Islamabad :
“There are good doctors in Pakistan”, Supreme Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar told Pervez Musharraf as he directed the Dubai-based former dictator to appear before the apex court to record his statement in the treason case against him.

General (retd) Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007. The former army chief left for Dubai in March 2016 for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons.

The chief justice’s cryptic remarks came as he headed a bench hearing the case related to National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), passed by Musharraf in 2007.
The NRO granted amnesty to politicians and other individuals by quashing various corruption and criminal cases against them so they could return to the country. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.

London :

Stephen Hawking’s final scientific paper, which was completed days before the British physicist’s death-has been written and posted online by his colleagues at Cambridge and Harvard universities. The paper named Black Hole Entropy and Soft Hair, tackles with what happens to information when it falls into a blackhole, a problem that theoretical physicists refer to as ‘the information paradox’. It was completed in the days before Hawking’s death in March, and has now been written up by his colleagues at and posted online.

Islam’s holy cities get high-speed rail link

Jeddah: Saudi Arabia’s new high-speed railway opened to the public on Thursday, whisking Muslim pilgrims and other travellers between Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest cities. The Haramain High Speed Rail system will transport passengers 450 km via the Red Sea port of Jeddah at speeds of up to 300 km per hour. Two trains, each carrying 417 passengers, departed from Mecca and Medina at 8 am (0500 GMT). Two daily services are initially planned in each direction, it said. The new link will slash the travel time Mecca and Medina from several hours to 120 minutes, transport officials said. AFP

Chris Hemsworth’s solo selfish mission

Los Angeles: Actor Chris Hemsworth says he “selfishly” asked his wife and actress Elsa Pataky and children not to visit him so he could focus on work. In an interview to GQ Australia, Hemsworth said he asked his family not to visit him for three-and-a-half weeks while he was working on “Bad Times at the El Royale”, reports dailymail.co.uk.  The 35-year-old shares three children-daughter India, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan-with Pataky. Hemsworth is best known for his superhero avatar as Thor. The third instalment of the “Thor” franchise “Thor: Ragnarok” was a success in India and globally.

Kano (Nigeria) :

At least seven Nigerian soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram jihadist attack on a military base near the Niger border, the military said here.

The Islamists and the army were engaged in a fierce battle on Monday in Metele, a village in Nigeria’s northeast Borno State, the military said in a statement posted on Twitter Wednesday.

Seven soldiers died and 16 were wounded “in action” the army said, but military and civilian militia sources put the death toll higher.

“We lost 18 men in the fight which lasted for seven hours,” a military officer told AFP, speaking from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.

“Our men fought hard and dealt heavy blows on the terrorists but they were overwhelmed by the enemy who overran the base,” said the officer who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak on the incident.

A civilian militia assisting the military in fighting the jihadists said that on Tuesday 18 bodies of soldiers were brought to the garrison town of Monguno, 120 kilometres (70 miles) from the attacked base.

“The fighting was fierce. It started around 4:30 pm and continued till 11:30 pm,” the militia man said.

Boko Haram suffered “heavy” casualties but managed to invade the base and take weapons, he said, adding that the jihadists destroyed “those they could not take away.”   Boko Haram’s Islamic State group-backed faction—known as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) -- operates in the Lake Chad region and has in recent months intensified attacks on military bases in Borno and nearby Yobe states.

The attacks are seen as a sign of a hardline takeover in ISWAP by more radical lieutenants who executed the group’s de facto leader over his willingness to hold peace talks with the Nigerian government.

Scores of soldiers have been killed, injured or missing in the latest wave of attacks but the military has repeatedly denied or played down losses to the jihadists.

More than 27,000 people are thought to have been killed in the nine-year Boko Haram Islamist insurgency that has triggered a humanitarian crisis and left 1.8 million people without homes.

Washington/Istanbul :

US President Donald Trump increased pressure on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to provide information on what happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and said he wanted to get the bottom of what he called “a very serious situation.”

In a fresh clue, a pro-government Turkish daily on Wednesday published preliminary evidence from investigators it said identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team involved in Khashoggi’s unexplained disappearance on October 2.

Pressure appeared to be building worldwide on close US ally Saudi Arabia on the whereabouts of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policies, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his planned marriage.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside, said he never re-appeared. Turkish sources said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the building and removed, allegations that Riyadh dismisses as baseless.

Asked in a telephone interview with Fox News Channel late on Wednesday whether Saudis were responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance or death, Trump said: “I guess you would have to say so far it’s looking a little bit like that and we’re going to have to see.”

Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he had raised Khashoggi’s case with Saudi Arabia “at the highest level” and more than once in recent days.

“We’re demanding everything,” Trump said when asked if he was demanding information from the Saudis. “We want to see what’s going on. It’s a very serious situation for us and for this White House ... We want to get to the bottom of it.” He said he and his wife, Melania, expect to invite Cengiz to the White House soon.

“People saw him go in and didn’t see him come out. We’re going to take a very serious look at it. It’s a terrible thing,” Trump said. “This is a bad situation. We cannot let this happen, to reporters, to anybody. We can’t let this happen.” Increasing pressure on Trump to respond, a bipartisan group of US senators on Wednesday triggered a US investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance using a human rights law.

They asked Trump to determine whether “a foreign person is responsible for an extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violation of internationally recognised human rights” and report back in 120 days with a decision on the imposition of sanctions on whoever was responsible.

Asked about suggestions that Washington should consider blocking further arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Trump told Fox that would hurt US jobs.

“Frankly I think that would be a very very tough pill to swallow for our country. ... Before I discuss this I’d have to find out what happened,” he said.

Former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said he has suspended his role on the board of Saudi Arabia’s planned mega city NEOM until more is known about Khashoggi.

After Trump spoke, the White House said national security adviser John Bolton and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the matter on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo followed up with his own call to the crown prince, who had forged close ties to the administration, especially Kushner.

“In both calls they asked for more details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in the investigation process. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as available,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Khashoggi’s fiancée Cengiz was surprised when an American friend told her of Trump’s comment about inviting her to the White House, the friend told Reuters. “I think she’s in shock, now even more,” her friend said.

In an essay in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Cengiz implored the president and Melania Trump to “help shed light on Jamal’s disappearance.”

Trump made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first foreign trip as president in May 2017, but in recent weeks has appeared to sour a bit on Riyadh, complaining directly to King Salman about the cost of American support for the Saudi military and for OPEC oil price increases.

Saudi visitors

One of the 15 Saudis identified by name and photo in the report by Turkey’s Sabah newspaper is a forensic expert who has worked at the Saudi Interior Ministry for 20 years, according to a LinkedIn profile and Saudi media, and serves on the board of the Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine.

Other names and photos of the 15, who Sabah said travelled on diplomatic passports, match officers in the Saudi Army and Air Force, as identified by previous Saudi media reports and in one case a Facebook profile.

The Saudi consulate referred Reuters to authorities in Riyadh who have not responded to questions about the 15 Saudis, who arrived in the city hours before Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2.

A Turkish security source had previously told Reuters that the 15 Saudis, including some officials, left Turkey later the same day.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US intelligence had intercepted the communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture Khashoggi, citing an unidentified person familiar with the information.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the United States “had no advance knowledge” of such a plan.

The crown prince ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from the United States and then detain him, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing US intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the plan.

The Post said it was not clear to officials with knowledge of the intelligence whether the Saudis discussed harming Khashoggi as part of the plan to detain him in Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia last year saying he feared retribution for his criticism of Riyadh over the Yemen war and its crackdown on dissent, and since then wrote columns for the Washington Post.

Britain’s foreign minister called for urgent answers and the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, who has seen classified intelligence on the case, said information pointed to Khashoggi being killed.

“To me ... it feels very much some nefarious activity has occurred by them. But I don’t want to rush to judgment,” Corker said on Tuesday.

US Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday the United States was ready to help in any way in the investigation.

Wednesday’s Turkish media reports were the most detailed accounts yet of what they say is the Turkish government’s investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Sabah newspaper published the names and years of birth of the 15 Saudis it said arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

Twelve of them arrived early on Tuesday, based on photos captured at passport control which it published. The 15 departed at four different times, Sabah reported.

It did not say how it obtained the pictures and data.

Colombo :
Maldives strongman President Abdulla Yameen’s party on Wednesday filed a legal petition challenging his landslide election defeat last month despite major international pressure for him to step down.

Yameen conceded defeat after an official count showed joint opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had polled 16.8 per cent more votes in a surprise result. But opposition members have worried about a smooth transition of power, due on November 17.

Yameen’s supporters had complained about rigging of votes and fraudulent ballot papers, his lawyer Mohamed Saleem told reporters after approaching the top court.

Lawyers for Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) told reporters that they are alleging that the September 23 vote was rigged by the independent election commission. It was, however, unclear whether the Supreme Court would agree to consider the challenge.

The election in the Indian Ocean archipelago, which has seen a tussle for influence between India and China, was won by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih with 58.4 per cent of the vote. Solih was little known before the election but was backed, in a remarkable turn of events given the island nation’s turbulent recent political history, by all opposition parties, All of Yameen’s other main rivals were either behind bars on charges that critics said were trumped up, or in exile. Yameen had reluctantly conceded defeat amid international pressure from regional superpower and immediate neighbour India and others, but has been publicly urging his supporters to challenge the results.

Constitutionally, he can remain in office till November 17 when he has to hand over to Solih, barring any last minute court intervention.