Author: admin@primenews

At least 50 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan, police say. The blast happened near a mosque in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Friday as people gathered to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Officials in Balochistan have declared a state of emergency. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, a separate blast has taken place at a mosque near Peshawar City in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The number of casualties at the mosque in Hangu near Peshawar is not yet known but police say a number of…

“When I think about it, I cry,” says Mrs Guo about the home she had bought. “It’s hard, and I feel sorry for my son and myself.” In 2021, just months before the Chinese property giant Evergrande showed the first signs of crisis, Guo Tianran (whose name has been changed on request) and her husband bought an apartment off-plan for their only child from the top-selling developer. The couple, nearing their 60s, had scrimped to afford the $30,000 (£24,500) down payment on the yet-to-be-built flat. They bit the bullet in pledging to use 75% of their income to pay for the mortgage.…

Sweden’s prime minister has summoned the head of the armed forces to help curb a surge in gang killings. The two men and the country’s police chief will meet on Friday to discuss what role the military could play. It comes after a bloody 12 hours that saw two men shot dead in Stockholm and a 25-year-old woman killed in a blast at home in a town north of the capital. “We will hunt the gangs down and we will defeat them,” PM Ulf Kristersson promised in a rare televised address. Armed forces chief Micael Byden told Swedish newspaper Dagens…

House Republicans have branded the first day of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden a success, saying they justified their case. But expert witnesses called by Republicans cautioned there was not yet enough proof for impeachment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the inquiry over allegations Hunter Biden engaged in improper business dealings that benefited the president. The White House has called it a “political stunt”. The formal impeachment inquiry grants lawmakers greater legal authority to investigate possible misconduct, after months of Republican probes failed to unearth any concrete evidence. At the first hearing in the inquiry, it was Hunter Biden -…

Scientists say they have identified Europe’s oldest shoes, sandals woven from grass thought to be around 6,000 years old. They were among a haul of ancient objects discovered in a bat cave in Spain plundered by miners in the 19th Century, but were analysed in a new study. Low humidity and cool winds in the cave kept them unusually well-preserved. Researchers also analysed baskets and a set of tools. The objects “are the oldest and best preserved set of plant fibre materials in southern Europe so far known.” the study’s co-author María Herrero Otal said. “The technological diversity and the treatment of…

The high court in India’s Tamil Nadu state has upheld the convictions of hundreds of government officials for atrocities against tribals, including rapes of 18 women, three decades ago. The convicts include policemen and officials from the forest and revenue departments. They had attacked the tribals in June 1992, accusing them of aiding the dreaded sandalwood smuggler Veerappan. They assaulted the men and raped women, vandalised homes and killed livestock. The crime has come to be known as the Vachathi case after the name of the village where it took place. All the 269 accused denied the allegations against them,…

When India first won the cricket World Cup in 1983, their bowlers were mainly all-rounders. Many were called ‘bits-and-pieces’ cricketers (who could bowl a bit and bat a bit), but with a couple of exceptions – skipper Kapil Dev being the biggest one – most wouldn’t find a place in the team for their bowling alone. There was Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Sandeep Patil, Mohinder Amarnath and only two specialist medium-pacers, Balwinder Sandhu and Sunil Valson. The lone spinner in the squad was Ravi Shastri, who didn’t play in the final. India called on six bowlers in that game. Patil…

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his country is serious about building closer ties with India despite an ongoing diplomatic row. His latest remarks come at a time when ties between the two countries are at an all time low. Tensions flared up when Mr Trudeau on 19 September said Canada was investigating credible allegations of India’s involvement in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader. Delhi dismissed the claim as “absurd”. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered outside a temple in Canada in June. On Thursday, the Canadian PM said it was extremely important to “constructively and seriously” engage…

A crisis at the world’s most indebted company has worsened after its chairman was placed under police surveillance. It follows earlier reports that other current and former executives at Chinese property giant Evergrande had also been detained. Evergrande suspended the trading of its shares in Hong Kong on Thursday until further notice. It marks another low for the firm which was declared to be in default in 2021 after missing a crucial repayment deadline, triggering China’s current real estate market crisis. What does Evergrande do? Businessman Hui Ka Yan founded Evergrande, formerly known as the Hengda Group, in 1996 in Guangzhou, southern China. According…

Shipping containers from China are “piling up” in Russia amid a surge of Chinese goods flowing into the country as trade soars, a new analysis has found. Russia has an extra 150,000 shipping containers that importers are scrambling to return to China, logistics platform Container xChange said in a report released Thursday, citing information provided by a customer. “There is significant cargo movement from China into Russia but very scarce movement back to China from Russia. Containers are piling up in Russia which means that the secondhand container prices are very low in Russia,” CEO Christian Roeloffs said in the report. China has emerged as a key…