WASHINGTON: On the first day of the 117th Congress, a lawmaker has introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives to terminate the designation of Pakistan as a Major non-NATO Ally.Introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Biggs, the bill removes Pakistan's designation as a major non-NATO ally, a status that allows for various benefits such as access to excess US defense supplies and participation in cooperative defense research and development projects.The bill also notes that the US President cannot issue a separate designation of Pakistan as a Major NATO ally, unless a presidential certification that Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in Pakistan.It also seeks a presidential certification that Pakistan has taken steps to demonstrate its commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven and that the Pak government actively coordinates with Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.The bill also asks the president to certify that Pakistan has shown progress in arresting and prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.Pakistan was named a Major non-NATO
MASAYA, Nicaragua (AFP) - A rare white tiger, named "Nieve" (snow in Spanish) was born at the Nicaragua zoo, and is being raised by humans after its mother rejected it, the director of the zoo told AFP. Nieve came into the world a week ago, weighing just under a kilogramme at birth, said director Eduardo Sacasa. Conservation group WWF describes white tigers as "a genetic anomaly", with none known to exist in the wild. There are several dozen in captivity. White tigers are Bengal tigers whose parents carry a recessive gene, according to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota which helps and studies felines. They are not albinos or a separate species. Some parks and zoos inbreed white tigers, as white cubs draw more visitors, though this is often at the cost of malformations and other genetic problems, states the sanctuary website. The Nicaragua zoo said Nieve was the first-ever white tiger born in the country, to a pair of yellow and black-coloured Bengals. The cub's mother, rescued after she was abandoned by a circus, had inherited the rare gene from her grandfather, who was white. Nieve was taken away from
PARIS (AFP) - The QAnon conspiracy theory has been blamed for fuelling a riot at the US Capitol on Jan 6. Social media companies have begun to crack down on its followers, with Twitter closing 70,000 accounts on Monday. AFP explains the origins and beliefs of what was once a fringe internet phenomenon: How did it start? In 2016, a false theory spread on the Internet, which eventually became known as "Pizzagate," alleging that top Democrats ran a child sex-trafficking ring from a pizzeria in Washington DC. It appeared to have been sparked by innocuous messages published by WikiLeaks recounting a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser, and culminated in a man firing a gun in the restaurant in December 2016. QAnon began in late 2017 with posts on the anonymous messaging board 4chan and a similar site, 8kun, by a user named "Q Clearance Patriot," who claimed to be an American intelligence official with access to classified information. Q alleged that Democrats ran a Satanic child-kidnapping and paedophile ring and that the US security establishment, referred to as the "deep state," was conspiring to cover it up along with a global liberal elite.
