Five Taliban men held in Benazir killing case granted bail

Agencies
May 8, 2018

Islamabad, May 8: A Pakistani high court has granted bail to five suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda militants arrested for their alleged role in the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto, who had served twice as prime minister in the 1990s, was killed in a gun and bomb attack in 2007 in Rawalpindi, the garrison city neighbouring the capital, after she finished addressing a political rally. Her assassination plunged the country into political chaos and spasms of violence.

The government of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf blamed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baituallah Mehsud for the attack.

Mehsud had later denied the charges.

However, police arrested Abdul Rashid, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Sher Zaman and claimed that they were active members of TTP for their alleged role in the killing.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi acquitted the five in its verdict of August 31, 2017 but they were not set free due to alleged links with militants.

A two-member Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court comprising Justice Mirza Waqas and Justice Sardar Serfraz yesterday granted bail to the five suspects on surety bonds worth Rs 500,000 each, Dawn News reported.

The bench further directed the authorities concerned to ensure their presence at every hearing of the case.

It was not clear when they will be released as they were already shifted to the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore from the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on November 28, 2017.

An official of the prison department said the release orders were likely to be received today or tomorrow, the report said.

However, he added that the provincial government could extend their detention as the Punjab government had the legal authority to do so.

Earlier, soon after their acquittal by the ATC, the five TTP suspects were detained for 30 days at the Adiala central jail on the recommendation of the Counter-Terrorism Department of the Punjab police.

On September 1, 2017, a Counter-Terrorism Department officer informed the Rawalpindi district administration through a letter that the release from jail of Sher Zaman, resident of North Wazirstan, would be prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order.

The district administration subsequently issued detention orders under Section 26 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance for the five suspects for a period of one month. After the completion of the month-long detention, they were detained for another 60 days. On Nov 28, 2017, the TTP suspects were again detained for three more months on a directive of the LHC.

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Agencies
June 24,2020

Washington, Jun 24: Twitter has once again flagged a tweet from US President Donald Trump which promoted violence by saying if protesters tried to set up an "autonomous zone" in Washington, DC they would be met with "serious force".

This is the fourth time Twitter has red flagged Trump's tweet for glorifying violence or violating its policies.

Trump has been critical of the "autonomous zone" in Seattle, an area occupied by protestors for much of this month.

"We've placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behaviour, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group," Twitter's safety team tweeted late Tuesday.

Trump had tweeted: "There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone' in Washington, D.C., as long as I'm your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!"

Twitter earlier labeled a video tweeted by him which mocked CNN as manipulated media.

According to Twitter, "this Tweet has been labeled per our synthetic and manipulated media policy to give people more context".

In May, Twitter labeled two Trump tweets that made false claims about mail-in ballots in California.

Twitter later labeled another Trump tweet glorifying violence in which he said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Facebook also removed a Trump campaign ad featuring a symbol used by Nazis for political dissenters, saying the ad violated its policies.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Geneva, May 27: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has increased by nearly 100,000 over the past 24 hours to surpass 5.4 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

According to the WHO, the global case tally currently stands at 5,404,512 -- a rise by 99,780 over the past day.

The death count worldwide amounts to 343,514 -- an increase by 1,486.

Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas -- 2,454,452, with 143,739 deaths.

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News Network
January 31,2020

Wuhan, Jan 31: The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported Friday the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections.

The UN health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks.

suspended or reduced service to China include British Airways, German flag carrier Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM and United.

Chinese efforts to halt the virus have included the suspension of classes nationwide and an extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.

All football matches across the country also will be postponed, the Chinese Football Association said on Thursday, including games in the top-tier Chinese Super League.

World stock markets tumbled again Thursday on fears that trouble in the "world's factory" would upset global supply chains and dent profits.

Toyota, IKEA, Starbucks, Tesla, McDonald's and tech giant Foxconn were among the corporate giants temporarily freezing production or closing large numbers of outlets in China.

Volkswagen announced Thursday its China joint-venture plants would not start production again before February 9.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus posed a fresh risk to the world economy.

Throughout China, signs of paranoia multiplied, with residents of some Beijing residential compounds erecting makeshift barriers to their premises.

In one of many similar photos posted online, a man wearing a surgical mask and brandishing a traditional martial arts weapon squatted on a barricade outside a Chinese village, near a sign saying: "Outsiders forbidden from entering".

The crisis has caused food prices to spike, and the central government on Thursday blamed this partly on overzealous preventive measures, issuing a directive banning any roadblocks or other hindrances to food shipments.

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