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Srinagar, February 16: Police on Thursday claimed to have killed one infiltrator by foiling Infiltration bid in Saidpura area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Reporting the incident via Twitter, the Kashmir Zone Police wrote, ” During the preceding night, based on a specific input generated by Kupwara police, joint team of Army & Police intercepted an infiltrating group in Saidpora forward area. The joint team has neutralised one infiltrator. Search is still going on. Further details shall follow,’.(GNS)
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#Infiltration #Bid #Foiled #Kupwara #Infiltrator #Killed #Searches #Police
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )
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Washington: The US has reaffirmed its conviction that “free press strengthens democracy” as a general rule without seeking to impose its views directly on the searches of BBC offices by income tax authorities in Delhi and Mumbai.
“I would need to refer you to Indian authorities for the details of this search,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a response to a question at the daily press briefing.
” Beyond this discrete action, what I’ll say more broadly is the general point that I’ve consistently made in this context, but in a universal context as well: We support the importance of free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country; it has strengthened India’s democracy. These universal rights are the bedrock of democracies around the world.”
Pressed further, Price said, “We’re aware of the facts of these searches, but I’m just not in a position to offer a judgement.”
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#BBC #searches #invokes #freedom #press
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )
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The search, which was voluntarily arranged by Pence with the Justice Department, had been expected for weeks. A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed late Friday morning that the FBI was conducting a consent-based search. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to queries from POLITICO on Friday about which DOJ prosecutors are overseeing the inquiry.
According to a person familiar with the events, who provided information on the condition of anonymity to reveal details of the procedure, a member of Pence’s legal team was present for the entirety of the search. The scope of the search included not only classified records but also documents that might be original copies of presidential records that should be returned to the National Archives, the person said.
Matters related to mishandling or disclosure of classified information are typically handled by Justice’s National Security Division, but Attorney General Merrick Garland farmed out inquiries into recent episodes involving President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to special prosecutors.
Pence has been in California this week for the birth of his granddaughter.
In January, Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, found a dozen classified documents in the home, a revelation he reported in a letter to the National Archives.
Asked by ABC News whether he had taken any classified documents to his home, he responded: “I did not.”
Pence has also received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Pence was the target of Trump’s last-ditch bid to derail the transfer of power to Joe Biden, leaning on his then-vice president to prevent Congress from counting electoral votes that would affirm Biden’s victory.
The subpoena has the potential to trigger an executive privilege fight if Trump or Pence ask a judge to rule that some or all of their testimony should be off limits to prosecutors and the grand jury in order to protect White House deliberations.
Two of Pence’s top aides — Marc Short and Greg Jacob — have already testified to the grand jury and are the subject of ongoing secret legal proceedings pending before the federal courts related to Trump’s effort to assert privilege over their testimony.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
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#FBI #searches #Pences #home #classified #materials
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
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Ankara/Damascus: As desperate searches continued to find more survivors under the rubble in both Turkey and Syria, the death toll from the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the two nations earlier this week has increased to 7,926, authorities have confirmed.
In an address to the nation early Wednesday, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said at least 5,894 people have been confirmed dead so far, while 34,810 others were injured, CNN reported.
A total 16,139 teams were currently continuing with the search and rescue operations, with additional international teams to be deployed in the coming days, he added.
In Syria, the death toll has increased to 2,032.
In its latest update, the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said the number of fatalities in rebel-held areas in northwest Syria stood at 1,220 and the number of injured people rose to 2,600.
Those figures are “expected to rise significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble”, CNN quoted the group as saying.
“Our teams continue search and rescue operations amid difficult circumstances,” it said, describing a tally of more than 400 collapsed buildings, more than 1,300 partially collapsed buildings and thousands of others that were damaged by the early morning quake.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, at least 812 deaths were confirmed in government-controlled parts of the country.
Freezing weather conditions are further endangering survivors and complicating rescue efforts, as more than 100 aftershocks have struck the region since the initial tremor on Monday.
More than 60 countries have pledged support and sent humanitarian aid to the affected regions, while there are about 20 international government search and rescue teams on the ground presently.
The devastating 7.8 tremor struck Turkey’s southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4.17 a.m. on Monday morning, which was followed by a 6.4-magnitude temblor a few minutes later in Gaziantep province.
The epicentre of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 km east of Nurdagi in Gaziantep, at a depth of 24.1 km, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
At around 1.30 p.m, a third 7.5-magnitude tremor hit Kahramanmaras, which officials said was “not an aftershock”.
Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and Syria’s northern Aleppo city suffered the biggest loss of lives, while Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus also felt the tremor.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency on Tuesday in 10 of the country’s hard-hit provinces.
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#TurkeySyria #quake #toll #nearing #searches #continue
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )
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SRINAGAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday conducted searches at 37 locations in 6 districts of Jammu and Kashmir in a case related to irregularities in the examination of Accounts Assistant of Finance Department.
Quoting a statement the news agency KNO reported that the searches were conducted in Jammu, Doda, Reasi, Rajouri, Samba & Udhampur at the premises of accused and others including touts, personnel of J&K Forest Department, CRPF, Indian Air Force.
The examination was conducted by J&K Service Selection Boar.
The statement reads CBI registered a case on 28.11.2022 on the request of J&K Government to investigate the allegations of irregularities in written examination conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on 06.03.2022 for recruitment of FAA).
“The results were declared on 21.04.2022. Earlier, the Govt. of J&K had constituted an Inquiry Committee to look into allegations of malpractices in the examination. It was alleged in report of the Committee that a conspiracy was hatched amongst officials of JKSSB; a private company based at Bengaluru; beneficiary candidates & others which caused gross irregularities in conduct of written examination,” it reads.
It reads it was further alleged that there were abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from the districts of Jammu, Kathua & Reasi.
“It also found the alleged violation of rules by JKSSB in as much as task of setting question paper was assigned to a private company of Bengaluru. Further investigation is continuing,” it reads.
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#FAA #Recruitment #Fraud #CBI #Searches #Locations
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )
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Srinagar, Feb 03: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday conducted searches at 37 locations in 6 districts of Jammu and Kashmir in a case related to irregularities in the examination of Accounts Assistant of Finance Department.
According to a statement, issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), searches were conducted in Jammu, Doda, Reasi, Rajouri, Samba & Udhampur at the premises of accused and others including touts, personnel of J&K Forest Department, CRPF, Indian Air Force.
The examination was conducted by J&K Service Selection Boar.
The statement reads CBI registered a case on 28.11.2022 on the request of J&K Government to investigate the allegations of irregularities in written examination conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on 06.03.2022 for recruitment of FAA).
“The results were declared on 21.04.2022. Earlier, the Govt. of J&K had constituted an Inquiry Committee to look into allegations of malpractices in the examination. It was alleged in report of the Committee that a conspiracy was hatched amongst officials of JKSSB; a private company based at Bengaluru; beneficiary candidates & others which caused gross irregularities in conduct of written examination,” it reads.
It reads it was further alleged that there were abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from the districts of Jammu, Kathua & Reasi.
“It also found the alleged violation of rules by JKSSB in as much as task of setting question paper was assigned to a private company of Bengaluru. Further investigation is continuing,” it reads—(KNO)
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#FAA #Recruitment #Fraud #CBI #searches #locations
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )
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“The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate,” he said. “We will have further information at the conclusion of today’s search.”
The search is part of a special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of the classified materials found in November at his office in Washington and in December and January at his home in Wilmington. In late January, a 13-hour search of Biden’s home recovered additional classified items.
The drip of new information has widened the scope of the probe into Biden and raised fresh frustration among some Democrats over why the searches weren’t conducted sooner and more thoroughly. Late last month, however, former Vice President Mike Pence revealed a search of his home in Indiana also had resulted in the finding of some classified information.
There is also a separate special counsel investigation into former President Donald’s storage of a far larger cache of classified documents at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
The Bidens bought the beach house after his time as vice president, and his family visits the property occasionally on weekends. Biden’s lawyers said previously that they had searched the Rehoboth home and turned up no classified materials.
The latest search comes as the special counsel in the investigation, Robert Hur, formally begins his work on the case.
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#FBI #searches #Bidens #beach #home #Delaware
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
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Washington: FBI investigators have found additional classified documents from US President Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington after conducting a 13-hour search of the home, intensifying the probe into discoveries that could become a political and possible legal liability for him as he prepares to launch a reelection bid in 2024.
Bob Bauer, the President’s personal attorney, said in a statement that during the search on Friday, “Department of Justice took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as vice president.
“DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years,” he said.
The total number of classified documents found in the residences and private offices of Biden has now increased to nearly a dozen and a half. All documents, including from his term as vice president from 2009 to 2016, have now been taken into possession of federal agents.
“DOJ requested that the search not be made public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate,” Bauer said.
Biden is spending time at his Wilmington, Delaware residence this weekend.
“DOJ had full access to the President’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” Bauer said.
Last week, US Attorney General Merrick B Garland appointed a special counsel Robert Hur to investigate the discovery of the classified documents at the private offices and residence of the President.
Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, said that Biden directed his personal lawyers to be fully cooperative with the Justice Department as part of its ongoing investigation. That has been the case since a small number of materials were initially discovered at the Penn Biden Center, he said.
The President and his team are working swiftly to ensure the DOJ and the Special Counsel have what they need to conduct a thorough review, he said.
“Neither the President nor the First Lady were present during the search. The President’s lawyers and White House Counsel’s Office will continue to cooperate with the DOJ and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is conducted swiftly and efficiently,” Sauber said.
The federal search of Biden’s home, while voluntary, marks an escalation of the probe into the President’s handling of classified documents and will inevitably draw comparisons to his predecessor, former president Donald Trump- even if the FBI’s search of Trump’s residence was conducted under different circumstances, CNN said.
Trump also faces a probe over his alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence and his alleged failure to comply with a subpoena.
The lengthy search and subsequent discovery of more documents is a political headache and a possible legal liability for Biden, as he prepares to declare whether he will run for a second term.
Biden, 80, already America’s oldest sitting president, in November said he intends to run again for the presidency in 2024.
Biden said he was “surprised” to learn of the discovery of the records. He had branded his predecessor Trump, “irresponsible” for storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
President Biden told reporters in California on Thursday that he “has no regrets” on the handling of documents marked classified.
When asked why the White House didn’t disclose the existence of the documents in November before the midterm elections, he told reporters he thinks they’re going to find out “there’s no there there.” A first batch of classified documents had been found on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center, a think-tank Biden founded in Washington DC.
A second batch of records was found on December 20 in the garage at his Wilmington home, while another document was found in a storage space at the house on January 12.
After finding the documents, Biden said his team immediately turned them over to the National Archives and the Justice Department.
Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration ends, where they can be stored securely.
The Republican Party was quick to slam Biden after the new discovery.
“This says some of the docs are from his Senate service. Serious Q: how on earth did he do that? I’ve served in the Senate for 10 years. Every single classified doc I’ve read—100%—has been in a secure SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) in the basement of the Capitol. What the hell??” Senator Ted Cruz said.
“Even more highly classified documents were found in Biden’s home!! How are they just now discovering these? This is getting out of hand. As Vice President, Biden had NO RIGHT to possess these. This scandal is getting bigger every single day!!” Congressman Ronny Jackson said.
“After all the misleading, downplaying statements made by the WH (White House), it’s time for the FBI to seal the crime scene, bar anyone from the WH, including POTUS (President of the United States) and his lawyers, from entering and conducting the search themselves. No more special treatment,” former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.
Emboldened by a new majority and armed with subpoena power, House Republicans were already gearing up for a series of investigations into the Biden family’s finances and Biden’s son Hunter.
The discovery of the classified documents opens up a new line of inquiry.
“I think Congress has to investigate this,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday.
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#FBI #searches #Joe #Bidens #Wilmington #home #finds #classified #materials
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )