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Pakistan foils plot to free Daniel Pearl’s killer

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Brazen Hyderabad jailbreak plan halted by intelligence agents with arrest of 97 “hardcore terrorists”, military says.

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

by Al Jazeera

Pakistani intelligence agents arrested 97 insurgents, including three commanders, who planned a prison break aimed at freeing the killer of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a conference in Karachi on Friday that three armed groups – al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – were working together on the plot to free British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, currently on death row for the 2002 murder of Pearl.

“A deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent named Mussanah was mastermind of the plan and was arranging all the finances while he was aided by the deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Naeem Bukhari,” Bajwa said.

“These arrests were made over a period of time, starting from the first arrest made a few months ago.”

The suspects had been involved in several major attacks in the southern port city of Karachi and elsewhere, and planned to killed 35-40 hostages and break about 100 inmates out of a prison, he added.

Defense and security analyst Talat Masood told Al Jazeera that freeing “their companions” from jail was only to prove their power.

“Pakistan army is doing their best to eliminate terrorism and these arrests are one of their big achievements,” he said.

“However, arresting militants and busting their attacks is not the only solution to eradicate terrorism in the country. Pakistan needs to work on cross-border relationships, especially with Afghanistan, which will help them track terrorists very easily,” said Masood.

Pearl’s death

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted and beheaded in Karachi in 2002, while researching a story about Islamist fighters.

A graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.

British-born Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court, while three other co-accused received life imprisonment.

In January 2011, a report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the US following an investigation into his death made chilling revelations when it claimed the wrong men were convicted for Pearl’s murder.

The investigation – led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor – claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, not Sheikh.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Syria: Russian PM warns of world war if troops sent in

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Dmitry Medvedev tells German paper proposal to send Arab ground forces to fight ISIL “draws everyone” into war.

Dmitry Medvedev

by Al Jazeera

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the deployment of foreign ground troops in the Syrian conflict could result in a world war.

Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published late on Thursday by the German newspaper Handelsblatt that “a ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war”.

When asked about a recent proposal from Saudi Arabia to send in ground troops to Syria, the Russian prime minister answered that “the Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war”.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said Medvedev’s comments were an explicit warning to the United States and its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia.

“He basically told them to back off on sending troops because if they did, this might result in some sort of interminable or even a world war,” Challands said.

Medvedev also criticised Western powers’ refusal to collaborate with Russia in Syria. The prime minister said ties at the level of defence departments were only sporadic.

US defence chief Ashton Carter, meanwhile, welcomed a commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand its role with ground troops in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

At a gathering of more than two dozen defence ministers at NATO headquarters, Carter said on Friday key ally the United Arab Emirates agreed to send special forces soldiers to Syria to assist in the development of local Sunni Arab fighters focused on recapturing Raqqa, ISIL’s de facto capital.

Carter declined to say how many Emirati commandos would go to Syria. He said they would be part of an effort led by the US and bolstered by Saudi special forces to train and enable local Arab fighters who are motivated to recapture Raqqa.

Saudi Arabia’s Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said his country was ready to send troops into Syria if there was a consensus in the anti-ISIL coalition. But he declined to elaborate, saying: “It is too early to talk about such options. Today we are talking at the strategic level.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to meet with his Saudi counterpart Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr in Munich, Germany on Friday, a Russian news report said.

Vyacheslav Matuzov, a former Russian diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Russia was not fuelling the Syrian conflict, rather it had prevented it from spreading.

Matuzov said he understood that a “cessation of hostilities” pact that world powers had arrived at in Munich on Thursday meant the only solution for the conflict had to be political.

“I think all groups would understand there is no solution but a political solution. Those who do not agree to stop fighting will be enemies, and will be destroyed, as I understand to be the result of Munich,” he said.

CM to be under I-T dept spotlight after ‘gift’ claim

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Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: After making a statement that the expensive wrist watch that he used to wear until recently was a gift, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appears to be in a soup.

According to the Income Tax Act 1961, a person has to pay tax if he or she receives a gift costing more than Rs 50,000. However, tax exemption can be availed if the gift is from one of the family members.

It is said that now Siddaramaiah has to prove whether he has paid the tax if the expensive watch was a gift from a friend or “somebody” else. If it is within the family, he must have the bill. Spouse, brothers and sisters of one’s parents, one’s lineal descendants (including spouse) and lineal descendants (including spouses) of one’s spouse come in the bracket of family members according to the Income Tax Act.

Even if the gift is within the family, taxmen normally verify the source of money for the purchaser, official sources in the I-T department said.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy has been claiming that the chief minister’s watch was a diamond-studded Hublot costing a whopping Rs 60 lakh to Rs 70 lakh.

Besides, he charged that the chief minister’s sunglasses cost Rs 1.5 lakh and claimed that he had proof to substantiate his charges. But Siddaramaiah has been dismissing the charges as not true and offered to sell them to the JD(S) leader at Rs 5 lakh if he was ready to buy them.

It is however not clear whether Siddaramaiah has declared having received these expensive gifts in his affidavit of assets and liabilities before the Karnataka Lokayukta.

Public servants have to file the affidavit every year according tothe Karnataka Lokayukta Act. And the chief minister has not revealed as to when he received the gifts. However, the details have not been made public.

Sources in the JD(S) said the party would soon come out with more details as to when and who gifted the watch to Siddaramaiah.

The JD(S) had released a video clipping of Siddaramaiah sporting the watch when he visited former MP H?Vishwanath at a hospital in Mysuru.

According to party sources, Siddaramaiah visited the hospital about 8 to 10 months ago. But the watch he offered to auction was a gold watch and not the diamond-studded watch.

(Agencies)

JNU students union president arrested for Afzal Guru event

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Kanhaiya Kumar

New Delhi: JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on Friday in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy over holding of an event at the prestigious institute against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The case was registered yesterday under Section of 124 A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) Police station following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and ABVP.

“Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested in connection with the case,” a senior police official said.

Two policemen in plain clothes came to the JNU campus today and picked up Kumar for questioning. He was later arrested, sources said.

A group of students on Tuesday held an event on the JNU campus and allegedly shouted slogans against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013.

The event occurred despite varsity administration having cancelled the permission following a complaint by ABVP members, who termed the activity as “anti-national”.

(Agencies)

Ishrat Jahan had no terror links, says lawyer Vrinda Grover dismisses Headley’s version

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Vrinda Grover

New Delhi: Vrinda Grover, who is representing Ishrat Jahan’s family in court, on Thursday insisted that Ishrat had no terror links. She said that Headley’s statement is “extremely manipulative” and cannot be “treated as evidence” as per the Indian law. A judicial enquiry, the Gujarat High Court and the CBI all concluded that the encounter was fake.

Ceasefire talk as 50,000 Syrians flee Aleppo fighting

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Russia reportedly has proposed a March 1 truce as the Syrian government ramps up its military offensive on Aleppo.

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Russia is ready to discuss a possible ceasefire in Syria, an official said on Thursday, before a crucial meeting of major powers in Germany on how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war.

“We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire in Syria,” Gennady Gatilov, the deputy foreign minister, was cited by the TASS news agency as saying. “This is what will be talked about in Munich.”

Citing an unnamed Western official, the Reuters news agency reported late on Wednesday that Russia proposed a ceasefire to begin on March 1.

International powers, including Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were to meet on Thursday in Germany in a bid to resurrect Syrian peace talks inGeneva that were postponed earlier this month.

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo – backed by Russian air strikes – has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border, putting the Geneva talks in jeopardy.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the US and its allies would probably view Russia’s truce offer with scepticism.

“The US concerns are that this gives the offensive that’s currently ongoing in the Aleppo region more time to push the rebels back, possibly going so far as a full military victory,” said Challands.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for refusing to provide intelligence on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets there.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the defence ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday that Russia has shared its own intelligence with the US that has “gratefully taken” it – but has not reciprocated.

Konashenkov said Moscow has repeatedly asked Washington and its allies for intelligence in response to the accusations that Russians are targeting the “wrong objects”.

At least 50,000 Syrians have fled the fighting in Aleppo, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday, adding that water supplies have been disrupted in some parts of the province.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that at least 500 people have been killed since the Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes,  launched a major offensive  from the north of Aleppo on February 1.

The Observatory said  that among those killed were “89 civilians, including 23 children, 143 pro-government fighters, 274 rebels and foreign fighters”.

Russian air strikes that began in September have tilted the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The Syrian government holds the west of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, while the rebels hold the east, but the situation is largely reversed in the countryside.

The latest diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian conflict through peace talks were suspended in Geneva earlier this month until February 25, after UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that more work was needed to make progress.

The Syrian opposition has said that it will not attend the scheduled talks unless the government ends its air strikes and lifts the sieges on cities and towns.

The peace talks are meant to develop a “road map” to end the conflict of almost five years that has resulted in more than 250,000 Syrians being killed.

The conflict has also displaced millions more and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing as refugees to Europe.

Art of Living’s event under NGT scanner

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Ravishankar Art of Living

New Delhi: A three-day ‘World Culture Festival’ to be organised next month under the patronage of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living today came under the scanner of National Green Tribunal, which sought the Delhi government’s response on a plea seeking to stop holding of the event on Yamuna floodplains.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Art of Living Foundation seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains of Yamuna.

The green panel directed DDA to submit all the documents on the basis of which permission for the event was granted to the foundation. It also asked DDA to inspect the site in question along with Professor A K Gosain of IIT and submit a status report.

The event will be held from March 11-13 at Mayur Vihar in East Delhi to mark the celebration of 35 years of The Art of Living. The President and the Prime Minister have reportedly given their consent to the part of inaugural ceremony.

The Tribunal was hearing a petition by Manoj Mishra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, alleging that the Foundation has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for the festival in violation of NGT orders.

In a detailed judgement last year, NGT had prohibited any construction activity in the demarcated flood plains of Yamuna and asked its Principal Committee to identify structures which fall on the flood plain and recommend their demolition.

The plea, filed by advocate Rahul Choudhary, said “it is stated that Art of Living International Center has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for organising the festival from March 11-13, 2016 and for which illegal and unauthorised dumping & construction in the active flood plains of river Yamuna in the NCT of Delhi is taking place over some 25 hectares upstream of DND flyway.

“Not only the site but in fact approach roads are also planned to be constructed from the Ring Road and the DND flyway which also involves dumping of huge amount of debris and clearing of the flood plains.”

In his plea, Mishra has sought imposition of exemplary fine on government agencies and the Foundation for damaging the environment and their non-compliance of the orders of the Tribunal.

(Agencies)

MedTrix Healthcare partners with one of the top 3 Pharma companies in emerging markets

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MedTrix Healthcare

Bangalore: MedTrix Healthcare, a leading provider of digital and medical communication solutions to top Pharma companies globally has announced that it has partnered with one of the top 3 Pharma companies in emerging markets to provide patient engagement as an enterprise-wide solution with the ability to integrate several therapy areas. The patient engagement activity is an effort from global Pharma to improve the way it communicates with patients and offer services in line with patient centricity.

This is a multi-specialty program capable of integrating several brands and therapies using a single platform. The platform offers modular care plans, pill reminders, disease education and provides better patient access to caregivers. This is available as mobile app using IoS and Android platforms for patients along with a web dashboard for the administrators or program owners.

The Global Pharmaceutical Industry is at an inflection point, where it is pivoting from doing Digital to being Digital. The key aspect to this shift is the growing pressure on global pharma in terms of cost, ability to innovate, emergence of technology and the usage of the digital medium to reach their customers and patients. We have the expertise to fulfil the technical and scientific requirements for this natural progression. At MedTrix we combine science, technology and strategy with our ISO certified systems and processes to accomplish specific business objectives for our clients” said Mr. Vimal Narayanan, Founder & Director, MedTrix Healthcare.

“We are among the rarest breed of companies who are able to work in the strategic digital & medical communication space for our clients. For most of our clients, we are the first company from India or elsewhere to provide the kind of solutions that we offer. We are planning to expand our existing presence in multiple geographies including US, Europe and Asia Pacific regions by increasing our access into the top 20 Pharma Companies”, adds Vimal Narayanan.

MedTrix Healthcare aims to be a leading navigator of the paradigm shifts occurring in the pharmaceutical industry. Ongoing trends show that both patients and healthcare professionals are increasingly moving online to manage health outcomes. Simultaneously, pharmaceutical companies are establishing across-the-board virtual ecosystems on digital platforms, to create seamless interactions with all the stakeholders.

Hindu nationalism: UK paper to use Bombay instead of Mumbai

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theindependent-mumbai

London: A leading British daily will revert back to using Bombay instead of Mumbai when referring to the financial hub of India, to take stand against a “nastier strain of Hindu nationalism,” its Indian-origin editor said today.

“The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India that’s open to the world. If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them,” Amol Rajan, the editor of ‘The Independent’, told BBC today.

The 32-year-old editor said the move was the newspaper’s stand against a “nastier strain of Hindu nationalism”.

The city’s name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995 to distance itself from the colonial term – Bombay – under pressure from the right-wing Shiv Sena, which ruled the state from 1995 to 1999 in alliance with the BJP.

“As journalists, as someone who edits ‘The Independent’, it’s incredibly important to be specific about our terminology.

“I’d rather side with the tradition of India that’s been open to the world, rather than the one that’s been closed, which is in ascendance right now,” he said.

The Kolkata-born journalist took the helm at ‘The Independent’ in 2013.

The newspaper prides itself on its apolitical history. “In post-partition India, there has been a sort of uneasy marriage between two very different traditions. One of the founding father, amazing people like B R Ambedkar, Patel, Nehru, Gandhi who are open, secular pluralists and tolerant.

“The other was a slightly nastier strain of Hindu nationalism, which has its expression in the BJP and a movement called Shiv Sena,” he said.

He explained the genesis of the term Mumbai after Goddess Mumbadevi, the protector of fisherman who were the city’s original inhabitants.

The name Bombay became commonly used during the British Raj and had its roots in the Portuguese colonial name “Bom Bahia”, or “good bay”.

“Shiv Sena pushed through the renaming against the will of the national government,” Rajan pointed out.

(PTI)

Net neutrality: Facebook shuts Free Basics programme in India

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Facebook

New Delhi: In a boost to net neutrality, Facebook has decided to shut down its controversial ‘Free Basics’ programme in India, following telecom regulator Trai’s move to bar operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content.

Facebook had met with severe criticism for its programme, which aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators.

Critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that states that entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms as Free Basics allowed access to selected websites.

“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed response. The service was available in India with Reliance Communications. In December, RCom put the service on hold following a Telecom Regulator Authority of India’s directive to that effect.

Ruling in favour of net neutrality, Trai has barred all telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content, impying that operators will have to charge the same price for data used, irrespective of website or app accessed by the consumer.

This puts an end to Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel’s zero rating plans in India. Yesterday, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen had set off another controversy by terming Trai’s decision as an ‘anti-colonialist’ idea and said the country would have been better off if it had remained under British rule.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from the comments saying the remarks were “deeply upsetting” and did not represent the company’s thinking.

“India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people,” he wrote in a post on the social networking site.

“It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress,” he added. Andreessen deleted the tweet and apologised through a series of tweets yesterday.

“Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India,” he said later in a series of tweets.

Zuckerberg has come out in defence of the programme time and again, saying it did not block or throttle other services and is not in conflict with net neutrality. Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the Internet.org programme across over 17 countries providing basic Internet access to over one billion people.

Following allegations of violation of net neutrality, Facebook rebranded the programme as ‘Free Basics’. It had said the rebranding will help Facebook distinguish the free basic Internet offering from the large number of activities the US-based company is pursuing to help get new users online across the globe. Recently, it ran a big media campaign in support of the programme.

(Agencies)

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