World
Turkish prominent journalist arrested for insulting president Erdogan
Turkish court orders journalist Sedef Kabas jailed pending trial on charge of insulting President Erdogan under a law

A prominent Turkish TV journalist has been detained and could face imprisonment after being charged with insulting the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A Turkish court ordered prominent journalist Sedef Kabas jailed pending trial on a charge of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan under a law that has seen tens of thousands prosecuted.
Police detained Sedef Kabaş at her home at 2am on Saturday and took her to a police station, before she faced court and was jailed pending a trial.
The alleged insult was a proverb that Kabaş expressed both on an opposition television channel and her Twitter account.
The proverb translates to: “When the ox comes to the palace, he does not become a king. But the palace becomes a barn.”
“The honour of the presidency’s office is the honour of our country ... I condemn the vulgar insults made against our president and his office,” Fahrettin Altun, head of Turkey’s communications directorate and Erdogan’s chief spokesman, said.
Merdan Yanardag, the chief editor of the Tele 1 channel, on which Kabaş made the comment, criticised her arrest.
“Her detention overnight at 2am because of a proverb is unacceptable,” he said. “This stance is an attempt to intimidate journalists, the media and society.”
Insulting Erdogan
Last October, Europe’s top human rights court called on Turkey to change the legislation after ruling that a man’s detention under the law violated his freedom of expression.
Tens of thousands have been charged and sentenced over the crime of insulting Erdogan in the seven years since he moved from being prime minister to president.
In 2020, 31,297 investigations were launched in relation to the charge, 7,790 cases were filed, and 3,325 resulted in convictions, according to justice ministry data. Those numbers were slightly lower than the previous year.
Since 2014, the year Erdogan became president, 160,169 investigations have been launched over insulting the president, 35,507 cases were filed and there were 12,881 convictions.
Pakistan
Hot, dry weather expected in most parts of country
Rain-wind/thunderstorm is expected at isolated places

Islamabad: Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country, while very hot in Punjab and upper Sindh during the next twelve hours.
However, rain-wind/thunderstorm is expected at isolated places in Upper Punjab, Upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir.
Temperature of some major cities recorded this morning:
Islamabad twenty-four degree centigrade, Lahore and Karachi twenty-nine, Peshawar twenty-five, Quetta, Gilgit and Muzaffarabad nineteen and Murree fifteen degree centigrade.
According to Met office forecast for Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, partly cloudy weather with chances of rain and wind-thunderstorm is expected in Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian and Baramulla.
Temperature recorded this morning:
Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla fourteen, Jammu twenty-three, Leh seven, Pulwama and Shopian thirteen degree centigrade.
Pakistan
PM Shehbaz announces Rs28 billion relief package for masses
The premier says the nation was dragged into economic swamp by the previous government

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan Mian Shehbaz Sharif has announced Rs28 relief package for the people of Pakistan, saying the package will counter rising inflation in the country.
Addressing the nation in a televised address, he said the package would be in addition to the Benazir Income Support Programme, adding the relief package would be included in the annual budget.
The prime minister said the move to increase fuel prices was necessary to avoid Pakistan from facing bankruptcy, adding the previous government neither bought fuel not got the power plants repaired.
He announced Rs2,000 to 14 million poor families across the country, saying these families comprise 85 million people.
He said the 10-kg floor bag would be available at utility stores in Rs400, adding
Discussing the foreign conspiracy against [PTI government], he said the National Security Committee and the US had termed the news of conspiracy as baseless.
"Even our Ambassadior to the US had rejected the story of conspiracy," the premier said.
PM Shehbaz said a diplomatic cable was used for political means and the nation was fed with lies despite the National Security Committee (NSC) and the ambassador to the United States both rubbishing the "foreign conspiracy" claims touted by ex-premier Imran Khan.
PM Shehbaz said if Khan thinks his "ego" is bigger than the state, then it is his misconception as Pakistan will function in line with the Constitution and not upon following the direction of one person.
Reminding the PTI government of its tenure, PM Shehbaz said it was Khan that struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), not the current government.
He said that over the last four years, Pakistan incurred more than $20,000 billion worth of debt, which was more than 80% of the total loans taken during the history of the country.
The prime minister said the incumbent government was ready to take tough decisions for moving the country towards progress in a bid to end the politics of "incompetency and corruption".
He added that when the new government came into power, inflation was skyrocketing, industries were shutting down, and the US dollar — which was at Rs115 — had reached Rs189.
Pakistan
Shehroze Kashif becomes youngest-ever to summit top five highest mountain peaks
He achieved the feat on Saturday

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Shehroze Kashif became the youngest mountaineer ever to scale top five highest mountain peaks in the world.
Shehroze aka ‘The Broad Boy’ achieved the unique feat after summiting 8463m-high Makalu – the fifth highest mountain in the world.
This is his third summit of a mountain over 8000m in this month. On May 16, Kashif summited the 8516m-high Lhotse is Nepal.
On May 6, Kashif summited the 8586m-high Kangchenjunga Mountain, which is the world’s third-highest mountain.
He is the only Pakistan mountaineer to summit three mountains over 8000m in a month.
Kashif was the first Pakistani, and also the youngest man ever, to summit the Kanchenjunga Mountain. He also holds two Guinness records of the youngest ever to summit both K2 and Mount Everest.
On July 27, 2021, Kashif summited K2, the second tallest peak in the world. He scaled the 8,611-metre high peak with the aid of bottled oxygen. Before Kashif, Sajid Sadpara, the son of the legendary climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara, was the youngest person to have climbed K2 at the age of 20.
Earlier, he scaled the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, at the age of 19.
The young mountaineer who hails from Lahore started climbing at the age of 11. His first summit was Makra Peak (3885m). At 12, he climbed the 4080m Musa Ka Massalah and 4600m Chembra peak.
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