Pak authorities fire tear gas as protesters meet on Imran’s call
Islamabad, Oct 4: Pakistani authorities on Friday used tear gas to disperse protesters who had gathered here at D-Chowk demanding the release of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and to show solidarity with the judiciary. The authorities also suspended the mobile and internet services in most parts of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to quell the protests called by Khan. The call for protest was given by the 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician who has been incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for more than a year. He asked his followers to converge at the iconic venue in the capital to register a protest. It is the same venue where Khan held a sit-in for 126 days in 2014 against alleged rigging in the elections. Talking to the media at D-Chowk, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said that police have blocked all entry points to Islamabad and also arrested about 30 protesters. (PTI)
N Korea’s Kim threatens to nuclear strike against South
Seoul, Oct 4: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported on Friday, after the South’s leader warned that Kim’s regime would collapse if he attempted to use nuclear arms. The exchange of such rhetoric between the rival Koreas is nothing new, but the latest comments come during heightened animosities over the North’s recent disclosure of a nuclear facility and its continuation of missile tests. Next week, observers say North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament is expected to constitutionally declare a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula to formally reject reconciliation with South Korea and codify new national borders. During a visit to a special operation forces unit on Wednesday, Kim said his military “would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it possesses, including nuclear weapons”, if South Korea attempts to use armed forces encroaching upon the sovereignty of North Korea, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. (AP)
New NATO boss makes Ukraine support a top priority
BRUSSELS, Oct 4: The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. “There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in his first speech on taking office, and he affirmed a commitment made by the organization’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” Russian forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has a shaky hold on part of the Kursk region in Russia, which has provided a temporary morale boost, but as casualties mount it remains outmanned and outgunned. “The cost of supporting Ukraine is far, far lower than the cost we would face if we allow Putin to get his way,” Rutte said. (AP)