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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 643, 1 DEC. - 7 DEC. 2015 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Putin says Turkey downed Russian jet to protect its ‘oil trade with ISIS’ Russian fighter jets equipped with air-to-air missiles

Moscow Speaking during international talks in Paris over how to tackle climate change, Mr. Putin described Turkey’s action a “huge mistake”. Mr. Putin said Moscow has grounds to suspect the Su-24 was downed by Turkish jets on November 24 to secure illegal oil deliveries on an “industrial scale” from Syria to Turkey. He said: “At the moment we have received additional information

confirming that that oil from the deposits controlled by ISIS militants enters Turkish territory on industrial scale. “We have every reason to believe that the decision to down our plane was guided by a desire to ensure security of this oil’s delivery routes to ports where they are shipped in tankers.”

Mr. Putin said terrorists have been abusing the visa-free regime between Russia and Turkey to move

freely, adding that Ankara failed to address the issue after Russia raised it. He added: “We have been asking Ankara for a long time to pay attention” after extremists began “emerging on Turkish territory”. Turkey has strongly refuted claims it has any ties to ISIS and is part of a US-led coaltion to carry out air strikes against the evil terror group. The Russian strongman’s claims are likely to ratchet

up heightened tensions between both countries after last week’s shootdown of a Russian plane over the SyriaTurkish border. Earlier today the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutolu, said his country would not apologise for the incident.

He said: “Protection of our airspace, our border is not only a right but a duty for my government and no Turkish premier or president ... will apologise

Pakistanis rated most attractive on Earth ISLAMABAD Pakistan is often overlooked for various reasons, but an international magazine on Friday declared Pakistanis world’s most attractive people.According to an international magazine “The Brofessional”, the people of 15 countries are the most attractive but Pakistan tops the chart.“With thousands of years of tradition and a general elegance of many in the upper class, Pakistan is a nation that breeds many aesthetically

pleasing individuals.

Some of the most attractive actors and actresses on the planet hail from that nation,” the magazine said.The

Columbian people stood second among world’s most attractive people. The South American nation is small, but with a lot of farmland, it is

the Latin equivalent of Nebraska.

And we know the attractiveness of people from Nebraska, mostly.

France, Australia, Scotland, Germany, Russian, Spanish, American and Swedish could grab third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions respectively.

According to the magazine’s list, Serbian, Irish, Brazilian, Italian and British people stood eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth.

for doing our duty.” A Turkish F-16 fighter jet downed the Su-24 warplane after claiming that it violated Turkish airspace for just 17 seconds, despite repeated warning in the minutes prior to the incursion.

However

Moscow vehemently rejects the claims, saying that according to its military intelligence the SU24 never left Syrian airspace. Syrian Turkmen rebels killed one of the two pilots as he attempted to parachute down. The second pilot was rescued, but one marine was killed during the rescue operation.

Russia is currently operating air strikes in wartorn Syria in order to wipe out the evil terrror group.

Turkey remained reluctant to play an active role in the fight against ISIS until a few months ago. In August it allowed the US-led coalition to begin using its airbase at Incirlik. A Russian Su-24 fighter jet has been shot out of the sky over the Turkish-Syrian border. The evil terror network is understood to be funded by illegal sales of oil - but Turkey has repeatedly denied any connection to its trade. It comes after it emerged that Russia has equipped its fighter jets with air-to-air missiles for the first time in “self defence”.

Russian airforce spokesman Colonel Igor Klimov said the Continued on Page 2

Patiala journalist arrested in rape case Patiala The district police have arrested radio and social media commentator Baltej Pannu in a rape case lodged by a social activist. The activist, who runs a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for differently abled children, has accused Pannu of sexual exploiting her by making false promises.

She also alleged that Pannu threatened to malign her image if she failed to do his bidding.

On the basis of the complaint, the police registered an FIR under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and arrested Pannu

after raiding his house.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Chauhan stated that prima facie it was a case

of sexual exploitation. The SSP said the police had asked Pannu to join the investigation, but since he didn’t do so, he was arrested.

Issue - 643 (2)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Paris terror attack suspect may have escaped to Syria New details emerged Monday in the Paris terror attacks, including word that fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam had purchased detonators at a fireworks shop before the assault, and chilling claims from a source that even more attacks were “ready to go.”

A source close to the investigation said Monday that Abdeslam had purchased 10 detonators from a fireworks shop on the outskirts of the city before the November 13 attacks.

The detonators cost 10 euros (about $10.60) each at the Saint-Ouen l’Aumone shop, Les Magiciens du Feu or “Fire Magicians.” He also bought batteries. Investigators have been looking for the Belgian-born French national since shortly after the attacks, which killed 130 people. French intelligence services say they think he’s escaped to Syria, according to the source close to the investigation and a counterterrorism source.

Belgian officials aren’t so sure, however. Security services there have seen no indications Abdeslam has made it to Syria, although

they’ve always thought he might be headed there, a Belgian security analyst in touch with Belgian security officials told CNN on Monday. The store manager at Les Magiciens du Feu alerted authorities after Abdeslam’s name and photograph were released to the public, the French newspaper Le Parisien reported. And while it’s been previously reported that ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and another man were planning another suicide attack on the Paris financial district of La Defense, a source Monday said the terrorists may have had even more far-reaching goals.

“Other attacks were ready to go in Jewish areas, transport networks and schools,” said a source, citing a man who had been in touch with Abaaoud’s cousin. Abaaoud and his cousin, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, were killed in a French commando raid in the Paris suburb of SaintDenis.

A stop at a cafe The possibility that Abdeslam had already slipped through authorities’ net was raised last week when a Brussels lawyer said his client, Ali Oulkadi, picked up Abdeslam and a friend at a subway stop in suburban Brussels the day after the attacks. “He did not know it was Salah and did not recognize him immediately when he arrived because he was wearing a cap,” lawyer Olivier Martins said. “In the car, Salah told him that his brother, Brahim, had killed people in Paris and had blown himself up. For my

client, a childhood friend of the two brothers, it was a shock, He could not understand it and could not think clearly.”

On the way back to the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek, the trio stopped in a cafe, the lawyer said. A court on Friday ordered Oulkadi detained for a further 30 days. He is one of six people Belgian authorities are holding in connection with the attacks. Martins said Oulkadi did nothing wrong “and is absolutely not radicalized.”

Missed opportunity at checkpoint Investigators haven’t detailed what they believe Abdeslam’s role was in the attacks, but Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said he may have driven the Renault Clio that dropped off suicide bombers at the Stade de France. His fingerprints, Molins said, were found in a car connected with the attacks.

The Clio was found four days later in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, where it appeared to have been parked hastily in a pedestrian crossing.

Authorities say Abdeslam remained under the radar for four hours as chaos enveloped the French capital before calling acquaintances Mohammed Amri and Hamza Attou to come get him.

The three immediately made their way toward Brussels, but police stopped them close to Cambrai, near the Belgian border, at about 9 a.m.

French authorities had not established who carried out the attacks, and they were allowed to continue to Brussels. Later, French police realized Abdeslam’s alleged involvement — probably after discovering another car he had rented which had three AK-47s in the trunk. By then, he had vanished.

Is Abdeslam the eighth ‘brother’?

AMr.i and Attou were arrested after returning to Brussels and have since been charged with “complicity in terrorist attacks and participation in the activities of terrorist organizations.” Their lawyers insist they had no knowledge of what Abdeslam was doing in Paris.

Who are the suspects?

It’s not clear if Abdeslam had a larger role to play in the deadly string of

assaults. An ISIS claim of responsibility on November 14 referred to “eight brothers” when only seven had been involved in the attacks, according to police. The message also mentioned operations in the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissements - but there was no attack in the 18th arrondissement, where Abdeslam is thought to have parked the Clio.

Paris attacker’s sister speaks out A source familiar with the investigation told CNN this month that Abdeslam’s “movements make no sense,” and his brother told Belgian state broadcaster RTBF that he believes Abdeslam decided at the last minute not to go through with an attack. “He probably saw or heard something that was not what he was expecting, and he decided not to go through with what he wanted to do,” Mohamed Abdeslam told the CNN affiliate. Attou’s attorney, relaying her client’s account, said Abdeslam was calm at three checkpoints the trio negotiated en route to Brussels, but overall, Attou found Abdeslam to be “extremely agitated and maybe ready to blow himself up.”

Continued from Page 1 missiles have target-seeking devices and are capable of hitting air targets within a 60km (37miles) radius.

Russian strongman Mr. Putin has vowed a tough response and has already

signed off a raft of sanctions against Turkey.

They include a ban on chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling holiday packages that

would include a stay in Turkey. Mr. Putin’s decree also calls for ending visafree travel between Russia and Turkey and orders the tightening of control over Turkish air carriers in Russia “for security reasons.”

China sticks to right to decide reincarnation of Dalai Lama START OF THE WORLD WAR III..

China will never give up the right to decide on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, a top Chinese official said on Monday, despite criticism from rights groups and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader on the issue.

The Dalai Lama and

China’s officially atheist Communist Party have repeatedly tussled over who has final authority on the issue of reincarnation.

Tibetans fear that China will use the issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession to split Tibetan Buddhism, with one new Dalai Lama named by exiles and one by the government after his death.

The central government has stiffened its resolve to decide on the reincarnation of “living Buddhas, so as to ensure victory over the antiseparatist struggle”, Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the

ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China’s parliament, wrote in the state-run Global Times.

China says the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is a violent separatist.

The Nobel Peace laureate denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death.

China says the tradition must continue and it must approve the next Dalai Lama. However, the Dalai Lama has said he thinks the title could end when he dies. Chinese officials, however, have stressed that the current Dalai Lama has no right to abandon reincarnation. In a commentary, Zhu said the

issue “has never been purely a religious matter or to do with the Dalai Lama’s individual rights; it is first and foremost an important political matter in Tibet and an important manifestation of the Chinese central government’s sovereignty over Tibet”. As the Dalai Lama is the first political leader of Tibet, “whoever has the name of Dalai Lama will control political power in Tibet,” Zhu added.

“For this reason, since historical times, the central government has never given up, and will never give up, the right to decide the reincarnation affairs of the Dalai Lama,” Zhu wrote.

“It is not only necessary, but is in line with jurisprudence, and has nothing to do with whether the rulers believe in religion or not.” The Dalai Lama has said his biggest concern was that China would name his successor, saying, “The precedent has been set”.

In 1995, after the Dalai Lama named a boy in Tibet as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, China put the boy under house arrest and installed another instead.

Class 9 student delivers baby in school washroom A 13-year-old student of ninth standard delivered a baby in her school washroom in Telangana.

The incident did not occur in any remote village of

stomach pain, the teacher who was taking the class asked her to go to the wash room.

To utter shock of everybody, the girl

Telangana but in Madhapur in the information technology hub, housing many global IT giants.

The tribal girl developed labour pains during the class and she had no idea as what was happening.

As she complained of

delivered a baby girl in the washroom. The school authorities informed the parents, who took had no idea of how she became pregnant, IANS reported.

Though the incident occurred on Saturday, it came to light on Monday.

Both the girl and her daughter were in hospital and safe.

Nobody among the 20 member school staff including 13 women teachers at Government High School Madhapur noticed that the girl was pregnant. The teachers said she used to cover the stomach with a scarf and while sitting on the bench, used to keep the bag in front of her.

The girl’s parents were also shocked. They said they did not notice anything.

The district education officer has ordered a probe.

However, nobody from the school is said to be involved. After preliminary inquiry, police booked a case against a youth who used to accompany the girl to school. Dinesh is suspected to have made the girl pregnant.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Issue - 643 (4)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

The intolerance debate is good!

This week, I am presenting to you the views from two leading female journalists from India and Pakistan. Mehr Trar and Smita Prakash had this to say on the subject of growing intolerance in India. The very word tolerance speaks of an environment in which countless and contrasting ideas, viewpoints, social ethos, ideological narratives, cultural subtleties and religious distinctions exist.

From the fundamental grouping of a family to a community to a society to a nation, the entire edifice of human interactivity stands not merely on the similarities between individuals but on the distinct differences that set one apart from the other. The viable balance of appreciation of similarities in juxtaposition with contrasting qualities is the ideal option of existence, but its attainment is, incidentally, in most cases, an elusive dream, or in some cases, a constant struggle. Coexistence of diversities acts as a strengthening factor to the dynamics

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of relationships, whereas the perpetual struggle to keep its mechanism in motion weakens the stability of an entire society.

The recent outrage in India over the “growing intolerance” is an indication of various sensibilities co-existing yet in collision with one another. India being the world’s biggest democracy is rightfully proud of its secular constitution, its pluralism, and its multiple cultural, ideological, and religious dynamics operating in an unwieldy but a workable whole. A country that is deeply religious in the context of almost its entire population is held together by the separation of the state from the religious institutions. That India’s pluralism is real, and it is vibrant and it works is manifested in the sound of temple bells, azaan from mosques, choir music of churches, and Shabad Kirtan from gurdawaras in one neighborhood. It may not be all over India, but the very fact of its existence wherever it is speaks of a pluralistic India, splendid in its glory, flawed, struggling, in conflict, but standing tall, proud, and persistent.

That to me is India’s biggest strength, and that to me is what must be looked at with an open-mindedness that goes beyond the sporadic or concerted efforts to mainstream that one dividing factor: intolerance.

It isn’t as if Aamir or Shah Rukh or A.R. Rehman made the Mumbai film industry suddenly wake up to the intolerance debate. It also isn’t true that the culture and literary congregation abruptly felt an exigency situation in the country with regard to secularism. It isn’t as if Parliament too, all of a sudden, initiated a debate on dharmnirpeksh versus panthnirpeksh. The intolerance and secularism debates in India are as old as its history itself. India gave itself a Constitution after endless hours of debate on secularism and tolerance. From kings who ruled the country, to the framers of the Indian Constitution, to the leaders of today, everyone has debated and concluded that India doesn’t just believe and live the word tolerance in every sense of the word; it is the essence of the very nature of Indians. It is civilizational to be tolerant and that includes being tolerant towards debate on rising levels of intolerance in the country. Aberrations have occurred regularly in history, initiated or supported by political or religious groups.

Just because tolerance is inherent in the Indians doesn’t mean intolerance is not.

Like in any functioning democracy, in India too, religious and societal customs clash, often violently. It is the job of the citizens to speak out against it, to bring it to the attention of the authorities and vociferously campaign against it, if they notice a trend emerging. Societies and governments that clamp down on dissent suffer a backlash sooner or later. Else they have a quick descent into chaos. A civil disobedience movement in Nepal has

bubbled over and has reached a crisis SUNNY BAINS of gigantic proportions. The fledgling government is unable to solve the Madheshi agitation, debate a lot noisier and varied. Not all which has resulted in acute shortage of opinions are backed by research and fuel, cooking gas and life saving drugs. wisdom. Some are fallacious and/or China now has become an active player motivated and engineered. But it is for the in the Nepal conundrum. More than 50 consumer to use individual and collective people have died in the agitation and judgment to figure that out. It is silly and blockade that is not ebbing. India has been even dangerous to rely on any one source caught in a pincer nip on the diplomatic of news to base your judgment on which front. On the one hand, the world looks way the country is headed. The tolerance upon India as an unwanted supporter to debate has many nuances to it. As does the Madeshi blockaders and, on the other, the secularism debate. The curious trend the Madheshis claim that their agitation of Award-Wapasi has tapered off. The is being tarnished by propaganda claiming beef-ban issue has also lost its steam.

it to be India sponsored. On Sunday, Nepal blocked Indian news channels.

We have seen Pakistan live through methodical intolerance in the context of the personal, social, legal, governmental, ideological and religious. The very code of religion that is to teach you humanity, compassion, acceptance, forgiveness, and enlightenment is distorted to impart a system of indoctrination that focuses on looking at differences as anomalies.

While the strength of your faith should inculcate a deep appreciation of the intangible that connects the individual to the Creator, it results in creating schisms of doubt, paranoia, distancing from other faiths, and anger towards the opposing narrative. Intolerance of any code of moral, social and religious code other than yours is the cancer that metastasizes and gnaws on a nation’s foundational structure. In Pakistan, minorities are targeted on a systematic and regular basis. Entire communities are blocked out of the social and political mainstream and the press is not allowed to speak about it. An unofficial gagging of the media is taking place, with columnists who speak against the establishment being dropped.

The Ahmediyyas, Baloch, Hindus, Christians, Shia minorities call themselves the walking dead.

In India, the media is robust and voluble.

The voices of dissent cannot be stifled even if anybody tries to. For every one columnist or reporter who is axed for his or her writing, several others crop up, who get equal, if not more, readership. A burgeoning social media has made the

Police hunt Santa Claus who stole Sao Paulo helicopter RIO DE JANEIRO Brazilian police are hunting for a Sao Paulo Santa Claus who kicked off the Christmas shopping season by stealing a helicopter.

The thief rented the aircraft late Friday from an air taxi service at the Campo Marte airport in Sao Paulo for a Black Friday “surprise,” the

Sao Paulo state security secretariat said on Saturday. During the flight, the Santa forced the pilot to fly to a small farm outside of Sao Paulo city, where they were met by a third person, the secretariat said.

The pilot was tied up and the two perpetrators flew away.

But that doesn’t mean that people are done with the intolerance debate or that suddenly India has become tolerant forever. Definitions and boundaries will keep morphing.

As is happening in the rest of world, social media is replete with videos being put up by alert citizens in the western world where Islamophobia is on the rise. Entire communities are trying to find regional and location-based solutions of how to stem intolerance in their societies.

Governments are double-burdened with the task of cracking down on terror groups and yet protecting sensitivities of the communities which feel they are being targeted because of their attire, their race or their religion. The intolerance debate is a global one. It need not be one of shame. It must be conducted at community, regional, national and global levels. It ought to be inclusive and respectful of diversity. India exists amidst varied strands of indoctrination: of caste, ethnicity, region, political affiliation, sectarian loyalties and religious sensibilities. Despite its avowed adherence to secularism, there is no denying the power of all these factors in the formation of a community, a power structure.

India may have many flaws but India is also involved in the process of stocktaking, assuming responsibility, making amends, changing course, eradication of issues, and planning ahead. India is much, much more than these hatemongers, these division-makers, these vote-seeking movers and shakers. India is you. Humanly flawed yet wonderfully alive to all that is good and noble and farsighted. No nation is the acts of a few.

No nation is even the governmental structure that rules it. No nation is the sum total of its flaws. No nation can be labelled in singularity. And no nation is terrorist or intolerant. The sensibilities of individuals are, at times, displayed in actions of a group, which in turn are open to question, and must be receptive to introspection, modification of behavior and alteration of course. And that is the strength of a nation that is in competition with itself, is answerable to its own soul, and marches forward: flawed yet vibrant.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

HK’s dolphins at risk of disappearing

Why are there no winners or losers in the game of love? Because it is not a game! And because ‘winning’ is for losers! In the realm of close emotional interaction, it is only through giving something away that we can ever hope to make a gain. Therefore, the more we lose, the better off we are! ‘For it is in giving that we receive,’ as Saint Francis of Assisi observed so wisely, many centuries ago. Open your heart and your mind, and you will soon be surprised and inspired by the happy events that naturally ensue.

‘If we don’t draw a line, people won’t know where our limits are.’ So say the psychologists who are always keen to stress the importance of establishing boundaries and refusing to allow ourselves to be pushed about. They don’t need to speak like that to you, do they? Are you not already an expert in the art of self-defense? It is possible that now, if you want to improve a slightly problematic aspect of your personal life, the best way to accomplish this probably involves not standing your ground but giving a little of it.

Beauty is only skin deep.

Truly attractive people may not seem so immediately impressive.

But a kind heart and a funloving philosophy can cause a special glow to emanate. Others become drawn to this, unable to resist. Charm may defy logic, but there is no denying how powerful and important it can be. The big question for you is not about whether some cosmetic adjustment may increase or decrease your appeal in someone else’s eyes. Just work on being the best person that you know how to be.

We may speak to

someone every day and they may speak to us, but to what extent do the two of you truly talk to each other? I ask only because where there is conflict or controversy in your personal life now, there is a chance to heal a wound and strengthen a bond. All that’s really required is a conversation. But not one that is based on explanation and justification. This has to be an exercise in creating affinity and nurturing empathy. That means listening, caring and supporting, not just proving points.

How do we feel about someone when we suspect that they are not so fond of us? We feel affronted. Why can’t they see how nice we are?

And how do we feel when we believe that we are being thought highly of?

We don’t question anyone’s judgement then!

We are always inclined to make time for those who seem kindly disposed towards us.

Make free with the benefit of the doubt now. Think only the finest thoughts about someone and their behavior will automatically reflect their intuitive recognition of this.

When we are nice to people, are they nice to us in return? What happens if we are nasty? There are some unusual individuals who display tolerance and kindness, even when faced with unwarranted aggression. There are also some curmudgeons who can grump and grouch, even when being spoken to soothingly.

But, exceptions apart, most of us find that what we give out is what we get back. If now, you’re getting what you wish you weren’t getting, just give back more of what you wish you were getting instead!

HONG KONG As Hong Kong seeks to expand its international airport and with a major new bridge project under way, campaigners warn that the dwindling number of much-loved pink dolphins in surrounding waters may disappear altogether.

Conservationists say their repeated concerns have fallen on deaf ears, with what they describe as a “rapid” decline of the mammal in the past few decades. The Chinese white dolphin - popularly known as the pink dolphin due to its pale pink colouring - draws scores of tourists daily to the waters north of Hong Kong’s Lantau island.

It also became Hong Kong’s official mascot for the handover ceremony in 1997, when Britain returned the territory to China. But despite the affection felt towards the dolphin, campaigners say there may soon be none left.

The proposed construction of a third runway at Hong Kong’s busy Chek Lap Kok airport could be the nail in the coffin, they say. “We think that if that project goes ahead, then it will probably drive the dolphin away from Hong Kong waters,” said

Samuel Hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, who has been going out to sea at least twice a week to monitor dolphin activity for

Chinese waters or may have died off, says Hung.

Dolphin habitats have also been affected by the ongoing construction of a 50-kilometre (30-mile)

almost 20 years.

“In some ways it seems like we are pushing them closer and closer to the edge of the cliff and if we’re making that final push, they will be gone forever. I think now is the time to get our act together.”

Hung says there are only around 60 dolphins left in Hong Kong waters - a drop from 158 in 2003. “The dolphin decline is caused by a number of factors, including overfishing and environmental pollution... but I think the major contribution is coming from the increase of high-speed ferry traffic,” Hung said.

The dolphins have either gone to neighbouring

bridge connecting Hong Kong to the gambling enclave of Macau.

The bridge looms on the horizon behind the village of Tai O, on the western tip of Lantau island, from where dozens of dolphin tours go out daily.

“Since the construction of the bridge in 2012 the situation has worsened,” says Hung, who blames land reclamation encroaching on dolphin habitats and continuing cons-truction creating disturbance.

The WWF recently placed volunteers on the dolphinspotting boats to tell tourists about the problems the animals are facing.

Parents never talk about mental health to children London More than half of parents in England have never spoken to their children about stress, anxiety or depression, a survey has suggested.

A poll of more than 1,100 parents found that 55 percent had not spoken about the subject to their

Change campaign, which is being run by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

It also found that 45 percent of parents felt they did not need to have the conversation because mental health “was not an issue”.

One in 10 young people will experience a mental health

offspring. Of those, 20 percent said they did not know how to address the issue. The survey results have been released as part of a campaign, funded by the Department of Health, to break down the stigma associated with mental health. The poll, of parents to children aged between six and 18, was carried out by market research company Opinion Matters on behalf of the Time to

problem, the campaign claims. Sue Baker, the director of Time to Change, said: “This has to be the generation for change.

Mental health problems are a common experience for three children in every classroom.

“Our research has shown that talking about mental health is still seen as too awkward for many parents and young people and we need to change that in the

home, at school, on social media and in wider social circles.” Last month, a separate survey suggested 62 percent of youngsters had done a general internet search for depression. And the Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said youngsters did not have the confidence to go to the doctor with mental health issues.

Nadine Peacock’s 19year-old daughter Emma experienced mental health issues in her early teens. She has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Nadine Peacock said: “My biggest piece of advice make mental health part of everyday conversation with your child.

“Even if your child isn’t experiencing any issues, if something does crop up further down the line at least then they feel like they can have an open conversation with you about it.” The Time to Change campaign has received £660,000 from the Department of Health.

“Pollution is quite serious in the air and water... We worry about the marine life being affected,” said Hong Kong bank worker Yeung Ka-yan, 30, after taking a short boat trip.

“We were a little disappointed,” added her boyfriend, a 26year-old chef from Taiwan, after failing to spot any dolphins - a scenario that could become all too common in the years ahead if conservationists’ fears are realised.

Tourist boat operator Wong Yung-kan, who was born in Tai O and has lived most of his life there, said residents used to dislike the dolphins because they ate catch from fishermen’s nets, when fishing was the village’s most important trade.

“Now the fishing industry has reduced in size, we have had to change our line of work from fishing to taking tourists out on boats to see dolphins,” said Wong, 67.

Dolphin-watching accounts for 10 percent of Tai O’s tourism business. “Of course we want them to remain here... the tourists will be happier and we’ll be happier as well,” adds Wong.

Brazil finds Zika virus causes deformities in babies

BRASÍLIA The Brazilian health ministry has confirmed that there was a link between cases of microcephaly, a head deformity, in babies and the Zika virus, transmitted by mosquitoes that spread dengue. The outbreak of microcephaly in northeastern Brazil “is a unique situation in global scientific research,” the agency said in a statement.

Health authorities established the link after identifying the presence of the virus in a deceased baby who had been born with microcephaly and other genetic diseases. The congenital disease results in the formation of a smaller skull and impairs normal intellectual development. A total of 739 suspected cases have already been identified throughout Brazil so far this year, compared to 147 diagnosed cases in 2014, according to official figures.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

With Star Wars movie, old toys go galactic THORNABY Vintage toys linked to the “Star Wars” film franchise are moving faster than a swirling lightsaber, sending prices of many of them soaring into hyperspace.

With the latest in the series “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” - due to open in December, auctioneers in the northeast England town of Thornaby have sold one for a colossal 18,000 pounds ($27,000), 35 years after it went for 1.50 pounds in the shops. This was not a historic piece of trivia like the movie-prop blockade-runner spaceship that California-based auctioneers Profiles in History sold for $450,000, or Princess Leia’s actual slave costume, which went for $96,000.

What collectible toys specialist Vectis Auctions Ltd sold in January on behalf of British collector Craig Stevens was a small plastic replica of bounty hunter Boba Fett, a cult character from “Star Wars” sequel “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980). With the proceeds

of that, and mainly other toys anyone could have purchased for pocket money at the time, Stevens and his wife bought a house - for cash.

memorabilia, from robots, to spaceships, “Death Star” pencil sharpeners and on to packaged figurines, are piled up in Vectis, which will hold another in a series

“I’d like to say I had some kind of vision but I didn’t, I collected for myself,” Stevens told Reuters, adding that some items he had collected had been about to be thrown away. Various collectors’ hoards of “Star Wars”

of online auctions of about 700 pieces on Dec. 8. The most valuable toys are those that are sealed in their original packages from decades ago, having never been used, Kathy Taylor, Vectis’s “Star Wars” expert, said,

Afghanistan’s capital faces imminent attack, US embassy warns The US embassy said it has received “credible reports of an imminent attack” in the Afghan capital, Kabul. A statement on the embassy’s website on Monday urged US citizens to

exercise “extreme caution” if moving around in Kabul during the next 48 hours. The statement said the embassy had no further information about the targets,

timing or nature of the planned attack. The Taliban often carry out attacks in Kabul and elsewhere, mainly targeting Afghan security forces and foreigners. Supporters of Islamic State have a growing presence in Afghanistan.

The US State Department has long warned against travel to Afghanistan.

A spokeswoman said the US embassy had received the reports of a specific and credible imminent threat, which was not against the embassy, US citizens or US interests. She would not elaborate on the nature of the threat or who was behind it, but said: “It was sufficient enough that we did feel that an email and a message should go out to US citizens in Kabul.”

adding: “It’s not a normal retail situation we’re in here.” “It isn’t anything that’s just a toy,” she said. “It’s actually a way of life and a cultural thing. People even look at some of these cardbacks that we sell as works of art.” One of the oddest items at Vectis is an inch-long (2.5-cm) piece of plastic that is a prototype for a Boba Fett rocket, never produced, and estimated at 8001,200 pounds.

“We’ve been blown away by some of the prices,” said Vicky Weall, the managing director of Vectis, which is stacked to the rafters with collectible toys of all sorts, including dolls, stuffed animals, toy trains and the increasingly valuable “Star Wars” items. The company makes a 20 percent commission on sales.

“Once you get two people who are desperate for an item, then where do you stop?” she said.

What’s happened to the “Star Wars” collecting market is that it has gone from being unfashionable, when Stevens was able to pick up cases of stuff for peanuts, to becoming the source of some of the most sought-after items in the

collector galaxy. “‘Star Wars’ memorabilia ranks at the upper echelon, it runs at the top, alongside ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Citizen Kane’, and ‘Casablanca’,” Brian Chanes of Profiles in History, the California auctioneer, told Reuters.

Even Sotheby’s auctioneers, renowned for dealing in multimillion dollar paintings, is in on the act, offering the “Star Wars” miscellany of a Japanese collector on Dec. 11. Chanes said most of his buying customers are “private individuals with deep pockets”, but Bryan Goodall, chairman of Vectis, said his clientele come from all walks of life - from people who may spend a few hundred pounds to others who will spend thousands.

He said many are reliving their youth, and regardless of whether the new series of “Star Wars” movies is a hit, the market for collectibles will keep growing.

“I’m sure it will be a big hit because I’m sure everybody will love it, but it won’t make any difference to us other than more people coming to the market,” he said.

Mona Lisa in 3D for blinds London A new opportunity for blind and visually impaired people to truly experience art has been created with the help of 3D technology.

The Unseen Art project is creating the opportunity for all people to ‘see’ art around the world. The recently launched company is an online platform that produces 3D replicas of masterpieces that can be touched by those who are blind and visually impaired.

‘There are many people in the world who have heard of classical artworks their whole lives but are unable to see them,’ Marc Dillon, the evangelist for the project, told The Creators Project. ‘Now they can experience them for the first time and create their own impressions and opinions.’

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the first piece of art Dillon has printed in 3D. One of the company’s passions is to create equal access for art globally, so

the 3D models of the painting are open source and printable anywhere around the globe where there is access to a 3D printer, according to their Facebook page.

The project is crowdfunding on Indiegogo to raise $30,000. So

far, more than $2,300 has been raised and there’s 19 days left for their campaign.

The group is offering 3D prints of the Mona Lisa for backers, which can either be kept or donated to an organization helping the visually impaired and blind community.

According to The Creators

Project, the money raised will be used to fund an online platform where the 3D files can be downloaded for free, making 3D printable art available worldwide.

An entire collection of 3D printed art pieces will be established by a panel of curators at a later time.

Currently, the Mona Lisa is the only completed 3D artwork by the company.

Recently, a woman who was born blind named Riikka had the opportunity to feel a 3D printed version of Mona Lisa’s face after hearing about the famous masterpiece her entire life. Her first moments with the 3D print were captured on video and shared on YouTube. ‘How exciting! Hi Mona Lisa,’ Riikka says as while touching the 3D print of the artwork. Okay, yeah. A face! Eye, eye, nose, mouth, yeah ...

There’s a face here! And I guess it’s her hair that’s coming down from the sides here.’

Hafthor breaks record by throwing 33lb keg over 24ft into air Stockholm When the ‘mightiest’ man in Westeros isn’t in the fictional world of Game of Thrones he uses his strength to be one of the ‘mightiest’ men on Earth, too.

Icelandic strongman Hafthor Bjornsson, who plays Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane in the acclaimed drama Game of Thrones, broke his own record for a keg throw at a World’s Strongest Man Qualifying tour event. The 6ft, 9in, nearly 400pound giant tossed a 33-pound keg 24 feet and six inches into the air at the Giants Live Sweden. And according to the three-time World’s Strongest finalist, throwing the keg that

high was an ‘easy’ feat. ‘It was easy! I could have broken the roof,’ Bjornsson said, according to Uproxx. ‘It was amazing to do this in front of the great crowd. Bring on Europe’s Strongest Man.’ After winning the competition, Bjornson posted a photo to Instagram of himself and his trophy from the event.

The caption said: ‘I took 1st place today at the Giants Live Sweden! What an incredible

show and amazing crowd!

‘I wanna thank everyone who showed up today for their support! 2nd place took

@johannesarsjo after an warrior fight against me the whole competiton! ‘Great performance my friend! 3rd was the unstoppable Mark Felix! What an athlete!’

This year has been a record-breaking year for Bjornsson, who currently holds the Europe’s Strongest Man title. At the World’s Strongest Viking competition in February, Bjornsson broke a 1,000-yearold Vicing record for strength when he carried a 32-foot, 1,433-

pound log for five steps.

At the 2015 Arnold Sports Festival in March, he established a new world record when he used only one had to throw a 56-pound kettle bell 19 feet and three inches in the air. Bjornsson, who also appeared on game show A League of their Own, began his career as a basketball player but a serious knee injury curtailed his career. He went on to compete in the World’s Strongest Man competition in 2011, finishing sixth. His best result was second last year. The professional strongman is believed to appear in season six of Game of Thrones, which is expected to air in 2016.

Issue - 643 (7)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Kurdish forces uncover Islamic State tunnels under Iraqi town Washington Under the Iraqi town of Sinjar, Islamic State group militants built a network of tunnels, complete with sleeping quarters, wired with electricity and fortified with

apparently with jackhammers or other handheld equipment, are just tall enough for a man to stand in. Rows of sandbags line sections of the walls, electrical wires power fans

sandbags. There, they had boxes of U.S.-made ammunition, medicines and copies of the Quran stashed on shelves. The Associated Press obtained extensive video footage of the tunnels, which were uncovered by Kurdish forces that took the city in northwestern Iraq earlier this month after more than a year of IS rule. “We found between 30 and 40 tunnels inside Sinjar,” said Shamo Eado, a commander from Sinjar from the Iraqi Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga. “It was like a network inside the city.”

“Daesh dug these trenches in order to hide from airstrikes and have free movement underground as well as to store weapons and explosives,” Eado said using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

“This was their military arsenal.”The video, shot by a freelancer touring the town with Kurdish fighters, showed two tunnels running several hundred meters (yards), each starting and ending from houses, through holes knocked in walls or floors. The narrow tunnels, carved in the rock

and lights and metal braces reinforce the ceilings. One section of the tunnel resembled a bunker. Dusty copies of the Quran sit above piles of blankets and pillows.

Prescription drugs, painkillers and antibiotics, lie scattered along the floor.In another section of the tunnel, the footage shows stocks of ammunition, including American-made cartridges and bombmaking tools. IS has been digging tunnels for protection and movement throughout the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, even before the U.S.-led coalition launched its campaign of airstrikes against the group more than a year ago. “This has been part of ISIS’ strategy from the very beginning,” said Lina Khatib a senior research associate at the Arab Reform initiative, a Paris-based think-tank.

“ISIS has been well prepared for this kind of intervention.”

The Islamic State group took control of Sinjar in August 2014, killing and capturing thousands of the town’s mostly Yazidi residents.

Yazidis, a religious minority

in Iraq with roots that date back to ancient Mesopotamia, are considered heretics by the hard-line Islamic State group. Hundreds of women are thought to still be in IS captivity, those who have escaped say many Yazidi women are forced to convert to Islam and marry IS fighters.After pushing IS out of Sinjar, peshmerga officials and local residents have uncovered two mass graves in the area. One, not far from the city center is estimated to hold 78 elderly women’s bodies. The second grave uncovered about 9 miles (15 kilometers) west of Sinjar contained between 50 and 60 bodies of men, women and children. Eado, the peshmerga commander, said that as Kurdish forces clear Sinjar of explosives, he expects to find more tunnels and evidence of atrocities.

Islamabad An Indian-American man on board the Qatar Airways flight to Washington via Doha was offloaded at the Benazir International Airport in Islamabad around 3 a.m. on Friday after he claimed that there was a bomb on the aircraft, which later turned out to be a hoax.

Qatar Airways refused to board Ajit Vijay Joshi on its plane, claiming that he raised a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax, the Express Tribune reports.

Joshi was, however, detained by the airport security and was released only after the flight landed in Doha.

The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had last week held a passenger at the same airport for allegedly trying to smuggle heroin to Italy.

An ANF release claimed that during routine patrolling, officials apprehended Khalid

Mehmood, a resident of Gujarat, who purportedly confessed to having ingested heroin capsules.

diverted over bomb threats On November 17, two Air France flights en route to Paris from the United

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at various airports around the globe since a wave of coordinated attacks were carried out in Paris on November 13, claiming 129 lives, and downing of a Russian plane on October 31, killing all 224 on board.

Two Air France flights from United States to Paris

States were diverted following anonymous bomb threats, and hundreds of passengers and crew were safely removed, the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said.

On November 22, a Turkish Airlines flight bound for Istanbul from New York was diverted to Halifax, Canada, after a bomb threat, Canadian police said.

On the same day, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from San Francisco via Hong Kong received a bomb threat but arrived without incident in Singapore, police said.

Two suspected ISIS activists arrested in Bangladesh wo members of the Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of their involvement in the Islamic State’s (IS) propaganda.

According to Reuters, the arrested persons are grilled for their alleged links with the IS, which has claimed the responsibility for carrying out a series of attacks in Bangladesh, including the killing of two foreigners.

Reports suggested that one of the detained person called himself “Jihadi John”.

Tensions prevailed in Bangladesh over the trials of Islamists for so-called war crimes for their

France, Russia agree on stronger anti-ISIS collaboration Washington Assuring France of Russia’s complete support in the annihilation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), President Vladimir Putin said he will join the coordinated strikes against the terror outfit with the US and its allies.

However, the Russian president warned that any further acts like the Turkish attack on the Russian jet could damage the changed of forming a collaboration, according to the Washington Post.

The U.S reportedly has not warmed up to the idea of France chalking out a working agreement among the foreign powers, as it has accused Russia of attacking Syria’s enemies among the American-

Indian-American offloaded from international flight in Islamabad over ‘bomb hoax’

backed rebels, rather than the Islamic State, the daily reports.

Meanwhile, Hollande has stressed that he and Putin have agreed

incidents like the downing of the Russian jet by Turkey.Russian is still seething after Turkish F16s downed the Russian

to carry out the attacks specifically against ISIS and terrorists.

Putin has asserted that he assumed there would not be any more similar

jet over the Syrian border, however, Turkey says that the Russian plane breached its airspace and was warned five times to turn back.

participation in struggle for the independence of

Bangladesh in 1971.

According to reports, Bangladesh has arrested some 15 suspects for “having contacts or trying to establish contact” with the ISIS since September last year.

Issue - 643 (8)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

12,000 gallstones found US student sexually molested by hospital nurse inside woman’s stomach New Delhi A US national, who visited the tourist city of Mysuru earlier this month with her friends, was allegedly sexually molested by a male nurse at a renowned private hospital where she went

November 6, it came to light only recently, as the victim requested for confidentiality of the case.According to the Mysuru city police, Sumith (24), who hailed from the neighboring Mandya district, was employed

for check-up after falling ill.

The hospital, which conducted an internal inquiry into the incident, has dismissed the male nurse from service. On Wednesday, the Mysuru police arrested him on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim. Thought the incident allegedly took place on

at a private hospital in Mysuru.

“The US national was on a study trip to Mysuru with her friends.

On the third day of her trip, she fell ill and visited the hospital where she claimed she was sexually molested,” the police said. The outpatient department doctors conducted preliminary

US citizen held on charges of sexual harassment of minor boy An American citizen was on Friday arrested in Kolkata allegedly on charges of sexual harassment of a 12 year old minor boy.

Based on specific information, police from Bidhan Nagar Commissionerate arrived at Hyatt Regency Hotel and arrested Leslie Powel in

Kolkata on Friday afternoon.

Powel came to Kolkata on a tourist VISA. The Kolkata Police have informed the American consulate about his arrest.

Authorities at the hotel had informed the police after suspicion over the American national’s behaviour last night.

Indian-origin man’s firm raises funds for diabetes cure

ABU DHABI An Indian-origin man’s company organised a diabetes awareness walk in Dubai and raised funds to support on-going research to cure the disease, a media report said here on Saturday.

Landmark Group, a retail and hospitality group and Fitness First, a Britain-based health club group organised “Beat Diabetes Walk’ on Friday in a bid to raise awareness about the condition and promote the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, Khaleej Times reported. Nearly, 17,000 residents joined the seventh edition of the programme and took part in spot fitness challenges, in addition to yoga and body balance classes. “We are grateful to the people of the

UAE and the wider region who stepped out of their homes to join the Beat Diabetes Walk,” said Renuka Jagtiani, vicechairperson of the Landmark Group. The initiative raised 350,000 dirhams ($95,296) and the money will be donated to Al Jalila Foundation -- a global philanthropic organisation dedicated to transforming lives through medical education and research. “We hope the initiative continues to inspire people to make lifestyle changes to either prevent or better manage the condition,” added Jagtiani.The people in the walk donned blue T-shirts and caps. Noted radio presenters in Dubai - Kris Fade, Priti Malik, and Big Rossi - also took part to support the cause.

checks and when she was alone in the hospital room, Sumith approached her under the pretext of checking her again. He allegedly touched her inappropriately despite her protests. He also allegedly sexually molested her. She brought the matter to the notice of the hospital management, who apologized to her.

The police claimed that Sumith had denied all the allegations made by the tourist. He told the police that he was just doing his duty. The hospital authorities have agreed to share the CCTV footage of the day the victim visited the hospital.

The police want to ascertain whether Sumith had indulged in such acts in the past in the hospital. The Mysuru police have taken the issue seriously because the city attracts the highest number of international and domestic tourists in Karnataka. On an average, 3.5 million tourists visit Mysuru every year and international tourists account for more than 400,000.

Many of them come to see the historical places and be part of Dasara celebrations while a few visit the world-renowned Yoga centres.

“This could be an isolated incident, but we do not want it to mar the image of the city. We want to send a strong message to offenders. We also want to convey that Mysuru is a safe city for international tourists,” the Mysuru police added.

New Delhi A doctor was astonished to remove a staggering 11,950 gallstones from inside an Indian woman - thought to be a new world record.

Minati Mondal, 51, had been suffering from crippling stomach pain and acid reflux for two months. Two weeks ago, she was admitted to Debdoot Sevayan Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, in eastern India.

After conducting tests and ultrasounds, doctors found she was suffering from a severe case of gallstones.

These are balls made of cholesterol and salts that form in the gallbladder, a little pearshaped organ underneath the liver that stores bile. But they did not expect to find such a huge number of stones. Dr Makhan Lala Saha, a gastrointestinal endosurgeon at the hospital, said he was anticipating large number of stones but was still shocked when the number crossed the 5,000 mark.

He removed nearly 12,000 stones in an hour long laparoscopic surgery, where surgeon access the inside of the abdomen and pelvis through a ‘keyhole’ cut, without having

to make large incisions in the skin.

Dr Saha said: ‘I was astonished to see the large number of stones that we extracted from the gall bladder of this patient.

‘I had never thought a gall bladder could contain so many stones.

Dr Makhan Lala Saha, a gastrointestinal endosurgeon at the hospital, said he was anticipating large number of stones but was still shocked

when the number crossed the 5,000 mark.

He removed nearly 12,000 stones in an hour long laparoscopic surgery, where surgeon access the inside of the abdomen and pelvis through a ‘keyhole’ cut, without having to make large incisions in the skin.Dr Saha said: ‘I was astonished to see the large number of stones that we extracted from the gall bladder of this patient. ‘I had never thought a gall bladder could contain so many stones.

Indian woman wins right to return to son in UK LONDON In a blow to the British government, a court here has upheld the rights appeal of an Indian woman who was deported for fixing sham marriages and allowed her to return to the UK to re-unite with her 9-year-old son. The 46-year-old mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been jailed for two years after she entered the UK on a fake passport in 2005 and then deported. Last year, an immigration judge upheld her appeal to return to be with her son, who lives with his British father, but that order was challenged by UK Home Secretary Theresa May. Yesterday, appeal judges dismissed May’s contention in a written ruling on the case. Lord Justice Underhill, who headed the appeal panel, said May should not fear that the decision would open the floodgates to similar appeals, saying each case would “turn on its own facts”. According to reports, the woman first arrived in the UK in 2002 on a “visitor visa” and became involved in a conspiracy to “facilitate bogus marriages”. It is also believed that she entered into a bogus marriage and was given an extension of her leave

to remain in the UK as a result.

She was arrested and charged in 2003 but had then fled to India, Asian Image reported. She was convicted in her absence and in

bogus marriage offences.

In 2009 she was deported while her husband stayed in Britain.

Initially, her son spent some time in India with her and some time

2005 she lawfully married a Briton in India. She was then allowed back into Britain after making an application using a false passport. In 2006, she gave birth to her son and in 2007 was given indefinite leave to remain - under her false identity. Shortly after the birth, her true identity was discovered and in 2008 she was given a 12-month jail term after being convicted of obtaining leave to enter the UK by deception, plus an additional 12month jail term for the 2003

in Britain with his father. But judges said after about two years the arrangement has proved too unsettling for the youngster and he started to live permanently in the UK with his father. Her lawyers had suggested that rights to family life enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights were being undermined. Appeal judges analysed all arguments at a hearing in London in July and announced their decision to allow her re-entry this week.

Issue - 643 (9)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Prepaid cards used by Paris attackers to rent hotel rooms Paris Prepaid payment cards were seen as a positive development, helping those excluded from the banking system and providing a convenient financial tool, but their use in the Paris terror attacks has revealed a troubling dark side.

The attackers used an anonymous prepaid card to rent hotel rooms outside Paris the night before the November 13 strikes that killed 130 people, according to Tracfin, the French body tasked with combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

It was a way to avoid being detected by intelligence agencies.

Prepaid cards have been one of the fastest growing segments of non-cash payments in recent years, and now authorities are concerned they may have become a tool that criminals use to keep their activities hidden and launder their funds.

Stamped with the Visa or MasterCard logo and protected with a PIN code, the cards allow users to withdraw funds at ATMs, as well as make purchases in stores and online.

However, unlike traditional debit cards, they must be charged in advance with funds.

They also don’t bear a person’s name, and if the amounts are not too large, no name is ever linked with the card.

In Europe it is currently possible to use without showing

identification non-rechargeable cards for payments of up to 250 euros ($265) or up to 2,500 euros per year for rechargeable cards.

Benefits, gifts, wages With online bill payments becoming more the norm, as well as the surge in online shopping, access to a payment card of

gained popularity as gift certificates, with companies also using them to entice or reward clients.

Volkswagen, for example, is offering US owners of its cars caught up in its emission cheating scandal a $500 prepaid Visa card.

some sort has become crucial in many countries.

In the United States, they have become ubiquitous as many government benefits are now disbursed to prepaid cards.

Some $148 billion was paid out that way last year according to the US Federal Reserve, although cards have to be registered to receive benefit payments.

And more and more US companies have begun issuing their employees prepaid cards to pay wages, thus cutting expenses related to using cheques and avoiding problems with workers who don’t have a bank account.

Non-rechargeable cards have

In France, prepaid cards have found a niche with parents, as even minors can use them for payments.

“This allows parents to control the finances of their children,” says France’s Banque Postale, which has offered the cards since 2008.

A survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that a majority of low-income US users of prepaid cards also saw them as a means to control their spending, and avoid stiff overdraft fees that banks charge on traditional cards. It is hard to say just how popular the cards have become in Europe as authorities don’t break out payments by debit or

Trees turn Eiffel Tower green for COP21 The Eiffel Tower turned green Sunday for the opening of the Paris climate conference, marking the launch of an art project that will see “virtual trees” grow on the landmark to support reforestation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon and Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard attended the launch of the weeklong “1 Heart 1 Tree” project, which allows smartphone users to “plant a tree” on the tower.

“Everyone will be able to plant a virtual tree on the Eiffel Tower, which will grow to the beat of their heart, and then every virtual tree will be really planted in a reforestation programme,” said Naziha Mestauoi, the digital artist behind the concept. Users can download a smartphone application which records their heartbeat

via a sensor and then projects this along with the image of a tree, their name and a short message onto the landmark, using lighting and mapping technologies.

Participants will be able to track the growth of their real-life trees, which will be planted in areas of Australia, Brasil, Senegal, India, France, Peru and Ivory Coast from 2016.

Each tree costs between three and 10 euros, depending on the species. “The idea is to connect the virtual and the real, technology and nature, and give everyone the opportunity to act in a tangible sense,” the artist said.

The launch came as some 150 world leaders gathered in Paris for a fortnight of talks starting Monday intended to clinch the first international pact to limit emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. The Eiffel Tower was closed for three days this month following the wave of terror attacks on Paris and was lit up in the French national colours blue, red and white when it reopened.

prepaid cards.

However, a 2014 survey by the Bank of Italy found that nearly 17 percent of households had used prepaid cards, or about one in four that used payment cards.

Consulting firm CapGemini, in its latest publicly available report on the sector, estimated that prepaid cards accounted for 11.4 billion transactions worldwide in 2012, or nearly 4 percent of the total.

‘Untraceable’ When issued by banks in Europe, the prepaid cards are usually linked to a bank account, thus making recharging convenient and ensuring transactions are traceable.

But EU directives aiming to boost competition opened up the sector to firms outside the banking sector, and 48 were registered, for instance, at the end of 2014 in France.

These companies have been behind the mushrooming of prepaid cards for sale in supermarkets and newsagents.

Available to anyone at least 18 years of age, some of these cards can be recharged with cash at newsagents and used to make transfers abroad.

And all that without having to show an ID. That is why Bruno Dalles, the head of Tracfin, the French body tasked with combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, said this past week he would seek to have prepaid card

transactions “appear on our radar”.

Anonymous prepaid cards “are used in the underground economy, in organised crime,” said Dalles. “It is a tool which replaces cash, which is very discrete, untraceable. That is something we need to change.”

French authorities have said they plan to reduce the amounts that cards may be charged with before identification becomes mandatory by decree early in 2016.

But if authorities want to fully eliminate the risk of their use by extremist groups, “...identification should be needed from the first euro”, said Frederic Jeannin, chief executive of Ticket Surf, a firm which provides online payment services.

He believes that part of the problem is that firms operating throughout Europe are only monitored in their home base.

Another is that prepaid card issuers also have no idea what the card is used for. When a charge comes through, the issuer sees only the merchant’s bank.Ticket Surf works directly with websites, which means they can monitor payments and shut off sites they suspect to be laundering money.

“It is important to have financial regulations but it is also important that financial institutions pay attention,” said Jeannin.

Obese mothers ‘put babies’ hearts at risk’ Infants show early stages of disease when they are born Babies whose mothers are overweight or obese show early signs of heart disease at birth, warn researchers.

Scans of newborn infants with fat mothers found they have thicker artery walls - a sign of heart disease - than those born to women of ‘normal’ weight.

The arterial thickening occurred independently of the child’s weight at birth, which is a known risk factor for heart disease or stroke in later life.

Experts from Nottingham University say the early difference detected in a major artery could explain why a mother’s weight during pregnancy is so influential to their child’s subsequent risk of cardiovascular problems.

Obesity affects around 20 per cent of all women of childbearing age, with a further third being overweight. The latest study included 23 women, with an average age of 35, whose Body Mass Index (BMI) scores ranged from being underweight to seriously obese at 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Researchers from Sydney University, Australia, scanned the abdominal aorta - the

section of the artery extending down to the belly - in each newborn within seven days of birth to find out the thickness of the two innermost walls - the intima and media.

earliest physical signs of atherosclerosis are present in the abdominal aorta, and aortic intima-media thickness is considered the best noninvasive measure of structural

Intima-media thickness ranged from 0.65mm to 0.97mm, and was associated with the mother’s weight.

The higher a mum’s weight, the greater was the baby’s intimamedia thickness, irrespective of how much the baby weighed at birth.The difference in intimamedia thickness between babies of overweight and normal weight mums was 0.06mm.

The findings are published in the Fetal and Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease of Childhood (must credit).’The

health of the vasculature in children’ says the report..This may be the mechanism by which a mum being overweight might affect her child’s subsequent risk of heart disease and stroke in later life, they conclude.

In the UK almost a quarter of children are overweight or obese by the time they go to school.The latest findings add to evidence that internal fat levels in the newborn baby are directly related to the mother’s weight during pregnancy.

Issue - 643 (10)

Seeking a match for a Jat Sikh Doctor, practicing in GTA. 29 Yrs old, 5’- 10”, slim build, clean shaven, born and raised in Canada, family settled in Toronto, Family oriented, well versed in both cultures. Family is well settled in Toronto. Girl should be born and raisedinCanada, professionally compatible, slim, having similar values. Preferably family in the GTA. Please Send your biodata & recent picture to: gtamatch86@gmail.com or call: 647-295-8532 *** 643 *** Hindu Punjabi parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 34 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, professionally qualified and employed in Toronto, never married, well versed in both cultures and family oriented. The boy should be professionally settled with family values and willing to relocate to Toronto.

Caste no bar. Please email recent picture & bio-data to : toronto108@gmial.com ***643*** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 25 yrs. old, 5’-8” tall, Dental Surgeon in India at present in USA on visitor visa, belongs to a very well settled family. The girl should be American Citizen, beautiful and family oriented. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: piarausa@hotmail.com Or Call: 1-662-347-9532 ***643*** Ravidasia parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 32 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, Canadian Citizen, professionally employed. Boy should be highly educated, professionally employed and Canadian Citizen. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: san1622002@yahoo.com ***643*** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5’6” tall, Post graduate degree in Clinical Psychology, professionally employed, well versed in born cultures can speak Punjabi as well. The boy should be well educated., professionally settled, between 28-34 yrs. of age, lower Mainland area prefered. Please Call :1604-317-7576 ***643*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 36 yrs. old, 5’-7” tall, University graduate, professionally employed and well settled. The boy should be Canadian/ American Citizen, professionally qualified and employed, atleast 6’ tall, with family values. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : rkaurcanada@gmail.com Or Call : 1-519-636-3237 ***643*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 38 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, Canadian Citizen,

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

never married before, well versed in both cultures, working full time in health field, family oriented. The boy should be Jat Sikh, professionally employed, clean shaven, well versed in both cultures. Please send your recent picture and bio-data to: health2016@hotmail.com ***643*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, Canadian Citizen, 30 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, born in India, University degree holder from Canadian University, running his own successful business. The girl should be tall, educated from good family.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: manpreetgill48@yahoo.com Or Call : 1-778-344-0303 ***643*** Lubana Sikh parents matrimonial alliance for their son, 30 yrs. old, 5’-9” tall, clean shaven, B.Tech. Software development, highly paid in six figures. The girl should be beautiful professionally qualified and settled in Canada. Caste no bar. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : j.singh.developer@gmail.com Or Call : 416-627-6107 ***643** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 29 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, Canadian Immigrant, well settled, preferred well educated, beautiful, family oriented girl from India or Canada. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: charanjeetsingh0104@gmail.com ***643*** Seeking a matrimonial alliance for a beautiful, fair, slim, Jat Sikh Sidhu girl, born 30.04.1986, 5’5” tall, highly educated, (B.Sc., MSc. Botany, B.Ed., PGDCA), working as a lecturer Botany in a reputed College in Punjab, well cultured, pure vegetarian, good status family.

Many respectable, well established close relatives in Surrey, B.C. Early marrriage. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to : sidhugurpreet91@yahoo.ca Or Call : 1-604-825-4276 (Before 9 A.M. or after 8 P.M.) Or 011-91-94644-19612 (India) ***643*** Jat Sikh (sandhu) parents seeking match for their 27 Yrs. old son, 6’ tall, leadership position in hospital ( Fraser health, British Columbia), salary 100k. RN, BSN, MSN (Candidate), Convent educated (India), Moved to Canada as a 16 year old, well versed in both cultures, progressive family values. Looking for equally qualified match, family orientated girl. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to:s antoksandhu55@gmail.com (preferred) or call: 16047809071/6045899090 *** 643*** Jatt Sikh family is seeking a suitable match for their daughter, age 29, 5’2" tall, well-educated, working as an internal auditor.

We are looking for a familyoriented, professionally employed match. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: ss.virk@live.ca. or call: 1604-218-8475 *** 643*** Jat Sikh parents well settled in California looking for a suitable match for their US citizen handsome clean-shaven son, 1989 born/5'-8", B.S. from a reputed university in US and professionally employed. The girl should be beautiful, educated with good family values. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: dhaliwal2636@gmail.com or call: 1-916-672-1727 *** 643*** Jat sikh family in GTA seeks alliance for their Canadian born son, 25 yrs. old, 5'-10", fair, professional, engineer employed with government Looking for Canadian born girl, university graduate, slim, fair.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: jatcanadian@hotmail.com or Call: 416-938-4195 *** 643*** Seeking a beautiful, tall, well educated, family oriented girl for a handsome, jatt Sikh Brar boy, 30 yrs. Old, 6' tall, Well Educated, Canadian Immigrant, residing in Toronto area. Girls on work permit/ student visa can also be considerd. Please send your bio-data and recent picture t o : simisidhu1980@hotmail.com or call: 905-595-4600 *** 643*** Mazbi Sikh parents living matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 37 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, Bechelor in Computer Science from Canadian University, well employed in govt.sector as senior Analyst, never married before. The boy should be professionally educated and employed, with family values.

Caste no bar. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: joginder1943@icloud.com Or Call: 416-885-3265 ***643*** Ad-dharmi family seek a suitable match for their Canadian Citizen daughter, 25 yrs. old, 5’5” tall, Graduate, having good job, beautiful fair, family oriented. The boy should be professionally qualified, tall, family oriented. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : harbhajan59@hotmail.com Or Call:1-604-724-5333 ***643*** Ad-dharmi family seek a suitable match for their son, 27 yrs. old, 5’-9” tall, Graduate, Diploma in Electronics, having goðd job, Canadian Citizen, handsome. The girl should be beautiful, equally qualified, atleast 5’-3”-5’-5” tall. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : harbhajan59@hotmail.com Or Call:1-604-724-5333 ***643*** Seeking a match for a Jat Sikh

Doctor, practicing in G.T.A, 29 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, slim build, clean shaven, born and raised in Canada, family settled in Toronto, family oriented, well versed in both cultures. Girl should be born and raised in Canada, professionally compatible, slim, having similar valused, preferably from GTA. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: gtamatch86@gmail.com Or Call: 647-295-8532 ***643*** Jat Sikh parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, age 38 yrs, 5’-7” tall, Canadian Citizen, issuless divorced, very beautiful, well versed in both culture. The boy should be educated, well settled, Canadian Immigrant/Citizen.

Please send your recent picture and bio-data to : issapur12@gmail.com Or 905230-7129 ***643*** Khatri Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, born in Dec. 1987, 5’-8” tall, Canadian Immigrant, B.Com. M.B.A. degree holder, well settled and doing govt. job. The girl should be Canadian/ American Immigrant/Citizen, professionally qualified, beautiful and family oriented, girl on student visa may also be considered. Family is well settled in Canada (Toronto).

Please Call : 647-523-0399 Or : 647-200-7669 ***643*** Tonk Kashtriya family seeking a suitable match for their American Citizen daughter, 28 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, P.A. (Physician Assistant), bachelor’s in Neuro Science, professionally Employed in U.S.A. The boy should be American Citizen, Doctor/ Engineer/P.A. Caste no Bar. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : kaurraj527@gmail.com Or Call : 1-559-314-4642 ***643*** Sikh parents invite matrimonail alliace for their handsome son, 28 yrs. old, 6’-1" tall, Canadian Citizen, University graduate, completed CPA/CA and working as financial Analyst with a reputed company. Seeking beautiful, professional and family oriented girl. Parents are well educated and well settled in Canada.

Family owns rural/urban properties in India.Cast no Bar. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : beantbir@hotmail.com Or Call 416-303-7711 ***643*** Rajput Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their son, born in 1994, 5’-7” tall, handsome, fair complexion, at present doing diploma in Mechenial Engineering from ITI Patiala. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant or Citizen with family values. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to :

devinder11@outlook.com Or Call : 011-91-80543-81343 ***643*** Ramgarhia Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter 28 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, B.Sc. Nursing degree holder, registered nurse, at present living in India. The boy should be Canadian/American, Immigrant or Citizen. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : sohalsp@gmail.com Or Call : 647-829-5872 (Leave Message) ***643*** Punjabi parents seeking suitable match for their son 29 years old, clean shaven, 6.1”, Canadian Citizen, working in TTC as Transit Operator. Girl should be professionally qualified & employed, having PR or citizenship with a good family background. Please send biodata & photo to email: tarsemsinghmann60@gmail.com Or call : 647-367-5760 (after 5 pm.) ***643*** Saini Sikh parents invite matrimonail alliace for their son, 39 yrs. old, 5’-11” tall, athletic built, Honor’s Bachelor degree from a Canadian University, working as technical consultant, innocently divorced (no kids) belongs to a urban and upper middle class family. The girl should be Canadian/ American beautiful (between 3336 yrs.) educated with family values and willing to relocate to Toronto. Family background is main consideration. Caste no bar. Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : r.saini1877@gmail.com Or Call : 647-688-1877 ***643*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 38 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, working as Pharmacist. The boy should be atleast 6’ tall and professionally employed. Vancouver area prefered. Please Call :1-604596--4945 Or : 1-778-240-8051 ***643*** Down-to-earth, handsome, intelligent, family oriented Jat Sikh boy living in US since 1998, belongs to well educated, humble family, age 29 yrs., June 1986 born, 5’-10” tall, US Citizen, slim and atheletic, graduated from UCLA and working as a Mortgage Loan Officer. Girl should be educated and residing in US/Canada/UK. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : gsranu@ yahoo.com Or Call :1-559-540-4851 ***643*** Ramgarhia Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son 26 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, Bachelor in Engineering, living in India. The girl should be Canadian/ American Immigrant or Citizen, bearutiful and family oriented.

Please email recent pictures & bio-data to : sohalsp@gmail.com Or Call : 647-829-5872 (Leave Message) ***643***

Issue - 643 (11)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Almost all donated organs unused in China BEIJING Almost all human organs donated for transplant in China go unused, state-run media said, after years of controversy about the use of body parts from executed prisoners.

Authorities expected to

have more than 2,500 organ donors this year, the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing Huang Jiefu, head of the China Organ Donation Committee and a former vice health minister. That could “technically” make possible 2,500 heart transplants and 5,000 lung transplants, he told the paper, but only just over 100 heart transplants have been carried out since January, and a similar numbers of lung transplants.

“On the one side there is a shortage, on the other side there is waste,” he was quoted as saying. The paper blamed slow transport and poor coordination for the losses.

In contrast, more than 3,300 patients benefited from the organs of 1,282 deceased donors in Britain, according to the most recent full-year data from the National Health Service. Organ donations in China are limited as

many of its 1.37 billion people believe they will be reincarnated after death and so feel the need to keep a complete body.

Consistently high demand

has created incentives for forced donations and illegal sales, with overseas rights groups long condemning the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners. China says it banned the practice from the beginning of this year, although some international medical groups suspect that prisoners may be reclassified as voluntary donors to get around the restriction. Huang insisted that “not a single organ” within the country’s legal donation system was taken from death row prisoners. “While the legal system is not perfectly sound it is a false proposition in itself to ask a death-row inmate whether he is willing to donate as a citizen,” he told the paper.

Indian worker jailed for 7 years for compatriot’s murder DUBAI A 29-year-old Indian worker has been jailed for seven years by a court for stabbing to death his compatriot roommate following a fight over switching on a light.

Dubai criminal court sentenced the Indian identified with initials FK after he engaging in a fight with his roommate MY at around 10pm on April 9 this year.

“FK turned off the light and headed to bed but MY, for some reason, turned on the light again. FK turned it off, and again the victim turned it on. This happened a few times before the two engaged in a fight,” Indian

driver SM, 23 told the court.

The witness said once he reached the room he found the victim bleeding from his chest and spitting blood while FK was sitting on his bed. “I called for an

ambulance which arrived within 10 minutes to find MY dead,” the witness said. “I learnt that they fought after the defendant turned off the light and the victim turned it on again several times. They were

engaged in a physical fight before the accused stabbed the victim. The accused was not injured,” the driver was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times.

According to the forensic report, the victim died due to severe hemorrhage in the chest cavity and the deep stab wound that cut through his right lung. FK denied killing his countryman intentionally. The court convicted him of premeditated murder and sentenced him to seven years in jail which will be followed by his deportation.

Suspected ISI agent at work in Bareilly nabbed in Meerut MEERUT UP Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested a man in his early 30s suspected to be an agent of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). IG Sujit Pandey of UP STF said the man had already relayed classified information about military establishments and the movement of Army units to his Pakistan handlers.

IG Pandey said, “He

sneaked into India from Bangladesh on February 9, 2013. He has already handed over classified information on the movement of the Sukhoi 30 combat aircraft and their hangars. He had information about the antitank guided missile programme. He had in his possession video images of Mirage’s emergency landing on Yamuna Expressway, the

Hong Kong pollution in spotlight at smart car show HONG KONG Asian countries are running out of time to combat air pollution, campaigners said

Hong Kong there is increasing concern over pollution levels, with the government’s monitoring system frequently

Wednesday, as smart car firms converged in Hong Kong to promote clean energy vehicles. The China International New Energy Vehicle (CINEV) show displays the latest products from major Chinese manufacturers and French firm Renault and takes place in a city where 3,000 people die of air pollution every year, according to a 2013 Hong Kong University report. In

measuring the air as hazardous. “In terms of air pollution in Hong Kong...this is really the biggest health crisis”, Hong Kong-based Clean Air Network chief executive officer, Kwong Sum-yin, told AFP.Government proposals to reduce emissions include a plan to replace more than 80,000 older commercial diesel vehicles between 2014 and 2019.

Cities across China, India

and Pakistan dominate global pollution rankings.

“All the Asian countries really need to act right now, otherwise we’ll really reach the point of no return,” Kwong said. “It’s still the mentality to develop first and then fix the problem later, but we don’t really have that timeline anymore.”

The smart car show takes place less than a week before a major climate summit in Paris, which 147 world leaders will attend. “We need to have concrete cooperation from this conference,” former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who opened the CINEV show Tuesday, told AFP.“We have to develop new initiatives the year after the conference and we have to act very quickly.” The November 30-December 11 Paris conference is tasked with signing the first-ever truly universal pact to curb global warming. The CINEV show closes Thursday.

movement of the mountain brigade at Pithoragarh and information about an under-construction runway.

His bank account in India showed transaction of more than Rs6 lakh in the last two years. This money was transferred in

instalments, once from Saudi Arabia then from Dubai. He has sent his handlers information on cantonments in Bareilly, Meerut, Agra, Pithoragarh, Shahjahanpur and Mathura. He was in contact with a man called Salim, an

officer of the ISI. His family was receiving Rs 50,000 per month in Pakistan for his services.”Originally identified as Mohammad Ejaz from Islamabad, he had assumed the name of Mohammad Kalam in India.

Issue - 643 (12)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

SC must review Sec 377 ruling, allow gay relationships: Jaitley, Chidambaram

Two top leaders of BJP and Congress on Saturday came out in support of gay rights, saying that the Supreme Court must reconsider its decision upholding Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Speaking at the Times LitFest, finance minister Arun Jaitley and his predecessor P Chidambaram said the Supreme Court should not have reversed the Delhi high court order de-criminalizing consensual sex among gay adults. Jaitley said the SC’s view was not in sync with the jurisprudential development on gay rights world over and added that the apex court must review its 2013 judgment to do away with the penal provision in Section 377 as far as gay relationships are concerned.

“When millions of people world over are having alternative sexual preferences, it is too late in the day to propound a view that they should be jailed. The Delhi High Court’s view appears more acceptable,” he said.Jaitley is the first leader from the government to have supported decriminalization of consensual sex among gay adults. Although he was speaking in his individual capacity, his comments may revive the debate on an issue which many right-wingers consider to be a taboo.

Speaking just afterwards, Chidambaram ,who was also speaking in his personal capacity, said that the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalizing gay

sex was a wonderful one and the Supreme Court should have stayed with it.The finance minister was also critical of the SC’s judgment scrapping the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). He said this judgment too needed to be reconsidered. “This judgment meant that the CJI would virtually appoint judges and that elected

representatives were not to be trusted on this issue. It’s not a fair argument as elected bodies are basic part of the Constitution.

The judgment needs reconsideration.”

The Delhi High Court’s 2009 judgment decriminalizing Section 377 to stop police harassment of adults of same sex having consensual sexual relationship in private was challenged in the SC by religious bodies. Shutting the small window for gay rights opened by the HC, the SC had in 2013 held that Section 377 providing punishment for gay sex was constitutionally valid.The SC had in 2014 rejected petitions seeking review of its 2013 judgment. However, there still is a last theoretical chance for the SC to reconsider its 2013 judgment when it takes up curative petitions pointing out glaring legal infirmities in the verdict.

Chidambaram on Congress faux pas: Ban on Rushdie’s book by Rajiv govt was wrong, Emergency was a mistake After a gap of twenty-seven years, senior Congress leader an former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday openly admitted the ban imposed on Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses during the regime of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was wrong.

Chidambaram, who was a Minister of State for Home Affairs under Rajiv Gandhi from 1986-89, finds fault with his own party’s decision at a time when the Congress accuses the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of intolerance.Chidambaram also said Indira Gandhi had in 1980 admitted imposing Emergency was a mistake.“I have no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book was wrong,” Chidambaram, who was MoS Home Affairs when the ban was imposed in October 1988, “If you had asked me 20 years

ago, I would have told you the same thing,” he said when asked why it took him so many years to reach such a conclusion.

Asked if the Emergency imposed

by Indira Gandhi was also wrong, the senior Congress leader said, “Indira Gandhi herself admitted in 1980 that the Emergency was wrong and, if elected to power, she would never impose the Emergency. People believed her and elected her to power again.”

Speaking about alleged rising intolerance in the country, he said,” It is on the rise” and expressed hope that “this moral majoritarianism” will fail comprehensively. “What is of profound concern to me is the apparent rise of intolerance. Khap panchayats today are more visible and more brazen in dispensing Kangaroo justice.

There is rush of bans. Ban jeans, ban authors, ban food, ban artist, ban travel, ban NGO,” he said.

Gender equality against Islam, says Sunni leader Prominent Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar Saturday said gender equality was “against Islam”.

Addressing a Sunni students’ camp in Kozhikode, the orthodox Sunni leader said, “Where has man-woman equality taken place? It is not going to happen.

Gender equality is against Islam, society and human kindness.”“The world is controlled by men. Women have strength in other areas… They can deliver babies. Only women can nurture babies. Her duty is to rear children and feed the husband,’’ Musliyar said.

Claiming that women do not have “courage”, Musliyar asked if there is a woman doctor who can perform a major surgery.

“Women doctors can do general medicine or manage pediatrics. But they don’t have the courage for big surgical interventions,’’ he said.

Referring to a recent

controversy over segregation of girls and boys in a Muslim-run college, the orthodox Muslim leader said the demand that girls and boys be allowed to sit together was meant to destroy Islam.He said that the allegation of a Muslim woman

journalist that children used to be sexually abused at madrasas was baseless, and added that those who raise the allegation should bring forth evidence.

Musliyar has a history of making controversial observations over women issues and their role in society.

He had recently come out against women reservation in local governing bodies. He had also advocated marriage of minor girls to ensure morality and discipline in society.

20% of Islamic State converts were Christian A terrorism expert says about 20% of the recruits to the Islamic State extremist group are from Christian families and

three-quarters of those who become foreign fighters for militant groups do it through their friends. Scott Atran, cofounder of the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Oxford University,

says research has found that only one in five young people are recruited by a family member and that “radicalization rarely occurs in mosques’’ and very, very rarely through anonymous recruiters and strangers.

He told a meeting on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters” Tuesday organized by the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee that “it is the call to glory and adventure that moves these young people to join the Islamic State” and that “jihad offers them a way to become heroes.”

Nepal Cable TV operators block Indian TV channels Kathmandu Nepalese Cable TV operators have blocked all Indian channels “indefinitely” in protest against an unofficial “blockade of goods” into the country.

Amid agitation by the Joint Madhesi Front in the Himalayan nation, scores of goods laden trucks are stranded on the India-Nepal border.

Madhesis have been protesting over “discriminatory” seven-province model of new Constitution.

Earlier, expressing concern over growing “anti- India” sentiment in Nepal, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae had on Friday said, “We sense that this is being used for certain objective - political or otherwise.”

“We are deeply concerned with the growing anti-India sentiment.

Encouraging such a sentiment is

equally harmful to both India and Nepal,” he said, while speaking at an event ‘Nation Ahead Series’ here.

“There are certain narratives,” he said, “There is a section which is encouraging anti-India sentiment as it helps them in some way.”

Rae said there is a sense of grievance in certain parts of Nepal that needs to be addressed. “We have no views on what needs to be done. Our intense desire is that these problems should be resolved. These are political problems and should be resolved through dialogues and negotiations,” Rae added.“There is widespread misperception of India’s stand on this issue. We have policy vis-a-vis Nepal and not in relation to a community. If the potential conflicts are not resolved, it may have consequences. This is important for longer stability in Nepal,” he said.

Issue - 643 (13)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Housewives, daily wagers add up to a third of urban suicides Housewives and daily wage earners are the two groups most vulnerable to suicide in urban India, latest government data reveals.According to fresh data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on suicides in cities in 2014, housewives and daily wage earners each account for 18 per cent adding up to over one-third of suicides in Indian cities. The data, collected from 53 cities across the country, examined 19,597 suicides across Indian cities, with housewives accounting for 3,501 while daily wagers for 3,460.Salaried people, both government and those engaged in the private sector, made up the next largest group with 15 per cent. Within

this group, those in the private sector accounted for over twothird of the sucide victims.Unemployed people and students were next on the list, accounting for 10 and 9 per cent respectively.

“Some of the key factors that contribute to suicides include loneliness, a sense of alienation and the feeling of being uprooted,” said Anand Kumar, a retired professor of sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“All social groups go through bad times, but how they cope up decides their fate vis a vis suicides.”

With over 1,000 suicides by daily wagers, Chennai accounted for close to one-third of such suicides across Indian cities. It

was distantly followed by Bengaluru with 366 and DurgBhilainagar with 164.

“The case of daily wage earners is complicated. They are already the poorest, but also have greater ability to withstand vulnerabilities of the labour market. But within daily wagers, different groups react differently to socioeconomic pressures,” said Kumar.“Married daily wagers living with family are less likely to commit suicide as compared to the single ones or those living without family,” he added.

“Unfortunately, in cities most daily wagers belong to the last category. Suicide tendencies also increase when a daily wager finds himself ethnically isolated in a city.”

In case of housewives, the data has found Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai with a comparable number of suicides, each registering between 300 and 400.

Housewives make up for 15 per cent of all suicide victims nationally but the proportion of suicides among them is higher in cities.

“Changing social structures, such as the advent of nuclear families in cities, may be one of the reasons for housewives being vulnerable in an urban setting.

There aren’t enough cushions in

the family to absorb the pressure in case there is disconnect from the husband,” Kumar said.

Among unemployed people, the most suicides were in Mumbai (301) followed by Delhi (257).

Among students, the three cities with the highest number of suicides Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai were metropolises with several institutes and universities that attract students from across the country. They were closely followed by Ranchi and DurgBhilainagar, which accounted for more than 60 suicides each.

IS a live threat, can’t be The big fat Kerala wedding: ignored in Valley: Army 30,000 guests, 8-acre venue

All the security forces and the intelligence agencies are monitoring the threat posed by the Islamic State in the country.

The terror group, Islamic State is a live threat that cannot be ignored in the Valley, a top Army officer said on Saturday.

“The IS is a live threat that cannot be ignored. It is a cause of concern and we are monitoring it,” General officer Commander of Army’s 15 Corps Lt General Satish Dua told reporters in Srinagar.

The Corps Commander, who heads the army in Kashmir, was replying to a question about the possibility of the Islamic State forging an alliance with the militant outfits like Lashkar-eToiba and Jaishe-e-Mohammad for expanding its activities to the valley.“All the security forces and the intelligence agencies are monitoring this. That is all I can say,” Lt Gen Dua said.

On the recent attack on an army camp in Tangdhar near the Line of Control, he said it was part of the militants’ strategy to hit the nearest army post or camp as they were unable to breach the multi-tier counter-infiltration grid set up by the security forces.

“This is not a new phenomenon.

In Tangdhar itself, you are aware few months ago there was a similar attempt and resulted in a similar operation. So, they always try to get in close with the army post or camp because they are unable to infiltrate due to this well coordinated counter-

infiltration grid. So they try and create a very sensational attack very close to the Line of Control,” he said.

The Corps Commander said that besides Tangdhar-like attacks, the militants were also carrying out very “shallow” operations very close to the line of control.

“There have also been some smaller operations where they have come just a couple of hundred metres across the Line of Control, tried to fire at our post and run back. In one of the cases, they tried to lay an IED ... that was a very shallow operation,” he added.

A venue sprawled across eight acres, 30,000 guests from 42 countries, performances by celebrities Kerala witnessed a glittering extravaganza on Thursday as the daughter of state-born business tycoon Ravi Pillai, Arathi, wed Kochi-based

Bahrain royal family member Sheikh Khalifa Bin Daij Al Khalifa, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalid of the Qatar royal family, Essam Abdulla of the Saudi royal family, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and

doctor Aditya Vishnu in Kollam.

Pillai, the chairman of R P Group of Companies, reportedly spent Rs 50 crore on the wedding, which was attended by CEOs of international companies, West Asian royals, politicians and socio-cultural leaders. The guests included

film star Mohanlal. Senior executives of Japan Gas Corporation, Chiyode Corporation and Samsung were also present.

Actors Sobhana and Manju Warrier performed at the ceremony, apart from a music event. The marriage was

solemnised at an auspicious time before Thursday noon. On the eve of the wedding, performances by artistes such as actor Navya Nair and dancer Methil Devika were staged at Pillai’s Raviz Hotel in Kollam.

The flamboyant set for the marriage was erected by film art director Sabu Cyril. The huge, air-conditioned venue was set up across 40,000 square feet, and modelled after the royal palaces in Rajasthan. Cyril’s team worked for 75 days to give the ground the feel of a palace.

Pillai had earlier rejected the contention that the ceremony was a squandering away of money. “I am showcasing the state of Kerala before an international business community and country heads,’’ he had said. Pillai’s business empire is spread over 26 countries. He has stakes in construction, mining, hospitality, gas and education areas.

Forbes magazine had listed him among the 1,000 billionaires in the world, with a ranking of 988.

India’s armed forces can’t stop terrorism in J-K, says Farooq Abdullah Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said he stands by his comment on Kashmir issue and warned that all of India’s armed forces can’t defend Jammu and Kashmir’s borders and stop terrorists coming from Pakistan side.

“US is not our friend, US only wants to sell arms and ammunition to us. I am a Hindustani and die like a Hindustani. When Vajpayee ji went to Lahore, 20 innocent Kashmiris were killed in the state. If whole Indian Army comes to defend our borders, they cannot stop terrorists coming from Pakistan side. The

only way left is to hold dialogue and find a solution (to the

relations between India and Pakistan cannot improve till

Kashmir issue),” Abdullah said at a function.Speaking on Kashmir issue, Abdullah said

Pakistan understands that it will not get anything. Farooq had on Friday said that both India and

Pakistan need to understand that PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) is in Pakistan and will remain in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir is in India and will remain in India.He said, “That part (PoK) will remain with Pakistan and this Kashmir (J-K) is with India. Practically it is not possible to keep PoK with us. We have fought three wars with Pakistan, but could not take back PoK from Pakistan.”He added, “Let us be practical. The then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee told me that when he visited Pakistan, he gave the suggestion that Pakistan should keep PoK, but they did not agree.

But now if we start the talks with Pakistan again, they are ready on this formula.”

Issue - 643 (14)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Over half of world’s primates on brink of extinction More than half the world’s primates, including apes, lemurs and monkeys, are facing extinction, international experts warned Tuesday, as they called for urgent action to protect mankind’s closest living relatives. The population crunch is the result of large-scale habitat

primates,” leading primatologist Christoph Schwitzer, director of conservation at Bristol Zoological Society in Britain, said in a statement.

“We hope it will focus people’s attention on these lesser known primate species, some of which most people will probably

destruction - particularly the burning and clearing of tropical forests - as well as the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade.Species long-known to be at risk, including the Sumatran orangutan, have been joined on the most endangered list for the first time by the Philippine tarsier and the Lavasoa Mountains dwarf lemur from Madagascar, scientists meeting in Singapore said.“This research highlights the extent of the danger facing many of the world’s

have never heard of.”

This includes the Lavasoa Mountains dwarf lemur - a species only discovered two years ago - and the Roloway monkey from Ghana and Ivory Coast, which experts say “are on the very verge of extinction”.

There are 703 species and sub-species of primates in the world. Madagascar and Vietnam are home to large numbers of highly threatened primate species, the statement said.In Africa, the red colobus monkeys was under “particular threat”, as

were some of South America’s howler monkeys and spider monkeys, it added. “All of these species are relatively large and conspicuous, making them prime targets for bushmeat hunting,” the statement said.

Russell Mittermeier, chair of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said he hoped the report would encourage governments to commit to “desperately needed biodiversity conservation measures”.

Mittermeier said ahead of next month’s global climate conference in Paris, there was growing evidence some primate species might play key roles in dispersing tropical forest tree seeds, which in turn “have a critically important role in mitigating climate change”.

Here is the list of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates for 2014-2016 and their estimated numbers remaining in the wild.

The list is compiled by the IUCN, Bristol Zoological Society, International Primatological Society and Conservation International and is updated every two years.

Drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi’s aunt says family will settle in Canada The aunt of a Syrian boy whose lifeless body was photographed on a Turkish beach, sparking worldwide outrage at the refugee crisis, said she hopes her family members will be in Canada by Christmas.

Tima Kurdi said Friday that Canada has approved her application to bring her brother Mohammed and his family to Canada, but that security checks are still underway.Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesman Remi Lariviere would only confirm that the department has communicated with the Kurdi family.“We can confirm that the processing of their application is proceeding well,” said Lariviere.Mohammed Kurdi is the uncle of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned, along with his 5-year-old brother and their mother, while crossing the treacherous waters from Turkey to Greece. The family was attempting to

reach the Greek island of Kos.Alan Kurdi’s father, Abdullah, was one of the few who survived their overloaded boat ride. A photo of Alan Kurdi’s

Citizenship and Immigration said at the time there was no record of an application received for Abdullah Kurdi and his family, but that a bid for

washed up body in early September drew international momentum to help Syrian refugees.Tima Kurdi’s original application to bring Mohammed and his family to Canada was rejected. She says the rejection led her other brother, Alan’s father, Abdullah, to lose hope he would be allowed into Canada, prompting him to make the dangerous journey.

Canada’s Department of

Mohammad Kurdi had been returned as incomplete.Tima Kurdi said Abdullah is finding solace in helping refugee children in northern Iraq and no longer interested in coming to Canada.

Earlier this week, recently elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government will resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and another 15,000 by the end of February.

Ethiopian man will arrive in a self-made airplane on his wedding! Now that’s called style Want to arrive in style at your wedding?

Learn from this aviation geek who has plans to reach his wedding venue by flying his handcrafted light airplane K-570.On November 28, the fearless Ethiopian will make a flying debut and marry his fiance Seble Bekele the moment he lands.

This will be his second attempt after he first taxied to a runway 40 kilometers but a broken propeller ruined his chance of flying.However, Asmelash Zeferu is all set with a new engine that doubles his power to 78 horsepower and has even sought professional advice for flying.Flying has always been a dream for Zeferu, since childhood he wanted to become a pilot but he had to meet with disappointment when he got to know he did not meet the air school height requirements. He was just a centimeter short. But Zeferu did not take the setback too hard, instead he decided to build his

own aircraft and fly in it. It took him ten years of hard labour to achieve it, with aviation manuals and YouTube tutorials being

from the continent. He has even taken advice from fellow flight enthusiasts and made modifications. Zeferu will

his teachers. Zeferu modeled his plane on one used by trainee pilots in the US in the 1920s and 30s. There were some parts of the plane which were bought second hand and some salvaged, but he could not find a cheap Ford engine.

But completing all the finished task, he is also set to be among a pioneering group of amateur enthusiasts

return to the same airfield and attempt to fly in his newly modified machine.

For him the main concern is about landing safely and plans to take off at 90 mph and 10 meters height.The aviation geek hopes a flight school accepts him after his attempt turns a success.

Zeferu dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer at NASA.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Deepika, Ranbir and their intriguing journey Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Piyush Mishra Director: Imtiaz Ali Rating: 3 Deepika Padukone-Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Tamasha, that released on Friday, is Imtiaz Ali’s most complex and intriguing journey till date. Almost all of us have been brought up with such robotic mannerisms that we tend to forget our real selves - much like the protagonist Ved. This could have been a much larger connect for the audience, but does the director succeed in etching his characters to the point you feel their pain and angst? Let’s explore.

Throughout Tamasha, there is a recurrent line that it is always the same story of boy meets girl and society creates a rift between them. Is Tamasha any different? It is not. Only this time, society creates the barrier through a much longer route - with the norms implanted deep down in the protagonist’s character.

Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha is a theatrical attempt at exploring love, life and the love for life in its best form - free from the shackles of society. Be it Rockstar, Highway or Jab We Met Imtiaz’s characters seem to be treading the same line. Once again, the protagonist (Ved, played by

Ranbir Kapoor) is a ‘normal, average’ man going about his life in the routine prescribed by his immediate society and family - a character caught in the drama of routine and decency. The film traces Ved’s journey from following the set patterns of life to getting back to his childhood self where he was in awe of stories and characters.

While Highway was a wellexplored journey of Veera (Alia Bhatt), Imtiaz Ali fails to offer any novelty in Tamasha. What is more disappointing is the fact that the director does not build his characters enough for the audience to empathise - almost half the film is dedicated to the scenic beauty of Corsica and harps more on the sizzling chemistry of RanbirDeepika rather than bringing the audience any closer to the characters. In the first half, there are sequences that touch upon the dark sides of life and well-choreographed songs but these scenes don’t explore the protagonists’ personalities and lives.

There is not even a proper conversation to hold the audience - most of the scenes that involve dialogues are peppered with background music and songs - which is good, with AR Rahman’s soothing music and Irshad Kamil

sharp lyrics - but it hampers the audience’s engagement with the characters onscreen. The second half, thankfully, gears up and brings us a little closer to Ved and Tara.

People with an artistic bent in their personality are likely to identify with Ved’s character - he is mesmerised with stories and theatre, but life and its demands of making a living in accordance with his pragmatic father, take a toll on his real calling and make him forget his real self. It is only on a holiday trip in Corsica where he meets Tara (Deepika Padukone) and his love for fun and theatre comes back to the fore. Ved and Tara have an agreement that they won’t reveal real names or anything that can trace them back to their lives - leaving behind the fun, love and connection they find in each other.

When Tara tracks Ved and meets him in Delhi, she finds a different man - a product manager who has been saving his job solely through his ‘well-mannered’ behaviour and the tendency to be a yes-man of his boss. With a broken heart, she decides to leave Ved alone and move on, but you cannot move on from love, from your own heart.

Tamasha traces the journey of Ved leaving behind his put-on, robotic charac-

ter and coming back to Tara.

In the film, the characters keep asking time and again if their story is any different from the ones we keep hearing and if it is good enough - as if seeking the audience’s approval - and that gets irritating after a point.

The beautiful locations of Corsica, trippy camera

angles and well-stationed frames ensure the movie takes the audience on a journey to a fantasy land one where you do not have to play by the boring rules of real life.

Some of the sequences in the film are interesting - like the one where Ved tells Tara she need not play the ‘touch-me-not’ woman and assures her ‘kameenapan

This Diljit Dosanjh film is a laugh riot Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Oshin Brar, Yashpal Sharma, Kiran Juneja Director: Gifty Rating: 3 There was a time when the Punjabi film industry languished in Bollywood’s shadow. Not any longer.

Over the years, Punjabi films have slowly and steadily spread their wings and reached a juncture where they can take the leap of faith and eat into Hindi film revenues. And there is nobody better than the star, Diljit Dosanjh, to ride on this wave.

But to do that, Diljit and his fellow Punjabi actors will have to ensure novelty of content. Has he done it in Mukhtiar Chadha? Let’s probe.

Mukhtiar Chadha (Diljit) is a ‘Purani Dilli’ guy whose only desire in life is to get rich, by hook or by crook. He is so

business-oriented, he doesn’t even spare his neighbour Dimple (Oshin Brar) from his shrewd tactics. He finds out Dimple flunked in her exams, so he starts extorting money from her to not tell her father.

This, of course, is the beginning of their love.

Like most heroes, Mukhtiar also ends up fighting the baddies – led by Yashpal Sharma in the disguise of a poetry-loving land-shark Chidi Hussain.

Now, Hussain and Chadha are at loggerheads, and there’s a lot at stake.

A smile comes to the audience’s face the moment Diljit arrives on his brandnew red scooter, clad in a red turban.

Such is his charm.

Initially it seems he is going to take his Sardaar Ji act forward, but his character is more nuanced and humorous

this time around.

The writers (Dosanjh has written the film with director Gifty) have used language identifiable with the West Delhi middle class.

There are characters who even speak Hindi. They mostly use, ‘Pant nahi pajama ji, main munde ka mama ji,’ sort of one-liners to introduce themselves and take you through the bylanes of Karol Bagh and adjacent areas.

In case, you still don’t get it then the stock footage of the Delhi Metro with the Hanuman statute is also present.

Basically, it’s a clichéd Delhi story: A property dealer who wants to make some quick bucks. A funny gangster with a certain Western UP touch.

Some guys doing Ramleela. A wannabe middle-aged Bihari man who dreams of dating college girls.

nahi karunga’. Or the one where Ved goes to Piyush Mishra, the storyteller who introduced him to the world of stories as a child, to seek solution to the problems of his life. Piyush Mishra is a forgetful man and keeps mixing all the stories, when Ved does not hear what he wants to, he gets angry and this sets off Mishra.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Figuring out dates for ‘Half Girlfriend’ says Kriti Sanon

Deepika Padukone wants to try her luck in production

I am in talks with them about the project. It’s a film, I would definitely love to do because I really liked the script.

Kriti Sanon is in talks for Mohit Suri’s big screen adaptation of ‘Half Girlfriend’, which stars Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead, but the actress says she is yet to block her dates for it.

There were reports that the 25-year-old actress has been roped in to play the female lead in the upcoming film, which is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel of the same name.

“I am in talks with them about the project. It’s a film, I would definitely love to do because I really liked the script.

“I have read the book before and launched the book with Chetan.

Right now things are not completely finalised.

We need to figure out the dates,” Kriti told PTI. ‘Half Girlfriend’, a ruralurban love story, is about a boy from Bihar, who does not speak English well and gets attracted to a rich girl from Delhi.

The ‘Heropanti’ star will be now seen in Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer ‘Dilwale’, which hits screen next month.

The Delhi-born actress has also signed on her third film project about which she refused to divulge any details.

“I have signed on one more film. It will be officially announced soon.”

Daisy Shah happy to explore different roles Choreographer-actress Daisy Shah, who stepped into Bollywood with Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’ and is now featuring in ‘Hate Story 3’, says she is trying to go beyond expectations, and wants to explore different roles in her career.

“As an actor, I want to explore myself (my talent). I feel very content to carry out a role that is completely different from ‘Jai Ho’. I’m pushing the bar (limits) for myself after ‘Jai Ho’,” Daisy said here.

In ‘Hate Story 3’, Daisy essays a strong-headed businesswoman.

She said the role was challenging as she had to mentally prepare herself for it.

The actress features in the film with Zareen Khan, Karan Singh Grover and Sharman Joshi. And she says there was never a scope for a catfight for Zareen.

“I wish I could give you such gossip, but we don’t share screen space in the film. We don’t come across each other in the movie,” Daisy said.

Touted to be an erotic thriller, the third instalment of the ‘Hate Story’ franchise is directed by Vishal Pandya. It releases on December 4.

I’m single, ready to mingle says Tanishaa Mukerji Actress Tanishaa Mukerji, who reportedly dated actor Armaan Kohli, says she is now single and ready to mingle. But she is no hurry to settle down.

Tanishaa told IANS: “I am very much single and ready to mingle. I am loving being single. I have no plans to settle down, I don’t have any pressure from my family. And this is the best phase of my life.”

Tanishaa is said to have dated Armaan after their stint in “Bigg Boss”, and they reportedly parted ways last year.

Tanishaa, who will now be

seen in Colors’ stunt-based reality show “Khatron Ke Khiladi 7”, says she also has film projects in her kitty.

“Right now, I am doing three films in Bollywood, and that’s quite a lot. I have three projects on my plate and I have finished one film. All the films are interesting.

“I’m playing a Muslim lady for the first time in one of my films. I have a new look and avatar in it and it’s a great subject. I am also doing a biopic on Anna Hazare and my third project will start in January,” she said, without elaborating further.

Unperturbed by box office profits and losses, actress Deepika Padukone says she wants to venture into film production in near future because she likes to organise things.

The 29-year-old star, whose latest on-screen outing “Tamasha” opposite Ranbir Kapoor is doing good at the box office, said her motive of trying her luck in production is not to mint money.

“I want to venture into production and be a producer or line producer some day because I feel I have that kind of personality. I like to organise, put things together and make things happen. I don’t want to be a producer because I want to make money,” Deepika told PTI. The actress said though

she still does not have much understanding of the technical aspect of filmmaking but by becoming a producer she wants to bring out films, which audience can enjoy.

“I just don’t want to get involved in any kind of business in context of cinema. Profit, loss, box office none of that,” she added.

When asked if given a chance, what all films of hers she would like to produce, Deepika said, “It would be ‘Piku’, ‘Love Aajkal’, ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Tamasha’ because these films are very close to my heart and they are special for me.” Anushka Sharma, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Dia Mirza and Lara Dutta are among the actresses, who have turned producers.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Kim Kardashian may undergo C-section Kylie Jenner and Tyga Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who is expecting her second child, has been warned she may need a caesarean section, as her baby is breech.

“My latest concern is that my baby is breech, meaning he’s in the wrong position for childbirth.

His head is still up and it’s supposed to be down. He was supposed to turn by 32 weeks. So now, I will have to get a Csection. Or so I thought,” she wrote on her blog, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

The 35-year-old has been

researching alternative options and is doing “everything she can” to get the baby to turn until her due date.

“Since my baby is pretty big over seven pounds -- maybe he’s just too big at this point but I started intensive chiropractic work with Dr. Elliot Berlin.

He is ‘the’ pregnancy chiropractor! I’ve learned so much from my few sessions with him.

“I have been doing everything I can to try to turn the baby. I lay practically upside down three times a day for 15 minutes. I play music in the right position and ice my belly in certain spots to get him to squirm out of the breech position. I even started acupuncture where I burn moxa (mugwort) on my pinky toe every day! I am even attempting hypnosis,” she said.

Kim also said that she is feeling “anxious” about possibly needing the procedure, but will accept it if it’s necessary for her and the baby’s health.

“Obviously, if it’s an emergency and for the safety of my son, I will get a C-section--but if I don’t need one, I’d rather not.

Please wish me luck and pray the baby turns! This whole delivery gives me anxiety, not gonna lie. I hope the baby turns and all goes well but I’m prepared for anything,” she said. The “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star already has a daughter named North West with rapper Kanye West.

plan to ‘live apart’

Kylie Jenner and Tyga seem to have decided to take things slow after a brief ‘split’ on the latter’s birthday last week. The rapper, according to a website, has moved out of Kylie’s home and into a rental in the Hollywood Hills.

The two apparently felt they were together too much and were concerned they looked more like a duo than individuals with their own careers. Kylie’s re-

cent Australia trip became an issue, as they argued whether she should go solo or with Tyga.

A source connected to the couple says they have decided things would be better if they increase their personal space by living under separate roofs.

However, another source close to Kylie claims that they did not break up, but the blow-up has made them rethink their relationship.

Ice-cream peps up Selena Gomez gives Taylor Khloe Kardashian’s mood Swift advice on men

Reality TV personality Khloe Kardashian says that 2015 has been her

worst year so far, but adds that she has a number of options to help her cope

up, including ice-cream, music and gym.

Replying to a fan’s query on what keeps the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star going, Khloe replied: “Sometimes a little bit of icecream helps. But you know what, music is a mood-changer,” reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“If I’m sad and I’m going to listen to something sad, a love song or whatever, I’m just gonna be sadder and cry. And sometimes you need a good cry but you cannot sit balled up in a corner and just ‘Oh, woe is me.’

Everyone is allowed to have their day, everyone’s allowed to feel bad, but you’ve got to get over it.

You’ve got to get up. Go to the gym, get some endorphins going in you,” she added. “Without my crazy, chaotic, amazing family, I’m not sure how I could have gone through some of the things that I was tested with this year.

Every night I thank the Lord for blessing me with the world’s best support system,” she wrote.

Pop star Selena Gomez says she offers singer Taylor Swift advice in “the boy department”. The “Good for you” hitmaker spoke about her friendship with Swift in an interview with Instyle UK magazine, reports usmagazine.com.

“People have this fantasy that we’re in our underwear, having pillow fights,” the 23-year-old said in the magazine’s January 2016 cover story.

“We just play good music

- sometimes live - and eat, and hang out.”

She also admitted that she offers the “Bad Blood” singer advice in “the boy department” while Swift, 25, stops her from being too hard on herself.

“I’ll be like, ‘I think I totally screwed up’, but Taylor says, ‘Actually, you didn’t’ and shows me how to make my mistakes into something great,” she said.

Gomez, who sparked

rumours of a reconciliation with her former boyfriend Justin Bieber, 21, when he was spotted singing to her at a hotel bar in Beverly Hills, California, on November 20, seemed to get a little annoyed when the magazine asked her about their relationship.

“It’s really hard because I’m a nice person. I’m just tired of talking about it,” she said. “I never intended for my life to become a tabloid story.”

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Pakistan spy racket busted: BSF jawan, ISI operative arrested from Jammu Delhi Police Crime Branch on Sunday claimed to have busted an espionage racket for allegedly providing confidential information to a suspected ISI operative. According to sources, apart from BSF personnel, one serving and one retired Indian Army lower rank staff are also involved in the

tion from various offices and circulate them with the aid of the arrested suspected ISI operative identified as Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja (44), a resident of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Police are also trying to detect possible links between the alleged ISI

racket that used to provide documents to the suspected ISI operative.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police have arrested a serving Border Security Force personnel and a suspected ISI operative from the railway station at Jammu.

According to sources, two Army men are involved in the crime. They used to gather classified informa-

agents arrested from Kolkata. “We are also looking for a retired Indian army personnel by the name of Munavar Hussain, who used to supply documents. We suspect that one serving Indian army personnel is involved in the racket,” sources said. An FIR registered by the Delhi Police on November 16 by Crime Branch states, “A

secret informer met me in the office of ISC, Crime Branch, Chankyapuri, Delhi and gave me information regarding anti-national activities supported by Pakistan based intelligence operatives (PIO). As per the information, the PIO is an Indian handler who is collecting information regarding the deployment of army and BSF in Jammu & Kashmir and passing the same across the border which can be hugely detrimental for national security. The handler is believed to have a pan-India network of informers, who comprise of security personnel and private personnel.” According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ravindra Yadav, the accused duo, who have been arrested has been identified as Kafaitullah Khan and BSF head constable Abdul Rasheed, were posted at the intelligence wing of Border Security Force in the same district. Kafaitullah Khan used to handle the Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) and Rasheed was one of his chief sources.

Reptile fossil explains how snakes lost their legs When and how did snakes lose their limbs?

A fresh analysis of a reptile fossil is helping scientists solve this evolutionary puzzle.

A 90 million-year-old skull is giving researchers vital clues about how snakes evolved.

Comparisons between CT scans of the fossil and modern reptiles indicate that snakes lost their legs when their ancestors evolved to live and hunt in burrows, which many snakes still do today.

“How snakes lost their legs has long been a mystery to scientists, but it seems that this happened when their ancestors became adept at burrowing,” said lead researcher Hongyu Yi from University of Edinburgh.

The findings show snakes did not lose their limbs in order to live in the sea, as was previously

suggested.

Scientists used CT scans to examine the bony inner ear of Dinilysia patagonica, a 2-metre long reptile closely linked to modern snakes.

These bony canals and

actively burrow, which may help them detect prey and predators.

This shape was not present in modern snakes that live in water or above ground.

The findings help scien-

cavities, like those in the ears of modern burrowing snakes, controlled its hearing and balance.

They built 3D virtual models to compare the inner ears of the fossils with those of modern lizards and snakes.

Researchers found a distinctive structure within the inner ear of animals that

tists fill gaps in the story of snake evolution, and confirm Dinilysia patagonica as the largest burrowing snake ever known.

They also offer clues about a hypothetical ancestral species from which all modern snakes descended, which was likely a burrower.

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1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

Just for fun: Class XII student Arvind Kejriwal’s old comrades launch agitation against ‘toothless’ Jan Lokpal Bill from Madhya Pradesh threatens Arvind Kejriwal‘s estranged comrades have come together to launch a country-wide agitation to keep the AAP government in Delhi from passing what they call a ‘toothless’ version of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Prashant Bhushan, who was earlier sacked from AAP for ‘anti-party activities’ along with Yogendra Yadav, said they and

many others who had extensively worked for transparency and against corruption in the past would join hands again to expose ‘AAP’s lies’ across states.

“We are reorganising the old movement. We fought the Congress. We fought the BJP. Now is the time to fight AAP,” Bhushan told Mail Today.

Bhushan said AAP, which was born out of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement in 2011-12, has weakened the Bill to save ‘their own ministers and MLAs’. Challenging Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal to a public debate on the Bill, Bhushan also warned of a sit-

in outside Delhi Assembly on Monday when the Delhi government tables the Bill to put in place an ombudsman to investigate charges against politicians and civil servants.

Swaraj Abhiyan, a non-political grouping floated by Bhushan and Yadav, has started registration of people who would take part in such

an agitation. Retired supreme court judge Santosh Hegdewho was part of Hazare-led drafting committee for the central Jan Lokpal Bill-and Nikhil Dey- who worked extensively with Kejrwal on RTI - have also severally criticised AAP’s proposed legislation, and supported Swaraj Abhiyan’s move to stage protests.

“I have seen the 2014 Bill that AAP could not table in the Assembly. I have also seen the 2015 one. Forget the one which we, led by Hazare, had drafted for Parliament to pass.

The new one is nowhere close to it. But even between 2014 and 2015, there have been drastic dilutions. The power of

appointment and removal of the Lokpal has practically gone to the political class which itself might be under investigation,” Hegde said.

Lost opportunity Dey of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) said some of the provisions in AAP’s Jan Lokpal Bill 2015 were a cause for extreme sadness.

“It is an opportunity lost. It was an opportunity for people like us who got into government to keep their promises. It was really painful to see AAP avoid putting the draft in public domain,” he said.

As it is the Bill may set off a bitter confrontation with the Centre, whose nod is a must for the halfstate of Delhi to pass any such legislation. AAP and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who reports to the Centre, have been locked in a bitter legal and political row for greater control over Delhi. AAP, however, denied that the Bill has been diluted at all, and said the whole campaign against it was being run at the behest of the BJP. AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said, “It is the same Bill that we during our 49-day tenure had tried to push.

Bhushan had no objections to it then. Their allegiance to BJP is getting clearer by the day.

We remain committed to a strong, independent and accountable Lokpal,” he said.

Delhi businessman hacked, asked to pay $500 Even as the government is talking about the Digital India vision, acts of cybercrime are on a rise. Nothing is safe on your personal computers or laptops as the attacks are becoming rather sophisticated.

laptop to top technicians who failed to decrypt the file which was hacked and now, the cyber crooks are demanding money to unlock the data. If Sachdeva fails to pay the amount in Bitcoins (digital

The latest to fall victim to the ransomware attack is an East Delhi-based businessman who cannot access 500 GB of his company’s data, personal pictures and videos stored on his laptop till he makes a payment of $500 to an unidentified hacker.

Prateek Sachdeva took his

currency) then the hacker will double the amount or delete his data. “I was surfing the Internet when suddenly some file got downloaded on my laptop. Since then, all my files have been encrypted and I could not access it. I can use my computer but cannot see the files. As I click on any file

it opens a decrypt browser, which further asks for money.

Hacker, who has taken complete control over the system, is demanding USD 500 to release my data. If I don’t pay the amount, they will double the amount,” Sachdeva told Mail Today. Sachdeva is going to format his computer rather than paying the money to cyber criminals and encourage them. “I am not going to pay them the ransom. This is a form of extortion in the virtual world. What is the proof that I will get back my data after paying the money? Even after paying them money, they can again attack me. I will format my system and will install better security features,” Sachdeva said. Cyber security experts’ claim that the case of ‘Cyber Extortion’ and ‘Ransomware’ has increased manifold where hacker using malicious software deny users access to their computers or files until they pay a ransom.

to hijack Air India plane, held

A 20-year-old youth from Madhya Pradesh has been arrested for allegedly making a threat call to national carrier Air India‘s Thane call centre last week.

The youth, who threatened to hijack an AI flight on November 28, later clarified that he did it “just out of fun”.

Vilas Chandanshive, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-V, told a press conference at the Shrinagar Police station in Thane on Sunday that the youth was nabbed from Harda district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday and an offence has been registered against him.

He was produced before a local court which remanded him to police custody till December 2.

According to preliminary investigations, the youth, who is a class XII student, had made the call “just out of fun”, though state ATS and Intelligence Bureau were also roped in to look into the matter taking into consideration the gravity of the call.

The youth’s identity has been withheld by the police. According to the

FIR filed by Air India with the Shrinagar Police station, on November 20, at about 22:25 hours, an unidentified person called on the toll-free number of the Air India call centre, threatening to hijack an Air India flight on November 28.

DCP Chandanshive said the caller spoke fluent Hindi and identified himself as an ‘ISIS member’. He said they have planned to hijack a flight on November 28 and that the call should be taken as a “hoax”.

Police soon traced the call location, which was Madhya Pradesh, and a team of personnel of Shrinagar police was sent to the state to trace the caller, he said.

The team located the caller at Rahatgaon village in Harda and the boy was taken into custody, Chandanshive said, adding, during the interrogation, he confessed to have made the call.

“The youth had three SIM cards with him. The SIM card through which he made the call, the youth said, he found it abandoned and started using it,” the DCP said.

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Air attack New Delhi is facing serious threats of aerial strikes from various terror outfits, including the dreaded ISIS, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said. Security agencies have taken necessary steps to foil any such attacks and have prepared a list of 15 key spots in the Capital that they fear might be targeted. Objects like drones, unmanned air system (UAS) and para motors could be used to carry out attacks, the ministry has said. The seriousness of the threat could be gauged from the fact that security

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agencies have been authorised to shoot down ‘any unidentified, suspicious flying object’ once declared ‘not friendly’ by the India Air Force (IAF).

At a high-level meeting held at the North Block, the MHA asked Delhi Police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), union civil aviation ministry and IAF to provide suggestions on how to counter such threats, according to documents accessed by Mail Today. The idea also was to put in place a standard operating procedure.

Facing threat The MHA has said the spots under threat

include the Prime Minister’s house, Rashtrapati Bhavan, the residences of home minister and vice-president, areas around Rajpath and India Gate, besides the CGO Complex that houses the headquarters of key agencies such as the CBI, CISF and BSF. “Delhi is the most sensitive metro in India.

It has been facing threats from various outfits. But aerial attack threats are now the main focus. Security and intelligence agencies have given reports about such attacks in Delhi. The government is coming out with a plan to counter the threat,” a top government official told Mail Today.

According to sources, in a draft given by the MHA to various agencies it has been stated that security personnel, upon noticing a suspicious flying object, will inform the central control room, and without any delay the IAF would be contacted. If the IAF declares it ‘nonfriendly’, it has to be shot down without damaging human life.

Recently, in an interview with India Today, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also said that the ISIS may strike anywhere, but India is prepared. “It is a reality (some Muslims from South India are lured by ISIS).

It is a fact. But we should not undermine our vigil in other parts of the country.

Anything that threatens the security of the country is taken seriously and the home ministry’s mandate is to provide security to the people and the country,” Kiren Rijiju said.

New strategy “The MHA has been holding meetings to

discuss about the threat, and agencies-including Delhi Police, CISF, IAF and the Civil Aviation ministry--will be called for suggestions to chalk out a strategy soon.

Everything will be finalised within a week as Delhi is the most sensitive place in India facing aerial strike threats,” a top government official added. The Delhi Police and the CISF have been asked to increase patrolling at the airport and vital government establishments. “We have deployed teams around the Delhi airport and are working closely with the CISF and IAF. Agencies are also preparing drills,” a Delhi Police officer said. On October 27 this year, the air traffic control in Delhi noticed a suspected object flying at the Delhi airport. This was communicated to the Delhi Police and the IAF, but before any agency could react the object vanished. Later, a high-level meeting was called, but even after a month, agencies are clueless. The Delhi Police have registered a case under the aircraft Act at the airport police station.

No personalised nutella jar for isis Mum outraged after Nutella denies her daughter, 5, a personalised jar because her name is ISIS A mother is furious after her five-year old daughter Isis, was refused permission to print her name on a Nutella jar at a promotional stall.

Heather Taylor’s children, Isis and Odhinn, from Illawarra, south of Sydney, were shopping with their aunt when they were rejected from personalising a Nutella jar.

Automatically listed as problematic names, they were asked to provide proof of their identities.

‘We have just been refused permission to have our beautiful five year old daughter’s name printed on a Nutella jar label at Myers Shellharbour because she is named Isis.

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fears in city Erdogan warns Putin: don't play with fire Turkey warns Russia not to ‘play with fire’ over downed jet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Russia’s President Vladimir Putin not to “play with fire” over his country’s downing of a Russian jet.

Mr Erdogan also said he wanted to meet Mr Putin “face-to-face” at climate talks in Paris to resolve the issue.

Mr Putin wants an apology from Turkey before he will speak to Mr Erdogan, the Russian president’s aide said.

Russia has suspended its visafree arrangement with Turkey in the latest of a range of retaliatory measures. Turkey says the Russian warplane was in its airspace when the decision was taken to shoot it down on Tuesday - Russia insists the plane was flying over Syria at the time. Tensions have been heightened by the fact that the two countries are pursuing different aims in Syria. Russia has been carrying out air strikes against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad since late September, while Turkey, which is a member of a US-led coalition, insists Mr Assad must step down before any political solution to the crisis is found.

EU must stem migrant flow The EU risks the same fate as the Roman Empire if it fails to protect its borders, the Dutch prime minister has warned.

Mark Rutte said: ‘As we all know from the Roman Empire, big empires go down if the borders are not well protected. We really have an imperative that it is handled.’

His comments drew a parallel with Rome as it had been in 100BC when it was at its most powerful - having captured more land overseas and greater wealth poured into the centre.

But over subsequent centuries, there was a rise in social divisions, inequality and political tensions which resulted in its demise.

Rutte said the EU needed to act quickly to stem the migrant flow, adding that he was optimistic that Sunday’s summit between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish president, and his EU counterparts

would help ease conditions.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, also said that a breakdown of the EU’s Schengen open border system would put the union in peril.

Around 700,000 migrants have landed in Greece so far this year amid the continent’s worst migration crisis since the Second World War. And a further 140,000 migrants arrived via Italy while the rest came into other European countries.

The UN revealed in October that children made up 20 per cent of the arrivals, with half coming from Syria, 18 per cent from Afghanistan and six per cent from Iraq.

A total of 85 per cent of migrants were from what the UN High Commissioner for Refugees described as the world’s 10 main refugee-producing countries.

Shirts and bras to honour Paris victims Defiant Parisians have been showing their support for the victims of the horrific terror attacks by raising the Tricolour flag outside their homes as the city held a memorial service in the Invalides building.

Locals without flags used a variety of items, including shirts and bras to hang out of their window to symbolise the colours of the national flag in solidarity with the 130 people who died as well as those who were injured in the Paris terrorist attacks exactly two weeks ago.

The city was awashed with the familiar blue, white and red colours of France after President Francois Hollande made a special request for everybody to hang flags from their homes. The scenes brought back scenes reminiscent of the day Paris celebrated VE Day on May 8, 1945.

At the memorial service, the French leader gave a defiant speech, vowing to destroy the brutal jihadi group ISIS, who claimed responsibility for the devastating terror attacks.

‘We will not give in either to fear or to hate,’ said Hollande in the courtyard of the Invalides buildings in central Paris, speaking to 2,000 dignitaries and those injured in the violence.

‘To all of you, I solemnly promise that France will do everything to destroy the army of fanatics that committed these crimes,’ he said.

Thousands of police and soldiers continued to flood the city, because of fears of further attacks.

The service took place at Les Invalidies, the palatial set of buildings in central Paris where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried, and which contains the National Army Museum.

The ceremony began with the president’s arrival on a cold and misty day to the sound of the

national anthem La Marseillaise being played by the Republican Guard.

The parents of British victim Nick Alexander, who died in the Bataclan massacre, said ‘words cannot express the sadness we feel at the loss of our precious Nick’ as they prepared to attend a memorial service in the city.

Some 1000 people attended, including friends and family of those who were slaughtered around the Stade de France, the Bataclan music venue, and bars and restaurants.

Islamic State suicide bombers wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles caused the bloodshed, and at least one of those responsible is still on the run.

A minute’s silence will be held, and the names of every single victim read out. More than 350 were also severely injured in the attacks – the worst terrorist outrage in the history of modern France.

Hollande said: ‘130 destinies had been stolen, 130 laughs that will never be heard again,’ adding that they had come from more than 50 places in France and 17 countries.

The majority of the victims were under 35 years old, he said, highlighting that the attacks targeted popular nightlife areas of the French capital, including bars, restaurants and a concert hall.

‘It’s because they represented life that they were killed, it’s because they represented France that they were slaughtered, it’s because they represented freedom that they were massacred,’ he said.

Among the crowd were some of the 350 people injured in the attacks, many in wheelchairs.

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#100LoveNotes: Husband hands out love letters to strangers to honour wife’s death Losing one’s life partner is perhaps the most painful emotion to endure, even for the strong Hyong Yi the first reaction was curling up in bed and dwelling in the sorrow.

Hyong Yi’s wife Catherine Zanga died from ovarian cancer last

year. The couple was married for 11 years and had two children. For the sake of his children, Yi stood strong and decided to honour his wife’s death by writing love notes and distribute them to absolute strangers.

Yi recalled his first reac-

tion of dreading his wife’s death anniversary but soon decided to honour his wife’s memory by turning it into a day of love and joy.

The loving husband has written 100 love letters based on the conversations and memories he shared with his wife during the 15 years of together-

ness.

It took him nearly two months to write those letters. When he was done his friends encouraged him to publicise it and that is how the concept of 100LoveNotes came.

A website was launched earlier this month featuring all the love notes he wrote.

Queen Elizabeth II thanks Canadian PM for making her ‘feel old’

Announcing his project, Yi said that a life filled with love is a life well lived and that is what his wife has taught him.

On the first anniversary of Catherine, Yi and his kids handed out those 100 notes to strangers on the road in North Carolina. Many friends

joined the family of three to help.

His 10-year-old daughter Anna handed over 70 letters while Yi and his son distributed the rest of the 30. There were people who asked for a backstory and some who just accepted politely and walked.

Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday wrapped up a nostalgic visit to Malta, her one-time home, where she joked that Canada’s youthful new leader had made her feel old.

The British monarch has close ties to the Mediterranean island, where she lived between 1949 and 1951 while her husband, Prince Philip, was in the Royal Navy.

On Saturday she crossed the Grand Harbor in the capital, Valletta, in a traditional Maltese wooden boat. She alighted at the spot where her father, King George VI, landed in June 1943 to present Malta with the George Cross in honor of citizens’ bravery in with-

standing a World War II siege by the forces of Italy and Nazi Germany.

It’s the only time a country, rather than an individual, has received Britain’s highest civilian award for valor.

Later the queen and Philip watched a buggy race at Marsa racecourse before boarding a plane back to London. The horse-loving queen had been due to watch a polo match, but it was canceled due to a waterlogged pitch. On Friday the monarch opened a summit of the 53-nation Commonwealth of Britain and many of its former colonies.

She was toasted at a banquet by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,

whose father Pierre governed Canada for more than a decade from 1968.

Trudeau recalled the monarch’s many visits to his country, saying she had “seen more of Canada than most Canadians.”

The queen thanked 43year-old Trudeau “for making me feel so old.” At 89, the queen has given up long-haul travel so is unlikely to attend the next biennial Commonwealth gathering, which is held in a different nation each time.

Her stature and enthusiasm have helped unite a diverse, diffuse organization whose member nations are home to more than 2 million people on five continents.

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UK could be prosecuted for war crimes over missiles sold to Saudi Arabia that were used to kill civilians in Yemen Incidents in the past have shown India’s tolerance towards the culture of bans and literature has

been no exception to it.

Here are authors who faced the wrath of bans.

Writer Salman Rushdie was quick to react to former finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement on the ban of his novel “The Satanic Verses” being wrongful. He questioned how long would it take to correct the long-pending mistake.

A ban on the controversial novel was imposed during the regime of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Chidambaram clarified that his stance on the ban was the same 20 years ago as well.

However, he expressed his concerns over the growing intolerance in the country, “there is a rush of bans. Ban jeans, ban authors, ban food, ban artist, ban travel, ban NGO,” he said.

India as a society is immune to culture of ban, and recent incidents are a testimony to that. Find out 8 authors who faced the wrath of bans for their work:

The Satanic Verses British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie has been constantly threatened by religious fanatics ever since his book “The Satanic Verses” got published in 1988.

The author even had to cancel his session in the Jaipur Literature Festival because of alleged threats from some Muslim groups.

The Satanic Verses was banned after Muslim groups protested and claimed it had blasphemous content and that it hurt their religious sentiments.

The Hindus: An Alternative History Wendy Doniger, an American Indologist, authored the novel which was criticised and was subject of litigation in India in 2014.

The lawsuit was filed on the grounds of “deliberate and malicious acts intended to

outrage the feelings of any religious community.”

The author has described the book as an “alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they tell.” After the book was with-

drawn from the Indian market by its Indian publisher, the country was hit by a widespread debate on the state of free speech and country’s democratic structure.

Source: amazon The Heart of India Published in 1958, Alexander Campbell’s The Heart of India was banned by the Indian government in 1959 for being “repulsive”. The work of Time magazine’s New Delhi correspondent is a

fictionalised and hilarious account of Indian bureaucracy and economic policies.

Source: amazon An Area of Darkness Written by V.S. Naipaul in 1964, this travelogue elucidates Naipaul’s experiences while touring India in the early 1960s. The book

It was the first part of the well acclaimed Indian trilogy.

Source: amazon Jinnah: India-PartitionIndependence Jaswant Singh’s book was banned for portraying Jinnah in an objective manner and being sympathetic towards him. Singh

Prime Minister Morarji as a CIA informant. He was accused of giving out secrets to the CIA. Morarji filed a case against the book due to which it was temporarily banned in 1983.

Source: amazon Lajja Set against the backdrop of anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Masjid, Taslima Nasreen’s Lajja is about religious extremism. The book was banned in 1993 for offending Muslim sentiments.

The writer clarified that she did not critcise Islam in Lajja, she considers

in the book resembled party leader Balasaheb Thackeray. Prime P. V.

the book as a symbol of protest against violence, hatred and killings in the name of religion.

The book was banned in Bangladesh first and then some states of India The Moor’s Last Sigh Banned in 1995 the book authored by Salman Rushdie faced protests from the right-wing party Shiv Sena as a character

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. When the publishers were asked to stop the sale the book, they approached the Supreme Court of India which declared the ban as unconstitutional in February 1996.

Although, book sellers were still reluctant to sell it in Maharashtra due to fear of vandalism.

Source: amazon

Narasimha Rao unofficially banned it.

The writer also named a dog in the book as Jawaharlal, apparently after former

criticised the policies of Nehru and Sardar Patel, two revered politicians of the country.

It was banned by the BJPruled Gujarat government in August 2009 on the grounds of “derogatory” references to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. However, the Gujarat High Court overturned the ban.

Jaswant Singh was also expelled by the BJP in 2009 stating that the party will not compromise on matters of ideology.

Source: amazon The Price of Power Written by American journalist Seymour Hersh, the book presented former

was banned in India for its “negative portrayal of India and its people”.

UK could be prosecuted for war crimes over missiles sold to Saudi Arabia Britain is at risk of being prosecuted for war crimes because of growing evidence that missiles sold to Saudi Arabia have been used against civilian targets in Yemen’s brutal civil war, Foreign Office lawyers and diplomats have warned. Advisers to Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, have stepped up legal warnings that the sale of specialist missiles to the Saudis, deployed throughout nine months of almost daily bombing raids in west Yemen against Houthi rebels, may breach international humanitarian law. Since March this year,

bombing raids and a blockade of ports imposed by the Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Gulf states have crippled much of Yemen.

Although the political aim is to dislodge Houthi Shia rebels and restore the exiled President, AbedRabbo Mansour Hadi, thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed, with schools, hospitals and non-military infrastructure hit. Fuel and food shortages, according to the United Nations, have brought near famine to many parts of the country.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

(HRW) and other NGOs, claim there is no doubt that weapons supplied by the

and Commonwealth Office (FCO) legal adviser told The Independent: “The For-

UK and the United States have hit Yemeni civilian targets. One senior Foreign

eign Secretary has acknowledged that some weapons supplied by the

UK have been used by the Saudis in Yemen. Are our reassurances correct that such sales are within international arms treaty rules? The answer is, sadly, not at all clear.”

Although the Department for International Development recently received assurances from the Saudi government that it did not want a famine to develop on its doorstep, there is concern within the FCO that the Saudi military’s attitude to humanitarian law is careless. Officials fear that the combination of British arms sales and technical expertise used to

assist bombing raids on Yemen could result in the UK being hauled before the International Criminal Court on charges relating to direct attacks on civilians.

Another government lawyer warned: “With Britain now expected to join the United States and France in the war on Isis in Syria, there will be renewed interest in the legality of the assault in Yemen. It may not be enough for the Foreign Secretary to simply restate that we have yet to carry out any detailed evaluation [of UK arms used in the bombing of Yemen.”

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This actionoriented week can bring promising results if you channel your energy into key goals and ambitions. The more willing you are to override your limitations, the more successful you can be. Tread with care on Tuesday, as a fiery combination could cause an argument or even a minor accident. This is one day when it pays to go slowly.

Feelings could be intense, yet you might keep them to yourself, which wouldn’t be such a good idea. The pressure could be explosive, especially on Tuesday, causing a bout of anger and frustration. To avoid this, it would be best to tackle issues as they arise and discuss them with those who need to know.

Not only will this help create a solution but can save you a lot of stress as well.

Your social life bubbles with excitement and opportunity. The more people you meet, the more your life opens up in interesting ways. It would be best to avoid cantankerous folks or those looking for trouble on Tuesday. Keep a low profile.

Mercury eases into Pisces and your career sector on Thursday, encouraging you to research your options, apply for jobs.

There’s plenty of activity in your career, kickstarting a new phase. If you’re looking for work, the presence of Mars encourages a proactive approach to getting what you want. Use creative solutions and try to stand out from the crowd and showcase your skills. Avoid impulsive moves on Tuesday, particularly when dealing with those in authority.

The desire for adventure continues to show up this week, spurring you to take up new challenges. An unexpected romantic opportunity could appear, disrupting your best-laid plans. Think very carefully about getting too involved, as it might not be in your best interests and could even have negative consequences.

Go easy regarding finances this week, as it could be all too easy to make the wrong moves.

Overspending or the unwise use of funds in general could leave you struggling at a later date. If you need to talk, discuss things with a professional adviser who can help set you on the right track. Tuesday is the day to watch out for splurging and melting your plastic.

Your relationships can be very direct and honest this week. An upbeat aspect on Monday could encourage you to melt the ice concerning someone you’ve admired for some time. You’ll need to be careful and sensitive to other people’s feelings on Tuesday. Even an innocent remark could cause a spat, leaving you hurt as a result.

There’s a pleasant focus on your romance sector, paving the way for some wonderful date nights. Use your leisure time to channel your creative skills, as doing so can be very therapeutic now.

You can make great strides this week where your job and career are concerned if you focus on one goal and work to achieve it.

The fun meter is set on high, with m a n y opportunities for leisure and pleasure providing thrills and spills. Romance can also be a heady subject, bringing passion and intensity your way. There’s little chance you’ll want to make a commitment, however, which is just as well. Avoid dangerous sports or activities on Tuesday, when it’s best to keep things low-key.

It’s “all systems go” at home, with a chance that the days ahead could be fun yet disruptive. Unexpected events will mean that your best-laid plans may fall by the wayside. Avoid frustration if possible, as that will only make things worse. If you’re feeling annoyed or edgy, channel your energy into exercise or a long walk. Doing so will be calming and therapeutic.

Communication is fast paced this week. You may be busy closing deals, discussing ideas, and generally interacting with others. There’s a lot to be gained from expanding your network and meeting new people, as the lucky breaks will come rolling in. It would be to your advantage to avoid arguments on Tuesday.

An upbeat aspect on Monday can be excellent for attending interviews and meetings with a view toward getting results. Your ability to project a confident demeanor can go a long way to helping you succeed. Avoid impulsive spending on Tuesday, as it will certainly do more harm than good. Channel your energy into exercise instead, which will leave you feeling calm and centered.

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Technology Online porn triggers sex addicts’ desire for new sexual images Online porn may feed sex addicts’ desire for new sexual images, find researchers, suggesting that people who show compulsive sexual behaviour are driven to search more for new

sexual images than their peers.

The team from University of Cambridge also reported that sex addicts are more susceptible to environment ‘cues’ linked to sexual images than to those linked to neutral images.

“We can all relate in some way to searching for novel stimuli online - it could be flitting from one news website to another, or

jumping from Facebook to Amazon to YouTube and on,” explains Dr Valerie Voon from the department of psychiatry.

“For people who show compulsive sexual behaviour, though, this

becomes a pattern of behaviour beyond their control, focused on pornographic images,” he added.

Sex addiction - when an individual has difficulty controlling their sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour - is relatively common, affecting as many as one in 25 young adults.

In the new study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, Dr

Voon and colleagues studied the behaviour of 22 sex addicts and 40 “healthy” male volunteerr.

In the first task, individuals were shown a series of images in pairs, including naked women, clothed

women and furniture.

They were then shown further image pairs, including familiar and new images, and asked to choose an image to ‘win one pound’ - although the participants were unaware of the odds, the probability of winning for either images was 50 percent.

The researchers found that sex addicts were more likely to choose the novel over the familiar choice for

sexual images relative to neutral object images.

Healthy volunteers, however, were more likely to choose the novel choice for neutral human female images relative to neutral object images.

In a second task, volunteers were shown pairs of images - an undressed woman and a neutral grey box - both of which were overlaid on different abstract patterns.

This time, the researchers showed that sex addicts where more likely to choose cues (in this case the abstract patterns) associated with sexual and monetary rewards.

This supports the notion that apparently innocuous cues in an addict’s environment can ‘trigger’ them to seek out sexual images.

Cues can be as simple as just opening up their internet browser.

“They can trigger a chain of actions and before they know it, the addict is browsing through pornographic images.

Breaking the link between these cues and the behaviour can be extremely challenging,” Dr Voon emphasised.

Most Facebook posts inspired by envy

What drives you to keep posting your “good times” pictures on Facebook?

Envy is a key motivator behind such posts and that contributes to a decrease in mental wellbeing among users, says a new study.

“Creating a vicious cycle of jealousy and selfimportance, Facebook leads users to feel their lives are unfulfilling by comparison, and react by creating posts that portray their best selves,” said lead researcher professor Izak Benbasat from University of British Columbia, Canada.

Social media participation has been linked to depression, anxiety and narcissistic behaviour, but the reasons have not been well explained.

“We found envy to be the missing link,” Benbasat said.

According to Benbasat, travel photos are a leading contributor to Facebook envy, pushing friends to post their most perfect pictures.

He says the unrealistic portrayal of life is not motivated by the desire to make others jealous, but rather a need to compete and keep up appearances.

For the study, Benbasat and his co-authors surveyed 1,193 Facebook users at a German university.

Benbasat said the functionality of social networks encourages envy-inducing behaviour, and that’s unlikely to change.

“Sharing pictures and stories about the highlights of your life - that’s so much of what Facebook is for, so you can’t take that away,” he said.

Tinder’s downloads in India Facebook makes paid time off up 400%; women more active for baby leave a global benefit Online dating app Tinder Wednesday said it has witnessed a 400 per cent increase in downloads in the country in the past

Super Likes than men each week, which is incredibly empowering,” Tinder’s India head Taru Kapoor said in a

year, and women are more active in using the application than men.

“We are truly excited about the rapid adoption of Tinder in India...Women particularly seem to love Tinder, sending more

statement.

Without disclosing absolute numbers, the app which competes with others like TrulyMadly, OkCupid and Woo, said it has witnessed a 400 per cent increase in downloads in past year.

It said Indians are sending one million ‘super likes’ per week on the application, with women being more active in sending the ‘super likes’.

It, however, did not share more details on the split between men and women on app usage.

India’s favourable demographics where over half of the population is said to be under 35, a rapid pick up in mobile telephony and changing outlooks towards personal relationships due to factors like hectic lifestyles have aided usage of such applications, according to reports.

Less than a week after Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said he would take two months of paternity leave, the social media company announced it is extending its parental leave policy to full-time employees outside the United States.

The policy, which provides four months of paid time off, will be provided to all new parents regardless of gender or location, starting Jan. 1.

Employees may take leave at any point up to a year after the birth of their child, Lori Matloff Goler, the company‘s head of human resources, said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. Facebook currently offers only US based workers up to four months of paid leave. “We want to be there for our

people at all stages of life, and in particular we strive to be a leading place to work for families,” she added. “An important part of this is

week said he would take two months off after his daughter‘s birth.

Zuckerberg announced in July that he and his wife,

offering paid parental or `baby` leave.” Goler said the new policy will primarily help new fathers and employees in same-sex relationships outside the United States, noting that it will not change maternity leave already available to employees worldwide. Zuckerberg last

Priscilla Chan, were expecting a baby girl; they have not said when the baby is due. His announcement was seen in Silicon Valley as a strong endorsement from a hightechnology industry top executive on the importance of family time.

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Modi-Sharif meet overshadows Paris climate change talks The meeting of world leaders to find ways to combat global warming was over shadowed on Monday when prime ministers of India and Pakistan briefly interacted with each other on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif warmly shook hands and were engaged in a deep conversation for 167 seconds in the French capital amidst a chill in bilateral

ties between the two nations.

The brief interaction, which was the first between the

two leaders since July 2015 Ufa Summit, has come at a time when the Board of Control for Cricket

in India (BCCI) is awaiting the government’s nod for a bilateral cricket series with Pakistan.

Besides the Modi-Sharif icebreaker, the other the top newsmakers on Monday’s prime time show News Today at 9 are Amitav Ghosh on climate change and intolerance, Intolerance debate, Jan Lokpal Bill, madarsa sex row, boost in manufacturing sector and protest in Bengaluru against pollution and so on.

Modi, Obama agree on growth, vow to protect environment US President Barack Obama said on Monday that India had to be able to grow and fight poverty, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to ensure development would be coupled with environmental protection. One of the stumbling blocks to getting an inclusive agreement to fight climate change has been the United States’ reluctance to accept that some countries should be obliged to do more than others, while nations such as India have objected to restric-

tions on their development.

After talks with Modi on the sidelines of a UN summit on climate change in Paris, Obama told reporters he

and Modi had agreed climate change was an urgent threat and also that India also had to be able to grow.

In return, Modi said he

would work “to ensure that development and environmental protection go hand in hand”.

Modi on Monday called for a global partnership to bring clean energy to the reach of all people. “We must come together in a partnership to bring clean energy within the reach of all,” Modi said in an address at an event on “Mission Innovation” hosted by US President Barack Obama at the Conference of Parties (CoP) climate summit that got underway in Paris.

Rape victim says police asked her to leave city

A 21-year-old rape victim has written to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that senior Gurgaon police officers are applying pressure on her to withdraw the FIR. The victim had registered an FIR on November 27 against a paying guest owner of Sector-39 locality alleging that he had raped her at gun point on November 26.

The victim has alleged that Gurgaon police commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk did not listen to her plight and said that he cannot do anything in this matter. She said that he asked her to leave the office and when she refused to leave, he called a PCR van which took her to the women police station.

“Gurgaon police has relentlessly applied pressure on me to leave the city and go back to my native place in Ludhiana. The officers have also called my father to the city otherwise I will be sent to a women observation home”, the victim alleged.

She adds, “After taking me from the police commissioner’s office, some officers went to the PG without registering the FIR and continuously applied pressure on me to leave the city. They also refused to register an FIR on the basis of my application until I went with a woman lawyer to the ACP Sadar office.”

ACP Dharna Yadav has ordered women police station to register the FIR against PG owner Dharamveer Thakran.

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Scientists create mosquito strain with malaria-blocking genes WASHINGTON Scientists aiming to take the bite out of malaria have produced a strain of mosquitoes carrying genes that block its transmission, with the idea that

they could breed with other members of their species in the wild and produce offspring that cannot spread the disease. The researchers said on Monday they used gene-editing, a genetic engineering technique in which DNA can be inserted, replaced or deleted from a genome, on a species called Anopheles stephensi that spreads malaria in urban India.

They inserted DNA into the germ line, cells that pass on genes from generation to generation, of the species, creating mosquitoes with genes that prevent malaria

transmission by producing malaria-blocking antibodies that are passed on to 99.5 percent of offspring.

Malaria is caused by parasites transmitted to people through

the bites of infected female mosquitoes. The goal is to release genetically modified mosquitoes to mate with wild mosquitoes so that their malariablocking genes enter the gene pool and eventually overrun the population, short-circuiting the species’ ability to infect people with the parasites.

“It can spread through a population with great efficiency, increasing from 1 percent to more than 99 percent in 10 generations, or about one season for mosquitoes,” University of California-San Diego biologist Valentino Gantz

Spider webs act like crime scenes

said.

University of California-San Diego biologist Ethan Bier called this a “potent tool in sustainable control of malaria,” as all the mosquitoes in a given region would carry anti-malarial genes.

“We do not propose that this strategy alone will eradicate malaria,” University of CaliforniaIrvine molecular biologist Anthony James said.

But in conjunction with treatment and preventive drugs, future vaccines, mosquito-blocking bed nets and eradication of mosquito-breeding sites, it could play a major role in sustaining the elimination of malaria, James said.

Other scientists also have been working to create genetically engineered mosquitoes. One group last year said it created a strain carrying a gene leading nearly all offspring to be male, which could cause wild populations to plummet.

“In contrast, our much more flexible system only prevents mosquitoes from carrying malaria but can be used to do no harm to the mosquito. So it should generate the least amount of ecological damage,” Bier said.

The UN World Health Organization estimates there will be 214 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2015 and 438,000 deaths, most in subSaharan Africa.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Man convicted of killing wife; posted Facebook photo of body

MIAMI A Florida man who killed his wife and posted a photo of the bloody corpse on Facebook was convicted on Wednesday of second-degree murder after failing to convince a jury that he shot her eight times in selfdefense.The jury verdict came in the third week of Derek Medina’s trial in the August 2013 killing of 27-year-old Jennifer Alfonso at their Miami home. Medina told police in a videotaped statement he shot his wife during an altercation in which she threatened him with a knife.

Medina, who did not testify in his own defense, admitted in the police statement taking a cellphone photo of his dead wife’s body and uploading it on Facebook, along with a posting that said he expected to go to prison but was forced to kill her following years of physical abuse.Prosecutors put on evidence indicating that Medina had vowed to kill Alfonso if she tried to leave him, which she told friends she planned to do. They also pointed out that at 6 feet (1.83 meters) and about 200

pounds (91 kilograms), Medina could have easily overpowered his 5-foot-6 wife (1.68 meters) without shooting her.Alfonso’s mother, Carolyn Knox, burst into tears when the verdict was read after about six hours of jury deliberation over two days. She declined comment to reporters.

Medina’s father, also named Derek Medina, would not comment.Medina showed absolutely no emotion as he was handcuffed and led back to jail, where he has been held since the killing. His attorney, Saam Zangeneh, said there will be an appeal.The second-degree murder conviction means that Medina, 33, faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.“No family should ever have to see their daughter killed and then exhibited worldwide on the Internet like some macabre trophy to a husband’s anger as was Jennifer Alfonso,” Rundle said.

Trial testimony showed the couple began fighting in their upstairs bedroom because Medina had failed to wake up his wife early that morning to watch a movie, as he had promised.

US citizens can now own asteroids

New York Spiders’ silken webs are death traps for many insects. And now scientists have discovered DNA left on a web can be used to identify its owner and their victims, much like a crime scene.

As well as revealing a spider’s last meal, the research could be used to monitor endangered species or to track down spider pests. While there are many methods of monitoring spider populations, the majority are time consuming and rely on experts being able to find and identify elusive species.

This new method of analysing web DNA could make it easier for ecologists to pick out a species quickly from some 45,000 in number. The study, by

the University of Notre Dame, examined black widow spiders kept at Potawatomi Zoo, also in Indiana.Lead researcher Charles Xu, a Masters student in Evolutionary Biology, extracted, amplified, and sequenced mitochondrial DNA from spider web samples of the spiders.He found web DNA reveals which spider species made the web and what it had eaten in the weeks before.As the spiders in the experiment were fed on house crickets, Dr Xu detected traces of cricket DNA. The study, published in the journal Plos One, says: ‘Spider and prey DNA remained detectable at least 88 days after living organisms were no longer present on the web.’

WASHINGTON Private companies can now mine asteroids, after Barack Obama signed a major law that reverses decades of space law.

US citizens are now able to obtain their own asteroids and mine resources out of them, and will be able to own the materials they find there. Until now, space has largely been treated as publicly-owned, meaning that nobody could claim commercial ownership of anything that was out there.

The US government has now thrown out that understanding so that it can get rid of “unnecessary regulations” and make it easier for private American companies to explore space resources commercially.

While people won’t actually be able to claim the rock or “celestial body” itself, they will be able to keep everything that they mine out of it. It is hoped that the new rules will allow people to harvest the often vast amounts of expensive resources that are inside of the asteroids that fly near our planet. In July, a rock with a platinum core passed that was worth £3.5 trillion passed by Earth. The new law is called the

US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. As well as giving the right to mine asteroids, it extends America’s

recognition of property rights in history”, and that it “establishes the same supportive framework that created the great

commitment to the International Space Station and makes it easier for to run a private space startup company.

People won’t actually be able to claim the rock or “celestial body” itself, they will be able to keep everythi.It also requires that US authorities specify the way that asteroid mining will be regulated and organised.

Planetary Resources, an American company that intends to make money by mining asteroids, said that the new law was the “single greatest

economies of history, and will encourage the sustained development of space”. Much of the ownership of space is regulated by the “Outer Space Treaty”, a document that was signed by the US and Russia among other countries in the 1960s. As well as saying that the moon and other celestial objects are part of the “common heritage of mankind”, it says that exploration must be peaceful and bans countries from putting weapons on the moon and other celestial bodies.

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Australia to use drones to track sharks from air SYDNEY Testing of aerial drones to track the movements of sharks in Australian waters began Wednesday as the government admitted there was “no easy way” to protect swimmers from the predators. The trials began

at Coffs Harbour, on the midnorth coast of New South Wales state which has endured 13 attacks by the creatures this year, including one lethal mauling. “There is no easy way to reduce risks for swimmers and surfers,” New South Wales

Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement.

“We are delivering on a commitment to test the best science available, including new technologies, as we try to find an effective long-term solution to keep our beaches

safe.” The drones are expected to feed live images back to an operator, including GPS coordinates, to better warn and protect people from shark attacks.

Blair said the trials were the first of several to be undertaken

Clock kid Ahmed Mohammed demands $15 million compensation and written apology

Washington Ahmed Mohamed, also known as the ‘clock kid’ has continued to make news after he was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school that his teacher mistook for a bomb.

This time, the family of the Texan schoolboy has demanded $15 million compensation and written apologies from the local mayor and police chief. The lawyers of Ahmed’s family have sent letters to the concerned authorities and said that if the City of Irving and Irving School District did not agree to the apologies and compensation, they would file a civil action.

The letter read, “Ahmed never threatened anyone, never caused harm to anyone, and never intended to. The only one who was hurt that day was

Ahmed, and the damages he suffered were not because of oversight or incompetence”.

Ahmed’s father had claimed his son was a victim of Islamophobia and the family has moved to Qatar after accepting a scholarship offer from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

The clock kid garnered attention from international media in September this year and was invited for Google Science Fair and to Facebook headquarters. US President Barack Obama also praised and invited him to the White House for a science evening.

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.

during the summer months, including testing “smart” drum lines which he said not only hooked sharks but alerted authorities who could then tag and release the animals. Baited hooks attached to floating drums were used to capture sharks in Western Australia in 2014 after a string of fatalities, with the largest of the animals put down.

But the controversial catchand-kill policy was later abandoned after objections from the state’s environmental agency and conservationists.

The New South Wales government said its drum lines were more humane. “They’re like a baited hook that has technology connected to it so when the bait is taken, a message is sent to our vessels and they’ll attend those lines immediately,” Blair told national radio.

“They will then tag and release the sharks that are caught on those. So they’re very different to the traditional drum lines which could have sharks sitting on them for days before they’re checked.” Under a Aus$16 million (US$11.6 million) shark strategy, the New South Wales government will also boost helicopter surveillance over popular beaches.

Earth surrounded by hairy dark matter Washington Earth might be surrounded by huge hairs of dark matter, according to one scientist. The regular matter that we can see around us only makes up 5 per cent of the universe.

The rest is composed by dark matter, which makes up 27 per cent of everything that exists but is invisible to us, as well as dark energy. Dark energy and dark matter have never been seen or directly detected, despite repeated attempts. But it must exist because of the structure of the universe, and scientists have been able to estimate how much of it there is with huge accuracy.

And now scientists have said that the streams of dark matter that are crisscrossing around us are focused into an “ultra-dense filament”, or a hair of dark matter, when they go through a planet.

There are likely many of them sprouting out of Earth and other rocks in the solar system, according to Gary Prézeau of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Normal matter would not be able to go through the Earth. But dark matter can stream through it and simulations show that as it does so it is focused and bent into a narrow, thin hair. Those filaments are similarly-shaped to real hair.

They have roots, where they are densely concentrated, and tips at the end. Scientists now hope that simulating the shape of the dark matter will allow them to

harvest much more data about it.

“If we could pinpoint the location of the root of these hairs, we could potentially send a probe

there and get a bonanza of data about dark matter,” Prézeau said. Because the threads are so dense and would be even more dense around other planets, like Jupiter - it would be much easier to get information about them.

“Dark matter has eluded all attempts at direct detection for over 30 years. The roots of dark matter hairs would be an attractive place to look, given how dense they are thought to be,” said Charles Lawrence, chief scientist for JPL’s astronomy, physics and technology directorate.

Scientists also think that the hairs’ shape would reflect the changes in density in the planet.

That could mean that they would be able to map out the inside of planets, including the lifesupporting oceans that might be hidden inside of them, just by looking at the dense concentrations of dark matter.

Alien megastructure stars covered by swarm of comets New York Unusual light patterns around a distant star, which some took as evidence of an alien megastructure, were more likely caused by a swarm of cold comets.

New infrared readings show that the popular explanation of a cloud of asteroid debris blocking the star does not appear to be the case. It is more likely that cold comets on a strange orbit travelled in front of the star, scientists said. In recent weeks, a star known as KIC 8462852 caused a huge stir because the light coming from it seemed to be dimming in strange, unexpected and never-beforeseen ways. That seemed to indicate that something had moved in front of it and blocked its light but the usual explanation, that a planet had passed in its way, didn’t explain the strange patterns.Some suggested that the unusual patterns were possibly caused by a huge alien megastructure that could have been placed around the star.

Other scientists suggested that an asteroid may have been smashed up and be moving in front of it. Since then, scientists have been exploring the little data that they have in an attempt to

find out what is blocking the light.

Scientists say that infrared light doesn’t show evidence of two of the leading theories: that

light is caused by comets, then they are probably on a long and strange orbit that meant that they were in front of the star in 2011,

planetary impact, or two asteroids colliding into each other, had created debris that is moving in front of the star. If that was the case then the clouds of rock would be hot enough that they would glow in the view of the infrared camera.

That probably means that it is being blocked by a bunch of cold comets - though doesn’t necessarily rule out more unusual theories like an alien megastructure. If the strange

when the exciting picture was taken, but would have moved away in 2015 when the information in the new study was taken. “This is a very strange star,” said Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University, who led the study. “It reminds me of when we first discovered pulsars. They were emitting odd signals nobody had ever seen before, and the first one discovered was named LGM-1 after ‘Little Green Men.’”

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2015 set to be hottest year on record GENEVA The year 2015 is shaping up to be the hottest on record, the UN’s weather agency said Wednesday, a week ahead of a crucial climate change summit in Paris.

“2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since

measurements began,” said Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organisation. “This is all bad news for the planet,” he added in a statement.

The WMO said data from the first 10 months of the year suggested temperatures over land and sea would tick in at their highest level ever measured this year, after already reaching record highs in 2014. The UN agency said the preliminary data showed the global average surface temperature has reached “the symbolic and significant milestone” of 1.0 degree Celsius (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) above mid-19th century levels.

Global surface temperatures this year are also about 0.73 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees Celsius,

WMO said. The UN agency usually waits to have data stretching over a full year before drawing any conclusions, but said it wanted to release its preliminary findings “to inform negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.”

More than 145 world leaders are set to gather in the French capital Monday to launch the 12-day

conference aimed at securing a rescue pact for the global climate aimed at capping global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era.

“Greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing climate change, can be controlled,” Jarraud said. “We have the knowledge and the tools to act.

We have a choice,” he said.

“Future generations will not.”

Sea-surface temperatures hit new records last year, and WMO said Wednesday they were “likely to equal or surpass that record in 2015.” Since oceans have been absorbing more than 90 percent of the energy accumulated in the climate system from human emissions of greenhouse gases, temperatures at greater depths

MISS WORLD CANADA BARRED FROM ENTERING CHINA?

TORONTO A Canadian beauty pageant winner claims she has been barred from entering China to take part in the Miss World 2015 final in the southern island province of Hainan. Anastasia Lin, a 25-year-old Chinese-born actor who was crowned Miss World Canada in May, is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the meditative group Falun Gong, which is

banned in China.The Torontobased theatre studies student said she was unable to board her connecting flight from Hong Kong after a Chinese official told her by telephone she would not be granted a visa on arrival. “If they start to censor beauty pageants how pathetic is that?” she told the Associated Press in Hong Kong.

Anastasia Lin: a Falun Gong practitioner seeking the Miss World crown - in China.

are also rising, as are sea levels, the agency said. In the first nine months of 2015, global ocean heat content through both the upper 700 metres and 2,000 metres of the oceans hit record highs, it said. Sea levels in the first half of the year meanwhile appeared to be “the highest since satellite observations became available in 1993.” The UN agency also said significantly warmer than average temperatures had been measured so far this year over the majority of observed land areas. China had its warmest January-to-October period on record, Africa is experiencing its second warmest year on record, while temperatures have also soared in western North America, large parts of South America, Africa and southern and eastern Eurasia.

Severe heatwaves have hit India and Pakistan, as well as Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The soaring temperatures this year appear to be part of a trend, with WMO indicating that the years 2011-2015 marked the hottest five-year period ever measured.

The past five years have been 0.57 degrees Celsius (1.01 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1961-90 average, it said, referring to preliminary data up to the end of September, WMO said, explaining that its five-year analysis provides a better indication of how the climate is changing over time than its annual reports.

Canada’s Sikh community offers support to Syrian refugees

TORONTO The Sikh community in Canada came together to offer services to support the Syrian refugees who are expected to arrive in the area over the next few months.

The Sikhs in Lower Mainland name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia offered help with housing, schooling, food and clothing to the Syrian refugees coming to Canada, CBC News reported on Monday.

“The Sikh community themselves have come to Canada in many different ways from the early 1900s and onwards,” said Randeep Sarai, Surrey Centre MP. “Welcoming others, newcomers, was part of their life, whether they (Canadian people) knew them or not.

Whether immigrants came from India, or whether they were refugees in tumultuous times during the ‘80s, the Sikh way, the Canadian way, was always to

give them a home, help them at the temple and help feed them,” he said. Government officials estimated that around 2,500 Syrian refugees could land in the region within the next few weeks.

These refugees have left Syria because of the ongoing civil war.

Some Sikh organisations expressed a desire to help in resettling the refugees. Services like free tuition for 1,000 students at Khalsa School for one year, free meals, clothing and blankets for 2,000 refugees from many gurdwaras, transportation and medical services would be offered to the refugees. The Khalsa School in Surrey has extended its help to educate the children of Syrian refugees. “We even have several teachers who speak Arabic, and we will do whatever we can to help the new students feel welcome,” Kamalpreet Bagga, the school principal, said. She said that interfaith teaching would be offered to them.

Adolescent deaths from AIDS tripled since 2000 JOHANNESBURG The number of adolescents dying from AIDS has tripled over the last 15 years, most of them having acquired the disease when they were infants, according to figures released Friday by UNICEF. AIDS is the number one cause of death among adolescents aged 10 to 19 in Africa and the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally, the United Nations children’s agency said in its latest statistical update. “Among HIV-affected populations, adolescents are the only group for which the mortality figures are not decreasing,” the report says. “Most adolescents who die of AIDS-related illnesses acquired HIV when they were infants, 10 to 15 years ago, when fewer pregnant women and mothers living with HIV received antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child.” Many of them survived into their teenage years without knowing their HIV status.

However, among teenagers aged 15-19, 26 new infections occur every hour, and about half of the two million living with HIV in this group are in just six countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Mozambique and

Tanzania.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest prevalence, girls are vastly more affected, accounting for seven in 10 new

new infections among children have been averted, largely due to advances in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

infections among 15-19 year olds,” the statement said.

“It is critical that young people who are HIV-positive have access to treatment, care and support,” Craig McClure, head of UNICEF’s global HIV/AIDS programmes, told a conference in Johannesburg where the report was launched.

Only one in three of the 2.6 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV are on treatment.

Since 2000, nearly 1.3 million

By 2014, three in five pregnant women living with HIV received antiretroviral treatment to prevent transmission of the virus to their babies.

“This has translated into a 60 percent reduction in AIDSrelated deaths among children under four years of age since 2000,” Unicef said in a statement.

“These efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission will help to change the course of the epidemic for the next generation of adolescents.”

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Rare, 25-carat pink diamond found among Imelda Marcos collection MANILA A rare 25-carat, barrel-shaped pink diamond has been found among the jewellery collection of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, Christie’s said on Tuesday after the government asked the auction house to appraise her collection of rare stones. The

Philippine government could decide to auction the collection after Christie’s and rival Sotheby’s appraise three sets of jewellery confiscated almost three decades ago after the fall of Imelda’s husband, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. “We had an extremely exciting find,” said David Warren, director of jewellery at London-based Christie’s. “We found an old briolette-cut diamond, which is 25 carats. It has a distinct pink colour. Pink diamonds are

exceedingly rare.”

He said the diamond could be valued at $5 million and would significantly increase the value of the entire collection if the collection is auctioned. The three sets in the collection were valued at $6 million-8 million in 1991. Only three pure, vivid pink diamonds of more than 10

carats have appeared for sale in almost 250 years of auction history, according to Christie’s.

A large cushion-shaped, pinkhued diamond sold for $28.55 million at the Christie’s semiannual jewellery sale in Geneva on Nov. 10. The Philippine government had tried to auction the three sets in 2005 but Imelda Marcos contested the move, claiming ownership of only two of the sets. One was found in the presidential palace after her

Bangladesh bans Facebook, chat apps for security reasons

DHAKA Bangladesh authorities insisted Tuesday an almost week-long ban on Facebook and mobile messaging services would remain until security in the tense country improved.

The government last Wednesday ordered Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber blocked over fears of unrest after the country’s highest court rejected appeals by two top opposition leaders against the death penalty for war crimes. The telecoms regulator said the ban would stay after the two leaders were hanged on Sunday morning, prompting calls for a nationwide strike and raising fears of violence from their supporters.“They (services) will be reopened the moment the

government feels it’s safe,” Shahjahan Mahmud, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, told AFP. Commission spokesman Zakir Hossain Khan declined to confirm media speculation the ban would be lifted later Tuesday.

Analysts said the shutdown was aimed at stopping opposition parties organising rallies in the run-up to the executions, amid anger over what rights group have called “flawed and unfair” war crimes trials. The regulator also temporarily banned messaging services Viber and Tango in January after they became a popular way of mobilising large numbers of activists for antigovernment protests.

family’s hasty departure in 1986 and another was seized in Hawaii, where they lived in exile. Imelda Marcos, now an elected member of Congress, is best known for leaving behind more than 1,200 pairs of shoes when her family fled.

She has vowed to recover her family’s seized assets.

Ferdinand Marcos was president for nearly two decades before he was ousted in an army-backed uprising in 1986. He was accused of amassing more than $10 billion while in office and died in exile in 1989. Among his assets were paintings by such masters as Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh.

The government displayed the 750 pieces in the three sets of jewellery to the media. The collection, kept in a vault at the central bank, includes Burmese rubies, Indian and South African diamonds and Colombian emeralds. “It shows you the excesses of the Marcos regime,” said Andrew de Castro, commissioner of the state agency tasked with recovering the wealth amassed by the Marcoses and their cronies. “At a time when people were suffering, they were collecting this set of jewellery,” he said. Sotheby’s will appraise the collection on Thursday.

WHO records highest-ever number of new HIV cases in Europe

STOCKHOLM The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that in 2014 it had recorded the highest number of new HIV cases in its European Region, which also includes Central Asia, since the start of reporting in the 1980s.

WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a statement that more than 142,000 people in WHO’s European Region were diagnosed with HIV last year with the increase coming from its eastern sector which comprises 15 countries including Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia.

The statement followed publication on Tuesday of findings by the United Nations AIDS programme which showed that new HIV infections overall had fallen by 35 percent since the peak of the three-decade-old pandemic in 2000.

“Heterosexual transmission is

responsible for the increase in eastern Europe, and transmission through drug injection remains substantial,” the joint statement by the WHO and ECDC said. ECDC spokeswoman Caroline Daamen said “eastern Europe” referred to the eastern part of WHO’s European Region, where the organisations said the number of new HIV cases had more than doubled in the past decade.

Apart from Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia, this region also includes countries of the Transcaucasus.

“In the EU and the EEA, sex between men is the predominant mode of HIV transmission. Two in three new HIV infections are among native-born Europeans,” the organisations said. In the European Union generally, the number of people diagnosed with HIV was roughly unchanged over the past decade, ECDC’s Daamen said.

Climate disasters may double without emissions cut MANILA Climate disasters may double in the next two decades unless the world cuts its carbon dioxide emissions, the Asian Development Bank said Friday, with “high risk” nations in Asia set to be hard hit.

Two days before a world climate summit opens in Paris, the Manila-based lender said deadlier storms, floods and heat waves were linked to rising global temperatures, adding to a growing chorus on the catastrophic effects of climate change. The report, which looked at disasters from 1970 to 2013, said if carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere continued to rise at an annual rate of two parts per million, the frequency of climate disasters could double in 17 years. This meant the average country could experience 1.55 climate disasters per year, compared to the current average of 0.775, the study added. It said three “high risk” countries - the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand - would be particularly affected, citing Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which left 7,350 people dead or missing after it wiped out poor fishing communities in the Philippines’ central islands.

“Any further increases in CO2 (carbon dioxide) would hit these

countries hard,” the ADB said.

Also at risk were emerging nations’ economic growth rates, the bank added, stressing that tackling climate change would boost prosperity levels.

“Policymakers and economic advisors have long held the view that climate action is a drain on economic growth,” the ADB’s Vinod Thomas, a co-author of the study, said.

The ADB, a Japan-led institution modelled on the World Bank, said the global damage bill from natural disasters was steadily rising, with the most recent decade, 2005-2014, costing some $142 billion, up from $36 billion during 1985-1994.

It said climate-related disasters had cut into the growth rates of Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and the trend was “set to worsen”.

Countries should invest in a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy to reverse this, it said.

“But the reality is the opposite: the vast damage from climaterelated disasters is an increasing obstacle to economic growth and well-being.”

The goal of the Paris summit is to negotiate a pact to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

The Paris meeting represents the first bid for a truly global climate rescue pact since the chaotic 2009 summit in Copenhagen ended in disappointment.

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Japan whaling fleet will sail to Antarctic Ocean TOKYO Japan announced it would send a whaling fleet to the Antarctic Tuesday after a one-year suspension, defying international criticism and a UN legal ruling that the “research” expedition is a commercial hunt in disguise.

Tokyo has for years come under intense global pressure to stop hunts that opponents decry as inhumane, but the government defends them as an inherent part of Japanese culture. Conservation group Sea Shepherd Australia said it would use its own ship to follow the mission, which Japan’s Fisheries Agency said in a statement Monday would aim to kill a total of 333 minke whales.

The group has clashed with Japanese whaling ships in the past. “Any illegal activity we come across we’ll engage, our history speaks for itself,” said Sea Shepherd Australia direc-

tor Jeff Hansen. The United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice, ruled in March 2014 that the annual

samples. The Fisheries Agency insisted Monday the upcoming whaling research mission reflected previous recommenda-

Southern Ocean expedition was a commercial hunt masquerading as science to skirt an international moratorium on whaling.

After that ruling, Japan chose not to carry out lethal hunting during its 2014-15 Antarctic research mission, saying it would only count whales and take skin

tions from the International Whaling Commission’s scientific committee and that it would cut annual minke catches by two-thirds to 333.

It did not say why it chose that number, though the committee has previously said Japan had failed to justify the need for even

a reduced annual figure. “We think all the necessary procedures are over,” a fisheries official said. “As we seek to resume commercial whaling, it is crucial to get information as to whales’ migration, reproductive rates and the age pyramid of the population for setting catch quotas,” the official added. Lethal whaling is necessary “to get this kind of essential information,” he said.

“The research ships will depart for new whale research in the Antarctic on December 1, 2015,” the Fisheries Agency said, adding that the research period would run from late December to early March. The fleet will include a mother ship and three other vessels with a total of 160 crew members. Japanese media had earlier reported the government planned to resume the hunts, prompting a strong reaction. “We do not accept in any way, shape or form the concept of killing whales for so-called ‘scientific research’,” Australian Environ-

ment Minister Greg Hunt said Saturday. “Non-lethal research techniques are the most effective and efficient method of studying all cetaceans.”

On Monday a spokeswoman for Hunt said Canberra was “keeping its options open” regarding a potential response to the resumption. A coalition of Japanese non-government organisations, including Greenpeace Japan, issued a joint statement urging the government to “uphold international rules”. “The Japanese government should stop research whaling in the Antarctic and should start taking actions toward conservation of the ocean,” the statement said.

Japan accuses opponents of being emotional about the mammals and disregarding what it says is evidence to support its position. It also conducts hunts in the name of science in the Northwest Pacific and off the Japanese coast.

High heels in the Kremlin

Thatcher’s style secrets

Greek girls selling sex for the price of a sandwich London A study has found young women in Greece are offering sex for the price of a sandwich, an indicator of the austerity in the country.

Sociology professor Gregory Laxos and his team at Panteion University in Athens found that young Greek women had now overtaken Eastern European women as the dominant group in the prostitution industry, metro.co.uk reported.

The researchers compiled data on more than 17,000 sex workers operating in Greece and found that sex in Greece was some of the cheapest on offer in Europe.

“Some women just do it for a cheese pie, or a sandwich they need to eat because they are hungry,” Laxos was quoted as saying.

Prostitution rates have fallen from 50 euros for a half-hour sex session to as low as two euros.

Most women entering the sex industry are between 17 and 20. “They are growing at a steady and consistent pace,” he added.

More alarmingly, Laxos and colleagues found that the number of young women, who are the ones offering the cheapest rates, appears to be rising.

LONDON Margaret Thatcher’s bodyguard would carry her high heels into the Kremlin and the ex-prime minister wore trousers only down a coal mine, according to an auction catalogue of her belongings. Auction house Christie’s is selling off 350 belongings of the late “Iron Lady” including clothes, letters, books, furniture and jewellery next month.

Charles Powell, who acted as her private secretary, said Thatcher borrowed a fur coat and boots when she attended Soviet leader Yury Andropov’s funeral because of the harsh winter weather in February 1984.

“Her Special Branch bodyguard loomed behind her, his pockets bulging with what Russian security assumed to be impressive weaponry,” Powell was quoted as saying in the catalogue published this week.

“As they moved into the Kremlin and she removed her boots, he reached into his pockets and pulled out instead her highheeled shoes,” he added.

Thatcher’s personal assistant Cynthia Crawford, affectionately known as “Crawfie”, said she kept wardrobe diaries for the prime minister to ensure she was not

seen in the same outfit two days in a row.

“Mostly she disliked trousers, I

expensive,” she said.

Thatcher’s famous handbags were “a bit roomy because it had

think we bought two or three trouser suits but she would never wear them,” said Crawford, who worked for Thatcher for more than 35 years. “The only time she wore a pair of trousers was when she went down a mine,” she said.

She also revealed that Thatcher, the daughter of a dressmaker mother and grocer father, would recycle buttons from one outfit to the next.

“We used to take buttons off one outfit and put them on another, we didn’t just throw them away, because a lot of them were very

to take a compact and lipstick, a comb, a little notebook with a pen, not state papers particularly, but it had to be something that she could put a folded A4 page into”, she added.Crawford said she tried to dress Thatcher in the national colours of the countries she was visiting.“When she went to Israel for instance, Mrs Thatcher wore a pale blue suit with a cream trim, the colour of the Israeli flag, and when we went to Poland she wore green because green is the colour of hope in Poland, and so on.”

China to launch carbon-tracking satellites into space BEIJING China plans to launch satellites to monitor its greenhouse gas emissions as the country, estimated to be the world’s top carbon emitter, steps up its efforts to cut such emissions, official news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

News of the plan comes as more than 150 world leaders arrived in Paris for climate change talks

and Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama said they would work together towards striking a deal that moves towards a low-carbon global economy. According to the Xinhau report, the country’s first two carbon-monitoring satellites will be ready by next May after four years of development led by Changchun Institute

of Optics and Fine Mechanics and Physics, part of China’s Academy of Sciences.

No launch date was given and no other details of the plan were announced. The government and research institute were not available to comment. If successful, it would be the world’s third country to send satillites into orbit to monitor greenhouse gases, coming after Japan which was the first country to do so in 2009, followed by the United

States last year. The satellites will be key for expanding research into emissions - currently, China is only able to collect data from the ground, whereas the probes will also monitor oceans, which make up 71 percent of the world’s surface. While these probes will have worldwide scope it would improve China’s emissions data collection, which many experts say is inaccurate.

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Yahoo outlook downgraded

by Standard and Poor’s PARIS Rating agency Standard and Poor’s said on Wednesday it had cut its credit rating outlook for Internet giant Yahoo, saying revenue growth was likely to be low.

“The negative rating outlook reflects our expectation that Yahoo’s operating performance will remain weak over the next 12 months, primarily due to low revenue growth and rising traffic acquisition cost,” Standard and Poor’s said in a statement.

The move revises downward the

agency’s previous “stable” rating for Yahoo. Standard and Poor’s warned it could cut its current “BB+” corporate rating for Yahoo “if the company’s competitiveness in its display or search advertising businesses continues to decline” and if Yahoo “failed to reverse the negative operating trends affecting EBITDA”, a measure of a company’s operating performance.

It warned that further “debt-financed, shareholder-oriented initiatives or acquisitions” could also cost Yahoo its current rating. Standard and Poor’s said it could revise Yahoo’s outlook back up to stable if the company implements a business plan that would allow it to keep its market share, make more money from its portfolio and stem a decline in operating profits.

French give nod to plain cigarette packaging PARIS Cigarettes will have to be sold in plain packaging in France from next year after the French parliament narrowly voted through a proposal which has drawn the ire of tobacconists.

The measure narrowly made it through parliament late Wednesday after an amendment which drew the support of 17 lawmakers from the ruling Socialist Party failed by just two votes. Lawmakers had passed a package of wide-ranging public health reforms on a first reading seven months ago as Health Minister Marisol Touraine embarked on a bid to cut smoking-related deaths in a country where around a quarter of adults indulge in the habit, according to World Health Organization figures. Around one third of teenagers also smoke.

Touraine’s goal is to cut the rate to one in five adults over a decade as France progressively ramps

Brazilian farmers learn to love Amazon’s trees again TOME-ACU The tall trees, animal cries and deep shadows would make you think you’re in Brazil’s Amazon jungle, in fact the leafy paradise

without land,” the slogan went.

Para became a champion of deforestation. In 2003 and 2004 alone, 3,088 square miles (8,000 square km) of forest vanished,

Tome-Acu is the work of farmers.

Switching off their chainsaws and planting new trees, Brazilian farmers like Michinori Konagano are turning their backs on Brazil’s old habits of treating the Amazon as nothing better than a limitless source of new land. And they’re not only making money but, by increasing stocks of carbonstoring trees, helping to curb the emissions responsible for global warming and what scientists say could be catastrophic global climate change. “When my father bought these lands in the 1960s, everyone would cut down jungle so they could plant peppers,” said Konagano, whose Japanese immigrant parents settled in the Amazonian state of Para.This was not just a local method. To cut down the Amazon was considered practically a duty under the military dictatorship of the period.

“A land without people for people

about the area of the island of Puerto Rico. The hardwood went to feed international demand and the empty land was then planted with cash crops.Brazil has since made big gains in slowing deforestation, even if it is far from over. In 2013-2014, another 1,850 square miles (4,800 square kilometers) of the Amazon were destroyed, according to the National Institute for Space Research. In Tome-Acu, bright green pepper plantations were the main replacement for forest.

But a sickness in the crop and a fall in export prices forced a rethink, says Kozaburo Minishita, another producer with the Tome-Acu cooperative.

“We started planting cocoa and that needs shade,” he recalled.

“So we started planting trees that grow taller.” Minishita’s next idea was to plant acai, whose berries are popular as antioxidants and the basis for health drinks.

Pupunheira palm trees, whose heart of palm is a delicacy in Brazil, came next, along with soaring parica trees, which have the added benefit of being especially good at replenishing soil nutrients.

Bit by bit, he and other farmers learned to mix and match, ensuring year-round multiple harvests, from bananas to Brazil nuts, rather than the old singlecrop model.

“We imitated nature and ended up spending far less on pesticides,” Claudio Takahiro, another cooperative member said. “The dead leafs fertilize and protect the soil,” he said.

“Biodiversity has also brought back insects and birds and they get rid of the parasites.”

The 150 members of the TomeAcu cooperative have 7,000 hectares under agro-forestry, with turnover of some $17.5 million from sales of fresh fruit, jams, pulp and oils for cosmetic use.

But what might be called “working jungles” are also carbon sinks. The trees perform a vital role by absorbing harmful carbon dioxide, a root cause of rising global temperatures, instead of letting it rise into the atmosphere. In the neighboring Santa Luzia cooperative, 23 families are working in agroforestry. Birds and animals have returned to their lands, streams have recovered their water levels and there are cooling shadows where before there was only scorching sun. “Climate change is linked with the fact that we cut down trees. Replanting them and making money at the same time as protecting the environment makes me happy,” said Marcos da Silva, a farm technician.

up legislation against the habit.

Nine years ago, France controversially banned smoking in enclosed public spaces, including bars and restaurants.

And only last month, Paris authorities doubled fines for dropping cigarette butts to 68

conservatives representing rural areas, complained the crackdown goes beyond European legislation while also defending the “social link” which they say tobacconists have with local communities.

Gille Lurton from the right-wing

euros ($75) in a city where some 350 tonnes of cigarette butts are collected annually.

Last year, Touraine estimated some 13 million people still light up in France and that smoking accounts for around 78,000 deaths, the leading cause of premature death in the country.

Following Wednesday’s vote, all cigarettes will from May next year have to be sold in neutral packaging of uniform size and colour in a move which notably takes a leaf out of Australia’s book, that country having adopted similar legislation three years ago.

The United Kingdom and Ireland have since followed suit. The brand name will appear but in a small, uniform typeface and packets will be shorn of logos.

The French senate had previously excised the neutral packaging clause from the draft legislation, proposing instead that France follow an EU directive proposing larger government health warnings on packaging.

Tobacconists have protested loudly against the latest measures, threatening legal challenges while indicating they favour “prevention, not punishment” for smokers.

Several lawmakers, notably

opposition Republicans said that in passing the legislation on neutral packing, parliament was “only inciting consumers to obtain their supplies on the parallel market,” while other colleagues warned it could sound a death knell to commerce in rural areas. Several Socialist lawmakers also warned the move could in border regions foster trade in foreign brands not subject to the new regulations.

But Green Party members swung behind the bulk of the ruling Socialists in stressing their view that the new policy would help dissuade young people and women from buying cigarettes.

“The neutral packaging cuts a youngster’s desire to smoke. It’s less sexy, it increases the perception of danger,” said Socialist Gerard Sebaoun.

Fellow Socialist Michele Delaunay slammed “pressure” from the pro-smoking lobby as a tool “which works better as elections draw near.” But Touraine said the statistics spoke for themselves with “78,000 tobacco-related deaths a year more than 200 per day.” She concluded: “Whereas tobacco consumption is going down in all other European countries it is rising in France.”

Singapore opens $376 million National Gallery SINGAPORE Singapore on Tuesday opened to the public a Sg$532 million ($376 million) National Gallery that boasts the world’s biggest public collection of Southeast Asian modern art. The new attraction is housed inside the British colonial-era former City Hall and Supreme Court buildings, which were fused into a single facility during a 10-year makeover. The gallery houses a collection of modern art from across Southeast Asia comprising over 8,000 works from the 19th and 20th centuries in all media, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and video, officials said. They include the works of artists like Raden Saleh of Indonesia, Fernando Amorsolo and Imelda Cajipe-Andaya of the

Philippines, U Ba Nyan of Myanmar, Nguyen Gia Tri of Vietnam, Latiff Mohidin of

Malaysia, Montien Boonma of Thailand and Svay Ken of Cambodia. The gallery also has a dedicated Singapore art collection and will feature international exhibitions from time to time. The project is part of the city-state’s efforts to become a hub of culture and the arts and shed its traditional image as a strait-laced society fixated on commerce and finance.

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World’s biggest clone factory raises fears in China BEIJING The world’s largest animal cloning factory is under construction in China, with plans to churn out dogs, horses and up to a million beef cattle a year, reports said, prompting online and scientific concerns Tuesday. The 200million-yuan ($31-million) facility will include cloning laboratories and a gene bank, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

It is being set up by Chinese biotechnology firm Boyalife and South Korea’s Sooam Biotech whose founder was embroiled in controversy a decade ago over claims to have cloned human embryos - along with two Chinese research institutions. It will develop animals such as pet and police dogs, racehorses and cows, to be sold on the open market on an industrial scale.

The factory in the northern port of Tianjin is set to start production next year, with initial capacity of 100,000 cattle embryos a year, growing to one million, Xinhua cited Boyalife chairman Xu Xiaochun as saying. “Chinese farmers are struggling to produce enough beef cattle to meet market

demand,” he said.

Boyalife reposted Xinhua’s report on its website Tuesday. But social media users expressed scepticism over consumer appetite for cloned meat, pointing out that the plant will be near the

scandals.

“Is this meat going to be sold in South Korea or China? If in China, please make our leaders eat it first,” said one user.

Another commentator wrote sarcastically: “This beef definitely

deign to give it to us, the people!

Really can’t wait!”

Zhu Yi, a professor of food science at China Agricultural University, told AFP that there would be “almost no difference” between cloned and real cattle,

site of chemical explosions that killed at least 165 people in August, and that China is plagued with food safety

must first be saved just for the central government leaders; only after they and their families have eaten it for 10 years should they

but that companies should not rush to put cloned meat on the table without “rigorous risk assessments and repeated

experiments”. He added: “We cannot rush towards the cloned meat market.” China has been cloning animals since 2000, Xinhua said, four years after the birth in Scotland of Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep. Their ranks include the “strong-willed pig”, a porker hailed as a hero after surviving more than a month buried under rubble after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, reportedly replicated six times over.

A joint venture between Sooam and Boyalife started China’s commercial cloning market last year, Xinhua said, cloning three pure-blooded Tibetan mastiff puppies. But many online commentators worried about the ethics of the new venture.

“Crazily evil!” wrote one commentator, with another asking: “Is the next step cloning people?”Sooam is run by Hwang Woo-Suk, who claimed in 2004 to have derived stem-cell lines from cloned human embryos, a world first, and was lauded as a national hero in South Korea before it emerged that his research was fraudulent and riddled with ethical lapses.

Polar tourists see icy world melt

Tanzanian officials jailed for lateness DAR ES SALAAM Six government officials in Tanzania were jailed this week after turning up late for a meeting, reports said Friday, amid a government campaign to tighten standards and tackle corruption.

“The officials spent six hours in custody following the order by the district commissioner,” the Uhuru newspaper reported Friday, in an editorial praising the move. “They showed up two hours earlier on the following day,” it added. The local government official in a suburb of the main city Dar es Salaam ordered his six colleagues be locked up after they turned up over three hours late for a meeting he had called at 8:00 am about land disputes.

The commissioner reportedly said the tardiness of the public servants was “irresponsible.”

Tanzania’s President John

Magufuli earlier this month ordered government officials to solve a string of problems that the people face including thousands of land disputes, which often are compounded by corrupt officials.

Earlier this week, Magufuli scrapped independence day celebrations to spend the money on a clean-up campaign as Tanzania struggles with an outbreak of cholera.

“It is so shameful that we are spending huge amounts of money to celebrate 54 years of independence when our people are dying of cholera,” Magufuli said in a statement read on state television on Monday.Magufuli, who took power earlier this month after winning October 25 elections, has introduced a swathe of austerity cuts and crackdowns on public corruption.

PARIS They go to paddle between glistening icebergs or ski on blinding white ice, but a rising number of polar tourists get to see something else, too: the monumental changes wrought by global warming.

Polar holidaymakers see the ice shelves and soaring glaciers thaw before their eyes, making them important witnesses to a threatened landscape, activists and tour companies say. The Antarctic Peninsula and Arctic are considered global hotspots, warming at double the average rate for the planet.

Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, one of the biggest single contributors to world sea-level rise, is melting irreversibly, scientists say. The Arctic ice cap is melting faster than ever before, threatening to push so much fresh water into the North Atlantic that it could disrupt how the ocean regulates global temperatures, a prominent oceanographer has warned.

On Norway’s Lofoten Islands north of the Arctic Circle, the warmer temperatures are noticeable. “To find yourself walking about in shorts with the temperature 25 degrees (C, 77F) at the beginning of June in Svolvaer, when the average temperature for the previous 10 years was 12 degrees, that is completely unheard of,” said Margaux Maury, a French tourist who spent 10 days on the archipelago.

“It really makes you realise that global warming has taken hold.”

Such experiences could help sound the alarm about the impact of global warming at the poles, said French adventurer Nicolas Varnier. “People should

go discover the polar zone, but of course not in any old way,” said Vanier, who has directed a number of films set in the Arctic.

“It could be a great opportunity as we need ambassadors to

company Hurtigruten, which specialises in polar cruises. The company registered an eight percent rise in guest nights between 2013 and 2014, he said. “By travelling in the polar

stand witness to the upheavals caused by global warming, which are so rapid and strong that even nature has not had the time to react,” he added. The director, whose films include “Belle & Sebastian”, “Wolf” and “The Last Trapper”, said polar tourism has become more interesting as the regions have become frozen deserts.

“If I had made my trips to the far north a century ago I could have stopped in small villages, but today all the indigenous people are now concentrated in airportcities,” said Vanier, who is known for travelling with sled dogs.

Some 70,000 tourists visited Greenland in 2014, and more than 40,000 visited Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, according to the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators.

Interest in polar tourism is increasing, said Daniel Skjeldam, head of the Norwegian

waters you can see some of the challenges that we face in the world today like melting glaciers and climate change,” Skjeldam said.

In the Antarctic, some 40,000 tourists, mostly aboard cruise ships, are expected in the 201516 season, a 50 percent increase from just four years ago, according to the IAATO association of tour operators that organise to the region. About a quarter of those will not set foot on Antarctica, however, thanks to a 1994 treaty that protects its fragile environment.

The treaty imposes a limit on ships that dock to under 500 passengers, and allows only 100 people ashore at a time. Those who go ashore must have the soles of their boots washed and their belongings brushed off to prevent the introduction of diseases and non-native species.

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Google gets 348,085 ‘forget’ requests in Europe SAN FRANCISCO Since a top European court ruled people have a right to be forgotten online, Google has received 348,085 requests for tidbits to vanish from search results.

Silicon Valley-based Google, a subsidiary of newly-created parent company Alphabet, complied with less than half of the demands, basing decisions on criteria intended to balance privacy with the public’s right to

recognizing the “right to be forgotten” on the net opened the door for Google users to ask the search engine to remove results about them that are inaccurate or no longer relevant.

Google set up an online form that people in Europe can fill out to ask for information to be excluded from search results.

Similar processes have been put in place to ask to be forgotten

by Microsoft’s Bing search engine that also powers queries

know.

A report released on Wednesday

by Google showed that the top country for requests was France, where the Internet giant is in a standoff with data protection officials. A European Court of Justice ruling in May 2014

at Yahoo. It is the Internet companies themselves who get to decide which requests to grant.

Microsoft previously disclosed that in the first half of this year it got 3,546 requests that online information be forgotten by Bing,

Tiny water bears are huge DNA thieves

WASHINGTON The eight-legged water bear a hardy, nearly microscopic animal resembling its mammal namesake - gets a huge chunk of its DNA from foreign organisms such as bacteria and plants, scientists have revealed. These genes, the researchers suggest, help the tiny animals, also known as moss piglets or tardigrades, survive in the harshest of environments. Water bears, which live all over the world, are usually 0.020 inches (0.5 millimetres) long and move very

slowly and clumsily on their multitude of legs. These highly adaptable creatures can survive extreme temperatures. Even after being stuck in a freezer at -112 degrees Fahrenheit (-80 Celsius) for 10 years, they can start moving around again about 20 minutes after thawing.

By sequencing these creatures’ genome, researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill were surprised to find that 17.5 percent - nearly a sixth - of the genome came from foreign organisms.

granting half of them. In the report released on Wednesday, Google said that right-to-be-forgotten requests have targeted slightly more than 1.23 million Internet pages (URLs), and that it agreed to remove 42 percent of them from online search results in Europe.

France was the country with the top number of requests, accounting for 73,399 applications aimed at nearly a quarter of a million URLs, followed by Germany with 60,198 requests concerning 220,589 URLs. In both countries, about 48 percent of the unwanted links were eliminated from Google search results, according to the report. Meanwhile, the report indicated that Google granted about 38 percent of the 43,101 requests submitted in the United Kingdom; 37 percent of the 33,106 requests in Spain, and just shy of 30 percent of the 26,186 requests made in fifthplaced Italy.

Google said it complied with nearly 46 percent of the 10,121 requests in Belgium, nearly 41 percent of the 9,687 requests in Sweden, and about 45 percent of the 8,339 requests in Switzerland. A Google outline of scenarios leading to information being forgotten in searches included pages with content solely about someone’s health,

Man stole human brains from US museum, then sold them on eBay

London A man has admitted breaking into a medical museum and stealing preserved human brains and other tissue that he then sold online, authorities say.

David Charles, Indiana, Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to six charges including receiving stolen property, and burglary in a Marion County court where Magistrate Amy Barbar sentenced him to one year of home detention and two years of probation, county prosecutor spokesman Anthony Deer said.

The 23-year-old broke into the Indiana Medical History Museum a number of times to steal jars of brains and other human tissue, according to Marion County prosecutor’s office.

The museum is a former hospital for the insane founded in 1848 and later converted into a museum with an autopsy room and anatomical museum that displays preserved specimens, mostly brains, organized by pathology. It is quite shocking to

hear that someone is auctioning brains but more shocking it is to hear that someone is actually .

Charles was arrested in December 2013 after a San Diego man who bought six jars of brain material for $600 on eBay alerted police, according to court documents. Many of the items Charles sold were recovered when the San Diego man matched the items he bought to those stolen from the museum based on research he did online, according to court documents. Investigators were able to identify Charles partly because he left behind in the museum a piece of paper with his bloody fingerprint on it, according to court documents.

They recovered 80 jars of human tissue, according to court documents.

Charles, who was ordered to stay away for the museum, also stole an EKG machine, about 10 scopes, a baby scale and other miscellaneous historical items from the museum, Deer said.

Hotels hit by cyber attack SAN FRANCISCO US hotel chain Hilton revealed Tuesday that hackers infected some of its point-of-sale computer systems with malware crafted to steal credit card information.

Hilton would not disclose whether data was taken, but advised anyone who used payment cards at Hilton Worldwide hotels between November 18 and December 5 of last year or April 21 and July 27 of this year to watch for irregular activity on credit or debit card accounts.

Malicious code that infected registers at hotels had the potential to take cardholders’ names along with card numbers, security codes and expiration dates, Hilton said in an online post. Hilton said that it is investigating the breach with the help of third-party forensics experts, law enforcement and payment card companies. The announcement came just four days after Starwood Hotels, which operates the Sheraton and Westin chains, said that hackers had infected payment systems in some of its establishments, potentially leaking customer credit card data. The hack occurred at a “limited number” of its hotels in North America, according to Starwood, whose other well-known chains include St Regis and W Hotels. Starwood said that an investigation by

forensic experts concluded that malware was detected in some restaurants, gift shops and other points of sale systems at hotels.

“The malware was designed to collect certain payment card information, including cardholder name, payment card number,

devoted to details of the incident.

The access may have taken place between May 19 of last year and June 2 of this year, according to Trump hotels. Locations affected were listed as Trump SoHo New York, Trump National Doral, Trump International New York,

security code and expiration date,” the group said in a statement. The cyber attacks on Hilton and Starwood sounded similar to one disclosed last month by Trump Hotel Collection.

“We believe that there may have been unauthorized malware access to some of the computers that host our front desk terminals and payment card terminals in our restaurants, gift shops and other point-of-sale purchase locations at some hotels,” Trump Hotel Collection said at a website

Trump International Chicago, Trump International Waikiki, Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas, and Trump International Toronto.An independent forensic investigation did not turn up evidence that customer information was removed, but not was provide by Trump hotels in “an abundance of caution,” according to the website. Data targeted by the malware appeared to include account numbers, card expiration dates, and security codes.

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Anil Kumble steps down as chief mentor of Mumbai Indians Spin great Anil Kumble has stepped down as the chief mentor of Mumbai Indians with immediate effect. Kumble, who has been associated with the Indian Premier League franchise since January 2013, has decided to pursue other opportunities in sports and cricket.

“Mumbai Indians is grateful to Anil Kumble, India’s highest wicket taker in both Tests and one days for his contribution in strengthening the Mumbai Indians Franchisee. In his first year as the Mentor, Mumbai Indians won the IPL and the Champions League in 2013.

Mumbai Indians won the IPL once again in 2015,” said the team in a statement.

Kumble, on his part, said, “I sign off with the obvious satisfaction of moulding a set of brilliant individuals to a high performing unit.

Over the 3 years, MI met unprecedented success winning the IPL twice and the Champions League once. Winning both tro-

phies in the same year (2013) being our crowning glory.

“As I move on to pursue other interests around cricket, I shall be amiss if I do not express my deep sense of appreciation to the Ambani family, particularly Smt.

Nita Ambani, Akash Ambani and Nikhil Meswani for their unstinted support and empowerment.

“The players and my support team (coaching and non- coaching staff) have been an admirable bunch and were a joy to work with. Finally, I thank the MI fans for their constant support,” added the former India captain.

Ashwin rockets to career best Test ranking Following India’s four-match Test series win against South Africa, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has climbed up to the career-high second spot in recent ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers. Besides, Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood has also entered the list of top 10 after his side’s threewicket win over New Zealand in historic day and night Test in Adelaide.

Ashwin claimed 12 for 98 in the match to spin his side to a 124 runs victory in Nagpur Ashwin’s ascent means that James Anderson and Yasir Shah drop to joint third on 846 points, while Stuart Broad falls to fifth. Despite dropping three places to 18th, there was good news for Peter Siddle who reached the 200 Test wicket milestone in Adelaide.

Meanwhile, Hazlewood produced

Javed Miandad warns PCB to be wary of BCCI’s commitments Former Pakistan captain and batting great, Javed Miandad believes that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should tread carefully while dealing with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) over the planned bilateral series in December. “I would advise them to be very careful as the Indian board can’t be trusted to keep their commitments,” Miandad told PTI. His comments came after Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian premier Narendra Modi shook hands and had a brief chat on the sidelines of the global climate summit in Paris.

Cricket analysts believe that this development could pave the way for the Indian government clearing the way for Pakistan and India to play in Sri Lanka in December.

But Miandad said he would be very careful while dealing with the Indians. “I would say don’t rush into things and start having high hopes of financial gains from the India series. The Indian board has been constantly changing its stance and it appears they are finding excuses not to play us despite their

commitment in the MOU signed between the two boards,” Miandad said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they back out again from playing with

us even in Sri Lanka,” he added.

The veteran of 124 tests who featured in many memorable matches against India said the Indian board was now delaying matters by insisting on getting its government clearance. “Our government has clearance so

what is stopping them from getting the required permission,” he questioned.

He said the Indian board had disappointed him and the Pakistan cricket fraternity with their attitude towards playing Pakistan. “We received a lot of love and respect whenever we played in India so this new attitude is strange to me,” he stated.

He noted that Pakistan had always pushed for bilateral Indo-Pak ties but the Indians had always created hurdles on one pretext or the other.

Miandad said first the Indian board seemed ready to play the series and when the PCB got the government’s approval the BCCI officials started hyping that they required their government’s permission. The 58-year-old said he was not sure that India would play the series as ‘they had always tried to let down Pakistan’. “I would advise the PCB and even the Sri Lankan cricket board to get India’s consent in black and white and include a clause for financial compensation if they back out of their commitment once again,” he said.

man of the match figures of nine wickets for 136 runs as Australia clinched the three-Test series 2-0 inside three days in the in-

augural day/night Test. In doing so, the 24-year-old also passed the 50-wickets milestone (53 wickets in 12 Test matches to date) and soared 10 places to 10th. Other bowlers to head in the right direction during the Nagpur and Adelaide Tests include Amit Mishra (up two to 31st) who joins Imran Tahir (up by 14 places to 35th) in making career-high gains, while Black Caps bowler Doug Bracewell is one place and a single point further back in 36th after gaining four places. There were also career-high gains for Mitchell Marsh (up five to 55th) and Dean Elgar (up five to 68th) in a list which continues to be led by South Africa’s Dale Steyn.

As far as ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen is concerned, Australia skipper Steven Smith

and England’s Joe Root have regained joint pole position in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, as AB de Villiers has dropped two places to third. The South Africa middle-order batsman now trails the duo by nine points, but a strong showing in New Delhi could see him regain top billing. New Zealand opener Tom Latham has moved up four places to 35th after scores of 50 and 10, while Mitchell Santner rocketed into 66th position after a mature showing on his debut where he scored 31 and 45. For host Australia, Shaun Marsh has moved up eight places to 56th, while there were career-high rankings for Mitchell Starc (up five to 73rd) and Peter Nevill, buoyed by a first innings 66 and who is the highest mover overall (up 22 places to 79th).

Murali Vijay is the top ranked India batsman in 12th position, while his captain Virat Kohli has moved up one place to 16th and there were also gains for Shikhar Dhawan (up one to 32nd) and wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha (up 10 to a career-high 92nd). JP Duminy also moved up three places to 40th after scores of 35 and 19 in a low scoring match.

There is one change in the top five all-rounders as Mitchell Starc has moved up to a career-high fifth position.

Meanwhile, in the ICC Test Championship Australia has moved into second position on 109 points following its 2-0 series win.

Charged Sindhu promises better 2016 A foot injury early in the year derailed her plans but ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu is happy to make a successful comeback with a good performance at the Denmark Super Series Premier and a third successive Macau Grand Prix Gold title.

Sindhu finished runner-up at Denmark Open, her maiden Super Series final this season, and then clinched her first trophy of the year at the Macau Open, Sunday.

The 20-year-old from Hyderabad has now set her eyes on the Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold starting December 1.

“It was a great win. I am really happy. My immediate target now

is Indonesia,” Sindhu stated. “It was a hat-trick of titles at Macau and overall it was a good perfor-

mance. (Minatsu) Mitani is a good player. I lost to her at the Japan Open so I am happy and satisfied that I could beat her and win the title.”

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This 14-year-old genius solves Rubik’s Cube in less than five seconds, sets world record

Turkey says Russian pilot’s body to be flown back to Moscow The Turkish prime minister says Turkey has taken delivery of the body of a Russian pilot who was killed after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane.

Ahmet Davutoglu says the pilot’s body was brought to the border province of Hatay “through Turkey’s initiatives” early on Sun-

day and will be flown back to Russia. He said the lo-

cal Orthodox church in Hatay performed religious rites for the pilot.

Turkey shot down the plane on Tuesday after it entered its airspace from Syria, ignoring several warnings.

The two pilots parachuted out of the plane but were shot at by Syrian rebels on the ground. One of the pilots, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, died.

Turkey’s action drew strong reaction from Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey.

Barack Obama buys Salman Rushdie’s latest book Let’s face it, most of us have spent hours on end trying to solve a Rubik’s cube, somewhere along the way we’ve given up and let the cube collect dust in a shelf.

It is a hard nut to crack.

Meet, Lucas Etter, he solved the puzzle in just 4.9 seconds. The Rubiks mastermind achieved this at the River Hill Fall 2015 event held in Maryland,USA this November. He solved a standard 3x3 Rubik’s Cube.

The previous record holder in the 2x2 Rubik’s cube category is 5.25 seconds by Collin Burns who also hails from the US. But this guy’s record was beaten by two people on the same day, Etter and another Keaton Ellis who was clocked at 5.09 seconds but he got beat by Etter by 0.18 seconds.

The World Cube Association has confirmed the new record set by Lucas Etter.

US President Barack Obama visited a local bookstore in Washington with his two daughters Sasha and Malia to buy books including one of Indian-origin writer Salman Rushdie. In all Obama purchased nine books.

These included ‘Purity: A Novel’ by Jonathan Franzen; ‘Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights’ by Rushdie; and ‘Elske: A Novel of the Kingdom’ by Cynthia Voigt, PTI reported.

Other books were ‘On Fortune’s Wheel’ and ‘Jackaroo: A Novel of the Kingdom’ by Cynthia Voigt,

‘A Snicker of Magic’ by Natalie Lloyd, ‘Stargirl’ by Jerry Spinelli, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Book 8’ by Jeff Kinney and

‘Dork Diaries 1: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life’ by Rachel Ren e Russell.

Obama and his daughters shopped for books in tiny

Upshur Street bookstore.

He left with a brown shopping bag, and acknowledged journos with a smile as he walked to his SUV.

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Health Exercise protects motor abilities among elderly Older people, who go for morning walks and mild exercises, protect themselves from the effects of small areas of brain damage that can affect their movement abilities Many older people have small areas of damage in their brains seen on magnetic resonance imaging as white matter hyperintensities.

Higher levels of this damage have been linked to more problems with movement such as difficulty walking.

In a paper appeared in the journal Neurology, researchers found that people who were physically active did not have a drop-off in their movement abilities even when they had high levels of brain

damage.

“These results underscore the importance of efforts to encourage a more active lifestyle in older people to prevent movement problems, which is a major public health challenge,” said study author Debra A. Fleischman from the Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago.

Physical activity may cre-

Know why eating salmon fish is good for health!

We all know that salmon is a scrumptious seafood and one of the popular fish in the world. It is also one of the best selling fish.

Besides good in taste, salmon has many benefits which is good for our health. Here are some health benefits of slamon fish which we all should know: Good for bone: Salmon contains proteins like calcitonin which helps in improving bone density.

Thats why it is considered very good for bone health.

Reduces risk of heart attack: Salmon is good for heart as it contains omega3 fatty acids in it. It also reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases

like hypertension, heart attack, atherosclerosis, etc by reducing the inflammation and preventing the arteries from getting blocked.

Boosts the brain function: Salmon fish contains omega 3 fatty acids such as DHA that helps in boosting the memory and the brain function. Good for eyes: Salmon is good for eyes as it contains flavonoids and other fatty acids which helps in improving the vision.

ate a ‘reserve’ that protects motor abilities against the effects of age-related brain damage. The study involved 167 people with an

average age of 80. The participants wore movement monitors on their wrists for up to 11 days to measure both exercise and non-ex-

ercise activity. The detrimental effect was even stronger for those with the lowest levels of physical activity.

Cocoa, green tea can help combat diabetes Cocoa and green tea contain substances that can help prevent and treat renal complications or diabetic retinopathy, a study has shown.

A study by Brazilian scientists said cocoa and green tea help diminish deaths of podocytes, cells that restrict the passing of proteins into urine.

The two contain polyphenols and themobromine that can diminish the impact of diabetes, Xinhua reported.

The research was carried out by injecting rats with

diabetes and growing human and rat cell cultures

diabetes.

Till now, cocoa and green

which were exposed to high concentrations of glucose to imitate

tea were known for their antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects.

women than men, with half of women having at least one infection at some point in their lives. Recurrences are common.

Risk factors include female anatomy, sexual intercourse and family history.

Depression: Women are more susceptible to depression than men. According to WHO, it is the leading cause of disease burden for women in both highincome and low- and middle-income countries.

Risk factors includegrief, trauma, genetic, troubles in relationships, etc. However, women have an increased risk factor due to hormonal changes such as after pregnancy (postpartum) or during menopause.

Top five leading health problems in women!

Women, as they vie to complete their daily tasks, often ignore their health. Most women don’t realise that they are at risk of an illness and even death from various diseases that catch them unawares while caring for their loved ones. Below are top five health problems that are taking a toll on women: Heart disease: When we talk of heart disease, people generally think of it as a ‘male problem. In fact cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the world. Symptoms such as shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort,

pain in one or both the arms, neck, jaw or stomach should be consulted with doctors immediately.

Breast cancer: It is the leading cancer killer among women aged 20–59 years worldwide.

Considered to affect women over 40 before, breast cancer now affects younger women as well.

Risk factors include a family history, BRCA gene mutations, radiation therapy to the chest, high intake of alcohol, red meat. Also, factors such as ageing or lifestyle can increase your risk.

Cervical cancer: It is the fourth most common cause of cancer

deaths in women worldwide. In India, it is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women, killing around 33,000 women every year in the country.

Cervical cancer is caused by a virus called the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) transmitted through sexual contact.

Risk factors include- poor hygiene, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), having multiple sex partners and not using contraceptives.

Urinary Tract Infection: It is an infection involving the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra. Urinary tract infections (UTI) are more commonly seen in

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Beware! High-fat diet can alter your behaviour New York High-fat diet can affect brain health and promote changes in your behaviour, including increased anxiety, impaired memory, and repetitive behaviour, warns a new study.

The findings published in the journal Biological Psychiatry suggest that even those who are not obese should avoid fatty foods to stave of dietinduced psychiatric disorders.

High-fat diet produces changes in health and

behaviour, in part, by changing the mix of bacteria in the gut, also known as the gut microbiome, the researchers noted.

“This paper suggests that high-fat diets impair brain health, in part, by disrupting the symbiotic relationship between humans and the microorganisms that occupy our gastrointestinal tracks,” commented John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry.

The human microbiome consists of trillions of microorganisms, many of which reside in the intestinal tract.

The researchers at the Louisiana State University in the US tested whether an obesity-related microbiome alters behaviour and cognition even in the absence of obesity.

Non-obese adult mice were conventionally housed and maintained on a normal diet, but received a transplant of gut

Newly pregnant? 5 things to take care of to avoid preterm delivery After one comes across the news of a positive pregnancy, all one can feel is happiness and excitement. Pregnancy is certainly the most beautiful period of a woman’s life.

But one has to be cautious to support a healthy pregnancy.

So, it is important to be careful and vigilant during the early pregnancy as lapse of care may lead to several complications and most of it is the chances of preterm delivery.

Here are a few reasons that may lead to a premature delivery: Late pregnancy: This is touted as the most common reason as to why expecting mothers can deliver preterm as the body undergoes various

hormonal changes.

Working in shifts: Working in a shift-based job is another reason for

premature deliveries as it disturbs the whole biological cycle.

Alcohol: Drinking alcohol

Simple ways to burn your belly fat fast!

Many of us struggle to get rid of that stubborn belly fat. But, do we adopt the right forms of exercise and eat the right foods that fight fat to yield great results?

Here are a few, yet simple tips that will help you lose stomach fat and get that sexy abs: Avoiding sugar/ sweetened beverages: Studies show that added sugar has uniquely harmful effects on metabolic health.

It can lead to increased accumulation of fat in the belly due to the huge amounts of fructose content in it. Various studies also

show that sugar-sweetened beverages such as fruit juices, sports drinks are

can lead to preterm birth as when it reaches placenta, it hampers the functioning of baby’s

organs.

Junk food: Eating junk food can lead to complications in pregnancy as it lacks the essential nutrients and may even lead to preterm birth.

Stress: Stress can take a toll on not just the expectant mother’s health, but also on the baby and may lead to low birth weight babies or even preterm.

microbiota from donor mice that had been fed either a high-fat diet or control diet.

The recipient mice were then evaluated for changes in behaviour and cognition.

The animals who received the microbiota shaped by a high-fat diet showed

multiple disruptions in behaviour, including increased anxiety, impaired memory, and repetitive behaviours.

Further, they showed many detrimental effects in the body, including increased intestinal permeability and markers of inflammation. Signs of

inflammation in the brain were also evident and may have contributed to the behavioural changes, the researchers noted. These findings provide evidence that diet-induced changes to the gut microbiome are sufficient to alter brain function even in the absence of obesity.

Scientists record real-time dopamine release in Parkinson’s patients Scientists have reported first-ever measurements of a key neurotransmitter involved in learning with unprecedented precision in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease.

The measurements, collected during brain surgery as the conscious patients played an investment game, demonstrate how rapid dopamine release encodes information crucial for human choice.

The findings may have widespread implications not just for Parkinson’s disease but for other neurological and psychiatric disorders as well, including depression and addiction, researchers from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute noted.

The researchers detected changes in the levels of dopamine a thousand times faster than had previously been recorded in humans.

These rapid measurements, combined with enhanced chemical specificity, led the scientists to discover that dopamine - a crucial neurotransmitter involved in learning and decisionmaking - has a far more

complex role than formerly thought.

“More than 20 years of research in nonhuman model organisms has painted a very specific picture of the suspected role of dopamine in guiding human behaviour,” said

“Parkinson’s disease is characterised by the death of dopamine-releasing neurons and we are trying to understand the underlying mechanisms of the disease process,” added Ken Kishida, first author of the paper and a

Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and senior author of the paper. “And now, with these first-of-their-kind measurements, made directly in humans, we’ve discovered that this picture was woefully incomplete,” Montague noted.

Seventeen patients volunteered to allow Montague’s team to record their dopamine signals during implantation surgery.

research scientist.

The findings also have implications for understanding other disorders of the dopamine system. “These precise, real-time measurements of dopamine-encoded events in the living human brain will help us understand the mechanisms of decisionmaking in health and disease,” the authors noted in a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Here’s how to cure neck pain naturally! linked to a 60% increased risk of obesity in children.

Cutting down on carbs: Various studies have shown that when people cut carbs, their appetite also goes down, thereby supporting in losing weight.

It is said that low-carb diets specifically target fat in the belly.

Experiencing neck pain is very common these days all thanks to our hectic lifestyle and stressful working culture. Almost two-third of the population in world, witnesses neck pain at some point in their lives.

Neck pain can be caused by various spinal problems.

Examples of common conditions causing neck pain are

degenerative disc disease, neck strain, neck

injury or even common throat infection leading to swelling in the lymph node can lead to a stiff neck.

But, don’t worry we bring to you natural remedies that you can easily adopt: Ginger: Consuming ginger juice, tea or extract can help a lot in reducing pain caused by inflammatory diseases like neck pain.

Arnica: Arnica is one of the

best remedies used to relieve pain.

It is made from the extracts of fresh Arnica flowers and helps relieve neck pain relief and stiffness.

Menthol and camphor: Applying menthol and camphor on the affected area increases blood circulation and produce a warm or cooling effect which soothes the neck muscles.

Issue 643 (39)

1 Dec. - 7 Dec. 2015

TURKEY CONGEE

SPICY SAUTEED PORK BELLY Ingredients: 1 small white onion, roughly chopped 1/4 cup gochujang (Korean red chile paste) 2 tbsp. Korean red pepper flakes 2 tbsp. mirin 1 tbsp. soy sauce 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 (1/2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and minced 1 lb. pork belly, sliced 1/8-inch thick (about 16 slices) 2 tbsp. vegetable oil Instructions: In a blender, puree the white onion until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.

Transfer to a large bowl, add the gochujang, pepper flakes, mirin, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, and whisk until smooth. Add the pork belly and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2

hours and up to overnight.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium-high until lightly smoking. Add half the pork slices and 2 tablespoons of the marinade and cook, flipping once, until caramelized and golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer the pork to a bowl, wipe out the wok, and return to the heat. Repeat cooking with the remaining oil, pork, and another 2 tablespoons of the marinade. Transfer the pork and its juices to a bowl and serve, or let cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Ingredients: 1 3-lb. turkey carcass, plus 1 1/2 cups shredded leftover cooked turkey meat 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered 1 cup white rice Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Roughly chopped cilantro and scallions, for serving Instructions: In a large saucepan, cover the turkey carcass with 14 cups of water. Add in one-third of the celery, half the carrots, and the onion quarters and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the stock has reduced to 8 cups, about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the pan from the heat and dis-

Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks

Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction

Ingredients: 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring 1 pinch cayenne pepper 2 (1/2 pound) rib-eye steaks Directions: In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, honey, olive oil, ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, salt, liquid smoke, and cayenne pepper. Place steaks in a shal-

Ingredients: 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme salt and pepper to taste 4 lamb chops (3/4 inch thick) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup minced shallots 1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar 3/4 cup chicken broth 1 tablespoon butter Directions: In a small bowl or cup, mix together the rosemary, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture onto the lamb chops on both sides. Place them on a plate, cover and set aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

low glass dish with the marinade, and turn to coat. For optimum flavor, rub the liquid into the meat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. Preheat grill for medium-high to high heat.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill steaks 7 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Discard leftover marinade.

Place lamb chops in the skillet, and cook for about 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare, or continue to cook to your desired doneness. Remove from the skillet, and keep warm on a serving platter. Add shallots to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes, just until browned. Stir in vinegar, scraping any bits of lamb from the bottom of the skillet, then stir in the chicken broth.

Continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has reduced by half. If you don't, the sauce will be runny and not good. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter. Pour over the lamb chops, and serve.

Easy Broccoli Quiche

Penne with Chicken and Asparagus Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) package dried penne pasta, 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into cubes salt and pepper to taste garlic powder to taste 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth 1 bunch slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces, 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese Directions: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside. Warm 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over mediumhigh heat. Stir in chicken, and season

card the carcass. Pour the stock through a fine sieve set over a bowl and discard the solids.

In a 4-qt. saucepan, combine the stock with the remaining celery and carrots and the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice falls apart and the congee thickens, about 90 minutes. Stir in the shredded turkey and cook for 5 minutes longer. Season the congee with salt and pepper and divide among serving bowls. Top with cilantro and scallions before serving.

with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook until chicken is cooked through and browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken to paper towels. Pour chicken broth into the skillet. Then stir in asparagus, garlic, and a pinch more garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cover, and steam until the asparagus is just tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, and warm through. Stir chicken mixture into pasta, and mix well. Let sit about 5 minutes. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, stir again, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter 1 onion, minced 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 cups chopped fresh broccoli 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 4 eggs, well beaten 1 1/2 cups milk 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon butter, melted Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Over medium-low heat melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions, garlic and broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Spoon vegetables into crust and sprinkle with cheese. Combine eggs and milk. Season with salt and

pepper. Stir in melted butter. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 50 minutes, or until center has set.

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