Peshawar, Jul 15: The death toll in the suicide blast targeting an election rally in the restive Balochistan reached 130 today with Pakistan announcing tomorrow as a day of national mourning over the recent terror attacks in the country.
Militants yesterday targeted a gathering of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Siraj Raisani in the Mastung area in the troubled province, killing at least 128 people and injuring over 200 others. Raisani, who was a candidate from PB-35 (Mastung), was among those killed in the attack.
Two persons succumbed to their injuries today, taking the death toll to 130, the Express Tribune reported, adding that at least 20 of the injured are reported to be in critical condition.
With two more deaths, the number of casualties mounted to 135 in the yesterday’s twin attacks in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
Five persons were killed after a bomb hit a rally of Akram Khan Durrani of Mutahida Majlis Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties, in the Bannu area Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The Islamic State terror group had claimed responsibility for Balochistan attack through its Aamaq news agency.
Authorities suspect the suicide bomber entered Balochistan from Afghanistan and was provided a safe house in the Chagi area before he came to Mustung.
Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement, today said in view of tragic incidents of terrorist attacks at Peshawar on Tuesday and in Mastung and Bannu yesterday, the government has announced to observe one day official mourning throughout the country tomorrow.
New Delhi, July13: As the controversy over `service’ matter continues to simmer, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to be in favour of seeking legal interpretation of the Supreme Court verdict.
After meeting Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday, the view that emerged in the Home Ministry was stated to be in favour of seeking a detailed interpretation on various legal points of the apex court’s recent judgement.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejariwal had met Union Home Minister a day ago and on Thursday Mr. Singh held discussions with L-G Mr. Baijal on several aspects revolving around ‘service’ matter.
On July 4, soon after the SC ruling on power and jurisdictional dispute in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had announced that approving authority for transfer and postings of the DANICS and IAS officers will be the Chief Minister.
However, the L-G has cited an old notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs which has not yet been scrapped and which gives control over postings and transfers of the officers to the L-G.
The remains of crudely fashioned stone tools unearthed in China advances the presence of human ancestors in Asia by around 200 millennia to 2.1 million years ago, scientists said Wednesday.
If correctly dated, the find means that hominins — the group of humans and our extinct forefather species — left Africa earlier than archaeologists have been able to demonstrate thus far, a team reported in the scientific journal Nature.
“Our discovery means that it is necessary now to reconsider the timing of when early humans left Africa,” said study co-author Robin Dennell of Exeter University in England.
Hominins are believed to have emerged in Africa more than six million years ago. They left the continent in several migration waves starting about two million years ago.
The first migrants were likely members of the species Homo erectus (upright man) or Homo ergaster (working man) — extinct predecessors of our own group, Homo sapiens (wise man), which first emerged about 300,000 years ago.
The oldest known African fossil attributed to a member of the Homo family is a 2.8 million-year-old jawbone from Ethiopia.
Previously, the oldest evidence for hominins in Asia came from Georgia in the form of fossilised skeleton bits and artefacts dated to between 1.77 million and 1.85 million years ago.
New Delhi, July 12: After making a strong statement that Iran would end the privileges being provided to
India if New Delhi reduces oil import, Iran on Thursday said it will do its best to ensure security of oil
supply to India.
“Coercive literature has never had a place in the history of Iran and India relations and their dialogues,” Iran embassy said here.
In a clarification, Iranian embassy said here that Iran will do its best to ensure security of oil supply to India by offering various flexible measures which facilitate bilateral trade and also Indian exports to Iran.
Iran also said it “understands” the difficulties being faced by New Delhi in dealing with the unstable energy market and that it was for India to choose its energy partners.
Tehran gave an impression that it was up to New Delhi to take into account various factors like geopolitical considerations and reliability of the oil suppliers.
Iran’s deputy ambassador and charge d’affaires Massoud Rezvanian Rahaghi at a seminar on Tuesday
said that his country would end the privileges being provided to India if the latter tried to source oil from countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia or Iraq.
“It is unfortunate that Indian investment promises for expansion of Chabahar port and its connectivity projects
have not been accomplished so far. It is expected that India takes immediate necessary measures in this regard if its cooperation and engagement in Chabahar port is of strategic nature,” he has said.
The United States has revived its sanctions against Iran lately and also urged India and other countries to
cut oil imports from Iran by November first week or face sanctions.
“Iran has always been a reliable energy partner for India and others, seeking a balanced oil market and rational prices of oil which ensure the interests of both countries as consumer and supplier,” the embassy said in its clarification.
Iranian crude accounts for a substantial chunk of the total oil imported by India each year.
India is oil-dependent country and imports more than 80 per cent of the oil.
The United States late Tuesday announced it was starting the process to slap 10 percent tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese export goods as soon as September, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
President Donald Trump vowed to hit back on a growing list of products after China retaliated in kind for the first round of 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of imports that Washington imposed last week.
If he goes ahead it would mean thousands of products from fish to chemicals, metals and tires would face new taxes.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Washington did a thorough investigation to justify imposing tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports to compensate for the harm to the US economy caused by China’s unfair trading practices, including theft or forced transfer of American technology.
But China has rebuffed US complaints and denied any harm was done to US companies, and instead retaliated “without any international legal basis or justification,” Lighthizer said.
“As a result of China’s retaliation and failure to change its practices, the president has ordered USTR to begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports,” he said in a statement.
USTR will hold hearings in late August on the list of targeted products, and an administration official said it would take about two months to finalize, at which point Trump would decide whether to go ahead with the tariffs.
The goal is to bring the total amount of Chinese imports up to 40 percent of the total imported from the Asian power, since the US products hit by Beijing’s retaliation represent that share of exports, an official told reporters in a conference call.
This dispute comes alongside the US confrontation with other allies and major trading partners including Canada, Mexico and the European Union, for the steep tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum. Those nations also have retaliated.