Pakistan stoops to new low with Abhinandan Varthaman's mannequin display at PAF museum

News Network
November 11, 2019

Islamabad, Nov 11: In a bizarre promotion of its heinous propaganda against India, Pakistan has displayed a mannequin of Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman inside a war museum of Pakistan Air Force in Karachi.

A Twitter posting by Pakistan journalist and political commentator Anwar Lodhi shows a photo of the mannequin of the IAF braveheart, captured on February 27 by Pakistan following a dogfight between the two air forces in which his MIG-21 was shot down in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Abhinandan was later released on March 1 at the Attari-Wagah border.

Lodhi shared the picture and wrote: "PAF has put mannequin of Abhi Nandhan on display in the museum. This would be a more interesting display if they can arrange a Cup of FANTASTIC tea in his hand."

In a video that was released by Pakistan military of Abhinandan when he was in their custody in February this year, the Air Force pilot is seen sipping tea and at one point he is heard replying to question by his captors: "The tea is fantastic, thank you."

The photograph shared by Lodhi on the microblogging site also captures a mug placed behind on the left-hand side of the Abhinandan's mannequin which is flanked by a Pakistani soldier. The entire display is encased in a glass showcase.

Just ahead of the World Cup match between India and Pakistan, an advertisement on a Pakistan channel featured a distasteful spoof on Abhinandan, which came under heavy backlash on social media. This ad was also based on the video of the IAF pilot taken during his captivity.

During a counter-attack in response to the Balakot airstrike in February, Abhinandan, while flying the MiG 21 Bison, was chasing Pakistani F-16 fighters, which had transgressed into the Indian airspace, and in the process, his plane crossed over to Pakistani side and was shot down.

He ejected safely but was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army upon landing. Before his plane was shot, he had hit a Pakistani F-16.

Abhinandan returned to India on March 1 via the Wagah-Attari border after two days in Pakistani captivity. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the release of Varthaman, terming his decision "a peace gesture."

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June 1,2020

Washington, Jun 1: As protesters gathered outside the White House on Friday night in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump was briefly taken to the White House underground bunker, The New York Times reported citing a person having firsthand knowledge about the incident.

Trump was there for less than an hour before being brought upstairs. After hundreds of people surged towards the White House on Friday, Secret Service and the United States Park Police officers sought to block them.

Trump's team was surprised by the protests that were witnessed outside the White House on Friday night, according to the US daily. It is, however, unclear if Melania Trump and Barron Trump were also taken down with him.

in response to the continuing protests against the death of African-American man George Floyd in police custody.

National Guard members have been activated in 15 states and Washington, DC with another 2,000 prepared to activate if needed.

Demonstrators across the United States have been protesting since May 25, when George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died under the police custody in the city of Minneapolis.

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News Network
February 4,2020

Kolkata, Feb 4: A Thailand national on Tuesday gave birth during a flight from Doha to Bangkok.

The unnamed woman passenger went into labour and delivered the baby with the help of a cabin crew of Qatar airways at around 3 am.

The aircraft made the emergency landing in Kolkata and the woman was admitted to a private hospital here. Both the mother and the baby are doing fine.

"An unscheduled flight from Doha to Bangkok QR-830 landed around 03:09 am at Kolkata airport in medical priority landing. The pilot of Qatar flight had asked SOS to ATC for medical priority landing. The flight landed safely, the airport team with the doctor was attending the concerned." Kolkata Airport official said while speaking to news agency.

More details in this regard are awaited.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Boston, Jun 7: Dozens of scientists doing research funded by Mark Zuckerberg say Facebook should not be letting President Donald Trump use of the social media platform to spread both misinformation and incendiary statements.

The researchers, including 60 professors at leading US research institutions, wrote a letter to the Facebook CEO on Saturday asking that he consider stricter policies on misinformation and incendiary language that harms people," especially during the current turmoil over racial injustice.

The letter calls the spread of deliberate misinformation and divisive language the researchers' goal of using technology to prevent and eradicate disease, improving childhood education and reform the criminal justice system.

The researchers' mission "is antithetical to some of the stances that Facebook has been taking, so we're encouraging them to be more on the side of truth and on the right side of history as we've said in the letter, said Debora Marks of Harvard Medical School, one of three professors who organized the letter.

The other organisers are Martin Kampmann of the University of California-San Francisco and Jason Shepherd of the University of Utah.

All have grants from a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative program working to prevent, cure and treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The initiative is run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

They said the letter had more than 160 signatories. Shepherd said about 10% are employees of Chan Zuckerberg foundations.

The letter objects specifically to Zuckerberg's decision not to at least flag as a violation of Facebook's community standards Trump's post that stated when the looting starts, the shooting starts after unrest in Minneapolis over the videotaped killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer.

The letter's authors called the post a clear statement of inciting violence.

Twitter had both flagged and demoted a Trump tweet using the same language.

The Associated Press emailed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative press office for comment. It did not immediately respond.

Some Facebook employees have publicly objected to Zuckerberg's refusal to take down or label misleading or incendiary posts by Trump or other politicians. But Zuckerberg who controls a majority of voting shares in the company has so far refused.

On Friday, Zuckerberg said in a post that he would review potential options for handling violating or partially-violating content aside from the binary leave-it-up or take-it-down decisions I know many of you think we should have labeled the President's posts in some way last week, he wrote.

"Our current policy is that if content is actually inciting violence, then the right mitigation is to take that content down not let people continue seeing it behind a flag. There is no exception to this policy for politicians or newsworthiness.

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