ISLAMABAD: Usman Sartaj reaches for the chalk on the edge of the snooker table and rotates it over his tip in a smooth, circular motion. Then he strikes the cue ball hard into the pack of reds, sending them around the table.
The popularity of snooker often increases during Ramadan, with many people visiting their local club after breaking their fast. Things are no different in Islamabad where players like 25-year-old car dealer Sartaj spend their nights before the pre-dawn sahoor meal.
“There is a lot of buzz in snooker clubs during Ramadan,” he told Arab News at the Snooker 13 club in the city’s G-13 area where he was playing after offering his Tarawih prayers.
“Snooker is a great game. It eliminates a person’s tension and stress. Tournaments are held and players come from different places,” he said.
Abdul Hadi, the club supervisor, said that the number of visitors rose from about 500 a day to 1,500 or 1,600 during the hours between the iftar and suhoor meals.
He said it was an affordable way to spend the time.
“It’s around Rs150-200 (50-70 cents) for a frame,” he said. “So everyone can afford it, even the students.”
Muhammad Shahbaz, 27, who works in Dubai but was in Pakistan to spend Ramadan and Eid with his family, said his favorite player was seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
“We admire Ronnie’s game and love to watch and follow him,” Shahbaz said. “We try to follow his tricks and his shots.”
Pakistan also has its snooker heroes. Muhammad Asif is a three-time world amateur champion and made the last 32 of the English Open in 2023.
“There is a lot of snooker talent in Pakistan and if we want to promote it, the government has to support it,” Shahbaz said.
Shavez Ahmed, a 30-year-old realtor, said there was no doubt snooker was one of the most popular games during Ramadan.
“Other games are impressive — we play cricket and badminton as well — but the craze for snooker in Ramadan never ends.”
On Ramadan nights, Islamabad residents are all cued up and ready to win
https://arab.news/gy4vz
On Ramadan nights, Islamabad residents are all cued up and ready to win
- Snooker is a popular way to relax during holy month
- Players at Snooker 13 seek to emulate their sporting heroes, like Ronnie O’Sullivan
Detained Greenpeace activists to face judge over Macron waxwork
- Activists stole a 40,000-euro statue of Macron and placed it in front of the Russian embassy and later outside the headquarters of French electricity giant EDF to protest France’s economic ties with Russia
PARIS: Two Greenpeace activists who stole French President Emmanuel Macron’s waxwork from a Paris museum to stage anti-Russia protests have been detained and were set to appear before an investigating judge on Thursday, their lawyer and prosecutors said.
On Monday, several activists stole a 40,000-euro statue of Macron from the Grevin Museum and placed it in front of the Russian embassy and later outside the headquarters of French electricity giant EDF to protest France’s economic ties with Russia.
The statue, estimated to be worth 40,000 euros ($45,500), was returned to police on Tuesday night but two activists, a man and a woman, were detained on Monday, their lawyer Marie Dose said.
Jean-François Julliard, head of Greenpeace France, said that the detained pair were people who drove a truck during the protest in front of the Russian embassy, and not those who “borrowed” the statue from the museum.
“They have spent three nights in a cell,” said Dose, denouncing the detention as “completely disproportionate.”
The lawyer denounced the “deplorable” conditions in which the two activists were being held, “attached to benches for hours and dragged from police station to police station.”
One activist spent the night without a blanket and was unable to lie down because her cell was too small, the lawyer said.
“The other had to sleep on the floor because there were too many people in the cell,” she added.
“This treatment is worrying for Greenpeace activists and raises the question of a dangerous shift in the criminal response to acts of civil disobedience,” she said.
The pair will appear before an investigating magistrate on Thursday as part of a judicial inquiry into the “theft of a cultural object on display,” the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP.
The judge will decide whether to charge them.
The lawyer argued that “no harm resulted from the non-violent action,” arguing that “all offenses” ceased to exist once the statue has been returned to the museum.
The Grevin Museum filed a complaint on Monday but subsequently took the matter in good humor. “The figures can only be viewed on site,” it said on its Instagram feed.
The activists managed to slip out through an emergency exit of the museum by posing as maintenance workers.
Suspect in murder of Tunisian man to appear before French judge: prosecutors
PARIS: A Frenchman accused of murdering his Tunisian neighbor in the south of France will appear before an anti-terrorism judge on Thursday, the national anti-terror prosecutor’s office said.
Christophe B. is accused of killing Hichem Miraoui in an attack Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described as both “racist” and “anti-Muslim.”
Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the case, the first time a far-right racist attack has been treated as a “terrorist” offense since the unit was created in 2019.
Russia to repair warplanes damaged by Ukraine’s drones
- Ukrainian strikes targeted airfields in Siberia and the far north where Russia houses heavy bombers that form part of its strategic nuclear forces
- Commercial satellite images showed what appeared to be damaged Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and Tu-22 Backfire long-range bombers
MOSCOW: Russian warplanes were damaged but not destroyed in a June 1 attack by Ukraine, and they will be restored, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
Ukrainian strikes targeted airfields in Siberia and the far north where Russia houses heavy bombers that form part of its strategic nuclear forces.
The United States assesses that up to 20 warplanes were hit and around 10 were destroyed, two US officials said, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Ryabkov, who oversees arms control diplomacy, told state news agency TASS: “The equipment in question, as was also stated by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, was not destroyed but damaged. It will be restored.”
It was not immediately clear how swiftly Russia could repair or replace the damaged aircraft – if at all – given the complexity of the technology, the age of some of the Soviet-era planes, and Western sanctions that restrict Russian imports of sensitive components.
Commercial satellite imagery taken after the Ukrainian drone attack shows what experts said appear to be damaged Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and Tu-22 Backfire long-range bombers that Russia has used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to the attacks, Trump said.
Russia has an estimated fleet of 67 strategic bombers, including 52 Tu-95s, known as Bear-H by NATO, and 15 Tu-160s, known as Blackjacks, of which about 58 are thought to be deployed, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
In addition, it has 289 non-strategic fighters and bombers, including Tu-22s, Su-24s, Su-34s and MiG-31s, according to the Bulletin. Russia has given no detail about which aircraft were damaged but said that Ukraine targeted five air bases.
Philippines, US hold joint maritime drills for seventh time
- The exercises included joint operations near shorelines as well as fire support
- The joint sail also showcased the Philippine vessel Miguel Malvar, a 118-meter guided missile frigate commissioned last month
MANILA: The Philippines and United States militaries have sailed together in the South China Sea for a seventh time to boost interoperability between the two sides, Manila’s armed forces said on Thursday.
The exercises, held on Wednesday in waters off the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Zambales and away from contested features, included joint operations near shorelines as well as fire support.
“The MCA (maritime cooperative activity) is a demonstration of both nations’ resolve to deepen cooperation and enhance interoperability in line with international law,” the Philippine armed forces said in a statement.
The joint sail also showcased the Philippine vessel Miguel Malvar, a 118-meter guided missile frigate commissioned last month. It is one of two corvettes built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries under the Philippines’ military modernization program.
Military engagements between the treaty allies have soared under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pivoted closer to Washington in response to China’s growing presence in the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including parts of the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Indonesia allowing nickel industry abuses to go unchecked: report
- Indonesia is both the world’s largest nickel producer, and home to the biggest-known reserves
- Locals have reported a rise in air pollution from nickel processing smelters and rivers polluted by nickel tailings in soil brought down by heavy rain
JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is allowing environmental damage including deforestation and violations against Indigenous people to go unchecked around a multi-billion dollar industrial park on a once-pristine eastern island, a report said Thursday.
Indonesia is both the world’s largest nickel producer, and home to the biggest-known reserves, and a 2020 export ban has spurred a domestic industrial boom.
Operations have grown around Weda Bay, the world’s largest nickel mine by production, on Halmahera island as Indonesia exploits the metal reserves used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to stainless steel.
Climate Rights International (CRI) said companies had caused a spike in air and water pollution and deforestation around the industrial park, accusing the government of ignoring their conduct.
“The Indonesian government is giving a green light to corporate practices that prioritize profits over the rights of local communities and the environment,” Krista Shennum, researcher at Climate Rights International, told AFP.
“The Indonesian government should immediately hold companies accountable. This could include civil penalties, criminal prosecutions, or rescinding permits.”
Much of the park’s nickel is sourced by Weda Bay Nickel (WBN), a joint venture of Indonesian mining firm Antam and Singapore-based Strand Minerals, with shares divided between French mining giant Eramet and Chinese steel major Tsingshan.
An AFP report last week detailed how the home of the nomadic Hongana Manyawa tribe was being eaten away by the world’s largest nickel mine, with members issuing a call for nickel companies to leave their tribal lands alone.
Locals have reported a rise in air pollution from nickel processing smelters and rivers polluted by nickel tailings in soil brought down by heavy rain.
Water tests by Indonesian NGOs AEER, JATAM, and Nexus3 Foundation in 2023 and 2024 “revealed dangerously high levels of nickel and hexavalent chromium, among other pollutants,” the report said.
“(Companies) are failing local communities by not making information about the safety of important drinking water sources publicly available and accessible,” said Shennum.
Both WBN and Eramet told AFP last week they work to minimize impacts on the environment, including conducting water tests.
CRI also said Indonesian and foreign companies in coordination with police and military personnel had “engaged in land grabbing, coercion and intimidation” of Indigenous peoples and other communities.
Local activists and students opposing the industrial park have “faced criminalization, harassment and smear campaigns,” the report said.
Weda Bay Nickel and the Indonesian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Indonesia’s energy ministry told AFP last week it was committed to “protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and ensuring that mining activities do not damage their lives and environment.”
