Olympic athlete Shim Suk-hee’s former coach is already in jail for beating her over the course of many years AFP South Korea’s double Olympic short track gold medallist Shim Suk-hee has accused her former coach — already convicted and jailed for repeatedly beating her over many years — of sexual assault, her lawyer said Wednesday. Shim filed her complaint against …

ISLAMABAD: Contrary to the claims of the minister of state for interior about excessive drug use by students in the capital, a new survey has found that no more than 2pc of students in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar are regular drug users, reports daily Dawn. Quaid-i-Azam University’s Department of Sociology released the findings of a survey conducted in collaboration …

Muhammad Asghar RAWALPINDI: In order to put an end to the VIP culture, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) scrapped all protocols and extraordinary arrangements for government and non-government officials across the country. This was done on the directive of the airlines’ president Air Marshal Arshad Malik who asked the PIA to follow the regular procedure at all level. The president and …

Nearly a third of human trafficking victims are children; The ‘Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018’ from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime draws on information from 142 countries, examining trafficking trends and patterns. Herald Report United Nations: Trafficking victims from South Asian countries are detected in many parts of Europe, according to a new UN report that said …

Reuters PESHAWAR The Afghan Taliban said on Tuesday they had called off peace talks with US officials in Qatar this week due to an “agenda disagreement”, especially over the involvement of Afghan officials as well as a possible ceasefire and prisoner exchange. Two days of peace talks had been set to start on Wednesday, Taliban officials told Reuters earlier, but …

A suspect who participated in the illegal hunting of a markhor, Pakistan’s national animal, in Chitral was presented before the court of the assistant commissioner of Chitral on Monday following his arrest, reported daily Dawn on Monday. Aslam Baig was arrested from his house on Sunday night and a case was registered against him under the Wildlife and Biodiversity Act, …

AFP China said on Monday it would welcome UN officials to the restive western region of Xinjiang with the condition that they stay out of the country’s internal affairs. This comes after UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in December that her office was seeking access to the region to verify reports of re-education camps holding Muslim minorities. Reports …

Wajahat Ali speaks with Pankaj Mishra on the devastating consequences of Western imperialism, globalization, and capitalism and the fate of liberal democracy. Pankaj Mishra does not suffer fools. Born and raised in North India, the forty-eight-year-old writer was expected to join the civil service after graduating from university; instead he moved to a small village in the Himalayas for five …

Boston Review speaks with Arundhati Roy on censorship, storytelling, and her problem with the term ‘postcolonialism.’ In her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), Arundhati Roy asks, “What is the acceptable amount of blood for good literature?” This relationship between the imagination and the stuff of real life—violence, injustice, power—is central to Roy’s writing, dating back to her …

To mark the New Year, we asked a group of senior and emerging thought leaders and policy practitioners to list the eleven top areas likely to fill Pakistan’s policy radar in 2019.     The New Year promises unprecedented opportunities for progress and peace for Pakistan and the broader region. Geo-economics is a potent new trend line expanding our horizons …

News Desk Child sexual abuse cases are on the rise in Pakistan. In Islamabad only, 300 cases of child sexual abuse were registered over the last five years, while another 260 cases went unregistered, a Senate panel was informed on Monday. Over 3,440 cases of child abuse had been reported last year, according to data collected by a non-gove­rnmental organisations. …

WILL the PTI’s model of a welfare state serve as a catalyst to laying the foundation of an egalitarian society where, as the party manifesto claims: ‘Every Pakistani feels empowered, has control over their own lives in a just and equitable environment?’ Jawaid Bokhari In a recent interview Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that ‘everything we strive for … will …

My father would tell me: don’t tire yourself, tire the mountain with your patience, writes  Osman Ehtisham Anwar Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.— Anatoli Boukreev People of all leanings have been drawn to the mountains for centuries, some for spiritual reasons, some to experience the …

AFP PERTH: Roger Federer has become the most successful player in Hopman Cup history after leading Switzerland to a 2-1 win in an enthralling final of the mixed teams tournament in Perth on Saturday. In what is tipped to be the final edition of the unique tournament, the best was saved for last as Federer became the first player to …

Zahid Ali  The new man in town told Mullah Nasrudin, “I have come out there to make an honest living.” “Well, “ said the Mulla, “There’s not much competition.” Be serious. Pose sober. Don’t laugh too much. All such crap is thrust upon us by holier than thou serious people around us. Jokes make them afraid and confused. They always …