The ISIS chief blew up his suicide vest and died when he was chased inside a dead-end tunnel during a raid by the US Special Operations forces at his hideout on Saturday.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday said he was considering releasing a part of the video footage of the US special operations raid in northwest Syria that resulted in the death of elusive Islamic State leader and world’s most wanted terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The ISIS chief blew up his suicide vest and died when he was chased inside a dead-end tunnel during a raid by the US Special Operations forces at his hideout on Saturday.

“We’re thinking about it. We may.

“The question was: Am I considering releasing video footage of the raid? And we may take certain parts of it and release it, yes,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“We had a great weekend for our country. We captured a man that should’ve been caught a long time ago. Unfortunately, he wasn’t,” Trump said before leaving for Chicago.

“He’s done tremendous damage. But it was an amazing display of intelligence and military power and coordination, and getting along with people. Lots of great things happened.

“So that was a big, big day and a big weekend, and we’re very happy about it,” the US President said.

On Sunday, while announcing the raid and Baghdadi’s death at the White House, Trump said that watching a live feed from the scene of the operation was like watching “a movie.”

Trump announced the success of the raid, saying Baghdadi, who is said to be 48 years old, died “whimpering and crying and screaming”, and “like a dog and a coward”, adding that the ISIS leader and “the losers” under his command “were very frightened puppies”.

Baghdadi came to prominence in 2014, when he announced the creation of a “caliphate” in areas of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS carried out a number of atrocities that resulted in thousands of deaths.

Despite being hunted by the world’s best intelligence agencies and US authorities offering a whopping USD 25 million reward for information leading to his capture, Baghdadi had proved to be incredibly elusive.

The killing of the ISIS leader – the top terrorist leader – comes as a major political victory for President Trump who is facing an impeachment proceeding against him by the opposition Democratic Party, which hold the majority in the House of Representatives.

India and Pakistan on Thursday signed the agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor that will allow Indian pilgrims to undertake a visa-free visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

WASHINGTON: The US has welcomed India and Pakistan signing a key agreement to operationalise the landmark Kartarpur Corridor next month, saying the building of people-to-people ties between the two neighbours is “good news”.

India and Pakistan on Thursday signed the agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor that will allow Indian pilgrims to undertake a visa-free visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the shrine of the Sikh religion’s founder Guru Nanak Dev in Pakistan, notwithstanding a chill in bilateral ties over Kashmir.

The agreement will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib where Guru Nanak spent last 18 years of his life.

“Welcome news of a finalised agreement that paves the way for a corridor between India and Pakistan, allowing Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib,” Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice G Wells tweeted on Thursday.

Welcome news of a finalized agreement that paves the way for a corridor between India and Pakistan, allowing Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. We look forward to the formal opening in November. Building people-to-people ties between neighbors is good news.

“We look forward to the formal opening in November. Building people-to-people ties between neighbours is good news,” she said.

The corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, just 4 kilometres from the International Border, located at Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The ties touched a new low when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August following which Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

Each visitor would be required to pay USD 20 as fee, though India has requested Pakistan not to charge the Indian pilgrims.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to formally inaugurate the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak on November 12.

Addis Ababa: Violence in Ethiopia that began with protests against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and quickly morphed into ethnic clashes has left 67 people dead in Oromia state, a police official said Friday.

The spike in the death toll came as the high-profile activist at the centre of the violence accused Abiy, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, of acting like a dictator and suggesting he might challenge him in elections planned for next year.

“The total number dead in Oromia is 67,” said Kefyalew Tefera, the regional police chief, adding that five of the dead were police officers.

Violence erupted in Addis Ababa, the capital, and in much of Ethiopia’s Oromia region on Wednesday after the activist, Jawar Mohammed, accused security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him — a claim police officials denied.

Kefyalew told AFP that the violence had ended in Oromia but Amnesty International researcher Fisseha Tekle said late Friday that he was still receiving reports of attacks.

The defence ministry said Friday that it was deploying forces to seven hotspots to restore order, according to the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate.

Jawar is credited with promoting protests that swept Abiy to power last year but he has recently become critical of some of the premier’s policies.

In an interview at his residence in Addis Ababa, Jawar told AFP that Abiy — named Nobel Peace laureate two weeks ago — seemed to be taking Ethiopia back to “the old ways” of authoritarian rule.

“He has resorted to the early signs of dictatorship, of trying to intimidate people, even his very close allies who helped him come to power who happen to disagree with some of the policies and positions and ideologies he’s advocating,” Jawar said.

“Intimidation is the start of authoritarian rule.” Both men are members of the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest.

Their feud highlights divisions within Abiy’s Oromo support base that could complicate his bid for a five-year term when Ethiopia votes in elections currently planned for May 2020.

Jawar said that running against Abiy was “one possibility,” though he also said he could be convinced to back Abiy if he changes course.

“I want to have an active role in the coming election. In what capacity I’m not sure but I want to make sure that the influence I have in the country has a positive contribution,” he said.

After two days of violent protests, tensions had cooled Friday in Addis Ababa, although the total damage inflicted by the unrest was still being tallied.

Fisseha of AI said the violence had included instances of security forces opening fire on protesters but was increasingly taking the form of ethnic and religious clashes.

“Some people have lost their lives with sticks, with machetes, some houses have been burned. People have been using even bullets and light arms to kill each other, to fight each other,” he said.

At least six people were killed in the town of Ambo, west of Addis, after security forces opened fire on protesters, Fisseha said. Ethnic and religious violence has been reported in the towns and cities of Dodola, Harar, Balerobe and Adama.

Property belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which some associate with the Amhara ethnic group, has been targeted in several locations, Fisseha said.

Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, urged public figures to tamp down virulent rhetoric that could contribute to additional unrest.

“It is extremely depressing that public officials and community leaders don’t appreciate the consequences of their actions and words leading to this senseless loss of lives, destruction of property and disruption of ordinary life,” he said.

“As security forces are struggling to calm the crisis, everyone has a responsibility to do their share and cooperate.”

When the teenager was informed that Jeff Bezos owns one of the largest companies in the world, he turned around, saying, ‘Big deal, so what?’

WASHINGTON: Jeff Bezos may be the richest person on Earth, but for a high school student in the US capital, the Amazon CEO is just an ordinary man and there is “no big deal” if he is around on a surprise visit.

In a video which has now gone viral, the Amazon founder and president is seen visiting a company-funded computer science class at Dunbar High School in Washington, DC and interacting with the students.

As Bezos began talking to students about Amazon’s “Future Engineer programme”, which funds many courses around the US, a student was seen asking “Who’s Jeff Bezos?” twice to another student sitting behind him.

When the teenager was informed that Bezos owns one of the largest companies in the world, he turned around, saying, “Big deal, so what?”

A moment later, Bezos was seen talking to the same student who explained to him about his computer project. Bezos told him: “You are a good storyteller. Keep up that skill too”.

At Dunbar High school in DC. Where Amazon is announcing the expansion of the Amazon Future Engineer program now funding tech ed for 2,000 schools in United States.

The video was taken by NBC Washington’s Caroline Tucker at the school on Monday.

“This morning @amazon is at Dunbar High School in DC to announce a milestone in its Future Engineer Program. They had a surprise guest… Jeff Bezos,’ she tweeted.

“The young man in the class ended up being the only one who spoke to Jeff Bezos about how much he has learned about coding. Later on, he told me he wanted to “seize” the opportunity to talk to the CEO,” Tucker added.

Several people reacted on her tweet:

Another tweeted: “People is judging the kid, but he is there to learn and maybe high-tech celebrities are not on his wish list”.

According to the New York Post, the teacher of the class said “only about three” of her 15 students knew who Bezos was when he walked into the classroom.

Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, is the richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $110 billion despite a huge divorce settlement with ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos worth $35.6 billion in Amazon stock — making her one of the top five richest women in the world and one of Amazon’s largest shareholders.

On Sunday, the World Bank in its latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus said India’s growth rate is projected to fall to 6 per cent in 2019 from 6.9 per cent of 2018.

WASHINGTON: The IMF on Tuesday slashed India’s GDP growth projection for the year 2019 to 6.1 per cent, which is 1.2 per cent down from its April projections.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April said India will grow at 7.3 per cent in 2019.

However, three months later it projected a slower growth rate for India in 2019, a downward revision of 0.3 per cent.

As against India’s real growth rate of 6.8 per cent in 2018, the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook projected India’s growth rate at 6.1 per cent in 2019 and noted that the Indian economy is expected to pick up the next year at 7.0 per cent in 2020.

On Sunday, the World Bank in its latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus said India’s growth rate is projected to fall to 6 per cent in 2019 from 6.9 per cent of 2018.

The downward revision relative to the April 2019 WEO of 1.2 percentage points for 2019 and 0.5 percentage point for 2020 reflects a weaker-than-expected outlook for domestic demand, the IMF said.

“Growth will be supported by the lagged effects of monetary policy easing, a reduction in corporate income tax rates, recent measures to address corporate and environmental regulatory uncertainty, and government programs to support rural consumption, the IMF said.

China, whose GDP grew at 6.6 per cent in 2018, is now projected to grow at 6.1 per cent in 2019 and 5.8 per cent in 2020, it said.

“India’s economy decelerated further in the second quarter, held back by sector-specific weaknesses in the automobile sector and real estate as well as lingering uncertainty about the health of nonbank financial companies,” said the World Economic Outlook released ahead of the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank.

In India, growth softened in 2019 as corporate and environmental regulatory uncertainty, together with concerns about the health of the nonbank financial sector, weighed on demand, it said.

In its report, the IMF said that in India, monetary policy and broad-based structural reforms should be used to address cyclical weakness and strengthen confidence.

A credible fiscal consolidation path is needed to bring down India’s elevated public debt over the medium term.

This should be supported by subsidy-spending rationalisation and tax-base enhancing measures.

Governance of public sector banks and the efficiency of their credit allocation needs strengthening, and the public sector’s role in the financial system needs to be reduced, it said.

Reforms to hiring and dismissal regulations would help incentivize job creation and absorb the country’s large demographic dividend.

Land reforms should also be enhanced to encourage and expedite infrastructure development, the IMF said.

The central government has deployed around 27,000 soldiers of the Self-Defence Forces (military) to take part in the rescue efforts.

TOKYO: Helicopters, boats and thousands of troops were deployed across Japan to rescue people stranded in flooded homes Sunday, as the death toll from a ferocious typhoon climbed to as high as 33. One woman fell to her death as she was being placed inside a rescue helicopter.

Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday evening and battered central and northern Japan with torrents of rain and powerful gusts of wind. The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday. Public broadcaster NHK said 14 rivers across the nation had flooded, some spilling out in more than one spot.

The Tokyo Fire Department said a woman in her 70s was accidentally dropped 40 meters (131 feet) to the ground while being transported into a rescue helicopter in Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture, a northern area devastated by the typhoon.

Department officials held a news conference to apologize, bowing deeply and long, according to Japanese custom, and acknowledged the woman had not been strapped in properly. The government’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency, which tends to be conservative in its counts, said late Sunday that 14 people died, 11 were missing and 187 were injured as a result of the typhoon.

It said 1,283 homes were flooded and 517 were damaged, partially or totally. Japanese media tallies were higher. Kyodo News agency reported that 33 people died and 19 were missing. “The major typhoon has caused immense damage far and wide in eastern Japan,” government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano prefecture where an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, and streams of water were continuing to spread over residential areas. The chopper plucked those stranded on the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters.

Aerial footage showed tractors at work trying to control the flooding and several people on a rooftop, with one waving a white cloth to get the attention of a helicopter. Nearby was a child’s school bag.

In another part of Nagano, rows of Japan’s prized bullet trains, parked in a facility, were sitting in a pool of water. A section of the city of Date in Fukushima prefecture was also flooded, with only rooftops of residential homes visible in some areas, and rescuers paddled in boats to get people out. Parts of nearby Miyagi prefecture were also underwater.

The Tama River, which runs by Tokyo, overflowed its banks, flooding homes and other buildings in the area. Among the reported deaths were those whose homes were buried in landslides. Other fatalities included people who got swept away by raging rivers.

Early Sunday, Suga said that some 376,000 homes were without electricity and that 14,000 lacked running water. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that late Sunday that more than 66,000 homes were still without power.

Tohoku Electric Co. said 5,600 homes still lacked electricity, in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima. Both utilities said they were working to restore power. Several train services in the Tokyo area resumed early in the morning, while others restarted later.

Ruling party politician Fumio Kishida said the government would do its utmost in rescue operations, including making sure that those who moved to shelters were taken care of.

He acknowledged that Japan’s power grids need to be strengthened so people in disaster areas can rely on timely information. “So many risks remain, and it is a reality that we must stay on guard. We must do our utmost. In these times, a disaster can hit anytime,” Kishida said on news talk show on NHK.

The Rugby World Cup match between Namibia and Canada, scheduled for Sunday in Kamaishi, in northern Japan, was cancelled as a precautionary measure, but Japan played Scotland, to a win, as scheduled Sunday evening. Matches on Saturday had been cancelled. Stores and amusement parks had also closed, and some Tokyo stores remained closed Sunday.

As the typhoon bore down on Saturday with heavy rain and strong winds, the usually crowded train stations and bustling streets of Tokyo were deserted. But life was returning to normal on Sunday, and flights that had been grounded from Tokyo airports were gradually being resumed.

Evacuation centres had been set up in coastal towns, with tens of thousands seeking shelter. Kyodo News agency said evacuation warnings had been issued to more than 6 million people. The typhoon disrupted a three-day weekend in Japan that includes Sports Day on Monday.

The authorities had repeatedly warned that Hagibis was on par with a typhoon that wreaked havoc on the Tokyo region in 1958, but the safety infrastructure that Japan’s modernization has brought was apparent. The typhoon six decades ago left more than 1,200 people dead and half a million houses flooded.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.02 per cent to 99.04.

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 28 paise to 71.35 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday amid rising crude oil prices and unabated foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said weak opening in domestic equities and rising demand for the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas also weighed on the domestic currency.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened at 71.22 then fell to 71.35 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 28 paise over its previous closing.

The Indian rupee on Tuesday had closed at 71.07 against the US dollar.

Forex market was closed on Wednesday on account of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti.

Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.03 per cent to USD 57.71 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 1,298.56 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.

Domestic bourses opened on a negative note on Thursday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 112.27 points down at 38,193.14 and Nifty lower by 43 points at 11,316.90.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.02 per cent to 99.04.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.62 per cent in morning trade.

Defying curfews, tear gas and live rounds, they gathered by truckfuls to vent their anger against corruption, unemployment and poor services in the biggest challenge yet to Prime Minister Adel Abdel.

BAGHDAD: Thousands of protesters clashed with riot police in Iraq’s capital and across the south on Thursday, the third day of mass rallies that have left 28 dead.

Defying curfews, tear gas and live rounds, they gathered by truckfuls to vent their anger against corruption, unemployment and poor services in the biggest challenge yet to Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi.

As dusk fell in Baghdad, crowds swelled around the capital’s oil and industry ministry, pledging to march to the capital’s emblematic Tahrir (Liberation) Square.

“We’ll keep going until the government falls,” pledged 22-year-old Ali, an unemployed university graduate.

“I’ve got nothing but 250 lira (20 US cents) in my pocket while government officials have millions,” he told AFP.

Most demonstrators carried the Iraqi tricolour while others brandished flags bearing the name of Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson and a revered figure in Shiite Islam.

Riot police and army troops fired at the ground from automatic weapons mounted on military vehicles, the bullets ricocheting into the crowd.

Wounded protesters piled into small tuk-tuks to reach hospitals.

“Why do the police shoot at Iraqis like them? They suffer like us — they should help and protect us,” said protester Abu Jaafar.

The three days of demonstrations have left 27 people dead, including two police officers, dead and over 1,000 people have been wounded.

More than half of those killed in the last three days have been in the southern city of Nasiriyah, where six protesters were shot dead and dozens wounded on Thursday alone.

Nearby Amarah has also seen significant bloodshed, with medics and security sources reporting four protesters shot dead on Thursday.

Later in the day, two protestors and a police officer were killed in Diwaniyah, 150 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad, and a curfew was subsequently imposed.

Rallies began Tuesday in Baghdad but have since spread across the mainly Shiite south, including the provinces of Dhi Qar, Missan, Najaf, Basra, Wasit and Babylon.

Several cities have imposed curfews, but protesters flooded the streets regardless.

The Kurdish northern regions and Sunni western provinces, meanwhile, have remained relatively calm.

The grievances echo those of mass demonstrations in Iraq’s south a little over a year ago which were prompted by a severe water shortage that caused a widespread health crisis.

Since then, southern provinces have accused the central government of failing to address profound infrastructural gaps, chief among them youth unemployment.

Tensions have been exacerbated by the closure of government offices in Baghdad and calls by firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for “a general strike”.

Sadr was behind the last round of major protests in Baghdad in 2016, when his supporters stormed the Green Zone, home to some ministries and embassies.

His involvement appears much more limited this time, but if his followers join the protests en masse, the rallies will likely balloon even further.

With internet access virtually shut off, demonstrators on Thursday struggled to communicate with each other or post footage of the latest clashes.

Approximately 75 per cent of Iraq is “offline” after major network operators “intentionally restricted” access, according to cybersecurity monitor NetBlocks.

The United Nations, European Union and United Kingdom have all appealed for calm, while rights group Amnesty International slammed the response to protests.

“It is outrageous that Iraqi security forces time and again deal with protesters with such brutality using lethal and unnecessary force,” said Amnesty’s Lynn Maalouf.

She said the internet blackout was a “draconian measure…to silence protests away from cameras and the world’s eyes”.

The protests appear to be largely spontaneous and de-centralised, with virtually no party insignia or slogans spotted.

Instead, demonstrators brandished Iraqi flags, posters demanding a “real country” and even pictures of an Iraqi general who was recently decommissioned after reported pressure by pro-Iran factions.

Their rage has not been quelled by the government’s relatively modest reactions.

Several Iraqis said they received on Thursday text messages from Abdel Mahdi’s office giving a number for a hotline that protesters could call to air their grievances.

The premier, who has not addressed the demonstrators directly, has also infuriated many of his compatriots by blaming the violence on “aggressors who…deliberately created casualties”.

Abdel Mahdi came to power in October 2018 as a consensus candidate, after last year’s popular demonstrations effectively ended his predecessor Haider al-Abadi’s chances at a second term.

He pledged to reform inefficient institutions, eradicate corruption and fight unemployment — unfulfilled promises that appear to have pushed protesters over the edge this week.

In particular, anger has boiled over at the staggering level of youth unemployment, which stands at around 25 per cent or double the overall rate, according to the World Bank.

Qureshi was asked the question as he had repeatedly endorsed Khan’s statement that 58 countries had supported Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi lost his cool on being asked to name the 58 countries that Prime Minister Imran Khan commended for backing Islamabad on its stance on the Kashmir issue at the UNHRC.

During a talk show on Pakistan TV channel Express News, Qureshi was asked the question as he had repeatedly endorsed Khan’s statement that 58 countries had supported Islamabad on the Kashmir issue, reported Sputnik news agency.

“On whose agenda are you working?” Khan snapped at talk show host Javed Chaudhry. “Are you going to tell me or decide which countries have or have not supported Pakistan at the UN?… You may write whatever you want!”

On being again pressed for endorsing Khan’s comment on his own Twitter handle, Qureshi said, No! No! Show me the tweet I have written, not what Prime Minister Khan has written. You have said my tweet… show that to me. I want my tweet.”

Oddly still, after the minister was shown the tweet, Qureshi said he found nothing wrong in the tweet. “I stand by what I have said. What is so surprising in this….whose agenda are you following?”

In a tweet, Imran Khan said that the decision was taken during his meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in New York.

NEW YORK: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia will jointly launch an English language channel ‘dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia’.

In a tweet, Khan said that the decision was taken during his meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in New York.

“President Erdogan, PM Mahatir and myself had a meeting today in which we decided our 3 countries would jointly start an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion – Islam”, Khan tweeted.

He also added that the channel would correct the misperceptions which bring people together against Muslims.

Further, Khan said: “Issue of blasphemy would be properly contextualized; series and films would be produced on Muslim history to educate/inform our own people and the world; Muslims would be given a dedicated media presence.”