Month: September 2020

On Friday, tens of thousands of people protested across Pakistan against Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly French magazine, republishing cartoons from 2015 that mocked Prophet Mohammad. Protests were held across Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, and Dera Ismail Khan. Tehreek-e-Laibak Pakistan (TLP), a hardline political party in Pakistan organised these protests. Commenting on the situation, Razi Hussani, TLP district leader in Karachi said, “It (re-printing of cartoons) amounts to big terrorism; they repeat such acts of blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad every few years. It should be stopped". Protesters called for boycotting French products and were heard chanting “Death to France”. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while condemning the reprinting of the...

The European Union (EU) has demanded a potential veto on UK's post-Brexit laws and regulations, according to a report released by The Times newspaper on Saturday that cited senior government officials. EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has been insisting that London should agree to not enforce changes to the UK legislation that could disrupt trade with the EU without first consulting Brussels (EU bloc), reported The Times. The Times also reported that Barnier’s UK counterpart, David Frost, has rejected the approach. Earlier the EU diplomats stated that Barnier on Tuesday went to London to meet Frost and inform him that the UK must move on the state aid, or there would not be a Brexit agreement. UK's decision of leaving the EU without a trade deal has led to severe conseque...

On Thursday, in the west Central Town of Guire, Mali, Militants attacked Malian Soldiers leaving 10 dead and several injured. This attack was the deadliest against the armed forces since an Aug. 18 military coup, according to the Army. The expulsion of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is viewed as one of the reasons for destabilization in the West African nation according to the International powers. It also said that the situation in Mali could further sabotage the fight against insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the wider Sahel region. In a statement issued by the Mali Army, the latest attack, which targeted a resupplying mission, took place at 6 p.m., caused injuries, and material damage. The statement also mentioned reinforcements being dispatched in the area...

On Friday, five university students were arrested in the building of Minsk State Linguistic Institute by Belarusian police, according to human rights activists. Several days ago, the Minsk Linguistic Institute had reportedly warned students about calling the police if they didn't stop the protests against last month’s results of the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. On September 1st, the first day of the academic year, thousands of students took out protests across Belarus against Lukashenko’s Aug. 9 election win, which many allege was rigged. Social media videos displayed the chaotic scenes of the students being detained and dragged away by officers. According to an interior ministry spokeswoman, the arrests were an “administrative process”. Later on Friday,...

China’s Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe told Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Moscow on Friday that India was “entirely” responsible for the border tensions and China would not give up “an inch of its territory”, Chinese media reported on Saturday. The state-run Xinhua news agency quoted General Wei as saying “recently the relations between the two countries and the two militaries have been seriously affected by the border issue” and it was “very important for the two defence ministers to have a face-to-face and candid exchange of views on relevant issues.” At the time of writing (9 am IST on Saturday), India was yet to release a statement on the talks. According to Indian sources, China had first sought Friday’s meeting.