Another Airline to Start Flight Operations in Pakistan

 The federal cabinet has approved the issuance of a Regular Public Transport (RPT) license to Q-Airways (Pvt.) Limited to launch flight operations in the domestic market.

Q-Airways will commence operations with a fleet of three Airbus-320 aircraft from Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in April or May, as per media reports. 

The approval was accorded in a meeting of the Cabinet on 25 January, and its attendees were informed that Q-Airways (Pvt.) Limited had fulfilled the prerequisites of the license and had requested for it.

China refuses to apologise to Australia for fake soldier image

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTAFP

image captionThe fake image posted by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao has triggered a new bitter row

China has accused Australia of trying to "deflect public attention" from alleged war crimes by its soldiers in Afghanistan after Canberra expressed outrage over a "repugnant" tweet.

Australia wants China to apologise for sharing a fake image of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child.

Beijing has now said that Australia was trying to "blame China for the worsening of bilateral ties".

Relations between the two nations have plummeted to a new low in recent days.

The tweet with the fake image was posted in response to a damning report last month about alleged Australian war crimes.

The Australian Defence Force said it had found "credible information" that 25 Australian soldiers were involved in the murders of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners between 2009 and 2013.

On Monday, China joined in the widespread condemnation of the findings - now under police investigation - but the graphic doctored image shared by foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao has triggered furious reactions in Canberra and beyond.

• Australia demands China apology for 'repugnant' post
• The year when Australia and China hit 'lowest ebb'

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Beijing should be "utterly ashamed" for sharing the "repugnant" image, demanding an apology.

The tweet has also prompted Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of neighbouring New Zealand, to raise its concerns with Beijing.

Stockholm mother arrested 'after keeping son for decades in flat' Published,

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA

image captionPolice are searching the flat

Swedish police have arrested an elderly woman suspected of having kept her son confined to their flat in a Stockholm suburb for up to three decades.

She denied false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm after the son, now aged about 40, was found injured and living in squalor.

It seems he was only discovered by a relative on Sunday after his mother fell ill and was taken to hospital.

He is now undergoing surgery in hospital for his injuries.

Police have sealed off the apartment in Haninge, a southern suburb of the capital, to conduct their investigation and are seeking witnesses as they try to piece together what happened.

The woman, who is aged 70, is expected to remain in police custody while the investigation continues. If she is found guilty of false imprisonment, police say she could face up to ten years in jail.

How was the son found?

The unnamed relative went to the flat on Sunday evening with her partner after hearing that the mother was in hospital, she told Expressen newspaper.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA

It had been about 20 years since she last visited, she said, after trying in vain when she was younger to raise the alarm over the welfare of the child, who had been removed from school when he was aged 11 or 12.

Opening the unlocked door, she found the flat in darkness and reeking of urine, decay, dirt and dust. There was no answer when she shouted "hello" so she went in, picking her way through mounds of clutter.

Hearing a sound from the kitchen, she saw the man sitting in a dark corner, lit by a lamp on the street outside. Sores covered his legs up to his knees.

When he saw her, he stood up and whispered her name again and again. He had lost almost all his teeth and his voice was slurred, she told the paper.

Somehow, she said, he had recognised her after all the time that had passed and he was not afraid of her.

When the man was taken to hospital, doctors alerted the police and the mother was detained.

Stockholm prosecutor Emma Olsson told Reuters news agency the man had required surgery, without giving further details.

"The only comment on the time that person has been kind of 'imprisoned' by his mother is: we are sure that it has been for a long period of time," police spokesperson Ola Österling told BBC News.

"We don't estimate how many years. That's a part of our investigations now, to get the detailed information about the exact amount of time."

What do we know of the relationship?

Nothing official has been reported but the relative who found the son told Swedish public TV the mother had felt bad about losing an earlier child at a young age.

When she gave birth again, her new son was given the same name.

She wanted her dead son back, a relative was quoted as saying, and she became over-protective.

"I'm just thankful that he got help and is going to survive," the relative who found her son told Expressen.

Trump presidency's final days: 'In his mind, he will not have lost'

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionTrump returns to the White House after celebrating Thanksgiving with his family

As the Trump White House reaches its final days, an eerie quiet has descended on the premises as attempts to challenge the election result founder in the courts.

Brian Morgenstern, the deputy communications director, was wearing a jacket with a White House emblem in his office in the West Wing. The jacket was zipped all the way up, as if he were on his way out. The room, a few doors away from the Oval Office, was dark, with the shades drawn.

His boss, the president, was in another part of the White House. In that moment, Donald Trump was on speaker phone with Rudy Giuliani, the head of his legal effort to challenge the election, and a group of state lawmakers who had gathered for a "hearing", as they put it, at a hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

"This election was rigged and we can't let that happen," the president said on the phone.

Morgenstern was monitoring the event on his computer screen, in a distracted manner. A moment later he swivelled in his chair and spoke to a visitor about college, real estate, baseball, and, almost as an afterthought, the president's achievements.

Trump's effort to contest the election results in Pennsylvania failed on Friday, not long after the so-called hearing, and even that had a shaky legal foundation. An appeals court judge said there was "no basis" for his challenge. A certification of ballots showed President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.

• Being with Trump the day he lost the election

The votes in Arizona were certified on Monday and in Wisconsin that could happen soon - both states Biden won. Government officials have started working towards a transition to the new administration, and the new president starts on 20 January.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionMr Trump addresses Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Jenna Ellis via speakerphone

Trump continues to claim victory. Yet backstage at the White House, people see things the way they are. They know their days in the West Wing are numbered. They also know that when their boss is losing, it is best to steer clear of him.

Morgenstern says it is business as usual: "We're upbeat. We're still working hard." He was the only one in a warren of West Wing offices, however. He held a cloth mask in his hands, and he fiddled with the mask's strings, as if they were worry beads. The only sound was the low hum of a TV in another room.

Usually those offices are full of people - aides working all hours. But not now.

Jack O'Donnell, who once managed a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Trump, says he understands why the people who work for the president would clear out at a time like this.

"You're walking on egg shells. Nobody wants to say the wrong thing."

IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS

image captionBrian Morgenstern started working at the White House in July

Once, O'Donnell recalls, Trump was walking through a low-ceilinged room in a building that was in the midst of renovation. "There were some issues," says O'Donnell. He was referring to problems with the renovation, mistakes that Trump soon noticed.

"He jumped up in the air and punched the ceiling," says O'Donnell. "Nobody wants to be around him when he's mad."

The president's rage, and his ambition and drive, are legendary. He has been successful in part by embracing positive aphorisms and denying failure, a leadership style that was established early in his career and that lately has gone into overdrive.

He appeared in the West Wing briefing room last week to brag about the stock market. The Dow Jones had closed above 30,000, a record level. The president, says Morgenstern, was "celebrating the success of the market that was certainly in part due to his policies", such as "improving trade deals" and "energy independence".

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

Investors said stocks rose because a transition to a Biden administration had been officially announced. But for Trump, the victory belonged to him.

His claims of victory, and his refusal to admit defeat, has no impact on the outcome - the transition to a Biden White House is under way.

Yet the president's stance matters - millions of people admire him. They will follow him once he leaves the White House, whether he is running again for office, as many hope, or building a media empire. On the day Trump spoke to lawmakers in Gettysburg, supporters gathered outside the hotel with signs: "Stop election fraud."

In the book Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention, people who know him said he saw former President Jimmy Carter, defeated in 1980 after one term, as a cautionary tale.

"As fast as you skyrocketed up is how fast you can plummet," he said, according to the book's sources, adding that Carter faded into obscurity after leaving the White House and became as anonymous as "a travelling salesman".

IMAGE COPYRIGHTALEXI ROSENFELD

To prevent failure, Trump denies reality, say those who know him. He filed multiple bankruptcies as a businessman, yet acted as though it was part of a plan. "He would say: 'I did it intentionally,'" recalls Jack O'Donnell, who worked for him, adding: "It's nonsense."

"In his mind, he will not have lost," says O'Donnell, describing the election. "He will never concede. It will always be: 'It was taken from me.'"

Trump is now fighting for Republican control of the Senate and plans to go to Georgia on Saturday to support candidates in run-off elections.

Meanwhile, outside Morgenstern's office, one of the empty desks is decorated with a coaster: "Failure is not an option."

The motto sums up Trump's philosophy and his approach to the presidency - at least until he leaves.

China's Chang'e-5 Moon mission probe touches down

 

IMAGE COPYRIGHTCNSA

image captionArtwork: The mission hopes to pick up a couple of kilos of surface materials

China has successfully put another probe on the Moon.

Its robotic Chang'e-5 mission touched down a short while ago with the aim of collecting samples of rock and dust to bring back to Earth.

The venture has targeted Mons Rümker, a high volcanic complex in a nearside region known as Oceanus Procellarum.

The lander is expected to spend the next couple of days examining its surroundings and gathering up surface materials.

It has a number of instruments to facilitate this, including a camera, spectrometer, radar, a scoop and a drill.

The intention is to package about 2kg of "soil", or regolith, to send up to an orbiting vehicle that can then transport the samples to Earth.

It's 44 years since this was last achieved. That was the Soviet Luna 24 mission, which picked up just under 200g.

• Nasa's new 'megarocket' set for critical tests
• Water on the Moon could sustain a lunar base
• Artemis: To the Moon and Beyond

IMAGE COPYRIGHTCNSA

image captionThe probe casts its shadow on to the surface of the Moon

Unlike the launch of the mission a week ago, the landing was not covered live by Chinese TV channels.

Only after the touchdown was confirmed did they break into their programming to relay the news.

Images taken on the descent were quickly released with the final frame showing one of the probe's legs casting a shadow on to the dusty lunar surface.

The US space agency congratulated China. Nasa's top science official, Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, said he hoped the international research community would eventually get the chance to analyse any samples sent home.

"When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the international science community," he tweeted.

CCTV-13 just ran this. #China #Moon #Change5 pic.twitter.com/gxXBNr7mz6

— Jonathan Amos (@BBCAmos) December 1, 2020

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

The 8.2-tonne Chang'e-5 spacecraft "stack" was launched from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 November (local time). It arrived above the Moon at the weekend and then set about circularising its orbit before splitting in two.

One half - a service vehicle and return module - stayed in orbit, while a lander-ascender segment was prepared for a touchdown attempt.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTCNSA

image captionAnother frame from Chang'e-5's camera on the descent

The Chinese space agency said this lander-ascender element put down at 15:11 GMT (23:11 China Standard Time). The precise position was reported as 51.8 degrees West longitude and 43.1 degrees North latitude.

Chang'e-5's success follows China's two previous Moon landings - those of Chang'e-3 in 2013 and Chang'e-4 last year. Both of these earlier missions incorporated a static lander and small rover.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTCNSA

image captionChina has previously put two static landers and rovers on the Moon

A total of just under 400kg of rock and soil were retrieved by American Apollo astronauts and the Soviets' robotic Luna programme - the vast majority of these materials coming back with the crewed missions.

But all these samples were very old - more than three billion years in age. The Mons Rümker materials, on the other hand, promise to be no more than 1.2 or 1.3 billion years old. And this should provide additional insights on the geological history of the Moon.

The samples will also allow scientists to more precisely calibrate the "chronometer" they use to age surfaces on the inner Solar System planets.

This is done by counting craters (the more craters, the older the surface), but it depends on having some definitive dating at a number of locations, and the Apollo and Soviet samples were key to this. Chang'e-5 would offer a further data point.

Congratulations to China on the successful landing of Chang’e 5. This is no easy task. When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the international science community. pic.twitter.com/2xoKouf3dq

— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) December 1, 2020

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Reports from China suggest the effort to retrieve surface samples may last no longer than a couple of days. Any retrieved materials will be blasted back into orbit on the ascent portion of the landing mechanism, and then transferred across to the service vehicle and placed in the return module.

The orbiter will shepherd the return module to the Earth's vicinity, jettisoning it to make an atmospheric entry and landing in the Siziwang Banner grasslands of the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. This is where China's astronauts also return to Earth.