Tag: House

‘Joe Biden has been constantly underestimated’: Chris Whipple on his White House book

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There are those who believe that at 80, Joe Biden is too old to serve a second term as president. Yet few clamour for him to hand over to the person who would normally be the heir apparent.
Two years in, Kamala Harris, the first woman of colour to be vice-president, has had her ups and downs. Her relationship with Biden appears strong and she has found her voice as a defender of abortion rights. But her office has suffered upheaval and her media appearances have failed to impress.
Such behind-the-scenes drama is recounted in The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, written by the author, journalist and film-maker Chris Whipple and published this week. Whipple gained access to nearly all of Biden’s inner circle and has produced a readable half-time report on his presidency – a somewhat less crowded field than the literary genre that sprang up around Donald Trump.
“In the beginning, Joe Biden liked having Kamala Harris around,” Whipple writes, noting that Biden wanted the vice-president with him for meetings on almost everything. One source observed a “synergy” between them.
Harris volunteered to take on the cause of voting rights. But Biden handed her another: tackling the causes of undocumented immigration by negotiating with the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
“But for Harris,” Whipple writes, “the Northern Triangle would prove to be radioactive.”
With the distinction between root causes and immediate problems soon lost on the public, Harris got the blame as migrants kept coming.
One of her senior advisers tells Whipple the media could not handle a vice-president who was not only female but also Black and south Asian, referring to it as “the Unicorn in a glass box” syndrome. But Harris also suffered self-inflicted wounds. Whipple writes that she “seemed awkward and uncertain … she laughed inappropriately and chopped the air with her hands, which made her seem condescending”.

An interview with NBC during a visit to Guatemala and Mexico was a “disaster”, according to one observer. Reports highlighted turmoil and turnover in Harris’s office, some former staff claiming they saw it all before when she was California attorney general and on her presidential campaign. Her approval rating sank to 28%, lower than Dick Cheney’s during the Iraq war.
Biden and Harris had a real rapport, a real bond. Because of Covid they were thrown together in the White House
But, Whipple writes, Biden and his team still thought highly of Harris.
“Ron Klain [chief of staff] was personally fond of her. He met with the vice-president weekly and encouraged her to do more interviews and raise her profile. Harris was reluctant, wary of making mistakes.
“‘This is like baseball,’ Klain told her. ‘You have to accept the fact that sometimes you will strike out. We all strike out. But you can’t score runs if you’re sitting in the dugout.’ Biden’s chief was channeling manager Tom Hanks in the film A League of Their Own. ‘Look, no one here is going to get mad at you. We want you out there!’”
Speaking to the Guardian, Whipple, 69, reflects: “It’s a complicated, fascinating relationship between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
“In the early months of the administration they had a real rapport, a real bond. Because of Covid they were thrown together in the White House and spent a lot of time together. He wanted her to be in almost every meeting and valued her input. All of that was and is true.
“But when she began to draw fire, particularly over her assignment on the Northern Triangle, things became more complicated. It got back to the president that the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, was complaining around town that her portfolio was too difficult and that in effect it was setting her up for failure. This really annoyed Biden. He felt he hadn’t asked her to do anything he hadn’t done for Barack Obama: he had the Northern Triangle as one of his assignments. She had asked for the voting rights portfolio and he gave it to her. So that caused some friction.”
A few months into the presidency, Whipple writes, a close friend asked Biden what he thought of his vice-president. His reply: “A work in progress.” These four words – a less than ringing endorsement – form the title of a chapter in Whipple’s book.
But in our interview, Whipple adds: “It’s also true that she grew in terms of her national security prowess. That’s why Biden sent her to the Munich Security Conference on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She spent a lot of time in the meetings with the president’s daily brief and Biden’s given her some important assignments in that respect.”
A former producer for CBS’s 60 Minutes, Whipple has written books about White House chiefs of staff and directors of the CIA. Each covered more than 100 years of history, whereas writing The Fight of His Life was, he says, like designing a plane in mid-flight and not knowing where to land it. Why did he do it?
Chris Whipple. Photograph: David Hume Kennerly
“How could I not? When you think about it, Joe Biden and his team came into office confronting a once-in-a-century pandemic, crippled economy, global warming, racial injustice, the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol. How could anybody with a political or storytelling bone in his body not want to tell that story? Especially if you could get access to Biden’s inner circle, which I was fortunate in being able to do.”
Even so, it wasn’t easy. Whipple describes “one of the most leakproof White Houses in modern history … extremely disciplined and buttoned down”. It could hardly be more different from the everything-everywhere-all-at-once scandals of the Trump administration.
What the author found was a tale of two presidencies. There was year one, plagued by inflation, supply chain problems, an arguably premature declaration of victory over the coronavirus and setbacks in Congress over Build Back Better and other legislation. Worst of all was the dismal end of America’s longest war as, after 20 years and $2tn, Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
“It was clearly a failure to execute the withdrawal in a safe and orderly way and at the end of the day, as I put it, it was a whole-of-government failure,” Whipple says. “Everybody got almost everything wrong, beginning with the intelligence on how long the Afghan government and armed forces would last and ending with the botched execution of the withdrawal, with too few troops on the ground.”
Whipple is quite possibly the first author to interview Klain; the secretary of state, Antony Blinken; the CIA director, Bill Burns; and the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, about the Afghanistan debacle.
Afghanistan was a whole-of-government failure. Everybody got almost everything wrong
“What became clear was that everybody had a different recollection of the intelligence. While this administration often seems to be pretty much on the same page, I found that there was a lot more drama behind the scenes during the Afghan withdrawal and in some of the immediate aftermath,” he says.
The book also captures tension between Leon Panetta, CIA director and defense secretary under Barack Obama, who was critical of the exit strategy – “You just wonder whether people were telling the president what he wanted to hear” – and Klain, who counters that Panetta favoured the war and oversaw the training of the Afghan military, saying: “If this was Biden’s Bay of Pigs, it was Leon’s army that lost the fight.”
Whipple comments: “Ron Klain wanted to fire back in this case and it’s remarkable and fascinating to me, given his relationship with Panetta. Obviously his criticism got under Ron Klain’s skin.”
Biden’s second year was a different story. “Everything changed on 24 February 2022, when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Joe Biden was uniquely qualified to rise to that moment and he did, rallying Nato in defiance of Putin and in defence of Ukraine. Biden had spent his entire career preparing for that moment, with the Senate foreign relations committee and his experience with Putin, and it showed.
“Then he went on to pass a string of bipartisan legislative bills from the Chips Act to veterans healthcare, culminating in the Inflation Reduction Act, which I don’t think anybody saw coming.
“One thing is for sure: Joe Biden has been constantly underestimated from day one and, at the two-year mark, he proves that he could deliver a lot more than people thought.”
Biden looked set to enter his third year with the wind at his back. Democrats exceeded expectations in the midterm elections, inflation is slowing, Biden’s approval rating is on the up and dysfunctional House Republicans struggled to elect a speaker.
His inner circle is bullish about Biden’s mental acuity and ability to govern. I never heard them express any concern
But political life moves pretty fast. Last week the justice department appointed a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents, from Biden’s time as vice-president, at his thinktank in Washington and home in Delaware.
Whipple told CBS: “They really need to raise their game here, I think, because this really goes to the heart of Joe Biden’s greatest asset, arguably, which is trust.”
The mistake represents a bump in the road to 2024. Biden’s age could be another. He is older than Ronald Reagan was when he completed his second term and if he serves a full second term he will be 86 at the end. Opinion polls suggest many voters feel he is too old for the job. Biden’s allies disagree.
Joe Biden speaks at the National Action Network’s MLK Jr Day breakfast, in Washington this week. Photograph: Michael Brochstein/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock
Whipple says: “His inner circle is bullish about Biden’s mental acuity and his ability to govern. I never heard any of them express any concern and maybe you would expect that from the inner circle. Many of them will tell you that he has extraordinary endurance, energy.
“Bruce Reed [a longtime adviser] told me about flying back on a red-eye from Europe after four summits in a row when everybody had to drag themselves out of the plane and was desperately trying to sleep and the boss came in and told stories for six hours straight all the way back to DC.”
During conversations and interviews for the book, did Whipple get the impression Biden will seek re-election?
“He’s almost undoubtedly running. Andy Card [chief of staff under George W Bush] said something to me once that rang true: ‘If anybody tells you they’re leaving the White House voluntarily, they’re probably lying to you.’
“Who was the last president to walk away from the office voluntarily? LBJ [Lyndon Baines Johnson]. It rarely happens. I don’t think Joe Biden is an exception. He spent his whole career … thinking about running or running for president and he’s got unfinished business. Having the possibility of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee probably makes it more urgent for him. He thinks he can beat him again.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 21, 2023
Tim Dowling: I found a secret loft in our house. Foolishly, I also told my wife about it …

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Our house contains a secret mystery room I didn’t even know was there until almost a year after we moved in. One day I was sitting alone in the garden looking up at the little round window near the peak of the back roof, when it occurred to me that I had never seen the view out of that window.
I went into the house and up the stairs, only to discover that the window didn’t exist from the inside. I made the trip to the garden and back a few times, the final time leading my wife outside by the wrist.
“What room does that window look out from?” I said, pointing up.
“Huh,” she said. “I’ve never noticed that window.”
After a while it became clear – sort of – that the window belonged to a little loft above the oldest one’s bedroom, although there was no access to it: the ceiling of the bedroom below is completely plastered over.
Sometimes I reflect on what might be up there – some gold bars perhaps, or a colony of protected bats. But I mostly don’t think about it because it gives me the creeps. The mystery of the secret room hadn’t crossed my mind in at least a year, until my wife started making plans.
“I’m going to have a big cupboard here,” she says, spreading her arms along a section of kitchen wall.

I reflect on what might be up there – some gold bars perhaps, or a colony of protected bats
“There’s already a cupboard there,” I say. “Aren’t we looking right at it?”
“That’s freestanding,” she says. “I want built-in, and all the way along.”
“Won’t it block the door?” I say.
“Halfway then,” she says.
“Won’t that look weird?” I say.
“I knew you’d be like this,” she says.
“I’m just worried it will make the space seem smaller,” I say.
“We have no storage!” she shouts. “No place to put anything! What do you suggest?”
“I suggest we throw away half our stuff,” I say.
“Or we could just throw away all your stuff,” she says.
“If it prevents this cupboard, I will consider it,” I say.
A lot of my wife’s improvement proposals are predicated on the fond hope that our children will finally leave home in 2023. This is why the sudden need for extra kitchen storage perplexes me.
“Seriously,” I say. “When they’re gone we’ll only need, like, a frying pan and two forks. We can share a mug.”
“You understand nothing,” she says.
My wife’s plans also include moving us into the oldest one’s former bedroom, which was instantly colonised by the middle one when the oldest one moved out, and will probably be commandeered by the youngest one eventually.
“But if they both go this year, we should probably be in there,” my wife says. “It’s the biggest room.”
“It could be even bigger,” I say. “Don’t forget about the mystery room above it.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” my wife says. Little lights go on behind her eyes, and I realise I have inadvertently rekindled her lust for additional storage space once more.
I am sitting in my office shed when I suddenly notice something: our neighbour’s rear extension has an identical round window in the same spot.
Two days later my wife returns from next door with a load of pictures on her phone, of a dimly lit space filled with junk.
“She’s got folding stairs going up there, and you can just about stand up in the middle,” she says.
“Does it have a floor?” I say. My wife stops scrolling through the photos to stare at me.
“Of course it has a fucking floor,” she says.
“I mean, did she have to put a floor in, or was there already one?”
“Oh,” my wife says. “I didn’t ask.”
“Because we don’t really know what we’ll find until we get up there,” I say, thinking about the possibilities: a mummified cat; a skeleton in an Edwardian wedding dress.
“She said the folding stairs were expensive, but you shouldn’t skimp.”
The next day I find myself browsing through high-end folding loft ladders, wondering how much we’re going to end up spending, or how many evil spirits we’re going to unleash, in order to have somewhere to keep our Christmas lights.
Then I think: this is all your fault, because you saw that little round window, and you couldn’t leave well enough alone.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 21, 2023
Police Probe Firing Incident Near Ex-MLA’s House

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SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday launched a probe into a firing incident near the house of a former MLA in Poonch district.
Police said there were reports of some 12 bore gunshots having been fired towards the house of former MLA Choudhary Muhammad Akram in Lassana village of Surankote area.
“Since the house is in the vicinity of a forest, it could be shots from a hunter’s gun those hit a street light near the outer wall of the MLA’s house.”
“There was no damage. We have taken cognisance of the incident and started investigation,” the police said. (IANS)

Previous article5 Killed, 15 Injured In Road Accident

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( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

January 21, 2023
Police Starts Investigations Amid Purported Firing by 12 Bore Rifle on Ex-MLA’s House in Poonch

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Jammu, Jan 21: Police on Saturday launched investigations amid reports of damage to a streetlight and splinters marks on wall of a house of a former MLA at Lassana in Surankote area of Poonch district.
Official sources told GNS that house belongs to ex-MLA Surankote Choudhary Mohammad Akram and falls close to a jungle area.
They said preliminary investigations suggest that splinter marks on wall were caused by pellets from a 12-bore rifle. “Further investigations are underway,” the said. While no one was injured in the incident, it has led to panic among locals.
A police officer told GNS that investigators are inquiring all possible angles. ” Since the house is in close vicinity of a jungle, it could be case of hunter shots hitting the house or there could be other possibilities. We are investigating all angles.” (GNS)
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#Police #Starts #Investigations #Purported #Firing #Bore #Rifle #ExMLAs #House #Poonch
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

January 21, 2023
DOJ reserves right to not cooperate with certain House GOP requests

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It’s an early marker of DOJ’s position as Republicans pledge to probe President Joe Biden’s administration over a laundry list of issues, including with a select subpanel that has a broad mandate to investigate the federal government. Conservatives have hinted they would use that panel to try to look into certain ongoing law enforcement investigations.
The Justice Department letter cites a 1982 directive from President Ronald Reagan, stressing that the administration would try to respond to congressional oversight requests and avoid invoking executive privilege, reserving it for use “only in the most compelling circumstances.” Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, said DOJ would respect the committee’s “legitimate efforts” to seek information, “consistent with our obligation to protect Executive Branch confidentiality interests.”
DOJ also outlined guidance for potential hearings House Republicans might call, including which Justice Department staff might be able to testify. Citing a 2000 DOJ letter to Congress, Urirate wrote that DOJ would not be making line agents or attorneys involved in everyday casework available to testify and instead would direct inquiries to supervising officials.
“We are available to engage in staff-level meetings to determine which information requests incorporated into your recent letters reflect the Committee’s current priorities in light of prior Department responses and disclosures,” Uriarte said.
A Jordan spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney contributed to to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 21, 2023
White House announces additional sanctions against Russia’s Wagner Group

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The spokesperson added that Wagner “is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries,” with an estimated 50,000 personnel deployed to Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts.
Kirby also revealed new imagery of Russian railcars traveling to North Korea and back, in what the U.S. believes was North Korea providing arms and ammunition to the Wagner Group. The arms transfer is in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, Kirby said, and the U.S. on Friday shared information on these violations with the council’s Democratic People’s Republic of Korea sanctions committee.
“With these actions, and there will be more to come, our message to any company that is considering providing support to Wagner is simply this: Wagner is a criminal organization that is committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses, and we will work relentlessly to identify, disrupt, expose and target those who are assisting Wagner,” Kirby said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 21, 2023
Joshua Tree’s ‘Invisible House’ could be yours for $18m

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Joshua Tree’s real estate boom may have reached a symbolic peak, as the desert town’s iconic, mirror-walled mansion goes on the market for $18m in what is said to be a record-setting asking price.
The Invisible House, constructed in 2019 by film producers Chris and Roberta Hanley, has hosted celebrities like Lizzo, Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd, and been featured in the Netflix series The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals.
The house is a surreal, box-like structure, with glinting glass walls that reflect the desert landscape, and a massive, 100ft indoor pool that stretches nearly half the length of the house. Its owners have touted the meditative aspects of the property.
“I think Demi Lovato saw aliens there,” Roberta Hanley told the Wall Street Journal.
The house had previously been available to rent for $150,000 a month, $6,000 per day, or $1,000 per hour, Mansion Global reported last summer. A rental website touted the house’s “dramatic desert contrasts” and the “oversized” pool that “flaunts its abundance in a seemingly barren land”.
The home features a 100ft indoor pool that stretches nearly half the length of the house. Photograph: Brian Ashby/Courtesy of Aaron Kirman and Matt Adamo of AKG | Christie’s International Real Estate
The residence, which offers a modest three bedrooms and four bathrooms, has a “fully-mirrored exterior which ‘disappears’ into the surrounding desert”, as well as high-end kitchen appliances and charging stations for three Teslas.
“To our knowledge, it is the most expensive listing in Joshua Tree now,” said Matt Adam, one of the property’s listing agents.
Even if the Invisible House ends up selling for $9m, half the current asking price, “it will be the most expensive home ever sold in Joshua Tree”, local newspaper San Bernardino Sun reported.

Just a few years ago, Joshua Tree, a tiny town in California set next to a stunning national park, was a refuge for artists and oddballs, a place where locals said it was possible to rent an apartment for $500 a month.
But during the pandemic, the town’s two-hour proximity to Los Angeles, and the social media-fueled popularity of Joshua Tree national park, led to one of the largest increases in housing prices in the state. The result has been a worsening local housing crisis, with many longtime residents and local service industry employees saying that skyrocketing rental costs have forced them out of their homes.
In recent months, the booming desert housing market has started to slow. Average Joshua Tree housing sale prices were down 25% in December 2022, compared with the year before, and the number of houses sold was down by more than 50%, according to Redfin, a real estate company that publishes housing data.
The Invisible House, of course, is not even close to an average Joshua Tree home, the median price of which was $343,000 last month, according to Redfin.
Real estate agents at AKG Christie’s International Real Estate have been “bombarded with calls” from journalists and others since the house was put on the market, Adamo said.
Much of the interest so far has come from potential buyers interested in the house as an investment property, Adamo said. The house has previously brought in as much as $1.4m in income in a single year in rental and production fees, he said.
So far, there has been more interest from potential American buyers than from international customers, Adamo said, since Americans have a better understanding of the cultural appeal of Joshua Tree’s remote desert landscape, while international buyers are more interested in properties closer to the bright lights of Los Angeles, a two to three hour drive from Joshua Tree.
Bedroom A of the house. Photograph: Brian Ashby/Courtesy of Aaron Kirman and Matt Adamo of AKG | Christie’s International Real Estate
Chris Hanley, known for producing films like the Virgin Suicides, American Psycho, and Spring Breakers, has described the “Invisible House” as part art project, part residence, which was inspired in part by a monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey and by his old friend, Andy Warhol.
Just buying the glass for the house’s construction cost nearly $700,000, he told the Wall Street Journal. Hanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the property.
“It’s so close with nature and so integrated with the rock formations and everything in the desert. That’s probably the most exciting and appealing aspect,” Adamo said.
One of Adamo’s favorite aspects of the house is that “the sun literally goes from sunrise to sunset in the [master] bedroom. You could stay there all day and see the house light up in different ways from the angle of the sun and the stars”.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 20, 2023
White House prepares new tenant protections, alarming housing industry

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The industry is bracing for “some pretty intense regulation,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, whose members include landlords. “They need to be very cautious about what they’re doing,” said Howard, who was one of a handful of industry representatives at a November White House meeting on tenant protections. “There’s a real chance of creating a problem that doesn’t exist.”
With a possible recession looming, the Biden administration will be looking for ways to provide relief to cash-strapped Americans suffering from a higher cost of living. Since the U.S. House is now under Republican control, the kind of sweeping economic legislation enacted during the last two years is off the table.
Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are leaning on the administration to go big by curbing rent increases at millions of units in properties with government-backed mortgages – a long-shot move the White House is not seriously weighing, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.
“People can’t afford to live,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who spearheaded a letter last week with Warren calling on President Joe Biden to issue an executive action limiting rent hikes in properties backed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage financiers. “We want to push the president as far as possible to lighten the burden of rent on everyday people.”
Democrats want the administration to enact new restrictions on rent hikes and punish landlords they accuse of price-gouging — “not just principles, not just guidelines, but what can the president do through executive action to lighten the burden on people and put more money in their pockets,” Bowman said in an interview.
The White House declined to comment on the specifics of potential new regulations, pointing to a statement it released last week in response to the letter from Democrats.
“We are exploring a broad set of administrative actions that further our commitment to ensuring a fair and affordable market for renters across the nation,” spokesperson Robyn Patterson said. “We look forward to continuing to work with lawmakers to strengthen tenant protections and improve rental affordability.”
While rent is still driving up overall inflation — thanks in part to a data lag in the official inflation gauge — the national median rent has fallen for four straight months, according to the latest data from Apartment List. New lease demand plummeted in the second half of 2022, when the net demand for apartments fell into negative territory for the first time since 2009, according to an analysis by RealPage Market Analytics.

“Complicating this process isn’t good at any time in the market cycle,” said Greg Brown, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Apartment Association. “But we’re in the fourth straight month of rent declines. I think things are adjusting again, so it does raise the question, are they responding to a situation of three to four months ago, not what is currently happening or will be happening in the near future?”
The association and 10 other industry groups urged Biden to resist pressure to lay new federal requirements on top of existing regulations and said that doing so would “further exacerbate affordability challenges,” in a letter last month.
Even as demand eases, the market is about to see a surge in supply – portending additional price cuts. More apartment units are currently under construction than at any point since 1970.
“A lot of rental supply is going to be completing in 2023 — we’re going to see more completions than we have in 40-plus years,” said Jay Parsons, chief economist at RealPage, a property management software provider. “The balance of power really has shifted toward renters — they’re going to have more options, more competitive pricing and better deals.”
Bowman and tenant advocates argue that modest declines in rents – the national median fell 0.8 percent in December – barely make a dent in tenants’ expenses after the eye-popping gains of the last few years.
Even after falling from its July peak, the median asking price in November was still 20.9 percent higher than it was at the same time in 2019, before the pandemic struck, according to the latest monthly rent report from Realtor.com. About 53 percent of tenants said their rent had increased by more than $100 per month over the last year, according to the latest Household Pulse survey by the Census Bureau.
Rent was increasing even before Covid, Bowman said, adding that many of his constituents spend over half their income on housing.
“The cooling effect in the market isn’t meaningfully changing conditions for tenants,” said Tara Raghuveer, director of the Homes Guarantee campaign at People’s Action. Raghuveer also attended the November White House meeting.
“The rent is still too damn high,” she said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 18, 2023
Mother-son duo charred alive as fire guts house in Surankote Poonch

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A woman and her 3-year-old son were charred alive as their house was burnt in a massive fire amplified by the domestic gas cylinder blast in Surankote area of the Poonch district, officials said on Thursday.
They said the owner of the house, Shokat Hussain, was also injured while his three other children succeeded in escaping unhurt in the fire incident which took place at Chandimarh B Ward No.04, Baffliaz Surankote during the wee hours.
Soon after the fire, locals and police rushed to spot and by the time fire was brought under control, 35-year-old Hamida Begum wife of Shokat Hussain and Aqib Hussain (3) were found charred alive and their bodies recovered. House owner Showkat Hussain was injured and has been hospitalized, they added.
Police post Incharge Bheramgalla PSI Naresh Kaith, who led the police party in rescuing other family members and bringing the fire under control, confirmed to GNS that mother-son duo was killed in the unfortunate incident. He said a case has been registered and further investigations taken up.
Sarpanch Buffliaz B Tahira Tabassum while expressing anguish over the incident demanded immediate relief to the affected family.

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November 24, 2022
Mother-daughter Duo Dead, Man Injured As House Collapses Due To Landslide In Surankote

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A Mother-daughter duo died while a man was injured after a house collapsed due to a landslide in Bufliyaz village of Surankote area in Poonch district on Friday.
An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the incident took place near the site of a project for upgradation of road from Rajouri to Surankote.
He said that a landslide came crushing down on a residential house, burying three family members, following which a rescue operation was launched.
“After hectic efforts all three were rescued and were taken to SDH Surankote, where mother-daughter duo was declared dead on arrival. The male member of the family was referred to GMC Associated Hospital Rajouri,” he said.
Deceased have been identified as Naseem Akhter (34) wife of Mohammad Latief and her daughter Rubina Akhter (09) and the injured has been identified as Mohammad Latief son of Mohd Hussain.

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November 4, 2022