Germany bans anti-Islamic rally over terror threat

January 19, 2015

Anti-Islamic rally

Berlin, Jan 19: German authorities have banned a rally by the anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement in the eastern city of Dresden today, saying they have "concrete" information that Islamist militants plan to attack the weekly demonstrations.

The federal and state police agencies had received information that radical Islamists were planning to mix with demonstrators and attack one of the leaders of the right¬wing Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), which has been organising the Dresden rallies since September.

"In our assessment of the situation, we believe that there is a concrete threat of a terror attack," Dresden's police commissioner Dieter Kroll said yesterday.

Informations received by the authorities indicated that one of the PEGIDA leaders and the people around him were being targeted for a terror attack, Kroll said in a statement.

Kroll, however, said there were no specific information about the suspected terrorists or the nature of the attacks they were planning.

The anti¬Islam rally in Dresden to protest against the "Islamisation of Germany" and the government's asylum policy have been drawing a number of supporters in spite of appeals to the public by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders to stay away from it.

Police estimated that a record number of over 25,000 people attended the rally last Monday and its organisers were expecting a much bigger crowd today.

According to police, the suspected attackers have been asked in a message in Arabic sent from a Twitter account to "mix with the demonstrators to carry out an attack on one of the organisers of the PEGIDA demonstrations."

Besides the anti¬Islam demonstration, a counter¬rally planned by opponents of PEGIDA in Dresden today also has been banned.

Germany's intelligence agencies have received warnings from their partner services abroad that Islamist militants were planning attacks on the central railway stations in Berlin and in Dresden as well as on the PEGIDA demonstrations.

Their warnings were based on information gained by intercepting telephone and e¬mail communications between suspected radical Islamists known to the authorities and international terror networks, media reports earlier said.

The latest terror warnings come close on the heels of the arrests of two Turkish men during a raid at eleven houses in different parts of Berlin on Friday.

The Turks were charged with planning a major terror attack in Syria, supporting Islamic State terror group by recruiting fighters, and organising and financing their travel to Syria.

The state prosecutor in Berlin said it has no information that the two men were planning any terror attacks in Germany nor they were linked to the terror attacks in Paris, which killed 17 people in three days.

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News Network
March 26,2020

London, Mar 26: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the country's NHS risks becoming "overwhelmed" by the coronavirus outbreak and that the situation in Britain is just two or three weeks behind Italy.
"The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating. We are only a matter of weeks -- two or three -- behind Italy," Johnson said, as reported by CNN.
"The Italians have a superb health care system. And yet their doctors and nurses have been completely overwhelmed by the demand. The Italian death toll is already in the thousands and climbing.
He added, "Unless we act together unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread -- then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed,"
"That is why this country has taken the steps that it has, in imposing restrictions never seen before either in peace or war." He said.
The problem reached a crunch point in the UK, which has dramatically increased its response to the virus outbreak this week.
Food banks that provide a lifeline for some of the estimated 14 million in poverty are running low on volunteers, many of whom have been forced to self-isolate, as well as the food itself, which is in short supply following panic-buying.
The UK has confirmed more 9,600 cases of the deadly virus with 460 deaths.
The global tally of cases has crossed 487,000 as on Thursday with 22,030 deaths globally as per the data presented by the Johns Hopkins University.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Washington, Jul 7: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday (local time) confirmed that the White House is "looking at" banning the Chinese social media apps including TikTok.

"With respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too. I don't want to get out in front of the President [Donald Trump], but it's something we're looking at," Pompeo was quoted by CNN during an interview with Fox News.

He said people should only download the app, "if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

Responding to his comments, a TikTok spokesperson said, "TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product and public policy here in the US."

"We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users.  We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked," the spokesperson added.

The US politicians have repeatedly criticised TikTok, owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China.

Recently, India banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok following a violent standoff with Chinese troops. This move was lauded by the US officials.

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News Network
June 5,2020

Karachi, Jun 5: Pakistan's coronavirus cases rose to 89,249 on Friday after a record 4,896 new infections were detected in the country, while the death toll due to COVID-19 has reached 1,838, according to the health ministry.

The Ministry of National Health Service said that 68 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,838, whereas another 31,198 people have recovered.

It was the third consecutive day when a record number of cases were reported in Pakistan after the Eid holidays and easing of lockdown restrictions at the end of May.

Sindh province reported 33,536 infections, Punjab 33,144, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 11,890, Balochistan 5,582, Islamabad 3,946, Gilgit-Baltistan 852 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 299.

The authorities have conducted 638,323 tests, including a record 22,812 tests in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Despite the spike in number of COVID-19 cases, both houses of parliament are scheduled to meet separately on Friday. The Senate session started this morning while the National Assembly will be held in the afternoon, Radio Pakistan reported.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser at a meeting at the parliament house in Islamabad reviewed arrangements made for the two sessions.

Fumigation was also carried out in the parliament house for the safety of the lawmakers and staff.

Earlier, the Opposition rejected the idea of virtual meetings and insisted that the sessions be held in person, noting that it was an important session of parliament because the budget is expected to be presented in the National Assembly in the next week.

The novel coronavirus which first originated from China's Wuhan city in December last year has claimed 391,249 lives and has infected over 6 million people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

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