ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has made Forbes magazine’s annual list of The World’s Most Powerful People for the first time, ranked 68th.
Placement on the 75-strong chart is based on four factors: the number of people the person has power over; the financial resources they control; their influence in multiple spheres; and how actively they wield their power to change the world.
“Javed Bajwa joins the world’s most powerful at a time when the rift between India and Pakistan is improving, partly thanks to his efforts,” Forbes wrote. “Although the president is his boss on paper, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff is de facto the most powerful person in the nuclear-armed state.
“Two years into his tenure as the head of the world’s sixth-largest army, Bajwa has established himself as a mediator and proponent of democracy.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping tops the list, while Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are ranked second and third, respectively.
Bajwa is one of 17 new entrants on the list. Of these, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto leader, is the only one who made the top 10, at number eight. Indian President Narendra Modi is ninth on the list and French President Emmanuel Macron is 12th. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the only woman in the top 10, was ranked fourth.
Forbes’ annual ranking identifies one person out of every 100 million “whose actions mean the most”.
“There are nearly 7.5 billion humans on planet Earth, but these 75 men and women make the world turn,” the magazine said.
Pakistani army chief ranked 68th-most powerful person in world by Forbes magazine
Pakistani army chief ranked 68th-most powerful person in world by Forbes magazine
- General Qamar Javed Bajwa is one of 17 new entrants on the annual list
- “Javed Bajwa joins the world’s most powerful at a time when the rift between India and Pakistan is improving, partly thanks to his efforts,” Forbes wrote
UK urged to honor ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders
- Warrants issued on Thursday against Israel’s ministers, officials of Hamas
LONDON: The British government has been urged by the Council for Arab-British Understanding to immediately honor International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, Gallant, and officials of Hamas, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
CAABU director Chris Doyle emphasized the gravity of the situation, accusing the UK government of failing to hold Israel accountable for its actions in violation of international law.
Doyle said: “This decision highlights how woefully the UK government has handled the situation of Israeli atrocities and war crimes.
“It now must demonstrate, with concrete action, that this government will honor its pledge to uphold respect for international law and the ICC by abiding in full with the ICC decision.”
Doyle also called for immediate measures, including a full arms embargo on Israel, the cessation of military and security cooperation, and an end to arms sales while atrocities were allegedly being carried out in Gaza.
CAABU warned that failure to comply with the ICC’s warrants could severely damage the UK’s international standing, making it complicit in alleged crimes against humanity, including forced displacement, apartheid, and genocide.
“The UK’s reputation globally would be trashed,” Doyle cautioned.
The organization stressed that the ICC’s warrants represented a crucial step toward justice and accountability for Palestinians. However, Doyle stressed the need for swift action.
He said: “There is no time to wait; justice delayed is justice denied. The UK needs to uphold international law, accountability, and ensure justice with immediate effect by complying with these arrest warrants.”
Britain said it respected the independence of the ICC, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Thursday.
“We respect the independence of the International Criminal Court, which is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organizations. We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza.”
UK says it respects ICC independence as court issues arrest warrants
- PM Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said: “We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza”
LONDON: Britain respects the independence of the International Criminal Court, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Thursday, after it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his ex-defense chief and a Hamas leader.
“We respect the independence of the International Criminal Court, which is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organizations. We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza.”
Russia fires what appears to be intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Kyiv says
- Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later told Reuters their initial analysis showed it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile
- Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the 33-month-old war
KYIV: Ukraine said Russia fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon designed to deliver long-distance nuclear strikes.
Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later told Reuters their initial analysis showed it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile, though they left open the possibility that conclusion could change.
Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the 33-month-old war.
Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.
Security experts said that if Thursday’s strike involved an intercontinental ballistic missile, it would be the first use of such a missile in war. ICBMs are strategic weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads and are an important part of Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
“Today there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics – speed, altitude – are (of an) intercontinental ballistic (missile). An expert (investigation) is currently underway,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video statement.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged the international community to react swiftly to the use of what it said was “the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry.”
The Ukrainian air force said the missile was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700 km (435 miles) from Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine. It did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.
Asked about the air force statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to contact Russian military for comment.
Ukrainska Pravda, a Kyiv-based media outlet, cited anonymous sources saying the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh, a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,800 km, according to the Arms Control Association.
The RS-26 was first successfully tested in 2012, and is estimated to be 12 meters (40 ft) long and weigh 36 tons, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). It said the RS-26 can carry an 800-kg (1,765-pound)nuclear warhead.
The RS-26 is classified as an ICBM under a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia, but it can be seen as an intermediate-range ballistic missile when used with heavier payloads at ranges below 5,500 km, CSIS said.
At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan
- No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack
- Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least 38 people were killed in the “terrorist attack“
PESHAWAR: Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan’s restive northwest on Thursday, killing at least 38 people, including six women, and wounding 20 others in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.
The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites have killed dozens of people in recent months.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack. It came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Local police official Azmat Ali said several vehicles were traveling in a convoy from the city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when gunmen opened fire. He said at least 10 passengers were in critical condition at a hospital.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least 38 people were killed in the “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
A witness, 35-year-old Mir Hussain, said he saw four gunmen emerge from a vehicle and open fire on buses and cars.
“I think other people were also firing at the convoy of vehicles from nearby open farm field,” he said. “The firing continued for about 40 minutes.” He said he hid until the attackers fled.
“I heard cries of women, and people were shouting for the help,” he said.
Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault and said the death toll was likely to rise.
Shop owners in Parachinar announced a strike on Friday to protest the attack.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although they live together largely peacefully, tensions have existed for decades in some areas, especially in parts of Kurram, where Shiites are the majority. Nearly 50 people from both sides were killed over a land dispute in July when clashes between Sunni and Shiites erupted in Kurram.
Pakistan is tackling violence in the northwest and southwest, where militants and separatists often target police, troops and civilians. Most of the violence in these areas has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army.
WHO chief released from hospital in Rio de Janeiro
- According to the hospital, Tedros was admitted on Wednesday afternoon
- He “underwent all the necessary tests, which confirmed clinical indicators with no signs of seriousness”
SAO PAULO: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been released from Rio de Janeiro’s Hospital Samaritano Barra da Tijuca after spending the night under observation, the hospital said.
According to the hospital, Tedros was admitted on Wednesday afternoon and “underwent all the necessary tests, which confirmed clinical indicators with no signs of seriousness, and was discharged from hospital this morning.”
Local newspaper O Globo had reported earlier on Thursday that Tedros sought medical attention at the facility with “symptoms of labyrinthitis and an hypertensive crisis,” after showing signs of being unwell earlier this week on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
According to the report, Tedros was examined on Monday by health professionals on duty at the G20 summit and given medicine for high blood pressure, but was released once he was stable.
The G20 summit in Rio ended this week with calls for cooperation on climate change, poverty reduction and tax policy.
