Imran Khan’s aide threatened with parents’ kidnapping over UK event
A Pakistani dissident living in the UK was told his parents would be abducted if he attended an event at the British parliament, critical of Islamabad’s government.
Azhar Mashwani, a senior aide to former prime minister Imran Khan, was set to speak at the House of Lords on Tuesday at a hearing discussing the ongoing crackdown of Pakistan’s opposition.
But two days before the meeting, Mr Mashwani received a phone call warning him his mother and father would be kidnapped if he attended – part of what Mr Khan’s supporters claim is a campaign of intimidation and suppression.
Mr Mashwani told The Independent: “I received the call and was told if I went to the meeting, I should forget about my brothers and that my parents would also be abducted.
“It is suffocating that even in the UK I am being threatened and cannot exercise my basic human rights. I am also worried I could be attacked.”
Since Mr Khan’s imprisonment in August 2023, which the UN has described as having no legal basis, hundreds of his supporters have been arrested and the government has signalled the banning of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Mr Mashwani, a key figure in Mr Khan’s government, fled Pakistan last year after his brothers were abducted by what he claimed were Islamabad’s security services, before settling in the UK in May 2024.
Lord Daniel Hannan, who chaired the discussion, told The Independent: “I was disturbed to hear that people involved in our hearing had been warned off attending, with threats made against family members in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is a friend and ally and it needs to restore the rule of law. Every friend of democracy should stand up and call for this.”
Mr Khan’s arrest triggered violent unrest across the south Asian country, with some supporters attacking facilities associated with the country’s military.
The riots have been used as the basis for the arrest of thousands of PTI workers and some of the criminal charges brought against Mr Khan, who was convicted on several charges just before the election in February.
It meant he could not stand for election, and his party was prevented from being registered. Its candidates ran as independents, although most media accredited their victories to the party.
Mr Khan has said all the charges against him are politically motivated and part of a wider effort by the country’s military and political establishment to keep his party – which won the most seats in this year’s general election – from power.
Last week, Pakistan’s information minister said his government was planning to ban Mr Khan’s political party based on the “proven” charge it received foreign funds from illegal sources, as well as rioting by supporters last year.
However, the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention has called for Mr Khan’s immediate release, saying he has been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law”.
The body added that Mr Khan’s detention had “no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for office”.
The Shehbaz Sharif government denies unfairly targeting the opposition party, and says criminal cases against PTI activists are justified given the attacks on military facilities in May last year.
The authorities accused Mr Khan of instigating violence and called his rioting supporters “arsonists” exhibiting “enmity against the motherland”.
Man relieved to find chili pepper, not cancer, reason behind cough
A man in China, who had a persistent cough going back two years, was relieved to discover that the cause was not cancer but a piece of chili pepper lodged in his lung.
The 54-year-old man, identified only by his surname Xu, is from the Zhejiang province in eastern China. He had been self-medicating with over-the-counter drugs for his cough but saw no improvement, reported Chinese newspaper Dushi Kuaibao.
In June, he finally decided to head to the Thoracic Surgery Department at Zhejiang Hospital for a check up.
A CT scan showed a mass about 1cm-long inside his right lung, which raised concerns about him either having pneumonia or a malignant tumour. Further investigation also revealed enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes (the central compartment of the chest between the lungs), intensifying Mr Xu’s fear of lung cancer.
On 3 July, Mr Xu underwent surgery to remove a part of his lung tissue through a thoracoscopy so they could test it to confirm cancer.
However, doctors were astonished to discover a foreign object – the tip of a chili pepper.
Mr Xu then recalled choking and coughing severely during a hotpot meal two years ago, possibly inhaling the pepper.
Zhu Xinhai, Director of the Thoracic Surgery Department, explained that the chili pepper had likely travelled into Xu’s lung through his airway, pushed along by the choking. The chili pepper caused an enlarged lymph node in his right lung and was “hidden” under the tissue, making it difficult to detect through a standard examination.
Because the pepper was embedded in his bronchial tubes for a long time, he had developed a lung infection that led to his chronic coughing.
Ye Jian, director of the respiratory medicine department, noted that it’s not uncommon to find foreign objects in patients, including animal bones, earrings, and even dentures.
Mr Xu’s story quickly became a sensation on Chinese social media, with one user remarking: “It’s really impressive that he was able to endure the coughing for two years before going to hospital. He’s truly a master.”
Investigation finds 200,000 people in care were abused in New Zealand
Nearly 200,000 people in New Zealand have suffered abuse and neglect at state and faith-based care institutions since 1950, a report said on Wednesday.
The landmark 3,000-page final report from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission noted widespread physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse, and criticised both state and church institutions for failing to protect the vulnerable.
The investigation found that the indigenous Maori people faced particularly harsh treatment and cultural dislocation.
The Royal Commission, the highest level of inquiry that can be undertaken in the country, called for urgent reform, including the establishment of a specialist investigation unit, an independent Care Safe Agency, and a Care System Office.
It also sought public apologies and accountability from various leaders and institutions.
Speaking in parliament after the report was tabled, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it marked a day of “deep sorrow and regret”.
It was the largest and “most complex public inquiry ever held on our shores”, Mr Luxon said and announced his government would issue a formal apology on 12 November this year.
“At the heart of this report are the stories of 2,400 survivors, many of whom are here today. To every person who took part, I say thank you for your exceptional strength, incredible courage, and confronting honesty. Because of you, we know the truth about the abuse and trauma you have endured,” the prime minister said.
”I cannot take away your pain, but I can tell you this: you are heard and you are believed. Many of your stories are horrific and harrowing. They are painful to read, but not as painful as they were to endure. A number of faith-based schools, institutions and people in positions of authority who you should have been able to trust failed you in the worst possible way.”
Nearly 655,000 children, young people, and adults were in care from 1950 to 2019 and an estimated 200,000 were abused and even more were neglected, the report said.
“The true number will never be fully known as records of the most vulnerable people in Aotearoa New Zealand were never created or were lost and, in some cases, destroyed,” it said, using both Maori and English names for the country. “These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child in a loving family.”
“If this injustice is not addressed,” the report stated, “it will remain as a stain on our national character forever.”
Royal Commissioners Coral Shaw, Andrew Erueti and Paul Gibson called for wide legal reform, an overhaul of the care system, and urgent implementation of the redress scheme recommended by them.
“Instead of receiving care and support, children, young people and adults in care were exposed to unimaginable physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse, severe exploitation and neglect,” they said.
“Any abuse and neglect, let alone the prevalence of it, could not be justified by the standards of the day and certainly cannot be justified now.”
The commissioners urged swift implementation of their 138 recommendations to prevent future abuse and provide holistic redress to survivors.
The government said it had formed a ministerial group to tackle the report’s findings and recommendations.
Tu Chapman, a survivor and advocate, told the Associated Press that immediate action was needed to prove the government took the findings seriously.
“Announce the redress system as soon as possible,” she said. “Further delay is just impacting survivors even more who have waited 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years.”
Chris Hipkins, leader of the opposition Labour Party, which initiated the inquiry while in power, said children and vulnerable adults were “devalued and dehumanised”.
He described it as “a nationwide intergenerational shame” that remains unresolved.
In a statement, the Archbishops of the Anglican Church said: “We acknowledge and take full responsibility for our failures to provide the safe, caring and nurturing environment those who have been in our care had a right to expect and to receive. There have been clear failures to properly investigate and respond when abuse was reported.”
They also “acknowledged that we have not provided accessible, straightforward processes for the handling of disclosures and complaints of abuse”.
Traumatised children in Japan’s earthquake town given unusual homework
Children in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture, who are still reeling under the trauma of this year’s fatal earthquake, have been asked to hug family members as part of their school homework.
The psychological trauma from a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in January this year can be reversed by parents hugging and assuring their children of safety, doctors and experts have said.
The quake rocked Japan on the first day of the year and caused several severe aftershocks, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency officials. At least 260 people were killed and more than 3,300 were evacuated. The fatalities also included those who died later due to stress, illnesses and other causes linked to the earthquake.
The aftershocks were also felt in June this year.
As a result, the children in the Noto Peninsula’s Wajima have become sensitive to noise, their surroundings, and even dark places as complaints of stress-related physical and mental disorders have trickled in, reported The Japan News.
A woman in her 40s told the paper that her daughter is still afraid of dark places and cannot go to the bathroom alone at night, probably because of memories of the disaster still scarring her. “After the earthquake, she became sensitive to noise and scared of even small tremors,” she told the newspaper.
The family’s house was among more than 40,000 of those destroyed.
The Sanno Elementary School in Ishikawa prefecture’s Nanao has asked students to make physical contact of four types with their family members as part of their “homework”. These include hugging, sitting on a parent’s knee, holding their hands for more than one minute, or shaking hands, the report added.
The school took inspiration from another elementary school’s nurse Kimiko Koura who saw the findings of a survey on trauma in children days after the quake when the school reopened. The affected children were throwing up at the sight of collapsed houses or were unable to leave their parent’s side. Ms Koura thought close contact can help children feel safer.
She said she hoped the unconventional homework gave the affected children a sense of comfort and charged them with energy to move ahead in life.
Some parents have already registered the “homework’s” results on their children. “The hugs made me feel much better,” read one parent’s feedback.
Experts told the newspaper that the move can instill parental comfort in children recovering from the psychological effect.
“It is good for children to have physical contact when they start to feel insecure. Even though children may not like it, I want parents to hug their children and tell them they are on their side,” said Norihiko Kuwayama, a psychiatrist who has looked after children from the previous deadly earthquake in 2011.
Controversial anti-feminist writer ‘abducted’ visiting woman at night
A Pakistani screenwriter infamous for making sexist and anti-feminist remarks has alleged he was abducted and tortured by a gang of thieves after he went to visit a woman late at night.
According to a report filed at the Sundar police station in Lahore, Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar received a phone call on 15 July from a woman who identified herself as Amna Urooj. She was a fan of Mr Qamar, she said, and wanted to make a TV drama together, Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
Mr Qamar went to Ms Urooj’s residence at 4.40am.
Shortly after his arrival, there was a knock at the door and seven armed men rushed in, he alleges in the police complaint. They proceeded to search Mr Qamar, taking his national identity card, his ATM card, an iPhone 11 and PKR60,000 (£170).
“I was sitting with the woman when someone knocked on the door and the woman told me that it might be some delivery boy as she had ordered some food,” Mr Qamar said in the police report.
The armed men forced him to reveal his PIN and withdrew PKR267,000 (£740) from his account. They then demanded a ransom of PKR10 million, saying they had orders to kill him.
After Mr Qamar said he did not have that kind of money, he was handed over to five other men. They took him to a deserted location and demanded he call a friend to bring the ransom amount, he said. When his friend was unable to do so, Mr Qamar said the men blindfolded him, assaulted him and abandoned him there.
Mr Qamar is a controversial figure in Pakistan, having repeatedly made sexist and derogatory statements about women in the past. In 2019 he went viral for suggesting there would only be equality between the sexes when women could kidnap and rape men.
“If you wish to strive for equality then kidnap men as well. Rob a bus, gang rape a man so that I can understand what you mean by equality,” he told Entertainment Pakistan.
On a talk show in 2023, Mr Qamar said women should stay with their male partners even if they are cheated on, and that the only agency women have in a relationship is “their loyalty”.
“It is a man’s instinct to cheat. How many men will you leave? Else manufacture an ideal man if you want. Women have to control men with their loyalty,” he said.
He also said he doesn’t support the idea of men and women studying together because it leads to “more supply” of women, which distracts men and undermines their education.
In 2020, he came under fire for insulting activist Marvi Sirmed after she used the slogan “Mera jism, meri marzi”, meaning “My body, my choice”, at a women’s march. “No one would even spit on your body,” he told Sirmed, adding that she was a “cheap woman” who should “shut up”.
Mr Qamar has written for popular TV shows like Meray Pass Tum Ho and Pyare Afzal but has been criticised for the way he writes female characters.
Police have said that 12 suspects, including two women, have been arrested in relation to the alleged abduction, and all the items taken from Mr Qamar have been recovered. A Lahore court has approved three-day physical remand of the suspect being identified as Ms Urooj after police requested more time to question her on her alleged involvement, reported Geo TV.
Mr Qamar held a press conference on Monday to answer questions about his alleged abduction.
Asked why he went to meet a woman at 4.40am, Mr Qamar said she had been pestering him to visit her for days.
“I am sick and my doctor has strictly told me to not go out in the daytime for five years. Even if he hadn’t said that, we meet people at night and you don’t differentiate between men and women. When there’s no objection to me meeting men at night, then why should there be an objection to me agreeing to see this woman at the break of dawn?” the writer said according to Dawn.
“Because this happened at 4.40am, I had not agreed to go at night when I got the call. For the past 15 days, she was pestering me to see her.”
When a reporter said that Ms Urooj didn’t seem like the kind of woman who is usually cast in Pakistani dramas, Mr Qamar responded that he is familiar with the way women in his “field” dress and talk. “The girls in my field, the kind of clothes they wear and the way they talk, I’ve been seeing that for the past 27 years now. It’s nothing new to me,” he said.
Commenting on the news of the writer’s alleged kidnapping, a user posted on X: “What was Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar wearing when he was allegedly abducted? How revealing were his clothes? Why did he go out so late at night? Why was there no mahram (relative) accompanying him?”
North Korean trash balloon lands near South Korean president’s office
A trash-filled balloon sent by North Korea fell inside the compound of South Korea’s presidential office, marking the most serious escalation yet in the “balloon war” between the neighbours.
The Presidential Security Service said they monitored the latest batch of balloons from the North in real time as they flew towards Seoul but didn’t intercept them midair since their contents were unknown and could have scattered.
It’s not known if president Yoon Suk Yeol was inside the compound when the balloon landed.
“An investigation by the chemical, biological and radiological response team showed the objects didn’t present a danger or contamination, so they were retrieved,” Yonhap news agency quoted the security service as saying. “We are continuing to monitor in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“It is difficult to handle midair because we do not know what the balloons may contain,” a presidential official said. “There will be no change in our policy of collecting them after they have fallen.”
It’s not known if the North uses timers or other technology to drop the balloons in strategic places such as the president’s office. If that is the case, then it would invite a strong reaction from the South.
The North has sent across nearly 2,000 balloons in 10 tranches filled with wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure since May, causing alarm at airports and in residential areas.
Pyongyang has justified the campaign as retaliation for South Korea sending propaganda leaflets the other way.
Seoul, in turn, has restarted propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers near the border, including K-pop songs that are banned in the North.
The presidential complex is situated in the central Yongsan area of Seoul, 56km from the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. It has been the president’s office since 2022.
Seoul last week warned that the North would pay a “fatal price” after Pyongyang sent a new wave of balloons across the border.
“The North Korean military’s tension-escalating acts in frontline areas may lead it to pay a fatal price and we sternly warn that all responsibility for this situation lies with the North Korean regime,” said the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Australian surfer’s severed leg washes up on shore after shark attack
The severed leg of a 23-year-old Australian surfer who was attacked by a great white shark off the mid-north coast of New South Wales has washed up on the beach, police said.
Kai McKenzie was attacked by a shark at North Shore Beach at Port Macquarie on Tuesday morning around 11am local time and remained in critical condition. The surfer managed to catch a wave to the shore where bystanders helped treat him after the attack.
An off-duty police officer, who was walking his dog on the beach, used his dog’s leash as a tourniquet around his wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding before paramedics arrived at the scene, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr McKenzie was taken to Macquarie base hospital and later flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where he remained in a stable but critical condition.
The severed leg that washed up on the beach was placed on ice and taken to the hospital about 200km away from the place where the attack occurred. However, doctors will assess whether the leg can be reattached.
Shark biologists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development reviewed photographs of the incident and identified the shark as a great white approximately 3m in length, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
On Tuesday, the Port Macquarie Hastings Lifeguards stated on social media that beach closures have now been lifted after Tuesday’s incident.
Lauren Mac, a friend and neighbour of Mr McKenzie, launched a GoFundMe to support the surfer. Ms Mac was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph that the family and friends of the surfer were “devastated”.
“It’s another blow after Kai only recently returned to the water after fracturing his neck,” she told the outlet.
“His parents are shocked and devastated. I spoke with them yesterday after they saw Kai in the hospital. They are such a tight-knit family.”
She added: “Kai and all his mates have hearts of gold. He’s the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back.”
“He saw the shark,” Kirran Mowbray, a NSW ambulance worker, was quoted as saying by 10 News First.
“He was able to fight it off. He was very courageous. He turned around and caught a wave into shore.”
“The only person that saw the shark was the young man himself. He was quite calm. He was able to talk with us. He was completely with it,” he added.
Images from the scene showed Mr McKenzie’s surfboard with a chunk bitten off by the shark from its tail. Mr McKenzie is a team rider for Rage, the purple-hued surf grip and hardware brand, according to Surfer.
India budget: Tax giveaways and handouts for states led by Modi allies
Narendra Modi has been accused of using India’s 2024 federal budget to appease his most important coalition partners, as his finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented a package on Tuesday that included extensive tax giveaways for lower wage earners.
The first budget of Mr Modi’s third term comes after a disappointing election result for the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP, which must rely on the support of others parties to provide it a majority in parliament.
And perhaps the headline announcements of Ms Sitharaman’s speech to the Lok Sabha, the lower house, were offers of major new central funding to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, both governed by regional parties that are also Mr Modi’s most influential coalition partners.
The Indian prime minister said the budget aims to empower the new middle class and uplift Dalits (formerly Untouchables), Adivasis (an umbrella term for various tribal groups), and other marginalised classes in the country.
Setting a roadmap for the third Modi term, Ms Sitharaman unveiled nine budget priorities for 2024-25. These include agriculture, employment, energy security, manufacturing, infrastructure, and economic reforms. The budget focuses on the aspirations of all citizens, regardless of religion, caste, gender, or age, she said.
Income tax rates, always one of the most closely-watched elements of the budget, will be significantly revised, Ms Sitharaman announced, changes that the government estimates will save taxpayers an average of Rs17,500 (£162) annually.
She raised the minimum income tax threshold from Rs300,000 to Rs700,000 (£2,780 to £6,488) and adjusted other tax brackets in a way that the finance minister said will provide immediate benefit to low-income Indians.
But the opposition was quick to criticise her announcement of big financial packages for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. Ms Sitharaman announced a financial package of Rs 260bn (£2.4bn) for Bihar to support various infrastructure projects and Rs 150bn (£1.4bn) for Andhra Pradesh to develop its capital city Amaravati and fund public works.
Bihar is ruled by Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) party, and Andhra Pradesh by Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party. The support of the two regional leaders is essential for the survival of Mr Modi’s government.
Ms Sitharaman also announced initiatives to redevelop Nalanda in Bihar as a prominent religious tourist destination and improve Nalanda University, located in the hometown of Mr Kumar.
Unemployment emerged as one of the biggest talking points at this year’s general election in India, with many analysts suggesting the BJP’s underwhelming performance stemmed in part from disillusioned workers unable to find jobs.
On Tuesday the finance minister introduced three employment-linked incentive schemes aimed at boosting jobs in manufacturing and other key sectors.
One, dubbed “Scheme A”, will provide a direct benefit transfer of a month’s wages up to Rs15,000 (£139) for each new employee registered with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, which the government said would likely benefit about 21 million people.
“Scheme B” incentivises job creation in manufacturing with provident fund contribution support for the first four years. Scheme C offers employers reimbursement of up to Rs 3,000 (£28) a month for two years for additional employment in the formal sector, aiming to incentivise five million new jobs.
An internship programme will provide 10 million young people with internships in 500 top companies over five years, with monthly allowances and training costs partially covered by corporate social responsibility funds, the finance minister said.
And Ms Sitharaman announced a hefty allocation of funds for agriculture and allied sectors, emphasising farmer welfare and agricultural development. This will include a government review agricultural research to enhance productivity and develop climate-resilient crop varieties.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram of the opposition Congress party said: “Unemployment is the biggest challenge facing the country. For a few dozen vacancies or a few thousand posts, millions of candidates apply and write an examination or appear for an Interview. According to CMIE, the all-India unemployment rate is 9.2 per cent.”
He continued: “The response of the government is too little and will have only little impact on the grave unemployment situation. The claim that the schemes announced by the FM will benefit 29 million persons is highly exaggerated.”
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in parliament, wrote on X that the budget offered the BJP’s allie’s “hollow promises at the cost of other states” and “no relief for the common Indian”.
And Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress party president, said it was “not a budget for the ‘progress of the country’, it is a ‘save Modi government’ budget!”
He claimed that “there is nothing concrete” in the budget to address the needs of young workers, farmers, marginalised classes, minorities or the rural poor.
He pointed out that there were no major plans for women and the government was overlooking pressing issues such as rising inflation and rural development.