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Pakistan's parliament approved a sweeping constitutional amendment Thursday granting lifetime immunity to the president as well as the current army chief, a move critics warned would erode democratic checks and judicial independence.The 27th amendment, passed by a two-thirds majority, also consolidates military power under a new Chief of Defence Forces role and establishes a Federal Constitutional Court.The changes grant army chief Asim Munir, promoted to field marshal after Pakistan's clash with India in May, command over the army, air force and the navy.He and other top military brass will enjoy lifelong protections.Under the amendment, any officer promoted to field marshal, marshal of the air force, or admiral of the fleet will now retain rank and privileges for life, remain in uniform, and enjoy immunity from criminal proceedings.Such protections were previously only reserved for the head of state."This constitutional amendment will increase authoritarianism and whatever little semblance of democracy existed in this country will fade away," said Osama Malik, an Islamabad-based lawyer."It will not only remove civilian oversight from the military's activities, it will also completely destroy the military hierarchy where all service chiefs were considered equal under the joint chief system," he told AFP.Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of more than 250mn people, has long struggled to balance civilian authority with the military's role in politics.The amendment also shields President Asif Ali Zardari from any criminal prosecution, although that immunity will not apply if he or any other former president later holds another public office.Zardari has faced multiple graft cases, although proceedings were previously stayed.He signed the bill into law following the parliamentary vote.Opposition parties, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), tore up copies of the bill in both chambers over the past few days.The amendment also bars courts from questioning any constitutional change "on any ground whatsoever".The bill also creates a Federal Constitutional Court with exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional cases, stripping the Supreme Court of its original powers and transferring pending petitions.Another clause empowers the president to transfer High Court judges on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission, a change critics say could be used to sideline dissenting judges."This is the final nail in the coffin of an independent judiciary and a functioning democracy," PTI spokesman Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari told AFP.PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja described the amendment as "deeply undemocratic at its core"."They have given lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution to the president and created a system that concentrates power in one military office," he told AFP.The Senate initially passed the bill on Monday. It was then tweaked and passed by the National Assembly, the lower house, two days later before returning to the upper house for final approval."Sixty-four members are in favour of the passage of the bill and four members are against, so the motion is carried," Senate Chairman Yusuf Raza Gilani said Thursday.It also cleared the 336-member lower house with the required two-thirds majority.

Lecornu faces divided parliamentBudget draft must be presented by MondayLecornu pledges cabinet of 'renewal and diversity'Sebastien Lecornu began his second stint as French prime minister under a cloud of uncertainty on Saturday, forced to pick a new cabinet to present a budget by a Monday deadline as rivals pledged to topple his government.French President Emmanuel Macron reappointed his staunch supporter late on Friday, just days after Lecornu had resigned from the post, saying there was no way to form a government capable of passing a slimmed-down 2026 budget through a deeply divided parliament.Lecornu's 27 days in office made him the shortest serving prime minister in modern French history, but there is no guarantee he will last any longer this time round.Macron's decision to reappoint Lecornu enraged some of his fiercest opponents who have argued the only way out of France's worst political crisis in decades is for the president to call fresh legislative elections or resign. Leftist, hard-left and far-right parties all said they would vote to topple Lecornu, leaving him reliant on the Socialists, whose leaders have so far kept mum on their plans.Lecornu's inbox is pressing. By Monday, he must present a draft budget bill - first to cabinet, and then on the same day to parliament. That means, at a minimum, the ministers responsible for finance, budget, and social security must be appointed by then.Neither the Elysee palace nor Lecornu's office, Matignon, gave immediate indication on when he could name his cabinet, or who could be in it.In an X post on Friday, Lecornu said that whoever joined his government would have to renounce their personal ambitions to succeed Macron in 2027, a contest that has injected instability into France's weak minority governments and fractious legislature. He pledged a cabinet of "renewal and diversity".Lecornu has not disclosed any details about what is in the draft, but he did say after he resigned that the budget deficit must be reduced to between 4.7% and 5% of economic output next year, a bigger gap than the 4.6% targeted by his predecessor. The deficit is forecast at 5.4% this year.It remains to be seen what he will do about repealing Macron's pensions reform and adding a billionaires' tax - two measures the Socialists had made their price to support his weak minority government.

The Arab Parliament welcomed the outcomes of the Arab-Islamic Emergency Summit, which was held in Doha. The Arab Parliament affirmed that the summit reflected the unity of the Arab and Islamic ranks in confronting the arrogance of the Israeli entity.In a statement, President of the Arab Parliament Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi praised the summit's outcomes, saying that they embodied a unified Arab and Islamic stance against the brutal aggression carried out by the occupying entity against the State of Qatar, as well as a rejection of the ongoing genocide committed against the Palestinian people for the past two years.Al Yamahi also praised the summit's Final Communique for its full support of the State of Qatar, its rejection of any attempts to target the country, and its call for unified solidarity with Qatar in responding to any threats to its sovereignty or security and in all measures it takes to respond to this brutal aggression. This comes from a deep belief in the unity of the Arab and Islamic destiny and the necessity of preserving regional stability, he added.The President of the Arab Parliament also lauded the Final Communique's strong and clear positions expressing the collective will of Arab and Islamic states to support the Palestinian people and their just cause, urging the international community to fulfill its legal and humanitarian responsibilities to stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the occupation, and to hold it accountable before international courts.He affirmed that this summit represented a unified voice of the Arab and Islamic worlds against the arrogance of the occupying entity and sent a strong message to the international community on the urgent need to act to stop the occupation's crimes and impose deterrent measures.He stressed that the Arab Parliament will continue to support all collective Arab and Islamic positions and will work in international parliamentary forums to reinforce these outcomes in defense of the just causes of the Arab and Islamic nations, foremost among them the Palestinian cause, and in support of the sovereignty and security of the State of Qatar and all Arab and Islamic states.

The Arab Parliament condemned in the strongest terms the aggressive attacks launched by the Israeli occupation entity on the State of Qatar, stressing that this treacherous attack represents a flagrant and unacceptable violation of Qatari sovereignty and a blatant breach of the United Nations Charter and international laws and norms.In a statement Tuesday, Speaker of the Arab Parliament Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi, stressed that this serious and heinous crime constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security and regional and international stability.He emphasized the Arab Parliament's full solidarity with the State of Qatar, its leadership, government, and people, in confronting this treacherous aggression.The Speaker of the Arab Parliament called on the international community and the Security Council to assume their legal and moral responsibilities to halt the repeated attacks by the Israeli occupation entity against the sovereignty of states and hold it accountable for its crimes.He also warned that the continuation of these aggressive policies would complicate the situation, threaten further escalation, and destabilize the entire region.He called for urgent international action to deter the occupying entity, which has become a violation of all international laws and norms, halt all its violations, and take swift and decisive measures to protect the sovereignty of states and the security of their peoples.

Doctors Michele Ghielmini, Brenno Balestra, Alessandra Guaita and Marco Franzi sit outside the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus) at the start of their hunger strike over Gaza, calling on their government to apply targeted sanctions on Israel over its alleged violations of international law and to recognise a Palestinian state, in Bern, Switzerland.