAINST HIGH ELECTRICITY BILLS, PM HOLDS MEET

Islamabad : Amid a public outcry over inflated electricity bills, Pakistan’s interim PM Anwaar ul Haq Kakar held an emergency meeting on Sunday in which he directed authorities to devise “concrete steps” within the next 48 hours for a reduction in electricity bills.

Protests were held in several cities, including Multan, Lahore and Karachi, against the inflated electricity bills on Saturday, some even threatening a civil disobedience campaign if the extra taxes weren’t deducted. Last month, the power regulator raised the national average tariff by around Rs 5 per unit, pushing the base unit power tariff from Rs24.8 to Rs29.8. On August 22, the government once again sought to raise the power rate by Rs3.5 per unit. Pakistan has recently jacked up the power charges as per commitment with the IMF.

“We will not take any step in haste that will harm the country. We will take measures that won’t further burden the national exchequer and will facilitate the consumers,” Kakar said at the meeting. “It is not possible that while the people face difficulties, officials and the PM continue to consume free electricity paid for with the taxes people pay,” he added. He even directed relevant departments and ministries to submit to him the details of the officers who were being provided free electricity.

RAISED $7.1 M AFTER MUG SHOT: TRUMP CAMPAIGN

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign says he has raised $7.1 million since Thursday when he was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in the state and became the first former President in the United States history to ever have a mug shot taken.

Spokesperson Steven Cheung said that on Friday alone the campaign brought in $4.18 million — its highest-grossing day to date.

The record haul underscores how Mr. Trump’s legal woes have been a fundraising boon for his campaign, even as his political operation has spent tens of millions on his defence.

WHITE SHOOTER KILLS THREE BLACK PEOPLE IN FLORIDA HATE CRIME

A masked white man, carrying at least one weapon bearing a swastika, fatally shot three Black people inside a Florida store on Saturday in an attack with a clear motive of racial hatred, officials said.

The shooting in a Dollar General store in a predominately Black neighbourhood left two men and one woman dead and was “racially motivated,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

In addition to carrying a firearm with a painted symbol of the genocidal Nazi regime of Germany of the 1930s and 1940s, the shooter issued racist statements before the shooting. He killed himself at the scene.

The shooting came on the same day thousands visited Washington, D.C., to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

The gunman, identified as Ryan Christopher Palmeter, wore a bullet-resistant vest and used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. He acted alone and sent written statements to law enforcement and media before the attack, Mr. Waters said.

TALIBAN BAN WOMEN FROM NATIONAL PARK OVER HIJAB

KABUL: The Taliban will use security forces to stop women from visiting Band-e-Amir, one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, according to information shared by a spokesperson for the Vice and Virtue Ministry. The Ministry alleged that women have not been observing the proper way to wear the hijab, a headscarf.

FRANCE TO BAN FEMALE STUDENTS FROM WEARING ABAYAS IN STATE SCHOOLS

Students will be banned from wearing abaya, a loose-fitting full-length robe worn by some Muslim women, in France's state-run schools, the education minister has said.

The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.

France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws.

Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.

"When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn't be able to identify the pupils' religion just by looking at them," Education Minister Gabriel Attal told France's TF1 TV, adding: "I have decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools."

The garment has being increasingly worn in schools, leading to a political divide over them, with right-wing parties pushing for a ban while those on the left have voiced concerns for the rights of Muslim women and girls.

"Secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through school," Mr Attal told TF1, arguing the abaya is "a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute."

He said that he would give clear rules at the national level before schools open after the summer break.

NORTH KOREA LETS CITIZENS ABROAD RETURN IN EASING OF COVID ISOLATION

PYONGYANG: North Korea has allowed citizens stranded abroad by its strict COVID-19 curbs to return home after three years of isolation, state media reported on Sunday. Analysts say the country has a crumbling health system — one of the worst in the world — and no COVID-19 vaccines, antiviral drugs or mass testing capacity.

3 US MARINES DIE IN AIRCRAFT CRASH IN AUS DURING DRILL

Sydney : Three US Marines died during military exercises in northern Australia on Sunday, the US military said, in an aircraft crash that PM Anthony Albanese called “tragic”.

Five others were “transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition”, Marine Rotation Force Darwin said. It said they were among 23 Marines on the tilt-rotor MV-22B Osprey aircraft during routine training exercises and that the cause of the crash was being investigated. The crash occurred on the remote Tiwi Islands after 9am (0100 GMT), said Northern Territory police commissioner Michael Murphy. Australian personnel were not involved in the crash, Albanese said. “Our focus is to make sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,” the PM said.