HONG KONG – China’s top office for handling Hong Kong affairs held a press conference in Beijing on Monday to express “its stance and views on Hong Kong’s current situation.”It was the first time that the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office held a press briefing on the city since it was established in 1997.The office’s spokesperson Yang Guang condemned the actions of anti-extradition law protesters over recent weeks, saying that they “exceeded the boundaries of acceptable protest.”
In Hong Kong protests, faces become weapons
HONG KONG — The police officers wrestled with Colin Cheung in an unmarked car. They needed his face.They grabbed his jaw to force his head in front of his iPhone. They slapped his face. They shouted, “Wake up!” They pried open his eyes. It all failed: Cheung had disabled his phone’s facial-recognition login with a quick button mash as soon as they grabbed him.
Over 10,000 staff to carry out 140 Hajj plan initiatives: GPH
RIYADH, JUL 28 (DNA) -Director of the GPH (General Presidency for Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque), ash-Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn ‘Abdil-‘Azeez as-Sudays has confirmed the readiness of the GPH to serve the guests at Allaah’s Sacred House.He also confirmed the availability of all amenities they would require in order to perform their acts of worship in comfort, ease, and safety.
Pak-Turkey bilateral Naval Exercise ‘AYYILDIZ-2019’ concludes
KARACHI, JULY 28 (DNA): A bilateral ‘EXERCISE AYYILDIZ-2019’ between Pakistan Navy’s Special Service Group and Turkish Navy’s Special Forces, ‘Su Alti Taarruz’, concluded at Karachi on Sunday.According to a Pakistan Navy statement, personnel from both navies mutually benefitted from the exercise which included Anti-Terrorism Ops, Rescue and Hostage Ops, Counter terrorism in Maritime domain and Intelligence based operations.
Akan Rakhmetullin new Kazakh ambassador to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, JUL 28 (DNA) – Akan Rakhmetullin has been appointed new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.He is a career diplomat, a competent expert in multilateral diplomacy, international security and disarmament.Born on February 2, 1967, in Almaty. He graduated from the Almaty Power Institute in 1991.
U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump use disputed funds for border wall
WASHINGTON, JUL 27 (DNA) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday handed President Donald Trump a victory by letting his administration redirect $2.5 billion (£2.2 billion) in money approved by Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border even though lawmakers refused to provide funding.The conservative-majority court on a 5-4 vote with the court’s liberals in dissent blocked in full a ruling by a federal judge in California barring the Republican president from spending the money on the basis that Congress did not specifically authorise the funds to be spent on the wall project fiercely opposed by Democrats and Mexico’s government.
India cuts tax rate on electric vehicles
NEW DELHI, JUL 27 (DNA) – India on Saturday slashed taxes on electric vehicles and chargers, as it looks to encourage the use of more environmentally friendly carsThe goods and services tax (GST) on electric vehicles and chargers was reduced to 5% from a previous 12% and 18% respectively, India’s finance ministry said in a statement.The government had earlier this month given tax breaks in the federal budget for consumers buying electric vehicles. Saturday’s decision to slash the tax was taken at a meeting of the GST council chaired by India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman in New Delhi
AJK President urges Modi to respond positively on Trump’s Kashmir offer
ISLAMABAD (DNA) – Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond positively to the mediation offer made by US President Donald Trump on the Kashmir issue during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the United States.
CDA, MCI develop environmental friendly machinery
ISLAMABAD, JUL 27 (DNA) – In an effort to make environment of the city better, Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Metropolitan Corporation have made Asphalt Mixing Plant of its Machinery Pool Organization (MPO) Directorate environment friendly as it is being operated without damaging the environment of city.
What Is the Chinese Military Doing in Hong Kong?
HONG KONG — When Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese control in 1997, one of the biggest worries was how the Chinese military would behave.Images of the People’s Liberation Army killing civilians on the streets of Beijing eight years earlier were still fresh in the minds of Hong Kong residents, who had marched in huge numbers to support the pro-democracy Tiananmen protests, and who had begun marking the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown with a yearly vigil.
