WION news brief, February 4, 2018

FBI was a 'tool of my opponents' during 2016 presidential elections: US president Donald Trump

United States President Donald Trump said that the Nunes memo revealed how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) were used to influence the presidential elections in 2016.

The President alleged that the FBI became a "tool of anti-Trump political actors" and dismissed it be a non-partisan enforcer of the law.

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In a series of tweets, he said, "The four-page memo released Friday reports the disturbing fact about how the FBI and FISA appear to have been used to influence the 2016 election and its aftermath....The FBI failed to inform the FISA court that the Clinton campaign had funded the dossier....the FBI became...." a tool of anti-Trump political actors.

Islamabad: Pashtuns carry out anti-Pakistan protest, won't move till demands met

Thousands of Pashtuns gathered outside the press club in Islamabad and chanted Azadi (Freedom) slogans by highlighting human rights violations against the community.

The participants of the Pashtun sit-in have refused to budge from their stated position until the government accepts their “five-point charter of demand” and arrest the suspended Malir SSP, Rao Anwar, besides ensuring the rule of law in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

They undertook a Long March demanding justice for Naqeeb Mahsood, a Pashtun killed in a fake police encounter on January 13 in Karachi.

Russian jet shot down in Syria, pilot killed by militants

A Russian pilot was killed Saturday in fighting with Islamists after his warplane was downed over northwest Syria, Russia's defence ministry and a monitor said.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a powerful jihadist-dominated alliance said, on an affiliated media channel it had shot down the plane but made no mention of the pilot.

"We were able to bring down the Russian warplane with a shoulder-fired missile above Saraqib in Idlib this afternoon," said Mahmoud al-Turkmani who, according to the statement, heads HTS`s "air defence brigade."

He said the attack was in retaliation for a ferocious bombing campaign by Russian warplanes over Idlib.

Ankit Saxena murder: Delhi's Khyala area remains tense

Police kept a hawk-eyed vigil on west Delhi's Khayala area which was gripped by tension after a 23-year-old man was stabbed to death by the family members of a woman with whom he was in a relationship.

Ankit Saxena, a professional photographer, was killed on Thursday night in the area. The woman's family opposed her relationship with Saxena as the two belonged to different communities.

Four persons, including the brother of the woman, were nabbed a few hours after Saxena was stabbed to death by them.

Seven Turkish soldiers die in Syria, including five in tank attack

Seven Turkish soldiers were killed Saturday in Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, including five who died in a single attack on a tank, the army said.

The losses marked the highest toll in one day for the Turkish military in operation "Olive Branch", launched on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia seen by Ankara as a terror group.

The attack on the tank, details of which were not disclosed, was also the single deadliest attack on the military of the offensive so far.