London An Indian-origin pathologist in the UK has been accused of mishandling post-mortems and the police were investigating if any criminal charges needed to be brought against him.

Khalid Ahmed, who qualified as a doctor in 1989 in Bengaluru, worked as a consultant histopathologist at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester and carried out an undisclosed number of post-mortem tests for the north Manchester coroner’s office, the Telegraph reported on Thursday.

Ahmed repeatedly recorded the wrong cause of death for patients, misidentified organs and potentially mixed up bodies, the report said.

In May 2017, the office’s senior coroner raised concerns about Ahmed’s examinations and a recent review found “significant concerns” with his “inadequate” reports.

Professor Simon Kim Suvarna, a consultant histopathologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, carried out the review of Ahmed and found some reports to have an “incorrect” cause of death.

Suvarna was also reported to have noted that Ahmed’s tests “did not even meet the standards expected for pathology students to pass the autopsy component of the final exam”, the daily reported.

A subsequent police referral was made by the coroner and a police investigation was ongoing.

“The Greater Manchester Police is assessing what, if any, criminal offences may have been committed in relation to findings presented to the coroner,” an official said.

Ahmed joined Pennine Acute NHS Trust in January 2007, but he no longer works there. In a statement, the trust said after they were told of the coroner’s concerns an “in-depth internal review” into Ahmed’s practice was carried out, which concluded in February this year.

The trust added that a “thorough and extensive investigation” of Ahmed’s NHS work “provided assurance” his practice was “within the range of a reasonable pathologist”.

The General Medical Council said Ahmed was still licensed to practise as a histopathologist. He was not available for comment.

Dhaka Hafez Ullah had fled Myanmar in early September last year, following the torching of his village near the Maungdaw township in northern Rakhine by the Army.

On Friday, it will be a day shy of one year when the Rohingya exodus to neighbouring Bangladesh had begun after the Myanmar Army launched an offensive in response to rebel attacks on government outposts. But the situation facing the refugees in Bangladesh has changed little.

Ullah was one of the 700,000 Rohingyas, who had fled to Bangladesh following the offensive that was launched on August 25.

The 38-year-old, whose mother went missing and his brother was shot dead during the perilous six-day journey to Bangladesh, now lives in the Kutupalang refugee camp in Bangladesh, completely dependent on charity handouts, Efe news reported.

However, despite the dire situation in the camps, he is loathe to go back yet.

“I don’t want to live here for long because I am really concerned about the future of my children. I want to go back, but only if I am assured I will not have to come back again and I will be given my rights as a citizen,” he said.

International pressure had led Myanmar — which does not recognize Rohingyas as its citizens — and Bangladesh to ink a deal on November 23 to repatriate members of the mostly-Muslim Rohingya minority.

According to the deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh, the repatriation process should have started on January 23.

However, nine months down the line, the process is still in limbo, with UNHCR and other aid agencies alleging that the condition in Myanmar was not conducive to the return of the Rohingyas.

“We do not believe that circumstances at present are conducive for return and any return has to be in safety, with dignity and on a voluntary basis,” said Firas Al-Khateeb, the UN refugee agency’s spokesman in Cox’s Bazar.

And while the exodus was contained in recent months, the refugee camps continue to be overcrowded and a health hazard, especially for children.

The World Health Organization in its latest health bulletin on Rohingya camp in June reported 7,682 diphtheria case-patients as on June 2, with a total of 42 deaths till April 9.

“The number of suspected diphtheria cases reached almost 8,000 now. Though we don’t have any death since April in the disease, every week we are getting 25-30 suspected case. We could not control it yet,” said Abdus Salam, the chief government health official in Cox’s Bazar district.

Islamabad, Aug 22 (IANS) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear in February 2019 the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage, the media reported.

The court will hear the case for a week from February 19 to 25, Geo News reported.

Jadhav was sentenced to death in April 2017 following which India moved the ICJ. A 10-member ICJ bench restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till the case was adjudicated on.

Pakistan stated that “Jadhav was not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities” in Balochistan. India denies all the charges.

He was allegedly apprehended on March 3, 2016 after he illegally crossed into Pakistan from Iran, according to Pakistani officials.

At least one rocket struck Kabul on Tuesday, followed by several explosions, during an address to the nation by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ahead of Eid-ul-azha.

The rocket struck the Afghan capital at 9 a.m., without causing any casualties, followed by a series of unidentified blasts, police spokesperson Hashmat Stanekzai told Efe.

The sound of the blasts could be heard as Ghani spoke live on television.

“If they (militants) think this nation would bow under the rocket attacks, this is a brave, and standing nation and forever will defend its sovereignty, independence and Islamic values,” Ghani said after the explosions.

He assured that Afghan security forces “have full readiness and this (explosions) and other incidents will be controlled”.

“This war, suicide attacks and explosions have no religious justification,” Ghani said, adding that according to a recent survey 93 per cent of Afghans favoured peace.

On Sunday, the Afghan President had proposed a ceasefire from August 20 to November 20 (birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, or Milad-ul-Nabi), however, it remains in limbo pending a response from the insurgents.

If implemented, this would be the second ceasefire by the Afghan government during the 17 years of conflict, following one earlier in June during the Eid ul-Fitr festivities.

Sixteen members of newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s 21-strong cabinet took oath at a ceremony held on Monday at the President House here.

President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to the nominated federal ministers, reports Dawn news.

The new cabinet comprises 16 federal ministers and five advisers.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) vice chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi will be the country’s new foreign minister, a position which he previously held between 2008-13 under then President Asif Zardari and former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Qureshi had resigned from the cabinet after developing differences with the party leadership during a reshuffle in the cabinet.

Asad Umar has been made Minister for Finance and Revenue whereas the portfolio of the Information and Broadcasting has been given to PTI’s information secretary Fawad Chaudhry.

Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) estranged leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in the July 25 elections in two constituencies, has been allocated the portfolio of Petroleum Ministry.

Shireen Mazari has been given the portfolio of human rights, whereas former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is the country’s new Defence Minister.

Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister has retained the vast interior portfolio, for at least the time being.

Khan was sworn-in as Pakistan’s 22nd Prime Minister on Saturday, in a ceremony marking the second peaceful democratic transition from one civilian government to another in the country’s 71-year history.

The newly-elected members of Pakistan’s National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament, are set to vote for the new Prime Minister on Friday.

Former cricketer and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif are vying for the top post.

The PTI, which emerged as the single largest party in the July 25 general election, appears to be in a comfortable position to elect its chief as the next Prime Minister. A simple majority of votes from the total strength of the 330-member house is required for a candidate to take the top slot.

According to the poll body’s figures, the PTI has 158 members in the National Assembly after the joining of nine Independents and bagging of 33 seats reserved for women and minorities.

In all, the party has the support of 175 lawmakers as it has the backing of the country’s smaller and regional parties.

On the other hand, Shehbaz Sharif faces an almost impossible task to be elected as the Prime Minister after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, with 54 seats, withdrew support for his candidature.

The PML-N has 82 seats in the National Assembly and it was unclear if the party will still be supported by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (15 seats) and Awami National Party (1 seat).

The Jamaat-e-Islami, which is part of the MMA, announced that it will not vote in the election, Geo News reported.

On Thursday, PPP leader Khursheed Shah said his party apprised the PML-N of its reservations over the latter’s candidature for prime ministership. He warned that if the PML-N does not change its candidate for the post, the PPP would make a decision accordingly.

Sources told Geo News that the PPP had decided not to vote for either candidate in the election.

At least 350 news outlets have launched a campaign to counter US President Donald Trump’s attacks against the media and promote a free press.

Hundreds of US newspapers, from the Martha’s Vineyard Times to the Dallas Morning News; from the Yankton County Observer in South Dakota to the Bangor Daily News in Maine, devoted print space on Thursday in an joint effort to defend press freedom in the country, CNN reported.

The move was initiated by the Boston Globe for a nationwide denouncement of the President’s “dirty war” against the media, using the hashtag #EnemyOfNone. It pledged to write an editorial “on the dangers of the administration’s assault on the press” and asked others to do the same.

The campaign is significant because it moves the conversation about Trump’s attacks out of Washington and New York and into communities across the country. He often derides media reports as “fake news” and attacks journalists as “enemies of the people”.

The initial positive response from 100 news organisations grew closer to 350 with major US national newspapers and smaller local outlets answering the call, along with international publications like the UK newspaper, the Guardian.

The Boston Globe in its editorial, “Journalists Are Not The Enemy”, argued that a free press had been a core American principle for more than 200 years.

The New York Times in its article, A Free Press Needs You”, called Trump’s attacks “dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy”. It published excerpts from dozens more publications beneath.

The New York Post, answered the Globe’s call by saying “Who are we to disagree?” adding: “It may be frustrating to argue that just because we print inconvenient truths doesn’t mean that we’re fake news, but being a journalist isn’t a popularity contest. All we can do is to keep reporting.”

But it also said: “Will this make a difference? Not one whit”

The Philadelphia Inquirer said its city was the birthplace of US democracy, writing: “If the press is not free from reprisal, punishment or suspicion for unpopular views or information, neither is the country. Neither are its people.”

The Wall Street Journal declined to take part in the campaign.

A poll released by Quinnipiac University showed that most Americans, 65 per cent, regard the news media as an important part of democracy, not an “enemy”. But 26 per cent of respondents, including 51 per cent of Republicans, sided with Trump’s “enemy” rhetoric.

An Ipsos poll, also this month, gave similar figures. In addition it found that 23 per cent of Republicans, and about one in eight Americans overall, believed Trump should close down mainstream news outlets like CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Press freedom groups have been sounding alarms about the threats posed by Trump’s dehumanizing language.

He certainly ramped up the pressure on mainstream media with numerous tweets. The Trump Twitter Archive says he has tweeted 281 times so far using the term “fake news”.

At least three people were killed and over 45 injured in different incidents of aerial firing and firework displays during Independence Day celebrations in Pakistan on Tuesday, the media reported on Wednesday.

In Karachi, a 22-year-old man was killed after being struck by a firecracker in Nazimabad area and another person died in the city due to aerial firing, Xinhua news agency reported.

The third victim was killed in Rawalpindi, also due to aerial firing.

The practice of celebrating Independence Day with aerial gunfire and firework displays is common in Pakistan.

Internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in the US state of Pennsylvania showed that over 300 “predator priests” have been credibly accused of sexually abusing thousands of children, according to a grand jury report.

“We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” CNN quoted the report as saying on Tuesday.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.”

The lengthy report investigates clergy sexual abuse dating back to 1947 in six dioceses: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

According to the report, the accused priests victimised boys, girls, teens and pre-pubescent children.

Some victims were plied with alcohol and groped or molested while others were raped.

“There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale,” the grand jurors wrote in Tuesday’s report.

At a news conference announcing the report’s release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it the “largest, most comprehensive report into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church ever produced in the US”.

The report comes as the Catholic Church, including Pope Francis, is struggling to contain a sexual abuse scandal rapidly consuming the church on several continents.

In Australia, a bishop has been found guilty of covering up sexual abuse.

In Chile, the Pope was forced to recant his dismissal of an abuse scandal involving a prominent priest and bishops accused of covering up his crimes.

A section of a highway bridge in the Italian city of Genoa collapsed during heavy rain on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and injuring five, officials said.

Emergency services were deployed to the site where a 100-meter (328-feet), two-lane section of the bridge collapsed into a river in the afternoon. Authorities were searching for people trapped in their vehicles under the rubble, the BBC reported.

Italian Interior Ministry sources confirmed the toll to Efe news. The bridge, built in the 1960s, is known as the Morandi bridge. The missing section was dozens of meters in length and ran across the span of the Polcevera stream.

“I am following with utmost apprehension what has happened in Genoa and which is looking like an immense tragedy,” said Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli.

Video footage appeared to show one of the towers holding up the suspension bridge collapsing in stormy weather.

One image posted by the regional emergency services showed a truck perched at the end of the surviving bridge section immediately before the drop and said rescue workers were operating en masse at the scene.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica described that part of the city as “densely inhabited”.