US SHIFTING MILITARY TO INDIA, SOUTHEAST ASIA TO COUNTER CHINESE ARMY:

POMPEO

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today said that the US is

reducing its troop presence in Europe and shifting it to other places to

counter Chinese threat to India and Southeast Asia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave this statement in response to a

question at the Brussels Forum virtual conference when he was asked about

the reason behind reducing the number of troops based in Germany.

He also said that he would open a dialogue with the European Union on China

and expressed hope it would lead to tougher action against the Communist

regime.

The actions of the Chinese Communist Party meant there were “threats to

India” and countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and

the South China Sea due to which the US is posturing appropriately to meet

these “challenges of our time”.

“I spoke this month with EU Foreign Ministers, I got a lot of feedback on

ChinaÂ’s Communist Party, laid out a series of facts that talked about

PeopleÂ’s Liberation Army's provocative military action including its

continued aggression in the South China Sea, deadly border confrontations

with India and threats against peaceful neighbours,” Pompeo said.

In a scathing attack on the Xi Jinping-led Chinese government, Pompeo said

that the Communist Party of China wants to undo all the progress made by the

free world through institutions like the NATO and adopt a new set of rules

and norms that accommodate Beijing.

Lashing out China's PLA for escalating border tensions with India, the

world's most populous democracy, Pompeo accused Beijing of not only

militarizing the South China Sea but also illegally claiming more territory

there and threatening vital sea lanes.

Asked whether Huawei was part of the Chinese “surveillance state,” Pompeo

said Chinese security force personnel worked on the top floor of the company

headquarters and Chinese law required Huawei to pass any data, including

personal data, to the Chinese Communist Party whenever the latter asked. He

said there was more evidence that he could not state in public.

CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS THREATEN DEMOCRACY, GLOBAL LEADERS WARN

The outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent pandemic has led to an alarming

uptick in authoritarian behavior by governments across the globe, who are

using the crisis to silence critics, an open letter signed by more than 500

former world leaders and Nobel Laureates claims.

The letter, organized by the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and

published Thursday, highlights that in the wake of the crisis, both

authoritarian and democratically-elected governments the world over have

used emergency powers to arrest protestors and sidestep democratic norms.

The letter warns: "Authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the

crisis to silence critics and tighten their political grip. But even some

democratically-elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing

emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance

without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or timeframes

for the restoration of constitutional order.

"Parliaments are being sidelined, journalists are being arrested and

harassed, minorities are being scapegoated, and the most vulnerable sectors

of the population face alarming new dangers as the economic lockdowns ravage

the very fabric of societies everywhere."

Since the pandemic began, dozens of countries have introduced emergency

declarations and more than 100 have brought in measures that affect public

assembly, such as protests against the state, according to the International

Center for Non-Profit Law's Covid-19 Civic Freedom Tracker. Their cited

examples range from restricting access of public information to arresting

citizens for "provocative" posts on social media.

However, the letter's chief warning is that countries with strong democratic

traditions could use the pandemic to introduce extraordinary measures that

in the long run become ordinary, doing permanent damage to global democracy.

"Now is the time when all of us must stand up for democracy. We need to make

it clear to everyone what is at stake and that we will not allow leaders

with authoritarian tendencies to use this or other crises to increase their

power and decrease our rights," said Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General

of IDEA and former Second Vice-President of Costa Rica.

PAKISTAN PM IMRAN KHAN SLAMMED FOR SAYING OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS "MARTYRED"

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan faced a growing backlash on Thursday

after he said former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been "martyred".

Imran Khan made the comment in parliament as he was describing the history

of Pakistan's troubled relations with the US since American special forces

killed bin Laden in 2011 in the northern city of Abbottabad.

"The Americans came to Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden. Martyred him,"

Imran Khan said.

The prime minister faced blowback from opposition figures and observers

following the televised speech.

Slamming Khan’s speech, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari of PPP said, “I can only

compare this to how the state of Pakistan sent soldiers to fight in Kargil.

They sent them to their deaths and we did not even acknowledge them.”

Khawaja Asif of the opposition PML-N said Khan’s speech was “riddled with

errors on history and politics”. He said Osama“brought terrorism to my

country. He destroyed my country and Imran Khan has declared him a shaheed”.

Asif said, “Zia ul Haq brought Osama to Pakistan and Imran Khan has called

him a shaheed.”

"Muslims all over the world are struggling because of the discrimination

they face due to recent terrorism & our PM makes it worse by calling obl a

martyr of Islam!" Meena Gabeena, a Pakistani activist, said on Twitter.

The row came as Islamabad rejected the US state departmentÂ’s annual report

on terrorism as “self-contradictory” and “selective” in its characterisation

of PakistanÂ’s efforts to counter terrorism and terror financing.

TURKISH OFFICIAL SLAMS BOLTON MEMOIR, SAYS IT IS ‘MISLEADING’

Turkey has denounced as “misleading, one-sided and manipulative” the

explosive book by former U.S. National Security Advisor John BoltonÂ’s that

describes interactions between Turkish and U.S. Presidents Recep Tayyip

Erdogan and Donald Trump.

In the book “The Room Where It Happened”, Mr. Bolton contends that the U.S.

leader was inclined to offer “personal favours to dictators he liked.”

Mr. Trump was said to be receptive when Mr. Erdogan mentioned a criminal

probe into one of his countryÂ’s largest banks over violating U..S sanctions

on Iran.

Mr. Bolton wrote that Mr. Trump told Mr. Erdogan “he would take care of

things,” explaining that New York prosecutors handling the case were

appointed by his predecessor Barack Obama and could be replaced.

Fahrettin Altun, communications director of the Turkish presidency, on

Wednesday sent out a flurry of tweets in English saying that the book

“includes misleading, one-sided and manipulative presentations of our leader

President Erdogan’s conversations” with Mr. Trump. “It is clear that...

(these) mischaracterisations and falsehoods are driven by domestic political

considerations as well as personal gain,” he tweeted.

CORONAVIRUS: 'VERY SIGNIFICANT' RESURGENCES IN EUROPE ALARM WHO

Europe has seen an increase in weekly cases of Covid-19 for the first time

in months as restrictions are eased, the World Health Organization (WHO)

says.

In 11 places, which include Armenia, Sweden, Moldova and North Macedonia,

accelerated transmission has led to "very significant resurgence", said

Regional Director Dr Hans Henri Kluge.

His warnings about the risk of resurgence had become reality, he said.

If left unchecked, he warned health systems would be "pushed to the brink".

More than 2.6 million cases of Covid-19 and 195,000 deaths have been

reported in the WHO's European region, which is expansive, covering 54

countries and seven territories across Europe, the Middle East and Central

Asia.

Almost 20,000 new cases and more than 700 new deaths are being recorded

daily.

"For weeks, I have spoken about the risk of resurgence as countries adjust

measures," Dr Kluge told a virtual news conference on Thursday.

"In several countries across Europe, this risk has now become a reality - 30

countries have seen increases in new cumulative cases over the past two

weeks.

"In 11 of these countries, accelerated transmission has led to very

significant resurgence that if left unchecked will push health systems to

the brink once again."

CORONAVIRUS: US CASES ‘MAY HAVE TOPPED 20 MILLION’

At least 20 million people in the US may already have been infected with

Covid-19, according to the latest estimate by health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the true number of cases is

likely to be 10 times higher than the reported figure.

It comes as the state of Texas halted its reopening as infections and

hospitalisations surged.

The US has recorded 2.4m confirmed infections and 122,370 deaths.

Some southern and western states have been reporting record numbers of cases

in recent days.

The University of Washington predicts 180,000 US deaths by October - or

146,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks.

Texas confirmed a record 5,996 new cases on Thursday. There were also 47 new

deaths, the highest daily toll for a month

Other states, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho,

Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming, have

all recorded record daily increases in the number of confirmed cases this

week.

DEMOCRATS BLOCK POLICE REFORM BILL

US Senate Democrats have blocked a Republican police reform Bill from

advancing as they push for bipartisan talks on a plan to overhaul law

enforcement following a national outcry against police brutality and racism.

WednesdayÂ’s key vote, 55-45, was seen as a setback in CongressÂ’ effort to

pass legislation. Democrats said the Bill was insufficient, calling it an

irredeemably flawed answer to the problem of systemic racism in law

enforcement.

GOOGLE TO PAY FOR NEWS CONTENT

Google will pay partnered media publishers in three countries and offer some

users free access to paywalled news sites, the tech giant said on Thursday.

The announcement comes after legal battles in France and Australia over

GoogleÂ’s refusal to pay news organisations for content.

In a blog post, the company said it would launch “a licensing programme to

pay publishers for high-quality content for a new news experience” due to

launch later this year.

Brad Bender, GoogleÂ’s vice-president of product management, said they had

been in discussions with partnered publishers — including the Spiegel Group

in Germany, Schwartz media in Australia and Brazil’s Diarios Associados —

for several months, “with more to come.”

“Google will also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled

articles on a publisher’s site,” the statement said, without offering any

further details.

Bender said the program will help publishers “monetize their content through

an enhanced storytelling experience.”

He added it would build on the 2018 Google News Initiative, a $300 million

project that aimed to tackle disinformation online and help news sites grow

financially.

UN CHIEF EXPECTS ALL MEMBERS TO ABIDE BY UNSC RESOLUTIONS AFTER U.S. REPORT

ON PAKISTAN

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expects all member states to “live up”

to their obligations under the relevant Security Council resolutions, his

spokesperson has said, after a U.S. report noted that Pakistan remains a

safe haven for terrorists as it did not take actions against JeM founder

Masood Azhar.

The U.S. State Department, in its Congressional-mandated 2019 Country

Reports on Terrorism on Wednesday, said Pakistan remained a “safe harbor”

for regionally-focused terrorist groups and that the suspension of U.S. aid

to the country remained in effect throughout 2019.

Stéphane Dujarric, responding to a question during his daily press briefing,

said while he will not comment on the report issued by the U.S. State

Department, “Obviously, as a matter of principle, we do expect all member

states to live up to their obligations as laid out in any relevant Security

Council resolution or Security Council decision.

150 PAKISTAN PILOTS SUSPENDED IN LICENCE PROBE

Pakistan International Airlines said on Thursday it had grounded almost a

third of its pilots for holding fake or dubious licences, a month after one

of its planes crashed into houses killing 98 people.

The move comes after the government released a report into the May 22 crash

in Karachi. Investigators largely blamed the two pilots, who ignored flight

protocols and had been discussing the coronavirus outbreak when they first

attempted to land the Airbus A320. PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan said

that a government probe last year had found about 150 of its 434 pilots were

carrying “either bogus or suspicious licences”.

TALIBAN SAYS IT WILL PUNISH KIDNAPPERS OF AFGHAN SIKH, DENIES ROLE IN

ABDUCTION

The Taliban was not involved in the kidnapping of a leader of the Sikh

community who was abducted by unknown persons in Paktia province of

Afghanistan and his abductors would face justice from the group, the Afghan

Taliban said on Thursday.

The statement from the outfit came three days after Nedan Singh was

kidnapped in Chamkani district of Paktia in the second such incident in

recent months.

“As a policy, we don’t kidnap any one, nor have we kidnapped this gentleman.

Our goal is clear, that is putting an end to the [foreign] occupation. No

question, if we find his kidnappers, we will send them to our courts to

punish them as per the law,” Suhail Shaheen, spokesman of the political

office of the Taliban, said in a message to The Hindu.

The statement is aimed at putting to rest speculations about the groupÂ’s

involvement in the incident. The relatives of Mr. Singh had received phone

calls from Afghanistan and the callers claimed that they were part of the

Taliban. But Mr. Shaheen said the kidnappers were not part of the group and

had committed a crime.

The spokesman had earlier said the Taliban remained “committed to minority

rights” and blamed the Islamic State fighters for the March 25 attack on a

Gurdwara in Kabul which left at least 25 persons dead.

ASSANGE FACES INDICTMENT IN US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought to recruit hackers at conferences in

Europe and Asia who could provide his anti-secrecy website with classified

information, according to a new Justice Department indictment announced on

Wednesday.

The indictment does not contain additional charges beyond the 18 counts the

Justice Department unsealed last year.

NATIVE AMERICANS TO PROTEST AGAINST TRUMP VISIT TO MOUNT RUSHMORE

Native American groups are planning to protest against President Donald

Trump's visit to Mount Rushmore at the start of the Independence Day

weekend.

Activists have long taken issue with the South Dakota monument to former US

presidents, which was built on land sacred to the Sioux tribe.

Mr Trump will bring fighter jets and fireworks to Mount Rushmore on 3 July

as his campaigning tour continues.

The controversial trip comes amid heightened racial tensions nationwide.

Mount Rushmore features the 60ft (18.2m) high faces of four US presidents:

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

The monument was carved into the granite rock face between 1927 and 1941.

But the land the memorial lies on - the Black Hills of South Dakota - was

taken from the indigenous Lakota Sioux by the US government in 1800s.

Its sculptor was reportedly a white supremacist with ties to the Ku Klux

Klan.