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Apple takes down Koran app in China
By James Clayton
North America technology reporter



Someone reading the Koran on a smartphone
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Apple has taken down one of the world's most popular Koran apps in China, after a request from officials, the company has confirmed to the BBC.

Quran Majeed is available across the world on the App Store - and has nearly 150,000 reviews.

However, Apple removed the app at the request of Chinese officials, for hosting illegal religious texts, the company said.

The Chinese government has not responded to a request for comment.

The deletion of the app was first noticed by Apple Censorship - a website that monitors apps on Apple's App Store globally.

The Chinese Communist Party officially recognises Islam as a religion in the country.


However, China has been accused of human rights violations, and even genocide, against the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang.

Earlier this year the BBC reported that Uyghur imams had been targeted in China's Xinjiang crackdown.

Apple declined to comment, but directed the BBC to its Human Rights Policy, which states: "We're required to comply with local laws, and at times there are complex issues about which we may disagree with governments."

Screengrab from Quran Majeed promotional material
Image caption,Screengrab from Quran Majeed promotional material
However, it is not clear what rules the app has broken in China. Quran Majeed says it is "trusted by over 35 million Muslims globally".

Last month, both Apple and Google removed a tactical voting app devised by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Russian authorities had threatened to fine the two companies if they refused to drop the app, which told users who could unseat ruling party candidates.

China is one of Apple's biggest markets, and the company's supply chain is heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been accused of hypocrisy from politicians in the US for speaking out about American politics, but staying quiet about China.

Mr Cook criticised Donald Trump's ban of seven Muslim-majority countries in 2017.

However, he is also accused of complying with the Chinese government over censorship - and not publicly criticising it for its treatment of Muslim minorities.

The New York Times reported earlier this year that Apple takes down apps in China if deemed off limits by the Chinese government. Topics that apps cannot discuss include Tiananmen Square, the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, and independence for Tibet and Taiwan.

The BBC contacted the makers of the Quran Majeed app, but has not received a response.

Another popular religious app, Olive Tree's Bible App, was also taken down this week in China - but Apple says it was withdrawn by the company.

Olive Tree did not respond to a request for comment.

Benjamin Ismail, project director at Apple Censorship, said: "Currently Apple is being turned into the censorship bureau of Beijing.

"They need to do the right thing, and then face whatever the reaction is of the Chinese government."

On Thursday, Microsoft said it was shutting down its social network, LinkedIn, in China, saying having to comply with the Chinese state had become increasingly challenging.

The decision was made after the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists.
Source-BBC.COM

The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Thursday vowed not to engage the Indigenous People of Biafra and its security outfit, Eastern Security Network ahead of the governorship election in Anambra State.
The spokesman of the electoral body, Festus Okoye, said the commission will not engage IPOB and ESN because it has been proscribed by the Federal Government.

Okoye while speaking on Arise TV said INEC will only engage other stakeholders like security agencies, civil society organizations.

The electoral body has scheduled the gubernatorial election in the state for November 6, 2021.

There has been security issues in the state as political parties take out time to campaign for their candidates.

Some of the attacks in the state has been linked to the outlawed IPOB and its security outfit.

Okoye while speaking said, “We recognise political parties, we recognise the people of Anambra state, we recognise civil society groups and organisations.

“We recognise traditional institutions and the clergy, so if they are part of civil society groups and organisation and they attend our programs we will tell them what we want to do in relation to Anambra elections.

“But in terms of IPOB, the commission will not go out of its way to go and engage with an organisation that the federal government has declared as illegal. So we won’t do that.

A young Lady named Sophia on her way home from church service at one of the Master’s place International Church (satellite church), in Warri, Delta State narrated her ordeal on how she encountered kidnappers who had posed as transport service operators.
Drugged and whisked her to their den, she heard with her ears, the gruesome murder of two of the girls she had met there.

According to Sophia, they were the eighth and ninth to be killed. She was to be the tenth! But as they made her get up to proceed to the slaughter, her phone fell out of her pocket.

The leader of the hoodlums picked it up, turned it on, and received the shock of his life! The photograph of the Senior Pastors. Pastors Korede and Esther Komaiya was what Sophia had used as her wallpaper.

She said the Leader of the hoodlum saw a strange but torturing ”fire issuing from the phone,” while others in the team ”saw fire issuing from her head.” In panic, the kidnappers made urgent efforts to get her back to where they had kidnapped her from. Today, she is back, safe and sound, indeed, from the land of the dead.

No one but God can rescue in this manner. It can only be God. To Him alone be all the glory for this mighty deliverance.
For more breaking news visit-realitychannelstv..com

The Zamfara State Governor, Hon. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has revealed that his administration has reached an agreement to purchase armed drones with high altitude that will assist in detecting bandits’ hideouts and gather intelligence that would lead to ending insurgency in the state.
The Governor said he went out of the country with some officials for about two weeks on an official trip to the United Kingdom and Turkey to find a lasting solution to the problem of banditry in the state.

“The trip was to seek assistance in the matters of security, job creation, and invitation of foreign investors for socio-economic growth” he added.

“Zamfara State has become the colony of banditry not only in the northern states but in Nigeria as a whole and the state has suffered from the destruction of socio-economic growth.

“Now, the state government has it in mind to purchase armed drones to access bandit hideouts and straighten intelligence gathering to battle the banditry and other criminalities in the state”

The Governor stated that the state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a foreign firm to establish mineral resources and gold refineries to address illegal mining and create job opportunities for the citizens of the state.

He pointed out that under his watch, gold refineries will be established to increase state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), create job opportunities and put illegal mining to rest which many feel is one of the reasons banditry is ravaging the state.

The Governor promised to boost the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, saying the state government has also secured wireless internet clouds for two tertiary institutions in the state

“The wireless cloud project provides a platform for supporting campus-wide access to internet service for teaching, research and development, which will extend to neighboring communities,”

He said
For breaking news visit-https://realitychannelstv..com/2021/10/well-purchase-armed-drones-to-curb.html?

Nigerian soldiers have been captured in a video going viral showing them storm a nursing school in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The military personnel reportedly stormed the school, Our Lady of Lourdes Nursing School, Okija, to search for some unknown gunmen who had a gun duel with the military.

Unknown gunmen, on Tuesday, attacked the venue of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the Ihiala LGA of the state.

The gunmen, who stormed Odoata Primary School on various motorcycles and in three vehicles, were however overpowered by security personnel.

A combined team of policemen and soldiers repelled the attack.



A source explained that the gunmen were unable to withstand the superior firepower of the soldiers and police officers and quickly ran into the premises of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital which was directly opposite the campaign ground.

In the video which has now done viral, passersby were seen raising their hands to show they had no weapon. Students of the school in white uniforms were also spotted running at some point in the video before a gunshot was fired.

The Anambra State Police Command has requested the people in the area to help lookout for people with gunshots and report them.

It has also asked hospitals and other health facilities in both Ihiala Local Government Area and neighboring communities in Imo State to report
For more breaking news visit-
https://realitychannelstv..com/2021/10/nigerian-soldiers-storm-anambra-nursing.html?m=1