Pakistan says ‘India proxies’ behind Islamabad bombing: What we know so far
'Suicide' blast at court complex kills 12, injures more than 30, a day after a deadly explosion in the Indian capital.
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Indian police invoke ‘terror’ law as Modi alleges Delhi blast ‘conspiracy’
India's 'anti-terrorism' force is leading the probe into the blast that killed 12 people in New Delhi on Monday.
Iraqis Are Voting for a New Parliament. Here’s What to Know.
Iraq is caught in a power struggle between Washington and Tehran, with the Trump administration insisting that the next government disarm powerful Iran-backed militias.
Fraudster who hid in London is jailed over £5.5bn bitcoin scam
Zhimin Qian cheated 128,000 victims in China through a Ponzi scheme before going on the run for six yearsA fraudster has been jailed over a scam that led to the UK’s largest ever cryptocurrency seizure of bitcoin worth more than £5.5bn.Zhimin Qian, 47, defrauded more than 128,000 victims in China through a Ponzi scheme before fleeing to the UK as an international fugitive. Continue reading...
Cryptoqueen who fled China for London mansion jailed over £5bn Bitcoin stash
Qian Zhimin bought cryptocurrency using funds stolen from thousands of Chinese pensioners, say police.
Tim Davie tells BBC staff ‘we have to fight for our journalism’ but does not address Trump’s $1bn lawsuit threat – live
Outgoing director general says freedom of press under pressure and that he sees ‘weaponisation’Here is a round-up of what various lawyers and commentators have been saying about Donald Trump’s legal case against the BBC.Joshua Rozenberg, the legal commentator and a former BBC journalist, has said in a post on his A Lawyer Writes Substack that the corporation should settle. He explains:Given what Brito is claiming, the lawyer is unlikely to be impressed with the BBC’s assertion that “the purpose of editing the clip was to convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time”.So the BBC would be well advised to draft a retraction and apology in terms that the president’s lawyer finds acceptable. Brito is also calling for this to be broadcast as prominently as the original programme. And the corporation will have to pay compensation.George Peretz KC, chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, says on Bluesky, commenting on Rozenberg’s blog, that the BBC might be better off with a more robust approach.So at the moment, despite @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social’s piece, I wonder whether a better BBC response would be the Arkell v Pressdram one. proftomcrick.com/2014/04/29/a...(At least to the extent he’s seeking more than a formal apology limited to the obvious mistake and a very modest offer of compensation.)There is, after all, the risk of a dangerous precedent here. The BBC will often offend foreign leaders – some worse than Trump. Sometimes it will make factual mistakes in reporting on them. Yield to Trump now, and who next?Mark Stephens, a media lawyer, told BBC Breakfast that a court case could reflect badly on Trump. He said:Every damning quote that he’s ever uttered is going to be played back to him and picked over – not great PR.Trump risks turning what’s currently a PR skirmish with the BBC very much on the back foot into a global headline that the court finds Trump’s words were incendiary …George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York and a former lawyer for the New York Times, told the BBC that Trump “has a long record of unsuccessful libel suits – and an even longer record of letters like the one you received that don’t end up as lawsuits at all”.Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who is trying to recover costs from Trump after the president sued him unsuccessfully in the UK, says Trump’s latest threat is preposterous.Donald Trump’s threat to sue the BBC in London is preposterous. He remains in breach of English High Court orders in a case he brought and lost against Orbis 18 months ago. So any further abuse of the UK courts by him for such legal tourism and intimidation should be prohibited.Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says the BBC has been told Trump does not have a case.The legal advice to the BBC I am told is that President Trump was not meaningfully damaged by Panorama’s manipulation of his 6 January speech, and that therefore there is no legal necessity to pay him compensation. The BBC board is therefore likely to resist and fight his demand to be “appropriately compensated” out of court, and will risk him carrying through on his threat to seek $1bn in damages by going to court.These times are difficult for the BBC but we will get through it. We will get through it and we will thrive. This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things.I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we have to fight for our journalism.We have made some mistakes that have cost us but we need to fight for that. Continue reading...
Pakistan ‘in a State of War’ After Explosion Kills 12 in Capital
An attack on a courthouse in Islamabad was the first to hit Islamabad in more than a decade.
Controversial Poland independence march sets off in Warsaw – Europe live
Tens of thousands of people attend event organised primarily by nationalist and far-right groups to mark 107th anniversary of independenceYou can watch the live stream of the Irish presidential inauguration here:Irish president-elect Catherine Connolly has just arrived at the Dublin Castle for her presidential inauguration. Continue reading...
Suicide bombing in Islamabad kills 12, says Pakistan's interior minister
Mohsin Naqvi says the bomber tried to gain entry to a court complex but was unable to get inside.
Senate approves deal to end shutdown with Democrats riven by splits – US politics live
Deal will now head to the House but many Democrats are enraged with minority leader Chuck Schumer and colleagues who supported the measureHow US senators voted on the shutdown-ending budget billUS flight cancellations and delays to get worse even if shutdown endsAs the supreme court deliberates on the fate of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs – which he maintains are a matter of “national security” as justices appeared skeptical during oral arguments on the case last week – the president said that the US would be forced to hand “in excess of three trillion dollars” if the levies are scrapped, in a late night post on Truth Social.He added:It would not be possible to ever make up for that kind of a ‘drubbing.’ That would truly become an insurmountable National Security Event, and devastating to the future of our Country – Possibly non-sustainable! Continue reading...