KARACHI: Former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was Thursday granted permission to strengthen his already tight personal security due to threats to his life.
A judge in Sindh High Court in Karachi approved Zardari's application for 100 extra licenses for his bodyguards to carry weapons, on top of the official security he is entitled to as former head of state.
"The judge has approved our request and ordered the federal and provincial governments to ensure security for the former president," Abu Bakar Zardari, an aide to the president who filed a petition to the court on his behalf, told AFP.
Zardari's wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in 2007 in an attack blamed on the Pakistani Taleban. He is known to be very concerned about his personal safety and rarely moves about on the roads. When he does venture out, he travels in an entourage of more than a dozen vehicles, escorted by police commandos and three vanloads of paramilitary Rangers.
His convoy also regularly includes a vehicle carrying signal jammers to stop anyone using a mobile phone to detonate a bomb near him.
In July a suicide bomber killed Zardari's top personal security officer in an attack in Karachi.
Zardari, who is hugely unpopular in Pakistan and is nicknamed "Mr 10 Percent" due to unproven corruption allegations against him, stepped down as president last month after five years in office.
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Asif Zardari to boost personal security
Asif Zardari to boost personal security
Taiwan to send team to assess US rare earth deposits
TAIPEI: Taiwan plans to send officials to assess US rare earths deposits with a goal to have such minerals refined on the island, Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
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