I’m dreaming of my daughter, says Pakistani father of Texas school shooting victim

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Abdul Aziz Sheikh, left, father of Sabika Sheikh, comforts a woman who arrived to offer condolences at his home in Karachi. (AP)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, 17-year foreign student was killed in Texas School Shooting. (Photo by Family)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, 17-year foreign student was killed in Texas School Shooting. (Photo by Family)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, Pakistani victim of Texas School Shooting with her classmate. (Photo by Family)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, Pakistani victim of Texas School Shooting with her sister. (Photo by Family)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, Pakistani victim of Texas School Shooting. (Photo by Family)
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Rabika Ahmed Shaikh, Pakistani victim of Texas School Shooting with her sister. (Photo by Family)
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Friends, relatives, social and political leaders are arriving in at Rabika’s residence in Karachi to mourn and condole her death. ( AN Photo)
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Abdul Aziz Shaikh, father of Texas School Shooting victim Rabika, speaking to Arab News. Her 12-year old Brother Ali Aziz Shaikh also present. (AN Photo)
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Abdul Aziz Shaikh, father of Pakistani victim of Texas School Shooting, showing photo of his daughter Rabika Shaikh from his cell phone. (AN Photo)
Updated 20 May 2018
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I’m dreaming of my daughter, says Pakistani father of Texas school shooting victim

  • “When I sent my daughter for studies to the US, I thought she had gone to the safest place on earth,” father said.
  • “Only those who have lost their kids in such devastating incidents can imagine my feelings,” Sheikh said.

KARACHI: The father of a Pakistani exchange student who died in the Texas school shooting says he will send his other three children to the US if they qualify for a scholarship program.

Sabika Aziz Sheikh, a 17-year-old foreign exchange student taking part in the Kennedy-Lugar study program in the US, was killed along with nine other students when a teenage classmate opened fire with a shotgun and revolver in the Santa Fe high school in Texas on Friday.

Megan Lysaght, manager of the Kennedy-Lugar program, has sent a letter to students in the program confirming that Sabika Sheikh was among those who died in the shooting.

The father of the student, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, told Arab News, that he first heard reports of the shooting from a local news channel.

“Such incidents take place everywhere. If I get the opportunity, I will send my other children to study in the US,” Sheikh told Arab News at his Karachi home.

“We can’t just give up education due to such incidents, but the time has come for the US government to bring in tough laws for control on guns, which are taking more and more students’ lives,” he said.

A Chicago University academic who has studied gun violence told Arab News: “The US is the only country among its near peers where children are routinely targeted in schools — and yet, maddeningly, much of the electorate wants politicians to do nothing about it.” 

Asfandyar Mir said a large proportion of the American population views the US constitution’s second amendment, which permits possession of firearms, as “an article of faith.”

“Part of it is interest group politics. The gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, holds immense sway on electoral politics. Their campaign contributions and endorsements make and break elections in many parts of the country.”

However, Sheikh said people in the US should consider that “guns are taking lives of their kids.”

“When I sent my daughter for studies to the US, I thought she had gone to the safest place on earth,” he said.

“Today, hundreds of people are coming. I wished these people and media had come on her successful return.

“Only those who have lost their kids in such devastating incidents can imagine my feelings,” Sheikh said. “I still think I am dreaming and when I will wake up, I will see my daughter running toward me, hugging me and saying, Baba.

“On the second day of Ramadan she called and said Baba (Urdu for papa). I was born on the fourth of Ramadan, so it would be my Islamic birthday. Tomorrow is her Islamic birthday, but she is no more with us,” Shaikh sawid.

Sabika was the eldest of Shaikh’s children. His daughters, Sania Aziz and Sohana Aziz, and son, Ali Aziz, study in the same school where Sabika had done her O-levels.

“We miss her a lot. She would take care of us in school,” Ali, Sabika’s 12-year-old brother, told Arab News.

Sabika’s father said the family expect to receive the body of his daughter by Tuesday and will announce funeral details shortly afterward.


UK to supply 225m in military equipment to Kyiv

Updated 51 min 52 sec ago
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UK to supply 225m in military equipment to Kyiv

  • The new package will include £92 million for equipment to bolster Ukraine’s navy, including small boats, reconnaissance drones and uncrewed surface vessels, the defense ministry said in a statement

LONDON: Britain on Thursday unveiled a package of £225 million ($286 million) in new military aid to Ukraine for next year, including drones, boats and air defense systems.
The move came after the UK’s Defense Secretary John Healey visited Kyiv on Wednesday, holding talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov and vowing to step up British support to Ukraine in 2025.
Three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine “the depths of his miscalculation are clearer than ever, as the brave people of Ukraine continue to defy all expectations with their unbreakable spirit,” Healey said.
“But they cannot go it alone,” Healey added, vowing the UK’s support for Kyiv was “ironclad” and Britain would always stand “shoulder to shoulder to ensure Putin cannot win.”
In July, the new Labour government vowed to commit £3 billion a year in military aid to Ukraine until 2030-2031.
The new package will include £92 million for equipment to bolster Ukraine’s navy, including small boats, reconnaissance drones and uncrewed surface vessels, the defense ministry said in a statement.
A further £68 million will be used for air defense equipment including radars, and 1,000 counter-drone electronic warfare systems at a cost of £39 million would be supplied to the Ukrainian army.
Healey said the UK would also boost a training program for Ukrainian soldiers run with key allies on British soil known as Operation Interflex, under which 51,000 recruits have been trained since mid-2022.
“With Putin resorting to sending as many as 2,000 Russian soldiers to their deaths on the battlefield each day, it is critical that Ukraine is supported with a supply of properly trained and equipped soldiers,” the ministry statement said.
Umerov thanked the UK for its support and said in a statement that the “stable delivery of ammunition, especially for artillery, is critically important for our defense efforts.”
He added the two men had reviewed the results of the use of Storm Shadow missiles, without providing details.
London gave Kyiv the green light to launch the UK-supplied, long-range missiles into Russia for the first time in November.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet NATO chief Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels late Wednesday to strategise over Russia’s war ahead of Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States.
Western backers are seeking to shore up Ukraine’s forces as Kyiv’s fatigued troops are losing ground across the frontline and Moscow has deployed North Koreans to the battlefield.


Russia repels Ukrainian missile attack in Rostov, governor says

Updated 19 December 2024
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Russia repels Ukrainian missile attack in Rostov, governor says

MOSCOW: Russian air defense systems repelled a Ukrainian attack in which 10 missiles were fired at the Rostov region of southern Russia, local governor Yuri Slyusar said on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian official said the attack targeted a chemical plant that supplied rocket fuel to Russia’s armed forces.
Slyusar, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said air defense units downed 10 missiles in the attack. Fragments from one missile triggered a fire in a house in the village of Malenkaya Kamenka and smashed windows in others.
He said there were no casualties and emergency services were at the scene. He made no mention of any industrial target.
Slyusar later said Russian air defenses had repelled an attack by seven Ukrainian drones at around midnight (2100 GMT). According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage, he added.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s official Center Against Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that the initial attack focused on the Kamensky chemical plant “which produces rocket fuel specializing in solid fuel components for rocket engines.”
The plant, he said, also produced explosive materials and components for ammunition.
Kovalenko posted a brief video showing a fire and smoke outside a fenced compound.
Reuters could not independently verify accounts of the incident from either side.
Unofficial Russian and Ukrainian blogs suggested the attack might have involved Western-supplied missiles, but there was no official confirmation from either side.
In Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, partly occupied by Russian forces, the Russia-installed governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said air defense units had downed four Ukrainian missiles fired at occupied areas of the region.
Initial analysis, he said, showed British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles had been used.
Reuters could not independently verify his account.


Trump brings chaos back to Washington by attempting to kill bipartisan budget deal

Updated 19 December 2024
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Trump brings chaos back to Washington by attempting to kill bipartisan budget deal

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump delivered a probable death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats and increasing the risk of a government shutdown right before Christmas.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” Trump said in a joint statement with JD Vance, the vice president-elect.
It was a display of dominance from a president-elect still a month away from inauguration who remains hundreds of miles away at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. It reinjected a sense of chaos and political brinkmanship that was reminiscent of his first term in office.
The episode also showcased the influence of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who spent the day attacking the budget legislation as full of excessive spending. They kicked up a storm on social media — Musk even threatened to support primary challenges against anyone who voted for the measure — before Trump decided to weigh in himself.
“Kill the Bill!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he gleefully reposted messages from Republican House members who vowed not to back the bill.
Trump’s allies were overjoyed by his intervention, viewing it as the fulfillment of his promise to shake up Washington. But lawmakers were also left bewildered by how a crucial bipartisan deal could fall apart so quickly just days before the deadline. There are also questions about the future of Trump-backed House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was pushing the budget legislation and is up for reelection for his post in just a couple of weeks.


UK terror threat ‘smoldering’ amid potential fallout from Syria

Updated 19 December 2024
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UK terror threat ‘smoldering’ amid potential fallout from Syria

  • National counterterrorism coordinator says situation has never been more complex and ‘history tells us that, unfortunately, any instability creates space for extremism’
  • Border officials on high alert for possibility that British Daesh members and supporters might attempt to return to the UK

LONDON: The threat of terrorism in the UK has been described as “smoldering” amid the potential fallout from the collapse this month of the Assad regime in Syria.

Counterterrorism police fear uncertainty about Syria’s future could fuel extremist attacks in the UK, and border officials are on high alert for the possibility that British Daesh members and supporters might attempt to return to the country.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the UK’s national counterterrorism coordinator, said the current terror threat in the country is “smoldering” and has never been more complex, given the dangers posed by extremists, state-sponsored plots and planned attacks from individuals with no obvious ideology.

“Events in Syria are certainly something that are a focus and something that all of us need to think about,” she said.

“It’s that stark reminder that we need to focus on old enemies of peace and security as well as the new. History tells us that, unfortunately, any instability creates space for extremism, for violence and acts of terror.”

Although the British government has engaged diplomatically with Syria’s new de facto leader, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Evans noted that his organization, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, remains a banned terrorist group under UK law and anyone who demonstrates support for it could face terror-related charges. She said no one has been arrested so far for such activity but would neither confirm nor deny whether anybody is under investigation.

Evans also revealed that counterterrorism police are increasingly finding images of extreme violence, pornography, misogyny and gore, which sometimes fuel terror plans, in the online viewing histories of suspects as young as 10 years old.

“It’s a pick-and-mix of horror. These sorts of grotesque fascinations with violence and harmful views that we’re seeing are increasingly common,” she said.

“We most definitely need to think differently about how we stop that conveyor belt of young people who are seeing and being exposed to this type of material and, unfortunately, sometimes then going on to commit horrific acts.”


North Korea slams ‘reckless’ US-led criticism of involvement in Ukraine

Updated 19 December 2024
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North Korea slams ‘reckless’ US-led criticism of involvement in Ukraine

SEOUL: North Korea on Thursday lashed out at the United States and its allies for criticizing its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops, rejecting what it called a “reckless provocation.”
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a foreign ministry spokesman said the declaration by 10 nations and the European Union was “distorting and slandering” Pyongyang’s “normal cooperative” ties with Moscow.