Will remain in Syria until final victory: Hezbollah

October 24, 2016

Lebanon, Oct 24: The secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement says the group's fighters will remain in neighboring Syria until they achieve the final victory over foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists and purge the crisis-hit Arab country of extremists.

HezbollahAddressing people in a speech marking a week since the killing of the movement's military commander, Hatem Hamade, in Syria, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah dispelled illusions about Hezbollah forces' withdrawing from Syria, stressing that the fighters will leave Syria only after they have defeated Takfiri terrorists there.

"Our choice of going to Syria was very well studied after observing the regional developments that began in Tunisia and reached Syria," he said, adding, "Time has revealed that the battle in Syria is aimed at making existential changes on the ground as well as to the political map of the region."

“We will continue this battle until the end, and we are proud of our martyrs in Syria, and whoever bargains on our tiredness will lose,” he said, emphasizing that the security “we are living in now is not the outcome of agreements or mere prayers," but it is the outcome of efforts made by martyrs and their blood.

Nasrallah pointed out that Hezbollah fighters were not ordered by any third party to play a role in Syria, but rather entered the neighboring country following a comprehensive and extensive analysis.

The Hezbollah leader stated that the ongoing foreign-backed militancy in Syria is not simply aimed at toppling the incumbent Damascus government, but rather meant to make changes to demographic map and borders of the region in order to uproot certain groups of people.

The Hezbollah secretary general further condemned Saudi Arabia as the country actively supporting and financing the Daesh Takfiri terrorists group.

He added that leaded private emails related to former US secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, attest to the fact that Saudi Arabia and US were behind forming Daesh group.

Nasrallah also condemned the inaction and passivity of international human rights bodies toward crimes being perpetrated by Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria, noting that despite hundreds and thousands of people have been either beheaded or killed in other ways by this group, world rights bodies maintain their silence toward its crimes.

Yemen blockade threatening over 20 million people

Turning to the Saudi-led coalitions' aerial and naval blockade of Yemen, Nasrallah stated that the restrictive measures adopted by Riyadh toward its impoverished southern neighbor have affected the lives of more than 20 million people.

Nasrallah also took to task international organizations for their failure to adopt any decisive measure to end Saudi Arabia's brutal embargo on the Yemeni people.

All Iraqis fighting Daesh to liberate Mosul

Elsewhere in his speech, the Hezbollah secretary general said that people from all walks of life are currently fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Iraq, and dozens or even hundreds of people are sacrificing their lives in order to liberate the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

“Unfortunately, what Daesh is doing is under the name of [Prophet] Mohammad (PBUH). They want to throw this name, which has always shined in this world with glory, into darkness of Daesh,” Nasrallah said, adding that committing crimes under the name of Islam and its prophet is a deliberated and preplanned act by Daesh.

The secretary general of Hezbollah also slammed Turkish authorities' for their effort to pave the way for Turkish military to play a role in the operation for the liberation of Mosul, saying that they have a greedy eye on that area of the Iraqi territory.

Hezbollah endorses Aoun for Lebanon president

Elsewhere in his speech, Nasrallah focused on internal issues of Lebanon, including election of the country's new president.

The secretary general of Hezbollah praised former Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, for his endorsement of the founder of Michel Aoun for presidency, emphasizing that the move paves the way for holding presidential election in a realistic manner.

In a televised news conference on Thursday, Hariri, who leads Lebanon's March 14 Alliance, voiced support for his rival, raising hopes for the settlement of a long-running deadlock on Lebanon's political stage.

"I announce today before you my decision to endorse the candidacy of General Michel Aoun for the presidency of the republic," Hariri said, adding that his decision "comes from the need to protect Lebanon and the state and the people."

Aoun, the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement, is an ally of the Lebanese resistance bloc, Hezbollah.

Nasrallah added, “Everything can be solved through dialogue. We do not impose any decision on our allies. Each of us has his own approach.”

Nasrallah emphasized that Hezbollah's members of parliament would vote for Aoun to become president of Lebanon at a parliamentary session at the end of October.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since 2014, when the term of President Michel Suleiman expired.

The Lebanese parliament has repeatedly failed to elect a president due to the lack of quorum. The presidential election has been put off until the end of October.

Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president must be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim.

Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah has accused Saudi Arabia of thwarting political initiatives and blocking the election of a president in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has strong relations with Amal

In another part of his speech, leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah noted that the movement has strong and deep-seated relations with the Amal (Hope) Movement, and that relationship cannot be disturbed with fabrications.

“We are honest and faithful to our allies and all we seek is to have a secure country,” Nasrallah said.

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Washington, Mar 8: An attendee at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which also saw the participation of US President Donald Trump, has tested positive for COVID-19, the American Conservative Union (ACU) said.

The exposure occurred prior to the conference held in National Harbor, Maryland, just south of Washington D.C., Xinhua news agency quoted the ACU as saying in a statement on Saturday.

A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the positive result, said the statement.

"The individual is under the care of medical professionals in the state of New Jersey, and has been quarantined," it said.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the gathering, which took place from February 26-29.

Also present at the event were a number of administration and cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and newly-appointed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Saturday that the White House was aware of the development.

"At this time there is no indication that either President Trump or Vice President Pence met with or were in close proximity to the attendee," Grisham said in a statement.

"The President's physician and US Secret Service have been working closely with White House Staff and various agencies to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the First Family and the entire White House Complex safe and healthy."

The news emerged as Washington D.C. and neighbouring state of Virginia respectively confirmed their first cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.

In a press conference on Saturday night, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said a resident in his 50s showed symptoms of a respiratory virus in February. He was admitted to a hospital in the District on March 5.

The patient had no history of recent international travel, nor had he been exposed to anyone who was confirmed to be infected, according to Bowser.

The Mayor said D.C. health authorities were investigating the man's contact with other people before he went to the hospital.

A US Marine assigned to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, tested positive on Saturday for COVID-19 and is currently being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

"The Marine recently returned from overseas where he was on official business," tweeted Jonathan Rath Hoffman, adding that Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and the White House have been briefed.

As of Saturday night, more than 420 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the US with 17 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

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News Network
May 23,2020

Karachi, May 23: Ninety-seven people were killed and two survived when a passenger plane crashed into homes in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, health officials said Saturday.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane had made multiple approaches to land at the city's airport when it came down in a residential area, damaging buildings and sparking a rescue operation that lasted into the night.

All passengers and crew had been accounted for and the bodies of those killed had been recovered from the crash site, the Sindh Health Ministry said, adding that 19 had been identified.

A local hospital earlier reported it had received the bodies of people killed on the ground.

The site remained cordoned off on Saturday morning.

The crash sent plumes of smoke were into the air as rescue workers and residents searched the debris for people and as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames.

An AFP reporter witnessed charred bodies being loaded into ambulances.

PIA said the plane lost contact with air traffic control just after 2:30 pm (0930 GMT) travelling from Lahore to Karachi.

The disaster comes as Pakistanis prepare to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, with many travelling back to their homes in cities and villages.

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News Network
February 18,2020

Beijing, Feb 18: Police in China have arrested a prominent activist who had been a fugitive for weeks and criticised President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus epidemic while in hiding, a rights group said Tuesday.

Anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong was arrested on Saturday after being on the run since December, according to Amnesty International.

China's ruling Communist Party has severely curtailed civil liberties since Xi took power in 2012, rounding up rights lawyers, labour activists and even Marxist students.

The death this month of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded by police for raising the alarm about the deadly new virus before dying of it himself triggered rare calls for political reform and freedom of speech.

The "Chinese government's battle against the coronavirus has in no way diverted it from its ongoing general campaign to crush all dissenting voices," said Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, in an emailed statement.

Another source, who spoke to news agency on the condition of anonymity, said Xu had been arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Guangzhou police did not respond to requests for comment.

Xu went into hiding after authorities broke up a December gathering of intellectuals discussing political reform in the eastern coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province, prior to the coronavirus crisis.

Over a dozen lawyers and activists were detained or disappeared after the Xiamen gathering, according to rights groups -- and Xu's detention appears linked to his presence at the meeting, explained Poon.

But while on the run, Xu continued to post information on Twitter about rights issues.

On February 4 Xu released an article calling on Xi to step down and criticised his leadership across a range of issues including the US-China trade war, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests and the coronavirus epidemic, which has now killed nearly 1,900 people.

"Medical supplies are tight, hospitals are filled with patients, and a large number of infected people have no way to be diagnosed," he wrote. "It's a mess."

"The coronavirus outbreak shows just how important values like freedom of expression and transparency are -- the exact values that Xu has long advocated," Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, told news agency.

But the disappearance of Xu illustrates how the Chinese state "persists in its old ways" by "silencing its critics", she said.

Xu -- who founded a movement calling for greater transparency among high-ranking officials -- previously served a four-year prison sentence from 2013 to 2017 for organising an "illegal gathering".

"That he was a fugitive for so many days while continuing to speak out, that in itself was... a kind of challenge to (Chinese authorities)," said Hua Ze, a long-time friend of Xu who told AFP she lost contact with the Chinese activist on Saturday morning.

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