PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's police arrested three men on suspicion of killing two transgender women with daggers at their home in the country's conservative northwest, police said on Wednesday.
District police chief Zahur Babar Afridi told reporters that the men were arrested Tuesday over the killings, which took place Sunday in Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The men, who were handcuffed and whose faces were covered with hoods, were present at the police news conference. Afridi said the three men had confessed to the killings during questioning.
Their arrest came a day after representatives of trans community in northwestern Pakistan urged police to detain the perpetrators.
Transgender people are often subjected to harassment, abuse and attacks in Muslim-majority Pakistan. They are also among the victims of so-called honor killings carried out by relatives to punish perceived sexual transgressions.
Mardan is located 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Muslim cleric and transgender persons attend a prayer ceremony for their colleagues, who were killed by two men armed with daggers at their home, in Mardan, a city in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Arif Khan)
A local resident stands beside the bloodstained area, where two transgender women were killed outside their home, in Mardan, a city in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Arif Khan)
HONG KONG (AP) — World stocks were mixed on Wednesday under pressure from a rising U.S. dollar and uncertainties over the U.S. election.
European markets opened mostly lower, with Germany’s DAX dropping less than 0.1% at 19,414.73. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.3% to 7,511.72. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 8,312.97. The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 0.3%.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8% to close at 38,104.86 as the dollar rose against the Japanese yen.
Tokyo Metro Co.’s stock surged 45% during its trading debut on early Wednesday. The company raised 348.6 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in its initial public offering, making it Japan’s largest IPO since SoftBank Corp. went public in 2018.
Chinese markets rose for a second day after the central bank cut its one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rates on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.3% to 20,760.15, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 3,302.80.
State media have reported that a state-backed think tank has proposed issuing 2 trillion yuan ($281 billion) in special government bonds to create a market stabilization fund aiming to further ease the hidden debt pressures and inject confidence into Chinese markets.
“Yet, despite the bold proposal, there’s a sense that Beijing remains in reactionary mode, playing catch-up rather than getting ahead of the game,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 8,216.00. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.1% higher at 2,599.62.
Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.9%, while the Sensex in India gained 0.2%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 edged down less than 0.1% and the Dow slipped less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
Stocks have slowed their record-breaking momentum this week under increasing pressure from rising Treasury yields.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.20%, where it was late Monday. That’s well above the 4.08% level it was at just on Friday. Higher yields for Treasurys can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks, which critics say already look too expensive.
Treasury yields have been climbing following a raft of reports showing the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes that the economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without the painful recession that many had worried was inevitable.
Traders are now largely expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point more through the end of the year, according to data from CME Group. A month ago, some of those same traders were betting on the federal funds rate ending the year as much as half a percentage point lower than that.
In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 76 cents to $70.98 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 76 cents to $75.28 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 152.77 Japanese yen from 151.08 yen. The euro fell to $1.0786 from $1.0800.
A banner for LATAM Airlines hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
