Alaska, Aug 21: A charter plane carrying eight people crashed Thursday near a remote radar site in western Alaska, a federal official said.

Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, said two pilots and six passengers were on board. He did not immediately have details on their status.

The plane took off from Anchorage and is believed to have crashed early Thursday afternoon on approach to Cape Newenham, he said.

The information received so far is preliminary, he said.

The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center said it launched a search and rescue mission after receiving a report of an “aircraft incident” near the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site. It said additional information would be released as it became available and did not respond to questions. (AP)

Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was moved to a private hospital in Islamabad early Friday for medical tests after the Supreme Court ordered his hospitalisation, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said.

Khan, 73, was taken to Shifa International Hospital, where hundreds of police personnel were deployed and roads leading to the facility were cordoned off.

“It’s confirmed that he has arrived at Shifa International Hospital,” PTI spokesman Zulfi Bukhari told AFP, adding that the Supreme Court’s order had been complied with.

Former Pakistan president and PTI member Arif Alvi also confirmed Khan’s transfer, saying the country was “happy and dancing with joy”.

The development came after Khan’s lawyers approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the former premier was in poor health and required a medical examination. A three-member bench on Tuesday directed authorities to shift him to a hospital within two days.

The court also ordered that Khan be allowed to meet his family once a week and speak to his sons by telephone twice a week. It further directed that a panel of medical specialists be constituted for his treatment and allowed Khan’s sister, Dr Uzma Khan, to participate in his medical care.

Dozens of Khan’s supporters gathered outside the hospital following news of his transfer. Some supporters showered flower petals on passing vehicles as police maintained a heavy presence around the facility.

Khan has been in prison since 2023 and maintains that the cases against him are politically motivated. He and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced late last year to 17 years in prison in a corruption case.

Earlier this year, Khan underwent eye treatment at a hospital, with his family saying he had lost most of the vision in his right eye.

The former cricket captain served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until 2022, when he was removed through a no-confidence vote. His arrest in May 2023 triggered widespread protests across the country.

Dhaka, Aug 20: Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a longtime secretary general of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a close ally of former premier Khaleda Zia, was on Thursday elected as the country’s new President in the first contested poll for the post in 35 years.

The 78-year-old BNP stalwart defeated his lone rival Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, the 84-year-old Liberal Democratic Party chairman and the nominee of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance, Chief Election Commissioner and also Election Returning Officer AMM Nasir Uddin announced after the counting of votes.

Of the total 349 registered voters, 343 voted in the election. Six lawmakers didn’t vote, he said.

Alamgir secured 255 votes while Oli Ahmad bagged 88 votes.

He will take the oath as Bangladesh’s 23rd President on Friday evening at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban.

It is the first contested presidential election in Bangladesh since 1991, as the office had largely been filled through consensus and uncontested polls in recent decades.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman congratulated Alamgir on his victory in the presidential polls. Lawmakers also congratulated the President-elect by thumping their desks.

As opposition lawmakers, including Leader of the Opposition Dr Shafiqur Rahman and Deputy Leader Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, approached the treasury bench, Alamgir came forward and embraced Rahman, the state-run BSS news agency reported.

The presidential election was necessitated after Mohammed Shahabuddin, a close aide of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned last month on health grounds before completing his five-year tenure.

Under the Constitution, a new president is required to be elected within 90 days of the office falling vacant.

Parliamentary Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad is currently serving as acting president, as required under the Constitution following a vacancy in the office.

The president is elected by Members of Parliament under Bangladesh’s constitutional system.

The BNP, which was voted to power in the February 12 elections, currently commands a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

A day earlier, Alamgir pledged that he would never compromise on the country’s independence and sovereignty.

He had been one of the BNP’s most prominent leaders for more than two decades, having served as acting secretary general from 2011 before formally taking over the post in 2016.

He played a prominent role in leading the BNP during the imprisonment of its then-chairperson and former prime minister Zia and the absence of Rahman, who was abroad at the time.

The president is largely a ceremonial head of state under Bangladesh’s parliamentary system, with key constitutional powers, including appointing the prime minister and the chief justice.

Though the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces, those powers are generally exercised on the advice of the prime minister.

Political analysts, however, said the presidency could assume greater significance under the caretaker government system recently reintroduced to oversee general elections, when the president’s power would increase significantly in commanding the armed forces during such a period.

The analysts also opine that Alamgir’s election could be a well-calculated move of BNP, which in its election manifesto had promised to equip the president with more power by amending the Constitution.

An economist by training, Alamgir made his political debut as a left-leaning student activist when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. Bangladesh was liberated from Pakistan with India’s help in 1971.

After joining the BNP in the early 90s, Alamgir served as state minister for agriculture and civil aviation.

When the BNP returned to power in the February 12 elections this year, Alamgir was made the local government minister.