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Showing posts from April 26, 2020

Isis mounts deadly assault on Iraqi militia members near Samarra

Two criminal petitions were filed by lawyer Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of the parents—Ruth Pearl and Judie Pearl—against the acquittal and release of the four accused. The parents of murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl have approached Pakistan’s Supreme Court to challenge the verdict by the Sindh High Court in April that overturned the death sentence for British-born mastermind Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been convicted in the case in 2002.  Two criminal petitions were filed by lawyer Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of the parents—Ruth Pearl and Judie Pearl—against the acquittal and release of the four accused. “The decision by the Sindh High Court to free the men in the murder of Daniel Pearl is a complete miscarriage of justice. It is a defining case for the Pakistani state and its judicial system, involving freedom of the press, the sanctity of every life, freedom from terror and the manifestation of a welcoming and safe Pakistan to the world. Rarely has any court case embodied an

Isis mounts deadly assault on Iraqi militia members near Samarra

Series of recent attacks raises concern the group is staging a comeback in the country Islamic State  militants have killed at least 10 Iraqi militia members in a coordinated overnight assault near the central city of Samarra, adding to concerns that the group, which once controlled large areas of the country, is staging a comeback. The Iraqi military and the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shia militias allied with the government, confirmed the attack in separate statements. It was the deadliest in a series of attacks in recent weeks that come as the country’s economic crisis deepens and the authorities try to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The PMF said six of its fighters had been killed by direct fire late on Friday in the village of Mekeeshfa, about 60 miles (95km) north of Baghdad. Another three fighters were killed by a roadside bomb as reinforcements were called in. A tenth was shot dead in the nearby village of Tal al-Dahab. Iraq declared victory ove

Civil war, poverty and now the virus: Afghanistan stands on the brink

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The main hospital in Zabul, southern Afghanistan, was abandoned after a  Taliban attack last September  destroyed most of the building and killed nearly 40 people. But when coronavirus slipped into the province this spring, desperate health authorities, casting around for ways to fight this new enemy, settled on its shattered remains. The paediatric ward, the only part of the building still standing, was refurbished and opened as an isolation centre for patients with Covid-19. It now stands beside the ruins of the rest of the hospital as a symbol of the terrible double challenge Afghanistan faces in fighting the virus while still in the middle of a long and bloody  civil war. “After the  Taliban  destroyed our main hospital, something remained and we made a two-storey building from that to hospitalise Covid patients,” said Dr Lal Mohammad Tokhi, head of the pubic health directorate in Zabul. “We have plenty of protective materials like mask and gloves. We need ventilators but are expec

Pakistani journalist who reported on atrocities in Balochistan found dead

Hussain, 39, went missing on March 2 and his body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river that runs through Uppsala. Swedish police say they have identified a body found late last month in a river as that of missing Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain. Police in Uppsala, a university town around 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Stockholm, said Friday that they had initially launched a murder investigation, but suspicions of foul play have weakened following an autopsy. “But we’re still waiting for a few more answers,” police spokesman Jonas Eronen told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. Hussain, 39, went missing on March 2 and his body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river that runs through Uppsala. A native of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Hussain was the editor and publisher of the online magazine Balochistan Times that he founded in 2015. He fled Pakistan in 2012 after his reporting on corruption, forced disappearances and human rights violations in the region resulted in the

New name, same terror group: LeT becomes TRF for Pakistan to save itself from FATF axe

Srinagar/New Delhi: Keen to show that it is acting on terror groups, Pakistan has done what it has been doing in the past, changing names of terror groups and this time to save itself from the axe of the anti-terror financing group, Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It has emerged that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been renamed as another terror group, The Resistance Front (TRF). Zee News   Intelligence inputs confirmed, in a bid to save itself from FATF rap, Pakistan changed LeT's name to TRF. This comes as Islamabad tries to convince the FATF that it is working on the deadline to fulfill its commitments. The FATF has postponed the deadline for Pakistan among other countries by four months. The group has been involved in a number of attacks in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. While LeT has been listed by the United Nations (UN) and has been banned globally, the group formed under the new name has no such ban. Zee News   Intelligence inputs confirmed, in a bid to save itself

How Beijing is reigniting Hong Kong's protests

© Anthony WALLACE  Flashmob rallies have resurfaced in Hong Kong  Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters want to reignite their movement after a coronavirus lockdown lull, angered by a flurry of moves by China to subdue them. Flashmob rallies have resurfaced in recent days and protesters are calling for a bigger show of force on Friday's Labor Day holiday. Violent demonstrations last year paralysed the city of seven million people for months, driven by anger over Beijing chipping away at their freedoms. China's communist leaders have only sought to tighten that control during the coronavirus pandemic. Here is an explainer on how China's latest tactics are rekindling the pro-democracy movement: New bosses The year began with Beijing appointing two key officials to deal with Hong Kong. Luo Huining was put in charge of the Liaison Office -- which represents China's central government in Hong Kong -- while Xia Baolong took over the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.  Ana

Racism Covid19: Women, minorities and people of colour bear burden of front-line work during pandemic

The burden has been borne unevenly across gender, racial and socioeconomic lines, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data in the country’s 100 largest cities. They are mostly women, people of color and more likely to be immigrants. As America tentatively emerges from weeks of lockdowns, the pandemic has taken its toll on workers who have been on the front lines all along. They have been packing and delivering supplies, caring for the sick and elderly, and keeping streets and buildings clean. They have also watched their co-workers fall ill. Thousands have gotten sick themselves. Many have died. The burden has been borne unevenly across gender, racial and socioeconomic lines, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data in the country’s 100 largest cities. They are mostly women, people of color and more likely to be immigrants. Workers deemed “essential” are also more likely to live below the federal poverty line or hover just above it. They are more likely

Racism on the rise in China amid virus propaganda

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ABC News – For Andrew, a black American living in China and teaching English for the past two years, life had been pretty good. “As a black foreigner, because China was closed for so long, there is a novelty about seeing foreigners,” he said. “It’s part of life that you just get used to here, and it’s never been malicious.” But about two weeks ago, that all changed, he said. As COVID-19 cases originating in China appeared to decrease, and cases that the government said were brought into the country from abroad increased, being foreign in China, and especially being black, meant feeling unwelcome in certain places. “In the past couple of weeks, things have changed drastically,” Andrew, who has been teaching in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, told ABC News. He asked that ABC use only his first name, as he and his employer are wary of the risk of retaliation from Chinese authorities. American authorities appear to be well-aware of the issue. In an April 13 health alert, the U.S. Con

Yemen war a quagmire for Saudi Arabia like America’s Vietnam War: Scholar

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The Saudi war on the impoverished people of Yemen has become a quagmire for Saudi Arabia as the Vietnam War became a quagmire for the United States in the 1960s and ‘70s, according to Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday as Washington marked the 45th anniversary of its humiliating exit from Vietnam on April 30, 1975 after twenty years of death and destruction there.  Many independent analysts are comparing the Saudi war on the impoverished people of Yemen to the Vietnam War. One million Yemenis risk losing shelter due to lack of funds: UN The United Nations refugee agency says nearly one million displaced people in Yemen risk losing their shelter due to a dire lack of funding at a time when the county is already threatened by the new coronavirus pandemic. Saudi Arabia and a nu