Pakistani army helicopter goes missing with top commander on board

A Pakistan army helicopter reviewing flood relief operations in Lasbela, Balochistan, has gone missing with the top military commander from the southwestern province on board, the army's media wing said on Monday. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 August 2022
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Pakistani army helicopter goes missing with top commander on board

  • Country lashed by torrential rains since monsoons began in June
  • Nine people killed in Balochistan in 24 hours, 149 dead since mid-June

QUETTA: A Pakistan army helicopter reviewing flood relief operations in Lasbela, Balochistan, has gone missing with the top military commander from the southwestern province on board, the army's media wing said on Monday.

The XII Corps, also known as Quetta Corps, is stationed in Quetta, Balochistan. It is commanded by Lt. Gen. Sarfraz Ali, who was on the helicopter.

“A Pakistan army aviation helicopter which was on flood relief operations in Lasbela, Balochistan lost contact with air traffic control,” the army's ISPR media wing said. “6 individuals were on board including Commander 12 Corps who was supervising flood relief operations in Balochistan. Search operation is underway.”

Pakistan has witnessed torrential rains since the monsoon season began in June, causing flash floods in several parts of the country.

Statistics from the National Disaster Management Authority said 434 people had been killed in rains across Pakistan since the onset of the monsoon season, with Balochistan worst hit with 149 deaths since mid-June.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudous Bizenjo expressed concern about the disappearance of the army helicopter.

“May Allah Almighty protect all the people and crew in the helicopter,” Bizenjo said. “The chief minister instructed the district administration of Lasbela and the police to use all means and resources to search for the helicopter. Provide full support to administration and police rescue teams.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the disappearance of the army helicopter as “alarming.”

“The entire nation prays to Allah Almighty for the safety, security and return of these sons of the country who came out to help the flood victims,” he tweeted.

On Monday, Sharif visited flood relief camps in Balochistan’s Qila Saifullah district.

He was accompanied by Bizenjo and said he had witnessed several administrative weaknesses in the relief camps, including the absence of proper records maintained by the doctors and paramedics responsible for treating flood victims.

“There are camps in which people have come from adjoining areas with their families, leaving behind their houses which have been destroyed in rains,” the prime minister said. “I have met them, including children and elderly people. However, I could not get any confirmation that they were given food. In fact, the inhabitants of the relief camps clearly told us they had not been fed.”

Sharif directed the chief minister to take strict action against all “negligent” officials.


Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit

Updated 5 sec ago
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Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit

  • Last week, Marcos requested all his Cabinet secretaries to render their resignations
  • Reshuffle follows his allies’ recent failure to secure majority of contested Senate seats

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered all ranking executives of government-owned and controlled corporations to resign, days after asking his Cabinet members to step down.

All appointed chairpersons, CEOs, directors, trustees, and members of governing boards of government-owned and controlled corporations were asked to “immediately submit their respective courtesy resignations to the President through the Office of the Executive Secretary,” according to a notice from the Governance Commission for GOCCs, which was released on Wednesday.

The move follows Marcos’ request last week for his government members to render their resignations as he attempted to address the public’s dissatisfaction over his administration’s performance.

Most of his Cabinet secretaries have either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.

“This process is part of a rigorous and ongoing evaluation of government performance not only at the Cabinet level but across the entire bureaucracy,” Lucas Bersamin, executive secretary of the Philippines — the head and highest-ranking official of the Office of the President — told reporters on Thursday.

“The people expect results, and the president has no patience for underperformance. In line with this, the president has also instructed the heads of government-owned and controlled corporations to submit their courtesy resignations. He has further indicated that senior officials will likewise be included in the continuing review.”

Marcos’ decision to reshuffle the Cabinet and leadership of state-owned corporations follows his allies’ failure to secure a majority of contested Senate seats in the May 12 midterm elections, raising questions about his weakened mandate for the remaining three years of his term, which ends in 2028.

The son of the late Philippine dictator who was overthrown in 1986, Marcos won the presidency by a landslide in 2022 after campaigning on a message of national unity and presenting himself as a candidate of change.

Public support for the 67-year-old leader has, however, dropped sharply this year, with Pulse Asia surveys showing his approval rating falling to 25 percent in March, down from 42 percent in February.

The survey showed that a majority of Filipinos disapproved of the Marcos administration’s handling of the most pressing issues, including controlling inflation and combating corruption, with disapproval rates at 79 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

The bureaucrats and executives affected by the president’s decision will continue in their roles unless and until the Office of the President issues further directives or formally acts on their resignations.

“All these people who offered their courtesy resignations are expected to continue performing their functions, discharging their duties until their replacements have been appointed,” Bersamin said.

“And that is expected of all public servants; no one abandons because that is part of the obligation of a public servant.”


Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks

Updated 8 min 30 sec ago
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Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks

  • Russia said Wednesday it wanted new talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday to present its plan for a peace settlement
  • But Kyiv said it needed to see the proposal in advance for the meeting to yield results
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” to dialogue ahead of an anticipated meeting between officials from both sides in Istanbul on Monday.
“We are in contact with Russia and Ukraine....We are telling them not to shut the door as long as it remains open,” the Turkish presidency on Thursday quoted him as saying.
Russia said Wednesday it wanted new talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday to present its plan for a peace settlement, but Kyiv said it needed to see the proposal in advance for the meeting to yield results.
“During the course of each of our meetings, we have reminded our interlocuters that they should not pass up this opportunity,” Erdogan said, adding that: “extinguishing this huge fire in our region ... is a humanitarian duty.”
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have accelerated in recent months, but Moscow has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and shown no signs of scaling back its demands.
The two sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years. That encounter failed to yield a breakthrough.

Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’

Updated 29 May 2025
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Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’

  • Thursday’s commencement comes as Donald Trump piles unprecedented pressure on Harvard
  • Students wearing black academic gowns tour through Cambridge with photo-taking family members

CAMBRIDGE, United States: Harvard is due to hold its annual graduation ceremony Thursday as a federal judge considers the legality of punitive measures taken against the university by President Donald Trump that threaten to overshadow festivities.

Thursday’s commencement comes as Trump piles unprecedented pressure on Harvard, seeking to ban it from having foreign students, shredding its contracts with the federal government, slashing its multibillion-dollar grants and challenging its tax-free status.

Harvard is challenging all of the measures in court.

The Ivy League institution has continually drawn Trump’s ire while publicly rejecting his administration’s repeated demands to give up control of recruitment, curricula and research choices. The government claims Harvard tolerates antisemitism and liberal bias.

“Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper,” Trump said Wednesday.

Harvard president Alan Garber, who told National Public Radio on Tuesday that “sometimes they don’t like what we represent,” may speak to address the ceremony.

Garber has acknowledged that Harvard does have issues with antisemitism, and has struggled to ensure that a variety of viewpoints can be safely heard on campus.

“What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these (issues) don’t even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems,” Garber told NPR.

Basketball star and human rights campaigner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed the class of 2025 for Class Day on Wednesday.

“When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures,” he said, comparing Garber to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Madeleine Riskin-Kutz, a Franco-American classics and linguistics student at Harvard, said some students were planning individual acts of protest against the Trump policies.

“The atmosphere (is) that just continuing on joyfully with the processions and the fanfare is in itself an act of resistance,” the 22-year-old said.

Garber has led the fight-back in US academia after Trump targeted several prestigious universities including Columbia which made sweeping concessions to the administration in an effort to restore $400 million of withdrawn federal grants.

A federal judge in Boston will on Thursday hear arguments over Trump’s effort to exclude Harvard from the main system for sponsoring and hosting foreign students.

Judge Allison Burroughs quickly paused the policy which would have ended Harvard’s ability to bring students from abroad who currently make up 27 percent of its student body.

Harvard has since been flooded with inquiries from foreign students seeking to transfer to other institutions, Maureen Martin, director of immigration services, said Wednesday.

“Many international students and scholars are reporting significant emotional distress that is affecting their mental health and making it difficult to focus on their studies,” Martin wrote in a court filing.

Retired immigration judge Patricia Sheppard protested outside Harvard Yard on Wednesday, sporting a black judicial robe and brandishing a sign reading “for the rule of law.”

“We have to look at why some of these actions have been filed, and it does not seem to me seemly that a president would engage in certain actions as retribution,” she told AFP.

Ahead of the graduation ceremony, members of the Harvard band sporting distinctive crimson blazers and brandishing their instruments filed through the narrow streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts – home to the elite school, America’s oldest university.

A huge stage had been erected and hundreds of chairs laid out in a grassy precinct that was closed off to the public for the occasion.

Students wearing black academic gowns also toured through Cambridge with photo-taking family members, AFP correspondents saw.


Militant attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project

Updated 29 May 2025
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Militant attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project

  • TotalEnergies paused its multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project in 2021
  • TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the security situation had ‘greatly improved’

MAPUTO: A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Daesh-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say.
The group terrorized northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate.
TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee.
The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October.
But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second.
A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces.
There were two dramatic strikes earlier – a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighboring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers.
Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by “pirates,” according to local media.
“Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area,” said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project.
“The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers,” said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis.
“There’s more visible activity in the region and that’s an incentive for attacks.”
Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year.
The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had “greatly improved” although there were “sporadic incidents.”
The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest.
ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing.
Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements.
The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado “allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province,” said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity.
The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for “propaganda effect,” said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals.
Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence.
“More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week.
This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017.
“The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable,” said UNHCR’s Mozambique representative Xavier Creach.
In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings.
More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled.


East Timor deports ex-Philippine lawmaker wanted in 2023 killings

Updated 29 May 2025
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East Timor deports ex-Philippine lawmaker wanted in 2023 killings

  • Former Philippines congressman allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others
  • “The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste”

MANILA: East Timor deported an Interpol-wanted Filipino murder suspect on Thursday whose case the government has linked to its aspirations to join the regional ASEAN bloc, after more than two years of political wrangling.

Former Philippines congressman Arnolfo Teves allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others.

AFP journalists saw him boarding a turboprop plane with Philippine Air Force markings that then took off from Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport.

Teves was detained at a driving range in the capital Dili last year, but a Timorese court blocked his extradition. The Philippines justice secretary suggested the decision may have been bought, saying it was “obvious that some people are making money out of this.”

In an abrupt turnaround, East Timor announced Teves’ impending deportation late on Wednesday, saying his continued presence represented a security risk.

“The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste,” it said in a statement, using the country’s alternate name.

It added that East Timor’s “imminent full accession” to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had reinforced its responsibility to collaborate regionally on legal matters.

On Thursday, the Philippines’ Department of Justice said it was preparing a team to facilitate Teves’ repatriation based on deportation documents from East Timor.

Ex-lawmaker Teves is the prime suspect in the murder of Degamo, the former governor of Negros Oriental province.

Degamo had been distributing aid at his home in Pamplona when six people carrying rifles and dressed in military fatigues entered the compound and opened fire on March 4, 2023.

The killings came months after Degamo was declared winner of a disputed vote, unseating Henry Teves, the ex-lawmaker’s brother.

Arnolfo Teves was expelled from the House of Representatives after refusing to return to the Philippines to face murder charges.

On Wednesday, Teves’ son Axl posted videos on social media of his father being dragged away by Timorese police, claiming he had been “kidnapped.”

Degamo’s widow Janice, meanwhile, called the arrest a “significant step toward justice.”