The initial tranche includes 40 previously undisclosed documents with almost 1,000 pages of depositions and statements, with the final batch expected to name prominent individuals. A New York judge on Wednesday began to unseal a tranche of documents containing the identities of people linked to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who committed suicide in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes. Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that a judge was about to release a list of clients or alleged co-conspirators of Epstein. And on Wednesday, the judge began the process of unveiling the documents.   The great majority of those whose names appear in the documents are not accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings. The disclosures are part of a defamation proceeding between Epstein's former mistress, Ghislaine Maxwell, and a plaintiff against the pair, Virginia Giuffre. Last month a judge listed some 180 cases — under pseudonyms — ordering that their identities be made public within 14 days, meaning the early part of January.   What was included in the documents? There had been speculation that the documents that were made public would amount to a list of Epstein's "clients" and "co-conspirators." However, the first material to be released was mainly information that had already been made public in newspapers stories, legal cases, books and documentaries.  The documents did, however, serve as a reminder as to the extent of Epstein's influence in that he surrounded himself with powerful and famous figures.   Who was named? The papers mention Epstein's past friendship with former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, both of whom it appeared were not accused of any wrongdoing in the case. They also mention Britain's Prince Andrew, who has previously settled a lawsuit accusing him of having sex with a 17-year-old girl who traveled with Epstein. One of Epstein's accusers said she had met Michael Jackson at Epstein's Palm Beach, Florida, home, although she said nothing untoward had occurred.   The figures also include French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls. Brunel killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022.  Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was also an associate and one-time girlfriend of Epstein, and was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking by a New York court in December 2021. She was handed a a 20-year jail term in June 2022.

This year Bollywood was dominated by Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood industry ruled two SRK films in a row. Along with King Khan, Salman Khan was also in the limelight for the sake of the third movie in the 'Tiger'. However, to ace the two Khans, this time 'Animal' is at the door. Ranbir Kapoor's new film has already broken the record of 'Jawaan'. According to Bollywood movie analysts, "Animal" can make 100 crores at the worldwide box office on the day of its release! At least the flurry of advance bookings is pointing to that. 'Animal' is the first Hindi film to be released in 888 theaters in America.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing calls for a cease-fire in Gaza until all the hostages captured by the militant group Hamas are released. Israel says over 240 hostages were captured by the group during its October 7 attacks, which left over 1,400 killed, according to Israeli figures. "There will be no cease-fire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon," Netanyahu said.  "We say this to our friends and to our enemies. We will simply continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative." Qatar's foreign minister meanwhile said that the country's mediators, which have been trying to negotiate the hostages' release for weeks, would not be able to do that without a "period of calm." "Any hostage release has to be linked to a period of calm that allows for the hostage release to work, which is something we have not seen for a while," Majed Al Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters. Various Arab foreign ministers have repeated calls for a cease-fire during meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his ongoing Middle East tour. Blinken argued that a cease-fire would only allow Hamas, the group listed as a terrorist organization in the US, EU and other countries, to regroup. He has nevertheless tried to advocate for location-specific pauses to allow for aid distribution in Gaza.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present in the premiere show Bangabondhu Biopic, "Mujib: The Making of a Nation" on Thursday, October 12. The film is all set to have the nationwide theatrical release tomorrow. PM attended National Film Archive in Agargaon in the morning to attend the premiere of the “Mujib: The Making of a Nation”. She said the nation would learn a lot of unknown information and new chapter of the history through the much-awaited Biopic.  She said numerous attempts had been made to erase the name of Father of the Nation after his assassination on August 15 in 1975. "The history speaks. Many attempts were made to distort the history (of the Liberation War). But, it is proved that the history has never been wiped out," she said. Renowned Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal directed the film, depicting the life and political odyssey of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The movie is going to be released at over 200 cinema halls in Bangladesh at a time. Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and its Senior Secretary Md. Humayun Kabir Khandaker also spoke before the premier show.

The government will release two commemorative coins of ₹ 100 and ₹ 75 to mark India's G20 presidency. According to a gazette notification issued on July 24, the commemorative ₹ 100 coin will bear the Lion Capitol of Ashoka Pillar in the centre with the legend Satyamev Jayate in Devnagari on its obverse side. It will also be flanked on the left periphery with the word 'Bharat' in Devnagari script and on the right periphery with the word 'India' in English. The reverse side of the coin will have the design of the logo of India's G20 Presidency in the centre and Vasudhev Kutumbkam will be written in Devnagari script on the upper periphery of the coin and the inscription 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' in English will be written on lower periphery of the coin, as per the notification. These features will also be there on the ₹ 75 coin. The standard weight of both coins would be 35 grams each and they will be of 44 millimetres in diameter. India's presidency of the G20 is from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. The G20 is an inter-governmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. Under India's presidency, the leaders' summit is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10. Commemorative coins are typically issued by the government to mark a special  Source: NDTV

Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's release from prison day today. On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from a special sub-jail set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area, after being incarcerated for nearly 11 months. On July 16, 2007, Sheikh Hasina was arrested from her Dhanmondi residence Sudha Sadan during the army-backed caretaker government. At that time, the Awami League president fell ill in captivity.  Later, Awami League and its affiliated organizations including different sectors demanded that Sheikh Hasina be released from jail and sent abroad for better treatment.  Conceding spontaneous demands and pressure from the people from various quarters, the then caretaker government was forced to release Sheikh Hasina. Later on December 29, 2008, the Grand Alliance led by Awami League won the national parliament election with a two-thirds majority.  So, the Awami League president Sheikh Hasina became the prime minister for the second term.

Pakistan's top court has ordered the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from custody. Khan's lawyers had challenged the legality of his arrest, which sparked nationwide protests, earlier this week. The Supreme Court in Islamabad ruled on Thursday that the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan was illegal. The three-judge bench had been asked to hear Khan's petition against his arrest on Tuesday, on charges of corruption. Why has Khan been released? "Your arrest was invalid so the whole process needs to be backtracked," Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan at the hearing in the capital Islamabad, ordering the 70-year-old's release from custody. Bandial also told Khan that the court wanted him to condemn violent protests that arose after his arrest, and against a background of political instability. Khan immediately asked his supporters to end violent protests across the country in which at least eight people were killed and nearly 300 wounded, according to the Interior Ministry. What happens next? Khan's lawyer, Babar Awan, emphasized to reporters that his client is a "free citizen" having been released from the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which brought the original charges against him. But he will nevertheless remain in the custody of the court. He will spend Thursday night in the same police residence as before but with permission to receive visits from up to ten friends and family members. On Friday, he will once again appear before the high court to seek a formal bail, and he has been urged to cooperate with the authorities. Analyst Imtiaz Gul told the AFP news agency that Khan still "has a long way to go," explaining: "This is just a timely relief, probably as part of efforts to de-escalate the explosive situation and reduce tensions." Gul suggested that "the cobweb of criminal cases seems meant to entangle and thus incapacitate him from active politics" ahead of elections due in October. Government interior minister Rana Sanaullah told Dunya TV: "If he gets bail from the High Court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again." How have Khan's supporters reacted? Khan's supporters could be seen dancing near the court building to celebrate his release, but further clashes soon erupted. Police swung batons and fired tear gas, while protesters with sticks smashed police car windows. In other Pakistani cities, local media reported life slowly began to return to normal and streets were mostly quiet on Thursday except for sporadic protests. Why was Khan arrested in the first place? After he was forced from power in a no-confidence vote by lawmakers, Khan has faced multiple corruption charges in Pakistani courts. The former international cricket star was indicted on claims that he unlawfully sold state gifts while serving as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. His arrest was based on a new warrant for a separate corruption case related to property. Khan was being held at a police compound in Islamabad after a judge ordered he be detained for at least eight more days, raising the prospect of further unrest. At least two provinces asked Pakistan's federal government to deploy troops to restore order amid a surge of violence following Khan's arrest. Pakistan's government insisted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had planned the unrest, with Khan's supporters attacking important state buildings and damaging private and public vehicles. Khan told the court on Thursday that he had been unaware of what was happening across the country since his arrest. He told the court he had been "treated like a terrorist."  What are the allegations about gifts? The "Toshakhana" gift-selling case is one of several legal battles that the former international cricket star and his populist center-right party are facing. It hinges on a government department known as the Toshakhana, which refers to Mughal-era treasure houses kept by royal rulers to store and display gifts bestowed on them. Although government officials have to declare all gifts, they are allowed to keep those below a certain value and, in some cases, they can buy back more expensive presents at a discount. Khan and his wife received lavish gifts worth millions during foreign trips, including luxury watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and perfumes. The former prime minister is alleged to have failed to declare some of the presents, or the profit made from selling them. The Election Commission of Pakistan has already barred Khan from holding public office until the next election because of the claims that he sold the presents. Successive governments in Pakistan have previously targeted political opponents by filing legal cases against them to keep them away from politics. Khan and his supporters claim the proceedings are politically motivated.

Chinese firm Alibaba on Tuesday introduced Tongyi Qianwen, an AI-powered language model similar to GPT. At the same time, Beijing revealed a draft law that new AI must "reflect socialist values." The new AI model Tongyi Qianwen — which means "truth from a thousand questions" — can draft invitation letters, summarize meeting notes and advise users on what type of makeup to purchase, as showed in a filmed demonstration on Tuesday. "We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligence transformation to stay ahead of the game," said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang. The model will be integrated into DingTalk, Alibaba's workplace messaging app and Tmall Genie, its voice assistant. Tongyi Qianwen can draft business proposals and emails and "will bring about big changes to the way we produce, the way we work, and the way we live our lives," according to Zhang. Last Friday, Alibaba published a teaser to the new chatbot, with a post on social media reading: "Hello, my name is Tongyi Qianwen, this is our first time meeting, I welcome your feedback." Alibaba Cloud plans to open Tongyi Qianwen to customization from users, so that they can build their own large language models. The AI chatbot race Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create original content, such as text or images, by learning from data it is trained on. Interest in generative AI has spiked since the Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched the chatbot sensation ChatGPT last year. Since then, rival companies have rushed to launch similar products, such as Google's Bard and Baidu Inc's Ernie Bot. On Monday, Chinese AI company SenseTime also revealed a chatbot called SenseChat along with a range of new AI products. Stricter regulation on AI in China Also on Tuesday, China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) revealed draft measures for regulating generative AI services, as more companies like Alibaba introduce publicly available AI models.  The regulator wants companies to submit AI products for a "security assessment" before being released to the public. The CAC said that while China supports innovation and the use of reliable software, content generated by generative AI "must reflect core socialist values." Under the draft law, providers of generative AI services must require users to submit their real identities and must take measures to prevent discrimination when designing algorithms and training data. The public can comment on the new proposal until May 10th, with the new regulations expected to come into force later this year.  Although ChatGPT is unavailable in China, its popularity has been rising as users take advantage of virtual private networks to get around the ban.

The 14th anniversary of release of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from prison is being observed today. On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from the special sub-jail set up on the premises of the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) Building after remaining captive there for nearly 11 months. The Awami League president was arrested from her Sudha Sadan residence at Dhanmondi on July 16, 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government, which assumed power in the political changeover of 1/11 in 2007. As Sheikh Hasina fell sick during her captivity, demands were raised then from different quarters including the Awami League and its associate bodies to send her abroad for better medical treatment after releasing her from jail. Conceding to the people's spontaneous and repeated demands and pressure from different quarters, the caretaker government was compelled to release Sheikh Hasina from jail. In the national election of December 29 in 2008, the Awami League-led grand alliance registered a landslide victory with a two-thirds majority in the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second term. After that, Awami League also became triumphant in the general elections of 2014 and 2018 and formed the government. Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies have taken various programmes to observe the day. The programme includes offering special prayers in all mosques, temples, churches, pagodas and other religious places of worship seeking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's long life and good health. AL will also hold a discussion and doa-mahfil on Bangabandhu Avenue at 11 am tomorrow. Source: BSS AH

The Westminster Magistrates’ Court has ruled that the National Crime Agency’s full file into Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif’s money-laundering investigation can be released to the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) of Pakistan.   District Judge Godfrey has ruled on an application by the ARU at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court that it needs access to the full file of NCA’s money-laundering investigation into Shehbaz Sharif and others after an exclusive report in The News had revealed that NCA dropped a high-profile investigation into Shehbaz and his son after finding no evidence of money-laundering, criminal conduct and misuse of public office.   The full file, when released soon, will further corroborate the story published on The News and Geo. District Judge Godfrey ruled that it was in the interest of open justice that the full file should be released as The News had already published parts of it and some of its contents were already in public domain and also that the several court hearings that took place, as the investigation went on, were not in private.   The News report had revealed that ARU was involved in extensive cooperation with NCA’s investigators several months prior to the start of investigation in December 2019 and up to the closure of the case in November 2021.   The judge has ruled that it was reasonable to release the full NCA file but the judge Ordered that Sharifs, Zulfikar Ahmed and NCA had the right to redact parts of the files that carry personal information. It’s understood that the full case file will be released soon when Sharifs’ lawyer and the NCA have agreed on redactions. In his application Barrister Zia Nasim, the ARU’s Counsel and Legal Expert at Assets Recovery Unit PM Office in Islamabad, told the court that the ARU intends to file a complaint against this reporter at Ofcom “in light of serious misreporting/ broadcast of important facts by the journalist”.   The ARU application said: “However, to assess the merits of any such complaint, it is essential to have access to the documents submitted by the NCA in court, to which the journalist has referred to during the broadcast and report.”   The court notified the NCA, Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman’s lawyer as well as their friend Zulfikar Ahmed about the ARU’s application and asked them to make representations.   At least three hearings at the district court have been held so far where Sharif’s lawyer and Zulfikar Ahmed objected to the release of the full report, arguing that the full file contains several hundred pages and carries personal information of the respondents which is not related to the investigation itself and ARU should not get personal details of Sharifs as these will be used for political victimisation.   They alleged that the ARU needed access to the UK inquiry to utilise this information for its own objectives. Zulfikar Ahmed said that he was a non-political person and he would not like his business and family details to be out in the public.   This correspondent represented himself in person and informed the district judge that The News report was based only on six pages of the total bundle of hundreds of pages and it was inexplicable why the ARU needs access to the full file when it can file a case based on the reported facts which were in public domain. This correspondent argued that should the court decide to release the full file to ARU then he should be able to get the same file to contest the ARU’s legal case in the UK. The NCA said it will stay neutral in the matter and will go by what the court decides. Barrister Zia Nasim argued that the ARU should be given the full file because “it is an interested party” and “ARU’s letter of 11th December 2019 addressed to the NCA was presented to Court and has been referred to by the journalist and the respondents during press conferences” and that Shahbaz Sharif on 29th September 2021 read out from the court document entitled ‘Grounds of Suspicion’ at a press conference.   Barrister Zia Nasim also revealed that the NCA was in touch with ARU on 7th of December 2019 about Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman case - prior to NCA's David Scruton holding a meeting with a NAB senior officer in London and around two weeks before the NCA formally applied to freeze the accounts. He relied on the principles relating to AFOs set out in the recent decision of the Divisional Court in Javadov v Westminster Magistrates Court and R (Guardian News and Media Ltd) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court where the court decided to release the files.   The judge also ordered that a copy of the redacted final file should also be provided to this correspondent and Mr. Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor of the Evening Standard. Source: The News