News in Brief
Pakistan picks caretaker PM
AFP – Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a little-known senator from Pakistan’s least-populous province, will be caretaker prime minister to see the country through to the next election, the leader of the opposition said Saturday.
“We first agreed that whoever should be prime minister, he should be from a smaller province so smaller provinces’ grievances should be addressed,” said Raja Riaz Ahmad after a meeting with outgoing premier Shehbaz Sharif.
Pakistan’s parliament was dissolved on Wednesday and by law an election should be held within 90 days, but the results of the latest census released last week means more time will likely be needed to redraw constituencies.
Biden’s remark on China
downplayed
BLOOMBERG – The White House pushed back on suggestions that President Joe Biden is toughening his rhetoric on China, a day after he called the world’s second-largest economy a “ticking time bomb,” saying the remarks were consistent with US criticisms of Beijing.
“The president is referring to the domestic challenges that China has at home, and some of those are on the economic front. And some of those are on the social and cultural front,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. Kirby said he wanted to counter the idea that the US had “sharpened our language.”
Hawaii fire death toll
hits 80
AFP – The death toll from wildfires that destroyed swathes of Hawaii this week has risen to 80, Maui county officials said Friday.
“The number of fatalities is at 80,” the county said in a regular update, adding that 1,418 people were at emergency evacuation shelters.