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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 677, 26 JULY - 1 AUGUST 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Frankfurt The Amaq News Agency, the public relations arm of the socalled Islamic State has taken credit for the terror attack in Ansbach, southern Germany, on Wednesday evening, saying that the attack was carried out by “one of the soldiers of the Islamic State.” The ISIS public relations statement was issued after the police searched the mobile phone of the perpetrator, known only as “Mohammed D”, and found a video declaring loyalty to ISIS and announcing a “revenge act against Germans because they are standing in the way of

Islam.” However, it’s believed that Mohammed D was a “lone wolf” inspired by ISIS, but unknown to ISIS prior to the attack.

Mohammed D exploded a bomb on Sunday evening outside a large music festival in Ansbach, injuring 15 people. He was prevented from entering the music festival by police since he didn’t have a ticket. There was heavy security at the festival because of three previous violent attacks in Germany during the week. Mohammed D was a 27year-old Syrian national who had arrived in Bulgaria in 2013, and was granted refugee status by

Bulgaria in September 2013. He left Bulgaria in mid-2014, and came to Germany, where he applied for protection, which was denied. He received deportation warnings from Germany between December 2014 and July of this year, threatening to deport him back to Bulgaria, although it’s unclear whether Bulgaria would have accepted him. Mohammed D had spent time living in a mental care facility and had twice attempted suicide, but failed. On

Sunday, he was successful.

Germans in a state of shock after four violent attacks in one week Until this summer, Germany had been largely untouched by the wave of terror that hit France and Belgium in recent years. But now, the attack in Ansbach was the fourth violent attack in a week, and Germans are becoming increasingly anxious. Many are blaming Chancellor Angela Continued on Page 2

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26 July - 1 August 2016

APOCALYPSE NOW?

Continued from Page 1 Merkel for permitting close to a million refugees to enter Germany last year. On Monday, July 18, a teenage Afghan refugee hacked at passengers on a train in Würzburg with an axe and knife, wounding five. He was shot dead by police. ISIS claimed credit for

ground so that police were able to arrest him seven minutes after the first attack. The attacker was previously known to the police for assault and drug offenses.

after they occurred. Her political enemies are blaming the attacks directly on her policies. Germans will go to the polls about a year from now, and Merkel has not yet

facility near Tokyo for people with disabilities, killing at least 19 and wounding 25 others. Satoshi Uematsu, 26, later drove to the police station and turned himself

the attack. On Friday, July 22, a German-born teenager of Iranian descent shot dead nine people in Munich before shooting himself dead. According to police, gunman David Ali Sonboly was inspired by other mass shootings that had no political motivation, such as a school massacre carried out by 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer in BadenWürttemberg in 2009. It would be surprising if someone whose heritage is Iran, which is a Shia Muslim country, were inspired by ISIS or al-Qaeda, which are Sunni Muslim terrorist groups.

On Sunday, July 24 in Reutlingen, a few hours before the Ansbach attack, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee took a long knife from the kebab shop where he worked, and used to kill a 45-year-old woman whom he had claimed to be “in love” with. Some unconfirmed reports indicate that the woman was pregnant. Five others were injured as well. A witness hit the attacker with his car, knocking the man to the

There’s a thread of mental instability that runs through these attacks. The Ansbach attacker had spent time in a mental care facility, and had previously attempted suicide twice, as we mentioned above. David Ali Sonboly carried out his attack on the fifth anniversary of the 77 murders by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011.

The Reutlingen attack was apparently related to an affair with a woman. This has led some people to suggest that these attacks would all have occurred anyway even without being “inspired” by ISIS, in the same way that one public murder can lead to copycat murders.

Nonetheless, pressure is growing on Angela Merkel to revise her policies on refugees.

Her political allies point out that these attacks were not directed

by ISIS, but only claimed by ISIS

announced whether she plans to run for a fourth term.

Knife-wielding massacre near Tokyo Japan kills 19

in. He had a bag full of knives, some bloodstained, when he turned himself in. He had been an employee of the care home, but had been sacked. He told police that he wanted to rid the world of disabled people. Police say that there is no connection to terrorism.

Germany’s Der Spiegel asks: Is this the Apocalypse Now? “I’m tired of living in interesting times,” a Twitter user wrote several days ago. According to an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel, people on social media ask every day: What is wrong with 2016? When will it be over? What more does it have in store for us? In just the last few weeks, there was amass shooting in Orlando on June 12, a huge Istanbul airport attack on June 28, a massive terror attack in Dhaka on July 1, a deadly July 7 shooting in Dallas, and the horrific Bastille Day attack in Nice on July 14. The next day, on July 15, was the attempted coup d’état in Turkey.

And now, in the last week, there have been four violent attacks in Germany, including two on Sunday, and a major knife attack in Japan on Monday.

The article says: “This year, international political events have overlapped in an unsettling way.

Something seems to be coalescing and brewing, though it’s not yet clear what. Each new development seems to come a bit faster than the last. It may have begun with the Arab Spring in 2011, but it also continued with the wars in Libya and Syria and was further exacerbated by the

In one of the worst mass attacks that Japan has seen, a man wielding a knife went on a stabbing rampage in a care

UK’s Prince Harry TV anchor plunges 125 feet to death at North Carolina waterfall wishes he had spoken A television news anchor from died at Rainbow Falls in the Georgia fell 125 feet to her death Pisgah National Forest on Thursin North Carolina after being day. The next day would have been her 25th birthday, according to news station WMGT in Macon, where she worked. She had been wading in the stream above the falls when she lost her footing, Forest Service spokesperson Cathy Dowd said in a teleswept over a waterfall, a spokes- phone interview. The current carperson for the US Forest Service ried Terrell downstream and over said on Monday. Taylor Terrell the falls, Dowd said. A local man died on Saturday after jumping off the top of Elk River Falls in the same forest and falling 40 feet, Dowd said. The Forest Service warned of the dangers of climbing on waterfalls or swimming near them. “Sometimes people are just unaware of how strong that current actually is,” Dowd said. “Even if you think you’re not DRUNK & DRIVING? that close to the edge of the falls, if you lose your balance and canCALL VICKY SINGH not get back up, you can put your416-992-5489 self in a very serious situation.”

CHARGED

about mother sooner

Britain’s Prince Harry has said he wishes he had spoken sooner about the death of his mother,

Princess Diana.

Harry, who was 12 when Diana died in a car crash in 1997, said in video released Monday that it isn’t a sign of weakness to speak about problems. The comments came as Harry was speaking with a group of high-profile sports stars attending a July 14 barbecue arranged by the mental health charity Heads Together.

“It’s OK to suffer, as long as you talk about it,” he said. “It’s not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognizing it and not solving that problem.”

conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the latest terrorist attacks. We are witnessing the destabilization of the world as we’ve known it since 1989.”

In fact, this is exactly what always happens in a generational Crisis era. There are many reasons, but there are two major ones. First, the last of the Silent generation of survivors of World War II have all but disappeared, and their wisdom is no longer available to prevent geopolitical catastrophes, leaving the world at the mercy of increasingly nationalistic, racist and xenophobic younger generations.

The second reason is the Malthusian reason. As the population continues to increase exponentially, with 200,000 people added to the global population every day, there have been massive flows of refugees in the Mideast, Africa and Asia, destabilizing societies and nations everywhere.

Furthermore, growing populations are displacing more and more farmland, and the population is growing faster than the food supply, resulting in constantly increasing poverty and starvation. Both of these reasons give rise to desperate people who are willing to kill in order to get what they believe they’re entitled to, and that means increasing chaos and war.

I had to chuckle when I heard the media commentary on Donald Trump’s speech last week, characterizing it as full of “doom and gloom.” I watched the speech live and didn’t think that it was particularly gloomy at all, since all of those doom and gloom things are things that I’ve been predicting for years. The Contact also predicts that there are no solutions to these problems except another world war.

The article concludes: “Many of us simply don’t understand the world anymore. It will probably be up to the historians of future generations to accurately categorize what exactly it is that we’re experiencing in these times of transition. This is, however, not the time to give in to panic — it is time to have confidence in one’s own values and keep fighting for the society one believes in. Geopolitical turmoil is best overcome when one is grounded in clear convictions, which holds true for both citizens and countries as a whole. First of all, a clear compass is needed in order to take responsibility for foreign policy, confront dictators and manage the crises that we’re witnessing.”

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Issue - 677 (3)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Issue - 677 (4)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Does the universe have a purpose?

Yes, but not necessarily in the way you think. When most of my friends ask this question, they are really asking “Is there a creator or an intelligent designer?”

That’s when I grab my bag of popcorn, yell “Let the games begin!” and watch the ensuing fireworks of debate between theists and atheists. Everyone notes our seemingly cosmically insignificant planet and sun, the vast lack of undiscovered life, and the improbability of the finely tuned universe. One side interprets it as evidence for a designer; another interprets it as great chance; another, through the multiverse theory, says it’s simply obvious that any universe, in which life can observe it, must be one perfectly suited to support that life. All sides understand the generally accepted Big Bang theory. One side interprets it as evidence of a designer and thereby purpose; the other interprets it as evidence that a designer is unnecessary.

If the life ends in the grave, then we have no ultimate purpose for living. But more

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than that: even if it did not end in death, without God life would still be without purpose. For man and the universe would then be simple accident of chance, thrust into existence for no reason. Without God the universe is the result of a cosmic accident, a chance explosion. There is no reason for which it exists. As for man, he is a freak of nature - a blind product of matter plus time plus chance. Man is just a lump of slime that evolved into rationality.

There is no more purpose in life for the human race than for a species of insect; for both are the result of the blind interaction of chance and necessity. The reality in a universe without God is that there will be no hope; there will be no purpose. What is true of mankind as a whole is true of each of us individually; we are here to no purpose.

But I wonder if there is another angle to see this question of purpose from. I wonder if it’s possible to consider the question apart from the existence of an intelligent designer. Even without such a designer, can the universe have a purpose? And for those of us who do not believe in a designer, does this universe have a purpose?

The response to the question depends a bit on how you define “universe.”

If “universe” means the entire universe and every section, it’s a much harder question: you must find purpose in every single part of it. However, if any part of the universe having a purpose counts, then it’s simply a question of finding purpose anywhere. That’s how I interpret the question.

What is true of the universe and of the human race is also true of us as individuals.

Insofar as we are individual human beings, we are the results of certain combinations of heredity and environment. We are victims of a kind of genetic and environmental roulette. Psychologists following Sigmund Freud tell us our actions are the result of various repressed sexual tendencies. Sociologists following B. F. Skinner argue that all our choices are determined by conditioning, so that freedom is an illusion. If God does not exist, then you are just a miscarriage of nature, thrust into a purposeless universe to live a purposeless life. So if God does not exist, that means that man and the universe exist to no purpose - since the end of everything is death - and that they came to be for no purpose, since they

are only blind products of chance.

But my response to SUNNY BAINS the question asked at the beginning of this article also depends on what ‘purpose’ means. The do we ensure this does not happen reason the question serves as a proxy for again? the hidden question “Is there an intelligent In that subtle reversal, we infuse meaning designer” is because people usually and, may I say, purpose into a situation define “purpose” as “intent.” If purpose is through our response. We may disagree intent and if there is intent, then who whether it was designed or caused with intended it? We’re back at the question some intention. But we know we can of a designer. However, there is another intentionally give meaning to a situation kind of purpose lurking throughout the in the aftermath through our response. universe. The purpose of life is to find a John Haught defines purpose as “the reason in an utterly unreasonable bringing about of something undeniably universe. Do you understand the gravity and permanently good.” The nice aspect of the alternatives before us? For if God of this definition is that this type of purpose can definitely be done intentionally in the creation of something.

More importantly, it can come about in the aftermath of an event through our response and faithful action towards giving that event meaning and purpose.

When I think of it that way, my response is yes, the universe does have a purpose. It has a purpose when people turn tragic wars into a means of reconciliation between people groups. It has a purpose when scientists, filled with exploratory spirits, give the mystery of exists, then there is hope for man. But if our universe a purpose simply by God does not exist, then all we are left uncovering that mystery. It has a purpose with is despair. Do you understand why after natural disasters when people learn the question of God’s existence is so vital to value what is most important and to to man? As one writer has aptly put it, “If improve disaster preparedness to save God is dead then man is dead, too.” lives in the future. One of the reasons I Unfortunately, the mankind does not realize have been writing about faith and science this fact. It continues on as though nothing instead of religion and science is that has changed. some people have a religion, some do not.

This purpose still equates to meaning, but But everyone has a faith - the way each instead of meaning being in the intention lives out life based on a set of values, or creation of a situation or circumstance, whether derived from a religion, an ethical rather this meaning is infused into a system, or somewhere else. situation or circumstance through the When we begin to ask questions that are experience itself. We experience this in not based on having a religion but on the the aftermath of a human tragedy. We way we faithfully live out our lives, we sometimes ask questions of intent. Why begin to take a step on common ground. did this happen? What’s the point of this Maybe whether the universe has an tragedy? Rarely do we have an answer to intentional purpose is not the most such questions. Instead, part of moving important question. Maybe what is most on is not to ask why the tragedy important is whether we can imbue happened, but rather to ask how can we purpose into the universe we have. When use this regrettable, unwanted situation we ask that question, we stand on for good. What can we learn from it? How common ground and take steps for the can we make good come out of it? How common good.

UK pub asks Muslim man named Islam to remove his personalised sweatshirt A Muslim man in the UK was asked to remove his school jumper, which had his surname ‘Islam’ written on the back, as pub customers were feeling “uncomfortable”.

Nurul Islam, a 32-year-old teacher, was outside the Coach and Horses pub near Hertfordshire last week, when the barman approached him.

He was wearing a personalised school sweatshirt, which all teachers have, when he was asked to remove it as it was offending people because of the Nice attack.

“A staff member came outside and asked if I could I take off my jumper because it

was making some customers feel uncomfortable ‘after what happened last night’,” said Islam, a technology teacher at the Thomas Alleyne Academy.

“I didn’t know quite what to say, and at

first I didn’t link what he’d said with the lorry attack in France, but when it sank in, I was shocked,” BBC?quoted Islam as saying.

Islam was waiting for a group of pupils from the Academy in Hertfordshire, who were on a Duke of Edinburgh assignment and the pub was the agreed meeting point.

“I was being discriminated against because of my surname so I was left really upset after the incident.

We all have surnames on the backs of our hoodies, which is the responsible thing to do,” said Islam, who helps run the school’s Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

Issue - 677 (5)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Obama’s half brother says he will vote for Trump in US elections

Often, to make significant progress with a long-term plan, we need to let go of an immediate goal. Our relationships may benefit from the same kind of process. For a winning strategy to succeed, it’s likely that some battles will be lost. Not that I’m encouraging you to see relationships as war ... quite the opposite! But the melding of two hearts requires careful planning and skillful negotiation for the union to remain successful. When you’re called to make a sacrifice, focus less on what you’ll lose and more on what you’ll gain. !!!

Many of the greatest love stories begin the moment two people’s eyes meet across a crowded room.

It’s love at first sight ... an instantaneous infatuation leading to a lasting connection and an everafter that never deviates from happiness. But these are just stories. The truth is that a relationship based on gaze alone, lasts only until the first person blinks! Your heart may be better served by taking a different approach. Who do you know who has begun to seem more than they did when they first met your eye? !!!

Are people who have an iPhone 6S Plus happier than those with an iPhone 6?

Is there any relationship between quality of life and quality of a device? Of course not! But when people feel proud of something that they own, they experience a kind of glow.

That’s why, if we seek emotional stability, we are wiser not to take pride in our possessions but in what we keep in our own hearts! Life will soon offer you an inner upgrade. To install this, just be more inspired and less reactive. !!!

Some creative acts are

instantly rewarding. We come up with an idea and implement it, we gain immediate satisfaction.

Others take longer to come to fruition. Of course, the more effort we have to put into chasing a dream, the more fulfilling it is to make it a reality. But that’s little comfort when we doubt if we’ll ever find success. That is why it’s always important to ask: ‘Am I now being creative?

Or am I pursuing an emotional goal? Or is it both?’ Whatever it is, a breakthrough may be nearer than you realize. !!!

To ‘nip in the bud’ means to cut off a portion of a plant before it has a chance to flower. It’s a 17th-century phrase that was once gardening parlance but has now become everyday vernacular. Nowadays, we use it to describe a timely correction of manners. As something begins to sit uneasily with you, it may be time to visit the garden storage shed and find the pruning tools. You don’t need to abandon course, or painfully descend to the root of a problem. A small correction is all that’s needed to encourage regrowth and beautiful blooms. !!!

In order for an action to be judged worthwhile it doesn’t necessarily have to have a ‘result’.

Sometimes we say or do things simply because we feel inspired. These can make an immediate, tangible difference to our environment; they may just make us feel better, or they may have a delayed impact. We can’t always tell what response we are getting.

In your emotional life now, you need to do what feels genuinely right, for no other reason than that, and regardless of what happens.

President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, says he will vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the US election in November because he likes the candidate and he is unhappy with his brother’s leadership.

Malik, who is in his 50s, told Reuters by phone from Obama’s ancestral home of Kogelo in western Kenya that he supports Trump’s policies, especially his focus on security.

“He appeals to me and also I think that he is down to earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct. He’s just straight-forward,” he said.

Malik, a US citizen, has lived in Washington since 1985 where he worked with

various firms before becoming an independent financial consultant.

Trump’s stance against Muslims coming in to the United States was understandable even to Muslims like himself, Malik said.

“I’m a Muslim, of course, but you can’t have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam,” he said.

He criticised President Obama’s record in the White House, saying he

Believe it or not! This cow pees gold This cow from Gujarat is in news again for bizzare reason! It urinates gold! In a one of its kind revelation, scientists from Junagadh Agricultural University in Gujarat have claimed to have found traces of gold in the urine of a local cattle breed - Gir. The team of re-

Man sentenced to life in prison for murdering Indian origin single mother

Miles Donnelly, 35, who is accused of murdering Indian origin Usha Patel, 44, a single mother whom he met on an online dating site, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Donnelly strangled Patel last year, after she had put her fiveyear-old autistic son to bed at her home in Cricklewood, north-west London, the Nation reported. Donnelly attacked her in a drunken rage, stabbing her 13 times with a large bread knife, beating her ferociously and strangling her. Having murdered Patel, Donnelly fled to the west London home of Rosie Ferrigno, 43, whom he barely knew and attacked for refusing his sexual advances. Donnelly, who has a long criminal history, had denied murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

searchers led by head of JAU’s biotechnology department Dr. B A Golakia used gas chromatography-

mass spectrometry (GCMS) method to analyse the urine samples. Another researcher at the institute, meanwhile, said traces of silver, zinc and boron were also found in the urine sample, but the quantities were far low to be significant.

had not done much for the American people and his extended family despite the high expectations that accompanied his election in 2008, both in the United States and Kenya.

The two men appear to have drifted apart but were previously close.

Malik has visited the President in the Oval office and was also best man at Barack’s wedding.

Obama’s election created much excitement in Kenya especially in Kogelo village where their father was born before going to study at the University of Hawaii.

Obama visited Nairobi, in the first ever trip by a sitting US president to the East African nation last July, and promised to visit more often when he leaves office.

Malik defended his right to criticise his brother, citing freedom of expression.

“To each his own. I speak my mind and I’m not going to be put in a box just because my brother is the President of the United States,” Malik said.

UK research identifies ‘5 walls of Islamophobic hate’ on Facebook As British police report a surge in hate crimes since the Brexit vote, new research into Islamophobia, especially in the country, has identified the most common ways Muslims are depicted on Facebook, described as the “five walls of Islamophobic hate”.

The most common type of abuse posted on Facebook depicts Muslim women as threats to national security and suggests all Muslims should be deported, according to the study published on Monday in the “International Journal of Cyber Criminology”.

Study author Imran Awan of Birmingham City University told Hindustan Times, “Islamophobia is much more prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook with a number of far-right groups and individuals using Facebook to target Muslim communities before Brexit following trigger events.”

He added, “What this study shows is how attitudes towards Muslims were online before Brexit and how they translate to racist attacks after Brexit, when people felt more com-

fortable in targeting Muslim are rapists; Muslim women communities because of are a security threat; a war fears around immigration.” exists between Muslims

The research report titled “Islamophobia Online: Inside Facebook’s Walls of Hate” examined 100 Facebook pages, posts and comments and uncovered nearly 500 instances of antiMuslim hate speech.

The networking site was trawled for references to Muslims and Woolwich, Muslims and Islam, Muslims and Extremism, and Muslims and Terrorism, with the results covering dozens of pages including those of right-wing groups.

Awan found there were five recurring ways in which Muslims were portrayed during abuse – which he defines as “the five walls of Islamophobic hate: Muslims are terrorists; Muslims

and ‘us’; Muslims should be deported”.

Among these categories, the most frequent abuse depicted Muslim women as security threats due to their clothing (76 instances), followed by the belief that Muslims should be deported (62 instances).

Impotence?

416-992-5489

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26 July - 1 August 2016

FBI investigates DNC email hacking; Clinton campaign blames Russia The FBI said Monday it is investigating how thousands of Democratic National Committee emails were hacked, a breach that Hillary Clinton’s campaign maintains was committed

by Russia to benefit Donald Trump.

A statement from the FBI confirmed that it is “investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC,” adding that “a compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously.”

WikiLeaks posted emails Friday that suggested the DNC was favouring Clinton over her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primary season. Clinton’s campaign pointed to a massive hacking of DNC computers in June that cybersecurity firms linked to the Russian government. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta added fuel to the debate Monday, saying there was “a kind of bromance going on” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

The Clinton campaign says Russia favours Trump’s views, especially on NATO. Trump on Monday dismissed as a “joke” claims

by Hillary Clinton’s campaign that Russia is trying to help Trump by leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee. “The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should have never been written (stupid), because Putin likes me,” Trump wrote as part of a series of tweets. “Hillary was involved in the email scandal because she is the only one with judgement (sic) so bad that such a thing could have happened.” The hacking enraged die-hard Sanders supporters who have long claimed that the DNC had its finger on the scale throughout the primaries. The disclosures prompted the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the party’s convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to officially accept the nomination for president. It wasn’t immediately clear how

WikiLeaks received copies of the internal Democratic emails. Democratic Party officials learned in late April that their systems had been attacked after they discovered malicious software on their computers. A

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said US officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates, and that they expect more cyberthreats against the

cybersecurity firm they employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on the Democrats’ network — both of which have ties to the Russian government.

Those hackers took at least one year’s worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Donald Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

campaigns.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on allegations that Russia is behind the leaked emails, instead pointing to statements by Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, dismissing the claims.

Clinton’s campaign stood firmly behind their claims of Russian involvement Monday. “There is a consensus among experts that it is in-

deed Russia that is behind this hack of the DNC,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN. On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that it was “concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian.”

Trump’s senior policy adviser Paul Manafort called statements by the Clinton campaign “pretty desperate.”

“It’s a far reach, obviously,” Manafort told reporters. “To lead their convention with that tells me they really are trying to move away from what the issues are going to be in this campaign. It’s pretty absurd.”

Trump told The New York Times last week that he would decide whether to protect America’s NATO allies against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us,” hinting that he might

pivot away from the decades-old agreement.

Some Republicans opposed to Trump have indeed sought to cast him as proPutin, a position that would put him at odds with both Republican and Democratic foreign policy and also diverge from the current GOP party platform adopted at the convention last week. Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from getting into this year’s platform, but the manifesto itself is demonstrably not pro-Russia. It accuses “current officials in the Kremlin” of eroding the “personal liberty and fundamental rights” of the Russian people.” “We will meet the return of Russian belligerence with the same resolve that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union,” the Republican platform says. “We will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force, in Ukraine, Georgia, or elsewhere, and will use all appropriate constitutional measures to bring to justice the practitioners of aggression and assassination.”

Georgia appeals court rules Cop shot dead at home in suspected ‘upskirting’ not against the law robbery bid: Texas sheriff A man admitted he surreptitiously took mobile phone videos up a woman’s skirt while she shopped at a grocery store, but a Georgia court said he didn’t break the law.

A divided Georgia Court of Appeals this month tossed out the conviction

of the disturbing conduct that has been made possible by ever-advancing technology.”

In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Amanda Mercier argued there is no gap in the law and that Gary’s actions were clearly illegal.

No one disputes the facts

of former grocery store employee Brandon Lee Gary, who recorded videos up a woman’s skirt — known as “upskirting” — while she shopped. The 63 majority opinion said Gary’s behaviour, while reprehensible, doesn’t violate the state’s invasion of privacy law, under which he was prosecuted.

In a ruling issued July 15, Judge Elizabeth Branch said it is “regrettable that no law currently exists which criminalises Gary’s reprehensible conduct”.

“Unfortunately, there is a gap in Georgia’s criminal statutory scheme, in that our law does not reach all

of the case: Gary aimed his phone’s camera up the woman’s skirt at least four times as she walked through the aisles of a Publix grocery store in Houston County, about 100 miles south of Atlanta.

An indictment charged him with violating the state’s invasion of privacy law, which prohibits “the use of any device, without the consent of all persons observed, to observe, photograph, or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of public view.”

Whether Gary’s behaviour violates that law hinges on how the word

“place” is interpreted.

The law defines a place as a physical location, not an area of the body, the majority opinion says.

The appeals court also agreed with Gary’s lawyers, who argued that because the recording happened in a grocery store that is open to the public, it cannot be considered private and out of public view.

In the dissenting opinion, Mercier argues that “with the stroke of a pen” the court is negating privacy protections by narrowly interpreting place in a way that excludes a person’s body.

“As the victim’s genital area was not exposed to the public, it was out of public view and the victim had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area under her skirt,” Mercier wrote.

The majority opinion calls Gary’s behaviour offensive but says it is not prohibited by law. It is up to the state’s lawmakers to fix the problem, Branch wrote. Lawmakers in other states have recognized that existing laws didn’t criminalise actions like Gary’s and created voyeurism statutes to prohibit such behaviour, according to a footnote in Branch’s opinion.

A Texas sheriff’s deputy was shot dead at his home north of Austin before dawn on Monday in what authorities said appeared to be an attempted robbery.

Sgt Craig Hutchinson of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office used his police radio around 1:30 am to report people in his backyard.

Investigators arriving moments later found Hutchinson lying on the ground in his backyard in Round Rock, about 15 miles from Austin.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Travis County sheriff Greg Hamilton said at a news conference that no arrests have been made but that authorities are seeking multiple suspects. He said there was evidence that the incident was an attempted robbery of Hutchinson’s backyard shed, rather than someone targeting a law enforcement officer.

Tensions remain high following the fatal shooting earlier this month of five police officers in Dallas and the ambush and killing of three law enforcement officers in Louisiana.

“There’s no suggestion that this was an ambush,” Hamilton said. “I

said Hutchison served as his field training officer and “taught me everything I know”.

“This is near and dear to me,” Hamilton said.

“This guy was a big teddy bear and everyone loved him.”

The block where the shooting took place

heard that there’s a lot of burglaries going on in this community, and I think this was just one of the burglaries.”

He said investigators believed items were taken from Hutchinson’s shed and that the officer may have “seen individuals in the shed, and I think that’s where the confrontation occurred.”

Hutchinson was a 32year veteran who had planned to retire in September. Hamilton

remained ringed with yellow tape — and red tape surrounded Hutchison’s home down the street — for hours after the shooting.

Investigators could be seen working in the area around the home.

Police briefly closed portions of Interstate 35 heading into Austin as a long procession of police cars accompanied Hutchinson’s body to the medical examiner’s office.

Issue - 677 (7)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Police plays real life Bajrangi Bhaijaan, united daughter and mother after 28 years Its impossible made possible by the Hyderabad City Police.

As part of its community policing, the South Zone

four years aand gave birth to two daughters Ayesha Rasheed eid Obaid alias Kanoo Rasheed and Fatima Rasheed eid

police helped two daughter reunite with their mother after 28 long years on Thursday.

The story of parting and meeting may look like a Bollywood cine plot but it is actually a true emotional saga with a happy ending.

Two Dubai based sisters Ayesha Rasheed eid Obaid alias Kanoo Rasheed and Fatima Rasheed eid Obaid were informed by there father just before his last breath that there mother is alive and lives in Hyderabad of India.

The revelation made by the father was shocking for the two sisters who were always in belief that there mother died after giving them birth.

Nazia Begum, now 60, from Santoshnagar in south zone was married to a UAE national Rasheed Eid Obaid Rifaq Masmari in 1981 at a Qazi’s office in Old City of Hyderabad.

After a few years of marriage, she left to United Arab Emirates.

She lived there for around

Obaid.

Four year later, unfortunately Nazia was divorced by her husband Rasheed and she was sent back to India without her little daughters.

With a heavy heart Nazia returned back to India. She tried her best to get the daughters back but poverty and lack of education remained the barrier between mother and daughter.

After two years Nazia’s was again married by her parents to a fruit vendor from Bidar in neighbouring Karnataka State.

Nazia got a new life and a family of three children, two sons and a daughter from the second marriage.

Meanwhile 28 year later, time turned, the two daughters separated years ago learnt about the woman who had given the birth and was alive living somewhere in India.

They decided to find out the mother at any cost.

Sisters Ayesha Rashed eid Obaid alias Kanoor Rasheed and Fatima

Rasheed eid Obaid who are now aged 29 years and 26 years respectively landed to Hyderabad in search of their mother in January this year.

They had a black & white photograph of young Nazia and a photocopy of old passport.

Both of them knocked the door of Hyderabad police and met Mr. V Satyanarayana, DCP (south zone).

Pamphlets and posters were printed and circulated all over the south zone and even two teams were formed to find out the lost mother.

The police team also approached Old Qazis’ and Shadi Khanas’ with available material to find out the clues of Nazia.

After strenuous efforts that lasted for six months, the police finally traced their mother Nazia on Thursday.

Nazia had thin memories about her daughter because she saw them around years ago.

All she could remember was her younger daughter had six fingers and bingo.

Now the Sisters had the happy news. At around 5 p.m, on Tuesday Ayesha, her husband, their 10-yearold son and Fatima drove into the office of DCP South zone.

Emotions filled the room when the women moved forward and embraced their mother. They held her tight for several minutes with tears rolling down their eyes.The relentless effort of Hyderabad police and has made them the real life Banjara Bhaijaan after two Munni’s united with there lost mother.

Pakistan-based terror groups target India’s interests in Afghanistan: Envoy Pakistan-based terror groups such as LeT, the Taliban, JeM and Al Qaeda target India’s interests and goals in Afghanistan and pursue other objectives like creating sanctuaries and safe havens in tribal areas between Kabul and Islamabad, Afghan envoy to the UN has said.

“In Afghanistan, regional terrorist groups have cooperated with the Taliban based on their common goals and mutual interests.

These groups include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan, Jaish-eMohammad, Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Islam, Sipah-eSahaba, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Eastern Turkistan Islamic movement.“These groups pose a strategic threat to the security and stability of

Afghanistan,” Permanent Afghan Representative Mahmoud Saikal said here at an open briefing of the CounterTerrorism Committee on foreign terrorists yesterday.

He said these terror groups “pursue a few objectives” in Afghanistan, the main among them being “revival of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, targeting India’s interests and goals in Afghanistan” and forming “strategic alliances with international terrorist networks in the region and world.” These groups also seek

withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, creating bases and safe havens in northern and north-eastern provinces and using them as a platform for “undermining and toppling” Central Asian “secular” governments, Saikal said.

They also pursue the objective of creating “sanctuaries and safe havens” in tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan and along the Durand Line, the 2,430kilometre long international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.He said there are 6,100 foreign fighters in Afghanistan, based mainly in eastern and north-eastern provinces. Among them about 1,800-2,000 have pledged allegiance to the ISIS.

Police arrest man from Thane for alleged IS links A team of Kerala police and the Maharashtra antiterrorist squad (ATS) have arrested a man from Kalyan in Thane for being part of a group that allegedly radicalised and recruited youth to undertake terrorist activities, officials said on Saturday.Rizwan Khan will be produced before a court in Thane and Kerala police will seek a transit remand on Saturday.

This is the second arrest

by Kerala police, who have been camping in Mumbai since a week, in the last few days.On Thursday, Kerala police arrested 45year-old Arshid Qureshi, a public relation manager with controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation, from Navi Mumbai for allegedly radicalising youth and recruiting them to Islamic State.Qureshi’s name surfaced after Kochi Police registered a complaint against Yahya alias Bestin Vincent, a Christian from Palakkad who converted to Islam and is believed to have joined IS. Yahya went missing from Kochi along with his wife Merin Jacob alias Mariyam.

The complaint was registered by Merin’s brother Ebin Jacob. The Jacobs hail from a Christian family at Edapally in Kochi.

met Yahya while she was working in Mumbai in 2015, and their relationship culminated into marriage.

Sources in Kerala police said during Merin’s stay in

Kerala police sources said they questioned Khan earlier after they found his signature on the conversion and marriage certificates of Bestin and Merin. Khan was let off after the questioning because the team did not have concrete evidence against him.

Khan’s role in the entire process of indoctrination came through after Qureshi was arrested and questioned.

Police sources said Khan’s signature in the conversion and marriage certificates of Vincent and Merin matched which led to his arrest.Jacob said in his complaint that Merin

Mumbai, Yahya along with Qureshi influenced, radicalised and converted her to Islam.

Merin tried to initially resist but was taken to various classes following which she converted, they added.

Jacob said Yahya and Qureshi then forced Merin to join IS, which she initially resisted and wanted to come back to Kerala. He also alleged that Yahya and Qureshi even tried to convert him to Islam.Merin’s parents alleged that both Yahya and Merin met controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik in Mumbai, and were radicalised through him.

Issue - 677 (8)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Zakir Naik’s Islamic Pride and vanity: Selfie addiction can lead Research Foundation to unnecessary stress, say psychiatrists denies link with ISIS

The Islamic Research Foundation today denied having any links with the Islamic State, two days after one of its employees were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for reportedly recruiting youths for the terror group.“We at IRF never indulge in forceful conversations or make any attempts to brainwash anyone. We do organise workshops related to Islam which are open to all,” Mansoor Shaikh, Senior official of IRF, said.

Dismissing reports of promoting Love Jihad, IRF said, “What is Love Jihad and Hate Jihad?

There is no such thing in Islam.

Who coined this term?” Mansoor Shaikh said.

Arshi Qureshi, who used to work as a guest relation officer with the IRF, was a close aide of controversial preacher Zakir Naik, sources said. Qureshi was

arrested on Thursday night in a joint operation led by the Kerala and Maharashtra ATS from Navi Mumbai’s Neural area, following a complaint lodged in Kochi by the brother of a young woman, suspected to have joined ISIS along with her husband and left the state.

Meanwhile, another person, Rizwan Khan (43) was picked up from his residence at Kalyan in Thane district yesterday night and produced in a local court today, which sent him to transit remand till July 25.

According to police sources, Khan, allegedly involved in radicalising and recruiting youths for ISIS, will also be taken to Kerala for further investigations, police sources said.

At least 21 youths from Kerala were reported missing and suspected to have joined ISIS.

Fixation with getting photographed is not new. From canvas to digital media, through the ages people have taken a great interest in getting ‘framed’.

Selfie, the new age term for clicking one’s photograph, has become very popular among the masses, so much so that in 2013 the Oxford Dictionary declared it as the word of the year.

However, while the proliferation of smartphones has made selfies easier and convenient for the people, it has also produced a new kind of addiction.

Psychiatrists feel that when selfies become part of your daily routine and take up more time than they should, it could be a sign of a deeper underlying issue.

SELFIE-HOLIC In a recent case of selfie addiction, a 19 year old Mumbai resident was brought to Fortis hospital to meet Psychiatrist Era dutta as her parents found her spending more time with her mobile. The girl, after talking to the doctor realised that she had turned into chronic selfie clicker and felt impatient if she didn’t click one. She also admitted to getting upset and depressed on getting bad comments on social media on her selfies.

Dr. Era Dutta, consultant psychiatrists with Fortis Hospital, has termed this behavior as a soft addiction or behavioural addition. Behavioural addictions are defined as compulsion to repeatedly perform a rewarding non-drug related behaviour.

To know youngsters attitude towards selfie, Dr. Payal Sharma from Sion hospital undertook a

Chinese scribes denied visa extension were under ‘adverse attention’ The three Chinese journalists who were refused visa extension in India were under the “adverse attention” of security agencies, informed

sources have told Hindustan Times.However, neither the external affairs ministry nor any other wing of the government came out with a formal statement as to why the scribes, who worked for China’s official news agency Xinhua, were ordered to leave India by July 31.These sources, however, insisted this development cannot be construed as affecting the news agency’s India operations in anyway.“Xinhua can replace

them with other journalists. This development doesn’t in any way mean Xinhua will be closed down in India or something to that effect,” they pointed out.

Two among those who received the marching orders are Xinhua’s bureau chiefs in New Delhi and Mumbai – Wu Qiang and Tang Lu. The third is a reporter based in Mumbai, She Yonggang.

The adverse attention refers to security agencies finding the journalists going beyond the brief of their journalistic duties.

They insisted the decision was taken after due consideration and the scribes were told well ahead about this as “their visas expired sometime back”.

According to these sources, the three were informed of their having to leave the country well in advance.A “clear indication” was given to them two months ago, they insisted.Nonrenewal of visas is a common practice followed by governments to expel foreign journalists whose writing is seen as critical of official policy.In December, China expelled a French journalist for writing a piece questioning the government’s handling of the situation in the restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), describing the reporting as fabricated.The mode of expulsion was similar: The journalist’s visa wasn’t renewed.At present, five Indian journalists work out of Beijing. Additionally, a number of Indians work for China’s English state media like China Central Television, China Daily and China Radio International.

Two more New Delhi-based Indian journalists are currently on a fellowship to China at the invitation of the communist government.

first of its kind test. The test was conducted among 230 students of 11th standard of an urban Mumbai school. In the study,

has also resulted in some fatal incidences. Psychiatrists suggest that spending more time with family and friends them

42.6 per cent of the students approved of taking selfies regularly, while 55 per cent of the students felt that those who took too many selfies were insecure or self obsessed.

The study also revealed that while 10 per cent students regularly edited their selfies before putting on social media, 14.3 per cent copied their favourite celebrities while clicking selfies. Sharma further highlighted that positive feedbacks on selfies serves as reassurance and give our selfimage a much-needed boost.

ADDICTION OF IT’S KIND However, she cautioned that this need for approval can become an addiction and lead to unnecessary stress if you are not getting likes and may lead to low self esteem. The selfie addiction has started an un-healthy competition and to win more likes youngsters don’t even mind clicking selfies at dangerous places risking their safety which

instead of smartphone can help a selfie addict. They also suggest to try tech detox where you switch off your phone for a certain period and delete selfie apps from your phone. Dutta takes regular sessions with the students at various schools to sensitize them towards the pros and cons of selfie. Students are further motivated to be watchful of their actions so that they do not end up themselves in any regret.

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Govt to make fresh pitch for getting Kohinoor back from UK Indian government will soon resume its efforts to bring back famed Kohinoor diamond from England, sources said.

This issue was discussed on Friday in a high-level meeting attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.

The meeting lasted for an hour and issues relating to the 108carat diamond, which is currently set in a crown on display in the Tower of London were discussed, sources said.

“The entire issue will be looked into from all aspects and efforts are being made to approach British government again,” said a source.

Sources further claimed that there could be a major breakthrough in bringing the Kohinoor back by August 15.

In April, the government had made a submission in the Supreme Court that the diamond was neither “forcibly taken nor stolen” by the British, but given as a “gift” to the East India Company by the rulers of Punjab.

Bringing back of the diamond faces legal and technical hurdles

as it dates back to preIndependence period and thus did not fall under the purview of Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972. The solicitor general will also give a “clear” stand on the issue in the Supreme Court.

However, after receiving flak for its stand, the government had

said all efforts would be made to get back the diamond estimated to cost over USD 200 million.

Kohinoor, meaning mountain of light, is a large, colourless diamond that was found in southern India in early 14th century.

In May, Sharma had told Parliament that Ministry of External Affairs is exploring ways and means for obtaining a satisfactory resolution to this issue with the UK government.

The gem is the subject of a historic ownership dispute and has been claimed by at least four countries, including India.

Issue - 677 (9)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Munich shooter not linked to IS, but was obsessed with mass murder: Cops Berlin Police on Saturday said there were absolutely no indications that the young German-Iranian man who opened fire on shoppers in Munich had any connection to the terrorist group Islamic State. Instead, it appeared that he was obsessed with mass shootings.

“Based on the searches, there are no indications whatsoever that there is a connection to Islamic State,” or to the issue of refugees, Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae told a news conference.“Documents were found about mass shootings.

The perpetrator was obviously obsessed with the issue,” he added.An 18-year-old local opened fire at a crowded Munich shopping mall and fast-food restaurant, gunning down nine people and wounding 16 others before killing himself. This was the third attack on civilians in Europe in just over a week, following an axe rampage on a train in Bavaria and the truck attack in the French Riviera of Nice.Investigators searched the unnamed young man’s home overnight and found a considerable amount of literature about mass killings, including a book titled “Rampage in Head: Why Students Kill,” but no evidence that he was linked to extremist groups such as the

Islamic State. They believe he acted alone.

Police had initially believed that there were three perpetrators.

Heimberger said. The woman shortly after reported that her account had been hacked.

Initial investigations suggest the

appeared to be an isolated incident, Andrae said there was no reason not to visit Munich or to cancel events for security

Shooter may have lured his victims Robert Heimberger, the head of Bavaria’s criminal police, said it appeared the shooter had hacked a Facebook account and sent a message inviting people to come to the mall for a free giveaway. The posting, sent from a young woman’s account, urged people to come to the mall at 4 pm (1400 GMT), saying: “I’ll give you something if you want, but not too expensive.”

“It appears it was prepared by the suspect and then sent out,”

Munich-born suspect had suffered from psychological problems and received treatment, but details were still being confirmed, said Munich prosecutor Thomas SteinkrausKoch.The attack in the Bavarian capital sparked a massive security operation as authorities -- already on edge after the recent attacks in Wuerzburg and Nice, France -- received witness reports of multiple shooters carrying rifles shortly before 6 pm (1600 GMT). Eight hours later police declared a “cautious all clear,” saying the suspect was among the 10 dead and that he had likely acted alone.

Clarifying that the incident

reasons.Teen was obsessed with mass murderer The unidentified was “deranged”, police said on Saturday, linking his actions to Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik rather than Islamic State jihadists. The shooting coincided with the fifth anniversary of the massacre by Breivik in Norway in which he killed 77 people. A hero for far-right militants in Europe and America, Breivik is serving a maximum 21-year sentence -- which can be extended if he is still considered dangerous.

Further, the Munich mall is near the stadium for the 1972 Olympics and the athletes’

Brazil arrests group plotting ‘acts of terror’ before Olympics

village which was the site of the hostage-taking and massacre of Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September group during the Games.

‘He was a quiet, shy guy’ At an address on Munich’s Dachauer Strasse that was searched by police early on Saturday, a neighbour described the suspect as “very quiet.”

“He only ever said ‘hi’. His whole body language was of somebody who was very shy,” said Stephan, a coffee shop owner who would only give his first name.

“He never came in to the cafe,” he added. “He was just a neighbour and took out the trash but never talked.”

The suspect’s body was found about two-and-a-half hours after the attack with a 9mm Glock pistol and at least 300 rounds of ammunition, police said.

A cell-phone video posted online showed the person filming from a balcony engaging verbally with the suspect, who was dressed in black standing on the rooftop of the mall parking structure.

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‘Came to Iraq for jihad’: Bangladesh says 260 missing amid hunt for extremists

Brazil Brazil arrested 10 people on Thursday on suspicion of belonging to a group supporting Islamic State (IS) and preparing acts of terrorism during next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes said. The loosely organized group were all Brazilian citizens and in contact via internet messaging groups such as WhatsApp and Telegram, but did not know each other personally, the minister said.

ISIS INSPIRED The group did not have direct contact with ISIS though some of its members had made “pro forma” declarations of allegiance to the militant Islamist group, the minister said. He did not elaborate.“Those involved participated in an online group denominated ‘the defenders of Sharia’ and were planning to acquire weapons to commit crimes in Brazil and even overseas,” Moraes told a news conference.“It was an absolutely amateur cell, with no preparation

at all, a disorganized cell,” the minister said, adding that authorities decided to intervene when the group started to plan actions.He said members of the group had visited a weapons site in neighbouring Paraguay that sells AK-47 assault rifles, but there was no evidence they acquired any weapons. Two people will be brought in for questioning, in addition to the 10 already detained, he added.

EMERGENCY CABINET MEETING Interim President Michel Temer had called an emergency cabinet meeting following the arrests, the first under Brazil’s tough new antiterrorism law approved this year.The minister said the leader of the group was based in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, with others spread in nine Brazilian states.A court in the state of Parana, where Curitiba is based, said there were indications that the group was planning to use weapons and guerilla tactics to achieve its aim.

Dhaka At least 260 people across Bangladesh are missing, officials announced earlier today, sparking fears many of them have joined homegrown Islamist extremist outfits or the Islamic State group in the Middle East.

The Rapid Action Battalion, the country’s elite security force, published the list on Facebook around midnight and called on citizens to report the whereabouts of the missing.

“We have to find them,” RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told AFP.The Bangladeshi government ordered security officials to collate the list in the wake of two major terror attacks by suspected Islamist militants who had been missing for months.Khan refused to comment on whether the people listed had joined local extremists or the IS group.Suspected members of a homegrown terror group murdered 20 people including 18 foreigners after they attacked an upscale cafe in Dhaka earlier this month. The IS group later claimed responsibility for the attack -- an assertion rejected

by Bangladeshi authorities.

The gruesome attacks were followed by another daring assault on the Muslim-majority

nation’s largest Eid prayer congregation in which three people and an attacker were killed in a massive gunfight in a northern Bangladesh town.

Police and parents said the five attackers at the cafe siege and at least two gunmen at the Eid

to the Middle East to join the IS group.In one case, engineer Najibullah Ansari had been missing for over a year when his parents reached out to the police after the government launched the campaign to account for the country’s

carnage had been missing for months.“If there are any missing family members, please tell us, don’t be afraid that lawenforcement agencies will take your sons away,” said RAB chief Benazir Ahmed.“Their lives and other lives can be saved if they are found.” Local media outlets have reported that dozens of people including doctors, engineers and students from elite universities have travelled

missing.According to his family, Ansari last contacted his younger brother in January 2015 via Facebook, saying he was in war-torn Iraq fighting with jihadists.“I have come to Iraq.

Tell father and mother not to worry for me. I have come here for jihad,” read the message according to a screen shot seen by local daily Dhaka Tribune.

“I will never return home,” he added.

Issue - 677 (10)

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Issue - 677 (11)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Pakistan to pass law against honour killings in weeks: PM’s daughter Islamabad Pakistan’s ruling party plans to pass a long-delayed legislation against “honour killings” within weeks, in the wake of the highprofile murder of an outspoken social media star, the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday.

The bill will go before a parliamentary committee as early as Thursday, said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who is an increasingly influential member of her father’s ruling party.

The government has faced mounting pressure to pass the law against murders carried out by people professing to be acting in defence of the honour of their family.

The law would remove a loophole that allows family members to pardon a killer.

The brother of social media star Qandeel Baloch, often described as Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian, has been arrested in connection with her death. He told a news conference the he was incensed by her often risqué posts on social media.

Some 500 women are killed each year in Pakistan at the hands of family members over perceived damage to “honour”, including eloping, fraternising with men or any other infractions against conservative values that govern

women’s modesty.

Maryam said the government wanted to pass the law

A spokesperson of the Jamaate-Islami, one of two major religious parties in parliament,

coming days more will be done, big changes will be announced.”

In a rare move, this week the

unanimously and had been negotiating with religious parties in parliament.

“We have finalised the draft law in the light of negotiations,” she told Reuters in an interview. “The final draft will be presented to a committee of joint session of parliament on July 21 for consideration and approval.”

She said once the parliamentary committee approves the bill, it would be presented for a vote in a “couple of weeks” before a joint session of parliament.

said his party would not oppose the bill.

Pakistan’s other main religious political party, Jamiat Ulema-eIslam, could not be reached for comment. It has only a small number of seats in parliament.

Both religious parties have traditionally opposed legislation empowering women.

The Upper House of Parliament passed the bill in 2014 but it lapsed after the government failed to put it up for a vote in the Lower House because it was preoccupied with legislation aimed at tackling security problems and economic reforms.

A senior government official told Reuters all major parties were now backing the bill and it was likely to be passed in a few weeks.“The Prime Minister is taking personal interest,” said another official who is a close aide to Sharif. “You will see in

government became a complainant in the police case against Baloch’s brother, designating it a crime against the state and thereby blocking her family from forgiving their son.

‘Right to forgive’ Baloch had long divided opinion in the deeply conservative Muslim society with her social media photos and posts.

She was unapologetic about pushing the boundaries of acceptability for women and changing “the typical orthodox mindset” of Pakistanis.

Many viewed her as a disgrace to the cultural values of Islam and Pakistan. Others hailed her as a “feminist icon”.

She ran into political controversy last month after her selfie with a prominent Muslim cleric went viral, leading to him being fired from a Muslim council.

After her death, the cleric, Abdul

Islamabad The father of slain Pakistani social media sensation Qandeel Baloch has said that his son, who killed the 26-year-old modelactress for “honour”, should be “shot on sight” for murdering his daughter.

“I say he should be shot on sight!

He suffocated my little one. We were drugged, asleep upstairs.

She must have called out to us,” Qandeel’s father Anwar Azeem said.Qandeel, Azeem said, was his ‘best friend’ but claimed that his son Muhammad Waseem had been “crazed”.

Qandeel’s mother also shared the pain of losing their daughter.

“We were mother and daughter, sharing all our sorrows and secrets. She used to tell me ‘Your daughter is working hard, she’ll go far,” her mother was quoted as saying by BBC Urdu.

Qandeel’s mother also said that she and her husband were also drugged by Waseem the night Qandeel was first sedated and then strangled to death.

“My husband and I fell deeply asleep. We had drunk milk, it had been mixed with sedatives.

In the morning, I called Qandeel for breakfast... but she didn’t get

up,” she added.

Police had arrested Qandeel’s brother Waseem last week. He has admitted to strangling his sister to death for “honour of the family”. Waseem said he gave her a tablet to subdue his sister and then strangled her in their family home over the weekend.

Waseem said he killed his sister due to her social media activities, which included a series of video posts with the prominent cleric Mufti Qavi.

Qavi, who was suspended from the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee in the controversy following the video posts, has also been included in the murder inquiry by the police.

Qandeel’s mother had accused Qavi, her daughter’s former

US places sanctions on 3 al Qaeda men in Iran for mobilising funds and arms

Qavi, told media that her murder should serve as an example for others who tried to malign the clergy. He is being investigated for her murder along with Baloch’s two brothers.

Although government officials appeared confident of backing for the bill in parliament, it could still face resistance.

The influential Council of Islamic Ideology, which advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam, warned that it would not support any law that removed the forgiveness loophole, even though the council considers honour killings a crime.

“Islamic law and the Quran say that the right to forgive or punish lies first and foremost with the victim’s family,” said council spokesperson Inam Ullah.

“So if this bill is trying to completely take away that right from the family, then of course that is against Islamic teachings.

The state cannot completely take away that right from the family.”

The religious parties and the council hold significant influence over public opinion and the government fears a backlash if any law passes without their approval.

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Qandeel Baloch’s father wants ‘murderer’ son to be ‘shot on sight’

Washington The US treasury announced sanctions on three Iran-based senior al Qaeda officials on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in moving funds and weapons around the Middle East for the terror group.

The treasury said Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn have important logistics roles in al Qaeda, which is officially designated by the United States and the United Nations as a global terrorist organization.

The treasury said Khalidi, a 31year-old Kuwait-born Saudi national, was “part of a new generation” of Qaeda operatives who in May 2015 participated in a senior leadership meeting as the military commission chief.

Egyptian Bayumi, 48, is a Qaeda veteran involved recently in raising and deploying funds for the group.

Ghumayn, a 35-year-old Algerian, took control of the financing and organization of Iranbased Qaeda members last year.

The sanctions seize any assets located in US jurisdictions of those named, and ban Americans and US-based companies from doing business with them -- effectively closing off their access to much of the global financial system.

“Treasury remains committed to targeting Al-Qaeda’s terrorist activity and denying Al-Qaeda and its critical support networks access to the international financial system,” Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

husband Ashiq Hussain, and a man name Shahid of being involved in the murder.

Prior to her death, Qandeel, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, spoke of worries about her safety and had appealed to the interior ministry to provide her with security.

In Facebook posts, she, spoke of trying to change “the typical orthodox mindset” of people in Pakistan. She faced frequent abuse and death threats but continued to post controversial pictures and videos.

The alleged “honour-killing” has sent shock waves across the country and triggered an outpouring of grief on social media for Baloch.

Issue - 677 (12)

26 July - 1 August 2016

SUPERHEROES SWOOP IN TO VENEZUELA IN CRISIS CARACAS Superheroes, wizards and Jedi Knights have descended on the Venezuelan capital. And while they may not be able to save the country from its spiraling economic crisis, fans at Caracas Comic-Con are counting on their heroes to at least help them escape their real-world problems for a while.

For three weekends, through July 31, fans are paying tribute to the worlds of comic books, video games and sci-fi at the 10th Caracas Comic-Con, the local edition of the international pop culture fest.

It comes at a time when a punishing recession, food shortages, hyperinflation and violent crime have left Venezuelans desperate for heroes or even villains to come to the rescue.

“It gives us space to breathe in the middle of this political situation,” said Jhoan Guzman, a 25-year-old chemist who is today wearing the white face paint and red lipstick of his alter ego: Batman’s arch-enemy Joker.

“This is an alternative to help us forget the world we’re living in, to enjoy ourselves doing something we love.”

Instead of lining up outside the supermarket for basic

necessities, attendees flock to a convention hall in a Caracas mall to pay homage to their favorite pop culture phenomena: The Avengers, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokemon and Game of Thrones, among others.

Some even show up in costume, just like at other Comic-Cons worldwide chief among them the giant gathering each July in San Diego though here the get-ups are often cobbled together using whatever materials are at hand.Ann Mary Fayard, a 34year-old fashion designer, was decked out as Harley Quinn, the Joker’s sidekick, a costume she made from scraps.

“I recycle everything. Whatever cloth is left over, design materials. I save money and tap of my ingenuity,” she said.

“I like ‘cosplay’ (costume roleplay) because I can let my imagination fly. It’s a way to free your mind of so many problems and spend time doing something else.”

Venezuela is teetering on the brink of collapse, devastated by the global plunge in prices for its main export, oil.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government is struggling to contain the crisis, fueling opposition calls for an end to 17 years of leftist rule.

The doom and gloom have not

kept self-described “geeks” from shelling out 1,800 bolivars (about $3 at the latest official exchange rate) more than a week’s pay at minimum wage to attend Caracas Comic-Con. Convention organizer Daniela Paolillo said she expected some 20,000 visitors.

One of the top issues they are talking about, said Paolillo, is

when they will be able to play Pokemon Go, the wildly popular video game in which players roam the real world hunting for cartoon monsters with their cell phones.

Thyfany Ron, a member of the Pokemon Venezuela fan club, said there is still no local release date for the game.

And it is unclear how safe it

would be for players in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, where smartphone users are frequent targets on the street.

But Comic-Con is a time to forget all that, said Maria Pinto, a 19year-old psychology student dressed up as Star Butterfly from the animated fantasy series “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.”

Air pollution up in Girl sneezes 8,000 times a day a third of Chinese cities

BEIJING Air pollution levels rose in nearly a third of Chinese cities monitored in the second quarter, environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Wednesday.

China’s cities are often hit by severe pollution from coalburning by power stations, heavy industry and vehicle use, and it has become a major source of discontent with the ruling Communist Party. Air quality worsened year-on-year in 103 cities in April-June, nearly 30 percent of those monitored, Greenpeace said. It cited pollution data collated from China’s environmental protection ministry, which makes live figures available but does not publish full historic or comparative statistics.

Communist authorities are looking to retool the economy away from heavy industry and exports to one led more by consumer demand, but the transition is proving bumpy. “It is now clearer than ever that air

pollution and coal-burning heavy industry are directly connected,” said Greenpeace’s East Asia climate and energy campaigner Dong Liansai. China’s financial hub Shanghai saw its average PM2.5 level rise 6.1 percent to 48.4 micrograms per cubic metre in the April-June period, in comparison with the same period in 2015.

Exposure to the minute particles in the 2.5 size range can affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. But Beijing saw its PM2.5 level drop 6.9 percent to 59.2 micrograms per cubic metre in the same period, year-on-year. The World Health Organization’s recommended maximum is an average 25 micrograms over 24 hours and 10 micrograms over a year. The government has declared “war on pollution” and vowed to reduce the proportion of energy derived from coal and fossil fuels, but critics say efforts have fallen short of expectations.

COLCHESTER A desperate mum is pleading for help for her nine year old daughter who has started sneezing 8,000 times a day Doctors are baffled by the mystery condition ruling out the most common causes of sneezing such cold or allergies.

The only time Ira Saxena stops is when she is asleep but the fits restart the moment she wakes up meaning she has been unable to go to school since the sneezing started Mum Priya has taken the youngster to a GP, specialist and a private clinic, but so far no-one has been able to diagnose the problem or stop it.

She said: “Three weeks ago she just woke up sneezing and she has not stopped. It started slowly and has progressed to become more constant and violent. “The

doctors are saying it is possibly an incorrect signal being sent from her brain or a tic, but nobody can be sure. “She is not allergic to anything and has been given, steroids, antihistamines and a nasal spray, but she is just not responding to anything. “No-one has seen anything like this before and they are all giving her different things, but nothing is working.” The only time her sneezing fits Ira had an hour of hypnotherapy and she did not sneeze at all, but as soon as it finished, the sneezing fits restarted. Her mum has made a homeopathy appointment. Priya said: “The one blessing is she sleeps fine, it is the only time when she is not sneezing and she can sleep right through the night.” Ira, a pupil at North Primary School, in Colchester,

has been kept at home since her condition started. Priya said: “It is very frustrating, but the school has been very supportive. “She tried to go to back, but only lasted for one morning before she had to come home because she was just sneezing so much.

“This is robbing her of her life. “It is so frustrating and she is being very brave. “To be truthful, it is affecting me more than it is her, I just want her to be back to how she was before.” In 2009, Lauren Johnson, 12, of Virginia, USA, started to sneeze thousands of times a day and was eventually diagnosed by an immunologist who said her immune system had been sent haywire by a throat infection Last year Katelyn Thornley, of Texas, USA, started having sneezing bouts. Doctors are still perplexed.

Issue - 677 (13)

26 July - 1 August 2016

HIV infections level off at ‘worrying’ 2.5m a year DURBAN Some 2.5 million people are still becoming infected with HIV every year even as drugs have slashed the death rate and patients live longer than ever, a global AIDS study said Tuesday. New infections have plateaued after a steep dip from the peak rate of 3.3 million in

1997, said the authors of a comprehensive analysis in The Lancet HIV journal. It was published to coincide with the International AIDS conference underway in Durban, South Africa to assess progress in stemming an outbreak that has killed more than 30 million people since the 1980s. The report paints “a worrying picture of slow progress in reducing new HIV infections,” according to lead author Haidong Wang from the Institute for Health

Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and founding executive director of UNAIDS, said the figure was “staggering” and “means that AIDS is not over”.“New infections of HIV in

the world is probably the most disturbing factor that has been announced here at the conference,” he added.

The situation could be worsened by funding shortages for HIV/ AIDS programmes and medicines.“In 2015, (funding) fell below the level spent in 2014, and in many low-income countries, resources for health are scarce and expected to grow slowly, if at all,” said Wang at a press conference in Durban.

“We must slow rates of new

infection.”

IHME director Christopher Murray said in a statement a massive increase in effort from governments and international agencies was necessary to meet the estimated $36 billion (33 billion euros) needed every year to realise the goal of ending AIDS by 2030.Over the past 15 years, countries have contributed $110 billion in “development assistance” for HIV/AIDS programmes.

Today, there are some 38.8 million people living with the AIDS-causing virus, a steady increase from 28 million in 2000 thanks to the advent in 1996 of life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART).Annual AIDS deaths have declined from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2015.There is no AIDS cure or vaccine.

ART cocktails suppress the virus, enabling people to live long lives, though the drugs are expensive and can have side effects.Use of antiretrovirals, for long the preserve of the rich, grew from 6.4 percent of infected men in 2005 to 38.6 percent ten years later, and from 3.3 percent to 42.4 percent for women over the same period, the study found.Another factor that has helped cut the death rate was education and medicines to prevent infected women passing the virus onto their unborn children.

Too hot to work: Global warming to cost $2 trillion in lost productivity JAKARTA Rising temperatures caused by climate change may cost the world economy over $2 trillion in lost productivity by 2030 as hot weather makes it unbearable to work in some parts of the world, according to U.N. research published on Tuesday. It showed that in Southeast Asia alone, up to 20 percent of annual work hours may already be lost in jobs with exposure to extreme heat with the figures set to double by 2050 as the effects of climate change deepen. Across the globe, 43 countries will see a fall in their gross domestic product (GDP) due to reduced

Impotence?

416-992-5489

productivity, the majority of them in Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India and Bangladesh, researcher Tord Kjellstrom said.Indonesia and Thailand could see their GDP

reduced by 6 percent in 2030, while in China GDP could be reduced by 0.8 percent and in India by 3.2 percent.“Current climate conditions in tropical and subtropical parts of the world are already so hot during the hot seasons that occupational health effects occur and work capacity for many people is affected,” said Kjellstrom, a director at the New Zealandbased Health and Environment International Trust. He said the increasing need for rest “is likely to become a significant problem” as climate change makes the

hottest days hotter and leads to longer periods of excessively hot days. Kjellstrom authored one of six papers on the impact of climate change on health that were put together by the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health in Kuala Lumpur and published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health.Kjellstrom warned that the lowest-paid workers - those in heavy labour, agricultural and manufacturing - were most at risk of exposure to extreme heat.

He urged countries to take “decisive action” to tackle global warming.“Failure will cause the frequency and intensity of disasters to worsen dramatically beyond 2050, and the situation at the end of this century will be especially alarming for the world’s poorest people,” the researcher said. The other papers in the series showed around 2.1 million people worldwide died between 1980 and 2012 due to nearly 21,000 natural catastrophes such as floods, mudslides, extreme heat, drought, high winds or fires.

Choice between graveyard, playground: Pak mulls over Bin Laden’s compound

Peshawar A dispute has broken out over the future of the site where Osama Bin Laden was shot dead in 2011, with authorities pushing rival plans for a graveyard or playground.

The military has erected a wall around the 3,800 square feet plot where the Al-Qaeda leader’s compound once stood in the garrison city of Abbottabad, and wants to convert it into a graveyard.

But the local provincial government, which was handed the land after Bin Laden was killed

by US special forces, is trying to redevelop it as a playground.

“We have secured this place from encroachment by building a wall around it and now we will develop this into a graveyard because there is a serious issue of unavailability of graveyards in the area,” Zylfiqar Ali Bhutto, vice president of the military-run Cantonment Board of Abbottabad (CBA), told AFP. However, Mushtaq Ghani from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, opposed developing a cemetery in the built

up area.

“The government wants to construct a playground there. If we get funds, we will turn that place into a playground this year,” Ghani said.

“You can’t develop a cemetery in the middle of houses.”

Butto insisted CBA had the authority to push ahead with it plans.

“We are going to meet the provincial government officials next week and will sort out this issue,” he said.

Elite US Navy Seals launched a helicopter raid on the highly fortified compound on May 2, 2011, killing Osama Bin Laden and taking away his body.

Pakistani authorities later demolished the building and left the plot vacant.

The killing was a huge success for US President Barack Obama and decapitated al?Qaeda.

But it drove a wedge between Islamabad and Washington, with lingering suspicions that the Pakistanis had for years been covering up the whereabouts of one of the world’s most wanted men.

Former Yugoslav spy chief marries aged 96 ZAGREB One of former Yugoslavia’s top spies and ex-Croatian prime minister Josip Manolic has married aged 96 tying the knot with a woman 36 years his junior, local media reported Tuesday. “Our love is not from yesterday,” Manolic told the 24 Sata daily describing the relationship with his 60-yearold wife. “We’ve been living together for several years,” he said. “It was senseless to

continue to live in a commonlaw marriage. We are serious people of serious age.”

Manolic and Mirjana Ribaric married in April, but the pair kept the wedding secret until it was revealed by media.

Manolic’s first wife died in a fire in 2003. Formerly the head of Yugoslavia’s secret service (UDBA), Manolic went on to be Croatia’s prime minister from August 1990 to July 1991.

Issue - 677 (14)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Britain bans group accused of terrorism in Xinjiang, China applauds Beijing China has applauded Britain’s decision to list as a terrorist organisation a group Beijing accuses of fomenting terrorism in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

The British Parliament has declared the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as “an Islamic terrorist and separatist organsiation” and banned any kind of support to it.

Beijing has repeatedly accused ETIM of inciting terrorism and separatism within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and outside.

“China applauds Britain’s updated terror list, which includes ETIM,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a statement.

China welcomes a clearer understanding of the violent and terror nature and the actual harmfulness of ETIM by other countries, including Britain, Lu added.

Lu said ETIM was generally recognised as a terrorist organisation by the world community.

Terrorism is “the public enemy of all mankind, and anti-terrorism has no national boundaries”.

China would like to work with all parties, including Britain, to enhance counter-terror cooperation,

fight international terrorism, and jointly safeguard global and

regional peace as well as the security of people’s lives and property,” Lu said.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uyghur community, which rights groups say have had their religious and cultural rights severely restricted by the Communist Party of Chinarun government.

The region has seen sporadic violence between members of the ethnic community and government forces.

Independent verification of news from the region is difficult as the government tightly controls the flow of information.

According to reports from London, the British Home Office made the listing this

week. ”TIP (Turkistan Islamic Party) is an Islamic terrorist and

separatist organisation founded in 1989 by Uyghur militants in western China.

It aims to establish an independent caliphate in the Uyghur state of XUAR of northwestern China and to name it East Turkestan,” the office said in a notice.

Experts and rights groups, however, have expressed doubts about ETIM’s capabilities and questioned Beijing’s claims that it is responsible for attacks within and outside XUAR, including in Beijing and Kunming.

“However, the presence of Uyghur fighters in Syria has been reported by multiple sources,” the AP

Five militants charged for secular Bangladesh blogger’s murder Dhaka Five Islamist militants were on Wednesday charged for the murder of a 27-year-

before the court for the hearing.

The remaining two, who are absconding, will be tried in

old secular Bangladeshi blogger, who was hacked to death by machetewielding assailants in broad daylight in Dhaka last year.An additional metropolitan magistrate court indicted the Ansarullah Bangla Team militants and fixed August 4 as the date for witnesses’ depositions in the murder case of Oyasiqur Rahman Babu.

Oyasiqur was stabbed to death in Tejgaon Industrial area of Dhaka in March last year.Assistant public prosecutor Salauddin Hawlader said three suspects were produced

absentia, he was quoted as saying by BD News.

On the morning of March 30 last year, machetewielding assailants hacked Oyasiqur to death near his home.

Locals managed to nab two of the attackers and handed them over to law enforcement officials while the third suspect was arrested by police later.

Police produced the trio Zikrullah alias Hasan, Ariful Islam and Saiful in court on Wednesday and all of them pleaded not guilty.

Madrassa students, Zikrullah and Ariful, were nabbed by locals from the

spot while police arrested Saiful later. The fugitive suspects are Junayed Ahmed alias Taher and Akram Hossain.

Police said the arrested suspects confessed during interrogation that Oyasiqur was murdered for his writings on religious issues.

The blogger was working at a travel agency called Fareast Aviation as a trainer after completing his studies from the Tejgaon College in Dhaka.

Oyasiur hailed from Hajipur village in Lakshmipur district.

He was mainly active on the Facebook, where he used to write on religion, science and against communalism.

Oyasiqur was killed barely after a month after the murder of secular writerblogger Avijit Roy on the Dhaka university campus also by machete-wielding assailants.

Protesting the killing, Oyasiqur wrote on the banner of his Facebook page — “I am Avijit. Words cannot be killed”.

Gold smuggling financing terrorist activities in India

reported.

Earlier this week, Washington-based New

America Foundation said in a report that leaked “registration documents of ISIS fighters provided by a defector” included 3,500 foreign recruits, of whom 114 came from Xinjiang.

The reason, it said, was because of “significant economic disparities between the ethnic majority Han Chinese” and the Uyghur population, who were being “subjected to substantial state repression through restrictions on Islamic practices like growing beards or wearing head coverings”.

Kolkata Bullion traders attributed the rise in terrorism to the increase in gold smuggling, which has reached 190 tonnes at present, in a global convention of the Bullion Federation in Agra.

Talking to India Today, Kolkata based bullion trader Harsh Ajmera said that the gold imports have fallen by 85 percent since 2012, when the import duty on gold was raised to 10 percent. The festive season has been completely dull this year which is an ominous sign for the business as most of the annual business was based on the past 4 months of festive season, which pulled a blank.

He said that the gold smuggling has given rise to a parallel economy running through hawala and it is being used in financing terrorist activities. Reducing the duty to 5 percent will end gold smuggling

completely. He said that even in the Mumbai blasts, the hawala money was used to finance the terrorist acts.Gold Refiner Mayank Khemka said that the margin on Gold refining has gone down from 1 percent to 0.65 percent and for the first time, gold is on discount.Senior metal analyst Sudhush Nambiyal said that the exchange of old gold scrap, retail and smuggling have resulted in the reduction in gold imports and if smuggling is not controlled, it will damage the bullion trade immensely, while also affecting the exchequer.

Indian Association of Hallmarking Centers Chairman Harshad Ajmera said that Bangaldesh and Srilanka are the hubs of gold smuggling and it was easy to get a consignment past the airport security checks by paying Rs 1 lakh in bribe, which has caused an 85 percent reduction in

Issue 677 (15)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Rajinikanth’s film is a bore

by Suhani Singh Cast: Rajinikanth, Radhika Apte, Dhanshika, Kalairasan, Dinesh, Kishore, Winston Chao Direction: Pa Ranjith Rating: 1 Star An identity card flashes on screen which reveals that soon-to-be-released prisoner Kabali (Rajinikanth) is 60. The sexagenarian super star may be playing close to his age here but his physical prowess and flamboyant demeanour hasn’t suffered much. He is very much in the superhuman avatar that has inspired an ardent fan following.

In Kabali, he is the gangster with a heart of gold. A man who loves strutting about in suits. An Indian who fights for the rights of Tamil workers in Malaysia.

A doting husband and caring father. A Good Samaritan who helps drug addicts and frees caged birds. The mannerisms are all there too - the walk with swagger, the crossing of the leg, the beaming smile and the tuck of hand in the pocket. And yes, he is

still invincible. “Itni asaani se marne waala nahi hoon,” says Kabali to let his nemesis know what they are up against.

But that’s all there to the film, which relies far too much on the super star credentials of its leading man to carry a listless story forward. The love for slow motion sequences here backfires as the gangster drama unfolds in slo-mo too. There are far too many back stories and flashbacks.In one, Kabali shares his violencemarred origins story with school students, inspiring one of them to take up arms to avenge his loss and another to accuse him of failing to protect his pregnant wife.

A chunk of the film centres on supporting characters singing praises of Kabali, addressed as Bhai in the Hindi dubbed version, with much fanfare.

But these scenes are poorly scripted drawing chuckles. Bullets fly and the body count rises in the crime drama but it’s not enough to rouse the audience. The bombastic

background score, with blazing sirens, is a desperate attempt to invigorate the proceedings.

There are multiple foes here but Rajinikanth reserves his best theatrics for the cartoonish Chinese

don Tony Lee (Winston Chao).

After two hours and 30 minutes we still don’t know what keeps his empire running given that it is against his principles to trade in drugs or women.

Radhika Apte as Kabali’s wife appears more as a model for India’s rich handicraft tradition by ambling about in beautiful saris. Dhansika is the better-served female character here as a feisty con-

tract killer, whose introduction alone is a giveaway to what her back story is.Rajinikanth displays ample of charisma but his Robin Hood act is not enough to keep the Thalaivar fans entertained.

A visual spectacle with good ol’ nostalgia

by Tatsam Mukherjee Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldanha, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba Direction: Justin Lin Rating: 4 Stars In 2009, JJ Abrams decided to take on the enviable task of rebooting Star Trek for Generations X and Y. Basically, for those who did not grow up watching Gene Roddenberry’s original TV series from the ‘60s. The TV series established characters like James T Kirk, Spock, coined phrases for pop-culture that are famous even five decades after the series came out. It’s not unusual to hear someone say ‘Aye aye Captain!’ or ‘Live long and prosper’ and not exchange a smirk with another person who might or might not be a ‘Trekkie’ (something designated for the fans of Star Trek) and yet be familiar with the reference. Abrams did not put a foot wrong in the first film

- establishing Chris Pine as Captain James Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and a whole host of characters. The film not only impressed die-hard fans by keeping the science in the film on its toes, it also won new fans with its high-octane action and at the same time familiarised them with terms like warping, terminal velocity in a quick crash course.

In an age when you’re either exposed to realistic, gritty cinema, or asked to leave your brains behind at home - the Star Trek franchise gives us the right amount of fodder for our brains, and yet has that occasional wise quip to evoke laughter. These are the films which define and justify the human mind’s invention of science fiction genre - where it dreams like a wild child and yet gives the story a sense of adventure, joy, even euphoria by the end. Beyond delves in rich visuals, and designing

more than a couple of sequences which will get your pulse racing. Lin treasures the nostalgia of the die-hard fans, introducing that brilliant bike sequence with Chris Pine.

Star Trek: Beyond begins with Captain Kirk trying to broker peace between an extra-terrestrial planet and the Federation. He tries to sweeten the deal using a regulator device, which used to be a weapon at one point. The invitation ends rather comically, but not before the crew on the Enterprise are given the task of rescuing a ship on an alien planet. Only to realise that the planet is more hostile than it seemed, the Enterprise blown to smithereens, and the antagonist after that regulator device. The rest of the story is about how Captain Kirk and his crew get off the alien planet and save the Federation base Yorktown, which is home to millions of citizens.

Writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung weave in subtle tributes to the original TV series, like it is revealed to us that Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu is a homosexual.

Also, the way director Lin incorporates the rock song Sabotage to distort the uniform frequencies of the ‘swarm’, was also used in the opening titles of Abrams’ first Star Trek movie. The actors all look serviceable with Pine playing a more mature Captain Kirk, as compared to the first two films. Star Trek Beyond tries to give him depth by giving us a voiceover about how he contemplates space exploration forever, but it’s hard to get over Pine’s action-star image. Simon Pegg as Scotty, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldanha as Lieutenant Uhura all turn up with zeal as they completely submit to the unbelievability of the plot and participate with enthusiasm.

Issue 677 (16)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Jacqueline’s answer to silence all Kangana Ranaut on ‘dating Sidharth Malhotra’ rumours getting married more than once: Why not?

Jacqueline Fernandez has been linked with actor Sidharth Malhotra ever since the latter’s relationship with Alia Bhatt hit choppy waters.

However, now that Sid and Alia have kissed and made up, and are back to being together, the rumour mills have taken a break from churning stories linking Jackie and Sid. Jacqueline, however, is unfazed by all talk concerning her relationship with Sidharth Malhotra.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, the Housefull 3 actor said, “Obviously people want to believe what they want to and will write what they want. I’m an easy target because I’m single.

There is no point in clarifying anything.”

Stories about Jacqueline and Sidharth being more than ‘just friends’ started doing the rounds of gossip columns when the two were shooting together for their upcoming film.

On the sets of the yetuntitled film by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK in Miami, Sidharth and Jacqueline were supposed to have grown really close to each other.

Back then, there was much speculation about Alia and Sidharth having called it quits. However, the rumours died down soon after. On the work front, Jacqueline currently busy promoting her upcoming film, Dishoom, in which she will be seen alongside John Abraham and Varun Dhawan.

Kangana Ranaut has been in news for her personal life as much as her career decisions. In fact, she was a part of one of the most ugliest spats in Bollywood this year where she her alleged relationship with Hrithik Roshan became the talk of the town.

However, the Queen actor has always remained unapologetic about her past, be it her relationship with Adhyayan Suman or Hrithik. In fact, the National Award-winning actor recently said that she has no qualms in getting hitched more than once. Kangana was the showstopper for designer Manav Gangwani’s show on the final day of the FDCI

India Couture Week (ICW) 2016. She said she wants Gangwani to design her first wedding dress. “I think I definitely feel very special. Me and Manav were discussing about my wedding that for my first wedding wear, he will design for sure, Kangana told reporters.

Asked whether she will have more than one wedding, the Tanu Weds Manu Returns actor said, “Why not? If one happens, then I think many more can happen.”

On the work front, Kangana will be next seen in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon.

She will share screen space with Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan in the period drama.

Salman Khan’s ‘Dabangg 3’ to go on floors next year

I want to do realistic cinema, and also the complete opposite says Alia Bhatt Alia Bhatt’s big Bollywood career is on full swing with her last release Udta Punjab coming out triumphant with the critics as well as making money at the box office. She is now looking forward to her next release with Shah Rukh Khan in Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi.

Asked which kind of success was more satisfying, the Highway actor replied with, “I want to make this very clear. I don’t want to be one of

those actors who is identified with one genre

of cinema. Of course, I want to do realistic films, but I also want to do films that are completely the opposite. I want to do

massive masala movies.”

Dear Zindagi has her

playing an aspiring filmmaker and the dyanmics of her relationship with four different men played by - Ali Zafar,

Kunal Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Angad Bedi. While Shah Rukh Khan plays an extended cameo as Alia’s life coach who helps her sort her life out.

Dear Zindagi is Gauri Shinde’s sophomore effort after English Vinglish. The film is being co-produced

by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, husband R Balki and Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. It is slated to release in November 25.

If the grapevine is to be believed, Arbaaz Khan has locked the script for the third instalment of his franchise, Dabangg. The Salman Khan-starrer will go on the floors next year as soon as Sallu completes Kabir Khan’s Tubelight. As Sallu’s film with Rajkumar Santoshi is not happening, Dabangg 3 might just be his next project to hit the marquee.

The first two outings had Sonakshi Sinha. A

decision about Bhai’s leading lady in the third outing is yet to be taken.

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Issue 677 (17)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Kim Kardashian unimpressed by selfie drama Reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, who caused a stir by posting a naked selife on social media in March, says she didn’t expect that it would cause as much “drama” as it did.

The “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star sent the internet into a frenzy when she posted a raunchy photograph, with just two black bars protecting her modesty. Kim admits she was stunned by the outcry as she had only shared it for “fun” because she was proud of losing weight after the birth of her son Saint in December last year, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Kim -- who also has daughter North, 3, with her rapper husband Kanye West -- said: “You know what? I wasn’t even thinking about it when I posted it.” “I just knew I was dyeing my hair back dark because I had blonde hair in that shot so it was an innocent thing,” she said. “And I covered up. I covered it up with my censor bars and it looks like a bikini to me so I thought it was all in fun and it was giving me motivation and some people they get so.” She said the reactions were “crazy”, as she didn’t want to prompt others to do the same.

“It was crazy. I’m not promoting, ‘Hey, be like me and do this’. Just do whatever makes you happy. So if you don’t like it... I don’t get why so much drama surrounded it,” Kim added.

Selena Gomez says she needs to “rethink some areas of my life creatively and personally”. The 24-year-old singer took to Instagram after her gig in Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday, which was also her birthday, to explain that she is planning some major changes.

She included a screenshot of a message from her iPhone notes app, which read: “Tonight I felt extremely unauthentic, unconnected to both my

Is Demi Lovato dating Odell Beckham Jr.?

The newly-single singer who split from long-term boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama in June was spotted enjoying a romantic evening in New York with the NFL player. An onlooker at the Hunt & Fish Club restaurant told a newspaper, “Odell came in around 11 pm alone, then Demi discreetly

I need to rethink my life says Selena Gomez

arrived about 10 minutes later. They sat in a corner booth, and it definitely looked like a date. They looked very friendly and stayed until around 1:30 am.” A few weeks ago, Demi, 23, enjoyed a fling with mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Guilherme Vasconcelos but it quickly fizzled out.

myself and my music.

I’ve never really felt like my materials, wardrobe or a video could define me… I’ve shown who I am but I need to rethink some areas of my life creatively and personally. Had to get that out.” Selena captioned the screenshot: “Not being negative about anything I’ve done.

I’m grateful for every single moment I get here - Indonesia you were LOUD and clearly inspiring. Love you so much.”

Miranda Kerr engaged to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel Supermodel Miranda Kerr is engaged to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel after dating him for one year.

The 33-year-old former Victoria’s Secret angel shared the news on the micro-blogging site Instagram in which she posted her engagement ring with the caption- “I said yes!!!.”

Kerr also added a cartoon to the picture depicting a marriage proposal. “The couple will have an extravagant wedding, in true Evan style and Miranda certainly won’t mind!,” a source told E! Online.

The couple, who met in 2014, started dating in June last year. Kerr was previously married to actor Orlando Bloom from

2010 to 2013, and the pair has five-year-old son, Flynn.

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Issue 677 (18)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Muslim woman told to remove hijab Iran destroys 100,000 satellite dishes for job application in New Zealand Melbourne A 25-year-old Muslim woman in New Zealand was left embarrassed after she applied for a job at a jewellery shop and was told it was a “waste of time” unless she removed her hijab. Mona Alfadli, who applied for a job as a sales assistant at Steward Dawsons in Auckland, was told by a prospective manager ‘not to bother applying’ because of her headscarf. “I felt embarrassed as it took a lot of courage to walk into the shop and speak to the manager regarding a job, especially since I was afraid of the rejection,” Alfadli said.

Alfadli, who lives in Avondale, has been looking for a job after completing her diploma in applied computer system engineering. She said her aspirations for her life in New Zealand was to find a “safe” home for herself and

her family, who settled in the country as refugees from Kuwait in 2008. “I can do any job, I don’t mind, but I will keep my hijab, I will keep my identity, and respect my culture and my religion,” Alfadli was quoted

as saying ‘The New Zealand Herald’. It was second incident at the jewellery store where in October former Kelston Girls College deputy head Fatima Mohammadi was turned away from an interview at the jewellery chain’s Henderson branch because of her hijab.

Stewart Dawsons group chief financial officer Kevin Turner said he was “devastated” to learn of the latest incident. “The manager in question is new to the company, so she hadn’t been with us for very long. Having said that she should have known better, she was not following company policy. We are taking this absolutely seriously, it’s not okay and we will be following it up in the appropriate manner,” Turner said, adding that the company would apologise to Alfadli.

Last year, MuslimAmerican woman Samantha Elauf successfully sued Abercrombie & Fitch when they refused to hire her because her headscarf apparently violated the company’s ‘look policy’. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court, where justices ruled eight to one in Elauf’s favour.

TEHRAN Iran destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers on Sunday as part of a widespread crackdown against the illegal devices that authorities say are morally damaging, a news website reported. The destruction ceremony took place in Tehran in the presence of General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, head of Iran’s Basij militia, who warned of the impact that satellite television was having in the conservative country. “The truth is that most satellite channels... deviate the society’s morality and culture,” he said at the event according to Basij News. “What these televisions really achieve is increased divorce, addiction and insecurity in society.” Naghdi added that a total of one million Iranians had already voluntarily handed over their satellite apparatuses to authorities. Under Iranian law, satellite equipment is banned and those who distribute, use, or repair them can be fined up to $2,800 (2,500 euros). Ira-

nian police regularly raid neighbourhoods and confiscate dishes from rooftops. Culture Minister Ali Jannati pleaded on Friday for a revision of the law.

“Reforming this law is very necessary as using satellite is strictly prohibited, but most people use it,”

but also cause disruptions in children’s education and children who are under the influence of satellite have improper behaviour,” Naghdi said.

There are dozens of foreign-based Farsi satellite channels broadcasting mostly news, entertain-

Jannati said. “This means that 70 percent of Iranians violate the law” by owning satellite dishes, he added.

Naghdi criticised Jannati’s comments and said those in charge of cultural affairs “should be truthful with people rather than following what pleases them”.

“Most of these satellite channels not only weaken the foundation of families

ment, films and series.

Conservatives regularly denounce the channels as an attempt to corrupt Iranian culture and Islamic values. Moderate President Hassan Rouhani, whose four-year mandate ends in June 2017, has repeatedly said that the ban on satellite dishes is unnecessary and counterproductive.

Issue 677 (19)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Bangladesh arrests 4 female UK pub asks Muslim man named Islam to remove his personalised sweatshirt militants in hunt for cafe attackers London A soldier secures the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, southern France on July 18, 2016, following the Bastille Day attack in Nice. A day later, a man in UK, whose

surname is Islam, A Muslim man in the UK was asked to remove his school jumper, which had his surname ‘Islam’ written on the back, as pub customers were feeling “uncomfortable”.

Nurul Islam, a 32-year-old teacher, was outside the Coach and Horses pub near Hertfordshire last week, when the barman approached him.

He was wearing a personalised school sweatshirt, which all teachers have, when he was asked to remove it as it was offending people because of the

Nice attack.

“A staff member came outside and asked if I could I take off my jumper because it was making some customers feel uncomfortable ‘after what happened last night’,”

said Islam, a technology teacher at the Thomas Alleyne Academy.

“I didn’t know quite what to say, and at first I didn’t link what he’d said with the lorry attack in France, but when it sank in, I was shocked,” BBC quoted Islam as saying.

Islam was waiting for a group of pupils from the Academy in Hertfordshire, who were on a Duke of Edinburgh assignment and the pub was the agreed meeting point. “I was being discriminated against because of my surname so I was left really upset after the

incident. We all have surnames on the backs of our hoodies, which is the responsible thing to do,” said Islam, who helps run the school’s Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

“I’m not a practising Muslim but I am a Muslim. It makes me feel terrible that my name is the cause of such contention when all it means is peace. If I had the word ‘peace’ on there, would he still have asked me to leave?” he said.

A hate crime police officer is investigating the incident.

“A specialist hate crime officer is investigating to establish whether offences have been committed,” Hertfordshire Police said. The pub, however, has not commented on the issue.

Indian-origin UK MP accuses Corbyn aide of illegally entering her office London A new row has erupted in Britain’s embattled Labour Party, with prominent Indianorigin MP Seema Malhotra accusing an aide of leader Jeremy Corbyn of entering her parliamentary office with-

cabinet after the June 23 Brexit vote. Seeking an investigation into the ‘illegal’ entry, Malhotra said in a statement, “I have discovered that members of staff working for John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn have gained

out permission and of intimidation after she resigned from Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.

Malhotra, who is a secondterm MP from the west London constituency of Feltham and Heston, was the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, before she resigned with others from his shadow

unauthorised entry into my office in parliament.”

“The implications of this are extremely serious. This is a breach of parliamentary privilege and is a violation of the privacy, security and confidentiality of a member of parliament’s office. Furthermore, my staff, including an intern, who have always been

courteous and open, have felt harassed, intimidated and insecure and decided themselves it would be best to not leave anyone alone in the office.”

John McDonnell is the British shadow chancellor.

Over 40 women Labour MPs have protested against Corbyn alleging intimidation attempts and attacks on their constituency offices. Corbyn is currently facing a leadership election after his parliamentary party passed a noconfidence motion against him.

A spokesman for Corbyn said Malhotra’s accusations were "untrue" and added that his office manager Karie Murphy had been checking to see if the office had been vacated

by Malhotra following her resignation.

He said: "As an office manager on the leader of the opposition's floor, Karie has a key to open all offices. She accessed the office in question to confirm when it would be vacated.

Dhaka Police in Bangladesh arrested on Sunday four female members of a home-grown militant group blamed for a bloody attack on a cafe in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, an officer said.

Authorities have intensified a hunt for militants after five young men stormed the upmarket restaurant popular with foreigners on July 1. Among those killed were nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American and an Indian.

The five militants were gunned down when security forces moved in.

Police believe that Jamaat-ulMujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the group of privileged, educated young men who carried out the attack.

The four women members of the group, aged 18 to 30, who were arrested in from the northwestern district of Sirajganj, were believed to have been plotting an attack, police said.

“Acting on a tip-off, our force raided a rented house where a large amount of grenade-making materials, crude bombs and jihadi books were also found,” district police superintendent Siraj Uddin Ahmed told reporters.

The women would be interrogated to determine if they had any link to the Dhaka cafe attack, he said.

On Thursday, four other members of the banned group, including a regional head, were arrested.

The cafe attack was one of the worst militant attacks ever in Bangladesh.

Al Qaeda and Islamic State have

made competing claims for a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the country over the past year.

The government dismissed the claims and instead blamed domestic militant groups, but security experts say the scale and sophistication of the cafe assault suggested links to a trans-national network.

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Issue 677 (20)

26 July - 1 August 2016

AAP lawmaker sparks safety review after posting Lok Sabha video on soci

By ABHISHEK BHALLA A video of Parliament posted on Facebook by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker Bhagwant Mann led to uproar in both Houses on Friday and triggered calls from the security establishment for a prompt overhaul of safety measures.

Mann, a popular stand-up comedian, furnished an unconditional apology but experts say the damage has been done as the breach committed by the Punjab MP is “serious in nature� and a revamp of security is needed immediately to ensure there are no loopholes.

Officials referred to the 2001 suicide attack on Parliament that killed nine people and led to strengthening of security with better-trained personnel, sophisticated arms, new detector gadgets, sniffer dogs and armoured patrolling vehicles.

The terrorists failed to enter the main building as they could not find the way in. “One irresponsible act by an MP has exposed the security apparatus. With fears of security being compromised the entire mechanism needs to be upgraded now,� said a government official.

Sources say the under vehicle scanning system (UVSS), positioning of quick reaction teams, the system for radio frequency identification tags (RFID) that allows swift access for cars of parliamentarians need advancement.

The UVSS delivers the full picture of a vehicle’s entire length and width while the RFID identifies and tracks tags attached to objects and individuals.

The issue has given AAP’s rivals ammunition to attack the party ahead of next year’s Punjab polls where it has emerged as a strong contender and a threat to the ruling SAD-BJP combine.

Mann showed in the video the different tiers of checks a car with an “MP� tag passes through at various points, right up to the main entrance of the building.

While those in the security establishment grapple to make quick changes, the issue sparked angry disruptions in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Friday. Mann tendered an apology even as his party rallied behind him.

The AAP accused the BJP of creating hype over a “non-issue� to deflect attention from attacks

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Bhagwant Mann furnished an unconditional apology in Parliament but experts say the damage has been done. on Dalits in Gujarat.

The lawmaker toned down his stand from a day earlier when he said he will repeat his filming act as it was in public interest. “I have tendered an unconditional apology to the Speaker over the video. My intention was not to compromise the security of Parliament,� he said. “I only wanted to apprise the people of the process of selection of questions because they, at times, ask us why their questions were not raised. I wanted to show them that the questions are selected through a lucky draw. I have made an educational video.�

However, the Speaker, who saw it as grave misconduct, was not impressed by his apology as she felt it was not enough. “Mann’s action is seen as violative of two specific rules of Parliament rules — 334(A) which ‘prohibits advance publicity’ and 352 which says ‘inter alia video/tape recording should not be done’,� Sumitra Mahajan said.

The Speaker added that she would have not hesitated in taking swift action if the matter

was related to proceedings inside the House, but since it is a matter pertaining to the Parliament complex, she needed to consult political parties for appropriate steps.

The fiasco over the video is expected to initiate action on an earlier report that found gaps in Parliament security.

Two years ago, the Speaker had set up a committee headed by former Union Home Secretary and MP from Bihar RK Singh to look into the security of the Parliament complex.

The committee had Satyapal Singh, MP from Uttar Pradesh and former Mumbai Police Commissioner, and Harish Chandra Meena, MP from Rajasthan and formerly the state’s DGP, as its members.

According to the panel’s report nearly 100 of the 450 CCTV cam eras were not functioning, apart from other shortcomings.

The findings, submitted to Mahajan with a copy marked to the Home Ministry, had suggested enhanced security at 12 gates in the Parliament complex.

%KDJZDW 0DQ KLP LV WRUWXURXV After his unconditional apology to Lok Sabha Speaker for live stream security procedures at the Parliam House, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann was faced with another problem: the accusation that he comes “drunk� to the Lok Sabha.

The Fatehgarh Sahib MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, who was suspended from AAP, took the opportunity on Friday to heap it on Mann with a letter to the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan reques seat change, alleging Mann who next to him comes to the House inebriated state.

Issue 677 (21)

26 July - 1 August 2016

a as officials worry about 2001 terror repeat 7DOHV RI FKDLQHG HOHSKDQWV LQ WHPSOHV

6LWWLQJ QH[W WR DULQGHU .KDOVD auseous, disastrous. It is a an atrocity. I sit on seat number d come to Lok Sabha after performing puja-path. And then seat number 496 gives me nausea. Terrible foul alcohol smell makes it difficult for me to breathe,” said Khalsa speaking to The Indian Express over phone.

Asked why he never made this complaint before, Khalsa said, “There is a limit to everything. Everyday Lok Sabha sessions I had hope s guy will stop coming drunk. But olerable now. I can’t sit with him e.”

by Seemi Pasha They’re considered to be an embodiment of Lord Ganesha on earth, made to wear decorative head gear and paraded at temples in Kerala.

At the Amer Fort in Jaipur, they are painted with ornamental patterns and made to ferry tourists. But behind the festivities and joy rides is unimaginable brutality.

TORTURED FOR TEMPLE PROCESSIONS India Today TV has accessed exclusive footage from two documentary filmmakers who have captured the persecution of elephants on camera. Tortured, blinded, starved, chained, the soles of their feet burnt with torches and spikes dug deep into their limbs...these are just some of the ways in which elephants at temples in Kerala and the Amer Fort are brutalised in the name of culture and tourism.

Sample this, Laxmi is a regular attraction at Thirivambari temple in Kerala. Her cornea was torn by her mahaut who was trying to reign her in with a metallic hook or ankush - as is common.

He consults a vet but doesn’t feel the need to call someone and administer medicine. The mahaut along with a friend try to put medicine in Laxmi’s eye. As she squeezes her eyes shut...he forcibly opens it, gouges out her eyeball, pours medicine in it and attempts to stuff it back. After the ordeal, the mahaut speaks to Laxmi like nothing has happened and what is surprising is Laxmi responds.

In Thrishurpuram, filmmaker Sangita Iyer captures chilling images of a gentle giant being mercilessly assaulted by his mahaut to break his spirit. This again is a common practice. Experts say, male elephants become restless during mating season...if they’re chained and not allowed to roam free, they become aggressive. In a bid to curb their natural instincts, mahauts tighten the chains

around their limps. The mating season lasts for about 4 months and during this period male elephants are given just enough food to keep them alive.

Wildlife activists say many handlers even inject male elephants with drugs in a bid to chemically castrate them. “The govt has done nothing about it. Kerala is a hot bed for illegal treatment to animals. The govt actually wanted to provide amnesty to these people but the Supreme Court shot it down.

TORTURE IN NAME OF TOURISM In Jaipur, the haathi gain is joke. The problem starts with breaking of elephants,” says NG Jayasimha of Humane society international. In her film, God’s in Shackles, Sangita Iyer, also captures pictures of deep gashes that are there on most elephants’ limbs. She says that most mahauts tie elephants with chains that are fitted with long iron spikes to weaken them. When the elephants have to be taken to temples for ceremonies, mahauts cover the torture marks with black paint. “The tradition of keeping elephants in temples should be banned. It doesn’t benefit anyone.

Elephants are gentle animals, not used to loud precessions,” says Animal Rights Activist, Ambika Shukla.

In Amer in Rajasthan, filmmaker Brigette Uttar Kornetzky finds mahauts literally burning the sole of the elephants’ feet.

Activists say elephants suffer from severe abrasions of the foot-sole and joint and muscle damage because they’re forced to walk on concrete, often over loaded with tourists. The mahauts burn their soles to make their feet numb and force them to work. Kartik Satyanarayan, founder, Wildlife SOS says, “There are ample laws in our country but there is lack of implementation” As the governments look the other way elephants continue to be brutalised. Is this their destiny or our way of telling them we don’t care?

Issue 677 (22)

26 July - 1 August 2016

AAP MLA arrested for intimidation, another held on sacrilege charge Sangrur The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Centre of systematic persecution and vendetta after police arrested two of its legislators on Sunday, one charged with outraging the modesty of a woman and criminal intimidation, and the other

with desecration of the Quran.

The party’s Okhla lawmaker, Amantullah Khan , was taken into custody on the basis of a woman’s complaint that she was abused and molested by a staff member at Khan’s home on July 18. The complainant, a social activist, said she went there to complain about frequent power cuts in her neighbourhood, Jasola in southern Delhi.

She also accused the MLA of trying to run her over with a car after she

visited his Batla House home in Jamia Nagar.

Khan is the 12th AAP lawmaker to face an FIR, and the 11th to be arrested.

The AAP legislator for Mehrauli, Naresh Yadav, was arrested for his suspected role in the alleged desecration of the Quran at Malerkotla in Punjab’s

Sangrur district on June 24. A Punjab Police team picked him up from his Delhi home.

AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led the party’s volley of attack against the twin arrests. “Just in -Modi ji arrests one more AAP MLA. Anandiben sends Dalits and Patidars to jail in fake cases in Gujarat, Modi ji sends Delhiites to jail in fake cases. Delhi and Gujarat will fight together,” he tweeted, holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the police action.

India asks its diplomats to withdraw kids from Pakistani schools

As tension with Pakistan over Kashmir grew, the Indian government today asked all its embassy staff in Islamabad to send their school-going children back to the country for security reasons.

Declaring Pakistan a 'no school-going mission', the government asked its Indian High Commission in Islamabad to ensure all the 50-60 children studying in various schools there are sent back.

Sources said India may also reduce its staff strength in diplomatic missions in Pakistan. Pakistani news website Daily Times said around 50 Indian children were enrolled in the International School of Islamabad, popularly known there as the American School.

The decision to withdraw Indian students from Pakistani schools will come into effect from the current academic session.

Khan, who was sent to police remand for a day, has also been accused of intimidating the complaint to withdraw her case. “The woman said she was getting threat calls and messages, and was being stalked by Khan’s men.

She said Khan and his men tried to run her over near

Ashoka Park, New Friends Colony, and a bike tried to hit her on July 22 when she was on her way to court to record her statement,” deputy commissioner of police (southeast) MS Randhawa said.

“She felt unsafe and even threatened to commit suicide,” the officer said.

On Saturday, the AAP released a sting video, which shows the woman asking the SHO of Jamia Nagar police station to trump up the charges against Khan.

“Video released yesterday proved that complainant was taught by Delhi Police,

conspiracy stands exposed. Thanks to Modi Ji,” tweeted AAP’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey. The party’s Mehrauli MLA, Yadav, has been accused of having a role in trying to foment communal tension during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan after miscreants threw torn pages from the Quran into a drain in Malerkotla.

The main accused, Vijay Kumar of Jind in Haryana, claimed he did it at the behest of Yadav, who was his “friend”.

For his part, Yadav alleged that the “restless” ruling alliance of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJPin Punjab had hatched a conspiracy against him.

“I have nothing to hide. I have been framed by Punjab Police at the behest of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal. I have full faith in the judiciary and will come clean,” he said. He was arrested a day after a court in Malerkotla issued a warrant against him. “As Yadav didn’t cooperate with the investigating team twice, we produced evidence against him in court to ask for his interrogation in custody,” Sangrur senior superintendent of police Prithpal Singh Thind said.

Qandeel’s cousin, sister arrested for ‘possible involvement’ in murder

Pakistani police arrested on Monday the sister and cousin of Qandeel Baloch for their “possible involvement” in the murder of the social media celebrity who was killed by her brother for protecting the family’s ‘honour’.

“Shahnaz and Haq Nawaz, Qandeel’s sister and cousin, have been taken into custody for investigation in her murder case,” an investigation officer told reporters.

Qandeel’s brother Muhammad Waseem had killed the model on July 16 at their Multan residence, some 350 kilometres from Lahore, for “dishonouring” the family.

A judicial magistrate extended the physical remand of Waseem into police custody on Monday for another three days for interrogation.

Waseem, in his confession, claimed to have acted alone and said he had drugged and strangled his sister in the name of honour.

Police are looking to investigate Shahnaz and Haq

Nawaz for their “possible involvement” in Qandeel’s murder.

Police have also conducted polygraph and DNA tests of Waseem.

Senior police officer Ali Mardan said police would also summon cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi this week for interrogation.

Qavi was embroiled in a controversy with Qandeel when she uploaded her pictures with him on her Facebook account.

Qavi, who was suspended from the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee in the controversy following the video posts, has also been included in the murder inquiry by the police.

After Qandeel’s murder, the PML-N government has announced enacting law to remove a loophole allowing other family members to pardon a killer.

Police said that Waseem had killed his sister for the “honour of the family”.

The ‘honour-killing’ had sent shockwaves across the country and triggered an outpouring of grief on social media for Qandeel.

Manmohan didn’t believe PC Alexander when told about his appointment as FM New Delhi Manmohan Singh’s appointment as India’s finance minister in 1991 was as much a surprise to him as it was to others.

Singh did not believe PC Alexander when told that Prime Minister Narasimha Rao wanted him (Singh) to take over as the finance minister in 1991 to steer the crisisridden Indian economy.

“When Narasimha Rao ji was elected as the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), he sent Dr PC Alexander to talk to me to explore the possibility of I being offered the post of the finance minister in the cabinet,” Singh told HT in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t take him seriously,” Singh said.

Alexander was the principal secretary to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi

and later became the governor of Maharashtra in 1993. Singh, who as finance minister piloted India’s economic reforms programme in a famous budget 25 years ago, said

the news sunk in only when Rao himself called the next day to persuade to him to take over as the finance minister. “Next morning I went to the University Grants Commission (UGC), where I was the chairman, and here was Narsimha Rao ji looking for

me on the telephone. He traced me to the UGC and said: Where are you? What are you doing? Hasn’t Alexander told you about my intentions to use your services?’ I said: `He did mention it to me sir, but I didn’t believe him,’” he said. “I had only a few hours to think through,” he said. Singh’s family and friends discouraged him to take up the assignment arguing that he would be made the scapegoat if policies did not work out as anticipated.

“When I talked to my family they said I had just undergone a bypass surgery in London, and that the finance minister’s job is a killing job. Politicians will never allow you to do the right thing and you will become the scapegoat,” he said. “They said: `The (previous) Chandra Shekhar government fell because it

was not able to grapple with the economic situation. The Congress government is a minority government. There is no reason to believe that it will do better.’ I said that it is true that I have had a bypass surgery, but that should not be a concern that should stop me from making an effort to deal with the severe economic crisis India faced,” Singh said recounting the days leading up to his appointment as the finance minister.

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Issue 677 (23)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Renuka, Jairam defend themselves on alleged insult to Harsimrat Kaur New Delhi Even as a letter of complaint is under the consideration of the Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari, SAD's Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa raised the issue of the alleged derogatory language used by members of the Congress against his party colleague and Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday.

On Monday, Dhindsa got up in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour and demanded an apology from Renuka Chowdhary and Jairam Ramesh for allegedly insulting Harsirat Kaur when she tried to raise the issue of Parlia-

ment security in view of AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's Facebook video.

The Congress defended its members vociferously, alleging that the Food Processing Industry minister was working on a preplanned script to disrupt a private member's bill on a special package to Andhra. They also questioned whether Harsimrat Kaur, a member of the other House had the same priviledges as a Rajya Sabha member to raise any matter and not those limited to the

government's business.

While the matter led to chaos in the House,

side the House as was being alleged by Dhindsa.

He also reiterated the

Jairam Ramesh got up to clear the air saying that no altercation took place out-

charge that raising the Mann Facebook video matter was simply a "ploy

I resigned from RS because I was asked to stay away from Punjab: Sidhu New Delhi Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu said on

Monday he quit the Rajya Sabha because he was asked to stay away from Punjab but refused to clarify if he was still with the BJP or joining the AAP, as is being speculated.

“Rashtra dharma (duty towards the nation) is the most superior. How can Navjot Singh Sidhu stay away from his motherland,” he said at a press conference in New Delhi on Mon-

day, his first after quitting the Rajya Sabha. “No party in this world is above or

greater than Punjab... If it comes to choosing between my family, my party and Punjab, I will choose Punjab a hundred times” The 52-year-old in a surprise decision quit the Upper House on the first day of the monsoon session on July 18, a few months after he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

“I was told to fight election from Kurukshetra then

west Delhi. I said no, I won’t betray my people,” Sidhu said. His relations

with the BJP soured after he was denied a ticket in the 2014 elections to contest from Amritsar, the seat he had held since 2004.

The resignation set off furious speculation that Sidhu was headed for the Aam Aadmi Party, which is positioning itself as the third alterative in Punjab that is due for polls in early 2017. The AAP was

the only option for her husband, Navjot Kaur, who is a BJP MLA in Punjab, had said. His resignation from the Rajya Sabha implied a resignation from the BJP, she said, but the former cricketer kept up the suspense on Monday.

He didn’t answer questions about his plans, if any, for AAP, or him continuing in the BJP. He had said whatever he had to, Sidhu said.

Sidhu had said earlier that Punjab’s interests were paramount but as he couldn’t have done much as a Rajya Sabha MP. The seat had become a “burden” for him.

Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had lauded Sidhu’s move, saying it was a courageous decision.

The BJP, however, doesn’t seem to have given up on the maverick leader. Sidhu was still with the BJP and “he has not resigned from the party”, party’s Punjab chief Vijay Sampla said in Chandigarh on Sunday.

to scuttle the private member's bill" as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha was meant to take action against Mann and there was little the Rajya Sabha could do in this matter.

Meanwhile, Renuka Chowdhary who tried to defend herself for sometime but could not get the Chair's attention, surprisingly found support from the BSP. She stated that the allegations against her were factually incorrect as much of what transpired was after the adjournment

of the House. She also charged at the government for using it as an excuse to deny "5 crore people of Andhra their rights." Deputy Chairman PJ Kurein said "the Chairman is seized of the matter and will call the respective parties to discuss it." On Friday, as the private member's bill on Andhra came up in the House, Harsimrat Kaur Badal wanted permission to speak on the issue of Parliament security and Bhagwant Mann. PJ Kurien clarified today that the Chair had denied her permission to speak as the House was in pandemonium.

Israeli woman sexually assaulted in Manali, probe launched

Manali Police have launched a manhunt to arrest two men accused of sexually assaulting a 25-year-old Israeli woman in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali town, an official said on Monday.

The complainant reached Manali, some 250km from the state capital Shimla, on Sunday, the day incident occurred. She alleged that she was gang-raped by two men, who offered her a lift early Sunday when she could not find a taxi, investigation officer Gandhi Ram told IANS. He said the accused took the com-

plainant to a secluded spot on the outskirts of Manali and sexually assaulted her. “She was medically examined in a hospital in Manali. The victim asked for more tests. So she was taken to Sundernagar town on Sunday night,” he said.

The complainant informed the police that her friends left her alone in Manali for further journey to Kaza in the Spiti Valley.

This has been the second incident involving a foreign tourists since June 2013 when a US national was raped by three cab drivers in Manali.

Five points that won the day for Salman in chinkara poaching cases Jodhpur The Rajasthan high court on Monday acquitted actor Salman Khan in two cases of poaching, quashing trial court verdicts that had found him guilty of hunting chinkaras, or Indian gazelles, which are a protected species.

Justice Nirmaljeet Kaur said the actor couldn’t be convicted as the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Khan.

Five points that won the day for the actor: 1. His lawyer said the inspection reports of the Gypsy, the vehicle used by the actor during the alleged hunts -- on September 26,

1998 and two days later – were suspect.

The first inspection -by a forest officer -mentioned some faded blood-like stains while the second check by the police a day later found hair strands and six pellets. The anomalies made the two reports suspect, Mahesh Bora argued.

2. He also questioned the theory of the use of arms by the actor, arguing the weapons were not with Khan and were in fact later brought from Mumbai. No arms were found when the actor’s hotel room was

raided. The prosecution had argued that the actor sent away the weapons to Mumbai after the poaching incidents came to light.

3. None of the witnesses saw the animals being

hunted or a carcass being transported by Khan. Then how could Khan be implicated when all other co-accused were let off, the lawyer argued.

4. The high court observed

that the pellets recovered from the hotel rooms of Salman Khan and co-actor Saif Ali Khan were not only different from those said to have been recovered from the Gypsy but were also of inferior quality.

The pellets were meant for air guns and could not have killed an animal, the defence argued. The court also said the knife allegedly used by Khan to slit the throat and skin the gazelle was more like a pocket knife.

5. The defence also said the main witness, Harish Dulani,

was in illegal custody of the forest department and was released on October 14, 1998 after his statement was recorded in front of the magistrate, making it admissible in a court. The FIR in the two poaching incidents was registered on October 11. The statement was coerced out of Dulani and he was planted as a witness against the actor, Bora argued. This was also the reason Dulani didn’t turn up to be examined by the defence, the lawyer said.

Dulani was the driver of the Gypsy, a private vehicle, the actor used between September 26 and October 1.

Issue 677 (24)

26 July - 1 August 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Issue 677 (25)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Technology Facebook Messenger celebrates 1 billion monthly active users with floating balloon emoji!

Social networking giant Facebook announced that there are one billion people using Messenger every month all over the world.

“We are announcing that more than one billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month, making messenger one of only a handful of apps worldwide that touch so many lives,” the company said in a post.

Messenger is now the second-most popular iOS app of all time, behind Facebook.

People are using Messenger to connect with the people and businesses.

They make plans, share dreams, send payments, tell jokes, play games, let their loved ones know they are thinking of them and more.

Thanking all of the users who use the platform every single day, Facebook is celebrating the milestone in its own special way - with an balloon emoji.

“We’re grateful for all the people who are sending bil-

lions of messages every day and we hope to send 1 billion thank you in the form of a new floating balloon gift that everyone can use to celebrate. Just send a bal-

loon emoji to your friends to add a touch of whimsy and delight to any conversation.”

Since the Messenger platform opened, over 18,000 bots have launched on Messenger

and over 23,000 developers have signed up for Wit.ai’s Bot Engine.

Nearly 10 per cent of all VoIP calls globally are now made through Mes-

Pokemon go debuts in the country where Pokemon was born!

The wait is finally over! After all the uncertainties, delays, and storm of social media excitements, Japanese netizens are now able

to play ‘Pokemon Go’ in their country that is also the birth place of the Pokemon character. The big sponsorship deal between McDonald and Pokemon Go played a vital role in the launch of this smartphone application in Japan.The game, which allows players to catch and collect Pokemons in real-world locations through the mobile phone camera, is now available for download in the Japanese iTunes and Google Play stores, EFE

news reported. The developer of the app, the company Niantic, posted a simple announcement on its Japanese website saying

“Pokemon Go is now available for download in Japan.”

Shares of Nintendo, the company that sponsors the whole series of Pokemon games, jumped as much as 6.85 per cent at the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the news, although shortly after, the rise began to slow down.

The Kyoto-based company has doubled the value of its shares and its market capitalization since the game was first launched in the US, Australia and New Zealand on July 6. Pokemon Go has

been an instant hit and gained a huge success since it was launched and is now available in more than 35 countries. Except

for China where the release is not scheduled due to issues with authorities, Japan was the last remaining major market to launch the application.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated launch, the Japanese government had launched a campaign promoting safe play of this smartphone game after multiple incidents of injury or trespassing by people playing the game have been reported in several countries.

senger.

People send more than 17 billion photos to friends through Messenger every month and on average, more than 22 million GIFs are sent every day via Messenger -- 254 GIF’s per second.

There are more than 250 sticker packs available in Messenger with more than 4,000 stickers. More than 380 million stickers are sent every day.

Messenger has been downloaded more than one billion times on Android and people on Messenger have played 1.2 billion games of basketball.

As per a report on Quartz, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had bigger plans for Messenger though it wasn’t apparent at the moment.

The social networking giant’s shares also hit an all-time intra-day high on Wednesday.

Facebook pushes new ad tool to help developers target active app users The growth days of apps are over now. Our smartphones are stuffed with all kinds of apps and we are done with down-

loading new ones, unless they are something out of the box. Facebook is very well aware of this problem and that is why it announced a series of updates to its app-install ads.

With a brand new product, called App Event Optimizarion, the social network giant is allowing developers to target those audience who will be valuable to their application in the longer term and will also actively take an action

once that app is on their phone. For this new feature, Facebook has added two new types of app-install adds- Dyanmic adds, that targets users based on their web search history and Canvas ads, the fancy mobile ads in which advertisers host mini versions of their website on Facebook.

The mobile app boom that once kicked off in 2008 has now reached a saturation point.

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Google’s latest app will bring Indian art and culture closer

Google has launched a new app named “Google Cultural Institute” and website which could bring Indian art and culture closer. The search engine giant’s new application will help art lovers across the country and globe discover popular works from different museums over 70 countries.

The app gives users an opportunity to search for anything related to art and culture like the history of newlydeclared World Heritage Site Nalanda University in Bihar to panoramic imagery of its excavation.

It also allows you to navigate through the artworks by one of the founders of modern Indian painting Abanindranath Tagore to how eminent painter Amrita Sher-Gil’s palette

changed through her journeys between India and Europe.

“The ‘Google Arts and Culture; app helps art lovers take a walk through

the virtual reality headset Google Cardboard gives users an opportunity to take a virtual tour of the Sanskriti Museum, established in 1978 which is

famous museums and artefacts from world over, offering them a rich immersive experience,” said Duncan Osborn, Product Manager, Google Cultural Institute, in a statement.

Making India’s rich cultural heritage come live,

home to one of the largest collections of Indian art and craft. The users can also subscribe to the new Google Arts and Culture YouTube channel where they can find original content dedicated to culture hosted by the YouTub community.

Issue 677 (26)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Ghost orchid scientists aim to restore rare Florida flowers IMMOKALEE Armed with an orange staple gun and dozens of burlap squares entwined with ratty green roots, Mike Kane wades hip-deep into the swamp to restore what generations of thieves have stolen. Once abundant in the Florida Everglades, experts say fewer than 2,000 ghost orchids (Dendrophylax lindenii) are left in the state, where it is considered an endangered plant.

Cuba has some too, but just how many is unknown. Poaching, urbanization and pesticide pollution -- which cuts down on insect pollinators -- are among the ghost orchid’s top threats, according to Kane, a professor of environmental horticulture at the University of Florida.

“We are losing these,” said Kane, who is leading the first project of its kind to repopulate the swamps with these orchids. He and his graduate students grow ghost orchids from genetically diverse seeds in their northern Florida lab.

After the plants have grown for a few years, they take them to a secluded location deep inside the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in the southern part of the state. This tranquil

spot, known as McBride’s Pond, lies under a shady canopy of pop ash, pond apple and cypress trees.

“The public cannot come in and poach and they cannot disrupt our experiments,” said Jameson Coopman, a graduate student in Kane’s lab. The two men take turns stapling the burlap -- not the roots --

onto the tree trunks, as an alligator quietly suns itself nearby and swallowtail butterflies swoop overhead. The burlap will decompose, but the orchid’s spider-like roots will hug the bark and hope-

fully, make the tree its new home. “We give it a quick mist when we are done,” said Coopman. “We don’t help the plant any further and it does the rest.” This year, they planted 160. Last year, it was 80. Kane recalled high-fiving in the swamp with his then graduate student, Nguyen Hoang of Vietnam, when they re-

turned a few weeks after planting and discovered that most had survived. “They were doing so well. It was incredible. We were really surprised.” Kane’s lab has also seen some unusual success with botanists managing to coax ghost orchids to bloom in the space of three years. In the wild, they can take 16 years or more, if they ever flower at all. The ghost orchid, often targeted by poachers, rose to pop culture fame with the book, “The Orchid Thief,” and its movie version, “Adaptation,” starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep. Orchid enthusiasts are romanced by the leafless flower’s erotic appearance, its pure white hue, and the way it dances in the wind. The bloom emerges just once a year, usually for a week or so in June or July.

It has one known pollinator, the giant sphinx moth. The ghost orchid is tough to grow and even tougher to keep alive, especially when ripped from its natural environment.

Argentine mothers hold mass protest

BUENOS AIRES Hundreds of women turned out in Argentina to breastfeed in public Saturday, in protest at the removal of a mother for nursing publicly in a Buenos Aires square last week.

Waving signs that read “No repression; nursing is not up for discussion” and “I’m not interested in your opinion,” some 500 women demonstrated in support of Constanza Santos, who police took from the square for nursing her nine-month-old.

Instead of a sit-in, some

called the protest a breastfeed-in. Supporters said the case was disturbing and that they were not going to let mothers’ rights be trampled on. Similar demonstrations were held in other cities, including Mar del Plata, Tucuman and Neuquen. “This is great because it sheds light on a problem. And police need to be on the public’s side and not work against them,” said Argentine human rights activist Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the 1980 Nobel peace laureate.

Issue - 677 (27)

26 July - 1 August 2016

‘I will be watching you’, American Airlines attendant told Muslim man Washington In a case of alleged discrimination in the US, a 40-yearold Muslim man was removed from a plane after a flight attendant publicly announced

his name, seat number and said she would be “watching” him.

The matter came to light yesterday when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained to transport authorities that Mohamed Ahmed Radwan was removed from the American Airlines Flight last December because of his “identifiably Arabic and Muslim name.”

According to federal law, airlines are prohibited from discriminating against passengers based on religion, ancestry and national origin,

among other criteria.

CAIR sent a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOT) yesterday urging an investigation and also called for a “thorough examination” into

prevailing practices of major airlines, The Charlotte Observer reported.

In addition, CAIR said the DOT should develop policy guidelines on objective factors to be looked at while deciding to remove a passenger from a plane.

Radwan, a chemical engineer, said he was flying from Charlotte to Detroit on December 6, 2015, on American Airlines Flight 1821. As he was taking his allotted seat, Radwan said, a female flight attendant loudly announced, “Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A, I will be watching

US Sikhs raise funds to create awareness about community

you.”

After a minute, she repeated, “Mohamed Ahmed, that is a very long name, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.” Then a third time, according to Radwan, she said, “25-A: you will be watched.”

“I was in total shock. Ive been flying for over 30 years, and Ive never heard something like that,” he said.

The flight attendant did not make such a statement about any other passenger, Radwan said.

When he asked about her statements, the attendant said she was going to monitor everyone. When asked why she singled him out, the attendant accused him of being “too sensitive” and walked away, he said. After a couple of American Airlines employees talked to him, he was told the attendant felt “uncomfortable” and he was escorted off the flight.

“I felt too unsafe to fly with American again,” he said.

Radwan instead booked a much later flight, which cost him about USD 1,500 and interfered with his travel plans.

Worse than the inconvenience was the humiliation of being treated like a terrorist, Radwan said. “Ive been a US citizen for 13 years, but at that moment I felt my sense of being American taken from me,” he said.

In April, a Muslim woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane at a Chicago airport after she had asked to switch seats as she was told she had made the flight attendant “uncomfortable”.

A Muslim family of five were also escorted off a United Airlines flight in March for “how they looked”.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka raises issues her dad rarely mentions: Gender pay gap, labour laws

Washington Donald Trump’s daughter promised on Thursday that her father will fight for equal pay for women and affordable child care for parents, issues that the Republican nominee has rarely, if ever, addressed on the campaign trail.Ivanka Trump got an enthusiastic welcome at the Republican National Convention.

Her prime time speech elicited repeated applause and much praise from delegates in the arena.Touting a side of her father rarely seen on the campaign trail, Ivanka Trump cast her father as a leader who would fight to address the student debt problem and would be a champion for equal pay for mothers and single women.

HERE IS ALL WHAT HER SPEECH WAS ABOUT 1. “As the President, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women weren’t a significant portion of the workplace, and he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all,” Ivanka Trump said.

2. Ivanka said her father “will fight for equal pay for equal work.”

3. Ivanka Trump vowed that her father would “focus on making affordable childcare affordable and

accessible for all” if elected.

4. Trump has not addressed childcare costs or the gender pay gap so far in his 2016 presidential bid. These are issues usually touted by Democrats.

5. Trump’s past statements on women in the workplace have included calling pregnancy “an inconvenience” and telling a voter in New Hampshire last year that women will receive the same pay as men “if they do as good a job.

6. “She is showing the softer side” of Trump, said Chris Herrod, state director for Ted Cruz in Utah.

“She hit the gender pay issue which is very important. And she talked about the family. I think she’s done very, very well.”

7. Wisconsin delegate Kathy Kiernan called Ivanka’s speech “perfect.”

8. “I think she’s amazing. I think that looking at his children and how great they all are and how much they all love their father tells you a lot about the man as a parent,” Kiernan said. “I think she’s one of his best assets.”

9. California delegate Shawn Steel said Ivanka Trump’s speech was “the high point of the entire convention for me.”

10. “He does the blue collar, she does the millennials. It’s a powerful combination,” Steel said.

Tesoro to pay $425m over air quality violations

Washington Sikh-Americans from the US state of Utah have helped raise $1.25 lakh for a national media campaign to generate awareness about the community in the country.The money was raised at an event organised in Salt Lake by the National Sikh Campaign’s media initiative to educate Americans about Sikhs and Sikhism. The Utah Sikh

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community comprises about 200 families.Sikhs have faced hate crimes and violence since 9/11, and terrorist attacks in recent months have resulted in a spike in prejudice and violence against Sikhs across America, a statement said. “This is a historic opportunity for the Sikh community and we are overwhelmed by the response of the community in Salt Lake City,” said Dr Rajwant Singh, cofounder of the National Sikh Campaign and its senior adviser.

The campaign has engaged President Barack Obama’s media team to develop 30-second ads on Sikhs to run on television and social media nationally. This was done under a strategic plan designed by Hillary Clinton’s former chief strategist Geoff Garin, who also develops strategic plan for the Harvard University and the World Bank.

LOS ANGELES US oil refining group Tesoro Corp. reached a $425 million settlement Monday with the Justice Department and the US Environmental Protection Agency to resolve air quality violations. Under the agreement, Texas-based Tesoro and Par Hawaii Refining will spend about $403 million to install and operate pollution control equipment at six refineries across the United States. Tesoro will also spend about $12 million to fund environmental projects in local communities that were impacted by pollution and will pay $10.4 million in civil penalties, the government said.

“This settlement... will benefit the air quality in communities across the Western United States,” said John Cruden, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “It uses cutting-edge technology to address global environmental issues like climate change by controlling flaring and provides important reductions of harmful air pollution in communities

facing environmental and health challenges.” Par Hawaii currently operates one of the refineries affected by the settlement and formerly owned by Tesoro. The company said in a statement that Tesoro is obligated to reimburse it for upgrades to reduce pollution at that facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. The other

quality and cut the risk of respiratory illnesses for the local populations.It said the settlement will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flaring at the refineries by over 60 percent.

“The advanced technologies Tesoro and Par are required to implement are the future for protecting people from toxic air

refineries covered by the settlement are located in Alaska, California, North Dakota, Utah and the state of Washington.The Justice Department said the pollution control measures to be put in place at those facilities will reduce emissions, improve air

emissions,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance.

“This settlement puts new enforcement ideas to work that will dramatically cut pollution and protect communities.”

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US Veep nominee’s state law put Indian-American Sikh Captain America woman in prison for 20 years for abortion who fights alienism

WASHINGTON In July 2013, a heavily bleeding Indian-American woman named Purvi Patel went into a hospital emergency room in South Bend, Indiana, and told doctors she had had a miscarriage. Asked what she had done with the fetal remains, she said the baby was stillborn and she put the body in a bag and left it in a dumpster.

The doctor who examined her, who later turned out to be pro-life, determined that the umbilical cord protruding from the mother looked healthy, and there was a chance the fetus was alive. Police was alerted, and they rushed to the dumpster behind a restaurant owned by the Patel family.It was way too late; perhaps the fetus was not even born alive. And thereby hangs an epic case in American reproductive rights.Authorities later determined on the basis of testimony and phone records that Purvi Patel had induced an abortion after she became pregnant following a relationship with a co-worker that she wanted to hide from her conservative family. She was charged among other things with using an abortifacient she had

ordered online from a pharmacy in China to end the pregnancy, although no drugs were found in

her system.In a trial that transfixed the pro-life and pro-choice communities across America, the defense and prosecution argued over whether the fetus had died in utero or was born alive and died later.The defense pathologist testified that the 23 or 24-week fetus was stillborn, with lungs insufficiently developed to breathe.

The prosecution pathologist maintained that the fetus was at 25 to 30 weeks and was born alive, and Patel allowed it to die.

The prosecution used what is called a ‘‘lung float test,’’ which

Woman brought to US as nanny treated like slave

dates back to the 17th century and is widely discredited, to make its determination.Patel was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison because although the Indiana feticide statute exempts legal abortions, a person can be held guilt of feticide for deliberately trying to end a pregnancy, even if the fetus survives. Patel was prosecuted for illegally obtaining an abortificient, as well as for child neglect -- letting her baby die after the self-abortion failed.The principal author of Indiana’s tough feticide law that put Patel away for 20 years - and made her the first American woman to be convicted and sentenced on a feticide charge in connection to her own miscarriage -- is the man Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has picked as his vicepresidential running mate.Inasmuch as the thricemarried Trump is a self-confessed libertine whose libidinous life-style is the stuff of tabloids, Mike Pence is the epitome of ultraconservative virtues, who invokes God and family at every opportunity. Meanwhile, as Patel continues to languish in prison, her appeal is being heard in an Indiana appellate court.

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WOODBURY A Minnesota woman is charged with beating and starving a woman she brought from China to work as a nanny, holding her in a state of “slavery or indentured servitude,” a prosecutor said.

Lili Huang, 35, of Woodbury is charged in Washington County with five felony counts, including labor trafficking, false imprisonment and assault.

Huang remains in jail after making her initial court appearance Friday, the Star Tribune reported.

The 58-year-old woman, who is not named in the complaint, arrived in the US on a visa in late March. According to the complaint, the nanny was forced to work up to 18 hours a day doing child care, cooking and cleaning. Police calculate her pay at about $1.80 an hour, but she apparently did not receive any of it.

The woman recently was found wandering in the street, her eyes blackened. A hospital exam found she had many broken bones.She was rationed crackers for meals and her

weight had dropped from 120 pounds when she arrived in the US to 88 pounds, the complaint said.The woman was never allowed to leave the house, the complaint said. The nanny told a police investigator she eventually fled the house when Huang threatened to kill her with a knife. She told police she was looking for the airport so she could go home to China, the complaint said.

Washington County prosecutor Pete Orput said the nanny was held in appalling conditions, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Dan Le, a Minneapolis attorney for Huang, did not immediately respond to a phone message and email from The Associated Press on Saturday.

Police from four cities and agents from the US Department of Homeland Security searched Huang’s home and arrested her, the complaint said. A bag hidden under the nanny’s mattress contained a large amount of her hair, which Huang allegedly ripped from the woman’s head.

The nanny had been hiding it so Huang wouldn’t find it “and force her to eat it,” the complaint said.

AMRITSAR He is a political cartoonist, but on occasions, he transforms into ‘Sikh Captain America’, a costumed soldier with a traditional head wrap who fights bigotry and champions cultural understanding through public appearances and talks.

Founder and president of Guru Harkrishan Institute of Sikh Studies (GHISS) Gurdeep Singh said that for a living too, Vishavjit Singh makes political cartoons that capture the frustration, heartache and aspirations of Sikhs in the US. Vishavjit will be one among other speakers attending the ‘Sikh Youth Gurmat Camp’ scheduled to be held in Mary land, US, from July 30 to August 6. “This Sikh cartoonist is challenging racial intolerance by strutting around New York City in the red, white and blue uniform of Marvel comic book and movie hero ‘Captain America’,” he said. “We have many renowned speakers attending the camp this year and there will be numerous workshops and seminars, along with a practice of the Sikh way of life providing a rare opportunity

for youth and counselors to interact and learn from Gursikh role models,” he added.Those attending the event included: Leading keertaniyaa and a keertan teacher by profession Bhai Manjeet Singh of Glasgow; full-time performer and spoken word artist Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa from Melbourne; Gursikh entrepreneur from Toronto, Canada, Suneet Singh Tuli; first Sikh in nearly 30 years allowed to serve in the US Army with kesh Major Kamaljit Singh Kalsi; Gatka Master Jaspreet Singh of California. Gurdeep said the camp was for youth of age 6 to 19 years.

“It is an endeavour to expose the Sikh youth of the western world to the principles and values of Sikhism. It is an attempt to create an environment and provide a glimpse of the Sikh way of life,” he added.The founder of GHISS, established in Maryland in 1995, said that the camp would include activities like kirtan, tabla, and String Instruments classes, Gatka training, daily kirtan diwans, organized seminars, discussions, sports, various competitions, and other activities.

Sex offender? Fox News president resigns after numerous accusations of sexual harassment The president of Fox News, Roger Ailes, resigned as the network’s chief after a number of female employees accused him of sexual harassment. The network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, announced his resignation on Thursday.

RUPERT MURDOCH STEPS IN “Roger Ailes has made a remarkable contribution to our company and our country. Roger shared my vision of a great and independent television organisation and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years,” Rupert Murdoch, who will take over immediately as chairman and acting CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, said in a communique.

Ailes’ resignation comes weeks after he was accused by former Fox 5 reporter Gretchen Carlson of having taken reprisals against her, including reducing her salary, after she refused to have sexual relations with him, EFE news reported.

‘UNWANTED SEXUAL ADVANCES’ USUAL FOR AILES In addition to the complaint presented by Carlson, this week

Fox News channel anchor Megyn Kelly, who on July 12 said she had also been the victim of “unwanted sexual advances” by Ailes approximately 10 years ago.After this latest revelation,

I IDENTIFIED AND PROMOTED THE BEST TALENT IN TV: AILES Meanwhile, Ailes, 76 and the network’s CEO since 1996, said in a communique sent to channel WNBC that Fox had become the No.

21st Century Fox launched an internal investigation and Ailes received an ultimatum from the corporate lawyers to resign before August 1 or be fired for justifiable cause.

Murdoch made no reference to these accusations or to the alleged ultimatum presented by the company to Ailes in the statement released on Thursday.

1 television network “because I consistently identified and promoted the most talented men and women in television, and they performed at the highest levels.”“I will not allow my presence to become a distraction from the work that must be done every day to ensure that Fox News and Fox Business continue to lead our industry,” he said. The severance termsagreedtobetweenFoxandAiles were not disclosed.

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US woman gets 51 years jail for allowing horrific rape of 11-year-old daughter for drugs Washington Calling it the worst case she’s ever seen, an Ohio judge sentenced a woman to 51 years in prison, after she admitted to

allowing her 40-year-old drug dealer to repeatedly rape her 11year-old daughter in exchange for heroin, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.The shocking case first came up in June when Cincinnati resident April Corcoran plead guilty to multiple counts of complicity to rape, human trafficking and child endangerment. In each incident, the girl was forced to perform a different sex act with the man.

Then, as a “reward”, Corcoran

forced her daughter to take small doses of heroin, causing the young girl to vomit each time.

The 11-year-old was sodomized, raped, forced to perform oral sex

in incidents between February and June 2014. The drug dealer even videotaped her at his home, according to prosecutors.

“I made selfish, horrible choices” At her hearing, Corcoran attempted to convince the judge that she was deeply ashamed of what she had done, since her imprisonment. “I made selfish, horrible choices that will affect (the girl) for the rest of her life,” Corcoran said. “I am consumed by guilt and shame every day,”

Crime writer robes exactly like his novel plot

she said.

But the 32-year-old did not convince the judge Leslie Ghiz.

“I can honestly say that, in threeand-a-half years on the bench, this is by far the worst thing that has come before this court,” said Ghiz. She pointed out that Corcoran never apologised to her daughter for what she did.

In fact, the traumatised judge said she had to take breaks while reading everything that was admitted into the court case.

“I don’t know that you grasp the damage that has been done to this poor child,” she said, noting the girl - now 13-years-old - is on medication and struggling with suicidal thoughts.

“You showed no kind of mercy,” Judge Ghiz said, adding that she won’t either before passing the judgement.

“I saw my granddaughter... It was horrific” The young girl’s grandparents also spoke out in court and told the judge they hoped for justice for their granddaughter.

“I viewed the tape. I saw my granddaughter. I heard her small voice. It was horrific, very horrific.

How could she do this? How could she do this?” her grandmother said in court.

I don’t know if my granddaughter is going to be able to have a normal life,” she added.

The girl is now living with her father and stepmother.

US Air Force woman lieutenant found dead in UAE

Washington A 25-year-old woman US Air Force lieutenant stationed in the United Arab Emirates supporting a US-led operation against the Islamic State has died from a “non-combat-related injury”.

“1st Lt. Anais A. Tobar, of Miami, Florida, died on July 18 in Southwest Asia from a noncombat-related injury”, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

She was found dead in her room on Monday in Abu Dhabi and authorities were investigating the cause of her death, the Miami Herald reported.

The Department of Defense told the paper that Tobar was in the UAE supporting a US-led ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’ against the Islamic State militants.

Tobar was assigned to the Fourth Maintenance Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.

According to the Air Force Times, the maintenance squadron is responsible for maintaining the equipment for the largest F-15E Strike Eagle fighter wing in the Air Force. The squadron has 600 personnel.

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Rare rapport between birds, people

MAIL BERLIN A crime writer will appear in court over a thwarted bank robbery that was exactly the same as the plot of one of his novels.

The wordsmith, who was struggling financially, broke into a branch of Sparkasse bank before it closed in his native Leipzig in eastern Germany.

Wearing a mask, he yelled at customers to lie on the floor and pointed an alarm gun at staff, demanding they fetch him money.

A bank employee handed him over some cash but he wanted more and told the staff member to open the safe.

But the safe took 25 minutes to open due to a safety mechanism before he left the bank with 40,000 euros.

The police shortly caught up with him after a passerby had seen the would-be robber enter the bank with the gun, and had

contacted emergency services, reports The Local.

The bank’s security firm had been alerted, allowing police to arrive on the scene in good time.

The only difference between the 49-year-old’s bungled attempt and his fictional character’s was that his protagonist escaped on a bike and changed into a pair of clothes that he had hidden behind an oak tree.

Police caught the character after they found the bike and his rucksack with his DNA on.

State prosecutor Hans-Joachim Walburg charged the 49-year-old defendant with extortion under threat of force, extortionate abduction and illegally carrying an alarm gun.

His defence lawyer has announced his intention to plead guilty to the crime committed in January.

A trial is set to take place from August 10 - 15 August.

MIAMI For generations, people in Africa have partnered with wild birds called honeyguides to find bees’ nests and honey, and scientists has said they have analyzed this rare rapport for the first time. The bond has benefits for both - the humans subdue the bees with smoke and harvest the honey, while the birds eat the wax from the hive. But just how this communication works took on a new dimension when scientists found that certain calls used by hunters from the local Yao community in Mozambique were far more likely to encourage birds to lead them to honey. The birds themselves use certain calls to find humans, and when humans respond with a call that sounds like a loud trill followed by a short grunt, “brrr-hm,” the birds were far more likely to lead them to honey than if the people responded with a simple word or another kind of bird’s call.

“The traditional ‘brrr-hm’ call increased the probability of being guided by a honeyguide from 33 percent to 66 percent,” said researcher Claire Spottiswoode of the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town.

“And the overall probability of

being shown a bees’ nest from 16 percent to 54 percent compared to the control sounds.” Honeyguides are found across sub-Saharan Africa, and depending on the area, people use different calls to recruit them. The small brown birds also exploit other birds for their own gain. For instance, honeyguides lay their eggs in cuckoo nests. Within days of hatching, their young use sharp hooks on the end of their beaks to kill baby cuckoos so they can have the nest to themselves.

“The greater honeyguide is a master of deception and exploitation as well as cooperation - a proper Jekyll and Hyde of the bird world,” said

Spottiswoode.

“What’s remarkable about the honeyguide-human relationship is that it involves free-living wild animals whose interactions with humans have probably evolved through natural selection, probably over the course of hundreds of thousands of years.” This partnership was first written down in 1588, when a Portuguese missionary, Joao dos Santos, saw a petite bird making its way into his church - in what is now Mozambique to nibble on candles. He also described how the bird led men to bees’ nests by calling and flying from tree to tree. Once the people harvested the honey, the bird fed on the wax.

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Black therapist says Florida police shot him as he lay with his hands raised Miami A Florida police officer shot and wounded an autistic man’s black caretaker, authorities said, in an incident purportedly captured on cellphone video that shows the caretaker lying down with his arms raised before being shot.

North Miami assistant police chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to the scene on Monday following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.

Officers arrived to find 47-yearold Charles Kinsey, a therapist who works with people with disabilities, according to WSVNTV , trying to get his 27-year-old patient back to a facility from where he had wandered.

Cuevas says police ordered

Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.

The video shows Kinsey lying down and putting his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply.

An officer then fired three times,

striking Kinsey in the leg, Cuevas said. No weapon was found.

Twitter users reacted with outrage to the shooting.

The latest shooting comes amid weeks of violence involving police. Three law enforcement officers were fatally shot and three others wounded Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by a shooter whom police also gunned down. Two weeks earlier, two white officers in Baton Rouge killed a black man, Alton Sterling,

From drone to doorstep: US firm makes first robotic delivery of donuts, coffee

37, on July 5 during a scuffle at a convenience store. That shooting, captured on cellphone video, provoked widespread protests about police treatment of the black community.

On July 6, another black man, 32-year-old Philando Castile, was killed in Minnesota when a police officer pulled him over. The next day, a sniper killed five Dallas police officers as they guarded a peaceful protest.

In Florida, Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, provided a cellphone video to the Herald on Wednesday taken moments before the shooting. It shows Kinsey lying in the middle of the street with his hands up, asking the officers not to shoot him, while the autistic man sits next to him, yelling at him to “shut up.”

“Sir, there’s no need for firearms,” Kinsey said he told police before he was shot, according to WSVN. “It was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite.”

Kinsey is black. Police haven’t released the name or race of the officer who shot him but said he’s been placed on administrative leave, which is standard.

The investigation has been turned over to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Cuevas said.In an interview with the TV station, Kinsey said he was more worried about his patient than himself during the incident.

“As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me.

This is what I’m thinking. They’re not going to shoot me,” he said.

“Wow, was I wrong.”

Facebook’s internet drone takes flight

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc has said it had completed a successful test flight of a solar-powered drone that it hopes will help it extend internet connectivity to every corner of the planet.Aquila, Facebook’s lightweight, high-altitude aircraft, flew at a few thousand feet for 96 minutes in Yuma, Arizona, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

The company ultimately hopes to have a fleet of Aquilas that can fly for at least three months at a time at 60,000 feet (18,290 metres) and communicate with each other to deliver internet access.Google parent Alphabet Inc has also poured money into delivering internet access to underserved areas through Project Loon, which aims to use a network of high-altitude balloons to made the internet available to remote parts of the world.Yael Maguire, Facebook’s engineering director and head of its Connectivity Lab, said in an interview that the company initially hoped Aquila would fly for 30 minutes.“We’re thrilled about what happened with

our first flight,” Maguire said.

“There are still a lot of technical challenges that need to be addressed for us to achieve the whole mission.” He said he hoped the system might be brought into service “in the near future.”Zuckerberg laid out the company’s biggest challenges in flying a fleet of Aquilas, including making the plane lighter so it can fly for longer periods, getting it to fly at 60,000 feet and creating communications networks that allow it to rapidly transfer data and accurately beam down lasers to provide internet connections.

Maguire said Aquila will go through several more test flights and hopes it will soon break the world record for the longest solarpowered unmanned aircraft flight, which currently stands at two weeks. Facebook, which has more than 1.6 billion users, has invested billions of dollars in getting more people online, both through an initiative called internet.org - which offers a pareddown version of the internet to poor areas - and by building drones.

Indian-American to raise $10 million for Trump, hold mega rally in his support Washington With a chicken sandwich, hot coffee and donuts, aviation history has been made.

These were among the items in the first drone delivery on US soil approved by aviation officials, made by convenience retailer 7Eleven and the drone startup Flirtey.The delivery took place on Friday in Reno, Nevada, with the items loaded into a special box for hot and cold food and flown to a local family.“We’re absolutely thrilled to have 7Eleven, the largest convenience chain in the world, embracing new technologies and working with us at Flirtey to make drone delivery a reality for customers all over the world,” said Flirtey chief executive Matt Sweeny.“This is just the first step in our collaboration with 7Eleven. Flirtey’s historic drone deliveries to date have been stepping stones to store-to-home drone delivery, and today is a giant leap toward a not-toodistant future where we are delivering you convenience on demand.” Others include US online giant Amazon are also

working on drone deliver, but this was the first in what could become a broader trend.Flirtey is also working with drones to deliver relief supplies as part of humanitarian missions around the world.But it also hopes to expand its partnership with 7Eleven for convenience deliveries. Friday’s delivery also included store candy and its Slurpee iced drinks. “Drone delivery is the ultimate convenience for our customers and these efforts create enormous opportunities to redefine convenience,” said Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, the retailer’s chief marketing officer.

“This delivery marks the first time a retailer has worked with a drone delivery company to transport immediate consumables from store to home. In the future, we plan to make the entire assortment in our stores available for delivery to customers in minutes.”

The Federal Aviation Administration this year updated rules allowing for some commercial drone operations in US airspace.

Cleveland An Indian-American supporter of the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has announced that he will raise a whooping $2 million for the Trump Victory Fund and hold a mega rally with estimated 50,000 people in support of the real estate tycoon from New York.

Chicago-based Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, who heads the Republican Hindu Council (RCH) told a group of Indian reporters Thursday that he and his family have already donated $1.1 million to the Trump Campaign.

With this, he is among the top 14 donors for the Trump campaign.

“The Kumar family in total would contribute USD 2 million for the Trump Campaign and the Republican Party. It is in the best interest of the India US relationship that I have decided to work for the victory of Trump in the November general elections,” he said.

Kumar said he is planning to hold a mega rally sometime in September in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to showcase the support of Indian Americans for

Trump.

He met the Republican presidential nominee last week and claimed that Trump’s presidency would take India-US relationship to new heights.

“Under a Trump presidency, forget about F-16 to Pakistan,” he said.

Next week, Kumar plans to travel to India to invite some of the popular Bollywood stars for the Trump rally.

“I want to invite Amitabh Bachchhan and Priyanka Chopra for the rally,” he said as he maintained silence when asked if Trump would be attending the rally.

Trump, he said, wants to build a strong relationship with India.

“He and Modi are a natural fit.

They would both work together to make the world safe and secure. I am also confident that they would work together to increase bilateral trade between the two countries. We should set our goal to $500 billion as IndiaUS bilateral trade,” he said.

Kumar first came into limelight a few years ago, when he took a Congressional delegation to meet the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

The Congressional delegation did meet Modi, but his approach to take along a group of Indian American businessmen by charging money from them generated controversy in both India and the US.

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Connected, self-drive cars pose serious new security challenges DETROIT In a world where motor vehicles can be weapons and cars increasingly depend on internal computers and internet connections, automakers are under increasing pressure to find ways to guard against cyberattacks.Auto industry chiefs, security experts and government officials warned at an auto industry conference here Friday that hackers can threaten to do everything against cars that they do to other computers: remotely steal owner information, or hijack them and render them more dangerous than the truck that killed 84 people in Nice, France on July 14.“When you look at autonomous autos, the

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consequences are so much greater” than the Nice attack by a possibly Islamic State-inspired man, said John Carlin, assistant US attorney general for national security, “We know these terrorists.They don’t have the capability yet.But if they’re trying to get people to drive truck into crowds, than it doesn’t take too much imagination to think they are going to take an autonomous car and drive it into a crowd of people,” said Carlin.

General Motors’ chair and chief executive Mary Barra said that the advanced information technology that comes in new cars, especially “connectivity” systems linking cars to the internet, creates huge new challenges.

“One of these challenges is the issue of cybersecurity, and make no mistake, cybersecurity is foundational,” she said. Barra pointed to the need to protect the personal data of customers who use their in-car system for banking or to pay for other services. “The fact is personal data is stored in or transmitted through vehicle networks,” she said. On top of that is the complexity of the

newest auto IT systems, which, she said, “opens up opportunities for those who would do harm through cyberattacks. ““Cybersecurity is an issue of public safety,” she said.

Carlin said cyber-attacks generally have cost the US economy billions of dollars, and that the problem is that hackers often outrace efforts to strengthen security.

That will be the case for the auto industry, especially as it pushes ahead with self-driving cars, he said.“We know these terrorists.

They don’t have the capability yet. But if they’re trying to get people to drive truck into crowds, than it doesn’t take too much imagination to think they are going to take an autonomous car and drive it into a crowd of people,” said Carlin.

The problem, said Steven Center, a Honda Motor Co. vice president, is that car makers are under pressure from consumers to add more and more connectivity features to their vehicles.

The landscape is changing fast, according to Jonathan Allen, a cybersecurity expert with Booz

Indian-origin man, lover get life term for his wife’s murder in Canada Toronto An Indo-Canadian man and his mistress were served life sentence, without the option for parole for 25 years, after being found guilty by a jury for murder of his wife in January 2014.

The accused, 40-year-old

Bhupinderpal Gill and 37-yearold Gurpreet Ronald, were then in an extramarital relationship.

Finding them guilty of firstdegree murder after nine-week trial in the Ottawa Superior Court, the jury sided with the investigators’ testimony that Ronald had killed Bhupinderpal’s wife Jagtar Gill (43).

The murder took place when Bhupinderpal left home on January 29, 2014, and Ronald went there and killed Jagtar, who was bedridden and was recovering from surgery. Police said Ronald repeatedly bludgeoned Jagtar, a mother of three, and also stabbed her. That day also happened to be the victim’s 17th wedding anniversary.

Ronald was arrested by police on April 7; Bhupinderpal was taken into custody a week later.

According to reports of the trial, emotions ran high in the courtroom as the verdict was reached. The proceedings ended after Jagtar’s niece Ramandeep

Chahal read out an anguished statement on behalf of her family, which said: “Jagtar’s children have been robbed of a mother’s love. There is no closure, as we often hear. There is no moving on. There’s nothing, and we mean absolutely nothing, that makes you feel better. They say time heals all wounds but we have to disagree. The only thing time has done for our family is to move the tragic loss of Jagtar further away. It hasn’t made it better.”The conspirators had met while they worked bus drivers in Ottawa. A secret affair ensued, leading to the horrific killing.

Gurpreet, a mother of two girls, is married to Jason Ronald who is also a driver with the same company in Ottawa.

During her testimony, Gurpreet admitted that she had an affair with Bhupinderpal, but she told the jury that her sexual relationship with him was not satisfactory and that she was also having an affair with another fellow driver.Her lawyer told the jury that she depended on Bhupinderpal only for “emotional support, a shoulder to cry upon” and she had no intention of being with him.During his testimony, Bhupinderpal told the jury that he ended his affair with Gurpreet in 2013 before his wife was killed in January 2014.

During the trial, a psychic also testified that Bhupinderpal and Gurpreet had consulted her about their future together.

Gurpreet’s husband also testified, telling the jury how his wife tried to attack him with a knife many times.

Britain’s Prince George marks 3rd birthday LONDON Britain’s Prince George, the son of Prince William and his wife Kate, celebrated his third birthday on Friday with his father’s office releasing new photographs of the great grandson of Queen Elizabeth.

George, the thirdin-line to the British throne, was pictured with the family dog Lupo and playing in the grounds of the country mansion in Norfolk, east England, which belongs to his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Allen who is helping car makers and their suppliers organize to deal with threats.

Up until only two years ago, manufacturers tended to downplay the threat posed by hackers, he noted.

But there has been a significant cultural shift within automotive business, which is now taking the challenge very seriously.

For one thing, the threat to the reputation of carmakers is far more substantial, noted Josh Corman, founder of I am the Cavalry, a cybersecurity consulting firm.

Online fraud is one thing, but hacking into cars could actually threaten “flesh and blood”, so that car makers have to be even more vigilant, he said.

Jeffrey Massimilia, GM’s chief cybersecurity officer, said sharing information broadly across the industry is one of the keys to fighting off the threat.

Within the past year, the industry and key suppliers have gotten government approval to share information among themselves on cybersecurity without the threat of anti-trust action.

Turkish forces detain nephew of preacher blamed for failed coup

Ankara Turkish forces detained the nephew of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen after last week’s failed coup, state-run media reported on Saturday, the first time one of his relatives has been apprehended in the current crackdown.

Muhammet Sait Gulen will reportedly be taken to the capital Ankara after he was detained in Erzurum, the eastern region where his 75year-old uncle is said to have developed his deep convictions, close to his birthplace of Korucuk.

Erzurum is thought to be home to many Gulen supporters and members of his Hizmet movement, which Turkish authorities say was behind the bloody attempted power grab on July 15.

Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based arch-foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is accused of “masterminding” the putsch through his movement, a claim he strongly denies.

The nephew was detained in connection with the coup, which

Turkey says was organised by the ‘Fethullah Terrorist Organisation’, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.

Anadolu said he was also wanted over the leak of questions from 2010 civil service exams.

In May this year, another nephew of the former imam in self-imposed exile was detained in connection with schools run by the movement, according to a state media report at the time.

In Erzincan, another province believed to be home to many Gulenists, an investigation was launched on?Saturday into 263 civil servants while 45 people were arrested, Anadolu reported.

Followers of Gulen have held prominent positions in Turkey’s security and civil services, media and business – although less so after purges in recent years.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained, sacked or suspended in the wake of the failed coup that took place on July 15 in which Erdogan narrowly escaped capture and possible death.

Issue - 677 (32)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Prince William’s sister-in-law Pippa Middleton to marry LONDON Prince William’s sister-in-law Pippa Middleton to marrPippa Middleton, the younger sister of Prince William’s wife Kate, announced Tuesday that she had got engaged to her boyfriend James Matthews, a hedge fund manager.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said William and Kate were “absolutely delighted with the news” of the 32year-old’s engagement at the weekend, which will be followed by a wedding next year.

Middleton rose to global prominence when she was a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding in 2011. She appeared in a figure-hugging white dress

by Alexander McQueen,

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pictures of which filled newspapers for weeks afterwards.

Middleton subsequently wrote a book on party planning that was widely mocked for offering obvious tips,

followed by a regular column in a magazine for upmarket British supermarket chain Waitrose.

“Miss Pippa Middleton and Mr James Matthews are delighted to announce they became engaged on Sunday July 17 and plan to marry next year,” they said in a statement. The couple have been together less than a year but they were living together.

Matthews proposed during a trip to the picturesque Lake District in northwest England, the Daily Mail newspaper said.

Middleton’s parents Michael and Carole said they were “absolutely thrilled”, with her father saying in a statement: “They make a wonderful couple and we wish them every happiness together.”

China completes world’s largest amphibious aircraft

End of an era: VCR headed for outdated tech heaven TOKYO The clunky videocassette recorder is going the way of floppy disks, eight-track tapes and camera film as the world’s last manufacturer ends production of the once booming home-video technology. Japan’s Funai Electric cited a sharp decline in sales and trouble sourcing parts for its decision to stop making VCRs at a plant in China by the end of this month.

Most of the consumer electronics firm’s VCRs were sold in North America in recent years, including under the Sanyo brand.

Sales have plummeted from 15 million units a year at their height to 750,000 in 2015 - although some may be surprised VCRs were still being made at all.

Demand appears largely driven by consumers who have large videotape collections that must still be played on VCRs. A Gallup poll several years ago found that 58 percent of Americans still had one in their home. The boxy machines - originally about the size of a briefcase with a toploading slot for videotapes entered into mainstream popularity in the seventies and eighties, and spawned a new industry: tape rental stores. But the outdated technology has long been eclipsed by DVDs and other more advanced options, while once ubiquitous rental shops have all but disappeared.

Panasonic pulled out of the business several years ago, making Funai the last VCR maker in the world, a company spokesman said Friday. “A company that was making parts

for us said it was too tough to keep making them with sales at this level so they stopped, which led to our decision - we can’t make them without that part,” he told AFP. Funai has been overwhelmed with calls from

Walkman first launched its Betamax products in 1975 as a household, magnetic video format for consumers to record analogue television shows. The popularity of Betamax tapes peaked in 1984 when some 50

desperate Japanese VCR tape owners who had not transferred treasured recordings of weddings and other special occasions on to other formats, he added.

Japan may have a reputation for hi-tech devices and futuristic robots, but many people still cling to seemingly outdated options including fax machines and flip phones. Cassette tapes are also still popular while major DVD rental chains can be found in Japanese cities.

Last year, electronics giant Sony announced it would stop selling Betamax video tapes, ending the storied history of a product that had been ousted years earlier by the more popular VHS tape format. The inventor of the

million cassettes were shipped.

However, the format, initially supported by Toshiba and other electronics makers, is most remembered as the loser of a corporate battle over setting the de facto household video standard. VHS, developed by another Japanese electronics maker that later became part of JVC, won the battle.

But it lost the war as video cassette recorders were replaced later by digital formats, such as DVDs, which have themselves largely been replaced by online streaming technology. Sony stopped making Betamax recorders in 2002, but it kept making tapes for die-hard fans.

The fluke, a parasite that causes pain, diarrhoea, jaundice and liver cancer, needs wet, marshy areas to complete a life cycle, whereas Dunhuang is in an arid area on the edge of the desert.

“The liver fluke could not have been endemic in this dry region,” said a statement from Cambridge University, whose researchers took part in the study.“In fact, based on the current prevalence of the Chinese liver fluke, it’s closest endemic area to the latrine’s location in Dunhuang (in north-west China) is around 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) away, and the species is most common in Guandong Province - some 2,000 km from Dunhuang.”Xuanquanzhi in

Dunhuang was a popular stopping place for merchants, explorers, soldiers and government officials.

“Finding evidence for this species (liver fluke) in the latrine indicates that a traveller had come here from a region of China with plenty of water, where the parasite was endemic,” said study co-author Piers Mitchell.“This proves for the first time that travellers along the Silk Road really were responsible for the spread of infectious disease along this route in the past.”

The Silk Road is so called for perhaps the most famous commodity that crossed its interconnected network of trade routes criss-crossing Eurasia.

Parasites hitch ride down Silk Road

SHANGHAI China has completed production of the world’s largest amphibious aircraft after seven years of work, which it plans to use to perform marine rescue missions and fight forest fires, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The AG600, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and was developed by state aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai on Saturday, Xinhua said quoting the firm.

AVIC deputy general manager, Geng Rugang, said the plane was “the latest breakthrough in China’s aviation industry. “ A plan for the development and

production of the AG600 received government approval in 2009.

The aircraft has a maximum flight range of 4,500 km and can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds.It has a maximum takeoff weight of 53.

5 tonnes, Xinhua said.

China has been ramping up research into advanced new military equipment, including submarines, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles, which has rattled nerves regionally and in Washington as China takes a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea. In June, it put into service a new domestically-developed large transport aircraft.

PARIS Merchants plying the ancient Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean moved more than gold, fabrics, spices and tea they also exported gut parasites, researchers said Friday.

It has long been theorised that the Silk Road helped spread bubonic plague, leprosy, anthrax and other infectious diseases between East Asia, the Middle East and Europe - though concrete archaeological evidence has been scant. But now analysis of the contents of an ancient latrine along the route has revealed evidence that traders 2,000 years ago did indeed spread disease. The team from Britain and China examined faeces preserved on wood and bamboo sticks wrapped in cloth - the toilet paper of their day - that were excavated in 1992 at the Xuanquanzhi pit stop in north-west China.

Unearthed from a latrine dating back to 111 BC, during China’s Han Dynasty, and which was still in use in 109 AD, seven samples yielded eggs from four types of parasite: roundworm, whipworm, tapeworm and Chinese liver fluke, the researchers wrote in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Issue - 677 (33)

26 July - 1 August 2016

When UK under Thatcher saw ‘risk of severe damage’ to India ties London A pro-Khalistan leader based in Britain “predicted” the death of former prime minister Indira Gandhi four months before she was gunned down by her bodyguards and also spoke of

targeting her son Rajiv Gandhi, classified British documents released on Thursday showed.

India repeatedly complained in 1984 to the Margaret Thatcher government about the presence in Britain of Jagjit Singh Chauhan, the self-styled “president” of Khalistan, and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Hashim Qureshi , according to the documents.Qureshi was accused of involvement in the murder of Birmingham-based Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in 1984. According to a 48-page note titled “Foreign political activists in the United Kingdom:

Immigration control”, officials of the Foreign Office and Home department set out several aspects of policy and practice in dealing with such individuals.

The note said: “The Indian authorities have repeatedly

complained about statements made in the UK by a Sikh, Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan, self-styled ‘President’ of the Sikh ‘Republic of Khalistan’. In June this year he ‘predicted the death of Mrs Gandhi; he has subsequently spoken of Rajiv Gandhi being a ‘target’.”Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi on October 31, 1984.

The note added, “His remarks have drawn a sharp response from the Indian government and there is a risk of severe damage to our bilateral relations. Other Sikh extremists in the UK, some

Kelvin’s hijab remarks in Sun spark 800 complaints

LONDON The press regulator has received more than 800 complaints about remarks Kelvin MacKenzie made in The Sun criticising a journalist for wearing a hijab while reporting the Nice attack.

The paper’s former editor questioned whether Fatima Manji should have been allowed to appear on Channel 4 News. The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it would assess the complaints. Channel 4 News said the comments were “completely unacceptable”.

Writing in his column on Monday, MacKenzie said he could “hardly believe my eyes” when Manji - who normally wears the traditional Muslim head scarf - appeared on the news bulletin.

She was co-presenting the programme from London while Jon Snow reported from Nice.

“Was it appropriate for her to be on camera when there had been yet another shocking slaughter

by a Muslim?” he wrote. Eightyfour people were killed by FrenchTunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel when he drove a lorry through crowds gathered in Nice to celebrate Bastille Day. “The comments published in The Sun

by Mr MacKenzie are offensive, completely unacceptable, and arguably tantamount to inciting religious and even racial hatred,” Channel 4 News said. “It is wrong to suggest that a qualified journalist should be barred from reporting on a particular story or present on a specific day because of their faith. “Fatima Manji is an award-winning journalist. We are proud that she is part of our team and will receive, as ever, our full support in the wake of his comments.”

Ipso said the complaints it received related to accuracy, harassment and discrimination.A spokesman for The Sun said it was making “no comment” on the issue.

of whom have sought asylum, constitute a further threat to bilateral relations.”

On Qureshi, the note said: “Mrs Gandhi complained personally to Lady Young about Hashim Qureshi, a Kashmiri extremist leader known to have been involved in terrorist and hijacking offences, who visited the UK in early 1984.”

It further said, ”There are grounds for believing that he was involved in the murder of the Indian Assistant Commissioner in Birmingham, Mr Ravindr Mhatre.

There is, however, no substantive evidence...He subsequently left the UK.” Chauhan migrated to Britain in 1979 and formed the Khalistan National Council. He returned to India in 2001 and died in Punjab six years later.

The note was the outcome of directives by Thatcher’s ministers to “consider the need for further action” on foreign political activists, and listed India among four countries whose citizens were involved in “incidents during 1984” (Operation Bluestar was among the incidents of the year).

The note’s annexure mentioned several countries with whom Britain’s relations could be affected due to the presence of some of their controversial citizens on British soil.

Sikh bikers raise $60K for cancer charity in Canada

Toronto Riding 12,000 kilometres, a group of Sikh bikers in Canada have raised over $60,000 for a cancer charity.

The 24-member team of Sikh Motorcycle Club reached Surrey, Canada, two weeks after departing for their journey to raise awareness about the devastating disease. On 13 bikes, the members rode through British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, before turning around in Montreal.

More than 70 individuals and groups made donations to support their initiative, helping them raise a total of $61,194 for the cancer society. The money will go towards the Canadian Cancer Foundation’s efforts to fund research and prevention initiatives and assist those fighting paediatric cancers.

“We thought about those kids who need money to fight cancer.

This gave us the energy to undertake the journey,” said rider Charnjit Dhadda.

Along the way, the bikers met community members and appeared on local television and radio stations. “Every city they went to, they found cooperative people from both Sikh and nonSikh communities,” said club founder Harjinder Singh Thind.

Allan Mugford, the foundation’s regional director for Fraser Valley, said they were “stunned and amazed” by the fundraising effort. “This is a totally committed and passionate group of community members,” he said.Beyond fighting childhood cancers, the riders had another mission -- bringing communities together.

“The main purpose of this club was to build a bridge between the mainstream community and us – the Sikh living next door.

We have succeeded in doing that,” said Thind.

Bangladesh court jails Khaleda’s son for 7 years for money laundering Dhaka Bangladesh’s High Court on Thursday sentenced the eldest son of opposition leader and former premier Khaleda Zia to seven years in jail for money laundering, scrapping his acquittal by a lower court three years ago.

A two-judge bench made the decision against Tarique Rahman, who is the heir apparent to Zia, throwing a major challenge for the former prime minister to rise against her archrival, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Rahman, the 51-year-old senior vice chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been living in exile in Britain since 2008, when he left the country after securing bail on medical grounds.

The verdict in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) came at a time when Bangladesh is struggling to fight a rising Islamist militancy. There has been growing concern that Hasina will further consolidate her powers in the days to come.

The government regularly blames Zia and her party of being in a partnership with the Jamaat-eIslami in an anti-government alliance.

Zainul Abedin, a defence lawyer, told reporters the court had also fined Rahman 200 million Takas

and upheld an earlier verdict of seven years of jail for his businessman friend Giasuddin Al Mamun. The court, however, lowered the previous fine imposed on Mamun from 400

London but there are procedural complexities as Britain and Bangladesh have no extradition treaty.

The BNP has accused the then authorities of torturing Rahman

million Takas to 200 million Takas.

A trial court had in November 2013 acquitted Rahman in the case but jailed Mamun.

According to the case, Rahman and Mamun were accused of siphoning off 204.1 million Takas to Singapore between 2003 and 2007 after taking the money from a construction company as bribe. Rahman also spent some money from the amount, the prosecution said.

The High Court on Thursday also asked authorities to take steps to bring Rahman back from

in custody after a military-backed caretaker government arrested him on various charges in 2007 during a state of emergency rule.

Zia ruled Bangladesh during 2001-2006 but chaos began after an opposition alliance led by Hasina and Zia’s government failed to agree on how the next elections would be held.

After months of chaos, the military installed a caretaker government that conducted an election in late 2008. Hasina came to power with an overwhelming majority through that election.

Issue - 677 (34)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Japanese ‘rent men’ who are paid just to listen TOKYO From lonely pensioners to Japanese schoolgirls with shattered dreams, Takanobu Nishimoto and his crew of middle-aged men will lend an ear to clients who would never dream of spilling their guts to a therapist or worse, their families.

Anyone in need of company can sign up to his online service to rent an “ossan” - a man aged between 45 and 55 - for 1,000 yen ($10) an hour.“For me, the service is a hobby more than anything,” says Nishimoto, who first came up with the concept four years ago and who now has a growing network of some 60 men across Japan. “The initial idea was to improve the image of guys my age, people who might not be spring chickens anymore and not taken so seriously.”

And while the 48-year-old professional fashion coordinator is used to renting himself out, he insists conversation is all he offers to between 30 and 40 clients a month, roughly 70 percent of whom are women.

“The people who rent me are just asking me to keep them

company for an hour or two, mainly to listen to them,” he tells AFP between sessions, giving the example of a woman in her 80s who would book him every week for a walk around the local park. “I almost became like her son,” he says.

Other clients include a fisherman who was sick of waiting in solitary silence for a catch, a college student with ambitions to get into show business but who lacked family support, and an awkward young employee who did not know how to behave around his direct supervisor.Japan has struggled with problems of social isolation, most notably the phenomenon of “hikikomori” where people, often teens and young adults, refuse to leave the house or engage socially, instead opting to play video games or remain in their rooms.

But the people who come to Nishimoto do not suffer from detachment from society or challenges adjusting to it.

Rather, those who use the service say it allows them to forget the expectations of their family and friends and speak

Record number of dolphins die along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast

freely - an option which experts say is especially useful in Japan, where social roles can be tightly defined and expectations rigid.

“There’s a different ‘me’ depending on whether I’m with my friends, my family, or my boyfriend,” says 24-year-old Nodoka Hyodo after her session with Nishimoto.

She explains: “I create a ‘me’ in relation to others. Here, all that

disappears because I’m talking to someone I don’t know - thanks to him, I feel like I’m understanding myself better.”

Psychologist Hiroaki Enomoto stresses that in Japan there are social norms governing what can and can’t be said even with close associates.“When you come up against something new, it might be difficult to talk about this with someone because you might not

necessarily have a suitable person in your existing circles,” he tells AFP. “It’s difficult to know how to express yourself without bothering someone else.”But by renting an “ossan” the relationship becomes a commercial one and thus follows different rules. In recent years, a number of agencies have been offering “rent-a-friend” services paid by the hour.

Indonesian toilet cafe serves up stomach-churning food

SOFIA Carcasses of dolphins are washing up on Bulgaria’s Black Sea beaches at a higher than normal rate, with a record 108 dead animals discovered this year, local authorities said on Thursday.

The cause of the deaths has yet to be determined, said Enviroment Minister Ivelina Vasileva after collecting information by regional centres, adding that 77 of the dead dolphins were found in the southern part of the country’s Black Sea coast.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov on Thursday called for a special meeting with conservation organisations to try to find a solution to the record number of deaths and said on his official Facebook page that steps are being taken to ban fishing in areas populated by the

protected species.

The number of dead dolphins in 2016 is significantly higher than the 56 found last year and the previous record of 74 in 2012.

Media reports of dead dolphins on Bulgarian beaches have been rife in recent years. In spite of repeated allegations, often with finger-pointing at fishermen, the cause has yet to be established conclusively.

There are three species of dolphins in the Black Sea off Bulgaria: the short-beaked common dolphin, the harbour porpoise and the common bottlenose dolphin. The dolphin population along Bulgaria’s black sea coast is about 15,000, according to environment ministry data.The penalty for killing a dolphin is a fine of up to 20,000 levs ($11,270) and imprisonment for up to five years.

SEMARANG A toilet-themed cafe where customers dine on meatballs floating in soup-filled latrines may not be everyone’s idea of haute cuisine, but Indonesians are flocking to become privy to the latest lavatorial trend. Guests at the “Jamban Cafe” sit on upright toilets around a table where food is served in squat loos. On a recent visit to the venue, in Semarang on Java island, traditional Indonesian “bakso” a type of meatball bobbed in a murky soup in one toilet, while a second contained a brightlycoloured, alcohol-free cocktail.For those who found the whole experience too nauseating, there was a sick bag hanging by the entrance. Other places, such as Taiwan and Russia, are home to similar themed restaurants, but Indonesia’s modest version has a key difference it aims to educate people about sanitation and encourage the increased use of toilets.“I was disgusted at first, but I eventually ate some of the food out of curiosity,” said customer Mukodas, a 27-year-old who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.“I think the idea is pretty interesting because if you try to have a campaign without a gimmick

like this, the information won’t stick.” Another customer, 15-yearold Annisa Dhea, conceded she initially found the toilet treats “a bit unappealing” but felt somewhat reassured after “the owner told me

shows them videos as he seeks to encourage people to use dedicated facilities for their bodily functions.Millions of Indonesians live below the poverty line and the country has one of the world’s

that the food was clean and hygienic”. The café whose name “Jamban” means toilet in Indonesian has been open since April and currently only welcomes small groups who book ahead.

Owner Budi Laksono, a public health expert who used to work for the local government, hosts discussions with customers and

highest rates of open defecation defecating outside and not in a designated toilet — a practice blamed for spreading disease.“

CHARGED

Hot-air balloonist set to beat world record SYDNEY A Russian adventurer who took to the skies in a hot-air balloon for a round-the-world trip is set to break the current record when he lands in Australia Saturday, his crew said. Fedor Konyukhov, who had previously conquered both

the north and south poles solo, and set a record sailing a 27-meter-long (89-feet) boat round the world alone, is on the final leg back to Western Australia after departing the state on July 12.

“We would expect him to break the record and land tomorrow afternoon,” flight coordinator John

Wallington told AFP from the Western Australian town of Northam. If Konyukhov makes a successful landing, he will break the record set by late adventurer Steve Fossett in 2002, when he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon, in 13 days.

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26 July - 1 August 2016

India Can Become Number One In Tests With 4-0 Win Over West Indies Australia may have just won the ICC Test Championship mace but India can topple them from the number one spot if they are able to blank the West Indies 4-0 in the ongoing series and results in the other two marquee series go as per their wish.

If India win 4-0, EnglandPakistan series ends in a draw and Sri Lanka win by 1-0 or better, then India will jump to number one position, the ICC said in a statement on Monday.

India thrashed the West Indies by an innings and 92 runs in the first Test at Antigua.

To permanently shut the door on their nearest rivals India, Australia need to beat Sri Lanka by 1-0 or better and at the same time hope that England win, at least, one Test against Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Australia captain Steve Smith, Monday,

received the ICC Test Championship mace and USD 1 million in prize money for leading his side to the number one ranking on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings on the annual April 1 cutoff date. ICC Chief Executive David Richardson made the presentations to Smith in Pallekele, who captained Australia to 10 Test victories over the 12-month period. “The mace is a symbol of excellence and recognition of a side’s outstanding achievement in the toughest format of the sport. Australia’s winning performances have been exceptional and they thoroughly deserve to be awarded the mace,” said

Reforms in cricket all set to change the game On Sunday, an important constituent of the Board of Control for Cricket in India became the first association to officially respond to the Supreme Court order on “Reforms in Cricket” recommended by the Justice Lodha Committee. While it is not known how many office bearers and managing committee members of the Mumbai Cricket Association took the time to read and comprehend the 300-page recommendations of the Committee and the 143-page Supreme Court order that disposed the Public Interest Litigation that began the process, the majority of them are sure to be in full grasp of the operative parts of the recommendations. Each one of the 17 members six office bearers and 11 managing committee members knows whether he can contest the next MCA elections that will be held under a new constitution as enunciated by the Lodha Committee. One of them works

for the police department, another for the State Road Transport office and yet another is a Customs employee; all three could come under of the definition

of government servants who are barred from contesting elections at the BCCI and the provincial levels. On Sunday, MCA president Sharad Pawar had made an emphatic statement perhaps for public consumption about how the MCA had no reservations in accepting the Supreme Court order on the basis of the Lodha Committee recommendations. Pawar’s use of the word “unanimous” notwithstanding, vice-president Dilip Vengsarkar has voiced concerns and misgivings about some of the recommendations.

Richardson. “These are exciting times for Test cricket as the top four ranked countries are involved in high profile series across three different continents showcasing the very best this format of the sport has to offer. I am sure the incentive of achieving the

number one ranking will further motivate them, bringing out the best in the players,” added Richardson.

Smith paid tribute to his side, saying: “It is a huge honour to be the number one ranked Test side in the world and the credit should

go to all the work the players and support staff have put in over the last 12 months.

“I am really proud of our young team and what we have accomplished so far but there is still more we would like to achieve. We now need to put in consistent performances, both at home and away, to continue to be successful and keep the number one ranking.

“Winning away from home has often been a challenge for us, especially in subcontinental conditions, but this is something we are looking to change in this upcoming series against Sri Lanka,” concluded Smith, who won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for

the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2015. Competition for the number one ranking this year remains extremely tight as only 10 points separate the top four sides. Second-ranked India, third-ranked Pakistan and fourth-ranked England have a chance to move into the top spot, depending on how West Indies-India, England-Pakistan and Sri Lanka-Australia series pan out. If Pakistan beat England and Sri Lanka defeat Australia, then Pakistan will claim the number one ranking for the first time in their history, irrespective of how the West Indies-India series finishes.

England too can top the Test rankings. But to make it happen, they will have to win the remaining three Tests against Pakistan and hope West Indies win, at least, one Test against India and Sri Lanka beat Australia.

The best is on its way: Bindra At 33, Abhinav Bindra will be competing in his fifth Olympics. He has decided that it will be his last Olympics as a competitor.

For one who aimed only at Olympic gold and won it in 2008, it has been a revelation that he could continue for eight more years. It is the love of the sport, not the results, that has driven him this far.

Starting as the youngest shooter in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he missed the final by one point with a score of 590, to enduring a heartbreak owing to a “bouncy wooden floor” that robbed

him of a medal at Athens in 2004, when he was probably at his best, to being detached about the result and conquering the shock of a disastrous ‘sighter’ before the final in Beijing that led to the triumph, Bindra has seen it all. London 2012 had looked an afterthought as Bindra took the challenge forward to rise again after reaching the zenith. “It would have been easy for me to leave on a high,” said Bindra,

who thrives on the challenge and did not take the option of an easy passage

into oblivion.

In 2014, Bindra won his maiden Commonwealth

Games individual gold in Glasgow and the first individual bronze at the Incheon Asian Games. At every step, Bindra announced in advance that it was his last entry in those Games, the way he has done now before the Olympics.

Was he not putting pressure on himself and possibly trying to intensify his focus towards peak performance. For, nobody knows how to tap pressure to advantage than Bindra.

Relief, outrage after IOC ‘passes buck’ on Russia Russia breathed a sigh of relief after the IOC declined to impose a blanket ban on its competitors at the Rio Games over state-run doping, but the decision met fierce criticism elsewhere with Olympic chiefs branded “spineless”. In one of the most momentous moves in its long, chequered history, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday it was up to each

international sports federation to decide if Russians

could take part in Rio. The federations now face a race

against the clock with the opening ceremony only 11 days away, global sport sharply divided and some Russian competitors already in Brazil. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the IOC decision “positive”. “We welcome the main decision, which allows so-called clean athletes to take part in the Olympic Games,” Peskov told reporters.

Issue 677 (36)

26 July - 1 August 2016

Solar Impulse 2 leaves Egypt CAIRO The first solar-powered plane to circle the world took off from Cairo on Sunday for Abu Dhabi, in the final leg of its journey.Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard was behind the controls of Solar Impulse 2, which can fly for days on only energy from the sun.” It’s a project for energy, for a better world,” Piccard, 58, told journalists before taking off. The ground crew, who had dragged the plane out to the tarmac with ropes, cheered as it lifted off and disappeared into the night. It had been scheduled to leave last week, but the flight was delayed because of winds and Picard falling ill. Piccard and Swiss entrepreneur and pilot Andre Borschberg have taken turns flying the plane on its 35,000kilometre (22,000-mile) trip around the world.

Borschberg piloted the flight’s 8,924 kilometre Pacific stage between Nagoya, in Japan, and Hawaii. Solar Impulse 2 arrived in Cairo after a

two-day flight from Spain, finishing the 3,745 kilometre 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 the sun.The single-seat aircraft, no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, is fitted with 17,000 solar cells on its wings. During night-time flights it runs on batterystored power.It typically travels at a mere 48 kilometres (30 miles) per hour, although its flight speed can double when exposed to full sunlight.

Piccard, a psychiatrist

who had made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, said the last leg of the Solar Impulse 2 tour would be difficult.” It’s a very, very hot region... its going to be an exhausting flight,” he

said.Borschberg told journalists that the heat would be a new challenge for the plane.” Technically it’s close to the limits that we have set in terms of temperature, so that’s something which we did not experience before,” he said via Skype from mission control in Monaco.” But with the temperature profile that we see over the coming days, we should be all fine.” The plane set

out on March 9, 2015 from Abu Dhabi, crossing Asia and the Pacific to reach the United States and then flying on to Spain and Egypt with the sun as its only source of power. Prince Albert of Monaco, a patron of the project, gave the flight the goahead from its mission control centre in Monaco, telling Piccard “you are released to proceed.” Borschberg and Piccard have said they want to raise awareness of renewable energy sources and technologies with their project, although they do not expect solar-powered commercial planes any time soon.” There will be passengers very soon in electric airplanes that we will charge on the ground,” Piccard had said when the plane arrived in Cairo.” On the ground you can charge batteries and you can have short haul flights, maybe 500 kilometres with 50 people flying in these planes” in a decade, he predicted.

Pokemon fans accidentally wander over US-Canada border

WASHINGTON There are no borders in the world of Pokemon Go. But two young fans of the hit smartphone game were so preoccupied with catching cartoon monsters that they wandered across the USCanada border in real life.

US Border Patrol agents spotted the pair illegally walking from Canada into the US on Thursday evening, the agency’s office in Sweetgrass, Montana said in a statement.

“Both juveniles were so captivated by their Pokemon Go games that they lost track of where they were.

They crossed the international border inadvertently, but agents were able to reunite them with their

mother,” public affairs officer Michael Rappold was quoted as saying. It was a happy ending for the two youngsters.

Other Pokemon Go players have not been so lucky, finding themselves the victims of robbery or violent crimes.

Fans have also been blamed for causing traffic accidents. In Indonesia, a French player was stopped and questioned for several hours after the app led him into a military base. The free app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on realworld settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.

Monkey causes power Tigers kill one, injure another in China wildlife park outage throughout Kenya

Nairobi A monkey plunged Kenya into a massive blackout after falling on a key transformer in the country’s largest hydro-

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electric plant, the KenGen power generating company said on Wednesday. The wild primate, appeared to be a vervet monkey, climbed onto the roof of Gitaru plant, located on the Tana river, 160 km north of capital Nairobi, and fell onto a key transformer, Efe news reported.

The activated transformer overloaded the plant, leading to a loss of 180 mW of power and triggering a nationwide blackout that lasted four

hours. The monkey survived and is being looked after by the Kenya Wildlife Service. “KenGen power installations are secured by electric fencing which keeps away marauding wild animals. We regret this isolated incident,” said KenGen in a statement.

Gitaru is the largest hydroelectric plant in Kenya, generating at least one-fifth of the electricity consumed in the country, with a maximum capacity of 225 mW.

BEIJING Tigers at a wildlife park in Beijing killed one woman and injured another after the pair left their vehicle following an argument, Chinese media reported Sunday. The attack took place at Beijing Badaling Wildlife World Saturday, Chinanews.com reported, when one of the women left the vehicle following an altercation. A tiger quickly attacked her and dragged her off, prompting the second woman to leave the vehicle in an attempt to help, it wrote on its microblog account.

Another tiger mauled her to death, before carrying off her body.

The two women were accompanied by a man -- who aided the rescue

attempt -- and a small child, who were uninjured, it said, adding that the park has been ordered to close for “rectification.” The park

too late to save one of them. The injured woman is recovering from her wounds in hospital, it added. There was no mention of the

allows visitors to drive their own cars safari style through an open space where the animals roam free. Visitors are cautioned not to alight from their vehicles. A report on online news portal Sohu said that park personnel quickly rushed to the women’s aide, but were

incident on the park’s web page or social media account. A post on its microblog said that it was closed due to heavy rains. The park has had at least one previous tiger attack, Sohu said, noting that a security guard was mauled to death in August 2014.

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26 July - 1 August 2016

Health Acute pancreatitis: Causes, symptoms and treatment Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition of the pancreas that is severely painful and at times deadly. Despite the great advances in critical care medicine over the past 20 years, the mortality rate of acute pancreatitis has remained at about 10%, but increased to more than 50% in a patient who has severe acute necrotising pancreatitis when diagnosed with CT Scan and blood tests.

Cause and burden of acute pancreatitis There are common causes of acute pancreatitis including: • Gallstones • Ingested medicines • High triglyceride levels in the blood • High calcium levels in the blood • Heavy alcohol consumption Symptoms of acute pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis usually begins with gradual or sudden pain in the upper abdomen that sometimes extends to the back. The pain may be mild at first and become worse after

eating. The pain is often severe, constant, and commonly lasts for several days in the absence of treatment. A person with acute pancreatitis usually looks and feels very ill and needs immediate medical attention. Most cases require hospitalization for close monitoring, pain control, and intravenous hydration. Other symptoms can include: • Swollen and tender abdomen • Nausea and vomiting • Fever • Rapid pulse Diagnosis of acute pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis is confirmed by medical history, physical examination, and typically a blood test (amylase or lipase) for digestive enzymes of the pancreas. Blood amylase or lipase levels are typically elevated 3 times the normal level during acute pancreatitis. In some cases when the blood tests are not elevated and the diagnosis is still in

question, abdominal imaging, such as a computed tomography (CT) scan, might be performed.

Testing After diagnosis is confirmed, certain imaging tests might be performed

Fluids One of the primary therapies for acute pancreatitis is adequate early fluid resuscitation, especially within the first 24 hours of onset. Pancreatitis is associated with a lot of swell-

during hospitalization or after to help identify the cause. Such tests include: • Transabdominal ultrasound • Endoscopic ultrasound (EUSs) • Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) • Computerized tomography (CT) Treatment of acute pancreatitis

ing and inflammation. Giving fluids intravenously prevents dehydration and ensures that the rest of the organs of the body get adequate blood flow to support the healing process.

Nutritional Support Initially, no nutrition is given to rest the pancreas and bowels during the first 24 to 48 hours. After 48 hours, a plan to provide nutrition should be implemented

Feeding babies avocados, which has a neutral flavour, soft consistency and nutrient density, can help in boosting their growth and development, says a study, suggesting that the

tional foods and they provide an ideal source of calories to meet the increasing energy and growth demands of weaning infants and toddlers.

“It’s important that infants

-- the least amount of any other fresh fruit.

Avocados’ soft and smooth textures can also help infants to develop the ability to chew and swallow.

Infants should consume moderately energy-dense foods that are low in sugar and rich in multiple nutrients, said the paper published in the journal Nutrients. Avocados were found to be higher in key developmental nutrients per one once serving, such as folate, Vitamin E, and lutein, compared to a serving of the most popular complementary and transitional fruits served in many households.

Avocados also help significantly enhance the absorption of lipid-soluble vitamins from foods eaten with them, the researchers concluded.

Long, luscious locks add beauty in a person’s look.

And that’s one of the many reasons why finding the right products and tips for caring your hair is super important.

It says that strong, healthy hair also adds some kind of personality to your outlook.

Whereas, a bad hair day can seriously affect a person’s self esteem. Hair loss, dull and brittle hair are some common hair problems that most people face today. It’s undeniable to say that genetics and health conditions have an effect on hair’s health, but there are many things you do in your daily lives can ruin your lustrous locks. Here are five habits that damage your hair without even knowing it: Brushing/combing wet hair Your hair becomes more fragile when it’s wet. That’s beacuse the water swells

because acute pancreatitis is a highly active state of inflammation and injury that requires a lot of calories to support the healing process. In most cases, patients can start to take in food on their own by 48 hours. If this is not possible, then a feeding tube that is passed through the nose into the intestines can be used to provide nutrition.

This method is safer than providing nutrition intravenously. There is no benefit to using probiotics for acute pancreatitis.

Pain control Intravenous medications, typically potent narcotic pain medications, are effective in controlling pain associated with acute pancreatitis. Nausea is a common symptom and can be due to pancreatic inflammation as well as slowing of the bowels. Effective intravenous medications are available for nausea. Pain and nausea will decrease as the inflammation resolves.

Treatment of underlying issues In addition to providing supportive care, underlying causes need to be promptly evaluated. If the acute pancreatitis is thought to be due to gallstones, medication, high triglycerides, or high calcium levels within the patient’s body (or other external causes), directed therapy can be implemented.

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) ERCP is a procedure in which a physician with specialized training passes a flexible, thin tube with a camera attached to the end through the patient’s mouth and into the first part of the small intestine, where the bile duct and pancreatic duct exit. With this device, a small catheter can be passed into the bile duct to remove gallstones that might have gotten stuck and are the cause of pancreatitis. In certain situations, a special catheter can also be passed into the pancreatic duct to help the pancreas heal.

the cuticle and stretches it out, making it more more prone to be pulled out from the root.

Wrong shampoo and conditioner Choose a shampoo and conditioner according to

Highlights and coloring That’s because many products contain chemicals that are harmful and can cause great damage to your hair, which may not be reversible. For instance, chemicals like hydrogen peroxide and ammonia found in hair dye can cause hair loss and thinning hair.

your hair type. Try to avoid shampoos that have dihydrotestosterone or DHT in them as it can contribute to hair loss.

Ponytails and braids If you have been doing these regularly, then you’re damaging your hair as ponytails and braids can cause hair to break, especially if your style is pulled tightly.

Are avocados the best Beware! These daily habits first foods for babies? are damaging your hair badly

fruit can be used as a first food for infants. Babies’ ideal first foods should have a low to moderate sweet and salty flavour profile to avoid early preferences for sweet foods. The findings showed that avocados are unique among complementary and transi-

experience a wide variety of tastes, textures, colours and combinations, in their first foods,” said Robert Murray, Professor at the Ohio State University, in the US. Avocados were found to contain less than 1 gram of sugar per serving (0.09g)

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26 July - 1 August 2016

Know what causes Female smokers at higher risk of brain bleed balding in men!

Women indulging in smoking are more at risk of developing bleeding inside the lining of the brain, also known as subarachnoid hemorrhage, a study has warned.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a condition of bleeding in the lining between the brain’s surface and underlying brain tissues. The findings showed that although cigarette smoking was linked to an increased risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage among both sexes, women faced the highest risk.

“Female sex has been described as an independent risk factor for subarachnoid hemorrhage, but we found strong evidence that the elevated risk in women is explained by vulnerability to smoking,” said lead author Joni Valdemar Lindbohm, Physician at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

Further, among light smokers (1 to 10 cigarettes per day), women were 2.95

times more likely to have subarachnoid hemorrhage compared to non-smokers, while men who smoked comparable amounts of cigarettes were 1.93 times more likely.

Women who smoked 11 to

20 cigarettes per day were 3.89 times more likely to have subarachnoid hemorrhage compared to nonsmokers, while men who smoked comparable amounts of cigarettes were 2.13 times more likely. Women who smoked 21 to 30 cigarettes per day were more than 8.35 times likely to have subarachnoid hemor-

rhage compared to nonsmokers, while men who smoked comparable amounts of cigarettes were 2.76 times more likely. “Our results suggest that age, sex and lifestyle risk factors play a

critical role in predicting which patients are at risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage and emphasise the importance of effective smoking cessation strategies,” Lindbohm explained.

However, quitting smoking has been found to significantly decrease the risk among former smokers.

“There is no safe level of smoking,” Lindbohm said,

adding “naturally the best option is never to start.

Quitting smoking, however, can reduce the risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage in both sexes.”

In addition, subarachnoid hemorrhage also accounts for three per cent of all strokes, according to the American Heart Association.

Smoking is perhaps the most important modifiable risk factor in preventing subarachnoid hemorrhage, with the highest population attributable risk of any subarachnoid hemorrhage risk factor, the researchers noted.

For the study, published in the journal Stroke, the team included 65,521 adults from Finish national surveys. Slightly more than half of participants were women, and their average age was 45 years. The average follow-up was 21 years from study enrolment until first stroke, death or study completion on December 31, 2011.

Men often lose their confidence when they start losing their hair and eventually go bald. Though genetics play a huge role in male pattern baldness, there are also other health conditions that could be causing it. Here are some of the conditions that lead to balding in men: Stress Lifestyle stress could be one of the reasons of balding. By lifestyle stress, we mean wrong diet habits, less sleep, career pressure and all of these lead to hair loss.

Anaemia It is the most common iron deficiency which many

men suffer from and could be a cause of balding. One should take an iron supplement to correct this problem.

Vitamin B deficiency Another condition that causes balding is low level of vitamin B. Eating a balanced diet with a plentiful of fruits, vegetables, lean protein and healthy fats can be good for your hair and overall health.

Infection in scalp If your scalp is infected then it can lead to balding.

Bacteria can cause inflammation of the hair follicles (folliculitis) of the scalp mainly attacking the crown or base of the scalp.

New forms of HIV can jump Reduced oxygen can cause childhood heart disease from animals to humans While the HIV epidemic continues to threaten health and well-being of a large section of the world’s population, scientists have warned that new forms of the virus jumping from animals to humans cannot be ruled out. The suggestion stems from a study in which the scientists

discovered the first in vivo evidence that strains of chimpanzee-carried simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that virologists consider the ancestor of HIV can infect human cells. “The question was whether SIV strains that have not been found in humans have the potential to cause another HIV-like infection,” said senior author Qingsheng Li, Associate Professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US.

“The answer is that, actually, they do. They get replicated at a very high level.

It’s surprising,” Li said.

The researchers found that the SIV ancestor of HIV-1 M - the strain responsible for the global HIV pandemic and another ancestral strain of HIV found only among

residents of Cameroon can jump from animals to humans.

The researchers further discovered that the SIV ancestors of two HIV strains not identified in humans also managed to invade human cells after multiple exposures in the lab.

The findings appeared in the Journal of Virology.

“The emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases has become a con-

stant threat to global health, social stability, safety and economic systems,” Li said.

The experimental approach employed by the team could help assess the threat posed by additional SIVs and numerous other animalcarried viruses, lead author Zhe Yuan, doctoral student

at University of NebraskaLincoln.

This could prove especially vital given the dynamic nature of HIV and other zoonotic diseases, he said, many of which have caused new epidemics or even pandemics.

“I think this analysis of the disease is very important for public health,” said Yuan, noting that a new group of HIV strains was discovered in 2009.

A new study has revealed that lack of oxygen or oxygen deficiency can lead to childhood heart disease.

The research mentions that developing heart in an embryo can easily be damaged by the cellular stress triggered from lack of oxygen.

Childhood heart disease is the most common form of birth defect and affects one in 100 babies globally, showed the study.

“The study discovered that reduced oxygen triggered a stress response in the embryonic cells. The cells try to relieve the stress by stopping protein production. As proteins aren’t available to make the heart at a critical time, it doesn’t develop properly,” lead researcher Professor Sally Dunwoodie at Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute said.

According to the work published in the journal Development, the oxygen deficiency in an embryo can be caused by multiple factors such as prescription medications, high blood pressure, high altitude, or even a tangled umbilical cord.

Apart from low oxygen, factors like a viral infection, increased temperature, high blood glucose, poor nutrition and pollution can also trigger cel-

For the study, the team used a mouse model and reduced the oxygen levels inside a chamber from the normal level of 21 per cent to as low as 5.5 per cent,

lular stress. The findings showed that cellular stress -- wide range of molecular changes that cells undergo in response to environmental stressors like extreme temperatures, exposure to toxins and mechanical damage -- are the key reasons for the multiple types of defects in heart, vertebrae and kidney, among others, during birth. “Surprisingly, this cellular stress response has been used for hundreds of millions of years and it is only now that we have discovered that it can cause organs, such as the heart, not to form properly” added Dunwoodie.

for eight hours. They found for the first time that reduced oxygen levels damaged the developing heart.

The types of heart defects were the same as those most commonly found in humans, the researchers noted.

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Red Lentil Curry Ingredients: 2 cups red lentils 1 large onion, diced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons curry paste 1 tablespoon curry powder 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon white sugar 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree Directions: Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear. Put lentils in a pot with enough water to cover; bring to a boil, place a cover on the pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, adding water during cooking as needed to keep

Savory Chicken Breasts

covered, until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onions in hot oil until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Mix curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger together in a large bowl; stir into the onions. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree, remove from heat and stir into the lentils.

Kabob Marinade Ingredients: 1 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup prepared mustard 1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely cracked black pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon meat tenderizer (optional) Directions: In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ground black pepper, garlic, and meat tenderizer. Mix well, and add your favorite meat. Seal the bag, and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours.

bread crumbs on top and drizzle with melted butter/margarine. Bake covered in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Ratatouille

Easy BakEd Tilapia Ingredients: 4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia 2 teaspoons butter 1/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning TM, or to taste 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt, or to taste 1 lemon, sliced 1 (16 ounce) package frozen cauliflower with broccoli and red pepper Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees F). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Place the tilapia fillets in the bottom of the baking dish and dot with butter.

Season with Old Bay seasoning and garlic salt. Top each one with a slice or two of lemon. Arrange the frozen

Ingredients: 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves ground black pepper to taste 4 slices Swiss cheese 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup 1/4 cup milk 1 cup dry bread crumbs 3 tablespoons butter, melted Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Season with ground black pepper to taste. Top each breast with a slice of cheese.

Mix together the soup and milk and pour mixture over chicken. Sprinkle

mixed vegetables around the fish, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Cover the dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until vegetables are tender and fish flakes easily with a fork.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes salt to taste 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 zucchini, sliced 1 large onion, sliced into rings 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 1 green bell pepper, sliced 2 large tomatoes, chopped Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.

Cook and stir garlic until lightly browned.

Mix in parsley and eggplant. Cook and

stir until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Baked Halibut Steaks Ingredients: 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 cup diced zucchini 1/2 cup minced onion 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 (6 ounce) halibut steaks 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Lightly grease a shallow baking dish.

Heat olive oil in a medium

saucepan over medium heat and stir in zucchini, onion, and garlic. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Remove saucepan from heat and mix in tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper.

Arrange halibut steaks in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Spoon equal amounts of the zucchini mixture over each steak. Top with feta cheese.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

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26 July - 1 August 2016

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