Prohibited funding case: Court rejects Imran's plea seeking investigation at Zaman Park residence

Orders PTI chief to appear before the court in next hearing

ISLAMABAD':

A banking court in the federal capital on Thursday rejected the request of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to be investigated at his Lahore's Zaman Park residence in the prohibited funding case and ordered him to appear before the investigating officer.

Banking Court Judge Rakshanda Shahen presided over the hearing of the prohibited funding case, in which Special Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi pleaded to reject Imran’s bail plea.

The court remarked that it is the job of the investigating officer (IO) to investigate and that the court will not give any direction to the IO.

Read FIA directed to continue inquiry in prohibited funding case

The special prosecutor argued that since the Wazirabad incident, wherein the PTI chief was wounded by gunfire aimed at his open-top container truck, Imran is running political affairs but does not appear in court.

"Neither did the former premier appear in the court nor was he involved in the investigation, so his request for exemption from appearing in court should be rejected," Abbasi said.

He maintained that as far as injuries are concerned, the incident had occurred in November and since then Imran has appeared in the media but does not appear in court. "Therefore, the decision on interim bail should be withdrawn," he added.

The court then asked Imran’s lawyer as to why the PTI chief did not become a part of the investigation. To this, the former prime minister’s lawyer stated that Imran wants to be part of the investigation.

"However, there are several reasons for his non-appearance," the lawyer added and said that Imran had been injured in the attack and that the ex-PM will appear in court as soon as the doctors permit.

Read More Experts to join Wazirabad probe

The lawyer further told the court that the PTI chief has always talked about the rule of law and requested the court to grant Imran bail along with two weeks’ time for the court appearance on medical grounds.

Subsequently, Judge Shahen extended the ousted premier’s interim bail till January 31 and rejected Imran's plea seeking an investigation at his Zaman Park residence.

The judge also ordered the PTI chief to face the IO in any case, while questioning Imran's counsel, "why shouldn't the court withdraw the decision on Imran's interim bail, if he does not appear at the next hearing?"

The case

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had booked PTI leaders including party chairman Imran Khan, the party’s financial team, and a manager of a private bank in the prohibited funding case.

The case was lodged by FIA Commercial Banking Circle Islamabad.

According to a first information report (FIR), the former ruling party leaders have violated the Foreign Exchange Act and they were declared as the beneficiaries of suspicious bank accounts.

Read Also JIT report points to plot to assassinate Imran: Fawad

The FIA claimed that Abraaj Group also transferred $2.1 million to the bank accounts of the PTI.

The agency kicked off its probe against the PTI in August last year after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared in its verdict that the party had indeed received illegal funding.

The case had been filed by PTI's founding but disgruntled member Akbar S Babar and had been pending since November 14, 2014.

The written order of the ECP stated that the political party had received illegal funds from foreign countries, including the US, UAE, UK and Australia.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the $21.83 trillion 2023 budget. Story by Africanews

 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the $21.83 trillion 2023 budget.

The head of state on Tuesday in Abuja, the capital, signed off on the eighth and final annual budget of his administration, saying it was an increase of $1.32 trillion over the original executive proposal.

These provisions were made for the 2023 general elections and the transition programme.

An imminent transition process explains why the head of state decided to sign the 2023 appropriation bill as passed by the National Assembly. This rapid signature will therefore allow its implementation to begin without delay.

The 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Bill was also signed. President Buhari thanked the National Assembly for approving his request for an extension of its validity date to 31 March 2023.

The bill enables the administration to respond to the devastation caused by the recent national floods on the infrastructure and agriculture sectors.

The Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning will provide details of the approved budget and the 2022 Finance Act later.

In order to achieve the targets set to meet the new budget, President Buhari has directed public enterprises to intensify their revenue mobilisation efforts, including ensuring that all taxable organisations and individuals pay their due taxes.

 

Actors you've probably never seen young           (Story by Stars Insider)

Actors you've probably never seen young

Some actors nabbed their most successful roles later in life, so it's only natural that we remember them at a certain age. While many of these film and TV stars have a long career under their belt, many of us associate them with specific characters, and never really had the chance to see how they looked when they were younger. In this gallery, you'll have the chance to see what some of your favorite Hollywood stars looked like decades ago.

Browse through and see if you can recognize them!

ARTICLE; Story by Jennifer Hassan, Sammy Westfall • Jun 17, 2022

 

Ukraine war pushes global displaced to record high, U.N. says                                          

Story by Jennifer Hassan, Sammy Westfall • Jun 17, 2022

Russia’s war in Ukraine has pushed global displacement figures to record levels, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday, calling the statistics a “tragic milestone.”

Over the past decade, levels of displacement have increased every year, the United Nations noted in its global trends report — with figures currently at the highest level since record keeping began. At the end of 2021, 89.3 million people were displaced, the agency said, citing war, disasters, violence, persecution and human rights abuses as some of the factors.

As of today, more than 100 million people have been forced to flee their homes — more than 1 percent of humanity.

The invasion of Ukraine triggered the fastest forced-displacement crisis since World War II — which, in conjunction with other emergency situations in Afghanistan, Africa and elsewhere, “pushed the figure over the dramatic milestone,” the agency said. More than 5 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe since Russia’s invasion.

Children make up almost half of the total global refugee population of the last decade, UNICEF said in a separate report Thursday. A record 36.5 million children were displaced by the end of 2021 amid cascading crises, including in Afghanistan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of CONGO

Climbing trends of global displacement will continue unless the international community makes a “new, concerted push towards peacemaking,” the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday.

Last year, several conflicts began around the world and existing ones escalated — with about two dozen nations, home to a total of 850 million people, experiencing medium- or high-intensity conflicts, according to the World Bank. “Fragility, conflict-related fatalities, and social unrest have increased dramatically,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in March.

On top of conflict, food scarcity, inflation and the climate crisis have exacerbated hardship and stretched the humanitarian response, the United Nations noted.

Two-thirds of refugees and displaced people came from only five countries: Syria, at 6.8 million, followed by Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar.

Low- and middle-income countries hosted more than 80 percent of all refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad, the U.N. refugee agency said. Turkey hosted the largest refugee population worldwide — at 3.8 million — then Uganda, Pakistan and Germany. On a per capita basis, Lebanon — at 1 in 8 per capita — followed by Jordan and Turkey, hosted the largest number of refugees.

After leaving dangerous situations at home, many refugees still face conditions of precarity and vulnerability.

The World Food Program last month warned that Syrian families living in refugee camps in Iraq were facing “alarming levels” of food insecurity. The nation hosts around 260,000 Syrian refugees, including over 95,000 in camps.

There are 2.6 million Afghan refugees globally — with 2.2 million in neighboring Iran and Pakistan alone. As part of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country last year, the Biden administration evacuated 76,000 Afghans to the United States, leaving behind thousands others who wanted to escape as the Taliban took over.

The U.S. Afghan resettlement program has been overwhelmed, leaving some refugees struggling, separated from family members and in limbo in trying to find a long-term path forward.

Many, including a coalition of Democratic senators late last month, have criticized what they see as the government’s asymmetrical treatment of refugees from different nations.

“While the U.S. response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis has been admirable, it is unfortunate that this welcoming and accommodating model is not the standard for all humanitarian crises, wherever they occur, whether in Haiti, throughout Central America, in Africa, the Pacific, and elsewhere,” the senators wrote.

The conflict in Ukraine has also contributed to soaring food and fuel prices around the world. From Nigeria to Yemen, the crisis is hitting developing countries particularly hard, exacerbating hunger and food shortages.

“Ripple effects of the war in Ukraine have been reverberating globally against the backdrop of a gradual and uneven economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” a U.N. analysis of the world’s hunger hot spots noted.

With key ports in Ukraine blocked, U.S. and European officials have accused Russia of using food as a weapon in the conflict. “Disruptions to the Ukrainian agricultural sector and constrained exports reduce global food supply, further increase global food prices, and finally push up already high levels of domestic food price inflation,” the United Nations said.

Ukraine and Russia produce about a third of the wheat traded in global markets and about a quarter of the world’s barley, according to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute.

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