Tag: InternationalNews

{Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, but critics say it is being used to muzzle government critics.}

Pakistan will punish social media companies that fail to take action against online blasphemy, the interior minister said, adding that he had requested a meeting with Facebook to discuss the issue.

Pakistan’s government wants social media networks to remove material deemed insulting to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week warned those posting such content would be “strictly punished”.

“[Blasphemy] is not only a problem for Pakistan. This is an issue about the honour of every Muslim,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who is also seeking to meet ambassadors from other Muslim countries to tackle the problem.

“If we do not get a response from social media, I do not care about anyone, there is nothing greater than our faith. If social media and especially international social media stays on this route, then we will have to take strong action regarding social media,” said Khan.

He did not specify what action might be taken.

Those convicted of blasphemy could face the death penalty under Pakistani law.

Right groups say the law is frequently abused in a country where Islam is a highly sensitive subject, and where even rumours of blasphemy have sparked deadly riots.

Analysts say the blasphemy law has been abused to muzzle government critics.

Facebook is the most popular social network in the country. Khan said that the company was “ready to send a delegation to Pakistan” and would do so once a date was agreed.

{{Appealing to conservatives}}

Facebook could not be immediately reached for comment. However, a report by the company on Pakistani government requests for data lists 25 pieces of content being restricted between January and June 2016.

“Based on legal requests from the Pakistan Telecom Authority, we restricted access to content for allegedly violating local laws prohibiting blasphemy, desecration of the national flag, and condemnation of the country’s independence,” reads the Facebook page on the country.

According to analytics data from Facebook’s website, the social media app has about 25-30 million active users in Pakistan, where internet penetration remains poor.

Facebook’s Instagram unit and rival Twitter are also popular.

The ruling PML-N party’s tough talk against blasphemy will appeal to its conservative voter base before elections likely to take place next year.

At least 65 people, including lawyers, defendants and judges, have been murdered in Pakistan over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to figures from a Centre for Research and Security Studies report and local media.

In one high-profile case six years ago, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by one of his guards, who accused him of blasphemy because he criticised the law and defended a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.

Source:Al Jazeera

{Five people were killed and 40 injured after being run over and stabbed in a lightning attack at the gates of British democracy attributed by police to “Islamist-related terrorism”.}

The attack unfolded on Wednesday across Westminster Bridge in the shadow of Big Ben, a towering landmark that draws tourists by the millions and stands over Britain’s Houses of Parliament — the very image of London.

The attacker’s car struck pedestrians on the bridge before crashing into the railings surrounding the heavily guarded Houses of Parliament, sowing first shock then panic in the seat of British power.

The assailant then ran through the gates brandishing a knife and stabbed a 48-year-old policeman to death before being shot dead by another officer.

Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as “sick and depraved” in a defiant address in which she affirmed parliament would meet as normal on Thursday.

Standing outside her Downing Street residence after an emergency cabinet meeting, May said Britain’s alert level would be kept unchanged.

“We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart,” said May, who was dressed in black.

The prime minister was in parliament at the time of the attack and was seen being ushered away in a silver car as what sounded like gunfire rang out, British media reported.

{{TERRORISM}}

Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said the five victims included a policeman guarding parliament and three members of the public.

“Islamist-related terrorism is our assumption,” Rowley told journalists.

He said investigators believe they know the identity of the assailant and police would be examining the scene of the attack through the night.

Queen Elizabeth II postponed her appearance on Thursday to open the new headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police, where the force’s flag was flown at half-mast following the incident.

{{BOMB ATTACKS}}

The attack came a year to the day after Islamic State jihadists killed 32 people in twin bomb attacks in Brussels and after a series of deadly assaults in Europe that had hitherto spared Britain.

Parliament was locked down for several hours and hundreds of lawmakers and visitors were later evacuated to nearby Westminster Abbey and the Metropolitan Police headquarters.

An air ambulance flew in and police cordoned off a large area, while tourists on the London Eye, a popular visitor attraction, were stuck up to 135 metres (443 feet) in the air for more than an hour during the incident.

“I saw three bodies lying on the ground and a whole lot of police. It was pretty terrifying,” said Jack Hutchinson, 16, from the United States, who was stranded on the observation wheel with his parents.

Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother Jonathan was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing, was pictured with his face smeared with blood helping to give first aid to the fatally wounded police officer.

{{CARNAGE}}

Britain’s last terror attack was the assassination of MP Jo Cox by a pro-Nazi sympathiser in her constituency in northern England.

The worst previous attack in London was in 2005 when four British suicide bombers inspired by Al-Qaeda attacked the transport system, killing 52 people.

Britain’s allies reacted with shock and vowed to stand with London in the fight against terror.

US President Donald Trump and French President Francois Hollande both spoke to May and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood with Britons “against all forms of terrorism”.

“Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London,” Trump tweeted.

Lights on the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off at midnight in solidarity with victims of the attack.

The incident dominated Britain’s front pages, with The Times describing it as an “Assault on Westminster” while London’s Evening Standard carried the headline “Terror carnage at Westminster”.

{{VICTIMS}}

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is due to travel to London on Thursday morning to visit three French pupils on a school trip who were among those hurt.

Five South Korean tourists were wounded, Seoul’s foreign ministry said, while the Romanian government said two of its citizens were also injured.

A Portuguese man was hurt, the country’s government said, while a seriously injured woman was rescued from the River Thames following the incident.

A doctor at nearby St Thomas’ Hospital said they were treating people with “catastrophic” injuries.

Press Association news agency photos believed to be of the attacker lying on an ambulance stretcher showed he was wearing black clothes and had a beard.

British lawmaker Mary Creagh told AFP there was “a real sense of panic” as the attack unfolded.

Pictures showed two people being attended to on the ground inside the vehicle entrance gates of parliament, with a knife visible on the cobblestones, while three shots were heard on video footage.

Source:AFP

{Gulf carriers have expanded their foothold in the US in recent years, prompting anger from US airlines.}

Aviation experts are divided on the effectiveness of a US ban on large electronic items in hand luggage on flights inbound from a number of Middle Eastern states.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced the measure on Tuesday, citing the downing of an airliner in Egypt in 2015 and an attempt on a Somali passenger jet in 2016 using explosives smuggled on board.

A list of banned devices includes tablets, laptops, ebook readers and cameras, but not medical equipment and mobile phones.

The indefinite ban targets 10 airports in the Middle East and nine airlines, including Turkish Airlines and the major Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

“We have reason to be concerned about attempts by terrorist groups to circumvent aviation security and terrorist groups continue to target aviation interests,” US officials said in a statement.

However, aviation experts have cast doubt on that explanation and warned of the new dangers the measure could pose.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at the aviation consultancy StrategicAero Research, told Al Jazeera the announcement “flies in the face” of US Federal Aviation Authority rules on the carrying of lithium batteries in a plane’s cargo hold.

“[The rule] was put in place after the 2010 crash of a UPS 747 freighter in Dubai that caught fire while carrying such cargo,” he said, before describing the immediate inconvenience the ban would cause for passengers.

“Airlines will of course comply, but delays will be seen at airports for customers not aware of the rule changes.

“Compliance will cause delays and add costs – it might even force passengers to drop plans to fly to the US or instead look for an alternative transit point through Europe so that their devices can be taken in the cabin as normal.”

As the US ban currently applies, there is nothing stopping a passenger carrying the proscribed electronics boarding a flight to another region from one of the affected Middle Eastern airports, and later taking a connecting flight to the US, which Ahmad said demonstrated how “ill-conceived” the plan was.

“It does nothing to prevent security threats from places like France that have suffered a lot of terrorism in recent years – how would Homeland Security mitigate against a passenger from France with a device in the cabin in that situation?” Ahmad asked.

Gulf competition

The current US measure comes against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s, as of yet, failed attempts to ban Muslims from several Middle Eastern states from entering the US, and also a fierce rivalry between Middle Eastern carriers and their American counterparts.

Ahmad said there was “merit [in the idea] that this ban could be seen as a way to stifle GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] airline demand for travel to the US”.

In the past year, US airliners have urged their government to act against Gulf carriers, which have expanded services to the United States and have been eating into market share.

As recently as last week, an advocacy group representing American airlines – including American, Delta and United – paid for an open letter to Trump to be placed in the New York Times and New York Post newspapers.

“The billions of dollars in illegal Gulf carrier subsidies are brazen violations of our Open Skies agreements and a perfect example of the type of trade cheating that President Trump abhors,” Jill Zuckman, of the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, said in the letter.

In February, the same group had asked to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding competition from Gulf airlines, but it is not known whether a meeting went ahead.

In January, Delta chief Ed Bastian told CNBC he was “optimistic” Trump would act against Gulf-based competitors.

Opponents of the Gulf carriers say they are threatening US jobs and the ability of US airlines to operate competitively, but the Gulf airlines themselves say they have a positive effect on the US economy.

Despite the backdrop of rivalry between Gulf carriers and their US competitors, aviation expert Keith Mackey told Al Jazeera’s NewsGrid that there were valid security threats that would justify such action.

“What happens is terror alerts are received throughout the world by governments; some of them are specific and some of them are non-specific and the agencies involved decide the safest course of action,” he said, citing previous incidences of groups like ISIL planting explosives in electronic gadgets.

“I’m sure when the situation is resolved, the ban will be lifted and things will go back to normal… I’m sure this wasn’t done as an anti-competitive measure,” Mackey added.

The UK’s announcement that it too is introducing a limited ban on electronic items lends weight to the idea that the inclusion of Middle Eastern airlines is due to security rather than competition.

While there is no hint or mention of economic competition motivating Tuesday’s ban among US officials, frequent travellers between the US and the Middle East are considering making alternative arrangements to flying on Gulf airlines.

Joseph Lumbard, an academic at the University of Sharjah in the UAE, said he would now consider taking longer indirect routes through Europe to the US.

“I travel back to the US three to four times a year. I am currently examining my options,” he said, adding that higher paying business passengers would be most affected by the ban.

“Many of the most frequent fliers on such routes are the ones who need their laptops in order to use their time on the airplane productively.

“Business travellers, those who tend to pay the most since they often purchase tickets within a week or two of the flight, will be forced to reconsider which airline they use.”

Ashif Memon, a US citizen and cyber-security analyst based in Saudi Arabia, told Al Jazeera he would have no choice but to avoid travelling through the Gulf until the ban was lifted.

“No one is going to put expensive electronics full of personally or commercially sensitive data in checked luggage,” he said. “Your device will wind up getting stolen, imaged, or damaged.”

“It has changed our travel plans for sure. Aside from the material value, my laptop is full of sensitive data.”

Source:Al Jazeera

{Pyongyang envoy to UN warns his country is developing ‘pre-emptive strike capabilities with nuclear forces’.}

North Korea will pursue “acceleration” of its nuclear and missile programmes including developing a “pre-emptive first-strike capability”, a diplomat from Pyongyang warned on Tuesday.

Choe Myong-nam, deputy ambassador of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva, told Reuters news agency that US threats of increased sanctions would not phase the country.

“I think this is stemming from the visit by the Secretary of State [Rex Tillerson] to Japan, South Korea and China… We of course are not afraid of any act like that,” Choe said.

“Even prohibition of the international transactions system, the global financial system, this kind of thing is part of their system that will not frighten us or make any difference.”

He called existing sanctions “heinous and inhumane”.

North Korea has been under sanctions for “half a century”, but the communist state survives by placing an emphasis on juche or “self-sufficiency”, he said.

His country wants an international forum set up to examine the “legality and legitimacy of the sanctions regime”.

Choe denounced joint annual military exercises currently being carried out by the United States and South Korea on the divided peninsula, and criticised remarks by Tillerson during his talks with regional allies last week.

“All he was talking about is for the United States to take military actions on DPRK (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Choe said.

North Korea rejects claims by Washington and Seoul that the military drills are defensive. They involve strategic nuclear bombers and a nuclear submarine Columbus that recently entered South Korean ports, he said.

“In the light of such huge military forces involved in the joint military exercises, we have no other choice but to continue with our full acceleration of the nuclear programmes and missile programmes,” said Choe.

“It is because of these hostile activities on the part of the United States and South Korea we strengthen our national defence capability, as well as pre-emptive strike capabilities with nuclear forces as a centrepiece.”

Trump says Kim Jong-un ‘acting very, very badly’

He declined to give technical details of North Korea’s latest rocket engine test on Sunday – seen as a possible prelude to a partial inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) flight – calling it a great historical event that would lead to “fruitful outcomes”.

“I can tell you for sure that the inter-continental ballistic rockets of the DPRK will be launched at any time and at any place as decided by our supreme leadership,” Choe said, recalling leader Kim Jong-un’s pledge in a New Year’s address.

Analysts say North Korea has likely mastered the technology to power the different stages of an ICBM and may show it off soon, but is likely still a long way from being able to hit the mainland United States.

“The United States has been talking about launching pre-emptive strikes at North Korea and we have been prepared to deter, to counter-attack such attacks,” Choe said.

“We would utilise every possible means in our hands and the inter-continental ballistic rocket is one of them.”

Source:Al Jazeera

{Activists decry Florida state attorney ruling that 2012 death of schizophrenic inmate in scalding shower was accidental.}

Civil rights organisations have condemned a US state attorney’s decision to close the case against prison guards who sent an inmate to a scalding shower, which witnesses and lawyers believe killed him.

In June 2012, four guards trapped 50-year-old Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic, in a shower at Florida’s Dade Correctional Institute for two hours

He was found dead lying face up in the shower, his skin red and slipping off.

Some prisoners said they heard Rainey scream out for help, saying the water was “too hot”, that they saw steam coming out of the shower, and that CPR was not performed.

While a prison nurse said that Rainey’s body felt hot, she said a sergeant did perform CPR.

On Friday, the office of Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released a 101-page report saying Rainey’s cause of death was “an accident”.

The report concluded: “Facts and evidence in this case do not meet the required elements for the filing of any criminal charge … none of the correctional officers at Dade CI are criminally responsible for the death.”

In a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Monday, Howard Simon, American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Florida executive director, said: “Just because the state attorney found that the standards to secure a criminal conviction was not met does not mean that corrections officers did not do something horribly wrong.

“Changes need to be made in our corrections department to ensure that guards are held responsible when their actions, negligent or willful, result in the death of an inmate.”

Florida, a state that holds more more than 100,000 people behind bars, is home to America’s third largest prison system behind California and Texas.

{{Rainey’s death ‘utterly preventable’}}

Anger swelled after the Rundle’s report was released.

Protesters said on social media that they would gather outside the state attorney’s office on Tuesday to demand her resignation, calling on those concerned to continue to phone Rundle for answers.

“We’re fully aware of [the planned protest],” a spokeswoman from Rundle’s office told Al Jazeera, refusing to comment further about Rainey’s death.

Later on Monday, Rundle tweeted that due to the volume of calls she had established a hotline “to answer your concerns regarding the death of Darren Rainey”.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are around 2.37 million people in American prisons, the largest reported incarcerated population in the world.

“Jail and prison staff throughout the US use unnecessary, excessive, and even malicious force against prisoners with mental disabilities,” the group said in its 2016 annual report.

Alex Friedmann, associate director of the Florida-based Human Rights Defense Center, told Al Jazeera that he was not surprised by the state’s decision to close Rainey’s case, but explained his death was “utterly preventable”.

“Florida specifically has a long and sordid history of prisoners being killed by guards,” he said. “There are systemic failures at every step, from preventing abuse, investigating, and holding them accountable.”

It was unlikely that Rainey – who had been on hunger strikes – had the mental health support he needed, Friedmann explained.

“Rainey was mentally ill. We have basically criminalised mental illness in the United States. People who commit crimes on the base of mental illness, we funnel them into prison, not mental health facilities.

“We have more people with mental health [issues] incarcerated, rather than in hospitals. We put them in prisons. They don’t fare well in those environments.”

{{‘A grave injustice’}}

Rainey had allegedly wiped faeces over himself before the shower.

“Prisons aren’t mental health hospitals. They [prison authorities] tell you, ‘we don’t need to be dealing with it’. When you put mentally ill people in these situations, these are the tragic results that happen,” said Friedmann.

One nurse at Dade Correctional Institute, Britney Wilson, said that prisoners were routinely disciplined with long showers, according to the state attorney’s report.

“She observed that Rainey’s skin … appeared red and wrinkled,” the report said. “Wilson told the [911] operator that Rainey’s body appeared to be burned.”

READ MORE: Is the US failing its inmates?

Steve Wetstein, a member of the Stop Prison Abuse Now advocacy group, told Al Jazeera that it was “a grave injustice that the case has been closed”.

“There’s an awful lot of testimony that says the shower that he was placed into was used as a punishment … realistically as a torture device,” he said. “I do think that he was murdered.”

Rainey had been serving a two-year sentence on a cocaine charge.

“I think there is a tremendous amount of abuse [in prisons]. Darren Rainey is not the only death that looks like a criminal act,” Wetstein said. “There are numerous other cases where someone has died and very frankly the system has just covered it up.”

In October, 14 human rights groups led by the ACLU called for a US Department of Justice investigation (DoJ) into Florida’s prisons, urging intervention into abuse, neglect, torture and deaths of prisoners.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the groups’ letter cited 17 prisoners who allegedly died of neglect.

The ACLU’s Simon told Al Jazeera following the closure of Rainey’s case, it was “imperative” that a federal investigation “into a pattern and practice of brutality in Florida prison” continued.

But Wetstein has lost some hope since the election of Donald Trump.

“To be very honest, we had infinitely more hope that federal charges might have been brought with the [Barack] Obama administration,” Wetstein said, referring to the former Democratic president.

Trump, a Republican, has said he is “tough on crime” and has vowed to give further powers to law enforcement.

“When Trump was elected, our opinion was it’s (the DoJ investigation) not going to happen. The change of administrations makes a big difference. With any Republican administration, I would not be hopeful. With this particular one, I’m certainly not hopeful. It’s worse if anything,” said Wetstein.

Source:Al Jazeera