Tag: al jazeera

  • How will the u.s. transfer to chop aid impact Pakistan?

    Pakistani demonstrators burn images of US President Donald Trump and the US flag during a protest against US aid cuts in Lahore on January 5, 2018. Image copyright AFP Image caption Pakistani protesters have denounced the cuts

    The Trump management says it is chopping almost all security aid to Pakistan till it deals with terrorist networks operating on its soil. But will the cuts have any affect, asks the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan.

    The US has but to announce precisely how so much aid will probably be reduce – but defence professionals consider the full affect of the visual assist suspension might fall in the vary of more than $900m (£660m).

    This includes the suspension of $255m because of Pakistan for military equipment and coaching underneath the Foreign Army Financing (FMF) fund, and $700m below the Coalition Beef Up Fund (CSF) – paid to Pakistan for conducting operations towards militant groups.

    Experts believe the whole monetary impact of an opposed US coverage on Pakistan could be so much higher than this regardless that, particularly because the US state division has said an unspecified amount of other safety assistance controlled by the department of defence might be cut.

    How reliant is Pakistan on US safety assist?

    Safety mavens consider the cuts are prone to placed a squeeze on the Pakistani military, no less than within the brief run.

    Symbol copyright ASIF HASSAN Image caption Pakistan blocked overland Nato supplies into Afghanistan for months in 2011

    But this time, the anger is coming from the u.s. facet – and too drastic a move from Pakistan may just aggravate the situation.

    “Pakistanis might create hurdles or lead to delays within the transit of such supplies, but they’re not going to dam it completely, as a result of that would result in suspension of all ties,” Prof Askari says.

    At the moment, the u.s. is still offering Pakistan with non-army support. and even in the case of military help, it is believed the united states may apply a “condition and factor-based totally manner” the place budget would be released for identified and measurable actions.

    By distinction, a complete lower-off of members of the family could imply that the us may dispose of Pakistan from its record of major non-Nato allies, designate it as a state sponsor of terrorism, or work with India and Afghanistan to more aggressively counter its pursuits in the region.

    Neither side is more likely to need the sort of drastic move.

    Analysts have mentioned that the us does not want instability in Pakistan.

    Pakistan has certainly one of the world’s quickest-rising nuclear programmes, as well as a number of Islamist terrorist businesses on its soil, so “America and its allies are rightly concerned that any instability in Pakistan may result in terrorists getting their arms on Pakistan’s nuclear generation”, Christine Truthful, a US-based South Asia expert, says.

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  • Profile: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

    Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman waves in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (11 April 2017)Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Mohammed bin Salman already wielded large energy prior to he was once named crown prince

    Few people outdoor Saudi Arabia had heard of Prince Mohammed bin Salman earlier than his father changed into king in 2015. However for the reason that then, the 31-12 months-vintage has turn out to be the most influential determine within the world’s top oil exporter.

    He has now been increased to the position of crown prince, replacing his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef – a transfer that had been extensively anticipated and could shape the path of the rustic for decades.

    Mohammed bin Salman used to be born on 31 August 1985, the eldest son of then-Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud’s third wife, Fahdah bint Falah bin Sultan.

    After gaining a bachelor’s degree in law at King Saud University in the capital Riyadh, he worked for several state our bodies. In 2009, he was appointed different adviser to his father, who was once serving as governor of Riyadh on the time.

    Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power began in 2013, when he was named head of the Crown Prince’s Courtroom, with the rank of minister. the previous year, Salman were appointed crown prince after the dying of Nayef bin Abdul Aziz – the daddy of Mohammed bin Nayef.

    Symbol copyright AFP Image caption King Salman made startling changes to the road of succession in 2015

    In January 2015, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz died and Salman acceded to the throne at the age of 79.

    He instantly made decisions that surprised observers, naming his son minister of defence and Mohammed bin Nayef deputy crown prince. The latter become the first of the grandsons of Ibn Saud, the founding father of the kingdom, to move on to the line of succession.

    One of Mohammed bin Salman’s first acts as defence minister was once to launch an army campaign in Yemen in March 2015 along with different Arab states after President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was once compelled into exile by the Houthi insurrection movement.

    The campaign has made restricted growth over the prior two years, noticed Saudi Arabia and its allies being accused of human rights violations, and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest us of a.

    Symbol copyright AFP Image caption Prince Mohammed unveiled Vision 2030, a large-ranging plan for economic change, last 12 months

    In April 2015, King Salman made extra startling changes to the line of succession, appointing Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince and his son deputy crown prince, 2nd deputy top minister and president of the Council of economic and Building Affairs.

    Since then, Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unveiled his wide-ranging plan to bring social and financial amendment in the oil-based kingdom, Vision 2030.

    He has also overseen the aid of the rustic’s lavish subsidies and proposed the partial privatisation of the state oil company, Saudi Aramco.

    Mohammed bin Salman has additionally represented King Salman out of the country, travelling to Beijing, Moscow and Washington, the place he met President Donald Trump in March.

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  • Pakistan’s election: 5 things to understand

    Video Five things to know approximately Pakistan’s election

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  • World Press Freedom Day: Are newshounds increasingly underneath attack?

    Photojournalists and video journalists wearing gas masks flee from teargas during clashes with Israeli forces near an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Symbol copyright ABBAS MOMANI/AFP Image caption More newshounds are being killed in centered assaults than in crossfire, data suggests

    more than 2,500 reporters have been killed when you consider that 1990, and media rights groups warn, on International Press Freedom Day on THREE Would Possibly, of a rising development of newshounds being focused for the work they do.

    Monday was once one among essentially the most fatal days for reporters, with 10 media execs killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan.

    After a suicide bombing in Kabul, journalists collected at the scene to record on the aftermath. Inside 15 minutes, a 2d suicide bomber, disguised as a journalist, arrived to focus on them. The Islamic State group (IS) stated it carried out the twin bombings that left nine newshounds and photographers lifeless, with many more significantly injured.

    In a separate attack in the Khost area, BBC reporter Ahmad Shah was once murdered later the same day. unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot the 29-year-antique as he cycled house in a space that was familiar to him.

    Numbers shot up in the early to mid-90s, whilst there have been civil wars in Algeria, the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. a steady building up then started with the Iraq warfare in 2003, with the biggest number of 155 deaths in 2006, followed via 135 deaths in 2007.

    Analysts say final yr’s decrease determine is not essentially result in for relief, as there has been a shift within the explanation why journalists have died.

    “With the rise of IS throughout Syria and Iraq, journalists were attacked as a result of they were newshounds,” Robert Mahoney from the Committee to give protection to Newshounds (CPJ) mentioned. “They weren’t killed in crossfire, they had been deliberately targeted.”

    Top profile kidnappings and beheadings of overseas reporters in 2012 onwards sparked a shift in information organisations’ coverage, with fewer correspondents being sent into risk zones.

    Mahoney says that as a result of this, native reporters and media staff proceed to “endure the brunt of the deaths”.

    Beyond struggle zones

    Most of those killed in 2017 were murdered for his or her investigations into political corruption and organised crime, according to a number of media rights teams.

    “in the closing six years, it’s been a shockingly dangerous time to be a journalist,” says Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy executive director. “Many reporters are not killed in conflicts, they are murdered and deliberately targeted for their paintings.”

    Mahoney issues the finger at international locations corresponding to the Philippines, Russia, and Mexico – which used to be the deadliest u . s . a . not at struggle for journalists closing 12 months.

    Ernest Sagaga, IFJ’s head of human rights and protection, says that whilst the objectives of armed teams in Afghanistan and in Mexico could also be different, they employ the same way to assault and suppress reporters.

    Recent cases just like the killing of Western journalists investigating corruption in Malta and Slovakia has garnered consideration but Mahoney says that is only a part of a larger image.

    “Every So Often they’re going to pick out up the gunman or employed murderer,” says the CPJ spokesperson, “but the thing we see as whole impunity is how the real killer, the person who ordered the loss of life, doesn’t come to justice.”

    Journalist murder suspects ‘tipped off’ Russian reporter dies after thriller fall Journalist ’s final story rocks Slovakia

    Reporters at the back of bars

    The choice of newshounds killed can also be a strong statistic to measure the risks facing media execs while reporting, but it surely isn’t the one threat they face.

    The year 2017 also marked the top selection of imprisonments – 262 – in virtually 3 a long time, according to CPJ.

    Turkey convicts THIRTEEN more journalists Reporter threatened for anti-rape caricature

    The media rights organisation’s data tracks the choice of reporters in jail on 1 December yearly, so actual numbers may be upper as the annual information don’t account for the ones imprisoned and released at some other time.

    “Imprisonment has always been a sort of intimidation,” explains Mr Sagaga. “It’s approximately silencing those in jail and intimidating those out of doors reporting it.”

    Countries with the highest numbers of reporters imprisoned for doing their jobs are: Turkey with 73 reporters, China with 41 and Egypt with 20.

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