Free Republic

From prime minister to prison in less than two years, Imran Khan and his party have fallen dramatically from political grace. But the PTI says it has not given up its belief that it can win this week's general election in Pakistan, despite its founder being jailed in cases he says are politically motivated, and barred from running for office. The party is aiming to overcome the authorities' crackdown with the help of a social media fightback - and new candidates, many of them untested. Rehena Dar is being swept along the back roads of Sialkot, past the posters of...

Kash Patel an Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat and migrated to the US from East Africa during Idi Amin’s rule in Uganda Washington: Kash Patel is a senior advisor to former US President Donald J Trump, the most likely nominee for the Republican ticket for presidential elections this year. Patel served in senior positions in the National Security Council and other government agencies and eventually became the chief of staff to the Department of Defence during the Trump presidency. He also travelled with Trump to India in 2020. An Indian-American whose parents trace their roots to Gujarat...

Tomatoes could help fight off bacterial infections in your gut, a new study has found. One of the world's most widely consumed vegetables (or perhaps fruit?), they are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and other compounds – two of which scientists at Cornell University in the US have identified for their potent bacteria-killing properties in a series of cell experiments. The research team, led by Cornell microbiologist Jeongmin Song, was interested in Salmonella, a genus of enteric bacteria that invade the intestine, often causing food poisoning. Specifically, the team focused on one typhoidal serotype of Salmonella, Salmonella enterica Typhi, which lives...

Chinese military enthusiasts are claiming a win for a Chinese-made fighter jet against a European counterpart in a military exercise between Pakistan and Qatar. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fielded its Chinese-made J-10CE jets against Qatar’s Eurofighter Typhoon fighters for the first time in the Zilzal-II air exercise, which got under way in Qatar on January 10. Chinese social media users saw the exercise as a test for the Chinese 4.5-generation fighter against a European-made jet of the same generation. Military influencers and bloggers, in particular, celebrated an unverified claim that the J-10CE prevailed over the Typhoon in all nine...

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A dedicated Swiftie from Pakistan broke a Guinness World Record by correctly identifying 34 Taylor Swift songs from their lyrics in one minute. Bilal Ilyas Jhandir, 20, had to listen to the lyrics being read aloud by a man without any accompanying music to identify each song. The record attempt included Swift's 50 best-selling songs arranged in random order. He managed to identify 34 songs in one minute, breaking the record of 27 set by Dan Simpson in 2019. "I have been listening to Taylor Swift since my childhood. I am a die-hard fan of her,"...

Iran could produce enough fuel for six nuclear bombs in just one month and even produce a single atomic bomb in as little as a week, a former UN inspector has warned, as fears of a growing regional conflict surge. Weapons expert David Albright has issued out a sobering warning about the destructive potential of Iran’s arsenal, due to the country’s ability to produce large amounts of weapon-grade uranium. "Iran can quickly make enough weapon-grade uranium for many nuclear weapons, something it could not do in 2003,” he said. "Today, it would need only about a week to produce enough...

For quite some time now we’ve been keeping a close eye on the border region between Pakistan and India. The two nuclear powers have never gotten along well, with frequent skirmishes breaking out over disputed territory. But as of yesterday, Pakistan has experienced a flare-up with a different neighbor. Iran has launched attacks on what it claims are terrorist centers in Pakistan and now Pakistan has fired back, launching airstrikes into Iranian territory and killing at least seven people. So if there wasn’t already enough warfare in that region (both declared and undeclared), there’s one more conflict to toss on...

Baluchistan is a restive region shared by Iran and Pakistan where security forces on both sides of the border have for years battled militant groups but which now risks being the subject of escalating tensions between the neighbours. Both Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's western province of Balochistan are the most impoverished regions of their respective countries, vast and arid provinces constantly battling drought, with rampant unemployment. They are home to the Baluch people, who number overall an estimated 10 million, the majority of whom live in Pakistan including also in the Sindh province, with several million in...

Pakistan and Iran are once again at loggerheads after the two nations struck alleged militant hideouts in each other's territories within 48 hours. On Thursday, Pakistan targetted separatist Baloch militants in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, killing at least nine people, Reuters reported. This came after Tehran on Tuesday said it had attacked the bases of another militant group in the Pakistani territory. Pakistan Vs Iran The two neighbours have a history of accusing each other of harbouring militant groups operating from regions along their shared border. Pakistan has been ranked as the ninth strongest military globally in the latest assessment by...

An organizer reads excerpts from a sacred Zoroastrian text at one of the Kurdistan Region's fire temples in Darbandikhan, Aug. 8, 2019. (Photo: Kurdistan 24/Karwan Yara) A local organization dedicated to the Zoroastrian religion and philosophy on Thursday held a special ceremony at one of the group's fire temples located in the Kurdistan Region.Members of the Basna Organization, whose efforts usually focus on preserving local archaeological sites, performed the rite in Sulaimani province’s town of Darbandikhan.During the event, participants observed a number of the religion's rituals and read some of the faith's texts and core doctrines aloud to attendees. Organizers...

Several explosions were heard in southeastern Iran on Thursday morning, according to local media. The Mehr news agency reported that several people were injured in an attack by drones and missiles. According to the report, the attack was carried by the Pakistani army in Iranian territory, and follows an Iranian attack in Pakistani territory...

MILITARY NEWS WORLD NEWS BREAKING NEWS: Unconfirmed Reports of Pakistan’s Strike Against Iran – What We Know So Far BY NEWSTEAM 1 HOUR AGO SHARE POST 3 MIN Islamabad, Pakistan – Unconfirmed reports have emerged regarding a series of Pakistani raids using ballistic missiles, fighter jets, and artillery targeting terrorist group bases inside Iran as a response to its recent missile attacks. This development, if true, could mark a significant escalation in cross-border tensions. These reports, which surfaced a few hours ago, suggest that the Pakistani Air Force may have conducted operations against groups it holds responsible for instigating unrest...

Pakistan launches strikes inside Iran, Pakistan intelligence official says - AFP

Iran attacked Pakistan. Iran claimed it targeted two bases that belonged to the militant group Jaish al Adl. Pakistan said the attack was “completely unacceptable,” claiming it killed two children and injured three: Iran has fought in border areas against the militants, but a missile-and-drone attack on Pakistan is unprecedented for Iran. Iranian reports described the strikes as happening in the mountains of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded rebuke of the strikes. “Pakistan strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran which resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls,”...

Some sites have received federal court orders to cease any further online documentation of the attacks, which targeted Visa, Mastercard and other financial companies who froze Wikileaks accounts, a source close to the situation tells us.

Several stories have been published about people getting arrested for publicly praying in the UK. Actually, that’s not quite right because some forms of prayer are more equal than others. If you are a Muslim, you are perfectly fine praying, or for that matter, calling for the murder of Jews and the elimination of Israel as a state. So, more appropriately, I should say that praying as a Christian is becoming illegal in Great Britain. Praying for the spread of Sharia law is just fine and dandy.But according to @metpoliceuk, this is just fine. pic.twitter.com/5iF1Nc08M8— Annette Jals (@AMJalsevac) December 18,...

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has sparked a diplomatic row by holding an unauthorized meeting with the Turkish president. Yousaf, roughly equivalent to a U.S. state governor, is a Pakistani-heritage Muslim. He has been pushing the British government to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and import thousands of Gazan refugees. Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, nominally a NATO ally, also backs a ceasefire. He has branded the West's support for Israel against Hamas "barbaric". By discussing a ceasefire with Erdogan at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Yousaf breached diplomatic protocol. Foreign policy and defense are reserved to the...

Sheikh Javed Sindhi, who was engaged in research at the site, said that previously, 4,348 copper coins were excavated by R.D. Banerji, Sir John Marshall, and Mackay from 1922 to 1931. These coins belonged to the Kushan Period dating back to the 2 to 5 Century AD, he said...Rustam Bhutto, in-charge of the soil and water testing laboratory, said the treatment process for separating the amalgamated coins would take at least a month to make the figures and language on coins visible.Ali Haidar Gadhi, senior conservationist at said that Mr Banerji discovered nearly 2,000 coins, 338 of which were of...

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A court in Pakistan this month granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said. Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes. Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail...

[Make sure to read Daniel Greenfield’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]After Biden’s withdrawal, the fighting ended in Afghanistan and moved into Europe.Even before the Taliban takeover, a massive traffic in migrants and drugs flowed over the ‘Balkan Route’ that took Afghans into Iran, Turkey and then Eastern Europe. One of the biggest holes in Europe’s armor was the former Yugoslavia, illegally invaded and partitioned by the Clinton administration, with a large Muslim population in Bosnia and heavy criminal organizations across the former republic that tie together the Russian mob, local gangs,...