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NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced concern over the situation in occupied Kashmir.

Guterres, who will travel to India today, encouraged positive dialogue to peacefully resolve disagreements.

The UN secretary-general will arrive India today (Monday).

During his first trip to the South Asian country as head of the world body, he will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on October 3.

Addressing the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi had discussed the unresolved Kashmir issue. He had pointed out that the issue poses a great threat to peace and stability in the South Asian region.

The Pakistani foreign minister had further said India must stop human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and stop ceasefire violations across the Line of Control.

While Prime Minister Theresa May is doggedly defending her Brexit plan, delegates at her party´s annual conference have joined the EU in writing it off — and suggest her own time in office is limited.

Conservative party members queued for two hours on Sunday to see leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg denounce May´s “Chequers plan” for close economic ties with the EU, one of half a dozen events he is addressing in Birmingham.

Across town, several Tory Eurosceptic MPs joined former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage in demanding a clean break with the EU, at a rally attended by around 500 people waving British flags.

Similar crowds are expected at a conference event on Tuesday with former minister Boris Johnson, a rival for May´s job who has condemned her plan as “deranged”.

“The prime minister is completely out of touch with the majority of party members,” Michael Wilkins, 53, told AFP at the rally, seated near a giant poster saying “Save Brexit”.

Many eurosceptic Tories want May to ditch her plan for Britain to follow EU rules for goods, and instead secure a looser free trade agreement for after Brexit in March next year.

May insists her way is the only one that protects manufacturing supply lines and keeps open the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

After EU leaders in Salzburg last month rejected the plan, she demanded they show her “respect” in a defiant statement that went down well with party members.

“It was the sort of vigour we have been wanting to see from her,” said Alexandra Philips, a former UKIP member who is now a member of the Conservatives.
Listen to the people

Many of her critics have accused May of a lack of enthusiasm over Brexit, citing the fact she opposed leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum.

“It is stupid that after the biggest vote we have had in British history, we´ve got someone in charge who didn´t believe in it,” said Stuart Lloyd, 50, from near Birmingham, at the rally.

He backed Johnson as a new leader, and “if not him, someone with those kind of views”.

Inside the conference centre, among the stalls for Conservative key rings, coasters and tea towels, discussion of Brexit and May´s future is on everybody´s lips.

“I don´t want Chequers, it keeps us part of the common market. We want a clean break,” said Imelda Dixon, 71, from Derby in central England, sitting with her husband Alan.

She accused May of failing to acknowledge the reality around her, saying: “It´s the general election all over again. Me, me, me — I just want her to listen to the people, but she´s not.”

During the campaign for last year´s disastrous snap election, in which the Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority, May refused to accept she had made a mistake in a key policy on social care.

However, many delegates are wary of the chaos it might unleash to change leaders now.

“I think it´s got to wait until after Brexit,” said one, 72-year-old Alan Dixon.
Acting like children

May gave a speech and took questions in a private meeting with delegates on Sunday morning, and one party member said she had changed his mind.

“I´m not a great fan of Chequers but after hearing her, I´m prepared to give her a chance,” said Martin Williams, a 32-year-old councillor in Somerset, western England.

He added: “I´m a great supporter of Boris but… we need to stop acting like children.

“There will be plenty of time for people to think about their futures, but now is not the time.”

Outside the conference centre, hundreds of people holding signs saying “Bollocks to Brexit” and “It´s not too late” held a march calling for a second referendum.

One protester, former Conservative London councillor Nicholas McLean, lamented the influence hardliners had on his party.

“Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, there´s a long list of people who see the issue from a blinkered point of view, not at all realistic — they have betrayed the party,” he told AFP.

BIRMINGHAM: Prime Minister Theresa May will unveil plans on Sunday to levy an extra fee on foreign buyers of homes in Britain, saying she wanted to stop it being as easy for those who do not live in the country to buy homes “as hard working British residents”.

May, struggling to unite her governing Conservatives behind her Brexit strategy, hopes to use her party’s annual conference in the English city of Birmingham this week to reset her agenda to tackle growing inequality in Britain.

Aware that the opposition Labour Party staged a successful conference last week and set out new policies targeting many of those who voted to leave the European Union, May will try to take the upper hand by launching a new social agenda.

“At Conservative conference last year, I said I would dedicate my premiership to restoring the British Dream, that life should be better for each new generation, and that means fixing our broken housing market,” she will say.

“It cannot be right that it is as easy for individuals who don’t live in the UK, as well as foreign-based companies, to buy homes as hard-working British residents.”

She will say that a new surcharge will be levied on top of all other stamp duty – a tax paid on property purchases – including higher levels of stamp duty introduced in April 2016, on second home and buy-to-let purchases.

The government did not say when the new rates would be introduced but said it would consult on the stamp duty increase, which would be levied on individuals and companies not paying tax in Britain.

Spain’s Ana Carrasco on Sunday became the first woman to win a world motorcycling title when she triumphed by a single point in the Superbike Supersport 300 division.

The 21-year-old from Murcia, riding a Kawasaki, fought her way up from 25th on the grid to finish 13th at the season decider on the French circuit of Magny-Cours.

Carrasco finished the season with a one-point lead over compatriot Mika Perez.

“It’s unbelievable for me to achieve this,” said the former law student.

“We worked so hard to be here. I did not know I had won on the slowdown lap. I tried to see some TVs to check but I did not see any. I only realised when I got to turn five and I asked the spectators if I was first.”

Carrasco dedicated her win to Luis Salom, a fellow Spanish rider who was killed in an accident at the Catalunya circuit in 2016 at the age of 24.

“The day we lost him I promised to dedicate my first title to him. At the moment I am happy because we have achieved our goals, but I do not realise all of the things about being the first woman in history. I think after a few days I will be more conscious of this.”

Nita Korhonen, the director of the sport’s women in motorcycling commission, said Carrasco’s gender should not overshadow her achievement.

“This is absolutely great to have a woman winning an open circuit racing championship,” said Korhonen.

“Ana has shown that winning this kind of high-level title has nothing to do with the gender but the talent.”

Watching the two little lion cubs boisterously play with each other at a conservation centre outside of South Africa’s capital Pretoria, it’s hard to see anything out of the ordinary.

But these cubs are unique.

“These are the first ever lion cubs to be born by means of artificial insemination — the first such pair anywhere in the world,” announced the University of Pretoria, whose scientists are researching the reproductive system of female African lions.

The two cubs, a male and female, born on August 25 are healthy and normal, said Andre Ganswindt, the director of the University of Pretoria’s mammal research institute.

His team’s breakthrough came after 18 months of intensive trials.

“We collected sperm from a healthy lion,” Ganswindt told AFP.

Then when the lioness’ hormone levels were found to be viable, she was inseminated artificially.

“And luckily it was successful,” said Ganswindt, adding that “there were several attempts, but surprisingly it didn’t take too much effort”.
Scientists hope the artificial insemination technique can be used to save other endangered big cats. Photo: AFP

Scientists hope the artificial insemination technique can be used to save other endangered big cats

He said the breakthrough could be repeated, with scientists hoping the technique can be used to save other endangered big cats.

Lions are extinct in 26 African countries and numbers in the wild have plummeted 43 percent over the last two decades, with roughly only 20,000 left, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the African lion as vulnerable.

“If we are not doing something about it, they will face extinction,” said Ganswindt.
‘Another tool in conservation box’

He said that rather than move the lions for breeding, the new technique would let breeders to simply transport the sperm to receptive females, as is done with the captive elephant population in Northern America and Europe.

The findings are part of research being done by Isabel Callealta, a Spanish veterinarian and PhD student at the University of Pretoria.

Lions are extinct in 26 African countries and numbers in the wild have plummeted 43 percent over the last two decades

Callealta personally trained the lions to lie next to a fence, where they would freely give blood samples to determine hormonal levels and assess the perfect time for insemination.

The research was carried out at the Ukutula Conservation Center, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Pretoria in South Africa’s North West province.

Imke Lueders, a scientist involved in the study, said “having the first lion cubs ever born from artificial insemination in their natural range country, and not in a zoo overseas, is an important milestone for South Africa”.

“Assisted reproduction techniques are another tool in our conservation box, of course not a sole solution, but another technology that we can use to protect endangered species,” she said.

Andre Mentz, a prominent lion breeder in South Africa’s Free State province, described the birth of the cubs as “very revolutionary”.

But animal welfare organisations are less enthused.
Lions are extinct in 26 African countries and numbers in the wild have plummeted 43 percent over the last two decades. Photo: AFP

“The captive lion breeding industry in South Africa is exploitative and profit-driven,” said Mark Jones of the Born Free Foundation.

“It generates its income through interaction activities (lion cub petting and lion walks), canned trophy hunting of lions and the lion skeleton trade, while contributing nothing to lion conservation,” he added.

A group of 18 international and African conservation organisations wrote a letter addressed to the scientists saying they do not support the study, but did acknowledge artificial insemination could help other imperilled wild cats like the cheetah.

However Paul Funston of wild cat conservation organisation Panthera raised fears about “anything new which gives any validity to the captive lion industry”.

After all, he said, “in captivity lions breed like flies –- most cats do”.

A masseur in California filed suit on Friday against Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, the latest in a series of sex allegations faced by the actor.

The complainant, identified only as John Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court file, alleges that Spacey groped him during a massage session in Malibu, California, two years ago.

A representative of Spacey allegedly contacted the plaintiff requesting a massage for the actor at a private home.

The complainant said that after he went to the home and began performing a massage on Spacey the actor pulled his hand into the actor’s genital area.

A startled Doe was eventually able to get away with his massage table but, in his rush to depart, left sheets and oil behind, the suit says.

Spacey was considered one of the finest actors of his generation. His career has nosedived following allegations by more than a dozen men in the United States and Britain.

He has not been charged but remains under investigation in both countries.

The first public report of alleged abuse by him came from actor Anthony Rapp, who claimed that Spacey sexually abused him when Rapp was 14, in 1986.

Spacey apologized to Rapp, claiming not to remember the incident, but remained silent as accusations against him mushroomed.

As a result, Netflix dropped Spacey from its political thriller series House of Cards, and he was dumped from his scenes in Ridley Scott’s film All the Money in the World.

Spacey is one of the most high-profile scalps in the torrent of allegations that have brought down male power players from the worlds of politics, finance, entertainment and journalism, in the wake of accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein a year ago.

JERUSALEM: Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said Saturday the Palestinians have petitioned the UN’s top court, alleging that the US inauguration of an embassy in Jerusalem was illegal.

The Palestinians have filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “for violating international law by moving its embassy in Israel to the occupied city of Jerusalem”, he said, quoted by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

In December, US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Palestinian claims on part of the city and breaking with longstanding US policy.

Palestinians have since refused all contact with the Trump administration.

The US embassy was transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, a day marked by mass protest in the Gaza Strip, where about 60 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli fire in border clashes.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem along with the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and later declared the entire city its united capital.

Palestinians claim the predominantly Arab eastern area as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

UN resolutions call on countries to refrain from moving their embassies to the city until its status is resolved in an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

“The ICJ was asked to declare that moving the embassy to occupied Jerusalem constituted a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” WAFA wrote in English.

The court said the Palestinian suit, filed on Friday, called on the body “to order the United States of America to withdraw the diplomatic mission from the Holy City of Jerusalem and to conform to the international obligations flowing from the Vienna Convention”.

An official of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said it was the first time Palestinians had petitioned the court against the United States.

In November 2012, the UN General Assembly recognised the Palestinian Authority as a “non-member observer state”.

This allowed the Palestinians to join UN bodies such as the ICJ and also the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is a separate institution.

Previously, the Palestinians had asked the UN General Assembly to seek a ruling on their behalf over Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.

In 2004, the court issued a non-binding ruling that the network of walls and fences was illegal and called for sections to be dismantled.

Israel said it had no intention of complying.

The ICC was set up in 2002 with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the world’s worst crimes including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Neither the United States nor Israel are signatories to the ICC.

Earlier this month, Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians had filed a petition there against Israel over its pending demolition of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.

They have previously filed suit to the ICC claiming Israeli war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

A powerful typhoon hurtled toward Japan’s mainland Sunday after injuring dozens on southern islands, as weather officials warned that fierce winds and torrential rain could trigger landslides and floods.

Typhoon Trami has already sparked travel disruption in the world’s third-biggest economy, with bullet train services in the west of Japan suspended, more than 1,000 flights cancelled due to the closure of a key airport hub and Tokyo’s evening train service scrapped.

The storm is forecast to smash into the mainland near Osaka at around 6pm local time (0900 GMT) and churn across the Japanese archipelago, likely hitting areas still recovering from a series of extreme weather events that have battered Japan in recent months.

Trami tore through the southern island of Okinawa on Saturday, bringing winds strong enough to flip over cars. Several houses were flooded or damaged and 40 people on the island sustained minor injuries but no one was feared dead, local officials said.

Nationwide, authorities issued non-compulsory evacuation advisories to some 349,000 residents, while 300,000 households have lost power, according to public broadcaster NHK.

As the typhoon barrelled east, rail authorities took the highly unusual step of cancelling evening train services in Tokyo, one of the world’s busiest networks, urging passengers to shelter indoors when the storm hits.
The Japanese weather agency has warned of record winds. Photo: AFP

The typhoon is not expected to hit the capital head on but strong winds and heavy rain are still feared from later Sunday and some businesses were already putting up shutters and hunkering down.

Trami is the latest in a string of extreme natural events in Japan, which has suffered typhoons, flooding, earthquakes and heatwaves in recent months, claiming scores of lives and causing extensive damage.

Packing maximum gusts of 216 kilometres (134 miles) per hour, Trami was expected to travel over most of the archipelago, weakening slightly but causing extreme weather into Monday, forecasters said.

Still classed as a “very strong” typhoon, Trami pounded Kagoshima on the western tip of Japan early Sunday, causing 10 minor injuries — for example, cuts from broken windows and people knocked over by gusts.

“We are strongly urging our residents to stay indoors because it is extremely dangerous to be outside now,” Masaaki Tamaki, an official of Kagoshima’s disaster management section, told AFP.
‘Bang, bang’

The Japanese meteorological agency warned the typhoon would bring strong winds and downpours, which could trigger landslides and floods as well as lightning strikes and tornados across the nation.

Violent gusts swept away roof tiles on some houses in Kochi city in western Japan.

“There was a big ‘bang, bang’. That woke me up,” a local elderly man in Kochi told national broadcaster NHK.

Cities in the expected path of the typhoon were already taking measures to mitigate possible danger.

East Japan Railway announced that it would gradually suspend train services in and around Tokyo and end all trains around 8pm (1100 GMT), shortly before the typhoon was to draw near the Japanese capital.

“Shinkansen” bullet train services, particularly those in western areas, also reduced or cancelled their services.
People struggled to stay upright in the wind. Photo: AFP

Osaka’s Kansai Airport, which is situated on reclaimed land offshore and suffered extensive damage in a storm earlier in September, closed two runways and officials piled up sandbags to avoid a repeat of flooding seen during the previous storm.

Some western regions are still recovering from the most powerful typhoon to strike the country in a quarter of a century in early September. Typhoon Jebi claimed 11 lives and shut down Kansai Airport, the main regional airport.

Deadly record rains also hit western Japan earlier this year and the country sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record.

Also in September, a magnitude-6.6 earthquake rocked the northern island of Hokkaido, sparking landslides and leaving more than 40 people dead.

KARACHI: The Sindh Police and Federal Investigative Agency have kicked-off investigations after as many as Rs2 billion were found deposited in a vendor’s bank account.

Abdul Qadir, the resident of Orangi Town’s Sector 8L, maintained no knowledge of the account and the funds in it. A police contingent has been deployed his residence after the said disclosure.

The vendor said that he came to know about the funds through a summon letter from the FIA, adding that a few years back opened a bank account to buy a house in the Sarjani Town of the metropolis.
Karachi man ‘unaware’ of Rs8bn deposit in bank account

Police maintain that the case appears to be similar to the ongoing money laundering case being heard by the Supreme Court of Pakistan involving Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

Previously, in a separate case, FIA found Rs8 billion in the bank account of a Karachi man. The citizen has expressed a lack of knowledge about the huge sum.

According to sources, the citizen, Adnan Javed, had deposited Rs5000 to open three accounts under the title of a company, Lucky International, two years ago. But he never checked his account balance.
Business group involved in the transfer of money: sources

The said account operational from 2014-15 was holding funds deposited by a business group, said sources privy to the development.

Sources said that its a standard practice of the business groups to open such accounts, called as ‘trade accounts’, to evade taxes.

State Banks’ financial monitoring unit sent a report, expressing its suspicion over the funds in the account, to the FIA in 2016.

The sources have said that the business group’s official has been summoned by the FIA to ascertain the matter.
The probe

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious bank accounts. The inquiry started when the financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a ‘suspicious transaction report’ in January this year regarding ten bank accounts.

Sources maintain that over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at a private bank were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made. The amount according to FIA sources is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.

But despite these huge transactions, the bank officials never reported them to the authorities concerned, including the FIA.

A high-level Saudi delegation, due to arrive in Pakistan today, is expected to sign five important Memorandums of Understanding with the government. Photo: File

ISLAMABAD: A high-level Saudi delegation, due to arrive in Pakistan today, is expected to sign five important Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the government.

The Saudi delegation will include petroleum ministers as well as the Saudi finance minister and the energy minister, according to an announcement by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

The prospect of setting up oil refineries in Gwadar is likely to be discussed by the delegation. According to sources, the Saudi officials are expected to sign an agreement to sell petroleum products to Pakistan on deferred payments.

During its six-day visit to Pakistan, the Saudi delegation will also sign an MoU to make investments in the Balochistan Reko Diq gold and copper mines, sources said.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia signed three agreements: Fawad Chaudhry

Further, agreements to privatise two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plants and sale of phosphate-containing fertilisers to Pakistan are also expected to be signed by the delegation.

The Saudi delegation will also visit the Gwadar port and Reko Diq project, sources further said.

Earlier this week, Information Minister Chaudhry said pacts with the Kingdom will be transparent and a huge investment will be made by the country.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed “three grant agreements” to bring major investment in the country after the former invited the country to become the third partner in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan.