(BBC News) Wikipedia has been blocked in Pakistan for hosting "blasphemous content."
The move was announced today (Saturday) after the free online encyclopaedia was given a 48-hour deadline to remove some material.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said Wikipedia failed to comply with its ultimatum.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, said the ban meant Pakistanis would be denied access "to the largest free knowledge repository."
Blasphemy is a highly sensitive and incendiary issue in Pakistan. Details of the...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Adani’s market losses swelled above $100 billion on Thursday, sparking worries about a potential systemic impact a day after the Indian group’s flagship firm abandoned its $2.5-billion stock offering.
The shock withdrawal of Adani Enterprises’s share sale marks a dramatic setback for founder Gautam Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years but have plunged in just a week after a critical research report by United States-based short-seller Hindenburg...
(BBC News) The U.S. has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines — a key bit of real estate that would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
With this deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of U.S. alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.
The missing link had been the Philippines, which...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Peru’s Congress has rejected a proposal to move elections forward to December 2023, despite nearly two months of protests that have left dozens dead following the removal of former President Pedro Castillo.
Legislators will continue debating a different proposal to hold early elections, a key demand of the protesters. The first proposal – one of several motions – was rejected by 68 legislators and voted for by 54, with two abstentions.
Within the...
(BBC News) An Iranian couple in their 20s has been given jail sentences totalling 10 years after posting a video of themselves dancing in the street.
They were reportedly convicted for promoting corruption, prostitution, and propaganda.
The video showed them dancing by Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Tower.
Authorities are handing heavy sentences to people seen to be involved in protests after the death of a woman who was detained by morality police.
The couple did not link their dance...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) A campaign group has launched a courtroom battle against the United Kingdom’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia, warning the weapons are worsening a major humanitarian disaster in war-torn Yemen.
The United Kingdom’s High Court today (Tuesday) began hearing the case brought forward by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which says arms exports have contributed to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
The U.K.-based group is challenging the lawfulness of a decision taken by...
(BBC News) The Memphis Police Department has disbanded the so-called Scorpion special unit, five officers of which are accused of murdering Tyre Nichols.
Scorpion stands for "Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods". The unit is a 50-person team tasked with bringing down crime levels in particular areas.
But now it is being abolished after some of its officers were seen beating Nichols, 29, in the videos from January 7. In a statement, the department said...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has condemned the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight Russian forces, accusing Washington of crossing a “red line” and escalating a “proxy war” designed to destroy Moscow.
The comments on Friday by Kim Yo Jong underscored North Korea’s deepening alignment with Russia over the war in Ukraine while it confronts the U.S. and its Asian allies...
(BBC News) Retired NATO general Petr Pavel has been elected as the new president of the Czech Republic, seeing off populist challenger Andrej Babis.
The 61-year-old took 57.6% of the vote, initial results released by the state statistics office showed.
Babis, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021, conceded defeat in a speech to supporters soon after the results were announced.
The ex-general will replace Milos Zeman, whose second term ends in March.
The second-round runoff...
(Tribune Content Agency) The jolts from Intel's announced job cuts have intensified with disclosures of plans by the chip-making giant to slash more jobs in Santa Clara, California, according to new state filings.
Spartronics, a maker of printed circuit boards and other electronic equipment, revealed in a separate filing with the state Employment Development Department, that it had decided to shut a Milpitas, California, manufacturing plant.
Intel is planning to eliminate 177 jobs in Santa Clara, effective on or...
