Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan has said that his party wants to build a relationship with the US based on trust and mutual respect.

Speaking to Acting US Ambassador to Pakistan John F. Hoover who called on him at his Banigala residence on Wednesday, the cricketer-turned-politician said Pakistan and the US had witnessed many ups and downs which were the outcome of trust deficit between the two countries, reports Dawn news.

“Our government will engage with the US to make this relationship more balanced and trustworthy. We count trade and economic relations with the US extremely important,” the PTI chief said.

He stressed the need for revitalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries and transforming the relationship for each other’s benefit.

According to the PTI’s media cell, the US delegation and Khan discussed other issues of mutual interest, including bilateral trade and stability in Afghanistan.

Hoover felicitated Khan over his party’s victory in the July 25 general election.

Lawyers for US President Donald Trump said they have responded to the latest proposal from special counsel Robert Mueller over a potential interview with the president as part of the wide-ranging Russia probe.

“We have responded in writing to the latest proposal from Office of Special Counsel regarding the request to interview the President,” Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow said in a statement on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

“It is not appropriate, at this time, to comment publicly about the content of that response.”

Rudy Giuliani, another lawyer for the president, reportedly rejected Mueller’s terms.

Trump’s legal team has also suggested a narrow path for answering questions and do not want the president to be asked by investigators about whether he obstructed justice, according to The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The two sides have gone back and forth for months over the scope and conditions of an interview with Trump, raising speculation that Mueller would seek a subpoena for the president, a move set to prompt a high-stakes legal battle.

Mueller is looking into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, among other matters that may arise from the investigation.

Mueller’s team has questions for Trump over the firing of FBI Director James Comey last year and his public criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who rescued himself from the Russia investigation against the president’s wishes.

It was reported earlier this month that Mueller has offered to reduce the number of obstruction-related questions that investigators would ask the president but wants obstruction to be addressed in person, not just in written answers.

Giuliani said Wednesday that millions of pages of documents have been provided to Mueller along with testimony from dozens of witnesses while reiterating a call for ending the Russia inquiry “without further delay.”

Since Mueller began to lead the probe in May 2017, he has indicted or secured guilty pleas from 32 people, including several former Trump campaign aides.

Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was indicted by Mueller last fall, is facing trial for bank and tax fraud in federal court in the state of Virginia.

As the Russia probe continues with no immediate end in sight, Trump and his political allies have in recent months ratcheted up pressure on Mueller and his team.

The President escalated his attacks against the Russia probe last week, urging Sessions to shut down inquiry overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a defender of the special counsel.

A lawyer has moved the Peshawar High Court seeking removal of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after the latter’s conviction for corruption.

Khanzada Ajmal Zeb filed the petition on Monday urging the court to ask the Election Commission to delete “N” from the party name, Dawn online reported on Tuesday.

The respondents in the petition were the Chief Election Commissioner, the poll body secretary and Nawaz Sharif, who is now in jail.

Zeb said that Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the head of the Muslim League who wanted the party to be a symbol of good governance, development and national interest. But the petitioner held Sharif responsible for the division of the PML.

He said Sharif hijacked the party before forming his own faction, PML-N, and registered it with the poll body.

Sharif, currently serving a 10-year jail term in a corruption case, misled the public at large by using the name of PML-N. Therefore, “N” needed to be deleted from the party name, said Zeb.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a task force to study the possibility of granting visa-free entry to visitors from certain tourist friendly nations in order to boost arrivals, authorities said on Monday.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said that some of the countries under consideration are India, China along with some other European and West Asian nations, reports Xinhua news agency.

Amaratunga said this proposal was aimed at encouraging more people to visit Sri Lanka and avoid “chaos” at the immigration.

Following recommendations from the task force, this proposal may be implemented in the off-season months of October to November and March to April, the minister said.

He further said the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) was currently working on this plan.

Additionally, the Minister said the government was also in discussion with airlines, tour operators, and hotels to provide low-cost packages.

“These efforts are underway to ensure Sri Lanka becomes a destination that would be a visited location throughout the year,” Amaratunga said.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which was once heavily scarred by a 30-year civil conflict, has become one of the leading industries of the country.

Tourist arrivals have recorded a growth of 15.3 percent during the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year.

An alliance of 11 opposition political parties in Pakistan announced on Saturday that they will be holding demonstrations across the country to protest alleged electoral fraud during the July 25 general elections.

The first of the protests by the alliance, that includes former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party, has been planned for August 8 in Islamabad.

Pakistan Peoples Party led by Bilawal Bhutto, the regional Awami National Party as well as an alliance of five religious parties Muttahida Majlis-e-Alam will also take part in the protests.

“Our first protest will be outside the Election Commission in Islamabad in which ticket holders, elected candidates, and party workers will participate,” Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed of the PML-N told Efe news.

The 11 parties of the alliance opposed to former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party — who won the elections amid accusations of electoral rigging — will also demonstrate on Thursday outside provincial Election Commission offices across the country.

“The opposition parties have made a grand alliance with the name of Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Election. It’s an 11-party alliance which will protest against the rigging,” said Syed.

The announcement came a day after Khan’s party struck an alliance with a regional party to come to power in the centre. The polls were the second one in the country’s history when an elected government had completed its entire term and made way for a new government.

Terrorists kidnapped and killed three foreign nationals working for an international food company in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday, security officials and a diplomat said.

A senior diplomat in Kabul said the three worked for the world’s second-largest food and catering services company, Sodexo.

“An Indian, a Malaysian and a Macedonian citizen were abducted and killed. We have found their bodies,” Hashmat Stanekzai, spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, told Reuters.

An Afghan security official said they found identity cards next to the bodies and were seeking confirmation from the company.

Officials at Sodexo in Afghanistan were not immediately available for comment.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan has decided against inviting foreign dignitaries and celebrities to his oath-taking ceremony, the media reported on Thursday.

The party had initially planned to invite several foreign personalities including Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan and Indian cricket legends Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Navjot Singh Siddhu.

“The PTI Chairman has directed to stage the oath-taking event with austerity,” party spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday. “He will take his oath in a simple ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr (President’s House).

“It has been decided that no foreign personalities will be invited to the ceremony… It will be a completely national event. Only a few close friends of Imran Khan will be invited.

“There will be no show of extravagance at the event,” added Chaudhry.

On Wednesday, Chaudhry had told reporters that the party had asked the Foreign Office to appraise its leadership regarding inviting heads of states and foreign leaders of different countries. This may have included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s PTI has emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly and he is set to take oath as Prime Minister on August 11, three days ahead of Pakistan’s Independence Day.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan has invited Bollywood star Aamir Khan and former cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to his oath-taking ceremony on August 11, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Wednesday.

The development came after PTI leaders met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to discuss which foreign dignitaries could be invited to the PTI chief’s ceremony, leading daily Dawn reported.

Earlier reports said the PTI wished to invite the heads of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as China and Turkey. But the party rubbished the reports.

According to Dawn, members of the Pakistan Foreign Office said that calling foreign leaders to the oath-taking was “a sensitive matter” and all perspectives needed to be taken into consideration.

On Tuesday, PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said they would consult the Foreign Office regarding inviting foreign leaders.

“Media speculations about international dignitaries attending PM oath ceremony are not correct. We have sought the advice of Foreign Office on the matter and will decide accordingly,” he had tweeted.

Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party in the country’s National Assembly after the July 25 election. However, it is short of numbers to form its government independently.

It is now reaching out to smaller political parties and independent candidates for support to form a coalition government. But it is more or less clear that Khan is all set to become the Prime Minister.

Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has won the most seats in parliament, official results showed on Wednesday, as the vote count continued in the presidential race.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) results showed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF cruising to a big majority after picking up 109 seats in a 210-seat parliament.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) alliance managed to win only 41 seats with results for 58 seats still to be announced, the election body said on Wednesday.

ZANU-PF would need to win 30 more seats to have a two-thirds majority that would allow it to change the constitution at will.

Nick Mangwana, ZANU-PF spokesman, said the party was happy with the results.

“We are very happy with the results. So far, it shows that the people of Zimbabwe have entrusted ZANU-PF to lead them and we will do our best to meet the people’s wishes in the constituencies that elected us,” Mangwana told Al Jazeera.
The opposition alliance said the vote was rigged in favour of the party that has been in power since the southern African country gained independence in 1980.

‘Cooked figures’
“The results are a gimmick to try and prepare Zimbabwe for a rigged election. If President Chamisa wins this election then the people of Zimbabwe will have their government,” Nkululeko Sibanda, MDC alliance spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

At the opposition party headquarters, the mood was tense as hundreds of supporters gathered outside – their anger directed at what they said was foul play by ZANU-PF.

Police trucks parked outside the opposition headquarters.
“The results are not a true reflection of the people who voted on the polling day. These are cooked figures they are not the real figures,” Samson Chikazhe, told Al Jazeera, anger palpable in his voice.

“I am not happy because at the polling station where I voted most of the people were voting for MDC alliance but if you see the results of the constituency it does not reflect the will of the people. We are not going to accept defeat,” Chikazhe, 28, added.

Standing a few feet away from Chikazhe, Eveson Matambanadzo said the results were unacceptable.

“The results we have are cooked if you compare the people who voted on the ground to the results that are there it doesn’t tally,” Matambanadzo told Al Jazeera.

As the crowd swell, the police brought reinforcement with one police truck and several water cannon trucks kept a watchful eye but did not interfere.

Many of the protesters tried to get into the National Results Centre in the capital city.

Outside the ruling party headquarters, there was no sign of supporters or heavy presence of security service.

Meanwhile, ZANU-PF denied the opposition accusation of manipulating the vote.

Hundreds have gathered in the streets of Harare to protest the results.
“There was no rigging and the opposition will come to realise this once emotions settle down. This was a free expression of the people’s will,” Mangwana, the ZANU-PF spokesman, said.

Pedzisai Ruhanya, a Harare-based political analyst with Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, said the results released so far could be a reflection of the will of the people but were not perfect.

“It seems the results so far could indicate the will of the people, especially the rural population, to be ruled by ZANU-PF,” Ruhanya told Al Jazeera.

“But there are serious issues with the conduct of the election by ZEC and these need to be sorted out if this election is meant to ensure a smooth democratic transition for Zimbabwe or else there will be distrust and discontent among the urban people,” Ruhanya said.

Monday’s vote was Zimbabwe’s first election since long-term President Robert Mugabe was pushed out of office last year.

Rural votes
After the announcement, it will be crucial to see if the opposition parties will accept the results.

There have been threats of protests and the opposition parties have said they will release their own set of results.

Earlier in the day, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa tweeted that he had “won”.

The results are a gimmick to try and prepare Zimbabwe for a rigged election.

The opposition leader said on Tuesday that he was “winning resoundingly” – a claim denied by the Electoral Commission.

A presidential runoff will be held on September 8 if a candidate does not secure more than 50 percent of the vote, but it will probably take a couple of days before the results of the presidential election have come in.

More than five million Zimbabweans registered to take part in the poll. The Electoral Commission said 1.3 percent of registered voters could not cast their vote because they presented the wrong documents at polling stations.

Previous elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by intimidation and threats, but campaigning this time has been relatively peaceful.

Elections observers from the European Union and the United States have also been allowed to monitor the vote for the first time since 2002.

Twenty-three candidates, 19 men and four women, contested for the presidency – all first-time contenders.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he will take oath as Prime Minister on August 11, the media reported on Monday.

Talking to the newly-elected members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Islamabad, he said a decision regarding the nomination of the Chief Minister will be taken soon and in the best interest of the people, according to Radio Pakistan.

Although PTI has emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly in the July 25 polls, it is short of numbers to form its government independently.

To meet the required number of votes, the PTI leadership has reportedly approached the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), PML-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), as well as Independents.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party agreed on a formulation of a “coordinated joint strategy” in an attempt to give a tough time to PTI in Parliament.