UAE pardons 57 Bangladeshis jailed for anti-Hasina protests

 UAE pardons 57 Bangladeshis jailed for anti-Hasina protests

The Bangladeshi nationals were sentenced to long prison terms for protesting against the unrest in their home country.

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan......

The president of the United Arab Emirates has pardoned 57 Bangladeshi citizens jailed for holding protests in the Gulf country against their own government.

The decision, announced on Tuesday, by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan “cancels” the sentences of the Bangladeshi nationals, state news agency WAM reported.They will be released and deported, the report said.

Bangladesh’s Sangbad Sangstha news agency, citing a presidential adviser, said all 57 are expected to return home soon.

‘Arbitrarily convicted’

The Bangladeshi expatriates were accused of joining protests in the UAE that mirrored the mass demonstrations against the then prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her government in their home country.

A federal court in the UAE, which bans unauthorised protests, swiftly convicted the Bangladeshis in July of “gathering and inciting riots”.The prosecution had charged them with “crimes of gathering in a public place and protesting against their home government with the intent to incite unrest”.

Three people received life sentences and 53 were sentenced to 10 years in prison. One Bangladeshi, who state media said had entered the UAE illegally and “participated in the riot”, was sentenced to 11 years.

Human Rights Watch described them as being “arbitrarily detained, convicted and sentenced to long prison terms … based on their participation in peaceful demonstrations”.

Sheikh Mohamed’s move to pardon the prisoners comes less than a week after he spoke with Bangladesh’s new interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, who took over after Hasina was toppled from power and fled to India amid last month’s protests

That unrest in Bangladesh began in June with student-led protests against civil service job quotas. It escalated into mass demonstrations calling for Hasina, who had been in power since 2009, to quit.Bangladeshis form the third biggest expatriate group in the country, after Pakistanis and Indians, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Most of the population in the country of some 10 million people are foreign residents.

Many Bangladeshis in the UAE work in low-paid blue-collar jobs and send remittances home to help support their families.

The UAE has little tolerance for dissent as it prohibits criticism of rulers or speech deemed to create or encourage social unrest. Freedom of expression is restricted.

The country’s penal code also criminalises offending foreign states or jeopardising ties with them.

 

Kamala Harris and fortifying Black-Palestinian solidarity

Black, Palestinian and other oppressed people face the same enemy. They need to stand together in the antiracist and anticolonial struggle.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology student hangs a sign on a barricade surrounding a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA on April 28, 2024....

Over the past month, as Kamala Harris’s campaign for the US presidency has gained momentum, hopes she would take a strong stance on the genocide in Gaza have dwindled.

Her candidacy has brought disillusionment among supporters of the Palestinian cause, and with it, growing tensions between anti-genocide activists and Harris supporters.The tension was reflected in a bitter exchange earlier this month between TikTok creators Maya Abdullah and Tori Grier, which fuelled a debate on social media about racism and disparate community interests. Grier’s supporters argue the Black community should vote for Harris to avoid increased violence and discrimination under another Trump administration. On the other hand, Abdullah’s supporters contend Palestinian Americans should not be pressured to vote for someone who has enabled the genocide of their relatives in Palestine and that allies from other ethnic and religious groups should stand in solidarity with them.

It is unclear to what extent this debate is changing voting attitudes, but if it deepens, it could affect Black-Palestinian anticolonial solidarity at a critical moment in history. This would be a loss for both communities.

History of Black-Palestinian solidarity

The engagement between the Black and Palestinian communities in the United States and beyond has a long history. Its roots lie in the recognition that for Black and brown people, oppression manifests itself in similar ways: as white supremacy, structural racism, Islamophobia and imperialism which subjugate, dispossess and kill.

It is no coincidence that in the US, the Black liberation movement features influential leaders like Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, Huey P Newton, Angela Davis and others who have spoken up about the colonisation and occupation of Palestine. In the 1960s, amid the civil rights struggle, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party repeatedly emphasised the need for anticolonial alliances to confront white supremacy, Zionism, capitalism and imperialism.The African anticolonial struggles also repeatedly made parallels with the Palestinian struggle. To this day, the Palestinian cause remains close to the heart of the South African and Algerian nations, who led their own struggles against colonial rule.

In 1969, seven years after it liberated itself from French colonial rule, Algeria hosted the inaugural Pan-African Cultural Festival, positioning itself as a leader of revolutionary struggle. Hundreds of delegates attended the event from 31 independent African nations, including representatives from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). The festival was crucial in uniting the struggles of Africa and Palestine into a broader global movement against imperialism.More recently, over the past decade, the pro-Palestinian movement has supported and directly engaged with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, as it has risen against anti-Black violence, particularly following the murder of George Floyd. For a growing number of Black Americans, the parallels between their own oppression and that of Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid and occupation have become apparent.

After Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, key organisations of the Black community called for a ceasefire.

Among them are the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the leading civil rights organisation in the US, the Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and The Martin Luther King Jr Center. In June, the NAACP issued a bold statement, urging the Biden administration to halt weapons shipments to Israel.

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What’s behind Pakistan’s deadly Balochistan attacks, which left 74 dead?

The targeted killings of workers from Punjab and security forces point to a dangerous escalation in tensions between separatists and the state, warn analysts.

Numerous attacks have taken place against civilians and law enforcement personnel in Balochistan,

pakistan in days......

Islamabad, Pakistan – Nearly two dozen civilians travelling from Pakistan’s Punjab province were pulled from their vehicles and shot dead by armed gunmen, as a series of at least six deadly attacks battered the country’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Sunday night and Monday morning.

At least 74 people were killed in the attacks that marked an escalation in violence even for Balochistan, a region where a decades-long armed separatist movement has meant frequent clashes between fighters and security forces.

The separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, said in a statement that it targeted security forces and took control of highways across the province.

The deadliest of the attacks occurred in the Rarasham area of Musakhel district, located near the border between Balochistan and Punjab. According to police, at least 23 people were dragged out of their vehicles, and after their identities as Punjabi migrant workers were established, were executed.

In Kalat district, 140km (87 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, armed fighters targeted law enforcement personnel, killing at least 10. In Bolan district, southeast of Quetta, six people were killed overnight, including four from Punjab. The Pakistani military, in its statement, said that another five security personnel — 14 in all — were killed across the attacks.

Security forces, the military said, responded and killed “21 terrorists”.

This year has already seen several earlier attacks in Balochistan, targeting civilians, law enforcement personnel and state infrastructure. Still, the latest attacks represent a shift in their scale, audacity and nature, said analysts.

“There was a major attack on security forces in May last year, but today’s events are significant. Highways were blocked, railway tracks damaged, all near Punjab,” Muhammad Amir Rana, a security analyst and director of the Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), told Al Jazeera. “The expansion of their operation is unique, as they are demonstrating their ability to extend the conflict to, or near, Punjab.

”

 

Israeli military says captive rescued from Gaza tunnel

Kaid Farhan al-Kadi has been rescued in a ‘complex operation’ in the southern Gaza Strip, says the army.

Kaid Farhan al-Kadi was held captive by Hamas fighters in Gaza......

Israel says its special forces have recovered an Israeli captive from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip in “a complex rescue operation”, as the war, now in its 11th month, shows no signs of abating.

Kaid Farhan al-Kadi, a 52-year-old Bedouin, was abducted by the Palestinian group Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.The military said al-Kadi is in “a stable medical condition” and has been transferred to a hospital for medical checks.

Al-Kadi is a resident of Rahat, a mainly Arab town. On October 7, he had been working as a guard at a warehouse in southern Israel when he was captured by Hamas-backed fighters along with some 250 other people. Israel says more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack.Israel’s offensive on Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and displaced 90 percent of its 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters.

“We are committed to seizing every opportunity to bring the hostages back to their homes,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement on X.

Hamas is still holding approximately 110 captives, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a ceasefire last November.

 

Israel’s war on Gaza live: Another school-turned-shelter bombed

• Israeli forces bomb another school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, a day after ordering people to evacuate from areas near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in the area.
• United Nations chief Antonio Guterres appeals for “immediate de-escalation” after Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire across Lebanon’s southern border.

  Gantz says no change in historic status quo of al-Aqsa Mosque

  The head of the opposition National Unity party says “despite the provocative and irresponsible rhetoric by some, Israel is committed to preserving this historic status and has no intention on changing it”.

  “The freedom of worship will always be guaranteed at the holy site,” he added in a post on X.

  Gantz said he expects little from PM Netanyahu “who allowed an irresponsible arsonist to bring us down into an abyss in exchange for political peace”, apparently referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

  “But there are responsible parties in the government and coalition who are expected to do something,” he stressed, adding: “Condemnations and nice words won’t suffice here, and history will judge you for being part of this dangerous endeavor.”

  Ben Gvir said earlier that Jews can pray in al-Aqsa Mosque and he would build a synagogue in it, according to the Israeli media.

• Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound: Report

  The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli settlers have stormed Islam’s third-holiest site under the protection of Israeli police officers.

  The storming of the compound is a regular occurrence even though entering any part of it is forbidden for Jews due to the sacred nature of the site, according to Jewish law.

  Israeli authorities have also repeatedly barred Palestinians from entering the site for Friday prayers since October 7, forcing many to pray on the streets near the Old City. Israeli forces have also attacked Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque.

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Pilgrims among 36 killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan

Pakistan’s leaders expressed sorrow over the road accidents, frequent occurrences in the country largely due to poor infrastructure.

At a hospital in Kahuta, a relative carries the body of a child who was killed when a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Pakistan.

At least 36 people have been killed in two separate bus accidents in northeast and southwest Pakistan, according to local authorities.

Twelve people died on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, the Ministry of Interior said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 24 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-administered Kashmir.The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for a religious commemoration veered off the road.

Thirty-two people were also injured and were reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said.

Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn.

The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. It was heading to the Pakistan-administrated disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Initially, local police said that there were seven injured, but later doctors and government officials said that everyone onboard the bus died in the crash. Raja Moazzam, a rescue official, said most of the bodies had been identified.

Umar Farooq, a senior government official from Sudhanoti district, where the bus started its journey, told AFP at the crash site “24 were travelling in the bus and all 24 have died”.

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees suicide drone tests

State media shows Kim looking ecstatic after a test in which drones crashed into what appeared to be a tank.

State media said the drones hit a variety of predetermined targets..

26 Aug 2024.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a test of domestically-developed attack drones, state media KCNA reported.

Photos published by North Korean media on Monday showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Korea’s K-2 main battle tank.Kim, who was pictured at a desk surrounded by advisers, has been modernising his country’s military and developing its weapons capabilities amid rising tensions with Washington and Seoul.

The North Korean leader supervised the test on a visit to the Drone Institute of North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science, KCNA said.

Kim said that global trends in military technologies and modern combat showed the importance of drones in war and that Pyongyang’s military should be equipped with them “as early as possible”.

He called for accelerated development and production of various systems, including exploding drones to be used by the infantry and special operations units, reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones, and underwater suicide attack drones, KCNA said.Pyongyang has ramped up its tactical warfare capabilities involving short-range missiles and heavy artillery aimed at striking South Korea, after making dramatic advances in its longer-range ballistic missile and nuclear programmes in defiance of international sanctions.

The drone test comes as the United States and South Korean militaries conduct a large-scale exercise aimed at enhancing their combined capabilities to defend against the North Korean threat.

The drills continue until Thursday.

‘Never say goodbye’: Can AI bring the dead back to life?

 ‘Never say goodbye’: Can AI bring the dead back to life?

Artificial intelligence is increasingly creating resurrections of the dead amid a debate around how much it helps or hurts users.

A visitor interacts with the 'digital twin' of late French poet Arthur Rimbaud, generated by artificial intelligence that responds to visitors, created by the Alsatian start-up Jumbo Mana, is on display at the poet's house in Charleville-Mezieres, on May 13, 2024.

9 Aug 2024

In a world where artificial intelligence can resurrect the dead, grief takes on a new dimension.

From Canadian singer Drake’s use of AI-generated Tupac Shakur vocals to Indian politicians addressing crowds years after their passing, technology is blurring the lines between life and death.But beyond their uncanny pull in entertainment and politics, AI “zombies” might soon become a reality for people reeling from the loss of loved ones, through a series of pathbreaking, but potentially controversial, initiatives.

So how do AI “resurrections” work, and are they as dystopian as we might imagine?

What are AI ‘resurrections’ of people?

Over the past few years, AI projects around the world have created digital “resurrections” of individuals who have passed away, allowing friends and relatives to converse with them.

Typically, users provide the AI tool with information about the deceased. This could include text messages and emails or simply be answers to personality-based questions.

The AI tool then processes that data to talk to the user as if it were the deceased. One of the most popular projects in this space is Replika – a chatbot that can mimic people’s texting styles.

Other companies, however, now also allow you to see a video of the dead person as you talk to them.

For example, Los Angeles-based StoryFile uses AI to allow people to talk at their own funerals. Before passing, a person can record a video sharing their life story and thoughts. During the funeral, attendees can ask questions and AI technology will select relevant responses from the prerecorded video.

In June, US-based Eternos also made headlines for creating an AI-powered digital afterlife of a person. Initiated just earlier this year, this project allowed 83-year-old Michael Bommer to leave behind a digital version of himself that his family could continue to interact with.

The Muslim American vote matters and it can no longer be taken for granted.

 The Muslim American vote matters and it can no longer be taken for granted

In key swing states the Democrats won narrowly in 2020, Muslim Americans make up a significant voting bloc. And they have a single voting priority: Gaza.

Supporters of the campaign to vote "uncommitted" hold a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza, ahead of Michigan's Democratic presidential primary election in Hamtramck, US on February 25, 2024...

As the United States presidential election approaches, the race to attract voters has intensified. Among the different constituencies the Democrats and Republicans are battling over, there is one that stands out: the Muslim community.

Although Muslims constitute roughly 1 percent of the American population, they are an important voting bloc because they are concentrated in swing states, which are often narrowly won in elections.In this election cycle, the Muslim community seems more united than ever over a single political issue: the war in Gaza.  Any candidate hoping to win over large segments of Muslim voters would have to address community demands for an end to the bloodshed in Palestine.

This is according to a new study published by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in partnership with Emgage and Change Research. It is based on a survey conducted in late June and early July focused on how Muslims in three swing states – Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan – intend to vote in the 2024 presidential election.

What we found is that President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza has turned Muslims, who in 2020 were some of his biggest supporters, into his sharpest detractors.

In 2020, about 65 percent of Muslim voters in these states showed up to cast their ballots for Biden. This support was vital to his electoral victory because he won key swing states by small margins. He won Georgia by just 12,000 votes, a state where more than 61,000 Muslims voted, and Pennsylvania by 81,000 votes, where 125,000 Muslims voted.

By contrast, in our survey, conducted before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, only 12 percent of respondents said they would vote for him, marking a dramatic drop in support not seen among any other group studied. While this impacts the presidential race, it has also manifested in a broader disillusionment with the establishment of the Democratic Party.

The war on Gaza has unified Muslim voters in a way that no other issue has in recent memory. According to the 2020 American Muslim Poll conducted by ISPU, healthcare (19 percent), the economy (14 percent) and social justice (13 percent) were the top voting issues for Muslim voters.

Compare that with 2024: Across the partisan spectrum, the top priority of Muslim voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the war in Gaza (61 percent), followed by keeping the US out of foreign wars (22 percent).

Reduction of military aid to Israel also garnered the support of the vast majority of Muslim voters in our study, who, regardless of partisan sentiments, all overwhelmingly see this policy as a reason to vote for a candidate. While a war overseas may seem far from the daily concerns of American Muslim voters, many see the US role – providing unconditional aid and diplomatic cover to Israel – as complicity in the continued oppression of Palestinians.

Ten people dead in northern Ethiopia landslide: State media

 Ten people dead in northern Ethiopia landslide

At least eight people are seriously hurt in landslide in northern region of Amhara.

At least eight people are seriously hurt in landslide in northern region of Amhara.

25 Aug 2024

Ten people have been killed in a landslide in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara region, according to state media, in the latest natural disaster to strike the country.

The Amhara Media Corporation (AMC) quoted local administrator Tesfaye Workneh as saying on Saturday that “10 people have died in the disaster” and four bodies had been pulled from the mud.

The report did not indicate what time the landslide occurred on Saturday in the North Gondar zone in Amhara or whether there was a search ongoing.

Eight people were seriously hurt in the disaster and were receiving treatment, the AMC said, quoting the local official.

As many as 2,400 people have been “displaced by the disaster and are currently sheltered in local social institutions”, it added.

Photographs shared on the AMC’s Facebook page showed people carrying what appeared to be at least one body from the mudslide.

It is the latest in a series of landslides that have occurred in Ethiopia as a result of heavy seasonal rains.

A recent United Nations report, citing the Ethiopian Metrology Institute, warned “of high risks of further flooding and landslides in most parts of the country”.

A landslide killed 229 people and displaced thousands more when it struck a remote community in Kencho Shacha Gozdi in southern Ethiopia in July.

A week after the tragedy, six people were killed in another landslide in the Gishere district in the neighbouring Sidama regional state, local officials said.

 

Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France

Russia’s embassy in France has demanded consular access to the 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire.

Founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov

25 Aug 2024......

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, has been arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris for alleged offences related to his messaging app.

Local sources said on Sunday that Durov, 39, had been travelling on his private jet from Azerbaijan and that a French arrest warrant targeted him as part of a preliminary investigation.

The offences levelled at Durov by France’s OFMIN, an agency that deals with the prevention of violence against minors, include fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and organised crime, according to the AFP news agency, which quoted officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Franco-Russian billionaire is also accused of failing to take action against the harmful use of Telegram.

Durov faces possible indictment on Sunday, according to French media.

TF1 TV and BFM TV, both quoting unidentified sources, said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

One of the investigators told AFP they were surprised Durov entered France despite the warrant against him, adding “enough of Telegram’s impunity”.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in France has demanded consular access to Durov and demanded that his rights be ensured, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

The embassy said France has so far “avoided engagement” on the situation with Durov. Russian diplomats are in contact with Durov’s lawyer, the embassy said.