Supreme Court Acquits Four Muslim Convicts in Ahmedabad 2003 Riots, Says Testimonies of Witnesses Not Credible
New Age Islam News Bureau
20 September 2023
The Supreme Court of India
File picture
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India
·
Thasra (Gujarat) Violence: Hindutva
Goons Start Stone Pelting On Masjid Shouting Anti-Muslim Slogans During “Shobha
Yatra”
·
'Secular', 'Socialist' Missing from
Copies of Constitution Given to Lawmakers: Congress Leader
·
How India Middle East Europe Corridor
will help India counter China's Belt & Road initiative & Pakistan
·
Government cited COVID outbreak and
subsequent nationwide vaccination efforts as reasons for delay in notifying CAA
rules
·
Jammu and Kashmir: One more soldier dead,
two militants confirmed killed in Anantnag
·
India-Malaysia review bilateral ties at
12th defence cooperation panel meet
------
Europe
·
Dead UK minor suffered ‘constellation
of injuries’, court told
·
European Parliament calls for
sanctions on Azerbaijan
·
Police detain journalist over
report of France’s complicity in Egypt’s killing of civilians in 2018-19
-------
Africa
·
Libyans protest against
authorities in flood-hit Derna
·
Five months of conflict in
Sudan inflict heavy toll on children in camps
·
Submit Illegal Firearms to
Divisional Headquarters – Nigerian Police Tell Residents
·
Deadly Disease Outbreak Kills
Over 1200 Children in War-Torn Sudan – UN
-------
Arab World
·
Saudi Arabia welcomes positive
results in discussion with Sanaa delegation
·
On the sidelines of UNGA 78,
Saudi FM meets counterparts, officials
·
After Saudi border killings,
Germany's police training comes under scrutiny
·
Exhibition on Saudi Arabia’s
history launches ahead of National Day
·
Over 100 Historical Sites to Be
Developed in Makkah and Madinah
·
Saudi agents thwart drug
smuggling operations across Kingdom
·
Fourth planeload of Saudi aid
arrives in Libya
-------
Mideast
·
Anti-Iran terrorists
‘disarmed’, pushed back ‘deep’ into Iraq: Baghdad
·
Resolving Israeli-Palestinian
conflict ‘key’ to Mideast security: Algerian president
·
Wooden Hypostyle Mosques in
Türkiye added to UNESCO World Heritage list
·
27 deaths in hostilities in
Karabakh: report
·
Israeli forces kill four
Palestinians in Gaza, occupied West Bank
-------
Pakistan
·
Pakistan Not Surprised By
‘India’s Terrorism’ In Canada: Foreign Secretary
·
Caretaker PM Attends Opening
Ceremony Of 78th UNGA's Session
·
Illegal appointments case:
Ex-CM Elahi remanded in judicial custody
·
British-Pakistani trio to face
murder trial over girl's death
·
Saudi crown prince likely to
visit Pakistan next month
·
CJ asked to schedule early
hearings of Imran’s cases
·
PBC slams case on lawyer
protesting inflation
-------
South Asia
·
Australia Rejects 50,000 Afghan
Humanitarian Visa Requests
·
Three Afghan Shia Militia
Members Die In Syrian Desert Attack
·
No change in policy towards
Taliban administration: White House Spokesperson
·
UNAMA Head Meets With Muttaqi
in Advance of UNSC Meeting
·
Over 100 Afghan Security
Outposts Built Along Durand Line
·
ADB raises growth forecast for
Bangladesh’s economy to 6.5% for FY24
·
Minister Khairkhwah Discusses
Cultural Initiatives with Nangarhar Governor
-------
North America
·
Sikh
And Muslim Leaders Call on Canada to Do More to Protect Citizens Targeted by
Foreign Actors
·
New
Jersey Mayor Mohamed Khairullah Files Lawsuit to End Federal Terrorist
Screening Dataset Watch List
·
Canada Sikh, Muslim Groups
Demand India Cooperate with Nijjar Murder Probe
·
US Issues More Sanctions over
Islamic Republic’s Drone Program
·
US ‘goodwill’ needed to revive
2015 nuclear deal: Iranian president
·
US government at rising risk of
shutdown with Congress in deadlock
·
US warns Azerbaijan to end
military operation
-------
Southeast Asia
·
Singapore Cops: Teen to Be
Charged After Allegedly Robbing Another Person at Knifepoint in Tampines Store
·
Cops arrest nine, seize five
firearms and bullets in Johor raids
·
Don’t blame current govt for
our problems: farmer
·
Lawyers for Singapore man on
trial for murder of daughter confined naked in toilet seeks to impeach wife as
prosecution witness
Compiled by
New Age Islam News Bureau
------
Supreme
Court Acquits Four Muslim Convicts in Ahmedabad 2003 Riots, Says Testimonies of
Witnesses Not Credible
The
Supreme Court of India
File
picture
-----
20.09.23
R.
Balaji
The
Supreme Court has acquitted four men convicted in connection with communal
riots in Ahmedabad city in 2003 that led to a death on the ground that the
testimonies of witnesses were not credible as pinpointing the role of
individuals in a mob of 1,000-1,500 was difficult in the absence proper
corroboration.
The four
acquitted convicts are Javed Shaukat Ali Khan, who is also the appellant in the
case, Mehboob Khan Allarakha, Said Khan alias Anna Iqbal Husain, and Amjad Khan
Nasir Khan Pathan.
Two of
the convicts — Mehboob Khan and Said Khan — were acquitted on the ground of
parity although they had not filed an appeal against Gujarat High Court's
verdict upholding their conviction. The high court had reduced their sentence
to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment from the life term imposed by a sessions
court.
In the
case of Amjad Khan, the Supreme Court recalled its 2018 order dismissing his
appeal against his conviction. The court pointed to the acquittal of three
co-convicts who were freed earlier.
Advocate
Shoeb Alam, the amicus curiae, had told the court that some other convicts had
earlier been acquitted by it after discarding the testimonies of two
prosecution witnesses. However, on the same set of testimonies, Mehboob Khan
and Said Khan were convicted by the high court.
Source: telegraphindia.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/supreme-court-acquits-ahmedabad-riot-convicts-says-testimonies-of-witnesses-not-credible/cid/1967472
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Muslim
Leaders Criticize the West at The UNGA Over Quran Burnings Protected as Free
Speech as Discriminatory
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi holds a Quran as he addresses the UN
General Assembly in New York on September 19. AP
-----
September
19, 2023.
Muslim
leaders addressing the United Nations on Tuesday berated the West over burnings
of the Quran, denouncing the acts protected as free speech as discriminatory.
Sweden
has seen a series of burnings of the Islamic holy book, with the government
voicing condemnation but saying it cannot stop acts protected under laws on
free expression.
For all
the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who has put pressure for months on Sweden
over its welcome to Kurdish activists Turkey sees as terrorists -- said that
Western countries were seeing “a plague” of racism including Islamophobia.
“It has
reached intolerable levels,” he told the UN General Assembly.
“Unfortunately,
populist politicians in many countries continue to play with fire by
encouraging such dangerous trends,” he said.
“The
mentality that encourages the hideous attacks against the Holy Quran in Europe,
by allowing them under the guise of freedom of expression, is essentially
darkening (Europe’s) own future through its own hands.”
Protests
in Sweden that have involved Quran burnings have been organized by refugee
Salwan Momika, sparking outrage in the Middle East including his native Iraq.
Erdogan
in July said he would lift a blockade on Sweden’s bid to join NATO but the
Turkish parliament has not yet ratified the country’s membership.
Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi, a cleric representing the Shia theocratic state, held
up a Quran at the UN rostrum.
“The
fires of disrespect will not overcome the divine truth,” Raisi said, accusing
the West of seeking to “divert attention with the tool of freedom of speech.”
“Islamophobia
and cultural apartheid witnessed in Western countries -- evident in actions
ranging from the desecration of the holy Quran to the ban on the hijab in
schools -- and numerous other deplorable discriminations are not worthy of
human dignity,” Raisi said.
He was
alluding to France, which has controversially banned Muslim girls wearing
hijabs in schools.
The emir
of Qatar, the kingdom with close ties both with the West and the rest of the
Islamic world, in his speech said that “compromising the sanctity of others
deliberately” should not be seen as freedom of expression.
“I would
say to my Muslim brethren that it is implausible for us to get distracted by an
idiot or a biased person whenever it occurs to him to provoke us by burning the
holy Quran or by other forms of triviality,” said the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin
Hamad Al Thani.
“The
Quran is too holy to be desecrated by a witless person.”
Source: english.alarabiya.net
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/09/20/Muslim-leaders-criticize-the-West-at-the-UN-General-Assembly-over-Quran-burnings
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ISWAP
Terrorists Slaughter Member For Allegedly Diverting Funds For Personal Use
Ali al-Qhoom, member of the Political Bureau of Yemen's popular
resistance Ansarullah movement
------
September
20, 2023
The
Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) has killed one of its members for
diversion of funds.
A
counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, disclosed this in a tweet on
Tuesday.
According
to Makama, the murdered ISWAP member was sent to buy food stuff but diverted
the money for personal use.
The
counter-insurgency expert said the deceased was tied for about two hours before
he was slaughtered in Ajikur in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State.
Borno is
in Northeastern Nigeria and is the epicentre of insurgency in the country.
“ISWAP
terrorists have slaughtered their own member for diverting funds. The ISWAP
member was sent to buy food stuff but diverted the money for personal use,” he
posted.
“The
member was tied for about two hours before he was later slaughtered in Ajikur
in Damboa LGA.”
This is
coming a few weeks after several members of the group and fighters of the Boko
Haram lost their lives during a clash between the two camps in Borno state.
The
rival groups have been attacking communities in the Northeast region since both
camps fell apart over leadership issues.
The
groups have also since been having clashes, and Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko
Haram, was reportedly killed during one of such clashes in 2021.
Source: saharareporters.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://saharareporters.com/2023/09/20/iswap-terrorists-slaughter-member-allegedly-diverting-funds-personal-use
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Yemen's
Ansarullah Upbeat About Peace Talks with Saudi Arabia
Photo: Sahara Reporter
-----
19
September 2023
Yemen's
popular resistance Ansarullah movement has voiced optimism about the quality of
earlier talks in Saudi Arabia on the potential of putting an end to a hugely
deadly war that Riyadh and its allies have been waging against Yemen since
2015.
"Negotiations
with Saudi Arabia were serious and positive," Ali al-Qhoom, a member of
Ansarullah's Political Bureau, was quoted by Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television
network on Tuesday as saying.
"There
existed optimism regarding elimination of [standing] obstacles and
complications concerning the humanitarian files," he added.
Qhoom's
comments came following five days of Omani-mediated negotiations between a
visiting Ansarullah delegation with Saudi officials in the kingdom's capital of
Riyadh.
Saudi
officials reportedly holds direct talks with Yemen’s Ansarullah over a
permanent ceasefire to end the war, leaving its allied parties in the cold.
The
Yemeni delegation has now returned to the Yemeni capital of Sana'a for
consultations with the leaders of Yemen's Supreme Political Council.
According
to Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the council, the Yemeni delegation would revisit
Riyadh for "completion" of consultations with the Saudi party.
Saudi
Arabia and a number of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, began
the war in March 2015 to restore power in Yemen to the impoverished country's
Western- and Riyadh-allied government.
The
former Yemeni government’s president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, resigned from the
presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with
Ansarullah. The movement has been running Yemen’s affairs in the absence of a
functioning administration.
The war
and a concomitant siege that the Saudi-led coalition has been imposing on Yemen
has, meanwhile, caused the death of tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the
entire country into the site of, what the United Nations has described as the
world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Source: presstv.ir
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original]
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/09/19/711175/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-peace-talks-Ansarullah
------
Iranian
President Raeisi At UN: Global Americanization Project Has Failed
Iran's President Ebrahim Raeisi addresses the 78th session of the United
Nations General Assembly, in New York on September 19, 2023. (Photo by IRNA)
-----
19
September 2023
Addressing
the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President
Ebrahim Raeisi says the global Americanization project has failed.
"The
world is irreversibly transitioning into a novel order. The Western domination
equation does not work for the world anymore, and the old liberal order that
used to serve the interests of imperialists and insatiable capitalists, has
been brushed to one side," Raeisi told the session in New York on Tuesday.
"The
project to Americanize the world has failed," he noted, adding, "The
Iranian nation prides itself on playing, thanks to the Islamic Revolution, the
biggest role in unmasking the imperialists in the East and the West."
Iran's
regional, intl. policy
Elsewhere
in his remarks, the president noted that Iran had opened up a new chapter of
mutually beneficial relations with its neighbors.
"The
Islamic Republic's neighborly policy is a benevolent policy for the region. We
firmly clasp any hand that is extended [towards us] in friendship," Raeisi
said.
The
Islamic Republic supports maximal intra-regional and inter-regional economic
and political convergence, and is interested in interaction with the entire
world on the basis of justice, he stated.
On the
Qur'an's desecration
The
president, meanwhile, condemned the desecration earlier this year of the Holy
Qur'an in Sweden and Denmark.
"The
Noble Qur'an has banned affront to ideas and beliefs...," he reminded,
asking, "What defines humanity and elevates human values better than God
Almighty's word?"
"This
is not the first time that they burn God's words, and suppose that they have
muffled the heaven's voice forever," he said, adding, "But the
Qur'anic teachings for the human communities shall never burn, and the flames
of insult and distortion shall be no match for the truth."
Raeisi
said Islamophobia in its whatever form, whether it is the burning of the Holy
Qur'an or banning of the Islamic dress code at schools, amounts to
hatemongering.
"There
is a bigger design behind these instances of hatemongering, and relegating them
to the 'freedom of speech' is misleading," the Iranian statesman
cautioned.
Iran
against division of world into new 'East, West'
Now that
the world's independent countries are moving towards further cooperation and
convergence, Raeisi said, "we are witnessing endeavor on the part of some
powers towards kindling the flames of conflict across various regions."
Maintaining
a Cold War mentality, these powers are after dividing the international
community into its former blocs, he said.
"This
measure is reactionary and does disservice to nations' security and welfare.
The Islamic Republic firmly believes that no new East and West should be
allowed to take shape [across the world]."
'Iran
nation victorious against foreign plots'
Raeisi
hailed that last year, the Iranian nation had managed to overcome "the
biggest media offensive and psychological warfare in history."
He was
referring to the incessant media and political campaign that followed the
unfortunate death in police custody of a young Iranian girl named Mahsa Amini.
The
president said -- in their efforts to sow chaos across the country by misusing
the tragedy --, certain Western countries and their intelligence services had
committed a "miscalculation" by underestimating the Iranian nation's
strength.
West's
selective approach towards terrorism
Raeisi
denounced some Western states for their "using terrorism as a foreign
policy instrument."
He
reminded that some European countries, despite laying claim to fighting
terrorism, had turned into a safe haven for a terrorist group that has shed the
blood of more than 17,000 Iranian civilians and officials, referring to the
Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO).
"Discrimination
in fighting terrorism serves as a go-ahead to terrorists," Raeisi warned.
'Israel
can't be a partner to peace'
The
Iranian president considered the Israeli regime to be the world's last entity
that is "based on apartheid and racism, which has been founded on the
basis of war, occupation, terrorism, and violation of peoples' rights."
Such an
entity "cannot be a partner to peace," he asserted.
"Has
not the time come for putting an end to 75 years of occupation of the
Palestinian land and oppression of its people and massacre of its women and
children, and for the Palestinian nation's rights to be recognized?"
On the
war in Ukraine
Raeisi
reasserted Iran's opposition to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"We
do not consider warfare in Europe to be in the interest of any European
party," he said.
Iran
welcomes whatever initiative that is aimed at ending the conflict and
initiation of the political process, he said, and voiced the Islamic Republic's
readiness to play a constructive role towards cessation of the hostilities.
Source: presstv.ir
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/09/19/711176/Iran-President-Ebrahim-Raeisi-address-United-Nations-General-Assembly-New-York
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India
Thasra
(Gujarat) violence: Hindutva goons start
stone pelting on Masjid shouting anti-Muslim slogans during “Shobha yatra”
September
19, 2023
By
Muslim Mirror Staff
A recent
religious procession, locally known as “Shobhayatra,” in Thasra, Gujarat, took
a violent turn, when a Hindu procession allegedly entered a Muslim locality and
shouted anti-Muslim slogans and pelted stones on mosques.
A video
of the incident went viral on social media, raising concerns over media bias
and communal tensions in the region.
The
incident highlights a growing pattern where Hindu organizations organize
processions, particularly through Muslim neighborhoods, often resulting in
provocative actions.
The
procession commenced from a specific location on September 15, 2023, and
tensions quickly escalated. Hindu participants, as part of the procession,
gathered near mosques, madrasas, and dargahs, playing loud music and engaging
in slogans and gestures. Despite these provocative acts, the Muslim community
largely maintained peace.
However,
when Muslims attempted to respond or protect their religious sites, reports
suggest that clashes occurred.
Disturbingly,
mainstream media outlets have faced allegations of biased reporting, focusing
primarily on Muslim reactions while downplaying or misrepresenting the actions
of Hindu participants.
Additionally,
there have been allegations of police registering false cases against Muslim
individuals, leading to harsh legal actions against them.
This
alarming trend has been ongoing for the past decade, with the public,
government, and opposition parties seemingly turning a blind eye to the
discrimination and injustice faced by the Muslim community.
To
address this concerning situation, there are calls for the administration to
take strict legal action against the organizers of such processions in case
violence erupts. Implementing stringent laws against those responsible could
help curb these incidents and maintain peace.
However,
some believe that the government’s reluctance to take such measures may
contribute to the continuation of these communal tensions.
Source: muslimmirror.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://muslimmirror.com/eng/concerns-over-media-bias-during-communal-tensions-in-gujarat/
------
'Secular',
'socialist' missing from copies of Constitution given to lawmakers: Congress
leader
PTI New
Delhi, 20.09.23
Congress
leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that the words
"secular" and "socialist" were missing from the Preamble in
the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of the new
Parliament building.
However,
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the copies carried the original version of
the Preamble of the Constitution and that these words were added later to it
after constitutional amendments. "This is as per the original Preamble.
Amendments were made later," he asserted.
Terming
the matter as serious, Chowdhury said the words have been "cleverly
removed" and expressed doubts over the intentions of the BJP government.
"The
Preamble of the Constitution in the copy that we carried to the new building
does not include the words secular and socialist. They have been cleverly
removed...this is a serious matter and we will raise this issue," he told
reporters.
Chowdhury
said he knows that the words were added later in 1976 to the Constitution.
"For
me this is a serious issue. I doubt their intentions as their heart does not
seem to be clear on this," he said.
The
Congress Leader of the House in Lok Sabha also said that if someone gives a
copy of the Constitution today, it should carry the version of it as of today.
Binoy
Viswam of the CPI-M termed the omission of the words as a "crime",
Several opposition MPs, including those from the Left and other parties, are
likely to raise the matter at their meeting.
Source: telegraphindia.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/secular-socialist-missing-from-copies-of-constitution-given-to-lawmakers-congress-leader-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury/cid/1967570
------
How
India Middle East Europe Corridor will help India counter China's Belt &
Road initiative & Pakistan
Sep 20, 2023
India
Middle East Europe Corridor: At the recently concluded G20 Summit, one of the
biggest takeaways with important geopolitical and economic implications was the
announcement of the India Middle East Europe Corridor or the IMEC. The new
corridor, the details of which are in works, is being seen as an answer to
China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
At its
historic unveiling during the G20 Summit, PM Narendra Modi called the India
Middle East Europe Economic Corridor a “beacon of cooperation and innovation”.
In his post on X (formerly Twitter), Modi said, “Charting a journey of shared
aspirations and dreams, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor promises
to be a beacon of cooperation, innovation, and shared progress. As history
unfolds, may this corridor be a testament to human endeavour and unity across
continents.”
So what
is the India Middle East Europe Corridor project about? And how will it be a
gamechanger for India? In this week’s episode of TOI Business Bytes, Professor
Harsh V Pant, Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at Observer
Research Foundation (ORF) shares some important economic and geopolitical
benefits of this ambitious and mammoth project.
Watch
the video above to know why this new corridor is being called India and the
world’s alternative to China’s BRI and how once ready it will help India
counter not just China but also Pakistan.
“I think
that Pakistan is being made almost redundant in India's connectivity landscape.
And this allows India to leverage economic benefits…China's expansion of BRI
has also constrained India. So on the one hand, you have Pakistan, on the
other, you have China,” Professor Pant tells TOI.
“India,
by involving like minded partners like Europe, US and some countries in the
Middle East, is trying to make a push that India with its partnerships can
leverage them for its economic advantages,” he adds.
Watch
the video above to know the lessons India can learn from China’s BRI and why
economic viability of the project would be key to its success.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/how-india-middle-east-europe-corridor-will-help-india-counter-chinas-bri-pakistan-watch-video/articleshow/103796146.cms
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Government
cited COVID outbreak and subsequent nationwide vaccination efforts as reasons
for delay in notifying CAA rules
20th
September 2023
The
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), which aims to grant citizenship to
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from three countries,
is once again in the headlines as the central government is likely to notify
the rules for it.
Quoting
sources, News18 reported that the central government may soon notify rules for
the CAA, and then a national census will be conducted. Following the national
census, the government will proceed with delimitations, the sources added.
COVID
delays notifying CAA rules
CAA is
an amendment act that was passed in 2019, making Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Parsis, Jains, and Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
eligible for Indian citizenship if they have entered India on or before
December 31, 2014.
As it
makes religion one of the criteria for citizenship, it has faced condemnation
from various corners of the country.
A
massive protest was also held back in 2019, with many political leaders linking
the law to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The protest ended due to
the outbreak of COVID-19.
The
government cited the COVID outbreak and subsequent nationwide vaccination
efforts as the reasons for the delay in notifying the rules for the
implementation of CAA.
Delimitation
may put South Indian states at disadvantage: KTR
As the
central government may also conduct the next delimitation, the process of
redrawing the boundaries of constituencies or electoral districts within a
country, many leaders from South Indian states, including Telangana IT Minister
KT Rama Rao, have recently voiced concerns about the exercise.
He
highlighted that it could potentially put the South Indian states at a
disadvantage.
Citing a
report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, KTR has emphasised
that the seat share of northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar would
surpass that of the entire southern region, comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana.
As the
government may notify the CAA rules and proceed with the delimitation process,
it is likely to trigger reactions from various sections of society.
Source: siasat.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.siasat.com/is-govt-gearing-up-to-notify-caa-rules-2701113/
------
Jammu
and Kashmir: One more soldier dead, two militants confirmed killed in Anantnag
20.09.23
Muzaffar
Raina
The
seven-day-long operation in the rugged mountainous terrain of Kashmir’s
Anantnag seemed to be drawing to a close with officials on Tuesday confirming
the deaths of two militants and one more soldier.
The
deaths have taken the toll in the gunfight in the Gadole area of Kokernag to
six. They include a colonel, a major and a deputy superintendent of police who
fell to militant bullets on Wednesday.
Officials
on Tuesday said they had recovered the body of the soldier, who was
accompanying the three officers and was missing since Wednesday. The soldier
has been identified as Sepoy Pradeep Singh of 19 Rashtriya Rifles from Punjab.
Kashmir
police chief and additional director-general Vijay Kumar said they had
recovered the body of Lashkar commander Uzair Khan, an electrician turned
militant from Nagam village in Kokernag.
Khan,
28, had quietly joined militancy last year in a departure from the earlier
trend where militants would announce their baptism to militancy through social
media.
The ADG
said the body of another militant had been spotted on the hill but had not been
retrieved so far.
Kumar
said the operation had not been called off as large stretches of the hill were
yet to be searched for unexploded shells and possibly the body of another
militant.
Sources
said guns had fallen silent in the area and there was no exchange of fire on
Tuesday.
Security
forces are inching close to the purported cave-like structure where militants
had taken refuge after going for the kill and are moving cautiously to avoid
further casualties.
“We had
reports of the involvement of two to three militants. We hope the body of the
third is also found. The search is not complete. So far, we have recovered the
body of LeT commander Uzair Khan,” Kumar told reporters.
“The
search operation will continue. One more body of a militant has been sighted
but not retrieved.… There is a big area which remains to be searched.”
Former
chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that the gunfight had negated the
official claims of normality.
“This
tells you how much peace we have achieved. There is of course peace in and
around Srinagar because they play golf here, sing with the Miss World, show you
glimpses of G20. If you want to see the situation outside Srinagar, go to
Kokernag, Uri and Rajouri,” he said.
Three
gunfights raged in Jammu and Kashmir during the past week in Kokernag, Rajouri
and Uri, claiming the lives of three officers, two jawans and six militants.
“When I
was chief minister, I never saw such a situation in Rajouri. There is a
revival of militancy in Pir Panchal (the Rajouri and Poonch districts of
Jammu). The situation is not as good as they say. They are spreading lies and
are not ready to accept the ground situation,” Omar said.
Officials
said fresh searches were conducted in the Pir Panchal region on Tuesday against
the backdrop of the suspected movement of militants.
Source: telegraphindia.com
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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/one-more-soldier-dead-two-militants-confirmed-killed-in-jammu-and-kashmirs-anantnag/cid/1967486
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India-Malaysia
review bilateral ties at 12th defence cooperation panel meet
20
September 2023| New Delhi
India
and Malaysia on Tuesday reviewed the entire spectrum of their defence ties here
and explored effective and practical initiatives to further expand bilateral
defence engagements during the 12th meeting of Malaysia-India Defence
Cooperation Committee (MIDCOM).
Giving
details of the parleys, defence ministry officials said both sides assessed the
existing defence cooperation between the two countries and held wide-ranging
discussions on issues of mutual interest including regional issues.
They
agreed to establish a Strategic Affairs working Group (SAWG) to formulate a
consultative mechanism intermediate between the MIDCOM and the two
Sub-committees to handle all aspects of the defence cooperation between the two
countries.
The
meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Deputy
Secretary General (Policy), Malaysia Mohd Yani bin Daud. During the meeting,
both sides reviewed the outcomes of the two sub-committee meetings namely Sub
Committee on Military Cooperation held on July 27, 2023 and Joint Sub Committee
on Defence Science Technology and Industry Cooperation held on September 18,
2023.
The two
chairs also articulated steps in the direction of emerging areas of cooperation
like cyber security and issues pertaining to global commons. They identified
means to enhance existing areas of collaboration, especially in the field of
defence industry, maritime security and multilateral cooperation.
During
the MIDCOM, the Defence Secretary shared an 8-point proposal with the Malaysian
side to expand cooperation between India and Malaysia on a wide range of areas
such as Government to government-level engagement, Tri-Service cooperation,
Training, UN Peacekeeping, Bilateral Services Engagement, Defence Industrial
Cooperation, Research & Development and Regional/ Sub-Regional Engagements.
The
Defence Secretary highlighted the potential of the domestic defence industry
with capacity and capability to cooperate with the Malaysian Armed Forces in
its shipbuilding and maintenance plans. Malaysia expressed confidence in the
capability of the Indian defence industry and discussed possibilities for
co-design, co-production and co-development in the field of defence industry.
Both
countries reaffirmed their commitment to implement fully the Enhanced Strategic
Partnership based on mutual trust and understanding, common interests and
shared values of democracy & rule of law.
Source: dailypioneer.com
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https://www.dailypioneer.com/2023/india/india-malaysia-review-bilateral-ties-at-12th-defence-cooperation-panel-meet.html#:~:text=India%20and%20Malaysia%20on%20Tuesday,Defence%20Cooperation%20Committee%20(MIDCOM).
------
Europe
Dead UK
minor suffered ‘constellation of injuries’, court told
September
20, 2023
LONDON:
A court was informed on Tuesday that 10-year-old Sara Sharif suffered a
“constellation” of injuries, culminating in her untimely death.
Sara’s
father Urfan Sharif, aged 41, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 29, and her uncle
Faisal Malik, 28, made their appearance at the Old Bailey in London on Tuesday
following their return from Pakistan on Sept 13, when they were apprehended at
Gatwick Airport.
The trio
will face a six-week trial for her murder next year, with a date provisionally
set for Sept 2, 2024. A plea hearing will take place on Dec 1. The charges
against them include the murder of Sara and causing or permitting the death of
a child.
Urfan
Sharif, accompanied by Batool, and his brother, Malik, fled the United Kingdom
to Pakistan just one day before Sara’s lifeless body was discovered in Woking,
Surrey, on Aug 10.
In
court, Surrey police unveiled the discovery of Sara’s lifeless body after
receiving a phone call from Pakistan that lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds,
timestamped at 2:47am on Aug 10. According to reports, the trio had booked
their flight to Pakistan two days earlier, on Aug 8.
Upon
officers’ arrival at the Sharif family residence, Sara was found lying on her
back, fully clothed under a blanket in an upstairs bunk bed. Her identity was
confirmed through DNA analysis, comparing her genetic profile to that of her
mother, Olga Sharif, residing in Somerset, as well as another relative.
Prosecutor
Giles Bedloe informed the court that Sara’s injuries included a healed
collarbone fracture, a healed hyoid bone fracture in her neck, multiple rib
fractures, extensive bruising across her torso and limbs, and a brain
haemorrhage.
A hyoid
bone fracture is a rare occurrence and is usually the result of direct trauma
to the neck because of strangulation, hanging or blunt trauma.
Mr
Bedloe asserted: “It follows Sara had been subjected to multiple events of
violence over a sustained period of time that must have culminated in her
death. There is quite a significant amount of post-mortem work ongoing and that
will continue.”
Appearing
via video-link from Belmarsh high-security jail in south London and Bronzefield
women’s prison in Surrey, Sharif, Batool, and Malik only confirmed their
identities and birthdates before the court scheduled their case timetable.
Judge
Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, revealed that a decision regarding
whether the trial should be heard by a high court judge would be made later.
All
three defendants have been remanded into custody pending their next hearing.
Source: dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1776802/dead-uk-minor-suffered-constellation-of-injuries-court-told
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European
Parliament calls for sanctions on Azerbaijan
19 Sep,
2023
The
European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has condemned what it called
Azerbaijan’s “pre-planned and unjustified” attack on the ethnic-Armenian
province of Nagorno-Karabakh. Should Baku refuse to call off the assault, the
committee recommended on Tuesday that the European Council impose sanctions on
Azerbaijan.
“In the
absence of an immediate halt to the ongoing attack, we call on the Council to
fundamentally reconsider the EU’s relations with Azerbaijan in this light, and
consider imposing sanctions against responsible Azerbaijani authorities,” read
a joint statement from committee chairman David McAllister and its rapporteurs
to the Caucasus region, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
The
Azeri military announced “counter-terrorism measures” in Nagorno-Karabakh on
Tuesday morning, as the Armenian side reported missile and artillery strikes on
the region’s capital of Stepanakert, and tank attacks along the border with
Azerbaijan. The Azeri side claimed that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh
opened fire on their positions in the early hours of the morning, a claim that
Yerevan denies.
The US,
EU, and Russia – which has a peacekeeping contingent stationed in
Nagorno-Karabakh – have all called on both sides to settle their differences
peacefully. Officials in the province itself have appealed to their Azeri
counterparts to cease fire and “sit down at the negotiating table to resolve
this situation.”
Nagorno-Karabakh
declared independence from Azerbaijan in the waning days of the USSR. The
predominantly ethnically Armenian population of the region fought a full-scale
war for its sovereignty in the 1990s and has been supported by Yerevan ever
since. A second conflict over the enclave broke out in 2020, which ended with
the loss of some territory to Azerbaijan, and left Nagorno-Karabakh linked to
Armenia by the Lachin corridor, a mountain rode that was the sole supply route
to the territory until it was blockaded by Baku-backed environmental activists
last year.
Armenia
has accused Azerbaijan of using the blockade to facilitate the “ethnic
cleansing” of Nagorno-Karabakh. In its statement on Tuesday, the committee
condemned Azerbaijan’s role in maintaining the blockade, accusing Baku of
creating a “major humanitarian crisis.”
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/news/583228-eu-sanctions-azerbaijan-armenia/
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Police
detain journalist over report of France’s complicity in Egypt’s killing of
civilians in 2018-19
20
September 2023
Police
in France have arrested an investigative journalist who reported two years ago
that Egyptian security forces had used intelligence supplied by the French
military to allegedly target and kill civilians suspected of smuggling on the
Libyan border between 2016 and 2018.
According
to the investigative website Disclose, police officers from the General
Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) detained French reporter Ariane
Lavrilleux and searched her property on Tuesday, in an attempt to find sources
of leak that revealed France’s complicity in the extrajudicial killings in
Egypt’s Western Desert.
"The
objective of this unacceptable attack on press freedom is to identify the
Disclose's sources, which made it possible to reveal the military operation
Sirli, carried out by France in Egypt on behalf of the dictatorship," the
website said in a statement.
"Accompanied
by an investigating judge, police officers from DGSI placed the journalist in
police custody as part of an investigation for compromising national defense
secrets and revealing information which may lead to the identification of a
protected agent," it added.
Lavrilleux's
lawyer Virginie Marquet, warned that the crackdown "risks seriously
undermining the confidentiality of journalists' sources", adding that her
client had "only revealed information of public interest".
In a
tweet, Reporters Without Borders also denounced Lavrilleux's arrest, saying
"We fear that the DGSI's actions will undermine the secrecy of
sources."
Lavrilleux
wrote a series of articles published on Disclose in November 2021 that was
based on hundreds of leaked classified documents, alleging that France has
provided intelligence to the Egyptian authorities as part of “Operation Sirli”
which was designed to provide intelligence on militants' movements along
Egypt's western border with Libya.
According
to leaked classified defense documents cited by Disclose, the French military
was implicated in at least 19 air strikes against civilians between 2016 and
2018. The French government has not denied the reports.
Operation
Sirli began in February 2016 during the government of President Francois
Hollande and continued despite the qualms expressed by both French military
intelligence (DRM) and the airforce about the way Egypt was using the
intelligence.
The
publication of Lavrilleux’s report two years ago prompted France’s Ministry of
the Armed Forces to call for an investigation.
It also
filed a complaint for “violation of national defense secrecy” following the
publication of the article, and a case was opened in July 2022 by the Paris
prosecutor’s office that was then handed over to the DGSI.
At the
time, Herve Grandjean, spokesperson for the defense ministry, said that the
ministry had "taken legal action after this massive leak of classified
documents", without specifying who was targeted by the complaint.
Source: presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/09/20/711183/France-police-arrest-journalist-report-French-intelligence-complicity-Egypt-killing-civilians-Libya-border
-------
Africa
Libyans
protest against authorities in flood-hit Derna
September
19, 2023
Hundreds
of protesters rallied in Libya's disaster-hit Derna on Monday, accusing the
authorities of neglect after a huge flash flood devastated the coastal city and
swept thousands to their deaths.
Demonstrators
gathered outside the city's grand mosque and chanted slogans against the
parliament in east Libya and its leader Aguilah Saleh.
"The
people want parliament to fall", "Aguila is the enemy of God",
"The blood of martyrs is not shed in vain" and "Thieves and
betrayers must hang", they shouted.
A
statement read on behalf of the protesters urged "a speedy investigation
and legal action against those responsible for the disaster".
They
also demanded a United Nations office in Derna and the start of "the
city's reconstruction, plus compensation for affected residents" and a
probe into the current city council and previous budgets.
"Those
who survived from the city, in what's left of the city, against the ones who
brought death and destruction to the city," posted analyst Anas el-Gomati
on X, formerly Twitter, under pictures of the destruction.
Politicians
and analysts say the chaos in Libya since the 2011 fall and killing of Moamer
Kadhafi has relegated the maintenance of vital infrastructure to the
background.
On
September 10, two dams in which cracks were reported as far back as 1998 burst
after Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya, unleashing a devastating and deadly
torrent that swept through Derna, a city of 100,000 people.
The
flash flood killed nearly 3,300 people and left thousands more missing.
Tens of
thousands of traumatised residents are homeless and badly need clean water,
food and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dehydration
and malnutrition, UN agencies have warned.
-
Disease outbreaks -
On
Monday the UN warned that disease outbreaks could bring "a second
devastating crisis".
Local
officials, aid agencies and the World Health Organization "are concerned
about the risk of disease outbreak, particularly from contaminated water and
the lack of sanitation", the UN said.
Libya's
disease control centre banned citizens in the disaster zone from drinking water
from local mains, warning that it is "polluted".
Rescue
teams from European and Arab countries kept up the grim search for bodies in
the mud-caked wasteland of smashed buildings, crushed cars and uprooted trees.
The
waters submerged a densely populated six-square-kilometre (2.3-square-mile)
area in Derna, damaging 1,500 buildings of which 891 were totally razed,
according to a preliminary report released by the Tripoli government based on
satellite images.
"We
grew up here, we were raised here... But we've come to hate this place, we've
come to hate what it has become," said one bereaved Derna resident, Abdul
Wahab al-Masouri.
Bulldozers
cleared roads of mud, including at a mosque where a foul smell hung in the air
and a woman prayed for children and grandchildren killed in the disaster.
Amid the
chaos, the true death toll remained unknown, with untold numbers swept into the
sea.
The
health minister of the divided country's eastern administration, Othman
Abdeljalil, has said 3,283 people were now confirmed dead in Derna.
Libyan
officials and humanitarian groups have warned, however, that the final toll
could be much higher.
- Field
hospitals -
Emergency
response teams and aid have been deployed from countries including Egypt,
France, Greece, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates.
Five
members of a Greek rescue team were killed when their vehicle collided with a
Libyan family's car on the Benghazi-to-Derna road on Sunday, officials said.
Three members of the family also died.
Egypt
has sent a helicopter carrier to the eastern Tobruk military base to serve as a
field hospital with more than 100 beds, Egyptian media reported.
France
has set up a field hospital in Derna.
On
Monday, the UN, which has launched an emergency appeal for more than $71
million, said nine of its agencies were delivering aid and support to
survivors.
The
European Union said it was releasing 5.2 million euros (around $5.5 million) in
humanitarian funding for Libya, bringing total EU aid so far to more than 5.7
million euros.
In the
face of the tragedy, rival Libyan administrations appear to have set aside
their differences for now after calls to collaborate in the aid effort.
Libya
has been split between two rival governments -- a UN-backed administration in
the capital Tripoli and another in the disaster-hit east -- since the
NATO-backed uprising 12 years ago.
On
Monday the Tripoli-based government said it began work on a temporary bridge
over the river that cuts through Derna.
UN
experts have blamed the high death toll on climatic factors as the
Mediterranean region has sweltered under an unusually hot summer, and on the
legacy of Libya's war.
Source: africanews.com
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/09/19/libyans-protest-against-authorities-in-flood-hit-dern/
--------
Five
months of conflict in Sudan inflict heavy toll on children in camps
September
19, 2023
Over
1,200 Sudanese refugees under the age of five have died in nine camps between
15 May and 14 September, with most deaths linked to suspected measles and
underlying malnutrition.
The Um
Sangour camp in Kosti, in the country's south, welcomes thousands of refugees.
The
conflict in Sudan which has entered a fifth month has overwhelmed health
facilities in the nation due to shortages of staff, lifesaving medicine and
critical equipment.
"For
70,000 people in this camp we are expected to have seven prime health care
facilities. We only have one at the moment. Therefore, additional funding is
required to increase the number of required health facilities in this refugee
camp. Not only in this refugee camp but the whole White Nile operation."
As he
speaks, countless women and children are queueing to see doctors.
Lack of
water, electricity, funds
The UN
children's agency spokesman said Tuesday (Sep. 19), the institution received
just a quarter of the $838 million (784 million euros) it had requested to help
10 million children in Sudan.
Health
conditions in the country remain extremely dire with reports of high
malnutrition, disease outbreaks and shortages of medicines, electricity and
water which is an utmost concern on the ground.
"Lack
of water will have a camp being exposed to risks and to diseases," Anas
Abo Khalaf, a Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) officer working with the
UNHCR said.
"The
need of water to perform the minimum hygiene activities on a personal level on
a household level cannot be ignored cannot be avoided and is a must to be
provided. If you want minimum the health risks that any community will be
facing the first defence you should focus on is the hygiene and the personal
hygiene."
UNICEF
alerted many thousands of newborns could die between now and the end of the
year given the dire health care situation.
Over 5.3
million people have been newly displaced by the ongoing conflict including over
one million forced to flee to neighbouring countries.
Neighbouring
countries
As of
September 6, South Sudan housed over 25,0000 Sudanese refugees/asylum seekers.
Major causes of death among returnee and refugee arrivals remain measles and
malnutrition. Alarmingly, approximately 88% of fatalities have occurred among
children under 5 years of age. In the camp of Renk (Northern South Sudan)
alone, a measles outbreak has left 59 children dead.
Malaria
cases are also on the rise accounting for 40% of all medical consultations in
Renk.
As of
September 12, 418,126 Sudanese refugees had been registered by UNHCR, according
to figures from the UNHCR Health and Nutrition Update (September 2023 issue).
93% of
them are women and children, and 22% are children under five years.
176,019
individuals have been so far relocated in seven old camps and four new refugee
camps. Screening has shown low immunity of children (60% of zero dose) and high
proxy global acute malnutrition rate (> 20%).
In
Ethiopia, which is another neighbour to Sudan, a cholera outbreak was declared
in the town of Metema of August 24. Sudanese, Eritrean and other refugees have
been arriving from Sudan and have found refuge in Metema (north-west Ethiopia).
As of 5 September, 435 cases including eight deaths were reported.
The
Amhara Regional Health Bureau (RHB) is leading the cholera response the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said with UNHCR and the government’s
Refugee and Returnee Service (RRS) part of the coordination/outbreak control
team.
If the
case fatality rate reduced from 2.3% to 1.8%, it remains high at double the
standard of below 1%.
Source: africanews.com
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/09/19/five-months-of-conflict-in-sudan-inflict-heavy-toll-on-children-in-camps/
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Submit
Illegal Firearms To Divisional Headquarters – Nigerian Police Tell Residents
September
20, 2023
The Osun
State Command of the Nigeria Police Force has called on residents of the state,
who are in possession of illegal firearms to submit them at the Divisional
Police Headquarters nearest to them as it commenced mopping up of prohibited
firearms.
The
command made the call in a Public Service Announcement No.75/2023 issued on
Tuesday which was signed by the Command's spokesperson, SP Opalola Yemisi Olawo
Yin on behalf of the State Commissioner of Police, Faleye Olaleye.
According
to the announcement, the directive is part of the Command's efforts in
addressing the proliferation and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms in
the state.
The
statement partly read: "In compliance with the directives of the
Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, PhD, NPM, toward
ensuring serene society and enforcing law and order in the country as well as
efforts by the Police High Command to curb the proliferation of prohibited
firearms in the state, the Osun State Police Command is using this medium to
call on members of the public who are in possession of illegal firearms to
submit them at the Divisional Police Headquarters nearest to them.
"The
directive is targeted at addressing the proliferation and unlawful possession
of prohibited firearms in the state."
The
Command unequivocally stated that there would be no consequences attached to
the submission of the firearms.
"The
Police Command wishes to state that there are no punitive measures attached to
the submission of the firearms; no one will be arrested/ detained.
"Therefore,
members of the public are to go to the Police Station nearest to them and
freely submit arms in their possession."
Source: saharareporters.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://saharareporters.com/2023/09/20/submit-illegal-firearms-divisional-headquarters-nigerian-police-tell-residents
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Deadly
Disease Outbreak Kills Over 1200 Children In War-Torn Sudan – UN
September
20, 2023
The
United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said that at least
1200 children under the age of five had died in refugee camps in war-torn Sudan
between mid-May and September as a result of a lethal combination of a
suspected measles outbreak and severe malnutrition.
The
deaths occurred in Sudan’s White Nile state, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and
WHO said in a joint statement on Tuesday, reiterating their concern about the
“worsening” health situation in the African country as a result of fighting
between rival army groups since April, RT reports.
According
to the UNHCR teams, over 3,100 suspected cases of measles and high
malnutrition, as well as more than 500 suspected cases of cholera, have been
reported in other parts of the country.
Health
facilities are overwhelmed because of shortages of staff, life-saving
medicines, and critical equipment, the organisations said, adding that repeated
attacks on hospitals and medical teams have exacerbated service delivery
challenges, worsening disease outbreaks and fatalities.
“Dozens
of children are dying every day – a result of this devastating conflict and a
lack of global attention. We can prevent more deaths, but need money for the
response, access to those in need, and above all, an end to the fighting,” UN
High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
WHO
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said local health workers, with
assistance from the WHO and its partners, are making every effort under “very
difficult conditions” to prevent more fatalities and the escalation of
outbreaks.
“They
desperately need the support of the international community to prevent further
deaths and the spread of outbreaks. We call on donors to be generous and on the
warring parties to protect health workers and access to health for all those
who need it,” Tedros insisted.
The
conflict that erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the
paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15 has killed more than 7,000
people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Last
month, aid agency Save the Children reported that at least 498 children in the
North African country, including two dozen babies at a state orphanage, had
died as a result of food shortages and the closure of nutrition centers caused
by fighting.
Speaking
to reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) spokesman
James Elder estimated that thousands of newborns will die across the war-torn
country by the end of the year.
“Every
month 55,000 children require treatment for the most lethal form of
malnutrition, and yet in Khartoum less than one in 50 nutrition centers is
functional,” Elder was quoted by AFP as saying.
Source: saharareporters.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://saharareporters.com/2023/09/20/deadly-disease-outbreak-kills-over-1200-children-war-torn-sudan-un
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Arab World
Saudi
Arabia welcomes positive results in discussion with Sanaa delegation
September
20, 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia welcomed early Wednesday the positive results of discussions with
a delegation from Sanaa regarding reaching a road map to support the peace
process in Yemen, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The
discussion was held from Sept. 14-18 in Riyadh between the Saudi communication
and coordination team headed by Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al Jaber and
a delegation from Sanaa headed by Mohammed Abdulsalam Felitah, with
participation of an Omani delegation.
These
discussions come as a continuation of the meetings that the Saudi team held
with the head and members of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and in
Sanaa in April, during which many ideas and options were reached to develop a
road map agreed upon by all Yemeni parties, the statement added.
Prince
Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s minister of foreign affairs, held a meeting
with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin
Zayed on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly.
The
meeting welcomed the Kingdom’s hosting of a delegation from Sanaa with the aim
of promoting dialogue among all Yemeni parties to reach a road map to end the
Yemeni conflict through a Yemeni-led political process, and under the auspices
of the United Nations.
It also
discussed aspects of joint coordination on many regional and international
issues, and the importance of supporting all efforts aimed at establishing the
foundations of international peace and security.
The
foreign ministry also commended the outcomes of the Sanaa delegation’s meeting
with Saudi defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman.
Source: newarab.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2376971/saudi-arabia
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On the
sidelines of UNGA 78, Saudi FM meets counterparts, officials
September
20, 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with a number of senior
officials in New York, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE
Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The
meeting with Blinken and Al Nahyan welcomed the Kingdom hosting a delegation
from Sanaa in an attempt to seek out a roadmap for a lasting peace in Yemen.
Prince
Faisal also met separately on Tuesday with Dutch, Finnish, and Pakistani
foreign ministers; Hanke Gerdina Johannette, Elina Valtonen, and Jalil Abbas
Jilani, respectively, and Saint Lucia PM Philip Pierre.
The
meetings, held on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly, discussed
enhancing bilateral relations in various fields and consolidating bilateral and
multilateral work, in addition to the latest international developments.
Prince
Faisal also met with Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UN Convention to
Combat Desertification.
Source: newarab.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2376911/saudi-arabia
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After
Saudi border killings, Germany's police training comes under scrutiny
19
September, 2023
Last
month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a damning report documenting how Saudi
border guards systematically shoot migrants and asylum seekers attempting to
cross the border from Yemen.
Most of
the migrants are Ethiopian and cross the Gulf of Aden in search of a better
life in the Saudi kingdom, especially after conflict erupted in the northern
Ethiopian region of Tigray in 2020.
HRW
established that, in the period from March 2022 to June 2023, Saudi border
guards killed hundreds of migrants.
In a
joint letter published in October 2022, UN experts had already pointed out that
cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire by Saudi Arabian security
forces killed approximately 430 migrants in the first four months of 2022.
"Human
Rights Watch released a damning report last month documenting how Saudi border
guards systematically shoot migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross the
border from Yemen"
Those
who survive the violence at the border are often sent back to Yemen stripped of
their belongings or imprisoned in inhumane conditions in Saudi detention
centers. Women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.
HRW
documented how Saudi border guards forced male migrants to rape migrant women
after a man who rejected to do so was killed in front of them. Local charities
in southern Yemen that help migrants before they head north to the Saudi border
give birth control pills to women in case they are raped.
The
recent HRW report puts consecutive German governments, including the current
one, under the spotlight. Not only have German companies long exported
technological products to Saudi Arabia to police its border with Yemen after
receiving the authorisation of the German government, but the German Federal
Police has also been training Saudi border guards for more than a decade.
In March
2009, the defence company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS),
partly owned by the governments of Germany, France, and Spain, signed a
contract of around $1 billion with Saudi Arabia to provide technologies for
border control.
Cassidian,
the division of the company responsible for border technology, was
headquartered on the outskirts of Munich. From there, a network of sensors,
cameras, and radars at the Saudi border was coordinated.
Two
months after the EADS deal was announced, Saudi Arabia and Germany signed an
agreement to cooperate “in the field of security training” and prevent and
combat crime, mentioning areas of special interest such as terrorism, forgery,
and “the smuggling of illegal migrants.” The short time span between the
economic and the political agreement was no coincidence.
The
weekly current affairs magazine Stern reported in 2011 that the security
cooperation agreement between Saudi Arabia and Germany had been a condition for
Riyadh to award the contract to EADS and not to other companies vying for the
lucrative deal. Saudi Arabia was reportedly interested in having a single
country as an interlocutor. The police officers deployed to Saudi Arabia
complained about having to perform tasks for EADS and being treated as if they
were subcontractors for the company.
Further
reports confirmed that Saudi Arabia paid for the deployment of the policemen
directly to EADS, which then settled the accounts through a development
organisation that works for the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development. Although German police forces have been deployed to more than 70
countries, this arrangement was unique.
In 2014,
EADS was absorbed by its sister company Airbus S.A.S., further complicating the
tracing of commercial deals between Saudi Arabia and German security companies
providing border technology. However, the answer of the German government to a
written question posed by an opposition member of parliament two weeks ago
sheds some light on the topic.
Although
the government did not agree to disclose the names of the companies involved
(only authorised persons can access this information in the German Parliament),
a list of dual-use and defence products for border control exported to Saudi
Arabia under the permission of the German government is publicly available.
The
value of the exports since 2009 is above €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). The
figure is similar to the one initially reported when the deal between EADS and
Saudi Arabia was signed in 2009, but it is not possible to ascertain whether
there is a direct connection. It also stands out that after nine years of
uninterrupted exports, no sales were approved in 2018 and 2019, and no export
permission appears in the list after 2020.
The
German government itself calls for caution with the data it presents, arguing
it cannot ensure that the information is complete as the compilation is based
on manual evaluations of a large number of individual processes.
After
the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul in October 2018, the German government reacted vocally and implemented
a weapons export ban to Saudi Arabia. Although the embargo was sometimes
flouted, it largely remained in place until July 2023. After Khashoggi’s death,
the German government also halted the police cooperation programme with Saudi
Arabia. However, it resumed less than one year afterwards, in September 2019.
Another
answer of the German government to a written question posed by an opposition
member of parliament in 2018 provides us with some details on the cooperation.
Between 2009 and 2018, the annual costs of the police cooperation programme for
the Saudi kingdom have normally remained between €1.5 million and €3 million.
In its answer to the opposition parliamentarian, the government added that “the
constitutional and human rights principles applicable in Germany are an
integral part of the Federal Police's training measures”.
After
the latest revelations by HRW, the police cooperation programme between Saudi
Arabia and Germany is subjected to renewed scrutiny. A representative of the
German Interior Ministry told The Guardian that the training programme for
Saudi border forces had been “discontinued after reports of possible massive
human rights violations became known”. The official statement added that the
training never took place in the border areas between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
The ministry did not give any precise date on which police cooperation had
ended.
The
annual reports of the German Federal Police for 2020 and 2021 (the last year
for which information is available) detail that Saudi-German police cooperation
was ongoing. Furthermore, there was no official German reaction after UN
experts published in late 2022 their report on the killing of migrants by Saudi
border forces.
And,
although less detailed than the recent report, HRW already mentioned the
shooting of migrants in an investigation published in 2019. If HRW had managed
to collect this information, it is reasonable to assume that the German
government might have known more details.
There
are further reasons to believe that the official response of the German
interior ministry to The Guardian was inaccurate, to say the least. A report by
the investigative TV programme Monitor from the German public broadcasting
corporation, released one day before the article in The Guardian, asked the
Interior Ministry for information on the Saudi-German police cooperation
project.
The
reporters were told that the ministry wants “to stick to the training mission
for the time being”. The same TV programme interviewed several German policemen
who have participated in the training missions in Saudi Arabia. They have
confirmed that the programme is ongoing, and that training was being provided
at the Saudi-Yemeni border.
German-Saudi
relations have been undergoing significant changes recently. In July, the
Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who succeeded Angela Merkel from the
centre-right CDU in 2021, introduced an exception to Germany's official policy
of not exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia.
From now
on, Germany will allow the sale of "products without operational relevance
for the Yemen conflict”. Scholz had previously reached out to Saudi Arabia to
diversify Germany’s energy providers after the decision to cut down imports
from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The
report on the mass killings of migrants at the Saudi-Yemeni border raises
complicated questions for most parliamentary parties in Germany. The CDU of
former chancellor Angela Merkel is now in the opposition but headed the
government for more than a decade and a half until 2021. The Social Democrats
of current chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as the Liberals, were the junior
partners of the CDU in previous governments and are now governing Germany in a
tripartite coalition with the Green Party.
The
Greens, who in 2011 called for the immediate termination of the Saudi-German
police cooperation agreement, currently have their two main leaders as Economy
Minister and Vice-Chancellor of the German government and Foreign Minister.
They are also responsible for other ministries.
The
questions for the current German government and the CDU are certainly
uncomfortable, but this is exactly what makes adequate answers so necessary.
Source: newarab.com
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https://www.newarab.com/analysis/saudi-border-killings-german-police-training-under-scrutiny
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Exhibition
on Saudi Arabia’s history launches ahead of National Day
September
20, 2023
RIYADH:
The Saudi Press Agency will launch a new exhibition on the history of the
Kingdom on Wednesday, to mark the country’s 93rd National Day on Sept. 23.
Titled
“Saudi Arabia’s History Exhibition,” it will be launched by Media Minister
Salman bin Yousef Al-Dosari at the SPA’s headquarters.
The
exhibition will reflect “the national media role played by the (SPA), (in)
promoting SPA’s educational and informational messages,” the agency said in a
statement.
The show
will provide significant details of the Kingdom’s development including the
role of the founder King Abdulaziz, which will be useful for students, foreign
media and members of the diplomatic community, the SPA stated.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2377066/saudi-arabia
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Over 100
historical sites to be developed in Makkah and Madinah
September
19, 2023
MAKKAH —
Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah unveiled plans to develop
more than 100 historical sites in Makkah and Madinah.
“The
ministry, in coordination and cooperation with partners from several agencies,
will work to develop these historical sites with high quality and standard. The
Doyof of Al-Rahman Program works to develop the experiences of the Hajj and
Umrah pilgrims, making it rich and unforgettable experiences in Makkah and
Madinah,” he said. Doyof Al Rahman (Guests of the Most Merciful) Program is one
of the Saudi Vision 2030 executive programs, and embodies its integration and
cooperation with 70 entities in the public, private and non-profit sectors.
Al-Rabiah
said this while addressing a program titled “Partners” at the Hira Cultural
Neighborhood in Makkah on Monday. The minister announced the launch of an
electronic platform for booking tickets to visit historical and cultural sites
in Makkah, including Hira Cave and the rest of the sites that will be
developed. “God has blessed our country with a great honor, which is serving
the Two Holy Mosques and the Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. Makkah and Madinah have a
great history and Muslims are eager to know about it,” he said.
Dr.
Al-Rabiah witnessed the signing of partnership deals with a number of Umrah
companies.
Source: saudigazette.com.sa
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https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/635966/SAUDI-ARABIA/Over-100-historical-sites-to-be-developed-in-Makkah-and-Madinah
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Saudi
agents thwart drug smuggling operations across Kingdom
September
20, 2023
Saudi
authorities have seized several kilograms of narcotics and a number of firearms
during a series of drug busts across the Kingdom.
In one
operation, officers from the General Directorate of Narcotics Control arrested
two Indian nationals for attempting to smuggle 126kg of qat.
In
Madinah, the GDNC’s agents arrested a Saudi citizen selling cannabis and seized
cash found in his possession.
In
Al-Baha region, three Saudi citizens were arrested for selling cannabis and
amphetamines, with several firearms and ammunition seized.
And in
Jazan, border patrol forces foiled an attempt to smuggle 77kg of qat.
Citizens
and residents with information on drug smuggling or trafficking should call 911
in Makkah, Riyadh and the eastern regions, and 999 in the rest of the country.
They can
also contact the GDNC at 995 or email: 995@gdnc.gov.sa. All reports are treated
confidentially.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2377071/saudi-arabia
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Fourth
planeload of Saudi aid arrives in Libya
September
20, 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia’s fourth planeload of aid to Libya arrived at Benina International
Airport in Benghazi on Tuesday from King Khalid International Airport in
Riyadh.
It was
carrying 90 tons of food and relief materials for people affected by the recent
floods, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
A team
from the Saudi aid agency KSrelief will oversee the distribution of aid with
the Libyan Red Crescent.
On Sept.
10, two dams collapsed during the Mediterranean’s Storm Daniel, sending a wall
of water gushing through Derna. Government officials and aid agencies have
estimated that between 4,000 and 11,000 people may have died.
King
Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed KSrelief to provide the
food and shelter for the flood victims.
Saudi
Arabia’s three other planes had arrived in Benina on Saturday, Sunday and
Monday, carrying 90, 40 and 50 tons of food and relief supplies respectively.
On
Monday, the UN warned that a disease outbreak could create “a second
devastating crisis.”
Traumatized
residents, 30,000 of whom are now homeless, badly need clean water, food and
basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhea, dehydration and
malnutrition, UN agencies warn.
The UN
has also launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of
thousands in need.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2377061/saudi-arabia
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Mideast
Anti-Iran
terrorists ‘disarmed’, pushed back ‘deep’ into Iraq: Baghdad
19
September 2023
Iraqi
authorities say Baghdad is committed to a security agreement with Iran and that
anti-Iran terrorists have been evacuated from the common borders and pushed
back deep inside Iraqi soil as a deadline set by Tehran for their disarmament
and relocation ends.
Thabet
Muhammad Saeed al-Abbasi, Iraq’s defense minister, made the announcement in an
interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya on Tuesday and said the presence of
Kurdish terrorist groups operating against Iran has been limited to five camps
inside Iraq.
Pointing
to the deployment of Iraqi military forces in the common borders with Iran,
Abbasi said, “The terrorists were moved deep into the territory of Iraq.”
Last
week, the Iranian foreign ministry said the September 19 deadline given to Iraq
to disarm anti-Iran separatist groups based in the Arab country's northern
Kurdistan region would not be extended.
The
ministry underlined that Iran would take matters into its own hands to ensure
its own security if the deadline passes without any implementation of the
security agreement reached back in March.
'Terrorist
groups were evacuated'
Meanwhile,
a joint committee overseeing the agreement between Iran and Iraq confirmed the
evacuation of terrorist groups in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
The
Supreme Committee for Implementing the Joint Security Agreement said in a
statement, cited by Iraq's Arabic news channel Alsumaria, that the headquarters
“located near the border with Iran, which were occupied by terrorist groups,
were evacuated… an transferred to a place far from the border.”
Stressing
that the terrorist groups were “disarmed,” the statement said, “Federal border
forces were also deployed in those areas and have a permanent presence and the
Iraqi flag was raised there."
“Border
security is a shared responsibility between the two countries, and that this
agreement should be the reference for resolving any dispute or violation that
occurs,” the statement said, adding, “Dialogue is the safest way to resolve any
problems or disagreements in order to enhance the distinguished and great
relations.”
According
to the statement, the representative of the secretary-general of the United
Nations attended “the meeting held in Erbil and Baghdad and expressed full
support for the Iraqi government in implementing the provisions of the
agreement.”
Fuad
Hussein, Iraq's foreign minister, announced on Monday that Kurdish armed groups
along the border with Iran had handed over their arms as the deadline drew
near.
The top
Iraqi diplomat reiterated his country's commitment to the security agreement
with Iran, saying the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has taken necessary
measures in accordance with Baghdad's agreement with Tehran.
Stressing
that Iraq pursues peaceful approaches based on dialogue and respect for its
neighbors, Hussein said Baghdad opposes any act of violence against its
national sovereignty.
On March
19, Iran and Iraq signed a security agreement that includes coordination in
protecting the border between the two countries in the Iraqi capital of
Baghdad.
Anti-Iranian
terrorist groups residing in the Iraqi Kurdistan region have increased their
malign activities, especially in border areas. Responding to the activities,
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched several rounds of
airstrikes against their positions since September 24 last year, vowing to
continue the attacks till the groups are unarmed.
Iran
has, on countless occasions, warned the Iraqi Kurdistan’s local authorities
that it will not tolerate the presence and activity of terrorist groups along
its northwestern borders, saying the country will give a decisive response
should those areas become a hub of anti-Islamic Republic terrorists.
Source: presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/09/19/711168/Iraq-defense-minister-security-agreement-anti-Iran-terrorist-groups-disarmed-deadline-
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Resolving
Israeli-Palestinian conflict ‘key’ to Mideast security: Algerian president
September
20, 2023
NEW
YORK: Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “the main key” to bringing
security and stability to the Middle East, Algeria’s president said on Tuesday
as his country celebrates 60 years of independence.
Addressing
the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Abdelmadjid Tebboune added that
the international system is at a “critical juncture,” and that escalating
tensions portend serious global repercussions.
“From
this platform, I reiterate that addressing the Palestinian issue remains the
main key to restoring security and stability in the Middle East region, by
devoting the right of the brotherly Palestinian people to establish their
independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its
capital, while ending the occupation of the Syrian Golan in accordance with
(UN) resolutions,” he said.
Tebboune
confirmed that Palestine’s application to obtain full member status in the UN
had Algeria’s full backing.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2376961/middle-east
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Wooden
Hypostyle Mosques in Türkiye added to UNESCO World Heritage list
19.09.2023
The
Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia in Türkiye have been added to the
UNESCO World Heritage list, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
“Serial
nomination of the Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia has been
inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the Extended 45th Session of
the World Heritage Committee, which is being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
between 10 and 25 September 2023,” it said in a statement.
The
serial property comprises five hypostyle mosques built in Anatolia between the
late 13th and mid-14th centuries, each of which is in a different region of
Türkiye.
The
components are the Great Mosque in western Afyon province, the Great Mosque of
Sivrihisar in central Eskisehir province, Ahi Serafettin (Aslanhane) Mosque in
the nation’s capital of Ankara, Esrefoglu Mosque of Beysehir district in
central Konya province and Mahmut Bey Mosque of Kasabakoyu in northern
Kastamonu province.
The
number of inscribed sites in Türkiye on the World Heritage List has increased
to 21, it added.
“The
unusual structural system of the mosques combines an exterior building envelope
built of masonry with multiple rows of wooden interior columns (‘hypostyle’)
that support a flat wooden ceiling and the roof. These mosques are known for
the skillful woodcarving and handiwork used in their structures, architectural
fittings, and furnishings,” the UNESCO World Heritage Convention said in a
statement.
Source: aa.com.tr/en
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture/wooden-hypostyle-mosques-in-turkiye-added-to-unesco-world-heritage-list/2996188
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27
deaths in hostilities in Karabakh: report
Sep 20,
2023
TEHRAN,
Sep. 20 (MNA) – At least 27 people were killed in Karabakh as a result of
hostilities on Tuesday, Armenian media reported.
Two of
those killed were civilians, TASS reported citing Armenian media.
Apart
from that, more than 210 people, including 12 children, were wounded.
Azerbaijan
on Tuesday launched a military operation in its breakaway Karabakh enclave,
nearly three years after fighting a brief but brutal war with Armenia over the
mountainous region.
While
Azerbaijan says it is not targeting civilians, Armenian sources claim that so
far 210 civilians are among the casualties including 12 children.
Source: mehrnews.com
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https://en.mehrnews.com/news/206269/27-deaths-in-hostilities-in-Karabakh-report
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Israeli
forces kill four Palestinians in Gaza, occupied West Bank
19
September 2023
Israeli occupation
forces have killed three Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank,
and another Palestinian in a separate incident in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Palestinian
health officials said the West Bank assault took place on Tuesday in the Jenin
refugee camp, with some 20 others also injured.
The
officials did not identify the martyred Palestinians.
The
25-year-old Palestinian man killed in Gaza was identified as Yousef Salem
Radwan.
He was
shot dead by Israeli forces at the border fence east of Khan Yunis, in the
besieged Gaza Strip.
The
victim was shot in the head. At least nine others were injured, one of them
critically.
Separately,
two others were injured from live bullets east of Jabalya in the north of Gaza
and many others suffered from suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired by the
Israeli soldiers.
Protests
at the Gaza border have been taking place for several days against Israel’s
treatment of the Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails and the
repeated desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli settlers.
Yousef
Salem Radwan was killed in Gaza by Israeli army gunfire (Photo by Wafa News
Agency)
This
came as Israeli forces brutally assaulted Muslim worshipers at one of the main
entrances to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.
The
assault took place as the occupation soldiers beat up three worshipers,
including an elderly man and an elderly woman, near Bab as-Silsila (the Chain
Gate) on Sunday morning.
Earlier
in the day, Israeli occupation troops intensified their presence around the
al-Aqsa Mosque complex, restricting the access of Muslim worshipers to the
sacred site and preventing the entry of Palestinian citizens.
The UN
says the number of Palestinians killed in the occupied territories by Israeli
forces this year has surpassed the death toll of Palestinians for the whole
year of 2022.
They
also allowed scores of Israeli settlers to enter the compound in separate
groups.
The
Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department, which is in charge of al-Aqsa Mosque
affairs, said in a statement that Israeli forces had permitted the provocative
settler incursion.
The
regime soldiers also assaulted Muslim worshipers and tried to forcibly evacuate
them from the al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard, it noted.
Israeli
settler incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque and violence against Palestinians have
been on the rise since the far-right extremist cabinet of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.
This is
while only Muslims are allowed to pray in the al-Aqsa Mosque complex under a
status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim
visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas.
A human
rights group says it has documented at least ten cases of Israeli soldiers
gunning down peaceful Palestinian protesters across the occupied territories.
Mohammad
Hamadeh, the spokesman for Hamas in occupied al-Quds, recently emphasized that
the break-ins into the al-Aqsa are a continuation of the occupiers’ acts of
aggression.
He also
stressed that the Palestinian resistance would go on until the decline and
elimination of the usurping regime.
Source: presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/09/19/711170/Palestine-Gaza-al-Aqsa-Youssef-Salem-
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Pakistan
Pakistan
not surprised by ‘India’s terrorism’ in Canada: foreign secretary
September
20, 2023
Pakistan
is not “surprised” over Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revelations that
Indian government could be behind the killing of a Sikh leader, Foreign
Secretary Syrus Qazi said on Wednesday.
Qazi,
who is accompanying caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on a five-day
visit to the US to attend the 78th UNGA session, stated this during a media
briefing at the Pakistan mission in UN on Wednesday.
“India's
terrorism in Canada is not a matter of surprise for Pakistan,” the top diplomat
remarked.
The
foreign secretary said Pakistan did not find anything unusual in the Canadian
PM's allegations as Pakistan had arrested a serving Indian naval officer
Kulbhushan Yadav — an operative of the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
from Balochistan in March 2016.
The
Indian spy was later sentenced to death after he was found guilty of espionage
and terror activities to destabilise Pakistan.
On
Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a startling revelation
about the Indian role in the Sikh leader's killing during a speech at an
emergency session of the assembly.
"Over
the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively
pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the
government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh
Nijjar," Trudeau said, addressing the House of Commons about an
"extremely serious matter," after informing the opposition party
leaders.
Reacting
to Canada’s revelations, the foreign secretary said: “What happened in Canada
did not surprise us.” He added that there must be some truth to the allegations
levelled by the Canadian PM.
Referring
to Kulbhushan Jadhav, the foreign secretary said the Indian spy was involved in
activities to destabilise Pakistan.
“If
anyone in the world is aware of Indian [activities], it is us [Pakistan],” he
said. The top diplomat also said that New Delhi was committing state terrorism
in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
A day
earlier, former foreign minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged the international community to accept that India
is a “rogue, Hindutva and terrorist state” after Canada’s “huge allegations”.
“This is
a huge allegation. India has been exposed before the world. And for how long
international and our friends in the West would continue ignoring such acts of
India,” the PPP chief added.
Speaking
about PM’s US visit, the foreign secretary said the caretaker prime minister
will discuss all issues including Kashmir in his address to the UN General
Assembly.
He said
the PM attended the reception and opening session of the UN General Assembly in
New York.
The
prime minister's meeting with the Iranian president was held in a cordial
atmosphere, Qazi said adding that the foreign minister also held important
meetings on the sidelines.
Source: thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1111689-pakistan-not-surprised-by-indias-terrorism-in-canada-foreign-secretary
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Caretaker
PM attends opening ceremony of 78th UNGA's session
September
19, 2023
78th
Session of the UN General Assembly began in New York today.
UN
Secretary General António Guterres inaugurated the session, while Prime
Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is also attending the opening sitting of the
General Debate of 78th UNGA session at the UN headquarters in New York.
Prime
Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar's engagements in New York today include his
address to the participants of Global Development Initiative and Sustainable
Development Goals summit.
On the
bilateral side, the Pakistan Prime Minister is likely to hold meetings with
Iranian President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
Prime
Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar will also attend the banquet to be hosted in
honour of world leaders by US President Joe Biden.
Theme
for the 78th session is "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global
solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable
Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for
all."
Source: radio.gov.pk
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https://www.radio.gov.pk/19-09-2023/pm-to-attend-opening-ceremony-of-78th-session-of-unga-in-new-york-today
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Illegal
appointments case: Ex-CM Elahi remanded in judicial custody
September
20, 2023
LAHORE:
A magisterial court on Tuesday sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President Chaudhry
Pervaiz Elahi on judicial remand after rejecting the plea of the
Anti-Corruption Establishment seeking his physical remand.
The
Anti-Corruption Establishment had sought remand of Pervaiz Elahi in two cases
involving allegations related to the appointment of a lower-scale officer as
his principal secretary and illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly.
After
the hearing, while talking to the media, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that the
incumbent caretaker government is an extension of the previous PMLN government.
He said
that Afghanistan is making more progress than Pakistan due to the policies of
the government.
Elahi
categorically denied any claims of an agreement between PTI Chairman Imran Khan
and the IMF that resulted in current economic challenges. Meanwhile, a division
bench of the Lahore High Court has dismissed a plea of the National
Accountability Bureau, which had challenged the decision of the single bench in
which the court had stopped the agencies from arresting Pervaiz Elahi. The
court, in its order, said NAB is not an aggrieved party to the case.
Source: thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1111515-illegal-appointments-case-ex-cm-elahi-remanded-in-judicial-custody
-------
British-Pakistani
trio to face murder trial over girl's death
September
20, 2023
LONDON:The
father of a 10-year-old girl whose death sparked an international manhunt in
Pakistan will face trial for her murder next year.
Sara
Sharif's body was discovered at the family home near Woking, southern England,
on August 10, the day after her father, Urfan Sharif, flew to Islamabad.
An early
morning emergency call alerting officers to Sara's death was made from Pakistan
by a man identifying himself as the father, according to detectives.
The
house was otherwise empty, and the manhunt continued with Interpol and
Britain's foreign ministry coordinating with authorities in Pakistan.
Read
Manhunt in minor girl's murder case leads UK police to Pakistan
Sharif,
a 41-year-old taxi driver, travelled to Pakistan with his partner Beinash
Batool, 29, his brother Faisal Malik, 28, and Sharif's other five children.
All
three adults have been charged with Sara's murder and on Tuesday appeared via
video link before a judge at London's Old Bailey court.
The
trio, who are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, were
arrested last week after disembarking from a flight from Dubai after spending a
month in Pakistan.
A
post-mortem examination found Sara had sustained "multiple and extensive
injuries" over a long period.
At
Tuesday's hearing, the three spoke only to confirm their names and addresses
and were remanded in custody until a pre-trial hearing on December 1.
The
trial is expected to start on September 2, 2024, and last six weeks.
Source: tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2436829/british-pakistani-trio-to-face-murder-trial-over-girls-death-1
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Saudi
crown prince likely to visit Pakistan next month
Kamran
Yousaf
September
19, 2023
ISLAMABAD:The
much-anticipated visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is likely to
take place in the first week of October, official sources familiar with the
development told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
Pakistan
has been pushing for a visit from Saudi de facto ruler for months. The Saudi
crown prince visited India recently to attend a G20 summit and later for a
state visit. There were reports that the Saudi leader might make a brief
stopover in Islamabad but later the plan was shelved.
Sources
said the foreign office suggested that instead of Saudi crown prince making a
stopover for a few hours it was better he would be invited for a state visit on
separate dates.
Insiders
told The Express Tribune that both sides were in contact with each other to
finalise the dates for the visit. It is expected that the Saudi ruler may visit
in the first week of October. Because of the likely visit of the Saudi crown
prince, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar postponed his trip to Saudi
Arabia. He was earlier to travel to the Kingdom before leaving for the UN
General Assembly session in New York.
Also
read: Pakistan hopes MBS will make brief stopover
Pakistan
has high hopes of the impending visit of Saudi crown prince against the
backdrop of economic crunch. Authorities are confident that the visit of Prince
Mohammad would pave the way for much-needed investment the country has been
seeking as part of efforts to address the economic challenges.
A
Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) was set up recently as part of
efforts by the military leadership to attract investment from the Gulf
countries.
Saudi
Arabia has been identified as the major country to chip in with billions of
dollars investment.
Sources
said during the visit of MBS, both sides are expected to announce major
investment projects. One project includes the setting up of an oil refinery in
Gwadar. The multibillion dollar project was first announced during the visit of
MBS in February 2019. However, no further progress was made due to various
reasons including tensions between the PTI government and Saudi Arabia.
The
project, however, was revived after the military leadership pushed for
investment from Gulf countries. As part of the plan, Pakistan has also shown
interest in selling shares of Reko Diq mines to Saudi Arabia.
In one
of the recent interactions with the business community in Lahore and Karachi,
Army Chief General Asim Munir reportedly said that he expected an investment of
$70 billion from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This
would be the first visit of the Saudi crown prince to Pakistan since he last
visited in February 2019. He was supposed to travel to Pakistan in November
last year but the visit was cancelled due to imminent change of army command in
Pakistan.
Source: tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2436717/saudi-crown-prince-likely-to-visit-pakistan-next-month
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CJ asked
to schedule early hearings of Imran’s cases
Imran
Adnan
September
20, 2023
LAHORE:A
day after the Supreme Court went live on air with its full court proceedings,
the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday urgently implored Chief Justice
of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa to promptly schedule the hearings of all cases
involving former prime minister Imran Khan and to authorise their live
broadcast.
Condemning
the unjustified postponement of Imran’s bail application by the Islamabad High
Court, a PTI spokesperson expressed the need for the CJP to take immediate
cognisance of the miscarriage of justice transpiring within the country and to
ensure that the principles of justice were upheld in all subordinate courts.
Further,
the spokesperson appealed to the CJP to guarantee the protection of
constitutional rights of the nation's former prime minister and to ensure the
equitable dispensation of justice and fairness.
“The
honourable Chief Justice is also called upon to oversee the delivery of justice
to incarcerated leaders and workers of (the Pakistan) Tehreek-e-Insaf, with
particular emphasis on women workers.”
The
spokesperson underscored that Imran, as the former premier and leader of
Pakistan's largest political party, was currently experiencing what could only
be described as “vindictive targeting”.
Additionally,
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been subjected to persistent
extra-constitutional measures, while PTI Central President Chaudhry Parvez
Elahi faced repeated arrests on spurious charges, flagrantly disregarding court
orders.
The
spokesperson decried the fact that everyone associated with the PTI had been
stripped of their basic constitutional rights, characterising the present
situation in Pakistan as an orchestrated sequence of injustices.
Read New
CJ starts term with swift action
Drawing
attention to Article 10-A of the Constitution, which guaranteed every citizen
the fundamental right to a fair trial, the spokesperson lamented that the
former premier was languishing in jail on false charges, as over 200 baseless
cases against him were systematically pursued without due regard for the
Constitution and justice.
“Imran
Khan's hearings are capriciously postponed at the eleventh hour, with no
plausible justification, and he is remanded without being presented in court.”
Meanwhile,
the PTI Core Committee called for the establishment of a high-powered judicial
commission to investigate the information contained in a news report by the
international publication 'The Intercept', with an insistence on full
disclosure of the facts to the nation.
The PTI
Core Committee characterised the content of 'The Intercept' news report as
deeply concerning, asserting that it shed light on matters directly pertaining
to Pakistan's foreign policy, international agreements, and national security.
In light
of the publication of the purported text of a secret letter from the Pakistani
ambassador to the United States, the committee stressed the urgent need to
ascertain the veracity of the claims presented in ‘The Intercept’.
In the
report, the committee highlighted that disconcerting assertions had been made
regarding agreements with the IMF, lending credence to the PTI chairman's
suspicions regarding a conspiracy for regime change.
Since
April 2022, the country witnessed a decline in its economy, politics,
governance, state institutions and society, all of which revealed the
decision-makers' role, mindset, and competence to the nation.“In the hands of a
group seemingly oblivious to the Constitution, the rule of law, values and
national interests, the nation's affairs appear perilous, with the future of
the state hanging in the balance.”
Source: tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2436833/cj-asked-to-schedule-early-hearings-of-imrans-cases
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PBC
slams case on lawyer protesting inflation
September
20, 2023
ISLAMABAD:The
Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has strongly condemned authorities for registering a
case against a senior lawyer, Advocate Akhtar Hussain, for staging a protest
against inflation.
In a
statement issued on Tuesday, the PBC stated that Rawalpindi Police registered a
first information report (FR) against Hussain after he held a protest targeting
rising prices of essential commodities.
The PBC
strongly condemned registration of a case against the jurist, who is a senior
lawyer of the Supreme Court. According
to the Constitution, it said, every citizen is entitled to peaceful protest and
freedom of expression.
The PBC
demanded that the illegal FIR registered against Hussain be immediately
withdrawn, and action be taken against those officials who have misused their
powers.
Over the
past year, Pakistan has witnessed a tremendous rise in inflation and recently
people and traders across the country rose up in protest in the wake of
unprecedented rise in electricity bills.
On
September 2, shopkeepers went on strike and pulled their shutters down across
the country, while protesters burned tyres on roads to express their anger.
The
strike was called by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq and was largely endorsed
by trade and business bodies, market associations, lawyer associations and
transporters.
Source: tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2436835/pbc-slams-case-on-lawyer-protesting-inflation
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South Asia
Australia
rejects 50,000 Afghan humanitarian visa requests
Fidel
Rahmati
September
19, 2023
The Australian government has announced that
it has rejected the asylum requests of 50,000 Afghan citizens who had applied
for a humanitarian visa in the country after the fall of the resurgence of the
Taliban regime in August 2021.
According
to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday, in its latest
report, it stated that out of 208,000 asylum requests made by Afghan citizens
from the beginning of 2021 until now, approximately 50,000 applicants have been
rejected by the Australian government.
Following
the fall of Kabul in August 2021, about 208,000 Afghans have applied for
humanitarian and refugee visas in Australia to flee the Taliban regime.
However,
Australia has rejected over 50,000 visa applications for humanitarian reasons,
leaving 144,000 others pending.
Between
August 15, 2021, and August 31 of the current year, 13,612 humanitarian visas
were issued to Afghan citizens as part of the offshore Humanitarian Program
following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the report said.
These
statements come at a time when members of the Afghan community in Australia and
former colleagues of the Australian forces in Afghanistan have expressed
concerns about the high rejection rate of humanitarian visa applications and
have called for reversing this decision.
Members
of the Afghan community and former Afghan Locally Engaged Employees (LEEs)
express their disappointment at the substantial number of humanitarian visa
rejections and call upon the government to reconsider these decisions and
approve the visas.
It is
worth noting that after the rise of the Taliban administration, many Afghan
citizens sought asylum in various countries, including Australia, Canada, the
United States, and Europe. While most of their asylum requests were accepted,
some are still under review or rejected by these countries.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/australia-rejects-50000-afghan-humanitarian-visa-requests/
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Three
Afghan Shia militia members die in Syrian desert attack
19
September, 2023
At least
three members of an Iran-backed militia were killed in the Syrian desert on
Monday in an attack likely carried out by remnants of the Islamic State group
(IS).
Three
militants from the Fatemiyoun Brigade died and others were injured after their
vehicle was fired at with machine guns on a road running through Syria’s Homs
and Deir az-Zour governorates, sources told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby
Al-Jadeed.
The
Fatemiyoun Brigade are an Afghan Shia militia which have fought alongside other
Iran-backed factions to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad during
the country's conflict, which has been running for over 12 years.
Although
IS lost control of the territory it once held in Syria, sleeper cells remain
active in the Syrian Desert, and the extremist organisation continues to carry
out hit-and-run attacks that have killed rival militia members, Syrian regime
forces personnel, and civilians.
Earlier
this month, Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes on caves and hideouts used
by IS militants in desert areas largely controlled by the Syrian regime and
Iran-backed militias.
The war
in Syria conflict is believed to have killed well over half a million people
and displaced around half of the country’s pre-war population, mostly as a
result of regime bombardment of civilian areas.
Syria's
economy and infrastructure are in ruins as a result.
Source: newarab.com
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https://www.newarab.com/news/blasts-karabakh-azerbaijan-launches-military-operation
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No
change in policy towards Taliban administration: White House Spokesperson
Fidel
Rahmati
September
19, 2023
John Kirby, the White House Security Council
spokesperson, emphasized that the Taliban administration failed to fulfil its
commitments and drifted further away from international legitimacy with each
passing day.
Mr.
Kirby reaffirmed on Monday, during a press briefing at the White House, that
America’s policies towards the de facto administration have not changed.
The
White House Security Council spokesperson made these statements in response to
a question from one of the reporters.
America
has once again made it clear that, in this situation, Washington has no
intention of recognizing the Taliban regime officially.
He
reiterated once again that the United States had oversight over all terrorist
groups in Afghanistan and, regarding the presence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,
added, “It has certainly become very, very weak and does not seem likely to
return to Afghanistan.”
Kirby
stated that the Taliban administration is acting contrary to its promises
regarding governance and the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Hence, the United States does not intend to officially recognize the de facto
administration.
According
to the White House Security Council official, the Taliban has failed to fulfil
its commitments and taken a path contrary to them.
This
comes as no country has officially recognized the current interim government
two years after its return to power.
On the
other hand, the Taliban has accused the United States of seeking excuses not to
recognize it officially while emphasizing their commitment to fulfilling their
obligations.
Meanwhile,
following the resurgence of the Taliban, the international community swiftly
imposed sanctions, effectively freezing Afghanistan’s assets. This punitive
measure exacerbated the country’s isolation and plunged it into a dire
humanitarian crisis.
Additionally,
the international community consistently called upon the interim administration
to lift all restrictions, including the ban on women’s rights to education and
employment. Despite these appeals, the Taliban have maintained and intensified
their oppressive policies, imposing even stricter limitations on women’s
participation in social life.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/no-change-in-policy-towards-taliban-administration-white-house-spokesperson/
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UNAMA
Head Meets With Muttaqi in Advance of UNSC Meeting
September
19, 2023
Roza
Otunbayeva, head of UNAMA, met with Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister,
ahead of next week’s UN Security Council briefing on Afghanistan, UNAMA said
online.
According
to UNAMA, the UN mission in Afghanistan remains committed to constructive
engagement and ensuring that the voices of all Afghans are heard.
“UNAMA
head Roza Otunbayeva met with de facto foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, part
of broad consultations ahead of next week’s UN Security Council briefing on
Afghanistan.
UNAMA
remains committed to constructive engagement, and ensuring the voices of all
Afghans are heard,” UNAMA said on X social media platform.
Meanwhile,
the Islamic Emirate once again asked the UN and the world countries to invite
the Islamic Emirate representatives to the meetings held on Afghanistan.
"Any
meeting where the issues of Afghanistan are discussed and the representatives
of the Afghan people are not present, it will not lead to positive results like
the previous meetings,” said Bilal Karimi, the Islamic Emirate's deputy
spokesman.
Although
Afghanistan has been discussed in several UN meetings over the last two years,
some political experts said that until the Islamic Emirate and the world pays
attention to each other's demands, these meetings will not produce any results.
“If the
two sides accept each other's demands and respect each other, this will be in
the interest of Afghanistan, and, at the international level, the world will
come to recognize the Islamic Emirate,” said Abdul Jabar Akbari, a political
analyst.
"Some
of the demands of the world have not yet been met, and the world is emphasizing
those that must be met, such as human rights and inclusiveness of the
government," said Hewad Zazai, a political analyst.
This
comes as the members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voiced
concerns about the presence and increased activity of the Khorasan branch of
Daesh in Afghanistan.
Speaking
at the Security Council meeting on the 17th report of the Secretary-General on
the threat posed by Daesh, UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov said
that the situation in Afghanistan is growing increasingly complex, and that
some 20 different terrorist groups are present in Afghanistan, which was denied
by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Source: tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185173
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Over 100
Afghan Security Outposts Built Along Durand Line
September
19, 2023
By
Barakatullah Hasand,
The
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has established more than 100 security outposts
alongside the Durand Line in the eastern parts of the country.
These
outposts were built by the order of acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi Mohammad
Yaqoob.
In close
vicinity to the outposts, several roads are also being built in addition to the
outposts themselves. One of these roads is being built in the Salaleh
neighborhood of Nangarhar province's Goshta district.
“Previously,
the border outposts were very far away. We have established more than 100
outposts in the eastern provinces on the Zero Line. These outposts have been
established in Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan provinces,” said Qari Meraj,
commander of the border brigade of the eastern zone.
"In
the previous government, the road near the Durand Line either did not exist, or
if it did, it was destroyed. The people who live in these areas and the forces
who were in the outposts in these areas were facing problems,” said Wahidullah
Mohammadi, spokesman of the 201 Khalid bin Walid Army Corps.
The
residents of Salalah area, are also happy about the construction of this road.
"Before,
we had many problems here. There was no road, and people were shooting from the
neighboring areas, and people were moving from this area,” said Imran, a
resident of Goshta district.
According
to officials of 201 Khalid bin Walid Army Corps in the eastern zone, efforts
are still being made to provide facilities for both the military and people.
"We
try our best to provide services to our people,” said Qudratullah Barkat, the
head of the engineering department of the 201 Khalid bin Walid Army Corps.
The news
of the construction of military outposts along the Durand Line comes just two
weeks after clashes broke out at the Torkham crossing between Pakistani border
guards and Islamic Emirate forces. An event that caused the Torkham crossing to
be closed for nine days.
Source: tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185170
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ADB
raises growth forecast for Bangladesh’s economy to 6.5% for FY24
Sep 20,
2023
The
Asian Development Bank today raised the growth projection for Bangladesh's
economy to 6.5 percent for the current fiscal year.
The
global lender came up with the estimation in its updated report on "Asian
Development Outlook (ADO) September 2023" released today.
"Bangladesh's
gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 6.5 percent in the fiscal
year 2024, compared with an estimated growth of 6.0 percent in FY 2023,"
the report said.
The ADB
said the slightly faster growth forecast reflects an improvement in domestic
demand and better export growth due to economic recovery in the euro area.
It said
inflation is projected to ease from 9.0 percent in FY2023 to 6.6 percent in
FY2024. The current account deficit is expected to slightly narrow from 0.7
percent of GDP in FY2023 to 0.5 percent of GDP in FY2024 as remittance growth
improves, according to the report.
"The
main risk to this growth projection is a further deterioration in export growth
if global demand is weaker than expected" the ADB said.
ADB
Country Director Edimon Ginting said, "The government is managing
relatively well against the external economic uncertainties, while advancing
infrastructure development and critical reforms to improve investment
climate."
"These
key structural reforms include to strengthen public financial management,
enhance domestic resource mobilization, improve logistics, and deepen financial
sector, which are critical for private sector development, export
diversification and productive job creation in the medium term," said
Ginting.
"Continued
high oil prices also provide a good incentive to accelerate reforms to expand
domestic renewable energy supply and achieve the country's climate change
goals."
Source: thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/adb-raises-growth-forecast-bangladeshs-economy-65-fy24-3423396
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Minister
Khairkhwah Discusses Cultural Initiatives with Nangarhar Governor
2023-09-19
KABU
(BNA): Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, the Acting Minister of Information and
Culture, held a meeting today with Haji Gul Mohammad, the Governor of Nangarhar
province.
The
meeting, which took place at the minister’s office, focused on the activities
and achievements of the Nangarhar Information and Culture Department.
Governor
Mohammad praised the department’s accomplishments in the cultural field and
suggested further initiatives to promote the country’s cultural values.
He also
pledged his cooperation in fostering cultural development and expanding the
activities of his province’s Information and Culture Department.
Acting
Minister Khairkhwah expressed his appreciation for Governor Mohammad’s
collaboration.
He also
commended the work of the Nangarhar Information and Culture Department,
describing its activities as satisfying and productive.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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https://bakhtarnews.af/en/minister-khairkhwah-discusses-cultural-initiatives-with-nangarhar-governor/
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North America
Sikh And
Muslim Leaders Call on Canada to Do More to Protect Citizens Targeted by
Foreign Actors
September
20, 2023
Sikh and
Muslim leaders are calling on Canadian authorities to do more to protect
citizens under threat from foreign actors after the allegation that a Canadian
Sikh leader’s death was linked to agents of the Indian government.
World
Sikh Organization board member Mukhbir Singh said while Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s revelation on Monday regarding the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
may have shocked many Canadians, it was not a surprise to the Sikh community.
“For
decades, India has targeted Sikhs in Canada with espionage, disinformation and
now murder,” Mr. Singh told a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.
“Hardeep
Singh Nijjar had publicly mentioned the threat to his life for months and said
he was targeted by intelligence agencies. [The Canadian Security Intelligence
Service] and local law enforcement agencies were aware of the threat to Nijjar,
as well as other Sikh activists in Canada, and they had been alerted to the
danger from multiple sources.”
His
organization called for several measures, including “immediate protection for
Sikhs in Canada who face a threat from India and its agents.”
Mr.
Singh said the WSO is aware of other Canadian Sikhs with threats against their
lives who have been “advised to make changes to their pattern of living.” Asked
whether law enforcement authorities approached Sikh community members about the
threats or vice versa, Mr. Singh said both.
The
killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar: A timeline of events
“Some of
the community members have advised local officials of threats against their
lives; local officials have also advised community members of threats against
their lives,” he said.
Stephen
Brown, chief executive of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said
members of Muslim, Sikh and other communities have voiced such concerns to the
federal government for years, with no action.
“When we
can see, in Canada, our Prime Minister getting up in the House of Commons and
saying that there is credible evidence to suggest that the agent of a foreign
country is assassinating religious minorities in our country – they’re killing
Canadians in broad daylight in our country – it’s absolutely unacceptable,” he
said.
“Anybody
would be wise to be concerned about this – not just ethnic minorities, not just
religious minorities.”
Mr.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Surrey,
B.C., of which he had been president for four years. He was an outspoken
supporter for the creation of an independent Khalistan, a separate homeland for
Sikhs carved out of Punjab, and he volunteered with Sikhs for Justice, a
U.S.-based group spearheading the movement.
A
Canadian citizen and leader in Surrey’s Sikh community, Mr. Nijjar had been
accused by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) of being a terrorist. He
had spoken of the dangers of advocating for Sikh rights, and confided in
friends that he had been alerted by CSIS that he was being targeted for
violence. His lawyer confirmed CSIS’s warning in June.
Gurpreet
Singh, an independent journalist and broadcaster with Spice Radio, interviewed
Mr. Nijjar in May, one month before his killing. He recalled that Mr. Nijjar
spoke of threats against his life – one of several times that he had spoken
publicly about them.
“He
said, ‘I’m being cautioned by the Canadian authorities, again and again, to
remain vigilant,’” Mr. Singh said.
“I was
not surprised [to learn of his death]. I hate to say that, but that’s what he
had been saying. And, after his death, supporters had been saying the same
thing. I would say that Trudeau’s statement actually vindicates Hardeep Singh
Nijjar posthumously.”
Randeep
Sarai, the Liberal member of Parliament for Surrey Centre, said while
authorities did warn Mr. Nijjar of threats against him, police don’t typically
provide the type of services that the public may expect, such as security at
home.
Mr.
Sarai said it is his understanding that police are actively looking at ways to
better protect people at such risk.
“If
relocation or different travel plans and other means are not sufficient, and
other means are needed, I think that’s expected of our law enforcement agencies
because Canadians need to be safe,” he said. “They should definitely not fear
reprisal from abroad. This is something I think the RCMP is actively looking
into and actively engaging, and making sure that if they have to adjust their
ways, they might have to do that.”
The RCMP
did not respond to a request for comment.
On
Monday, B.C. Premier David Eby said he was angered to hear of Mr. Trudeau’s
announcement and that the province would do all it can to enhance protections
for British Columbians against the violence or threat of state actors.
“I call,
yet again, on the federal government to share all relevant information related
to any known ongoing foreign interference and transnational organized crime
threats with our provincial authorities and our government, so we may act in
co-ordination and protect those at risk,” Mr. Eby said in a statement.
Source: theglobeandmail.com
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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-sikh-and-muslim-leaders-call-on-canada-to-do-more-to-protect-citizens/
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New
Jersey Mayor Mohamed KhairullahFiles Lawsuit To End Federal Terrorist Screening
DatasetWatch List
SEPTEMBER
19, 2023
New
Jersey Mayor Mohamed Khairullah, a Muslim American who was denied entry to the
White House Eid al-Fitr event despite a previous invitation, sued multiple US
government agencies Monday, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations
(FBI) and Secret Service, to end the Federal Terrorist Screening Dataset
(FTSD). The Secret Service has not confirmed why Khairullah was barred from
attending, but Khairullah has alleged that it may be because he was previously
mistakenly listed on the FTSD between 2019 and 2022.
The
suit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on behalf of
Khairullah and multiple other plaintiffs, alleges that the FTSD is
discriminatory, targeting mainly Muslims. The suit goes on to allege that the
FTSD violates the Fifth Amendment right to due process, stating:
The
watchlist—including the No Fly List—is radically under- and overinclusive,
inclusion on the watchlist and the No Fly List is governed by
vaguely-articulated and arbitrarily-applied criteria, and Defendants are
focused on targeting Muslims on the basis of their race, ethnicity, and
religion. As a result, the watchlist and No Fly List have no meaningful
connection to actual threats to aviation.
The suit
also alleges the FTSD violates the equal protection clause of the Fifth
Amendment:
As a
matter of policy and official practice, Defendants consider origin from
Muslim-majority countries, travel to Muslim-majority countries, attending
mosques and Islamic events, zakat donations to Muslim charities, the wearing of
typical Muslim dress, Muslim-sounding names, the frequency of Muslim prayer,
adherence to Islamic religious practices, Islamic religious study, the transfer
of money to individuals residing in Muslim majority countries, affiliations
with Muslim organizations, and associations with Muslims in the United States
or abroad to be “derogatory information” supporting a finding of reasonable
suspicion.
The suit
concludes by requesting an end to the FTSD and the expungement of all
plaintiffs’ records that stated they have been on the FTSD.
CAIR
Executive Director Nihad Awad commented on the filing of the suit, stating,
“This system has caused great harm to the lives of thousands of innocent
people. As this litigation moves forward, we again call on the federal
government to dismantle the watchlist.” A Secret Service spokesperson told VOA
News in response to the suit, “As we stated in the past, we were not able to
grant entry to the Mayor at the White House and we regret any inconvenience
that may have caused.”
The FTSD
was implemented shortly after 9/11 and has been a subject of controversy ever
since its initial creation. The FTSD includes 1.5 million names of alleged
terrorists and is split into several categories including the No Fly List and
the Selectee List. Currently, the No Fly List contains 80,000 names of those
who are barred from traveling to or within the US. The Selectee List includes
those who are able to fly but are subject to further screening at airports. The
suit alleges that even after someone is removed from the FTSD, there is still a
record showing they were once on the list, leading to further discrimination.
Source: jurist.org
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https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/09/muslim-american-mayor-files-lawsuit-to-end-terrorist-watch-list/
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Canada
Sikh, Muslim groups demand India cooperate with Nijjar murder probe
September
20, 2023
World
Sikh Organization and National Council of Canadian Muslims say India must
cooperate with Canada in investigating murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh
Nijjar, who Ottawa says may have been killed by Indian government agents in
British Columbia.
World
Sikh and other organisations have called for action after the recent
allegations involving the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in
Canada.
"This
is an unprecedented attack against Canadian sovereignty," Stephen Brown,
head of the National Council of Canadian Muslims [NCCM], said on Tuesday after
offering his condolences to the family of Nijjar.
"Unfortunately,
the revelations of yesterday were painful, but couldn’t for many in our
communities be characterised as shocking," Brown added, referring to the
assassination of the Sikh activist during the joint conference with the World
Sikh Organization of Canada [WSO].
Brown
said many experts warned that it was a matter of time before the Indian
government's actions "reach Canadian shores."
He also highlighted
that while the incident may shock many Canadians, it is a regular occurrence
for many Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and many other minorities in
India.
"We
are no longer in Gandhi's India. This is no longer the world's largest liberal
democracy," he said, adding that this kind of state-sponsored terrorism
must be met with the "highest response."
Nijjar,
a Sikh leader in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, was shot
dead on June 18 in front of a Sikh temple in Surrey.
'Terrorist
acts'
Mukhbir
Singh, who is part of the board of directors of the WSO, said during the
conference that India must honour its international obligations and cooperate
with Canada in investigating these matters.
"The
killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other Sikh activists are terrorist acts
that must be condemned by the international community," Singh said.
Singh
echoed some of the measures called by WSO in yesterday’s statement, which
includes the identification of the individuals who carried out the
assassination, the protection of Canadian Sikhs facing threats from Indian
agents, a review of all Indian diplomats in Canada and the removal of those
involved in human rights abuses, a halt in intelligence sharing with India and
a public inquiry to examine India’s interference in Canada.
"For
decades, India has targeted Sikhs in Canada with espionage, disinformation and
now murder," he alleged.
Earlier,
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged India to take the allegations
seriously, a concern that Washington later echoed.
"India
needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that, we
are not looking to provoke or escalate," Trudeau told reporters.
An
activist for the creation of a Sikh state known as Khalistan, Nijjar was wanted
by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
He had
denied those charges, according to WSO.
The spat
has already thrown cold water on trade talks, which have been paused, and
Canada last week called off a major trade mission scheduled for October.
Major
shift for India?
A US
official said Trudeau was in contact with President Joe Biden's administration
about Canada's findings before raising them publicly.
The
official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of
anonymity, said Trudeau's willingness to speak out about the matter was taken
by the White House as an indication of the Canadian leader's certainty about
what had been found.
Canada
has yet to provide any evidence of Indian involvement, but if true it would
mark a major shift for India, whose security and intelligence branches have
long been significant players in South Asia, and are suspected in a number of
killings in Pakistan.
But
arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly two
million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
India,
though, has accused Canada for years of giving free rein to Sikh separatists,
including Nijjar.
The
British government, meanwhile, said on Tuesday there were no plans to
reinvestigate the death of a UK-based Sikh activist in the wake of Canada's
claim India might have been behind the slaying of Nijjar.
Avtar
Singh Khanda, who played a prominent role in protests for an independent Sikh
homeland, died in June in the English city of Birmingham after falling ill.
Supporters
alleged be might have been poisoned, but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s
spokesman, Max Blain, said police found nothing suspicious.
The
Trudeau government's allegations are awkward for the UK, which is a close ally
of Canada in the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance that also
includes the US, Australia and New Zealand, and is also seeking a free trade
deal with India.
"These
are serious allegations. It is right that the Canadian authorities should be
looking into them," Blain said, adding it would be inappropriate to
comment further while the investigation is under way.
Source: trtworld.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.trtworld.com/us-and-canada/canada-sikh-muslim-groups-demand-india-cooperate-with-nijjar-murder-probe-15041723
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US
Issues More Sanctions over Islamic Republic’s Drone Program
SEPTEMBER
19, 2023
The
United States has announced sanctions on seven individuals and four companies
in China, Russia and Türkiye alleged to be connected with Iran’s drone program.
Kyiv and
its Western backers accuse the Islamic Republic of supplying Russia with
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used to bomb military and civilian targets in
Ukraine.
Tehran
has acknowledged sending drones to Moscow, but it claims that the deliveries
took place before Russia's invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, despite
widespread evidence to the contrary.
The
network sanctioned on September 19 has “facilitated shipments and financial
transactions in support of the U.S.-designated Iran Aircraft Manufacturing
Industrial Company’s (HESA’s) UAV and military aircraft production,
procurement, and maintenance activities,” the US Treasury Department said in a
statement.
The
people and entities targeted include HESA’s alias, Shahin Co., its managing
executives, a group of Russian parts manufacturers and two Turkish money
exchangers.
“Iran’s
continued, deliberate proliferation of its UAVs enables Russia, its proxies in
the Middle East, and other destabilizing actors to undermine global stability,”
said Brian E. Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence.
Matthew
Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, said in a separate statement that
the United States “will continue to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt
these efforts and will work with Allies and partners to hold Iran accountable
for its actions.”
The
people and companies sanctioned are denied access to any property or financial
assets held in the United States; the sanctions also prevent US companies and
citizens from doing business with them.
Tensions
between Washington and Tehran remain high, despite this week's release of five
Americans detained in Iran as part of a prisoner swap that saw the dismissal of
US federal charges against five Iranians and the unfreezing of $6 billion in
Iranian assets.
In his
address to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 19, US President
Joe Biden said his administration was “working with our partners to address
Iran’s destabilizing activities that threaten regional and global security.”
Tehran
and Moscow have deepened their bilateral ties, particularly in the military
sphere, since the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia over its unprovoked
invasion of Ukraine.
The
European Union, the United States and other countries have also issued several
rounds of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in recent months over its
crackdown on dissent and its supply of drones to Russia .
Source: iranwire.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://iranwire.com/en/news/120713-us-issues-more-sanctions-over-islamic-republics-drone-program/
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US
‘goodwill’ needed to revive 2015 nuclear deal: Iranian president
September
20, 2023
DANIEL
FOUNTAIN
LONDON:
The US must show “goodwill and determination” if it wants to revive the 2015
nuclear deal abandoned by then-President Donald Trump five years ago, Iran’s
president told the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
“By
exiting the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), the United States
violated the agreement,” said Ebrahim Raisi. “America should demonstrate its
goodwill and determination.”
Trump
withdrew the US from the deal, which he said was too soft on Iran, and imposed
harsh sanctions on Tehran.
Efforts
to revive the JCPOA stalled last year, when diplomats said Tehran rejected what
EU mediators called their “final offer” to bring Iran back into the fold.
“These
sanctions haven’t yielded the desired results. It’s time now for the United
States to bring a cessation to its wrong path and choose the right side,” Raisi
said.
He added
that the US “has fanned the flames of violence in Ukraine in order to weaken
the European countries. This is a long-term plan, unfortunately.” Raisi said:
“We support any initiative for a cessation of hostilities and the war.”
Following
last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US imposed fresh sanctions on Iran
for providing drones to Moscow to aid its war effort.
Immediately
after Iran’s Raisi began to deliver his speech, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad
Erdan, marched out of the General Assembly hall while waving the picture of
Mahsa Amini, the young woman fatally beaten by Iran’s morality police.
“I left
the speech to make it clear that the State of Israel stands by the Iranian
people,” said Erdan, according to a statement sent to Reuters by Israel’s
mission to the United Nations.
Iran and
Israel, which Tehran refuses to recognise, have been locked in a shadow war for
decades, with mutual allegations of sabotage and assassination plots.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2376941/middle-east
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US
government at rising risk of shutdown with Congress in deadlock
20 Sep
2023
WASHINGTON,
Sept 20 — The United States is less than two weeks away from a potential
government shutdown, with the stakes increasing as lawmakers struggle to agree
on a short-term spending bill.
Several
budget bills are currently being discussed in Washington, but none have enough
votes to clear both the Democrat-majority Senate and the Republican-controlled
House of Representatives.
Lawmakers
have until midnight on September 30 to reach an agreement, before funding for
government services is due to dry up.
Government
shutdowns put at risk the finances of hundreds of thousands of workers who may
be sent home without pay as parks, museums and other federal properties close.
Although
policymakers are generally keen to avoid this situation, some supporters
aligned with former president Donald Trump have so far opposed every bill on
the table.
“With
less than two weeks before the end of the fiscal year, extreme House
Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples’ lives,” said the White
House in a statement on Tuesday.
Ukraine
aid uncertain
The
impasse could have repercussions on the war in Ukraine, with the White House
seeking for any budget bill passed by lawmakers to include US$24 billion
(RM112.67 billion) in military and humanitarian aid for Kyiv.
While
such a plan is supported by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, it is
radically opposed by some members of the House.
“I will
not vote to fund a single penny to the war in Ukraine, Covid anything, and the
political weaponised government,” said far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor
Greene on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
This
comes as US President Joe Biden is due to meet with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington later in the week.
“At the
very same time that President Zelensky comes to the United States to make the
case for standing firm against (Russian President Vladimir Putin), Republican
leadership in the House of Representatives are essentially telling him ‘You’re
on your own’,” said Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Debt
crisis in June
The
looming shutdown marks the second time in recent months that the world’s top
economy faces a financial gridlock.
In June,
the United States narrowly avoided a possible debt default, as US senators
voted to suspend the federal debt limit after weeks of fraught negotiations.
A
default would have been unprecedented, but the United States has had periods of
shutdown before, including a 35-day stretch from late 2018 to early 2019 under
former president Donald Trump — the longest in US history.
A
shutdown this time could “leave a visible mark on the economy”, said EY chief
economist Gregory Daco this week.
He
estimates that “each week of government shutdown will cost the US economy $6
billion”, and trim GDP growth by 0.1 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
“Apart
from the direct macroeconomic consequences of a shutdown, financial markets and
private sector confidence could also be affected,” he said. — AFP
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/09/20/us-government-at-rising-risk-of-shutdown-with-congress-in-deadlock/91858
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US warns
Azerbaijan to end military operation
19 Sep,
2023
US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for “an immediate end to
hostilities” by Azerbaijan against the ethnic-Armenian province of
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azeri operation has been condemned by the EU, US, and
Russia.
“Azerbaijan’s
unacceptable military actions risk worsening the humanitarian situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh,” Blinken said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) on
Tuesday. “We call for an immediate end to hostilities and for direct dialogue.”
Earlier
on Tuesday, an anonymous US official told Reuters that Blinken would hold talks
with all sides in a bid to end the “egregious” outbreak of violence in the
province.
Azerbaijan
launched what it called “counter-terrorism measures” against the
ethnically-Armenian province of Nagorno-Karabakh earlier on Tuesday. Baku
claims that it is targeting a buildup of the Armenian military in the province,
while Yerevan denies deploying units to Nagorno-Karabakh and has accused
Azerbaijan of attempting to carry out the “ethnic cleansing” of the Armenian
enclave.
The
Azeri operation has been condemned by the US, EU, and Russia, among other
powers. Russia brokered a ceasefire between Baku and Yerevan when both sides
fought over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and maintains a contingent of
peacekeepers in the province. Azerbaijan said that it informed Russia before
launching its military operation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that this warning came just “minutes before
military action began.”
The US
is not a formal ally of either Armenia or Azerbaijan, but has sold weapons to
Baku since 2002, in exchange for access to the country as a launchpad for
deploying troops to Afghanistan. These arms sales are a bone of contention for
the sizable Armenian diaspora in the US, which authorities in Yerevan say
numbers up to two million people.
Two of
the US’ major NATO allies – France and Germany – have issued condemnations of
Azerbaijan’s actions, with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna calling
the operation “illegal, unjustifiable, [and] unacceptable.”
One NATO
member, Türkiye, has come out in support of Azerbaijan. The Turkish Foreign
Ministry stated that Azerbaijan “was forced to take measures it deems necessary
on its sovereign territory.”
In the
Armenian capital of Yerevan, protesters clashed with police outside government
buildings. Opposition politicians and activists accuse Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan of abandoning Nagorno-Karabakh when he said he would recognize Azeri
sovereignty over the province earlier this summer.
Azerbaijan
has vowed to keep up the bombardment of Nagorno-Karabakh until Armenian-backed
authorities there surrender and dissolve their government.
Source: rt.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.rt.com/news/583243-blinken-warns-azerbaijan-armenia/
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Southeast Asia
Singapore
cops: Teen to be charged after allegedly robbing another person at knifepoint
in Tampines store
19 Sep
2023
SINGAPORE,
Sept 19 — A 15-year-old teenager was arrested after allegedly trying to rob
another person at knifepoint and will be charged with armed robbery tomorrow,
the police said.
This
happened at a convenience store along Tampines Central 8 yesterday at 5.36am.
The
young male suspect was said to have robbed the victim with a knife and demanded
that the victim hand over cash amounting to S$827 (RM2,847) and cigarettes
valued at S$181.20.
The
police did not disclose any other details about the victim in their media
statement today.
Through
ground enquiries, images from police cameras and closed-circuit television
footage, officers from the Bedok Police Division established the boy’s identity
and arrested him within 10 hours of the report.
Cash
amounting to S$30 and the stolen cigarettes were recovered later.
Anyone
convicted of robbery can be jailed between three and 14 years and receive at
least 12 strokes of the cane.
Warning
potential perpetrators, the police said that they would “spare no effort to
arrest those who commit violent crimes”.
The
police also advised the public to remain calm, take note of the physical
appearance and distinctive features of the perpetrator, and call for the police
as soon as possible should a robbery happen. — TODAY
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/singapore/2023/09/19/singapore-cops-teen-to-be-charged-after-allegedly-robbing-another-person-at-knifepoint-in-tampines-store/91795
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Cops
arrest nine, seize five firearms and bullets in Johor raids
20 Sep
2023
JOHOR
BARU: Police here have seized five firearms, 136 live bullets and arrested nine
suspects in raids on a drug trafficking syndicate here.
Johor
police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said that state police and
personnel from Bukit Aman conducted several raids on Tuesday (Sept 19) around
Johor Baru, Seri Alam and Kota Tinggi.
“We
arrested six men and three women between the age of 22 and 36 years. Three of
the suspects are brothers and a sister,” he said in a press conference held at
the state police headquarters here on Wednesday (Sept 20).
Comm Kamarul
Zaman added that two of the suspects tested positive for drugs while further
checks found six of them have prior records involving drugs and crime.
He said
police seized 27.5kg of ganja, 1.81kg of heroin, 2.02kg of syabu, 597grams of
ketamine, 540 Yaba pills and 353 ecstasy pills with a value of RM231,462 during
the raids.
“Besides
the drugs, police recovered five pistols and 136 bullets. We have sent the
firearms for a ballistic test to see whether it had been used in a shooting
incident in Mersing some four months back,” said Comm Kamarul Zaman.
“Police
also seized 111 cartons of illicit cigarettes from them besides their
belongings such as a motorcycle, four cars, six jewellery, and cash amounting
to RM126,000,” he added.
Comm
Kamarul Zaman said all of the suspects were being remanded for six days to help
with the ongoing investigation.
Source: thestar.com.my
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/09/20/cops-arrest-nine-seize-five-firearms-and-bullets-in-johor-raids
------
Don’t
blame current govt for our problems: farmer
20 Sep
2023
PETALING
JAYA – The food production crisis and the high price of essentials plaguing the
country are due to the changing climate and the high cost of importing
fertilisers and other farming essentials.
Farmer
Zaheer Zechariah said the most profitable time to plant is from January to
September, but heavy rains and cloud cover have an impact on the yields.
He said
for him, the present weather conditions had hurt his farm’s yield, compared to
the last one to three years ago when the farm yield had been much higher.
“The
present government is not to be blamed for the problems faced by farmers today.
Governments over the last nine years had been warned about global warming but
had ignored it.
“They
had neither prepared farmers nor taken proactive measures to deal with the
problem.”
He said
rice supply is now becoming an issue as India has banned its exports and
Vietnam is slowly cutting down on its exports.
He added
all this was due to the unpredictable weather pattern, which is hurting yield
and production.
Citing
an example of high chicken price and low production, he said all the corn used
in chicken feed is imported and charged in US dollars.
Zaheer,
who owns a farm in Dengkil, said solutions can be found as long as agriculture
officials move from officialdom and start being pragmatic.
“To
overcome the issue of high cost of importing corn, land should be set aside to
grow corn for chicken feed to mitigate the import cost.
“The
same can be done for growing specialised grass for cow feed. This will help
reduce the country’s reliance on imports.”
He said
that as a farmer, he noticed a lot of unproductive land left abandoned.
This
land can be used to encourage people to use it for farming to help improve the
nation’s food security, he said.
Need for
locally produced fertiliser
He said
the government needs to encourage local companies to start producing
fertilisers locally so farmers and consumers will not be exposed to
international chaos and be more self-reliant.
Zaheer
said previously a bag of 25kg of calcium nitrate fertiliser was about RM45 but
today, the price is touching RM105.
He
pointed out that with such high costs, the production of food will not be
cheap, and consumers in the end will have to pay higher prices.
He said
even the price of fertiliser has gone up to RM100 for a 50kg bag from about
RM50 previously.
He said
in the past, farmers used to rely on imports but luckily, Petronas stepped in
to produce the product while keeping prices affordable.
He said
the government needs to encourage more companies to follow suit, as this will
help bring down the cost of production.
“To
encourage food security, agriculture officials, especially Fama, should
encourage the use of technology in farming, such as vertical farming, to reduce
land use while increasing production.
“Building
rain shelters for farmers to protect their crops will help deal with climate
change and the unpredictable weather pattern while keeping yields high.” – The
Vibes, September 20, 2023 thevibes.com
Source: thevibes.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/98856/dont-blame-current-govt-for-our-problems-farmer
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Lawyers
for Singapore man on trial for murder of daughter confined naked in toilet
seeks to impeach wife as prosecution witness
19 Sep 2023
SINGAPORE,
Sept 19 — Taking the stand in the High Court today as a prosecution’s witness,
the stepmother of a five-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by her father
offered no new information into the circumstances surrounding her death,
answering every question she was asked with: “I cannot remember.”
The
woman, 32, is the wife of the 43-year-old man who is facing a single charge of
murder for allegedly assaulting his daughter to death in August 2017 after she
refused to exercise.
Both the
woman and the man are currently in the midst of divorce proceedings, and cannot
be named due to a court order to protect the identities of the surviving
children.
In a
roughly six-hour long hearing, the father’s defence lawyers began a process to
impeach the woman as a prosecution witness, citing how her previous oral
testimony given in July had been inconsistent with what she had told the police
in 2017, particularly on these three points:
She
testified that she found out that her stepdaughter died before she went to pick
up her other children from childcare but in police statements she said that she
was told this information by her husband after she came back home from picking
up the children
She
testified that there was once when she would scold and hit the girl because she
made a mess in the kitchen but in police statements, she said she did not
recall any time when the stepchildren made a mess
She
testified that a closed-circuit television (CCTV) was no longer in the toilet
on August 12, 2017, the day he took his daughter’s body to Singapore General
Hospital, but in police statements she said she did not notice whether the CCTV
was still there
A
witness is impeached only when it is proven that his or her testimonies are
inconsistent with former statements or evidence presented in court.
The
witness will then be considered less credible and his or her testimony will be
given less weight by the judge.
‘I
cannot remember’
During
the hearing, the woman was cross-examined by defence counsel Mervyn Cheong who
asked her a number of questions in relation to the statement that his client
had made about the events of August 10, 2017.
When
asked by Cheong if she remembered the time she fed the stepchildren or whether
8pm was their bed time, the woman replied that she cannot remember.
She gave
the same answer to a number of other questions which included those pertaining
to a discussion to send their stepchildren away and a suggestion from her
husband to feed them a minimum of three meals a day.
Before
her death, the girl and her younger brother were made to live naked in the
bathroom of their one-room flat and were only let out for meals, or when either
their father or stepmother needed to use the toilet.
The man
also installed a CCTV camera in the toilet so that he and his wife could
monitor them.
On the
night of August 10, 2017, the girl’s stepmother tried to get her to perform
some exercises but she refused.
Her
father then decided to “handle the situation” by hitting her on the head and
face. It was only on the evening of the next day that he realised she had died.
The
court heard that the girl was severely malnourished when her lifeless body was
taken to the hospital, and she was found to be covered head-to-toe in bruises,
abrasions, wounds and scars.
The
trial is set to continue tomorrow morning with the wife again taking the
witness stand. — TODAY
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/singapore/2023/09/19/lawyers-for-singapore-man-on-trial-for-murder-of-daughter-confined-naked-in-toilet-seeks-to-impeach-wife-as-prosecution-witness/91796
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