Pakistani anchor goes on air with daughter to protest minor's brutal rape and murder

Agencies
January 11, 2018

New Delhi, Jan 11: An anchor at a Pakistani news channel delivered a powerful statement when she did a live telecast on Wednesday with her young daughter sitting in her lap.

During a news bulletin, Samaa TV presenter Kiran Naz made a point about how she felt as a mother in the aftermath of the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in eastern Pakistan's Kasur town.

"Today I'm not your host Kiran Naz. I'm a mother and that is why I'm sitting here with my daughter," a visibly emotional Naz said on national television.

Naz, reportedly one of the most popular female anchors in Pakistan, then voiced an impassioned monologue on the events following the abduction, rape and killing of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari.

"It is said that the smaller the corpse, the heavier it feels. Today, a tiny corpse is lying on the streets of Kasur and the entire Pakistan is crushed under its weight... This day marks the funeral of humanity," she said.

Slamming the rigmarole of police investigation and political wrangling over such cases, Naz asserted that what should take precedence is ensuring justice for Zainab and punishment to the perpetrators.

Zainab Ansari disappeared last week while going to a nearby home for Quranic studies and her body was found in a Kasur waste-yard on Tuesday.

Her murder ignited fury in Kasur, where residents attacked a police station. After failing to disperse the mob, police opened fire. Two people were killed and three others were wounded in the ensuing clashes.

Zainab's parents, who were away on a pilgrimage at the time she went missing, blamed the police for their slow response.

Police in Kasur denied they have been lax in investigating child abductions in the town. Regional police officer Zulfiqar Hameed told Reuters that arrests had been made and the case of Zainab would soon be solved.

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News Network
April 25,2020

Bueno Aires, Apr 25: Dozens of prisoners at a jail in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires rioted on Friday demanding urgent health measures after confirmation of a coronavirus case inside the facility.

Police surrounded the prison, which holds around 2,200 inmates, as explosions were heard, news agency reporters at the scene said.

A group of prisoners managed to climb onto a roof, burn mattresses and throw objects at security guards trying to quell the uprising.

Authorities have yet to comment on the riot or whether there are any injuries.

Inmates could be heard shouting demands for a judge to hear their case and for better protection against the pandemic, just a few days after a warden at the Villa Devoto prison was confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus.

"COVID-19 in Devoto, genocidal judges," read a banner hung from the prison roof. "We refuse to die in prison," read another.

The inmates are demanding, among other things, that releases that were pending before the pandemic be processed.

Several other riots broke out in prisons last week, including in Florencio Varela in Buenos Aires province where one inmate died and 20 were injured.

Argentina has been in lockdown since March 20 and has recorded more than 3,400 coronavirus cases and 167 deaths.

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News Network
April 13,2020

Vienna, Apr 13: Top oil-producing countries agreed on "historic" output cuts to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis and a Russia-Saudi price war, sending crude prices soaring on Monday.

The US benchmark WTI climbed 7.7 percent to $24.52 a barrel in early Asian trade while Brent was up 5.0 percent at $33.08.

OPEC producers dominated by Saudi Arabia and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compromise deal via videoconference Sunday after Mexico had balked at an earlier agreement struck on Friday.

In the compromise reached Sunday they agreed to a cut of 9.7 million barrels per day from May, according to Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, down slightly from 10 million barrels a day envisioned earlier.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo called the cuts "historic".

"They are largest in volume and the longest in duration, as they are planned to last for two years," he said.

The agreement between the Vienna-based Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners foresees deep output cuts in May and June followed by a gradual reduction in cuts until April 2022.

Barkindo added that the deal "paved the way for a global alliance with the participation of the G20".

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who chaired the meeting together with his Russian and Algerian counterparts, also confirmed that the discussions "ended with consensus".

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Moscow, Aug 7: Russia will register its first vaccine against the coronavirus on August 12, Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev said on Friday.

The vaccine has been developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry.

"The vaccine developed by the Gamaleya centre will be registered on August 12. At the moment, the last, third, stage is underway. The trials are extremely important. We have to understand that the vaccine must be safe. Medical professionals and senior citizens will be the first to get vaccinated," Gridnev told reporters at the opening of a cancer centre building in the city of Ufa.

According to the minister, the effectiveness of the vaccine will be judged when the population immunity has formed.

Clinical trials of the vaccine began on June 18 and included 38 volunteers. All of the participants developed immunity. 

The first group was discharged on July 15 and the second group on July 20.

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