UN CALLS ON PAK TO CURB FORCED MARRIAGES OF TEENAGE GIRLS FROM MINORITY SECTS

Islamabad: The United Nations (UN) has called upon Pakistan for an immediate curb on coerced religious conversions, child marriages, kidnapping of teenage girls and their forced conversions and marriage to men twice their age. The global body highlighted Pakistan's failure to ensure religious security for minorities.

The UN has appealed to Pakistan to 'stop the alleged abuse and kidnapping of teenagers, who are trafficked far from their homes and made to marry men sometimes twice their age'. In reports presented to the UN by human rights experts, issues like the 'involvement of religious authorities and the complicity of security forces and the justice system, in cases of kidnapping, forced conversions and child marriages' were noted.

"Pakistan's courts have enabled the perpetrators by accepting fraudulent evidence from them, regarding the age of the victims and their willingness to marry and convert to Islam," a group of independent experts and special reporters of the UN said, as per IANS.

DEMOGRAPHERS LAMENT CHINA WILL GET OLD BEFORE IT GETS RICH

China’s population is shrinking faster than expected. Long-term, UN experts see the country’s populace shrinking by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019. In 2022, the country officially registered its first population dip in six decades.

That’s caused domestic demographers to lament that China will get old before it gets rich, slowing the economy as revenues drop and government debt increases due to soaring health and welfare costs. “China’s demographic and economic outlook is much bleaker than expected. China will have to adjust its social, economic, defence and foreign policies,” said demographer Yi Fuxian. He added that the country’s shrinking labour force and downturn in manufacturing heft would further exacerbate high prices and high inflation in the US and Europe.

NEPAL FINDS ALL BUT ONE MISSING PERSON FOLLOWING PLANE CRASH

Kathmandu : Rescuers used drones and abseiled down a deep gorge on Tuesday looking for the last missing person from Nepal’s worst air disaster in 30 years, in which at least 71 people died including smallchildren.

Difficult terrain around the 200 metre (650 feet) gorge and poor weather was hampering rescue efforts near the tourist city of Pokhara, where the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop carrying 72 people crashed on Sunday just beforelanding.

The search was called off after darkness descended, and will resume on Wednesday, said Tek Bahadur KC, a top district official. Rescue teams were struggling to identify bodies, Ajay KC, a police official in Pokhara said. Rescuers had collected what appeared to be human remains and sent them for a DNA test, he said, but search efforts would continue until all 72 passengers and crew were accountedfor. Search teams found 68 bodies on the day of the crash, while two bodies were recovered on Monday. One more body had been recovered as of late Tuesday, said Prakash Pokhrel, an official. An airport official said 48 bodies were brought to Kathmandu on Tuesday and sent to a hospital for autopsies, while 22 bodies were being handed over to families in Pokhara.

IN UK, TECH BOSSES FACE JAIL IF CHILDREN NOT PROTECTED ONLINE

London : Tech bosses could be jailed in Britain if their platforms fail to protect children from online harm after the government agreed to toughen a proposed law to avoid the prospect of a first parliamentary defeat forthe PM. Rishi Sunak faced losing a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday after 50 Conservative lawmakers and the main opposition party said they would support another amendment to the long-delayed Online Safety Bill. The rebels had tabled an amendment proposing jail sentences of up to two years for tech bosses for failing to protect children from content such as child abuse and self-harm.

Michelle Donelan, the culture and digital minister, said in a written statement to parliament that the government agreed to changes to the legislation so executives could be jailed if they “consent or connive” to ignoring the new rules. “This amendment will not affect those who have acted in good faith,” she said. But it would provide “additional teeth to deliver change and ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children”.

Thisis the third time that Sunak, who has a majority of 67, has backed down in the face of similar revolts in parliament since he took office in October. UK has been grappling to protect social media users, and in particular kids, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

The bill was originally designed to create one of the toughest regimes for regulating sites such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. It aimed to make companies stamp out illegal content on their sites, such as revenge porn and encouraging suicide. But, the proposals were watered down in November, when the requirement to stop “legal but harmful content” was removed on the grounds that it could damage free speech.

ZELENSKY ADVISER RESIGNS OVER DNIPRO REMARKS

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has offered his resignation after suggesting a Russian missile which hit a building in Dnipro, killing 44 people, was shot down by Kyiv.

Mr Arestovych apologised and said he had made a "fundamental error".

The original remark caused widespread anger in the country, and was used by Russian officials to blame Ukraine.

The adviser is a well-known figure because of his daily updates on YouTube, watched by millions.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet commented on Mr Arestovych's decision to resign.

Hours after Saturday's missile strike hit an apartment building in Dnipro, Mr Arestovych initially said it appeared that the Russian missile had fallen on the building after it was shot down by Ukrainian air defences.

Ukraine said the building was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which it does not have the capability to shoot down and is reportedly extremely inaccurate.

Ukrainians reacted angrily to Mr Arestovych's initial comments, with some accusing him of strengthening the position of Russian propagandists. Some Ukrainian parliamentarians signed a petition calling for Mr Arestovych to be dismissed as a government official.

He later posted a letter tending his resignation and said he had made a "fundamental error".

"I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building," he wrote in a longer post on Telegram.

BRAZIL CHARGES 39 FOR RIOTS, THEIR ASSETS TO BE FROZEN

Brasilia : The office of Brazil’s prosecutor-general has presented its first charges against some of the thousands of people who authorities say stormed government buildings in an effort to overturn former President Jair Bolsonaro’s loss in the October election.

The prosecutors in the recently formed group to combat anti-democratic acts also have requested that the 39 defendants who ransacked the Congress be imprisoned as a preventive measure, and that 40 million reais ($7. 7 million) of their assets be frozen to help cover damages.

The defendants have been charged with armed cri-minal association, violent attempt to subvert the democratic state of law, staging a coup and damage to public property, the prosecutor general’s office said on Monday. Their identities have not yet been released.

More than a thousand people were arrested on the day of the January 8 riots when attackers stormed through the Brazilian Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia. The rioters were not charged with terrorism because under Brazilian law such a charge must involve xenophobia or prejudice based on race, ethnicity or religion.

VIETNAM PREZ QUITS FOLLOWING CRITICISM OVER GRAFT SCANDALS

Bangkok : Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned on Tuesday, becoming the most senior member of the government to step down after a series of high-profile corruption scandals for which he was held responsible. The language of the announcement strongly suggested that he was forced to step down. The ruling Communist Party blamed him for “violations and wrongdoing” by officials under his control while PM, the government said on Tuesday. An official statement published in state media said he bore political responsibility as the country’s top executive for serious scandals involving his subordinates, including two deputy PMs. Phuc was PM from 2016 to 2021.

PAKISTAN’S ELECTION PANEL SUSPENDS 271 LAWMAKERS

Pakistan’s top election body has suspended the membership of 271 lawmakers across the country for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.

The statements have to be filed by December 31 every year, and the lawmakers were directed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit their financial statements up to June 30, 2022, by January 16, 2023. It also warned that failing to submit the financial statements would result in the suspension of their respective memberships.

The ECP said on Monday that those targeted include 136 Members of the National Assembly, 21 Senators, and 114 Members of Provincial Assemblies.

As opposed to the 35 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three Senators who had failed to submit their statement of assets to the ECP by last year’s deadline of January 16, the number was significantly higher this year due to resignation by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers from the National Assembly.

NGOS PARTIALLY RESUME ACTIVITIES IN AFGHANISTAN WITH WOMEN WORKERS

At least three leading international aid agencies have partially resumed life-saving work in Afghanistan after assurances from the Taliban authorities that Afghan women can continue to work in the health sector.

Hundreds of NGOs have been instrumental in trying to address one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with half of Afghanistan’s 38 million people hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition.

CARE, Save the Children, and International Rescue Committee suspended their operations in late December in protest against a government order banning Afghan women from aid work.

“We have received clear, reliable assurances that our female staff will be safe and can work without obstruction,” Save the Children said in a statement, confirming they had resumed work in the health sector in the past few days.

“However, with the overarching ban still in place, our other activities where we do not have reliable assurances that our female colleagues can work, remain on hold.”

GRETA DETAINED IN GERMANY

Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was detained on Tuesday during protests against the demolition of the village of Luetzerath in Germany for the expansion of a coal mine. A spokesperson for the police division in the region said Thunberg, who joined the protests last week, and other demonstrators will be released soon. Activists argue burning coal undermines Germany’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.