Met Police officer Wayne Couzens has pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard…reports Asian Lite News.
Couzens, 48, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 29 September, the BBC reported.
The firearms officer snatched her as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March, driving her away in a car he had hired.
The 33-year-old’s body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent, metres from land owned by Couzens. She had been raped and strangled, according to the report.
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighbourhood of south London.
The police said that human remains had been found as part of their investigation into her disappearance, prompting an outpouring of grief from lawmakers, community leaders and London residents.
Couzens, a police constable whose primary role at the time was uniformed patrol duties of diplomatic premises, was arrested and charged with Everard’s kidnap and murder, reported CNN.
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was in court when Couzens pleaded guilty.
Speaking outside the Old Bailey, she said she felt “sickened, angered and devastated” by his crimes, the BBC reported.
“They are dreadful and everyone in policing feels betrayed,” she was quoted as saying. “Sarah was a fantastic, talented young woman with her whole life ahead of her and that has been snatched away.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said that a total of 12 gross misconduct or misconduct notices had so far been served on police officers from multiple forces in relation to the Couzens case, including about the handling of two separate claims that Couzens had indecently exposed himself, it was reported.
The minister, Marcelo Queiroga, made the announcement about Covaxin at a press conference, following the guidance of the federal Comptroller General of the Union (CGU)…reports Asian Lite News
Brazil’s health minister has announced the suspension of a $324 million contract with an Indian firm for made in India vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) which has seen president Jair Bolsonaro mired in accusations of irregularities.
The minister, Marcelo Queiroga, made the announcement about Covaxin at a press conference, following the guidance of the federal Comptroller General of the Union (CGU). Queiroga further said his team would probe the allegations during the period of the suspension of the contract.
“According to the preliminary analysis of the CGU, there are no irregularities in the contract, but for compliance, the health ministry chose to suspend the contract,” a statement from the ministry read.
The allegations against Bolsonaro, who is facing mounting pressure and protests at home for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, became known after whistleblowers went public with the alleged irregularities. An official of the health ministry said he, too, alerted the president about his concerns.
Brazil signed a deal with India’s Bharat Biotech International Limited for 20 million doses of its anti-Covid vaccine Covaxin. But federal prosecutors have now opened an investigation into the deal, citing comparatively high prices, “quick talks,” and pending regulatory approvals as red flags. The deal is also under the scanner of a Senate panel probing the federal government’s handling of the pandemic.
Additionally, a leading opposition member on the Senate panel, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, on Monday filed a formal complaint against Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court, seeking a probe into the “serious allegations” by the court. Bolsnaro, who has denied any wrongdoing, faces a presidential election next year.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil’s cumulative Covid-19 infection tally stands at over 18.5 million, the third-highest globally behind the infection tallies of the United States and India respectively. The virus has till now claimed more than 510,000 lives in the South American nation, the Johns Hopkins’ dashboard shows; this is the second-highest coronavirus-related death toll in the world after that of the United States (604,474). Also, the US and Brazil are the only two countries with a Covid-19 death toll exceeding 500,000.
Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow said he received a call at about 4 am PT that the Chopaka church was on fire….reports Asian Lite News
Days after two Catholic churches were destroyed by fire in the British Columbia province of Canada, two more Catholic churches were burned down in the province’s Interior on Saturday morning.
Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow said he received a call at about 4 am PT that the Chopaka church was on fire. By the time he arrived about 30 minutes later, it had burned to the ground, reported CBC News.
“I am angry. I do not see any positive coming from this and it igoing to be tough,” said Crow.
Crow further said that he later received a call from the Upper Similkameen Indian Band, near Hedley, that a church on that reserve had burned down as well.
The Upper Similkameen Indian Band confirmed that St Ann’s Church was destroyed overnight and a representative for the band said officials are currently working with Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the site of the fire.
In a written statement, RCMP said both fires started within an hour of each other early Saturday morning. They said the Chopaka church fire had spread to nearby brush, but BC Wildfire crews were able to attend to it before it spread.
Meanwhile, Crow said that the fire in his community is still under investigation, adding that the fact it came on the heels of overnight fires that destroyed two other churches in the Okanagan earlier this week is suspicious.
“There’s got to be something more to it,” he said. “It’s not just coincidence.”
RCMP said they’re treating Saturday’s fires as suspicious, and investigating any possible links to the Okanagan church fires, reported CBC News.
The RCMP on Monday said that the Sacred Heart church on Penticton Indian Band lands and St. Gregory’s church on Osoyoos Indian Band lands burned to the ground and police were treating the fires as suspicious.
The incident comes days after 751 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for indigenous children in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, the second such discovery here in less than a month as the country confronts one of the darkest chapters in its history.
The discovery came less than a month after the mass burial place of 215 children, some as young as three years old, was found at the site of a school, closed in 1978, near the Canadian town of Kamloops.
Following the discovery of graves, a probe has been opened into the circumstances and the accountability of these fatalities.
Under the Canadian schooling system for indigenous children during the 19th century, at least 150,000 students were forcibly separated from their families and incarcerated in residential schools. It is estimated that up to 6,000 children could have died in such schools. (ANI)
One aspect that comes to mind that might thus far has been ignored by the FATF team is perhaps Pakistan terror financing operations involving their foreign missions….reports Amjad Ayub Mirza
A decision to maintain Pakistans status in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force {ISI} was taken on June 25 in Paris. A dissatisfied panel comprising China, among other things questioned why there is a seemingly unnecessary delay in the court proceedings of the 1373 UN designated terrorists imprisoned in the country. Pakistan was told to do more with regards to tracking and cracking down money laundering which they believe is a means to supply dosh for carrying out acts of terror.
One aspect that comes to mind that might thus far has been ignored by the FATF team is perhaps Pakistan terror financing operations involving their foreign missions. It would be interesting to note that recent news articles published in international print media manifest Pakistani Diplomats not only of indulging in antisocial and but even criminal behaviour and acts that are of terrorist nature.
Is it not true that individuals chosen to serve their countries in alien lands are carefully selected and trained? As a matter of fact, two Pakistani diplomats were recently caught stealing a hat worth $10.70 and chocolate worth $1.7 in Yongsan, South Korea, this April.
One might give them the benefit of doubt and call it a one off incident.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
However, during recent years’ irrefutable evidence has been mounting regarding the criminal behaviour of Pakistani diplomatic community which is of a worrying nature. An incident took place in Bangladesh and resulted in the expulsion of Farina Arshad, Second Secretary (Political) working at the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka. She was accused of facilitating terror financing in 2015.2
Amir Zubair Siddiqui, a visa counsellor at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo had been put on the terror watch list by the Indian National Investigation Agency for indulging in espionage and terror activities, and then came the arrest and deportation of two employees of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi in 2020 who were accused of espionage.
An isolated incident may reflect an individual act, but regular and repeated offences tell a different story about Pakistani diplomats.
It is common knowledge that Pakistan’s foreign policy is controlled by the army at GHQ in Rawalpindi. The Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) personnel are routinely deputed to Pakistani missions abroad. They have been caught red-handed on several occasions while pursuing terrorism-related and activities.
Logo of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization(wikipedia)
For instance, in 2001, Mohammad Arshad Cheema, First Secretary at the Pakistani high commission in Kathmandu, was arrested for possessing 16 kg of RDX.5 Few years back in 2014 Pakistani Defense Attache (and ISI representative) in Colombo, Colonel Shahryar Butt, was repatriated because he kept on ‘checking’ into the High Commission’s affairs.
The key to understanding the above phenomena lies in recognizing that ISI cells are present in almost all Pakistani Embassies. Perhaps, Pakistan has different standards for when it comes to diplomatic responsibilities. No wonder during the period between May 2018-19 the US had restricted the movement of Pakistani diplomats to a few square miles within Washington.
However, even more alarming is a spate of morally shameful acts that Pakistani diplomats have indulged into in the recent past. Allegations such as domestic abuse conducted against his spouse by Munir Akram, Pakistan’s current Permanent Representative to UN; arrest of Mazhar Khan, the Assistant Visa Officer at the Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka accused of dealing in fake currencies in 2015, abduction and rape charges brought against two Pakistani diplomats in the UK in 20146 and Waqas Ahmed, a Pakistani diplomat in Harare was arrested and imprisoned for human trafficking in May 2020.
These were crimes of such serious nature that Islamabad was forced to voluntarily surrendered their diplomatic immunity.
The murder of Baloch journalist Sajid Baloch in Sweden and that of human rights activist Karima Baloch are also attributed to the clandestine network of Pakistani ISI cells working from Pakistani missions abroad. In any future meeting of the FATF it would be wise to look into Pakistan’s involvement in global terrorism and to curb acts of terrorism that have made our world a less safe place.
(Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoJK. He currently lives in exile in the UK)
As per police sources, an explosive laden vehicle exploded near a police check-post located near the Allah Hu Boulevard in Joher town….reports Hamza Ameer
At least two people have died while over 15 persons have been critically injured in a massive bomb blast in the Joher town area in Lahore on Wednesday.
As per police sources, an explosive laden vehicle exploded near a police check-post located near the Allah Hu Boulevard in Joher town.
The intensity of the blast was so severe that several nearby buildings developed cracks, while the windowpanes of many houses and vehicles parked in the area were shattered.
Official sources confirmed that the injured persons include women and children, who have been taken to nearby hospitals. Local people have been urged to visit the hospitals to donate blood.
The injured persons also include police officers, who are also being treated in the nearby hospitals. Their condition is stated to be critical.
Security forces have cordoned off the area while the officers of the Counter Terrorism Department are working towards ascertaining the cause of the blast.
“We will only be able to determine the cause after carrying out an investigation,” said Inam Ghani, Inspector General of Punjab Police.
As per eyewitnesses, the intensity of the blast was huge. However, some of the eyewitnesses claimed that the explosive was planted on a motorcycle.
It is pertinent to mention here that the target of the vehicle carrying the explosives may have been the residence of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, whose house is located in the same area.
The security check-post, near which the blast occurred, is close to the residence of Hafiz Saeed.
Ghani said that the target of the attackers seems to be the security officials.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken note of the blast and has directed the IG to investigate the matter and submit a report on priority.
“Those responsible for the blast should be brought under the law,” Budzar said.
Meanwhile, Ghani said that a foreign hand is always present in such terror attacks, adding that hostile foreign agencies trying to target security officials and spread fear would not succeed in defeating the ongoing fight against terrorism.
The names of these terrorists are mentioned in the latest updated list of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which is responsible for securing the internal security …reports By Rajnish Singh
Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and key Mumbai attacks perpetrator Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi feature in India’s list of 31 most wanted terrorists.
These 31 terrorists have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and figure in the list of most wanted individuals by the Indian government for their involvement in various anti-India activities such as bomb blasts, killings and other conspiracies which somehow compromised the country’s internal security.
The names of these terrorists are mentioned in the latest updated list of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which is responsible for securing the internal security of the country besides with taking strict actions against those conspiring against India.
Azhar, Saeed and Lakhvi are among the top five in the list of 31 terrorists, along with dreaded Indian gangster-tuned-drug lord Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and Wadhawa Singh Babbar, a key leader of banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
Along with Dawood, 65, his Pakistan-based associates Javed Chikna alias Javed Dawood Tailor, Ibrahim Memon alias Tiger Memon and Shaikh Shakeel alias Chhota Shakeel are named in the list.
All are accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts, when a series of 12 explosions claimed the lives of over 250 people.
The list also features Lakhbir Singh, chief of Pakistan-based terrorist organisation International Sikh Youth Federation; Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta of Khalistan Zindabad Force; Paramjit Singh of Pakistan-based Khaliastan Commando Force; Bhupinder Singh Bhinda of Khalistan Zindabad Force; Gurmeet Singh Bagga, a key member of Khalistan Zindabad Force based in Germany; Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a key member of Sikh For Justice based in the US; Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canada-based chief of Khalistan Tiger Force; and Paramjit Singh, the UK-based chief of BKI.
They were all declared as designated terrorists by the Home Ministry on July 1 last year.
Among the others named in the list are Sajid Mir, Yusuf Muzammil, Abdur Rehman Makki, Shahid Mehmood, Farhatullah Ghori, Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ibrahim Athar, Yusuf Azhar, Shahid Latif, Ghulam Nabi Khan, Zaffar Hussain Bhat, Riyaz Ismail Shahbandr, Md Iqbal and Mohammad Anis Shaikh.
Ahead of the next meeting of the global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), scheduled later this month, Pakistan has scrambled into action by registering two cases against Masood Azhar, Rauf Asgar and Sajid Mir — the top leaders of JeM.
Pakistan had also reportedly carried out raids to locate Azhar, but the operation was unsuccessful as the raiding party only found his wife and a few aides from his Bahawalpur residence.
A Pakistan court in January this year had sentenced Lakhvi to five years in prison for terror financing. He has been accused by India and the US of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which at least 160 people were killed.
Last year, 70-year-old radical cleric Hafiz Saeed was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years in jail in Pakistan. He played a key role in carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Originally from Dongri in Mumbai, Dawood Ibrahim reportedly resides in D-13, Block 4 at Clifton, an affluent seaside neighbourhood in Pakistan’s Karachi, with his extended family, though the Pakistan government denies it. Dawood heads the organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he had founded in Mumbai in 1970s.
Since the early 90s, India has been fighting a war against terrorism that has claimed the lives of thousands of people, including several personnel of the security forces. While the country over the last three decades has taken several steps and measures to mitigate terrorism, more needs to be done to avoid the radicalisation of the youth.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and M.R. Shah said that considering the international tribunal order, India has agreed to the compensation of Rs 10 crore…reports Asian Lite News
The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed all criminal proceedings pending in India against two Italian marines, accused of killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012, after payment of Rs 10 crore compensation by Italy.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and M.R. Shah said that considering the international tribunal order, India has agreed to the compensation of Rs 10 crore and Italy has deposited the amount, which has been transferred to the top court’s registry.
“We are satisfied with the compensation and the ex-gratia paid over and above earlier.
“We are of the view that this is a fit case to close all the proceedings in India including criminal proceedings in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India,” said the bench, quashing the FIR registered at Kerala’s Kollam and re-registered by NIA in 2013 and also all proceedings originating from the case.
The bench noted as per the tribunal order, Italy will resume the criminal proceedings against the marines. It ordered transfer of Rs 10 crore to the Kerala High Court registry, out of which Rs 4 crore each should be paid to the two victims’ families and Rs 2 crore to the boat owner.
The bench added the High Court should appoint a judge to ensure the compensation is paid to the victims’ legal heirs.
The top court closed the case taking into account the Arbitral Tribunal, constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS, award dated May 21, 2020 under which Italy agreed to pay the compensation of Rs 10 crore, over and above the amount of ex-gratia amount already paid.
Citing the tribunal order, the top court noted that Italy can begin criminal proceedings against the two marines, and case details along with evidence will be provided by the Centre and the Kerala government to it.
The top court also said the order of disbursement/investment be passed after hearing the heirs of each deceased and protecting their best interest.
It noted that Kerala government, the heirs of the deceased fishermen and the owner of the boat have agreed to accept the award.
The top court said that Rs 10 crore can be said to be a reasonable amount of compensation and in the interest of heirs of the deceased.
It emphasised that while disbursing the compensation to the heirs of the deceased fishermen, their interest is also required to be protected so that the amount of compensation paid to them is not frittered away, by investing the amount in the name of the heirs of each deceased in a fixed deposit in a nationalised bank for some time.
Heirs of the deceased will be paid the periodical interest accrued thereon, it said.
In February 2012, India had accused two Italian marines, Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, on board the MV Enrica Lexie — an Italian flagged oil tanker — of killing two Indian fishermen who were on a fishing vessel in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The top court in August last year had told the Centre that it would not pass any on closure of cases against the two marines without hearing the victims’ families.
The four women presently lodged in a jail in Kabul include Soniya, Merin, Nimisha and Raheela, all Keralites…reports Asian Lite News.
A housewife Bindhu, on Saturday reposed faith in her country and hoped that India will do the needful to bring back her daughter Nimisha, presently in jail in Kabul for allegedly being an Islamic State supporter.
Bindhu who lives in the state capital was reacting to a news report in a leading national English daily on Saturday that the Indian government is unlikely to make efforts to bring back four women including Nimisha.
“How can my country say like that. They can bring the women and let them conduct the trial as per the law of our country. I am hopeful and I have trust in my country. All the four women are widows and they have children. What wrong have the kids done? I want my granddaughter who is four years now,” said Bindhu.
The four women presently lodged in a jail in Kabul include Soniya, Merin, Nimisha and Raheela, all Keralites.
The news of Keralites joining the IS surfaced after the Kerala government contacted various central agencies – IB, NIA, RAW in 2016 about the veracity of reports about 19 missing people from the state. According to some of the relatives they are believed to have joined the IS.
These 19 included 10 men, six women and three children and of these, most of them hail from Kasargode and a few from Palakkad districts and include Christian and Hindu converts.
In the past three years, a few of those who had joined the IS were reportedly killed, according to their relatives who got information about it. The husbands of these Kerala women were among those who have been killed.
It was in 2016 that Bindhu, who is settled near Manacadu in the state capital, approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking his help to locate her daughter who had gone missing.
Reposing faith in country, mother of jailed alleged IS supporter waits hopefully.
But later it became known that Nimisha has got married to her friend Eeza, a Christian who had converted to Islam.
Then the news came that she had left for Afghanistan and the last contact the mother and daughter had was in November 2019.
The Hindu community has moved the Abbottabad bench of the Peshawar High Court, which has admitted the case for hearing and issued notices to the authorities concerned….reports Asian Lite News
Illegal constructions at the site of a 3,000-year-old Shiv temple in Mansehra in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has irked the area’s Hindu community.
According to The News International, despite its religious, historical and architectural significance, the authenticity of the temple is at risk due to the unplanned constructions at the site by the department concerned.
It was reported that toilets are being constructed along the lower sacred cult object, leading many to believe that the temple’s sacredness, historical and architectural originality, and authenticity have been trampled.
The Hindu community has moved the Abbottabad bench of the Peshawar High Court, which has admitted the case for hearing and issued notices to the authorities concerned.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s technical team of the board will visit the area in a few days and the issue will be resolved in consultation with all the stakeholders, reported The News International.
All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement chairman Haroon Sarab Diyal said that the community has brought the issue to the notice of the authorities concerned to stop these constructions at the site to ensure the sacredness and authenticity of this important temple. However, no authority has taken note of the seriousness of the matter.
He said that the Mansehra Shiv Temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples in Pakistan, better known as Chitti Gati, a name that is given due to the presence of the Shiva lingam made of white marble.
“The annual Shivaratri in the temple is visited by people all around Pakistan and from abroad… the temple has a great religious significance and has the potential to attract religious tourists/visitors from home and abroad,” he said.
Archaeology and Museum Director Abdul Samad said that any heritage building which is 100 years old comes under the antiquities definition of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Antiquities Act 2016 and that the recent intervention in the temple in Mansehra is illegal and against the law, The News International reported.
“…We have moved a comprehensive summary to hand overall 100 years and plus old buildings to the archaeology dept for conservation and uplifting. The historic and religious buildings need to be secured for which they should be handed over to the department,” said Samad. (ANI)
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighborhood of south London…reports Asian Lite News.
A London metropolitan police officer has pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman whose body was found in March, leading to a national reckoning in Britain over violence against women.
Wayne Couzens, 48, made the guilty plea at the Old Bailey, the central criminal court, in London on Tuesday, a clerk from the court told CNN.
Couzens also “accepts responsibility” for killing Everard but has not yet been asked to enter a plea on the charge of murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday. He will next appear in court on May 9.
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighborhood of south London.
The police said that human remains had been found as part of their investigation into her disappearance, prompting an outpouring of grief from lawmakers, community leaders and London residents.
Couzens, a police constable whose primary role at the time was uniformed patrol duties of diplomatic premises, was arrested and charged with Everard’s kidnap and murder, reported CNN.
Thousands of people gathered in South London on Saturday for a vigil to pay tribute to Everard despite police warnings that the event would defy coronavirus restrictions.
The crowd chanted “Shame on you!” and “How many more!” In what became a rally against gender violence, some clapped their hands and others held tea lights or signs that read “End Violence Against Women.”
Thousands of women in the UK and around the world came forward after Everard’s death to share their own experiences of intimidation or harassment while walking alone at night, CNN reported. (ANI)
