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Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Trump listens to Holy Quran recitation during inaugural service

WASHINGTON (Web Desk) - United States president Donald Trump on Saturday attended an inter-faith religious service at Washington National Cathedral and listen the recitation of the Holy Quran.


Religious leaders from various faiths were invited to recite prayers at the ceremony.

Religious leaders from various faiths were invited to recite prayers at the ceremony which was part of Trump’s three-day inauguration event.

All Dulles Area Muslim Society executive director Imam Mohamed Magid who was likely to give the call to prayer, recited two verses from the Holy Quran instead.

“O humankind, We have created you from a single male and female (Adam and Eve) and made you into nations and tribes and communities, that you may know each other. Really, the most honored of you in the sight of God is the one most righteous of you, and God has full knowledge and is the one acquainted with all thanks.” 

“And among the signs of God is the creation of heaven and earth, and the variation in your languages and your colors. Verily, in that are signs for those who know,” read the imam.

Trump was sitting alongside his wife Melania and the family of Vice President Mike Pence in the ceremony.

Donald Trump became the 45th president of United States on Friday, ushering in a new political era that is cheered and feared in equal measure.

The 70-year-old Republican billionaire placed his left hand on a bible used by Abraham Lincoln and recited the 35-word oath spoken since George Washington, and then launched into a much-anticipated inaugural address.

ISIS sets USD 1 million reward for killing Kurdish lady fighter

RAQQA: (News2World) – Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has set a reward of one million US dollars for killing Kurdish lady fighter Joanna Palani, reported Express News World.



22-year-old Joanna Palani kept fighting ISIS for several months along with the Kurdish officials in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has directed its fighters and supporters to kill Palani.



Denmark national Joanna Palani has recently returned to her home country after fighting ISIS for several months. Denmark officials seized her passport upon return and started a secret trial against her in the court.


Published by: Dunya News

Children head back to school in east Mosul: UN

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi children are heading back to school in east Mosul after weeks of fighting and more than two years of militant rule, the UN children’s fund UNICEF said Tuesday.


Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to recapture Mosul from the Daesh group 100 days ago and have ousted the militants from all the central neighbourhoods of east Mosul.

But while returning to school is a good start, recovery will likely be a long process for Iraqi children exposed to bloody urban warfare that followed Daesh efforts to indoctrinate the next generation.

"As fighting subsides in east Mosul, 30 schools reopened on Sunday with help from UNICEF, allowing over 16,000 children to resume their education," it said in a statement.

"Some schools in the area were closed for up to two years, and girls were banned from getting an education," it said.
"After the nightmare of the past two years, this is a pivotal moment for the children of Mosul to reclaim their education and their hope for a better future," UNICEF’s Iraq representative Peter Hawkins said.

Daesh overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured much of the territory they lost.

During more than two and a half years of rule in Iraq, the militant group sought to indoctrinate children into its extremist ideology, using schools as part of its efforts to do so.

It has also featured children in propaganda videos that showed them in Daesh "training" and classroomindoctrination, as well as being used as executioners.

Iraqi forces launched the Mosul operation on October 17 and have made rapid gains on the city’s eastern side this month, but the west still remains under Daesh control.

Raheel Sharif allotted 868-kanal land worth Rs1.35 bn in Lahore

LAHORE: Former Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has been allotted 868 kanals and 10 marlas of land (about 90 acres) on Bedian Road Lahore, and not just 482 kanals, through the Border Area Committee, reliable sources have disclosed. 


The total value of the allotted land is estimated at around Rs1.35 billion. Sources said that Raheel Sharif has been allotted 50 acres of land under his prerogative as a four-star general, and another 40 acres as the chief of army staff. The land is situated in Mauza Rukh Bathant, located along western side of BRB Canal, adjacent to  Mauza Heear. 

According to the Fard Malkiat (Record of Rights), the Cantt Revenue authorities received the Mutation (Intiqal) orders from the Border Area Committee vide letter No 17408 on Dec 24, 2014 for allotment of the said lands. After entry of the mutation order, the Cantt establishment officer allowed allotment of the lands on Dec 29, 2014. Under Part (copy of government record) No 140805, Serial No 4, Khata (Holding of a Tenant) No 5/15, 43/15, and 108/15, three hundred and eighty-six (386) kanals of land was allotted. Also, under Part No 140811, Serial No 5, Khata No 15/15, 3/151 and 369/15, four hundred and eighty-two kanals and ten marlas of land was allotted. Collectively, this land measures about 90 acres of land, which has been allotted to ex-COAS General Raheel Sharif. 

The process of allotment of agricultural lands, commercial plots, DHA lands and distribution of other facilities among the army officers and officials is carried out directly by the General Headquarters (GHQ) through an adjutant general, whose rank is equal to a lieutenant general. Also, a major-general ranked officer heads the Welfare Directorate at the GHQ, who acts as the director-general (DG) of the Welfare Directorate. He conveys the GHQ orders to the respective chairmen of the Border Area Committees in this regard, and ensures implementation of the orders. 

All the Border Area Committees across the country have the record of all lands situated along the borders in different villages (Mauza Jaat). All decisions that how much lands would be allotted to an army officer or official are made at the GHQ, which are directly conveyed to the respective chairmen of the Border Area Committees, after approval from the Welfare Directorate. 

There are different border area committees comprising various zones in the border areas. Headed by a brigadier or colonel, the committee has an assistant commissioner as its civil member. A revenue officer (tehsildar) and his staff assist the committee.

The land allotment to Gen Raheel has been executed by the Border Area Committee Lahore. Its chairman, Colonel Tabish Sajid, refused to comment when contacted for information about the land allotment policy. Civil member of the committee, Sardar Farrukh Tufail, also did not say anything.

Commenting on the land allotment policy, a senior official of the Board of Revenue said, requesting anonymity, that the provincial board of revenue does not have any authority in this regard. The revenue board allots land on the records of the provincial government to the military officials on a directive received from the GHQ in the light of a letter issued by the chairman of the border area committee concerned.

It is worth mentioning here that the lands situated along borders are part of the provincial land records, but the establishment officers have no authority over the lands situated up to five kilometers along the border. The revenue officer said that the district collector is conveyed the land allotment orders through the Board of Revenue. Then the establishment officer concerned, acting as the collector, approves the allotment of lands. The establishment officer is legally bound to implement the orders of Border Area Committee chairman, and thus he confirms the completion of the allotment process. 

An estate agent working in the area said that the price of one acre land along Bedian Road in the said village was estimated at Rs10 million to Rs10.5 million. 

Another agent, Haji Zahid bin Sadiq, said that the price of lands in border areas depended on location of the lands. He said people demand Rs6-7 million for one acre of land near BRB Canal. However, Imran Ahmad, another estate agent, said the price of one acre land ranges between Rs9 to 10 million.

A property dealer told The News that after development the worth of this land would be about Rs2.5 billion. Another property dealer, however, said the worth of the land after development would be over Rs4 billion.

Originally published in The News 

China hits back at US over South China Sea claims

China has asserted its "indisputable sovereignty" over parts of the South China Sea after the Trump administration vowed to prevent China from taking territory in the region.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing would "remain firm to defend its rights in the region".

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday the US would "make sure we protect our interests there".

Barack Obama's administration refused to take sides in the dispute.

It did, however, send B-52 bombers and a naval destroyer last year, and the then US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke out over what he called "an increase of militarisation from one kind or another" in the region.

Several nations claim territory in the resource-rich South China Sea, which is also an important shipping route.

The new US president has taken a tough stance against China, and Mr Spicer told reporters "the US is going to make sure we protect our interests" in the South China Sea.

"If those islands are, in fact, in international waters and not part of China proper, yeah, we'll make sure we defend international interests from being taken over by another country," he said, without giving further details.

The Chinese government responded by saying that the US was "not a party to the South China Sea issue".

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China was "committed to peaceful negotiations with all countries concerned" in the dispute, and said it "respects the principles of freedom of navigation and over-flight in international waters".

But, she went on: "Our position is clear. Our actions have been lawful."

'Devastating confrontation'

Mr Spicer's comments echo those of Donald Trump's new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

During his nomination hearing, Mr Tillerson said the US should block access to islands being built by China in the South China Sea, likening it to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"We're going to have to send China a clear signal that first, the island-building stops and second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed," he told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Chinese state media responded by warning that such actions would lead to a "devastating confrontation".

Britain's Supreme Court rules against PM Theresa May’s Brexit plans

LONDON: The UK Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May must get parliament's approval before she begins Britain's formal exit from the European Union.

The UK's highest judicial body dismissed the government's argument that May could simply use executive powers known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and begin two years of divorce talks.

However, the court rejected arguments that the UK's devolved assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should give their assent before Article 50 is invoked.

"The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result," said David Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court which ruled by 8-3 against the government.

"So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament."

May has repeatedly said she would trigger Article 50 before the end of March but she will now have to seek the consent of lawmakers first, potentially meaning her plans could be amended or delayed, although the main opposition Labour Party has said it would not slow her timetable.

Last week May set out her stall for negotiations, promising a clean break with the world's largest trading block as part of a 12-point plan to focus on global free trade deals, setting out a course for a so-called "hard Brexit".

Sterling initially rose on the news that the government had lost its appeal, but it then fell over half a cent to hit day's lows against the dollar and euro after the court ruled that Britain's devolved assemblies did not need to give their assent to triggering Article 50. Sterling last traded down 0.6 percent on the day at $1.2463.

Tuesday 17 January 2017

امریکہ کی این ایس جی میں بھارتی شمولیت کا راستہ روکنے پر چین پر تنقید


واشنگٹن (ویب ڈیسک) امریکہ نے این ایس جی میں بھارتی شمولیت کا راستہ روکنے پر چین پر تنقید کی ہے۔ امریکہ نے کہا ہے کہ این ایس جی میں بھارتی شمولیت کی راہ میں چین رکاوٹ ہے، بھارت کی شمولیت پر گروپ کا کچھ ارکان کو تحفظات ہیں۔ امریکی معاون وزیر خارجہ کا کہنا ہے کہ تحفظات دور کئے جانے کی ضرورت ہے۔

Monday 16 January 2017

Outgoing CIA chief warns Trump to watch his words

The unsubstantiated dossier about Trump, Russia and possible compromising material -- compiled by a former British MI6 intelligence agent doing opposition research for Trump’s campaign opponents -- also said Moscow had incriminating video of the president-elect

The fact that intelligence agencies had offered Trump a synopsis of the dossier -- which was later published in full online by BuzzFeed -- lent the allegations credence.
But Brennan said the intelligence community was only "making sure that the president-elect was aware that it was circulating."
"I think there are some very salacious allegations in there -- again, unsubstantiated," he said, adding it was "a responsibility in the minds of the intelligence directors" to inform Trump as well as the Obama WhiteHouse of the report.
Brennan bristled at Trump’s likening of the US intelligence community to Nazi Germany, calling it "outrageous."
"I do take great umbrage at that," the outgoing spy chief said.
Pence blamed the scandal on "media bias," in an interview with CBS.

Trump promises healthcare ‘for everybody’

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump wants health "insurance for everybody," he told The Washington Post, no small feat in a country where millions are uninsured.
The Republican has long lashed out at President Barack Obama´s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, campaigning on a pledge to repeal and replace it.

But the billionaire developer had never said precisely with what.
Now, however, he told the Post by phone late Saturday that he wants "insurance for everybody" while requiring drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid, the government plans mostly for the elderly and low-income Americans, respectively.
"They´re politically protected. But not anymore," Trump was quoted as saying of big pharmaceutical companies.
The White House touts the ACA -- nicknamed Obamacare -- as a success, saying more than 20 million Americans have gained health insurance through the law.
The Affordable Care Act forbids insurance companies from denying health care due to pre-existing conditions, abolishes lifetime caps on care, and allows children to stay on their parents´ plans until age 26, three provisions that have proved popular nationwide.
Democrats warn that scrapping the law could force millions of Americans to lose their coverage.
Undoing Obamacare will be a monumental task. Although the new Republican leadership in Congress has begun moving quickly to deprive the ACA of funding, it has also stressed it does not want to "pull the rug out from anyone" who might lose coverage if there is no replacement plan on offer.
And there is debate among Republicans about how -- and how fast -- to proceed without a credible replacement ready to roll out.
Without revealing much more than a pledge of "lower numbers, much lower deductibles," Trump said a proposed deal was now agreed.
"It´s very much formulated down to the final strokes. We haven´t put it in quite yet, but we´re going to be doing it soon," he said.
"We´re going to have insurance for everybody," Trump added. "There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can´t pay for it, you don´t get it. That´s not going to happen with us."
People covered under the law "can expect to have great health care," he said. "It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better."

South Korea prosecutors accuse Samsung chief of bribery, seek arrest

SEOUL: South Korea's special prosecutor's office said on Monday it was seeking a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung Group, the country's largest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to a friend of President Park Geun-hye.
Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee was questioned for 22 straight hours last week as investigators probed a corruption scandal that resulted in parliament impeaching Park last month.

The special prosecutor's office accused Lee of paying bribes totalling 43 billion won ($36.42 million) Choi Soon-sil, a friend of the president who is the woman at the centre of scandal.
Lee was also accused of embezzlement and perjury in the prosecution's application for an arrest warrant.
Seoul's central district court said a hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Wednesday to decide whether to approve the warrant. Samsung did not have an immediate comment.
"The special prosecutor's office, in making this decision to seek an arrest warrant, determined that while the country's economic conditions are important, upholding justice takes precedence," Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for the office, told a media briefing.
Prosecutors have been looking into whether Samsung's support for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend Choi may have been connected to the National Pension Service's 2015 decision to support a controversial $8 billion merger of two Samsung Group affiliates.
NPS chairman Moon Hyung-pyo was indicted on Monday on charges of abuse of power and giving false testimony.
Park remains in office but has been stripped of her powers while the Constitutional Court decides whether to make her the country's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
Moon was arrested in December after acknowledging ordering the world's third-largest pension fund to support the $8 billion merger in 2015 while he was head of the health ministry, which oversees the NPS.
Samsung has acknowledged providing funds to the three institutions but has repeatedly denied accusations of lobbying to push through the merger.
Choi is accused of colluding with Park to pressure big businesses, including Samsung, to contribute to non-profit foundations backing the president's initiatives.
Choi, in detention and on trial on charges of abuse of power and attempted fraud, again denied wrongdoing on Monday in an appearance at the Constitutional Court.
She also denied having any prior knowledge of the Samsung Group's controversial 2015 merger of two affiliates.
"Even if I knew, I could not have passed on any information because I have no knowledge about mergers or hedge funds, anything like that, in the first place," Choi told the court.
South Korea has been gripped by political crisis for months, with Park impeached in December. Park has also denied wrongdoing, though admitted carelessness in her relationship with Choi.
If the impeachment is upheld by the Constitutional Court, an election would be held in two months, with former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expected to be a candidate.
Shares in group flagship Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of smartphones, flatscreen TVs and memory chips, extended losses on Monday afternoon and were down 2.3 percent.

Thursday 12 January 2017

Indian police personnel complains of facilities' dearth in department

NEW DELHI (News92World) – After an Indian Border Security (BSF) soldier exposed the corruption in army, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable also came in the limelight when he posted a videocomplaining of the scarcity of facilities in the department.



The constable, Jeet Singh from Sahjua Thok village in Mathura district pleaded Prime Minister Modi to resolve the matter at the earliest.
“Despite being in service for 20 years, CRPF personnels neither receive medical notr any pension however; all such facilities are provided to the army. We are also not given any ex-servicemen quota,” Singh laments in the video.
Before this, BSF soldier complaint of the low quality food provided to them despite tough duty hours.


Trump lashes out over 'phony' Russia dossier claim

NEW YORK: Donald Trump attacked US intelligence agencies and the media on Wednesday as he denied explosive allegations about his ties to Russia, but admitted for the first time that Moscow had likely meddled in the US election.


Just over a week before he takes office, Trump said he had ceded “complete” managing control of his global property empire to his two adult sons but stopped short of making a full divestment, earning a swift rebuke from an ethics watchdog and Democratic Party opponents.
“It doesn’t meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting and that every president in the last four decades has met,” said Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics. “He needs to get rid of his business interests and he needs to put them in what’s called a blind trust,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told Bloomberg TV.
But the hour-long press conference, his first in six months, focused firmly on the unsubstantiated claims that his aides colluded with the Kremlin to win the US election, and that Russia has compromising information on Trump.
The president-elect accused CNN of generating “fake news” and slammed BuzzFeed as “a failing pile of garbage” after it published a dossier with the allegedly incriminating material, drawn up by a former British intelligence agent hired to do “opposition research” on Trump.
“It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen,” he said, referring to allegations of lurid behavior in a Moscow hotel room.
The 70-year old Republican billionaire suggested it may have been released by the intelligence agencies, which would be a “tremendous blot on their record.”
Trump dodged questions about whether his campaign had contacts with Russian intelligence, instead tearing into reporters whose outlets reported on the allegations of the existence of compromising material.
“I’m not going to give you a question. You are fake news,” he told a CNN reporter, igniting a fresh raft of questions about his respect for constitutional guarantees about the free press.
The US intelligence community concluded Moscow interfered in the November election in a bid to tip the race in Trump’s favor. But intelligence chiefs last week presented Trump, as well as President Barack Obama, with a two-page synopsis on the potentially embarrassing but unsubstantiated allegations involving Russia, according to CNN and The New York Times.
US intelligence chief James Clapper late Wednesday expressed his “profound dismay” to Trump over the leaks. “This evening, I had the opportunity to speak with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss recent media reports about our briefing last Friday,” Clapper said.
“I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security,” he said, adding that he did not believe that the US intelligence community was the source.
Even before the new allegations became public, Democrats and Trump’s Republican allies had become increasingly uneasy about Russia’s role in the election, with calls for an independent investigation growing.
The Kremlin Denies
The Kremlin has dismissed the dossier as a “total fake” aimed at damaging bilateral ties.
Trump began the press conference muted and disciplined, but became increasingly agitated as questions piled up. “I have no dealings with Russia. I have no deals in Russia. I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we’ve stayed away. And I have no loans with Russia,” Trump said.
The president-elect finally admitted for the first time that he believes Moscow likely meddled in the US election. But while secretary of state-designate Rex Tillerson, also seen as close to Moscow, called Russia a “danger” during his confirmation hearing, Trump may have fanned the flames by downplaying Moscow’s role.
“As far as hacking, I think it was Russia, but I also think we’ve been hacked by other countries, other people,” he said. Trump aides bristle at the suggestion that Russia weighed in behind Trump, seeing it as an effort to de-legitimise his election victory.
Trump again refused to back away from his openness towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability,” Trump said. “I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there’s a good chance I won’t.”
Without corroborating its contents, BuzzFeed published a 35-page dossier of memos on which the synopsis reportedly presented to Trump is based. The memos, which had been circulating in Washington for months, describe sex videos involving prostitutes filmed during a 2013 visit by Trump to a luxury Moscow hotel, supposedly as a potential means for blackmail.
They also suggest Russian officials proposed lucrative deals in order to win influence over the real estate magnate.
“The Kremlin does not have compromising information on Trump,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Obama says goodbye in last presidential speech

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Barack Obama closes the book on his presidency Tuesday, with a farewell speech in Chicago that will try to lift supporters shaken by Donald Trump s shock election.



Obama s last trip on Air Force One will be a pilgrimage to his adoptive hometown, where he will address a sell-out crowd not far from where he delivered his victory speech eight years ago.

"For Michelle and me, Chicago is where it all started. It s the city that showed us the power and fundamental goodness of the American people," Obama said in a Facebook post previewing his remarks.

Diehard fans -- many African Americans -- have braved Chicago s frigid winter to collect free tickets, which now sell for upwards of $1,000 a piece on Craigslist.

Aside from First Lady Michelle Obama, the Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden will also come along for the ride.

Obama s cross-country trek would be a sentimental trip down memory lane, were it not slap-bang in the middle of a tumultuous presidential handover.

Trump has smashed conventions, vowed to efface Obama s legacy and hurled personal insults left and right.

The 2016 election campaign has raised serious questions about the resilience of US democracy.

In a virtually unprecedented move, US intelligence has accused the Kremlin of seeking to tip the electoral scales in Trump s favor.

Democrats, cast into the political wilderness with the loss of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives plus a majority of statehouses, are struggling to regroup.

With an approval rating hovering around 55 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll, Obama will hope to steel them for new battles ahead.

Some 51 percent of Americans polled believe that Trump is doing a bad job as president-elect.

Obama s lead speechwriter Cody Keenan said the address will be about a vision for where the country should go.

"It s not going to be like an anti-Trump speech, it s not going to be a red meat, rabble rousing thing, it will be statesman-like but it will also be true to him," Keenan told AFP. "It will tell a story."

As Obama put it: "Over the course of my life, I ve been reminded time and again that change can happen -- that ordinary people can come together to achieve extraordinary things."

"And I ve seen that truth up close over these last eight years."

Trump s unorthodox politics has thrown 55-year-old Obama s transition and post-presidency plans into flux.

Having vowed a smooth handover of power, Obama finds himself being increasingly critical of Trump as he prepares to leave office on January 20.

After that there will still be a holiday and an autobiography, but Obama could find himself being dragged backed into the political fray if Trump were to enact a Muslim registry or deport adults brought to the United States years ago by their parents.

Having vowed to take a backseat in politics, Obama s second act could yet be as politically engaged as Jimmy Carter -- whose post-presidency has remade his image as an elder statesman.

Many Obama aides who had planned to take exotic holidays or launch coffer-replenishing forays into the private sector are also reassessing their future and mulling a return to the political trenches.

Obama s foundation is already gearing up for a quasi-political role -- funneling idealistic youngsters into public life.

Presidents since George Washington have delivered a farewell address of sorts.

Washington s final 7,641-word message -- which is still read once a year in the Senate by tradition -- contained warnings about factionalism and interference by foreign powers that seem oddly prescient.

But speechwriter Keenan sees few obvious templates: "Bush and Clinton did theirs from here (the White House), George H.W. Bush went to West Point, gave a foreign policy speech," he told AFP. "They are all totally different."

The trip to Chicago about more than nostalgia, Keenan indicated.

"The thread that has run though his career from his days as community organizer to the Oval Office is the idea that if you get ordinary people together and get them educated, get them empowered, get them to act on something, that s when good things happen," he said.

"For him, as someone who started as a community organizer, whose campaign was powered by young people, ordinary people, we decided we wanted to go back to Chicago."

"Chicago is not just his hometown, it s where his career started."

And now it is also where Obama s presidential career will effectively end.

Jury condemns Dylann Roof to death for South Carolina church massacre

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - White supremacist Dylann Roof deserves to die for the hate-fueled killings of nine black churchgoers at a Bible study meeting in a Charleston, South Carolina, a U.S. jury said on Tuesday after deliberating for less than three hours.



The same jury last month found Roof, 22, guilty of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes resulting in death, for the shocking mass shooting at the landmark Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015.

Roof, who represented himself and did not argue against the death penalty, showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

Prosecutors said he planned the shooting for months, intending to incite racial violence by targeting the oldest African-American congregation in the U.S. South.

“He decided the day, the hour and the moment that my sister was going to die, and now someone is going to do the same for him," Melvin Graham, brother of shooting victim Cynthia Hurd, 54, said outside the federal courthouse in the heart of historic Charleston’s downtown district.

Roof will be formally sentenced on Wednesday. He also faces the death penalty if convicted of murder charges in a pending state trial.

Whether he was competent to serve as his own attorney will be a fundamental issue in the appeals process, Robert Dunham, executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said in a telephone interview.

Roof did not present any evidence during the penalty phase that began last week or allow jurors to hear details about his mental health. Dunham said defense lawyers likely will use the trial to show appellate judges that mental illness prevented him from adequately representing himself.

"We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy," Roof’s lawyers, who represented him for the guilt phase, said in a statement.

Roof was unrepentant during his short closing argument, telling jurors he still felt the massacre was something he had to do.

"Anyone who hates anything has good reason for it," he said. "I have a right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I’m not sure what good that will do anyone."

On June 17, 2015, Roof sat for 40 minutes with parishioners gathered for a Bible study meeting before opening fire as they closed their eyes to pray, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson said in his final statement to jurors.

Roof pulled the trigger 75 times as he methodically killed Hurd; Clementa Pinckney, 41, the church’s pastor and a state senator; DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Myra Thompson, 59; Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and Tywanza Sanders, 26.

Jurors heard four days of heartrending testimony from more than 20 of the victims’ loved ones, who described their legacies of faith and the devastation wrought by Roof’s brutality.

"What’s wrong here is the calculated racism, the choice to target a church, particularly the people in a church," Richardson told jurors. "What’s wrong here is precisely why this is a case that justifies the death penalty." 

دنیا کی 10 بدترین ایئر لائنز کی فہرست جاری

بلوم برگ نے دنیا کی دس بدترین ایئر لائنز کی فہرست جاری کر دی، اسرائیل کا پہلا نمبر، بھارت کی ”ایئر انڈیا“ کو تیسری بدترین فضائی سروس قرار دیدیا گیا۔

نیویارک: (آن لائن) امریکی ادارے بلوم برگ نے دنیا کی 10 بدترین ایئرلائنز کی فہرست جاری کی ہے جس میں بھارت کی ”ایئر انڈیا“ کو تیسری بدترین فضائی سروس قرار دیا گیا ہے۔ بلوم برگ نے اس کا ڈیٹا عالمی فضائی اعدادوشمار جاری کرنے والی ویب سائٹ فلائٹ سٹسٹکس سے حاصل شدہ معلومات کے بعد شائع کیا ہے جس میں دنیا کی بدترین 10 ایئر لائنز کو شامل کیا گیا ہے جس کی فہرست بالترتیب کچھ اس طرح سے ہے۔
پہلے نمبر پر ای ایل اے ایل ( اسرائیلی ائیرلائن)، دوسرے نمبر پر آئس لینڈ ایئر، تیسرے نمبر پر ایئر انڈیا، چوتھے نمبر پر فلپائن ایئرلائنز، پانچویں نمبر پر ایشیانا ایئرلائنز، چھٹے نمبر پر چائنا ایسٹ ایئر لائن، ساتویں نمبر پر ہانگ کانگ ایئر لائن، آٹھویں نمبر پر ایئر چائنا، نویں نمبر پر کورین ایئر اور دسویں نمبر پر ہینن ایئر لائن شامل ہیں۔
فلائٹ سٹسٹکس کی ویب سائٹ کے مطابق اس نے 500 مختلف ذرائع سے حاصل شدہ ڈیٹا کے تجزیے کے بعد یہ رپورٹ جاری کی ہے جسے بلومبرگ نے شائع کیا ہے۔ اس میں فلائٹ ٹریکنگ، ایئر پورٹ رن وے کے اوقات، ریڈار سروسز، ایئر لائن ریکارڈز، ایئرپورٹ ڈیٹا اور فیڈرل ایوی ایشن ایڈمنسٹریشن (ایف اے اے) اور یورو کنٹرول جیسے اداروں سے بھی معلومات لی گئی ہیں۔ ویب سائٹ کے حکام نے بلومبرگ کو بتایا ہم نے فلائٹ کارکردگی میں اہم لوازمات اور قدروں کو بغور دیکھا ہے۔ ٹیکنالوجی اور سافٹ ویئر کی مدد سے ہم نے معلومات کو پرکھا ہے جس کے بعد یہ نتائج سامنے پیش کیے گئے۔

Raheel Sharif's conditions to head coalition accepted by Saudi Arabia

LAHORE: (AP TV) – Pakistan’s former army chief General (r) Raheel Sharif had laid down three conditions before Saudi Defence Minister for his joining the coalition as its head and joined it only after those three conditions were accepted by Saudi government, reported News92world.
According to Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib, Saudi Defence Minister had visited Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to express Saudi government’s desire to have General (r) Raheel Sharif as the head of the 39-country coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
Amjad Shoaib said that he had talked to Raheel Sharif and discussed in detail the conditions he had laid down before the Saudi government to join the coalition. According to Amjad Shoaib, the conditions were as follows:
- Raheel Sharif would be the commander or in-charge of such a force and there would be no commandabove him.
- Iran must be invited and added into the coalition.
- Raheel Sharif will have the authority to mediate between any two member countries in case of some disagreement or confusion.
Amjad Shoaib said that the conditions were accepted by Saudi government and he joined it only afterwards.
“Mr Raheel Sharif told me that Saudi Defence Minister had shared the proposal with PM Nawaz Sharif and PM had conveyed it to him. He told PM that it would be an honour for him but possible only if his demands were accepted”.
The formal proposal in this regard will be sent to Pakistan in the coming March.


سعودی عرب نے اسلامی ممالک کے فوجی اتحاد کیلئے راحیل شریف کی شرائط مان لیں


سعودی عرب نے اسلامی ممالک کے فوجی اتحاد کی سربراہی کے حوالے سے جنرل (ر) راحیل شریف کی تینوں شرائط مان لیں۔


لاہور: (دنیا نیوز) لیفٹیننٹ جنرل ریٹائرڈ امجد شعیب نے دنیا نیوز سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا جنرل (ر) راحیل شریف سے 39 ملکی فوجی اتحاد کی سربراہی کے حوالے سے بات ہوئی ہے۔ ان کا کہنا تھا کہا جنرل (ر) راحیل شریف نے سعودی وزیر دفاع کے سامنے تین شرائط رکھیں تھیں۔ وہ اتحاد کے کمانڈر ہوں گے کسی کے ماتحت نہیں ہوں گے۔ ایران کو اس اتحاد میں شامل کیا جائے گا اور رکن ممالک میں ثالثی کا پورا اختیار ہو گا۔ لیفٹیننٹ جنرل (ر) امجد نے کہا سعودی عرب نے جنرل (ر) راحیل شریف کی تینوں شرائط مان لیں۔ باقاعدہ پروپوزل مارچ تک حکومت پاکستان کو بھیجا جائے گا۔ واضح رہے گزشتہ دنوں جنرل (ر) راحیل شریف سعودی حکومت کی خصوصی دعوت پر سعودی عرب گئے تھے۔ انہیں لیجانے کیلئے سعودی حکومت نے خصوصی طیارہ پاکستان بھیجا تھا۔