Pakistan: Zainab Ansari's killer gets four death sentences
A court in Pakistan has given a 24-year-old man, Imran Ali, four death sentences for raping and murdering a six-year old girl last month.
Zainab Ansari's body was found on a rubbish dump in the city of Kasur, south of Lahore, on 9 January.
Her murder triggered outrage across the country, including riots against alleged police incompetence in which two protesters died.
The victim's father was in court to hear the verdict, amid heavy security.
Zainab's killer has also been linked by police to the earlier murders and assaults of other girls in the area.
Turkey sentences journalists to life in jail over coup attempt
Sentencing over alleged role in failed putsch condemned as showing disregard for rule of law
Kareem Shaheen in Istanbul
A Turkish court has sentenced six defendants, including three prominent journalists, to life in prison over allegations of involvement in a 2016 coup attempt, drawing fierce condemnation from the UN and press freedom advocates.
The convictions followed a months-long trial during which the prosecution alleged that the journalists sent “subliminal messages” via TV appearances and newspaper columns urging the overthrow of the government, and that they maintained contact with members of the Fethullah Gülen network, a movement widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated the coup attempt.
The first conviction of media figures in relation to the failed putsch constitutes a major defeat for press freedom in the Nato member state, which has cracked down on dissent in the aftermath of the coup. At least 73 journalists remain behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which ranks Turkey the world’s worst jailer of journalists, ahead of China and Egypt.
Wary over North Korea threat, Japan flexes military muscle despite Olympic reconciliation
Special report: Kim Jong-un’s regime presents a grave and current danger which cannot be masked, in Tokyo’s view, with theatrics at PyeongChang
As North Korea’s troupe of female cheerleaders carried out their synchronised clapping and flag waving at the Winter Olympics in the South, pairs of US F-22 Raptors and F-35 Lightning fighters were taking off across the sea from the airbase at Kadena in Okinawa to carry out their own choreographed moves to test Kim Jong-un’s air defences.
There is international focus on whether the diplomacy accompanying the sports in PyeongChang will lead to a defusing of the escalating confrontation over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme. Kim Jong-un, who has dispatched his sister Kim Yo-jung to the Games, has called for a “further livening up” of the “warm climate of reconciliation” and invited Moon Jae-in for talks. South Korea’s President, in turn, is keen to promote diplomatic initiatives.
Brazil: Army takes control of Rio security in bid to squash gang violence
Brazil's military has taken full control of security in Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding state in an effort to fight gang violence. The move comes after the Defense Ministry said security in the city was "broken."
President Michel Temer has signed a decree giving the military control of security in Rio de Janeiro in response to spiraling drug gang violence.
The military already supports police in favelas, large slums overrun by drug gangs. It had previously helped provide security during the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.
But the decree, which went into effect immediately, hands the military power over all police operations in Rio state. It must be approved by both chambers of Congress within 10 days.
"Organized crime nearly took over in the state of Rio de Janeiro. This is a metastasis that is spreading in our country and it threatens our people. That's why we decided on the intervention," Temer said at the presidential palace in Brasilia on Friday. "Our administration will give a tough, firm answer."
Counting the homeless on the streets of Paris
Around 2,000 civil servants and volunteers participated in a nocturnal count of homeless people organised by the Paris mayor’s office late Thursday into early Friday. FRANCE 24 followed a team in eastern Paris.
At 8.45pm in the 20th arrondissement (district) town hall in eastern Paris, Luisa Landa is handing out maps to her team of volunteers. "I hope you’re wearing good shoes," she jokes, informing the team that they have just over an hour to complete their route.
"I think we’ve got the largest sector," says Nathalie Maquoi, poring over her map marking her designated area of about 15 blocks between the Boulevard Périphérique -- the ringroad around the French capital -- and an abandoned railway track.
Mobile apps and smartphones pose a clear and present danger
Most people don't realize that the mobile phone is being 'weaponized'
FEBRUARY 17, 2018 3:45 PM
New revelations show that Iran has posted apps found on Google’s Play Store which give the Iranians the ability to easily spy on anyone who downloads them to their smartphone. Some say these are “weaponized” smartphone apps.
Most people don’t realize that the mobile phone is probably the most dangerous device available today. It is more powerful than any conventional computer, and it is totally vulnerable to hacking.
The modern smartphone combines significant computing power made up of a very fast microprocessor and graphics engine plus memory with a host of sensors and radios, including GPS.
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