News & Updates

President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court President Obama is expected to nominate Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court. Here is what you need to know about Garland. (Claritza Jimenez,Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) President Obama on Wednesday nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, setting up a protracted political fight with Republicans who have vowed to block any candidate picked by Obama in his final year in office. Garland, 63, is a longtime Washington lawyer and jurist who is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Considered a moderate, Garland is widely respected in the D.C. legal community and was also a finalist for the first two Supreme Court vacancies Obama filled. [LIVE updates on Obama’s pick: Reactions from the GOP and more] In announcing his choice in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said he followed “a rigorous and comprehensive process” and that he reached out...

US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger US President Barack Obama has warned White House contenders to avoid raising tensions, a day after a rally by Donald Trump was called off amid clashes. Mr Obama said candidates should not resort to “insults” and “certainly not violence against other Americans”. Mr Trump, who leads the race for the Republican nomination, cancelled his Chicago rally after fighting broke out between his supporters and protesters. His rivals and others have accused him of using inflammatory rhetoric. What Trump says about protesters at his rallies Why are Americans so angry? How extreme is Donald Trump? Could Trump’s vulgarity cost him the nomination? Later on Saturday, Mr Trump suffered heavy defeats in Republican caucuses in Washington DC and Wyoming. Mr Obama, who will be standing down next January following November’s presidential election, was speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in...

Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike One of Pyongyang’s few remaining allies says country is in danger of creating legal grounds for international military intervention. NK News reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied. Photograph: Rodong Sinmun/EPA Chad O’Carroll for NK News, part of the North Korea network Russia has warned North Korea that threats to deliver “preventive nuclear strikes” could create a legal basis for the use of military force against the country, suggesting that even Pyongyang’s few remaining friends are growing concerned about its increasingly confrontational stance. The Russian foreign ministry statement, which follows a North Korean threat to “annihilate” the US and South Korea, also criticises Washington and Seoul for launching the largest joint military drills...

Team Canada’s sweet 16 named for World Cup Team Canada’s sweet 16 named for World Cup An injury has kept Carey Price sidelined since November. But Team Canada’s management team had no doubt the Montreal Canadiens star goaltender should be named to the initial 16-man roster for the World Cup of Hockey. Price, 28, Chicago’s Corey Crawford, 31, and Washington’s Braden Holtby, 26, were named Wednesday as Canada’s three goalies when the eight nations named their preliminary list of 16 World Cup players. The 23-man roster will be filled out in early June for the best-on-best tournament that kicks off in Toronto Sept. 17. Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong said he talked to Price at the beginning of February about whether he wanted to be named; Price said yes. “When healthy, he’s the No. 1 goalie on the planet,” Armstrong said. “We wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the decision.” Armstrong added Price’s condition will be evaluated as the NHL season goes on. “I don’t want to get...

Watch Xiaomi launch its new flagship phone live at Mobile World Congress Watch Xiaomi launch its new flagship phone live at Mobile World Congress Buzzy Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is making its first major appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. The company is set to unveil the Mi 5, its latest flagship smartphone, in what it calls a “Global Launch Event.” Could that naming, along with the event’s location, hint that Xiaomi might be looking to expand its borders further beyond Asia? It’d be a long shot, but you can tune into the live stream above to find out. XIAOMI ANNOUNCES THE MI 5, ITS LATEST FLAGSHIP PHONE Xiaomi rose to prominence a few years ago as one of the first companies to sell competent smartphones at extremely low prices, gathering a large user base with the intention of hooking people on a broader ecosystem. Hype around the company peaked in late 2014, when it was valued at a staggering $46 billion. THE PRESSURE IS ON Amid an...

Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, with Turkey condemning ‘obvious war crime’ The prospect of even a temporary truce in Syria seemed as distant as ever on Monday, as violence continued unabated across much of the country with hospitals in two towns apparently being bombed by forces supporting Bashar al-Assad, days after Russia denied it was targeting civilians in its aerial campaign. The attacks highlighted the fragility of a deal agreed last week in Munich for a “cessation of hostilities” and the impact on civilians of an unforgiving air war led by the Kremlin that has helped consolidate Assad’s position and exacerbated the misery of the five-year conflict, driving tens of thousands out of their homes towards the Turkish border. The bombardment of a hospital is a too-frequent ‘accident’. It’s also a war crime Bernard Kouchner Read more Assad, the Syrian president, made a televised address on Monday saying that any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapon...

What will a world with 5G look like? Your smartphone will have a faster connection, for sure. But that just scratches the surface of what 5G could be capable of. Everyone in the wireless industry agrees that 5G is coming by the end of the decade. But what will it be used for? That’s still up in the air. Nokia on Tuesday previewed a demonstration it plans to present at Mobile World Congress later this month, detailing its vision for 5G. Nokia’s 5G forecast includes some surprising capabilities: 5G will make cars safer to drive. It will make instant replay more instant. And doctors will be able to perform surgery using wirelessly controlled robots.. And, yes, 5G will be much faster. Faster speeds Nokia (NOK), aiming to be one of the world’s biggest 5G players, claims that it has tested a 5G connection with download speeds of 30 gigabits per second. That’s more than 1,000 times faster than your average 4G connection. In the real world, there’s very little chance of your phone...

In India terrorist mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi asking Pakistan to hand over the US and the UK, in the context of the neighboring country on Tuesday on the good sense must prevail and that terrorism must be serious. "Pakistan. It is necessary to get serious on the issue of terrorism Pakistan should understand this and good sense must prevail against it," the home minister Kiran Rijijutold reporters. were answered. "This is a very good thing. The US and UK then we must get serious on the issue of terrorism understand that," said cord. Islamabad High Court bail yesterday, according to the statement of the case, the prosecution "write the extradition of both countries were India," he said. Pakistan government's detention extended for another month, according to the statement after the public until February 18 (MPO) will remain in prison. Lakhvi and six others - Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmedand...

Pakistan and its Democracy:  The annual meeting of All India Muslim League for the year 1930 was organized at a big Haveli in Allahabad. When the official proceedings of the meeting began, there were less than 75 people in the enclosure, causing panic among the ranks of party officials. According to the party laws, the minimum requirement for meeting quorum at an annual meeting had to be at least 75 people. As a last resort, a famous Urdu poet was tasked with reciting one of his long poems until new members could be recruited by the officials—a process that took two hours. Finally, the official meeting commenced and the Presidential address was read by a Punjabi poet and politicians. The presidential address contained six references to democracy and all of those arguments were against the democratic system of governance. That particular address has been quoted ad nauseum by right-wing commentators and writers of Pakistan’s textbooks—very often the same people—as the first t...

ISLAMABAD: Dr Vaqar Ahmed, the Deputy Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, has stressed the need for normalizing trade relations between Pakistan and India to benefit both the local manufacturers and consumers besides technology transfer and greater export surplus. He was speaking at a two-day regional consultation on `Deepening Economic Cooperation in South Asia: Expectations from the 18th SAARC Summit' organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) in cooperation with SDPI in Kathmandu. The programme was organized as a side-event to the 18th SAARC Summit to provide useful recommendations to deepen economic cooperation in South Asia. "The Government of Pakistan must take a lead in expediting SAARC-level pending agreements on transport, energy, connectivity and dispute resolution," Dr Vaqar said, adding that the current free trade agreements in the region should be revised to include invest...