PAKISTAN ELECTION PANEL REJECTS IMRAN’S ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION IN SENATE POLLS

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected the narrative of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members that the electoral body was responsible for protecting corrupt people by holding the recent senate polls with secret ballots.

The statement was issued by the ECP a day after Imran questioned the body’s transparency in a televised address to the nation, saying that corruption took place under the commission’s nose.

“It is a shocking matter that under the same staff in the same election under the same roof on the same day, what they won is acceptable and what they lost is unacceptable. Is this not an open contradiction?” the commission questioned, adding: “The ECP rejects this.”

“The post-election responses we received through the media are disheartening especially what a few federal cabinet members and specifically what the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan said in his yesterday’s [Thursday] address,” added the ECP.

The commission stressed that the senate elections were conducted in accordance with the law and the constitution, adding that the law could not be ignored or violated to please anyone.

Every political party and politician should have the courage to accept defeat, it said.

‘WORLD IS NO CLOSER TO ANSWER ON VIRUS ORIGINS’

Despite a high-profile visit to China by a team of international experts in January, the world is no closer to knowing the origins of COVID-19, according to one of the authors of an open letter calling for a new investigation into the pandemic.

“At this point we are no further advanced than we were a year ago,” said Nikolai Petrovsky, an expert in vaccines at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and one of 26 global experts who signed the open letter, published on Thursday.

The WHO mission to Wuhan, where the coronavirus was identified, has come under fire, with critics accusing the WHO of relying too much on politically compromised Chinese fieldwork and data. Team members also said China was reluctant to share vital data that could show COVID-19 was circulating months earlier than first recognised.

The open letter said the WHO mission “did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation” into all theories about the origins of COVID-19.

“All possibilities remain on the table and I have yet to see a single piece of independent scientific data that rules out any of them,” said Mr. Petrovsky.

Meanwhile, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the team is “working on its final report, as well as summary report, which we understand will be issued in the week of the 15th of March.”

POPE FRANCIS ON IRAQ VISIT CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND EXTREMISM

Pope Francis has called for an end to violence and extremism, on the first ever papal visit to Iraq.

The pontiff is making his first international trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid and security fears have made this his riskiest visit yet, but the 84-year-old insisted he was "duty bound".

He also said Iraq's dwindling Christian community should have a more prominent role as citizens with full rights, freedoms and responsibilities.

He is hoping to foster inter-religious dialogue - meeting Iraq's most revered Shia Muslim cleric - and will celebrate Mass at a stadium in Irbil in the north.

Iraq's PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi greeted him at the airport, with a red carpet, Iraqis in national dress and songs from a largely unmasked choir.

BIDEN BEEFS UP WHITE HOUSE STAFF, INCLUDING BIG TECH CRITIC TIM WU

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a top adviser who has advocated for breaking up Big Tech companies along with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice and the economy.

The White House announced six additional staffers to its National Economic Council, including Columbia University professor Tim Wu, who coined the term “net neutrality” and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms.

Wu authored “The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age” in 2018, in which he warned about the inequalities created by extreme economic concentration.

“I think breakups or undoing of mergers are actually called for more than we have appreciated in the last few decades,” Wu has said previously about Big Tech companies.

Wu served as senior enforcement counsel to the New York Attorney General and as adviser at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Economic Council.

“Putting this twitter feed on hold for now — so long!” Wu, said in a post on Friday.

DEMOCRATS SPLIT ON JOBLESS BENEFITS SLOWS COVID RELIEF BILL IN SENATE

Democrats set aside one battle over boosting the minimum wage but promptly descended into another internal fight Friday as the party haltingly tried moving its $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill through the Senate.

Hours after asserting they’d reached a deal between party moderates and progressives over renewing emergency jobless benefits, lawmakers said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was apparently ready to support a less generous Republican version. Work on the Senate floor ceased for over eight hours as Democrats sought a way to salvage their unemployment provision.

Manchin is probably the chamber’s most conservative Democrat, and a kingmaker in a 50-50 Senate that leaves his party without a vote to spare. With Democrats’ slim majorities — they have a mere 10-vote House edge — the party needs his vote but can’t tilt too far center without losing progressive support.

The episode tossed fresh complications into the Democrats’ drive to give quick approval to a relief bill that is President Joe Biden’s top legislative goal. And while they still seemed likely to pass the package, the problem underscored the headaches confronting party leaders over the next two years as they try moving their agenda through Congress with such slender margins.

MORE THAN 20,000 US ORGANIZATIONS COMPROMISED THROUGH MICROSOFT FLAW: REPORT

More than 20,000 American organizations have been compromised through a back door installed via a recently patched flaw in Microsoft Corp's flagship email software program, a person familiar with the U.S. government's response to the hacking spree said on Friday.

It is the latest indication of how problems in widely used software can be used as jumping-off points for wide-ranging digital espionage campaigns.

Microsoft, which had initially said the espionage campaign consisted of "limited and targeted attacks," did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Earlier on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's widely used Exchange servers were "significant," and "could have far-reaching impacts."

"We're concerned that there're a large number of victims," Psaki said.

AFTER SENATE POLL DEFEAT, ISI, PAK ARMY CHIEFS MEET IMRAN KHAN

The chiefs of Pakistan Army and powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) met Prime Minister Imran Khan to review national issues, a day after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party suffered a humiliating defeat in a closely-contested Senate election, according to a media report.

Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa on Thursday met Prime Minister Khan as part of the interactions between the civilian and military leadership on national issues. ISI Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was also present during the meeting, the Dawn newspaper reported.

An official source said the meeting was held to review the “internal and external situation”. However, no statement was issued by the Prime Minister's Office, which usually issues press releases on such meetings, the report noted.

‘HOW MUCH MORE CAN WE ALLOW THE MYANMAR MILITARY TO GET AWAY WITH?’ U.N. ENVOY ASKS

The United Nations special envoy on Myanmar urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to take action to stop the military junta’s violence against peaceful protesters and restore democracy following a Feb. 1 coup.

“It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results,” Christine Schraner Burgener told the 15-member council in a closed meeting, according to a copy of her remarks seen by Reuters.

“There is an urgency for collective action. How much more can we allow the Myanmar military to get away with?” she asked, adding that hope invested in the United Nations by people in the southeast Asian nation was “waning.”

Police in Myanmar on Friday opened fire on protesters against the coup, killing one man.

“We’ll continue to monitor the situation and take actions that the council can reach agreement on,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward told reporters after Friday’s meeting. Diplomats said the council is considering another statement on Myanmar, which has to be agreed by consensus.

Independent U.N. human rights investigator on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, and New York-based Human Rights Watch have called on the Security Council to impose a global arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions on the junta.

Schraner Burgener again warned that no country should recognize or legitimize the Myanmar junta. She urged the Security Council to give its full support to Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun.

Schraner Burgener also told the council that the situation in Myanmar was moving toward “an acute humanitarian crisis.”

UK DETECTS 16 CASES OF NEW COVID-19 VARIANT

UK health officials said on Thursday they have identified 16 cases of a new variant of the Covid-19 virus in England that might be similar to other strains first identified in Brazil and South Africa.

Public Health England (PHE) said cases of the variant known as B.1.1.318 were first identified on February 15 and it was understood to have originated in the UK. The PHE said the strain had been declared a variant under investigation (VUI) and contained the E484K mutation that is a feature of the South African and Brazilian variants.

US: Nine apes vaccinated

Nine great apes at San Diego Zoo - four orangutans and five bonobos - made veterinary history in recent weeks as the world’s first non-human primates known to be vaccinated against Covid-19, zoo officials said on Thursday.

They received two doses of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine designed for dogs and cats, with the apes exhibiting no adverse reactions.

CORONAVIRUS | DON’T WASTE THE HOPE OF VACCINES, WARNS WHO

Covax will distribute 14.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 31 more countries next week, the WHO said Friday as it warned people not to waste, through complacency, the hope that vaccines bring.

The Covax global vaccine-sharing facility shipped more than 20 million doses to 20 countries as the scheme aimed at ensuring poorer nations get access to jabs took off this week.

But the World Health Organization voiced fears that further waves of the coronavirus pandemic could be on the way if people think the roll-out of vaccines around the globe means the crisis is over.

“I really am very concerned that... we think we’re through this. We’re not,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.

“And countries are going to lurch back into third and fourth surges if we’re not careful.

“We should not waste the hope that vaccines bring... by dropping our guard in other areas.”

JUDGE TELLS UK PAPER TO PRINT FRONT-PAGE NOTICE ON MEGHAN MARKLE LEGAL WIN

The Mail On Sunday, part of a UK newspaper group that lost a high-profile privacy case brought by Meghan Markle, must print a front-page statement acknowledging her legal victory, a judge ruled on Friday.

High Court judge Mark Warby also ordered Associated Newspapers, which owns the Mail On Sunday and MailOnline website, to publish a notice on page three of the paper stating that it had "infringed her copyright".

Warby in February upheld Meghan's claim that Associated Newspapers had breached her privacy and copyright by publishing parts of a 2018 letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle.

The letter to her estranged father was written a few months after she married Queen Elizabeth II's grandson, Prince Harry, and asked him to stop talking to tabloids and making false claims about her in interviews.

Warby has already ordered Associated Newspapers to make an "interim payment" of £450,000 ($627,000) to cover legal costs for the Duchess of Sussex, as Meghan is formally known.

MARS ROVER PERSEVERANCE TAKES FIRST SPIN ON SURFACE OF RED PLANET

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance has taken its first, short drive on the surface of the red planet, two weeks after the robot science lab's picture-perfect touchdown on the floor of a massive crater, mission managers said on Friday.

The six-wheeled, car-sized astrobiology probe put a total of 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) on its odometer on Thursday during a half-hour test spin within Jezero Crater, site of an ancient, long-vanished lake bed and river delta on Mars.

Taking directions from mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles, the rover rolled 4 meters (13.1 feet) forward, turned about 150 degrees to its left and then drove backward another 2.5 meters (8.2 feet).

"It went incredibly well," Anais Zarifian, a JPL mobility test engineer for Perseverance, said during a teleconference briefing with reporters, calling it a "huge milestone" for the mission.

NASA displayed a photo taken by the rover showing the wheel tread marks left in the reddish, sandy Martian soil after its first drive.

TWITTER WORKING ON A WAY TO ‘UNDO’ FRESH TWEETS

Twitter on Friday confirmed that it is working on a button that would give people a chance to take back freshly fired-off tweets before they are posted.

While the feature would not be an edit option long clamored for by Twitter users, it would provide a brief window of opportunity of several seconds to “undo” a tweet after sending.

“We can confirm we are testing this feature,” a Twitter spokeswoman said in reply to an AFP inquiry.

The feature would be in addition to the delete function but would prevent a tweet from appearing on a user’s timeline.

Google’s free Gmail service provides a similar chance to reconsider emails being sent.

Twitter put out word this week that it would be testing products throughout the year, and “hopefully” some would be rolled out.

AT LEAST 20 KILLED, 30 WOUNDED BY SUICIDE CAR BOMB IN SOMALIA CAPITAL

At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded by a suicide car bomb just outside a restaurant near the port in Somalia's capital Mogadishu late on Friday, an emergency services official said.

The blast sent plumes of smoke into the sky and triggered gunfire, witnesses and state-owned media reported.

"So far we have carried 20 dead people and 30 injured from the blast scene," Dr. Abdulkadir Aden, founder of AAMIN Ambulance services told Reuters.

The blast occurred at the Luul Yemeni restaurant near the port, witnesses said.

Somalia's state-controlled Radio Mogadishu reported there was also destruction of property and that police had cordoned off the area.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast.