President Dr. Irfaan Ali, last Friday, visited the CV (Craig Vegetables) Hydroponics Farm in Friendship on the East Bank of Demerara. During the visit, the President received an update on the farm’s operations from its founder and owner, Mr. Kitaka Craig.  The farm produces a variety of crops, including lettuce, kale, spinach, mint, parsley, and cilantro. According to Craig, it operates on less than two acres of land and is managed by a team of five staff members.

The farm established its first greenhouse in 2009 and has since expanded to 15 shade houses, with plans for further expansion. Last year alone, CV Farms produced over 33,000 pounds of lettuce and more than 9,000 pounds of kale. Craig said the produce is sold to local supermarkets and restaurants. He also noted that, with the future expansion of his farm, he will target the international market.

In brief remarks, the President commended Craig and said that the Ministry of Agriculture will collaborate and support the model farm.  “This is food security. This is building innovation, entrepreneurship, science and technology…” President Ali noted. (Kaieteur News)

Photo: President Irfaan Ali inspects the hydroponics farm at Friendship, East Bank Demerara. (Kaieteur News)

ISLAMABAD –  The outlawed armed group Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, has issued a warning to the Pakistani army, stating that it will continue targeting security personnel and expand its attacks to the military’s business interests. In a statement issued last Sunday, the TTP pledged to go after various commercial enterprises run by the Pakistani military. Among the companies the group named were the National Logistics Cell, a Rawalpindi-based logistics firm; the Frontier Works Organisation, which specialises in engineering and construction; Fauji Fertiliser Company, a fertiliser manufacturer; military-run housing authorities across Pakistan; a commercial bank; and several other entities.

The Pakistan Taliban warned civilians to divest from military-run organisations within three months, urging employees of these companies to find alternative sources of income. The military has not issued any response to the Pakistan Taliban statement as yet. Al Jazeera also reached out to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, for a response but did not receive a reply. The TTP warning comes amid growing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the group’s activities.

Last month, the Pakistani military launched air raids in Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of the armed group. Pakistan accuses the Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since August 2021, of providing safe havens for TTP fighters, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks on law enforcement personnel within Pakistan. The Taliban in Afghanistan denies these allegations. The Pakistan Taliban is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban. It was founded in 2007 during the so-called “war on terror” by the United States, and has been waging a rebellion against the state of Pakistan for more than a decade.

The group’s demands include the imposition of strict Islamic law, the release of its imprisoned members, and a reversal of the merger of Pakistan’s tribal areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Since the Taliban’s ascension to power in Kabul, TTP activities in Pakistan have surged dramatically, with nearly 1,000 people — mostly security personnel — killed in 2023. Violence persisted in 2024, which the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), an Islamabad-based think tank, described as the deadliest year in nearly a decade.

According to CRSS, 2,526 people were killed in attacks last year — including nearly 700 security personnel, more than 900 civilians and some 900 armed fighters. These deaths represent a nine-year high, exceeding the previous peak record of 2,432 deaths in 2016. Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the CRSS, warned that the Pakistan Taliban’s warning should not be dismissed. “They know full well that the Pakistani army is the linchpin against them in this fight, and their objective is to hurt the army and undermine its interests,” Gul told Al Jazeera.

Security researcher Abdul Sayed, based in Sweden, said the Pakistan Taliban’s statement signals a “significant policy shift” in the group’s strategy. “Under Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the TTP since July 2018, a policy was introduced to limit attacks primarily to security forces. However, recent air strikes in Afghanistan’s Bermal district, which also resulted in civilian casualties, likely led internal hardliners within the group to revise this approach,” Sayed told Al Jazeera. (Al Jazeera/AP)

BIJAPUR DISTRICT OF CHHATTISGARH –  At least eight policemen and a driver have been killed in central India when a bomb blast set off by Maoist rebels tossed their vehicle into the air, police have said.

The police vehicle in which the victims were travelling was hit by a roadside blast in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state on Monday, a police statement said.

The attack took place as soldiers were returning from an anti-Maoist operation on Saturday, where four rebels and a police officer were killed.

“Eight security forces and a driver were killed today when the vehicle in which they were travelling in came in contact with a landmine,” said Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations.

Photographs published by Indian media showed a deep crater ripped into the road by the blast.

More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long conflict waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting to give poor Indian farmers and landless labourers more control over their land currently exploited by major mining companies.

Government forces have stepped up efforts to crush the long-running armed conflict, with some 287 rebels killed in 2024, according to official figures.

The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. About 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered in 2024.

Amit Shah, India’s interior minister, warned the Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an “all-out” assault, saying the government expected to crush the rebellion by early 2026.

The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor”.

The rebellion has been drastically restricted in area in recent years.

Authorities have since invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects to combat the Naxalite appeal. (Al Jazeera)

KUALA LUMPUR  –  Malaysia’s appeals court has granted a bid by jailed ex-premier Najib Razak to see a document he said should allow him to serve his sentence at home, in a rare win for a disgraced former leader at the heart of the country’s biggest scandal.

A three-member bench ruled 2-1 on Monday to grant Najib’s appeal to use the decree to argue his case before the High Court.

“Given the fact that there is no challenge [of the existence of the decree], there is no justification that the order has not been complied with,” said Mohamad Firuz Jaffril, one of the three Court of Appeal judges.

The 71-year-old Najib, who was jailed over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, had appealed a lower court decision last July that dismissed his bid to confirm the existence of and execute a royal order that he said entitled him to house arrest.

Malaysia’s pardons board, at the time chaired by then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, agreed in February last year to halve Najib’s jail sentence to six years from 12 and reduce fines imposed on him, prompting public uproar.

But Najib maintained that an “addendum order” on house arrest was issued by the former king alongside the decision and was never executed by authorities.

Following the court ruling on Monday, Malaysia’s home minister said the prisons department had not received any notification about Najib’s possible home detention last year.

The home ministry received no communication on the issue from Malaysia’s former king, who chaired the pardons board, minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told a press conference. “The government will fully implement royal orders if received,” he said.

According to the constitution, the monarch, who changes every five years under Malaysia’s unique system of monarchy, has authority to take decisions on granting pardons, upon the advice of the pardons board.

Following Monday’s ruling, “Najib was happy,” his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told a news conference. “[He is] very relieved that finally they recognised some element of injustice that has been placed against him.”

Najib was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for illegally receiving funds misappropriated from a unit of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

Najib remains on trial for corruption in several other 1MDB-linked cases. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Malaysian and United States investigators estimate $4.5bn was stolen from 1MDB and more than $1bn channelled to accounts linked to Najib. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak. (EPA)