‘Happy milestone’: Pakistan’s historic brewery cheers export licence

A heady aroma of malt and brewing yeast drifts through Pakistan’s oldest and by far largest brewery, which is gearing up for expansion after getting approval to sell abroad after a nearly 50-year ban.Bottles and cans clatter along the production lines at Murree Brewery, a singular scene in the Muslim-majority country where alcohol is largely banned. But Murree, founded in 1860 to quench the thirst of British soldiers and the colonial community during the Raj, has survived Islamist opposition and strict regulations to become one of Pakistan’s most well-known companies.”It’s a journey of a roller-coaster and resilience,” Isphanyar Bhandara, the third generation of his family to run the business, told AFP in an interview.”Getting permission to export is another happy milestone,” he added. “My grandfather, and late father, tried to get the export licence, but couldn’t get it. Just because, you know, we are an Islamic country.” However, Bhandara said he got “a rude surprise” in 2017 when the Chinese-run Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery got permission to brew beer in Pakistan, mainly for the thousands of Chinese working on major infrastructure projects in the country.”What happened to all the Islamic lectures?” said Bhandara, who hails from Pakistan’s small but influential Parsi (Zoroastrian) community and is also a lawmaker in the National Assembly.Soon he embarked on the years-long lobbying effort to lift the export ban.- Peculiar profits -Originally housed in the mountains outside Islamabad, Murree’s red-brick facility now sits opposite the army chief’s residence in the capital’s twin city Rawalpindi, one of the most heavily guarded places in the country.Revenue surpassed $100 million in the fiscal year to June, with alcohol sales generating just over half of the total, and non-alcoholic drinks and bottle making accounting for the rest.The performance is all the more remarkable given that alcohol sales to Muslims are forbidden, meaning only religious minorities — numbering around nine million — and foreigners can buy beer or liquor in a few authorised shops or upscale hotels.But that has not stopped millions of Pakistanis from getting their occasional tipple, in a country with a long history of appreciating a fine drink. Its revered founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah was known to enjoy spirits, and the military dictator Pervez Musharraf made no secret of his love of whisky.Even prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who announced the alcohol ban in 1977 in a bid to garner support from right-wing Islamist parties, once told a rally: “Yes, I drink alcohol, but at least I don’t drink the blood of the poor.”These days it’s common for bottles to appear at dinners or parties — there is usually a Christian or Hindu to be found who will buy them for you.”Pakistan’s affair with alcohol is like that of a secret paramour — acknowledged but not talked about extensively,” said Fasi Zaka, a prominent columnist and political commentator. “It’s the tolerable vice — condemned but familiar.”However, many Muslim drinkers obtain alcohol from bootleggers or locally produced moonshine, and every year several people die after consuming methanol-contaminated liquor.”I have to bribe the police and take extra risks, so the price is doubled”, a Christian bootlegger in Islamabad told AFP on condition of anonymity.”The extra charge is to keep everyone happy, whether it’s a Muslim customer or a police officer keeping an eye on me,” he said with a laugh.- Expanding horizons -Before the export ban, Murree had sold its products in neighbouring India and Afghanistan, but also in Gulf countries and as far as the United States.”It sounds very strange or very bizarre today, but we were exporting to Kabul,” where the Taliban now govern with their strict interpretation of Islam, Bhandara said.Murree has already made limited shipments to Japan, Britain and Portugal as it explores distribution channels and strategies. “Right now, the target is not revenue or to make money… the target is to explore new markets”, Bhandara said.The company, which has around 2,200 employees, is looking in particular at Europe, but is also weighing a move into Asian and African markets.Selling abroad could also give Murree a chance to promote its history and brand in ways unimaginable at home.”We are not allowed to advertise, so we keep our heads down — we try to make a good beer with our heads down,” Bhandara said.

La relation entre Trump et Epstein au coeur de nouveaux documents publiés

Le nom de Donald Trump apparaît à de multiples reprises dans une nouvelle volée de documents de l’affaire Epstein publiés mardi, qui illustrent ses liens passés avec le criminel sexuel, retrouvé pendu dans sa cellule en 2019.Le ministère américain de la Justice a affirmé que certaines de ces pièces, dont l’une montre que le président …

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Libya’s top military chief killed in plane crash in Turkey

The head of Libya’s armed forces and four other high ranking military officials died late Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey’s capital and Tripoli said.The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Three crew members were also killed.Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: “It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army’s chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad.”Haddad earlier Tuesday held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli.Yerlikaya said on X that Haddad’s jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 1710 GMT, and “contact was lost” 42 minutes later.The aircraft issued an emergency landing notification near Haymana — 74 kilometres (45 miles) from Ankara — but contact could not be reestablished, the minister said. A senior Turkish official said the plane requested an emergency landing because of electrical failure 16 minutes after it took off. The jet carried eight passengers including Haddad, four members of his entourage and three crew members “reported an emergency to the air traffic control centre due to an electrical failure, asking for an emergency landing,” Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, said on X. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the incident. -‘Like a bomb’-Several Turkish media outlets broadcast images showing the sky lit up by an explosion not far from the location where the aircraft sent a signal.Burhan Cicek, a local in Haymana, recalled the moment when the plane crashed. “I heard a big sound of explosion. It was like a bomb,” he told AFP. Libya’s ambassador to Ankara was also at the site. Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, told local television channel Libya al-Ahrar that the Turkish government informed his government of the incident. “We received a call from the Turkish authorities immediately after the incident, reporting that contact with the aircraft had been lost,” the minister said. “All contact with the aircraft was lost about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport due to a technical problem,” he said. “We are awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it appears that the plane crashed.”The minister said the others on the aircraft were Haddad’s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, as well as Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.Haddad had been the army’s chief of general staff since August 2020 and was appointed by then-prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.Libya is split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and commander Khalifa Haftar’s administration in the east.The North African country has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.Turkey has close ties with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, to which it provides economic and military support and there have been frequent visits between both sides. But Ankara has recently also reached out to the rival administration in the east, with the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting with Haftar in Benghazi in August.burs-fo/gv

US slams China policies on chips but will delay tariffs to 2027

US trade officials determined that China should be punished for employing unfair tactics to dominate the semiconductor industry, but will wait 18 months to impose tariffs, American authorities said Tuesday.A US Trade Representative investigation concluded China’s targeting of semiconductors “for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts US commerce and thus is actionable,” the agency said in a public notice.The current tariff level of 0 will be increased “in 18 months on June 23, 2027 to rate to be announced not fewer than 30 days prior to that date,” USTR said.USTR officials launched the probe in December 2024 in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, extending the initiative when US President Donald Trump took office in January.Trump has been a prolific purveyor of tariffs, unveiling sector-specific levies on steel, autos and other items, as well as broader measures to achieve a variety of policy objectives.The White House has jousted with Beijing, but reached a broad truce with China after a major escalation in the spring.The USTR’s “Section 301” probe concluded that China had employed “increasingly aggressive and sweeping non-market policies” to dominate semiconductors that have included “massive and persistent” state support of private actors and “wage-suppressing labor practices.”The USTR did not respond to an AFP query on the reason for the 18-month timeframe on tariffs.

US Supreme Court blocks Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago

The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown on Tuesday by blocking his deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago.The conservative-dominated court kept in place for now a lower court order barring the deployment of troops on the streets of the city in the midwestern state of Illinois.”At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in an unsigned order.Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — dissented.The Republican president has sent National Guard troops to three Democratic-led cities this year — Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis — but his efforts to deploy soldiers in Portland and Chicago have been tied up in the courts. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, reacting to the court ruling, said the president “activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property.””Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda,” Jackson said.JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, who strongly opposed the deployment along with the Democratic mayor of Chicago, welcomed the ruling, calling it a “big win for Illinois and American democracy.””This is an important step in curbing the Trump Administration’s consistent abuse of power and slowing Trump’s march toward authoritarianism,” Pritzker said.After two lower courts blocked Trump from sending troops into Chicago, his administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.In his filing with the top court, Solicitor General John Sauer claimed federal agents in Chicago were being “forced to operate under the constant threat of mob violence.”The court order blocking deployment of the National Guard “improperly impinges on the president’s authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property,” Sauer added.The Supreme Court rebuff of the emergency appeal was a rare defeat for Trump at the top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.It was not immediately clear how Tuesday’s decision would affect the other cases where Democratic-ruled states have challenged Trump’s National Guard deployment.California and Oregon have both filed legal challenges against the Trump administration’s extraordinary domestic use of the National Guard.Trump sent troops to Los Angeles earlier this year to quell demonstrations sparked by a federal crackdown on undocumented migrants.A district court judge ruled it unlawful, but an appeals court panel allowed the Los Angeles deployment to proceed.Some 300 National Guard troops remain activated in the Chicago area but are not engaged in operations.

New Epstein files dump contains multiple Trump references

A new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released Tuesday contains numerous references to President Donald Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on his then friend’s private jet, and other claims that his Justice Department described as “untrue and sensationalist.”The latest release contains reams of previously unseen material from the investigation into Epstein, a wealthy US financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.A first collection of heavily redacted files made public last Friday sparked criticism that the Justice Department was deliberately excluding references to Trump.Trump figures prominently, however, in the thousands of documents published on Tuesday, underlining his close ties to the disgraced financier who was already a convicted sex offender when the more serious trafficking case began.The Justice Department issued a statement defending the 79-year-old Republican shortly after the files dropped, saying some documents “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump.”Trump, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein.But a rebellion inside Trump’s Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents.The extraordinary move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump’s own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up to protect rich and powerful men in Epstein’s orbit.- Private jet trips -Trump said Monday he did not approve of the file dumps, expressing concern that people who “innocently met” Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.”Everybody was friendly with this guy,” he said.He did not immediately react to Tuesday’s release.Despite attempts to distance himself, Trump was friends for years with Epstein and has given different accounts of how he ended their relationship.Most recently, he said he threw him out of his Florida golf club for being “a creep.”However, he has also said they fell out when Epstein “stole” young women working in the spa at his club.The latest documents add to evidence that Trump was close to Epstein.They include a January 2020 note from New York federal prosecutors who were investigating Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, detailing Trump’s repeated travel — eight trips between 1993 and 1996 — on the financier’s private jet.”Records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware),” it says.One flight reportedly had just three passengers: Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old.- Delays -One Trump reference was swiftly disputed by the Department of Justice.A handwritten letter released in Tuesday’s tranche was purportedly written by Epstein, while in jail, to Larry Nassar, the former US gymnastics doctor who was imprisoned over rampant abuse of female athletes.Epstein is shown complaining to Nassar that they are incarcerated while the “president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch.'”In a statement the DOJ said the FBI “has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE,” saying it was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death, and entered the mail system in Virginia, despite him being jailed in New York.Trump critics say the government continues to slow-walk the release of embarrassing material.At least two emails in the cache mention 10 unidentified “co-conspirators” of Epstein, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Justice Department to look into potential Epstein accomplices.”The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute,” the senator said.Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes.