The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group’s chief Noor Wali Mehsud has been designated as a global terrorist by the UN for participating in the financing, planning and perpetrating acts on behalf of and in support of entities associated with al-Qaida. The UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee added Mehsud, 42, to the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List last week, subjecting the Pakistani national to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Mehsud was named TTP chief in June 2018 and the group was blacklisted by the UN in July 2011 for its links to Qaida. “Under Wali’s leadership, TTP has claimed responsibility for many attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on security forces in North Waziristan in July 2019 and a bomb strike against Pakistani soldiers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in August 2019,” the committee said. The US state department’s bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs welcomed the move. “The US domestically designated Noor Wali as a terrorist in September 2019,” it tweeted.
7 Pak PM aides are dual nationals
At least seven members of Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s cabinet are either dual nationals or hold another country’s permanent residency, according to the details issued by the government amid growing demands by the opposition to disclose assets and nationalities of non-elected members. Information minister Shibli Faraz said the details had been made public on the instruction of PM Khan. All dual nationals were non-elected members and working as special assistants to the PM. In Pakistan, a foreign national cannot contest an election. The move comes amidst growing criticism of the government.
15-year jail term for two LeT members
Two leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were sentenced to 15 years in jail in terror financing cases by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court. 'Today the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore concluded the trial of two leaders - Luqman Shah and Masoodur Rehman - of proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in two cases registered, investigated by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police in 2019,' the CTD said in a statement. The court found the accused guilty of terror financing under section 11-N of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Along with the 15-year imprisonment, fines were imposed on both. The CTD said the two convicts had committed offences of terror financing by managing the assets/properties of the LeT and by raising funds from them. “The prosecution successfully proved the offences by producing strong evidence wherein the convicts had collected funds for LeT and managed assets of LeT. The conviction and sentence will have big impact to stop terrorism financing in the country,” the CTD said.
Netanyahu’s graft trial to begin in Jan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial will begin in earnest in January with witnesses being heard three times a week, a court decided. Lawyers for Netanyahu, the first serving prime minister in Israel to go on trial, had asked for a six-month postponement to prepare their strategy. They suggested it would be difficult to gauge the truthfulness of witnesses wearing anti-coronavirus masks, currently compulsory in Israel. Netanyahu's legal troubles have partly fuelled mounting street protests against him, with demonstrators citing his alleged corruption and handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken a turn for the worse in Israel. Israeli police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators from outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv protesters blocking traffic clashed with police. Netanyahu was not required to appear at the court session.
Mongolian teen dies of plague
A 15-year-old boy has died in western Mongolia of bubonic plague, the country’s national news agency reported. The health ministry said laboratory tests confirmed the teenager died of plague that he contracted from an infected marmot, according to the Montsame News Agency. In an unrelated case in neighbouring China, a patient who was infected with plague in the northern region of Inner Mongolia is improving, according to Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua said 15 people who had contact with the patient were released from quarantine. The government has ended its emergency response.
US troops leave 5 Afghan bases as part of deal with Taliban
US troops have left five bases in Afghanistan and the number of servicemen in Afghanistan has decreased as part of the peace agreement reached with the Taliban in Qatar in February, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said. According to the envoy, 135 days have passed since the agreement was signed and now the sides have reached a "key milestone" in its implementation. "The US has worked hard to carry out the first phase of its commitments under the agreement, including to reduce forces and depart five bases. NATO troops have come down in proportional numbers," Khalilzad said on Twitter. A US official said that the bases were located in Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktika and Laghman provinces. Khalilzad also condemned the latest Taliban attack near the National Directorate of Security office in Samangan province that killed 10 people and injured dozens of others.
Trudeau sorry for ‘mistake’ amid charity scandal
Canada PM Justin Trudeau apologised for taking part in a decision to award a no-bid government contract to a charity deeply connected to his family. The apology came four days after it was revealed that the PM’s mother and brother got over $200,000 over four years to give speeches at events for the development organisation WE Charity, which had been awarded a government contract to oversee the disbursement of $660 million in grants to student volunteers affected by the weakened economy. WE Charity said it was withdrawing from the scheme.
Floyd's family sues city of Minneapolis, four police officers
George Floyd's family filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death, alleging the officers violated Floyd's rights when they restrained him and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism and impunity to flourish in its police force. The civil rights lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Minnesota, was announced by attorney Ben Crump and other lawyers representing Floyd's family members. "This complaint shows what we have said all along, that Floyd died because the weight of the entire Minneapolis Police Department was on his neck," Crump said in a statement. "The City of Minneapolis has a history of policies, procedures and deliberate indifference that violates the rights of the detained, particularly Black men, and highlights the need for officer training and discipline." Crump said the lawsuit seeks to set a precedent "that makes it financially prohibitive for police to wrongfully kill marginalised people " especially Black people " in the future".
Hundreds of People in Belarus Play 'Holi'
Amusement park, Dreamland, in Minsk, Belarus, organised a ColorFest festival, which saw hundreds of people in attendance. Participants were seen having a gala time at the fest where they applied colours on each other and seen grooving to foot-tapping numbers. Here's a look at some pictures from the vibrant festival under the shadow of coronavirus pandemic
Rabbi hurt in California synagogue shooting admits fraud
The longtime leader of a Southern California synagogue who was wounded in a deadly attack at the house of worship he founded pleaded guilty to participating in a multimillion-dollar fraud that disguised charitable contributions for personal gain. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for fraud but prosecutors will recommend probation as part of a plea agreement. Robert Brewer, the US attorney in San Diego, said it was “a very difficult day for all of us.” “His role after the 2019 terrorist attack was exemplary,” Brewer said at a news conference.
Goldstein, who founded Chabad of Poway near San Diego in 1986, collected $6.2 million in fake donations to the synagogue and affiliates and returned 90% to contributors with phony receipts, allowing them to deduct the full amount from their taxes, prosecutors said. Goldstein kept the remaining 10%, or $620,000, for himself. Goldstein acknowledged concealing a fake donation of more than $1.1 million in late 2017 by purchasing about $1 million in gold coins and giving them to the phony donor.
130 accounts hit by cyber attack this week: Twitter
Twitter Inc disclosed that hackers targeted about 130 accounts during the cyber attack this week, an incident in which profiles of many prominent personalities and organisations were compromised. Twitter said that the hackers were able to gain control to a “small subset” of the targeted accounts, and send tweets from them. The company added that it was continuing to assess whether the attackers were able to access private data of the targeted accounts. Twitter reiterated that it was working with impacted account owners. The FBI’s San Francisco division is leading an inquiry into the hacking, with many Washington lawmakers also calling for an accounting of how it happened. The law enforcement agency said that cyber attackers committed cryptocurrency fraud in the incident. Publicly available blockchain records show the scammers got over $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
Trump to resume televised briefings
US President Donald Trump announced that he will resume his televised coronavirus briefings, saying he wants to tout positive news, even as the pandemic spreads across the country. “I think it’s a great way to get information out to the public,” he told reporters at the White House. “We’re doing very well in so many different ways.” The White House held dozens of coronavirus briefings over two months in the early stages of the pandemic, but abandoned them in late April. Trump often turned what were billed as opportunities to provide the anxious public with information into testy exchanges with reporters in the room. He then angrily ditched the events after a briefing in which he drew widespread ridicule for musing on air about the possibility of injecting household disinfectant to combat Covid-19. He later said he had been speaking “sarcastically,” although there was no evidence of this at the time. The president has consistently sought to play down the severity of the health crisis, saying it will “disappear” by itself. But with the virus on the rebound, tearing through Florida and other major states, he finds himself accused of failing to lead. He is also dropping ever further in polls against his November presidential challenger Democrat Joe Biden. Trump said the briefings would home in on good news regarding vaccine development and therapeutics.