Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) newly elected Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Pervaiz Malik took the oath of office.

President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to the newly elected MNA in the President's House Islamabad.

After taking the oath, Asif Ali Zardari and other MNAs congratulated MNA Ali Pervaiz Malik and expressed good wishes.

It is pertinent to note that the newly elected MNA Ali Pervaiz had won from the National Assembly Constituency NA-119 in the by-elections.

Notably, Ali Malik is a Pakistani politician who was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 to August 2023. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-127 Lahore in the 2018 Pakistani General Election as a candidate of PML-N. His parents Pervaiz Malik and his mother Shaista Pervaiz Malik have also been MNA for several times.  

Rouen, France (AFP): French police on Friday shot and killed an armed man who was allegedly trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X.

Police responded at 6:45am local time to reports of a “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said. A source close to the case told AFP that the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X. He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Investigations by France’s police inspectorate general are automatically launched whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor. The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompting anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) wrote on X.

France was hit in 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.

Lahore: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Friday said that crime must be eradicated in every case, for which all resources will be provided to the police.

In the meeting held in the committee room of the elite police headquarters under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, the issues related to law and order throughout the province were reviewed.

Senator Pervez Rasheed, Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Information Minister Azma Bokhari, Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Sania Ashiq, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, IG, Additional IG and other officials participated in the meeting.

IG Punjab Dr. Usman Anwar gave a detailed briefing to the Chief Minister about the law and order situation.

The police officials submitted a report about all the police officers to the Chief Minister of Punjab, in which it was stated that the cyber-crime investigation training for the police has been completed while the police officers and personnel are being trained to access modern technology.

During the meeting, the progress on measures to improve police, prosecution and digital monitoring and the proposal to increase the punishment for rape from 10 to 15 years were reviewed.

The meeting decided the effective measures to deal with the incidents of gang rape, child abuse and violence against domestic workers. While the release of funds for equipping the police with quadcopter drones and other latest technology was also approved in principle.

On this occasion, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz said that she will provide all resources to the police, the crime must be eradicated in any case.