International
Dozens killed in Pakistan sectarian violence
Pakistani authorities say they have negotiated a seven-day ceasefire after more than 80 people were killed in renewed sectarian violence in the north-west of the country.
Another 156 are said to have been wounded in three days of fighting in the tribal district of Kurram, near the Afghan border.
The violence began on Thursday, when gunmen attacked convoys of Shia Muslims travelling through the area under police escort. More than 40 died in that incident, which triggered revenge attacks.
Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalries over land disputes for decades.After negotiations on Sunday, government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif said that both Shi’ite and Sunni leaders had agreed to halt the violence, Reuters and AFP news agencies reported.
On Sunday a local administration official told AFP: “The clashes and convoy attacks on November 21, 22, and 23 have resulted in 82 fatalities and 156 injuries.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that 16 of the dead were Sunni and 66 belonged to the Shia community.
Those killed in Thursday’s attacks on convoys included women and children. Passenger Saeeda Bano described to BBC Urdu how she feared she would be killed as she hid under the car seats with her children.
Hundreds of residents fled amid escalating violence Friday and on Saturday.
A resident of a Sunni village said members of his family have fled to safety while he stays behind. “We’ve been hearing gunfire all night. I sent the women and children of my family to hide in the mountains,” the man said.
“You see how cold the weather is now. But I have no other option. Everyone else here is doing the same,” he added.
It comes after dozens of people died in attacks over the past few months, prompting calls for a ceasefire from a tribal council.
On Saturday provincial officials began talks with both Shia and Sunni community leaders, AFP reported.
A security official in the provincial capital Peshawar told AFP that the negotiators’ helicopter had come under fire as it arrived in the region.
International
FTX executives shave serious time off their sentences
Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison, FTX executives convicted for their roles in the notorious crypto fraud led by their former boss Sam Bankman-Fried, have both shaved time off their lengthy prison sentences.
Salame, a former top executive of FTX, the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform, pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges in September 2023, and was sentenced in May to 7 1/2 years in federal prison. He began his sentence in October. But the Federal Bureau of Prisons currently lists his release date as March 1, 2031, more than a year earlier than his initial release date in April 2032. Business Insider first reported Salame’s new release date.
Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and the former CEO of FTX’s hedge fund arm, Alameda Research, was sentenced to 2 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to seven federal counts of fraud and conspiracy and was a key witness against Bankman-Fried. Her current release date is listed as July 20, 2025, three months earlier than her initial release date.
Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, does not have a release date listed on the prisons website.
The Bureau of Prisons didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. However, in several past statements about early release dates, the bureau has told CNN that it does not comment on the conditions of any individual inmate, but inmates can earn good conduct time that is calculated into their projected release date.
Qualified inmates are currently eligible for up to 54 days of GCT time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court. Inmates have other ways of earning time credits while incarcerated, including participation in various prison programs.
FTX was a high-profile crypto startup that allowed people to buy and sell digital assets. It had its name emblazoned on an arena in Miami and on every Major League Baseball umpire’s jersey. The exchange had several celebrity endorsers and was widely believed to be a gold-standard for safety and security.
But FTX collapsed in November 2022 when customers pulled their funds as rumors spread about FTX’s unusually close ties to its founder’s crypto hedge fund, Alameda
International
Accusations of genocide. Charges of corruption. Improbably, Netanyahu had a good year
This time last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the doldrums.
“He started very low,” said Nadav Shtrauchler, a political strategist who has worked closely with Netanyahu. “The lowest point that he had.”
Many Israelis accused him of being asleep at the wheel on October 7, the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Some even said he enabled it by funding Hamas.
His political support was dismal – even if the Gaza war let him brush aside calls for an election. Polls suggested support for his Likud Party was down 25% from just three months prior.
On its face, the year that followed was hardly uplifting. It brought tens of thousands of deaths, regional conflict, indictments, and accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide. And yet, Netanyahu ends the year having transformed his standing in Israel.
“I am running a marathon,” he told a Tel Aviv courtroom earlier this month, facing charges – which he denies – of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. “I can run it with 20 kilos on my back, and I can run it with 10 kilos on my back.”
International
‘It’s a scary time’: US universities urge international students to return to campus before Trump inauguration
Fear and uncertainty are spreading across many US college campuses ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration, with some schools advising international students to return early from winter break amid promises of another travel ban like the one that stranded students abroad at the start of Trump’s last term.
In a country where more than 1.1 million international students enrolled in US colleges and universities during the 2023-24 academic year, the former president has pledged more hardline immigration policies upon his return to the White House, including an expansion of his previous travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries and the revocation of student visas of “radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners.”
International students generally have nonimmigrant visas that allow them to study in the US but don’t provide a legal pathway to stay in the country.
-
Entertainment4 months ago
Earthquake scientists are learning warning signs of ‘The Big One.’ When should they tell the public?
-
International4 months ago
Tarar accuses Imran Khan of conspiring with Faiz Hameed to destabilise Pakistan
-
International2 months ago
PTI Announces Not to Boycott New Committees
-
Business3 months ago
Major Corruption Scandal Uncovered at WASA Multan: Rs1.5 Billion Embezzlement Exposed
-
Business4 months ago
The Impact of QR Codes on Traditional Advertising
-
Business4 months ago
The Benefits and Problems of International Trade in the Context of Global Crisis
-
Business4 months ago
Fraud by Pakistani Firm Sparks Outrage in Business Community; Concerns Rise Over International Investment
-
Business2 months ago
High Court Blocks MDCAT Merit List Amid Controversy Over Exam Error