Court to hear plea by Imran, wife in Al-Qadir Trust case
Islamabad, April 30: A Pakistani high court is scheduled to hear a plea filed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, on Thursday, challenging their convictions in the Al Qadir Trust case. An Islamabad accountability court in January last year sentenced 73-year-old Khan to 14 years and Bibi to seven years in prison in the corruption case led by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the anti-sleaze watchdog. The two challenged the conviction in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which was scheduled to hear their plea on April 22. The hearing was, however, cancelled due to the closure of the Red Zone in the wake of expected Iran-US negotiations. The 190 million pound case pertains to allegations linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare organisation that runs a university outside Islamabad. It is alleged that the trust was used as a front to receive land worth millions of dollars from a real estate tycoon. According to NAB, the donations were made in exchange for the former premier’s administration using repatriated funds from the United Kingdom to pay fines on behalf of the businessman instead of depositing the amount into the national exchequer. (PTI)
NYC Mayor encourages King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor
New York, April 30: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would encourage King Charles III to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond. “If I was to speak to the King separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond,” Mamdani said at a press conference Wednesday before he met the British monarch in the city later in the day. Mamdani was asked what he would say to the King, who visited New York City on the second day of his State Visit to the US. Hours later, Mamdani met King Charles at the 9/11 memorial, but it was not confirmed whether he discussed the Koh-i-Noor issue with the British monarch. King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the 9/11 Memorial to pay their respects to the victims of the terror attack. (PTI)
20 killed as jeep plunges into gorge in Nepal
Kathmandu, April 30: Twenty people were killed on Thursday when a jeep carrying pilgrims skidded off a hilly road and plunged about 700 metres into a gorge in Nepal’s Rolpa district, police said. The accident occurred in the Jaljala area of Thawang rural municipality when the vehicle slipped on a muddy stretch amid rain and fell down the hillside, they said. The private jeep was hired by locals travelling to attend the Baisakh Purnima festival on Friday at Jaljala, according to a information officer at the District Police Office, Rolpa. Rescue operations are hampered by heavy rain in the area, police said, adding that the exact number of passengers in the vehicle at the time of the accident is not yet known. (PTI)
