Day: April 16, 2025

Afghan Consul General in Peshawar Hafiz Mohibullah Shakir Wednesday (April 16, 2025) said that Afghanistan has completed preparations for the repatriation of its citizens residing in Pakistan and a special commission has been established to facilitate the process.

“We have no complaints against Pakistan, which extended full cooperation to refugees here. However, one’s own country is always dearest. The Afghan leadership stands with its people,” he said while addressing a press conference in Peshawar.

Mr. Mohibullah said that camps have been set up for the return of Afghan citizens and all necessary facilities are being provided so that they do not face any difficulties.

He thanked Pakistan for hosting Afghan citizens for four decades, allowing them to benefit from education, business, and employment opportunities.

He emphasized the importance of returning to Afghanistan to contribute to the country’s development, noting that Afghanistan is now free from foreign military presence and is experiencing peace and stability.

“There is no shortage of water or land in Afghanistan,” he said.

On this occasion, Afghan elders appealed to Mr. Mohibullah to request more time from Pakistani for Afghan refugees, saying it is difficult to wind up decades-old businesses in such a short time.

However, the Consul General refrained from commenting on this request.

In response to a question about women’s education, Mr. Mohibullah said, “Islam encourages education, and there is no ban on education in Afghanistan. However, the system of education is under review. Separate institutions will be established for women to ensure a safe environment.”

He said that 76,000 Afghan refugees have already returned, urging others to prepare for their repatriation.

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The legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The unanimous ruling, which is victory for those who want gender to be based on biological sex and a blow for transgender rights, should not be seen as a victory of one group over another, the court said.

The ruling is the outcome of a protracted six-year legal battle between the Scottish government and women’s rights group For Women Scotland (FWS) over the U.K.’s Equality Act, 2010.

“….the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act (2010) refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” U.K. Supreme Court Justice Patrick Hodge said on Wednesday, as he summarised the judgment.

“But we counsel against reading this judgment as the triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not,” he added, explaining that transgender people are protected by the same Act against discrimination through the protected category of ‘gender reassignment’ but also against discrimination and harassment, in substance, in their acquired gender.

FWS had taken the Scottish government to court in 2018 over the inclusion of trans women in the definition of “woman” with regard to a law mandating representation for women on public boards (of directors). A Scottish court had said the matter was beyond its jurisdiction. The Scottish government had responded by issuing guidance that said an individual with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) in the female gender could be used to define the term ‘woman’. On Wednesday, the court ruled that the Scottish government’s guidance was incorrect.

“This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society,” trans rights campaigner and Scottish Greens lawmaker, Maggie Chapman said in a statement.

“Whatever happens next, we will continue to stand with trans people and resist the nasty and aggressive culture war that is being waged against them,” she added.

Trans rights group Scottish Trans urged people not to panic, adding that there would be commentary to “deliberately overstate the impact” of the decision.

“Women are women and men are men: you cannot change your biological sex,” Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party chief Kemi Badenoch said.

The ruling is likely to have broad consequences for all of the U.K., with the government saying it brought “clarity and confidence” for women and service providers such as hospitals, sports clubs and shelters.

FWS co-founder Susan Smith welcomed the ruling outside the court , saying, “[Biological] sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women.”

Author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, who donated to FWS and is a vocal campaigner for basing the definition of gender on biological sex, appeared to support the ruling, posting news of the decision and positive reactions to it on social media.

The U.K. judgment comes as an inflection point in long drawn-out culture wars that are being fought over gender on both sides of the Atlantic. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had declared in January this year that the U.S. government would recognise only two genders and these would be based on biological sex.

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (April 15, 2025) ordered a trade-related probe into the risks to U.S. national security from reliance on processed critical minerals and their derivatives. The order directs U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to conduct a probe under Section 232 of the U.S.’s Trade Expansion 1962 and to produce recommendations on strengthening domestic production and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. 

Any Section 232 tariffs that are the result of the critical mineral probe would replace the April 2 reciprocal tariffs, a White House ‘fact sheet’ on the probe said. Mr. Trump imposed a universal 10% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S, with higher rates for certain countries which ran surpluses in goods trade with the U.S. Mr. Trump had already imposed steel and aluminium tariffs under Section 232 in his first term.

 In describing the basis for the probe, the White House note singles out China, the largest extractor and producer or rare earth minerals. 

Beijing and Washington are in the midst of a trade skirmish and rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs which has resulted in a general tariff rate of 145% for Chinese goods entering the U.S. and 125% for American goods entering China. Two days after Mr. Trump’s ‘ Liberation Day’ tariff announcement on April 2, 2025, China had suspended the export of a range of rare earth metals and magnets.

Beijing was attempting “choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world,” the White House note said.

“China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the ‘fact sheet’ notes. 

A White House official clarified this was not the announcement of a new rate but the result of aggregating existing and recently announced tariffs. 

“…The reciprocal tariff adds onto fentanyl tariffs and then onto existing Section 301 tariffs from the first Trump administration and the Biden administration – which range from about 7.5% to 100% – depending on the product,” the official told The Hindu via email, citing electric vehicles and syringes as an example of Chinese products that have outstanding Section 301 tariffs of 100%.

 “So those products from China are hit with a total tariff of around 245% after you factor in the fentanyl tariff and reciprocal tariff rates, from which neither product is excluded,” the official said.

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Watch live as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds a press conference on the latest autism figures from the CDC.

With former director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., out of the picture, HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) appears to be setting his sights on the vaccine safety database that was reportedly a key factor in Marks’ departure.

At a Tuesday event in Indiana, Kennedy pledged to unleash changes to HHS’ Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), Stat News reports. Along with implementing an automated data collection system and adding new datasets on the effects of vaccinations, the health secretary said he’s looking to create global data-sharing programs on vaccine use and health, according to the report.

“It’s outrageous that we don’t have a surveillance system that functions," he said at the event, as quoted by Stat. “We’re going to find out what contribution vaccines and everything else—mold, [electromagnetic fields], food, all of these other exposures [that] began in the late 1980s — which one of those are the culprits?”

#rfkjr #autism #cdc #live

A low-intensity explosion triggered panic in Manipur’s Churachandpur on Wednesday, officials said.

Lawrence Wong | Lawrence Wong Speech | Lawrence Wong On Trump | Lawrence Wong On Trump Tariff | Lawrence Wong Latest Speech | Lawrence Wong Parliament Speech | Lawrence Wong Vs Trump | Trump Tariffs | Trump News | Singapore News | Singapore PM | Tariff News | Trump Tariff On Singapore | Share Market Crash | Global Market | World News | Donald Trump | Trump News | Trade War

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on April 16 said that his country cannot afford to be a “passive bystander” as the trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump engulfs the world, adding that Singapore will “actively shape its own destiny”. Watch the full speech here.

#singapore #lawrencewong #trumptariffs #singaporepm #singaporenews #trumplatest #trumpnews #tariffs #usnews #newslive #livenews #tradewar #tariffwar

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Karnataka governor has sent the bill giving 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in government contracts to President Droupadi Murmu for assent, saying that the Constitution doesn’t allow for reservations based on religion.