The auction house announced on Thursday through a tweet that Princess Diana’s iconic black sheep Warm & Wonderful sweater achieved an astounding sale of $1.1 million.
Updated On – 09:30 AM, Fri – 15 September 23
New York: A red sweater featuring a black sheep among rows of white ones worn by the late Princess Diana has fetched more than $1.1 million at an auction in Sotheby’s, New York.
In a tweet on Thursday, the auction house said: “Frenzied bidding pushed Princess Diana’s historic black sheep Warm & Wonderful sweater to sell at $1.1 million today in our inaugural Fashion Icons auction.”
According to Sotheby’s, Diana wore the sweater in 1981 to a polo match of Prince Charles.
Also that year, a letter from the Buckingham Palace to Warm and Wonderful — a British luxury knitwear brand — had “politely explaining the jumper had been damaged and requested either a repair or replacement”.
“Warm and Wonderful sent her a replacement sweater that she wore in 1983 to another polo match,” the auction house said in a description of the item.
Bidding had opened on August 31 and the top bid stayed under $200,000 until the auction’s final minutes.
Sotheby’s had estimated the value of the sweater at $50,000 to $80,000.
It however, did not disclose the identity of the winning bidder.
A BBC report said the sweater, which was unearthed in an attic in March, commanded a higher price than many other objects tied to the “People’s Princess” that were sold at auctions in recent years.
The sweater’s design is often described as symbolic of Diana’s place within the royal family.
Amid sectarian tensions between Shias and Sunnis in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, the local administration continues to suspend all internet services
Published Date – 09:00 AM, Fri – 15 September 23
Gilgit Baltistan: Amid sectarian tensions between Shias and Sunnis in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, the local administration continues to suspend all internet services in the region causing inconvenience to the residents.
It has been over a fortnight since the sectarian tensions between the Shia majority in Gilgit Baltistan and the Sunni community boiled into massive protests against Islamabad and its new amendment in blasphemy laws.
Gilgit Baltistan a largely impoverished region had internet services in only a few pockets.
The people there had just started exploring the possibilities of online businesses and education opportunities, and the Pakistan-backed administration in the illegally occupied territory imposed a ban on internet services leaving a number of students in Gilgit city deprived of their routine online classes. “Due to the unavailability of internet services for the last 15 days, our studies have been disrupted. We request the administration to restore the internet services” said a student from Gilgit city.
The new online businesses that the residents had set up are down, rendering many youths jobless and frustrated. A small businessman providing financial services to locals, said, “I work for Easypaisa (a financial services app). About 20-25 Easypaisa retailers are doing business in this area. All of them are unemployed these days. Due to the internet shutdown over the last 20 days, all of us are out of work. We urge the administration to restore internet services as it would enable us to start our businesses again.” Another youth, who had assumed freelancing a few months ago, said he was disturbed over the suspension of internet services in the region, adding that he lost about 8-10 work projects during the period.
He said, “We are freelancers and the internet is a basic requirement for us. We request the local administration to restore internet services as our work is being hampered. We are facing a lot of problems. We have lost about 8-10 work orders during this period.” The suspension of the internet in the region has added to the woes that locals in the illegally-occupied territory have been suffering for decades.
Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday who is currently on a trip to Spain
Published Date – 08:50 AM, Fri – 15 September 23
ANI Photo
Madrid: Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday who is currently on a trip to Spain.
Banerjee reached Spain on Tuesday to participate in a three-day business summit aimed at attracting foreign investment in the state. A photograph of Ganguly sitting with CM Mamata Banerjee in Spain’s Madrid was shared by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on social media ‘X’.
The Government of West Bengal and Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional (LALIGA), have entered a Memorandum of Understanding to elevate the game through mutual collaborations between India and Spain.
“Bengal is the Mecca of Football, and emotions run deep in every Bengali for this beautiful sport. Today, Hon’ble CM @MamataOfficial held a productive meeting with La Liga Officials to explore investment prospects aimed at enhancing the beautiful game within our state,” stated AITC in another tweet.
“In another remarkable update from Madrid, Spain Hon’ble CM @MamataOfficial has once again placed West Bengal and Football on the global map. An MOU has been signed with @LaLiga to establish a new football academy in West Bengal, bringing it closer to our passionate fans. It’s time to score big and make history!,” added AITC.
The event was attended by Sourav Ganguly, and Chief Secretary, Govt of West Bengal, H.K. Dwivedi, representatives of the two major Football clubs of West Bengal- Debasish Dutta, General Secretary, Mohun Bagan Athletic Club and Ishtiaque Ahmed, General Secretary, Mohammedan Sporting Club. Earlier on Thursday, a video was shared from the Trinamool Congress official account of X showing her jogging in Spain’s Madrid during morning hours.
Embracing the serene morning in Madrid! Hon’ble CM @MamataOfficial rejuvenates us all with her energy and high spirits as she goes jogging, read the post along with the video shared by Trinamool Congress’s official account on X.
Earlier before boarding the flight for Spain, Mamata Banerjee said, “We are going to Spain after 5 years. Spain was a partner during the Kolkata Book Fair. Spain has a prosperous manufacturing industry. We are going at their invitation. Let us see what progress can be made.”Bengal Business Summit is scheduled to be held on November 21-23.” She further added, “Spain officials have visited Bengal many times but we have not reciprocated in the same way. So I am leaving for Spain. In Dubai also we have a business summit.” The West Bengal CM hoped for a positive outcome from the business summit in Spain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US
Published Date – 08:20 AM, Fri – 15 September 23
File Photo
Washington: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the United Nations General Assembly.
Zelenskyy’s trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as USD 24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Zelenskyy will meet with Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans.
The Ukrainian president made a wartime visit to Washington in December 2022 and delivered an impassioned address to a joint meeting of Congress. At the time it was his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February of that year.
In his speech to cheering lawmakers, Zelenskyy thanked Americans for helping to fund the war effort and said that the money is “not charity,” but an “investment” in global security and democracy.
Details of Zelenskyy’s visit next week were not yet being made public. It was first reported by Punchbowl News.
The White House National Security Council declined to comment on Zelenskyy’s plans, including whether he would meet with Biden at the White House.
Meanwhile, the Treasury and State departments announced they were imposing new sanctions on more than 150 individuals and entities connected with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US was “continuing our relentless work to target Russia’s military supply chains and deprive (Russian President Vladimir) Putin of the equipment, technology, and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine”.
Congress is increasingly divided over providing additional funding for Ukraine as the war is well into its second year. Biden has sought a package of USD 13.1 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine and USD 8.5 billion for humanitarian support. It also includes USD 2.3 billion for financing and to catalyse donors through the World Bank.
But conservative Republican lawmakers have been pushing for broad federal spending cuts and some of those allied with Donald Trump, the former president, are specifically looking to stop money to Ukraine.
Congress is working to pass its annual appropriations bills before a September 30 deadline to keep the US government running.
Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi are charged with the violation of the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable from Pakistan’s embassy in Washington
Published Date – 11:24 PM, Sat – 9 September 23
File Photo
Islamabad: Pakistan’s jailed prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday moved the Supreme Court, challenging the changes made to the Official Secrets Act and the Pakistan Army Act.
Khan, the 70-year-old chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the party vice-chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 67, are charged with the violation of the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable from Pakistan’s embassy in Washington.
The petition filed by Khan through his counsel Shohaib Shaheen contends that the amendments made in the Official Secrets Act and the Pakistan Army Act are in violation of the constitutional provisions of human rights.
It draws the apex court’s attention to amendments introduced in the Official Secrets Act, which empower “secret agencies to raid and detain any citizen or enter and search any person in any place without obtaining a search warrant from any court of law,” terming them “unethical” and in violation of the Constitution.
The petition contends that the amendments are in violation of various articles of the Constitution, which guarantee civil liberties, including the right to liberty, dignity, free speech, fair trial and due process under the law, among other fundamental rights.
The petition also asserted that the president did not sign the Army Amendment Act and Official Secrets Act, which it said were in violation of several articles of the Constitution.
The petition has not been fixed for hearing yet.
The Pakistan Army Act 1952 and Official Secrets Act 1923 were amended last month after passing through the lower and upper houses and reportedly the President’s Office.
Among other clauses, the Official Secrets (Amendment) Act 2023 renders a person guilty of an offence if they intentionally create a problem of public order or act against the state.
They will also be liable to punitive action if they attack or damage a “prohibited place” with the aim to “directly or indirectly benefit the enemy”.
Those implicated will be tried in a special court and a decision will be taken after completing the hearing within 30 days, under the amended law.
Meanwhile, the Army Act (Amendment) Act 2023 includes provisions related to retired military personnel, among others.
Under the amended law, no military personnel can participate in any “political activity” for up to two years after “retirement, resignation or dismissal”, while military personnel or officers performing duties related to a “sensitive nature” cannot participate in political activities for “five years after termination of service”.
A retired army officer found guilty of violating the Army Act 2023 may be imprisoned for a term of up to two years.
On August 19, President Arif Alvi was said to have assented to both the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2023, allowing the pieces of proposed legislation to become acts of parliament.
However, in a startling turn of events the next day, the president publicly claimed that he had not signed the two bills since he disagreed with them and had asked his staff to return them unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective, but his staff had “undermined” his will.
The law ministry had rebuked the president’s claim and asserted that the bills were received by the presidency on Aug 2, 2023, and Aug 8, 2023, respectively. Addressing a press conference after Alvi’s claim, caretaker Law Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam had said the government had not received any of the two bills from the presidency thereafter, and thus both had become law.
Khan has been kept in jail since August 5 after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. His sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court on August 29, but he continues to remain in prison in the cipher case. His remand has been extended till September 13 by a special court in the case.
US said it evacuated injured civilians at the Somali government’s request but but that American forces had not conducted airstrikes or been at the scene of the operation
Published Date – 11:29 PM, Sat – 9 September 23
US said it evacuated injured civilians at the Somali government’s request but but that American forces had not conducted airstrikes or been at the scene of the operation
Mogadishu: An airstrike in a town in Somalia caused several casualties, including children, residents and authorities said, while three members of an al-Qaida-linked extremist group were killed.
The US military in a statement Friday said “unfortunately, civilians were injured and killed” in the vicinity of a military operation by Somali forces in El-Lahelay village on Wednesday.
The US said it evacuated injured civilians at the Somali government’s request but but that American forces had not conducted airstrikes or been at the scene of the operation.
The US Africa Command did not respond to questions including the number of civilians killed and injured. The US for years has conducted airstrikes in support of Somali forces combating the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group.
“The claim being spread by al-Shabab that US forces caused the unfortunate harm to civilians is false,” the statement said. The US in the past has acknowledged killing civilians with airstrikes.
Accounts by witnesses and local authorities of Wednesday’s events varied.
Amal Ali, a relative, told The Associated Press that an airstrike targeted a vehicle belonging to al-Shabab when it was passing near the family home in El-Garas town in Galmudug state. A grandmother and five of her grandchildren were killed, she said.
The children’s father, Dahir Ahmed, in a brief phone call confirmed the incident but said he could not immediately give details.
“It was an American airstrike,” Abdifatah Ali Halane, secretary-general of the El-Garas administration, told the AP. “They’ve been providing crucial aerial support throughout our operations against extremists in Galmudug state.” He said the airstrike killed three people, including two suspected members of al-Shabab, and injured five people, including four children.
Halane said Somali forces quickly came for the wounded, who were evacuated to the capital, Mogadishu, for medical treatment.
Somalia’s deputy information minister, Abdirahman Adala, told journalists that three al-Shabab members were killed in the operation by Somali forces. But he said extremists had placed explosive materials in a nearby home that killed civilians.
Somalia’s government last year launched what the president called “total war” on al-Shabab, which controls parts of rural central and southern Somalia and makes millions of dollars through “taxation” of residents and extortion of businesses.
Hayashi, who had been on a tour of the Middle East and Poland earlier this week, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine and visited Bucha, one of the hardest-hit towns on the outskirts of Kyiv
Updated On – 11:36 PM, Sat – 9 September 23
Photo: AP
Tokyo: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday during his visit in Kyiv, promising Tokyo’s backing and agreeing to start negotiations on security cooperation between the two countries.
Hayashi, who had been on a tour of the Middle East and Poland earlier this week, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine and visited Bucha, one of the hardest-hit towns on the outskirts of Kyiv, before holding talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Hayashi told Zelenskyy that Japan was ready to start negotiations on security cooperation based on an agreement between the Group of Seven and Ukraine made during the NATO summit in July.
Zelenskyy thanked for Japan’s humanitarian and financial assistance that helped Ukraine through the winter as well as overcome problems in the energy supply due to Russian attacks, according to a statement from the office of the Ukrainian president.
Hayashi also told Zelenskyy that Japan was committed to Ukraine and will continue to impose tough sanctions against Russia while cooperating with other G7 countries. He also promised support for Ukraine’s economic recovery and reconstruction.
Japan plans to host a Japan-Ukraine conference aimed at economic reconstruction early next year, Hayashi told Zelenskyy, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
It was Hayashi’s first visit since the war began over a year ago. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida travelled to Ukraine in March.
Hayashi brought along a delegation of Japanese business leaders, including Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and Teppei Sakano, president of a medical equipment maker Allm Inc.
“This is very important because we are actively working on the recovery of the Ukrainian economy and attracting new investments to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told the delegation.
Japan donated more than USD 7 billion to Ukraine, mostly for humanitarian assistance, and military equipment limited to non-lethal weapons because of the legal limitations under its pacifist constitution.
Iran has vowed to respond “resolutely” to any threats and unlawful acts that could be directed towards the Islamic Republic on the part of the Israeli regime.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations, made the remarks in a letter addressed to Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council President Ferit Hoxha on Thursday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently and unequivocally stated that it will not hesitate to exercise its inherent and legitimate rights to defend its security and national interests, as well as to protect its people,” the Iranian envoy said.
The comments came less than a week after David Barnea, head of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, alleged that the agency had foiled 27 anti-Israel attacks “orchestrated, masterminded, and directed by Iran” over the past year.
“The time has come to exact a price from Iran in a different way,” Barnea said, threatening to target Iran’s “highest echelon…in the heart of Tehran.”
Iravani rejected the Israeli spymaster’s claim against Iran of serving as a source of anti-Israeli attacks as “baseless allegations” and “unfounded claims.”
The ambassador considered the threat verbalized subsequently by Barnea to be another instance of “the Israeli regime’s ongoing violations of international law against Iran.”
These “claims primarily serve to divert attention from the hostile and malevolent policies that this occupying and apartheid regime pursues in the region, notably the daily ongoing atrocities carried out by this regime against the Palestinian people,” noted the envoy.
The Israeli regime, he added, uses such accusations as a pretext to try to justify its illegal actions against other nations and sovereign states.
Such hostile statements as the ones that were made by the Israeli official “serve as a clear illustration of the acts of terrorism this illegitimate regime has always used to maintain its existence,” Iravani stated.
The envoy’s response to Barnea’s claims followed one delivered by Hossein Salami, chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Speaking on Wednesday, the commander warned Israel that threats against the Islamic Republic would only shorten the occupying regime’s lifespan.
“Go ahead if your previous assassination operations have increased your security. However, you should know that if you make threats against [Iran’s] security, we will have more options and your life will be cut short,” he said, addressing Israeli officials.
It could take days to bring Mark Dickey to the surface since rescuers anticipate he will have to stop and rest frequently at camps set up along the way as they pull his stretcher through the narrow passages
Updated On – 11:42 PM, Sat – 9 September 23
AP Photo
Ankara: Rescue teams began the arduous process Saturday of extricating an American researcher who became seriously ill while he was 1,000 metres below the entrance of a cave in Turkiye, an official from Turkiye’s disaster management agency said.
It could take days to bring Mark Dickey to the surface since rescuers anticipate he will have to stop and rest frequently at camps set up along the way as they pull his stretcher through the narrow passages.
“This afternoon, the operation to move him from his camp at 1,040 metres to the camp at 700 metres began,” the official from the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate told The Associated Press.
The 40-year-old experienced caver began vomiting because of stomach bleeding while on an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkiye’s Taurus Mountains.
Teams of rescuers from across Europe have rushed to Dickey’s aid. A Hungarian doctor reached and treated him inside the cave on September 3. Doctors and rescuers have since been taking turns caring for him.
USS Ralph Johnson and the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa sailed through the narrow band of ocean that separates China and self-ruled Taiwan, according to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet
Updated On – 11:56 PM, Sat – 9 September 23
USS Ralph Johnson and the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa sailed through the narrow band of ocean that separates China and self-ruled Taiwan, according to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet
Taipei: The US and the Canadian navies sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in a challenge to China’s sweeping territorial claims.
The USS Ralph Johnson and the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa sailed through the narrow band of ocean that separates China and self-ruled Taiwan, according to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet.
Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunited by force if necessary, and views transits by the US Navy and its allies as provocative actions.
The cruisers “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the Navy statement said.
The US routinely sails through the strait in what it calls “freedom of navigation” operations.
China has stepped up its military activities around Taiwan, including sending warships and warplanes on a near daily basis.
In June, the US released a video in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the US vessel to slow to avoid a collision. The US ship also was conducting a transit with a Canadian vessel.
China said it tracked both ships throughout their entire transit and its forces “dealt with the situation according to law and regulation,” said Senior Col. Shi Yi, spokesperson for the People Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command in a statement.
