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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 678, 2 - 8 AUGUST 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

POPE FRANCIS DEFENDS ISLAM FROM ‘TERRORIST’ LABEL

PUTIN IS LATEST TO BE THREATENED BY ISIS

Vladimir Putin and Russia are the latest to be threatened by ISIS in a video published by one of the terror group’s members.

The nine-minute video shows armed militants launching attacks on vehicles and tents and the clip ends with a masked terrorist stating Russia was its next target. He says: ‘Listen, Putin. We will come to Russia and kill you in your homes.’

The terrorist finishes the clip with the man driving through the desert yelling while wagging his finger. He says: ‘Oh Brothers, carry out jihad and kill and fight them.’ ‘Breaking into a barrack of the Rejectionist military on the international road south

Akashat,’ read one subtitle.

ISIS have not yet claimed responsibility for the video, but

the link to the footage was published on a Telegram messaging account which has been

used by the militant group in the past.

Continued on Page 2

Pope Francis on Sunday said he won’t label Islam as “terrorist” because that would be unfair and not true. Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him home after a pilgrimage to Poland that began the day after extremists slit the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a French church, asked him why he never uses the world “Islam” to describe terrorism or other violence.

While in Poland, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the “devastating wave” of terrorism in many part of the world. Francis replied that “it’s not right to identify Islam with violence. It’s not right and it’s not true.” He added: “I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group.”

“I don’t like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law,” Francis said, in apparent reference to crime news in the predominantly Catholic country of Italy. “And these are baptized Catholics.

If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence.” Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: “I know how they think, they are looking for peace.” As for the Islamic State group, he said it “presents itself with a violent identity card, but that’s not Islam.”

Unmarried couples are flogged for violating Sharia law in Indonesia This is the moment three young couples were savagely whipped in public - after they violated Sharia law by going on dates.

Harrowing pictures show one woman crying out as she is repeatedly lashed with a cane at Al Furqon Mosque in the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Separate images show a man standing as he received the same brutal punishment.

In total, three Acehnese couples were sentenced to receive pub-

lic lashes for violating Sharia law in a brutal new crackdown in the region.

Under the law men and women, who are not spouses, are not allowed to get too close due to the ‘khalwat’ offence - and punishment is by public caning. Aceh is the only province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that is allowed to implement Islamic Sharia law. In September, pictures emerged of a woman being caned after she

was accused of having sex while unmarried.

Gay sex, gambling and drinking alcohol are all punishable by caning in Aceh which began implementing Sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an effort by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

A flurry of new Islamic laws have been introduced in Aceh in recent Continued on Page 2

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2 - 8 August 2016

PUTIN IS LATEST TO Boy dies, dozens hospitalised in far BE THREATENED... northern Russian anthrax outbreak

Continued from Page 1 The terrorists do not say why Russia would be a target, but the Kremlin and the U.S. are talking about boosting military and intelligence cooperation against Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria.

Islamic State has called on its supporters to take action with any available weapons targeting countries it has been fighting.

There has been a string of

deadly attacks claimed by Islamic state in Europe over the past weeks.

Last week, assailants loyal to Islamic State forced an elderly Catholic priest in France to his knees before slitting his throat.

Since the mass killing in Nice, southern France on July 14, there have been four incidents in Germany, including the most recent suicide bombing at a concert in Ansbach.

Unmarried couples are flogged for violating...

Continued from Page 1 years, drawing howls of protest from rights groups. Earlier this year, Banda Aceh banned women from entertainment venues after 11pm un-

less they are accompanied by a husband or male family member. Aceh district has also banned unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes.

MOSCOW A 12-year-old boy has died in an anthrax outbreak in remote far northern Russia while dozens have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection, the region’s governor said Monday.

The Yamalo-Nenetsky region, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) northeast of Moscow, has been under quarantine for a week after the deadly bacterium infected at least nine nomadic reindeer herders and their animals. “I’ve been told of the death of a boy in our hospital. I have no words to express my feelings,” governor Dmitry Kobylkin said. It was the first outbreak of anthrax since 1941 in the sparsely populated region, which authorities blamed on a heatwave that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer corpse. “The infection showed its cunning. Returning after 75 years, it took away a child’s life,” said Kobylkin.

A total of 72 people, 41 of them children, have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection in the main city of Salekhard. So far nine have tested positive for anthrax, including the boy who died, the regional authorities said Monday. More than 2,300 reindeer have been killed in the outbreak in the region where more than 250,000 of the animals roam, the authorities said.

The authorities said they were carrying out vaccinations of people and reindeer and giving those who visited the quarantine area antibacterial medicines.

The infection was identified on June 25 after numerous deaths among reindeer, the sanitary

linked the outbreak to unusually hot weather, with more than a month of temperatures up to 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that melted the permafrost and activated the deadly spores.

“The anthrax spores lay in wait in

medicine service for the region said Monday.

Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova visited the region last week, saying the site of the infection had been “isolated” and the region had enough vaccines and antibiotics.

Popova said that there had been no cases of anthrax in the region among people or animals since 1941 and it had been considered formally free of the infection since 1968. The regional authorities

the permafrost for more than a century,” said the agriculture watchdog agency.

Anthrax does not spread directly from one infected human or animal to another, but is spread through spores. Humans can contract anthrax from handling diseased animals or eating infected meat. The potentially lethal bacterium exists naturally in the soil and commonly infects livestock which ingest or inhale its spores while grazing.

Miss Teen USA winner to keep crown despite racist tweets

False megaquake alert shakes Tokyo TOKYO A false warning of a megaquake about to strike Tokyo was issued

by Japan’s weather agency and

quickly cancelled on Monday, but not before terrifying users of a smartphone app who received it.

Users of the Yurekuru disaster warning app were told that a

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magnitude 9.1 earthquake was about to hit the sprawling metropolis shortly after 5 pm with an alert reading “Earthquake!

Earthquake!”. But the expected shaking never came and the phones of nearby users of similar early warning apps remained silent. Japan’s Meteorological Agency had sent and immediately withdrawn the alert, but the cancellation did not reach some app operators in time, a spokesman for the agency said.

“We are now investigating how the false information was sent out,” he added.The agency’s website later said that it received the quake data from a seismometer east of Tokyo.

“When I saw the Yurekuru app screen, I prepared to die,” read a tweet in Japanese from one

user.“Yeah okay this was fake but it scared the hell out of me,” said another in English.Yurekuru is a popular disaster-warning app in quake-prone Japan, and its operator says at least five million people have downloaded it. Such apps became popular in the aftermath of a massive undersea earthquake that struck the country in March 2011. The magnitude 9.0 quake sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeastern coast, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

A nationwide drill is held annually on September 1, known in Japan as Disaster Prevention Day, which comes on the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people and levelled Tokyo.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates, but most earthquakes, even moderately strong ones, do little major damage nowadays thanks to rigid building codes.

Due to the mistaken warning, which was also sent to some transportation operators, a small number of subway and commuter train lines in Tokyo were briefly stopped.

Las Vegas The new Miss Teen USA will get to keep her crown despite an outcry over tweets she once wrote using racist language.

The Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss Teen USA pageant, issued a statement Sunday chastising Karlie Hay’s words but also “supporting her continued growth.”

After she was crowned Saturday night in Las Vegas, social media users found tweets containing the

N-word linked to an account with Hay’s name.

A screenshot of the four tweets from 2013 and 2014 has been making the rounds online.

Pageant officials, referencing an apology Hay posted to Twitter and Instagram, say the 18-year-old was going through personal struggles and regrets her words.

Hay, of Tomball, Texas, says she will use her platform to advocate for those affected by drug and alcohol abuse.

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2 - 8 August 2016

The vengeful gods of the world!

In the beginning, God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because of a transgression (the Original Sin). Their descendants, all of humanity, shall eventually return to the Eden if they follow the path of the prophets who are messengers of God, one of them being Abraham. Later, God sends his prophet to liberate the enslaved children from Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land where they will have freedom, respect and prosperity. The Promised Land is actually the land where the slaves came from long ago before they were enslaved. Going to the Promised Land is actually a return to the Promised Land.

The tale of the Promised Land mirrors the tale of the Eden: returning home to perfection. Faith in Eden and the Promised Land are the cornerstones of Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths.

Despite enormous differences between and within, the three major world religions are anchored to the tales of the Eden and the Promised Land.

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For religious radicals, Eden and the Promised Land are objective truths. For the rest, they are subjective truths (myths) that shape the worldview of a people. They form part of the body of myths known as Abrahamic mythology, Abraham being one of God’s earliest prophets. This mythology is distinct from rebirth mythologies of the Buddhists, Jains and Hindus, and the polytheistic mythologies of the Greeks. Originating in what is now called the Middle East, a unique feature of Abrahamic mythology is that it is uncomfortable with alternate truths hence insists on ‘the truth’. The idea of subjective truth or myth discomforts the subscribers of the Abrahamic mythology.

This worldview was spread because of the Jewish migration and the proselytizing work of the Christian and Islamic missionaries. Because of the colonization it dominates the world today, especially many secular and political discourses. Its most powerful impact can be seen in the nationalism.

The nationalist discourse typically speaks of the glory of the nation-state before the arrival of colonizers. The purpose of the freedom struggle was to remove the colonizers and reclaim the original glory, Eden, the Promised Land. Depending on the orientation of the nationalists, the glory to be reclaimed varies. In India, for many Left Liberals, it was the glorious Islamicate established by Akbar and ruined by the colonizers. For Right Radicals, it was the glorious Hindu Rashtra which was ‘pure’ from Vedic to Rajput times before the Muslim hordes arrived and replaced the temples with mosques. For Dalit extremists, it was the time of the Buddhist kings who were overthrown by the Hindu casteist savarna Brahmins.

In America, for Donald Trump, it was the time before political correctness, before feminism, before 9/11. In Russia, for Putin, it was the time when Russia dominated the world, before LGBTQ rights and human rights. In Britain, it is before the European Union, before the World War, when their Queen ruled the world. In many African nations, it was the time before nations disrupted old tribal structures. This is what political leaders around the world are promising with increasing frequency during elections. Perhaps this subjective truth has its psychological roots in the human desire to return to an imagined

childhood, when we were loved, when there were no bullies, SUNNY BAINS or maybe earlier, in the womb of the mother, safe in the amniotic fluid sac before being shoved out was very different from the loving, caring of the Eden, into the big bad world. and forgiving God found in the parables of In Islam, there is no concept of Original Jesus that celebrate the return of the Sin. God forgave Adam and Eve for prodigal son. It rejuvenated the breaking the rule and eating the forbidden beleaguered Holy Roman Empire. We find this now happening in Islam. Religious radicals are reframing the idea of God to present the divine as a vengeful oversensitive impatient being, one who goads his chosen people to purge the world of the non-believers with promises of a good afterlife. Religion is overshadowing the idea of the nationstate. God’s laws, or convenient interpretations of these laws, are bypassing the civil liberties. The images of the religious warriors with guns and vast crowds of the faithful mourning for the martyr are being glamorized for political goals in the social media. The forgiving God is all but forgotten.

This social disease and an increasing fondness for war is leading young artists to reimagine the Hindu gods in India. No more are they gently smiling in the images on the temple walls. Now Ram, Krishna, Shiva and Durga are all red-eyed, fruit. God declared that no one inherits outraged, muscular, aggressive warriors the sin of another: to each it’s his own. and avenging superheroes. What does it Thus humans cannot suffer for the errors tell us about the society? Faith now of the first man and the first woman who manifests not as patience but as were beguiled by the Devil. This is one impatience, even intolerance. Rational detail that distinguishes Islam from atheists are no better, turning victimhood Christianity which places great value on into a fetish, constantly dividing the world the guilt and repentance. When was the into ‘oppressors’ and ‘oppressed’, last time you heard the story of the ‘victims’ and ‘villains’, justifying their forgiving God of Islam? You most likely arguments with statistics, not realizing heard the story of a God who offers Jannat that it is exactly what fundamentalists are (paradise in Arabic) full of virgins (some doing. It is they who glamourized the word say raisins) to those who participate in ‘angry’. the jihad. Which story do you think is more Today, the Hindu radicals feel threatened in the media? For an ambitious person, by the Muslims. Muslim radicals feel the idea of a forgiving God does not work. cornered by the Christians and the Jews.

It does not grant middlemen, a.k.a. Patriarchs are feeling threatened by clerics, any power. One would rather have feminists. Left Liberals blame the state an angry God, one who is eager to punish for structural inequality. The state feels for mistakes and crimes and who goads torn between the judgemental journalists, people to do battle with the promise of greedy capitalists, and manipulative lynch heaven. mobs. Things are spiraling out of control.

This idea of an outraged God who wants Time to pause, and ask: who made you to go to Holy War was used by the forgiveness a sign of weakness and leaders of the Catholic Church to foment punishment a sign of strength? Not God, the Crusades a thousand years ago. It for sure.

Dutch police detain man who yelled “Bomb!” on bus but find no threat AMSTERDAM Dutch police, on alert for a security threat to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, on Monday detained a confused man who yelled “Bomb!” on a bus, but found no evidence of a serious threat, a spokeswoman said. Police have been conducting vehicle searches near the airport, one of Europe’s largest, since last week after receiving intelligence about a possible threat. The man, who took off his clothes, was held at gunpoint by the side of the highway while the bus was searched. The incident brought traffic on one of the Netherlands’ main highways to a standstill. After attacks by Islamist militants in France, Belgium and Germany, the Netherlands is considered a potential target, because it supports U.S.-led military operations against the Islamic State jihadist militia in the Middle East.

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Thai mother indicted over one-word ‘royal slur’ Facebook message

BANGKOK The mother of a leading activist against the military junta in Thailand was charged on Monday with insulting the country’s monarchy in a one-word Facebook post. Patnaree Chankij was brought to a military court in Bangkok after the country’s attorney general decided to press charges despite police saying earlier that they would not pursue a case against the 40-year-old woman.

According to her lawyer, Patnaree was charged with violating Thailand’s royal insult laws for writing the word “ja” - which means “yeah” in Thai - in response to a private Facebook message critical of the royals. She was released on bail. “The court accepted the case from the attorney general and freed Patnaree on bail,” said Anon Numpa, her lawyer.

Under Article 112 of the

criminal code, anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” faces up to 15 years in prison. The case has drawn international criticism since May, when police first issued an arrest warrant for Patnaree and charged her with defaming the monarchy.

The police subsequently said they would drop the charges. The United States and several rights organisations, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, condemned Patnaree’s arrest and the charges brought against her. The State Department in May said it created a “climate of intimidation”.

The junta has clamped down on dissent ahead of a referendum next week on whether to accept a military-backed constitution that critics say is designed to enshrine military power.

HK, China flights cancelled as Typhoon Nida approaches

HONG KONG Hong Kong and southern China hunkered down Monday as Typhoon Nida swirled towards the region, with hundreds of flights cancelled, schools closed and ferries halted. Hong Kong raised a “T8” storm signal the third-highest Monday evening as the storm edged closer to the semi-autonomous Chinese city, packing winds of 130 kilometres (81 miles) per hour. Guangzhou, the capital of neighbouring Guangdong province where Nida was expected to make landfall on Tuesday, issued its first-ever red storm alert, with schools and outdoor work suspended. Cathay

Pacific and its subsidiary Dragonair cancelled all of their flights in and out of Hong Kong for 16 hours, from 10 pm Monday until 2 pm Tuesday. That will include more than 100 flights, said a spokeswoman for Cathay, the city’s flag carrier. Hong Kong authorities shut kindergartens and special needs learning institutions on Monday. Ferries between Hong Kong and the gambling strip of Cotai in Macau have been suspended. “Local winds are expected to strengthen significantly around dusk,” said a weather bulletin.

“There will be squalls, heavy rain and rough seas after sunset.

Vietnam paternity twist in Cambodia’s ‘jungle woman’ tale HNOM PENH A Vietnamese man has claimed he is the real father of a woman whose plight gripped Cambodia after she apparently spent 18 years living in the jungle, her adoptive family said Monday.The paternity claim, which the woman’s adoptive family now believe is genuine, adds a new twist to a saga which began in 2007 when a naked and filthy woman was discovered trying to steal food from a farmer.

The woman soon dubbed “jungle woman”

by Cambodians was found hunched over like a monkey, scavenging on the ground for pieces of dried rice. She was taken in by a Cambodian family who identified her as Rochom P’ngieng, a girl who went missing in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakiri province,

around 600 kilometres (400 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh and home to some of the country’s wildest jungle.

Now a 70-year-old Vietnamese man, named Peo, claims the woman is

recognised her after seeing recent photos on Facebook. “He claimed she is his long-lost daughter,” he told AFP by telephone.

“He recognises her by a spot on her lip, ear

in fact his daughter who went missing in 2006 and has a history of mental health issues. Rochom Khamphy, a member of the adoptive family, said Peo

conditions and a scar on her left wrist.” The Vietnamese man has since made two visits, the latest on Saturday, and has agreed to pay the woman’s adoptive family $1,500 for taking care of her.

Khamphy said his family were inclined to believe the man is her father and were

Solar-powered televisions brighten homes in rural Kenya

awaiting approval from the Cambodian authorities to give her back. “If she was not his daughter, he would not want her back because she is mentally ill. He said he feels pity for her, that is why he wants her back,” he said.

In a letter given to her Cambodian adopted family and seen by AFP on Monday, Peo said his daughter was called Tak. “Recently some young villagers suddenly found her information and pictures online. They showed me and I discovered she is now in Cambodia, raised by Cambodians,” Peo said. Chhay Thi, provincial coordinator for local rights group ADHOC, told AFP he was monitoring the transfer process for any signs of human trafficking, but added he was inclined to believe Peo. “Their faces are similar. If she is not his daughter, he would not take her back because she is mentally-ill,” he said.

Shackled remains at ancient Greek site tell tale of intrigue

MACHAKOS Violet Mwikali’s new television has not just brought entertainment to her home. It has ushered in peace, too.

“The whining has stopped now. I was put on the spot for a while as my two children went to the neighbours’ to watch television,” Mwikali said as she adjusted her new 16-inch solar-powered television.

Mwikali is one of many residents of Lukenya in Machakos County, east of Nairobi, who have bought televisions from M-KOPA Solar, a Nairobi-based company that sells solarpowered products in places not connected to the national energy grid.

The digital flat-screen television, added to the product line in February, comes with a solar panel and a portable battery that also controls a lighting unit and has a socket for charging mobile phones.

Margaret Nduge, another solar TV owner, said she had long resigned herself to never being hooked up to the national electricity grid. Before buying the solar kit, Nduge used a generator for power, but it was smoky and noisy, and the cost of fuel was a drain on her finances.

“My neighbours didn’t believe that I could afford to power my house silently,” she said. The solar television works even when there is little or no sun, she said, allowing her to keep up with her favourite gospel channels and the national news. The battery lasts for four hours when used for lighting and watching TV simultaneously.

Television reaches less than a third of Kenya’s adult population on a daily basis, with the rest lacking power or a TV set, according to 2015 data from the Kenya Audience Research Foundation cited by M-KOPA.

ATHENS At least 80 skeletons lie in a mass grave in an ancient Greek cemetery, their wrists clamped by iron shackles.

They are the victims, say archaeologists, of a mass execution. But who they were, how they got there and why they appear to have been buried with a measure of respect - that all remains a mystery. They were found earlier this year in part of the Falyron Delta necropolis - a large ancient cemetery unearthed during the construction of a national opera house and library between downtown Athens and the port of Piraeus. Few people have been able to get in to have a close look. But on a rare tour of the site, archaeologists carefully showed Reuters the skeletons, some lying in a long neat row in the dug-out sandy ground, others piled on top of each other, arms and legs twisted with their jaws hanging open. “They have been executed, all in the same manner. But they

have been buried with respect,” Dr. Stella Chryssoulaki, head of excavations, said. “They are all tied at the hands with handcuffs and most of them

are very very young and in a very good state of health when they were executed.”

The experts hope DNA testing and research by anthropologists will uncover exactly how the rows of people died.

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Brazilian restaurants turn waste back into food SAO PAULO There’s not a lot of green in the urban jungle of Sao Paulo, but thanks to Fernanda Danelon, restaurants in the Brazilian mega-city are turning their waste back into food at innovative gardens tucked amid the skyscrapers.

Danelon, a 43-year-old journalist by training, quit her day job two years ago to launch the Guandu Institute, which recycles restaurants’ food waste and helps them set up gardens to put all that compost to good use.

Cities in Brazil, the economic giant of Latin America, throw out more than 75 million tons of trash a year, according to the Brazilian Association of Public Sanitation Companies (ABRELPE).

About half of it is organic waste, according to the Brazilian environment ministry. There are no municipal recycling or composting programs to reduce all that garbage,

and triaging trash is a foreign concept to most Brazilians. The country recycles about three percent of its waste, according to ABRELPE. To fill the void, Danelon decided to put her passion for composting and gardening to work on behalf of restaurants in her hometown.

Her organization collects restaurants’ food waste at their doors, turns them into compost over the course of three to four months, and delivers the compost back to the restaurants to fertilize inhouse gardens — which the institute also helps them set up and maintain.

She started with just one restaurant. Today, she has 17, and is in talks with 10 more. “At first, I collected the trash myself in my car,” Danelon said with a laugh

as she turned over dirt with a shovel in the leafy courtyard of her house in

lemons and lavender plants growing on its rooftop, a stone’s throw

Sao Paulo. “But now we’ve grown, and today we recycle 30 to 40 tons of organic waste per month.”

Her partners include French restaurant Le Bilboquet, in the chic downtown neighborhood of Jardins. With Danelon’s help, the restaurant now has cherry tomatoes,

from the skyscrapers of the Brazilian economic capital’s financial district.

Its French chef, 34-year-old Julien Mercier, signed up for Danelon’s program six months ago. “What we grow here isn’t enough to supply the whole restaurant. But the important thing is to

RSS, VHP role in sacrilege of Quran, Guru Granth Sahib be probed: AISSF Amritsar All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) president Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad has demanded an independent probe to find out the role of Rashtriya Swayamsevak

ence here, he said those arrested in connection with the Quran sacrilege at Malerkotla had confessed to their association with the Hindu right-wing organisations—Vishwa Hindu Prishad and Bajrang

Sangh (RSS) and other Hindu right-wing bodies in sacrilege incidents in Punjab.

Addressing a press confer-

Dal. “The police did not pick the clues. The role of these groups in the sacrilege of the Quran and Guru Granth

Don't play Pokemon on railway tracks: Bulgaria SOFIA This one might seem obvious, but.... Bulgarian state railway company BDZ is urging players of

Pokemon GO to keep off the railway tracks.The game - in which people stare at a screen hunting for Pokemon - has become

wildly popular around the world, but also cause accidents among distracted players.“The railway operator warns users of the game that searching for Pokemon in railway areas is not a safe endeavour,” BDZ said in a statement, adding that trains cannot stop quickly to avoid people or vehicles on railway lines. Pokemon themselves are in no danger because they don't actually exist.

Sahib needs to be probed,” he said.

He also criticised the parallel jathedars appointed by radicals’ Sarbat Khalsa for their “failure” in doing enough on this count.

Signature campaign from Aug 5 He said victim families of the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 were yet to get the justice and the culprits were roaming free.

“The AISSF will launch a signature campaign on August 5 from outside the Golden Temple and after collecting one-lakh signatures, a petition will be sent to the White House by August 15,” he said.

Bibi Jagdish Kaur, one of the riot-affected and a witness, said they will boycott the Independence Day celebrations as a mark of protest against the ‘injustice’.

understand that we’re part of a process. These things are growing here, and we can also boast that we recycle a ton and a half of organic waste every month,” he told AFP as he inspected his vegetables and herbs. The waste is composted at a facility about 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside the city, where it is mixed with earth and allowed to biodegrade over the course of months.

It is a “traditional composting technique,” without enzymes or earthworms to accelerate the process, said Danelon. But with a little patience, all that waste turns into rich, nutrientpacked compost. The average 50-table restaurant pays 900 reals ($275) a month for the composting and gardening service — about the same as the

municipal waste collection fee. “We have to look squarely at our own waste, value it and know that it can be reused,” said Danelon.

She offers starter kits for people looking to make their own compost at home.

More and more people are contacting her to ask about setting up communal gardens on the roofs of their apartment buildings, she said. At Mesa III, a deli in a working-class neighborhood, customers are greeted by basil, sage and rosemary plants ever since the Guandu Institute trained the staff. “If we as a society realize how much trash we’re producing, we’ll see it’s just atrocious,” said owner Ana Soares, 63.

Her restaurant has installed a recycling system for glass and switched to cardboard take-out containers to cut down on plastic. “That’s why we joined this beautiful project,” she said. “We have to learn to look at things in a new way.”

SAD will not field Dalit candidates for general seats Mansa Punjab cabinet minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Gulzar Singh Ranike said on Monday that Scheduled Caste (SC) or “reserved-category” candidates will “not be fielded from general seats”, that is, assembly segments that are not reserved for SCs (or Dalits), in the state polls due next year. He was replying to a reporter’s question on the sidelines of a meeting with SAD’s Dalit workers in Mansa. Of the 117 seats, 34 are currently reserved for SCs. Ranike, who is the minister for animal husbandry, was evasive when asked about cow-protection vigilante groups in the state committing atrocities on certain communities and sections. “I am not presid-

ing over the function as a cabinet minister. I have come here to interact with workers from the reserved category. I will reply to your queries in my next trip,” he said.

foundation of a veterinary hospital and the expansion of a government hospital. In Mansa and Sardulgarh segments, in interaction with Akali cadres, he recounted

On a recent case of a Dalit family being thrashed by police personnel in Fazilka, the minister denied that Dalits were facing atrocities in the SADBJP regime: “No one can harass or oppress Dalits in Punjab.”

Meanwhile, he laid the

welfare schemes launched by the government for the weaker sections of society in the last nine and a half years.

Budhlada MLA Chatan Singh Samao, Mansa MLA Prem Kumar Mittal and other local leaders were present too.

Australian woman finds napping seal in cemetery toilet SYDNEY A woman using the toilets at a local cemetery in Australia had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal napping in the cubicle.The discovery of the 120-kilogramme (264pound) animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometre (mile) from the nearest water. “We thought it was a practical joke when we were told,” Karina Moore from

Devonport Council in northwest Tasmania state told AFP Wednesday.

“It’s a big mystery.

It’s very unusual to find a seal so far inland. “There’s a small creek about half a kilometre away but he would still have had to cross a busy road and several paddocks to make it to the cemetery.” The council

called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him

to a local beach and releasing him. Wildlife biologist Rachel Alderman told ABC radio Australian fur seals were common around Tasmania. “They’re a really abundant species all around Tasmania, particularly in Bass Strait, and we’ve had them turn up in paddocks, people’s backyards, and now we can add a toilet block in a cemetery to the list,” she said.

Issue - 678 (7)

2 - 8 August 2016

Russia says spyware found in state computer networks MOSCOW Russia's intelligence service said on Saturday that the computer networks of 20

organizations, including state agencies and defence companies, have been infected with spyware in what it described as a targeted and coordinated attack.

The Federal Security Service, the FSB, said the malware and the way the networks were infected were similar to

those used in previous cases of cyber espionage found in Russia and other countries. The agency did not say who it suspected of being behind the attacks. “Information

technology resources of government agencies, scientific and military institutions, defence industry companies and other entities involved in crucial infrastructure have been infected,” the FSB said in a statement on its website.The FSB's announcement follows reports of cyber attacks on the U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the fundraising committee for Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Cyber security experts and U.S. officials have said there was evidence that Russia engineered the DNC hack to release sensitive party emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incident.

Venezuela food shortages leave zoo animals hungry

CARACAS Some 50 animals have starved to death in the last six months at one of Venezuela’s main zoos, according to a union leader, due to chronic food shortages that have plagued the crisis-stricken South American nation.

The fatalities at the Caricuao zoo in Caracas include Vietnamese pigs, tapirs, rabbits and birds some of whom had not eaten for two weeks, according to Marlene Sifontes, 52, a union leader for employees of state parks agency Inparques which oversees zoos.

Other animals are at risk across the country.

Their troubles mirror those of Venezuelans who routinely skip meals or spend hours in supermarket lines, at times chanting “We want food!” or even looting, amid an unprecedented economic downturn in the OPEC nation.

“The story of the animals at Caricuao is a metaphor for Venezuelan suffering,” said Sifontes. Authorities have not given numbers, but state prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deaths of “various species of wildlife” at the zoo.Currently, lions and tigers at the Caracas zoo are being fed mango and pumpkin by anxious staff to make up for reduced rations of meat, while an elephant is eating tropical fruit instead of its usual diet of hay, the union leader said.

The zoo’s management declined comment. President Nicolas Maduro blames the country’s problems on an “economic war” waged by local opponents and the United States.His critics say heavy reliance on oil, the price of which has fallen steeply, and unsustainable economic policy are to blame. As with all shortages in Venezuela, the situation for zoos is

worse outside the capital, though wardens are looking for ways to keep animals alive.In La Laguna, a park in the western state of Tachira, administrators said they had to seek donations from local businesses to get fruit, vegetables and meat for the animals.“We are doing all that is humanly possible to ensure the zoo continues to function,” said Oslander Montoya, an accountant for the local municipality which handles funding for the zoo.Three animals died in May at a zoo in Paraguana, on the northwestern Falcon peninsula, the director said. Staff there are planning to move a dozen animals, including vulnerable spectacled bears, to another park in the Andean state of Merida. The zoo’s six bears are currently eating just half of their required 16 kilograms (35.2 pounds) of food every day.

Saudi snow city tests kingdom’s capacity for fun RIYADH At a shopping mall in southern Riyadh, a woman shrouded in black robes and bulgy black coat throws snowballs at her young son, giggling underneath a face covering. The boy gleefully lobs snowy projectiles back in her direction.Nearby, children in neon snow suits stand squealing under a spray of ice droplets. Others trudge up a snowy hill with parents, before cascading down ice slides in inflatable tubes. “It's freezing,” one little girl exclaims, teeth chattering, even as temperatures outside exceed 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). There is no music to drown out the drone of air conditioners inside the Snow City theme park in the Saudi Arabian capital, in keeping with the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam. But in a country where rigid public morality codes keep most public spaces segregated by gender and discourage women's sports as sinful, the new mixed-gender attraction is a rare opportunity for Saudis of all stripes to blow off steam.“It's awesome that this is allowed for us,”

said Bedour, a bubbly 19year-old, who kept her face covered but traded her black robes for a colourful

attractions and athletic clubs, hoping they will invigorate the private sector and inspire Saudis

snowsuit.“Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear abayas” -- loose-fitting, fulllength robes -- “whenever they're outside. In here, it's different.” Entertainment offerings and physical activities are severely limited in the Islamic kingdom, especially during the withering summer months, something reformers led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman are trying to change as part of a wideranging programme to transform the Saudi economy and society.The Vision 2030 plan, announced in April, pledged new cultural venues, entertainment partnerships, tourist

to lead healthier lifestyles.It wants culture and entertainment to absorb 6 percent of Saudi household spending by 2030, up from 2.9 percent now.Theme parks exist, but unlike Snow City are mostly subject to genderbased timings to prevent mixing of unrelated men and women. Many Saudis descend on nearby Gulf states, where water parks and indoor skiing have been available for years.“We used to have to go to Dubai in order to play in the snow. Once this snow city started up, people started coming here ... It's attracting tourists. Thank God,” said Nawal, 20.

Issue - 678 (8)

2 - 8 August 2016

Australia moving up in the world... literally

SYDNEY Australia will adjust its latitude and longitude, a government science body says, to put the vast country into alignment with global navigation satellite systems.

The nation's coordinates are currently out by more than a metre, Geoscience Australia says, and the discrepancy could cause major headaches for possible new technologies such as driverless cars which require precise location data.

“We have to adjust our lines of latitude and longitude... so that the satellite navigation systems that we all use on our smartphones these days can align with all the digital map information,” Geoscience's Dan Jaksa told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week. Australia currently moves north by about seven centimetres each year due to normal tectonic motion and Jaksa said the

change was needed “to keep pace with that”.

He said smartphones were already accurate to within 5-10 metres, but shrinking the gap would be crucial in coming years, particularly with greater use of remotely-operated vehicles in farming and mining. “(And) around the corner, in the not too distant future, we are going to have possibly driverless cars or at least autonomous vehicles where, 1.5 metres, well, you're in the middle of the road or you're in another lane,” he said on Thursday. “So the information needs to be as accurate as the information we are collecting.”

Australia's local coordinate system, the Geocentric Datum of Australia, was last updated in 1994 and officials believe it will be out by 1.8 metres by 2020 unless corrected. New data on the country's coordinates is expected to be available from 1 January 2017.

Brazil fines Facebook $11.6m over WhatsApp standoff RIO DE JANEIRO A judge in Brazil on Wednesday slapped an $11.6 million fine on the local Facebook branch over the company's refusal to surrender data from its WhatsApp messenger program to a police investigation.

The order came from a judge in the northern state of Amazonas, saying Facebook was failing to meet its legal obligations.

Facebook Brasil has “shown tremendous disregard for Brazilian institutions,” prosecutors added. WhatsApp has been owned by social media giant Facebook since February 2015. The long-running dispute pits Brazilian authorities' insistence that they need access to communications between criminal suspects against Facebook's argument that it is protecting privacy and freedom of communication.

Specifics of the police investigation were not disclosed.

Facebook did not immediately respond to an email seeing comment on the fine.Earlier this month, Brazilian authorities temporarily blocked WhatsApp across the country for the third time in less than a year. The repeated shutdowns have angered users reliant on the free app. Fees for texting and calls are high in Brazil and WhatsApp's group chat and image-sharing functions have become embedded in everyday social interaction.

Last week, Brazilian authorities arrested 12 people after

intercepting WhatsApp and Telegram messages suggesting they were plotting a terror strike

Only about a quarter of people in the analysis did an hour or more of physical activity per day,

on the Olympics which open August 5 in Rio de Janeiro.The Justice Ministry has not said how that communication was obtained.WhatsApp is estimated to be used by 100 million Brazilians, making Brazil the second biggest user country after South Africa, according to data cited by the court.“Examples are brisk walking at five kilometres per hour (3.1 miles per hour) or bicycling at 16 km/h.” Cooking, for example, does not count.

the authors found.“For many people who commute to work and have office-based jobs, there is no way to escape sitting for prolonged periods of time,” said Ekelund.“For these people in particular, we cannot stress enough the importance of getting exercise, whether it's getting out for a walk at lunchtime, going for a run in the morning, or cycling to work.”If an hour a day is impossible, “then at least doing some exercise each day can help reduce the risk.”

Dali stolen from Dutch museum found after seven years

Wife’s bomb hoax caused security scare at Geneva airport GENEVA A woman who wanted to stop her husband boarding a plane at Geneva has admitted making a false bomb threat, prosecutors said on Wednesday, after hours of tightened security that caused

Annecy in France, some 45 kms from Geneva, where French police raided an address. “They found a woman who admitted to having made the call and explained that she wanted thereby to prevent her husband from leaving,” the statement said.

traffic chaos around the airport on the French-Swiss border.

“Yesterday in the evening, a woman called Swiss customs at Geneva airport. She said that today a person carrying a bomb would be in the French sector of the airport,” the Geneva prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The Swiss authorities traced the number to

Criminal proceedings have been opened against the woman, who was not identified, in both France and Switzerland, it said. The hoax call caused French and Swiss police to massively scale up security at Geneva’s Cointrin airport, which straddles the border.

Officers armed with machine guns were on duty around the airport, and vehicles were stopped on

approach roads so that police could check people’s papers, causing long tailbacks. Most entrances to the airport were closed. Passengers were channelled through a few doors where heavily armed police again checked identity documents. But airport officials said the airport was open and functioning normally, despite the delays.“We have received information that is serious enough to put in place preventive controls here at Geneva airport.

We cannot give details of staffing numbers, nor on the information we have received, for obvious reasons of security,” a Geneva canton police spokeswoman said before the alert was lifted. Airport spokesman Bertrand Staempfli advised passengers to arrive early because of the extra checks but said there were no serious problems with access.Security was also heightened on the French side of the border. France itself is on high alert after a series of Islamist militant attacks, including the killing on Tuesday of a Catholic priest during a church service in northern France by knife-wielding assailants.

THE HAGUE Two renowned paintings stolen from a Dutch museum seven years ago, one by Salvador Dali and the other by Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, have been recovered, a specialist art detective said Wednesday.

Dali’s 1941 surrealist work “Adolescence” featuring the Catalan artist and his beloved nanny and Lempicka’s sensual 1929 tableau “La Musicienne” have been tracked down, detective Arthur Brand said via his Twitter account. “We recovered the #Dali and the #DeLempicka, stolen in 2009 from Scheringa museum,” he wrote in a Tweet, posting two pictures of himself with the paintings. The two works of art were snatched from the Scheringa Museum of Realist Art in the northern town of Spanbroek in a daylight armed robbery on May 1, 2009.Several masked men threatened staff and visitors with a gun and then drove off in a car with the two tableaux, police told AFP at the

time.Brand said the two paintings had then been given to a criminal gang in lieu of payment a transaction which is common among criminal groups.But “this organisation did not want to be found guilty of the destruction or resale of art works,” Brand told the Dutch daily De Telegraaf, and had contacted him through a gobetween.Brand said he had handed the paintings over to British police at Scotland Yard who are in contact with the rightful owners, whose identities have not been revealed.

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2 - 8 August 2016

Give them a hand: 21-year-old receives India’s first twin forearm transplant Kochi Jith Kumar Saji hasn’t stopped smiling and swinging his arms about since he got a new pair of hands.The 21-year-old lost both his arms from the elbow down due to an electrical burn injury

when he fell on a live hightension wire three years ago.

But he was handed his arms back on May 24, when he underwent India’s first forearm transplant at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) in Kochi. He went home on Friday.

Three successful hand transplants have been done in India, Saji’s case included, all at AIMS. The recipient of the first transplant, 31-year-old Manu TR, now works at the institute as a

counselor to encourage people to donate organs and help other recipients get their lives back on track.

All the three transplants have been “bilateral” or double, which means both hands were

transplanted in a single surgery.

Forearm transplants for patients with hands missing from the elbow – are very challenging and attempted only a few times in the world.A team of 25 surgeons and 12 anaesthetists -- led by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Subramania Iyer worked together to preserve as much tissue as they could and transplanted the new hand over them.

The entire surgery on Saji,

US expresses concern over Kashmir unrest, says in touch with Indian govt

including the retrieval and transplantation, took 14 hours and was done for free.

India’s first hand transplant recipient was Manu, then 29, who got new hands on January 12, 2015. The second recipient was Captain Abdul Rahim, who worked with Afghanistan’s Border Security Force and had lost both arms while defusing a bomb near Kabul.

The three surgeries have put India among a handful of countries -including the France, United States,?Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Iran and China -- that have successfully done hand transplants.

The forearm transplant is surgically more challenging than the wrist and hand transplants because the muscles that move the hand, fingers and thumb are located in the forearm, which was badly damaged by the electrical burns in Saji’s case.

“In transplants done above the wrist, the tendons are still connected, but in a forearm transplant, these connections have to be made to the muscle mass. Identification, tagging and connecting the nerves, tendons and arteries is very challenging,” said Dr Iyer.

Saji’s donor was Raison Sunny, 24, who was declared brain dead after a scooter accident in Angamaly, 30 kilometres away from Kochi.

Saji was discharged on Friday but will continue physiotherapy for two years to regain complete hand function and take immunosuppressant medicines for life to stop his body from rejecting his transplanted hands.

Not in favour of abolishing death penalty: Govt tells Rajya Sabha

New Delhi The government has said in the Rajya Sabha that it is not in favour of abolishing capital punishment.

“The prevailing circumstances in which we are living does not warrant abolition of death penalty,” junior home minister Kiren Rijiju told the Upper House on Friday.

He was replying to a private member’s resolution moved by D Raja of the CPI for the abolition of capital punishment.

The minister and deputy chairman PJ Kurien suggested to Raja to withdraw his resolution. But Raja did not agree, saying he has taken up the issue as a “mission and with a missionary zeal”.

The resolution was negated by the House by a voice vote.

On awarding of the death sentence, Rijiju said several factors such as the accused’s socio-economic condition, health, age and sex were considered before awarding such a sentence.

Referring to recommendations made by the Law Commission, Rijiju said it suggested abolishing death sentence except for terrorism and for

waging war.

Courts have awarded death penalty to 2,052 individuals between 1998 and 2013, a report released last year said.

However, only four people have been executed since 2000; the last being the hanging of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon in July 2015.

Rijiju explained that there are several provisions, such as Articles 71, 134 and 161, in the Constitution for commuting death sentence, and the Supreme Court has made it clear that capital punishment should be used in ‘exceptional circumstances’ and as an ‘unavoidable alternative’.

He said there are several remedies available with regard to the death sentence. Even if capital punishment has been awarded by a lower court and has been upheld by a high court, the person can approach the Supreme Court.

“Even if that fails, one can approach the governor and the President of India,” the minister said.

India has its own basis of formulating laws and it has to respect the ‘sentiments of the people’, Rijiju said.

confronting all forms of intolerance.”

TOLERANT-INCLUSIVE VISION “Were obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence. As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable,” he said. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their

tolerant-inclusive vision, which is so deeply in the interests of both India and the US. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women who were carrying buffalo meat were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur on suspicion that it was beef in the presence of police which arrested the duo. The incident came close on the heels of the attack on dalit youths in Gujarat by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow.

Beef row: US asks India to check rising intolerance, communal violence

Washington The United States has expressed concerns over the recent unrest in Kashmir and called on “all sides” to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue.

Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in southern part of Jammu and Kashmir. At least 47 people, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured in the ensuing violence. Kashmiris have alleged atrocities by Indian armed forces during street protests, and the use of pellet guns has been under the scanner. “We encourage all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to this,” state department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.“We have obviously seen reports of the clashes between protesters and Indian forces in Kashmir. And

we’re, of course, concerned by the violence, as you might expect we would be,” he said.

Kirby said the US was in close touch with the Indian government over the issue.

“But we’re obviously concerned by the violence and we want to see the tensions de-escalated,” Kirby said.Pakistani leaders have criticised India over the Kashmir unrest, and the country observed on July 20 a “black day” to protest against the killings. The move drew angry reaction from India, which accused Islamabad of interfering in New Delhi’s internal affairs and backing terrorism.

On Friday, protesters took to streets at many places in Kashmir and clashed with security forces defying curfew and restrictions. Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were taken into preventive custody.

New Delhi Expressing concern over reports of “rising intolerance and violence” in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do “everything in its power” to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators.

Responding to questions on reports of alleged violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat in Madhya Pradesh, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, “We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in

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Issue - 678 (10)

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2 - 8 August 2016

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Issue - 678 (11)

2 - 8 August 2016

Dirty water stunts millions of Indian children NEW DELHI India is home to the world’s largest number of stunted children due to a lack of toilets,

dirty water and poor hygiene, according to a new study published on Tuesday. Despite high economic growth in recent years, India has more stunted children than Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Republic of Congo combined, with 48 million under the age of five about 30 percent of the global total, a WaterAid report said.

Stunting is a form of malnutrition in which children are shorter than normal for their age and is largely

irreversible after the age of two.

If they survive, they grow up physically and intellectually weaker than their better-fed

peers.WaterAid says a lack of toilets and clean water are causing high levels of stunting in India.

That is because high rates of open defecation lead to contamination that can spread disease and infection.

Data collated by WaterAid showed that 140,000 children die every year from diarrhoea in India, while 76 million do not have access to safe water and 774 million live without adequate

’93 bomb blast convict Devinder Bhullar gets 21-day parole, again Amritsar Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) militant Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, convicted in the 1993 bomb blast in Delhi, got 21-day parole on Friday. This is the second parole Bhullar got in three months. He had got 21-day parole on April 23 as well. Additional deputy commissioner (ADC) TP Sandhu said, “Bhullar has been given 21day parole after he requested that he wanted to meet his family.”

Bhullar was shifted to the Amritsar central jail from Delhi’s Tihar jail in June last year. Soon after, he was admitted to the psychiatry ward of the local Guru

Nanak Hospital and has been receiving treatment for depression since then. Before

NEW DELHI A northern Indian state will soon begin a multi-million dollar search in the Himalayas for a mythical plant believed to hold life-saving properties, a local minister said Thursday.

Uttarakhand will spend 250 million rupees ($37 million) of state money hunting the herb Sanjeevani Booti, which is credited in the ancient Hindu text Ramayana with restoring life to the brother of a god.

While many wild plants with medicinal properties grow in the Himalayas, there is scant evidence that the plant ever existed, with sages and modern researchers failing for centuries to find it. “We have to try and it will never go to waste. If we are determined we will certainly find it,” Surendra Singh Negi, the state's minister for alternative medicine, told AFP. The minister said the search will focus on the Dronagiri range of Himalayas near the Chinese border, one mountain of which is mentioned in the epic Ramayana

as being the site where the magical herb grows.

“We have set an initial budget of 250 million rupees ($37 million) for the project,” Negi said.Scientists will start work in August, the minister said, adding that the central government has refused to fund the project.

Ancient texts say the plant has life-restoring properties, grows in the high mountains of the Himalayas and glows in the dark.

According to Ramayana, the monkey god Hanuman was tasked by the god Rama with fetching the herb after a healer said it would cure his dying brother Laxman.But Hanuman failed to identity the plant, instead uprooting the entire mountain and carrying it thousands of miles to treat the mortally injured prince during a war with demons in what is now Sri Lanka.

India's 5,000-year-old medicine system Ayurveda uses herbs to cure ailments and has seen a revival under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

60-year-old Afghan cleric arrested for marrying six-year-old girl being shifted to Amritsar, Bhullar was admitted to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in New Delhi as he was suffering from depression. He was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi.

Soni suicide case: AAP MLA from Narela Sharad Chauhan arrested NEW DELHI The Delhi Police's Crime Branch today arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sharad Chauhan for his alleged involvement in AAP female worker Soni Mishra's suicide case.Chouhan has been accused of abetting the suicide of Soni Mishra. Soni had committed suicide on July 19, alleging harassment by fellow party worker Ramesh Bhardwaj, who allegedly asked her for sexual favours.

Seven other people, including the previous investigating officer in the case, were also arrested with Chauhan. Soni had filed a molestation complaint against party colleague Ramesh Bhardwaj who was arrested in June. Her

sanitation.

“India has the highest number of people in the world... practising open defecation, which spreads deadly diseases and makes children more susceptible to diarrhoea and other infections,” said Megan Wilson-Jones, WaterAid health and hygiene analyst.

“So it is no surprise that so many children in India suffer from stunted growth,” she added.

Open defecation has long been a major health and sanitation problem in India, where almost 594 million people nearly half the population defecate in the open, according to UNICEF. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed the need to clean up India since storming to power in 2014 and has repeatedly urged every household to have a toilet within four years to end the spread of disease.

Nigeria ranked second with 10.3 million stunted children while Pakistan stood third in WaterAid’s study with 9.9 million.

Impoverished Bangladesh fared better than its bigger, wealthier neighbour India, recording 5.5 million cases in its 160 millionstrong population.

The country has almost eliminated open defecation in just over a decade through a concerted campaign to build toilets.East Timor was the country where stunting was most prevalent.

Nearly 58 percent of the young nation’s children suffered from the condition, while Germany had the lowest rate at 1.3 percent.

Indian state to hunt for life-saving mythical plant

family members told police that Soni went into depression after Wadhwa was granted bail who, she had alleged, was being protected by the local MLA Sharad Chauhan.

Kabul An elderly Afghan cleric has been arrested after he married a six-year-old girl, officials said Friday, in the latest case highlighting the scourge of child marriages in the war-battered country.Mohammad Karim, said to be aged around 60, was held in central Ghor province as he claimed her parents gave him the girl as a “religious offering”, officials said.But they cited the family of the girl, believed to be in shock, as saying that she was abducted from western Herat province, bordering Iran.“This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: ‘I am afraid of this man’,” said Masoom Anwari, head of the women affairs department in Ghor.The girl is currently in a woman’s shelter in Ghor and her parents are on their way to the province to collect her, the local governor’s office said.“Karim has been jailed and our investigation is ongoing,” said Abdul Hai Khatibi, the governor’s spokesman.The arrest comes just days after a 14-year-old pregnant girl was burned to death in Ghor, in a case that sparked

shock waves in Afghanistan.The family of that girl, Zahra, said she was tortured and set alight by her husband’s family. But relatives of the teenager’s husband insisted

her death was by self-immolation.

The incidents underscore rising incidents of child marriages in Afghanistan.“In some regions because of insecurity and poverty the families marry off their daughters at a very early age to get rid of them,” Sima Samar, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, told reporters this month.Afghan civil law sets the legal age of marriage at 16 for girls, yet 15 percent of Afghan women under 50 were married before their 15th birthday and almost half were married before the age of 18, according to Save the Children.“So many children who are married off at a young

age are deprived of their right to education, safety and the ability to make choices about their future,” the international charity said this month.“This is such a fundamental breach of a child’s basic rights.”

The latest case comes after a young woman was stoned to death in Ghor last November after being accused of adultery.And in March last year a woman named Farkhunda was savagely beaten and set ablaze in central Kabul after being falsely accused of burning a Koran. The mob killing triggered angry nationwide protests and drew global attention to the endemic violence facing Afghan women.

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Issue - 678 (12)

2 - 8 August 2016

Death row convict Gurdip Singh awaits ‘final decision’ in Indonesia New Delhi Uncertainty surrounds the fate of 10 death row prisoners in Indonesia, including Indian national Gurdip Singh, after they were granted a last minute reprieve early on Friday.

Indonesia’s attorney general M Prasetyo said on Friday their executions will be carried out at an “appropriate time”, while Molyanto, an official of the legal and human rights ministry, said it was unlikely the condemned people will face a firing squad in the near future.

Despite widespread criticism by rights advocates and appeals from distraught families and foreign governments, Indonesia executed four drug convicts early on Friday. Ten other condemned people who were to face a firing squad were spared.

For Singh’s family in Jalandhar district of Punjab, it has been a rollercoaster ride – an Indian official mistakenly informed them shortly after midnight on Thursday that he had been executed. Hours later, 48-yearold Singh called his wife Kulwinder Kaur and confirmed he was still alive.

Prasetyo said the postponement of the execution of 10 drug convicts on Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap city was a “last minute decision”. The executions were put off after a

comprehensive review involving police and foreign ministry officials to avoid “errors both judicial and non-judicial”, he told reporters in Jakarta.

“It was decided to carry on with executions of four drug convicts, while executions for the other 10 will be decided later and carried out at an appropriate time,” Prasetyo was quoted as saying

by The Jakarta Post.

Molyanto, the official from the legal and human rights ministry, told the Post it was unlikely the next wave of executions will be carried out in the “near future”.

He added, “There is no notification yet of another round of executions for the convicts whose executions were cancelled.”

The 10 death row convicts – three Indonesians and six foreigners – will be transferred from the prison island, where Indonesia carries out executions, to their former jails until a final decision is made, Prasetyo said.

Prasetyo rejected suggestions that Indonesia had halted the executions because of international pressure. He said though officials had heard many opinions, all parties should respect Indonesian law.

Indonesia’s Freddy Budiman, Seck Osmane from Senegal, and Michael Titus and Humphrey

Malerkotla Quran sacrilege: AAP MLA gets bail, alleges torture by cops

Sangrur A local court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Naresh Yadav on Saturday in connection with the alleged Quran sacrilege incident in Malerkotla on June 24.

Yadav’s advocate and head of party’s legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill said: “Yadav has been granted bail by the court of additional district and sessions judge Amarjeet Singh Virk at Sangrur on Saturday.” Yadav was released from the district prison at 5pm.

Yadav had been charged under Sections 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 153 A (promoting enmity on the ground of religion) and 295 (intention to insult religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Mehruali (Delhi) MLA was remanded in police custody for two days by Malerkotla court on

July 25 and was sent to judicial custody till August 1 on July 27.

Talking to the media after his release, Yadav said: “It was deeprooted conspiracy of the Parkash Singh Badal government to arrest me. This will backfire and people of Punjab will give a fitting reply to the SADBJP combine in the assembly elections.”

He alleged the police tortured him and pressured him to confess to his involvement in the sacrilege incident. Yadav said he had no connection with one of the accused Vijay Kumar. “I met him being an MLA. This doesn’t make me a partner in the crime,” he said.

Earlier, Shergill said there was no evidence with the police to link Yadav with the Malerkotla sacrilege case. The police have failed to find anything objectionable against Yadav. This all has been done at the behest of the Badal government, he alleged.

Jefferson from Nigeria were the convicts who were executed.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have said some of the death row prisoners had not

their impending execution only on Thursday morning.

Indonesian law requires that relatives be informed at 72 hours in advance.

been given a fair trial and that they were tortured in custody to obtain confessions.

Contrary to Indonesian law, the families of the condemned prisoners were informed about

“The Indonesian authorities are proceeding with indecent haste.

There are four clemency appeals that are still to be heard, and there are serious fair trial concerns about many prisoners’

cases,” said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Amnesty has also documented what it said were “systemic flaws in Indonesia’s criminal justice system and its implementation of the death penalty”.

These include violations of the right to a fair trial, the right not to be subjected to torture or to other cruel, inhuman treatment or punishment, the right to apply for clemency or pardon of a death sentence, and foreign nationals or others who do not understand or speak the language used by authorities are entitled to the assistance of an interpreter following arrest and at all other stages of the proceedings.

The imposition of the death penalty for drug-related offences also violates international law, which only permits the use of the punishment for “the most serious crimes”, Amnesty said.

Kejriwal gets bail in defamation case amid tense showdown with Akalis Amritsar Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal secured bail from an Amritsar court where he appeared on Friday in a defamation case filed by Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

The political undertones of the case were evident outside the court house where members of Majithia’s Akali Dal amassed in a show of strength. The sloganeering crowds forced Kejriwal to be brought into the courtroom through a backdoor.

Supporters of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is seeking to end a decade of AkaliBJP rule in state elections next year, were stopped a kilometre from the judicial complex.

Majithia took Kejriwal to court in May for linking him to the drugs trade in the state.

“The court has granted bail to Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh and

set the next hearing for October 15,” said senior lawyer and AAP leader HS Phoolka. “(Coaccused) Ashish Khetan did not appear today but he will be here

courage, he should get me arrested in six months.

Otherwise after six months, I will arrest Majithia,” Kejriwal said before his court appearance.

at next hearing.”

The war of words between the two sides continued on Friday.

“I want to say to Majithia that Majithia sahib we are not going to be scared with these FIRs. Only six months are left in Akali’s regime. If Majithia has the

“The people of Punjab will avenge each fake FIR registered from Majithia and Badals. Only six months are left and after six months, we will create a new Punjab.”

Hitting back at Kejriwal, Majithia, who was accompanied by state ministers and MLAs when he appeared in the court, said the AAP leader had got caught in his own web of “lies and deceit”.

“Kejriwal will not escape the clutches of law by getting bail in the case. It is a matter of ‘aaj bail kal jail’ for this arrogant leader,” Majithia said, adding, “He may run but he cannot escape the noose of justice”.

Supporters of both parties, including some who had gathered for hours in anticipation, carried placards berating each other. “Punjab di Jawani nu badnam karoge taan rokange, bani da niradar karoge te thokange (If you defame Punjab’s youth, we’ll stop you, if you disrespect Sikh scripture, we’ll thrash you,” threatened one Akali placard.The AAP banners played up Kejriwal’s statement: “Mein ik vaar nahi hazaar vaar kahanga, Majithia chitte da taskar hai (I’ll say it not once but a thousand times, Majithia is a drug smuggler).”

Death sentence to Bangladeshi convicted in 2005 Shramjeevi train blast case

Lucknow A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur on Saturday sentenced to death a Bangladesh national convicted in the July 2005 Shramjeevi Express blast which had left 12 passengers dead.

Additional Sessions judge Budhiram Yadav, who had convicted Mohammad Alamgir aka Ronny on Friday, pronounced the sentence amid high security.

The other accused, Ubaid-urRehman, will be sentenced on

August 2.Ronny was convicted for murder, attempt to murder and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, and under various sections of the Explosive Material Possession Act and the Railway Act.As many as 53 witnesses testified in this case.

More than 60 others were injured in the blast on board the train, which runs from New Delhi to Patna, on the Hariharpur crossing on the Lucknow-Varanasi rail section on July 28, 2005.

Issue - 678 (13)

2 - 8 August 2016

Belgium charges man with attempted ‘terrorist murder’ Brussels Belgian authorities on Saturday charged a man over an alleged plot to launch a new attack in Belgium as Europe remained on edge following a wave of jihadist

bloodshed in France and Germany.

An investigating judge charged Nourredine H, 33, with attempting to commit “terrorist murder” and “taking part in the activities of a terrorist organisation,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.

It said the charges come in the “case opened concerning a possible terrorist attack in Belgium.”

He was arrested along with his brother Hamza H following raids on Friday in Belgium’s Frenchspeaking areas of Mons and Liege, but Hamza was released Saturday without charge, the office said in a statement.

It had said earlier that both were “suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium,” but gave no other details.

The prosecutor’s office said there was for now no link to the suicide bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 32 people

dead.Those attacks were claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group that holds swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

No weapons or explosives were found in Friday’s raids, seven in the Mons area and one in Liege, that were ordered by a judge specialising in counter-terror cases, it said.

But Belgium’s French-language broadcaster RTBF reported earlier it had information that one of the brothers had been searching for weapons and other “material.”

He had served in the past as a logistics man for jihadists leaving for and returning from the Middle East, it added.

Jihadist springboard Belgium is the main source per head of population of jihadist recruits going from the European

Union to fight with IS in Syria, causing deep concern that they will return home battle-hardened and even more radicalised.

The interior ministry said 457 Belgian men and women have gone or tried to join jihadists in the Middle East, including 90 who are missing or dead.

Belgium launched its first attacks against IS in Iraq in late 2014 as part of a US-led coalition. It joined a similar antiIS operation in Syria this year.

Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed in March were directly linked to the November 13 bombing and gun attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and were also claimed by IS.Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a Euro 2016 fanzone in central Brussels.

Belgium then beefed up security for its July 21 national day celebrations after the truck attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14.

The authorities in Belgium, which hosts the headquarters of the 28nation EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, had previously anticipated a possible truck-style attack before the Nice carnage.

In less than two weeks in July, IS jihadists claimed four bloody assaults in France and Germany.

Experts say each attack can inspire others, with jihadists egged on further by the media spotlight the atrocities attract.

Teen released, two still in custody for French church attack

Paris A teenager detained following the gruesome killing of an 85-yearold priest by a pair of jihadi attackers in northwest France was released on Saturday, a French official said.

An official with the Paris prosecutor’s office said investigators questioning the 16year-old found evidence of regular visits to jihadi sites and of “incitement to terrorism,” but that the minor’s case had been handed over to prosecutors in the nearby city of Rouen who cover the region. She spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not allowed to be named publicly.

Judicial authorities in Rouen did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

A Syrian refugee and a cousin of one of the two attackers remain in custody following the July 26 attack in the French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray which claimed the life of Rev Jacques Hamel as he celebrated morning Mass. The violence sent shockwaves around France and deeply touched many among the nation’s 5 million Muslims.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as the July 14 truck attack in Nice, where 84 people were killed by a man who ploughed a

truck down a seaside promenade. France has seen rising jihadi violence in the past 18 months, with attacks against journalists, Jews, police and partygoers.

The deadliest violence struck Paris on Nov. 13, when Muslim fanatics targeted Paris’ Bataclan concert hall, restaurants and a stadium, killing 130 people and wounding hundreds more.

In a separate development, two men suspected of connections to the Paris attacks were extradited Friday from Austria to France. The men, identified by Austrian authorities as a 35-yearold from Pakistan and a 29-yearold from Algeria, are believed to have come to Europe last year posing as refugees. French authorities have said the men were handed preliminary charges of “criminal terrorist association.”

In yet another development, the official with the Paris prosecutor’s office said that an unnamed man detained in the wake of the Nice truck attack would be sent to Paris on Monday, a step toward preliminary charges.

The man is suspected of being the person who posed for a selfie with the driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the cab of the vehicle used in the attack, she said.

Back by US, Afghan forces mount offensive against Islamic State Afghanistan When Afghan troops pushed into Kot, a district close to the border with Pakistan, this week, they found many of the houses empty, with posters plastered on the walls and black flags left by departing Islamic State fighters.

Backed by US special forces troops and airstrikes that authorities say have killed hundreds of Islamic State fighters in recent weeks, the Afghan army has launched an offensive against the movement, which is now believed to be confined to three or four districts in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan commanders said they faced little resistance as they pushed into Kot after a heavy air and artillery bombardment as fighters pulled out into nearby mountain areas.“We have already destroyed their training camps in Kot district and the operations will expand to other districts too,” said Shereen Agha, an Afghan army spokesman. Provincial government spokesman Attahullah Khogyani said 78 IS fighters had been killed in the

operation and many bodies had been concealed inside houses to hide the number of fatalities they had suffered. Five US special forces troops, fighting alongside Afghan special forces, were injured in the fighting.Involving both regular army and special forces, the operation in Nangarhar, dubbed “Wrath of the Storm”, coincided with last week’s suicide bombing in Kabul that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 230 more.The operation, the Afghan army’s first major strategic offensive of the summer, was planned well before the attack on a demonstration by mainly Shiite

Hazara people in Kabul.

But that attack, which was immediately claimed by Islamic State, added urgency to the operation, which military officials say has pushed IS fighters back into the mountains of southern Nangarhar.

Abdul Hakim, one of the residents left in the dusty town bazaar, gave a careful welcome to the incoming troops.

“I am very happy to see the government forces defeated IS and saved us from the atrocities and terror,” he said as troops moved about pulling down the posters and flags covering many of the surrounding walls.

However after innumerable false dawns in decades of conflict in Afghanistan, officials in the NATO-led coalition that provides assistance to Afghan forces are cautious about declaring success against Islamic State, which President Ashraf Ghani promised to “bury” in January.

According to figures quoted in a report by the Special Investigator for Afghanistan, a US watchdog, Afghan government forces control just under two thirds of the country, 5 percent less than at the start of the year.

But Western officials say the army has increasingly taken the offensive against the insurgents, both Taliban and Islamic State, and prevented the fall of district and provincial centres.

Islamic State first appeared in Afghanistan at beginning of 2015 and US officials say some 70% of its fighters come from the TTP, the Pakistani Taliban, many from the Orakzai area in the frontier region on the Pakistan side of the border.

Previously considered a much smaller threat than the Taliban, their bitter enemies, the Kabul

bombing underlined how dangerous they could be, even without holding large tracts of territory. Afghan and US military officials believe the concentrated attacks on the movement over the past six months have killed many of its fighters and leaders and weakened the group, despite its ability to mount the Kabul attack. Gen. John Nicholson, the senior US commander in Afghanistan, said this week that the number of IS fighters, estimated at around 3,000 in January, has been roughly cut in half and now stood at between 1,000-1,500.

Impotence?

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Issue - 678 (14)

2 - 8 August 2016

Hafiz Saeed overseeing attacks by ISIS France church attackers smiled, spoke of Quran, seemed happy: Witness fighters in Afghanistan: Voice of America One of the jihadists who murdered an elderly French priest smiled as he carried out the attack, and nuns who witnessed the grisly murder said the

the Islamic State group and both were killed by police in the shock attack.

The men stormed the 17thcentury stone church during mass in the town of

killers spoke about the Quran.The two nuns who were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed , his throat slit on the altar, said the men appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack at the Eglise Saint-Etienne in Normandy on July 26.

Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased.

“I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy,” nun Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie on Friday.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche , both 19, had pledged allegiance to

Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking several hostages before killing the priest and seriously wounding another captive.

One nun fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the jihadists.

At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. “I asked for my cane, he gave it to me,” she said.

Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Quran.

“Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I’ve read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are

the suras about peace,” Sister Helene responded.

One of the attackers replied: “Peace, it’s what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks.

And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop.”Neighbours and acquaintances said Kermiche was “obsessed” with going to Syria, where an international coalition including France is carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group.

“Are you afraid to die?” one of the attackers asked.

The nun said no, then he said: “Why?” “I believe in God, and I know I will be happy” Sister Helene said, as she quietly prayed to herself.

Then they started talking about God. “Jesus cannot be God and a man. It is you who are wrong,” one of the men said.

“Maybe, but too bad,” Sister Huguette replied.

At that moment, she prepared for her own death, not knowing what was coming next.

“Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God” she added.

Pakistani man with LeT links charged with terror for November Paris attacks The 29-year-old Algerian Adel Haddadi and the 35year-old Pakistani Mohamad Usman were

one of a series of brazen assaults by around 10 people around the French capital.

charged on Friday with “criminal conspiracy with terrorists”, a judicial source told AFP. Usman is reportedly thought to be a bombmaker for Pakistani extremist organisations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The men were turned over to France by Austrian authorities on Friday.

Investigators believe they travelled to the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat full of refugees as two men who took part in the November 13 attacks.

Those two men, thought to be Iraqis, blew themselves up outside Stade de France stadium,

But Haddadi and Usman were held up, detained by Greek authorities for 25 days because they had fake Syrian passports.

Once let go, they followed the main migrant trail and made it to Salzburg in western Austria at the end of November--after the Paris attacks.

Austrian police commandos arrested them in December at a migrant centre a few hours after French authorities informed them the men could be in the country.

Austrian police said on Friday “that during the entire journey and until their arrest the men remained in constant contact with the terror

group ‘Islamic State’”.

After his arrest, Haddadi told investigators that he wanted to go to France to “carry out a mission”, according to a statement seen by AFP. A source close to the investigation said Haddadi “was meant to take part in the Paris killings with his travelling companions”.

After France filed a European arrest warrant, a court in Salzburg approved the transfer of the two men to France at the beginning of July.

Usman unsuccessfully appealed against his transfer from Austria, saying he would not get a fair trial in France and that he feared for his safety.

India holds LeT, the group to which Usman has been linked, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

Salzburg prosecutors said on Friday two more men, a Moroccan and an Algerian arrested eight days after the others, remained in custody. In December, prosecutors had said that these men, aged 25 and 40 at the time, were being held “because of indications of close contact” with Haddadi and Usman.

Former Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed is now overseeing attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Afghanistan, news agency ANI reported quoting the US radio channel, Voice of America.

The revelation on Saeed wanted by India for the Mumbai attacks - was made in a statement released by the Afghan Defence Ministry during the trilateral high-level military meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO officials. Earlier this month, the US had expressed serious concern over Saeed's free movement in Pakistan despite his being designated as a terrorist by the United Nations. Saeed has been listed by the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee and is also on the US rewards for Justice Program.

HAFIZ SAEED: WANTED

BY INDIA India also recently named Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin - Pakistanbased terror heads - for fuelling the ongoing tension in Jammu and Kashmir following the July 8 killing of Burhan Wani.

Saeed, who carries a $10-

million bounty on his head, is also wanted by India for planning the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166

obsession about being equal and trying to equalise the field with?crazies like Hafiz Saeed because he

people were killed by Pakistan-based terrorists.

“PAK SHOULD STOP DEALING WITH CRAZIES LIKE SAEED” On Wednesday, former Pakistan Ambassador to US Husain Haqqani had warned his country that its “obsession” to match India in military strength and efforts to equalise the field with “crazies” like Hafiz Saeed, would only create hatred which will bite it back. “What is this

will only create?hatred, which will only bite us back,” Haqqani said in Bengaluru during the launch of his book, 'India vs Pakistan - Why Can't We Just Be Friends'. “The circumstances in Pakistan are not conducive because extremists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar are still free and open to operate. I think the normalisation (process) will not be easy between the two countries,” he added.

IS executes 24 civilians after seizing Syria village: Monitor The Islamic State jihadist group has executed at least 24 civilians after seizing a village in northern Syria from a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, a monitor said Friday.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS executed 24 civilians “in the last 24 hours” after taking Buyir from the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Issue 678 (15)

2 - 8 August 2016

John Abraham and Varun Dhawan deliver a feel-good film

by Ananya Bhattacharya Cast: John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Saqib Saleem, Akshaye Khanna Direction: Rohit Dhawan Rating: 3 Stars Somewhere in the Middle East, India is playing a series. Viraj Sharma (Saqib Saleem), India’s most-loved cricketer is the man to watch out for on the field. During the semi-finals, India beat Sri Lanka to reach the finals, where they will battle it out with Pakistan.

36 hours to the match.

Viraj is missing. A CCTV footage shows the cricketer leaving with a lady, Samaira Dalal (Nargis Fakhri, in a special appearance). Back home in India, the Foreign Minister is alerted. She receives a video of a Pakistani fan telling to the camera that Viraj will stay off the field during the India-Pakistan finals.

Without India’s best batsman, the team is bound to crumble in front of Pakistan.

Vividly modelled on Sushma Swaraj, Mona

Ambegaonkar asks Kabir Shergill (John Abraham) from the Special Task Force to fly to the Middle East to aid the government in rescuing Viraj. No one is to know about this topsecret mission, goes without saying.

Kabir meets the police officials in this country and asks for a guide to aid him in Operation Get Viraj.

Enter Junaid (Varun Dhawan), the police’s most worthless officer.

Kabir and Junaid get on the task of delivering Viraj to the stadium during the finals.

The brothers-in-arms’ adventure is marked by twists and turns, and generous doses of laughter.

There’s the friendly pickpocket Ishika (Jacqueline Fernandez) too to help these cops get to Viraj.

Their adversary here is betting giant ‘Wagah’ (Akshaye Khanna), who, much like the India-Pakistan border his code-name echoes, belongs neither here nor there.

Rohit Dhawan and Tushar Hiranandani’s story is paced well. With not too many songs, Dishoom moves at a commendable

speed. The screenplay has loopholes, but the story doesn’t meander from the course a lot.

Dishoom deserves accolades for the slickly choreographed action scenes.

The chase sequences are fun to watch. The lavishly done helicopter chase deserves a special mention.

John Abraham as Kabir is perfect with the gun and punches. He breaks bones with ease, and has a grumpy expression permanently stamped on his face. Kabir softens himself only for Junaid, who he develops a soft corner for during the course of the film. Varun Dhawan’s Junaid is affable at times and (deliberately?) annoying at others. Dhawan’s comic timing calls for much applause.

Jacqueline doesn’t make much of an impression, but does what she is expected to: be around the men as a pleasant distraction.

Dishoom brings back Akshaye Khanna from hibernation. As Wagah, Khanna is reminiscent of his Race (2008) days. He is not a menacing villain who can give you the

chills, but he is intimidating in parts. Saqib Saleem reminds one of Virat Kohli,

who his Viraj is based on.

In his few-minute long cameo, Akshay Kumar

takes the cake. His manbun, the shaved legs. And Akshay Kumar in a skirt.

young newbie who wants to keep a dialogue open with Bourne (basically another Pamela Landy), the amazing Vincent Cassel plays the ‘asset’ who

doesn’t say much unless it’s with a gun. Riz Ahmed plays the part of a Mark Zuckerberg-esque social media billionaire, rather well.

Jesus Christ, it’s Matt Damon!

And we couldn’t be happier

by Tatsam Mukherjee Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed.

Direction: Paul Greengrass Rating: 4 Stars Jason Bourne is about efficiency. He’s not one of those who will dive in front of bullets in slow motion and try to look cool. No offense, Keanu Reeves.

Bourne is a different kind of cool. He will use a ballpoint pen against a machete, and still manage to puncture his opponent in his/her jugular. In one scene in the franchise’s latest film - Bourne is racing against time on a motor-bike navigating his way

through a protest-torn Athens. He has asked his colleague to meet him at a certain point, and knowing she will have company, he gets ready for combat. He takes out a weapon, shoots one, punches one, drifts the bike and hits two more. He takes out four people in the space of a second and a half.

Jason Bourne doesn’t waste time, and the makers make us feel the essence of it. So even when he sees his colleague Nicky Parsons after almost a decade, his only question is - what’s wrong?

While Bond has his cheese, women and scotch, Ethan Hunt does anything Tom Cruise can buy, there is this no non-

sense efficiency to Bourne which sets him apart from other spies. There’s a subtlety to the action in his films. You’ll see a good mix of Krav Maga, Capoeira, and various martial arts in some very believable, bloody action sequences - where neither of the men know how to back down.

In the franchise’s fifth film, the action kicks off almost a decade after Bourne Ultimatum. The amnesiac assassin has been on the run, since getting his memory back. He’s become a prize-fighter taking down East European hulks with a single punch, or ‘punishing’ himself by taking punches until he feels the need to finish the fight with one swift combi-

nation of punches and kicks. Until one day he is contacted and told that he was under surveillance way before he was recruited, and that his father might have something to do with Treadstone - the black-op under which Bourne was recruited.

The film goes from Athens to Berlin to London to Vegas, ticking off the boxes for globe-trotting spy thrillers that Bourne films have always been. The actors are outstanding for their parts, even as they play mere tokens inside the Bourne universe. Tommy Lee Jones is terrific as the manipulative, chest-beating patriot, CIA director Robert Dewey, Alicia Vikander is the confident

Issue 678 (16)

2 - 8 August 2016

Hardworking, persistent ones get lucky in Bollywood says Lisa Haydon There is a common belief that Bollywood is a tough nut to crack for outsiders. But modelactress Lisa Haydon says that in the long run, only hard work and persistence matter, not “film families”. When asked whether it is difficult for an outsider to break into the industry, Lisa said it is the will to succeed that drives people in the industry.

“If you are hardworking, talented, reasonably charming or good looking and determined, you have a chance to make it.

There are pros and cons on both sides. In the end, the hard working and persistent ones are the ones that get ‘lucky’ -- whether in or out of film families,” Lisa told IANS in an email interview from Mumbai.

After a successful stint as a model, the tall and dusky beauty made her acting debut with the 2010 film “Aisha” and went on to do films like “Rascals”, “Queen”, “The Shaukeens” and “Housefull 3”. Before heading to the tinsel town, Lisa walked into

When Salman Khan couldn’t fight back tears

the fashion world as a model, and then did a spate of television commercials.

The actress says she picks projects on the basis of her instinct regarding the script, director, costars as well as all aspects that go into making a good film.

She asks: “What is a good script without a good director or a good director without a good actor?”

For now, Lisa is cojudging “India’s Next Top Model” with celebrity photographer Dabboo Ratnani, while MTV VJ and actress Anusha Dandekar and grooming expert Neeraj Gaba will be the mentors of the contestants. The show is aired on MTV channel.

What about her future projects? “There are two projects up for discussion shortly,” said the actress, who will be seen in a cameo in “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”.

Salman Khan broke down at the condolence meet for Rajjat Barjatya held at an auditorium in Bandra yesterday. Rajjat, cousin of filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya, passed away on July 29 following a battle against cancer. Salman Khan broke down at the condolence meet for Rajjat Barjatya held at an auditorium in Bandra yesterday. Rajjat, cousin

of filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya, passed away on July 29 following a battle against cancer. Salman tweeted a picture of Rajjat saying: “Rest in peace my brother Rajjat Barjatya”. He was seen wiping tears in his car while heading back home.

Sonam Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and a few other BTown celebs also attended the prayer meet.

Failure is a part of life says Yami Gautam I can never be a director says Alia Bhatt After delivering a hit with the 2012 film ‘Vicky Donor’, actress Yami Gautam has also tasted failure in her four-yearlong journey in the industry. But she shrugs it off, saying “failure is a part of life”. Asked if

failure of a film affects her, Yami told IANS: “There is failure in every industry, there is failure in every step. It’s just that we are working in an industry where everything is just out there that is why it looks so magnified. But failure is a part of life.”

The “Badlapur” star says till the time one doesn’t fail, “how would you know what is the taste of success or what it is to be successful”.

“Even though ‘Vicky Donor’ was a huge

success, I have had one or two films, which have not done well, but that’s alright,” she added. Yami says failure helps in growing as a person.

“You do feel bad of course at that time, but if I didn’t move ahead I wouldn’t have got these films that I got today,” Yami said. On the work front, Yami will soon be seen sharing screen space with superstar Hrithik Roshan in “Kaabil”, directed by Sanjay Gupta. The film, produced by Hrithik’s father Rakesh Roshan under his banner FilmKraft Productions, is set to release on January 26 next year.

Alia Bhatt has showcased her acting prowess and singing skills as well as her fashionable side, but the actress says she will never wear the director’s hat for any project. The daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and yesteryear actress Soni Razdan added that she can plunge into the filmmaking business as a producer, but never as a director. “Maybe I can produce (films) one day, but I don’t think I can ever be a director

“Udta Punjab”.

Her only setback was last year’s “Shaandaar”.

Asked if she takes any guidance from her family, she said: “While making the film no advice comes from my parents.

All advice comes from my director.”

The actress will next be seen in director Gauri Shinde’s upcoming “Dear Zindagi” alongside superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The film will release on November 25. because being a director takes a lot. I don’t think I have that capability,” Alia told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

Since her debut project “Student of the Year” in 2012, she has delivered laudable performances in films like “Highway”, “2 States”, “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, “Kapoor and Sons” and

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Issue 678 (17)

2 - 8 August 2016

Margot Robbie holds Jessica Alba introduces victims breath for stunt in ‘Suicide Squad’ of gun violence at award show Actress Jessica Alba introduced a group of teenagers affected by gun violence on stage at the Teen Choice Awards 2016. “They share an unlikely bond that is hard to comprehend.

They’re the brothers, sisters, daughters, and family members of recent victims of gun violence,” Alba told the audience. “I am talking about Aurora, Baton Rouge, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown. It keeps

Happier with Alicia Cargile than any man says Kristen Stewart Kristen Stewart has opened up about her relationship with Alicia Cargile for the first time, saying she is “really in love” with her girlfriend. In an interview to Elle UK magazine, the 26year-old ‘Cafe Society’ actress has gushed about her on-off girlfriend, Cargile. “Right now I am just really in love with my girlfriend. We’ve broken up a couple of times and gotten back together, and this time I was like, ‘Finally, I can feel again.’“ Kristen Stewart, who dated her ‘Twilight’ costar Robert Pattinson

from 2009 to 2013, said dating a girl has completely changed her life and made her even more happy. “When I was

dating a guy I was hiding everything that I did because everything personal felt like it was immediately trivialized, so I didn’t like it. “But then it changed when I started dating a girl.

I was like, ‘Actually, to hide this provides the implication that I’m not down with it or I’m ashamed of it, so I had to alter how I approached being in public. It opened my life up and I’m so much happier,” she said. Kristen Stewart previously dated French actress and musician Soko for a short period before calling it off in May this year.

happening and it has to stop. Many of those impacted by these acts of violence are teens.”

The group on stage then introduced themselves to the crowd. Among them were J.T. Lewis, whose brother was killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, two of San Bernardino victim Bennetta Betbadal’s children, the siblings of Jason Josephat, who died during the shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, and Alton Sterling’s son, Cameron, reported Entertainment Weekly. “Tonight we stand together with these teens,” Alba, 35, said after they introduced themselves. “United in a call for peace and an end to this violence. Now more than ever we need to stop, feel, and ask, ‘What’s going on?’“ They were met with a standing ovation, and a performance from Ne-Yo, who sang Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” Alba then continued through her tears: “These teens had the courage to come here with their grief and take a stand. Tonight NeYo and I and all of us here and all of you watching need to do the same.”

Margot Robbie has revealed she held her breath underwater for five minutes in her upcoming action-crime fantasy ‘Suicide Squad’.

The 26-year-old star said she specially learnt the dangerous skill for a underwater battle scene in the film, reported Entertainment Weekly.

“I worked with this amazing free-diver, and he came in and I did four sessions with him. It’s

all about lowering your metabolic rate. It’s like you meditate underwater. That’s what freedivers do, but it’s amazing,” Robbie said.

The actress said as her training went on she even started holding her breath for longer time, “I got to five minutes and I was like, ‘You know what? This is above and beyond what I thought I’d get to. I’m good, I’m good with five.”

Blake Lively thinks ‘Gossip Girl’ reunion would be fun Actress Blake Lively thinks it would be fun to bring back the hit American TV show ‘Gossip Girl’. The 28-year-old became popular after playing Serena van der Woodsen in the drama series, which ended in 2012, and she believes her former cast-mates would enjoy a reunion series, reports eonline.com. “I don’t know, it would be fun.

We had such a great time doing that that I think we all would really enjoy that,” she said. Lively, who is expecting her second child, a sibling for 19month-old daughter

James, with husband Ryan Reynolds, said she misses the show. “I miss it sometimes, too,” she said. Meanwhile, “Gossip

Girl” executive producer Josh Schwarz said he hasn’t even considered the possibility of bringing back the show, which ran for 12 seasons. “We haven’t really explored some of those conversations. Maybe, I don’t know. We haven’t really thought about it,” he said.

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Issue 678 (18)

2 - 8 August 2016

Crashed Texas balloon’s pilot was arrested for drink-driving in 2000 Texas The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard had been arrested in Missouri for driving while intoxicated in 2000, police said, and the Better Business Bureau there had warned consumers about doing business with him after complaints about his balloon touring company. Alfred “Skip” Nichols, 49, was identified as the pilot by his friend and roommate Alan Lirette, who said that Nichols was a good pilot. “That’s the only thing I want to talk about, is that he’s a great pilot,” Lirette said, speaking to the AP from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Texas.

“There’s going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too.” Federal investigators said the balloon, which was operated

by Heart of Texas Hot Air

Balloon Rides, hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas early Saturday morning. One witness who lives a quarter-mile from the site, Margaret Wylie, said she heard pop-

ping sounds and saw what looked “like a fireball going up”. Authorities have not publicly named Nichols or the victims of the crash.

They said identification of the bodies could be a long process. There were reports of foggy weather in the area around the time of the flight. At least two of

the passengers, Matt Rowan and his wife Sunday Rowan, posted photos on social media of the preparations, the early morning sunrise and themselves in the basket of the balloon a short time before

the crash.

Ground crew members told investigators that they launched about 20 minutes after the expected 6:45am time. The balloon travelled about 8 miles from take off to crash, and the basket was found about threequarters of a mile from the balloon itself. National

Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered 14 personal electronic devices, including cellphones, an iPad and three cameras from the crash site, which will be sent to a lab in Washington for analysis.

NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said the immediate focus of the investigation would be gathering witness testimony, starting with the ground crew on Monday. “They’ve been busy trying to collect the maintenance records for us,” Sumwalt said of the ground crew, adding that the records may be in Houston. Sumwalt said the pilot had a commercial certificate to fly a hot air balloon and those records are being gathered from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Asked if the pilot had any criminal history, Sumwalt said it was too early in the investigation to know.

Nigerian behind $60 million online fraud network arrest Lagos A Nigerian behind an online fraud network, which engineered scams worth more than $60 million through email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including India, has been arrested in southern oil city of Port Harcourt, Interpol said on Monday. “The 40-year-old Nigerian national, known as ‘Mike’, is believed to be behind scams totalling more than $60 million involving hundreds of victims worldwide,” the international police organisation said in a statement. “In one case, a target was conned into paying out $5.4 million,” Interpol said, indicating that the arrest was carried out with the support of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia,

Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States,” it said. The suspect ran a network of at least 40 people working from Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa which used malware and carried out the fraud, and he also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US

who provided bank account details for the illicit cash flow.

“Following his arrest in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, a forensic examination of devices seized by the EFCC showed he had been involved in a range of criminal activities including business e-mail compromise and romance scams,” it said. The suspect and a fellow fraudster, 38, who was also arrested in the city, face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.

Issue 678 (19)

2 - 8 August 2016

India to make all efforts to get Kohinoor back from UK New Delhi India intends to pursue all possible avenues to get back the famed 106-carat Kohinoor, currently set in a royal crown on display in the Tower of London, despite the British

government’s recent statement that there is no legal ground for restitution of the diamond.

With an estimated value of over USD 200 million, Kohinoor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore after the subjugation of Punjab in 1849 by the British forces, which had confiscated the properties of the Sikh Empire. “The government is considering both diplomatic as well as legal channels to get back the diamond. If India is able to get back the diamond through diplomatic efforts, then it would not go for the legal channel. But if

that does not fructify, then the government will explore legal option,” a senior government source said. Only recently, the UK minister of Asia and Pacific affairs, Alok Sharma, indicated that the Kohinoor

could probably never find its way to India. “As far as this issue is concerned, there is no legal ground for restitution,” he said during his visit here last week.

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabankdhak Committee (SGPC), which represents the Sikh community, jumped into the matter to stake claim over the precious gem. SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh urged the Centre to take up the matter with the British government and demand its return to the Sikh community. Punjab cabinet minister Daljit Singh Cheema also said the state has the “legitimate right” over the dia-

mond and claimed that it was taken away in a “deceitful” manner by the British from Maharaja Duleep Singh who was last Sikh ruler of Punjab.

As political pressure mounts on the government to bring back the diamond, which also is an emotive issue, culture minister Mahesh Sharma had a meeting with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj recently where it was reportedly decided that India would approach Britain next month on the issue of bringing it back.

The Supreme Court is hearing a case seeking Kohinoor’s return and the meeting had also deliberated on taking the government before the apex court. The court had asked the government whether it was willing to stake a claim on the diamond. The Kohinoor issue snowballed into a major controversy after the government made a submission in the Supreme Court in April that it was neither “forcibly taken nor stolen” by the British but given as a “gift” to the East India Company by the rulers of Punjab, indicating it cannot be claimed by India now.

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

African couple among 4 held for supplying drugs in Punjab, Delhi New Delhi Police claimed to have unearthed a nexus between Punjab-based and foreign drug suppliers with the arrest

missioner of police (DCP special cell) Sajiv Kumar Yadav said.

Balwinder and Surender received 3kg heroin from

of four persons, including an African couple, and recovered 4kg heroin worth Rs 16 crore in the international market from them.

“The group’s kingpin Micheal Chinedu Chukwudi, a Nigerian national, his wife Catherine Leonard Mrope from Tanzania and drug suppliers Surender Singh and Balwinder Singh, both from Kapurthala in Punjab were arrested on Saturday,” Delhi deputy com-

Micheal and were going to supply it near a petrol pump close to the Rohini jail in the national capital when they were nabbed by the special cell sleuths, the official said.

During interrogation, the duo admitted that they used to supply heroin in Punjab and DelhiNCR. Micheal, who lived at Pochanpur in Dwarka, had rented two-three apartments there and a house in Gurgaon

where he used to keep heroin, Yadav said.

Simultaneous raids were conducted in Dwarka and Gurgaon and the kingpin of the cartel was arrested and 1kg heroin was recovered from him, the official said.

In another raid, Micheal’s wife was arrested on the charges of illegally staying in the country for nearly two years, forgery and possession of fake passport, he said.

Apart from their Nigerian and Tanzanian passports, counterfeit South African passports with stickers of fake visa of India and immigration stamps were recovered from the couple, Yadav said.

During interrogation, Michael admitted that his friends had contacts in Pakistan and Afghanistan and they used to send heroin to him through human couriers as well as courier deliveries. He was supplying heroin to drug suppliers in Punjab through Balwinder and Surender for past six months, the DCP said.

In a first, Sikh leads gay pride parade in Canada with PM Trudeau

Toronto Sunday was a big day for the IndoCanadian LGBT community as the Vancouver Pride Parade was led

by Alex Sangha, the first-ever Sikh to be the grand marshal of an event of this nature. While the appearance of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – the first person in his office to take part – raised the parade’s profile higher, just as significant for the community was the presence of Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan.

Sangha, who was in driven along the parade route in a car painted in the colours of the rainbow, was its Role Model Grand Marshal. He told Hindustan Times after the march, “It was amazing. It’s very meaningful to see a brown person leading the Parade. That sent a message of diversity within the queer community.” Sangha, who runs Sher Vancouver, a non-profit that works on LGBT issues within the community, is a resident of Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver and also the unofficial capital of the Sikh population in Canada. In that sense, his presence was particularly symbolic as the matter of ho-

mosexuality remains “taboo within the Sikh community,” as he pointed out. “You need role models in this world,” he said.

That made Sajjan’s participation at the parade important. The Minister tweeted images of walking with the crowds, noting: “Excited to be marching in #Vancouver Pride today. We’re #Forever Proud.”

“Sajjan is in a prominent situation.

He’s a role model for the community. This makes the work I do easier; it’s easier when we see these high-profile leaders,” Sangha said, referring to his outreach and activism on gay issues within the community.

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Issue 678 (20)

2 - 8 August 2016

Parrikar brings the tanks to Parliament but gets

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was today attacked in parliament on his comments about actor Aamir Khan by opposition parties who have accused him of "spreading insecurity."

"May I ask what type of lesson he is going to teach us? The entire nation must know," said the Congress's Ghulam Nabi Azad, while the Left's Sitaram Yechury said, "Raksha Mantri can't spread araksha (insecurity).' Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister on "why he is not reining in his ministers on what they say."

Over the weekend, the Defence Minister spoke about Aamir Khan and e-commerce major Snapdeal being taught an appropriate "lesson" after the actor expressed concern about what he called an atmosphere of intolerance. Snapdeal which used Mr Khan as a brand ambassador was trolled aggressively on social media and the actor is no longer associated with the company. Mr Parrikar who was present in the House today

7$1.6 2876,'( %87 $77$&.(' ,16,'( suggested that members watch the video of his speech rather than rely on media reports. In a disclaimer, he has said he did not mention anyone by name and was "only talking about people who talk against the country and not about someone's freedom of speech." Sources said he could make a statement in the Rajya Sabha and submit a transcript of his speech in the house. No time has been fixed yet for this, but the government will be keen to end the controversy quickly so it can prep unhindered to debate and pass the landmark goods and services tax bill in the upper house. The centre is targeting

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tomorrow for a vote on the proposal, after winning the support of most parties through extensive negotiations for GST, which replaces a mesh of state and central levies with a national sales tax. The GST bill, which needs the constitution to be amended, must get the support of two-

thirds of the Rajya Sabha. Even without the 60 Rajya Sabha members of the Congress, the centre feels it has enough backing now to push the reform through.

However, the Congress needs to abstain from disrupting the House to allow the bill to be discussed.

Issue 678 (21)

2 - 8 August 2016

ed at for his alleged remarks against actor Aamir K

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PHPEHU 6DVLNDOD K MP Sasikala Pushpa, who dly slapped DMK lawmaker Siva at Delhi airport on y, claimed on Monday that s slapped by a "leader" and hreat to life in Tamil Nadu, she was being forced to quit Sabha. Pushpa first rushed Well of the House to get ion to make her statement n broke down several times

said she faced "life threat" te government and alluded to g slapped by a "leader". She r did not make it clear who her and when. Later, she was d from the party by AIADMK o J Jayalalithaa for "anti-party s". the issue in the Upper House, d, "If an MP is being slapped der, where is human dignity," ing strong protest from rs of her own party AIADMK.

As she found support in opposition members who wanted the chair to allow her to make her full submission, A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK) walked into the well of the House and demanded that her remarks be expunged. "I have life threat... I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post," she said. "Where is women's safety in this country? I am being harassed. I need protection.

In Tamil Nadu, I don't have safety.

There is threat to my life."

Pushpa said she was thankful to her party leader for sending her to Rajya Sabha but "if a leader can slap an MP, I need protection. I need government's protection." "I want to serve the country (and not resign)," she said. "I am not here in Rajya Sabha for any benefit." Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and will protect her too. He however asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. The aggrieved member can write to the Chairman for necessary action, Kurien said.

Issue 678 (22)

2 - 8 August 2016

US to crack down on ocean noise that harms fish WASHINGTON The ocean has gotten noisier for decades, with man-made racket from oil drilling, shipping and construction linked to signs of stress in marine life that include beached whales and baby crabs with scrambled navigational signals. The United States aims to change that as a federal agency prepares a plan that could force reductions in noisemaking activities, including oil exploration, dredging and shipping off the nation’s coast.

“We’ve been worried about ocean noise for decades, since the 1970s,” said Richard Merrick, chief science adviser to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fisheries agency and a key author of the agency’s more detailed 10-year plan to be released publicly later this year. “The question is, what should we do now?” The draft plan calls for developing noise limits and setting up a standardized listening system. It would also call for the creation of an online archive of noise data that could hold thousands of hours of recordings,

which scientists could then cross-reference against data on where marine life congregates.

The plan urges more research on the effects of noise on sea creatures and more coordination with

environmental and industry groups, the military and government. Some data is in short supply, since NOAA has assessed the abundance of only 17 percent of the marine mammal species that it is mandated to monitor. Noise also takes on greater urgency with Arctic seas increasingly open to shipping and development with the melting of ice from global warming. The scientists behind the project admit the ocean was never quiet.

For millions of years it was filled with sounds ranging from the thunder of storms

BJP demands Ashok Chakra for security personnel who killed Burhan Wani Jammu BJP demanded on Sunday Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime military decoration, for the soldiers who killed Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, saying he

was a militant who had to die.

“Burhan Wani was a militant who had to die and the security personnel who killed him need commendation. The personnel should be awarded Ashok Chakra,” former state BJP president and member of legislative council (MLC) Ashok Khajuria said.

BJP’s point of view to deal with militancy is clear that the one who picks up a gun to disintegrate the country has to be dealt with an iron fist, Khajuria said.

“Our viewpoint is clear, for us it is the message from Bhagwad Gita, BJP viewpoint is clear and we in no way support the policy of appeasement.

“What I am saying is that Burhan wani was a militant and he met the end of a militant and security forces need to be appreciated for the same,” Khajuria said.

Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Wani was killed in an encounter.

In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 49 persons, including two policemen, have been killed and over 5,500 others injured.

to the songs of whales.

But fish and marine mammals evolved to coexist with those sounds, scientists note. “A hundred years ago the ocean wasn’t quiet, it was a dynamic acoustic place. But

now there is a lot more human noise out there,” said Jason Gedamke, head of the NOAA’s ocean acoustics program.

Man-made noise from such work as pile driving, dredging, seismic air guns used in the search for oil, sonar, power-producing windmills and ice-breaking has raised the sound level dramatically. Researchers have shown that off the coast of California, for example, underwater noise has risen several-fold in a few decades, in part from an increase in shipping.

The increased noise inter-

feres with the sounds that marine animals use to communicate, hunt and navigate. For instance, blue whales twice the size of school buses and sleek fin whales, known as the “greyhounds of the sea” for their speed, use songs to find food and mates. Bottlenose dolphins the kind made popular through the 1960s TV series “Flipper” - locate objects by bouncing sound waves off them.

Fish and crab larvae use reef sounds for directions. Snapping shrimp produce collapsing bubbles whose sound waves stun prey and ward off predators.

NOAA has long required noise permits for one-off events, like drilling. The draft plan would be the first to broadly set longterm rules around noise levels. Many oil companies already invest in quieter technology, and the European Union is also developing targets for ocean noise. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization in 2014 adopted voluntary guidelines to reduce underwater noise from ships.

Woman allegedly sexually assaulted, forced to drink urine

Barmer A woman was allegedly sexually assaulted and forced to drink urine and her daughter was molested in public by 20 of her in-laws in a village 20km from Barmer district headquarters on Friday evening.

Three of the 20 persons were arrested on Sunday and produced before a local court which remanded them to 3-day police custody.

The brutal incident happened at Asada Ki Beri village when the woman and her 16-year-old daughter were going to attend a social event.

The accused gathered around her and started beating her as she had fixed her daughter’s engagement against their wishes. They tore her clothes and allegedly inserted a stick in her private parts and forced her to drink urine. The group also molested her and her daughter, police said.

On being informed, a 108 ambulance reached the

spot, but the accused threatened its driver and did not allow him to take the victim. The driver then went and informed the police, who reached the spot and brought the victim to a hospital.

A case was filed against 20 men on a complaint filed by the victim’s husband.

Of the three arrested, two are the woman’s nephews and the third is a nephew’s son, police said, adding that a manhunt was on for the other 17.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including rape, kidnapping, attempt to commit culpable homicide, voluntarily causing hurt, and under section 7/ 8 of the POCSO Act. The woman and her daughter are undergoing treatment at the government hospital in Barmer. Dr Shradha Gilgile, attending to the victim, said she was brutally beaten up and had injuries in her internal parts, but was out of danger.

Almost 40 per cent of women suffer forced sex as men still refuse to use condoms The thought of bearing the pain of a sixth pregnancy makes 32-year-old Shobha Rani (name changed) wail for abortion pills that can end her recently conceived foetus.

The frail, anaemic woman is a mother of five yearly spaced children, results of forced sex by her husband.

He quashed her requests for using contraception and this also sparked discord in their marriage.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE A report in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine’s latest issue highlights Rani’s suffering to underscore how many women face sexual and physical violence from their husbands over disagreement on safe sex. The study conducted by the departments of obstetrics and gynaecology and family planning at Delhi’s University College of Medical

Sciences also shows that several victims silently tolerate the torture, believing it’s their destiny. Of the 500 women who participated, about 46 per cent said they could not use condoms because it was their husbands’ decision.

bal abuse in nearly 33 per cent cases. Physical violence mainly consisted of pushing, slapping, punching, kicking, beating with a weapon and even inflicting burns. Women responded in only about 12 per cent of the cases. Ap-

patriarchal attitudes.

LACK OF REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY The author of the study, Dr Nilanchali Singh, said wives are not allowed to make independent choices regarding family planning and have no “reproductiveautonomy” in India’s male-dominated society. “Decisions regarding getting pregnant or to avoid pregnancy are mostly taken either by the husband or mother-inlaw,” said Singh.

Pre-mature Ejaculation?

With an existing Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the study found forced sex and sexual violence in 39 per cent of the cases, physical violence in 23 per cent cases, and ver-

proximately 88 per cent of the victims never complained. Women in India face a slew of violence, such as sexual and physical abuse, dowry killings and domestic assault, largely due to deep-rooted

416-992-5489

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2 - 8 August 2016

Mexican inmates use tattoo skills for purse designs - TULANCINGO DE BRAVO Mexico-Sitting in a Mexican prison’s library, murder convict David Guzman tattooed a skull on a leather patch for a designer handbag to be sold in a luxury shop. Guzman, 34, took drugs and stole at a young age, falling into a “nefarious” world that landed him in prison, but five years into his murder sentence, he appeared at peace as he drew the skeletal figure.

His work is part of a rehabilitation project called Prison Art, which pays inmates to draw designs for purses that sell for $400 at high-end stores in Mexico City and other towns.

Guzman lobbied to bring the project to the Tulancingo prison, in central Hidalgo state, where several other inmates use makeshift tattoo ink needles to paint birds, butterflies, tigers and, especially, skulls on leather patches. “My stubborn-

ness was due to my need” to care for two children, the slim convict said as he sat with a dozen male and female inmates making designs in the prison library.

The prisoners, young and old, usually work on their bunk beds in dormitories that hold up to 100 people, or sitting on plastic containers in communal spaces in a prison ranked fifth worst for overcrowding and insalubrity by the National Human Rights Commission.

They use homemade tattooing equipment made out of a pen, a needle and little motor powered by a cellphone charger. The inmates use the same apparatus to tattoo their skin, despite the health risks.

“This makes the days shorter. I don’t even know

what time it is,” said Ezequiel Perez, a 24-yearold whose muscular arms are covered in tattoos. “I

project, which was created by a private foundation, is to stay off drugs, attend detox therapy and give half

have breakfast, I eat lunch and I do this the rest of the day,” said Perez, who is serving time for a double murder.

Eighteen inmates were chosen at the Tulancingo penitentiary to participate in Prison Art. The only condition for taking part in the

the earnings to relatives.

Most of the prison’s 550 inmates work in the carpentry and craft shops, but they struggle to sell their creations on the outside.

They need money to buy soap, toothpaste or toilet paper. But Prison Art pays inmates up to $400 per

Harry Potter magic hits Asia as fans celebrate new book

SINGAPORE Harry Potter magic hit Asia on Sunday, as aspiring witches and wizards crowded into bookstores to get their hands on the

first copies of a new play that imagines the hero as an adult. Launch parties for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” were held hours after the play’s premiere in London, setting the stage for a return of the series that has captivated readers and movie audiences worldwide.

Nearly 300 fans rushed through the doors of Kinokuniya bookstore on Singapore’s Orchard Road at 7:01 am (2301 GMT Saturday) to become one of the first people in the world to see the new script.

Student Samantha Chua, 24, who along with her boyfriend was first in line, said she had been waiting outside the fourth-floor book-

store since 5:00 am. “We were here so early that the mall wasn’t even open yet so we had to come up through the cargo lifts,” she told AFP, adding that

it was “all worth it”. “I grew up reading the books and I have a special place for them on my shelves but this will be my crowning glory,” added Chua, who was wearing a Harry Potter-themed sweater.

Widely seen as the eighth Harry Potter instalment, the play is set 19 years after the end of the last book and features a grown-up Potter working at the Ministry of Magic. Like many of his fans, Potter has now become an adult and has three children with his wife Ginny Weasley.

He still has his trademark round-rimmed glasses and the scar on his head, a permanent reminder of his nemesis Lord Voldemort,

but must now help his youngest son Albus confront the family’s dark past.

The script’s global kickoff was timed to coincide with its launch at midnight in London, after the play’s world premiere at the Palace Theatre earlier in the evening.

July 31 is also author J. K. Rowling’s birthday. In India, fans began lining up outside shops which had opened early especially for the script’s release. “It’s been amazing to see 10-year-old fans and 70-year-old grandmothers turn up at our shops,” Shilpi Agarwal, a spokeswoman for Om book shops, said in New Delhi. “We’ve got an excel-

wizarding paraphernalia, gathered outside a large downtown mall overnight.

Sanpipat Huangsawat, 29, was first in line and had started queuing at 6:30 pm on Saturday evening. He finally got his hand on the book some 11 hours later.

“I feel very excited and it’s great to be the first owner of this book in Thailand,” he told AFP. Sheryans, 16, said he was not sure he’d ever get the chance to see another Harry Potter book launch. “I’ve been following the Harry Potter series since I was eight years old, and it’s unbelievable that after nine years they’re keeping it going,” he told AFP in Bangkok. Dozens gathered at a downtown bookstore in Hong Kong to get the new title and try on Harry Potter costumes provided by the store. Tenyear-old Adele Leung, who

lent response,” she told AFP, adding that the store would be laying on Potterthemed activities throughout the day. In Bangkok, around 40 fans, many wielding wands and other

came with her mother, was anxious to crack into the latest Potter tome. “I love Harry Potter and have read all of the last ones. I think I will read it in a few days,” she said.

month for several patches of leather and puts them in a reinsertion program that can lead to a job outside making the purses once they are released. “My family often doesn’t have anything to give me. This is a source of work,” said Leonor Reyes, a 48-yearold embroiderer and mother of six, in jail for stealing jewelry. Jorge Cueto, the creator of Prison Art, served 11 months in a western Mexican prison in 2012 on fraud charges until he was found innocent and released.

Prison Art is now more than two years old, employing 240 inmates in six penitentiaries. “Mexican prisons are not crime universities. It is society that’s forcing young men who come out to return to crime

because they lack opportunities, which also makes them easy recruiting targets for organized crime groups inside prison,” said Cueto, a Mexican of Spanish origin. The handbags are sold in the capital’s ritzy Polanco district, the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende and the Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen, as well as on the internet. Now Cueto plans to go international and open shops in the United States, London and the Spanish island of Ibiza.

“Society has the option of helping. The idea is to have a product of such quality and taste that people will want it,” he said. Back in the Tulancingo prison library, Pedro Eulalio Vera, an accused kidnapper, put the finishing touches to a design. “If people like it, maybe they’ll say, ‘I want him to do something special for me.’ And, for me, this would be something great, no?” Vera said.

Skydiver leaps from plane with no parachute

WASHINGTON American Luke Aikins leapt into the void at 25,000 feet (7,600 meters) on Saturday with no parachute or wingsuit, becoming the first skydiver to land safely on the ground in a net.

Aikins who has done movie stunts spent a year and a half preparing the deathdefying feat, plummeting at 120 miles per hour (193 kph) in Simi Valley, California. Fox television broadcast the two-minute jump live on an hour-long reality TV special. “Pay attention to the science and the math behind this.

And we’ll show you what’s possible,” said Aikins, 42, who runs a skydiving school in Washington state, just before taking off.

There was a lot of method behind Aikins’ madness:

he has made more than 18,000 skydiving jumps. In all those years, he needed to use his emergency chute on 30 occasions.

Also an airplane and helicopter pilot, Aikins made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later. Back on the ground, with his wife and family, he seemed stunned at his own bit of history-making.

“I’m almost levitating, it’s incredible. The thing that just happened. The words I want to say I can’t even get out of my mouth. All of these guys, everything that made it happen ... It’s awesome.” Aikins also is a third-generation skydiver whose grandfather cofounded the skydiving school after returning from World War II.

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2 - 8 August 2016

You’ll start this week feeling passionate about your goals and plans for the future.

And this kind of energy coursing through you gives you the right attitude to make a success of things. In addition, knowing the right people and connecting with the right groups can help your cause immeasurably. Put some time and effort into networking regularly.

You might be more conscious of money matters, especially where shared resources and joint finances are concerned. This week’s lineup encourages some serious thought about how you can cut back on waste, increase your savings, or use any spare money to pay off debts. Meanwhile, this is as good a time as any to consider your career.

A financial decision may be needed early in the month, or at least a chance to talk things through with someone who can set you on the right path. Your mind is also on the adventures you can have.

You’re eager to expand your horizons and get involved in opportunities that are a bit of a stretch. You’ll welcome challenges that bring new experiences.

Saturn’s move into Sagittarius suggests you’re going to have a busy time ahead. Part of this may be your desire to get ahead, so you may be putting a lot of pressure on yourself to succeed. Knowing how to pace yourself so you don’t burn out too quickly could be a lesson worth learning.

When it comes to joint finances and banking issues.

Let yourself be guided by the wisdom of others. A few quick questions to the right person could put you on track to success in no time. Relationships in general are good, with an opportunity to expand your social circle and network with folks on your wavelength. However, you may be more circumspect when it comes to dating and creative expression.

Romance looks fairly intense, with opportunities to take a new relationship to the next level of commitment. However, don’t be tempted to manipulate a situation to suit you. It’s important to give your love interest the space and time to make a decision. If you do, you may find things move along swimmingly.

The presence of Saturn in your communication sector suggests that writing, speaking, and marketing could be a big part of your life for the foreseeable future. This could be an exciting time when you develop a writing or Internet business with serious clout. Lay the foundation now and the future could be very sunny. Meanwhile, romantic opportunities look excellent.

You may be relieved that Saturn has left your sign. However, its presence in your personal finance zone suggests it’s time to get down to business. This can be an ideal time to increase your income by starting an enterprise that could blossom over the weeks and months ahead. You’ll need to work hard to get it off the ground.

You may feel anchored to certain responsibilities as Saturn moves more deeply into your sign, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’ve been dreaming about goals and plans, you now have the motivation to bring them to life. On another note, a lively energy in your communication sector makes this a great time to expand your social circle.

The current alignment encourages you to take a detached look at your life to see what’s working and what isn’t. The things you’re enthusiastic about and motivated to do are the ones to focus on. If any part of your life seems like drudgery, it may have passed its “sell by” date.

Perhaps you’ve extracted as much from this experience as you can.

You’re still in a natural phase in which it’s time to recharge your batteries. However, you’re also eager to start new plans and projects.

For the time being, try to find balance between the two so you can make the most of promising opportunities. Your social life continues to look lively, although you may be targeting certain likeminded people or groups.

If you’re undecided about a job or the direction your career is taking, the presence of Saturn in Sagittarius will help focus your attention. It’s time to think seriously about where you’re going and what you want to achieve. It’s best to have a plan in place even if you do change aspects of it further down the line.

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Technology ‘Bullish’ tweets offer clues to stock performance Can financial intelligence be found in the “twitterverse” which can provide clues to how a stock will perform? Yes, says a team from Johns Hopkins University.

A strong co-relation does exist between the mood of a day’s worth of tweets about a particular stock and the performance of that stock, added Jim KyungSoo Liew from Hopkins’ Carey Business School.

“When Apple does well within the day, participants are tweeting with bullish sentiment, showing that a positive correlation exists between contemporaneous price movements and tweet sentiments,” Liew stated.

The new paper, forthcoming in The Journal of Portfolio Management, shows that tweet-like posts on the

StockTwits financial microblogging platform are strongly related over a given day to the behaviour of the stock being tweeted about during that day.

According to Liew, this use of social media to determine stock performance should be added as a “sixth factor” to the Fama-French five-factor model well known in financial circles as a method for explaining market behaviour.

Liew and his co-author associate professor Tamas

Budavari of the Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences were granted access to all StockTwits posts about 15 companies that drew

the most Twitter commentary from January 2012 to October 2015.

The companies were Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Disney and American Airlines, among others.

People who post on StockTwits can state in

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

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 say-

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 realworld locations through the

ing “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, al-

though 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.

their tweets whether they feel positive (“bullish”) or negative (“bearish”) about a stock.

Mining this data, the researchers discovered “a particular intuitive relationship between tweet sentiment and prices over time.”

“Namely, we show that the aggregated daily sentiment matters for equity daily returns. Positive sentiment is associated with positive returns,” they wrote.

Some critics say the real-time status of a tweet can make it irrelevant after, say, minutes or hours.

But Liew begs to differ.

“There appears to exist a strong positive relationship between the daily time-series of aggregated tweet sentiments and their corresponding security returns,” he pointed out in a university statement.

A previous study that Liew wrote for The Journal of Portfolio Management found a strong link between the mood of Twitter posts and the performance of an initial public offering (IPO).

Former Apple executive is back to lead company’s car project

Apple has reportedly bringing back its former hardware boss and developer of iMac, iPad, and MacBook Air to lead the company’s automobile project. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Bob Mansfield is now in-charge of the Project Titan, Apple’s car project, after former head of the projectSteve Zadesky resigned from the company in January this year.

Mr. Mansfield, who joined Apple in 1999, was used to be one of the senior executive and head of hardware development under former Chief Executive, Steve Jobs. During his first term, he lead engineering teams which are responsible for numerous products including the MacBook Air, iMac, and the iPad. After spending 14 years with Apple, he stepped down in 2013 with reports

stating that he would work on special projects. One of such special project launched last year was Apple Watch. WSJ also mentioned that all senior mangers on Project Titan are now reporting directly to Mansfield.

Project Titan is an electric car project undergoing research and development

by Apple Inc. With this long-term project, the tech giant is planning to compensate the loss it suffered from the slowdown in sales of the iPhones globally.

CAUGHT

DRUNK DRIVING? CALL VICKY SINGH AT:

416-992-5489

Indian hacker uncovers Vine’s source code, rewarded $10,080 by Twitter!

An Indian hacker was rewarded a bounty of $10,080 (roughly Rs. 6,73,000) by Twitter for discovering a security fault in Vine – a video sharing service currently owned by the microblogging website.

As per reports, the entire code source of Vine was available publically online. Avinash Singh, who goes by the nickname ‘avicoder’, uncovered a loophole in the popular video service that allowed him to easily access the cache of code online.

Apparently, he was able to download a Docker image containing complete source code of Vine while searching for vulnerabilities, using

censys.io. Censys is a search engine that allows computer scientists to discover vulnerable Internetconnected devices.

In March, he reported the

nerabilities to Twitter ever since he started contributing as an active bug bounty hunter from 2015.

Vine, a short-form video sharing service where us-

faulty to Twitter, which has fixed the problem within five minutes and awarded him $10,080 Bounty award.

It is said that so far, Singh has reported nearly 20 vul-

ers can share six-secondlong looping video clips, was founded in June 2012, and was acquired by Twitter in October in the same year.

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As ‘caliphate’ shrinks, Islamic Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah’s Twitter State looks to global attacks account hacked after protest rally attack Baghdad Islamic State, losing territory and on the retreat in Iraq and Syria, has claimed credit for a surge in global attacks this summer, most of them in France and Germany.

The wave of attacks

available.

“If the tyrants close the door of migration in your faces, then open the door of jihad in theirs and turn their actions against them,” said an audio clip purportedly from spokesman Abu Muhammad alAdnani, referring to

followed a call to strike against the West during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in June and July, in an apparent shift in strategy by the jihadist group, which has been hammered by two years of U.S.-led coalition air strikes and ground advances by local forces.

Instead of urging supporters to travel to its selfproclaimed caliphate, it encouraged them to act locally using any means

Western governments’ efforts to keep foreign fighters from travelling to the join the group.

Radicalised followers have responded to that call repeatedly in the past two months, in countries part of the international coalition battling Islamic State, including shooting people at a Florida nightclub, running them over with a truck in the French Riviera, and

hacking them with an axe on a train near Munich. The perpetrators had varying degrees of connection to the Middle East-based jihadists.

Some had tried to travel to Syria and were on the authorities’ radar, while others displayed few outward signs of radicalism until their deadly acts.

“There’s a growing understanding that the idea of the caliphate is dying and more and more the leadership is calling on foreign fighters not even to come to Iraq and Syria but to go elsewhere or to commit violence locally,” said Max Abrahms, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who studies extremist groups.

Looking ahead, security experts and officials in the Middle East and the West predict the military campaign against the group in Iraq and Syria will ultimately end its goal of establishing a caliphate but in doing so may lead to a sustained increase in militant attacks globally.

Kabul Afghanistan’s chief executive officer Abdullah Abdullah’s Twitter account was hacked by unknown hackers, his office reportedly said on Saturday.

Javid Faisal, a spokesman for CEO Abdullah confirmed the hacking in a tweet which said, “CE Dr Abdullah’s Twitter Account @afgexecutive has been hacked by unknown hackers. Our press and IT teams are trying to restore it.”

A tweet posted by the hacker on the account read, “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery,” and was hashtagged #enlightenment #enlightenmentmovement, Khaama Press reported.

The Enlightenment Movement, comprising of civil society activists, took out a massive demonstration on July 23, participants of which had started the hashtags as a Twitter campaign.

The second largest rally in Kabul within the past two months, the demonstration was attacked, leaving at least 80 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

Three suicide bombers

The attack took place shortly after participants gathered in Deh Mazang area of the city.

The 500kV power line project that the Afghanistan government intends to roll out will run from

had joined the crowds to launch the attack. While one bomb was detonated, one of the bombers was killed by security forces before he could trigger the bomb.

The third bomber also failed to detonate his device.

The demonstration was in protest against the change of the route of a massive power project from its original path of central provinces to Salang.

Turkmenistan through Salang to Kabul. The Enlightenment Movement wants the line to be routed through Bamiyan to Kabul, Tolo News reported Though loyalists of the Islamic State claimed responsibility behind the incident, a commission has been formed by the Afghan government to investigate the attack.

Protesters, however, called for an independent and international probe.

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Indian-American girl becomes youngest delegate at Democratic National Convention Philadelphia An 18-year-old Indian-American girl has become the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia which has nominated Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential candidate.

Sruthi Palaniappan from Cedar Rapids and a student of the Harvard University is a big supporter of Clinton, the first woman to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major political party.Sruthi’s father Palaniappan Andiappan is also attending the convention as a member of credentials committee.She has been the centre of attraction among the media here and the delegates along with a 102-year-old delegate from Arizona, Jerry Emmett, who is the oldest delegate at the convention.In addition to being the youngest delegate, Sruthi made history on

Tuesday when she was given an opportunity to represent Iowa during roll call votes.

“I am extremely thankful for the surreal opportunity to have represented the Iowa delegation as a roll call speaker and to have been a part of the historic

nomination process of our next president,” she said.“Together, we have made history by electing the first woman presidential nominee of a major political party- Hillary Rodham Clinton,” Sruthi wrote on her Facebook post.Sruthi said being elected as the party’s delegate was a long process.“But I’m extremely glad that I have been able to immerse myself at every step along the way and witness the political process first-hand,” she said.Highly impressed by the electrifying speech given by President Barack Obama, Sruthi said, “the American dream is something no wall will

Longest serving US Air Force civilianm to retire after 70 years

ever contain.” “President Barack Obama, thank you for gracing us with your beautifully moving words. It was simply an honour to be in your presence and witness the pure emotion that emanated from your voice.“Obama’s legacy and efforts will live on when Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine become the new President and Vice President of the United States,” she said.“We really do need to unite together in order to defeat the Republican nominee (Donald Trump). If we let Donald Trump take over the presidency, really terrible things will take our county several steps back,” Sruthi was quoted as saying by the local KCRG TV.

Ice Bucket Challenge credited with ALS breakthrough

New York An Indian-origin woman in the US has been charged with brutally abusing her 12-year-old stepdaughter for nearly two years, said US authorities. She now faces 25 years in jail.

Sheetal Ranot, 35, was found guilty of locking her pre-teen step daughter Maya Ranot, in her bedroom without food or even water for extended periods of time, with her weight dropping to 58 pounds, the officials said in a statement on Friday.Maya was struck with a metal broom handle and a wooden rolling pin, which also left her body with scars. “No child deserves to be treated in this manner,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and charged Sheetal with first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

WASHINGTON The Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral two years ago, raising hundreds of millions of dollars, has helped identify a new gene behind the neurodegenerative disease ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, researchers say. The challenge involved people pouring ice-cold water over their heads, posting video on social media, and donating funds for research on the condition, whose sufferers include British physicist Stephen Hawking. Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Ellen DeGeneres, Benedict Cumberbatch and former U.S. President George W. Bush were among millions of people who took part in 2014, attracting more than 400 million views on social media.

The challenge raised $220 million worldwide, according to the Washington-based ALS Association. News of the gene discovery again sent Ice Bucket Challenge viral, proving one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON Rising sea levels due to hurricanes and tidal flooding intensified by climate change will put military bases along the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast at risk, according to a report released on Wednesday.Nonprofit group the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed 18 military installations that represent more than 120 coastal bases nationwide to weigh the impact of climate change on their operations.Faster rates of sea level rises in the second half of this century could mean that tidal flooding will become a daily occurrence for some installations, pushing useable land needed for military training and testing into tidal zones, said the report titled “The U.S. Military on the Front Lines of Rising Seas.”By 2050, most of these sites will be hit by more than 10 times the number of floods than at present, the report said, and at least half of them will experience daily floods.Four of those - including the Naval Air

Station in Key West, Florida, and the Marine Corps recruit depot in South Carolina - could lose between 75 and 95 percent of their land in this century.The report said the Pentagon already recognizes the threat of climate change on its military installations but warned that more resources and monitoring systems are needed to boost preparedness.But last month,

Indian-origin woman faces 25 years in prison for assaulting stepdaughter

The money funded the largest ever study of inherited ALS and identified a new gene, NEK1, that ranks among the most common genes that contribute to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the ALS Association said in a statement on Monday.

“Global collaboration among scientists, which was really made possible by ALS Ice Bucket Challenge donations, led to this important discovery,” said John Landers of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Landers and Jan Veldink of University Medical Center Utrecht led the study involving researchers in 11 countries.

“It is a prime example of the success that can come from the combined efforts of so many people, all dedicated to finding the causes of ALS,” Landers said in a statement.

The research was published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics this week and scientists hope it will provide another potential target for therapy development.

Climate change risk threatens 18 US military sites

WASHINGTON The longest serving civilian in US Air Force history, a World War II veteran who fought under General George Patton, will retire in September after 70 years, the military said Tuesday.

Anthony Duno, who was drafted into the US Army in 1944 at age 18, participated in the Normandy campaign, the Battle of the Bulge and was assigned to the Nuremberg Trials, the US Air Force said in a profile posted on

Impotence?

416-992-5489

its website. “I really believe the Battle of the Bulge was the most important, severe point of the war. It was so extraordinary because so many things happened that had never happened before,” Duno said.

Duno’s 70 years include both military and civil service. After the war, Duno, a native of the Bronx in New York, became a civilian Air Force employee specialized in reselling US military facilities that were phased out in Europe.

He was honored on Friday at the Pentagon with a ceremony attended by Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.

“The Air Force was my life. I will deeply miss all the comrades, all the friends I’ve known,” he said in the profile.Duno, who keeps a chest filled with mementos from his life, including a Christmas card from Patton, will retire in the northeastern state of New Hampshire.

the U.S. House appropriations committee passed an amendment that blocked funding for the Pentagon’s climate adaptation strategy.“Our defense leadership has a special responsibility to protect the sites that hundreds of thousands of Americans depend on for their livelihoods and millions depend on for national security,” the report said.

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French PM for ban on foreign funding of mosques Paris France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a “new model” for relations

with Islam after a spate of jihadist attacks.

Valls, under fire for perceived security lapses around the attacks, also admitted a “failure” in the fact that one of the jihadists who stormed a church and killed a priest on Tuesday had been released with an electronic tag pending trial.

In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Valls said he was “open to the idea that – for a period yet to be determined – there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques”.

The Socialist prime minister also

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called for imams to be “trained in France, not elsewhere”.

He said interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, whose portfolio also includes religious affairs, was working on building a “new

model” for France’s relations with Islam.

And Salafism – the deeply fundamentalist branch of Islam espoused by many jihadists – ”has no place in France”, Valls said.

France has just over 2,000 mosques, for one of Europe’s largest Muslim populations which numbers around five million.

Some large mosques have been financed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf or Northern African countries, according to local media reports.

Both Valls and Cazeneuve have faced calls to resign after the second jihadist attack in less than a fortnight raised questions over France’s vigilance and preparedness.

The government has faced tough questions since it emerged that both church attackers had been on the radar of intelligence services and had tried to go to Syria.Sparking particular ire was the revelation that one of the assailants, 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, had been released

Turkish authorities free over 800 soldiers in coup probe

Istanbul Turkish courts on Saturday released over 800 enlisted conscripts who were under arrest as part of the investigation into the July 15 failed coup, the staterun Anadolu news agency said.

In Istanbul, 758 out of 989 conscripts under arrest in the coup investigation were freed by the chief public prosecutor’s office following a court decision.

The prosecutors recommended their release on the grounds they had delivered their testimony and did not pose a flight risk. The conscripts had been doing their

compulsory military service when the attempted coup took place.Among those released were military high school students.Another 47 enlisted conscripts were released by a court in Ankara on similar grounds.According to the latest figures by interior minister Efkan Ala, over 9,000 people, mostly in the military, have been put under arrest in the aftermath of the failed coup, which caused the deaths of more than 200 people.

Thousands more have been detained, but not formally arrested.

from prison while awaiting trial on terror charges after his second attempt to travel to Syria.

The electronically tagged Kermiche was allowed out of his home on weekday mornings, enabling him and his accomplice to storm a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etiennedu-Rouvray and slit the throat of 86-year-old priest Jacques Hamel at the altar.

Kermiche’s accomplice Abdel Malik Petitjean, also 19, had been on the security watchlist since June after trying to reach Syria from Turkey.

‘You take a knife’ On Friday, the French weekly L’Express revealed that Kermiche had described the modus operandi of the attack on the encrypted messaging application Telegram.

“You take a knife, you go into a church. Bam!” says a chilling message recorded just a few days before the attack whose authenticity was confirmed by a source close to the investigation, according to L’Express.

Other messages speak of the influence of a “sheikh” Kermiche met in prison, his wish to set up a terrorist cell and details of his failed attempts to reach Syria.

Some 200 people were in the Telegram group receiving the messages, L’Express said.

The church attack came as the government was already facing a firestorm of criticism over alleged security failings after the Bastille Day truck massacre in Nice that left 84 people dead two weeks ago.

Five jailed in Panama over toxic cough syrup that killed hundreds

Panama City Five people were sentenced to prison in Panama on Friday over a 2006 poison cough syrup scandal in which hundreds of people died after unwittingly ingesting a toxic compound found in antifreeze.

The verdict capped years of investigation and a convulsion of shock at the many deaths in this small Central American nation.

Officials say 400 people died when they drank the adulterated cough syrup, which had been mixed and distributed by the national health agency using an ingredient supplied by a private company, Medicom.

Some Panamanian organizations believe as many as 10,000 people may have died from the medicine.

Medicom had bought the ingredient, labeled “TD glycerin”, from a Spanish pharmaceutical firm, Rasfer International, which

had purchased it from a Chinese group, CNSC Fortune Way Company, which had sourced it from the Taixing Glycerine Factory.In reality, the ingredient contained high amounts of diethylene glycol, a poisonous, practically odorless liquid which has a sweetish taste. The compound can be used as a solvent, in brake fluid, or in heating fuel, and is often found in automobile antifreeze.

The scandal triggered investigations in Panama, Spain and China.

In Panama, 26 people were charged over the matter, with 11 of them prosecuted.

On Friday, the legal representative of Medicom in Panama, Angel Ariel de la Cruz Soto, was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $6,000.

The four other people sentenced received terms of one year. Six people were acquitted.

EU watchdogs give US-EU internet privacy deal a chance to work BRUSSELS European data protection authorities said Tuesday they will give a new EU-US internet privacy deal a year’s grace period, minimising chances of new legal challenges during that time.The deal was adopted in Brussels earlier this month after the EU’s top court last year struck down a previous arrangement, leaving internet giants such as Google and Facebook unsure whether they could transfer data back to their operations in the United States.The 28 national EU data protection authorities meeting in Brussels on Monday found that the new Privacy Shield system has stronger safeguards on data transfer and better filters to prevent US intelligence agencies from conducting bulk collection of personal information.“All of this is progress and real progress.

Nevertheless we still have concerns remaining,” Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who chairs the so-called article 29 group, told reporters in Brussels.The data protection authorities said in a statement they regretted the lack of concrete assurances against mass and indiscriminate collection of personal data.They also want stricter guarantees for

the independence of a US ombudsman to be named to tackle complaints from EU citizens.“The glass is not sufficiently full but let’s give it a chance and accept the testing

case” basis if they receive them.

EU and US officials say the Privacy Shield system lays down tough rules to prevent US intelligence agencies accessing European data, with companies

period until the first annual review,” Falque-Pierrotin said.“At the joint review, we want to be provided with additional clarification, additional evidence, possibly changes in the legislation,” she said. The annual review, which is required under the new deal, is set to take place in around a year, FalquePierrotin said.She said the EU data protection authorities would not launch legal action “from our own initiative” in the next year.

However, they would have to deal with complaints “on a case-by-

facing penalties if they do not meet EU standards of protection.The European Court of Justice threw out the earlier “Safe Harbour” arrangement after Austrian activist Max Schrems sued Facebook in Ireland, citing US snooping practices exposed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Companies wanting to transfer data from Europe to the United States must now “self-certify” as being compliant with the new deal with the US government from August 1, the EU said.

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Three Pokemon Go players robbed of phones in London London Days after a group of students was robbed of their smartphones at knife-point in Manchester while playing Pokemon Go, three more teenagers had to face the

same fate in London, the media reported on Saturday.

The teenagers were playing the game in Whittington Park in Holloway on Tuesday when apparently armed robbers stole their smartphones at gunpoint, prompting police to warn of the dangers of roaming the streets with expensive mobile phones on show, The Guardian reported.

The victims, aged 15, 16 and 18, were approached by three other teenagers while they were playing the popular augmented reality game.

“One of the alleged robbers, believed to be a 16 to 17-yearold, pointed what appeared to be a handgun at the victims while an accomplice demanded they hand over their devices. The

victims handed over their smartphones and left the scene shocked but unscathed,” the police said.Safety agencies all over the world have been warning the players of probable safety concerns -- both physically and mobile threats -- since the time the game broke all records.

According to security software company Trend Micro, Pokemon Go poses a great data security threat to users as the app gets “full access” to their Google account, allowing the gaming company to read all emails.

Indian sets up UK’s first clinic for rape survivors

London Pavan Amara, an Indian-origin rape survivor who gave up her anonymity and set up a charity to help others, on Friday launched Britain’s first maternity clinic for victims of sexual assault and rape.Amara, whose family has roots in Punjab, launched the NGO My Body Back in August 2014. It has been running a cervical screening clinic in St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London since then.The maternity clinic that opened in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust in Whitechapel is expected to be replicated in other parts of Britain.

The clinic is run by Amara, consultant midwife Inderjeet Kaur, and obstetrician and gynaecologist Rehan Khan.

My Body Back said: “Women have often told us how isolated they felt throughout pregnancy and labour, and how it had triggered memories and flashbacks of being raped in the past”. It said it had been approached by email by women from several countries.

Britain’s latest crime figures show there was an increase of 21% in sexual offences recorded by police in the latest year compared with the previous year

(106,378 offences). This includes a 22% increase in rape and a 20% increase in other sexual offences.Both clinics run by the NGO seek to work sensitively with women, so they feel safe and relaxed, and their individual needs are met, including extra care for antenatal support with specially trained midwives, psychologists and paediatricians. Women can refer themselves to the maternity clinic by emailing the team to make an appointment, and do not have to explain details of their experience unless they want to.

My body Back said the service for rape survivors is integrated in the maternity ward of the London hospital, but had created a different birthing pathway to ensure patients receive tailored and sensitive care.The maternity clinic offers the following services: ante-natal classes, pregnancy care and examinations, care during labour and birth, breastfeeding advice, specialist advice on ensuring mental well-being during labour, post-natal gynaecological exams, post-natal mental health support and pre-pregnancy support for women who want to conceive.

“Other risks this game exposes are physical risks to actual life and limb,” the report said.

While enjoying the game, the user is exposed to many threats and introduces whole new categories of life risks.

Pokemon Go’s real-world gameplay was linked to armed robberies as criminals have used the game to locate the intended targets.Also there are reports of trespassing as enthusiastic players try to “find” and “capture” creatures on others’ property. In the US, gamers trespassing on others’ property face a real threat of physical harm from property owners who may use force to protect their property.“ And of course, there’s the risk of injury or death from not paying attention to your surroundings as you play the game,” the report added.The augmented reality game was launched in Britain on July 16 and has exploded in popularity since then.It uses the GPS capabilities of the device in conjunction with Google Maps to place creatures in real world locations, which a player then tries to find using his device as a guide.Once in proximity to the placed creature, the player needs to use the device’s camera to view the creature and try to capture it.

Ant species named after Game of Thrones dragons

LONDON Two scary-looking new ant species have been named after Daenerys Targaryan's dragons in Game of Thrones.Scientists usually use unwieldy Latin words when naming new species, but this time they called the two new species Drogon and Viserion.Those are two of Targaryan's intimidating dragons in the hit Sky TV show.The scientists decided to look to the dragons of the fantasy drama because of the spiky exterior of the newly discovered insect types.The spines - located close to the head - are likely to be there for defence.Scientists have also suggested they could also contain muscles which give extra strength to their mandibles, which are used for crushing things.Taxonomy - identifying,

documenting and naming new species - is usually done using photographs and drawings.But this time the ants’ spiny exteriors were captured in stunning details using 3D-imaging technology.

Evan Economo from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology said: “This is one of the first studies in ant taxonomy to use micro-CT.” While this method is gaining popularity in different scientific fields, it is rare to use it in this way.”It's almost the same, if not better than the real thing. Because you can virtually dissect the specimen and examine the internal structure on your computer.” It means scientists around the world can study the ants without travelling to the tropical rainforests of Papua New Guinea, where the ants are found.

Pope sets up new eparchy for Indian Christians London The Vatican has established a new eparchy or leadership structure for the Syro-Malabar community with an ancient church in north England as its cathedral, marking a new high in the little known history of Indian Christians in Britain that began with Goan “lascars” arriving in the 16th century.The eparchy akin to a diocese has been set up in St Ignatius Church in Preston, north England, 370 km from London. The church, handed over to the community in October 2015, was this week named by the Vatican as the cathedral of the eparchy. Pope Francis also appointed Kottayam-born Fr Joseph Srampickal as the first bishop of the eparchy. He is currently vicerector of the Pontifical Urban College “De Propaganda Fide” in Rome. Members of the SyroMalabar community in Britain number nearly 40,000.Services at St Ignatius Church have been held in Malayalam since it was handed over to the community.

Some members of the local community protested against the handover at the time, and said they felt excluded since the services are no longer in English.Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster said: “I welcome this exciting news and

in particular Bishop Srampickal as the first Bishop of the Eparchy of the Syro-Malabars in Great Britain. I look forward to working with him as a close colleague and friend while he has care of his brothers and sisters

- across the country.The Goan link is the oldest, with members of the community now boosting congregations in Swindon, nearly 130 km west of London, where thousands have settled in recent years after acquiring Portuguese

throughout the whole country.”He said the establishment of the eparchy was “a clear indication of the care of the Holy See for the thousands of Syro-Malabar Catholics who have settled in Great Britain. I am particularly pleased that the seat of the new Eparchy will be the wonderful St Ignatius Church.”The history of Indian Christians in Britain includes three distinct groups arriving at various times, with origins in south India (mainly Kerala), Goa and Punjab. Each group conducts services in their own languages - Malayalam, Konkani (and English), Punjabi

passports (Goans born before the Indian state’s liberation in 1961 and their two generations are entitled to Portuguese citizenship). Punjabi Christians from the Jalandhar Doaba region mostly migrated from the 1950s onwards and are based in Bedford, Coventry, Oxford and Birmingham.

Several denominations of the church in south India are represented across Britain. The story of Indian Christians in Britain includes a reversal of the path trekked by Western missionaries in the 19th century to tribal areas in India’s northeast.

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French artist making splash with ‘oil exploration’ LONDON French street artist Zevs is bringing his signature style indoors with an exhibition playing on the dominance of oil, which opens Friday in London.

The 38-year-old former graffiti artist has taken his trademark “liquidation” technique - where

colours drip from the logos of big corporations - from walls to canvas. But “The Big Oil Splash”, done in bold acrylic colours, is not an artist's moan at the power of giant oil corporations and the environmental damage caused by oil spills, but a playful look at its power.“It's an oil exploration.

It would be too easy to perceive this as an attack on oil. Things are never black and white, and these paintings are not black and white,” Zevs told AFP. The series of paintings are variations on British artist David Hockney's 1967 pop art painting “A Bigger Splash”, which depicts the splash in a swimming pool beside a modern house, on a sunny California day.They feature the logos of oil companies such as Exxon and Esso dripping down the house wall, flowing into the swimming pool and diluting in the water.“This is a paradox: this vision of paradise, but one created by man. The only natural thing is how the oil spills into the pool.We can find beauty in its

dilution,” said Zevs. “Like the original splash, it disturbs the tranquillity of the pool and the straight lines of the painting.”The series is a natural extension of his liquidated logo street art.

Since 2005, Zevs has sprung upon corporation logos in public spaces and dripped their colours

down the wall below them.He was arrested in Hong Kong in 2009 for daubing a Chanel logo on an Armani store. He defended himself saying it was intended to reflect the “battle of the brands”.The idea of stepping into Hockney's iconic painting references the trespassing on private property involved in street art. The exhibition also features a hot tub filled with Naftalan crude oil from Azerbaijan, where people bathe in it for its claimed healing properties. Next to it is the logo of Total, seemingly dripping down the wall into the bath.“The drips show the loss of power from the logo, but the painting is frozen so we could also see them as legs holding it up,” said Zevs, reflecting on how giant corporations, like mountains, change their state over time. “I like the idea that art can have a certain force and take it from power itself.”

“The Big Oil Splash”, which is free to visit, runs until September 1 at the Lazarides Gallery, owned

Robot builder constructs house in two days

by Steve Lazarides, the former agent for British graffiti artist Banksy. Zevs' exhibition explores how the oil industry has spilled over into banking, finance, shipping, foreign policy, tourism, arts and leisure since the time of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.The second half of the exhibition features blank canvases in bold colours - or so it seems until they are exposed to ultraviolet light. The light from a solarium sunbed - itself covered with luminous plastic water pistols and packets of white powder in another take on the paradise lifestyle - reveals the screen prints beneath.The images show Rockefeller, a yacht, Jackson Pollock-style works and cops from the 1980s US television crime drama “Miami Vice” - a huge hit around the time of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill.“Maybe they're looking for each other. It's like an investigation,” the Berlinbased artist said. “It's a way to play with the history of petrol and of art.”But the UV light will eventually make the images disappear altogether. “The more we look at it, the more it disappears, reflecting the idea of preservation and conservation,” said Zevs. “I don't know how long this work will evolve.”Zevs' next project is an entirely different fivemonth exhibition entitled “Noir Eclair”, at the Chateau de Vincennes outside Paris, which opens in September.

LONDON A new robot builder can construct an entire house in two days - and never needs a tea break.Hadrian X is a giant truck-mounted robot that can lay up to 1,000 bricks an hour using a 30-metre arm, meaning it can stay in a single position throughout.

Bricks are fed on to a conveyor belt which sends them along the robot's long arm - otherwise known as a telescopic boom.

At the end of the boom is a hand which grabs and arranges the bricks, securing them with construction glue instead of cement.

It is smart enough to leave spaces in the brickwork for wiring and plumbing, and can even cut and shape bricks to size. The robot was created by Australian firm Fastbrick Robotics, and founder Mark Pivac told Perth

Now: “People have been laying bricks for about 6,000 years and ever since the industrial revolution, they have tried to automate the bricklaying process.

“We're at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it's now possible to do it, and that's what we've done.”

The robot took 10 years to create, and has cost about £4.5m in research and development so far.

Mr Pivac insists he has “nothing against bricklayers”, but says he just wants to streamline the construction process. The prototype needs no human intervention once the process begins.

Fastbrick Robotics says it will take about a year before the robot is ready to hit the market.

Islamabad Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch, who was killed for bringing “shame” to the family by posting risque videos and posts on Facebook, was strangled to death by her cousin and not by her brother, according to a polygraph test.

The main accused of the case Muhammad Waseem had earlier confessed that he had strangled his 26-year-old sister. However, the claim was rejected after a polygraph test of both suspects was conducted on Saturday.

According to the test, it was her

cousin Haq Nawaz and not Waseem, who had strangled the social media to death on July 15 this year.They said Waseem was holding the hands and feet of the slain model at the time of murder while Haq Nawaz strangled her, Geonews reported.Before killing Qandeel, the suspects had drugged the model and her parents, they added.Sources said video and written statements of both suspects have also been recorded.According to them, it was shown during investigation that the elder brother Arif, who

resides in Saudi Arabia, had pressurised Waseem into killing their sister Qandeel for “honour of the family”.They said that after the conversation, Waseem and Haq Nawaz planned the model’s 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 for protection.

In Facebook posts, Baloch spoke of trying to change “the typical orthodox mindset” of people in Pakistan.

Cousin strangled Qandeel Baloch to death, not brother: Polygraph test

Off-duty Swedish cop makes an arrest in bikini while sunbathing

Stockholm She was off duty and wearing a bikini but that didn’t stop Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner from catching a suspected thief.A photo of Kellner pinning the suspect to the ground was trending on social media in Sweden this week.“My first intervention while wearing a bikini during my 11 years as a police officer,” she wrote on Instagram.Kellner and three

friends were sunbathing Wednesday in a Stockholm park, a homeless man selling newspapers approached, she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.After he left, one friend noticed her phone was missing. Kellner and a fellow police officer gave chase.Kellner said she didn’t hesitate to make the arrest while wearing a bikini.“If I had been naked, I would have intervened as well,” she said.

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Belgian scientists make novel water-from-urine machine

BRUSSELS A team of scientists at a Belgian university say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy, a technique which could be applied in rural areas and developing countries.

While there are other options for treating waste water, the system applied at the University of Ghent uses a special membrane, is said to be energy-efficient and to be applicable in areas off the electricity grid. “We’re able to recover fertilizer and drinking water from urine using just a simple process and solar energy,” said University of Ghent researcher Sebastiaan Derese.

The urine is collected in a big tank, heated in a solar-powered boiler before passing through the membrane where the water is recovered and nutrients such as

potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus are separated.

Under the slogan #peeforscience, the team recently deployed the machine at a 10-day music and theatre festival in central Ghent, recovering 1,000 litres of water from the urine of revellers.

The aim is to install larger versions of the machine in sports venues or airports but also to take it to a rural community in the developing world where fertilisers and reliable drinking water are short in supply, Derese said.As was the case with previous projects the research team was engaged in, the water recovered from the city festival will be used to make one of Belgium’s most coveted specialties - beer.

“We call it from sewer to brewer,” Derese said.

Sydney An Australian tax accountant has won a multimillion-dollar tropical island resort in a raffle. The remote Micronesian island of Kosrae has been home to Australian couple Doug and Sally Beitz since the 1990s.They decided to raffle their home and, after selling more than 75,000 tickets, will return to Queensland with nearly A$4m ($3m, £2.3m). Josh Ptasznyk, 26, from the city of Wollongong in New South Wales state, said he was

“overwhelmed” by the win. “What started as a simple click of a news article during my lunch break that piqued my interest has resulted in a life-changing experience that I could only dream of,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “I would like to thank Doug and Sally and the whole Beitz family for providing this amazing opportunity and am looking forward to cutting the red tape, making a trip to the resort to see what paradise looks like, and to experience all that the resort has to offer.”

Aussie tax accountant wins tropical island resort

Iran up, US down: height study charts global health LONDON South Korean women and Iranian men are significantly taller than they were 100 years ago but Americans have barely grown, according to a new study Tuesday that reflects nutritional and environmental factors.

Researchers at Imperial College London used data from around the world to track the height of young adults between 1914 and 2014 in over 200 countries and territories.Where once Scandinavia and the United States produced the tallest men, the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia now top the rankings, with Dutch men measuring an average height of 182.5 cm (five feet 10 inches).

Latvia currently has the tallest women, averaging 170 cm (five feet six inches), followed by women from the Netherlands, Estonia and the Czech Republic, according to the study in the journal eLife.The shortest men in the world are from East Timor, with an average height of 160 cm, and the shortest women are from Guatemala, averaging a height of 149 cm.While the global trend has been an increase in height, some countries in subSaharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have seen a decline in the past 30 or 40 years.This is often in some of the poorest parts of the world — the average height in Sierra Leone, Uganda and Rwanda has declined by as much as 5cm in recent decades.“This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century,” said lead researcher Professor Majid Ezzati, of Imperial’s School of Public Health.“This confirms we urgently need to address children and adolescents’ environment and nutrition on a global scale, and ensure we’re giving the world’s

children the best possible start in life.”The top 10 tallest countries are all on the European continent.The US once had the

live longer, be better educated and earn more.

However, some studies link height to a greater risk of ovarian

third tallest men and fourth tallest women, but has fallen to 37th and 42nd place. American men and women have grown by just 6cm and 5cm since 1914. After a rapid acceleration in height until the 1960s, growth in Japan has also flattened out, and the Japanese are now shorter than people from South Korea and China.

By contrast, the height of Iranian men has increased by an average of 16.5 cm the largest recorded while South Korean women are now on average 20.2 cm taller.“Our study also shows the English-speaking world, especially the USA, is falling behind other high-income nations in Europe and Asia Pacific,” said Ezzati in a statement.“Together with the poor performance of these countries in terms of obesity, this emphasises the need for more effective policies towards healthy nutrition throughout life.”

Children and teenagers who are well nourished, have better hygiene and healthcare tend to be taller and tall people tend to

and prostate cancers, the researchers said.

National statistics on height can be affected not only by diet and medicine, but also by waves of immigration from countries where people are relatively taller or shorter.

The world’s tallest men (1914 ranking): 1. Netherlands (12) 2. Belgium (33) 3. Estonia (4) 4. Latvia (13) 5. Denmark (9) 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) 7. Croatia (22) 8. Serbia (30) 9. Iceland (6) 10. Czech Republic (24) The world’s tallest women (1914 ranking): 1. Latvia (28) 2. Netherlands (38) 3. Estonia (16) 4. Czech Republic (69) 5. Serbia (93) 6. Slovakia (26) 7. Denmark (11) 8. Lithuania (41) 9. Belarus (42) 10. Ukraine (43)

Despite growth, no major India rise in global rich 1% London India has made “no significant incursions” in the top 1% global rich despite rapid economic growth over the past two decades, according to a new study that says more super-rich are coming from emerging economies in recent years.

The study titled “Who are the global top 1%?” by Sudhir Anand of the University of Oxford and Paul Segal of King’s College London looks at the varying fortunes of the global rich from 1988 and 2012 and finds the representation of developing countries in the global top 1% declined until about 2002, but has risen significantly since 2005.

India’s top 0.01% is in the global top 1% in all years, but this top 0.01%, about 126,000 people in 2012, comprised about 0.2% of the global top 1% in all years – too small a share to feature in a table of top 20 countries in the

global 1%, it said.

“Thus a rich Indian who can enjoy the real expenditures of the global top 1% in her own country will find her spending

of Chinese joining the global super-rich 1%, the study said that “India has made no significant incursions into the global top 1%, despite rapid

power severely curtailed when she travels to a developed country which may be three or four times more expensive, when measured at market exchange rates,” the study announced by Oxford on Thursday said.

Noting the increasing numbers

economic growth over the past two decades”.

The study further said: “The fact that both China’s and India’s share of the world’s billionaires are much higher than their share of people with income or wealth in the global top 1% suggests that they are particularly unequal

at the very top of their distributions compared with other countries.”

The researchers calculated the global distributions of income based on household surveys and income tax records. They found that the US still dominates with 38% of the individuals in the global top 1% in 2012, but this is much smaller than in 1998, when Americans made up nearly half of this group.

By contrast, China’s share in the global top 1% rose from 1.3% to 3.4% between 2005 and 2012. Its share of the world’s billionaires is much larger – in 2016, it is 14%.

Citizens of advanced economies still make up the biggest share at 79% of the global top 1% in 2012. The researchers calculated, however, that this share is on a downward trend, and is 7-11 percentage points lower than between 1988 and 2005. The study also found that

in the ranks of the global top 1% in 2012, Japan is second to the US, with a share of 8.5%; followed by Germany at 5.8%, France at 5.4%, Brazil at 5.3%, and the UK in sixth position at 4.7%.

Anand said: “The turning point for the emerging economies appears to have been around 2005. That is when its citizens increasingly started to enter the ranks of the global rich. This trend was undoubtedly reinforced by the global financial crisis in 2008, which slowed growth in the advanced economies. “But developing countries were already beginning to catch up before then. As long as emerging economies continue to grow faster, which seems likely for the near future, the trend will continue with developing countries comprising an increasing share of the global top 1%.”

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US army secretary says US-South Korea war games to proceed Malaysia US army secretary Eric Fanning said Saturday that annual military drills between the United States and South Korea would go ahead next month, despite North Korea’s warning of a “vicious” showdown if the war games proceed.On Thursday, North Korea’s top diplomat for US affairs said that the nature of the manoeuvres has become openly aggressive, and that Pyongyang is ready for war. The United States and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, and Pyongyang typically responds to them with tough talk and threats of retaliation.Fanning, who was in Malaysia as part of a regional tour, said that the US has conducted military drills with South Korea for decades, and that “these exercises contribute to stability, they don’t compete

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with stability.”“The games are currently to continue as planned,” he told The Associated Press. “We have been

50,000 South Korean troops and followed a period of heightened animosity between the rival Koreas sparked by land mine

things stable in this part of the world,” he said. “We find these exercises to be very important, very fruitful and build

conducting exercises with South Korea and with many other militaries in the region for decades. That’s partly what had provided stability that we have seen since World War II.” Maj Chris Ophardt, Fanning’s public affairs officer, said in an email that the drills are a “routine and defence-oriented exercise designed to enhance readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula.”Last year’s Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises involved 30,000 American and

explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. The exercises escalated tensions and rhetoric, but concluded with no major incidents.

Despite plans to scale down the size of the army, Fanning said the US has increased its presence in Asia-Pacific, reflecting its commitment to the region. The number of US soldiers and civilian army workers in the Pacific region has shot up to more than 100,000, from 70,000 just four years ago, he said.“The types of relationships that we have with armies across the Pacific are really what helps, I think, keep

relationships that last generations.”In an interview with the AP on Thursday, Han Song Ryol, director-general of the US affairs department at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said the US move to put North Korean leader King Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals and other recent actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.

Han said that US-South Korea military exercises conducted this spring were unprecedented in scale, and that the US has deployed the USS Mississippi and USS Ohio nuclear-powered submarines to South Korean

Indian-American likely to land senior position in Clinton administration

Philadelphia Neera Tanden, the 45-year-old CEO of a major Washington DC think tank, led a small but noticeable charge by IndianAmericans at the Democratic National Convention.

“I would not be here without the policies of the Democratic Party,” Tanden said in a speech on Wednesday, using her life story to highlight the party’s values and seek support for party nominee Hillary Clinton.

After her father left, she said, “my mother had to be on welfare.

She worked hard to support me and my brother. We also had help; a lot of help. We used lunch vouchers at school and food stamps at the supermarket”.

“It wasn't easy, but we eventually got back on our feet because of the investment Democrats have made in struggling families,” she added.Tanden, a former Obama administration official and CEO of Centre for American Progress, is likely to land a senior position

in a Clinton administration.

“For Hillary, politics is about fighting for people, not when the cameras are on, but when they are off. Not when the decisions are easy, but when they are hard.

She is a leader we can have faith in. She will be a president we can count on always,” Tanden said.

Ami Bera, the only Indian American in US congress who took the stage later with a group of Asian-descent Democratic lawmakers, said, “As the only South Asian member of congress, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I support Hillary Clinton because she is the only candidate that understands the complexity of the world and is prepared from day one to lead America.”

And, Raja Krishnamurthi, an Indian American running for the House of Representatives from Illinois, got a shout-out from a lawmaker from the same group as an emerging leader.

ports, deployed the B-52 strategic bomber around South Korea and is planning to set up the world’s most advanced missile defence system, known by its acronym THAAD, in the South, a move that has also angered China.

Han said North Korea believes the drills reportedly now include training designed to prepare troops for the invasion of the North’s capital and “decapitation strikes” aimed at killing its top leadership.

“Nobody can predict what kind of influence this kind of vicious confrontation between the DPRK and the United States will have upon the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “By doing these kinds of vicious and hostile acts toward the DPRK, the US has already declared war against the DPRK. So it is our self-defensive right and justifiable action to respond in a very hard way.”“We are all prepared for war, and we are all prepared for peace,” he said. “If the United States forces those kinds of large-scale exercises in August, then the situation caused by that will be the responsibility of the United States.”Fanning, who was appointed to his post in May, was in Malaysia to observe an annual joint army drill. He had earlier visited Hawaii and Guam.

He flew to Japan late Saturday and will then travel to South Korea.

‘Go home’: In alleged hate crime, Indian Muslim’s shop vandalised in US Los Angeles In an apparent hate crime, a 60year-old Indian-origin Muslim man’s auto parts shop in the US was vandalised with graffiti like “go home Indian” and “I will kill you” scrawled over the walls.

Dr Waqar “Vic” Ahmed’s shop in Pahrump, Nevada, was spray painted with graffiti in what is now being investigated as a hate crime.

Ahmed said he has heard the taunts before and experienced attacks on his Indian heritage and Muslim faith in the past, but never anything like this.

The Nye County Sheriff’s office said the hateful graffiti was discovered last Sunday in front of the shop.

The business was spray painted with derogatory words against the owner’s religion. Words like ‘go home Indian’, ‘foreigner go home’, ‘camel jockey’, ‘I will kill you’ and ‘I will get you’ were also scrawled on the walls of his shop.

“A guy once told me to go back to my third-world country. I had to tell him what India was,” Ahmed was quoted as saying by KSNV-TV. No suspects have been identified but they could face charges for malicious destruction of property.

“I hate to think that kind of thing

is going on in Nye County and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to stop it, if it does,” Nye county sheriff Sharon

Ahmed said he received harassing phone calls about his race and religion about a month ago. He filed a restraining order

Wehrly was quoted as saying by KTNV-TV. “I’m disappointed at humanity in general,” said Ahmed, an Indian Muslim who moved to the US more than 30 years ago.

“They say stuff like this to me and it makes my blood boil because I am none of those things,” Ahmed said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism and said the Muslim business owner and his family have been targeted for more than a month.

against that caller, but it has since expired.

The Nye county sheriff’s office has a team of five investigators looking into the potential hate crime. If it is proven to be a hate crime, they will turn the investigation over to the FBI. “Be more tolerant. The world’s a big place and there’s enough room for everybody,” said Ahmed.

Now, he said the plan is to clean up and continue his work.

“I know there’s hatred. It’s fed by ignorance. Educated people treat me just fine,” he said.

Issue - 678 (33)

2 - 8 August 2016

Lack of exercise runs up $67.5b annual health tab PARIS Health problems caused by a lack of daily physical exercise cost the world some $67.5 billion (61 billion euros) in 2013 -- more than many countries' GDP,

researchers said Thursday.The total was divided between $53.8 billion in healthcare spending and $13.7 billion in lost productivity, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal. The research relied on economic and population data from 142 countries, representing 93 percent of the world's population, its authors said.But the figure was likely an underestimate as the data

covered only five diseases -coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer -- at least the percentage attributable to physical inactivity. The “cost

calculations are based on conservative estimates, and the true cost may be even higher,” said a statement.

The paper was the first to estimate the monetary cost of the global “pandemic” of inactivity, and was part of a special series timed for release ahead of the August 5 opening of the Rio Olympic Games.

Living a sedentary lifestyle is associated with more than five

Pakistani man shoots dead two sisters in ‘honour killings’

million deaths in the world every year, the researchers said.Of the total estimated cost, $31.2 billion was tax revenue lost to public healthcare spending, $12.9 billion in spending by the private sector, including health insurance companies, and $9.7 billion in direct medical costs for households.The amounts were listed in “international dollars” -the equivalent of what an American dollar could buy in the United States in any given year.

The burden for rich countries was proportionally higher in money terms, while for poor and middleincome countries the cost was mainly in disease and premature death, the study found.

“Generally, poorer countries don't have their health needs met due to less developed health and economic systems,” said Melody Ding from the University of Sydney, who led the research.

As these countries develop economically, “so too will the consequent economic burden, if the pandemic of physical inactivity spreads as expected,” she said.

A second study in the series said people who sit for eight hours a day may cancel out the increased risk of death this carries by doing at least an hour of exercise per day.The World Health Organization advises 150 minutes or more of physical activity per week -- much less than the daily 60 minutes recommended by the study, which analysed data from over a

Australian man wins Pacific island resort in raffle

SYDNEY A lucky Australian man has won his own remote Pacific island resort in a raffle, after shelling out just US$49 for the winning ticket to claim the paradise property.

The man, identified as Joshua, won the 16-room Micronesian resort in a draw organised by the Australian owners, who were looking to handover the lodge to someone like-minded. Ahead of the draw, co-owner Doug Beitz said he was hoping the winner would be “someone who likes warm weather, likes meeting new people from around the world, is adventurous”. A video posted on Facebook revealed the winning number, drawn on Tuesday evening by a computer, to be ticket 44,980.But Doug’s efforts to reach the new owner by phone and inform him of his lifechanging win were not immediately successful.

He eventually tracked the lucky winner down and gave him the good news.

“His name is Joshua and he’s from Australia,” Doug said, adding that he lived in New South Wales state.The man’s full

identity was not immediately revealed until news of winning the Kosrae Nautilus Resort on the Micronesian island of Kosrae, which lies west of Hawaii and north of the Solomon Islands, had sunk in.

Joshua will take ownership of a resort, which is debt-free, profitable and has more than 20 years left on its lease.

Doug and Sally Beitz, who built the resort in 1994, have lived in Micronesia for more than two decades but said they felt it was time to return to Australia.

They were going to sell the property in the traditional way until one of their sons came up with the idea of the raffle.

“We will do financially well out of it,” Doug said ahead of the draw, for which tens of thousands of tickets were sold around the world.

If nothing else, it afforded some people an opportunity to dream of life on a tropical paradise.

“Thanks for the awesome dream,” wrote one ticket-buyer on Facebook. Another said: “Congrats Joshua, have a good life there.”

Pesticides damage bee generation Lahore A man killed his two sisters on the eve of their weddings in Pakistan’s central Punjab province, police said on Saturday, in the latest case of so-called “honour” killings.

Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, aged 22 and 28, were shot dead by 35year-old brother Nasir Hussain on Friday as they prepared to marry men they had chosen themselves, senior police officer Mehar Riaz told AFP. Hussain objected to the love matches and had wanted the women to marry someone within the extended family, he said.

“The brother shot dead both the sisters yesterday and fled the site,” the officer said, adding a search was underway.

“It is a simple case of killing for honour,” Riaz said.

Father of the family Atta Mohammad told reporters Hussain had “destroyed everything”.

“He ruined my family, he

destroyed us, he destroyed everything,” Mohammad said.

The murders came days after social media starlet Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death by her brother, who said he was “not embarrassed” to have killed her, reigniting calls for action against the crime.

Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in the conservative Muslim nation each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour.

Pakistan’s law minister this month announced bills aimed at tackling “honour killings” and boosting rape convictions would soon be voted on by parliament, after mounting pressure to tackle a pattern of crime that claims around 1,000 lives a year.

The perpetrators of so-called honour killings - in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative - often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.

PARIS Neonicotinoid pesticides, already blamed for short-circuiting honeybee brains, also diminish their sperm, possibly contributing to the pollinators’ worrying global decline, researchers said Wednesday.

Widespread neonicotinoid use may have “inadvertent contraceptive effects” on the insects which provide fertilisation worth billions of dollars every year, said a study in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.In their experiment, researchers divided bees into two groups.One group was fed pollen containing field-realistic concentrations of two neonicotinoids — thiamethoxam and clothianidin. The other group was given untainted food.After 38 days, the male drones whose key role in life is to mate with the egg-laying queen — had their semen extracted and tested.The data “clearly showed... reduced sperm viability” which is the percentage of living versus dead sperm in a sample, said the study. Honeybee queens mate for just a single short period, but

with many males in a sort of bee orgy, before storing the sperm for the rest of their fertile lifetime.

performance,” the paper said.Previous studies have found neonicotinoids can cause bees

Bees have been hit in Europe, North America and elsewhere by a mysterious phenomenon called “colony collapse disorder”, which has alternatively been blamed on mites, a virus or fungus, pesticides, or a combination.The new study adds reduced sperm quality to the list of possible causes.”As the primary egg layer and an important source of colony cohesion, the queen is intimately connected to colony

to become disorientated to the extent that they cannot find their way back to the hive, and can lower their resistance to disease.

The European Union has placed a moratorium on the sale of neonicotinoids.Last year, a study found that wild bees provided crop pollination services worth more than $3,250 (2,950 euros) per hectare every year.Bees account for an estimated 80 percent of plant pollination by insects.

Issue - 678 (34)

2 - 8 August 2016

New crop of robots to vie for space in the operating room CHICAGO Even though many doctors see need for improvement, surgical robots are poised for big gains in operating rooms around the world.

Within five years, one in three U.S. surgeries - more than double current levels - is expected to be performed with robotic systems, with surgeons sitting at computer consoles guiding mechanical arms.

Companies developing new robots also plan to expand their use in India, China and other emerging markets.Robotic surgery has been long dominated by pioneer Intuitive Surgical Inc, which has more than 3,600 of its da Vinci machines in hospitals worldwide and said last week the number of procedures that used them jumped by 16 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier.The anticipated future growth - and perceived weaknesses of the current generation of robots - is attracting deep-pocketed rivals, including Medtronic Inc and a startup backed by Johnson & Johnson and Google. Developers of the next wave aim to make the robots less expensive, more nimble and capable of performing more types of procedures, company executives and surgeons told Reuters.

Although surgical robots run an average of $1.5 million and entail

ongoing maintenance expenses, insurers pay no more for surgeries that utilize the systems than for other types of minimally-invasive procedures, such as laparoscopy.Still, most top U.S. hospitals for cancer treatment, urology, gynecology and gastroenterology have made the investment. The robots are featured prominently in hospital marketing campaigns aimed at attracting patients, and new doctors are routinely trained in their use. Surgical robots are used in hernia repair, bariatric surgery, hysterectomies and the vast majority of prostate removals in the United States, according to Intuitive Surgical data.

Doctors say they reduce fatigue and give them greater precision.

But robot-assisted surgery can take more of the surgeon's time than traditional procedures, reducing the number of operations doctors can perform.

That's turned off some like Dr. Helmuth Billy.Billy was an early adopter of Intuitive's da Vinci system 15 years ago. But equipping its arms with instruments slowed him down. He rarely uses it now.

“I like to do five operations a day,” Billy said. “If I have to constantly dock and undock da Vinci, it becomes cumbersome.”

To gain an edge, new robots will need to outperform laparoscopic surgery, said Dr. Dmitry

Obama library will be built in historic Chicago park

CHICAGO President Barack Obama's library and museum will be located in a historic park on Chicago's South Side in a bid to draw investment and jobs to impoverished neighborhoods in the area, his foundation said on Friday. The Obama Presidential Center will be built in 500-acre (200-hectare) Jackson Park, which was first developed as the site of the 1893 World's Fair.

First lady Michelle Obama is from the South Side of Chicago, and she and the president lived there together for many years.

The South Side is home to the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry as well as businesses, but

many neighborhoods are plagued by poverty and crime.

“We are proud that the center will help spur development in an urban area, and we can't wait to forge new ways to give back to the people of Chicago who have given us so much,” Obama said in a statement. Chicago beat out proposals by New York City, where Obama went to college, and Hawaii, where he was born, to be home to the library and museum, which are expected to be open to visitors by 2021.Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects Partners of New York and Interactive Design Architects of Chicago were named in June as the firms that will lead the design of the center.

Oleynikov, who heads a robotics task force for the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.

Surgeons told Reuters they want robots to provide a way to feel the body's tissue remotely, called haptic sensing, and better

switching suppliers altogether.

“That is where competitors can differentiate,” said Vik Srinivasan of the Advisory Board Co, a research and consulting firm that advises hospitals.

Developers say they are paying attention. Verb Surgical, the J&J-

camera image quality.

New systems also will need to be priced low enough to entice hospitals and outpatient surgical centers that have not yet invested in a da Vinci, as well as convince those with established robotic programs to consider a second vendor or

Google venture that is investing about $250 million in its project, said creating a faster and easierto-use system is a priority.Verb also envisions a system that is “always there, always on,” enabling the surgeon to use the robot for parts of a procedure as needed, said Chief Executive

Scott Huennekens.Intuitive said it too is looking to improve technology at a reasonable cost, but newcomers will face the same challenges.“As competitors come in, they are going to have to work within that same framework,” CEO Gary Guthart said in an interview.Device maker Medtronic has said it expects to launch its surgical robot before mid-2018 and will start in India.

Others developing surgical robots include TransEnterix Inc and Canada's Titan Medical Inc.An RBC Capital Markets survey found that U.S. surgeons expect about 35 percent of operations will involve robots in five years, up from 15 percent today.J&J, which hopes to be second to market with a product from Verb, has said it sees robotics as a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. Huennekens said Verb's surgical robot will differ from another Google robotics effort, the driverless car, in one important aspect.“There will always be a surgeon there,” he said. (Reporting by Susan Kelly; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion)

‘Psychopath’ slits throat of brother’s girlfriend in hope of 1st kill Madison A 14-year-old Wisconsin girl tried to kill her brother’s girlfriend, slitting her throat and telling her during the attack that she was a psychopath looking for her first kill, according to investigators.

The girl from New Richmond, which is about 35 miles east of Minneapolis, was charged as an adult on Thursday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. She was being held without bail on Friday in juvenile custody pending a preliminary hearing August 8. Her attorney, Barbara Miller, didn’t immediately respond to an email or a voicemail seeking comment. The Associated Press isn’t naming the girl because the judge could end up moving the case to juvenile court, where proceedings are secret.

According to a criminal complaint, which was first reported about by the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, the girl called the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday morning to report that two men in a green pick-up truck had tried to abduct her while she was riding her bike.She told the men that her brother’s girlfriend was home alone and they should take her instead. Deputies responded to the girlfriend’s trailer and found her in a bedroom bleeding profusely. The 15-year-old girl was taken by ambulance to a hospital.There, she told investigators that her boyfriend’s sister had attacked her. She said she was sleeping in her bedroom when the girl, dressed in black, appeared in her room and put her hands over her mouth. A struggle

ensued and the girl punched the girlfriend in the face multiple times and broke two bowls over her head. She used one of the bowl shards to cut her and slit her throat, she said.The girl asked her if she wanted to die or bleed out. The girlfriend opted to

girl confirmed many of the details of the attack that investigators had learned from the girlfriend.She said she didn’t want the girlfriend to die but she wanted her to pass out from blood loss so she could leave.The girl said she had been

bleed out. The girl told her she had been biking by her house and noting the times when the girlfriend was alone. She said she was a crazy psychopath looking for her first kill and she would probably kill again. The girl then told her to “have a nice afterlife” and left the trailer.

According to investigators, the girl initially stuck to her story about being abducted when investigators questioned her. She later said she hated the girl because the girl made her brother happier than she could.

She said she knew the girlfriend’s mother left her alone three days in a row, the complaint states.The girl said she left her house around 4am on her bike and rode 11 miles to the girlfriend’s trailer, investigators stated. She wanted to scare her so she and her mother would move away and her brother would “come back to the family”. The

thinking about attacking the girlfriend for about a week and a half and planned out how she would do it during other bike rides.The girl’s mother told The AP in a brief telephone interview that her family had no idea that her daughter was apparently plotting to attack the girlfriend.“We had no clue,” the mother said. “There were no signs. We’re all very, very sad.” She declined to comment further about the case.

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2 - 8 August 2016

After NADA clearance, Narsingh Yadav sets sight on Rio 2016 Olympics

WRESTLER Narsingh Yadav, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid last month, was exonerated by a National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) hearing panel on Monday but there’s still some way to go before he can take the flight to Rio to participate in the Olympic Games starting August 5.

Narsingh will have to clear another dope test and get clearances from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the United World Wrestling the international body must also agree to reinstate him.

After Yadav failed the dope test, India had named Praveen Rana as a replacement in the 74-kg category at the Olympics.

The NADA panel concluded that Narsingh was a victim of “sabotage”, a theory the wrestler and his legal team

had pursued during the hearing which took place over two days last week.

Narsingh faced a four-year ban for a first-time doping offence but appealed under article 10.4 of the WADA code that provides for “elimination of ineligibility where an athlete can prove that despite all due care he or she was sabotaged by a competitor”.

Reacting to the NADA panel’s verdict, Narsingh said, “I am very happy and hopeful of winning a medal at the Olympics. Truth has won. This will ensure that nothing like this happens with any other player. It is a huge win.”

Narsingh had tested positive on June 25 and July 5 both instances being considered as one failure by the hearing panel in dope tests conducted by NADA. Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan said,

Youngest Olympian keeps pressure in perspective Representing your country at the biggest sporting event in the world is a daunting prospect for

any athlete, but for 13year-old Olympian Gaurika Singh, it pales in comparison with surviving an earthquake in her native Nepal. At 13 years and 255 days, the swimmer will be the youngest

to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics when she takes to the pool for the women’s 100 meters backstroke heats on Sunday. “That’s quite cool, a bit unreal too,” said Singh, who has broken seven national records. “I wanted to go but wasn’t sure I’d be able to because I’d be too young. When I found out a month ago, it was a big shock.” But it was nothing like the shock she experienced when t h e y o u n g s t e r, w h o moved to England with her family when she was two.

“We are confident that Narsingh will go to Rio, the judgement is clear that Narsingh was a victim of sabotage.”

But with time running out for the wrestler the men’s freestyle 74-kg category competition is on August 19 the WFI official said the federation would forward a copy of the NADA hearing to WADA and the IOC to get clarity on whether Narsingh can be a part of the Games.

Even if he is allowed to go to Rio, Narsingh can face another hurdle as WADA can challenge the NADA panel verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest appellate body.

Virat Kohli will break Brian Lara’s 400-run record says Kapil Dev Former India captain Kapil Dev has backed Virat Kohli to break Brian Lara’s Test record of 400 soon. The 27year-old Indian Test captain smashed his maiden first-class double hundred in India’s innings and 95run victory over the West Indies in Antigua last week.

Kohli has been in sensational form across formats this year and started off hammering two hundreds in the ODI series against Australia, before turning his attention to T20 cricket.

The Delhi run machine was on a rampage during the Indian Premier League, where he amassed 973 runs including four hundreds.

Kohli, of course, has also proven himself in Test cricket. Before the 200, Kohli had cracked 11 hundreds, including four on the tour of Australia in 201415. He had taken over as India’s Test captain after Mahendra Singh Dhoni suddnely called time on the longest format Down Under. “Mark my words. Virat Kohli will make 400 plus in a Test match. Remember I said this first,” Kapil said.

Kapil said Kohli was not as talented as Tendulkar but added that the former did

not have the mental block that bugged the Master Blaster for the better part

44 in the first innings. After two more matches in the Caribbean, India will

of his career.

“At his age, Sachin Tendulkar was more talented. But then he had that mental block. He would get to a hundred and then get into a rut,” he said.

Kapil has often been critical of Tendulkar’s rigid dedication to the “Bombay school of cricket,” which was naturally more defensive and tuned in to help batsmen score big without taking any risks.

‘KOHLI CAN TEAR AN ATTACK APART’ India are currently engaged in the second Test against the West Indies at Jamaica, where Kohli scored

return home to play 13 Tests against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia.

Kapil felt Kohli could shatter Lara’s record in the course of India’s most packed domestic schedule in nearly 40 years.

“There has been a tremendous improvement in Kohli.

Still, I would say Sachin was more talented. But Kohli is the type who will tear an attack apart. “With so many Test matches coming up this season I am sure Kohli will find the perfect pitch to his liking on which he could threaten the world record 401.

Roelant Oltmans complains about lack of chairs, TV sets in Olympics Village The Indian hockey teams at the Olympics are facing a shortage of chairs and Television sets at the Games Village and chief coach Roelant Oltmans has complained that the players’ apartments are not properly furnished.

In a letter to Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent Rakesh Gupta, Oltmans complained about unfurnished accommodation provided to both the men’s and women’s hockey teams. “The apartments of the Rio Olympics are not furnished properly,” Oltmans, who is also the High Performance Director of Indian hockey, wrote in his letter. “For athletes who have to perform at top-level during a longer period of the Olympics we need proper chairs and tables in the

apartments for 6 persons.

Actually there are only 2 chairs in each apartment.

“For men and women we are using 9 apartments so

competitors live on TV. This will help the players to prepare themselves for the upcoming matches against these opponents.” In an-

there is a lack of 28 proper chairs and for 7 Apartments we need atleast one table as well. In the staff apartments we’ve managed to bring in some tables,” he said. “During the Olympics we would like to give our players the possibility to watch the matches of our

other letter, Oltmans asked for Chef de Mission’s permission to purchase TV sets for the hockey teams.

“Thank you very much to offer your TV to our team to be able to watch the hockey matches during the Olympic Games. I’ve tried to rent more TV’s but un-

fortunately they are sold out in the Village. “I would like to get permission to purchase 3 TVs to be able to follow the hockey competition in both the staff rooms and at least in one of the male and female Apartments,” the Dutchman wrote. “I also tried to rent more chairs but at this moment there are no chairs available in the Village.

We’re pleased you’ve given us some chairs but in the end we need proper furniture for all the players.

Spending too much time in bean chairs might occur back injuries for the players. “Please help us to find a solution. We all want our hockey teams to perform well but we need to support them as well with the right conditions,” Oltmans concluded.

Issue 678 (36)

2 - 8 August 2016

Tabloid runs Melania nudes, A month on, unclaimed Bangladesh cafe attackers’ bodies still in morgue Trump’s not complaining Washington A New York tabloid has published nude pictures of Melania Trump from her modelling days and her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is not complaining. “Melania was one of the most

his ongoing row with the Khans, parents of a fallen American Muslim soldier.

The Post ran the pictures in two lots. The first debuted in its Sunday edition with a front-page picture of Melania Trump in the nude, with “The Ogle

successful models, and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines,” Trump told the tabloid, New York Post. “This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common,” he added.

His campaign spokesman Jason Miller told CNN: “They’re a celebration of the human body as art, and (there’s) nothing to be embarrassed about with the photos. She’s a beautiful woman.” There was speculation that Trump may have provided those pictures himself to divert attention from

Office” as the headline.

A pitch-line added alluringly, “You have never seen a potential First Lady like this!” Melania Trump is indeed in the nude, completely, with stars covering some body parts. The second lot ran in the late edition of the Sunday paper under the headline: Melange A Trump, with Melania in the nude held from behind by another woman who is also naked. These pictures were shot in Manhattan in 1995 and first ran in a French men’s magazine.

Melania Trump was 25 then and was known as

Man who stabbed London passenger ‘for Syria’ jailed for life

London A man who stabbed a passenger at a London underground train station in December while shouting that he was acting for Syria was jailed for life at a London court on Monday. Muhaydin Mire, 30, of east London, beat his victim, forced him to the

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ground and kicked his head before attempting to cut his neck, leaving the man with a 12-cm (5-inch) gash that required five hours of surgery. He will serve a minimum of 8-1/2 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder at London’s Old Bailey criminal court on June 8.

Initially described by police as a “terrorist incident”, the attack at Leytonstone station in east London was investigated by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.

“Whilst Mire was not accused of terrorist offences, it would appear from comments he made at the time of the attack.

Melania Knauss or just Melania K. “Melania was super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me,” Alé de Basse¬ville, French photographer who shot those pictures, told the Post. The publication doesn’t give details of how it acquired these pictures, but the fact that it has endorsed Trump’s campaign gave some people reasons to speculate about the circumstances. Also noteworthy was Trump’s understated response almost approving of it compared to the storm he raised over nudes of Melania Trump that had surfaced during the primaries and caucuses. Trump had blamed his leading rival Ted Cruz for it, and had retaliated by re-tweeting a post carrying an unflattering picture of Cruz’s wife alongside one of a glamorous Melania Trump. The pictures carried by the Post are distinctly more revealing and racier specially the second girl-on-girl lot but the nominee and the campaign don’t seem to care much this time.

Dhaka The bodies of five Islamists behind a deadly attack on a Bangladesh cafe have still not been claimed a month later, police said on Monday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against extremism. Relatives of the men have spoken of their shock and horror at learning of their involvement in the siege in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighbourhood, in which 20 hostages were killed -- many of them hacked to death.

On Monday tens of thousands of university and college students across the country stood in silence and formed human chains in front of their schools.

“No terrorism, we want peace. We want life without fear,” read one banner at a women’s college in Dhaka. Authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to shame those behind the attacks. Clerics at the mainly Muslim country’s more than 300,000 mosques have been asked to give ser-

mons on why Islam forbids killing. Police said the bodies of nine other men allegedly from the same group who were shot when police launched a raid on

speaking on condition of anonymity said the parents of the extremists were overwhelmed with guilt.

Six of the young men were

a militant hideout on July 26 are also still being stored at a state hospital.

“No relatives came to us or officially applied for the bodies of the 14 extremists,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Masudur Rahman told AFP. Sohel Mahmud, a forensic doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said several families had come to identify the bodies. “But no one wanted to take them home for burial,” he said. Police gave no official reason, but officers

from well-off Dhaka families, among them 18-yearold Rohan Imtiaz. His father Imtiaz Khan Babul told AFP he was “stunned and speechless” to hear of his only son’s involvement in the carnage and apologised to the nation.

Abdus Salam said his brother Mohammad Abdullah, one of the nine killed in the shootout with police, had betrayed the family and his country.

“That’s why we don’t want to take his body,” he told reporters last week.

70% of IS fighters in Afghanistan are from Pakistan: US general New Delhi Almost 70% of the fighters of the Islamic State in Afghanistan are from the ranks of the Pakistani Taliban who have switched allegiance to the group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a top US Army general has said. The IS formed its “Wilayah Khorasan” – a branch encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India – in January last year and numerous reports have suggested that members of several Pakistan-based jihadi groups have defected to it. Gen John W Nicholson, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, estimated the current strength of the IS in Afghanistan at between 1,000 and 1,500. “So 70%, roughly, of those fighters are from the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) and many of them are Pakistani Pashtun from the Orakzai Agency,” Nicholson said during a news briefing at the Pentagon last Thursday. Many of the Pakistani Taliban fighters were “forced out of Pakistan by Pakistan military offensive operations”, he added. Afghan officials have for long complained that fighters escap-

ing from the Pakistan Army’s operation Zarb-eAzb, a campaign against terrorists in the lawless tribal region, simply sneaked across the porous border into Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

Nangarhar is one of the re-

lamic State and joined them earlier this year,” he said.

Nicholson said the IS’ original strength in Afghanistan was 3,000 but this had “been roughly cut in half”.

Though the IS killed about 80 people in a suicide at-

gions in Afghanistan where the IS has a sizeable presence.

“In the case of the IS fighters in southern Nangahar, we see that many of them come from the Orakzai Agency, which is south of Nangahar…And they were former members of the TTP, complete with their leadership, who wholesale joined Islamic State, pledged bayat (allegiance) to Is-

tack on a demonstration by Hazara Shias in Kabul last month, this didn’t mean the group is getting stronger, he added.

“The fact that they could conduct a high-profile attack should not be perceived as a sign of growing strength… Indeed, their area is shrinking,” he said.

The Wilayah Khorasan’s hold on territory has been reduced from 10 districts in

southern Nangarhar province to parts of three or four districts, Nicholson said.

US forces in Afghanistan are currently involved in counter-terrorism operations and training and advising Afghan forces. “We have helped the Afghan security forces to reclaim significant portions of the territory that was previously controlled by (IS),” Nicholson said.

“We have killed many (of its) commanders and soldiers, destroyed key infrastructure capabilities, logistical nodes, and (IS) fighters are retreating south into the mountains of southern Nangahar.”

Nicholson said US forces “will continue to stay after (the IS) until they are defeated here in Afghanistan” because the fight against the group “is critical”.

“It’s nested within a larger global strategy against the Islamic State… (and) in fact, coincides with ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria,” he said. “By fighting groups like (IS) nand al-Qaeda here in Afghanistan, we deny them sanctuary and we inhibit their ability to conduct transnational attacks from here.”

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Health Researchers identify rare form Breastfed preemies tend to be smarter of hereditary colon cancer In another significant breakthrough, researchers from University of Bonn Hospital in Germany have discovered a new rare form of hereditary colon cancer.

Researchers say that mutation in a gene can lead to a form of hereditary colon cancer which was not identified earlier.

The researchers discovered genetic changes in

the MSH3 gene in patients and identified a new form of colon cancer.

“The knowledge about molecular mechanisms which lead to cancer is also a precondition for the development of new targeted drugs,” said Stefan Aretz from University of Bonn Hospital in Germany.

The formation of large numbers of polyps in the colon

has a high probability of developing into colon cancer, if left untreated.

Colon polyps form like mushroomshaped growths from the mucosa and are several millimeters to several centimetres in size.

They are benign and generally do not cause any symptoms - however, they can turn into malignant

tumours (colon cancer).

Physicians refer to the development of a large number of polyps in the colon as “polyposis.” Scientists have already discovered several genes associated with a polyposis.

“However, about one-third of families affected by the disease do not have any abnormalities in these genes,” Aretz said.

Therefore, there would have to be even more genes involved in the formation of polyps in the colon.

Together with pathologists from the University Hospital Bonn, scientists from the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven (USA), and the Frankfurt University Hospital, The team of US and German researchers working with Aretz investigated the genetic material (DNA) of more than 100 polyposis patients using blood samples.

In each patient, all of the about 20,000 proteincoding genes known were simultaneously examined.

In this process, the scientists filtered the rare, possibly relevant genetic changes out of the gigantic quantity of data, like the proverbial needle in a haystack. In two patients, genetic changes (mutations) were discovered in the MSH3 gene on chromosome five, showed the findings published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Turns out, the longer a preterm baby breastfeeds, the more he/she achieves in life. A new study at the Brigham and Women`s Hospital, which followed 180 pre-term infants from birth to age seven, found that babies who were fed more breast milk within the first 28 days of life had had larger volumes of certain regions of the brain at term equivalent and had better IQs, academic achievement, working memory and motor function. “Our data support current recommendations for using mother`s milk to feed preterm babies during their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization.

This is not only important for moms, but also for hospitals, employers, and friends and family members, so that they can provide the support that`s needed during this time when mothers are under stress and working so hard to produce milk for their babies,” said lead author Mandy Brown Belfort.

Researchers studied infants born before 30 weeks gestation, who

were enrolled in the Victorian Infant Brain Studies cohort from 20012003.

They found that, across

ficulty providing breast milk for their babies, and we need to work hard to ensure that these mothers have the best pos-

all babies, infants who received predominantly breast milk on more days during their NICU hospitalization had larger deep nuclear gray matter volume, an area important for processing and transmitting neural signals to other parts of the brain, at term equivalent age, and by age seven, performed better in IQ, mathematics, working memory, and motor function tests.

Overall, ingesting more human milk correlated with better outcomes, including larger regional brain volumes at term equivalent and improved cognitive outcomes at age 7.

“Many mothers of preterm babies have dif-

sible support systems in place to maximize their ability to meet their own feeding goals.

It`s also important to note that there are so many factors that influence a baby`s development, with breast milk being just one,” said Belfort.

Researchers noted some limitations on the study, including that it was observational.

Although they adjusted for factors such as differences in maternal education, some of the effects could possibly be explained by other factors that were not measured, such as greater maternal involvement in other aspects of infant care.

This bio-sensor can detect stress, muscle fatigue A new bio-sensor has been developed by scientists which can easily detect conditions like stress, muscle fatigue and dehydration.

This sustainable, wearable bio-sensor takes advantage of trove of medical information present in human sweat and thereby detects these human conditions.

“When the human body undergoes strenuous exercise, there’s a point at which aerobic muscle function becomes anaerobic muscle function,” said study co-author Jenny Ulyanova from CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC).

“At that point, lactate is

produce at a faster rate than it is being consumed.

When that happens, knowing what those levels are can be an indicator of potentially problematic conditions like muscle fatigue, stress, and dehydration,” he added.

What separates this study from other researches is the use of purely biological green technology.

The team, in collaboration with University of New Mexico, developed an enzyme-based sensor powered by a biofuel cell -- providing a safe, renewable

power source.

“The biofuel cell works in this particular case because the sensor is a low-

but power densities are still a work in progress. But for low-power applications like this particular sensor, it

power device,” Ulyanova said.

“They’re very good at having high energy densities,

works very well,” he added in a paper published in the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology.

The team powered the biofuel cells with a fuel based on glucose. This same enzymatic technology, where the enzymes oxidise the fuel and generate energy, is used at the working electrode of the sensor which allows for the detection of lactate in human sweat.

Another novel aspect of this work is the use of electrochemical processes to very accurately detect a specific compound in a very complex medium like sweat.

“We’re doing it electro-

chemically, so we’re looking at applying a constant load to the sensor and generating a current response,” Ulyanova said, “which is directly proportional to the concentration of our target analyte”.

Although the sensor was designed for a soldier in training, it could also be applied to people that are active and anyone participating in strenuous activity.

As for commercial applications, the researchers believe the device could be used as a training aid to monitor lactate changes in the same way that athletes use heart rate monitors to see how their heart rate changes during exercise.

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Soon, a cream that can ward off devastating superbugs!

Scientists have developed a cream that causes bacteria to slide off the skin, which they claimed could mark a turning point in the fight against superbugs.

The lotion, which has been tested on laboratorygrown “model” skin, prevents infection without directly killing bacteria and promoting antibiotic resistance, and could be ready for clinical trials in three years.

Scientists believe that the pioneering treatment is a breakthrough and could help hospitals deal with the burden of infection from bedsores and ulcers.

Bacteria invading a wound or bedsore attach themselves to the skin by hijacking sticky patches on human cells.

Scientists at the Sheffield

University found that proteins called tetraspanins made the patches much less sticky, allowing the bugs to be harmlessly washed away.

Tests of the proteins on the

model skin have shown that the therapy is safe and effective, say the researchers. The researchers hope to produce a cream or gel

that can be applied directly to the skin, or more efficient dressings. “This development is a huge breakthrough in the fight against antibiotic-resistance, Dr Pete Monk, from Sheffield

University, said. “Skin infections, such as bedsores and ulcers, can be incredibly troubling for patients who may already be

Obesity, smoking may up poor life quality in lung disease patients

Patients who survived the fatal lung disease find their subsequent quality of life has more to do with lifestyle factors than how sick they were in the hospital, a new study has found.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a progressive medical condition occurring in critically ill patients characterised by widespread inflammation in the lungs.

The team studied 616 patients who were treated for ARDS to determine what factors played the most significant role in their quality of life six months following discharge from the hospital.

The findings showed that patient’s acuity or level

of illness was not a significant marker in their subsequent quality of life but lifestyle factors, specifically obesity and smoking, were associated with a worse quality of life rating.

The main complication in ARDS is that fluid leaks into the lungs making breathing difficult or impossible -- and making it difficult to get oxygen into the blood. Most people who get ARDS are already in the hospital for trauma or illness and are unable to breathe on their own without support from a ventilator.

“With survival rates improving for ARDS patients, understanding and improving their quality of life outcomes is a

clinical and research priority,” said Samuel M. Brown, Associate Professor at the University of Utah in the US. “The ICU and the critical care environment are so focused on life-anddeath issues, and we’re so busy as clinicians, that we often don’t have time to think about lifestyle factors, such as obesity and smoking and the role they play in our patient’s long-term quality of life. Our study emphasises the need for us to do more of that,” Brown added in the study published in the journal Thorax.

Smoking cessation education should be incorporated into the critical care setting, suggested the researchers.

dealing with debilitating conditions. They are also a significant problem for modern healthcare. We hope that this new therapy can be used to help relieve the burden of skin infections on both patients and health services while also providing a new insight into how we might defeat the threat of antimicrobial drug resistance.”

The Sheffield scientists also developed a 3D skin model that mimics the tissue structure of normal adult skin and can be used to simulate infected wounds.

Scientists now hope to develop new anti-bacterial dressings derived from tetraspanin proteins that will make it easier to keep wounds sterile and promote more rapid healing.

Their research, funded by the charity Age UK, was published in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.

26-year-old woman gives birth to rare conjoined twins

A 26-year-old woman has given birth to rare conjoined twins at BMC’s Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Hospital, or Sion Hospital in Mumbai. The conjoined twins have two fully developed heads joined from above the chest and three arms, including a third arm protruding from the back, said a doctor.

The 26-year old mother whose identity was not revealed - delivered the twins through Cesarian section, in the 37th week of pregnancy, Nandanwar said on Thursday.

The twins share a common heart, urinary blad-

der, genital and two lower limbs. The twins weighed 3.67 kg at birth.

The condition of the mother - who has earlier given birth to two normal daughters - and her twins is stable and they are doing fine, Nandanwar said.

The conjoined twins were diagnosed during an ultrasonography test conducted at Sion Hospital during the woman’s 32nd week of pregnancy, he added.

The twins are now under the care of paediatrics surgeon Paras Kothari to examine whether they can be separated without risking their lives.

Know the signs and symptoms of pneumonia!

Pneumonia is a common respiratory condition that affects children and also the single biggest cause of child deaths, claiming more young lives than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

It is caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumonia and you can get an infection if your immune system is weak.

Here are some characteristic signs and symptoms of pneumonia you should know: Cough A productive cough is a classic sign of pneumonia and

bacterial pneumonia also produces green or yellow sputum.

Fever Fever is usually high grade in the case of children and is associated with shaking chills. Adults may have a mild fever.

Chest pain If a person starts feeling chest pain and cannot breathe normally or cough properly then it is the sign of pneumonia.

Sweating With high fever and shaking chills, sweating may be seen in the case of pneumonia.

Low energy levels and fatigue Low oxygen levels result in constant fatigue, muscle pain, headache, overall weakness and lowered energy levels

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Issue 678 (39)

2 - 8 August 2016

CHILLED AVOCADO SOUP Ingredients: 4 ripe Hass avocados 2 cups sparkling water 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 3 ice cubes Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup small basil leaves 4 red radishes, thinly sliced 15-20 thin slices of seeded bread, toasted, for serving 1 tsp. merkén chile Sea salt Instructions: Cut the flesh of one avocado into cubes and set aside. Scoop the flesh from the remaining avocados and put it in a blender with the sparkling water, olive

CORNBREAD

oil, and ice. Blend until smooth, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide the chilled soup between 4 bowls and garnish with avocado cubes, basil, radishes, and toasts. Sprinkle with merkén, more olive oil, and sea salt immediately before serving.

duce to a simmer. Let cook until tender and the flavors have deepened, 1 ½ hours.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. London dry gin 1 medium egg white 3/4 oz. simple syrup 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 oz. half-and-half 3 dashes orange blossom water (also called orange flower water) Directions: In an empty cocktail shaker, combine all ingredients and shake vigorously for at least one minute. Fill the shaker three-quarters full with ice, and shake vigorously again for at least one minute.

Strain into a Collins glass with no ice, then add 2 ounces of club soda. (The drink will be foamy. Add any excess foam from the cocktail shaker on top.)

Garnish with an orange wedge and serve immediately with a straw.

MINT JULEP WITH RUM FLOAT

RHUBARB-ROSE OVEN JAM Ingredients: 2 1/2 lb. rhubarb, cleaned and cut in 2-inch pieces 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped 1 3/4 cups sugar 2 2-inch strips orange zest 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 1 1/2 tbsp. rosewater 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice, as needed Directions: Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb, vanilla bean and seeds, sugar, orange zest, and salt. Transfer the mixture to a medium (8- by 10inch) roasting pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, stirring gently every 20 minutes or so. The juices

needed. Turn it out onto a cutting board and slice into 8 wedges. Serve warm.

RAMOS GIN FIZZ

BRAISED TURNIP GREENS Ingredients: 2 cups chicken stock 2 cups water 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp. black pepper 1 tbsp. sugar 3 lb. washed turnip greens, coarsely chopped 2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 2 cups)(optional) 1 to 2 ham hocks Directions: In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the chicken stock and water; bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the salt, pepper, and sugar. Add the greens and ham hocks, then bring the mixture back to a boil. Cover the pot and re-

Ingredients: 2 tbsp. rendered bacon fat (optional) 2 1/3 cups finely ground cornmeal 2 cups water 2 tsp. kosher salt Directions: Preheat the oven to 350° and set a rack in the top third. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet or metal cake pan, drizzle the bacon fat if using, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the cornmeal, 2 cups water, and salt (the consistency should be soup-like).

Pour the cornmeal mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until set and just beginning to brown, 18 to 20 minutes.

Remove and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a paring knife to help dislodge the sides of the cornbread as

should be thick and syrupy and the rhubarb should be very soft.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the rosewater and lemon juice to taste.

Transfer jam to an airtight container and serve within 1 to 2 weeks.

Ingredients: 2 oz. bourbon 1/2 oz. añejo rum, such as Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva 1/2 oz. simple syrup 10 mint leaves, plus more for garnish Directions: In the bottom of a julep cup or cocktail glass, place mint and 1/4 oz simple syrup.

Gently press down on mint leaves with a muddler, making sure not to mash the leaves into pulp. Add the remaining 1/4 oz simple syrup a mound on top. Pour the rum over the top of the ice. and bourbon. Fill the cup Garnish with a large mint bouquet and a straw next completely with ice, forming to the mint.

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