New departments to be formed to ensure operations are in line with national security policy and human rights law.2 hours ago

Saudi Arabia has said it is creating government bodies to boost oversight of its intelligence operations, in the wake of international outrage over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
     
The kingdom has said Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate on October 2 in a “rogue operation” led by the then Deputy Intelligence Chief Ahmad al-Assiri and Royal Court Adviser Saud al-Qahtani, both of whom have been sacked.
     
King Salman subsequently ordered a restructuring of the main intelligence agency under the supervision of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who has faced global criticism over the journalist’s murder even though the government denies he was involved.
     
A committee headed by the prince has approved the creation of three departments to ensure intelligence operations are in line with the national security policy, international human rights law and “approved procedures”, the official Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.
     
The statement made no mention of Khashoggi.

Bessma Momani, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, said the modifications were an attempt to shift attention away from the crown prince.

“I think the optics of reform are clear,” she told Al Jazeera. “The message being portrayed here is that there are checks and balances in the system, that there is oversight, but frankly is doesn’t really address a bigger cloud hanging over the crown prince, that he was implicated in ordering this murder of Khashoggi.

“The key issue doesn’t go away, but I think the cosmetic restructuring is meant to try and deflect attention.”

“The idea here is that these three departments are going to be overseen by this committee, and this committee is going to be the crown prince. It really is, I think, quite difficult to see it as a genuine effort.”

The intense global backlash over Khashoggi’s killing has tarnished the prince’s international reputation and left the oil-rich kingdom diplomatically weakened, analysts say.
     
It has also cast a fresh spotlight on the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen, which is gripped by what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
     
The US Senate voted last week to end American military support for Riyadh’s military campaign in Yemen, and separately held Prince Mohammed responsible for Khashoggi’s killing.
     
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia slammed the Senate resolutions as “blatant interference”, warning that the move could have repercussions on its strategic ties with Washington.

Canberra, Australian Border Force (ABF) staff are regularly subjected to sexual harassment and bullying at work, an internal review has found.

The 2017 review of ABF culture, published by the Guardian Australia on Friday, uncovered “alarming levels of sexual harassment and bullying” within the organization, Xinhua news agency reported.

It revealed that the ABF was fostering a culture of nepotism and favouritism since it was established as an amalgamation of customs and immigration in 2015.

The report concluded that women, older employees, people with disabilities and ethnically diverse people were being unconsciously discriminated against at the ABF.

A separate report published by Fairfax Media earlier in December revealed that 22 per cent of ABF staff said they had experienced bullying or harassment at work in a 12-month period.

New Delhi,India has made it clear that Pakistan has no say whatsoever on Jinnah House, the sea-facing bungalow in Mumbai of founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali which is in the process of being turned into a cultural and convention centre.

“Pakistan is not in the picture,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday in response to a question at a media briefing. 

“They have no locus standi as far as this property is concerned,” Kumar said. “It is a government of India property.”

His remarks came after the Pakistan Foreign Office earlier in the day said that Islamabad would not relinquish its claim over the property.

Jinnah’s daughter Dina Wadia had moved the Bombay High Court in August 2007 claiming ownership of the property on the ground that she was sole legal heir of Jinnah.

After she passed away in December last year, her son and Wadia group chairman Nusli Wadia is carrying on the litigation process. 

“We are actually in the process of renovating it and putting it to effective use on the lines of what we do with Hyderabad House in New Delhi,” Kumar said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a letter to Mumbai BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha, said that the Prime Minister’s Office has approved the property to be transferred to her ministry.

[Nasheman news] Washington The Donald Trump-led US administration announced that it has started returning US troops home from Syria after claiming a victory in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) without revealing any detailed timetable.

“We have started returning US home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign,” said White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a statement on Wednesday, claiming that America has “defeated the territorial caliphate”. 

Pentagon later echoed the White House claim, saying that the US military has already begun the process of bringing the US forces back while emphasizing the continuity of the campaign, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The Coalition has liberated the IS-held territory, but the campaign against IS is not over,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a tweet. 

All US State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours, informed sources said. 

An official also revealed that the time-frame for the troops withdrawal from the war-torn Arab country is expected to be between 60 and 100 days.

However, a senior Trump administration official, during a background briefing held on Wednesday afternoon, did not directly answer reporters’ questions on how the administration intends to withdraw the troops or whether there will a deadline for that.

Sanders’ statement came about one hour after US President Donald Trump hinted in a tweet about imminent US troop withdrawal from Syria. 

“We have defeated the IS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the US media cited anonymous officials as saying that the US is planning a “rapid” and “full” withdrawal of troops from Syria. 

Currently, there are more than 2,000 US soldiers deployed in Syria. 

Trump has long voiced his desire to bring the US troops back home when possible, while senior administration officials including Defence Secretary James Mattis have advocated for a longer-term military deployment in Syria to secure a victory against the IS. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s claim about victory against the IS has been questioned.

“I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” tweeted British Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood, following Trump’s claim on the social media. 

Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned “devastating consequences” for US troops quitting Syria.

“An American withdrawal at this time would be a big win for IS, Iran, Bashar al Assad of Syria, and Russia,” the lawmaker from the state of South Carolina said in a statement on Wednesday.

UK airline cites improving security situation, a decade after it suspended flights following an attack in Islamabad.by Asad Hashim4 hours ago

Islamabad, Pakistan – The United Kingdom‘s flag carrier, British Airways, will resume direct flights to Pakistan in June, a decade after suspending services to the South Asian nation over security concerns, the airline has announced.

The service will resume with three flights each week between the two countries’ capitals, London and Islamabad, British Airways head of sales for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East Robert Williams told a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

“It’s exciting to be flying between Islamabad and Heathrow from next year, which we believe will be particularly popular with the British Pakistani community who want to visit, or be visited by, their relatives,” Williams said.

The UK is home to an estimated 1.17 million people of Pakistani origin, according to the British Office for National Statistics, making it one of the largest diaspora hosts for the South Asian country.

The Pakistani government has lauded the decision as an indicator of improving security and economic investment opportunities in the country.

“Pakistan is once again getting connected with the world,” said Syed Zulfikar Bukhari, the Pakistani prime minister’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development. Bukhari is himself a dual national of the UK and Pakistan.

“Delighted to learn British Airways will be resuming flights to Pakistan,” tweeted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi following the announcement.

“This decision is an acknowledgement of Pakistan’s continued efforts for peace & elimination of terrorism.”

The British Airways flights will resume from June 2, 2019, it said in a statement.

Direct flights

British Airways is the first major European airline to resume direct flights to Pakistan since services were suspended due to security concerns in the mid-2000s. The airline had suspended services after a deadly truck bombing at Islamabad’s Marriot hotel in 2008 killed more than 50 people.

In the interim, Gulf-based airlines – Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways – stepped in to absorb the bulk of the country’s international air traffic.

Pakistan has been battling the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organisation of armed groups that has vowed to overthrow the government and enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law, since 2007.

Since 2014, a series of military operations has seriously degraded the Tehreek-e-Taliban’s ability to launch frequent attacks targeting civilians and security forces, with violence dropping significantly as the group was displaced from its erstwhile headquarters in the northwest of the country.

Sporadic heavy-casualty attacks, however, have continued to occur, as the Pakistan Taliban has shifted its operational headquarters to eastern Afghanistan.

Dubai,  An Indian worker said that he was grateful to Dubai for hosting him and thousands of other workers and for safeguarding labour rights in their workplaces.

Acting as a representative of thousands of workers, Uday Kumar, 30, addressed top officials and managers at a ceremony here on Monday to honour companies for protecting labourers rights, Gulf News reported.

“I came to Dubai before one year to achieve my dreams. The company provided good facilities for us with best accommodation and food. I’m happy in UAE,” Kumar said during the ceremony to honour the winners of the Taqdeer (appreciation) Award Programme, an initiative that recognises companies which implement best global practices in safeguarding labour rights in the workplace.

Kumar said he has nothing but “appreciation to Dubai for the joy and progress that we proudly give our families back home”.

In its third year, the award has managed to include more than one million workers and has come to witness a 77 per cent growth in the number of participating companies in different sectors.

Islamabad,  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said he hoped that the Islamabad-backed US-Taliban negotiations which was held a day earlier in the UAE, could bring an end to “almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people”.

“Pakistan has helped in the dialogue between Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi,” Khan tweeted.

“Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people. Pakistan will be doing everything within its power to further the peace process.”

Khan’s remarks come a day after US diplomats and Taliban representatives met in the United Arab Emirates for the first round of talks facilitated by Pakistan on finding a negotiated settlement for the Afghan war, Dawn news reported.

The meeting in Abu Dhabi was also attended by officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

There were no statements from the participating parties at the end of the daylong meeting, although Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal had officially announced the start of the talks through a tweet.

It was the third meeting between the Taliban and US officials since the appointment of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as Washington’s special envoy for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. 

Their meeting last month had continued for three days.

However, it was the first meeting sponsored by Islamabad and also the first outside Doha which hosts Taliban’s political office and was the venue of the earlier two rounds. 

Pakistan had arranged the meeting after receiving a request from US President Donald Trump for help in the peace process a fortnight ago. 

The Afghan government was not represented at Monday’s meeting because Taliban have stood firmly on not talking to them whom they call the “puppet regime” and insisted on speaking directly to the US.

London, Weekends are usually peaceful days at Westminster. But the ongoing Brexit debate has changed Britains ground zero of power.


The Big Ben and other towers are covered with polythene sheets to shield the public from viewing the ongoing restoration work at the seat of mother of all parliaments. But it’s the government in the seat of power which needs a restorative touch.

As Parliament prepares to vote on Brexit next Tuesday, the day India looks with bated breath at the poll results from five states, there is massive lobbying in the British corridors of power to fortify the different camps. The empty corners of Westminster are occupied by TV crews from all over the world.

The British public too is watching with bated breath as new twists appear every day on the Brexit drama in Parliament. The limelight is on Prime Minister Theresa May along with her cabinet; Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn; seasoned politician Sir Vince Cable; maverick former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson; Tory chief Brandon Lewis; and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members’ Committee.

The list of main characters, of course, keeps changing with the addition of new figures. The focus, of course is on the 650 members of the House of Commons as every vote is precious in this crucial battle. The next few days will define the legacy of May’s premiership. It could see Parliament wresting control from the ministers on the future direction of the UK’s departure from the EU.

While, the ministers are busy visiting constituencies to convince their electorate about the deal and senior politicians are hopping from one TV studio to another to win the support of audiences. Despite the threat from alliance partner Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), May is going ahead with the vote on December 11. It will be among the most contentious in recent history with MPs divided on all sides of the House. 

It comes after five days of intense debate, which was preceded by the government being found in contempt of Parliament for the first time in history. The numbers appear to be against the Prime Minister, and with amendments from across the Brexit spectrum being tabled, the vote could produce a variety of outcomes — an attempted renegotiation, a no-deal Brexit and even a second referendum. 

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Monday will release its judgment in a legal challenge over whether the UK can unilaterally withdraw its Article 50 notification on leaving the EU. The ECJ’s chief legal expert, Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona, has said that Britain should be able to cancel Brexit without needing the consent of the other EU member states. He also rejected the contention that Article 50 only allows the possibility of revocation following a unanimous decision of the European Council.

If the court’s judgment follows the advocate’s opinion, it would be a blow to May just 24 hours before MPs have their meaningful vote on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. The judgment is due at 8 a.m. UK time (1 p.m. IST) on Monday.

The Prime Minister and her close team members are rejecting all the pleas and going ahead with the vote. As the opposition to the deal gathers momentum, the vote could be defeated by a 200 plus margin. But the TINA (there is no alternative) factor and the probability of extreme-left wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn grabbing power are dithering the Conservative fold. 

Sir Graham Brady, the likely consensus candidate to replace May, is trying to preserve the party unity behind the Prime Minister. He conveyed a backbenchers’ appeal to consider delaying the vote. But Downing Street remains adamant despite growing cabinet unease. 

After the vote on Tuesday, attention will turn to Strasbourg on Wednesday as MEPs hold a debate on the outcome of the Commons’ vote. EU Chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, made it clear that May’s deal is the only opportunity for the UK to leave the European Union in an orderly fashion. That means, if the Parliament reject the deal, Britain may exit EU without a deal. The Bank of England already predicted a grim picture if the country exits EU without a deal. The economy will be the worst victim in this battle.

Brexit has already taken its toll on community ties. Immigrant pockets are worried about the aggressive debate over Brexit. The Indian community is also divided over the issue. Rami Ranger, chairman of the Conservative Friends of India (CFI), a prominent businessman, is backing the Prime minister. 

“Brexit is not about my way or highway! It is about cooperation and collaboration as a sovereign nation. Britain’s economic strength underpins our sovereignty,” Ranger said. “Totally wrong to assume that Britain will be under foreign powers with May’s Brexit deal. In fact, cooperation and collaboration underpins our sovereignty,” he added.

“The objective is not to scupper the PM’s Brexit deal, instead it should be to protect the economy, jobs and influence in the world when we no longer have an empire to dictate our terms to others. Our economy is already shrinking,” he said.

Meanwhile Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP from Ealing Southall, is leading the opposition campaign.

“The way the Prime Minister has handled the negotiations with the European Union over the past two years has been disastrous,” Sharma said. “We are now facing a situation where we have a bad deal that does not work for our country and is unlikely to be endorsed by Parliament. This is a result of the government’s failure and refusal to adopt the kind of approach I have been calling for that could have safeguarded jobs and the economy.”

Still there is no clear picture about the outcome of Brexit. Good, bad or ugly, the vote on Dec 11 will decide the fate of Great Britain. 

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condemned the killing of seven civilians in Kashmir’s Pulwama and threatened to raise the issue at the UN.

Seven civilians died Saturday when security forces opened fire at an unruly mob that thronged the site of an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district in which three terrorists and an army man were killed.

In Srinagar, the army urged people not to march towards the headquarters of its Chinar Corps on the call of separatists to protest the killing of the civilians.

Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said the responsibility of such deaths lies with separatists and supporters of militants, including the mainstream political parties.

Khan took to Twitter to condemn the incident, saying only dialogue and not violence and killings will resolve this conflict.

He threatened to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN and said the country will demand that the UN Security Council fulfil its plebiscite commitment in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the incident and said that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute, pending on the agenda of the UN Security Council and the dissociation of India from reality was alarming.

The Government and the people of Pakistan reaffirm their continued and resolute moral, diplomatic and political support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle, it said.

Damascus,(IANS) Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Syria’s capital Damascus, the first Arab leader to do so since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, state news agency SANA reported.

The Sudanese President was received by his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad at the international airport of Damascus, Xinhua news agency cited a report by SANA on Sunday.

Al-Bashir arrived in Damascus for an official working visit.

During their meeting, the two leaders agreed that the crises in many Arab countries require new approaches based on the respect of the sovereignty and the policy of non-interference in their internal affairs.

Al-Bashir wished Syria a quick recovery, hoping that its people can determine their own future without foreign interventions.

The Sudanese president also highlighted his country’s support to Syria, saying Sudan is ready to provide whatever needed to support the territorial integrity and unity of Syria.

For his part, Assad said al-Bashir’s visit will give a strong push toward restoring the bilateral relations to what they were before the war.

Al-Bashir arrived in the afternoon and left the country hours later in the evening.

Throughout the Syrian crisis since 2011, most Arab countries have cut or downgraded their diplomatic relations with Syria.

But in recent months, reports emerged that some Arab countries had requested the resumption of their diplomatic relations with Syria.

The fresh nudge in the diplomatic relations comes amid a succession of victories of the Syrian army, which enabled the Syrian government to control much of the country.