Skip to content

Pakistan’s Largest City Shuts Schools for 2 Weeks Over Virus Fears

  • World

US Accountant Pleads Guilty Ahead of Trial In Panama Papers Investigation

A U.S. accountant from Massachusetts has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the tax evasion scheme orchestrated by Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed by the 2016 Panama Papers leak, The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Feb, 28. Richard Gaffey pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and to defraud the United States, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, four counts of willful failure to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Reports 114), and one count of aggravated identity theft. According to the allegations, Gaffey conspired with others to defraud the United States by concealing his clients’ assets and investments, as well as the income generated by those assets and investments, from the IRS through fraudulent,…

Pakistan’s Largest City Shuts Schools for 2 Weeks Over Virus Fears

Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh extended the closure of all educational institutions following the confirmation of a second coronavirus case in Karachi, the country’s largest city.

Pakistan has confirmed four cases of coronavirus, three of them involving people who had traveled to neighboring Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak that began in China in December.

While two of the confirmed cases were in the southern port city of Karachi, the other two were in the capital Islamabad.

Pakistan’s Largest City Shuts Schools for 2 Weeks Over Virus Fears Rescue workers wearing masks and protective clothing move a man during a mock drill on handling suspected carriers of coronavirus, in Peshawar, Pakistan, on March 2, 2020. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

Schools in Sindh have been closed since Feb. 27, after the first case in Karachi was confirmed.

“The Sindh government has decided to keep the schools closed till March 13, so the isolation period of the suspect cases could be completed,” Saeed Ghani, provincial education minister, told Reuters on Monday. “We don’t want to take any risk.”

Schools in Islamabad have remained open, but the thinly populated western province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran, closed its schools last week.

Pakistan’s Largest City Shuts Schools for 2 Weeks Over Virus Fears A pedestrian wearing a face mask crosses a street in northern Tehran, Iran, on March 1, 2020. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

Pakistan suspended all flights with Iran and closed the land border last week.

Health Minister Zafar Mirza has said that the government is gradually allowing pilgrims to return from Iran, after holding them in quarantine at the border for 14 days.

Around 700 pilgrims arrived in Karachi from Iran over the weekend, the Sindh chief minister’s office said in a statement.

By Syed Raza Hassan

This article is from the Internet:Pakistan’s Largest City Shuts Schools for 2 Weeks Over Virus Fears

California Officials Sue to Strike Down Pro-Union Gag Law

Elected officials in California are challenging a controversial state law that deprives them of their ability to speak critically about labor unions by prohibiting statements deemed to “deter or discourage” public employees from seeking union membership. “I was elected by the people to ask tough questions and discuss public policy issues in an open dialogue without fear of legal action,” said lead plaintiff Jeffrey Barke, a physician who is a member of the Rossmoor Community Services District and who used to be an elected member of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education. “This law makes it impossible for me and other elected public officials to represent our constituents fully and candidly,” he said in a statement. “Public employee unions in California have positions on many issues that…