Pakistan’s military has stepped up operations along the Afghan border in recent weeks after a spate of militant attacks that has dashed any hope the frontier might see more peace and stability after the end of the war in Afghanistan. Islamist and separatist factions have killed at least 14 Pakistani soldiers in attacks over the past month, three of them carried out by fighters entering from Afghanistan, the Pakistani military said. Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers have denied that Afghan territory was used in any of the attacks. But despite such assurances, disputes linked to the border, which has been a bone of contention between the neighbours for decades, could undermine their relations. The Pakistani military said six insurgents were killed in the latest clash in the southwestern province of Balochistan. “Operations to eliminate such perpetrators of terrorist acts in Pakistan will continue,” the military said.
Pak issues citizenship to woman held in Indian jail
Pakistan has issued citizenship certificate to a woman held in a jail in India, paving the way for her return to the country with her four-year-old daughter. Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the ministry had issued the papers for Sumaira, who is at a detention centre in Bengaluru, after verification of her family tree, Dawn reported. As per reports, Sumaira, who was living in Qatar, married an Indian man who brought her to India without a visa. Later, Sumaira was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. Two months later, she gave birth to a daughter. Prison authorities in Bengaluru said they haven’t received any communication from the Indian government or from Pakistani authorities.
Iranian fighter jet crashes into school, 3 killed
An Iranian F-5 fighter jet crashed into a school compound in the northwestern city of Tabriz killing two crew and a passerby, authorities said. Luckily the school was closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, local official Mohammad-Bagher Honarvar said. The aircraft was on a training mission when it went down in the city's central district of Monajem, said Honavar, who heads a crisis management unit in East Azerbaijan province. The head of the local Red Crescent organisation said the plane crashed into an external wall, and that one of the dead was a nearby resident.
Israel, Japan ease Covid curbs
As Covid-19 cases wane across most countries, the governments are starting to ease restrictions. Irael PM Naftali Bennett announced dropping a “Green Pass” policy requiring proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid or a negative test to enter some public venues. Japan too is set to announce easing of its border controls by increasing the daily quota for foreign arrivals and shortening the quarantine requirement beginning in March. Also Switzerland joined European countries including Austria, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway in dropping almost all of Covid restrictions.
EU watchdog calls for ban on Pegasus
The European Union’s data protection watchdog called for a ban on the controversial spyware tool Pegasus, developed by Israeli-based NSO Group. The EDPS said use of Pegasus might lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness, able to interfere with the most intimate aspects of our daily lives. ” Israel has come under global pressure over allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some foreign client governments to spy on rights activists, journalists and politicians. . “A ban on the development and the deployment of spyware with the capability of Pegasus in the EU would be the most effective option to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms,” the EDPS said.
Woman cured of HIV after stem-cell transplant
A US patient with leukemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, researchers said. The case of a middle-aged woman of mixed race, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunisitic Infections in Denver, is also the first involving umbilical cord blood, a newer approach that may make the treatment available to more people.
Since receiving the cord blood to treat her acute myeloid leukemia, the woman has been in remission and free of the virus for 14 months, without the need for potent HIV treatments known as antiretroviral therapy.
Malawi finds first wild polio case in five years
Malawi has declared a wild polio outbreak after a case was identified in a three-year-old girl - the first of its kind in Africa for more than five years. The continent was declared free of all forms of wild polio in 2020. The Malawian authorities are now working to contain any possible spread, including by boosting immunisation. Wild polio remains endemic in only two countries in the world - Afghanistan and Pakistan. The strain that was identified in Malawi was linked to one found in Pakistan, but it is not clear how or when it arrived in the southern African country. The case was confirmed after tests were carried out on samples from the infected child who was suffering from paralysis, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Belgium okays 4-day work week
Belgian employees will be able to work a four-day week after the government agreed to a new labour accord aimed at bringing flexibility to an otherwise rigid labour market. Speaking after his seven-party coalition federal government reached a deal, PM Alexander De Croo said the coronavirus pandemic had forced people to work more flexibly and combine their private and working lives. “This has led to new ways of working,” he said. Employees who request it will be able to work up to 10 hours per day if trade unions agree, instead of the maximum 8 now, in order to work one day less per week for the same pay. Belgians will also be able to choose to work more during one week and less the following one, allowing people to better manage their work-private life
Belgian police detain 30 in drug bust
Police in Belgium detained 30 people during an investigation of a major drug trafficking operation in at least seven countries, prosecutors said. The federal prosecutor’s office said at least 10 other arrests were made abroad. Police carried out 49 searches in Belgium, most of them in and around Brussels and the port city of Antwerp. Prosecutors did not say what was seized during the operation.
“Liaison officers from Europol, Italy and Spain were able to follow the operation live and share information about simultaneous operations in other countries,” the prosecutor’s office said, adding that about 60 searches took place in Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia and the Netherlands. Belgium has become a major hub trafficking drugs into Europe.
11 missing after ferry burst into flames off Corfu
Eleven people went missing after a ferry burst into flames near the Greek island of Corfu, authorities say. Rescue boats rushed to evacuate the 290 people on board the Euroferry Olympia. The ferry had left Igoumenitsa in Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi when a fire broke out on a car deck. The captain told everyone to leave as the ferry was engulfed in flames and began billowing thick plumes of smoke. The Greek coastguard said 239 passengers and 51 crew had been on the ferry. Most of the passengers were Italian nationals. Officials said 277 of those on board were brought to safety and 10 of them were being treated in hospital for breathing problems and minor injuries. Hours later, rescuers managed to reach two men who were stranded in the hold and airlift them off the ship. There was no word on the missing 11.
US couple plead guilty in nuclear secrets plot
A US Navy engineer's wife has pleaded guilty to helping her husband try to sell secrets about nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign country. Diana Toebbe, 46, acted as a lookout while her husband left information at a "dead drop" spot, once hiding a data card inside a peanut butter sandwich. A former teacher, she will go to prison for up to three years under her plea deal with federal prosecutors. Her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, 42, pleaded guilty earlier this week. Under his plea deal, he will receive a sentence of about 12-17 years. Both of the Toebbes pleaded guilty in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to conspiring to communicate restricted data. Jonathan Toebbe was an expert in nuclear-propulsion systems on submarines, one of the nation's most closely guarded secrets.
Man who pushes wife to death jailed for 30 years
Hakan Aysal, 40, of southern Turkey was jailed for 30 years pushing his pregnant wife off a cliff after luring her to the edge for a selfie. His wife Semra Aysal, 32, was seven month pregnant when the incident happened in June 2018. Police accused Aysal of shoving his wife off a cliff in country's popular Butterfly Valley in the south-eastern district of Mulga. Cops became suspicious of Aysal after photos of the couple atop the cliff were shared in news reports which prompted a witness to come forth to with video evidence of the 40-year-old Turk acting strangely.
