TOKYO: A baby boy who weighed just 268grams (9.45oz) at birth has been released from hospital in Japan, and is believed to be the smallest surviving baby boy in the world. The baby was born by emergency C-section in August, and was so small he could fit into a pair of cupped hands.The infant was nurtured in intensive care and had grown to the weight of 3.2 kilograms.Born at 24 weeks, the tiny boy spent five months in hospital."I can only say I'm happy that he has grown this big because honestly, I wasn't sure he could survive," the boy's mother said, according to hospital sources. The previous record was held by a baby boy born in Germany in 2009 weighing 274 grams, according to the Tiniest Babies registry managed by the University of Iowa.The smallest surviving baby girl was also born in Germany, in 2015, and reportedly weighed 252grams.
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Thursday, 28 February 2019
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Turkey is holding the largest navy drill in its history with over 100 vessels on all three seas surrounding the country.The four-day drill, named 'Blue Homeland 2019,' began on Wednesday and will end on March 2. It’s the first time that an exercise includes all three seas and involves air and land forces as well. Participating in the exercise are 103 navy ships in the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.The drill was planned six months in advance in line with NATO rules and regulations.The flotilla included 13 frigates, 6 corvettes, 16 assault boats, and 7 submarines, 7 mine hunting vessels, 14 patrol boats, as well as other navy vessels.Turkey’s indigenous Bayraktar and ANKA Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and jet fighters will also participate in the drill. The Turkish navy has taken significant steps in recent years to increase combat capability, to upgrade its fleet, and become stronger against national security threats.
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Nepal´s tourism minister Rabindra Adhikari was among seven people killed Wednesday when a helicopter crashed in the country´s hilly east, officials said.Rescue workers retrieved the bodies of Adhikari, 49, the pilot and five other passengers from a hillside in Taplejung district where the Air Dynasty chopper went down."The respected minister´s body has been identified," home affairs ministry spokesman Ram Krishna Subedi said in a press conference.The minister´s personal bodyguard has been identified as among the dead. The owner of the helicopter company was also aboard but his body has not been formally identified.Subedi said two army helicopters had been dispatched to bring the bodies back to the capital Kathmandu.Two other private helicopters had also been sent to assist but local authorities said snowy weather had made it difficult for the choppers to land.A search and rescue team was deployed to the area after locals alerted authorities to flames and smoke rising from a hillside."The helicopter is in pieces, and scattered all over. Everything was in flames," said Suraj Bhattarai, a witness who saw the debris.The helicopter crashed into the hillside minutes after taking off from a nearby temple, a local official said.The minister was on a trip to scope out a new airstrip in the region.The exact causes of the crash remain unknown.It is just the latest aviation accident to plague Nepal, an impoverished Himalayan nation with a poor air safety record.Nepal has some of the world´s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge for even accomplished pilots.The country has a booming private helicopter industry, flying tourists and goods to remote corners of the country where road access is limited or non-existent.In September last year, six people including a Japanese tourist were killed in a helicopter crash.A US-Bangla Airways plane crashed near the capital´s airport in March, killing 51 people. Nepal-based airlines are banned from flying in European Union airspace.Its poor air safety record is largely blamed on inadequate maintenance and sub-standard management.
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Donald Trump´s former personal attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday the US president had no medical reason for his military deferment during the Vietnam War, telling the lawyer: "You think I´m stupid? I wasn´t going to Vietnam."Cohen made the claim in prepared remarks released before a public congressional hearing in which he is expected to accuse the president of being a liar and a racist. Trump, who is in Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, received a medical deferment from serving in the Vietnam War in 1968 because of bone spurs in his heels.But Cohen is expected to say Mr Trump told his former attorney, and right hand man for more than a decade that there was no real medical excuse behind his deferral."Mr. Trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the Vietnam draft," Cohen said. "Mr Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery... He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment."The deferment was one of five Mr. Trump received during Vietnam. The others were for education.Cohen said Trump then added: "You think I´m stupid? I wasn´t going to Vietnam."The New York Times reported in December that the family of the podiatrist who wrote the letter attesting to Trump´s medical condition had done so as a favor to the future president´s father, a New York real estate developer who owned the building where the doctor practiced.Cohen, 52, worked closely with Trump for more than 12 years, rising to vice president of the Trump Organization, where he was the billionaire property magnate´s behind-the-scenes "fixer."Cohen has been sentenced to three years in jail for crimes related in part to his work for Trump. He testified to the Senate in a closed-doors session on Tuesday and was due to appear Wednesday in an open session before House of Representatives Oversight Committee.
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LONDON : Prime Minister Theresa May while addressing the parliament on Wednesday said that Britain is deeply concerned about the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, and urges restraint from both sides. Pakistan carried out air strikes and shot down two Indian jets on Wednesday, Pakistani officials said, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan .“The UK is deeply concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan and urgently calls for restraint on both sides to avoid further escalation,” May told the parliament.“We are in regular contact with both countries, urging dialogue and diplomatic solutions to ensure regional stability. We are working closely with international partners including through the UN Security Council to de-escalate tensions.”
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CAIRO: A hurtling train crashed, derailed and caught fire at Cairo´s main station on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people in the latest disaster to strike Egypt´s rundown railways.The country´s transportation minister resigned hours after the accident.A train engine appeared to have slammed into the buffers at the end of the track at high speed, sparking a major blaze that blackened the walls of the Ramses station.Firefighters were seen hosing down the charred wreckage of the train inside the station, as security forces guarded the site.Twenty people were killed and 40 injured, the health ministry said.Ahmed Ibrahim, a jewellery salesman, said he was on his way to work when he heard a loud explosion."I ran to see a lot of people injured. I had to carry a young girl with my own hands," he said, apparently still in shock."I saw bodies cut in half. I´d never seen that ... I never thought I´d ever touch dead bodies."CCTV footage circulating online showed the train´s locomotive smashing into the barrier without slowing down. People walking on the platform were enveloped by smoke.Separate footage filmed inside the station showed a fire engulfing the train and a nearby platform and people rushing to help the casualties. Photos that emerged after the crash showed several scorched bodies scattered around the train wreckage. Several people were seen in videos running around and screaming for help after catching fire."I carried around 20 charred bodies to ambulances," said Atef Ahmed Mahmoud from the Nile Delta city of Zagazig.Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with chronic transport problems in the country, where roads are as poorly maintained as railway lines.Officials often blame the rail network´s poor maintenance on decades of negligence and a lack of funds.Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli who was quick to visit the site, promised a tough response."Any person found to be negligent will be held accountable and it will be severe," he said.Hours later the cabinet announced that Madbouli had accepted the resignation of Transport Minister Hisham Arafat.People at the site of the crash appeared to be frustrated at the government´s failure to revamp the railway network. The government has repeatedly promised to take steps to upgrade the sector especially after several derailments and collisions in recent years.Egypt signed a deal worth one billion euros ($1.14 billion) with a Russian-Hungarian consortium to deliver passenger coaches to Egypt in 2018.The previous year it signed a $575 million deal with General Electric to purchase 100 locomotives.Still, figures by the official statistics agency show there were 1,793 train accidents in 2017, up from 1,249 in 2016.The deadliest accident on Egypt´s railways dates back to 2002 when 373 people died when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.
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Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif´s resignation on Wednesday, saying the departure of the public face of the Islamic republic´s detente with the West would be against its best interests.Zarif´s abrupt announcement on Instagram late on Monday that he was quitting had sparked rumours of mass resignations in the country´s diplomatic corps and a petition from parliament urging Rouhani to turn it down."I believe your resignation is against the country´s interests and do not approve it," Rouhani wrote in a letter to Zarif, according to the government´s official website.The president cited Iran´s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in praising Zarif´s work as foreign minister."I consider you, as put by the leader, to be ´trustworthy, brave and pious´ and in the forefront of resistance against America´s all-out pressure," he added.In his few public comments after his resignation, Zarif had complained that the work of the foreign ministry was being undermined by political interference and expressed determination to see it regain its proper statutory role.The last straw appears to have been his exclusion from meetings with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier in the day, Iran´s Entekhab news agency reported.Assad, who has relied heavily on Iranian military and financial support during his country´s nearly eight-year civil war, met with both Khamenei and Rouhani on his rare foreign visit, but Zarif was not present at either meeting.
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NEW DELHI: Former Indian pilot Ram Parkash has said that shooting down of two Indian Air Force aircrafts was a major setback for IAF.In a Tweet, the former Indian IAF pilot said, “we lost 2 MiG 21 and 3 pilots. Its a major set back for IAF.”He went on to say, ‘I just talked to a wing commander who is there in Indian occupied Kashmir that moral is down after this heavy loss.”Ram Parkash also thanked Pakistan for treating well arrested Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan.“We are thankful to Pakistan as per videos they are treating them well also providing medical care.”Pakistan Air Force on Wednesday struck down two Indian fighter jets intruding Pakistani airspace, in a valiant and befitting response to Indian aggression. The two Indian pilots remain under arrest by Pakistan.
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KARACHI: Pakistan shot down two Indian Air Force planes in its airspace in Azad Kashmir on Wednesday, a military spokesman said, adding that two Indian pilot had been captured."PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace," tweeted military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, adding that one aircraft had fallen in AJK, while the other crashed on the Indian side.Following this, #SayNoToWar has become a top trend on Twitter in India.
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NEW DELHI: The Indian government has now officially accepted that Pakistan has shot down MiG 21 fighter jet and added that one pilot is missing.Speaking to media, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, said “In engagement with Pakistan Air Force, we have unfortunately lost one MiG 21. The pilot is missing in action. Pakistan has claimed that he is in their custody. We are ascertaining the facts.”Kumar also claimed that a Pakistani F-16 was shot down by India.However, DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor had earlier clarified that F-16 jets were not part of formation that took on Indian aircraft.The Indian spokesperson also confirmed the Pakistani military's statement that target was hit in Kashmir.
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Following Pakistan Air Force brazen response to Indian intrusion into the airspace when it struck down two Indian fighter jets and arrested the pilots, Indian media on Wednesday confirmed that Wing Commander Abhinandan took off in Mirage 21 Bison jet and is yet to return.According to a tweet published by an Indian news agency:"Sources: IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan took off in a MiG 21 Bison jet today, he is yet to return." The Indian Foreign Office also confirmed officially that their MiG-21 jet was shot down and the pilot is missing in action. Meanwhile, leading Indian publications NDTV and Hindustan Times also confirmed Abhinandan's disappearance. As per reports, Wing Commander Abhinandan is the son of retired Air Marshal of India. Earlier, a video was released by Pakistan Army showing the identity and related details of the captured Indian pilots. "My name is Wing Commander Abhinandan and my service number is 27981," the pilot says in a video statement."I am a flying pilot and my religion is Hindu [sic]," he continues. Upon probing for further information, the pilot refuses to speak saying, "I am sorry sir, that's all I am supposed to tell you."Wing Commander Abhinandan then goes on to say, "May I request for a little information, sir? Am I with the Pakistani army?"
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BEIJING: China called on Pakistan and India on Wednesday to "exercise restraint" and seek dialogue after Islamabad said it shot down two Indian warplanes in its airspace over disputed Kashmir."What we are concerned about is that India and Pakistan, as important countries of the South Asian subcontinent, can maintain good neighbourly and friendly relations," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing."We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint, take initiatives that are conducive to promoting dialogue, meet halfway and make active efforts for lasting peace and stability in South Asia," Lu said.The reported downing of the Indian planes ignited fears of an all-out conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours. It came a day after India claimed it had struck camps inside Pakistan.
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Hanoi: US President Donald Trump touted North Korea´s "AWESOME" future if his "friend" Kim Jong Un, whom he meets for a high-stakes dinner later Wednesday, agrees to give up his nuclear arsenal.Trump´s enthusiastic tweet came hours before a second summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to build on their historic first meeting in Singapore last June.In just a few words, Trump encapsulated his fervent belief that only his uniquely personal brand of diplomacy and business acumen can break a stand-off with the isolated, nuclear-armed state that has bedevilled US leaders ever since the end of the Korean war in 1953.Trump, who has previously spoken of the "love" between him and the North Korean strongman, said that by abandoning nuclear weapons the country would very quickly emulate Vietnam -- a communist country once locked in conflict with the United States, but now a thriving trade partner."The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting!" Trump tweeted.Trump has torn up the script by bringing Kim out of the cold, giving him a legitimacy once considered unthinkable in Washington, which has long seen North Korea as the world´s most repressive state.But now there is intense pressure for results.The Singapore summit ended only with a vague statement promising to work "towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".Since then Washington and Pyongyang have disagreed even on what this means. And while North Korea has now gone more than a year without conducting missile and nuclear tests, it has done nothing to roll back the arsenal already built.That leaves Trump, who claimed after Singapore that North Korea is "no longer a nuclear threat," scrambling to get something concrete out of Kim in Hanoi -- or face growing criticism that he is being played by the man about half his age. On the defensive, Trump said in another tweet Wednesday that opponents in the Democratic Party should "stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn´t do ´it´ during eight years of the (Barack) Obama Administration?"Dinner date The Kim-Trump relationship, bringing together two leaders fond of showmanship, has turned into the diplomatic equivalent of a Hollywood odd-couple bromance.Before the Singapore get-together they were slinging bizarre insults -- Trump calling Kim "rocket man" and Kim calling him a "dotard" in response. With North Korea then busily testing missiles and conducting earth-shaking underground nuclear tests, analysts feared that the duo were egging each other on toward a catastrophic confrontation.Now Trump promotes himself as someone who by daring to do things differently actually defused what he said was a near-war situation inherited on taking over the White House."He´s never had a relationship with anybody from this country, and hasn´t had lots of relationships anywhere," Trump said of Kim before leaving Washington.The Hanoi summit is more elaborate than the brief first occasion. The White House said Trump and Kim will hold a 10-minute meeting, before going off for an approximately 20-minute session without aides, followed by dinner lasting around 90 minutes.On Thursday they are due to meet again, although no details have been released, adding to the impression that much of the occasion is being decided at the last minute.How much to give? With Congress back home investigating Trump for alleged illegal activities and also trying to stop his controversial use of executive power to fund the construction of a US-Mexican border wall, the president would dearly like to change the news narrative by proclaiming a dramatic win.Critics warn he is so keen to deal with Kim that he could give away too much in his desire to make headlines, endangering rock-solid US allies South Korea and Japan. In Singapore, Trump took his own generals by surprise when he announced a suspension of military exercises with the South -- something the North badly wanted.Washington would ideally like Kim to dismantle a key nuclear facility at Yongbyon, allow in international inspectors, or even hand over a full list of all the country´s nuclear assets -- something the North Koreans have categorically refused to do.In return, Trump is believed to be considering dangling relief from tough international sanctions. Opening diplomatic liaison offices is another possible US concession.Trump could go further by making a joint declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is over, after hostilities ended with a ceasefire but no peace treaty.Although that would be seemingly a mostly symbolic gesture, many analysts caution that it could open the door to a cascade of real-world consequences upsetting a region where the US and China are already in a growing struggle for influence.
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WUZHEN, China: India wants to avoid any "further escalation of the situation" after conducting "pre-emptive" air strikes against in Pakistani territory, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday.The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir came after New Delhi threatened retaliation over the February 14 suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops, and was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group.Swaraj stressed during talks in China with her counterparts from Beijing and Moscow that "no military installations were targeted" in the air raid, and the target was selected to avoid civilian casualties."The limited objective of that pre-emptive strike was to act decisively against the terrorist infrastructure of Jaish-e-Mohammed in order to pre-empt another terror attack in India," Swaraj said."India does not wish to see further escalation of this situation. India will continue to act with responsibility and restraint."Meanwhile, Pakistan denied India´s claim that the attack had inflicted major damage and casualties, calling it "reckless and fictitious" and vowing a response in due course.The operation is India´s first use of air power on Pakistani soil since the two went to war in 1971.
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An Indian Air Force wing commander identified as Arvind Sinha committed suicide as he shot himself with a double barrel gun on Tuesday. While investigations to probe the matter are underway, reason behind Arvind's suicide remain unclear. According to Indian media, the deceased was posted as Defence Ministry PRO in Prayagraj. No suicide note was recovered by the police.The 43-year-old commander was reportedly having severe personal issues with family and career, according to inspector Dhumanjanj Sandeep Mishra.The wife of air force official, Pooja, said during the preliminary investigation that the officer was stressed out due to the job.Meanwhile, police is investigating to ascertain the real cause of Arvind's suicide. The IAF official's suicide has come on the same day the Indian government and Air Force claimed to have violated the Pakistani airspace and 'destroyed the prime base camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad' near Pakistan's Bala Kote near Muzaffarabad along the Line of Control (LoC). On the other hand, DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said that the Indian intrusion in Pakistani territory has so far only injured one person with no major casualties reported.
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WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives dealt a blow to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, approving a resolution blocking him from obtaining funding for a Mexican border wall through his declaration of a national emergency.Dismissing a veto threat by the president, the Democratic-controlled House struck down Trump´s emergency declaration by a comfortable margin of 245-182, sending the measure to the Republican-held Senate.Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting to "terminate" Trump´s emergency declaration, which the Republican president issued on February 15 after failing to secure billions of dollars from Congress for the wall.The emergency declaration would allow Trump to find funding for the Mexican border wall -- his signature campaign promise -- from other sources, notably the Pentagon budget for military construction projects.The president has threatened to veto the resolution if it passes both the 435-member House and the 100-seat Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 edge and its prospects are uncertain.Democrats have denounced the emergency declaration as a power grab by the president and a violation of the Constitution because it usurps the power of Congress to decide government spending.At least two Senate Republicans -- Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have said they would back the resolution overturning Trump´s emergency declaration.Four Republicans would need to break ranks for the measure to pass the Senate but neither chamber is likely to be able to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override an expected presidential veto.Should the measure clear both the House and the Senate and reach his desk, Trump would be faced with a stinging rebuke and cornered into issuing the first veto of his presidency.Trump´s national emergency declaration gives him access to billions of dollars to construct the border wall beyond the nearly $1.4 billion allocated by Congress.- ´Power grab´ -Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Trump´s emergency order was an unconstitutional attempt to expand executive authority and strip lawmakers of the power to control how federal funds are spent."The president´s power grab usurps that responsibility and fundamentally violates the balance of power envisioned by our founders," Pelosi said.As several Republican senators expressed reservations about Trump´s emergency declaration, the president sought to head them off."I hope our great Republican Senators don´t get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security," Trump tweeted on Monday before heading for Vietnam for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "Be strong and smart," he said. "Don´t fall into the Democrats ´trap´ of Open Borders and Crime!"Republican senators Collins and Tillis have openly broken ranks already and others appeared to be wavering.While Trump is "rightfully frustrated with Congress´s inaction" on border security, the president made a mistake declaring an emergency, said Tillis."I have grave concerns when our institution looks the other way at the expense of weakening Congress´s power," the Republican senator from North Carolina wrote in The Washington Post."The emergency course is not one I favor," Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said.- Veto ´100 percent´ certain -Trump has said he is "100 percent" certain to issue a veto if the House and Senate override his emergency declaration and the White House reiterated that on Tuesday."The current situation at the southern border presents a humanitarian and security crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency," the White House said in a statement."The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics."Dozens of Republican ex-lawmakers and a bipartisan group of former national security officers, including secretaries of defense and CIA directors, spoke out strongly against the emergency declaration on Monday.In a joint declaration, the 58 national security officials warned of an abuse of the Constitution. The group includes former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and John Kerry, along with George W Bush´s undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns."Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border," they said.
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SPAIN: Mercedes and Ferrari suffered from technical difficulties on the fifth day of pre-season Formula One testing on Tuesday, as British rookie Lando Norris was quickest for McLaren.Ferrari youngster Charles Leclerc only managed 29 laps of the Barcelona circuit before the team held his car in the garage for "checks on the cooling system".Valtteri Bottas was limited to just seven laps for Mercedes after an oil problem which forced the reigning world constructors´ champions to change his engine.Norris showed decent pace for McLaren, but was only 0.006sec faster than Red Bull´s Pierre Gasly, despite the Frenchman using a harder tyre."The potential is there, we will try to improve in all areas where we can," said Gasly.The 2019 Formula One season gets underway in Australia on March 17, with Mercedes´ Lewis Hamilton the defending world champion.
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JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Indian incursion and aerial violation of Pakistani airspace.In statement on Twitter, reacting to India's violation of the Line of Control between Pakistan and India, the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned this action against an OIC founding member state.The OIC called upon both parties to act responsibly and encouraged them to seek peaceful solution to current crisis without resort to use of force. It also called on them to embrace dialogue and work towards de-escalation of current situation as a matter of priority. It urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and avoid any steps that would endanger peace and security in the region.
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The European Union has urged both Pakistan and India to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions.In a statement after Indian intrusion, the EU said it was following closely current developments between India and Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries.”The EU added, “It is essential that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid a further escalation of tensions.”
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The Catholic Church has been shaken by a string of paedophile scandals, most recently in Australia where one of Pope Francis´s closest advisors has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys.At the weekend the pontiff closed an historic Vatican summit on sexual abuse by priests, vowing to deal with every case of abuse "with the utmost seriousness".Here is a rundown of some of high-profile cases:- United States - In February Pope Francis defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the Roman Catholic church over accusations American Theodore McCarrick, 88, sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago.McCarrick, who resigned from the Vatican´s College of Cardinals in 2018, was found guilty in January by a Vatican court.A grand jury investigation into dioceses in Pennsylvania published in 2018 threw light on sexual abuse systematically covered up by the Church by "over three hundred predator priests," and more than 1,000 child victims were identifiable.Between 1950 and 2013 the US Catholic Church received 17,000 complaints of sexual abuse said to have taken place from 1950 to 1980 involving around 6,400 clerics.Experts speaking at the Vatican said in 2012 the number of abused American minors is probably close to 100,000.Several senior church members in the US have been forced to resign for protecting paedophile priests, including the late cardinal Bernard Law.- Chile -In Chile, probes have been opened for sexual assault within the clergy since the 1960s concerning 167 clerics and laymen, including seven bishops and 96 priests.The cases involve 178 victims, including 79 minors.During a visit to Chile in 2018, Pope Francis stirred controversy by supporting bishop Juan Barros, accused of covering up for paedophile priest Fernando Karadima during the 1980s and 1990s.Francis later apologised and invited some victims to Rome as well as summoning all Chile´s bishops, who then presented their resignations. The pontiff has accepted seven of those, including Barros.In October a Chilean court ordered the Church to pay 450 million pesos ($671,000, 590,400 euros) in compensation to three victims of sexual abuse by a former priest.- Australia -A Melbourne jury unanimously found Cardinal George Pell, 77, guilty in 2018 on one count of sexual abuse and four counts of indecent assault against two boys at Saint Patrick´s Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s.Pell, then archbishop, was accused of cornering the boys in the cathedral after mass and forcing them to perform a sex act on him.The verdict was reached in December but was only announced on February 26 after a wide-ranging suppression order was lifted.In 2018 the Vatican announced the departure of Philip Wilson, the archbishop of Adelaide found guilty of failing to report allegations against notorious paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the 1970s. Wilson was sentenced to a year in detention.- Germany -Since 2010 hundreds of cases of sex abuse against minors in religious institutions have emerged in Germany.The most high-profile involve the Jesuit-run Canisius college in Berlin and a choir in Ratisbonne, southern Germany. In the latter case at least 547 children were allegedly victims of abuse, including rapes, between 1945 and the 1990s.In 2018 the German Bishops´ Conference published a report saying 1,670 clergymen committed some sexual attack against 3,677 minors, mostly boys, between 1946 and 2014. Most have not been punished.- Ireland -Accusations of child abuse in Ireland´s Catholic institutions date back decades, with the number of underage victims estimated at 14,500. Several bishops and priests accused of covering up abuse have been punished.During his visit to Ireland in 2018 the Pope met a victim of Catholic priest Tony Walsh, who sexually assaulted children for more than two decades before being defrocked and jailed.- France -On March 7 a French court will rule in the trial of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and five former members of the diocese of Lyon for allegedly covering up for a priest, Bernard Preynat, accused of abusing around 70 scouts between 1986 and 1991.The case is the subject of the film "By the Grace of God", which won the jury prize at the 2019 Berlin film festival.
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FRANCE: The world’s largest Nutella factory restarted production on Monday after it stopped work for five days as a precautionary measure over a "quality defect", owner Ferrero’s French branch said.The factory in Normandy, France stopped making the chocolate-and-hazelnut spread due to a “suspected quality defect strictly limited to the production stage,” Ferrero France’s communications service said.It added that the problem was “very early in the process, at the stage of grinding and roasting hazelnuts.”The Villers-Ecalles site in Normandy produces around 600,000 jars a day, or about a quarter of all the Nutella made worldwide.Nutella’s Italian owner Ferrero, whose products also include Ferrero Rocher chocolates, first announced production had been suspended on Wednesday.“All concerns have been fully lifted,” Ferrero France said on Friday.“We can say that no products currently on the market are impacted by the situation and that the supply to our customers continues without interruption.”The Ferrero group, with 30,000 employees and 22 production sites around the globe, also makes Kinder surprise eggs and chocolate bars as well as Tic Tac mints.
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NEW DELHI: In order to avoid international backlash over intrusion into Pakistani airspace, India has called it ‘non-military pre-emptive action”.The Pakistan Air Force thwarted an early morning incursion into its airspace Tuesday by Indian fighter aircraft forcing them to flee, the military spokesman said.The Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector, Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet at 6:36 am.He said the "timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force" forced the intruding aircraft to "release payload in haste while escaping, which fell near Balakot."Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a special meeting of the National Security Committee, which strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. The Forum concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.Hours later, Indian Defence Secretary Vijay Gokhale addressed the much anticipated press conference where he was supposed to inform his people about the exact details of the offensive. But he ended up causing further confusion.The secretary simply read out a statement and refused to take questions. Vijay Gokhale said it was an intelligence based operation without providing any evidence.When journalists asked him for details, the Foreign Secretary chose to leave the press conference.In his press conference, Vijay termed the intrusion ‘Non-military pre-emptive action” in order to take the diplomatic pressure off.He explained “A non military preemptive strike means that a military target has not been hit by the Indian Air Force. Hitting a military target would be construed as an act of war.”
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from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2TgiU9p
The News,World
Tomb-raiding vandals have stolen the head of an 800-year-old mummified body known as the ´Crusader´ from a Dublin crypt, police and church officials said Tuesday.Several other mummies including the 400-year-old remains of a nun were also "desecrated" in the incident at St Michan´s Church, whilst the burial chamber itself was "badly damaged", the Church of Ireland said."I am shocked that someone would target this ancient burial place and desecrate the remains of those lying within it," said Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson."I would appeal to those responsible to examine their consciences and return the head of The Crusader to its rightful place.""The Crusader" is so-called because he is believed to have perished during or shortly after participating in a campaign to capture the holy city of Jerusalem.Because of his impressive height, the Crusader´s legs were broken and folded to fit his remains inside a coffin in the St Michan´s crypt.The church -- founded in 1095 -- is a popular tourist attraction in the Irish capital.According to local lore, during a visit to the vault author Bram Stoker found inspiration for his gothic vampire horror "Dracula".The crypt was targeted by thieves overnight between Saturday and Sunday, police said.The discovery that it had been plundered was made on Monday as a guide prepared to open the church to visitors, the Church of Ireland said.There are fears that the preserved head will degrade in the open air, outside the conditions of the crypt which limit decomposition."The actions of these people are devastating and sacrilegious," said Archdeacon David Pierpoint, the parish priest.
from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2tDoIvj
from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2tDoIvj
The News,World
Indian media channels have resorted to false propaganda by making use of a video that shows Indian Air Force conducting an aerial intrusion into Pakistani territory along the Line of Control (LoC) Tuesday morning. Live: Indian intrusion into Pakistan airspaceThe video it appears is at least three years old. PAF repulses Indian attempt of incursion into Pakistan air spaceThe Indian government and its media have been blatantly claiming to have killed at least 300 after 'destroying camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad', in the said video which is present on YouTube since 2016. Moreover, it has been found out that the video was uploaded on 23rd September, 2016 with the name 'Pakistan Airforce Islamabad night flying' under the channel Muhammad Zohaib. India fails to provide evidence of claims as IAF violates Pakistan airspaceInterestingly, the Indian media has been widely circulating the old footage since morning by claiming it to be that of the Pakistani territory intrusion.
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from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2SYdsc5
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