A United States Marine Corps (USMC) helicopter crew chief accused Australian special forces of killing a hog-tied Afghan prisoner after being told he would not fit on the US aircraft coming to pick them up.
The marine told ABC Investigations he was a door gunner providing aerial covering fire for the Australian soldiers of the 2nd Commando Regiment during a night raid in mid-2012. The operation took place north of the HMLA-469 base at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
It was part of a wider joint Australian special forces-US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) campaign targeting illicit drug operations that were financing the Taliban insurgency. “We had done the drug raid, the Aussies actually did a pretty impressive job, wrangling all the prisoners up,” Josh said.
“We just watched them tackle and hogtie these guys and we knew their hands were tied behind their backs.”
He says the commandos then called up the US aircraft to pick them and about seven prisoners up. He says the Americans only had room on the aircraft for six. “And the pilot said, ‘That’s too many people, we can’t carry that many passengers.’ And you just heard this silence and then we heard a pop. And then they said, ‘OK, we have six prisoners’.
“So it was pretty apparent to everybody involved in that mission that they had just killed a prisoner that we had just watched them catch and hogtie,” he said.
Josh says neither he nor any of his crew spoke about what had just happened.
“We were all being recorded on our comms,” he said.
“All of us were pretty aware of what we just witnessed, and kind of didn’t want to be involved in whatever came next.”
Josh says he later discussed the incident with his crewmates after returning to Camp Bastion.
“This was the first time we saw something we couldn’t morally justify, because we knew somebody was already cuffed up, ready to go, taken prisoner and we just witnessed them kill a prisoner,” he said.
“This isn’t like a heat of the moment call where you’re trying to make a decision. It was a very deliberate decision to break the rules of war.
“I think that was the first thing that happened that didn’t quite sit right with us, where we were like, ‘OK, there’s no excuse, there’s no ambiguity, there’s no going around this one’.”
At least 15 people were killed in a stampede among thousands of Afghans gathered outside Pakistan’s consulate on Tuesday as jostling broke out between people applying for visas, officials in the eastern city of Jalalabad said.
An estimated 3,000 Afghans had congregated on the open ground outside the consulate, waiting to collect tokens needed to apply for a visa, two provincial officials told Reuters a day after the tragedy.
The people had gathered to secure a permit after Pakistan introduced a new visa policy for Afghanistan to facilitate business and people-to-people contacts between the two countries. According to officials, the travel document, approved by the cabinet, will make it easy for Afghan citizens to acquire multiple entry visit visas, including those for long-term business, as well as investment and student visas.
Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member in eastern Jalalabad city, where the incident occurred said of the 15 people dead, 11 were women and several senior citizens were wounded.
“The visa applicants jostled to secure their token from the consulate officials […] the crowd got out of control, leading to a stampede,” said an official in Jalalabad said.
Tens of thousands of Afghans every year travel to neighbouring Pakistan to secure medical treatment, education and jobs. The two countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometre border.
Pakistan hosts about 3 million Afghan refugees and economic migrants, who have fled violence, religious persecution and poverty in their war-torn country.
Officials in the Pakistan embassy in Kabul were not immediately available for comment.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on National Security aide Dr Moeed Yusuf has termed the Chinese persecution of Uyghur Muslims a “non-issue”.
In an interview with Indian media outlet The Wire, Yusuf on Tuesday revealed that India had expressed a “desire for conversation” but said that Pakistan’s agreement to talks would be conditional.
While his statements and Pakistan’s pre-conditions for the resumption of “meaningful dialogue” with India to resolve all outstanding issues have made headlines, the details less reported are of what he had to say about Chinese persecution of Muslim minority Uyghurs in its Xinjiang region.
Even though China is facing growing criticism over its crimes against the said minority group, huge numbers of whom are allegedly being held in internment camps, Pakistan has been accused of turning a blind eye towards the same.
On Tuesday, when asked why PM Imran Khan had never raised his voice for the Uyghur community in China, the SAPM said, “China and Pakistan are friends like no other. We have a completely transparent relationship; virtually everything under the sky, we discuss.
“Uyghurs is a non-issue […] Our delegations have visited, we’ve seen and we are a 100 per cent satisfied that it’s a non-issue. The West can say what it wants. I am telling you as a responsible official: we know everything we need to know about the Uighurs and everything else in China as they do about us.”
Thapar quoted an interview PM Imran gave to the Financial Times last year, where the premier had said: “Frankly, I don’t know much about” the Uyghur issue. Yusuf, however, continued to insist that the matter was a non-issue and said that he had briefed the premier about it.
YUSUF UNDER FIRE:
Among the many prominent persons who reacted to Yusuf’s remarks was Omar Waraich, who is the South Asia deputy director of global rights group Amnesty International.
Here’s what he had to say:
Concerned by your characterisation of the plight of the Uighurs as a "non-issue". The same human rights organizations that Pakistan cites on Kashmir have documented widespread violations in Xinjiang. Morever, they directly affect Pakistani citizens https://t.co/UcQPjvQSn2
A man from the US state of Nevada has caught COVID-19 twice with the second hit more serious.
According to the details, the 25-year-old, had no known health conditions or immune problems that would have made him particularly vulnerable.
Doctors said the man needed hospital treatment after his lungs weakened during the second infection, which was much worse than the first.
According to the study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the man experienced initial symptoms – a sore throat, cough, headache, nausea and diarrhoea on 25 March.
He tested positive for the first time on 18 April and his symptoms were resolved by 27 April.
On 9 and 26 May he tested negative on two occasions, but he developed symptoms again on May 28 including fever, headache, dizziness, cough, nausea and diarrhoea.
On 5 June, he tested positive for the second time and went on to suffer low blood oxygen and shortness of breath.
Scientists said that the genetic codes of the two illnesses were different, meaning it was not a case of the first infection being dormant and then reappearing.
The study said the case was the first known COVID-19 reinfection in North America, with other single cases reported in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Ecuador, and Belgium.
The patients in those places showed no increase in symptom severity the second time, with the exception of the patient in Ecuador.
It is unclear what had caused the second infection in Nevada.
The study suggested one possibility was a “very high dose of virus (which) might have led to the second time infection and induced a more severe disease”.
Another suggestion was that reinfection was caused by a “version of the virus that was more virulent, or more virulent in this patient’s context”.
A third possibility was a “mechanism of antibody-dependent enhancement… a means by which specific Fc-bearing immune cells become infected with virus by binding to specific antibodies”.
The study’s authors said: “Previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 might not guarantee total immunity in all cases.
“All individuals, whether previously diagnosed with COVID-19 or not, should take identical precautions to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2.
“The implications of reinfections could be relevant for vaccine development and application.”
Reinfections also have implications for concepts such as herd immunity.
It had been assumed that the body would learn to fight the virus during an initial infection, meaning that later infections would be minor or even without symptoms.
In a disturbing development, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s five-year-old daughter has received rape threats from social media trolls following Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Tuesday night match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
CSK failed to chase a 168-run target, losing the game by 10 runs. Dhoni’s wife, Sakshi, got the threats on her Instagram account.
The threats created an outrage on social media, especially from women, as support poured in for the Dhonis, especially little Ziva.
Actor-turned-politician Nagma tweeted, “Where are we headed as a Nation? It’s disgusting Dhoni’s 5-Year-Old Daughter Ziva is Getting Rape Threats after CSK Lost IPL Match to KKR. Mr #PM what is this happening In our country?? [sic]”
Where are we headed as a Nation it’s is disgusting Dhoni's 5-Year-Old Daughter Ziva is Getting Rape Threats after CSK Lost IPL Match to KKR. Mr #PM what is this happening In our country ?? #BetiBachaoBetiPadhaohttps://t.co/z8bIBTYHGi
Sowmya Reddy, member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Karnataka, said, “This is just nasty! What’s happening to our country? Where are we heading?”
Rajya Sabha [upper house of the bicameral Indian parliament] lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, “This has to be the most disgusting example of how social media platforms are being misused.”
This has to be the most disgusting example of how social media platforms are being misused. If GoI still turns a blind eye to this then I’d say they are complicit in promoting& condoning such mentality with regards to women&sick, perverse mentality https://t.co/Wjm3caWltf
United States (US) President Donald Trump has officially been discharged from Maryland’s Walter Reed Medical Center following his coronavirus diagnosis and is back at the White House.
Upon his return, Trump removed his mask for a photo op, despite still being very much infected with the highly contagious disease. However, it was not a pretty scene.
Pictures and videos show the US president climbing a set of stairs at the White House and gasping for breath.
WATCH VIDEO:
Trump climbs a few steps to the White House, takes off his mask and then is visibly gasping and having diffulty breathing while he tries to wave and pretend everything is fine. pic.twitter.com/VXxSh1BNuO
Though his doctors concede he is not yet “out of the woods” in his fight against COVID-19, Trump has framed the disease as in the past, “Now I’m better and maybe I’m immune? I don’t know. But don’t let it dominate your lives.”
At least 11 of the president’s aides or allies have either contracted the virus or — in the case of his daughter Ivanka — are working from home. Entire suites of offices sit vacant as Trump’s aides work to isolate him in the residence and out of the West Wing.
Saudi authorities called upon citizens to “boycott everything Turkish” following a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan where he accused some Gulf countries of pursuing policies that were destabilising the region, Gulf Newsreported.
“The boycott of everything Turkish, whether on the level of import, investment or tourism, is the responsibility of every Saudi — trader and consumer — in response to the continued hostility of the Turkish government against our leadership, our country and our citizens,” Saudi Arabia’s Chamber of Commerce head Ajlan Al Ajlan said.
In addition to accusing some Gulf countries of targeting Turkey and following policies that led to instability, the Turkish president had, during an address to the country’s General Assembly, also said: “It should not be forgotten that the countries in question did not exist yesterday, and probably will not exist tomorrow; however, we will continue to keep our flag flying in this region forever, with the permission of Allah.”
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been thorny especially since the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi that took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from “the highest levels” of the Saudi government but has never directly blamed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to be behind the gruesome murder.
Earlier this week, Turkey indicted six Saudi suspects in Khashoggi’s murder case. None of the suspects are in Turkey and will be tried in absentia. Twenty Saudi nationals are already on trial in an Istanbul court for Khashoggi’s killing.
The indictment came weeks after a Saudi court overturned five death sentences issued after a closed-door trial in Saudi Arabia that ended last year, sentencing them to 20 years in prison instead.
Recently, Erdogan also condemned the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s decision to normalise ties with Israel. After the announcement of normalisation of ties between UAE and Israel, Erdogan had warned Turkey could suspend diplomatic relations with the Gulf state in response.
Turkey has had diplomatic relations with Israel for decades, but under President Erdogan, has positioned itself as a champion of the Palestinians.
An Indian court on Wednesday acquitted all 32 accused in the Babri Masjid case after a judge controversially ruled that the demolition was not preplanned.
A special court of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Lucknow issued the verdict nearly thirty years after a mob of Hindu extremists razed the historic mosque to the ground.
As expected, the verdict attracted strong reactions not only from around the globe, but Indians too.
Sangh Parivar Leaders took out a Rath yatra, collected shovels & bricks, assembled thousand of people & shouted 'Ek Dhakka Aur do, Babri Masjid Tod do’
But apparently all this was not a pre-planned conspiracy!
It took 28 years for the courts to say #BabriMasjid fell on its own.
About 10 years of instigation, nationwide Rath Yatra led to gathering of 1.5 lakh people with rope, iron rods, sickle and other weapons at #BabriMasjid. All these preparation couldn't prove conspiracy. But Delhi police says Delhi riots was conspiracy based on WhatsApp chats.
The only case in the world were the accused confesses to his crime, uses the confession to ride to power, cites video evidence to back up his claim and the judge says " Shut up, You stand acquitted"
We should stop assuming that we live in a functional democracy. Outwardly, it might still appear to be one, but it really is not in many aspects. The assumption also gives a false sense of security to citizens who should know that their rights may not be their rights anymore.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) has also strongly reacted to the decision, calling it shameful.
BABRI MOSQUE:
Babri Masjid was a mosque in Ayodhya, India. Located in Ayodhya district, at a spot believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama, it has been a bone of contention between the Hindu and Muslim communities since the 18th century.
The destruction of the mosque in 1992 sparked massive Hindu-Muslim violence that left around 2,000 people dead.
Hindu hardliners say the mosque was built after a temple dedicated to the Hindu god was destroyed by Muslim invaders. After the demolition of the mosque, Hindus and Muslims took the issue to a lower court, which, in 2010 ruled that the disputed land should be divided into three parts — two for Hindus and one for Muslims.
Late last year, the Indian Supreme Court (SC) had put to rest the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, deciding in favour of Hindus.
The Indian top court had allotted Ayodhya land to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (Ram Birthplace Trust).
Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas is an organisation to promote and oversee the construction of a temple in Ayodhya at the Ram Janmabhoomi, the reputed site of the birth of Rama, the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Hindu God Vishnu.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cast doubt during Tuesday night’s debate on whether United States (US) President Donald Trump would ever release his tax returns.
“You’ll get to see it,” Trump said repeatedly as moderator Chris Wallace pressed him to commit to a firm timeline. Biden retorted, “When? InshaAllah?”
While the Arabic language phrase literally means “God Willing,” it also has colloquial connotations of ambiguous commitment.
As Muslims, especially Arabs, pointed out the phrase used by Biden, many wondered if they had mistaken something for InshaAllah.
Biden earlier released his personal income taxes, which show the former vice president and his wife Jill Biden paid about 30% of their $985,000 gross personal income.
Trump has refused to voluntarily release his income taxes, which had been a presidential custom stretching back decades.
The New York Times reported Monday that Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years. It said the former businessman paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and another $750 in 2017, the year he took office.
Trump disputed the report during Tuesday night’s debate, saying he has “paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax.”
From “will you shut up, man?” to “elections have consequences”, following are some of the quotes making news after Tuesday’s United States (US) 2020 presidential debate between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The polling is scheduled for November 3.
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION:
Trump, asked by moderator Chris Wallace about whether U.S. appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett should be nominated to the Supreme Court before the election: “We won the (2016) election. Elections have consequences.
“We have the Senate and we have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee respected by all.
“ […] I think that she (Barrett) will be outstanding. She will be as good as anybody who has ever served on that court. We won the election and therefore we had the right to choose her.”
Biden: “We should wait, we should wait and see what the outcome of this election is.”
Trump: “As far as a say is concerned, the American people have already had their say. … I’m not elected for (just) 3-1/2 years.”
Responded Biden: “He’s elected until the next election. […] The election’s already started.”
HEALTHCARE:
Biden, told by Trump he had adopted former Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders’ “socialised medicine” proposals, said of the president: “Everybody here knows he’s a liar. […] You picked the wrong guy on the wrong night at the wrong time.”
“[…] Folks, do you have any idea what this clown’s doing? I tell you what, he is not for anybody needing healthcare.”
After Trump explained his healthcare proposal, Biden said: “He has no plan for healthcare. … The fact is this man has no idea what he’s talking about.”
DEALING WITH THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:
Biden to Trump: “You should get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap and … the golf course and go in the Oval Office and (put) together Democrats and Republicans, and fund what needs to be done now to save lives.”
Trump to Biden: “You didn’t think we should’ve closed our country (to China) because you thought it was terrible.”
“… We’ve done a great job. But I tell you, Joe, you could never have done the job we’ve done. You don’t have it in your blood.”
Biden on Trump’s leadership on the pandemic: “He panicked or he looked at the stock market. … A lot of people died, and a lot more (are) going to die unless he gets a lot smarter a lot quicker.”
Responded Trump: “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
RACE RELATIONS:
Biden on Trump: “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division.”
Trump to Biden, citing the then-senator’s support for the 1994 crime bill: “You’ve treated the Black community about as bad as anybody in this country.”
Biden: “Yes, there’s a systemic injustice in this country in education and work and in law enforcement and the way in which it is enforced.”
LAW ENFORCEMENT AND URBAN UNREST:
Trump: “The top 10 cities and just about the top 40 cities are run by Democrats in many cases, radical left, and they’ve got you wrapped around their finger, Joe, to a point where you don’t want to say anything about law and order. And I’ll tell you what the people of this country want and demand law and order, and you’re afraid to even say it.”
Biden said Trump had done nothing to calm the protests. “He just pours gasoline on the fire.”
Responding to Trump attacking him on the suburbs, Biden said: “He wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. I know suburbs.”
WHITE SUPREMACISTS:
Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence or the number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
Trump: “I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not from the right. … I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”
Wallace: “Then do it, sir.”
Biden: “Do it, do it. Say it.”
Trump: “You want to call them. What do you want to call them? Give me a name.”
Biden, referring to a right-wing group: “Proud Boys.”
Trump: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
Trump: “I believe that we have to do everything we can to have immaculate air, immaculate water, and do whatever else we can that’s good.”
Biden: “The first thing I will do, I will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.”
ELECTION INTEGRITY:
Biden encouraged mail-in voting by saying Trump does it, too. “He sits behind the Resolute Desk (in the White House) and sends his ballot to Florida.”
Biden: “He cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of that election. … If I win, that will be accepted. If I lose, that will be accepted.
“If we get the votes, he’s going to go. He can’t stay in power.”
Trump: “Don’t tell me about a free transition. This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen. This is not going to end well.”
Biden: “You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote. If you’re able to vote early in your state, vote early. If you’re able to vote in person, vote in person – whatever way is the best way for you. Because he cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election.”
Asked by Wallace if he would urge his supporters to stay calm and pledge not to declare victory until the election is certified, Trump said: “I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully.”
Trump: “If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with it. They cheat.”
Biden: “The fact is I will accept it and he will too. You know why? Because once the winner is declared after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted. That’ll be the end of it.”
INTERRUPTIONS:
At one point when Trump was interrupting him, Biden said: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”
Wallace to Trump: “I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”
Trump, referring to Biden, responded: “And him, too.”
Wallace: “Well, frankly you’ve been doing more interrupting.”
