Pakistan outlaws disinformation with 3-year jail term

MANILA: A Philippine platoon will be trained on using a US mid-range missile system next month, ahead of joint drills, Manila’s military said Tuesday, in a move that will likely further fuel tensions with China.
The US military deployed the Typhon missile system in the northern Philippines last year as part of an annual joint exercise, but it was not removed after the war games ended.
The system’s presence on Philippine soil has angered Beijing, whose forces have engaged in several confrontations with Philippine vessels in recent months over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea.
Last month, the Philippine Army said it was planning to acquire the Typhon system as part of a push to secure its maritime interests, sparking warnings from China of a regional “arms race.”
A new platoon from the Philippines’ Army Artillery Regiment will receive “orientation and familiarization” training on the system, starting in the second or third week of February, army spokesman Col. Louie Dema-ala said in a press conference.
The week-long training will involve troops from the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force of the US Army Pacific, Dema-ala added.
“This is a continuation of what we’ve learned in the first (training) iteration. New units will be involved in the training and a continuation of the previous platoon that was trained last year,” Dema-ala said.
“As long as MRC (mid-range missile capability) is here, we maximize its utilization to train our personnel in new technology,” he added.
Dema-ala said the training is in preparation for this year’s Salaknib, an annual joint exercise between the Philippines and US armies.
The training location cannot be disclosed, he told reporters, noting that there will be no firing of the Typhon system.
Philippine military spokeswoman Col. Francel Padilla said moving the launcher from its initial location to a different part of the country is a test “to see how these logistical trains can be transported to certain locations, to certain salient points.”
Philippine military officials have said the Typhon system would be able to protect vessels up to 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) off the coast, the limit of its maritime entitlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Last week, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning renewed calls for the Philippines to “stop going further down the wrong path.”
“Let me stress again that by bringing this strategic offensive weapon into this part of the world, the Philippines is essentially creating tensions and antagonism in the region and inciting geopolitical confrontation and an arms race,” she said.

DHAKA: Trains were canceled across Bangladesh on Tuesday as railway staff went on strike for higher pensions and other benefits, affecting tens of thousands of passengers and freight transport.
Saidur Rahman, acting president of the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Union, said the strike was called after a meeting with the interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus failed to reach a deal late Monday.
Rahman said the strike would continue indefinitely if the government does not accept their demands.
The state-run railway system carries some 65 million passengers per year in the densely populated nation of 170 million people. It employs about 25,000 people and operates a network of over 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles).
The main Kamlapur Railway Station in the capital, Dhaka, was mobbed by hundreds of disappointed passengers who were not aware of the strike. Many waited for hours before going home.
As the country’s railway adviser visited, passengers shouted complaints.
Shahadat Hossain, a station manager in Dhaka, said at least 10 trains were scheduled to leave the station on Tuesday morning. Authorities arranged buses as an alternative.
Mohammed Nadim was stranded at the Kamlapur Railway Station as he traveled hundreds of kilometers overnight to reach Dhaka for his vacation to the southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar.
“I came here in at 5:30 a.m. from outside Dhaka. But after one hour or so, I came to know that my train will not run. Now I have been stranded here for hours without any hope. The station officials told me my ticket money will be reimbursed, but I don’t know when,” he told The Associated Press at the scene.
He refused to travel to his destination by a bus as arranged by the authorities as an alternative.
“It’s too far. I have come here to travel by train. I don’t want to travel this far by an air-conditioned bus even. Now they are offering me this bus that has no air-condition,” he said.
Dhaka-based Jamuna TV station reported that railway workers protested in Chattogram, the country’s second largest city. The southeastern city has the country’s largest seaport, and the massive garment industry relies on trains to bring goods to it for export. The industry earns about $38 billion a year from exports, mainly to the United States and the European Union.
In the northwestern region of Rajshahi, angry passengers smashed furniture of a station and attacked a staff, according to Jamuna TV.
The Yunus-led interim government has been running the country since August, when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India amid a student-led uprising and ended her 15-year rule. The interim administration is struggling to restore order amid reports by the global lending agencies such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank of slower economic growth.