Regional
17 killed as truck carrying pilgrims plunges into ravine in Balochistan’s Hub
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At least 17 people were killed while over 40 sustained injuries after a truck carrying pilgrims plunged into a ravine in Balochistan’s Hub district on Wednesday, officials said.
Hub Assistant Superintendent of Police Ahmed Talha Wali confirmed the death toll and injuries.
He said the truck, carrying 50 people, was en route to the Shah Noorani shrine in Khuzdar from Thatta, Dawn reported.
He said the incident took place at 10pm last night, and that critically injured people had been taken to Jam Ghulam Qadir Hospital in Hub and Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre in Karachi.
Earlier, Manan Baloch, the Edhi Foundation’s Hub in-charge, said that the rescue operation to retrieve the bodies and injured concluded Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Munir Ahmed told AFP that the truck was speeding and that the driver lost control while negotiating a turn.
In a statement issued earlier Thursday, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti expressed sorrow over the loss of lives, according to state-run Radio Pakistan.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah visited the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre and met with the injured persons.
Speaking to the media outside the facility, he said 40 people had been discharged so far while five were in critical condition.”
Road accidents with high fatalities are common in the country due to lax safety measures, poor driver training and decrepit transport infrastructure.
Passenger buses and trucks are frequently crammed to capacity and seatbelts are not commonly worn, meaning high death tolls from single-vehicle accidents are common.
According to the World Health Organisation estimates, more than 27,000 people were killed on Pakistan’s roads in 2018.
In January last year, 41 people were killed when their passenger bus, which was also loaded with containers of flammable oil, plunged into a ravine in Balochistan province and burst into flames.
Regional
Russia’s Lavrov aligns positions with Iran on nuclear programme
Lavrov had earlier said in Tehran that Moscow was sure that diplomatic measures were still on the table when it came to resolving issues around Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iran’s top leaders aligned positions on issues around Iran’s nuclear programme at talks in Tehran on Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
Lavrov discussed a wide range of bilateral and regional issues with both President Masoud Pezeshkian and his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi, a ministry statement said.
“Positions were aligned on the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian Nuclear Programmе,” it said.
Russia is a signatory of the 2015 JCPOA deal alongside the U.S., China, France, Britain and Germany. The deal lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities
Lavrov had earlier said in Tehran that Moscow was sure that diplomatic measures were still on the table when it came to resolving issues around Iran’s nuclear programme.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said last week that Iran continued to enrich uranium well beyond the needs for commercial nuclear use despite U.N. pressure to stop it.
Grossi told Reuters that while the pace of uranium enrichment had slowed slightly since the end of last year, Iran was still enriching at an elevated rate of around 7 kg of uranium per month to 60% purity.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but no other state has enriched to that level without producing them.
Grossi said he wanted to visit Tehran next month for the first time in a year.
Russia and Iran have drawn closer in recent years, with Iran supporting Russia in its military campaign in Ukraine. The two sides signed a strategic partnership agreement in January.
Lavrov discussed a wide range of bilateral and regional issues during his visit, including Syria, Lebanon and Afghanistan and the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Russian news agencies reported that Lavrov later travelled on to Qatar.
Regional
Russia’s foreign minister in Tehran for talks with Iranian counterpart
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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, Iranian state media reported.
This comes days after Moscow held initial talks with the US just a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Lavrov will discuss regional and bilateral topics with his Iranian counterpart during his one-day trip to Iran, Russian state media reported.
The visit comes a day after the United States imposed a fresh round of sanctions targeting Iran’s main source of income, the oil industry.
Trump earlier this month had restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive the country’s oil exports to zero, reimposing Washington’s tough policy on Iran that was practiced throughout his first term, Reuters reported.
Russia’s media reported that the main focus of their discussions is expected to be on expanding trade and economic cooperation, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors.
The ministers are also however planning to exchange views on a number of international issues, including the situation in Syria, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Persian Gulf region, the Caspian Sea issue, and the prospects for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program.
Regional
Bangladesh and Pakistan resume direct trade after more than 50 years
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Bangladesh has resumed direct trade with Pakistan for the first time since its independence in 1971, with the first shipment of 50,000 tonnes of rice leaving Port Qasim under a government-to-government deal, officials said.
The deal follows an improvement in diplomatic relations since an interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus taking over in the wake of the protests that drove then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country, Reuters reported.
Previously known as East Pakistan, Bangladesh won independence following a nine-month war.
The new agreement, finalized earlier this month, sees Bangladesh purchasing white rice from Pakistan at $499 per ton through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan. The shipment will be delivered in two phases, with the remaining 25,000 tonnes expected in early March.
However, the price of rice is higher than that of rice from Vietnam, which Bangladesh has been importing at $474.25 per ton.
The government has been battling to stabilize the rice market, as prices have risen by 15-20% in recent months, with medium-quality rice selling at around 80 taka ($0.66) per kilo.
To control rice prices, the government is importing more rice from international markets, including through tenders, and has scrapped import duties.
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