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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 676, 19 - 25 JULY 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

HARIDWAR PLOTTERS LURED

BY VIDEOS OF SLAIN JIHADIS

BY SNEHA AGRAWAL Slain Indian ISIS recruits were portrayed as martyrs and poster boys for jihad to lure the young men plotting an attack at Ardh Kumbh in Haridwar earlier this year, the National Number of Investigation suspected ISIS Agency (NIA) told operatives who were a Delhi court. in touch with ISIS Anwar Bhatkal and handler Bada Sajid, former Indian Mujaheddin members, have been identified by the NIA as two Indians who died fighting for ISIS Indians who died have been fighting for ISIS. identified

by NIA The federal antiterror agency stated in its charge-sheet that photos and videos of those killed were used to motivate the alleged

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Drunk driving case against Sikh dismissed as cops fail to return turban

Toronto A Canadian court has dismissed a drunk driving charge against a Sikh man because police officers did not return his turban for over three hours after it accidentally fell off while he was being arrested.

Charges of impaired operation and excess blood alcohol against Sardul Singh were dismissed because Peel Regional Police officers did not return his turban after it fell while he was being placed in a cruiser in Southern Ontario.

Ontario Court Justice Jill Copeland, in a decision released last month, wrote that the failure to return Singh’s turban while he was in custody constituted a Charter breach.

Continued on Page 19

operatives of the Sunni jihadi group in India.

The NIA has alleged that they were shown videos of Muslim clerics giving motivational speeches about Jihad.

They also watched hate speeches against Hindus by Maulana Masood Azhar - Chief Commander of Jaish-eMohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the Pathankot Airbase attack.

According to the agency, the five suspected ISIS operatives Akhlakur Rehman, Mohammed Azeemushan, Mohammed Meraj, Mohammed Osama, and Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed allegedly co-ordinated with Yusuf-Al-Hindi, an ISIS handler of Indian origin who is based in Syria, on social media.

They sought lessons on easy ways of crafting explosives using match sticks, alarm clocks, and fire crackers, it is claimed.

Yusuf-Al-Hindi, a former Indian Mujahiden member, is better known as Shafi Armar among the Indian anti-terror sleuths, and is also wanted in the case.

The other five accused are in judicial custody and have been booked under the anti-terror law - Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act (UAPA) and other sections of Indian Penal Code.

They were arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police on January 18, 2016, and the case was later handed over to the NIA. In its charge-sheet, the NIA said that after being motivated by the ideology of ISIS, the suspects allegedly conspired to carry out

the terror attacks.

The special cell arrested the suspects in Roorkee and Mumbai, respectively.

“The entire plot was chalked-out by carefully using various social media platforms like WhatsApp, Surespot, Trillion, Skype and Facebook,” the charge-sheet says.

In the charge-sheet, the agency mentioned that the suspects owed their allegiance to Islamic State/Islamic State and Levant (ISIL)/ Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to further its activities in India by way of motivating Muslim youths, and ultimately train and prepare them to carry Continued on Page 2

Issue - 676 (2)

19 - 25 July 2016

HARIDWAR PLOTTERS LURED BY VIDEOS OF...

Continued from Page 1 out terror activities in India.

They also hoped to shift them to countries like Syria and Iraq.

In May 2013-14, the five suspected operatives were in touch with Yusuf through social networking sites.

Money was transferred to these suspects through hawala, while

the entire conspiracy was allegedly hatched in Landhaura, Haridwar, in January 2016.

Yusuf had reportedly asked the suspects to promote the Caliphate system and increase recruitment in India.

The court ha s p u t u p t h e charge-sheet for hearing on August 25.

TAIWAN TO MAKE LUNAR LANDER FOR NASA MOON-MINING MISSION TAIPEI Taiwan is building a $47 million lunar lander as part of the first ever moon-mining project, officials said Monday. The lander, to be made by the island’s Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology, will carry a rover and touch down on the moon’s

surface after a three-day journey from Earth. US space agency NASA is leading the project, which is called Resource

the lander’s descent propulsion system. “Should the Resource Prospector prove to be successful, the moon could be

Prospector and aims to be the first mining expedition on another world. The rover is designed to excavate hydrogen, oxygen and water from the moon, NASA says on its website. “To be honest, the schedule is pressing,” Han Kuochang, the head of CSIST’s international cooperation programme, told AFP, adding that the US would supply the rover and

used as a base for space journeys into Mars,” Han said. It is the first time Taiwan has built a lunar lander. CSIST is required to deliver the 3.7-tonne vehicle to NASA before the end of 2018, according to the agreement signed between Taiwan and the US space agency. NASA is due to launch the moon-mining mission early in the 2020s.

Historic Russian ship returns to mooring after refit SAINT PETERSBURG Russian cruiser Aurora, whose salvo against the Winter Palace sounded the start of the 1917 revolution, returned to its mooring in Saint Petersburg Saturday after

a year-and-a-half of restoration work. Several hundred people gathered at night on the banks of the River Neva, which flows through the former imperial capital, to see the Aurora towed from the Kronstadt naval shipyard to its traditional mooring in front of the Winter Palace. The schedule on which the drawbridges across the Neva are usually raised were changed to allow the passage of the historic

ship. On October 25, 1917, the cruiser, largely crewed by Bolsheviks, fired a blank shot at the Winter Palace, then the seat of the provisional government, signalling the start of the October

Revolution. Restored after World War II, the ship was docked on the Neva in 1957 and opened to the public as a museum, receiving millions of visitors. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 it has retained its status as a tourist attraction in the former imperial capital. Despite the presence of its military crew, it has also served in many less conventional events such as private parties and as the set of a pornographic film,

Long-whiskered tree mice lead Philippines biodiversity claim MANILA results of its study in the A Philippines island has the scientific Journal Frontiers of world’s largest collection of Biogeography last month, said unique mammal species, scientists have discovered, as the area’s habitats face danger from hunting and logging.

Twenty-eight new species of cloud rats and earthworm-eating mice have been discovered by US and Filipino scientists in a 15-year study, boosting the number of non-flying mammal species on Luzon to 56, the Chicago Field Museum said in a statement released Friday. The team, which published the

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that most of the rare species were found in rain-soaked tropical cloud forests on the island’s highland interior.

“The concentration of unique biodiversity in the Philippines is really staggering,” said team member Eric Rickart, describing how some individual Luzon mountains hosted up to five species of unique mammals.

according to local media. In September 2014, the ship, which had participated in the 19041905 Russo-Japanese War and World War I, left its mooring for the first time since 1987 to undergo restoration work. The body of the ship was restored including the bridge and a fire prevention system installed, the navy museum said, adding that the work cost 840 million roubles (nearly $13 million). The ship , w h i c h features a permanent exhibition of items from the RussoJapanese War and World War I and is still officially part of the navy, is due to reopen to the public on July 31.

First image released from world’s super radio telescope CARNARVON Even operating at a quarter of its eventual capacity, South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope showed off its phenomenal power Saturday, revealing 1,300 galaxies in a tiny corner of the universe where only 70 were known before. The image released Saturday was the first from MeerKAT, where 16 dishes were formally commissioned the same day. MeerKAT’s full contingent of 64 receptors will be integrated next year into a multination Square Kilometre Array (SKA) which is is set to become the world’s most powerful radio telescope. The images produced

by MeerKAT “are far better that we could have expected,” the chief scientist of the SKA in South Africa, Fernando Camilo said at the site of the dishes near the small town of Carnarvon, 600 kilometres north of Cape Town.

This “means that this telescope as is today, only one quarter of the way down (to its full contingent) is already the best radio telescope in the southern hemisphere,” Camilo told AFP. When fully up and running in the 2020s, the SKA will comprise 3,000 dishes scattered around several countries allow astronomers to peer deeper into space in unparallelled detail. It will have a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the most advanced modern instruments and will explore exploding stars, black holes, dark energy and traces of the universe’s origins some 14 billion years ago.

MeerKAT is being built in the remote and arid southwest of the

Karoo region of South Africa that offers prime conditions for astronomers. It will serve as one of the two main clusters of SKA. The other will be in Australia.

Some 200 scientists, engineers

AFP that “this the first time that an African group of countries will host global science infrastructure of this character.”

“It’s a first for us as Africa and also it’s a first for the world

and technicians working in collaboration with industry, local and foreign universities have developed the technologies, hardware and software systems for MeerKAT. South African Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor told

because the world hasn’t done this in Africa,” said the Minister.

“We are building a global infrastructure for the world.” More than 20 countries are members of the SKA, including Britain which hosts the headquarters of the project.

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Issue - 676 (3)

19 - 25 July 2016

Issue - 676 (4)

19 - 25 July 2016

LIFE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT GOD! Last week I left this column with the thought that if there is no God then life itself becomes meaningless. Man and the universe are without ultimate significance.

Twentieth-century man came to understand this. William Lane Craig, a Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California and whom we have been discussing for the past two weeks, writes in his book The Absurdity of Life Without God discusses a play written by Samuel Beckett called Waiting for Godot. Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde

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novelist, playwright, theatre director and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. During the entire play, Waiting For Godot, two men carry on trivial conversation while waiting for a third man to arrive, who never does. Our lives are like that, Beckett is saying; we just kill time waiting-for what, we don’t know.

In a tragic portrayal of man, Beckett wrote another play in which the curtain opens revealing a stage littered with junk. For thirty long seconds, the audience sits and stares in silence at that junk. Then the curtain closes. That’s all. One of the most devastating novels I’ve ever read was Steppenwolf, by Hermann Hesse. At the novel’s end, Harry Haller stands looking at himself in a mirror. During the course of his life he had experienced all the world offers. And now he stands looking at himself, and he mutters, “Ah, the bitter taste of life!” He spits at himself in the looking-glass, and then he kicks it to pieces. His life has been futile and meaningless.

French existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus understood this, too.

Sartre portrayed life in his play No Exit as hell-the final line of the play are the words of resignation, “Well, let’s get on with it.” Hence, Sartre writes elsewhere of the “nausea” of existence. Camus, too, saw life as absurd. At the end of his brief novel The Stranger, Camus’s hero discovers in a flash of insight that the universe has no meaning and there is no God to give it one. The French biochemist Jacques Monod seemed to echo those sentiments when he wrote in his work Chance and Necessity, “Man finally knows he is alone in the indifferent immensity of the universe.” Thus, if there is no God, then life itself becomes meaningless. Man and the universe are without ultimate significance.

No ultimate value without immortality and God If life ends at the grave, then it makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint. Since one’s destiny is ultimately unrelated to one’s behavior, you may as well just live as you please.

SUNNY BAINS

As a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher Dostoyevsky, born in November 1821, put it: “If there is no immortality then all things are permitted.” On this basis, a writer like Ayn Rand is absolutely correct to praise the virtues of selfishness. Live totally for self; no one holds you accountable! Indeed, it would be foolish to do anything else, for life is too short to jeopardize it by acting out of anything but pure self-interest.

Sacrifice for another person would be stupid. Kai Nielsen, an atheist philosopher who attempts to defend the viability of ethics without God, in the end admits, “We have not been able to show that reason requires the moral point of view, or that all really rational persons, unhoodwinked by myth or ideology, need not be individual egoists or classical amoralists. Reason doesn’t decide here.

The picture I have painted for you is not a pleasant one. Reflection on it depresses me ... Pure practical reason, even with a good knowledge of the facts, will not take you to morality.

But the problem becomes even worse.

For, regardless of immortality, if there is no God, then there can be no objective standards of right and wrong. All we are confronted with is, in Jean-Paul Sartre’s words, the bare, valueless fact of existence. Moral values are either just expressions of personal taste or the byproducts of socio-biological evolution and conditioning. In the words of one humanist philosopher, “The moral principles that govern our behavior are rooted in habit and custom, feeling and fashion.” In a world without God, who is to say which values are right and which are wrong? Who is to judge that the values of Adolf Hitler are inferior to those of a saint? The concept of morality loses all meaning in a universe without God. As one contemporary atheistic ethicist points out, “to say that something is wrong because ... it is forbidden by God, is ... perfectly understandable to anyone who believes in a law-giving God. But to say that something is wrong ... even though no God exists to forbid it is not understandable ....”

“The concept of moral obligation (is) unintelligible apart from the idea of God.

The words remain but their meaning is gone.” In a world without God, there can be no objective right and wrong, only our culturally and personally relative, subjective judgments. This means that it is impossible to condemn war, oppression, or crime as evil. Nor can one praise brotherhood, equality, and love as good. For in a universe without God, good and evil do not exist-there is only the bare valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say you are right and I am wrong.

No ultimate purpose without immortality and God If death stands with open arms at the end of life’s trail, then what is the goal of life?

To what end has life been lived? Is it all for nothing? Is there no reason for life?

And what of the universe? Is it utterly pointless? If its destiny is a cold grave in the recesses of outer space, the answer must be yes, it is pointless. There is no goal, no purpose, for the universe. The litter of a dead universe will just go on expanding and expanding-forever. And what of man? Is there no purpose at all for the human race? Or will it simply peter out someday lost in the oblivion of an indifferent universe? The English writer H. G. Wells foresaw such a prospect. In his novel The Time Machine Wells’s time traveler journeys far into the future to discover the destiny of man. All he finds is a dead earth, save for a few lichens and moss, orbiting a gigantic red sun. The only sounds are the rush of the wind and the gentle ripple of the sea.

“Beyond these lifeless sounds,” writes Wells, “the world was silent. Silent? It would be hard to convey the stillness of it. All the sounds of man, the bleating of sheep, the cries of birds, the hum of insects, and the stir that makes the background of our lives-all that was over.”

And so Wells’s time traveler returned. But to what? - to merely an earlier point on the purposeless rush toward the oblivion.

When as a non-Christian I first read Wells’s book, I thought, “No, no! It can’t end that way!” But if there is no God, it will end that way, like it or not. This is reality in a universe without God: there is no hope; there is no purpose. It reminds me of T.S. Eliot’s haunting lines: This is the way the world ends; this is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a whimper.

Iraq marshlands named Unesco world heritage site BAGHDAD Unesco has named Iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator Saddam Hussein as a World Heritage Site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history. The area named “is made up of seven sites: three archaeological sites and four wetland marsh areas in southern Iraq,” Unesco said. “The archaeological cities of Uruk and Ur and the Tell Eridu archaeological site form part of the remains of the Sumerian cities and settlements that developed in southern Mesopotamia between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BCE,” it said. “The Ahwar of Southern Iraq - also known as the Iraqi Marshlands - are unique, as one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, in an extremely hot and arid environment,” Unesco said. Iraq has been seeking World

Heritage status for the marshes since 2003, and its government hailed the move.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the Iraqi people on Unesco’s decision, and thanked “all those who contributed to this success.” Abadi also said that culture in the country will continue “despite the destruction and demolition of Iraqi heritage and antiquities by barbaric terrorist gangs.” He was

referring to Islamic State group’s destruction of artefacts at the Mosul museum and the ancient cities of Nimrud and Hatra, the latter of which is a World Heritage Site. IS has sought to couch the destruction in religious terms, saying it was targeting idols, but that has not stopped it from selling artefacts to fund its operations. The marshlands once stretched across some 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 square miles), but they were devastated after Saddam ordered them drained in the 1990s to stop them being used as hideouts by Shiite guerrillas opposed to his regime.

Many dams and canals ordered built by the dictator have now been demolished, allowing waters from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to flood back, fish and fowl to return and humans to settle once again.

Issue - 676 (5)

19 - 25 July 2016

Johnson quits controversial newspaper column

Someone new, appearing on your horizon, is about to become the focus of your attention and the object of your gaze. In the intensity of this beam, a lesser presence might wither. But this one will be flattered by the attention.

Like the lights going up as the landlord calls time, instead of recoiling from the brightness you may be surprised by how well the transition from candlelight to incandescent bulb goes.

Don’t be reticent with your praise. You can achieve a lasting bond if you’re effusive in your appreciation. !!!

The phrase, ‘I make my own luck’ is regularly trotted out on the big screen. Okay, Hollywood, but then that’s not really luck is it? Luck, by definition, is entirely random. If you take it away from the equation, you’re left with something else. Skill? Foresight?

Adaptability? Perhaps a better way of thinking is to expect to be lucky.

That way, we’ll be in a strong position to take advantage when luck strikes. And as we’re on the lookout, we’ll recognize when we’re lucky and therefore feel lucky more often. Count your blessings, and you may discover a few more. !!!

Why do fools fall in love?

Because they rush in where angels fear to tread! What kind of fool are you? Nobody’s fool!

You are not entirely sure why you feel what you feel or even that you know what you feel. But none of this makes you foolish.

True fools think they know all the answers. They leave no room for doubt.

Thus, they deny themselves the uncertainty from which wisdom stems. There’s a lot you don’t understand now, but soon, if you work to remain open-hearted,

you will know far more. !!!

We rarely get what we want unless we ask for it.

Until we clearly articulate our needs, how will we be able to recognize them, let alone others? That’s not to suggest that we just need to ask, and we shall receive. If only it were that simple! But at least if we ask we can work out who is willing and able to provide for us, and where it might be that we’re chasing up a blind alley. Think about your desires and try to clarify them. It will help you to find what you’re looking for. !!!

What would you like to hear? What do you want to know? In an area of life that matters to you, things are soon due to improve. Elsewhere, you might not see a rapid change. You need to learn to understand what someone is really trying to say. That’s a difficult thing to do, not least because this is something that you may not want to hear. Or rather, you think that you don’t want to hear it.

Actually, once you really listen to the essence of this point, you’ll see you really don’t have a problem after all. !!!

What happens when we get too much success? ‘I should be so lucky’ you might cry! But we all occasionally have wins that make us prone to garnering a little overconfidence. Whenever this happens it’s helpful to have someone to keep us grounded. Someone who believes in our abilities, supports our endeavors, yet is prepared to check our momentum if we’re teetering blindly on the edge of a precipice. If you feel held back, forgive the hand that holds you. It is only doing what it believes is best for you.

LONDON Britain’s new foreign minister Boris Johnson has given up his lucrative newspaper column, which he had used for years to mock world leaders, his spokesman said Monday. The leading Brexit campaigner was paid £250,000 ($330,000, 300,000 euros) a year for his weekly article in The Daily Telegraph broadsheet, which he continued writing during his eight-year tenure as mayor of London. He used the column to showcase his rapier wit, but some of his barbs including comparing White House hopeful Hillary Clinton to a “sadistic nurse” - came back to haunt him when he was named foreign secretary last week. Prime Minister Theresa May, who took office following the June 23 referendum vote for Britain to leave the EU, stunned observers by naming gaffeprone Johnson as her top

diplomat. His new job comes with a salary of £135,527 a year, which includes £74,962 for being

the column, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said only that it was his decision. “Boris has been

a member of parliament.

“Whilst Mr Johnson has enjoyed a close working relationship with The Daily Telegraph for over 20 years, it would not be appropriate for him to continue writing his long-standing column for the newspaper given his new role as foreign secretary,” his spokesman said. When asked if May had told Johnson to give up

an outstanding columnist for The Daily Telegraph for many years, with a legion of devoted readers,” said Telegraph Media Group editor Chris Evans, adding that he wished him well in his new job.

Johnson, who stepped down as London mayor in May, was in Brussels on Monday for his first talks with EU counterparts. The

52-year-old was also working on a book on Shakespeare that was due to be published in October, but has now been postponed “for the forseeable future”, publishers Hodder and Stoughton said.

Johnson has received an advance payment of around £90,000 for the book but it is thought unlikely that he will have to repay it as the commission has not been withdrawn.

“Hodder and Stoughton confirm that they are postponing publication of Boris Johnson’s ‘Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius’,” the publishers said in a statement. Documents released earlier this year showed Johnson earned £987,097 from his Telegraph column over the past four years, while book royalties brought in a further £469,385. In 2009, Johnson described his Telegraph earnings as “chicken feed”.

Treasures of Versailles to go on display in Australia

India court orders old cars deregistered in smog-hit Delhi governments were pressured to clean up the air which chokes the capital for months of the year. The Delhi government has

average concentration of PM2.5 particles. These particles, less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, are linked to higher rates of

SYDNEY Riches from the Palace of Versailles including a harp belonging to Marie Antoinette will travel to Australia, the country’s national gallery said Monday, as part of a display never seen outside France.

More than 130 paintings, tapestries, pieces of furniture, statues and other objects from Versailles, one of France’s grand museums, will be on display in the Australian capital Canberra from December. “The Palace of Versailles has never before lent a collection like this, drawn from all over the palace, to an exhibition outside France,” National Gallery of Australia director Gerard Vaughan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Items making the long journey include a marble bust of Louis XIV, a formal portrait of Marie Antoinette, and the 1.5 tonne-statue of Latona and Her Children from one of the main fountains of Versailles outside Paris.

NEW DELHI India’s environment court Monday ordered all diesel vehicles older than 10 years be deregistered in New Delhi, strengthening a ban on pollutionspewing cars partly blamed for the capital’s toxic air, a lawyer said.

The National Green Tribunal directed Delhi’s regional transport office to cancel registrations immediately, after police complained of struggling to force the affected cars off the roads.

“Without registration, these (vehicles) will not be able to ply at all. This is effective immediately,” lawyer Vardhaman Kaushik, who lodged the petition seeking the order, told AFP. The tribunal ordered the ban last year on diesel vehicles older than a decade to help bring down Delhi’s dangerous smog levels, which the World Health Organization (WHO) ranks as among the worst globally. Traffic police say they have issued fines and impounded some 3,000 vehicles, but many reappear on the roads after owners pay the penalty or win court appeals to have their cars released. Kaushik said Monday’s order plugs these legal loopholes and comes after the Delhi and national

announced a string of measures including driving restrictions in January and in April that took around a million cars off the roads for two weeks. India’s top court has also ordered a “pollution toll” on thousands of dieselguzzling trucks that enter the capital every night, as well as a ban on large, new diesel cars. But with nearly 10 million vehicles on Delhi’s roads, campaigners say much more needs to be done. A WHO study of 3,000 cities released in May placed Delhi in 11th position based on annual

chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they settle deep in the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream.

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Issue - 676 (6)

19 - 25 July 2016

QUEEN LATIFAH JOINS MASS ANTI-AIDS RALLIES IN SOUTH AFRICA DURBAN US singer and actress Queen Latifah joined a mass anti-AIDS march in the South African city of Durban Saturday, where grandmothers bringing up children orphaned by the disease also took to the streets. Holding up signs that read “I care, do you?” around a thousand grandmothers walked in a colourful procession to draw attention to their plight, as the coastal city readies to host a global AIDS conference from Monday. “Life is very

difficult for us grandmothers,” said 63year-old Thandiswa Ndovela from the Eastern Cape region, who lost two daughters to AIDS and is now caring for eight grandchildren. “I have to fend for all these children and no one is helping me out. I felt a strong need to come here and share my plight with other elderly women like me from all over South Africa.” A second rally later in the day, entitled “Keep your Promises” also took place, this time bringing many

young people onto the streets of Durban.

They were joined by Queen Latifah and South African

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. South Africa has been ravaged by AIDS, with around two million

Biden announces ‘unprecedented’ US-Australia cancer database SYDNEY US Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday unveiled a series of agreements between the US and Australia to create an “unprecedented” international research database of cancer patients as he kicked off a three-day visit in Melbourne. Fighting cancer is a personal goal for Biden, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer last year, with the opening of an Aus$1 billion (US$760,000) medical facility his first event on his Australia tour, ahead of talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“Cancer research has not really been a team sport the last 25 years,” Biden, who

heads up the White House’s “moonshot” initiative to speed up research into the disease, said at the launch of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer

Centre. “But you’re making it, as we say in the States, a team sport,” he added, declaring that the world was on the verge of major breakthroughs in treatment.

The

collaboration would see an “unprecedented international dataset” of at least 8,000 US patients and 50,000 from Australia made available to cancer

researchers and doctors by 2021, he said in a statement. Biden’s visit comes amid tensions in the region following a UNbacked tribunal’s ruling against China’s claims in

the South China Sea. The US vice president, who warned that Beijing should abide by the same international rules as everyone else in comments to the Sydney Morning Herald Saturday, is expected to address Washington’s military alliance with Canberra during his visit. Later Sunday, he joined Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at an Australian Rules game in Melbourne. He is due to meet Turnbull on Tuesday before making a “major policy speech” about US-Australia relations on Wednesday.

Biden will also hold talks with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in Auckland on Thursday.

children orphaned by the disease, according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF. Nineteen-yearold Siyabonga Khumalo from Mayville, a sprawling informal settlement on the outskirts of Durban, said he went for regular HIV tests after seeing many people die “because of ignorance”. Britain’s Prince Harry and pop star Elton John are among the highprofile guests scheduled to speak at the five-day “AIDS 2016” gathering in Durban.

They will be joined by some 18,000 scientists,

campaigners, donors and lawmakers discussing how to tackle a pandemic that has claimed more than 30 million lives in 35 years.

Prince Harry publicly underwent an HIV test on Thursday to raise awareness about combating the virus. The 31-year-old royal has made highlighting the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS a major part of his public work, continuing the efforts of his late mother Diana, princess of Wales.

Harry’s test came back negative.

Russia launches ISS-bound cargo ship

MOSCOW A Russian rocket carrying an unmanned cargo ship blasted off for the International Space Station early Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Russian space agency said. The Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress MS-03 ship was launched on schedule at 00:41 Moscow time and began a two-day journey to the ISS, the Roscosmos space agency said on its website. The ship is carrying more than 2.4 tonnes of fuel, air, oxygen,

food and equipment for the crew on the international space laboratory. It is due to dock at 03:22 Moscow time (00:22 GMT) on Tuesday. A Progress cargo ship launch failed in April 2015. Since then there have been two successful dockings of such ships. The ISS is currently manned by Kathleen Rubins of NASA, Takuya Onishi of the Japanese space agency, Jeff Williams of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexey Ovchinin and Anatoly Ivanishin.

Unesco lists Le Corbusier’s works Florida teens shot at playing Pokemon Goa among World Heritage Sites PARIS UNESCO on Sunday listed Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s works -

in Turkey. The chosen creations of Le Corbusier show his contributions to the Modern Movement that

including the Indian city of Chandigarh which he planned in the 1950samong its World Heritage Sites. The decision was announced as the World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul, after being suspended a day earlier due to a coup bid

emerged after World War I with an emphasis on functionality, bold lines and materials such as concrete, iron and glass.

They include 17 sites across seven countries France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Argentina, Japan and India

- to show the global reach of the work of CharlesEdouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier.

From his modernist master-planning of Chandigarh in northern India to Paris, which he dreamt of levelling to make way for his own more rational city, Le Corbusier was never afraid of thinking big. He left his greatest mark on France, where no less than 10 of the 17 projects which UNESCO classified as World Heritage Sites are located.

Among them are masterpieces such as La Cite Radieuse housing project in Marseille, the Dominican monastery of La Tourette near Lyon and La Villa Savoye near Paris.

FLORIDA Two teenagers playing Pokemon Go late at night in their car in Florida were shot at by a householder who mistook them for burglars, police say.

The man said he shot at their car after they refused to stop when he challenged them on Saturday. They were not hurt. He said that earlier he had heard the pair say “did you get anything”? Police in Florida have used the incident as an opportunity to issue guidelines for teenagers and parents on safely playing the game.

Police say they received a call from the parents of one of the teenagers when it was noticed later that bullets had caused a flat tyre,

News4jax reported. The parent said the teenagers did not realise they were being shot at, and thought that the man was only trying to scare them. The

players to: According to data from SimilarWeb, people are now spending more time playing Pokemon Go than they are on Snapchat, Instagram

guidelines issues by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office include best practice tips for Pokemon Go players. They advise

and WhatsApp. The game has also been installed on more Android smartphones in the US than the dating app Tinder.

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19 - 25 July 2016

EU files fresh anti-trust charges against Google BRUSSELS The European Union filed new anti-trust charges against Google on Thursday, piling pressure

competition.” Google now has 10 weeks to respond to the complaint. In the meantime, a Google spokesperson offered a

on the US tech giant over the alleged abuse of its market dominance.

Brussels targeted the Silicon Valley firm’s advertising business, saying it had restricted some websites from displaying ads from Google’s competitors. The EU also beefed up its charge sheet in an earlier case against Google which alleges that the firm abused the dominance of its search engine for online shopping. There are now three EU cases against Google in total, with the EU having also filed charges in April against it for its Android mobile phone operating system.

“Dominance is not a problem under EU law, you can be big,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told a news conference in Brussels.

“However, it is illegal to abuse a powerful market position by restricting

general defence against the charges from the European Commission, the executive of the 28nation European Union.

“We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition,” the spokesperson told AFP. “We’ll examine the Commission’s renewed cases and provide a detailed response in the coming weeks.” Former Danish economy minister Vestager has launched a series of EU anti-trust cases against US firms in the past two years, drawing complaints from Washington. Other EU investigations include cases against Starbucks, Amazon and McDonald’s.

On Thursday, Vestager said the EU had “raised concerns that Google has hindered competition by limiting the ability of its competitors to place

search adverts on third party websites, which stifles consumer choice and innovation.”

Brussels also “further strengthened our case that Google has unduly favoured its own comparison shopping service in its general search result pages.”

The new charges came a day after the EU gave Google more time to answer the Android charges, extending the deadline to September 7 from June 27.Google’s response will be the company’s last chance to avoid sanctions, which could amount to fines up to 10 percent of the group’s annual global sales or $7.4 billion based on their 2015 results.

The extension was announced on the day US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited EU officials including Vestager in Brussels.The many battles opened by Vestager against US companies on competition issues has put a strain on transatlantic ties.

Vestager ’s team is expected to close a longrunning state-aid inquiry into Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, which some have suggested could see the iPhone maker on the hook for $19 billion in back taxes. Lew has repeatedly complained to Vestager that EU anti-trust regulators unfairly target US firms, a charge the former Danish finance minister firmly denies.

Pak Christian man’s hands chopped off allegedly for refusing to convert to Islam Lahore A Pakistani Christian man’s both hands were chopped off

an axe for not converting to Islam on June 24, the Dawn reported.“Some people

allegedly by some Muslim men for refusing to convert to Islam, media reports said on Wednesday.

Police, however, have dismissed the victim’s allegation, claiming he lost his hands in a train accident.Aqeel Masih, 25, complained to police, on Tuesday alleging that the unidentifed Muslim men chopped his hands off with

came to me and asked me to convert to Islam. On my refusal, they attacked me with an axe and cut my both hands off,” said Masih, who was treated at Jinnah Hospital.

He said he did not know the name of the attackers and could only recognise them if he saw them.

Lahore police senior officer Amara Ather, however, said

that according to a medical report submitted by a doctor, Masih had lost his hands in a train accident near a beverage factory in Gulberg.

Quoting eyewitnesses, Athar said Masih was lying unconscious on the track near a railway track when a train engine crushed his hands up to the elbows.

“Some people rushed to the railway track after hearing his cries and shifted him to Jinnah Hospital,” she was quoted as saying by the daily.

She said some four to five people were present on the spot.The police officer said evidence was being collected and a case would be registered against unidentified people after recording Masih’s statement.

Van Gogh’s ‘suicide gun’ on display at Amsterdam museum THE HAGUE Amsterdam’s renowned Van Gogh Museum unveiled a new exhibition Tuesday focusing on Vincent’s final 18 months of mental anguish before he shot himself in 1890, including the suspected gun he used in his suicide.

Called “On the Verge of Insanity”, the exhibition seeks to answer questions like why Van Gogh cut off his ear, and the precise nature of his mental illness that ultimately led to his death in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris at the age of 37.

One of the most interesting exhibition pieces is the small-calibre revolver believed to have been the actual weapon Van Gogh used to shoot himself in the chest. “The small, badly corroded revolver from a private collection and being shown for the first time, might be the weapon with which Van Gogh sought to end his life,” the Van Gogh Museum said.Vincent shot himself on July 29, 1890 and managed to stumble back to the inn where he was staying before succumbing to his wound 30 hours later. At the time the suicide weapon was

not found. Around 1960 an Auvers farmer working on his land discovered the rusty gun, a 7.0 mm pocket revolver of the “Lefaucheux a broche” type in the fields where Van Gogh shot himself. “The degree of corrosion suggested that the weapon lay in the ground for 50-60 years,” the museum said

Gogh in hospital after he cut off his left ear while living in the southern French town of Arles.“Rey’s letter includes drawings showing that Van Gogh cut off the whole of his left ear and not, as was long believed, just part of it,” the museum said.“The discovery brings to an end a long-standing

in a statement. “Its limited firepower offers a possible explanation why the bullet fired at close range glanced off Van Gogh’s rib,” it added. “The bullet was deflected downwards and was lodged too deep to be removed without danger, as a result of which Van Gogh died of his wound some 30 hours later.”

Another fascinating exhibition piece is a recently-discovered letter from doctor Felix Rey, the physician who treated Van

biographical question,” it added.Van Gogh’s portrait of Rey is also on display for the first time at the museum, as well as a raft of previously unexhibited documents about his illness.“On the Verge of Insanity” however shows that Van Gogh’s art “ought not to be viewed as a product of his illness, but arose in spite of his condition,” the museum said.The exhibition runs from July 15 to September 25.

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19 - 25 July 2016

New Zealand kebab shop owner blanks armed robber

WELLINGTON A New Zealand kebab shop owner who ignored a pistolwielding, would-be robber and continued to serve his customers has insisted “I’m not a hero” after footage of his actions went viral. Said Ahmed said he decided to call the bluff of a robber wearing a black hoodie and face mask who burst into the Egyptian Kebab House in Christchurch late in the evening.

In extraordinary CCTV footage released by Canterbury police, the robber shakes a sports bag in Ahmed’s face with one hand and points a pistol at him with the other. Instead of filling the bag with cash, Ahmed continues to pack the souvlaki he was working on and turns his back on the gunman to pick up some plastic cutlery and a napkin. He then calmly reaches around the robber to hand the meal to a customer, who accepts it and warily backs away. As Ahmed walks off to the kitchen, the gunman stands at the counter for a few seconds, not knowing what

to do, then takes his bag and shuffles off somewhat sheepishly. Footage of the May 28 incident has been viewed almost 140,000 times, with commentators labelling Ahmed “the chillest chip shop operator ever”. He said the robber demanded money but his first thought was serving his customer and his reaction wrong-footed the gunman. “He didn’t scare me... he was surprised from my reaction,” he told Fairfax New Zealand. “I was sure he would not shoot me. He came to rob me, not to kill me.”Ahmed, who migrated to New Zealand from Egypt 20 years ago, said it was the first incident of its kind in the 15 years he has owned the kebab shop.

“When he had gone my heart was beating hard,” he told the New Zealand Herald, saying he “thanks God” for guiding him during the robbery.

The 55-year-old said he now closed his shop earlier and advised his children “be a little brave — life can change in a few seconds”.

Up, close & personal with Outside Girl LAHORE The concept of women being in the kitchen is a bit too old. In the wake of this concept, Huma Mobin, creative manager in an advertising agency, decided to go on her honeymoon without her husband. Yes, this is not a typo. She indeed did go without her husband Arsalaan Sever Butt, who is an architect with his own firm. Arsalaan’s visa was rejected due to some strange reasons, which included not justifying the purpose of travel.

Little did the couple, residing near Cavalry Ground in Lahore, know they would become the most talked about people on social media in a month’s time.

Talking to The Nation, Huma shed light on all the buzz around the couple. “I’m still numb. We had no idea this would go viral.

My personal Facebook account crashed twice. To divert the traffic, I started a blog named ‘Outside Girl’. I have been receiving interview requests from countries like Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Iceland, Norway, Sweden etc. I have been taken on air by radio stations in India and Australia. The story was first published in BuzzFeed India, and from there it caught attention of Times of India, India Today, Telegraph, Huffington Post, BBC etc. The best thing that can come out of this is us collecting all these articles, making a coffee table and showing this to our kids in future, telling them how cool we used to be.” Huma credited her mother-in-law for making her a more powerful woman and helping her breaking traditional stereotypes which exist in our part of the world. “We have always been fond of

breaking stereotypes. We literally danced on our wedding day, and had solo performances.

My mother-in-law, who is a working woman herself, has

been given visa thrice. I was the last person in the family who could have thought of the visa rejection. When I had applied for the visa for the first time, I had

always backed me. She and my father-in-law accompanied me to Greece. They did not make me miss my husband at all. My father-in-law took care of all my clothing line, and with my motherin-law, I had a lot of fun there.

We partied till late in the night, we shared the room together and she took most of my pictures, which have gone viral. She is the nicest person I have come across, and I cannot think of better in-laws.” Arsalaan Sever Butt was surprised by his Schengen Visa rejection. “I have a very strong travel history. It was very shocking for me, since I had

fear of rejection, but after it had been given three times. Since the Paris attacks and the attacks in Turkey and Belgium, maybe the worth of our green passport is not the same anymore. It is very depressing for peaceful citizens like us to face this situation. Our country’s image has been dented for no reason at all. The government should look into this issue.” Huma Mobin and Arsalaan Sever Butt have been married for seven months now, and first went to their honeymoon in Maldives. The couple plans to have more tours together when their first anniversary comes.

The Tenors’ singer inserts ‘all lives matter’ in Canadian anthem, sparks outrage

Chinese consortium buys Opera browser for $600m OSLO A Chinese consortium has bought the Opera internet browser for $600 million (543 million euros), its Norwegian developer said Monday, after a public share offer for the

company failed.

The consortium led by Golden Brick Silk Road will purchase the mobile and desktop versions of the internet browser, plus performance and privacy apps and a stake in a Chinese joint

venture, but not the advertising, games and television units, said Opera Software in a statement to the Oslo stock exchange.

The transaction was announced simultaneously with the failure of the $1.2 billion public offer to

take over the entire company. It gave no reason for the failure, but in a statement to the Oslo stock exchange last week Opera Software said the outcome of the offer was uncertain as it had not yet received regulatory approvals

by the deadline of July 15. “It wasn’t that the approvals weren’t given, just that it didn’t happen before the deadline,” chief executive Lars Boilesen was quoted as saying in the daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

Golden Brick Silk Road fund is a Chinese consortium which includes Beijing Kunlun Tech which is specialised in mobile games and cybersecurity specialist Qihoo 360. Opera’s management had backed the proposed takeover as it would give the browsers access to the extensive internet user bases of Kunlun and Qihoo in China.

Opera says its light, quick browser is used by more than 350 million consumers worldwide. Last month it ranked fourth for mobile devices behind Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari and Android Browser, according to data by NetMarketShare, and sixth on desktop computers. The purchase, which should close in the second half of this year, may be the better deal for Opera.

London Canadians rained social media scorn on a performer on Wednesday for inserting the politically-charged phrase “all lives matter” into the lyrics of the Canadian national anthem and holding up the words on a sign during the rendition. Singer Remigio Pereira, a member of the Canadian quartet The Tenors, seemed to take his group by surprise with the change during the live performance at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in San Diego on Tuesday night. “All lives matter” is a phrase used by critics of the Black Lives Matter anti-police brutality movement, who claim the movement promotes bias against other groups including white Americans and law enforcement. Pereira inserted the line “we’re all brothers and sisters; all lives matter to the great” while holding up a small sign that read “all lives matter” on one side and “united we stand” on the other. The Tenors apologised late on Tuesday, calling Pereira a “lone wolf” who

acted without consulting the group and said he would no longer perform with them “until further notice”. Pereira showed no contrition, posting a series of tweets claiming he simply wanted to unite everyone under one banner rather than create further divisions.Tensions are high in the United States after protests over police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, and a sniper attack on Dallas police, which claimed the lives of five police officers, by a black former U.S. soldier who said he wanted to “kill white people.”

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19 - 25 July 2016

Scientists find new stubby armed dinosaur in Argentina BUENOS AIRES Researchers announced Wednesday they have discovered a ferocious meateating dinosaur in Argentina, notable for having short arms like the T-rex but hailing from a different branch of the family tree.

The Gualicho shinyae nicknamed Gualicho - is a theropod, a two-legged, bird-like dinosaur. It stretched an imposing six meters (nearly 20 feet) from head to toe, and weighed an estimated 450 kilograms (1,000 pounds).It roughly resembles the Tyrannosaurus rex but Gualicho, found in the north of Argentina’s Patagonia region, was not a close relative of the king of dinosaurs. Its stubby limbs evolved independently and not from a shared, short-armed ancestor - a clue that may help researchers better understand how the extinct animals evolved.

“This is a completely different lineage. We just froze up when we realized it,” Sebastian Apesteguia, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council told a briefing in Buenos Aires.

Its only known ancestor is the Deltadromeus, a leggy,

carnivorous dinosaur with slender arms found in Niger.

The research on Gualicho in the scientific journal Plos One was

led by Apesteguia and Ruben Juarez Valieri, a specialist in carnivorous dinosaurs in Argentina’s Rio Negro province.

The new dinosaur’s name Gualicho is in honor of a local indigenous diety with power over animals and the wind. And Shinyae is in honor of Akiko Shinya, chief fossil preparator at Chicago’s Field Museum, who found the incomplete skeleton while working on the dig.

Thai painter usesbuffalo as canvas

EU launches controversial internet privacy deal with US

“We found Gualicho at the very end of the expedition. Pete joked, ‘It’s the last day, you’d better find something good!’ And

then I almost immediately was like, ‘Pete, I found something.’ I could tell right away that it was good.”She was referring to Peter Makovicky, The Field Museum’s curator of dinosaurs.

“Gualicho is kind of a mosaic dinosaur, it has features that you normally see in different kinds of theropods,” Makovicky said in a statement.

“It’s really unusual - it’s different from the other carnivorous dinosaurs found in the same rock formation, and it doesn’t fit neatly into any category.”

“By learning more about how reduced forelimbs evolved, we may be able to figure out why they evolved,” Makovicky added.

Most of the recovered fossils are in the Patagonia National Sciences Museum and a provincial museum in the Argentine city of Cipolletti.

BRUSSELS States aimed at curbing government spying on the personal internet data of European citizens. EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker presented the final version of the deal, which replaces one struck down last October by the EU’s top court.

The court struck down the deal based on an Austrian activist’s case against Facebook in Ireland, and its judgment cited US snooping practices exposed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. “The EU-US Privacy Shield is a robust new system to protect the personal data of Europeans and ensure legal certainty for businesses,” Jourova said.Top US companies including Facebook and Google in particular have been eager to end the legal void following the decision by the European Court of Justice, because they transfer data from their European subsidiaries to their headquarters in the United States. The deal includes

commitments by the US to limit the use of bulk-collected intelligence, the appointment of a US ombudsman to deal with complaints by European citizens, and fines for firms that do not comply. The deal will also be subject to an annual review.

“The approval of the privacy deal is a milestone for privacy at a time when the sharing of data is driving growth in every sector,” Pritzker told a press conference in Brussels with Jourova.

The deal will “facilitate more trade across our borders, more collaboration across the Atlantic and more job creating investments in our communities,” Pritzker said.

The deal will enter into force in a matter of hours once European Union member states are formally notified, European officials told AFP. The old agreement effectively meant that Europe treated the United States as a safe destination for internet data on the basis that Brussels and Washington adhered to similar standards.

US concerned over Hafiz Saeed’s free movement, says Pak must target extremists BANGKOK Buffalo is a byword for stupidity in Thai culture and an insult often doled out by city dwellers to denigrate their rural compatriots.

But one photographer is taking on the stereotype - and Thailand’s ulcerous social divide - by elevating the beast to art.

“Buffalo are the symbol of our country’s labour class, they should be respected,” says Maitree Siriboon, the 33-year-old who has been layering colourful coats of paint on dozens of buffaloes in his rice-farming village. Photos of the lumbering animals, many bearing references to famous works of art, are now on display in an airy Bangkok gallery space. The exhibit is loaded with symbolism in a country wracked by a political struggle between the urban elite and a rural majority hungry for a greater slice of the economic pie.

Bangkokians have long used “buffalo” as a pejorative term to put down farmers and rural migrants who have flocked to the capital for low-paid work.

“We still use the word buffalo with a rude and negative connotation that means uneducated person,” Maitree told AFP, sporting a traditional sarong from a poor northeast region known as Isaan.

He is hoping to encourage fellow Isaan people to take pride in their distinct dialect and culture, which has closer links with neighbouring Laos.

“From my own experiences, I used to be mocked and looked down on because of my face and flat nose,” he said of his time in Bangkok.

“But people have to understand that Thais come from different ethnicities... we should build our own pride so that the society will accept us.”

Washington The United States has expressed concern over the free movement of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan despite his being designated as a terrorist by the UN. “As we’ve said from this podium many times, we remain concerned about his activities,” Elizabeth Trudeau, Director in the US State Department press office, said at the daily press briefing on Thursday.

She was responding to a question on Saeed moving around freely in Pakistan and giving interviews.

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Saeed reportedly said the US was giving India a free hand by not condemning the ongoing violence in Kashmir.

At least 38 people have died in large-scale violence in Kashmir following the killing of top Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani, 22, in a gunfight on July 8.

Trudeau pointed out that Saeed has been listed by the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee and is also on the US rewards

for Justice Program.

“Obviously we disagree with his premise (Saeed’s statement on US position on India), but we’ve also been very clear with the government of Pakistan that they must target and root out these extremist groups, all militant groups and Taliban,” she stated.

On the current situation in Kashmir, Trudeau reiterated that the US would “encourage all sides to make efforts to finding a peaceful resolution”.

Issue - 676 (10)

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19 - 25 July 2016

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Issue - 676 (11)

19 - 25 July 2016

Imams to use social media to counter ISIS influence In a bid to dissuade the youth from getting attracted to ISIS and other terror organisations, Imams in Kolkata are contemplating using social media to spread the message of peace and educate them on the

true meaning of Islam.

The social media initiative, led by Qari Fazlur Rehman, a senior cleric of Bengal, comes after reports that ISIS is extensively using social media to radicalise youngsters.

“Nothing has been finalised as of now. I am talking to various clerics, and Islamic scholars on this issue. What I have seen is that various groups including ISIS is misleading the youth by misinterpreting the versions of Islam and Quran,” Rehman said.

“This has to be countered. Islam doesn’t teach us violence or bloodshed. Islam teaches us peace and brotherhood. And our aim is to spread the true version of Islam on social media in various languages so that it has

the maximum reach,” he said.

After the matter is finalised, languages such as Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi and English will be used to spread the message on social media as part of a concerted campaign.

Rehman said that terror groups were luring the youth across the globe through sites like Facebook, Whatsapp and Youtube.

A few days ago, a youth, Mohammed Musiruddin, with suspected links to the ISIS and

Would ask Congress for declaration of war on ISIS, Donald Trump says

Jamaat-ulMujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), who had gone to Kashmir to train, was arrested in the state.

“If you have to combat this trend you have to use the social media so that young minds don’t get polluted by the malicious campaign. I am talking to authorities and a number of organisations in this regard and we will come to a concrete decision very soon,” he said.

Akhtar Hossain, general secretary to the All Bengal Imam-Muezzin Council, an umbrella organisation of Muslim clerics, who is also part of this initiative, said that the social media initiative would soon get off the ground.

“If someone tries to mislead people on Islam and about the teachings of Quran, it is the duty of the Imams and the Muezzin to spread the true message of Islam. Islam never teaches us terrorism and those who are using Islam to shield their terror activities, don’t know the true meaning of Islam,” Hossain told PTI. Muslim religious leaders and Islamic organisations have also decided to take their campaign to villages and madrasas.

“Using the social media will give us an edge in spreading the message of love and brotherhood. And this message will go down to the grassroot levels at villages and Madrasas,” a cleric said. After the Khagragarh bomb blast in Burdwan district in 2014, many illegal Madrasas have come under the scanner for allegely being hand in glove with the JMB.

Al-Qaeda, its allies in South Asia pose high threat says US

Al-Qaeda and its allies in South Asia particularly the Haqqani network and Taliban continue to pose a “high” threat to America’s regional interests, a top US counter-terrorism official said.

“Al-Qaeda’s allies in South Asia particularly the Haqqani Taliban Network also continue to present a high threat to our regional interests,” Nicholas J Rasmussen, Director of National Counterterrorism Center at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.

Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee on World Wide Threat, Rasmussen said the US has constrained the al-Qaeda’s effectiveness and their ability to recruit, train, and deploy operatives from their safe haven in South Asia.

“However, this does not mean that the threat from core alQaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan or in eastern Afghanistan has been eliminated,” he said.

“We assess that al-Qaeda and its adherents in the region still aspire to conduct attacks and, so long as the group can potentially regenerate capability

to threaten the Homeland with large-scale attacks, al-Qaeda will remain a threat,” Rasmussen said.

The American intelligence community, he said, is cognizant to the level of risk the US may face over time if al-Qaeda regenerates, finds renewed safe haven, or restores lost capability.

“I am confident that the US Government will retain sufficient capability to continue to put pressure on that core al-Qaeda network and therefore reduce the risk of a resurgence by al-Qaeda in the region,” the US official said.

There is also increasing competition between violent extremist actors within South Asia itself, between and among the Taliban, ISIL’s branch in South Asia, and al-Qaeda, he said.“This is an additional dynamic that we are working to understand. While conflict among terrorist groups may well distract them from their core mission of plotting attacks against Western targets, conflict also serves to introduce a degree of uncertainty into the terrorism landscape that raises questions that I don`t think we have answers to yet. his is something

Al-Baghdadi surname landed Hyderabad IS suspect in NIA trouble Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday said if elected he would go to Congress and seek declaration of war against the Islamic State terror group and would involve Nato in the effort.

“I would. I would. This is war,” Trump told Fox News in an interview when asked if he would go to the Congress and ask for a declaration of war. “If you look at it, this is war coming from all different parts. And frankly it’s war, and we’re dealing with people without uniforms. In the old days you would have uniforms. You knew what you were fighting,” he said.“We are allowing people into our country who we have no idea where they are, where they are from, who they are, they have no paperwork, they have no documentation in many cases and Hillary Clinton wants to allow 550 per cent more than even Obama and he is letting them in by the thousands,” he said.

Trump said Nato should also be involved in the war.

“I have been saying it we should use Nato for a purpose. I mean, we’re spending a fortune on Nato. We have countries in Nato that don’t make a fair contribution,” he said.

“We are supporting Nato and we should at least get something out of it and getting rid of ISIS and getting rid of this cancer that we’re watching all over the world, that certainly would be a good thing, a good thing for Nato to be involved in,” he added.

Trump criticized President Barack Obama for not using the words “radical Islamic terror”.

“Why he refuses to use the term radical Islamic terror and frankly in this case wait a little while and let’s see what happens. Who knows? Maybe you will be surprised and maybe we will all be surprised,” he said. “It’s possible but let’s just wait. It won’t take long to find out,” he added.

At least one of the four Muslim youths let off by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after being picked up in connection with an Islamic State terror plot, got into trouble because of his alBaghdadi surname, a rights group has alleged.The family of Abdul Qader Mohsin Mahmood alBaghdadi, 32, who was one of the 11 arrested from the old quarters of the city on June 29, is of Arab descent and his forefathers hailed from Baghdad.

The Hyderabad-based Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee that probed the latest arrests says the family surname – shared

by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “doubled the trouble” for Qader.While five of the 11 were arrested immediately, Qader and five others were let off by the NIA the next day.They were, however, made to visit the police station every day for questioning for the next two weeks, when two of them were arrested. Qader and three others were given a clean chit.The police said the four including Qader were not part of any terror conspiracy and

therefore no longer needed for questioning. Those arrested include the suspected chief of an alleged IS module, Niamatulla Hussaini.According to Lateef Khan of the monitoring committee, Qader was also grilled about his opinion on Hindus and Christians, besides being asked about the IS at the CRPF camp in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana.Attempts by HT to get a response from the NIA did not get any response. Rights groups and Muslim elders of old Hyderabad have often accused the investigation agency of targeting Muslim youths. Several youngsters from the city arrested

in the past over alleged links to bombings and terror plots have been acquitted by courts after years-long ordeals. Lawyers of those let off meanwhile said the four have gone into hiding.

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Issue - 676 (12)

19 - 25 July 2016

Horseback library serves Indonesia’s remote readers SERANG Indonesia-Astride his white mare, a wide-brimmed hat shielding his eyes, Ridwan Sururi looks more cowboy than librarian as he winds towards the hilltop village, his horse Luna saddled with books. Their arrival sends ripples of excitement through Serang, a quiet hamlet fringed by rice fields and a volcano on Indonesia’s main island of Java. “The horse library!” children shriek, sprinting towards the mosque where Luna is tethered. Slung over her saddle are two handmade wooden boxes filled with books. For many there, this unique mobile library is their only link to books.

There is no traditional library nearby, and stores are miles away in big cities. It’s a problem for villages across the sprawling Indonesian archipelago. Sururi, a 43-year-old professional horse groomer, devised a unique way to encourage reading in his district.

Armed with Luna, one of several horses under his care, and about 100 books donated from a friend, Sururi began road-testing his novel mobile library in early 2015, unsure if it would succeed. It was a huge hit. In no time, the father of four was fielding requests from schools and villages further afield, eager crowds greeting him on arrival. “The kids are always waiting for my horse and I,” Sururi told AFP. “Sometimes they even form a queue, waiting a very long time just to borrow a book.” In Serang, enthusiastic youngsters flick through picture books,

young adult titles and even some classics in English. Some shyly pet Luna while waiting their turn to browse. Sururi believes the

Sururi and Luna pass through the narrow lanes of one village. 17year-old Warianti, perusing titles alongside her elderly mothers,

education. But some provinces remain far behind others. Central Java, where Sururi makes his rounds, is lagging in the bottom

gentle nature of his six-year-old mare helps attract children, and pique an early interest in the books. “The horse makes me happy,” said ten-year-old Arif, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, before settling in to read a book titled “Wild Animals”. But it’s not just children discovering a love for reading via this charitable community library. Adults are almost just as enthusiastic, many pausing work and emerging from their homes as

said villagers of all ages benefited from Sururi’s visits, as most did not have time to source books elsewhere. “The horse library helps increase the knowledge of local women through reading,” she told AFP. Adult literacy rates in Indonesia have climbed steadily in recent years, reaching nearly 96 percent in 2013, according to data from the ministry of

third nationwide. Nearly five percent or close to one million adults in this mainly rural province remain illiterate. Sururi is aware of this, growing up in Central Java without access to a great deal of books.

But the altruistic stable hand never underestimated the importance of reading, leading to his free-of-charge mobile book loaning service. “That’s the aim

of the horse library, so that everyone can broaden their horizons, gain knowledge, become more intelligent,” he said. Outside his simple home, Sururi has cleared an area where he dreams of building a permanent library, one stocked with many books and perhaps one day a computer. But for now, everything is done by hand. The spines of all books are clearly labelled with a code for identification, and he keeps meticulous records so books are returned on time. Like a conventional library, books can be borrowed free of charge but cannot be loaned forever. In Serang, Sururi checks his notebook and tells one boy he needs to first return an outstanding title before loaning another. The young student sprints off home, returning a short while later clutching the forgotten item, relieved to see his pick of choice remains untouched on the shelf.Once the flurry of borrowing is over, the children settle down in small circles, bearing their new books with pride as Sururi packs up for another week.Soon the air is filled with the sound of dozens of children reading aloud, older pupils helping their younger friends with difficult words or phrases. “When I see kids chasing my horse I feel so proud,” Sururi said.“I feel like I’m needed, and that’s hugely satisfying.”

Unesco adds four new sites to World Heritage list

PAJU The 15 male ballet students groaned as they strained to do the splits and laughed with relief after their teacher counted to five and let them relax. Once a week, a group of South Korean soldiers near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that divides the Korean peninsula trade army boots for ballet shoes in a class intended to ease the stress of guarding the world’s most heavily fortified border.

“There’s a lot of tension here since we live in the unit on the front line, which makes me feel insecure at times,” said Kim Joohyeok, a 23-year-old sergeant doing his nearly two years of

military service that is mandatory for South Korean men.“But through ballet, I am able to stay calm and find balance as well as build friendships with my fellow soldiers,” said Kim, who is learning ballet for a second year and plans to continue when he is discharged from the army.

Wearing shorts and T-shirts along with their dancing slippers, members of the army’s 25th Division are taught each week by a ballerina from the Korean National Ballet under a programme that began last year and has already included a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

ISTANBUL The UN’s cultural agency on Friday added four new sites in Iran, India, China and Micronesia to its World Heritage list. The sites named by UNESCO include the so-called qanat water systems in Iran, the Zuojiang Huashan rock art cultural landscape in China and the archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara in India. The landscape in China is all that remains today of the bronze age culture - known as “bronze drum” after its most characteristic artifacts - once prevalent across the country’s south, the agency said in a statement. The site in Iran is an example of an ancient water-supply system- known as

qanat — suited for the most arid areas. The fourth site is Nan Madol - a ceremonial centre of eastern Micronesia in the Federated States of Micronesia containing mediaeval palaces and tombs. The Micronesian site is a series of 99 artificial islets built with walls of basalt and coral boulders. It was, however, immediately placed on UNESCO’s list of heritage-indanger.The UN agency warned threats to the site were notably the construction of navigation channels which was leading to the uncontrolled growth of the mangrove, making the historic edifices more fragile.The heritage-in-danger list is intended to highlight the risks facing world

heritage sites that need protection and allows the committee to allocate immediate support from the World Heritage Fund.UNESCO named the old towns of Djenne in Mali and Shakhrisyabz in Uzbekistan on Wednesday on its heritage-indanger list during its 40th meeting of its World Heritage Committee in Istanbul.All five of Libya’s World Heritage sites were named on Thursday by the agency as at risk of damage from the civil war that continues to rage in the country. Meanwhile, the complex of churches and holy sites in the Georgian town of Mtskheta was removed from the in-danger list, where it had been listed since 2009.

S Korean troops swap boots for ballet shoes

Issue - 676 (13)

19 - 25 July 2016

Islamic State says ‘minister of war’ Shishani killed Baghdad Abu Omar al-Shishani, who the Pentagon described as Islamic State’s “minister of war”, was killed in combat in the Iraqi city of Shirqat, south of Mosul, a

honour.

Officials at the Pentagon said they were aware of Wednesday’s report but could not confirm or deny it.

Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-

news agency that supports the militant group said on Wednesday.

The Pentagon said in March that Shishani had likely been killed in a US air strike in Syria, but this was the first time the group appeared to confirm his death.

Reuters could not independently verify the statement from Amaq news agency, which Islamic State regularly uses to issue reports and which denied Shishani’s death after the Pentagon’s comments in March.

Islamic State supporters exchanged notes of praise and condolence on social media, including pictures of the gingerbearded fighter, and pledged to launch a fresh offensive in his

based security expert who advises the Iraqi government, said a source in Shirqat confirmed Shishani had been killed there along with several other militants.

Iraqi forces are advancing towards Mosul, the largest city still under the control of Islamic State. They have mostly surrounded Shirqat, 250 km (160 miles) north of Baghdad, and last week retook a major air base from the militants to use in the main push on Mosul, 60 km further north.

Conflicting reports But Rami Abdelrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Shishani had been wounded

in March and died soon after in the countryside east of Raqqa.

“I confirmed from the doctor who went to see him,” said Abdelrahman, who tracks the war in Syria through a network of contacts. He told Reuters Islamic State likely delayed announcing his death to allow time to line up a successor.

Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, ranked among America’s most wanted militants under a US program that offered up to $5 million for information to help remove him from the battlefield.

Born in 1986 in Georgia, then still part of the Soviet Union, Shishani had a reputation as a close military adviser to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi, who was said by followers to have relied heavily on him.

Shishani once fought in military operations as a rebel in Chechnya before joining Georgia’s military in 2006 and fighting against Russian troops before being discharged two years later for medical reasons, according to US officials.

He was arrested in 2010 for weapons possession and spent more than a year in jail, before leaving Georgia in 2012 for Istanbul and later Syria.

He decided to join Islamic State the following year and pledged his allegiance to Baghdadi. The State Department said Shishani was identified as Islamic State’s military commander in a video distributed by the group in 2014.

Washington Citing “weariness” over Pakistan’s support for terrorism, US lawmakers on Tuesday said it was time to consider harsher measures, starting with cutting off financial aid to the country.

A lawmaker said if that doesn’t work, the US could consider declaring Pakistan a “state sponsor of terrorism” — like Sudan, Syria and Iran — and subjecting it to crippling sanctions.

That would be a new low for Pakistan, currently held close by the US as a “non-Nato ally” and a “critical counterterrorism partner”, but not entirely unexpected.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers came together recently to block an Obama administration move to sell Pakistan eight heavily subsidised F-16 fighter jets.

They also sought to make future financial aid contingent — and not optional, covered by waivers — on the administration certifying Pakistan’s counterterrorism measures.

Now, however, they are asking if it is time to stop all aid altogether.

Speaking of “newly endemic weariness” with Pakistan,

Republican Congressman Matt Salmon said that “patience is growing very thin”.

“If our current efforts in Pakistan

seeking guidance from experts testifying at the hearing.

On the question of financial support, Salmon said Pakistan

Islamic seminaries cautious about Zakir Naik before Dhaka attack

New Delhi While controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik enjoys a huge fan following, the dangers emanating from what he was speaking was understood by Islamic seminaries long before the Dhaka terror attack.

Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband had issued at least seven fatwas cautioning against the Muslims against Naik’s preaching.

In April 2007, Deoband responded to a query: “What do you say regarding Dr. Zakir Naik?”, said: “He seems Ghair Muqallid and his knowledge is not deep. Therefore, he is not reliable and Muslims should avoid listening to him.”

The seminary, in a 2008 fatwa, had said that Naik had deviated from the path of well-versed Ulama in many of his teachings.

“His approach seems contradicted to authentic Ulama of salaf. Therefore, one should avoid attending his programmes.”The seminary cautioned not to rely him and to double check what Naik has to say.In April 2009, the seminary cautioned against listening to his speeches, saying: “He is religiously deviated, some of his

talks are unauthentic. A common man may not be able to differentiate between right and wrong; therefore, people should avoid listening his speeches, they are feared to fall in deviation.”

The seminary had rebuffed Naik as a “self-styled scholar”, calling him a preacher of a different school of thought.

Calling Naik “a scholar of English”, the seminary said he has no right to preach.

“Is wearing the dress of Jews and Christians established from the holy Quran?” the seminary said in February 2012.

The Seminary however has objected “use of the fatwas” as a tool against Naik.

“We belong to different sects and there are differences, which would always be there. But using our fatwa as a tool against him is wrong. It’s wrong to use these fatwas in present controversy,” Maulana Ashraf Usmani, the official spokesperson of Deoband told IANS.Usmani said that Deoband is neither opposing nor supporting Zakir Naik over the controversy. However, he sees the ongoing controversy as an attack on the Muslim identity and calls it “sad”.

Pakistan is a leading recipient of US aid, with Congress approving $18 billion from 2002 to 2015, according to a study by

terrorists…may not be the best use of taxpayers’ money,” said Brad Sherman, the senior-most Democrat in the sub-committee.

Sherman cited as proof a statement from former president Pervez Musharraf acknowledging that Pakistan supported Lashkare-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Both groups, based in Pakistan, have carried out multiple terror strikes in India. LeT was responsible for the worst of them, the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, and JeM for the assault on Pathankot airbase.

While Islamabad has acted against the Pakistani Taliban, it has allowed LeT, JeM and other anti-India groups, and, to America’s annoyance, the Haqqani Network to prosper.

US lawmakers want to cut Pakistan aid for abetting terror

Impotence? are not producing the results we seek then what are our options?” he asked while chairing a House sub-committee hearing on Pakistan’s role in counterterrorism.

“We could simply turn the money off…we could enforce sanctions or declare Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said,

made the US look like a “bunch of chumps” by taking its money and doing nothing in return against terrorism.

Dana Rohrabacher, another Republican, brought up Osama bin Laden, who was caught hiding in plain sight in Pakistan and killed in 2011, to say it was “absurd” to give it financial aid.

the Congressional Research Service.The country also received $13 billion from the Coalition Support Fund as reimbursements for logistical and operational support it provided to US troops operating in Afghanistan.

“Providing more assistance to a government that has supported

416-992-5489

Issue - 676 (14)

19 - 25 July 2016

Letters show Pakistan supports militants: Former Afghan spy chief Kabul The former head of Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency released documents on Thursday which he said showed that Pakistani intelligence services helped leaders of the Taliban and the feared Haqqani network in 2014 and 2015.

Rahmatullah Nabil stepped down from the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in December last year after opposing Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s efforts to improve relations with Pakistan and include Islamabad in peace talks with the Taliban.

Nabil told a group of journalists in Kabul that he had released the documents to provide concrete evidence of Pakistan’s collusion with the Taliban and the associated Haqqani group, which has been blamed for a series of kidnappings and high profile suicide bombings in the capital.

Pakistan’s foreign office and the army’s media wing did not respond to several written and telephoned requests for comment in which Reuters outlined the accusations levelled against Pakistan.

Neither the NDS nor the Afghan government was available for immediate comment on the letters.

The Afghan Taliban insurgency has in the past said it is fighting against the government and

Western allies with the support of the Afghan people, and has no need of outside help.

Nabil did not say how the letters had been obtained.

Reuters could not independently verify their authenticity.

Since retiring from the intelligence service, Nabil has been strongly critical of Pakistan, which is routinely accused by Afghanistan of sponsoring the Afghan Taliban, a charge it has consistently denied.“For the past 14 years, no one has disclosed documents of this kind. Here, I’m proving it,” he told reporters, to whom he released the letters. “They kill us every day and commit all kinds of atrocities, we have to show them.”

One letter, addressed from a section of Pakistan’s military intelligence service in the northwestern city of Peshawar, is headed “Arrangements of Secure Houses and Protection to Afghan Taliban and Their Leadership”.

In the letter, dated August 2014, an official arranges

for safe houses and vehicles to be provided for Afghan Taliban commanders forced out of a remote area of northern Pakistan while an army operation is conducted.

Another letter, dated March 2015, requests an

update on Haqqani network personnel in Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi, in the border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A third letter addressed from the Directorate General Military Intelligence, Ministry of Defence, dated July 2014, is headed “Kabul Airport Attacks and Release of Payments”.

The letter says four members of the Haqqani network are to be paid 2.5 million Pakistani rupees ($24,000) each for the “successful and comprehensive execution of assault on KB AP”.

VICTIM OF TERRORISM Authorities in Islamabad have long rejected accusations that Pakistan has provided support and sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban and its leaders,

Islamic State claims it shot down Syrian warplane, killed pilot Beirut The Islamic State group claimed its fighters shot down a Syrian regime warplane near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor and killed its pilot, in statements on jihadist websites.

The extremist group said the MiG fighter jet was downed over the south of Deir Ezzor city after it had carried out several raids on villages in the area.

The pilot died when the plane crashed, it said.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Syrian government.

But state-run SANA news agency reported that Syrian warplanes had carried out several sorties on Thursday to the east and south of Deir Ezzor city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS fighters

shot down the regime plane as it flew over an area adjacent to a military airport.

IS controls large parts of Deir Ezzor city and most of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, but has so far failed to overrun the airbase.

The Observatory -- which relies on a network of

sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

It said the plane downed on Thursday was the fourth shot down by IS fighters since April.

saying it has for years itself been a victim of terrorism, much of it from groups based in Afghanistan.

The release of the documents comes amid worsening tensions between the neighbouring countries in recent weeks, with days of clashes last month during which troops on the border exchanged artillery fire.

It also came days after Pakistan faced heavy criticism in a Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington.

Afghan President Ghani sharply criticized Pakistan during a visit to a NATO summit in Warsaw last week, and has accused it of conducting an “undeclared war” against Afghanistan.

In response, Islamabad said that Afghanistan was playing a “blame game” instead of cooperating effectively to stop terrorism.Pakistan’s critics say that it supports Islamist militants in Afghanistan to maintain influence and counter attempts by arch-rival India to gain a foothold, effectively surrounding it.

Olympics: France informed of planned terrorist attack on Rio team

Paris France was informed of a planned terrorist attack on its team at the Rio Olympics, according to the head of military intelligence cited in an official document.

The plans were revealed by General Christophe Gomart, head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM), at a parliamentary commission in May investigating the November attacks in Paris which left 147 people dead.

In a section of the report, made public this week, Gomart told the commission that he had been informed of the plot - planned by a Brazilian national -- “by our partners”.

No other details on the claims were made available by the French authorities.

Brazil’s institutional security cabinet, which co-

ordinates the information services in the country, told AFP they had received no information from the French authorities.

“We were not the source of information and the Brazilian intelligence agency (ABIN) was not officially informed either of this matter,” a spokesperson told AFP. In early July, the Brazilian minister of justice, Alexandre Moraes, said a jihadist attack in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics was a “possibility” but “not a probability”. Some 85,000 members of the security forces -- 47,000 policemen and 38,000 soldiers -- will be mobilised to ensure the safety of 10,500 athletes as well as officials, journalists and tourists from around the world expected for the Games which run from August 521.

Issue 676 (15)

19 - 25 July 2016

Watching this? The joke’s on you

by Tatsam Mukherjee Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmukh, Urvashi Rautela Direction: Indra Kumar Rating: 1 Star Great Grand Masti doesn’t provoke many questions when you’re leaving the theatre. Nothing related to the film any way. However, one question that the audience could ask is, what happened to the decent actors Vivek Oberoi and Riteish Deshmukh? They broke into the business successfully. And how life has turned in such a way that they’re forced to give their all to loud suggestive humour, in a universe where their only problem is that they crave sex and they (for whatever reason)

been waiting for a good performance from him after Mr India. Let’s leave him out.

You can’t help but feel bad for Vivek Oberoi, who was well on his way to becoming an A-lister once upon a time. And he had some good films in his resume like Company, Yuva, Omkara, Saathiya. Hell!

He even gave a knock-out performance as Maya Dolas in Shootout at Lokhandwala. Unfortunate for him - after a few bad films and a tiff with an influential superstar, he’s only left with drivel like this.

Riteish Deshmukh made quite a name for himself for his comic timing at one point. That was until he got stuck in the web of the Indra Kumars (Great

don’t get it at home. Aftab Sivdasani, well, we’ve all

Grand Masti’s director) and the Sajid Khans. To be fair

to Indra Kumar, the first film in the Masti franchise wasn’t half as bad. The film although low-brow, sexist, worked towards adding some kind of novelty to the same old ‘husbands looking for sex outside their marriage’ plotline. The presence of names like Ajay Devgn and Lara Dutta helped.

But that was 2004.

The director (Indra Kumar) is known for excessive melodrama in his films like Dil, Beta and Ishq. And he’s

made a few funny slapstick comedies like Masti, Dhamaal. And he returns to his formulae in the worst fashion with Great Grand Masti. Operating between nonsensical unfunny humour to melodrama that induces laughter (no kidding) the audience hardly has a clue what to do.

The film features Urvashi Rautela, who is only required to breathe heavily while dancing to songs with our three leading men-children. She does her part well, however, if this is the only thing she is capable of then a long career in acting is difficult to imagine. You never say never in Bollywood though;

by Shalini Langer

Voice cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Queen Latifah, Adam Devine, Keke Palmer Director: Mike Thurmeier, Galen T Chu Rating: 2 Stars The first four Ice Ages were about Manny (Romano), Sid (Leguizamo) and Diego (Leary) surviving nature.

For the first time, they try to change the course of it.

And before you question the science of the three animals, and their friends, diverting the advance of an asteroid, hold that thought.

The one steering the exercise is Buck the weasel (resurrected from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs),

voiced by none other than famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

However, the zooming asteroid shining like a bright star even in broad daylight isn’t even the whole purpose of Ice Age. More importantly, and more than ever, the film is intent on finding love for each of its characters, who go about expressing it in a manner that gets as human-like as having a wedding planner for the union of Manny and Ellie’s daughter Peaches (Palmer) with Julian (Devine). It is painfully desperate at the best of times, just painful at others. One of these occasions is when Manny gets the coldshoulder from Ellie (Latifah) for forgetting her gift on their “anniversary”.

The squirrel Scrat, again, is responsible for propelling the course of the film. Still trying to get its acorn, this time within a spaceship, it sets the asteroid and Earth on a collision course when it crashes into one thing too many while fiddling knobs in its craft haphazardly. You may wonder who put the spaceship out in space in that age, but it is better not to go in that direction. Still, Scrat’s misdemeanours in space, particularly his encounters with gravity, are more entertaining than the plodding course of his counterparts on Earth once they intend to take on the asteroid.

The jokes are repetitive, the characters tiresome, and rather than Manny, Sid or Diego, it is the sidekicks

(particularly Wanda Sykes, as Granny) who hold centrestage. Tyson as Buck is interesting, but he is too much of a one-note character to hold this film together. He is still battling a pack of dinosaurs, who are a mingle of distractingly different shapes and colours. Having once claimed to have married a pineapple, Buck now cradles a pumpkin as its child. No, there is no comment on that. Before long though, a llama comes into this mix, who lives in “Geotopia”, bears the name Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), greets with a namaste, lights incense, holds himself in yoga positions, and emphasises the importance of not stressing.

a place where an ‘actor’ like Katrina Kaif has stuck around for so long, you never really know.

Great Grand Masti rehashes the same old, same old plot, one more time. Three men *frustrated* in their married lives (for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter) look to get out of town, where one of the three men has to sell his palatial bungalow.

The bungalow is conveniently set in a place called ‘Doodhvari’, so they can *milk* every opportunity for a pun. And yes, the young ladies from this place are all Jersey Shorerejects dressed in Zeenat Aman’s see-through Satyam Shivam

Sundaram saree. Yes, it is plausible in Bollywood.

The only problem is the bungalow is inhabited by a spirit with a heaving breast. And she craves some ‘Masti’ - so one of the men has to die to give her that. Meanwhile, the audience is half-dead.

It seems highly ridiculous that the producers think this is what the audience want. That this will make money, and it just might.

It also makes one sad for the audience, who are taken for granted like this and serviced with one trashy film after the other in the name of ‘family entertainers’. Don’t bother watching this one. You can thank us later.

Issue 676 (16)

19 - 25 July 2016

Urvashi Rautela deserves an award for this tear-jerking press conference And the award for the worst performance in a press conference goes to... Urvashi Rautela from Great Grand Masti.

The film, directed by Indra Kumar, is facing grave piracy issues which has affected the film’s business. Film piracy is a problem where a movie is available for viewing at home even before its theatrical release. Great Grand Masti was leaked more than a week before its release.

The members of the cast of Great Grand Masti took the stage at a press conference to address this issue, and express sadness about the ineffective law and order which could never quite nail the culprits behind this recurring problem.

However, what really shook some of the members of the audience was Urvashi Rautela’s unconvincing attempts at becoming an anti-piracy activist. She intended to sound angry, and that’s fine because she has every right to be.

Her film just got leaked.

But what made all the angst seem futile was when she used the platform to brag about her fans on ‘shoshial media’ across Facebook, Twitter,

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Instagram who congratulated her on her performance in the film and

Kabir Khan excited to start ‘Tubelight’ with Salman Khan As ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ completed one year since its release, director Kabir Khan is looking forward to starting his next film with superstar Salman Khan.

He says “a new journey

will begin” soon. After delivering two blockbuster hits in ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ with Salman, Kabir is eager to start the next project, which has been titled

‘Tubelight’. Kabir tweeted: “Thank you for all the good wishes for #1YearOfBajrangiBhaijaan...Now we are 10 days from the start of #Tubelight. A new journey begins.” Released on July 17, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, which also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and child artiste Harshaali Malhotra, narrates the story of a Hindu man on a mission to take a Pakistani girl, who is dumb and mute, back to her country. It chronicles his adventures and experiences faced during his road trip.

then went on to call the Masti franchise the biggest comedy franchise

in Bollywood (just because the last one grossed Rs 100 crore?).

Katrina Kaif’s big-hearted gesture for the paparazzi

Katrina Kaif had a grand birthday bash with industry buddies on Friday, but she made sure everyone who was part of her big day felt special — including the paparazzi. The actress made it a point to see that media photographers, who were at the venue (Juhu) to click pictures of her and the guests, were given food

packets and water bottles. She also happily posed for pictures. Says a photographer, “It’s not about food, it’s about kindness. We stand outside stars’ houses for long hours, but no one bothers to even offer water. Katrina’s gesture was unexpected, and more than enough to brighten up our day.”

Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met made me want to become an actor says Anushka Sharma Anushka Sharma recently opened up about her desire to act for Imtiaz Ali, saying he was one of the few directors who understood the man-woman relationship. She even came out as a fan-girl saying she got into the business of becoming an actor only after she saw the Kareena Kapoorstarrer Jab We Met, also directed

by Imtiaz Ali. “I had never dreamt of becoming an actress

but when I saw ‘Jab We Met’, I was so attracted

to the film and to the character that Kareena played. I felt this was cool and something I could do... That happened because it was such a strong character. That’s why Imtiaz is a very special person,” said the PK actor in admiration for her current director.

She will be seen alongside Shah Rukh Khan, and Anushka thinks they already have a romantic blockbuster on the cards. “It’s a

great opportunity for me to work with the king of romance and a director, whose love stories are always so special and romantic,” said an excited Anushka Sharma on her next project.

The actor is currently celebrating the unprecedented success of her film Sultan, with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and will next be seen in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with Ranbir Kapoor, Fawad Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is expected to get a Diwali release.

Issue 676 (17)

19 - 25 July 2016

Kristen Stewart thought Woody Allen hated her Amber Rose says Blac Actress Kristen Stewart believed that filmmaker Woody Allen hated her. The 26-year-old worked with Allen on “Cafe Society” and initially thought he “regretted” casting her, making her determined to prove herself on set, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “I thought, ‘He hates me! He absolutely is regretting his decision.’ But then I was like, ‘I’m going to prove to this little dude that I can absolutely do this’,” Stewart said. The 80-year-old director also criticised the “Twilight” actress for her looks and said she wasn’t pretty enough.

“That first day, he would come up to me and say things like, ‘You look terrible. You’re supposed to be pretty.’ “ But the “Snow White and the Huntsman” actress says that she wasn’t offended as she thinks it was a test used by the director to see if she was “cool”. “It’s not personal, and he’s not trying to offend. He’s not the type of person who likes actors who are totally up their own asses and have massive egos. I feel like it was almost a tool for him to go, ‘If they can take it, they’re cool. And if they can’t, then f**k it,” she said.

Chyna is ‘always horny’

Model Amber Rose says model Blac Chyna is “always horny all the time”. “When I was pregnant, it was just like, ‘Fine.’ I would act like I was into it, but I was like, ‘Please just hurry up,’“ Rose recalled of being intimate with then husband rapper Wiz Khalifa. “He loved my body. I was nine months and he was like, ‘The baby’s kinda big now. It’s a little weird. I feel like I’m gonna hit my son in the head,’“ Rose said in VH1 chat show, reports usmagazine.com. The

conversation then turned to her friend Chyna’s love life, with Amber saying she is “always horny all the time”. “She might get mad that I say this, but Chyna, she says she’s always horny all the time,” Rose told guest Tess Holliday, who similarly admitted to being horny while pregnant. “We had sex two days before I went in to have the baby,” the plussize model told Rose, who responded: “B**ch!

Shut up! Good Lord!”

Rose and Khalifa just finalised their divorce.

I wish that the world would find a way to resolve our differences says Jennifer Lopez

Ryan Reynolds and I have turned down films for family says Blake Lively

Actress Blake Lively says she and actor husband Ryan Reynolds have always priortised family over anything else and rejected many film

offers in the past just to spend time with each other and their daughter.

The “Gossip Girl” star, who has 18-month-old James with Reynolds, said the couple believes in “chasing and maintaining” the family ties rather than their careers, reported USA Today.

“We’ve both given up projects that we really love because we can’t keep our family together.

People often think their career is something they have to chase and maintain, but for us, we said, ‘Let’s always chase and maintain our personal life.’ “This is a career that’s like the stock market: You’ve got to stay hot while you’re hot. But your family, that’s the real thing that gives you security and success and happiness,” said the 28-yearold actress.

Jennifer Lopez, who turns 47 later this month, shared her birthday wish with a website at the premiere of ‘Ice Age: Collision Course’ in Los Angeles on Saturday. “I wish that the world would find a way to resolve our differences and have more love and unity right now,” she said, referring to the recent spate of terrorist attacks around the world. The singer and Hamilton musical creator Lin-Manuel Miranda recently paid tribute to the victims of the Orlando attack and their families with their song, Love Make the World Go Around.

“It was my idea. I had a song called Love Make The World Go Round. It was about relationships and love. And I just thought once the Orlando thing happened...which was kind of the first in a string of things that have happened now tragically, I thought, ‘Let’s do something for this,’“ Lopez remarked. “… I called Lin Manuel and asked him to do it with me. And he said yes. And we got in there and rewrote the song’s lyrics in 20 minutes to really talk about that idea of love and pride and unity and not being afraid and putting love out into the world at any cost,” concluded the singer. The proceeds from the song’s sales will go to benefit those affected by the Orlando nightclub shooting.

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Issue 676 (18)

19 - 25 July 2016

China’s urban air quality improves in first half

BEIJING Air quality in China’s largest cities continued to improve during the first six months of 2016, the country’s environment ministry said on Sunday.

China’s largest 338 cities enjoyed more clean air days in the first half compared with the same period of 2015, the ministry said on its website.

It said 76.7 percent of January-June days had clean air, an increase of four percentage points from a year earlier. In the capital Beijing, levels of PM 2.5 - dangerous tiny pollutants - fell 17.9 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said. In Beijing, concentrations of PM 2.5 averaged 64 micrograms per cubic metre

in the first half, significantly higher than the official state standard of 35 micrograms, and the World Health Organisation’s guideline of an annual average of no more than 10 micrograms.

The ministry did not provide reasons for the improvement in air quality, but it follows increased measures to crack down on polluters and coal use, as well as efforts to tackle overcapacity in the heavily polluting steel sector. A slowdown in economic growth has also likely contributed. Of the country’s 10 most polluted cities in the first half, six were in the industrial northern province of Hebei, down from seven at the end of 2015.

17 yrs later, woman who alleged rape sentenced in killing by ex-boyfriend California Norma Patricia Esparza was a Southern California college student in 1995 when she says she was raped by a man she met at a bar.

Weeks later, she went back to the same spot and pointed him out to her ex-boyfriend. He and two others followed Gonzalo Ramirez out of the bar, kidnapped him and hacked him to death with a meat cleaver, authorities say.

For the next 17 years, the killing went unsolved and Esparza built her life, earning a doctorate, working as a psychology professor in Switzerland and serving as a consultant to the World Health Organization. She started a family.

But police didn’t stop investigating, and they arrested Esparza and the others in 2012. She insisted she was innocent but later accepted a plea deal. On Friday, 21 years after the killing, Esparza

was sentenced to six years in prison for her role.

She was not there when Ramirez was killed, but Esparza, now 41, pointed him out to his assailants, said her attorney Jack Earley.

“She has come to the point

her, Van and two others followed and rear-ended Ramirez in his vehicle, then attacked, kidnapped and killed him, dumping his body on the side of a road in Irvine, authorities said.

Co-defendant Diane Tran also was sentenced on

of accepting what happened and her responsibility for not coming forward sooner,” he said.

It comes after the case drew international attention after Esparza’s arrest and prompted an outcry from sexual assault victims’ advocates, who said the case sent a chilling message to rape survivors.

After she told Gianni Van that Ramirez had raped

Friday to four years in prison but freed based on time already served. Another co-defendant, Shannon Gries, got a term of 25 years to life, and told the court he would spend the time trying to make amends to Ramirez’s family.

“It torments us to think of each stab, each hack and blow that he received while being tied without being

able to defend himself,” said a letter from one of Ramirez’s brothers that a prosecutor read at the hearing.

Outside court, senior deputy district attorney Mike Murray said he was disappointed that the defendants didn’t acknowledge their roles in the killing.

“It didn’t just happen. They murdered Gonzalo Ramirez, and I didn’t hear one of them take responsibility for that,” he told reporters.

Esparza’s husband, Jorge Mancillas, told reporters in 2013 that his wife had told Van about the rape and Van took matters into his own hands. Esparza was forced into a sham marriage with Van to keep her from speaking out when police began investigating the killing, Mancillas said.

Esparza pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2014, hoping to reunite later with her young daughter.

Issue 676 (19)

19 - 25 July 2016

Drunk driving case against Sikh dismissed as cops fail to return turban Continued from Page 1 Copeland ruled that the breach of the defendant’s right to freedom of religion by police was a serious one and that Singh’s

nally to remind officers of this and other directives.

Peel police recognise “the proper search and handling of religious items are of great im-

breath sample evidence should be excluded because its admission into evidence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans, in a statement on Friday, was quoted as saying by The Canadian Press that she ordered a review of the decision and the officer’s actions after Singh was detained on December 10, 2014.

Evans said Peel Regional Police have had a directive in place since 2012 regarding the proper search and handling of religious items and a training bulletin has been issued inter-

portance in keeping with the freedom of religious rights,” Evans was quoted as saying.

“I am concerned by the negative impact that this incident and my officer’s actions have had on members within our community,” she said.

“We have since reinforced the importance of this directive to ensure that this type of mistake does not occur in the future,” she added.

Copeland said in her ruling there was no dispute that the removal of Singh’s turban was an accident, but it was not returned to him for more than three hours.

“The evidence of the various officers who interacted with Mr Singh about the cause for this delay in returning the turban, and what steps were taken when in relation to the turban, contains numerous inconsistencies,” Copeland wrote. Peel police policy states the only exception to returning a turban is that if a prisoner is suicidal, or if continuous monitoring of the prisoner is not possible, then the turban shall not be returned for security reasons. “Neither of those concerns is at issue in this case,” Copeland wrote in her ruling. “I accept Mr. Singh’s evidence that he felt ashamed at being without his turban, and that it made him feel vulnerable,” she said.

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Sunanda Pushkar case: Mehr Tarar quizzed by Delhi Police in Feb New Delhi Delhi Police have questioned Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar in connection with the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

Tarar’s alleged friendship with Tharoor had led to a row between him and Pushkar, who was found dead in a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014 under mysterious circumstances.

Joint commissioner of police (south-east range) RP Upadhyay told Hindustan Times that Tarar was questioned by Delhi Police earlier this year.

“In February, she joined the investigation and was questioned. However, I am not in a position to comment anything as I’ve not gone through the details of the questioning,” Upadhyay said. A police official said Tarar’s questioning was based on her association with Tharoor and she denied having a romantic liaison with him.

Ironically, the commissioner of

police, special CP (law and order), two joint CPs (southeastern range), two DCPs, two additional DCPs, the ACP of the STF and the first investigating officer (IO) primarily dealing with the case have already been moved out through routine transfers.

When asked if the transfers will have any impact on the case probe, the joint CP said, “It’s the officers who have been transferred, not the posts they were holding. The officers who have joined these posts are carrying forward the probe. Whatever needs to be done will be done in the case,” Upadhyay said.

Incidentally, Pushkar’s death took place a day after she was involved in a spat with Tarar on Twitter over the latter’s

alleged affair with Tharoor.

Sources in Delhi Police said that there has been no significant development in the case since after the last changes took place in the police hierarchy that includes retirement of Bhim Sain Bassi, former police chief.

Tarar first wrote an email to the then police commissioner BS Bassi, saying she was willing to join the probe. When she came to Delhi in February she was questioned by a team headed by DCP Premnath in a five star hotel.

Earlier in May, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had sought Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s intervention in setting up a court-monitored SIT to take forward the probe. In a letter to Singh, Swamy was critical of Delhi Police alleging that it was dragging its feet even on elementary steps necessary in criminal investigation when it has been established that poison was found in her body and she died an unnatural death.

Wife of cleric threatens to commit suicide if he does not shave off beard In a bizarre case in Meerut, the wife of a cleric has threatened to commit suicide unless he shaves his beard.

Thirty-six-year old Arshad Badruddin is a cleric in Meerut. He claims that his wife repeatedly

men all day," Arshad lamented in a complaint.

SUICIDE THREATS "We have four children, and yet she continues with this demand. I have also told her many times to stop using the mobile as I fear that our

threatens to kill herself, India Samvad reported. In fact, he fears that he would be blamed if his wife takes the extreme step.

Arshad now wants his wife to undergo counselling sessions. He also complains that his wife used to chat with other men against his wishes.

WIFE LIKES SALMAN, SRK "I am a 'pesh imam' and I am a true follower of Islam. I got married to Sahana of Pilkhuwa town in Hapur district in 2001. Soon after our marriage, my wife demanded that I should shave and avoid keeping a beard as she likes clean-shaven men like Bollywood actorsSalman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. She has also brought a smartphone and chats with other

children will pick the bad habit. I am irritated by her behaviour.

When I scolded her recently, she started crying and threatened to commit suicide after poisoning our children," Arshad claimed in a letter to the District Magistrate.

"My wife wanted to buy western clothes for herself and kids on Eid. But when I refused to accompany her, she again threatened to kill herself," Arshad wrote in the letter.

"A day after Eid, my wife locked herself in a room. When I peeped inside, I found that she was trying to hang herself with a rope from the ceiling fan. I immediately called other family members and broke open the door. Luckily, we managed to save her," stated Arshad.

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Issue 676 (22)

19 - 25 July 2016

Indians joining al Qaeda more than IS in Iraq and Syria Toronto Interactions between a Canada-based terrorism expert and jihadis fighting in Iraq and Syria have thrown up a hitherto unknown aspect of Indian fighters – many of them gravitate towards an al Qaeda affiliate and not the Islamic State, perceived as global jihad’s sexy beast.

Amarnath Amarasingam, a fellow with George Washington University’s

Programme on Extremism, has contacted close to 100 jihadis in the conflict zone since late 2014.

Of those, he has interviewed nearly 40, and about half a dozen were from India.

Amarasingam found almost all the Indians he interviewed had joined the Jabhat al-Nusra, which is affiliated to al Qaeda and fell out with IS. “IS is the sexy topic for most people who are watching this stuff. And anyone leaving their home country to go to Syria,

people just assume they’re going to join IS. But a lot of people are drawn to Nusra because it’s al Qaeda in Syria, it’s carrying the torch of Osama bin Laden and carrying the torch of the original movement,” Amarasingam told Hindustan Times.

There is also the sense that Nusra offers the “purest form” of jihad as against IS, which is “a bit more theologically corrupted”.

According to the latest estimates, nearly 50 Indians have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with jihadi groups, including 21 cases that recently came to light in Kerala. At least six Indians have reportedly died. Another 25 were arrested while in Syria or on their way to the war-torn country.

“There are definitely Indians who have left to go fight with the IS. There are also very likely women and families who have left to go live under the so-called caliphate,” Amarasingam

said.

“But it’s important to recognise that just as many or around the same number have left to go fight with a variety of different organisations that are active in Syria, such as Jabhat ul-Nusra, Jund alAqsa and a lot of these other smaller movements,” he pointed out.

There are even those like one Indian who is “independent” and works with whatever group in the region can utilise his services at a particular juncture.

A top official of the National Investigation Agency said his organisation’s findings did not reflect those of the Canada-based scholar.

“There are indeed many groups in Syria. But our experience has been that most people from India, who have travelled Syria or wanted to, had their eyes set on the IS, not the other groups,” said the official, who did not want to be named as he wasn’t authorised to brief the media. C Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank, said his interactions with experts and members of the Indian Muslim community who had tracked the movement of Indians to Iraq and Syria had revealed a sense of revulsion and unease with the extreme violence associated with IS. “So some of these people who criticise the situation in Kashmir and Palestine

and may be thinking of going to Iraq and Syria are also people who don’t subscribe to the extreme violence perpetrated by IS. It’s like a dampener,” Bhaskar said.

Amarasingam’s work offers a crucial insight into the minds and motives of the jihadis in Iraq and Syria at a time when a growing number of Indian families are grappling with the radicalisation of their sons and daughters and their decision to leave home to travel to the Middle East.

He is also part of the Canadian Network for Research into Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS).

He said, “I do get the sense that more of them (Indians) are with Nusra than IS, I’m not sure why.

I think a lot of this has to do with the networks they were involved with leaving Syria…Some of them were early enough that they did kind of spend some time with IS and then leave. “I do get the sense a lot of them are drawn to the Nusra brand because they feel like Nusra is addressing the needs of the Syrians more than IS, which is killing Sunni Muslims, is after something very different.

They feel like Nusra, to some extent, maintains grassroots support with

Cyber jihad: A glimpse into terror online Toronto In May, the Islamic State released a video that was targeted specifically at India even if it was in Arabic. Its English magazine Dabiq too has focused on the country. IS has been

known for cultivating a strong online propaganda presence usually marked by graphic videos of its brutality.

Toronto-based researcher Amarnath Amarasingam sees this online mobilisation as part of

what makes the conflict in Syria “different and unique”.

There is posting of real-time information. Interestingly, while having connected to nearly 100 jihadis during the course of his research over an almost 18-month span,

Amarasingam hasn’t yet established communication with any IS member from India. One factor behind that missing link could be that the “golden age” of IS recruits using social media frequently has perhaps passed, said

Amarasingam, a fellow with George Washington University’s Programme on Extremism.

Those from other organisations like Jabhat alNusra, an al Qaeda affiliate, are more available. For in-

stance, during the course of his meeting with HT, Amarasingam messaged an Indian-origin Nusra fighter, who responded to his queries. These extremists piggyback Turkish or Jordanian networks to get online, using a variety of

social media platforms.

Those particularly popular include the obvious Twitter and Facebook, but also Tumblr, Telegram and Kik. One Telegram channel “Syria through Indian Eyes” has close to 550 members. These interviewees are cagey, often “spooked” when personal or locational details are sought, Amarasingam said. The first he contacted, who went by the alias of Indian Mujahid, “didn’t want to talk”. The jihadi behind that handle, believed to be from Kerala, posts across platforms.

On Facebook, for instance, he enthused about Indian cuisine: “One needs to taste Indian cooking! Ghee rice and Potato sabji with Yogurt!” He also does a promotional spiel to those he can galvanise, and to the nearly 1,650 that like this Facebook page with an image of wall writing: “SHAM welcomes muhajireen (Migrants).

Syrians.”

The Indians Amarasingham has communicated with are welleducated, having been to college, and all are young males in the 23-28 age bracket. “A lot of the guys are involved in daily fighting. They are on sentry duty, manning the frontlines.” At that time, they talk a lot more.

The Indians in Syria appear to be “influenced by” the Afghan and Chechen jihads, and by preachers like Anwar al-Awlaki.

These are often not lone wolves who make their way to Syria, not individuals leaving randomly, but usually part of a likeminded group making the journey together or “friendship clusters”. While the IS’s caliphate tries to attract women and families to showcase it as a “land of abundance”, that isn’t the case with Nusra. Its young men “are a lot more honest about the struggle of everyday life, scarcity of food, of water. This is seen

through the prism of sacrifice,” Amarasingam said.

Also part of the sacrifice is leaving parents and families behind in India. “They always miss home but they downplay it and missing home is part of the sacrifice. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be meaningful,” Amarasingam explained.

Indians are “not a whole lot different” from others drawn to the conflict “out of religious conviction”.

“What is unique in a weird way is they maintain a kind of Indianness. Others are Muslims first. Indians offer their unique experience,” he said.

Pre-mature Ejaculation?

416-992-5489

Navjot Singh Sidhu stumps BJP, quits Rajya Sabha seat amid AAP buzz

Amritsar Cricketer-turned-BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Monday at a time speculations were rife that he might join the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of next year’s Punjab election.

Sidhu, a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, was elected to the Upper House in April. While he was not available for comment, his staff in Amritsar confirmed the news of his resignation.

A sulking Sidhu, who was not fielded as a candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has so far re-

fused the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) repeated attempts to pacify him. He has appeared reluctant to take up any significant campaign role in the northern state.

The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine is staring at perceived anti-incumbency accumulated during the past ten years of its rule in Punjab.

Delhi’s ruling AAP is trying to make a foray into the state, ramping up its campaign efforts. Sidhu’s move came on the day AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal visited the Golden Temple, a famous Sikh shrine.

Issue 676 (23)

19 - 25 July 2016

Nice attacker sent ‘laughing’ photo amid crowds, says brother Tunis The Tunisian man who killed at least 84 people in France by mowing down Bastille Day revellers with a lorry had phoned his brother hours earlier and sent a picture of himself laughing as he mingled with the crowd, the brother told Reuters.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old delivery driver, was shot dead by police on Thursday night after careering along a packed sea-front promenade in Nice for about 2 km, killing 84 people including 10 children.

His brother Jabeur told Reuters in Tunisia that Mohamed had called him for a final time on Thursday afternoon and sent a picture of himself among the crowds in the southern French city.

“That last day he said he

was in Nice with his European friends to celebrate the national holiday,” Jabeur said, adding that in

Mohamed Bouhlel had a criminal record and was known to French police, but not to the intelligence

in nature and that Bouhlel had radicalised “very quickly”.

Relatives and former

the photo “he seemed very happy and pleased, he was laughing a lot.”

Reuters could not verify the existence of the photograph, which he declined to share.

services. His motive remains unclear.

France’s prime minister said in remarks published on Sunday that the attack, which was claimed by Islamic State, was Islamist

neighbours in Msaken, about 120 km south of Tunis, said Bouhlel had moved to France in 2005 and had last visited four years ago. They described him as sporty, uninter-

ested in religion and from a normal family.

Family members said Bouhlel had begun calling them frequently in recent weeks.

“He spoke to me about the town of Msaken, about boxing and sport, and how he was going to come back to Msaken soon,” Jabeur told Reuters.

“He asked for news about our parents ... he always spoke to me, we were very close,” he added. “He sent us small sums of money recently, sometimes 300 or 400 euros ($330-$440), and mobile telephones.”

Bouhlel’s sister has said he was treated for psychological issues for years before leaving Tunisia.

A psychiatrist who treated him more than a decade ago told Reuters on Sunday that he had been ag-

Wonder if this city loves me: Baton Rouge cop’s FB message days before death

Baton Rouge Just days before he was shot and killed on Sunday morning, a Baton Rouge police officer posted an emotional Facebook message saying he was “physically and emotionally” tired and expressing how difficult it was to be both a police officer and a black man, a friend said Sunday.

“I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me,” Montrell Jackson wrote.

Friends and family of Jackson were mourning the 10year-veteran of the police force that relatives described as a “gentle giant” and a “protector” after he and another two law enforcement officers were shot and killed Sunday morning by a gunman.

In the Facebook posting Jackson said while in uniform he gets nasty looks

and out of uniform some consider him a threat.

“I’ve experienced so much in my short life and these last 3 days have tested me

to the core,” the posting read.

The message was posted July 8, just three days after a black man was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge. That shooting was the beginning of an extremely tense week in the country’s fraught history of race relations. An-

other black man was shot and killed by police the next day in Minnesota, with his girlfriend livestreaming the aftermath

on Facebook. Then a black gunman opened fire during a protest against the police shootings in Dallas, killing five police officers.

Jackson does not specifically refer to those events but the posting appears to be a reaction to them.

Erika Green told The Associated Press Sunday

that she is friends with the family of Jackson, one of three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers who were killed Sunday morning. She said she saw the message on his Facebook page.

In the message, Jackson says he is physically and emotionally tired.

“These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart,” Jackson wrote.

A screenshot of the image has been widely circulating on the internet but is no longer on Jackson’s Facebook page.

Jackson’s family was mourning the officer Sunday afternoon.

Kedrick Pitts, the 24-yearold younger half brother of Montrell Jackson, said he was very close to his older brother.

“With him it was God, family and the police force,” Pitts said outside his mother’s house in Baton Rouge, where family was gathered Sunday. “He went above and beyond ... He was a protector.”

He said his brother had been on the force for 10 years, having joined in 2006 and had risen to the rank of corporal.

Pitts said he woke up Sunday to find his mother crying as news broke about the shooting involving police. He drove his mother to the hospital and it was there that they discovered that Jackson had been shot. He said Jackson leaves behind a wife and a 4-month-old son named Mason.

Jackson and his family were planning to go to Houston soon for a vacation, Pitts said.

gressive towards his parents and had body image problems.

The psychiatrist, Chemceddine Hamouda, said Bouhlel’s parents brought him to his clinic in Msaken in August 2004.

“He had behavioural problems with his parents at that time ... he was very aggressive with them,” Hamouda said. “Sometimes he had tried to lock his parents in a room in their house.”

After excelling academically, Bouhlel had drifted away from school, Hamouda said.

“He had problems with his body,” said Hamouda. “He said: ‘Why am I thin? I’m not happy with my body.’”

“I just gave him some pills to calm these behavioural issues and this aggression.”

Pilot killed as plane crashes during Canadian air show: Military

Toronto An investigation is underway after a plane crashed on Sunday during a military air show in Western Canada, killing the pilot, the local air base said.

According to a statement from the military, the plane crashed at the show in Cold Lake, Alberta, and the event was cancelled as a result.

Global News reported that a witness said the plane did a loop, inverted and then dived straight down.

Bangladesh identifies Dhaka attack masterminds, accepts ‘foreign links’ Dhaka Bangladesh on Saturday said it has identified the masterminds of the July 1 Dhaka cafe terror attack and a second assault days later. “The government has identified the masterminds of the two attacks, they will be exposed to justice,” home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told the media, but declined to elaborate “in the interest of investigations”. Islamist militants launched an attack on a restaurant in Dhaka’s upmarket Gulshan diplomatic zone, killing 22 people, including 19-year-old Indian girl

Tarishi Jain and two police officers. Six suspected militants were gunned down in the commando operation the next morning.

Security officials said they had confirmed the identities of five of the six slain attackers. Six days after the Gulshan cafe attack,

militants tried to carry out an assault on the country’s biggest Eid congregation in northern Sholakia, killing two policemen.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has alleged that the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islam and its ally, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party of ex-premier Khaleda Zia, had patronised the assaults.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the cafe attack, but the government claims the homegrown Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh was behind both the attacks. The IS has also claimed a number of killings of secular and liberal activists, writers and religious minorities, including

moderate Sufi preachers, in the past, but the government continues to deny the presence of any foreign terrorists on Bangladeshi soil.

However, in an apparent weakening of stance, senior government leaders and police said Bangladeshi militants appeared to be trying to establish links with the IS or ensure the terrorist group’s access to media outlets to lodge the claims.

“Those who carried out the Gulshan attack were all Bangladeshis, but I don’t rule out their possible foreign links.

Issue 676 (24)

19 - 25 July 2016

Your sensitive, spiritual side is out in full force early this week, so pay attention to subtle nudges that could save you time and money. The New Moon encourages you to move in new circles and think about expanding your social options. There’s fun to be had if you want it. Passions will be unleashed from Thursday, putting you in a much more proactive mood.

You’re on a roll socially, with many opportunities to mix, mingle, and enjoy some fabulous evenings out. You might feel motivated to volunteer, too, particularly if others need a helping hand. It should now be easier to make headway with your career and begin to put plans into action.

Later in the week the focus shifts to spiritual matters, rest, and relaxation.

With a full house at the top of your chart, you might be in the position of having to make key decisions that could affect future plans. If you have big dreams, you're ideally placed to start manifesting them. The New Moon in Aquarius encourages you to move outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself in the process.

The New Moon in your zone of shared resources may be one of the best times for reorganizing your financial situation, or at least making a start on it. Use this opportunity to get advice and put it into action. You're also primed for adventure and embracing a learning curve. A lineup in Pisces might encourage vacation plans, whether you go abroad or stay close to home.

With Mercury now gathering pace in Aquarius, interactions settle down and become more predictable. This is a good time to sign documents, close deals, and generally get back into the swing of things.

When it comes to finances you’ll need to keep a grip on things. The Pisces focus suggests you’ll be tempted to splurge just for the sake of it, so go easy if you can.

Romantic opportunities seem particularly upbeat this week, encouraging you to add a touch of magic to an ongoing relationship or to help a new liaison blossom. You’ll also find that everyday interactions, including business meetings, benefit from your creative and inspirational input.

When Mars and Venus head into Aries you could be more impulsive.

The midweek New Moon can be helpful if you’ve been thinking of starting a business enterprise or developing your creative potential. Mercury is picking up speed, so this is the perfect time to move from research to action. Romantic opportunities look promising, with a chance to take a budding liaison to a new level of commitment.

The early part of the week can of fer tender embraces and the chance for a special date. Romance is sweet and magical, leading to the potential for a relationship that encompasses mystery and the unknown. You have a great opportunity to start on DIY projects or other plans as the cosmos lends its support.

Home life seems upbeat so long as everyone is being honest with each other. There’s a chance that this might not be the case, particularly if you sense someone isn’t telling the truth. Any dilemmas resulting from this may be short-lived when Mars and Venus move into Aries later this week.

Instead of holding back, people will be ready to tell it like it is, helping to clear the air.

This isn’t the time to be overconfident or take things for granted. Instead, it helps to bring balanced judgment to the table, particularly if your reputation is at stake. Later, indecision and a lack of facts may give way to a determination to succeed no matter what. A more dynamic mindset could work wonders as Mars and Venus enter Aries.

This week’s New Moon is the second in Aquarius this year, bringing another opportunity to forge ahead with an idea whose time has come. As Mercury gets up to speed, you’ll find your efforts are quickly rewarded. Meanwhile, continue to stay in control where finances are concerned. Cut back on items you no longer use or need, as doing so could save you a lot.

You’ll gain control of the reins as the Sun glides into your sign midweek, enabling you to forge ahead with personal plans. On the same day, the New Moon in your spiritual sector can be useful for starting practices such as meditation, yoga, or anything else that helps you feel more peaceful. Mars and Venus jog into your personal money zone, so it's time to take action.

Issue 676 (25)

19 - 25 July 2016

Technology Facebook makes modest progress on workplace diversity Revealing the LGBT workforce data at its premises for the first time, Facebook on Thursday released its diversity report, announcing a modest in-

crease in the number of women and minority employees and highlighting lack of talent to fulfill its diversity goals. While its current representation in senior leadership is 3 per cent Black, 3 per cent Hispanic and 27 percent women, “of new senior leadership hires at Facebook in the US over

the last 12 months, 9 percent are Black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 29 percent are women,” said Maxine Williams, Global Director of Diversity, Facebook, in a

post. “In a voluntary survey of our employees in the US about sexual orientation and gender identity, to which 61 per cent responded, 7 percent self-identified as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender or asexual. We are proud to support the LGBTQ community through our policies, products and extensive ben-

efits for our employees,” Williams said.

Facebook also committed $15 million to Code.org and took TechPrep resource hub to communi-

ties of colour across the US. “Facebook’s five-year commitment will help Code.org to drive the development of curricula, public school teachertraining and student skills-building, particularly among traditionally underrepresented populations in engineering and

Twitter forces tweet-archiving PostGhost to shut down PostGhost -- a nascent website that kept copies of deleted tweets sent by verified users -- has decided to shut operations after micro-blogging site Twitter sent the start-up a

down, with a detailed note to Twitter that such users are “public figures” that should have their tweets recorded.

“We believe that for such prominent verified Twitter

notice. PostGhost kept copies of tweets sent by verified users with more than 10,000 followers, the Verge reported on Monday.

Twitter sent a notice to PostGhost that recording deleted tweets was a violation of the service's terms.

PostGhost agreed to shut

users, the public has a right to see their public Twitter history, whether or not they grow to regret the statements they've made,” read a statement from PostGhost.

“We created the website postghost.com to provide the public with a more accurate history of public

statements made by the most influential public figures on Twitter.”

“We believe PostGhost provides a fairer and more transparent way of allowing individuals to hold public figures accountable than Politwoops, a website that Twitter has recently reauthorised to publish certain deleted tweets,” it added.

Recently, Politwoops, a project archiving the tweets of politicians, was shut down. It was, however, revived later after Twitter and Politwoops reached an understanding. According to Twitter’s verification FAQ, Twitter verifies “key individuals and brands” who comprise “highly sought users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business and other key interest areas”.

computer science,” the Facebook executive wrote.

Facebook needs an employee base that reflects a broad range of experiences, backgrounds, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and many other characteristics.

“Over the past few years, we have been working hard to increase diversity at Facebook through a variety of internal and external programs and partnerships. We still have a long way to go, but as we continue to strive for greater change, we are encouraged by positive hiring trends,” the company said.

The strength in recruiting has also contributed to an increase by several percentage points of women in leadership, from 23 per cent to 27 percent and Black people in non-tech from 3 percent to 5 percent.

Facebook also aims to build an inclusive environment through its training on managing unconscious bias.

“Nearly 100 per cent of people at the manager level and above - and 75 per cent of all US employees - have taken our Managing Bias class,” Williams said.

47% of smartphone gamers are women, says Facebook study

Nowadays, smartphones has become the most used gaming device for people all over the world. A study by Facebook has revealed that 47 per cent of all smartphone players are now women. The study further states that gaming on mobile devices is increasingly becoming popular among women.

Facebook's data analysis and storytelling team Facebook IQ commissioned market research company TNS to survey people ages 18-plus spanning 12 countries representing North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle-East and Asia on their use of mobile as a gaming device. The survey found that on average, smartphones are the top gaming device for users at 71 per cent -- followed by computers at 64 per cent,

tablets at 34 per cent and video game consoles at 26 per cent, as adweek.com reported on Tuesday.

Facebook survey also studied that the habits of mobile game spenders -- users who play games on mobile and pay for games on at least a monthly basis -- and found that these spending players were 2.7 times more likely to stay in-game for a “sense of community and belonging” than mobile non-spenders.

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Indulge in “Secret Conversations” on Facebook soon!

An individual's privacy on social media is of utmost importance and Facebookhas decided to take this one step further.

After introducing message encryption on WhatsApp, Facebook will soon introduce the same on the social networking site's Messenger service as well.

“Providing more ways for people to safely share is an important part of making the world more open and connected,” the social network's vice president David Marcus said on his Facebook page. Facebook “fully expects this to be available to everyone by end of the summer,” a spokesperson said.

“Whether you're asking a

doctor for medical advice, sending sensitive account information to your spouse, or even your Social Security number, it's

important to have options available for sharing these kinds of very sensitive messages.”

The tech giant announced that this feature would be called 'secret conversations' and can only be read by the sender and the re-

cipient exclusively. A Facebook statement said the new feature will be optional “because many people want Messenger to work when you switch between devices, such as a tablet, desktop computer or phone” and that the encrypted messages may only be read on one device. “Secret conversations are available on a limited test basis right now, but we will be making the option more widely available this summer,” the statement said.

As per Recode, a new feature will also allow you to set messages to “disappear automatically” after a specified time period - between five seconds to 24 hours.

Issue 676 (26)

19 - 25 July 2016

Qandeel’s murder a lesson for others World touring solar plane’s final leg to UAE delayed Cleric who posed for selfie with Pak model Lahore Qandeel Baloch had taken social media by storm recently when she posted three selfies of herself with cleric Mufti Abdul A Pakistani cleric who was suspended from the membership of a top religious body after posing for selfies with Qandeel Baloch, the Internet sensation murdered by her brother in a case of honour killing, said on Sunday the incident is a lesson for others.

“Those who intend to or humiliate clerics must learn from Qandeel Baloch’s fate,” Mufti Abdul Qawi said.

Qawi was last month embroiled in a scandal with Baloch after she uploaded her pictures with him during a meeting.

Baloch, 26, was killed on Saturday by her brother for what he said was “dishonouring” the family by posting videos and posts on Facebook.

Reacting on the killing of the social media celebrity, Qawi, who was suspended from the Pakistan

government’s Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, said: “Those who have humiliated clerics must seek repentance and should ask forgiveness from clerics as well as Almighty Allah.

“I had forgiven Qandeel for

what she had done against me. I have never had any hatred for her,” he told Express Tribune newspaper.

Baloch had ridiculed Qawi on various television channels and tried to imply that he was crazy about her.

Qawi said: “I had met Qandeel in an effort to bring her the path of righteousness. I was asked by some people why you met Qandeel. I told them we should hate sin but not

a sinner.”

The cleric further said: “People should realise that religious clerics are the pious face of Islam and they should not dare to play with their reputation or try to malign them oth-

erwise they will face the curse of God. “I had convinced Qandeel to repent on her sins and asked her to come towards the right path. I had even offered her a marriage proposal in her new life,” Qawi said.

Baloch had received threats from the supporters of Mufti Qawi for allegedly trying to disgrace him.

She had later requested security from the interior ministry which she was denied.

Meanwhile, members of the civil society on Sunday held a demonstration at Liberty Chowk Lahore and condemned her killing.

Demonstrators raised slogans like ‘Stop Violence against Women’.

Some of the slogans read: ‘We Failed You Qandeel’, ‘No Country for Bold Women’, ‘No Honour in Killing’.

The protesters demanded exemplary punishment for the killer, action by the media regulatory authority against TV channels who assassinated her character and posthumously disrespected her by broadcasting images of her body.

Awami Workers Party General Secretary Farooq Tariq said Qandeel joined thousands of women in Pakistan and around the world who were raped, mutilated and murdered by men. He said Qandeel was punished for transgressing the norms that were fundamental to a patriarchal order. Around 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year in the name of honour.

CAIRO The final leg of an unprecedented world tour by a solar-powered plane was postponed Saturday due to the pilot’s health, he said in a message on Twitter.

The Solar Impulse 2 had been scheduled to leave Cairo for Abu Dhabi. “I’m sick. Stomach upset. I prefer to postpone the take-off @solarimpulse. I cannot go flying for 48 hours in that shape. Sorry,” Bertrand Piccard wrote on Twitter.

The aircraft had arrived in Cairo on Wednesday after a two-day flight from Spain, finishing the 3,745 kilometre (2,327 mile) journey with an average speed of 76.7 kilometres an hour. It had earlier landed in Seville after completing the first solo transatlantic flight powered

only by sunlight, flying through the night with energy stored in its 17,000 photovoltaic cells. Piccard had completed the 6,765 transatlantic flight in 71 hours. The plane is being flown on its 35,400kilometre (22,000 mile) trip in stages, with Piccard and his Swiss compatriot Andre Borschberg alternating at the controls of the singleseat plane. “So Piccard was not feeling well yesterday. Was much better this morning. And then again tonight things got a bit worse. So we took the decision... it’s not an easy decision but it’s a wise decision for safety reasons,” Borschberg told journalists who had assembled to watch the plane take off in Cairo.

Issue - 676 (27)

19 - 25 July 2016

US releases ‘secret’ chapter of 9/11 inquiry after 13 years Washington Under wraps for 13 years, the US on Friday released once-top secret pages from a congressional report into 9/11 that questioned whether Saudis, who were in contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the

US, knew what was being planned.The US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Friday released 28 pages of the official report with light redactions. The documents names people the hijackers associated with before they carried out the attacks, killing nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and on a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. It identifies individuals who helped the hijackers get apartments, open bank accounts, attend local mosques and get flight lessons. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals and several were not fluent in English and had little experience living in the West.

Later investigations found no evidence that the Saudi

government or senior Saudi officials knowingly supported those who orchestrated the attacks. But lawmakers and relatives of victims, who don’t think all Saudi links to the attackers were thoroughly investigated, campaigned for

more than 13 years to get the final chapter of the 2002 congressional inquiry released.

Saudi Arabia has called for the release of the chapter since 2002 so the kingdom could respond to any allegations and punish any Saudis who may have been involved in the attacks.

“Since 2002, the 9/11 Commission and several government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, have investigated the contents of the ‘28 Pages’ and have confirmed that neither the Saudi government, nor senior Saudi officials, nor any person acting on behalf of the Saudi government provided any support or encouragement for these attacks,” Abdullah Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to

US navy sailor gets 30-month sentence for Okinawa rape

Tokyo A United States navy sailor was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for raping a Japanese tourist in Okinawa, the southern island that is home to about half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan.

Justin Castellanos, 24, was

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sentenced Friday in district court in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, according to Japanese media reports.The sailor took the woman to his hotel room and raped her after finding her asleep in the hallway in the early hours of March 13, Kyodo News service said, citing the ruling.

His arrest, and that of an American military contractor on charges of raping and killing a 20-year-old woman, have inflamed anti-US base sentiment on Okinawa. Kenneth Shinzato, a former US Marine, was arrested in May after the woman’s body was found in a wooded area.

Tens of thousands of people rallied last month against the presence of US military bases, many wearing black to mourn the dead woman.

Warren Buffett donates nearly $2.9 billion to Gates charity and four others

the United States, said in a statement Friday.

“We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabia’s actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States,” he said.

House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes said that while he supported the release, “it’s important to note that this section does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the intelligence community”.

However, others including Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the congressional inquiry believe the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the United States. Graham has said that the pages “point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principle financier”.

Former President George W Bush classified the chapter to protect intelligence sources and methods, although he also probably did not want to upset US relations with Saudi Arabia, a close US ally. Two years ago, under pressure from the families of those killed or injured on September 11, and others, President Barack Obama ordered a declassification review of the chapter.

Several investigations into 9/11 followed the congressional inquiry, which released its report – minus the secret chapter – in December 2002. The most wellknown investigation was done by the 9/11 Commission, led by former governor Tom Kean, and former member of US representative, Lee Hamilton.

Washington Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has donated another roughly $2.86 billion of his holdings in the company’s stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities, as part of his plan to give away nearly his entire fortune.

Buffett’s 11th annual donation to the five charities comprised 19.61 million Class “B” shares of Berkshire, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The Gates Foundation, which focuses on improving education and health and reducing poverty, received about 14.96 million shares. The donations were made on Wednesday, and brought Buffett’s total contributions to the charities to more than $24.3 billion since 2006. Also receiving donations were the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for Buffett’s late first wife, and the Howard G. Buffett, Sherwood and NoVo Foundations, respectively overseen by his children Howard, Susan and Peter.

Buffett, 85, remains the world’s third-richest person, according to Forbes magazine.

Buffett still owns about 18% of Berkshire’s stock, down from

32.3% before the donations began in 2006. He controls about 31.7% of the Omaha, Nebraskabased conglomerate’s voting power.

Before the donations were announced, Forbes estimated Buffett’s net worth at $68.4 billion, trailing Bill Gates’ $77.6 billion and Spanish retailing magnate Amancio Ortega’s $74 billion. Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos followed Buffett, at $64.3 million.

Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp, has known Buffett for a quarter century and counts him as a close friend. He is also a Berkshire director.

Buffett typically makes his donations in July, reducing the number of shares by 5 percent from the prior year.

The charities usually sell the Berkshire shares to finance their activities, reflecting Buffett’s desire that his money be spent.

Buffett also makes smaller donations to other charities.

Berkshire has roughly 90 subsidiaries including Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream, and has large stakes in companies such as Kraft Heinz Co, Wells Fargo & Co, Coca-Cola Co and IBM Corp.

HOUSTON An Indian-American professor with a diverse set of academic experience in the field of science and technology has been named the dean of a leading US university.

Dr Kinshuk, who goes by single name, has been named the dean of University of North Texas College of Information in the US. He received his doctoral degree from De Montfort University in England, a master of science in mechanical computer aided engineering from Strathclyde University in Scotland and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Rajasthan in India.

Since 2010, he served as an associate dean at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada, where he helped lead the Faculty of Science and Technology.

In that role, he helped start new graduate programmes, gained external research funding, developed strategies for student recruitment and promoted senior students and alumni to serve as mentors for new students.

Prior to this, he served as director in the School of

Computing and Information Systems.

Kinshuk also served as Industrial Research Chair in Adaptivity and Personalisation in Informatics for the National Science and Engineering Council of Canada.

“Dr Kinshuk brings with him great leadership and research experience,” Finley Graves, provost and vice president for academic affairs at UNT, said in a statement.

“We look forward to Dr Kinshuk working with our faculty to

articulate a clear vision for the future of the College of Information. ”Kinshuk will start his new position from August 15.“I’m really looking forward to joining such a progressive university and my esteemed new colleagues. I know the College of Information has high expectations and I hope to meet them and raise those even more,” said Kinshuk.

Kinshuk’s career also includes a variety of other academic positions.

Indian-American named Texas university dean

Issue - 676 (28)

19 - 25 July 2016

US politician calls for ‘sharia test’ as fear of Islam increases WASHINGTON A prominent American politician has suggested a “sharia test” to expel Muslims who believe in the Islamic religious legal system from the United States amid rising apprehension in some quarters

following terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists across the world.The call for applying the test to Muslims in the US came from former House speakerNewt Gingrich, an ideological cohort to Donald Trump, who lost out to Mike Pence as the Republican candidate’s presidential running mate on Friday. Trump himself had suggested a temporary ban on

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Muslims entering the United States, but Gingrich went one step further in a television interview by calling for expelling fundamentalist Muslims from America.

“Let me start where I am coming from and let me be as

blunt and direct as I can be western civilization is in a war.

We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in sharia, they should be deported,” Gingrich said in a television interview, arguing, “Sharia is incompatible with western civilization.” Gingrich’s call for scrutiny of “every person of Muslim background” is also aimed implicitly at President Barack Obama, whose father was Muslim, although the president describes himself as a Christian in the face of distrust and vicious rumor-mongering among extreme right-wing about its veracity. Conspiracy theorists in the right-wing regard him as a closet Muslim.

Gingrich however said he would be glad to have as citizens modern Muslims who have given up sharia. “Perfectly happy to

Skydiver to leap from 25,000 feet without a parachute

CALIFORNIA Fearless American skydiver Luke Aikins will leap out of a plane at 25,000 feet (7,6000 metres) without a parachute and attempt to land safely in the California desert in a live television broadcast dubbed “Heaven Sent”.

The married 42 year-old thirdgeneration skydiver, who has made about 18,000 jumps in his 25-year career, will leap on July 30 and land on his back on a

device which organisers would only describe as a “slide”. “I’m going to do something that’s definitely out there and most people in the world will think is crazy,” Aikins has said here the other day.

Aikins, who claims it will be a world record for jumping without a parachute, previously worked with Felix Baumgartner on the Austrian daredevil’s 2012 record skydive which started 24 miles (38 km) above earth.

have them next door. But we need to be fairly relentless about who our enemies are,” he said. The former House Speaker and influential Republican also proposed two other steps: monitoring what Muslims are doing on the internet and monitoring mosques.

“If you’re not prepared to monitor the mosques, this whole thing is a joke. Where do you think the primary source of recruitment is? Where do you think the primary place of indoctrination is? You’ve got to look at the madrassas if you’re a school which is teaching sharia, you want to expel it from the country,” he said.

America’s liberal constituency typically challenges such proposals as unconstitutional, pointing out that there is no such call to monitor right-wing Christian extremists who kill people, but the increasingly the ultraconservative argument is that America a Christian nation.

Gingrich set the tone for what is expected to be a raucous Republican convention by asserting that calling Islam a “religion of peace” is “bologna”.

“It’s not that Islamists are necessarily evil, but they’re not necessarily a religion of peace,” he maintained. Expected to be the Republican attack dog at the party convention next week, Gingrich also took aimed at liberals in the US, sneering that he fully expects by tomorrow morning that “President Obama will have rediscovered his leftwing roots and will give a press conference in which he’ll explain that the problem is too many trucks.”

Zakir Naik: No plans to return to India this year

WASHINGTON Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, facing multiple probes over his alleged provocative speeches, today said he has no plans to return to India this year even as he claimed his remarks were “blown out of context” and that he has never inspired any terror activity. The televangelist, who had cancelled press meets thrice citing pressure from authorities of the venues where they were planned, had a lengthy interaction with media via Skype from Saudi Arabia, rubbishing the charge that his sermons had inspired terror activity, including the Dhaka attack. Stating that he is a “messenger of peace”, Naik said, “Killing innocent people is prohibited in Islam and I condemn all terrorist attacks” and that he is a victim of media trial with his statements being blown out of context.Referring to the footage of some of his speeches shown by media following the Dhaka carnage, he said, “Indian media is running a trial against me because of unverified reports.

Half sentences being shown, clips being doctored and statements being shown out of

context to malign me.”

“It is unethical for the media to not take my answers on face value and doubt me. There are two thousand sentences in which I condemned terrorism...there may be ten sentences in which one may take out a double meaning...videos are being doctored for ulterior motives,” he said.

SUICIDE BOMBING A WAR TACTIC When asked about one of his speeches in which he said that suicide bombing is permitted by Islam, he said, “it is haram if innocent people are being killed.

But, if suicide bombing is used as a tactic of war, then it may be permitted. For example, in World War II, Japan used suicide bombing as a tactic of war.”

To a query on the probe by Mumbai police into his speeches, he said, “So far no official government agency has approached me in the last 8-9 days to ask me to cooperate in their investigations. If they do, I will welcome it. I have never had any problems with governments or police in the past.

Google says anti-privacy effort has delivered $2b WASHINGTON Google said Wednesday its efforts to fight online piracy have yielded $2 billion paid out to copyright holders whose content is shown on its YouTube platform. The US online giant, updating its anti-piracy efforts, said its system has been generating income for copyright holders when content is posted to YouTube. At the same time, Google is also offering “more convenient, legitimate alternatives” that allow consumers to buy music, films and other content, according to a statement.

“We take protecting creativity online seriously, and we’re doing more to help battle copyrightinfringing activity than ever before,” said a blog post from senior policy counsel Katie Oyama.

Google and YouTube have been using a system called ContentID, where a copyright holder can notify the company if its music or other content is being shown on YouTube.

The copyright owners have an option to remove the content or leave it up and reap advertising revenue from it, and 95 percent of music owners choose the latter option, according to Google.

Google’s engineers, the vast majority of media-related queries that users submit every day return results that include only links to legitimate sites,” she said. Google is also cutting out sites specializing in piracy from

“Half of the music industry’s YouTube revenue comes from fan content claimed via Content ID,” Oyama said. Another part of the effort to combat online piracy, Oyama said, is filtering search results. “Thanks to the efforts of

its advertising network. “Rogue sites that specialize in online piracy are commercial ventures, which means that one effective way to combat them is to cut off their money supply,” Oyama said.

Issue - 676 (29)

19 - 25 July 2016

California to decide whether ‘South Two Indians who assaulted Asia’ will replace ‘India’ in schools teen in Beijing deported Washington Should “South Asia” replace “India” as more representative of the geographical spread of early

civilisations on the subcontinent?

Was religion a key aspect of the “caste” system?These and many questions regarding the teaching of Indian history in California schools as part of a general overhaul, which have been debated fiercely over the past months, will get a final hearing and a decision on Thursday.Scores of activists, parents, experts and students have testified in multiple hearings held by the Instructional Quality Commission of California’s department of education over several months.One of the most contentious changes being proposed is that of replacing references to “India” as a geographical entity with “South Asia” in the History-Social Science Framework, a teaching guide.On one side of the debate are the Hindu Education Foundation, which works towards “enriching the understanding about Indian civilisation and Hinduism” in the

US, the Uberoi Foundation, which, its website said, promotes “awareness of the four major Dharmic religions of Buddhism,

Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism” and advocacy group Hindu America Foundation.

On the other side are the South Asian Histories for All (SAHFA), an interfaith and inter-caste coalition of 24 organisations across California and the US, and the South Asia Faculty Group, a group of academics drawn from across US colleges and universities.Both sides have claimed varied degrees of success.

In a November 2015 note titled “South Asia Studies Faculty Review of Proposed California Curriculum Framework”, the South Asia Faculty Group suggested changes to a section entitled “The Early Civilisations of India” in the Grade 6 curriculum. “We recommend changing the Title of this Section to ‘The Early Civilisations of South Asia’. At several other places in the text, we also recommend substituting South Asia for ‘Ancient India’ or ‘India’,”

the group said.It argued the Indus Valley Civilisation’s major urban centres, Harappa and Mohenjodaro, were both in Pakistan.The other groups pushed back, arguing the word India was being erased from California’s textbooks. A petition headlined “School students in California will be forced to learn that there was never an ‘India’ unless you act!” was signed by more than 22,000 people. And the department decided to retain “India” in many instances, which was claimed as a victory.

Neither side is happy with the changes despite subsequent revisions, and disagreements are likely to resurface at the final hearing on Thursday. The Hindu America Foundation is likely to bring up its objection to the description of the “caste system” in the draft as a “social and cultural structure as well as a religious belief”.In a letter to the commission, the foundation suggested this description be changed to say the caste system was a “social and cultural structure, rather than a foundational religious belief”.

The ongoing debate has attracted national and international attention, especially in India, where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh welcomed the effort to prevent all references to “India” from being replaced with “South Asia”.

Beijing Two Indian men, detained for a week in China for allegedly molesting a Taiwanese tourist in the lift of a Beijing hotel, were deported to India on Friday.

The two tea dealers were at a detention centre for foreigners on the outskirts of Beijing.

The duo – one a father of two and the other a grandfather – allegedly attacked the girl last Thursday inside the lift of the Beijing International Hotel, where the men and the victim and her parents were staying.

They were identified as Beg Raj, in his late forties,and Akhil Goel, an MBA aged around 30.

The Taiwanese victim, a high school student, was in Beijing to attend the graduation ceremony of her elder sister, a student at Peking University.

The two men allegedly kissed the teenager, who was already in the

lift when they entered it. They also allegedly forced her to remain in the elevator while it went up and down as the older man fondled her, sources said.

After rushing out of the lift, the victim alerted the hotel authorities, who in turn contacted police in the central business district of Beijing.

Police then picked them up from their hotel rooms.

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Pune’s ‘gold shirt’ man killed with stones, nephew among four arrested

Techie shoots doctor wife dead; his last two wives met mysterious death

Pune A 38-year-old IT professional allegedly shot dead his gynaecologist wife after a domestic fight at her clinic in Hinjawadi area of Pune, police said on Thursday.

Manoj Patidar allegedly shot his third wife Dr Anjali Patidar (34) with a country-made pistol on Wednesday night after they had a fight over some domestic issue, they said. “We have received the information that Patidar, who works in an IT firm in Hinjawadi IT hub, had procured the country-made pistol for Rs 20,000 a week ago,” said Mahendra Aher, assistant police inspector, Wakad police station.

“On Wednesday, following a fight over some domestic issue, he allegedly shot her in the forehead and ran away leaving their one-

and-half-year-old baby,” he said.

Patidar, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, was about to escape from the city when he was nabbed and arrested in Pune late last night. This was his third marriage.

“During his interrogation, we have come to know that his earlier two wives died in mysterious circumstances as he is claiming that they had allegedly committed suicide by falling off from building. However, foul play is suspected in earlier deaths,” Aher said.

The accused has been booked under section 302 (murder) of IPC and he will be produced in court on Thursday.

“We are also looking for a person from whom the accused had procured the arm a week back,” the police officer said.

Pune A 44-year-old Pune man who shot to fame four years ago for making a Rs 1.27 crore shirt entirely of gold was attacked with stones and killed, allegedly in front of his son, early Friday morning.Police arrested five people in connection to Dattatray Phuge’s death, and his nephew and friends were being interrogated for their alleged role in the crime. Officials probing the case said financial troubles could have been the motive for the murder.Those arrested in the case include Amol Pathare, 24, Shailesh Walke, 26, Vishal Parkhe, 32, Nivrutti Walke, 45 and Pramod Dholpuria, 23.

Some of the investors had complained about financial irregularities in the past and could be behind his murder,

sources said.

Police said Phuge was attacked in an open ground and bludgeoned to death.“Phuge and his son were invited by one of the suspects to celebrate a birthday. However we are investigating how Phuge reached the ground,” Dighi police station inspector Navnath Ghogare said.

Phuge’s 22-year-old son, who reached the spot following a similar ‘birthday’ invitation and witnessed his father’s murder, was spared by the attackers, police said.

The 44-year-old was aspiring to contest assembly elections and had brawls with some of these investors, police added.

Phuge’s wife Seema said some people came to their house in Bhosari late on Thursday night and asked her husband to

accompany them.

“After taking my husband to Bharatmata nagar in Dighi, they attacked him with stones and sharp weapons,” said Seema, who is an ex-corporator from the Nationalist Congress Party. She was dismissed from the post after it was found that she submitted a fake caste certificate.

Phuge’s pictures first appeared in the media after he wore a specially made shirt using 22carat gold that weighed 3.5 kilogrammes. At the time, Phuge had maintained that he made the gold shirt to attract people’s attention.

Police said Phuge had recently given his gold shirt to a Mumbaibased businessman, from whom he had borrowed money but could not repay it.

Issue - 676 (30)

19 - 25 July 2016

Thanks to Pokemon Go, US police get new leads despite worrying rise in crimes New York The Pokemon Go craze is blamed for several robberies of distracted mobile phone players, but the game’s cartoon characters have also helped US police improve strained community relations and even

arrest wanted suspects.

The app, created by mobile game developer Niantic for Nintendo Co Ltd, is upending the world of gaming, getting players off the couch and walking outside to play.Staring at their phone screens, they search for virtual Pokemon characters that appear to pop up at office spaces, restaurants, museums and other places. Players score points in various ways, including capturing the Pokemon characters with a flick of a finger on their phone screen.The game was the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app store, and Nintendo shares surged nearly 25% on Monday.

However, less than a week after

launching in the United States, where it has drawn more than 7 million gamers to hunt virtual Pokemon, the game is also facing a backlash.

Hallowed places including Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, DC have

urged players to stay away, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has asked to be removed from the game, a museum spokesman said.

Across the United States, players have been drawn down dark alleys and into dangerous neighbourhoods in search of the imaginary creatures, only to be targeted by criminals.

In College Park, Maryland, university students holding their smartphones out to play Pokemon Go were robbed on Tuesday night by an armed suspect, police said. In Antelope, California, two men playing the game in a park late on Sunday reported being robbed and

Another shooting in US broadcast on?Facebook Live, three men injured

Norfolk As a man live streamed Facebook video of himself and two friends smoking and listening to music in a car, someone opened fire on the vehicle, wounding all three men, Norfolk police said on Wednesday.About 5 ½ minutes into the Facebook Live video posted on Tuesday evening, at least 30 rounds are fired in a 22-second span. The camera then falls to the floor.

Norfolk Police confirmed the video was of the triple shooting, but officer Daniel Hudson said he didn’t have any further details, including whether the men were targeted.Two 27-year-old men and a 29-year-old were taken to a hospital with “significant injuries”, police said. Two of the men were doing better on Wednesday, but one is still in

critical condition.The shooting was reminiscent of other recent broadcasts on Facebook Live. In Minnesota last week, Philando Castile’s girlfriend streamed the immediate aftermath of his shooting death on Facebook.

That video prompted protests around the country, including in Dallas, where five officers were killed.In Chicago, police say 28year-old Antonio Perkins was livestreaming when he was shot last month. The video shows a man recording himself, standing outside and looking from side to side. Shots ring out and the camera falls to the ground in grass spattered with blood.

Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said at the time detectives discovered the video on the man’s Facebook page and believe it’s authentic.

carjacked by a gunman.

Fireworks were thrown from an SUV at a group playing the game after midnight on Monday on the streets of Boca Raton, Florida, police there said. No injuries were reported.

And in Wyoming, a 19-year-old woman who set out to catch a Pokemon by the Big Wind River on Friday instead found a dead body.

The game was also to blame for a host of car accidents in the United States. An illegally parked car whose driver had exited to catch a Pokemon was struck from behind, according to reports from Texas A&M University police, and another car struck a tree while its driver was playing the game while driving, Auburn New York police said.

At the same time, Pokemon characters have aided police, from helping catch elusive suspects to burnishing officers’ public image at a time of strained ties between law enforcement and communities throughout the United States.

Noticing people playing the game on the street in Fall River, Massachusetts on Sunday, an officer on patrol jumped in to join them. The fun was captured in a photo that police posted on Twitter and was liked more than 4,000 times.

Akhlaq, six family members booked for cow slaughter

Greater Noida Police on Friday lodged an FIR against deceased Mohammad Akhlaq and six family members for alleged cow slaughter.

“As per court order, FIR for cow slaughtering was lodged against deceased Akhlaq and six family members,” Jarcha police station station house officer Pradeep Kumar said.

He said charge-sheet will be filed within stipulated period, without elaborating further.

Sanjay Rana, the father of one of the accused, said, “We are happy that at least [an] FIR was registered. Investigation will nail the accused.”Akhlaq’s family has decided to challenge the FIR in the high court, seeking directions for its quashing. “We will move high court,” Jaan Mohammad,

brother of Akhlaq, said.

Akhlaq was killed by a mob on September 29 last year on the suspicion that his family stored and consumed beef at their home.

A forensic lab is reported to have said that the meat found in Akhlaq’s home was beef.

Residents of Bisada village in Dadri had met the Gautam Budh Nagar senior superintendent of police on June 5 to press their demand for registration of an FIR against Akhlaq’s family for alleged cow slaughter, following which he had ordered a probe into the charge.

On Thursday, a judicial magistrate court ordered investigation and lodging of FIR of cow slaughter against Akhlaq’s family.

Indian-American couple ordered to pay $7.75 million for healthcare fraud Washington An Indian-American couple, who owned a mobile diagnostic testing company in New Jersey, has been ordered by a US court to pay 7.75 million dollar for committing a multi-million healthcare fraud.

Kirtish N Patel and Nita K Patel, both aged 53, had earlier pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud.

The government’s civil complaint had alleged that they created fraudulent diagnostic test reports, forged physician signatures on these reports and then billed Medicare for the fraudulent reports.

They also billed Medicare for neurological tests that they conducted without the required physician supervision, the Justice Department said.

The lawsuit was filed by a whistleblower under the provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens with knowledge of fraud to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.The False Claims Act also permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in this case.

The whistleblower, who brought the misconduct to the government’s attention, will receive 15 to 25% of the more than 7.7 million dollar recovered by the government.

According to the documents filed in the case and statements

made in the court from 2006 through June 2014, Nita and Kirtish owned and operated Biosound Medical Services Inc and Heart Solutions in New Jersey, which were mobile diagnostic companies and approved medicare providers.

As per court documents, Biosound technicians would travel to the office of a primary care physician in the New York and New Jersey area to conduct diagnostic testing.Biosound was responsible for sending the tests to a reading physician, an appropriate specialist who would interpret the results.

“After the reading physician prepared a report, Biosound was responsible for providing it to the referring physician.

Kirtish admitted to fraudulently interpreting and writing diagnostic reports produced by Biosound despite having no medical license and knowing that the reports would be used

by the referring physicians to make important patient treatment decisions.

Nita assisted her husband in forging physician signatures on the fraudulently produced reports to make them appear legitimate.

The couple admitted falsely representing to Medicare that the neurological testing performed

by Biosound was being supervised by a licensed neurologist, the Justice Department said.

According to reports, more than half of the diagnostic reports generated by Biosound between October 2008 and June 2014 were never actually reviewed or interpreted by a physician.

Nita and Kirtish were paid more than 4,386,133.75 dollar by Medicare and private insurance companies for the fraudulent reports, which they used for personal expenses, including multiple residences and luxury vehicles, it said.

Issue - 676 (31)

19 - 25 July 2016

Nice attack: Facebook helps reunite mother with 8-month-old Paris Facebook on Friday became a saviour for an eight-month-old boy who was separated from his mother after a truck ploughed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice on Thursday, leaving at least 84 dead and scores injured.

Tiava Banner, who was separated from her baby after the mayhem, posted on Facebook, appealing to anyone who had seen her son, The Mirror reported.

Posting a picture of the infant, she wrote: “We have lost BB 8 months. Nice friends if you’ve seen him if you were there if you have collected please contact me!!!!!” The post was shared more than 21,000 times.

She later updated her Facebook appeal to reveal she had been reunited with the child.

After the news broke, photographs of men, women and children were uploaded on Twitter and Facebook with messages from loved ones.

Earlier in the day, Facebook turned on its Safety Check

feature after news of the attack broke. According to CNET, it is the third time in nearly a month that the social networking giant has activated the tool.

The feature allows people to notify their friends if they are in the affected area and mark themselves safe.

The feature was activated in early June after the deadly attack on a Florida night club that claimed the lives of 49 people. Less than two weeks later, Facebook activated the Safety Check feature for users after a suicide attack that killed 45 people at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

Brazil’s designer brothers turn chaos into art SAO PAULO Designers Humberto and Fernando Campana improvise and explore in their quest for strange new creations. But their biggest inspiration is on their doorstep: everyday, discarded objects in their colorful and chaotic homeland, Brazil.

Armchairs made from rag dolls, stuffed toy crocodiles or hundreds of yards of woven rope are among the offbeat creations that have made the brothers renowned in the design world. In their sun-flooded Sao Paulo studio, a team of artisans sews leather and brushes fleeces that will cover new items of furniture, while others enter data on computers. “This is a laboratory,” says Humberto, the elder of the brothers at 63. “We are always seeking new forms of expression.” The key to their work is surprising the viewer by their choice of materials. They make sofas out of cardboard and turn plastic packaging into chairs. One of their signature works, the “Favela,” is an armchair made of shards of wood, resembling the shanty huts cobbled together by dwellers in Brazil’s vast slums. The younger brother Fernando, 55, says their work aims to imitate “how people improvise shelter, building their houses out of objects they find

South Korea premier pelted with eggs, bottles over missile site Seoul Angry residents in a rural South Korean town threw eggs and water bottles at the prime minister Friday to protest a plan to deploy an advanced US missile defense system in their neighbourhood.

Earlier this week, South Korea announced that the missile system called Terminal High-

Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, will be placed in the southeastern farming town of Seongju by the end of next year to better cope with North Korean threats. Seongju residents launched protests, saying they fear possible health hazards from the missile system.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, accompanied by the defense minister and others, tried to explain the decision to residents but was immediately disrupted

by jeers.

Some hurled eggs and water bottles, shouting “We oppose (the THAAD deployment) with our lives,” according to TV footage.

Hwang didn’t appear to be directly hit by any objects as security guards and aides used umbrellas and bags to protect him. But his suit jacket was

tainted by eggs and he evacuated to a town hall office.

When he and the others came out of the building into a bus, they were surrounded by hundreds of protesters, some using tractors.

South Korean officials have dismissed as groundless a belief that THAAD radar systems emit electromagnetic waves that can cause health problems. Defense officials say the US system is harmless if people stay at least 100 meters (yards) away from it.

Seongju residents criticized the government for unilaterally deciding on the deployment without consulting them. About 200 Seongju residents made a protest visit to Seoul’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday, and some wrote letters of complaint in blood. A group of 13 local leaders went on a hunger strike.

Defense Minister Han Min Koo told residents Wednesday he would personally stand in front of the radars to prove they aren’t harmful.

The planned missile deployment drew an angry response from North Korea and China. North Korea has threatened unspecified “physical” measures in retaliation while China suspects the system would help U.S. radars track its missiles.

Russia also opposes the deployment.

US and South Korean officials have said the THAAD system only targets North Korea, not China or anyone else.

Seoul and Washington began their formal discussions on the THAAD deployment after North Korea conducted a fourth nuclear test and carried about a long-range rocket launch earlier this year.

The United States has about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea.

American-led UN troops fought alongside South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War while China assisted North Korea.

in the street.” Like other Campana designs, these “Favelas” sell for thousands of dollars in shops worldwide. Their work features in the collections of top modern art institutions such as New York’s MOMA museum and the Pompidou Center in Paris. But the Campanas have also worked with small cooperatives and artisans to support local traditional crafts.

Theirs is an “urgent, spontaneous form of design,” says Fernando. For him it reflects a unique “Brazilian knowhow.” “Brazilian design can offer the world improvisation, but done well,” he says. “You transfer the material from one function to another and give it an everyday use.” Works such as the “Boa,” a sofa that curls like a snake, or

“Coral,” a chair that looks bumpy like a reef, evoke Brazil’s natural beauty.

The brothers had no formal training in design.

Humberto studied law and Fernando architecture. They started designing in the 1980s and mounted their first exhibition in 1989. They dismiss rigid design conventions.”That is not Brazil,” Humberto says. “Brazil has cultural richness... It is much more than just straight lines.” Their “Red Armchair” was first made with 500 meters of red rope they found discarded in 1993. They wove it around a frame like a nest. “The idea for a project always originates in the materials,” he adds. “We transform the banal into the sophisticated.”

Aussie fired for anti-Singapore rant over Pokemon Go

SINGAPORE An Australian expat has been sacked for insulting Singaporeans in a rant triggered by the unavailability of the smartphone game Pokemon Go in the city-state. Sonny Truyen, who had been working for just a week as a search-engine consultant with property listings site 99.co, had complained on Facebook about Singapore not being one of the launch markets for the Nintendo game, which has become hugely popular worldwide. “You cant catch pokemon in this piece of shit country,” Truyen posted in a thread at the weekend. The comment triggered a backlash in Singapore, where a number of foreigners have lost their jobs over social media posts seen as offensive to locals.

The company’s chief executive Darius Cheung, fired Truyen and apologised for the Australian’s behaviour, while urging fellow Singaporeans in a blog post Monday to stop spreading “messages of hate and division” in the wake of the incident.

Truyen has deactivated his

social media accounts and apologised via digital media website Mashable. “It was a dick move on my behalf and a very big error in judgement to negatively label an entire country over Pokemon. It was very wrong of me to rage like that,” he told the website. “However in my defense, I was racially vilified for not being a ‘white’ Australian. It was disappointing the lengths Singaporeans went at to attack me and deny any chance of making amends for my actions.”

Last year, a Singapore government hospital sacked Filipino nurse Ello Ed Mundsel Bello for posting “offensive” remarks on social media.

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Issue - 676 (32)

19 - 25 July 2016

During army days, Dallas shooter was a mediocre marksman DALLAS Micah Johnson was a mediocre marksman, seemingly more interested in eliciting laughs from friends in his army reserve unit than in honing his infantry skills, former squad members say.But the young black man showed striking tactical acumen in the deftly choreographed assault that killed five police officers in downtown Dallas last week during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.Such was his skill that police thought multiple snipers were attacking. Moving stealthily in body armor, Johnson displayed textbook tactics, taking cover behind columns, skirting the line of fire, assaulting rather than retreating after his initial volleys.“He kept the police at bay and was able to flank an officer during an assault, a tactic that he was trained on,’’ said Retired Army Sgt. Gilbert Fischbach, Johnson’s former squad leader in Texas. “He

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certainly had enthusiasm and motivation that he never had while I was training him.”

Fischbach and other former comrades were stunned to learn that it was Johnson who pulled off the attack in revenge for police killings of black men. The popular, happy-go-lucky friend they remembered as cultivating many colorblind friendships had become a police-killer whose own life was taken by a robotdelivered bomb.Some who knew him say Johnson was never the same after his best friend in the 284th Engineer Company filed a sexual harassment complaint against him in Afghanistan in 2014. Accused of stealing the female soldier’s dirty panties, he was disarmed, placed under 24hour escort and sent home early, his aspirations to a military career over.

The Mississippi-born Johnson, whose parents divorced in 1996 when he was 5, had dreamed as a boy of being a police officer or a soldier, relatives said.

Friends and acquaintances described him to Associated Press as a gregarious, even “goofy” extrovert — a far cry from the man authorities described as a loner and President Barack Obama called “demented”.

Fischbach said most of Johnson’s Army Reserve friends were white, and he never showed any signs of racial dissension.

He was not bookish, preferring

Canada spy agency joins Twitter: ‘It’s your turn to follow us’

Toronto Canada’s main spy agency joined Twitter on Wednesday, announcing in a cheeky flip of the script: “Now it’s your turn to follow us.”

Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Michel Coulombe said in a statement the agency wanted the public to have a better understanding of what it does.

“Speaking publicly on the nature of our work isn’t always easy, but we want CSIS to be more accessible,” he said.

Canada’s ruling Liberals ran on an election platform last year to increase government transparency and oversight of the country’s spy agencies, which have been accused of being overly secretive.

By Thursday noon, the agency

had 5,727 followers and was following 17 accounts including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The new account, @csiscanada , was not the spy agency’s first foray into social media. At least two other accounts, @csiscareers and its Frenchlanguage counterpart, @carriereauscrs, have been around since September 2013, although they tweeted mostly recruitment messages.

Canada’s other spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment, is already on Twitter.

In 2014, the CIA joined Twitter with a similar tongue-in-cheek announcement: “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.”

Xbox to academics. Johnson graduated in the lower fifth of his high school class and withdrew from community college in 2011, three weeks after registering for classes.

One friend, Justin Garner, recalled seeing a dark side to Johnson when Johnson called asking to be picked up at a party. Johnson said he got into an argument and was afraid he might hurt someone, Garner said.

No one saw it coming, Fischbach said, when Johnson was caught stealing the panties of the female squad mate who had been his buddy.

Fischbach thought the “betrayal” revealed “something deeply rooted in him that was wrong.”

In her complaint, the woman sought a protective order and asked that Johnson receive “mental help” but neither apparently happened. Johnson got an honorable discharge in April 2015, according to the attorney Bradford Glendening who handled the case. Johnson was deeply changed when he returned home, his mother Delphene Johnson told TheBlaze, a news site founded by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck.His father, James, said he “became a loner” and “didn’t like people”. By April 2015, Johnson was joining protests over apparently unprovoked police killings of black men and showing interest in black nationalist groups.

He visited the Dallas-based Huey P Newton Gun Club, which has carried out armed citizen patrols of Dallas neighborhoods, and met the owner of the city’s Pan-African Connection Bookstore. The people he talked with in both places said he seemed polite and level-headed.

Johnson’s father recalled talking to his son about police brutality and his son’s distrust of white cops. But neither parent recalled him ever talking about killing police officers.“My message to him,” his father said in TheBlaze interview, “was that there’s good and bad in everybody, every race.

But law enforcement is the law, and ultimately you have to obey it.”As videos of black men killed by police continued to surface, authorities said, Johnson made plans for an assault, keeping a journal of combat tactics and gathering bomb-making materials.The day of his bloody rampage, he told his mother he was heading out to the protest but revealed little else, his mother told TheBlaze.“I told him to stay out of trouble ... and he said, ‘I will,’“ she recalled. His last words were “I love you.”Hours later, cornered by police downtown, Johnson mocked them. He said he wanted to kill whites, especially white officers, and asked how many he had shot.

Chinese man to serve US prison term for military hacking

LOS ANGELES A Chinese businessman who pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to hack into the computer networks of Boeing and other major US defence contractors was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly four years in prison, prosecutors said.

Su Bin, 51, was charged with taking part in a years-long scheme by Chinese military officers to obtain sensitive military information. In addition to the 46month prison term, a judge in US district court in Los Angeles ordered Su to pay a $10,000 fine.

“Su Bin‘s sentence is a just punishment for his admitted role in a conspiracy with hackers from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to illegally access and steal sensitive US military information,” John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a

statement.“Su assisted the Chinese military hackers in their efforts to illegally access and steal designs for cutting-edge military aircraft that are indispensable to our national defense,” the statement said.

In an August 2014 indictment, prosecutors said Su traveled to the United States at least 10 times between 2008 and 2014 and worked with two unidentified co-conspirators based in China to steal the data. The trio were accused of stealing plans relating to the C-17 military transport plane and F-22 and F35 fighter jets, and attempting to sell them to Chinese companies.

According to prosecutors, in pleading guilty Su admitted sending emails to his coconspirators telling them which persons, companies and technologies to target with their hacking and translating the

stolen material from English to Chinese.Su admitted taking part in the crime for financial gain, prosecutors said. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacking. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang repeated that the Chinese government opposes and punishes any form of hacking. “The so-called case of Chinese soldiers being involved in stealing secrets from the United States is acting on hearsay and has ulterior motives,” Lu told reporters, without elaborating.

Su was arrested in Canada in 2014 and ultimately consented to US extradition. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer and to violate the Arms Export Control Act.

Issue - 676 (33)

19 - 25 July 2016

Cong declares Dikshit UP face, Capt says Punjab CM candidate name next Chandigarh The announcement of three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as the Congress chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh led to both hope and despair in the party circles in

Punjab, depending on which side of the fence they are.

Awaiting a similar announcement for Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, his detractors within the party dubbed it as a snub to the former CM, while Amarinder himself said Punjab could be next after UP.Though party strategist Prashant Kishor is learnt to be keen on the early announcement of Amarinder’s name as the CM candidate, Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi has steered clear of it during his last two Punjab visits in April and June. According to Amarinder,

the party is first focusing on UP, which he said, is five times larger than Punjab.“First Raj Babbar was named as state party president, followed by Sanjay Singh as head of the campaign committee, and now Sheila

Dikshit. After UP, they will take up Punjab. We are pitted against regional parties and to deal with their onslaught, we have to announce a CM candidate. If we don’t, we can’t compete with them. So an announcement of the CM face for Punjab will be made in due course of time,” he said.However, many in the party believe that unlike UP, where the Congress has to revive itself, in Punjab it is a force to reckon with. “We are the main opposition party in Punjab, with a vote share of 40.9% in the 2012 state elections, which was more than the Akali-BJP combined.

The Congress has to be seen shaking up UP in a big way to come back into its mainstream politics after being relegated to the fourth slot. In Punjab, it has to just put its house in order,” a senior party leader said.

But there are others who feel the Congress is wanting to keep all warring factions at bay by delaying the announcement. “All senior party leaders in Punjab eyeing the CM’s chair are now working together. The suspense on the CM face will keep the party united.

This momentum could be derailed if Amarinder’s name is announced,” party insiders said.But the Congress, which is building Brand Amarinder like never before through Kishor’s ‘Coffee with Captain’ and ‘Halke Vich Captain’ programmes, cannot deny Amarinder the announcement any longer after naming Dikshit. “Rahul just wants to show Amarinder who is the boss. Amarinder, too, had flexed his muscles recently by revealing in a television interview that he had plans to quit the Congress.

But they both know it will have to be done in due course of time, or the entire campaign to corner the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) on its CM face or projecting Amarinder’s government as better than the SAD-BJP’s will fall flat,” said a source.

47-year-old law can help distressed women in NRI marriages: Law Ministry

NEW DELHI A law enacted in 1969 offers a ray of hope for distressed women facing harassment in NRI marriages, a Parliamentary panel has been told.The Rajya Sabha Committee of Petitions was on Friday told by the Law Ministry that the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 has provisions to help women married to NRIs facing problems abroad, a panel member said.In most of the cases reported in media, the husband is already married and marries again in India.

In certain cases, the husband marries another woman abroad and abandons his first wife.

Abuse for dowry is another problem Indian women face after marrying NRIs. The committee had met to hear top officials of the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry on a petition “praying for solution of the

problems arising out of marriage of Indian women with NonResident Indians”. Members who attended the meeting said most people are not aware of existence of such a law.The law was enacted “to make provision relating to marriages of citizens of India outside India.”One of the key clauses is Section 14 which states that whenever a marriage is solemnized under the law, the marriage officer will have to certify it in the Marriage Certificate Book which will be signed by the parties to the marriage and three witnesses.The certificate will be “deemed to be the conclusive evidence of the fact that a marriage under this Act has been solemnized, and that all formalities respecting the residence of the party concurred previous to the marriage and the signature of witnesses have been complied with.”

Unesco puts 5 Libya sites Unable to pay for liver transplant, family on heritage-in-danger list seeks mercy killing of 12-year-old daughter ISTANBUL The UN’s cultural agency on Thursday added Libya’s five World Heritage sites to its danger list, saying armed militias

committee noted the high level of instability affecting the country and the fact that armed groups are present on these sites or in their immediate surroundings,”

posed a grave danger to the archaeological treasures.The sites named by UNESCO include the Old City of Ghadames, often referred to as “the pearl of the desert” and the archaeological site of Cyrene, one of the principal cities in the Hellenic world.The rock-art sites of Tadrart Acacus on the border with Algeria that feature thousands of cave paintings dating back as far back as 12,000 BC to 100 AD are also listed.

The other two are the coastal archaeological sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratha, a Mediterranean trading post that was once part of the brief Numidian Kingdom of Massinissa before it was taken over the by Romans. “The

UNESCO said at the 40th meeting of its World Heritage Committee in Istanbul.Drone disrupts Ukraine’s parliament session KIEV: It was another slow and quiet summer session Thursday in Ukraine’s parliament - until someone set off a drone inside the chamber, causing a ruckus.

Footage of the small propellordriven device lifting off from behind someone’s desk was published on the website of Ukraine’s 112 rolling news channel. The network reported that as several deputies stood up to applaud the stunt, parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy rebuked the unidentified mischief-maker and called for a brief recess to restore order.

NEW DELHI Unable to gather enough funds for the operation of their 12-yearold daughter who is battling with a congenital liver disease, a couple in Hyderabad has approached the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) seeking permission for her mercy killing.

Harshitha Reddy, who unlike her peers, has been living indoors due to her failing health. While her parents struggle to gather money for her surgery, the girl who is unaware of the gravity of her illness is upset for not being allowed to go to school.

Owing to her poor health, her father N Ramachandra Reddy and mother Shyamala are forced to keep her away from school.

The family admitted that they approached SHRC as they were unable to afford a liver transplant for their daughter.

While her brother Satya Reddy is now in class three, Harshitha should have been in class six.

Instead, she has been at home, ever since she has been diagnosed with the ailment.

DIAGNOSED WITH LIVER DISEASES FIVE MONTHS AGO verything was going smoothly for the Reddy family until their daughter was diagnosed with jaundice at the Kukatpally hospital some five months ago.

The family despite struggling to

meet ends channelized all their efforts towards getting the girl treated. Since Harshitha’s condition did not improve, the

recovery of their daughter, the Reddy family approached the Human Rights Commission. In their plea, the family asked for

family later took her to the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) where she was diagnosed with the final stage of the liver disease. The doctors at AIG advised an immediate liver transplant for the girl.The family took the girl to Care Hospitals as recommended by doctors at AIG for surgery. They were in for a shock when they learned that the surgery would cost them nearly Rs 21 lakh. The Reddy’s were already under a debt of Rs three lakh which they had borrowed for the treatment of Harshitha.

NO MONEY, FAMILY SEEKS MERCY KILLING OF DAUGHTER With meagre finances and slimmer chances of the

financial assistance for the surgery or allow mercy killing of their daughter.

The SHRC officials told the family that they could not intervene and advised them to approach Telangana Chief Secretary and seek financial help for the little girl’s treatment. The Reddy family moved to Hyderabad about 10 years ago from Mahabubnagar district to provide a better future for their children. Ramachandra works at a sweet shop in Jagatgiri Gutta locality and earns a meagre income of Rs 7,000 per month. He said that this paltry earnings and despair has forced him to take the drastic measure.

Issue - 676 (34)

19 - 25 July 2016

Hollande’s hairdresser ‘paid €10,000 a month’ PARIS Short on the sides and thinning on top, French President Francois Hollande’s hair is kept perfectly groomed at a cost of almost 10,000 euros a month, the Canard Enchaine weekly reported Wednesday. The unpopular leader’s hair has never been the topic of scrutiny, unlike other high-profile male politicians such as US presidential candidate Donald Trump or former London mayor Boris Johnson.However the publication of the contract of his hairdresser, identified only as Olivier B., by the investigative newspaper had the French bristling over such extravagant spending by a Socialist president. “I can understand the questions, I can understand that there are judgements,” said government spokesman Stephane Le Foll, who confirmed the hairdresser’s steep salary of 9,895 euros ($10,900) a month.

“Everyone has their hair done, don’t they?” said Le Foll, his trademark thick grey mane flopping over his forehead. A lawmaker with the far-right National Front (FN) referred to

Hollande as “his majesty” on Twitter, while other users superimposed afros, mullets and other hairstyles on pictures of the president, to “help his hairdresser earn his salary”.

The hashtag #Coiffeurgate was trending on Twitter in France.

Some Twitter users also suggested other balding candidates for the presidency in 2017, such as Alain Juppe of the opposition Republicans, could save taxpayers money. Hollande himself earns an annual wage of 179,000 euros a year or 14,900 euros a month. The Canard Enchaine reported that in addition to his salary, the hairdresser was entitled to a “housing allowance” and other “family benefits”. He has been employed since 2012 and travels with the president on most of his foreign trips. The hairdresser’s contract states that he must “maintain absolute secrecy about his work and any information he may have gathered both during and after his contract”. Hollande, who was elected in 2012, has always portrayed himself as “Mr Normal”, in stark contrast to his

First Paris, now Nice: Sikh man faces social media wrath, again

Toronto A young Sikh freelance writer from the Greater Toronto area has found himself the victim of intense social media speculation over the identity of perpetrators who ploughed through a crowd of revelers in Nice, killing more than 80 people.This is the second time in less than a year that Veerender Jubbal has been alleged to be a terrorist orchestrating militant strikes in France, despite never having traveled to the country.After the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, social media was littered with a selfie of Jubbal, showing him wearing a suicide vest and holding up a Quran.He was described as one of the terrorists and that photograph made its way into international media, including a Spanish newspaper and an Italian television network.

But there was one problem: That image had been photoshopped.

In the original, Jubbal was

wearing a shirt and holding up a tablet. This photo is doing the rounds of social media again after the carnage in Nice shocked the world.

Despite the photo being altered, he was trolled incessantly and tweeted a clarification, “Let us start with basics. Never been to Paris. Am a Sikh dude with a turban. Lives in Canada.”Later, in a statement, he said, “People are editing, and photoshopping my selfies as if I am one of the people causing the issues/ problems in Paris.”

Other than being trolled, he also received a death threat.

Consequently, he went off Twitter.

Jubbal may have been attacked since he had tweeted into the hashtag #StopGamergate2014, offending fanatic videogamers.

While that frenzy abated, another attack in France has led to that faked image being recycled on social media. Jubbal, so far, hasn’t responded to this fresh wave of slander.

predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy whose flashy lifestyle saw him dubbed “President Bling Bling”.

A series of political and personal scandals along with a moribund economy and stubborn unemployment levels have driven Hollande’s popularity rating to the

lowest levels ever seen in modern French history.Critics on the left of his party accuse him of betraying Socialist ideals and cosying up to business with a series of economic and labour reforms, despite stating during campaigning that the world of

finance was his “enemy.”

Hollande has said he will decide by the end of the year whether to stand in next year’s presidential election, but he has said a re-election bid would depend on his success in cutting unemployment.

Chinese media brands US, Japan eunuchs, tells military to prepare for counter-attack PARIS Branding the US and Japan as “paper tigers” and “eunuchs,” China’s state media today said that the military should remain ready for “counter attack” if American warships hold exercises near islands claimed

by Beijing in the South China Sea to enforce the UN-backed tribunals verdict.

An editorial titled Blustering US a paper tiger in S China Sea in the state-run Global Times said that the US has voiced the strongest support for the verdict against China on Tuesday by The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

The US has said that the award was legally binding.

Part of the ruling Communist Party publications, the daily is known of its nationalistic rhetoric.

WHAT THE EDITORIAL SAID 1.More politicians and congressmen from the House and Senate have also made fiercer remarks, demanding regular challenges to Chinas excessive maritime claims through naval and air patrols.

Japans stance is precisely the same as that of the US, as if they have discussed their lines.

2. The tabloid daily said that on the contrary the attitude of the Philippines - which filed the petition against China at the tribunal - is relatively mild as it called for restraint.

3. An old Chinese saying goes the emperor doesnt worry but his eunuch does, meaning the outsider is more anxious than the player. In this case, Washington and Tokyo are the worrying

eunuchs,” it said.

4.

The calls for the use of force have only been heard when the US clamoured to safeguard the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which mirrors

no big moves from Manila, Washington and Tokyo, the case will literally become nothing but a piece of paper it said.

China yesterday flew two civilian

that the US hasnt made the determination to use the arbitration for a showdown with China in the waters.

5. The Peoples Liberation Army should enhance its military deployment in the waters of the Nansha Islands (Spratly islands) and be fully prepared to counterattack if the US makes further provocations.

6. We do not wish for any direct confrontation or friction between the military powers. But if Washington insists on doing so, we will never flinch.

7. The strongly-worded editorial came as China asserted that it would not abide by the verdict, which quashed its claims on parts of the South China Sea on the basis of historic rights.

8. It said many Chinese scholars believe that after the final award, the issue will gradually cool down. If there are

aircraft to assert its claims to the artificial islands built in the disputed area.

It successfully tested two new airfields on the disputed islands with civil flights a day after an international tribunal struck down Beijings claims over the region.With this the number of airfields open to civil aircraft has gone up to three, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

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Issue 676 (35)

19 - 25 July 2016

Cricketers set to become major stakeholders From here on, cricketers will be important stakeholders in the administration of the Indian cricket board. It is one of the key recommendations of the Lodha Committee, which has been ordered to be implemented by the Supreme Court.

Not only will state associations and the national cricket body have representatives from among players, the Lodha panel has recommended that international players be made automatic members of their state associations.

It will be a gamechanger in many associations, as armed with votes players will become a powerful lobby in state elections. The Lodha panel has taken this decision to safeguard the interest of players against powerful administrators. In Saurashtra, till recently Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja were not members of the Saurashtra Cricket Association.

It will impact the power equation in associations

like Mumbai Cricket Association, where cricketers have been active in administration but have been dictated by the powerful club lobby. Mumbai has the most number of former

preme Court to intervene to do this? We do not need a sporting body which has politicians or civil servants. What do they have to do with cricket? We need ac-

internationals.

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s verdict, former India cricketers welcomed the decision and said inclusion of players in the cricket body would not only lift the sport but also bring in transparency.

Former India spinner Bishen Singh Bedi said, “These recommendations should have been applied long before. Why would the BCCI need the Su-

countability and transparency in the system. It is a landmark day for Indian cricket.

“There is a retirement age for every profession. The BCCI units need young people to run them and bring in professionalism.

The BCCI has established itself incredibly well, and it should remain blemish free.”

Expressing delight over the apex court’s verdict,

“You try and play every tournament, play every match at merit, give your best and hopefully come back with a medal. If you don’t (win a medal) then you try again. You cannot sit and predict what is going to happen,” she told in an interaction when asked about chances of clinching a medal in Rio. Sania’s autobiography ‘Ace against odds’ was launched by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan here last night.

The Indian Olympic contingent was given a warm send-off, but it was Bollywood actor and IOA’s Goodwill Ambassador Salman Khan who turned out to be the cynosure of all eyes, instead of the 20-odd Rio-bound athletes present on the occasion.

A record contingent of 121 athletes, including 54 women, will represent India at the upcoming sporting extravaganza in the Brazilian city known for its sand and sea.

“The contingent this time is one third more than last time and this itself proves that Indian athletes are improving. It is not just about winning medals but qualifying to participate in

Anil Kumble can keep Virat Kohli calm, says Walsh

former India player Ashok Malhotra said, “It is the best thing which has happened to Indian cricket.

People have been state association chiefs without having any cricket background. Then the legacy is forwarded to their sons. We saw what happened with the Goa Cricket Association officials recently. It was disgusting. When former cricketers are there and willing to be a part of the system, why are such people involved in the sport body?”

Chetan Chauhan, Delhi and District Cricket Association vice-president, said, “They left out the TV advertising cap as that would have taken away all the revenue from cricket. The oneman, one-post clause will be a double-edged sword.

If you leave the state association for the BCCI either you have to install a dummy in the state and run by proxy or else those running the state unit won’t let you stay in the BCCI for a long period.”

Former West Indies captain Courtney Walsh hailed the BCCI decision of appointing Anil Kumble as the chief coach terming the leg-spinner as someone who has “his heart in right place”. “I think it is a very good move. He is a very well respected person, and someone who is involved with the ICC as well,” Walsh, who has 519 Test and 227 ODI wickets said.

Walsh, who is also a national selector, was present in St Kitts to watch the warm-up games and was seen enjoying dinner with the Indian coach.

“He (Kumble) has always wanted to contribute and give something back to cricket and his heart is in the right place. I am sure he will do everything in his power to ensure that Indian cricket stays at the top or even gets better,” said

the Olympics itself is a huge thing,” Indian Olympic Association president N Ramachandran said.

Besides Ramachandran and his colleagues from

de-Mission Rakesh Gupta and Deputy Chief de Mission Anandeshwar Pandey.

And there was, of course, Salman accompanied by

IOA secretary general Rajiv Mehta and treasurer Anil Khanna, other dignitaries present were Sports Minister Vijay Goel, Sports secretary Rajiv Yadav, SAI DG Injeti Srinivas, Chief-

music maestro AR Rahman, who is also IOA’s Goodwill Ambassador.

Tennis ace Sania Mirza, shuttlers PV Sindu and Kidambi Srikanth, talented wrestlers Vinesh Phogat,

Walsh.

“At the same time, I think he will help build the game further, and to me that is the bigger picture. Sure he wants the Indian team to be number one, but he will not look after them alone.

He is someone who wants to sort out Test cricket and the health of international cricket is at the top of his list as well. Having someone like him giving an input at the international level will be great,” he added.

What makes Kumble special according to Walsh, is his ability to command respect. “They will have immense respect for him because they will have seen him play all those years.

Plus, Kumble has been involved with cricket quite a lot since he stopped playing and he knows the ins and outs of the currentday game.

Sania geared up for Olympics Spotlight on Salman Khan at IOA’s Rio but not predicting medal 2016 Olympics contingent send-off

Ace tennis player Sania Mirza is geared up to represent the country in next month’s Olympics but she refused to predict winning a medal in the Rio Games.

Sania will pair up with young Prarthana Thombare in women’s doubles and with Rohan Bopanna in mixed doubles in the Games, and she says she will prepare for the Olympics the same way she does for every big tournament.

Babita and Sandeep Tomar, archer Deepa Karmakar and paddler Manika Batra were some of the well-known athletes present on the occasion.

Salman said, “People have a lot of hope from this contingent, I wish you guys all the very best. I am here from Bombay to give you a send-off and respect that you deserve. I know how difficult it is to be a sportsperson and I know it because I couldn’t become one.

“I didn’t have that much strength to become a sportsman but you guys have it and that’s why you guys have qualified. Go there and give your best.

Please don’t come early.”

Issue 676 (36)

19 - 25 July 2016

To say sorry or not: The different shades of apology politics in India New Delhi Arvind Kejriwal on Monday morning washed utensils at the Golden Temple community kitchen for 45 minutes offering sewa (voluntary service) -- his apology for hurting Sikh sentiments.

His Aam Aadmi Party had equated its youth manifesto with the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. On the cover of the manifesto booklet, a picture of the party symbol, a broom, was printed along with that of the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, causing offence.

AAP’s prospects look good as Punjab gears up for elections in 2017. The Delhi chief minister clearly realised that the party’s actions would give ammunition to rivals to paint him as an outsider, insensitive to religious sentiments of the Sikh. A non-Sikh himself, Kejriwal cannot afford to take that the risk in the only Sikh majority state in the country.

He took the initiative and reached out, all humble, to those hurt. The apology may have been genuine. But, it also made political and tactical sense. Indian politics has seen both its share of apologies, albeit rare, and a firm refusal to apologise - especially in cases of mass killings.

Apology accepted Kejriwal may have been motivated to apologise be-

cause of his past success with the tactic. Remember he quit as the Delhi chief minister within 49 days in early 2014, and ambitiously expanded to fight the Lok Sabha elections. The party

Kumar apologised for one decision and stuck to another in the run-up to the 2015 Bihar elections.

Kumar broke off the alliance with the BJP when the senior partner declared

nominated a Dalit minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, as the chief minister. But within eight months, he decided to throw Manjhi out and take back control, causing instability in the politically

faced a rout. He lost the Varanasi seat to Narendra Modi. As Delhi geared up for snap polls, Kejriwal realised the folly of his overreach. The IIT-trained mechanical engineer told voters he made a mistake by resigning, and if voted back with a majority, he would complete his term. Apology accepted. Delhi voters returned him with an unprecedented 67 seats in a 70-member house.

The Bihar half-apology Take the case of another political leader. Nitish

Modi its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 national elections. His government survived, but in the Lok Sabha elections, Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) was humiliated.

Till a few days before the results came in, the Bihar leader had maintained the Modi factor was a “media hype”. The results came as a shock to him. He decided to take personal responsibility – for, he had decided to snap the ties though most of his colleagues were happy to go with the BJP. Kumar then

vital eastern state. After a solid, stable performance for almost a decade, Kumar was being seen as temperamental. Why did he leave BJP? Why did he appoint Manjhi? And if he did, why did he remove a Dalit CM? Kumar did a Kejriwal – he admitted he had made a mistake by resigning and appointing Manjhi as the chief minister. In interviews to the media and rallies across the state, he pre-empted the criticism by saying he should have stayed on after the 2014 loss. This was

Wife in coma, Indian accident victim likely to be buried in US The body of an Indian man, who died in a road accident in the US earlier this month, is likely to be

buried as his wife is in coma and cannot give consent for his cremation.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that Indian Consul General in New York Riva Ganguly has proposed that the body of Chandan Gavai, who died along with his parents

when a pickup truck crashed into their car in New York on July 4, be buried till his wife Manisha

Surwade came out of coma.

HOW THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED IT professional Gavai, 38, and his parents Kamalnayan Gavai, 74, and Archana Gavai, 60, were killed when a pickup truck crashed into their car while they were returning after watching Fourth of

July fireworks. The truck driver also died on the spot.

Both vehicles burst into flames immediately after

the accident which happened at Yaphank in Suffolk county, New York.

Surwade, 32, sustained life-threatening burns and head injuries while their 11month-old son sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The family hails from Kalyan in Maharashtra.

Stating that the bodies of

the parents will be cremated in the US, Sushma Swaraj tweeted: "Burial of Chandan as his wife Manisha is in coma and she alone can give consent for his cremation."

WHAT US LAWS SAY According to US laws, the spouse's consent is needed for the cremation of a body.

"Burial only till his wife Manisha recovers from coma.

Once she gives consent, Chandan will also be cremated," she said in another tweet.

She said that death certificates would be issued for all the three who died and the family would be helped in getting insurance money.

Sushma Swaraj added that all members of the family, including of Manisha, who are in the US, are agreeable to the Consul General's proposal.

smart politics -- it kept his party’s Dalit base intact.

But, he refused to apologise for breaking up with the BJP. The decision, he said, stemmed from his conviction in secularism.

The move made political sense. Muslims continued to see in him a leader who would take on Modi.

The 1984 apology The political class has reacted differently to riots -an apology in the case of one and a firm refusal to admitting any wrong-doing in the other. It was on the Congress’s watch in 1984 that Sikhs were massacred on Delhi’s streets in the aftermath of prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. There was a degree of political complicity, as documented by multiple fact-finding reports.

Rajiv Gandhi’s instinctive reaction was: “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.”

It took the Congress over two decades to admit sins of omission and commission. In 2004, when Sonia Gandhi nominated a Sikh, Manmohan Singh, as the prime minister, it was an acknowledgment of the wrong done to the community. But Singh’s most categorical statement in Parliament was the first clear instance of a top Indian political leader -- in this

case a symbol of both the Indian state and the Congress party -- owning up to mistakes that had led to a mass killing. He said, “I have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community. I apologise not only to the Sikh community, but to the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 was a negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution.” The power of Singh’s apology, however, was somewhat diluted by Rahul Gandhi’s refusal, in an interview to Times Now before the 2014 elections, to personally offer regret for the riots. He took refuge in his age. The Congress leaders said he was a child and while what had happened was wrong and some Congressmen may have been involved, the government had done everything to stop the killings.

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SpaceX to launch key ‘parking spot’ to space station

MIAMI SpaceX is poised to launch its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station on Monday, carrying a key piece of equipment that was lost last year in a rocket explosion.

The international docking adapter will function as a parking spot for space taxis, enabling commercial spaceships carrying astronauts to latch on securely to the orbiting outpost. It is the first of two docking adapters needed for the crew spaceships being built by SpaceX and Boeing, with those pioneer commercial flights planned for 2017 and 2018. For Monday’s launch, the gumdrop-shaped Dragon spaceship is packed with nearly

5,000 pounds (nearly 2,300 kilograms) of gear, including science experiments and equipment for the astronauts living in space. After blasting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 12:45 am (0445 GMT), SpaceX will attempt to return the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to an upright landing on solid ground at the NASA facility. The California-based company headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk has already managed to land its rockets on land and on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean several times, as part of an ongoing effort to make rocket parts as reusable as components from commercial airplanes.

Issue 676 (37)

19 - 25 July 2016

Health Plastic surgery: Everything you need to know!

Plastic surgery has come a long way in recent years with better, safer techniques, more natural-looking results and even shorter recovery time.

Plastic surgery, which is a broad field, is a medical speciality involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. It has has two broad divisions – Reconstructive surgery and Aesthetic surgery. These are not mutually exclusive and very often a patient will end up needing both to achieve the best results.

Reconstructive Plastic Surgery is performed to correct functional impairments caused by burns; traumatic injuries, such as facial bone fractures and breaks; congenital abnormalities, such as cleft palates or cleft lips; developmental abnormalities; infection and disease; and cancer or tumors.

Reconstructive plastic surgery includes cosmetic or

aesthetic surgery, reconstructive surgery, craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. Plastic Surgery is not just cosmetic surgery. Plastic surgery is a broad field, and may be subdivided further.

Dr Leena Jain, Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Micro Surgeon, SL Raheja Fortis Hospital, Mahim, discussed some of the key subdisciplines of plastic surgery. They are: Aesthetic surgery Aesthetic Surgery is an essential component of plastic surgery and includes facial and body aesthetic surgery. Plastic surgeons use cosmetic surgical principles in all reconstructive surgical procedures as well as isolated operations to improve overall appearance.

Burn Surgery Burn Surgery generally

about making the right choices with healthy flours, low fat sauces and the cooking technique.

Anisha Dhar and Nupur Khanna, who are the CoFounders of Eatonomist and also a gourmet meal planner have shared some

pointers which you can keep in mind the next time you dine out.

Use low fat dressing and sauces Don't use much of cream

or cheese or ghee to the food that you consume daily. Instead, use olive oil for non-Indian cooking and mustard oil for Indian.

Use lean cuts of meat One should cut off the extra fat of the meats that you eat. There is enough pro-

hood, and Pediatric Plastic Surgeons specialize in treating these conditions in children. Conditions commonly treated by pediatric plastic surgeons include craniofacial anomalies, cleft lip and palate and congenital hand deformities.

In plastic surgery, the transfer of skin tissue (skin grafting) is a very common procedure. Skin grafts can be derived from the recipient himself/herself or donors.

• Autografts are taken from the recipient.

• Allografts are taken from a donor of the same species.

• Xenografts are taken from a donor of a different species.

World Plastic Surgery Day is observed annually on July 15. On this day, hospitals, plastic surgeons, doctors from other specialties interact with patients and their attendants about the facilities and services being offered by the plastic surgery.

Hypertension is a chronic medical condition which increases the risk of developing many health related problems including heart disease, stroke and kidney diseases. Here are some things which you can do to reduce your blood pressure: Walk One should go out for a brisk walk daily as it can help lower pressure. Physical activities can ensure the heart uses oxygen more ef-

ficiently.

Deep breathing Deep breathing and meditation techniques can help reduce stress drastically and keep your blood pressure in check. So, try doing it for 10 minutes every morning and at night.

Eat potassium-rich food Try to inlcude more of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables in your daily diet as potassium can counter the effects of sodium on blood

pressure.

Reduce salt intake One can easily reduce their blood pressure simple by reducing the intake of salt.

Try to replace salt with lime, garlic, pepper or other herbs and spices.

Reduce work and relax Reducing the number of hours you spend in office can help lower hypertension.

Working overtime makes it hard to exercise and eat healthy.

the craniofacial skeleton and soft tissues, such as cleft lip and palate, craniosynostosis and pediatric fractures. Adult craniofa-

after the burn wounds have healed.

Craniofacial surgery Craniofacial Surgery is divided into pediatric and adult craniofacial surgery.

Pediatric craniofacial surgery mostly revolves around the treatment of congenital anomalies of

Always keep track of calories while eating out!

Do you often keep track of the calories while eating out? Well, it is good if you are checking on your calories intake.

Experts said that it is all

cial surgery deals mostly with fractures and secondary surgeries (such as orbital reconstruction) along with orthognathic surgery.

Hand surgery Hand Surgery is concerned with acute injuries and chronic diseases of the hand and wrist, correction

of congenital malformations of the upper extremities, and peripheral nerve problems (such as brachial plexus injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome). Hand Surgery is an important part of training in plastic surgery, as well as microsurgery, which is necessary to replant an amputated extremity.

Microsurgery Microsurgery is generally concerned with the reconstruction of missing tissues by transferring a piece of tissue to the reconstruction site and reconnecting blood vessels.

Popular sub specialty areas are breast reconstruction, head and neck reconstruction, hand surgery/replantation, and brachial plexus surgery.

Pediatric plastic surgery Children often face medical issues very different from the problems of an adult patient. Many birth defects or syndromes present at birth are best treated in child-

takes place in two phases.

Acute burn surgery is the treatment immediately after a burn. Reconstructive burn surgery takes place

tein in the meat.

Use healthy flours Start using flours that are healthier which also have low calories such as multigrain, millets and jowar.

Cooking techniques Instead of frying your food, start baking, steaming, grilling, poaching, sous vide as your methods of cooking.

Technology Start maintaining a healthy diet chart and eat accordingly by getting an app or a calorie calculator that tells the daily consumption and helps in keeping the calories in check.

Use bowls One should start having meals in a bowl as it has all the necessary components like the carbs, the protein and the fibre.

Tips to reduce your blood pressure!

Issue 676 (38)

19 - 25 July 2016

Yeast infections: Symptoms, home remedies that really work!

A vaginal yeast infection is a common female condition, affecting up to 3 out of 4 women at some point in their lifetimes.

Candida albicans is the most common type of fungus to cause yeast infections, also called candida vaginitis or vulvovaginal candidiasis. However they can also be caused by other types of candica fungus. t may be noted that not all women show noticeable symptoms when they have a yeast infection, especially if it's mild. Common symptoms may include: • Vaginal itching that is often and severe • Vaginal discharge that is often whitish gray, thick and odorless • Burning in the vaginal

area • Swelling and redness of the vulva (vaginal opening) • Pain during sex • Burning sensation while urinating

• Vaginal rash Paying attention to the signs and symptoms is the first step to getting treatment. Consult with your

Zika epidemic likely to peter out within 3 years Zika epidemic has reportedly reached the peak in Latin America and it should

likely be over within three years, claim researchers at the Imperial college London. “The current explosive epidemic will burn itself out due to a phenomenon called herd immunity,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial's School of Public Health.

“Because the virus is unable to infect the same

person twice -- thanks to the immune system generating antibodies to kill it -- the epidemic reaches a stage where there are too few people left to infect for transmission to be sustained.”

This should happen within two to three years, he added.

Then, this herd immunity “will likely delay the next large Zika epidemic for more than a decade.”

The virus, though first discovered in 1947, largely took public health officials by surprise when it began spreading through the Americas last year and causing birth defects.

doctor if this is the first time that you've had yeast infection symptoms or your symptoms don't disappear despite antifungal medications or you show other

symptoms as well.

Home remedies for yeast infections In case, you would like to avoid allopathic medica-

tions, there are some popular natural home remedies that can be found in every kitchen. These include: Garlic – you can eat a fresh garlic cloves daily or make a paste of it and apply directly on the affected areas. It is highly effective in treating any kind of yeast infection.

Coconut oil – just like garlic, coconut oil has antifungal properties and is effective in treating yeast infections. You can apply coconut oil on the affected areas externally three times a day.

Yogurt – you can take yogurt orally or apply it on the affected skin area, allowing it to sit for at least 2030 minutes, or even overnight. There is evidence to support about yogurt being a good remedy for yeast infections.

Red meat consumption elevates kidney failure risk

A new study has furnished a fact that excess consumption of red meat can increase the risk of kidney failure.

The study adds that consuming plant-based sources of protein may significantly reduce this risk.

Increasing number of people are developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), and many progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires dialysis or a kidney trans-

plant. The findings showed that people who consumed the highest quantity of red meat had a 40 per cent increased risk of developing ESRD compared to people consuming the lowest amount.

On the other hand, substituting one serving of red meat with other sources of protein like eggs, dairy products, soy, and legumes reduced the risk of ESRD by up to 62 per cent.

Here’s why artificial sweeteners make you eat more You may be relying on them to shed those extra kilos, but turns out, artificial sweeteners may actually be making you eat more. A comprehensive new study co-led by the University of Sydney has revealed for the first time why this response occurs.

The results shed light on the effects of artificial sweeteners on the brain in regulating appetite and in altering taste perceptions.

Researchers identified a new system in the brain that senses and integrates the sweetness and energy content of food.

“After chronic exposure to a diet that contained the artificial sweetener sucralose, we saw that animals began eating a lot more,” said lead researcher Greg Neely, adding “Through systematic in-

vestigation of this effect, we found that inside the brain's reward centres, sweet sensation is integrated with energy content. When sweet-

(more than five days) were found to consume 30 percent more calories when they were then given naturally sweetened food.

ness versus energy is out of balance for a period of time, the brain recalibrates and increases total calories consumed.”

In the study, fruit flies that were exposed to a diet laced with artificial sweetener for prolonged periods

“When we investigated why animals were eating more even though they had enough calories, we found that chronic consumption of this artificial sweetener actually increases the sweet intensity of real nutritive sugar, and this then in-

creases the animal's overall motivation to eat more food,” said Neely.

The researchers also found artificial sweeteners promoted hyperactivity, insomnia and decreased sleep quality - behaviours consistent with a mild starvation or fasting state - with similar effects on sleep also previously reported in human studies.

To discover whether artificial sweeteners also increased food intake in mammals, Herbert Herzog's lab from Garvan then replicated the study using mice. Again the mice that consumed a sucralose-sweetened diet for seven days displayed a significant increase in food consumption, and the neuronal pathway involved was the same as in the fruit flies.

Protein that may help in killing HIV virus identified Researchers from a US based research institute claim that they have identified a protein that has the potential to spot and kill human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The research claims that this protein has the potential to force the virus out of hiding and poison them on their way out, which can in turn lead to potential treatments for the deadly disease.

The findings showed that galectin-9 -- a human sugar-binding protein -- reactivates latent HIV viruses and renders these infected cells visible to the immune system, in a process called the “shock and kill”

HIV eradication strategy.

Galectin-9 works by manipulating the sugars on the surface of HIV-infected cells to deliver the signals that force latent HIV out of hiding.

“Galectin-9 binds to certain classes of sugars on the surface of cells to start a chain reaction that forces HIV out of hiding,” said lead author Mohamed AbdelMohsen, Scientist at Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) -- a US based research institute. “This sugar coating may hold the key to new therapeutics that can be harnessed to cure HIV and

possibly a range of other infectious diseases,” added Abdel-Mohsen.

In addition, galectin-9 was also found to strongly increase the levels of an antiviral protein called “APOBEC3G” -- a lethal

mutagen that destroys the genetic code of viruses including HIV, in infected

cells. This ensures that virus that comes out of hiding at the hands of galectin9 will be sterilised on its way out of the cell, prevent-

ing any further infection, the researchers said. The presence of potential, HIVinfected cells, which can reawaken and produce new virus when antiretroviral drug therapy is stopped, poses the ultimate impediment to a cure for HIV infection.

“For nearly two decades, antiretroviral therapy has demonstrated efficacy in suppressing HIV replication, but these drugs do not completely clear viral infection or fully restore health,” noted Satish Pillai, Associate Professor at University of Cali-

fornia, San Francisco in the US. “Our findings suggests that future HIV treatments can eliminate all traces of the virus from the body,” Pillai stated, in the work published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

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Issue 676 (39)

19 - 25 July 2016

Spicy RoaSted edamame

Marinated Pork Roast

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans), thawed 2 teaspoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon paprika 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place the thawed edamame into a mixing bowl, drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle with chili powder, basil, onion powder, cumin, paprika, and pepper. Toss until the edamame are evenly coated with the oil and

Ingredients: 1 (4 pound) pork roast 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder 1 teaspoon lemon pepper 1/2 teaspoon celery salt 1 clove garlic, minced Directions: Prepare grill for indirect heat. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the Worcestershire sauce, honey, vinegar, mustard seed, mustard powder, lemon pepper, celery salt, and garlic; seal, and mix ingredients. Place the roast in the plastic bag, press air out of bag,

spices. Spread into a 9x13 inch glass baking dish in a single layer.

Bake uncovered in the preheated oven until the beans begin to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir once halfway through cooking.

WILD RICE WITH DRIED CHERRIES Ingredients: 2 cups wild rice blend, rinsed until water runs clear and drained 4 tbsp. unsalted butter 5 inner stalks celery, cut into 1/4" pieces, plus 1/4 cup leaves, for garnish, 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 small red onion, cut into 1/4" pieces 1/3 cup chicken stock 1/3 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley, plus 1/4 cup leaves, for garnish 2 tbsp. minced thyme Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste, 1 lemon Instructions: Bring 12 cups water to a boil in a 6-qt. saucepan. Stir in rice and return to a boil; cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

WILD MUSHROOM BREAD PUDDING

Strain rice in a fine-mesh sieve; let drain for 10 seconds, and then return to pan.

Cover pan and let rice steam, off the heat, for 10 minutes. Transfer rice to a bowl and fluff with a fork; cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Wipe saucepan clean and add butter; melt over medium-high. Add chopped celery, garlic, and onion; cook until golden, 10–12 minutes. Add stock and cherries; simmer until liquid is evaporated, 2–3 minutes. Stir in reserved rice, the chopped parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper, and transfer to a serving platter.

Grate lemon zest over the top; garnish with celery and parsley leaves.

Ingredients: Unsalted butter, for greasing 12 oz. thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4" slices, 1 1/2 lb. mixed mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, and porcini, sliced 1/4" thick, 2 1/2 cups whole milk 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1/2 cup grated parmesan 1/3 cup roughly chopped parsley 2 tsp. minced thyme 6 eggs, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 (1-lb.) loaf country bread, torn into 1" pieces (6 cups), lightly toasted 1 cup shredded Gruyère Instructions: Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 3-qt. oval baking dish with butter. Heat bacon and 1 tbsp. oil in a 12" skillet over medium-

high; cook until bacon is slightly crisp, 6– 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a bowl. Add leek to skillet and cook until soft, 3–4 minutes; add to bowl with bacon. Working in two batches, cook mushrooms in remaining oil until golden, 6–8 minutes; add to bowl with bacon. Whisk milk, cream, parmesan, 1/ 4 cup parsley, the thyme, eggs, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Stir in bacon mixture and bread; let sit 15 minutes. Transfer to prepared baking dish and sprinkle with Gruyère; bake until golden brown and set, about 45 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley.

Chicken Enchiladas

GinGeR Glazed mahi Ingredients: 3 tablespoons honey 3 tablespoons soy sauce 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root 1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste 2 teaspoons olive oil 4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon vegetable oil Directions: In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.

and seal. Marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator, turning the roast occasionally to help coat while marinating. Lightly oil grill grate. Place roast on grill, and discard marinade. Cover, and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until internal temperature is 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm. Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

Ingredients: 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1 onion, chopped 1/2 pint sour cream 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 1 tablespoon dried parsley 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce 1/2 cup water 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper 1 clove garlic, minced 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas 1 (12 ounce) jar taco sauce 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium, non-stick skil-

let over medium heat, cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain excess fat. Cube the chicken and return it to the skillet. Add the onion, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano and ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in salt, tomato sauce, water, chili powder, green pepper and garlic. Roll even amounts of the mixture in the tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Cover with taco sauce and 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Issue 676 (40)

19 - 25 July 2016

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