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Iran stages rallies to mark 1979 hostage crisis

Iranian demonstrators gathered on Sunday outside the former US embassy in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis that has for decades shaped relations between Washington and Tehran. The hostage crisis began in November 1979 following the Islamic revolution led by Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which ousted the Western-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Students loyal to Khomeini stormed the embassy building and held 52 staff hostage for 444 days while demanding that Washington hand over Iran’s recently toppled shah, who was being treated in the United States for cancer. Washington officially broke off relations with Tehran in 1980, midway through the crisis, and they have been frozen ever since. “Death to Israel, Death to America!” chanted crowds of Iranians outside the building, which is currently a museum known as the “Den of Spies”, and covered with striking anti-American murals. Others burnt the Israeli and US flags. Iranians have he
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Govt shuts primary schools in Lahore over record pollution

Lahore will close primary schools for a week over record pollution , government authorities said on Sunday, to avoid exposing millions of children to smog several times above levels deemed dangerous. For days, Lahore’s 14 million people has been enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning, and winter cooling. The air quality index, which measures a range of pollutants, exceeded 1,000 on Saturday — well above the level of 300 considered “dangerous” — according to data from IQAir. The Punjab government also recorded peaks of over 1,000 on Sunday, which it considered “unprecedented”. “Weather forecast for the next six days shows that wind patterns will remain the same. Therefore we are closing all government and private primary schools in Lahore for a week,” Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental protection official in Lahore told AFP . “All the classes” for children up to the age of 10, public, private
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Legal fraternity, journalists, and politicians react to recovery of Imran’s lawyer

PTI founding chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer Intezar Hussain Panjutha — who had been missing from October 8 — was recovered by the Punjab police last night, it emerged in the early hours of Sunday. The party labelled the development as scripted and demanded that a first information report (FIR) be filed against the Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, who claimed in the high court that Panjutha would be produced in court within 24 hours, suggesting he was aware of his whereabouts. The PTI leader was recovered by police in Attock as his kidnappers were allegedly transporting him. Police later shifted him to the hospital. Video of him sitting in a car while being tied up was widely shared on social media by PTI, showing the lawyer visibly shaken. Here’s how the lawyers, politicians and journalists reacted to the recovery of the PTI founder’s lawyer: ‘Abduct, torture, leave by roadside — no question asked’ PTI Chairman Gohar Khan — while reacting to the recovery — questi
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Rivals race to tape as US election heads to photo finish

Kamala Harris targets the Rust Belt while Donald Trump heads to the biggest US swing states on Sunday in a frantic last push, less than 48 hours before Election Day in the historically close campaign . Seventy-five million people have cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s climax and the race is down to the wire — with more states functionally tied in polls at this point than in any comparable election. As of Saturday evening, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the seven battleground states set to determine the presidency, according to the polling averages maintained by RealClearPolitics. Harris — desperate to shore up the Great Lakes states seen as essential to any Democratic ticket — was to spend the day in Michigan, beginning in Detroit before a stop in Pontiac and an evening rally at Michigan State University. Trump’s Sunday timetable centers on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the three biggest prizes in the “Electoral College” system t
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Air monitor records pollution level in Lahore 80 times above WHO limit

Air pollution in Lahore soared on Saturday more than 80 times over the level deemed acceptable by the World Health Organisation (WHO), with an official calling it a record high. For days, Lahore has been enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter cooling. The level of deadly PM2.5 pollutants — fine particulate matter in the air that causes the most damage to health — peaked at 1,067, before dropping to around 300 in the morning, with anything above 10 considered unhealthy by the WHO. “We have never reached a level of 1,000,” Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental protection official in Lahore told AFP . “The air quality index will remain high for the next three to four days,” Anwar said. Commuters make their way amid smog in Lahore on November 2. — AFP On Wednesday, the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency announced new restrictions in four “hot spots” in the city. The next day, it al
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