Latest news with #Al-Qaida
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Ranveer Allahbadia shows Osama Bin Laden, Hafiz Abdul Rauf pictures on Piers Morgan show, talks about Pakistan terrorism
Indian Podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, known for his YouTube channel BeerBiceps, is again in limelight for his response to the India-Pakistan conflict on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show. Ranveer, who runs the podcast The Ranveer Show on his channel, was part of a panel alongside Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, foreign minister of Pakistan Hina Khar and Shehzad Ghias Shaikh from The Pakistan Express. During the discussion, Ranveer shows a picture of Osama Bin Laden and says, 'He was found 800 metres away from a military base in Pakistan. This is the face the world recognises.' Laden, founder of the terrorist organisation Al-Qaida, was killed by the United States Navy SEALs in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. Ranveer also shows the photograph of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Hafiz Abdul Rauf, who is allegedly seen at the funeral of those who got killed in the Indian missile attacks as part of Operation Sindoor. 'This is the face that India recognises, because it's more specific to our narrative. This man is a UN-designated terrorist being celebrated by the Pakistan military. Pakistan never allows these narratives to come out,' he says. Addressing the ongoing tensions between the two countries, Ranveer says, 'India's attacks were precision-oriented and moderate, and most importantly, they were a retaliation. India has never been an aggressor.' ALSO READ:'India's Got Latent' row: Ranveer Allahbadia continuously out of contact, says Police Recently, Ranveer courted controversy for his remarks in the reality show 'India's Got Latent'. Ranveer apologised for his comments after a case was booked against him. The Supreme Court protected the YouTuber from arrest for his controversial statements about parents and sex during the show but lambasted him for his 'filthy language', remarking he threw up 'something very dirty in his mind' during the programme.
Chicago Tribune
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Lawyer says Prince Harry was unfairly treated when stripped of UK security detail
LONDON — Prince Harry was treated unfairly when he was stripped of his British security detail, his attorney told appeals court judges Tuesday. Harry, whose rare appearance in court indicated the case's importance to him, lost his government-funded protection in February 2020 after he stepped down from his role as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S. A High Court judge ruled last year that a government panel's decision to provide 'bespoke' security for the Duke of Sussex on an as-needed basis was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified. But attorney Shaheed Fatima argued that a group that evaluated Harry's security needs failed to follow its own process and perform a risk management assessment. 'The appellant does not accept that bespoke means better,' Fatima said. 'In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.' A lawyer for the government said Harry's argument in the lower court was accurately found to have been based on an 'inappropriate, formalist interpretation' of the government's security review that was misconceived. 'The appeal is fairly to be characterized in the same way,' attorney James Eadie said. 'It involves a continued failure to see the wood for the trees, advancing propositions available only by reading small parts of the evidence, and now the judgment, out of context and ignoring the totality of the picture.' The hearing before three Court of Appeal justices is due to end Wednesday and a written decision is expected later. While the hearing was livestreamed, some was to be conducted behind closed doors to discuss sensitive security details. Harry arrived at court with a small security detail supplemented with court officers. He waved to cameras before disappearing into a private entrance. Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, has bucked royal family convention by taking the government and tabloid press to court, where he has a mixed record. But Harry rarely shows up to court hearings, making only a few appearances in the past two years. That included the trial of one of his phone hacking cases against the British tabloids when he was the first senior member of the royal family to enter the witness box in more than a century. Harry claimed he and his family are endangered when visiting his homeland because of hostility aimed at him and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on social media and through relentless hounding by news media. After being denied government-sponsored protection, Harry faced at least two serious security threats, his lawyer said in court papers. Al-Qaida had published a document that said Harry's assassination would please Muslims, and he and his wife were involved in a dangerous pursuit by paparazzi in New York. He lost a related court case in which he sought permission to privately pay for a police detail when in the U.K. but a judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued officers shouldn't be used as 'private bodyguards for the wealthy.' Harry also dropped a libel case against the publisher of the Daily Mail for an article that said he had tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security. But he won a significant victory at trial in 2023 against the publisher of the Daily Mirror when a judge found that phone hacking at the tabloid was 'widespread and habitual.' He claimed a 'monumental' victory in January when Rupert Murdoch's U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit. He has a similar case pending against the publisher of the Mail.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leader of Syrian rebels who toppled Assad named interim president
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian rebel group that toppled the Assad regime, has been named interim president in Damascus. Sharaa, who was already widely seen as the country's de facto leader, will head a temporary legislative council until lawmakers agree and implement a new constitution, Syria's news agency said, citing a government spokesperson. Sharaa is the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which led the overthrow of the Assad government in December. The group, which had links to Al-Qaida, is considered a terrorist organization by the US, although Washington has removed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa. The Syrian spokesperson said that the armed groups that ousted Assad have also been dissolved, and will be integrated into state institutions. Sharaa previously said it could take as long as four years until new elections can be held in the war-torn country.
Voice of America
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Russian diplomats make first Syria visit since Assad's fall
The first Russian official delegation to visit Syria since the toppling of long-term Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad has arrived in Damascus, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday. The visit comes with Moscow keen to secure the fate of two military bases there and after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had suffered a strategic "defeat" in the Middle East following the fall of Assad. The Russian delegation due to meet the new leadership of the war-ravaged country included deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also Putin's special envoy on the Middle East and Africa, as well as Alexander Lavrentyev, the president's special envoy on Syria, the RIA Novosti agency reported. It said it was "the first visit by Russian officials to Damascus" since Assad fled in December in the face of a lightning rebel advance across the country. Moscow was one of Assad's key backers, intervening in Syria's civil war in 2015 in his favor. He and his family fled to Russia after his ouster by Turkish-backed rebels formerly affiliated with Al-Qaida. Russia is now seeking to secure the fate of its naval base in Tartus and its air base at Khmeimim - both on Syria's Mediterranean coast and Moscow's only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union - with the new Syrian authorities. A report by RT Arabic, a Russian state-controlled channel, said the delegation is set to meet Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and other officials. Russia's Bogdanov was a diplomat in Syria in the 1980s and 1990s and speaks Arabic, according to the foreign ministry website. Lavrentyev took part in previous negotiations with Assad. Sharaa leads an Islamist group - Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - that is banned in Russia as a "terrorist" organization. The organization is rooted in Al-Qaida's Syria branch but has more recently adopted a more moderate tone. RT Arabic reported that Bogdanov described the visit as aimed at strengthening historic ties based on shared interests, and underlined Russia's hopes for Syrian unity and independence. 'Deep strategic interests' Sharaa in December noted the "deep strategic interests between Russia and Syria" in an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV channel. "All Syria's arms are of Russian origin, and many power plants are managed by Russian experts... We do not want Russia to leave Syria in the way that some wish," Sharaa added. Ukrainian diplomats visited Syria's new rulers in December, with Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga urging Sharaa to expel Russia from the country. "We believe that from a strategic point of view, the removal of Russia's presence in Syria will contribute to the stability of not only the Syrian state, but the entire Middle East and Africa," Sybiga told Sharaa while in Damascus, according to a statement. The Russian delegation's visit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the new rulers, aimed at building ties and easing sanctions. EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin easing sanctions on Syria starting with key sectors such as energy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday stressed the importance of "ensuring that the new government prevents Syria from becoming a source for international terrorism" and "denying foreign malign actors the opportunity to exploit Syria's transition." Saudi Arabia's top diplomat, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, was received by Sharaa on Friday, making his first visit since Assad's overthrow.
