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US President Donald Trump has accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit,” saying the US was “foolish” to have given the country more than $33bn in aid.
The American President launched the scathing attack in his first tweet of 2018, claiming Pakistan “give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt” and think “of our leaders as fools”.

It follows reports the US is considering denying Islamabad $255 million in aid in a show of discontent with its efforts to fight terrorism.

The President made no further comment on the issue and it was not immediately clear if his tweet signaled a decision to cut off aid to Islamabad.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have soured since Mr Trump entered the White House.

The US says "the world is watching" how Iranian authorities respond to anti-government protests that have broken out in several cities.

Thousands of people have joined the protests, with scores arrested.

A White House statement said Iranians were fed up with "the regime's corruption and its squandering of the nation's wealth to fund terrorism".

Meanwhile, authorities urged supporters to turn out for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday.

The rallies are commemorating the 2009 demonstrations held in support of the then conservative government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Those demonstrations were in response to protests by reformists over a disputed election which returned him to power.

The BBC's Persian Service says thousands of people were likely to have been bussed into a rally in the capital Tehran.

What was the US response?

"The Iranian government should respect their people's rights, including their right to express themselves. The world is watching," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Twitter.

The tweet later appeared on President Donald Trump's Twitter account.

The US State Department urged all nations "to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption".

 What is Iran saying about the protests?

First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri has suggested that government opponents are behind the protests, according to comments reported by state broadcaster IRIB.

He said: "Some incidents in the country these days are on the pretext of economic problems, but it seems there is something else behind them. They think by doing this they harm the government, but it will be others who ride the wave.

Earlier, Fars news agency reported that protesters in Kermanshah had destroyed some public property and were dispersed.

The governor-general of Tehran said that any such gatherings would be firmly dealt with by the police, who are out in force on the main roads.

Officials in Mashhad said the protest was organised by "counter-revolutionary elements", and video online showed police using water cannon.

Source : CNN

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In his message on the New Year, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for unity among the global community to tackle overwhelming challenges and defend values shared by all.

“On New Year's Day 2018, I am not issuing an appeal. I am issuing an alert – a red alert for our world,” said the Secretary-General.

“As we begin 2018, I call for unity. […] We can settle conflicts, overcome hatred and defend shared values. But we can only do that together,” he expressed.

Recalling that last year he urged that 2017 be a year for peace, the UN chief noted that unfortunately – in fundamental ways, the world went in reverse.

Secretary-General António Guterres (left) meets people living in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) known as "Site du Petit Seminaire St. Pierre Claver", in the town of Bangassou. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Perils, including deepening conflicts and new dangers emerged, and global concerns over nuclear weapons reached the highest since the Cold War, he added.

At the same time, impacts of climate change worsened at an alarming rate, inequalities grew and there were horrific violations of human rights.

“Nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise,” said Mr. Guterres.

Underscoring his belief that the world can be made more safe and secure, conflicts can be settled, hatred can be overcome and shared values defended, he emphasized that unity is indispensable to achieving these goals.

“Unity is the path. Our future depends on it,” said the Secretary-General, urging leaders everywhere to resolve in the New Year to: “Narrow the gaps. Bridge the divides. Rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals.”

Pakistan's military has warned the United States against the possibility of taking unilateral action against armed groups on its soil, in its strongest response yet to tensions between the two allies.

Speaking to journalists in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor rejected the notion that Pakistan is not doing enough to fight armed groups.

"We have sacrificed a lot. We have paid a huge price both in blood and treasure," Ghafoor said. "We have done enough and we cannot do any more for anyone."

He said Pakistan would continue to fight armed groups in the region in Pakistan's self-interest, rather than at the behest of other countries.

"Had we not supported [the US], al-Qaeda would not have been defeated," he said.

Since 2007, Pakistan has been battling armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), al-Qaeda and their allies, who have been seeking to impose a strict version of Islam on the country. The military has launched multiple military operations to regain territory where the groups' fighters once held sway.

Violence has dropped since the launch of the latest operation in 2014, but sporadic, high-casualty attacks continue to occur. Earlier this month, at least nine people were killed in a suicide bombing on a church in the southwestern city of Quetta.

The US has often called on Pakistan to "do more" in its fight against armed groups, accusing it of selectively targeting armed groups and not taking action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, both of whom target US and Afghan forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

US criticism

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeated the call for Pakistan to take on groups allegedly offered safe haven on its soil.

"We are prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organisations seeking safe havens, but Pakistan must demonstrate its desire to partner with us," he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.

Tillerson's message echoed US President Donald Trump's words when he announced a new South Asia strategy in August, singling out Pakistan for criticism. Since then, a series of high-level contacts between the two governments have taken place, although no breakthrough achievements have been announced.

During his press conference on Thursday, Ghafoor linked the difficulty of acting against armed groups such as the Haqqani Network to the number of Afghan refugees resident in Pakistan.

The country is home to more than 2.7 million Afghan refugees, by the military's figures, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for more than three decades.

Source : Al Jazeera

Value Added Tax (VAT) has been introduced in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the first time.

The 5% levy is being applied to the majority of goods and services.

Gulf states have long attracted foreign workers with the promise of tax-free living.

But governments want to increase revenue in the face of lower oil prices.

The tax kicked in on 1 January in both countries.

The UAE estimates that in the first year, VAT income will be around 12 billion dirhams (£2.4bn; $3.3bn).

No plans for income tax

Petrol and diesel, food, clothes, utility bills and hotel rooms all now have VAT applied.

But some outgoings have been made exempt from the tax or given a zero-tax rating, including medical treatment, financial services and public transport.

Organisations such as the International Monetary Fund have long called for Gulf countries to diversify their sources of income away from oil reserves.

In Saudi Arabia, more than 90% of budget revenues come from the oil industry while in the UAE it is roughly 80%.

Both countries have already taken steps to boost government coffers.

In Saudi Arabia, this included a tax on tobacco and soft drinks as well as a cut in some subsidies offered to locals. In the UAE road tolls have been hiked and a tourism tax introduced.

But there are no plans to introduce income tax, where most residents pay 0% tax on their earnings.

The other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar - have also committed to introduce VAT, though some have delayed plans until at least 2019.

Source : BBC

A massive late night fire that broke out at a Mumbai complex has killed at least 15 people, officials said.

The blaze erupted just after midnight at a building in the popular Kamala Mills restaurant and shopping compound. It engulfed the structure within 30 minutes, local media reported.

More people have been injured in the blaze with several being treated in hospital.

The fire started at the 1 Above rooftop restaurant, media reported.

According to the Times of India, many of the guests tried to seek shelter in the bathroom and got trapped there. The paper also cites a hospital doctor saying that all the deaths were due to suffocation.

TV and social media footage showed firefighters and rescue teams at the scene with the top of the building consumed by flames and plumes of smoke.

Most of the casualties were women attending a party. A 28-year-old woman who was celebrating her birthday died in the fire, according to her grandfather who spoke to the Reuters news agency.

Kamala Mills is a refurbished industrial compound and houses several upscale restaurants, bars, offices and hotels.

It is also home to several media outlets with a number of national news channels affected by the fire, including Times Now, Mirror Now and ET Now.

Police have reportedly launched an investigation.

Source : BBC

A year after the death of J Jayalalithaa, which led to heavy political turbulence in Tamil Nadu and triggered a split in the ruling AIADMK, actor Rajinikanth announced his entry into politics, saying on Sunday that it is time to “change the system”.

“I will definitely enter politics. In the next state assembly polls, my party will contest in all the 234 constituencies. In the local body elections, maybe before the assembly polls, we will not contest. I will take a call about the (2019) Lok Sabha polls when the time comes,” said the actor, who is popularly known as “Superstar”.

 Rajinikanth was addressing a huge gathering from various districts on the last day of a six-day “meet and photo session” with his fans.

“Democracy is at high risk. Whatever happened in the last one year in Tamil Nadu has made everyone mute in shame. If I don’t take a decision at this moment, that will haunt me until death… It’s time for political change, time to change the system,” he said, in an indirect reference to the feud within the AIADMK.

As a first step, he said, he would soon identify and grant recognition to thousands of his fan clubs scattered across the state.

Accusing “every other government” of “looting” people, he said, “I want cadres who guard the people. I want a police who do not work as slaves for political bosses. I need such an army. And I will be the guard representing people to look after this state.”

On December 26, the first day of his session with fans, Rajinikanth had announced that he would reveal his political plans on New Year’s eve.

The timing of Sunday’s announcement is significant, given the current political turmoil in the state following the death of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016.

Although the next assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are scheduled to be held only in 2021, political observers expect the polls to take place much earlier, with the rebel AIADMK faction gaining strength after the recent bypoll win of its leader T T V Dinakaran, the nephew of jailed party leader V K Sasikala.

The political vacuum, which the opposition DMK has struggled to fill, also prompted Rajinikanth’s colleague in the Tamil movie industry, Kamal Haasan, to announce last month that he was committed to starting a party of his own, possibly in the coming weeks.

Following the announcement, a close aide of the actor said he would initially maintain an “independent” image. Asked about speculation over the BJP’s support for Rajinikanth, the aide said, “The BJP has welcomed his decision, unlike other parties. But we have decided not to declare any alliance at this moment. The BJP leadership has promised resources and moral support for the party, to begin with.”

Earlier, elaborating on the reason behind his political entry, Rajinikanth referred to the Bhagvad Gita and said, “Krishna told Arjuna to do do his duty. He said he will take care of the rest. Go to war, if you win, you will rule. If you die, you will die as a hero.”

The announcement also caps years of intense speculation over the actor’s political ambitions, which was triggered by his critical remarks ahead of the 1996 assembly polls against the then chief minister Jayalalithaa. In 2002, he asked his fans to oppose S Ramadoss’s PMK after the party’s members tried to stop the release of his movie ‘Baba’ in Tamil Nadu’s northern districts.

On Sunday, Rajinikanth said he was not entering politics for money or fame. “I have made enough money. If I wanted political power, I could have taken the throne in 1996 itself. Something that I did not desire at the age of 45 is insignificant now, at the age of 68. Moreover, if power is the reason for my political entry, will I be eligible to claim that I am spiritual?” he said, while asserting the significance of “truth, honesty, values, and transparency”.

“We have to create a political system, which is spiritual in nature, without caste or religious barriers,” he said.

Source : The Indian Express

American reconnaissance satellites have reportedly spotted Chinese ships suspected of selling oil to North Korean vessels about 30 times since October.

South Korean officials told the Chosun Ilbo that the ships were allegedly trading in the West Sea between China and South Korea in a bid to bypass strict United Nations sanctions on oil exports to the pariah regime over its ongoing nuclear and weapons programme.

The US Treasury published surveillance photographs reportedly taken on October 19 of the North Korean vessel Rye Song Gang 1 lashed to a large Chinese vessel in deep waters.

“We need to focus on the fact that the illicit trade started after a UN Security Council resolution in September drastically capped North Korea’s imports of refined petroleum products,” an unnamed source told the paper.

The US Treasury published surveillance photographs reportedly taken on October 19 of the North Korean vessel Rye Song Gang 1 lashed to a large Chinese vessel in deep waters, apparently showing hoses transferring oil.

Under the current tough sanctions regime Pyongyang is only allowed 500,000 barrels of oil imports a year. North Korea last week denounced ever tightening economic sanctions as “an act of war.”

Ship-to-ship trade with North Korea on the high seas is also forbidden under UN rules but very hard to patrol without an aggressive Chinese crackdown on smuggling.

Germany is set to start enforcing a law that demands social media sites move quickly to remove hate speech, fake news and illegal material.

Sites that do not remove "obviously illegal" posts could face fines of up to 50m euro (£44.3m).

The law gives the networks 24 hours to act after they have been told about the law-breaking material.

Social networks and media sites with more than two million members will fall under the law's provisions.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be the law's main focus but it is also likely to be applied to Reddit, Tumblr and Russian social network VK. Other sites such as Vimeo and Flickr could also be caught up in its provisions.

Act Faster

The Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG) law was passed at the end of June 2017 and came into force in early October.

The social networks were given until the end of 2017 to prepare themselves for the arrival of NetzDG.

The call to police social media sites more effectively arose after several high-profile cases in which fake news and racist material was being spread via the German arms of prominent social media firms.

Germany's justice ministry said it would make forms available on its site, which concerned citizens could use to report content that violates NetzDG or has not been taken down in time.

As well as forcing social media firms to act quickly, NetzDG requires them to put in place a comprehensive complaints structure so that posts can quickly be reported to staff.

 Most material will have to be removed within 24 hours but networks will have a week to act on "complex cases".

Facebook has reportedly recruited several hundred staff in Germany to deal with reports about content that breaks the NetzDG and to do a better job of monitoring what people post.

The law has been controversial in Germany with some saying it could lead to inadvertent censorship or curtail free speech.

The German law is the most extreme example of efforts by governments and regulators to rein in social media firms. Many of them have come under much greater scrutiny this year as information about how they are used to spread propaganda and other sensitive material has come to light.

In the UK, politicians have been sharply critical of social sites, calling them a "disgrace" and saying they were "shamefully far" from doing a good job of policing hate speech and other offensive content.

The European Commission also published guidelines calling on social media sites to act faster to spot and remove hateful content.

Source : BBC

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained on 12 December after meeting police officers offering them information.

They are charged with illegally obtaining information, but Reuters has called for their release and says they were simply doing their jobs.

The two will now be held at Insein prison in Yangon (formerly Rangoon).

Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were previously in custody in a police compound.

They have been charged under the Official Secrets Act, introduced under British colonial rule. It allows a maximum 14-year jail term.

The government says the two "illegally acquired the information with the intention to share it with foreign media". They had been invited to dinner with the police officers.

Appearing at Mingaladon court, the journalists were allowed to see their families and lawyer for the first time.

The conflict has seen some 665,000 Rohingya flee Rakhine state. The military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians.

But the United Nations describes the offensive as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

The authorities see the Rohingya, who are Muslims, as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and deny them citizenship.

Access to Rakhine state is very tightly controlled and journalists are forced to seek information from other sources, says BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.

Despite improvements in media freedom since the military relaxed its grip on Myanmar five years ago, journalists have continued to face criminal prosecution for their reporting, with more than a dozen arrested over the past two years, he adds.

Source : BBC News

Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents.

The new safety regulations also prohibit double amputee and blind climbers from attempting to reach the summit of the world's highest peak without a valid medical certificate.

A tourism official said the law had been revised to make mountaineering safer and to decrease deaths.

A record number of climbers have tried to climb Everest this year.

But among the record-breaking attempts, there has been the familiar tally of casualties.

The death toll so far this season stands at six, including 85-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, who died attempting to reclaim his title as the world's oldest person to reach the top.

World-renowned Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who was known as the "Swiss Machine", also died during a solo climb to a peak neighbouring Everest.

Under the new regulations, foreign climbers will have to be accompanied by a guide. The authorities hope this new rule will create more job opportunities for Nepali mountain guides.

The government's decision to ban double amputees and visually impaired climbers was criticised by some, but was later clarified to prohibit only those without medical dispensation.

In a Facebook post, aspiring Everest climber Hari Budha Magar, who lost both his legs when he was deployed in Afghanistan, said the move was "discriminatory" and an "injustice".

"I will be climbing Mt. Everest whatever the cabinet decides. Nothing Is Impossible," he said.

More than 200 people have died on Everest since 1920, with the vast majority of those deaths taking place since 1980.

Mountaineers on Everest die for a number of reasons - more than 20% are killed by exposure or acute mountain sickness.

According to statistics given to the BBC by the Himalaya Database in 2015, by far the highest number of people who died did so because of avalanches (29%), with falls being the next largest cause of death (23%).

Source : BBC

Everyone has family trouble around the holidays, even strongman leaders suspected of crimes against humanity. Just ask Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte.

On Christmas Day, Duterte’s eldest son Paolo abruptly resigned from his post as Vice Mayor of Davao City following an expletive-laden social media fight with his 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Isabelle.

On Friday, Isabelle unloaded on her dad on her private twitter account, saying he “fucks up my [Christmas] every year,” according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In September, Duterte vowed to kill his son if the drug claims proved true.

She hinted he’d physically beaten her, saying: “It’s not that if you have power, you can already hurt people…. The one you’re touching is also human!!!! Not only human but a child!!!!”

Davao City is a longtime power base for the Duterte family, and the current president himself served as mayor for years before ascending to the presidency. Paolo’s sister, Sara, took over as mayor after their dad moved to running the country from the capital, Manila.

Paolo didn’t suffer his daughter’s online criticism silently. He fired back on Facebook, in a post which has since been deleted: “FIX YOUR FUCKING LIFE FIRST before I will stop 'fucking up' your Christmas every year.”

Paolo accused his daughter of having let herself be “pimped twice” by someone he didn’t name, and criticized her attempts to enter show business.

“Change your family name if you want!,” he wrote. “You don't have respect! You just embarrassed yourself! Get an education so your brain isn't empty. You don't know how to listen anymore because you're famous??? Famous, for what, Belle? Famous for disparaging a father? Just wait for my death so you will be free from me! Pray for it, woman!”

He went on to say the whole Duterte family would likely be humiliated by their all-too public back-and-forth, but that he thought social media was the only way to reach her.

“I know all of us will be embarrassed over this post. But this is what you want!,” Paolo wrote. “Let's talk here because you are a millennial, as they say. You'll only listen here by your number of likes?!”

On Monday, a more restrained Paolo resigned from his post in the city, citing “recent unfortunate events in my life that are closely tied to my failed first marriage,” as well as “the very public squabble with my daughter.”

Paolo also mentioned the “maligning of my reputation” following allegations that he himself was involved in drug trafficking.

In September, Duterte vowed to kill his son if the drug claims proved true.