Social

Psychological terrorism: The war against reproductive rights in the US

Friday, Apr 18, 2025
As Donald Trump begins his second term as president, headlines focus on immigration, trade and free speech. But advocates warn of another front, a quieter campaign targeting reproductive rights and abortion.

Just years after the fall of Roe v Wade, critics say new policies signal a renewed push to erode reproductive freedom, especially for women of colour.

Is the Trump administration waging a quiet war on reproductive rights in the United States?

This week on UpFront, Redi Tlhabi speaks with Michele Goodwin, professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown University and author of Policing The Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood.

Exchange deal: Eight captives released for 110 Palestinian prisoners

Friday, January 31, 2025
Hamas has released three Israeli and five Thai captives in Gaza and Israel began releasing 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process after crowds swarmed one of the captive handover points.

Agam Berger, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, was the first to be released on Thursday as she emerged from under rubble at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, which has repeatedly been targeted by Israeli forces throughout more than 15 months of war.

Al Jazeera’s Michael Appel reports.

Palestinian prisoners released: Israeli forces open fire to disperse crowds along the route

Thursday, January 30, 2025
Israel has released 110 Palestinian prisoners, as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
 
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank to welcome them home.
 
Around 30 children are among the prisoners released. At least 32 of them were serving life sentences.
 
And Israeli forces opened fire as the Red Cross convoy carrying the Palestinian prisoners travelled through the occupied West Bank.
 
Israeli soldiers used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds along the route of the heavily-protected convoy.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud is in Gaza City, Tareq Abu Azzoum in Khan Younis and Hamdah Salhut in Jordanian capital, Amman, because the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority have banned Al Jazeera from reporting inside Israel and in the occupied West Bank.

Gaza ceasefire deal: Israeli female soldier released in Jabalia

Thursday, January 30, 2025
Israeli captive Agam Berger has been handed over to the Red Cross in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Dressed in a military uniform, she appeared walking, escorted by Palestinian fighters, through the rubble of a wrecked building in the camp.

She then appeared on a stage and waved to onlookers, before getting into a car belonging to the Red Cross.

Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif reports from Jabalia in northern Gaza.

US air collision: Plane collides with helicopter midair in Virginia

Thursday, January 30, 2025
A plane and helicopter collision has sparked a desperate search and rescue operation in the US state of Virginia.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said late on Wednesday that a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 jet collided with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to the airport in Arlington County.

News agencies are citing the US Army saying three soldiers were on board the helicopter.

At least two bodies have been recovered.

All takeoffs and landings have been stopped at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Emergency services are at the scene.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi joins us now live from Arlington, Virginia.
 
Keith Mackey is an aircraft accident investigator and aviation consultant. He is also a retired pilot who has flown into Reagan National Airport many times. He joins us live from Ocala in Florida to discuss the latest developments. 

New horrific massacre by Israeli forces in north Gaza

Saturday, October 26, 2024  
The Health Ministry says one apartment block was destroyed in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya town. Palestinians are trapped under the debris after Israeli air strikes and rescue operations are continuing. The attack is a “horrific massacre”, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum joins live for the latest update.

Gunmen shot 23 passengers after taking them off a bus in Pakistan's Balochistan

Monday, 26 August 2024

Gunmen shot dead 23 people travelling by bus in Pakistan's Balochistan province. All these people were from Punjab province.

This incident took place in Musa Khel district of Balochistan

Assistant Commissioner of Musa Khel, Balochistan, Najeeb confirmed the incident and told BBC Urdu that 'the incident took place in Rara Hashim area of ​​the district. The firing incident took place in the area under police control on the night of Sunday, 25 August 2024.'

According to the information, some unidentified people stopped trucks and buses running between Punjab and Balochistan. After this, the passengers got down. They checked their identity cards and opened fire on those who were not Baloch.

The terrorist group Baloch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the attacks and said that it has blocked the roads from various areas through which one can enter the province.

Traffic was stopped in various areas of Balochistan due to the presence of armed men on the highway.

The passengers who were killed were coming to Balochistan from Punjab province.

According to government officials, gunmen have also set several vehicles on fire. In the last 24 hours, the Baloch Liberation Army has also damaged several government buildings.

The Assistant Commissioner said that five people were also injured in the firing incident, one of whom remains in critical condition.

Earlier, on the intervening night of Saturday, August 24, 2024 and Sunday, August 25, 2024, there were reports of bomb blasts from different areas of Balochistan.

The assistant commissioner was also injured in the attacks near Kalat town, while three vehicles were set on fire outside a police station in Jiuni.

In Mastung district too, unidentified gunmen attacked a police station in Khad Kocha area.

The Balochistan Chief Minister has sought a report on the latest incident. Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident. Mir Sarfraz Bugti also called an emergency meeting.

The Modi government at the Center in India will bring a new law to regulate social media and digital content in the next three months. Law Minister of India Ravi Shankar Prasad and Communications Minister of India Prakash Javadekar announced this at a press conference in Delhi.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Social media is doing business in India, they have done good business and strengthened the Indian people. But at the same time there have been complaints of irresponsible use of social media for the last several days.

According to the Modi government, over the past few years, there have been many complaints on social media like promoting violence, sharing obscene content, using other country's posts, the government has brought new guidelines to deal with it and in three months it A law will be made for this.

What are the guidelines?

Explaining the guidelines, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Social media is divided into 2 categories, one intermediary and the other signifcant social media intermediary. We will soon issue a notification of the user number for this. ''

"If a complaint is made about the dignity of the users, especially the dignity of women, then the content has to be removed within 24 hours of making the complaint."

He said that the law of significant social media will be implemented in three months.

Apart from this, social media companies will have to make a grievance redressal mechanism and also make the name of the officer handling the complaints public. This officer will register the complaint in 24 hours and resolve it in 15 days.

He said that Significant Social Media will have to appoint Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Content Person and a Resident Grievance Officer, all of which will be in India. Apart from this, they will also have to issue a report related to the disposal of complaints every month.

Account verification will be necessary

Modi government said, furthermore, to ensure that fake accounts are not created on social media, companies will be required to make the verification process mandatory.

Who has made a post on the social media platform, the company has to give this information on the court's order or the government's asking.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "On asking any court or government, they have to tell who started a post. If started from outside India then who started in India. This should be in relation to India's sovereignty, national security, relations with foreign states, rape etc. ''

However, social media companies have often argued that in order to provide such information, they have to break the end to end encryption and save the user's data, which would violate their privacy. End to end encryption means that no third (even company) can hear or read the conversation between two people.

In response to a question related to how the company can provide this information, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "We are not asking to break encryption, we are just asking who started it."

He cited some guidelines of the Supreme Court that these steps are necessary to prevent the spread of pornographic material, rape, gang rape videos. Apart from this, he said that many news reports of social media posts have also come out from outside the country.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the purpose of all these rules is to give more power in the hands of the people. Talking in detail on this, he said, "If a significant post is removed, the company will have to give a reason for it."

He said that all these things will be asked by the platforms to create a mechanism.

Ravi Shankar Prasad also gave users data on different social media platforms. According to him, there are 53 crores of WhatsApp in India, 44.8 crores of YouTube, 41 crores of Facebook, 21 crores of Instagram, 1.75 crores of Twitter users.

Also rules for OTT and digital platforms

Modi government will also bring legislation to regulate OTT platform.

India's Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said, "There will be a three-tier mechanism for the OTT platform. OTT platforms and digital media will have to provide information about themselves, and they will have to create a grievance redressal mechanism.

According to Javadekar, the government had earlier met OTT companies and asked them to create a self-regulation but they could not do so.

OTT and digital news platforms will have to provide their details as they work from where the new rules come. Apart from this, a portal will have to be created for redressal of grievances.

Javadekar said that like TV and print, a regulatory body will be created for digital, which can be headed by a retired judge or eminent person.

He said, "Just as an apology is made on TV for making a mistake, the same has to be done for digital."

Apart from this, the content will have to be classified according to age and will have to provide parental lock.

He said that where immediate action is required, a monitoring mechanism will be created at the government level for such cases.

Of the total deaths due to corona virus in India, 70 percent of deaths occurred in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

At the same time, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have 62 percent active cases of corona virus.

The Health Ministry gave information in this regard in the press conference on Corona virus.

Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health said that in view of the increasing cases and deaths of Corona in the capital, Delhi Government is being talked to. He informed that some special instructions have been given to the state government. If they are followed then the cases may come under control.

Regarding the increasing cases of Corona virus in India, he said, "Every day positive cases are increasing. This should be seen in the context of the entire population. The government has adopted a hierarchical approach to open up the economy by ensuring adequate testing capacity, giving clear guidelines to clinical treatment protocols and enhancing hospital infrastructure. ''

He said that compared to other countries, there are very few cases of kovid per million (population) in India. There are also very few deaths per million in India. There have been 49 deaths per 1 lakh. At the same time, there are 2,792 cases per million population of corona virus.

The Health Ministry also informed that a second sero survey has started in 70 districts across India. The results will come in the next two weeks.

Also told that 11 lakh tests of corona virus have been done in the last 24 hours. So far, more than 4.5 crore tests have been conducted in the whole country.

There has also been a decrease in the corona case in some states. According to the Health Ministry, there has been a weekly decrease of 13.7 percent in active cases in Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, there has been a weekly decrease of 16.1 percent in Karnataka, 6.8 percent in Maharashtra and 23.9 percent in Tamil Nadu and 17.1 percent in Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra has seen a 7 percent decrease in corona virus cases in the last three weeks.

A 30-member parliamentary committee on electronics and information technology in India heard the allegations leveled on social media site Facebook on Wednesday.

Officers associated with the department were present before this committee. Also, Facebook managing director in India Ajit Mohan also spoke.

According to the news agency PTI, the argument was made from Facebook that it has always kept transparency about its social media platform.

Facebook also said that it has also given people a means to express their expression without any political pressure.

The controversy began when an American newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, accused India of Facebook of doing more in favor of the ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

It was also alleged in the newspaper that there is no control over the posts that promote hate against minorities on Facebook. It was also alleged that those alleged inflammatory posts were removed by Facebook when the newspaper gave information about them.

Facebook responded to these allegations via email, saying, "Any violence or hate content is banned on Facebook." It does not matter which way the political writer of the post writer is.

The parliamentary committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also included journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and a representative of a social media tracking group to help in the proceedings.

Sources in Parliament say that the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee was held in a closed room, but a video recording of the entire proceedings has been done.

The committee's hearing lasted for a long time. During this time, members of the ruling and opposition have kept silence about what happened in the closed room.

The committee consists of members from both houses of parliament, with a large number of members of the ruling party.

But even before the committee's meeting, the Congress wrote two letters to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, citing the conduct and posts made by two representatives working for Facebook in India.

After the letter, committee chairman Shashi Tharoor sent a notice to Facebook, while Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore demanded the removal of Tharoor as the chairman of the committee.

Dubey's written allegation is that Shashi Tharoor is working to advance his own and his party's agenda through this social media platform.

But the Speaker of the Lok Sabha did not respond to the letter.

Just a day before the committee's meeting, Union Law and Justice, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg alleging that his social media platform was censoring posts by right-wing ideologues.

Ravi Shankar Prasad also alleged that what has been written in the American newspaper is actually presenting a reverse image. He also said that 'it is condemnable to spread interference in the political system of India'.

Facebook has about 300 million users in India and Ravi Shankar Prasad also alleges that in the general elections held in 2019, Facebook did not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party to properly communicate to the people.

Because of this ongoing war between political parties, Facebook remains in constant discussion, but no one knows what happened in the parliamentary committee.

Speaking to the BBC, Vice President of Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan Singh said that in total there are 24 parliamentary committees which have been formed on various departments or issues. These include MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but most of the committees are headed by members of Lok Sabha.

There is already a clear outline for how the Parliament will run. The rules of legislative business are also clear which cannot be debated as they are part of the already prescribed parliamentary tradition.

Says Harivansh Narayan, "The parliamentary committee meeting is completely confidential about which committee members are not allowed to speak outside." Not only the members but those whom the committee calls by sending notices also cannot say anything outside. If they do, then it becomes a matter of breach of privilege. ''

MP Manoj Kumar Jha says that unless the report of the committee is put on the table of the Parliament, it cannot be made public. They say that members of the parliamentary committee and the people appearing before them are also bound by the oath.

Therefore, the proceedings of the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Electronics and Information Technology, which lasted for about three hours, are not available for the information of the common people until Parliament approves it. This is the legislative practice.