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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 661, 5 APRIL - 11 APRIL, 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

PANAMA PAPERS ROCK SHARIF

By KASWAR KLASRA Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, third-time Prime Minister of Pakistan, found himself facing a furore on Monday after 11.5 million leaked documents exposed the offshore assets of 40 political figures across the world, including him.

The leaks from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca (MF), show that Sharif’s sons and daughter, Hussain Nawaz, Hasan Nawaz Sharif and Mariam Safdar, set up at least four offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). These companies owned at least six upmarket properties overlooking London’s Hyde Park.

Thousands of MF documents reviewed

by Mail Today and subsequent enquiries revealed that the Sharif family mortgaged four of these properties to the Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA for a loan of GBP 7 million, and the Bank of Scotland part-financed the purchase of two other apartments.

'Not false' Hussain Nawaz told Mail Today on Monday afternoon by telephone that these aren’t false claims, but insisted he and his family had done nothing wrong. “It’s true that we own those apartments in question. In addition,

we own offshore companies,” he said, adding that he and his family had worked hard over the years to generate funds to own the properties.

Hours later, Hussain Nawaz repeated the same to leading Pakistani private news channel ARY News.

“There is nothing wrong. I have never concealed these facts, nor do I need to do so. I live in the UK. It is a legal way to avoid unnecessary tax via offshore companies,” Hussain Nawaz told the private broadcaster during a special transmission on Monday.

Sharif's family is not the only one from Pakistan that is facing the revelations.

According to the leaks, more than 200 Pakistanis have been identified. The list includes lawyers, lawmakers and some names from the judiciary. It is interesting to note that Arshad Sharif, a veteran Pakistani investigative journalist and anchorperson, had broken the news of Sharif's offshore companies almost two months before the Panama Leaks. Arshad Sharif told Mail Today that he studied the documents which were accessible through various websites in the United Kingdom, including Companies House and HM Land Registry.

Continued on Page 2

Army Rules Sikh Officer Can Keep His Turban, Beard On Active Duty serving on active duty while upholding his religiously mandated turban and beard.

The U.S. Army released its decision on Thursday to grant Captain Simratpal Singh “religious accommodation” to the rules against facial hair and headwear, adding that “the Army intends to gather information to develop uniform standards for religious accommodations.”

“My military service A Sikh army captain who continues to fulfill a lifelong sued the U.S. military for dream,” Singh, a West Point discrimination in March has graduate who earned Continued on Page 2 won the right to continue

Putin and the ‘dirty dozen’ The biggest financial data leak in history has revealed how Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and a ‘dirty dozen’ list of world leaders are using offshore tax havens to hide their wealth.

A host of celebrities, sports stars, British politicians and the global rich are all implicated in the socalled Panama Papers - a leak of 11million files which contain more data than the amount stolen by former CIA

contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Documents were leaked from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, and show how the company has allegedly helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

Megastars Jackie Chan and Lionel Messi are among the big names accused of using Mossack Continued on Page 2

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5 April - 11 April 2016

India objects to Obama clubbing India with Pak on nuclear security India on Monday objected to US never initiated military action responding to a question on President Barack Obama club- against any neighbour.

Obama’s remarks last week at a bing the country with Pakistan as India believes its nuclear arsenals news conference following the end of the Nuclear Security Summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among more than 50 world leaders who attended the summit. While responding to a question on the US and Russia cutting their nuclear arsenals, Obama had said: “One of the challenges that we’re going to have here is that it is very difficult to see a challenge for global nuclear se- pose no danger to the world be- huge reductions in our nuclear arcurity, saying his remarks cause of its no-first use policy senal unless the US and Russia, stemmed from a lack of under- and its track record of no-prolif- as the two largest possessors of standing of New Delhi’s defence eration. “Since the context was nuclear weapons, are prepared to posture. the Nuclear Security Summit, the lead the way.” He added, “The “Yes, we have seen those re- President’s own remark that ‘ex- other area where I think we need marks. There seems to be a lack panding nuclear arsenals in to see progress is Pakistan and of understanding of India’s de- some countries, with more small India, that subcontinent, making fence posture,” MEA spokesper- tactical nuclear weapons which sure that as they develop military son Vikas Swarup said. He ex- could be at greater risk of theft’ doctrines, that they are not conplained India, which has a no-first sums up the focus of global con- tinually moving in the wrong diuse nuclear weapons policy, has cern,” Swarup said. Swarup was rection.”

Army Rules Sikh Officer Can Keep...

Continued from Page 1 a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, said in a press release. “My faith, like many of the soldiers I work with, is an integral part of who I am. I am thankful that I no longer have to make the choice between faith and service to our nation.”

COURTESY OF THE SIKH COALITION After years of cutting his hair and shaving his face, Captain Simratpal Singh will no longer have to choose between his faith and his calling. After years of cutting his hair and shaving his face, Singh was finally granted a temporary accommodation in December. Assistant Army Secretary Debra Wada ordered tests in March to determine whether Singh could safely wear a helmet and gas mask if he had a turban, uncut hair and a beard.

Thursday’s decision by the Army states that Singh will not have to reapply for accommodation in the future. “In a political context where minorities are being marginalized and attacked routinely, it is critical that our nation’s largest institutions and employers - like

the U.S. military - show the country that America embraces diversity,” Simran Jeet Singh, the Senior Religion Fellow for the Sikh Coalition, told The Huffington Post. He added, though, that this decision is just one step toward ending the discriminatory policies regarding article of faith for service members. In 2014, the U.S. military began taking steps to give individual troops greater freedom to wear turbans, head scarfs, yarmulkes and other religious clothing with their uniforms. A spokesman for the Sikh Coalition noted at the time that the religious accommodation would have to be approved each time a service member changed assignments and would default to the discretion of their commanders. Just two day’s before the Army released its decision on Singh’s case, three other Sikh soldiers filed a lawsuit seeking similar accommodations from the Army. With Singh’s victory and the Army’s promise to “develop uniform standards,” there may be hope for others in a similar predicament.

Panama Papers rock Sharif

Putin and the ‘dirty dozen’

Continued from Page 1 Fonseca to invest their millions offshore. And the Panama Papers also reveal that the £26million stolen during the Brink’s Mat robbery in 1983 may have been channelled into an offshore company set up by the controversial law firm.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s former leader Colonel Gaddafi, Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and Chinese president Xi Jinping are among those alleged to have links to tax havens through families and associates.

Lord Ashcroft, Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Tory MP Michael Mates are the only British politicians who have been named in the data release so far, while several dictators make up the 12 world leaders listed.

German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung obtained the files and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists but the identity of the source who leaked them and how it was done is unknown.

Putin’s name is not included in the records but his friends and associates appear to have earned millions of pounds from deals that would have been difficult to secure without his patronage. The BBC

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and The Guardian set out the details in the documents.

Among the disclosures are that six members of the House of Lords and three former Conservative MPs had offshore accounts, although the only British politicians so far named are Lord Ashcroft, Tory peer Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Conservative MP Michael Mates. Dozens of donors to UK political parties had similar arrangements, the leak reveals.

A representative for Mr Mates said the reference to the former Tory MP in the ‘Panama Papers’ related to a small shareholding the politician once held in a Bahamian company.

He insisted the company was set up legitimately to create a leisure development in Barbuda, an island that is part of the East Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda.

Mr Mates said he had not and would not receive any remuneration ‘unless and until the development took place, nor were the shares of any value,’ as the company ‘never had any real value’. He denies he has ever sought to avoid paying taxes.

Campaigners said David Cameron now faces a ‘credibility test’, having promised to end tax secrecy four years ago. While using offshore companies is not illegal, the practice has long been morally dubious and is under the spotlight amid a wider examination of tax avoidance by large companies such as Google. Mr Cameron has vowed to end ‘tax secrecy’ in the UK. But critics say little has been done – with the Prime Minister due to hold his latest summit on the issue next month. Mr

Cameron said four years ago that some offshore schemes were ‘not fair and not right’.

‘Frankly some of these schemes where people are parking huge amounts of money offshore and taking loans back just to minimise their tax rates, it is not morally acceptable,’ he added.

The Prime Minister will now come under intense pressure to abolish all the UK’s tax havens, including the crown dependencies Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. In 2012, it emerged that the Prime Minister’s father Ian ran a network of entirely legal offshore investment funds to grow the family fortune. The leaked records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with The Guardian and the BBC. The data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 to the end of 2015, and lists nearly 15,600 paper companies set up for clients who wanted to keep their financial affairs secret.

Thousands were created by UBS and HSBC, the latter of which was fined by the US government for laundering money from Iran.

Mossack Fonseca is Panamanian but runs a worldwide operation.

The leaks also reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank and involved close associates of President Putin. Mossack Fonseca said in a statement: ‘Our firm has never been accused or charged in connection with criminal wrongdoing.

Continued from Page 1 Call for action “I followed the trail through those documents. Multiple companies of Hasan Nawaz were set up since 2001. Their audit reports reveal the financial trail,” Arshad said.

When asked what was likely to happen in Pakistan following the leaks, Arshad was of the opinion that the leaks have dented the credibility of the ruling family.

“It’s up to the government to investigate Sharif and his family which is highly unlikely as long as he is calling the shots,” he said.

Following the leaks, Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf, issued a swift call for action against Sharif and his family. Khan told Mail Today Panama Leaks have endorsed his stand that Sharif and his family have wealth abroad.

“Our stance is vindicated again as Sharif’s wealth that is stashed abroad has been exposed,” Khan said over telephone. Khan urged Pakistan’s accountability watchdog, tax authorities and election commission to take action following the leaks.

It is not the first time that Sharif has found himself in trouble since his party came to power with a landmark victory in the May 2013 elections. In December 2015, Sharif came under sharp criticism from Pakistan’s mainstream media after he reportedly advised his key ministers to be careful while giving statements regarding PakistanIndia bilateral ties.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid denied any wrongdoing on Sharif’s part.

“Every man has the right to do what he wants with his assets, to throw them in the sea, to sell them, or to establish a trust. There is no crime in this under Pakistani law or international law,” Rashid, a key minister in Sharif's federal cabinet, told Mail Today.

Pakistan's two-time Prime Minister, the late Benazir Bhutto, and former Interior Minister Rehman Malik also figure in the leaks.

When contacted, Rehman Malik said this was nothing but a conspiracy by Indian Intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) against him and Bhutto.

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5 April - 11 April 2016

Issue - 661 (4)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict worst in two decades Centuries old conflicts between Orthodox (Armenian Apostolic) Christians in Armenia and (mostly Shia) Muslims in Azerbaijan boiled over into a bloody war after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

By the time that the war ended in a ceasefire in 1994, the Armenians had annexed several Azerbaijani regions, and were in control of an enclave right in the middle of Azerbaijan called Nagorno-Karabakh (NKB). Although both populations had lived in relative peace for decades, more than 600,000 ethnic Azeris and 300,000 ethnic Armenians were forced to flee from the fighting, so that today the enclave has a population of about 100,000 Armenians.

The core reasons for the latest flare-up in hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh remain largely obscure. Yet several developments in the region in the last six or seven years have inadvertently contributed to Armenia and Azerbaijan inching toward a military conflict.

Mismanagement of foreign policy has

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allowed bellicose rhetoric on both sides to spread the illusion of a military solution to the territorial dispute rooted in the selfproclaimed republic, an enclave constituting 21 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan that has been under Armenian control since a ceasefire in 1994 brought an end to a war over the region in the early 1990s after the breakup of the USSR. Part of the blame rests with the Minsk Group, charged in 1992 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe with finding an acceptable solution to the dispute. Negotiations are proceeding at a snail’s pace. The only excuse to be found is that territorial disputes, by definition, especially burdened with ethnic and religious overtones, are the hardest to deal with.

The stalemate between Russia and Japan over the ownership of the South Kuril Islands is a case in point.

Karabakh is a word of Turkic and Persian origin meaning “black garden”, while “Nagorno” is a Russian word meaning “mountain.” In December last year, Azerbaijan sources were quoted saying that the Armenian forces had broken the cease-fire 105 times over a single weekend, while Armenian sources were saying that the Azerbaijanis had broken the cease-fire 110 times over the same weekend. The fears that the low-level conflict might spiral into a larger war were realized this past Saturday when the worst violence since 1994 broke out in NBK with tanks, heavy artillery and helicopters for the first time in two decades. 18 Armenian soldiers were killed, and Azerbaijan lost 12 soldiers. There were unconfirmed reports of civilian deaths.

Internationally, NKB is considered part of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory, but its Armenian inhabitants call themselves citizens of the Artsakh Republic. The territory has its own flag, an international airport, police and armed forces, although regular Armenian soldiers serve on the frontline. Each side said that the other had started the conflict on Saturday. There is a peculiarity about this situation that’s either a coincidence or a conspiracy - take your pick. Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev each met separately with US vice president Joe Biden as they attended the nuclear summit in Washington on Friday, just before the new hostilities broke out.

Following the latest outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian defense and foreign affairs ministers telephoned their counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan to urge the cessation of hostilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to both conflicting parties to be reasonable and insisted on an

“immediate ceasefire.” In contrast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan phoned only his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham SUNNY BAINS Aliyev, to express his condolences over the death of Azerbaijani soldiers, thus taking sides, Karabakh (NKB) is because both sides possess such high tech military which was foreseeable.

Trying to identify the main culprit in the equipment from Russia. Russia is re-eruption of violence in Nagorno- theoretically neutral between the two Karabakh, that is, who fired the first shot, countries, but if that was ever true, it could well be futile. However, the opinion certainly stopped being true after Turkey of Thomas de Waal of Carnegie Europe shot down a Russian warplane last year, should be duly noted. “It is more likely causing a major fault line to open between that one of the two parties to the conflict the two countries. Armenia is a long-time

- and more likely the Azerbaijani side, which has a stronger interest in the resumption of hostilities - is trying to alter the situation in its favor with a limited military campaign,” De Waal wrote in a blog posting. “The dangerous aspect to this is that, once begun, any military operations in this conflict zone can easily escalate and get out of control,” he stressed. A serious danger may lie in the provisions of the 2011 Agreement on Strategic Partnership and Mutual Support between Turkey and Azerbaijan. The parties pledged to render support to each other using “all possible means” in the event of an attack or aggression against one of them. Getting involved in yet another conflict would buy additional time for President Erdogan as it allows him to further stoke ultra-nationalist feeling at home.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are two of the most militarized countries in the world.

The main supplier of weaponry to both countries has been Russia. Furthermore, both countries have some of the world’s most sophisticated high tech military equipment. The widespread fear of escalation of the violence in Nagorno-

ally of Russia, and Russia has a military base in Armenia. Azerbaijan is ethnically Turkic, and has very close relations with Turkey. Azerbaijan has military treaties with Turkey. Azerbaijani and Turkish Armed Forces regularly conduct joint military exercises, and two are planned in 2016.

However, the international, both regional and global, context makes the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh not just a risky adventure but a geopolitical mistake for the warring parties. Reignited conflict in a region plagued by an intensified yet inconclusive war against the jihadists of ISIS comes at the most inopportune moment. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged the archenemies to return to peace talks under the auspices of the OSCE, and has reiterated that there is “no military solution to the conflict.” Actually, this is the crucial riddle. Why? Neither side is naïve or reckless enough to believe that the NagornoKarabakh dispute has a military solution.

Why would Azerbaijan and Armenia take up arms? For them it is a lose-lose situation. Just as it is for Russia, which is unhappy with the continuous animosity and squabbling in its soft underbelly.

Potheads outside White House: Activists want Obama to reclassify marijuana Activists smoked marijuana outside the White House to send their message that the drug shouldn’t be considered dangerous.

Protesters had planned to display a 51foot (15.3-meter)-long inflatable “joint” at Saturday’s demonstration. However, protest organizer Adam Eidinger said the Secret Service wouldn’t allow it, citing security concerns.

Possession of up to 2 ounces (56 grams) of pot is legal in the U.S. capital, but smoking in public is illegal. However, U.S. Park Police Sgt. Anna Rose says her agency made no arrests. Eidinger said police “were very respectful.”

Protest organizers say President Barack

Obama should remove pot from the list of Schedule 1 controlled substances, which includes heroin and other addictive drugs.

Obama has maintained that pot advocates should try to lobby Congress to pass a bill reclassifying the drug.

Issue - 661 (5)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Intel wants china to pay for Masood stand

By ABHISHEK BHALLA The Narendra Modi government’s liberal policy of allowing Chinese entrepreneurs to do business in India is under review.

This comes after China refused to back New Delhi in its bid to get the United Nations (UN) to ban Jaish-e-

People often speak about ‘finding their soul mate’.

It is a great romantic aspiration. When two folk feel that they have each indeed finally met ‘the one’, the challenge changes. Can we still appreciate all that makes them wonderful and our relationship with them so special whilst dealing with all the stress of daily life? We wind each other up, get on each other’s nerves and inadvertently touch on insecurities, no matter how much love or respect we may feel for each other. Be wise and have faith! !!!

We try so hard to understand each other, yet it often seems as if the best we can accomplish is an uneasy agreement to differ. We rarely, if ever, manage to change one another’s mind. Yet we can, at least, accept and respect the opinions that contrast so markedly with our own. Whilst this may seem far from the idealistic state of harmony that we all aspire to, it is a noble goal that we can feel proud and glad to attain. You see life one way now, someone else sees it differently. That really need not be a problem. !!!

How much do we really say when we talk to each other? We may exchange news and views but only the truly smart speak from the heart. Is someone now too shy to share what they honestly feel?

Should greater honesty be encouraged, or is it better to let discretion prevail? Trust your intuition now, and you will naturally arrive at answers that you can act on and rely on. Be delicate, by all means, but be brave enough to be daringly definite too, where you feel this may be appropriate. !!!

Producers and directors employ special executives to handle the casting. They are very keen to ensure that their characters ‘look right’ for the parts that they are supposed to be playing. If only you had the help of such an expert in your personal life now.

Who, in your world, seems to be sitting most uneasily with a task that has fallen on their shoulders? To what extent do you, in turn, feel awkward about a role that you are being expected to fulfil? A constructive conversation, which creates room for fluidity, may yet ease tension. !!!

In much the same way as some religions involve the worship of idols, we tend to fantasize about celebrities and pretend they are somehow an active part of our lives. We may even confer honorary status upon ordinary folk, turning them (in our mind’s eye) into our heroes and heroines; people we are sure we would be happy to coexist with if only we were ever to get that chance. Elsewhere in your world, there is someone less glamorous but more real. It is your involvement with them that you need to nurture now. !!!

We don’t always do someone a favor when we give them what they want. Many a psychologist would argue that a desire to supply all that someone else has ever dreamed of, reflects a sense of deep insecurity on behalf of the person who is seeking to attain legendary status via their generosity. They might also point out that sometimes, for various hidden reasons, we actively seek a special rapport with someone who specifically refuses to pander to our whims. Respect the unexpected in your personal life.

Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar.

The Chinese stand on terrorist Maulana Masood Azad has irked the security establishment in New Delhi as a UN ban on the JeM chief would have ensured the freezing of his assets and imposed travel restrictions. It would also have given credence to New Delhi’s claim that Masood Azhar has been carrying out terror activities against India.

Sources said there is a strong view within the Government that there

Pilibhit Sikh fake encounter: All 47 convicted policemen sentenced to life imprisonment A special CBI court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to all 47 policemen convicted for killing 10 Sikh men in three fake encounters in a single night in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh in July 1991.

The court held them guilty on Friday nearly 25 years after the crime. The CBI had investigated the case on the directions of Supreme Court. A total of 57 policemen were chargesheeted in the case of which 10 died in the course of the trial.

should be a re-think on the policy of allowing Chinese investors in India.

“The move (having a liberal visa policy) was aimed at getting support from China in dealing with Pakistan. Now that it has not yielded the desired results, we need to have a re-look at the policy,” said a key official in the security establishment.

India’s fresh bid to have Azhar designated as a terrorist was made after investigating agencies gathered evidence of his involvement in the attack on the Patankot Air Force base earlier this year.

China, one of the five permanent members of the UN group with veto powers, ensured that New Delhi’s bid failed.

For the first time, the Modi Government had allowed Chinese investors to come to India by relaxing stringent security clearance norms overruling the objections raised by the intelligence agencies.

Since the Government came to power in 2014, 26 Chinese investors got security clearance to do business in India and set up industrial projects - mostly in the power, telecom, railways and infrastructure sectors. The Government also decided to remove China from the list of ‘countries of concern’ for doing business in India.

The decision is in line with Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, and New Delhi had hoped that in return China would be an important

ally in combating Pakistanbased terror.

Now, there is also a view that the security clearances given over the last two years should be reviewed in wake of

failed, as China also opposed the move in 2008 even though his organisation JeM was banned by UN in 2001.

Following Beijing’s objection

recent developments.

Chinese investments in India were viewed with suspicion by intelligence agencies. But a major shift in policy came when Chinese telecom equipment major Huawei was given security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to set up a manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu last year.

Other than industrial and infrastructural projects that are referred to the MHA by various departments for security clearance, sectors like aviation, telecom, broadcasting and all foreign investments can only function after authorisation from MHA. Azhar was released by India after the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu in 1999.

This is not the first time that India’s efforts to get Azhar in the UN sanctions list have

to ban Azhar on April 2, India registered a strong protest against the decision, calling it incomprehensible.

“The recent terror attack in Pathankot on January 2nd has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Masood Azhar,” read a statement released by the external affairs ministry in Washington.

China defended its decision saying that it has always dealt with this issue based on facts and acting in an objective manner.

In July 2015, China had blocked India's efforts in the UN to initiate action against Pakistan following the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-urRehman Lakhvi, stating that its stand was “based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness”.

Boy tests positive for Ebola in latest Liberia flare-up MONROVIA A five-year-old boy tested positive for Ebola in Liberia just days after his mother died of the virus in the second flare-up to hit West Africa in recent weeks, the health ministry has said.

A 30-year-old woman died of Ebola in Monrovia last week, months after Liberia was declared free of the virus. Her death followed a

recent flare-up that cost the ter Tolbert Nyenswah said. lives of at least four people More than 11,300 people in neighbouring Guinea. “A have died over the past two years in the world’s worst Ebola epidemic, nearly all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

CAUGHT

five-year-old boy, the son of the deceased, tested positive early on Sunday morning,” Deputy Health Minis-

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Issue - 661 (6)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Mehbooba Mufti’s test: how to get Delhi, Kashmir on the same page Mehbooba Mufti may be the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir but the task at hand is tough, if not tougher than any of her predecessors. She used gender to her advantage while building the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and is still remembered for how she crisscrossed the Valley, dropping in at every home that saw an unnatural death but that was when she was an Opposition leader.

Mehbooba crafted for herself a strategy in which ‘soft separatism’ lay at its core: she was there when civilians were killed by security forces; when

young men went missing; when ‘Delhi’s Army’ was found guilty of human rights violations; when Afzal Guru was hanged and when any BJP leader asked for the abrogation of the politically sensitive Article 370 that confers the state a special status.

The same Mehbooba has now walked into the chief minister’s chamber with the BJP as her ally. For the ten months that her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was at the helm, she and her team of confidantes had everyone believe that she was not really in favour of the power-sharing arrangement but went along with her father’s decision.

Mehbooba position has changed quite dramatically. In the run up to the elections in 2014, she ruled out an alliance with the BJP, saying, “We would not like to take the BJP’s support. The people have understood that the only way out of the BJP’s divisive agenda is to give full support to the PDP. They are not only trying to divide us communally, but along ethnic lines by looking at Sikh, Pandit, Gujjar and Shia vote banks. Ultimately it will get polarised along the lines of Muslim Kashmir and Hindu India and that is very, very, dangerous.” She did not openly voice her views af-

Ghulam Ali’s music event in Delhi cancelled after threats The music launch of a movie starring Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, scheduled to be held in Delhi on Monday, was

cancelled, with the director claiming security threats. However, the management of Royal Plaza, where the event was to be held on Monday afternoon, said it was cancelled as there was “no information about it” and also “no documentation”.

The director of the film Ghar Wapsi Suhaib Illyasi claimed he received a call from Vishnu Gupta of Hindu Sena threatening to disrupt the event. “It is regrettable that Ghulam Ali’s music launch has been cancelled by the hotel

management. We were told not to keep the event here as they feared that people from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Sena

would disrupt it and destroy hotel property,” he said.

Police personnel were deployed outside the venue and even some men who were chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” were detained. They claimed to be the volunteers of Hindu

Sena. The director plans to reschedule the launch but is yet to decide where it will be organised.

“We will surely organise the launch again. I knew such an incident could happen that’s why we had written to Delhi Police and the home ministry to provide us security and I am happy that Indian government and the police did their best. Despite this, the hotel has decided to call off the event.”

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who claimed he was invited to the event but not allowed to go inside, said, “Today is a blot on culture and tradition. It is a black day. If in free India, someone is troubled because he is a Khan or someone in Pakistan is heckled because he is a Mishra or Chaubey then what is the difference between India and Pakistan.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred Saudi

ond and final day of his visit to the Gulf kingdom.

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Arabia’s highest civilian honour, the King Abdulaziz Sash, on Sunday, the sec-

“In a special gesture, PM @narendramodi was conferred Saudi Arabia’s high-

because she was aware of the ground reality: the PDP’s stronghold of South Kashmir was reacting and its youth taking to armed insurgency. Her bastion was turning out in large numbers for funerals of slain militants.

Mufti had the political sagacity to back his decision but Mehbooba appears to have backtracked on her own assertion that she would not continue with the agenda of alliance unless

Delhi announced confidence-building measures. In the fame of political one-upmanship, the BJP appears to have won over Mehbooba.

Mehbooba’s test lies in her ability to impress upon New Delhi the need to look at Kashmir through a political, not nationalistic prism. The first woman chief minister will have to work overtime to bring political and economic dividends to her people.

2002 hit and run case: SC to hear appeal against Salman Khan The Supreme Court will next week hear an appeal which seeks to set aside the Bombay High Court order in the 2002 hit-andrun case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan on ground of legal lacunae.

The appeal has been filed by lawyer named Parmanand Katara. In the appeal, Katara has alleged that Salman’s approach to High Court is not legal.

“He should challenge the trial court order through a revision petition in the high court (not file appeal as Salman did),” he said in his appeal.

The 50-year-old actor had earlier moved the apex court, saying he should be heard before any hearing on the Maharashtra Government’s petition challenging his acquittal in the case.

The Maharashtra Government had on January 22

Modi conferred highest Saudi civilian honour

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ter Mufti Sayeed signed the Agenda of Alliance and became the chief minister saying it was important to bridge the gap between Jammu, which voted for the BJP and Kashmir, which defied the boycott call in a bid to keep the BJP out of the Valley.

Mehbooba, however, made her views clear after her father’s death in January when she said the alliance was an ‘unpopular decision’. She chose her words

est civilian honour, the King Abdulaziz Sash,” external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The honour is named after founder of the modern Saudi state, Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Among other notable recipients of this honour are US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

filed a petition in the apex court against the Bombay High Court’s judgement acquitting Salman of ‘all charges’, overturning the trial court’s order sentencing him for five years.

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced that his government would challenge the high court’s verdict on merit.

On December 10 last year, Salman was given a clean chit in the case with the court observing that the main witness was ‘wholly unreliable’ and that there were discrepancies in the case. The actor is accused of driving a car under the influence of alcohol and killing one and injuring four others in Bandra, Mumbai, in 2002.

The 1.32 lakh Indian students in the United States represent the second largest number of foreign nationality students studying there, Vice Consul, US Consulate Mumbai, Dustin Dockiewicz said.

An increasing number of students from India are preferring to get admissions in academic institutions in USA , Dockiewicz said at an event.

Students from India make up about 13%?of the total foreign student population in the US, he said.

Nearly 78 per cent of the

students from India in the US opt to study in fields

Indians form 2nd largest group of foreign students in US

like science, technology, mathematics and engineering, he further said.

Around 1.3 million international students are studying in the US schools, he said adding that about 9,000 academic institutions in his country are certified to enroll them.

Issue - 661 (7)

5 April - 11 April 2016

With Pakistan govt pitching in, gurdwara reopens in Peshawar after 7 decades Peshawar For close to 400 Sikh families settled at Peshwar in Pakistan, it was a day of extreme happiness on

for the restoration work, while the local Sikhs contributed Rs 15 lakh. It will now prepare daily langar (community

Wednesday as the Guru Granth Sahib was installed at the historic Bhai Biba Singh Gurdwara, after almost seven decades.

Believed to have been built during the regime of Maharaj Ranjit Singh, the gurdwara was closed in the 1940s (exact year unknown) after local Sikh community began migrating out of Peshawar.

Some say it was closed even before Partition as there were local issues between communities.

The 300-year old gurdwara has been renovated, with the Pakistani government pitching in with Rs 55 lakh

kitchen) and ardaas (prayers) will be held every day.

The reopening of the gurdwara though has not come easy, as Sikhs in Peshwar had been fighting for it since 2007.

The 300-year old gurdwara has been renovated, with the Pakistani government pitching in with Rs 55 lakh for the restoration work, while the local Sikhs contributed Rs 15 lakh. It will now prepare daily langar (community kitchen) and ardaas (prayers) will be held every day.Speaking to the Indian Express over phone,

Charanjeet Singh of the Peshawari Singhs Sewa Society, said, “We started talks with the Pakistan government in 2007 and moved a request seeking ownership rights to the gurudwara. A lot of things happened after it, like the Benazir Bhutto assassination, and things slowed but we did not give up. There were some issues with the local Muslim community, who where were a bit skeptical about reopening a Sikh shrine, but we convinced them.”

“We told them that Sikhs are a peace-loving community and that doors of the gurudwara would be open to every religion. Even Muslim labourers helped with the renovation,” Charanjeet said. “The Sikh community contributed Rs 15 lakh for the initial renovation while Rs 55 lakh has been spent by the government. Fresh coat of paint, wood work, repairs, marble finishing etc has been done initially as we wanted the Guru Granth Sahib to be installed at the earliest,” he added.

South African parliament ‘can’t probe’ Indian family CAPE TOWN The South African parliament can not conduct investigations into the alleged “state capture” by the Indian Gupta family, Moloto Mothapo, parlia-

requests for investigations, Moloto Mothapo of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) was quoted by Xinhua.

Therefore, parliament can not conduct investigations

mentary spokesperson said.The allegations of “state capture” by the Guptas were being investigated by the special anti-crime unit “Hawks” and public protector Thuli Madonsela, following

on a matter that was being looked into by other organs of state, Mothapo said.

“Parliament should not find itself in a situation where it is conducting parallel investigations,” he said. He was responding to a request by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that parliament should investigate “patterns of state capture” by the wealthy Gupta family.

Considering the severity of the claims of “state capture” and mounting evidence, parliament must investigate this “as matter

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of urgency”, the DA said on Sunday.

The Gupta family, which allegedly keeps close ties with President Jacob Zuma, his family and ANC officials, has been accused of exerting undue influence on South Africa’s state affairs by offering cabinet posts to ANC officials. The family has denied the accusation. DA chief whip John Steenhuisen claimed that ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu had voiced support for calls to investigate “state capture” by the Gupta family.

Steenhuisen said Mthembu has agreed to the DA’s proposal for parliament to institute an investigation into the alleged state influence by the Gupta family.However, Mothapo said Steenhuisen’s claim was “imaginary and baseless”.

Mothapo said Mthembu never made such statements but merely stressed that, as a general principle, parliament as a forum for public debates should never quash multiparty debates, but each proposed debate should be subjected to the established parliamentary process for consideration and a decision by all parties.

25% of world suffers from some mental disorder at any point in time Amritsar Forensic psychiatrists, taking part in a two-day annual conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, have said that around twenty five percent of the population across the world suffers from one or the other mental disorder at any given point in time.The conference, which began here today, is being organised by Punjab and Chandigarh Branch of the Indian Psychiatric Society ( PUNCIPS).The event, which is being held here to discuss prospect and further development in the field of Forensic Psychiatry, saw participation of over a 100 doctors from India and abroad,A multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Ramneesh Puri and Dr. Manjit S Gahir, both Consultant Forensic Psychiatrists from the United Kingdom, described how forensic psychiatry can help persons with mental disorders who sometimes commit crimes.Dr. Puri explained that this is the branch of psychiatry that deals with law, criminal matters, prisons and courts. He said up to twenty five percent of the population across the

world suffers with one or the other mental disorder at any given point in time.“If a person is convicted of some violent

at Rampton High Security Hospital in Nottingham. Dr. Puri also works as visiting psychiatrist to two large prisons in the area, while

or non violent crime commissioned in a mentally unwell state, he/ she is thrown behind bars here (India) and but in countries like UK, it is not so. The society extends its hands to help these ‘non criminals’ whilst continuing to manage their risk to the general public.

We need a similar kind of awareness and processes in Indian society too” he said.He further informed that in case of nonserious offences, there is no need to lodge such ‘criminals’ in jails as courts can issue supervision orders directing them to regularly appear before Psychiatrists for their treatment.The duo works

Dr Gahir specialises in the field of Deaf Psychiatry.

Several other prominent psychiatrists also spoke at the event, including Dr Sunita Guha (UK), Clinical Psychologist Jackie Nussey, Deaf Social Worker Alexis Lepp, Senior Clinical Pharmacist Jason Lowe and Nurse Practitioner Hannah Cobb, besides others.They will be later joined by Dr Alex Hamilton, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist from St Andrew’s Hospital, Northampton, UK. Other speakers at the conference include Dr Aseem Garg, who will talk about De-addiction services in custodial settings in the UK.

Issue - 661 (8)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Can mental age of rape victim be used to invoke strict law?

New Delhi Can a man accused of raping a mentally challenged woman be prosecuted under POCSO -the law meant for the welfare of child victims of sexual abuse?

A mother of a 38-year-old woman, who is a patient of cerebral palsy, raised this question before the Supreme Court and said her daughter’s alleged rapist should be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act because her mental age was that of a child’s. The accused in the case is booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and

facing trial in Saket district court.

POCSO is a stringent law compared to IPC. It prescribes a child-friendly procedure wherein an accused’s lawyer

cannot ask direct questions from the victim and can do so only through the judge. In court the accused or his counsel cannot see the child, who sits in a separate room when recording her statement.

POCSO does not fix a ceiling for compensating victims.

Advocate Aysweria Bhatti told a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra that the petitioner’s daughter’s mental age is of a

6-year-old and communication skill of a 3-year-old. “Her speech is incoherent and an expert is needed when she records her statement before the judge,” Bhatti said. “Due to her disability she is still a child mentally.”The bench agreed to examine the question and asked for the police response on the petition. It fixed May 3 to hear the case and stopped the Saket trial court from hearing the rape case.As per the police case, the girl was raped in July 2014. The accused allegedly sexually assaulted her in her house when the mother was not there.A petition was filed before the Delhi high court for a similar relief. But the HC sent the matter to the trial court and did not give any order on the plea. It just mandated presence of a medical expert during the victim’s examination.

Bhatti told HT the trial judge did not record the victim’s statement verbatim. “In February this year she went for a surgery that left her with 22 stitches. The judge, however, wanted her to be in the court,” he said.

Lasers could cloak Earth from aliens New York We should shine lasers into space if we want to hide our presence from aliens, two USbased astronomers suggest.

The beams could compensate for the dip in light the Earth creates when it passes in front of the Sun, as viewed from far-

off worlds, they contend. A number of researchers have questioned the wisdom of advertising our existence to the galaxy.

They fear that if aliens did visit us they might not be very friendly, and could introduce disease. The analogy is Europeans arriving in the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. The contact wrought havoc in the health of indigenous populations. David Kipping and Alex Teachey from Columbia University in New York say that if we are fearful of a similar outcome from an alien encounter then lasers offer a solution.

The team has calculated what would be required to cloak the

Earth and published the concept in a paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

It “perverts” the technique scientists already use now to look for distant planets around other stars. This method relies on staring at these suns, hoping

to catch an object passing in front. When such a “transit” occurs, there is a tell-tale decrease in starlight.

The US space agency’s Kepler telescope has identified more than a thousand planets this way.

If intelligent civilisations are out there, it is safe to assume they too will be looking for other worlds - like ours - using the same idea, believe Kipping and Teachey.

According to the pair’s calculations, emitting a continuous 30-megawatt laser for about 10 hours, once a year, would be enough to distort the characteristic dip in light when Earth transited the Sun, as viewed from an alien Kepler telescope.

“It doesn’t have to be one huge

laser; it could be an array positioned around the Earth. Or you could put it in space as a satellite, and we’ve calculated that the International Space Station already collects exactly the amount of energy we would need,” Prof Kipping told BBC News.

This is true for a laser system working in visible light. Prof Kipping concedes, however, that a laser cloak that covers all wavelengths, not just the visible colours, would need a very large array of tuneable lasers with a total power of 250MW. But an alternative might be to use a laser simply to disguise the interesting aspects about Earth - features in its atmosphere that betray the fact that life exists here. These are a suite of gases that include oxygen, ozone and methane.

“If we just cloaked out those biosignatures then another civilisation might detect our planet through a transit, everything would add up, but Earth would appear as a dead world and they’d soon lose interest,” Prof Kipping added.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Seti) is the collective term used to describe positive efforts to detect and contact alien life. A number of experiments are currently under way that are trying to see if aliens are actually signalling us with lasers. But just as with the attempts to detect the radio transmissions from aliens, this “optical Seti” approach, as it is known, has also found nothing of interest among the stars yet.

Ghulam Ali-starrer film’s music launch faces threat from Hindu Sena New Delhi The music launch of Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali-starrer movie ‘Ghar Wapsi’ in Delhi is facing fresh hurdles, with the right wing ‘Hindu Sena’ threatening to disrupt the event.

Film’s director Suhaib Ilyasi has lodged a complaint with the Connaught Place police station following a “threat” call from Vishnu Gupta, the chief of Hindu Sena.

“I have met DCP, New Delhi, to talk about the threat regarding disruption of the music launch of my film ‘Ghar Wapasi’ on Monday. The film stars Ghulam Ali sahab and the Hindu Sena president is saying that they will not let the event to happen,” Ilyasi said.

Ilyasi said he received the “threat” call from Gupta on his cell phone. He has sought police protection for himself and his family and security cover for the event.

Gupta, meanwhile, claimed the film was “anti-Hindu” and “we have sought cancellation of its music launch. We have decided to protest against it”.

A Delhi Police officer said Ilyasi had approached them and adequate security will be

ensured at the venue.

“Legal action will be taken against anyone who disrupts law and order,” he said.

The music release of the movie had to be cancelled in January following Shiv Sena’s opposition in Mumbai. Ali, 75, had cancelled

his visit to Mumbai for the music launch following threat of disruption by Shiv Sena.

Ghulam Ali, whose several concerts in India had to be cancelled last year following Shiv Sena threats, is making his acting debut with the Hindi feature film. Besides acting, the singer has also composed and sung an Indian patriotic song for the movie.

The film also stars Alok Nath, Farida Jalal, Reema Lagoo, Deepak Tijori and Zarina Wahab.

Singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam and Shaan have also lent their voice in the film.

Climate predicts bird populations

Durham Populations of the most common bird species in Europe and the US are being altered by climate change, according to an international study.

For the first time researchers showed climate to be having a similar, significant impact on bird populations in large, distant areas of the world. Their study used population-predicting models and three decades of field data, gathered by birdwatching volunteers. The findings are published in the journal Science. Led by Durham University scientists, the team developed models that related each species’ habitat to longterm climate patterns. Using annual climate records - from 1980 to 2010 - these models were able to predict where a species had experienced an improvement or a decline in suitable climate. “We then had this amazing data set collected by thousands of volunteers over decades - where people have gone out and counted birds

across different countries in Europe and the United States,” explained lead researcher Dr Stephen Willis. “We can use that to see to what extent our predictions match what people are finding on the ground.” The outlook is different for each species.

Increasing temperatures in the UK, for example, allow some species to expand their range and increase their population, while the same temperature patterns have made the UK a less suitable habitat for others.But the overall trends, this study shows, are strikingly similar in the US and Europe; populations are increasing in species predicted to benefit from climate change and decreasing in those predicted to be negatively affected. “One important thing is that we’re looking at the most common birds,” said Dr Willis.

“These birds are doing a lot of good in the countryside - eating crop pests and helping our ecosystems work. “So we need to understand how they’ll respond.”

Issue - 661 (9)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Balochistan seeks India’s support against ‘terrorist’ Pak’s atrocities New Delhi Strongly condemning Pakistan’s atrocities against Balochistan, World Baloch Women’s Forum president Naela Quadri Baloch said India must support the

people of Balochistan and stop Pakistan from commiting genocide against her people.

“Balochistan is not in Pakistan.

It’s occupied by Pakistan. So, if somebody is arrested in Balochistan, we can expect any kind of fraud, trap from Pakistan because Pakistan is created on lies, its base and foundation is hate and lies. So, they can do anything like this. The demand of the Baloch people always for India to intervene like they intervened in Bangladesh.because Bengalis were Indians basically and we are not. But we are your neighbours,” Baloch told ANI. “The demand of the Baloch people that India should intervene in Balochistan, India should stop Pakistan from genociding Baloch people. India should do it. But India is not doing.India is not playing their role what they should have.

There is no RAW.no any other

agencies who support Baloch. If they really supported us, till now we were free. We would have been an independent country now like Bangladesh,” she added.

Talking about the detained Indian naval officer Kulbushan Yadav, who has reportedly confessed in a video about his involvement in an alleged spying activity in the country, especially in Balochistan, Baloch said it is a trap by Pakistan.

“They craft the things like this.

They don’t accept what they are doing in Balochistan. They are genociding Baloch people and killing at mass level. They are raping Baloch women in their captivity. They kill all the men and take all the women and burn the villages,” she added.

Urging India and Afghanistan to take a strong stand against all these, Baloch said it was the responsibility of India and Afghan to support them.

“Independent Balochistan is a promise for a non-nuclear region.it’s a promise for safety of India and Afghanistan, it’s a promise for economic development of India and

Unusual but true: Woman gives birth to quintuplets

Raipur In a rare instance of childbirth that even surprised the doctors, a 25-year-old lady gave birth to quintuplets (five babies) at the Civil Hospital in Ambikapur town of Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district on Saturday.All the children are said to be healthy, but have been kept under the observation of doctors as they are underweight as compared to normal babies, said Dr. K.R. Tekam, a paediatric at the hospital.

Dr. Tekam told that the infants have been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit as they are underweight between 1-1.5 kg.

The doctor said the woman had

conceived five children and the delivery was premature as it took place in the seventh month.

The children are, however, healthy otherwise, he added.

The mother, Manita, hailing from a village falling under Lakhanpur Block, was admitted to the Civil Hospital on March 31 by her husband Umesh Kumar.

Manita’s kin told ANI a sonography test done before the delivery had detected more than two children, but five were far from their imagination.

It was Manita’s second delivery, said her kin, adding that twothree years back she had given birth to a child, who died shortly.

Afghanistan and Central Asia and Arab countries and the whole world. We are the junction.the connecting point. If we are occupied by a terrorist Pakistan and you are silent, then how you can expect peace in your country?” she added.

Pakistan earlier released a sixminute video of detained Indian naval officer Kulbushan Yadav wherein he has reportedly confessed to his involvement in an alleged spying activity in the country, and especially in Balochistan.

India, on its part, has rejected the allegations of Yadav’s involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan, and hinted at his possible abduction from Iran.

“Govt categorically rejects allegations that this individual was involved in subversive activities in Pakistan at our behest,” the Ministry of External Affairs earlier said in a statement.

“While we probe this aspect further, his presence now in Pakistan raises questions, including the possibility of his abduction from Iran,” it further said.India has further sought consular access to the purported RAW agent, who was arrested from Quetta last week, and expressed concern about his well-being.

1991 Pilibhit fake encounter: 25 years on, 47 cops held guilty of killing 10 Sikh men

New Delhi A special CBI court Friday held 47 policemen guilty of killing 10 Sikh men in three fake encounters in a single night in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh nearly 25 years ago in July 1991.

The CBI had investigated the case on the directions of Supreme Court.A total of 57 policemen were chargesheeted in the case of which 10 died in the course of the trial. On Friday, 20 policemen appeared before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. The court also issued non-bailable warrants against the remaining 27 accused. The court will pronounce sentence on April 4.“Special Judge Lallu Singh held 47 policemen guilty of the fake encounters.

Sixty-seven prosecution witnesses were examined before the court during

the trial,” CBI counsel Satish Jaiswal told The Indian Express.

According to the prosecution, the case dates back to 1991 when the state’s Terai region witnessed a surge in militancyrelated incidents. A local Hindi daily had published a report stating that some people involved in criminal activities were on a pilgrimage with their family members. Acting on the news, police “collected details” and found that “a group of men” along with some women were on pilgrimage. They were travelling in a bus, which had obtained temporary permit from the regional transport office in Bareilly.According to CBI, the bus was on its way to Pilibhit on July 12, when a police team stopped it at Kachlapul ghat.

Eleven Sikh men were allegedly dragged out of the vehicle.

Canada keen to work with India in energy sectors Washington Canada has expressed interest in working with India in the energy sectors besides showing willingness to cooperate in coal gasification and underground mining.

“Mr. Trudeau acknowledged that yes Canada has strong energy sector and he wanted to work with India in the ways which were less harmful to the environment and, he said Canada will be very happy cooperate with India in both coal gasification as well as underground mining, “ said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup while briefing the media about the bilateral meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit here.

Swarup said that Prime Minister Trudeau also referred to the possibility of moving forward on the FIPA (Foreign Investment Protection Agreement) and CIPA (Conference Economic Partnership Agreement).

Prime Minister Modi on his part said that there were huge possibilities of economic relations between India and Canada but the potential was not reached.“The possibilities in the economic side were immense the Prime Minister said. He also

lamented the fact that IndoCanadian economic relations has not reached the potential yet

The Canadian Prime Minister complimented Prime Minister Modi on his excellent

and reiterated what he has said earlier also that India and Canada are two countries, which are literally made for each other,” said Swarup.

“He said that Canada has the natural resources, all the natural resources in the world, India has the need for those resources as well as the man power,” he added.

Prime Minister Modi also recalled his meeting with the heads of the Canadian pension funds. He said many developments had happened since that meeting, adding that Canadian pension funds were already investing more than eight billion dollars in India.

intervention last evening at the White House dinner.

“He said that India and Canada can both be the leaders in nonproliferation in the world,” said Swarup.

The bilateral relations between India and Canada have seen a transformation in recent years underpinned by shared values of democracy, pluralism, expanding economic engagement, regular high level interactions and long-standing people-to-people ties.

During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Canada in April 2015, both sides agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.

Issue - 661 (10)

Khatri Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, Canadian Citizen, 28 yrs. old, 5’11” tall, turbaned, handsome, non-drinker, working as a pharmacist in a GTA hospital.

The girl should be from respectable Sikh family, educated, professionally employed and with family values.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: tklamba@hotmail.com Or Call : 647-502-1963 ***664*** Saini Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance from the GTA for their slim, fair, beautiful, 5’2"/ ’83 born daughter, born, raised, educated in Canada, Bachelors in Business Management, and employed in the Finance division of a reputable Canadian company. The boy should be clean shaven, born, raised and educated in Canada & professionally employed. Please email sub2405@gmail.com or call 416-741-0777 *** 664*** Punjabi Sikh parents seek a match for their Canadian born and raised, clean shaven son, 32 yrs. old, 6’-1" tall, handsome, Doctor MD, finished internal Medicine, residency and now doing followship (Specialization). The girl should be resident doctor (MD) or Physician, born and raised in Canada and from Ontario, beautiful, atleast 5’-5" tall with family values. Please send your bio-data & recent picture: sm9058@hotmail.com ***663*** Punjabi Sikh parents seek a match for their Canadian born and raised, clean shaven son, 32 yrs. old, 6’-1” tall, handsome, Doctor MD, finished internal Medicine residency and now doing fellowship (specialization). The girl should be resident doctor (MD) or Physician, born and raised in Canada and from Ontario, beautiful, atleast 5’-5” tall with family values. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: sm9058@hotmail.com ***661** Match for beautiful, intelligent, well-cultured girl, canadian pr, citizenship this year, born in 1985, 5'-5" tall, B.Tech (india), pg project management (canada), working in Admn. Dept of a company in canada. The boy should be Jat sikh, qualified, canadian, well settled. Brother and parents in USA, belong to Ludhiana but now built kothi in Amritsar. Please send your biodata and recent picture to: dhillonintl@yahoo.com or call: 1718-414-4618 *** 661*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 31 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, Canadian Citizen, professionally educated, running his own successful business. The girl should be educated, beautiful, tall with family values from US/ Canada. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: gurjeethothi@hotmail.com

5 April - 11 April 2016

Or Call : 1-778-344-0303 ***661*** Saini Sikh parents seeking a match for USA citizen son, 26 yrs. old, 5'-11" tall, clean shaven, Engineer, working since 2012 in private sector, New York based family. Caste no bar. USA resident only. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: 28jsaini@gmail.com or call: 1-516852-7032 *** 661*** Ghumar/Parjapat well reputed businessman family in Punjab (India) seeks a suitable match for their son, Canadian PR, 28 yrs. old, 6' tall, B.com, MBA, now doing CPA, professionally well employed in Winnipeg. Girl should be tall, well educated and family oriented. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: mansingh2951@gmail.com or call 1-204-979-3277 or 011-91-9988367557 *** 661*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 30 yrs. old, 5’6” tall, Masters in Clinical Psychology, professionally employed, well versed in both cultures. The boy should be well educated, professionally settled between 28-34 yrs. of age.

Mainland area prefered. Please Call : 1-604-317-7576 ***661*** Match for Hindu/Sikh Ramgarhia Dhiman girl, 30 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, B.Sc., M.Sc. in Nursing, Vegetarian, holds US Visitor Visa.

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myshadi2016@hotmail.com ***661** Well educated Arora Sikh family seeking a well settled Canadian match for very beautiful, well mannered, pretty daughter, living in India, DOB 1988, 5’-2” tall, B.Com., running her own home made chocolates business in Amritsar. Please respond with biodata & recent picture to: matrimonial14rk@gmail.com Or Call : 011-91-70879-51829 ***661*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, born in U.S.A., raised in Canada, DOB 1988, 5’-6” tall, very pretty, software engineer. Sitable match from GTA, prefered IT/Medico, born and raised in Canada. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: simran_01@rogers.com Or Call : 416-272-9595 ***661** Jat Sikh family seeks a suitable match for their daughter, 23 yrs. old, 5’-7” tall, born in Canada, University degree holder. The boy should be born and raised in Canada, not more than 26 yrs. of age, educated, well settled with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: ksingh5681@gmail.com ***661*** Well established, well respected, Ramgarhia Sikh family invite matrimonial alliance for their son, born and raised in Canada, degree in Psychology and well settled as a regional operations manager in one of the top ranking companies of Canada. The girl should be educated, beautiful, family oriented and well versed in both cultures.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: gk_1925@hotmail.com Or Call : 905-915-0488 Or : 647-206-3245 ***661** Amritdhari Jat Sikh family seeking a suitable match for their son, 26 yrs. old, 5’-7” tall, Canadian Citizen, Engineering degree from BCIT Canada, well settled in govt. job.

The girl should be educated, Canadian Citizen/Immigrant and family oriented. Please Call : 1-604626-8653 ***661** Well settled and reputed Jat Sikh family seeking a suitable match for theit daughter 20 yrs. old, 5’-7” tall, persuing Bachelors in Dental Surgery (BDS), very fair, slim, beautiful, residing at Mohali (Chandigarh). The boy should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen, Medico/Lawyer/IT professionall or successifuul businessman from a well settled family. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: gurunanak3536@gmail.com Or Call : 011-91-98154-41730 Or : 1306-830-1878 ***661** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their son 29 yrs. old, 5’6” tall, born and raised in Canada, well versed in both cultures and professionally employed. The family is very well settled in Kitchener, Wateloo Ontario. Please Call : 1-519-222-2673 ***661** Jat Sikh family teachers by

profession long settled in Canada seek a match for their daughter, slim, attractive, close to 50, divorced, No children, degree holder, suiable match should be from Canada, aged 47-55.Call : 416-910-5670 ***1174** Mazhbi Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, beautiful, LLM degree holder, working as Assistant Professor in Delhi University India, father Additional Secretery retired, status family. The boy should be Canadian/American, Iimmigrant/ Citizen, well educated and family oriented. Caste no bar.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: sahota.avtar54@gmail.com Or Call : 011-91-98681-07737 Or : 416-400-7895 ***661** Saini Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, raised in Canada, M.A.Sc. in Engineering, working for a leading engineering company in GTA, Vegetarian. The boy should be very well educated, Canadian born/raised from early age, professionally employed preferably from GTA. Please email recent picture and biodata to: shagan018@gmail.com Or Call : 416-795-7531 ***661*** Well settled jat Sikh Maan parents in USA seeking a suitable match for their daughter, born in Sept 1985,U S citizen, Master,s in Mathematics currently teaching in high school, 5'- 5" Tall, slim. New York area prefered. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: manngurdip916@gmail.com *** 661*** Jat Sikh parents seeking a match for their Canadian born Son, 34 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, University educated, professionally employed, well paid manager. The girl should be University educated, beautiful with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: tormgr13 @gmail.com Or Call : 416-708-1392 ***661*** Lubana Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 1985 born, 5’-9” tal, running his own successful business in USA and earning in six figures, graduated from Canadian University with bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and post graduate diploma, extended family well settled in Canada/USA, seeking a beautiful, professional, career and family oriented girl, USA family also welcome. Please email recent picture and biodata to: shaadi.northamerica@gmail.com Or Call: 647-956-4817 ***661** Jat Sikh parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 29 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, RN and Master’s degree in Nursing,

Currently Working in GTA. The boy should be well educated, professionally employed, prefered non-drinker, nonsmoker, vegetarian. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: skbrar100@gmail.com Or Call: 416-970-7028 ***661** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 31 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, born and raised in Canada, Chartered Accountant, Vegetarian, nondrinker, clean shaven, working in GTA with family values. The girl should be from Jat Sikh family, well educated and family oriented. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: msbrar100@gmail.com Or Call : 416-970-7028 ***661** Jat Sikh family seeking a suitable match for their daughter, 34 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, Dental Hygienist, Canadian Citizen, Well Versed in both cultures. The boy should be professionally employed and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: jasleenbhullardutt@yahoo.ca Or Call : 1-604-722-5531 ***661** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, 31 yrs. old, 5’-10 tall, Canadian born, working as a RN and Teacher. The girl should equally educated, beautiful, family oriented, atleast 5’-6” tall. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: g0110sekhon@hotmail.com Or Call : 1-604-501-9234 Or : 1-778317-1349 ***661** Lubana Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their well settled engineer son, 30 yrs. old, 6’-1” tall, athletic built. The girl should be beautiful, tall, well educated, family oriented. Caste no bar. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: amar3264@aol.com Or Call : 1408-781-4086 ***661** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their beautiful daughter, 25 yrs. old, working as RN in Seattle (USA) Completing BSN in Nursing from University of Washington, born in Canada. The boy should be be born in Canada/America well edcuated, professional (Doctor/ Dentist) employed with moderate family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: hk_leen@yahoo.com ***661** Ramgarhia Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, living in India, having 10 yrs. Visitor Visa of Canada, doing Govt. Job in India, M.Sc. Nursing (Gynachologist). The boy should be Canadian Immigrant or Citizen, educated,well settled. Caste no bar. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: jitkaram3@gmail.com Or Call : 647-532-6275 ***661**

Issue - 661 (11)

5 April - 11 April 2016

FBI trick for breaking into iPhone likely to leak SAN FRANCISCO The FBI’s method for breaking into a locked iPhone 5c is unlikely to stay secret for long, according to senior Apple Inc engineers and outside experts.

Once it is exposed, Apple should be able to plug the encryption hole, comforting iPhone users worried that losing physical possession of their devices will leave them vulnerable to hackers. When Apple does fix the flaw, it is expected to announce it to customers and thereby extend the rare public battle over security holes, a debate that typically rages out of public view.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation last week dropped its courtroom quest to force Apple to hack into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, saying an unidentified party provided a method for getting around the deceased killer’s unknown passcode.

If the government pursues a similar case seeking Apple’s help in New York, the court could make the FBI disclose its new trick.

But even if the government walks away from that battle, the growing number of state and local authorities seeking the FBI’s help with locked phones in criminal probes increases the likelihood that the FBI will have to

provide it. When that happens, defense attorneys will crossexamine the experts involved.

and policy constraints.”

Even if the FBI hoards the information - despite a White House policy that tilts toward disclosure to

Although each lawyer would mainly be interested in whether evidencetampering may have occurred, the process would likely reveal enough about the method for Apple to block it in future versions of its phones, an Apple employee said.

“The FBI would need to resign itself to the fact that such an exploit would only be viable for a few months, if released to other departments,” said Jonathan Zdziarski, an independent forensics expert who has helped police get into many devices. “It would be a temporary Vegas jackpot that would quickly get squandered on the case backlog.”

In a memo to police obtained by Reuters on Friday, the FBI said it would share the tool “consistent with our legal

manufacturers - if it is not revealed to Apple, there are other ways the method could come to light or be rendered ineffective over time, according to Zdziarski and senior Apple engineers who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI may use the same method on phones in cases in which the suspects are still alive, presenting the same opportunity for defense lawyers to pry. In addition, the contractor who sold the FBI the technique might sell it to another agency or country. The more widely it circulates, the more likely it will be leaked.

“Flaws of this nature have a pretty short life cycle,” one senior Apple engineer said. “Most of these things do come to light.” The temporary nature of flaws is borne out in the pricing of tools for exploiting

Air France female crew rebel against new Islamic headscarf dress code London Female cabine crew of Air France, backed by the French carrier’s union,

when flights resume to Tehran on April 17.

French radio station RFI quoted union leader

have strongly objected to a management decision to wear pants, a loose-fitting jackets and headscarves during flights to Iran.

According to reports, staff of the airline have threatened to go on strike over the issue which they see as an infringement on individual freedom.

Air France flights to Iran’s capital Tehran are to begin soon.Union groups have strongly condemned the new dress code and said cabin crew will refuse to fly

Françoise Redolfi, as saying, “We have to let the girls choose what they want to wear. Those that don’t want to must be able to say they don’t want to work on those flights.”

Redolfi further revealed that femal cabin crew have told her that it is out of the question to wear headscarves, as they see it as an insult to their dignity.

The French minister for women’s rights and families, Laurence

Rossignol, has been informed of the Air France staff dress code protest.

Iranian women have been instructed to cover their heads since the Islamic revolution in 1979, while in France, headscarves have been banned in schools and state offices and fullface veils are banned in public areas.

In a statement, Air France said: “Iranian law requires the wearing of a veil covering the hair in public places for all women present on its territory.

This obligation is not required during the flight and is respected by all international airlines serving the Iranian Republic.”

The airline will begin three daily fights between Paris and Tehran on April 17, eight years after the flights were suspended in light of crippling international sanctions against Tehran.

Those sanctions were lifted in January after Iran agreed to shrink its nuclear program.

security holes in the government-dominated market for “zero-days,” called that because the companies whose products are targets have had zero days’ warning of the flaw. Many of the attack programs that are sold to defense and intelligence contractors and then to government buyers are purchased over six months, with payments spaced apart in case the flaw is discovered or the hole is patched incidentally with an update from the manufacturer, market participants told Reuters. Although Apple is concerned about consumer perception, employees said the company had made no major recent changes in policy. Instead, its engineers take pride in the fact that a program for breaking into an iPhone via the web was recently purchased by a defense contractor for $1 million, and that even that program is likely to be short-lived.

They said most iPhone users have more to fear from criminals than from countries, and few crooks can afford anything like what it costs to break into a fully up-to-date iPhone.

Muslim boy teased with ‘bomb’ jokes as US teacher calls him terroris Houston A 12-year-old Muslim boy accused his teacher of targeting him for his religion by calling him a “terrorist” in front of his peers in the US state of Texas, prompting school authorities to probe the incident. Waleed Abushaaban, a 7th grade student in First Colony Middle School has been the butt of “bomb” jokes and ridicule from his fellow classmates after his teacher made the careless crack, a local TV KHOU.com reported.

The teacher allegedly made the comment when her class had been watching the movie “Bend it Like Beckham” after taking an exam and Waleed let out a loud laugh at a joke in the movie.

“We’re in the class watching a movie,” Waleed said. “And I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, “I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you. And I said why?

She said because we all think you’re a terrorist.”

After that comment other students started making fun of him and started calling him a “bomb”.

“They were like, ‘oh I see a bomb!’ and they started

all laughing and making jokes. I was upset and I felt like I was put in the corner and like everybody was just looking at me,” Waleed added.The English and Language Arts teacher was immediately removed from the classroom after the accusations and Waleed’s family wants the school to sack her.“Just because my son is a Muslim doesn’t mean he is a terrorist,” said Malek Abushaaban, Waleed’s father. “He’s as American as anybody else. He was born here... that’s all he knows is how to be an American.”The family is also calling for the school to get religious sensitivity training.

The Fort Bend school district released a statement about the accusation, saying they do “not support the teacher’s actions”.“No religion should be targeted by and disrespected by any administrator on any school campus,” said Quanell X, a community activist.The school has removed the English and Language Arts teacher from the classroom while it investigates; however, Waleed’s family want her permanently dismissed.

Issue - 661 (12)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Trove of data on offshore accounts prompts probe, questions Berlin The release of a vast trove of documents and other data on offshore financial dealings of wealthy, famous and powerful people around the world is raising questions over the widespread use of such tactics to avoid taxes and skirt financial oversight.

Reports by an international coalition of media outlets on an investigation with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists brought to light details of offshore assets and services of politicians, businesses and celebrities, based on a cache of 11.5 million records.

Among the countries with past or present political figures named in the reports are Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina.

Australia’s tax agency said Monday it was investigating more than 800 wealthy people for possible tax evasion linked to their alleged dealings with Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm with international offices that provide offshore financial services.

The Australian Tax Office said in a statement that it had linked more than 120 of those people to an offshore services provider in Hong Kong, but did not name the company.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister John Key rejected ICIJ’s characterization of his country as among 21 tax havens used by Mossack Fonseca.

“Tax havens are where there is nondisclosure of information,” Key said. “New Zealand has full disclosure of information.”

Ramon Fonseca, a co-founder of Mossack Fonseca - one of the world’s largest creators of shell companies - confirmed to Panama’s Channel 2 television network that documents investigated by the ICIJ were authentic and had been obtained illegally by hackers.

But he said most people named in the reports were not his firm’s direct clients but were accounts set up by intermediaries. He said the firm did not engage in any wrongdoing.

Businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars - the ICIJ said the documents involve 214,488 companies and 14,153 clients of Mossack Fonseca.

The nonprofit group said it would release the full list of companies and people linked to them early next month.

The Munich-based German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said it was offered the data more than a year ago through an encrypted channel by an anonymous source. The source sought unspecified

MANILA The world’s first public dengue vaccination programme was launched in the Philippines on Monday as nurses began injecting the first batch of a million children with a French drug to combat the sometimes deadly disease.

Several hundred children aged 9-10 queued in front of government health workers at a public school in eastern Manila for the injections, capping a 20year, 1.5-billion-euro ($1.8 bn) effort by French drug manufacturer Sanofi to develop the vaccine.

“We are the first country to introduce, adopt and implement the first-ever dengue vaccine through the public health system and under public school settings,” said Philippine Health Secretary Janette Garin.

The Philippines had in December approved the vaccine, the first to be licensed globally to combat the mosquito-borne disease

security measures but no compensation, said Bastian Obermayer, a reporter for the paper.

The documents provided to Suddeutsche Zeitung, amounting to about 2.6 terabytes of data, included emails, financial spreadsheets, passports and corporate records detailing how powerful figures used banks, law firms and offshore shell companies to hide their assets. The data dated from 1977 through the end of 2015, it said.The newspaper and its partners verified the authenticity of the data by comparing it to public registers, witness

Philippines launches historic dengue vaccine programme

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for people aged between nine and 45. Zelin Joice Carungay, aged nine, cried briefly as she and her classmates fell in line for the vaccine on teacher’s orders. “I’m terrified of needles but they told us we need it to avoid dengue,” the girl told reporters. “In the end it felt nothing more than an ant’s bite,” the relieved child said afterwards.

Dengue or haemorrhagic fever, the world’s most common mosquito-borne virus, infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year, killing more than 25,000, according to the World Health Organization.

Symptoms are often mild but more than two million people annually develop more serious symptoms - which can involve

severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, a rash, pain in the joints, muscles or bones and leaking blood vessels.

Asia is home to some 70 percent of cases worldwide. In the Philippines 200,000 cases were reported in 2013, according to Sanofi.

The company said the vaccine should prevent eight out of 10 dengue hospitalisations and up to 93 percent of severe haemorrhagic dengue fever cases.

“This initiative sends a strong message to the rest of the... world that dengue vaccination is a critical addition to integrated disease prevention efforts,” Sanofi said in a statement.

Sanofi’s two-decade effort to develop the vaccine included 25 clinical studies in 15 countries.

This saw 29,000 volunteers receive a vaccine that, aside from the Philippines, has also been registered in Mexico, Brazil and El Salvador, according to Sanofi.

Of 17,000 people who were injected with the vaccine in the Philippines in February as part of the clinical study, just 27 developed side effects, proving it was an effective vaccine, Health Undersecretary Vicente Belizario told reporters.

testimony and court rulings, he told the AP. A previous cache of Mossack Fonseca documents obtained by German authorities was also used to verify the new material, Obermayer added.

“It allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world providing a day-to-day, decadeby-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues,” the ICIJ said.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela issued a statement saying his government had “zero tolerance” for illicit financial activities and would cooperate “vigorously” with any judicial investigation arising from the leak of the law firm’s documents.The Guardian newspaper, which participated in

the investigation, published a video on its website late Sunday of an interview with Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. During the interview with Sweden’s SVT television, the prime minister is asked about a company called Wintris. He responds by insisting that its affairs are above board and calling the question “completely inappropriate,” before breaking off the interview.

In Russia, the Kremlin last week said it was anticipating what it called an upcoming “information attack.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the Kremlin had received “a series of questions in a rude manner” from an organization that he said was trying to smear Putin.

Indian priest kidnapped by gunmen in Yemen ‘could be freed soon’

Mumbai An Indian priest abducted by gunmen in Yemen last month is safe and could be released soon, a Catholic group said on Sunday, quoting Sushma Swaraj, the external affairs minister.

Father Tom Uzhunnalil was captured from the southern Yemeni city of Aden by gunmen who killed at least 15 people at an old people’s home in an attack that was condemned by Pope Francis.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) said a delegation had met Swaraj who said the government was working to secure the priest’s safe return.

“She has assured us Father Tom is safe and negotiations are on for his release which could

happen very soon,” said Father Joseph Chinnaiyan, deputy secretary of the CBCI. Media reports last week said the priest was killed by Islamic State militants on Good Friday, although no one has claimed responsibility for last month’s attack in which gunmen killed four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard.

Father Chinnaiyan said the reports were inaccurate. Aden has been racked by lawlessness since Hadi supporters, backed

by Gulf Arab military forces, drove fighters of the Iran-allied Houthi group from the city in July last year. International aid groups have pulled most of their foreign staff from Yemen due to security concerns.

Issue - 661 (13)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Minors beaten, forced to drink urine Bareilly Two minor boys were allegedly brutally beaten up and forced to drink their urine by a neighbour, who suspected them of stealing

grain from his house, in Meerganj area of Bareilly.

The matter came to light when the sister of one of the boys met the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Medha Roopam, on Thursday and submitted a complaint. The incident reportedly took place on Tuesday but the local police did not register their complaint, the

boys’ family have alleged.

According to her complaint and the statement that she gave to the police, one Ravinder Swaroop accused her 11-year-old brother

and a 13-year-old cousin of stealing 30 kg of grain from his house.

“Ravinder first thrashed the boys and then forced them to drink their urine,” the sister said.

After hearing her complaint, the SDM spoke to Meerganj Police, following which an FIR was lodged on Friday.

Police have charged the accused

Deaf-mute youth ‘beheaded’ on orders of panchayat

Ranchi A deaf and dumb youth was beheaded by villagers on diktat of a panchayat in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum village.

The incident was discovered 10 days later after which the police got to know about it through a letter to SP, Chaibasa .

It is learned that Sukhlal aka Gunga (20), a resident of village Loharda, was killed by villagers on 21 March after a panchayat order, executed to settle a dispute among family members of the deceased.

According to police reports, the disabled youth on 20 March beat up his grandfather Durga Lohar and entered into a scuffle with his uncle Randho Lohar.

The grandfather and the uncle complained about the incident to the village head after which a panchayat was called on 21 March.

The panchayat held Sukhlal guilty and tied him and his father Indu Lohar to a tree. After settling matters with Indu and freeing him, villagers along with Randho Lohar took Sukhlal to a nearby forest where they

beheaded the boy, threw his head in a bush and buried the body near the Sanjay river near Chakradharpur.

The youth’s father did not report the incident as he was scared for his life. According to the police, he had been warned to stay quiet.

Police swung into action on Thursday, interrogating Sukhlal’s family members and the village head.

The police recovered the deceased’s body from a riverside on Friday and the Chaibasa Mufussil police registered a case against the village head and 16 others for their involvement in killing Sukhlal.

The village head was arrested and sent to jail while the other accused have fled the village.

Digvijay Singh, Mufussil police station officer in charge said, “We recovered head and the body of the deceased based on the information provided by the village head.

He has been sent to jail and others involved in the crime would be nabbed soon.”

under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code.

“We have arrested the accused and will present him in the court tomorrow (on Saturday),” Bachhu Singh Yadav, station officer (SO) of Meerganj police station, said.

Family members of the boys said the SO refused to register their complaint when they approached him.

“When we reached the police station on Wednesday morning, he declined to register the FIR,” the sister said adding, “Only then I decided to meet the SDM and informed her about the incident.”

Yadav, however, refuted their charge. “The family member who came to complain about the matter didn’t mention that the boys were forced to drink urine.

They included it in the statement today, after which we lodged the FIR,” he said.

Indian visitors to face strict monitoring in Pakistan

Islamabad Indians visiting Pakistan will face “strict monitoring” by the interior ministry, a media report quoting a source from the ministry said on Saturday.

The interior ministry has directed all four provinces -- Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa -- to monitor the activities of foreigners, especially Indians, who visit Pakistan, Geo TV quoted the source as saying.

The ministry has also directed Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan

administered Kashmir to follow the new orders.

The new orders came days after Pakistan arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian, in Balochistan.

According to Pakistani officials, Jadhav allegedly confessed to “fuelling” the Baloch separatist movement and “sabotage” the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. Pakistan alleged Jadhav was a RAW agent. The Indian government has denied he was linked to the government in any way.

NIA officer Mohammed Tanzil shot dead as children watched New Delhi A National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer, probing terror cases related to Indian Mujahideen, was on Sunday shot dead by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants at Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.

Mohammad Tanzil Ahmad was a deputy superintendent of police posted in the National Investigation Agency (NIA). His wife was also wounded in the attack. The incident occurred when they were returning home from a wedding near UP’s Bijnor town. In a planned attack, the killers pumped 24 bullets at 45year- Ahmad and four at his wife Farzana, as their daughter (14) and son (12) watched the incident from the back seat of the Wagon-R car they were travelling in, the police said and added that the children were not injured.

Late in the evening, NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said Farzana was out of danger.

“There is no damage to her vital organs. She is recovering.

Ahmad was a brave officer who never hesitated in taking up any challenge. It is a big loss to NIA. We will rise to the occasion and both NIA as well as UP Police has taken this as a challenge to bring the culprits before the law,” he said. Ahmad was returning home in Sahaspur village of Bijnor district with his family after attending his niece’s wedding in a nearby village of the same district. Police termed the killing of Ahmad, posted as inspector initially with the NIA’s intelligence wing and later in its investigation department, as a planned attack and did not rule out the possibility of a terror angle behind the shootout.Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters in Lucknow that he had been

apprised of the incident.

“Whatever is necessary is being done. We are talking (to NIA officials),” Singh said. Police suspect Ahmad’s movements was being tracked by the

borders of the district and launched a manhunt for the assailants.

Additional Director General of Police Daljit Chowdhry said nothing can be ruled out, when

assailants, who used at least one 9mm pistol in the attack.

Confirming the incident, IG (Law and Order) of UP Police, Bhagwan Swaroop said the NIA officer was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while he was returning after a marriage ceremony.

Ahmad, who has been with the NIA ever since the organisation was formed in February 2009, had been investigating many cases related to the banned Indian Mujahideen. His superiors termed him as a thorough professional in intelligence gathering as well as investigation.According to the police, Ahmad left his home in the evening along with his family to attend a at Sohara village. On their way back, their vehicle was stopped barely 200 metres from his home by two youths, who fired at a very close range.

Ahmad was taken to nearby Cosmos hospital where he was declared brought dead. The Uttar Pradesh Police have sealed the

asked whether there was a possibility of terror angle behind the attack. “A very serious offence has taken place in the district and we have taken it very seriously. The body has been sent for postmortem and details of what actually happened will soon come out.Borders of the state have been sealed and checking is on in the nearby villages to trace those involved in killing of the officer. We are trying to find out the accused and the motive behind the murder,” he said.The police are also trying to ascertain whether the 9 mm pistol used for the crime was country-made or factory-made.

UP Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad said IG Special Task Force (STF) and IG Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) have been sent to Bijnor and the matter is being probed. We are also in touch with NIA officers and coordinating with them.

We will go deep into it and ensure those involved are arrested, Ahmad said.

Issue - 661 (14)

5 April - 11 April 2016

For the love of Paan: Britain bristles as Indians paint its towns red, literally London Painting the town red is not an offence in Britain, as long as you don’t do it the Indian way.

along Wembley High Road and Ealing Road.

It is also reported to have reached an infuriating extent in the east Midlands

The practice of paanspitting among Indianorigin people residing in Britain has irked many – prompting city councils to impose fines and protection orders against offenders. Public spaces in towns and London areas with substantial Asian populations can be seen splattered with red stains.

Incidentally, paan is sold at various shops and restaurants in these areas to cater to the Indians’ cultural preference for chewing the betel leaf after meals.

The practice has evoked growing public and official ire in the country. The police in the London borough of Brent have imposed a fine of 80 pounds for each such offence committed in its jurisdiction, particularly

city of Leicester, which has a large number of Indianorigin people residing in the vicinity of Belgrave Road and Melton Road. The Leicester city council recently carried out a public consultation on spitting, and the opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of enforcing penalities on offenders.

A city council spokesman said: “We are aware of this problem, which is unhygienic and leaves unsightly stains on pavements. We are looking at including paanspitting in a future city-wide Public Spaces Protection Order, which would give us more powers to tackle it.”

“Our cleansing teams went out last year at the request of ward councilors, and used anti-graffiti spray equipment to remove paan

Washington Republican frontrunner for the White House Donald Trump has warned of a “very massive recession” and said it’s a “terrible time”

a turnaround on trade, by renegotiating agreements that, according to him are skewed against the US currently. And large income tax cuts.

to invest in stocks, in an interview to Washington Post.He said the US was sitting on a “financial bubble”, unemployment was much higher than reflected in official numbers and the country was being “ripped” by other countries.

“I’m pessimistic,” Trump said. “Unless changes are made. Changes could be made.” But the good news is, he has a solution: Trump. “I can fix it. I can fix it pretty quickly.”

He told Post reporters the key to his proposed fix is

As a leading contender for the top job of a country central to the global economy, and which triggered the 2008 financial crisis, his comments will be followed with some concern.Trump is already being watched closely.

President Barack Obama said on Friday many world leaders brought up Trump with him in private conversations at the recent nuclear summit.

But as the Post said Trump is way too gloomy and out of sync with the current assessment of the

stains from walls and dustbins. But it’s not easy task,” he added.

Many Indian-origin residents are equally disgusted by the practice.

Jit Dhanji, the service delivery manager at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, told local daily Leicester Mercury: “It is a cultural thing. People have done it for generations upon generations in India and it is fine there. But it is not appropriate in an urban environment like Belgrave.”

Dhanji, however, doesn’t believe there’s any malice involved. “These people just need to be educated about where to spit,” he said.

Speaking on the issue, a Brent Council spokesman told Hindustan Times: “The police are acting against paan-spitting. However, the area is geographically too large to permanently cover all the known hotpots, and perpetrators are reluctant to spit in front of uniformed officers.”

“In 2013, public health functions were been brought under council control. As a result, there are plans to re-launch the campaign with a greater focus on raising awareness on the health risks of chewing tobacco paan and offering practical support to help chewers quit,” he added.

US heading towards massive recession, says Donald Trump

economy by multiple experts, and his predictions have been wrong in the past.

In 2012, for instance, he said that if Obama was reelected president oil and gas prices would go through the roof. Quite the opposite happened, fuelled by rising natural gas production.

Trump has been pessimistic about the economy questioning the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, arguing unemployment is far more than 5% cited by the government. He is now saying these are “precarious times”.

“Part of the reason it’s precarious is because we are being ripped so badly by other countries. We are being ripped so badly by China. It just never ends.

Nobody’s ever going to stop it.”On the stock market, his assessment was blunt: “I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble.”

He said that was trued for the entire economy, and not a specific sector.

Gurdwara near airport helped hundreds after Brussels blasts Brussels Volunteers of a gurdwara swung into action soon after two blasts spread death and panic at Brussels airport on March 22, providing food, clothes, medicines and hope to hundreds of stranded passengers, including many Indians in transit.

The Gurdwara Guru Nanak Sahib in Velvoorde, located less than 10 km from the airport, received calls from London and India soon after news of the blasts spread, and promptly opened its doors and resources to help.

“We contacted local officials and offered to house passengers in the gurdwara and help in any way possible,” Jasvir Singh, the gurdwara prabandhak, told Hindustan Times.

“But the passengers were not allowed outside the airport. So we arranged food, clothes and medicines, particularly for children.”

Baljit Singh, the gurdwara’s granthi, said: “We were contacted through phone and social media. The ‘sangat’ responded promptly.

Initially we were not allowed to meet the passengers, but there

passengers – who did not have access to their belongings in the

was pressure from the passengers too, who wanted to meet us.”

More than 30 people were killed and scores injured by three suicide blasts at the airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State.

Following the two blasts at the airport, nearly 250 passengers were stranded, most of them Indians who were in transit to destinations in the US and Canada or bound for India.

There were reports of growing resentment about the lack of help and information among Indian

checked-in luggage – when the gurdwara reached them.

“We were able to help for two days after the blasts, before the passengers were allowed to leave on special flights. Our doors are always open for ‘seva’ for whoever is in need,” Baljit Singh said.

The Gurdwara Guru Nanak Sahib, located in a quiet neighbourhood on Lange Molenstraat, is one of seven in Brussels.

Established more than 20 years ago, it is the base for more than 150 families in Velvoorde and neighbouring areas. A gurdwara is also being established in Antwerp.

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Ambarsariya Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Navneet Kaur Dhillon, Monica Gill, Lauren Gottlieb, Gul Panag, Gurpreet Ghuggi Direction: Mandeep Kumar Rating: 4 Stars ‘Thanda khana, tatta nhona, te kudiyan di gallan ch na aunaa, aehi ten cheejan bachai firdiyan ne jatt Ambarsariye nu’ (Cold food, hot showers and not being fooled by girls, these are the three things, which have been guarding Jatt Ambarsariya), announces a supremely confident Diljit Dosanjh aka Jatt Ambarsariya (as he likes to call himself in the film) in one of the initial scenes of the film. And with that, Dosanjh already has all our attention.

Playing an insurance agent, who lives a dual life as a RAW agent, Diljit’s character essentially survives on sarcasm and mockery of almost every other character in the film, very much like the characters he has essayed in the past. But guess when you have a comic timing as flawless as Dosanjh’s combined with the innocence of

his eyes and that playfully mischievous smile, the ‘funny Punjabi boy’ stint never gets old. And our Jatt Ambarsariya (JA) seems to be acing it to the effect that when he is in the frame, everything else seems inconsequential.

The story revolves around JA, who being the best at everything he does, is now put on a mission to save the honest and idealistic Home Minister of Punjab from a drug mafia who is plotting the minister’s murder. From the cues he has received from his boss (Gul Panag), Gurpreet Ghuggi, Rana Ranbir and Lauren Gottlieb turn out to be his suspects.

During the course of the mission, JA also meets Navneet Kaur Dhillon (his boss at the insurance company) and Monica Gill (his landlord) and as is expected of him, he manages to impress both the ladies.

Though it wouldn’t be wrong to say that ‘Ambarsariya’ is an out and out Diljit film, Dheeraj Rattan’s beautifully penned script seems to have done justice to every character. What further works in the film’s favour is the fact that it has

on board talented actors like Gul, Ghuggi and Rana who make their strong presence felt, despite the limited screen time they have. The dialogues are amazingly funny and you could only expect a Diljit Dosanjh to deliver them with such ease.

Mandeep Kumar’s direction keeps you on the edge of your seat constantly wondering whom will Diljit romance or which of the three suspects is the actual culprit. Leave it to Mandeep to milk the best out of all his actors.

While he keeps the spotlight on Diljit, he also makes sure that no other character gets overshadowed by his presence.

Diljit’s scenes with a child actor, the jewelry shop scene between Diljit and Navneet Kaur Dhillon and the climax scene is a display of Kumar’s sheer talent. Adding to the visual charm (apart, of course, from the handsome Mr Dosanjh) are the beautifully captured locales of the holy city of Amritsar.

The aerial shots of the Golden Temple are definitely a treat to watch.

The only weak link here is Lauren Gottlieb, whose character seems a bit forced. Her struggle with

Punjabi is visible throughout the film, which also deprives her of some good, witty dialogues. Other

than that, ‘Ambarsariya’ is the perfect dose of entertainment you would love to have this weekend.

Kareena and Arjun’s bland role-reversal drama

Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapur Direction: R Balki Ratings: 2 Stars In R Balki’s world, if you’re a woman battling an unwanted-pregnancy scare, the solution is a UPT (Urine Pregnancy Test) kit.

Once you’ve taken one strip test and found the result positive, the next step is to be absolutely sure about it. So, instead of going to the gynaecologist like, well, normal women would probably do, Balki’s heroine is coaxed by her husband into taking five more strip tests. ‘Just to

be sure’ of the results. After four negatives to two positives, you’d think maybe, logically, the woman would now want to go to the gynae. But who cares about such things any way! So once certainty is established, the next step is going right back to making out.

That - making out - is the single solution to most problems in this gender role-reversal drama called Ki And Ka. Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan), an ‘85-born careerdriven single woman meets Kabir (Arjun Kapoor), an ‘88-born son-of-an-industrialist guy on a flight from Chandigarh to Delhi. Kabir doesn’t want his dad’s business or money, and his only aim in his life is to be like his mother: an ‘artist’, i.e., a housewife.

Suitably shocked, Kia keeps meeting Kabir to figure out exactly why he wants to be his mom. And on his part, Kabir keeps regaling Kia with his gender equality philosophies.

In a few meetings, Kabir proposes marriage to Kia. Kabir’s father (Rajit Kapur) is against his son’s decision of being a ‘ghar-jamai’, while Kia’s mother (Swaroop Sampat) accepts the couple gladly into her house. A registry marriage and Kia tying the mangalsutra on Kabir’s neck later, we’re taken to Ki and Ka’s happily-married life. Ki And Ka, right from the time the trailer was released, looked interesting. However, Balki’s treatment of the subject reduces the entire concept to a farce. The film tries so hard to be what it

is not that it loses way badly. The writing is not a field which Ki And Ka excels in. The film, for most part, feels like a rehearsal of sorts. Both Arjun and Kareena look like they are mouthing sharp, onetone dialogues to impress the conductor of this outof-tune opera that is Ki And Ka. The ping-pong dialogue-delivery between Arjun and Kareena is a major dampener. Arjun Kapoor’s acting is lazy in parts and too forced in others. Kareena’s performance feels like it is a performance. The effortlessness isn’t visible in Kareena’s Kia. Every bit of both the lead actors’ screen-time is an exercise in watching two disinterested-in-the-film people in front of you. There’s nothing much to talk about

their dull chemistry either.

In her supporting role, Swaroop Sampat is quite the open-minded, progressive mother. Rajit Kapur is wasted in the film.

Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, in their cameos, are fabulous. The scene with the Bachchans is among the best parts of the film (and there aren’t many). The music is passable, although some songs are placed too abruptly in the film. High Heel is a catchy number; Ji Hazoori, a melodious one. Ki And Ka might feel like the two longest hours of your life. Balki sets out to demolish stereotypes, but in the process, ends up affirming them even more. Watch it only if you swear by Kareena or Arjun. Or good germs of films spoilt by bad execution.

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I am the only actress Emraan Hashmi hasn’t kissed on screen says Lara Dutta

During the trailer launch of Emraan Hashmi-starrer Azhar, his co-star Lara Dutta, who essays the role of a lawyer, jokingly said that though its her first film with the Bollywood’s ‘serial kisser’, she is the first female actor whom he hasn’t kissed.

“It’s my first movie with Emraan and I think, at the

I work towards being a better human, artiste says Sonam Kapoor

Actress Sonam Kapoor says awards for one’s work are surely an “icing on the cake”, but one must not work towards such goals.

“I don’t think you should work towards a goal. You should work towards something to better yourself. I work for myself as human being as we are here to evolve. My work is towards being a better human being, artiste, Indian and that’s about it,” Sonam told

IANS here. “If the awards come in, it’s an icing on the cake, it’s a great encouragement,” she added. The actress, who is the brand ambassador of L’Oreal Paris, recently attended the Women of Worth awards, and plans to make a documentary on the winners.

“Every year, the Women of Worth awards are getting bigger and better. I hope this becomes a travelling award show.

end of this film, I am the only actor whom he has worked whom he hasn’t kissed,” said the 37-year-old actor. In the film, Lara will be essaying the character of a tough, stern lawyer Meera.

Where Lara Dutta kept the mood light during the interview, actor Emraan Hashmi opened up about the pressure to depict the famous and the most controversial Indian cricketer on-screen.

Emraan Hashmi, who will be essaying the role of former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin in the biopic Azhar, said that he almost became a “stalker” for the film to get a hang of the cricketer’s “gestures”.

“Eventually I almost became a stalker, I used to stare him to copy all his gesture. I think I made his life hell for threefour months,” Emraan said at the trailer launch of the film.

The actor said that doing the film was a “tough journey”. “When we started actual shooting in London and Hyderabad, I was nervous because of the cricket portion. As Azhar bhai is a well-known personality, all have seen his mannerism and nuances. So if something goes wrong to portray his character, there would have been a chance of a huge criticism. I had to keep that in mind and noted even very minute things from how he walks to the way he eats,” Emraan said. Directed by Tony D’Souza, Azhar, which is jointly produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and MSM Motion Picture, also stars Nargis Fakhri, Prachi Desai, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi in pivotal roles and is slated for a worldwide release on May 13, 2016. The film will narrate the highs and lows of Azharuddin’s life as the captain of the Indian cricket team for most of the 1990s and being tainted by a match-fixing scandal in 2000, and getting banned for life.

Looks as important as signing a good film says Kareena Kapoor Khan

Kareena Kapoor Khan is one of the stylish divas of Indian film industry and the Bollywood actress says looks are as important as choosing a good role. The 34-year-old “Ki & Ka” star said carrying a glamorous image comes naturally to her. “I like to be glamorous.

That is what I am known for. It is a very important part of me. People like to see me in glamorous way and I love being that. For me looking good is as important as signing a good film,” Kareena told PTI However, the actress doesn’t like the way being glamorous is perceived at large. “I feel glamorous is generally considered not graceful. And I don’t like it that way. I think it’s very graceful and elegant.

Whenever you see me I am always elegantly dressed.”

Kareena feels for a

woman, it is very important to be dressed properly and be graceful. “For me the most important thing is to be graceful. Grace is something which should come to a woman organically. It comes from within.

Rather than looking sexy, a woman should work on her grace,” she said. The actress is the face of a make up brand and loves dressing up for red carpets, but when it comes to her personal life, she prefers to ditch the dose of it. “I am an actress for me doing make up is a every day thing. I personally love wearing kajal and bright lip colours. But, when it comes to my day to day like I avoid it,” she said.

Kareena, who has made some stunning appearances in saree, also en-

Whatever I am Is my UsP says LIsa haydon With her not-so-conventional looks and accent, actress Lisa Haydon says that her USP lies in her unconventional looks and that she never considers her attributes a hindrance.

Asked whether her unconventional looks restrict roles for her in Bollywood, Lisa told IANS: “I don’t necessarily feel that way about it in that sense. Whatever I am is my USP. I don’t consider any of my attributes hindrance. I feel everyone has got their own journey, to be honest.”

The model-turnedactress, who made her acting debut with the 2010 film “Aisha”, made a career-defining move with the portrayal of Parisbased free-spirited Bohemian single mom in Vikas Bahl starrer “Queen”.

She later on went on to feature in “Shaukeens”.

Asked why she hasn’t been seen more often on the big screen post the success of “Queen”, Lisa

said: “I think you pick from what you get offered. I don’t necessarily get offered all the roles that other actresses get and I pick from what I get offered.”

However, the dusky beauty has some interesting Bollywood projects lined up.

These include Akshay Kumar’s “Housefull 3” and Karan Johar’s “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”.

She says working with Karan is the best thing that has happened to her so far.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. It was definitely possibly my favourite experience on set working with him. It’s a very small role, but probably the best working experience I have had so far,” she told IANS. Besides these two projects, Lisa is

also all geared up for her next release “Santa Banta Pvt Ltd” that stars

Vir Das, Boman Irani and Neha Dhupia in lead roles.

However, her acting career has never stopped her from coming back to fashion runways.

She walked the ramp here for designer Monisha Jaising’s show presented by Magnum.

From being a model in the past to now a showstopper, Lisa says there is not much of a change. “I am now wearing the last outfit...

Earlier it was the middle outfit. I feel very much the same about it... I still feel that I am modelling for a particular outfit and I enjoy doing it and love it too,” she said.

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I still have clothes from my days on ‘Friends’ says Jennifer Aniston

Ariana Grande wants no sexist lyrics in songs

Actress Jennifer Aniston has revealed she still has bits and pieces from her days on ‘Friends’.

“I have certain things I have yet to throw away from my days on Friends,” the actress, 47, said.

“My red squared-toe loafers might actually be making a comeback, that’s awesome.

See, it’s coming back - I knew it. I also have those nice high-waisted jeans. I’m so glad I didn’t throw any of those out. I loved the ‘90s.”

While Aniston ‘aka Rachel Green’ rocked her classic ‘Rachel do’, the ‘Cake’ actress recalls regretting “the entire” 80s decade.

“There was a period where I cut my hair really, really short. It was long on top, short on the sides. I think right above the ears ‘about an inch above’ I shaved my head, and that was kind of a really bad look. It was like a faux kind of chicken mohawk.”

Emily Blunt forgets she’s pregnant Actress Emily Blunt says she sometimes forgets that she is pregnant.

The ‘Into The Woods’ actress, who is expecting her second child with husband John Krasinski, says she is so busy looking after their first child, twoyear-old daughter Hazel, that she hasn’t been able to “self-indulge” like she did during her first pregnancy, reports people.com.

“The first pregnancy is the

most self-indulgent thing in the world because you get

massages and prenatal yoga and hypnotherapy

CDs. During this one, I forget that I’m even pregnant. I’m hoisting a twoyear-old around,” Blunt told C magazine. The 33-yearold said she finds it quite a “juggle” balancing her job and her family, especially now when her daughter can talk. “It’s quite a juggle with children, especially young children who are now able to vocalise, ‘Please don’t go.’ I don’t want to feel torn,” she said.

Kylie Jenner flaunts flat stomach Kylie shared a photograph of the new Puma ad campaign in which she is seen in a sportswear. The advertising campaign will be officially released on Friday, reports aceshowbiz.com. Kylie posted the image on Instagram. She is seen

wearing a black sports top, colourful shorts and a matching jacket. She strikes a pose while lifting her jacket up to put her toned abs on full display. “Flex your fierce side,” she captioned the image, adding the date when the new collection hits stores.

Drew Barrymore makes first appearance after divorce Actress Drew Barrymore went to Pebble Beach Food and Wine festival to promote her wines just after confirming her divorce to husband Will Kopelman. The ‘50 first Dates’ actress, 41, and Kopelman made an official announcement confirming

they are divorcing after almost four years of marriage, reported Ace Showbiz. As seen in Carmel Road’s Instagram post, she was all smiles while introducing the new rose. “Hi, I’m Drew Barrymore. We’re here at the Carmel Road tasting

room, so if you’re on the Carmel coastline, please come visit us here. It’s a gorgeous place to be.

Cheers!” In another video, Barrymore also appeared cheerful as she poured wine for fans. “It goes down so easy,” she told a bunch of wine-tasters.

Singer Ariana Grande wants male singers and rappers to stop using derogatory sexist terms in their songs. The 22-year-old wants to put an end to the use of derogatory terms in tracks, as well as in real life, to address the opposite sex and insists the vulgar trend needs to “go away soon”. “When men talk about women in songs

it’s like, ‘Oh, hell yeah, ‘h*s and b**ches’,” Grande told mirror.co.uk.

“And if a girl makes a song about a break up then it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she did that’, or, ‘What a s**t’. Whether it’s the music industry or real life we need to break the standard and it needs to go away soon,” she added.

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‘ISIS facing cash crunch as oil Taliban app removed revenue plummets by 50%’ from Google store Islamic State is facing an “unprecedented” cash crunch with the terror group’s revenue from the lucrative oil business plummeting by 50 per cent and oil production cut by about a third due to US-led

airstrikes, according to a media report.

For the first time, US officials are seeing clear evidence of the financial strain on the group’s leadership, as reports surface of clashes among senior commanders over allegations of corruption, mismanagement and theft, The Washington Post re-

ported.

Islamic State is facing an “unprecedented cash crunch in its home territory”, the report said citing US counter terrorism officials.

Months of strikes on oil

facilities and financial institutions have taken a deep toll on the group’s ability to pay its fighters or carry out operations.

Cash shortages already have forced the group to put many of its Iraqi and Syrian recruits on half-pay and accounts from recent defectors suggest that some units have not re-

ceived salaries in months, the report said.

Civilians and businesses in the Islamic State’s selfproclaimed homeland complain of being subjected to ever-higher taxes and fees to make up the shortfall.

US officials attribute the economic upheaval to a monthslong campaign to destroy the group’s financial underpinnings, including weeks of punishing strikes on oil facilities as well as on banks and other repositories of hard currency.

The strikes against oil fields, refineries and tankers have cut oil production by about a third, the report said citing several counter-terrorism officials. Overall revenue from the Islamic State’s oil business has plummeted by as much as 50 per cent because of falling oil prices and a diminished capability to make and sell refined products such as gasoline, the officials said.

Alemarah, an app for Android phones created by Islamist fundamentalist group the Taliban, has been removed from Google's Play Store.

The content of the app, in the Pashto language, included official statements and videos from the Afghan movement.

The hardline group blamed "technical issues" for its disappear-

ance shortly after it launched on 1 April.

However the BBC understands it was taken down because it violated a Google app policy which prohibits hate speech.

It was discovered and reported by a US-based organisation called Site Intel Group which monitors jihadist activity. Google declined to comment on specific app issues. "Our poli-

cies are designed to provide a great experience for users and developers.

That's why we remove apps from Google Play that violate those policies," it said in a statement. A spokesman from the Taliban told Bloomberg the app was "part of our advanced technological efforts to make a more global audience".

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ISIS making bombs using Mosul University chemistry lab The Islamic State is making use of Iraq's well stocked Mosul University chemistry lab to churn out a new generation of deadly explosives, according to a media report.

The explosives include chemical bombs and suicide vests.

Islamic State has been using

the chemistry lab in Mosul for the past year to concoct explosive devices and train militants to make them, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and Iraqi military officials.

General Hatem Magsosi, Iraq's top explosives officer, was quoted as saying that the facilities at the University of Mosul have enhanced Islamic State's ability to launch attacks in Iraq and to export bomb-making know-how when its fighters leave the so-called caliphate and return to their home countries, PTI reported.

The weaponry churned out in-

cludes peroxide-based chemical bombs and suicide-bomb vests like the ones used in the Brussels attacks and by at least some of the Paris attackers, the report said citing the General and others in the Iraqi military and an official from the US-led coalition fighting Is-

lamic State.

Other bombs made include nitrate-based explosives and chemical weapons, Magsosi said.

"The University of Mosul is the best Daesh research center in the world," the General said.

"Trainees go to Raqqa (Syria), then to Mosul university to use the existing facilities," he added.

However, the report said that the current status of the facility is not clear. The US-led coalition has targeted the campus with airstrikes more than once, most recently on

March 19.

When Islamic State captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in the summer of 2014, the university was one of the spoils. The university had a strong reputation around Iraq for its science department, alumni say.

By March 2015, dozens of Islamic State engineers and scientists had set up a research hub in the chemistry lab, which was full of equipment and chemicals, the report said citing two people with knowledge of the university.

Many of the regular staff, including professors specialised in organic, industrial and analytical chemistry, remained in the city at the time, but the new laboratories were staffed by Islamic State's own men, it said.

At least since August, dozens of individuals - presumed to be foreigners because they did not speak Iraqi Arabic - were seen moving through the labs, the two people said.

They said they were told specialised units had been set up there for chemical explosives and weapons research as well as suicidebomb construction.

Saudi Arabia has executed 82 people already this year - including 47 on one day

Saudi Arabia executed a citizen convicted of murder on Thursday, bringing the total number of death sentences to 82 this year in the ultraconservative kingdom.

Mohammed al-Khaweir alQahtani was found guilty of shooting dead Hussein alShayeb al-Qahtani following a dispute, the interior ministry said.

The British government has been urged by human rights group to put pressure on Saudi Arabia to halt their bru-

tal use of capital punishment.

He was executed in the southwestern city of Abha, a ministry statement published by the official SPA news agency said.

Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword and the grisly event can often draw a small crowd.

The executions so far this year include 47 for 'terrorism' carried out in a single day on January 2.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder, according to an AFP count.

Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for two decades.

Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Muslim woman called ‘batman’ for wearing hijab in UK

A 25-year-old British Muslim woman wearing a long gown and face veil was racially abused and called “Batman” by a man while shopping in a grocery store in London. Ahlam Saed who had gone into a corner shop in Ealing Common on Saturday to buy some sweets was mocked by the man for her outfit in front of his two children. “I only wanted to get a packet of Starburst. I walked in and he decided to call me Batman and started singing the theme tune,” said Saed, who filmed the incident on her phone.

“I could not ignore him, that’s why I decided to get my phone out... I had to stand my ground, I didn’t want him to think he could continue hurling abuse,” Saed was quoted as saying by the ‘Evening Standard’.

The video shows the man repeatedly asking Saed “Why do you wear that?”, referring to her veil.

The man also makes claims about

a Muslim couple with “photos of an ISIS flag” displayed on their house.

“My kids can’t even see your face, who are you? Are you a man or woman?” the man says, adding “This is a Christian country. Christian, western world.”

Saed said she became “petrified” as the man grew increasingly irate after she confronted him and called him “ignorant” in response to his “Batman” remark.

Saed who moved to London when she was two, started wearing a face veil about four years ago and is the only person in her family to don it.

“My parents don’t want me to wear it because they fear for my safety.

But why should I take it off because of other people’s opinions? It’s my choice,” Saed said, adding that she has faced more abuse in recent months than ever before.

“It’s getting worse since the Brussels and Paris attacks,” she said.

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Tesla racks up 276,000 Model 3 orders in just days SAN FRANCISCO Orders for the much-hyped Tesla Model 3, a cheaper version of its electric car

year. Amid reports of queues to snap up the vehicle, Musk tweeted: “276k Model 3 orders by end of

aimed at the mass market, have surged to 276,000 in just three days, company founder Elon Musk said Sunday.

Orders are piling up fast and exceeding the expectations of the company for its Model 3 - which will have a base price of $35,000 even though it won’t be available until late next

Sat.” And in a subsequent tweet added: “A Model 3 order gives you priority in your geography, so, even tho total count is high, ordering early will make a big difference locally.”

With the Model 3, a compact sedan unveiled Thursday, Tesla aims to show it can appeal to the general public and produce cars en masse.

The base price is half that of Tesla’s luxury Model S and the Model X, which start at $70,000.

Musk said Thursday that orders had passed 115,000 worldwide and hinting that demand was outstripping expectation later tweeted: “Definitely going to need to rethink production planning...”

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Patient dies, as docs and nurses in Mathura district hospital watch T-20 match In a bizarre case of negligence, a 30-year-old man, who was injured in a fight and admitted to Mathura district hospital on March 31, died 16 hours later, as doctors and nurses there failed to attend to him because they were allegedly busy watching the T-20 semi finals match between India and West Indies.

It is said that cricket is religion in India but one could have never imagined that doctors and nurses, who take the solemn oath of treating the sick over all other things, would choose to watch a game rather than attending to a patient battling for life.

Though the family members of the deceased, Sonu, had been accusing the hospital of negligence from the moment he was declared dead, a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS), Dr KP Garg, confirms a prima facie case of negligence on the part of the doctors and the nurses. Dr Garg has now written to Principal Secretary health, UP, recommending action against

three doctors and a nurse.

According to information, Sonu, a resident of Maat area, was brought to the hospital at about 3.30 PMfollowing injuries he had sustained in a fight earlier. Though his injuries were life threatening, the doctors did practically

that Dr Susheel Kumar, who came on duty at about 8 PM, also did not attend to the patient and despite requests from them, he failed to summon a specialist to examine him. “Sonu was just kept on a drip, while the doctors and the nurses remained glued to the TV for

nothing to assess his condition and shifted him to a ward about three hours later. They did not even call a specialist to see him.

According to family members, Sonu wasn’t given any treatment, except being put on saline drip. They alleged that they kept pestering the doctors to refer him to Agra for treatment but they did not do so on one pretext or the other.

The family members claim

the T-20 match”, they alleged. The family members also claim that Sonu was administered some drugs next morning at about 6 am and he succumbed to his injuries 55 minutes later.

The agitated family members had later staged a demonstration at the CMS office, demanding action against the doctors.

Talking to TOI, Dr Garg said a preliminary inquiry conducted by him indicated

negligence on the part of three doctors and a nurse.

He said available records clearly indicate the doctor on duty had failed to call a specialist to examine the patient. He said records also reveal that the doctor on call duty, Dr Lal Singh, who is supposed to take rounds of the wards in the evening and examine patients, had not done so on Thursday.

While Dr Garg claimed that he was not aware as to what these doctors and nurses were doing, he admitted that the deceased’s family members had complained that they were watching the cricket match rather than attending to the patients. “On the basis of these accusations and scrutiny of various records, I’ve written to the Health Secretary to initiate action against three doctors and a nurse”, he said.

Besides, Dr Lal Singh and Dr Susheel Kumar, action has also been recommended against Dr Dharamveer, who was on duty at the time Sonu was admitted, and the ward nurse, Poonam Sharma.

Issue 661 (23)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Ancient burials revealed at mysterious Plain of Jars in Laos SYDNEY Archaeologists have uncovered ancient human remains and various burial practices at the mysterious Plain of Jars in Laos, Australian researchers said Monday, as scientists attempt to unravel the puzzle of the stone vessels. The Plain of Jars in Laos’ central Xieng Khouang province is scattered with thousands of stone jars and scientists have long been perplexed by their original use. “This will be the first major effort since the 1930s to attempt to understand the purpose of the jars and who created them,” Dougald O’Reilly from the Australian Na-

tional University’s school of archaeology said in a statement.

He said excavations uncovered three types of burials at the site. In one practice, bones were buried in pits with a large limestone block placed over them, while other bones were found buried in ceramic vessels, separate from the jars.

The researchers also found for the first time an instance of a body being placed in a grave. O’Reilly said while the jars were empty now,

it is possible they were once used to hold bodies until the flesh had completely decomposed so the bones could then be bur-

Body thought to be of an Indian found in a suitcase in Bangkok Bangkok A body believed to be of an Indian man with multiple wounds has been

Bangkok Post quoting a source close to the investigation said several items found in the bag indicated

found stuffed in a suitcase floating in a canal in Bangkok.

The body was spotted on Sunday near the Samran Rat intersection after a worker at an ice factory found a bag containing what looked human remains with a head and shoulders protruding, police said.

the man could be an Indian national.

However, Indian embassy sources said that the identity and nationality of the victim had not yet been confirmed and they were working together with the Thai police.

Acting Bangkok police chief Sanit Mahathaworn said an initial examination

by police indicated that the man had been murdered at least three days ago. The body had multiple wounds all over it received after being hit with a hard object.

The injuries to his head and neck were the fatal blows, police said.

The man was an Asian about 150-160 centimetres tall. He was wearing only underwear, the report said.

The victim may have been tortured for information before being killed and the body subsequently dumped in the canal, police assumed, adding that a business conflict may have been the reason behind the murder.

ied. “We don’t have any evidence for cremation which is something that has been suggested in the past,” said O’Reilly, adding

American dream can quickly turn into a nightmare, experts warn, as many of these so-called “parachute kids” live in the US with little parental su-

pervision and can end up in trouble - and even in prison. “It’s a huge industry,” said Joaquin Lim, who runs a company that helps place Chinese students in American schools. “The

last figure I read put it at 25 billion dollars.”

Of nearly one million international students enrolled in public and private institutions in the United States

in 2014-2015, about 304,000 - or 31.2 percent were from China, according to the Washingtonbased Institute of International Education.

Some 30,000 of those stu-

month collecting data at the site and O’Reilly said he hoped a better archaeological understanding of the Plain of Jars would help with a bid to have it listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. About 90 sites make up the intriguing area in the Southeast Asian nation, with the carved jars ranging in size from one to three metres tall (three to 10 feet).

The excavations were conducted in February in conjunction with the Laos Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Melbourne’s Monash University as part of a five-year project.

Drought-hit Palau could dry up totally this month Palau Drought-stricken Palau could dry up completely this month, officials warned Monday as the Pacific island appealed for urgent aid from Japan and Taiwan, including shipments of water.

The tiny country of about 18,000 people declared a state of emergency last month, the latest Pacific island nation to do so as one of the worst ever El Nino-induced droughts in the region worsens. “We’re still in the state of emergency, there’s a sense of urgency to address the crisis,” a government spokesman told AFP as the National Emergency Committee (NEC) met to discuss strategy.

An NEC report prepared for President Tommy Remengesau offered a bleak outlook for the al-

Chinese ‘parachute kids’ flock to US schools MURRIETA Growing up in mainland China, Hailun “Helen” Zhou always knew that she would finish her high school education in America, whatever the cost. “That’s what everybody does,” said the 17year-old from Sichuan province who has spent the last two years studying in California and will be graduating this spring. “My father’s friends all sent their kids abroad, so that was the trend.” Zhou is among a growing number of Chinese teens who are flocking to US high schools, looking for a western education and a competitive edge in gaining admission to US universities and then finding a job back home.

But the pursuit of the

that it was also unclear where those buried had lived.

Despite the finds, he said the original purpose of the jars remains unknown.

“The stone jars remain a mystery as to what they were used for,” O’Reilly told AFP. Only a few simple objects, such as a handful of glass beads, have been found with the human remains at the burial sites, which are thought to date from about 500 or 600 BC to 550 AD. A joint Australia-Laos research team spent one

dents attended secondary schools, compared to fewer than 1,000 a decade ago.

The majority of these “parachute kids” aged between 14 and 19 land in southern California. For the most part, they attend Catholic or Christian schools because of restrictions by the US government on foreign student enrollment at public schools.

In cities such as Murrieta, a rural community about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, the number of Chinese students has ballooned in recent years, bringing welcome cash to the school district as well as host families who care for the teens.

ready-parched country.

“Based on the current water level and usage rates, and assuming conditions persist unabated, a total water outage is likely to occur in the next two to

situation.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last month the El Nino weather pattern - associated with a sustained period of warm-

three weeks,” it said.

Access to tap water is already rationed to three hours a day or less in the capital Koror and schools are only open half days because they cannot give students enough to drink.

“The NEC has been in contact with the governments of Japan and Taiwan regarding support of materials and equipment, as well as direct shipments of water as necessary,” it said.

The Japanese embassy in Palau confirmed it had received a request for assistance and discussions were ongoing about what form it would take.

“The nature of what type of assistance and in what volume is expected to be finalised as soon as possible,” it said in a statement.

Palau also expects help from Taiwan, one of the few countries to maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei in the face of opposition from China. The NEC report added that the US military had been asked to supply portable water filtration systems to alleviate the increasingly desperate

ing in the central Pacific which can spark climate extremes - was unlikely to ease before the second half of the year.

The Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia have also declared states of emergency, while Guam and the Northern Marianas are experiencing low rainfall. In Koror, bottled water has become scarce as people stockpile dwindling supplies. Resident Rolynda Jonathan said she constantly worried about her two children. “There are no words to describe the level of stress, worry and burden of hauling water from one place to another,” she told AFP.

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Issue 661 (24)

5 April - 11 April 2016

The New Moon brings an excellent opportunity to take a romantic or business relationship to the next level. And if you’re signing deals or contracts at this time, you’ll get things off to a winning start. On the whole, this is a constructive week in which you’ll be eager to overcome obstacles and forge ahead. Should anything stand in your way, you'll apply sheer willpower to overcome it.

Monday’s New Moon could be the perfect time to begin a diet or start an exercise routine.

There’s also a very powerful focus on your zone of leisure and pleasure, which could see you excited about creative opportunities, particularly if they relate to entrepreneurial ideas. If you’ve been thinking about starting your own business, this might be a good time to research your options.

Have you been thinking about inviting a special person on a date? Monday might be the day to go ahead. With Mercury in Libra, charming conversation can pave the way for future outings. However, you may be more cautious when it comes to getting involved, preferring to take things one day at a time rather than jump in at the deep end.

A change in the family dynamic or DIY projects associated with your home are best implemented on Monday. The New Moon can help get things off to the best possible start. And with just a little planning you’ll be even more successful.

When it comes to writing, communicating in general, or selling something, you can do really well now.

Monday is the day to sign deals, collaborate on projects, or start an advertising campaign. This week’s New Moon can help things get moving! For business appointments or important dates, you’ll need to pin people down to a time and place or it could be a no-show. You might have an opportunity to considerably increase your income.

Monday’s New Moon could coincide with a new beginning for your finances, with a chance to reduce stress and get everything in order. Avoid making any impulsive purchases that might set you back rather than contribute to any gains. Setting a practical budget can be a great help right now. It seems you’re on a roll with a positive lineup of planets jogging through your sign.

Monday’s New Moon in your sign may be the best of the year for you. This is the time to implement changes in key areas of your life. Make a start over the next few days and you’ll notice a difference even sooner. You might find it useful to write down your goals, as this will kick-start the process and help you achieve them.

There’s a more relaxed focus showing up that encourages you to kick back and enjoy life. Monday’s New Moon in your spiritual sector could entice you to take up a spiritual practice that might help you achieve greater peace of mind. You’ll also be eager to contribute to community events and collaborate on projects, especially any that might be a bit of a challenge.

Interesting and lucrative opportunities could show up for you this week, bringing a chance to move up the career ladder or expand your business in a new direction.

Along with this, the New Moon in your social sector is actively encouraging you to move in new circles. Doing so could lend wings to your professional aspirations.

Your willingness to learn stands you in good stead right now, not only because it offers a chance to upgrade your skill set but also because it expands your understanding of what’s possible. You may get a chance to apply your newfound abilities when this week’s New Moon entices you to consider the possibility of a new job.

Money matters look much improved, although Jupiter in your zone of shared finances could be pushing you to think big when it comes to business. If there’s an opportunity to pool your skills and resources with others, this could be a good way to make progress sooner rather than later.

Relationships seem to be a major focus and a very pleasant one at that. With Venus currently dancing through Virgo with Jupiter and Mars, there could be more passion and interest than there has been for some time. You’ll be more inclined to do things with your love interest, friends, or family and include others in your plans.

Issue 661 (25)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Technology Microsoft’s AI bot resurfaces on Twitter, goes haywire again Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot which was activated on Twitterlast week for a playful chat with people, only to get silenced within 24 hours as users started sharing racist comments with it, was accidentally resurrected again and messed it all up once again.

Tay came back to life briefly on Wednesday when Microsoft accidentally re-activated the AI bot. This time again, she started sending out tweets that looked similar to the those that drew flak for the first time last week, Vanity Fair reported.

First, the bot sent a tweet about smoking weed in front of some police officials and later began sending the same message - “You are too fast, please take a rest...” - over and over again which did not make any sense. Finally, her handlers at Microsoft began deleting the tweets.

Microsoft told Daily Dot that Tay’s resurrection was an accident “Tay remains offline while we make adjustments. As

part of testing, she was inadvertently activated on Twitter for a brief period of time,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“Until that testing is complete, Tay might consider heeding the age-old Internet proverb: never tweet.”

Last week, launched on Twitter as an experiment in “conversational understanding” and to engage people through “casual and playful conversation”, Tay was soon bombarded with racial

Tay referring to Adolf Hitler, denying the Holocaust, supporting Donald Trump’s immigration plans, among others.

Later, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is taking Tay off Twitter as people were posting abusive comments to her. The AI chatbot Tay is a machine learning project, designed for human engagement.

“Unfortunately, within the

first 24 hours of coming online, we became aware of a coordinated effort by some users to abuse Tay’s commenting skills to have Tay respond in inappropriate ways. As a result, we have taken Tay offline and are making adjustments,” the spokesperson had said.

Tay -- an AI project built by the Microsoft Technology and Research and Bing teams -- was coded with information which can tell users jokes or offer up a comment on a picture you send her.

The bot is also designed to personalise her interactions with users.

But Twitter users soon understood that Tay will repeat back racist tweets with her own commentary and they bombarded her with abusive posts.

Microsoft has since deleted some of the most damaging tweets from nearly the 96,000 that Tay tweeted.

Using a genetic algorithm, scientists in Brazil have created a realistic soundscapeof birdsong that can be triggered by updates from the micro-

ping mall to create a realistic soundscape fed by actual twitter updates.

“This evolutionary algorithm creates an artificial soundscape (of birdsongs)

unique, crowd-generated audio-artwork.

Given the nature of Twitter activity, which inevitably follows the highs and lows of daily life and the trends of news and popular culture, the soundscapes generated might offer a fascinating acoustic reflection of our world and at times a chaotic cacophony.

“One could also imagine linking the system to a single user’s account and giving them a personal experience in birdsong of the tweets from their friends and contacts,” the authors noted. The details about the computer model that mimics the behaviour of a bird’s songbox -- its “syrinx” -- to create realistic sounds were published in International Journal of Arts and Technology.

A video showing a man firing at someone while streaming the incident live on social networking site Facebook’s “Live Video” feature went viral and was being investigated

by Chicago police, a media report said.

In the video clip, a man in a blue hat is seen talking into the camera while standing in front of a convenience store in Chicago’s West Englewood neighbourhood, tech website Mashable reported.

Moments later, shots are fired and the phone drops to the street with camera facing up. The apparent assailant steps into the frame and continues the firing. Soon a woman’s

comments and the innocent bot repeated those comments back with her commentary to users.

Some of the tweets had

Facebook Messenger may soon have new chat options

Social media giant Facebook may roll out new features like in-store payment for goods and services and new chat options including ‘Secret conversations’ in Messenger, a media report said.

Comments in the code of the Messenger service for iPhone suggest that Facebook is about to make a whole lot more effort at becoming a retail hub, the Next Web tech portal reported, quoting The Information. The company has till now not made any move in this direction and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg had in January

said he does want a part in becoming a payments processor.

“On payments, the basic strategy that we have is to make it - especially in products like Messenger where the business interaction may be a bit more transactional - to take all the friction out of making the transactions that you need,” he had said. The report also suggested that the app will also get a “secret conversations” option -- but it is still not clear whether that is a reference to encrypted chats or simply a way to hide certain conversations within Messenger.

scream is heard, the report added.

While people raised ques-

tives were working to confirm its authenticity, adding that a man, believed to be

tions on video’s authenticity, Chicago Police said the video is likely legitimate.

Chicago Police Department is aware of the video on social media in question and suspect the video is connected to the incident,” a police officer was quoted as saying.

The officer said that detec-

a known gang member, was shot at the location seen in the video.

The suspected shooter was still at large.

“Live Video” feature allows users to broadcast live video from their smartphones, making it easier for them to disseminate news faster to a large audience.

Twitter to help create realistic US man ‘live streams’ gun birdsong soundscape shooting on Facebook

blogging service Twitter.

The team developed an evolutionary, or genetic, algorithm that synthesises authentic sounding birdsong in the computer.

The system could also be used to manipulate the acoustic space of a shop-

that is always acoustically original,” said Jose Fornari from University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Sao Paulo.

The birdsong is like an individual in a population that will never be repeated again.

Such soundscapes might also be said to represent a

Issue 661 (26)

5 April - 11 April 2016

I Was Sexually Exploited by the Chief Minister Thiruvananthapuram A TV channel on Sunday released a letter written by solar scam accused Saritha Nair in which she

says she was sexually exploited by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at his official residence.

Chandy said he suspected a “conspiracy” behind it.

Nair on Sunday appeared on the Asianet News channel and confirmed that she had written the 24-page letter in 2013. “Yes, this letter is mine and I wrote it in police custody. I will not discuss the contents, but all what I have written is correct,” she said.

The solar scam case surfaced when Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan were arrested in 2013 on charges

of cheating numerous investors who paid money for solar panels. Asked for his reaction, Chandy said the timing of the letter was “a bit baffling” as the state is heading towards assembly elections. “I suspect a conspiracy behind this.

This is the latest attempt to bring down my government, and for three years, this has been happening in various forms. “Did you all not hear in the past, what she said about me?”

Chandy asked media persons, referring to a time when Nair had described the chief minister “as a father-like person”. “Since this first came out, the state had a few elections, and it was discussed numerous times.

And now with the assembly polls, this has surfaced again,” he said.

The letter came out on a day when Chandy managed to convince the Congress high command in Delhi to clear the candidature of five candidates, whose names were being opposed by state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran. Over 30 cases of cheating against Nair and Radhakrishnan are registered in various courts. Police estimate that they cheated investors to the tune of over Rs. 6 crore. While Nair is out on bail, Radhakrishnan is in jail on charges of murdering his first wife.

Priyanka Chopra invited to White House for Barack Obama’s annual soiree New Delhi After slaying Oscars, Priyanka Chopra has now been invited to White House to attend the annual correspondents dinner later this month. It will be the last White House Correspondents Dinner to be hosted by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Priyanka shares the honour with Hollywood stars like Bradley Cooper, Lucy Liu, Jane Fonda and Gladys Knight.However,

the Baywatch star is yet to confirm her presence at

the event which will take place later this month. According to a TOI report, Priyanka has her hands full with the new season of

Quantico and the schedule of her maiden Hollywood film Baywatch coming up.

Whether she will make it to the White House dinner or not will be clear only next week.

While the White House Correspondents dinner is traditionally for mediapersons, TV networks who share corporate parentage with entertainment divisions wind up with “talent” at the table, according to Washington Post.

Chand Kaur, wife of late Namdhari sect head guru, shot dead in Ludhiana Ludhiana Chand Kaur, 88, wife of late Namdhari sect head guru Jagjit Singh who was attacked at Bhaini Sahib, headquarters of Namdhari religious sect near Ludhiana, succumb to injuries at Apollo Hospital on Monday.

Two unidentified persons on a motorbike opened fire

on her. Eye witnesses told police that almost five rounds were fired. Reportedly, she got two bullet in-

juries in abdomen and forehead. Both the miscreants managed to flee from the spot soon after opening fire on Chand Kaur.

Following the death of her husband Jagjit Singh in 2012, Chand Kaur had supported her nephew Thakur Uday Singh as successor of the gaddi (highest guru seat).

Issue - 661 (27)

5 April - 11 April 2016

One in five adults may be obese by 2025 PARIS One in five adults could be obese by 2025, said a major survey Friday that warned of a looming epidemic of ‘severe obesity’ with significant health and economic costs. The ratio of obese adults has more than doubled in the 40 years since 1975, and will climb further in the coming nine, the research showed. Of about five billion adults alive in 2014, 641 million were obese, it found. The figure was set to exceed 1.1 billion by 2025.‘There will be health consequences of magnitudes that we do not know,’ author Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London told AFP of the research published by The Lancet medical journal. ‘Obesity and especially severe and morbid obesity, affect many organs and physiological processes. ‘We can deal with some of these, like higher cholesterol or blood pressure, through medicines. But for many others, including diabetes, we don’t have effective treatment.’ People are divided into healthy or unhealthy weight categories based on a universallyadopted measure dubbed Body Mass Index (BMI) - a ratio of weight-to-height squared.

A healthy BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9. One is considered underweight below 18.5,

overweight from 25 up, and obese from 30 - when the risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and some cancers escalates

New Zealand.The US was home to one in four severely obese men and almost one in five severely obese women in the world. At the other extreme, the paper said, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia and Eritrea had the lowest BMI numbers in the world, with averages as low as 20.1. More than a fifth of men in India, Bangladesh, TimorLeste, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, and a quarter of women

in Bangladesh and India, were underweight.‘The global focus on the obesity epidemic has largely overshadowed the persistence of underweight in some countries,’ the research paper said. It warned that unless waistlines stop expanding, existing drugs for high cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure ‘will not be able to fully address the hazards of such high BMI levels.’

NEW YORK Cirque du Soleil is not doing flips over Justin Timberlake’s hit song ‘Don’t Hold the Wall.’ The Canadian theatrical performance company on Thursday sued the superstar singer with allegations that the song copied part of one of Cirque du Soleil’s original compositions without permission. Timberlake’s unicorn song appeared on his 2013 double album ‘20/20,’ which has sold more than two million copies. The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York claimed Timberlake borrowed from the song ‘Steel Dream,’ which was originally on Cirque du Soleil’s 1997 album, ‘QUIDAM.’ The suit seeks a minimum of $800,000 in damages for copyright infringement. In addition to Timberlake, the lawsuit also named among the defendants the producer Timbaland - real name Timothy Mosley - who helped write the song, and Sony Music

Entertainment , which released the album.

Representatives for the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment

Timberlake sued by Cirque du Soleil over hit song

massively. With a BMI of 35 one is categorised as severely obese, and from 40 upward as morbidly so.Among men globally, obesity tripled from 3.2 percent of the population in 1975 to 10.8 percent in 2014 (some 266 million), and among women it rose from 6.4 percent to 14.9 percent (375 million), said the survey - 12.9 percent combined. This was equivalent to the average adult, 18 and older, being 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) heavier every decade. ‘If the rate of obesity continues at

Pakistani-American US eatery owner forced to remove anti-Hindu signs

A Pakistani-American owner, who put up anti-Hindu signs at a popular US eatery, has been forced to sell the franchise amid furore over the controversial posters that upset thousands of Indian-Americans.

Mohammad Dar, 65, agreed to give up his business in Kemah, Texas, Dairy Queen said.

“We are pleased to announce that as of Wednesday, March 30th, the DQ location in Kemah, Texas is now under new ownership and all interior and exterior signs posted by the former franchisee were immediately removed from that location,” said Dean A Peters, Associate Vice President of Communications of American Dairy Queen Corporation headquartered in Minneapolis. For the past six months, Dars Dairy Queen restaurant posted signs bashing Hinduism as a force of racism.

Some of the messages, displayed on tall panels, mentioned Hinduism specifically and accused it of being based on racism. Dar taped more messages near the register, on the drive- through window and placed a large sign outside of the

this pace, by 2025 roughly a fifth of men (18 percent) and women (21 percent) will be obese,’ according to a statement by The

restaurant in the parking lot.

The owner told local media that he planned to leave because of a new, expensive “corporate mandate”.

The Hindus of Greater Houston, Hindu American Foundation and Diversity USA, welcomed a change in ownership at the Dairy Queen eatery.

“After speaking with Dairy Queens spokesperson, we applaud Dairy Queen for taking action to move up the timing of the sale of this location in Kemah to another franchisee owner in order to have these anti-Hindu signs removed swiftly,” the statement said.

“We also urge Dairy Queen to incorporate policies and procedures in their franchisee agreement to prevent such a situation from happening again,” it said.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard told all protesting Hindu organisations including Jagan Kaul of Diversity USA, a thinktank on minority issues, in a message that “your protest efforts have paid high dividends in causing Dairy Queen to force the owner to sell his franchise”.

Lancet. More than six percent of men and nine percent of women will be severely obese. The ratio of underweight people in the world declined at a slower rate than obesity grew, said the authors from about 13.8 percent in 1975 to 8.8 percent for men, and 14.6 percent to 9.7 percent for women.

‘Over the past 40 years, we have changed from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of obesity, to one in which more people are obese than underweight,’ said Ezzati.At current rates, more women will be severely obese (a BMI of 35 or more) than underweight by 2025, and the world will miss its stated target of halting obesity at 2010 levels.

In 2014, the world’s fattest people lived in the island nations of Polynesia and Micronesia, where 38 percent of men and more than half of women were obese, said the study. Nearly a fifth of the world’s obese adults (118 million) lived in six high-income countries - the United States, Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada and

on Thursday. Copyright infringement lawsuits are relatively common in the music world. In one high-profile case last year, the estate of soul singer Marvin Gaye won a $7.4 million jury verdict against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over their hit single ‘Blurred Lines.’

The 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death It’s often said that the world is becoming an increasingly secular place. Just last week David Cameron sparked backlash when he used his Easter message to describe the UK as “a Christian country”. Critics pointed out that just 30 per cent of people in the UK describe themselves as religious, making Britain one of the least religious countries in the world. 53 per cent of people say they have no faith, while 13 per cent claim they are committed atheists.

However, despite the prevalance of atheism and humanism in the UK, many may be surprised to know that having no faith can be a life or death matter around the world. In thirteen countries, you can be sentenced to death for not having a faith: 1. Afghanistan 2. Iran 3. Malaysia 4. Maldives 5. Bauritania

6. Nigeria 7. Pakistan 8. Qatar 9. Saudi Arabia 10. Somalia 11. Sudan 12. United Arab Emirates 13. Yemen In a number of other countries, the death penalty is not a formal punishment on statute books but atheists and humanists have

been murdered by religious extremists on account of their beliefs.In countries including India and Bangladesh, police have been accused of condoning these murders by failing to investigate them properly. At least three atheist bloggers have been hacked to death in Bangladesh after penning posts advocating that scientific proof should inform opinion above religious beliefs.

Issue - 661 (28)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Banksy street art goes under hammer in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES A collection of works by enigmatic British graffiti artist Banksy is expected to sell for more than $500,000 at auction

Horse,” is expected to sell for $60,000 to $80,000.

One of the world’s best known contemporary artists, Banksy’s identity was a mystery until

in Los Angeles next month, organizers said on Wednesday.

Among numerous prints are three original artworks, with top billing going to “Happy Choppers” - a 2002 image of military helicopters dressed in a pink bow stencilled onto a wall at London’s Whitecross Street Market, expected to go for up to $150,000.

“I Heart Boys” - a mural of a boy playfully painting a heart on a now detached wall of a London home - is being offered with an estimated price tag of up to $120,000. The third original, a piece stenciled on a car door in New York’s Lower East Side in 2013 and given the name “Crazy

contemporaries told a British newspaper in 2008 they believed him to be Robin Gunningham, a former classmate in Bristol.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London claimed in March to have confirmed the story using “geographic profiling,” a technique developed in criminology which matched the locations where Banksy’s work appeared most frequently and addresses closely linked to Gunningham.

“Banksy has become a pop culture icon as well as a very sought-after artist,” said Darren Julien, the founder of Julien’s, which hosts the Street and Contemporary Art auction in

CHICAGO US scientists have identified a genetically modified strain of mice that develop Zika, an

said the Zika mouse model will provide a critical tool to allow companies and scientists to test vaccines and antiviral drugs

Beverly Hills on April 30. “His values will continue to increase long after his identity has been uncovered.”

It marks the second sale of Banksy’s work by the auction house, which in December last year offered “Flower Girl,” a piece painted on a gas station wall in Hollywood. Banksy’s most valuable work of art, a collaboration with fellow British artist Damien Hirst called “Keep It Spotless,” sold for $1.8 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2008.

The ownership rights and removal of Banksy artworks have proved as controversial and complex as his subject matter over the years, although they almost always legally belong to the owner of whatever they were sprayed on. Removal of his pieces from plaster and brickwork can prove timeconsuming and expensive, and often involves preserving part of a wall which is due for demolition.

Plagued by imitators, Banksy authenticates all new art through his handling service, “Pest Control,” while older works have been rubber-stamped through a variety of means, including being displayed on his website.

Works by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and numerous influential urban artists will also be for sale at Julien’s, alongside more than 30 pieces by street artist Shepard Fairey and a complete set of Hirst’s “Spin” paintings.

US scientists develop mouse model to test Zika vaccines

important tool needed for testing vaccines and medicines to treat the virus that is rapidly spreading across the Americas and the Caribbean. Early tests on the mice show the virus growing in the testes, offering clues about how a virus typically spread by mosquito bites can be transmitted sexually. “We are going to do experiments to see if we can produce sexual transmission” in these mice, said Scott Weaver, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who worked on the study published on Monday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Weaver

against Zika, which has been linked with thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size and possible developmental problems. Zika has not been proven to cause microcephaly, but strong evidence connecting Zika infections with microcephaly cases in Brazil prompted the World Health Organization to declare Zika a global health emergency on Feb. 1. Normally, creating this kind of mouse model would take several months. But the urgency of the Zika outbreak called for rapid response, and the team put together the results in just three weeks, said Shannan

Rossi, a UTMB virologist who led the study.

Normally, mice do not become sick from a Zika infection. The team tested the virus on several genetically altered mice that had weakened immune systems. The young mice quickly succumbed to the virus, becoming lethargic, losing weight and typically dying six days later.

Testing on the mice showed virus particles in many major organs, including high concentrations in the spleen, brain and testes.

While Weaver says there are limits to what mouse models can tell about human infections, they may at least provide some early clues that could be followed up in non-human primates, a more costly animal model that is a better predictor of human disease.

“The mouse will mainly be used to do the very earliest testing of vaccines or drugs where the mechanism of disease doesn’t have to be a perfect model to what happens in humans,” Weaver said. Brazil has confirmed more than 900 microcephaly cases and considers most related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating nearly 4,300 additional suspected cases of microcephaly.

Search for alien signals expands to 20,000 star systems MIAMI The search for radio signals from alien worlds is expanding to 20,000 star systems that were previously considered poor targets for intelligent extraterrestrial life, US researchers said Wednesday.

New scientific data has led the SETI Institute to believe systems orbiting red dwarfs - dim, long-lived stars that are on average billions of years older than our sun - are worth investigating. “This may be one instance in which older is better,” said astronomer Seth Shostak of California-based SETI, a private, non-profit organization which stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

“Older solar systems have had more time to produce intelligent species.” The two-year project involves picking from a list of about 70,000 red dwarfs and scanning 20,000 of the nearest ones, along with the cosmic bodies that circle them. To do this, scientists will use the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in northern California, a group of 42 antennas that can observe three stars simultaneously.“We’ll scrutinize targeted systems over several frequency bands between 1 and 10 GHz,” said SETI scientist Gerry Harp. “Roughly half of those bands will be at so-called ‘magic frequencies’ - places on the radio

dial that are directly related to basic mathematical constants,” he added. “It’s reasonable to speculate that extraterrestrials trying to attract attention might generate signals at such special frequencies.” For a long time,

scientists ruled out searching around red dwarfs because habitable zones around the stars are small. Any planets orbiting them would be so close that one side would be constantly facing the star, making one side of the planet very hot and the other quite cold and dark.But more recently, scientists have learned that heat could be transported from the light side of the planet to the darker side, and that much of the surface could be amenable to life. “In addition, exoplanet data have suggested that somewhere between one sixth and one half of red dwarf stars have planets in their habitable zones, a percentage comparable to, and possibly greater than, for Sun-like stars,” said the statement. Experts have been hunting for alien intelligence for six decades, but have not found any evidence yet.

Fiat used by Pope in NY fetches $300,000

NEW YORK A four-door hatchback Pope Francis used while visiting New York in September has fetched $300,000 at auction, said the website that held the sale. The black Fiat 500 Lounge was one of two such mini Popemobiles that ferried the pontiff around the Big Apple. At more than 12 times its base price, it was snapped up by millionaire businessman Miles Nadal, who already owns more than 130 cars and motorbikes, according to the Charitybuzz auction website. Proceeds will go to Catholic schools and charities in the New York diocese, as well as two international agencies: Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. ‘In a couple of occasions, (Pope Francis) was in the Popemobile. For the rest of

his time, when he was not in the Popemobile, this is how he traveled around in the motorcade,’ New York Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling told AFP earlier this week.The second Fiat will also be used to raise money for charitable causes, although plans have not been set, he said. Charitybuzz had valued the practically new vehicle, featuring a fixed glass roof and premium seats, at $82,000.

That’s how much a Fiat used by the Pope in Philadelphia - another stop on his September 22-27 US trip - was sold for at a gala in late January. The Fiat 500 Lounge base price is $24,695, Charitybuzz said.

The auction began March 17, with the first bid coming in at $10,500.

On Wednesday, the price-tag had jumped to $195,000 before hitting $300,000 Thursday.

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7m Americans threatened Muslim family kicked off United by human-induced quakes Airlines flight for ‘how they looked’

WASHINGTON Around seven million people in the United States live in areas at risk of damaging, human-induced earthquakes that are often linked to fracking, a report out Monday said.

Because the US Geological Survey is including the humantriggered earthquakes on its forecast maps for the first time, the odds of damaging shaking in certain parts of the country is much increased for 2016, it said.

The seven million people who are at elevated risk live in the central and eastern United States, which has seen the most significant increase in human-triggered seismic activity, according to USGS. While some western regions are also experiencing induced earthquakes, these don’t significantly change the hazard level there because natural earthquakes are already prevalent in the area.

The primary cause for humaninduced earthquakes in many parts of the central and eastern United States is wastewater disposal, the USGS reported.

Such wastewater is linked to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process of shooting water

mixed with sand and chemicals deep into the earth to crack rock formations and bring up oil and natural gas trapped inside.

The process has unlocked massive amounts of oil and gas in the United States over the past decade.

But along with the oil and gas comes plenty of brackish water, which is disposed of by injecting it into separate wells that are dug as deep as a mile (kilometer) below ground. The unnatural addition of the water can change pressure along fault lines, causing slips that make the earth shake, experts say.

The USGS said the states at highest risk of induced seismic activity are, from highest to lowest: Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas. Oklahoma and Texas are the states with the largest population exposed to the effects of human-triggered earthquakes, it added. “In the past five years, the USGS has documented high shaking and damage in areas of these six states, mostly from induced earthquakes,” said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.

NEW YORK A United Airlines pilot asked a Muslim family of five to leave a plane before it took off, citing “safety” issues.

Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley, her husband and three young children were about to take off on a flight bound for Washington at a Chicago airport when the pilot asked them to get off the aircraft.

The family had enquired earlier whether the air stewardess could provide five-point harness safety seats for their children.

Two videos filmed by Shebley show the air stewardess and then the pilot asking the family to leave.

Shebley asked the pilot whether it was a “discriminatory” decision.

The pilot replied it was a “flight safety issue” but were not given any details.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to United Airlines on the family’s behalf demanding disciplinary action against the staff involved.

“We are tired of Muslim-looking passengers being removed from flights for the flimsiest reasons, under a cryptic claim of ‘security’,” said CAIR-Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab said in a statement. “Security means securing passengers, not harassing and humiliating them and booting them off their flight for, of all things, actually asking for security.”

Shebley wrote on Facebook: “Shame on you ?#?unitedAirlines? for profiling my family and me for no reason other than how we look and kicking us off the plane for “safety flight issues” on our flight to DC for the kids spring break. My three kids are too young to have experienced this.”

US State Dept sorry over travel tip for less attractive WASHINGTON The US Department of State issued an apology Wednesday after posting a tweet that seemed

to proffer travel advice for those whose looks are less than a perfect 10. “Some have been offended by our earlier tweet and we apologize that it came off negatively,” the Bureau of Consular Affairs posted on its

Twitter account, after pulling down the offending message. US media posted screenshots of the tweet, part of a campaign warning

those headed overseas on Spring Break, a week-long vacation when US university students famously tend to party, how to stay out of trouble while abroad. “Not a ‘10’ in the US? Then not a 10 overseas. Beware of being lured

into buying expensive drinks or worse-being robbed” the bureau advised on its @TravelGov account. What was apparently meant as a warning against potential scams initiated by unusual amounts of flattery or alcohol, quickly became the subject of mockery on the Internet. A spoof Twitter account that appeared in the wake of the post offered its own warnings: “If you’re not a ‘10’ in the United States consider whether travel is really going to fill the void inside you.” The Bureau of Consular Affairs said on Twitter it had only been trying to prevent Americans from becoming victims while overseas in the series of tweets, which were hashtagged #springbreakingbadly. “We see many Americans fall victim to scams each year & want all to be careful while traveling,” the bureau tweeted. Its other posts offered sound advice with a little less lip such as: “Beware of drink spiking and robbery scams when you’re traveling abroad.”

Another Muslim woman and a Northwestern University chaplain, Tagera Ahmad, was denied a can of diet coke onboard a United Airlines flight in May as the flight attendant said she “may use it as a weapon”.

The airline apologised multiple times to Shebley’s family after they got off the plane and were

rebooked on another flight.In a statement to BuzzFeed News, United Airlines said the family was rebooked “on a later flight because of concerns about their child’s safety seat, which did not comply with federal safety regulations” and said the airline has “zero tolerance for discrimination”.

The number of people globally aged 65 and over is expected to more than double by 2050 as the world’s senior population continues to rocket, a US study said Monday.

The global population is aging at an unprecedented rate with 8.5 percent of people worldwide - or more than 600 million - now aged 65 and over, said the US Census Bureau report. If the trend continues nearly 17 percent of the global population, or 1.6 billion

people, will be in the 65-and-over age bracket by 2050. “People are living longer, but that does not necessarily mean that they are living healthier,” said Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), which commissioned the study, “An Aging World: 2015.”

“The increase in our aging population presents many opportunities and also several public health challenges that we need to prepare for.

Elderly population exploding

Slide falls off plane into American’s yard

WASHINGTON An American woman got the surprise of her life when an emergency escape slide fell off a Boeing 767 and into her yard. ‘We just heard a loud bang and the house shook and so I went to see what was going on,’ Andrea Self, who lives in the Phoenix, Arizona suburb of Mesa, told AFP. ‘When I opened my front door, I saw what looked like a silver tarp lying there, but it had like a sulfur smell so I called the police,’ she said.

The slide, which fell some 2,800 feet (853 meters), landed on an awning and damaged a tree in her yard, the 31-year-old said. ‘I was

just kind of in shock when it happened,’ Self said. The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) confirmed Friday that the plane, which belonged to Atlas Air, lost its over-the-wing escape slide on Wednesday afternoon. The slides are used to evacuate an aircraft quickly in the event of an emergency. ‘Only the slide had deployed. The door remained attached to the aircraft,’ FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told AFP. He added that the plane ‘landed without incident’ and that only the flight crew was on board. The FAA is investigating why the slide deployed, he said.

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French troops forced CAR girls to have sex with a dog More than 100 girls and women have come forward with new sexual abuse accusations against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic, the UN said on Thursday, calling allegations that a French military commander forced three girls to have sex with a dog “shocking to the core.”

The revelations dramatically expand an already alarming scandal involving troops sent to protect civilians in the world’s hotspots who become predators instead. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 108 alleged victims of sexual abuse have been interviewed by a UN team in Kemo prefecture, east of the capital Bangui, the vast majority of them minors. The allegations date from 2013 through last year and far eclipse the 22 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation in Central African Republic in 2015 that the UN reported earlier this

month.Dujarric said the UN can’t confirm a report by the USbased advocacy group, AIDSFree World, that three girls told the UN they were taken to a French military camp, tied up, undressed, and forced by a commander to have sex with a

France’s UN ambassador, Francois Delattre, called the allegations “sickening and odious” and promised

dog - but he said the investigation is continuing.

According to the group, each girl was given 5,000 Central African Francs, worth about $9, after having sex with the dog, including a fourth girl who later died of an unknown illness.

“exemplary disciplinary action” in addition to a criminal response if they’re proven true.

AIDS-Free World, which first reported the new allegations Wednesday night, said 98 girls in Central African Republic had reported being sexually abused

Russian tourist killed by a crocodile in Indonesia

A Russian tourist was mauled to death by a crocodile in a popular diving site in Eastern Indonesia, an official said Saturday. The body of Sergey Lykhvar was discovered on Tuesday in Raja Ampat islands of West Papua, four days after he was reported missing. Local search and rescue head Prasetyo Budiarto said Lykhvar was reported missing to the authorities last week, one day after he left to snorkel around the remote Minyaifun island. Budiarto told AFP that rescuers spotted a large saltwater crocodile trailing behind Lykhvar’s body when he was discovered. ‘We believe he was killed by a crocodile judging from the missing body parts and the extent of his injuries,’ he said.

The 37-year-old normally snorkelled with his friends and a guide but decided go alone the

morning before he was reported missing, Budiarto said. He added that the location where Lykhvar’s body was retrieved was quite remote, and dangerous because of the strong currents and sharp rocks. The Russian tourist’s body was later taken to Sorong, about a two-hour boat ride away from Raja Ampat. His was body cremated as per his family’s request.

‘We are still communicating with the Russian embassy, from what I’ve heard his family would come to pick up his ashes in Indonesia,’ Budiarto said. The huge Indonesian archipelago is home to a vast array of exotic wildlife, including several species of crocodile. Death by crocodiles is not uncommon in Indonesia but it is rare for foreign tourists to be killed.

between 2013 and 2015 by perpetrators who have left the country. The group also said information on the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by a Congolese peacekeeper only three days ago in a hotel room in a different part of the country has been turned over to the United Nations.Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign against sexual abuse, told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked about the new allegations: “Obviously that’s just the top of the iceberg.”

The United Nations has been in the spotlight for months over dozens of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic, which has faced sectarian violence since 2013.

There have been similar allegations against the French force known as Sangaris, which operates independently in the

country, known as CAR. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked to the core by the latest allegations.”

“Yesterday, the Central African Republic inaugurated a new democratically elected President, marking the end of a transition period,” he said. “The interventions of the international community helped save the CAR from an unspeakable fate.

Yet we must face the fact that a number of troops who were sent to protect people instead acted with hearts of darkness.”

The UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, in a statement called the allegations “sickening” and said all three countries whose peacekeepers are accused - Burundi, Gabon and France - have been formally notified. He said governments must do more to stop abuse and hold their troops accountable, “otherwise this awful cycle of abuse will never end.”

An open letter to Muslim men from an angry Muslim woman I still remember the day my mother was told her life was in danger. Her right to exist on this earth was suddenly being questioned because she decided she was exhausted.

Exhausted for all her sisters, mothers and daughters who are unfortunate enough to have been born with another X chromosome rather than a Y. What were her demands?

Merely a space to pray in the mosque. Despite knowing she was potentially putting herself on the line, she stood her ground to claim what has been snatched from us. This did not happen in a faraway land, but here in the UK, and the heinous crime my mother committed that warranted such a savage response was requesting her God-given rights. She should have been smart enough to know not to ask for something that may threaten the towering, carefully constructed, religiously disguised pedestal that has cradled the male ego for centuries. The outrageous desire to pray in a mosque that has only welcomed men since its creation represented values far too Islamic for these chauvinists.We attended a mosque meeting advertised as

being ‘open to the public’, and were abusively shouted down as soon as my mother attempted to make a contribution. No one had yet informed us that ‘the public’ does not include females.

Following police involvement, we were begrudgingly afforded a

small place to pray, and saw the intimidation tactics become even more pathetic: tutting, headshaking and sneering comments followed us round every corner.

We felt unsafe.And this isn’t an isolated incident. When certain Muslim Labour councillors were accused of systematically and calculatedly blocking Muslim women from becoming MPs, I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised at another result of relentless animosity, the opening of a woman-led mosque in Bradford, either.There’s no religious illegitimacy here.

Making room for Muslim women isn’t un-Islamic. And I haven’t been pushed away from my

religion by sexist men in the Muslim community.Instead, I have drawn closer to my faith. I recognise the irony of the fact that the first university in the world was established by a Muslim woman, yet today many are denied an education.

That the Prophet Mohammed fought on horseback alongside a woman, and yet now, many are told to stay in their houses and denied the right to drive.

That in Mecca, at God’s house, I walk hand-in-hand with my husband while worshipping, but UK mosques deny me entry.

That the majority of the 5,000 annual British converts to Islam are women, because they see the Quran affirming gender equality, and have realised a deeper liberation - even as a culturally asphyxiated brand of so-called Islam run by chauvinists oppresses us.

Quite simply, in being your intellectual, spiritual and social equals, we recognise the immensity of the paradox that some of you continue to propagate. Despite your fervent attempts to use mistranslations and misinterpretations of scripture and tradition to satisfy your desires, we don’t believe you.

Man arrested over ‘religiously prejudiced’ murder of Muslim shopkeeper Police say they are treating the death of Asad Shah as ‘religiously prejudiced’ after he was savagely killed.A devout Muslim shopkeeper was savagely killed in the street shortly after posting an Easter message “to my beloved Christian nation”.

Asad Shah, 40, died from injuries sustained in the attack on Thursday night in which his killers are believed to have stabbed him and stamped on his head. Medics

tried to save him but he died in hospital.Police Scotland, who have arrested a man in connection with the attack, said they were treating the death as “religiously prejudiced”.An eyewitness said two men had set upon the shopkeeper and said: “One was stamping on his head.

There was a pool of blood on the ground. “Floral tributes were placed outside Mr Shah’s shop, a newsagent and convenience

store close to where he was attacked in Shawlands, Glasgow, as residents left messages of sympathy.

A few hours before he was killed, Mr Shah wrote on Facebook: “Good Friday and a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation ... Let’s follow the real footstep of beloved holy Jesus Christ (PBUH) [peace be upon him], and get the real success in both worlds xxxx.”

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Ice Age puppies awe scientists

MOSCOW The hunters searching for mammoth tusks were drawn to the steep riverbank by a deposit of ancient bones. To their astonishment, they discovered an Ice Age puppy’s snout peeking out from the permafrost.Five years later, a pair of puppies perfectly preserved in Russia’s far northeast region of Yakutia and dating back 12,460 years has mobilised scientists across the world. “To find a carnivorous mammal intact with skin, fur and internal organs - this has never happened before in history,” said Sergei Fyodorov, head of exhibitions at the Mammoth Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University in the regional capital of Yakutsk. And the discovery could contribute to the lively scientific debate over the origin of domesticated dogs.

When the hunters stumbled on the first frozen pup in 2011, they alerted Fyodorov who immediately flew out to the

remote Arctic tundra, about 4,700 kilometres (2,900 miles) from Moscow and only 130 kilometres from the Laptev Sea, which borders the Arctic Ocean.

Last year he returned for a more thorough look and found the second puppy close to the same spot, farther down the slope. Both had died when they were about three months old.

They most likely come from the same litter, said Fyodorov. Last week he oversaw the removal of the second puppy’s remarkably well-preserved brain - “the first in the world”, he said. “Puppies are very rare, because they have thin bones and delicate skulls,” he said. The duo have been named the Tumat Dog, after the nearest village to the site.

Fyodorov said a preliminary look at the mammoth remains also found at the dig suggested some had been butchered and burned, hinting at the presence of humans. It remains to be seen, however, whether the puppies were domesticated or wild.

HONG KONG Like innumerable children with imaginations fired by animated films, Hong Kong product and graphic designer Ricky Ma grew up watching cartoons featuring the adventures of robots, and dreamt of building his own one day.Unlike most of the others, however, Ma has realised his childhood dream at the age of 42, by successfully constructing a life-sized robot from scratch on the balcony of his home. The fruit of his labours of a year-and-a-half, and a budget of more than $50,000, is a female robot prototype he calls the Mark 1, modelled after a Hollywood star whose name he wants to keep under wraps. It responds to a set of programmed verbal commands spoken into a microphone.

‘I figured I should just do it when the timing is right and realize my dream. If I realize my dream, I will have no regrets in life,’ said Ma, who had to learn about fields completely new to him before he could build the complex gadget.

Besides simple movements of its arms and legs, turning its head and bowing, Ma’s robot, which

has dark blonde hair and liquid eyes, and wears a grey skirt and cropped top, can create detailed facial expressions. In response to the compliment, ‘Mark 1, you are so beautiful’, its brows and the muscles around its eyes relax, and the corners of its lips lift, creating a natural-seeming smile, and it says, ‘Hehe, thank you.’ A 3D-printed skeleton lies beneath

How to hide Earth from ET? PARIS The fate of humanity if aliens were to discover Earth with its balmy climate and bountiful resources, has long been a concern for scientists - many of whom fear the worst. Physicist Stephen Hawking is among those to have warned that ET and his friends may be much more intelligent than us, and may view human beings as little more than troublesome bugs.

Now a duo of astronomers from Columbia University in New York have proposed an innovative method to hide our planet from prying extraterrestrial eyes - using massive lasers. And it’s not a joke, they say. Alien scientists, argued David Kipping and Alex Teachey, may be trying to find habitable planets using the same technique we do - searching for a slight dip in light when a planet ‘transits’ between the star it orbits and the telescopes watching it.

Planets do not emit their own light and, if they were visible to the naked eye, would appear as dark dots tracking across their bright stars. But these exoplanets are too far away to see, and all our telescopes can pick up is a small decrease in the starlight emitted during transit. If aliens spot us using this technique, Earth would be a logical target for alien settlement.

It orbits within the so-called ‘habitable zone’ - not too close nor too far from the Sun - where the temperature is right for liquid water, the essence of life. In a paper published Thursday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) in

Yen for animation inspired HK designer’s robot

Mark 1’s silicone skin, wrapping its mechanical and electronic parts. About 70 percent of its body was created using 3D printing technology. Ma’s journey of creation was a lonely one, however.

He said he did not know of anyone else in the former British colony who builds humanoid robots as a hobby and few in the city understood his ambition.

‘During this process, a lot of people would say things like, ‘Are you stupid? This takes a lot of money. Do you even know how to do it? It’s really hard,’’ Ma said.

He adopted a trial-and-error method in which he encountered obstacles ranging from frequent burnt-out electric motors to the robot losing its balance and toppling over.

‘When you look at everything together, it was really difficult,’ said Ma, who had to master unfamiliar topics from electromechanics to programming along the way, besides learning how to fit the robot’s external skin over its components.

Ma, who believes the importance of robots will only grow, hopes an investor will buy his prototype, giving him the capital to build more, and wants to write a book about his experience, to help other enthusiasts. The rise of robots and artificial intelligence are among disruptive labour market changes that the World Economic Forum projects will lead to a net loss of 5.1 million jobs over the next five years.

London, Kipping and Teachey said Earth’s Sun transits could be masked by shining huge lasers to cover the dip in light.

‘Despite the timing, it’s really not

disposal,’ wrote the duo.

‘Other advanced civilisations would surely be aware of this technique’. Within the wavelength spectrum of visible light, the

an April Fool’s joke,’ RAS deputy executive director Robert Massey assured AFP on Friday. ‘This is a serious piece of work.’

Humanity’s search for a planet capable of hosting life remains an academic pursuit - there is no solar system near enough to reach without time travel.

Since its launch in 2009, NASA’s Kepler exoplanet-hunting space telescope has found thousands of candidates. Astronomers have verified the existence of nearly 2,000 faraway worlds, but most of those orbiting in habitable zones have been gas giants. ‘The transit method is presently the most successful planet discovery and characterisation tool at our

transit signal could be masked with a monochromatic laser emitting about 30 million watts (MW) for 10 hours at a time, once a year. One MW can power several hundred homes for an hour. A universal cloak effective at all wavelengths, would require a much larger array of lasers with a total output of 250 MW, said the team. ‘There is an ongoing debate as to whether we should advertise ourselves or hide from advanced civilisations potentially living on planets elsewhere in the Galaxy,’ Kipping said in a statement. ‘Our work offers humanity a choice, at least for transit events, and we should think about what we want to do.’

Mongolia’s steppes host camel beauty parade

DALANZADGAD Out in the Gobi Desert, the crowd, many in colourful Mongolian traditional dress, admire the shaggy-haired, cudchewing camels as they plod by in a beauty parade.Later, many of their owners mount their beasts to drive them on a dusty, chaotic 15-km (nine miles) race across the steppeland. It’s all part of Mongolia’s Camel Festival - an event as central to traditional nomadic life as the bactrian camel itself, a wooly, twohumped beast that sports a flowing beard of hair.

Guinness World records classes the race, that is part of the twoday festival, as the largest camel race in the world, drawing 1,108 participants from across Mongolia to the site outside Dalanzadgad in Umnugovi province. This year, the winning camel romped home in 35 minutes and 12 seconds on the wind-swept steppe, according to

the records website.

The bactrian camel itself is a beast of burden that normally carries everything that is required for a Mongolian to be able to build and live in a traditional Mongolian tent. They cost about $750 per piece. Known fairly or unfairly for their feisty temperament, some ploughed into the crowd of spectators, though no injuries were reported. “Your camel has to be bad-tempered for riders to get a place here,” one person joked to another. Many families trekked for at least seven hours from the capital Ulan Bator to watch the competition. There are minimal conditions to enter: the camels must be pure breed Mongolian bactrian and at least four years old.

Entry is free. Camel wool is vital for making clothes, blankets, jackets and socks, and also can be twined into rope. Camel meat, similar to goat, is eaten in steamed and fried dumplings.

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Vladimir Putin dating Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife Wendi Deng?

And as far as the rumour mill goes, his latest girlfriend is former Mrs Rupert Murdoch, Wendi Deng!Speculations about Putin’s relationship status have been the talk of the town since his divorce from wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva in 2013. Since, he has been linked with former rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva and top-ranked boxer Natalia Ragozina.There have also been rumours of Kabaeva bearing his love children twice.As for Wendi Deng, she was the third wife of media proprietor Rupert Murdoch until 2013. The marriage ended in divorce after rumours went

flying around about her having an affair with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.But all that is in the past. Putin and Deng have settled in a “serious” relationship, as per a report in US Weekly.“Deng has yet to be spotted looking romantic with the Russian leader, but was seen boarding her pal Roman Abramovich’s yacht in St. Bart’s on Monday, March 28,” reports the magazine. “Abramovich also happens to be friends with Putin.”The report also adds that ‘occasional speculations’ of Putin and Deng dating have been circulating for years.

North Korea now blocking Facebook, Twitter, other websites North Korea has officially announced it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications announcement was posted this week at the country’s main mobile service provider, Koryolink, and other places serving Internet users.

Very few North Koreans have Internet access. Typically they can see only a sealed-off, government-sanctioned intranet.

But foreigners had previously been able to surf the Web with almost no overt restrictions, though most likely with behindthe-scenes monitoring of their Internet activities.

The new restrictions will make it more difficult for visitors or the small community of foreign residents in North Korea to post real-time information about the country to the outside world, and

US museum returns looted statue to Cambodia in the museum’s possession since 1986, the Cambodian government said in a statement.

“We are joyful with the torso of Rama returning home,” Cambodian official Yim Nolson said at the ceremony, adding that the joy was tempered by the fact that the head was still missing and its whereabouts unknown.

PHNOM PENH An American museum on Monday returned to Cambodia a 10th-century sandstone sculpture of the Hindu god Rama decades after it was looted from a jungle temple during the kingdom’s civil war. The 62-inch-

tall torso, which was stolen in the 1970s from the Koh Ker temple site near the famed Angkor Wat complex, was handed over by the Denver Art Museum at a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

The statue - still missing its head, arms and feet - had been

Surfer loses most of thigh in Australian shark attack

SYDNEY A surfer was recovering Thursday after reportedly having most of his thigh bitten off by a shark in Australia with the quick actions of beachgoers helping save his life.

Brett Connellan, 22, was in the water at Bombo Beach, south of Sydney, on Wednesday evening when the shark attacked. “Our son Brett suffered a very serious injury last night, he’s in a serious but stable condition,” his father

Malcolm said in a short statement. The Sydney Morning Herald said the man had threequarters of his thigh ripped off, as well as hand injuries as he fought the shark, with his screams alerting fellow surfers and bystanders. He was helped ashore by friend Joel Trist with two off-duty nurses on the beach using a surfboard leg rope as a tourniquet around his bloody thigh credited with helping to save his life.

will further limit the ability of North Koreans with Internet access to view information about their country posted elsewhere.

The government announcement named YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Voice of America and

not say what the punishment would be.

The new North Korean restrictions are similar to Internet censorship in neighboring China, which allows more access in general but also

South Korean media sites as specific examples of what it is blocking “for a certain period of time.”

It also said gambling and “sex and adult websites” have been blocked.

Facebook and Twitter had been informally blocked for months and could not be accessed Friday in a Web search from Pyongyang.

The announcement added that anyone who tries to hack onto such sites, access them in an “improper” way or distribute “anti-republic data” from them will be subject to punishment under North Korean law. It did

maintains strict bans on sites that Beijing deems politically sensitive or socially harmful.

They also mirror some restrictions in South Korea, which, despite being one of the world’s most Internet-crazy countries, also bans North Korean websites and a wide variety of what the government deems to be adult content.

It is estimated that more than 2 million North Koreans now use mobile phones, but with few exceptions access to the Internet is limited to officials, technicians or others who have special permission to use it, usually under close supervision.

British ‘invaded’ Australia, say university guidelines SYDNEY Language guidelines that advise students to describe British explorer James Cook’s arrival in Sydney as an “invasion” rather than a “settlement” were defended by an Australian university Wednesday, denying it was rewriting history to be politically correct. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Indigenous Terminology guide says that Australia was “invaded, occupied and colonised”.

“Describing the arrival of the Europeans as a ‘settlement’ attempts to view Australian history from the shores of England rather than the shores of Australia,” the guide says. But the university rejected the idea that it was dictating what language could be used by students. “The guide does not mandate what language can be used,” it said in a statement, adding that it offered a range of examples of more and less appropriate language. “For example the guide suggests referring to Captain Cook as the first Englishman to map the continent’s East Coast is ‘more appropriate’ than referring to his “discovery” of Australia.”The guide notes that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were in

Australia long before Captain Cook arrived, making it impossible for him to “discover” the country.

“Most Aboriginal people find the use of the word ‘discovery’

absolutely appropriate for students and staff to have such a resource available,” it added.

The guidelines were blasted by The Daily Telegraph tabloid as a

offensive,” it added.The guide likewise says it is more appropriate to describe the arrival of British ships in Australia using terms other than “settlement”.

The university said students were always encouraged to form their own opinions and to suggest that the guide would stifle open debate was “plainly wrong”.

“Terminology guides such as this are commonplace across universities and many public sector organisations and it is

“whitewash”, a reaction that indigenous historian Jackie Huggins said was disappointing.

“We know this country has a colonial history and that certainly has been characterised by a devastating land dispossession, violence and unapologetic racism as well,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We cannot deny our history. It’s a history that’s never fully been taught to us in our country.”

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US military targets Mass grave of women, children killed

by Islamic State found in Syria’s Palmyra terrorist group in Somalia

The bodies of 40 people killed by the Islamic State militant group were uncovered in a mass grave in Palmyra city of Syria.

A source told SANA that defence groups managed to pull out 25 bodies during combing operations in Masakin al-Jahizia neighbourhood of the city.

Later, the source said that the

number of bodies uncovered from the grave has reached 40, all of them women and children.The source said that efforts continue to pull more bodies from the grave, adding that some of them were beheaded and others were brutally tortured.

On May 2015, IS killed at least 400 people -- most of them

ISIS chief Baghdadi’s ex-wife says he was a ‘normal family man’

“No bearer of burdens, shall bear another’s burden” said Saga alDulaimi, the 28-year-old mother of four and ex- wife of the dreaded ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In her first ever interview to Expressen TV , after being released from a Lebanese prison in 2015, Dulaimi recalls what it was like to be Baghdadi’s wife and also shared her apprehensions for the daughter she bore with him.

‘I married a normal person, a university lecturer’ Dulaimi grew up in a conservative, upper class family in Baghdad. She had already been married once before she met Baghdadi. Her first husband Falah Ismail alJasim, a lieutenant in Saddam Hussein’s bodyguard unit was killed in action a year after the wedding. He was survived by Saga and twin baby boys, Omar and Usama. Saga’s father feared that her widowed daughter may draw suspicion of the police and so decided to marry her off to a university lecturer named Hisham Mohammad. Little did her father know that this lecturer would one day become the most

haunting face of terror.

‘I did not love him’ Dulaimi was not happy in the new marriage, not because Baghdadi was unkind to her or his children. On the contrary, he took better care of the children than of the women. She did not love him and hence found it difficult to adjust in his household as the second wife.

‘He had a mysterious personality’ Her conversations with Baghdadi were limited to him enquiring about trivial things. He mostly gave orders, nothing more. She found him enigmatic. For her the relationship was a shallow one and thus, when pregnant with his child, she fled away from him.

‘He wanted me back’ Several attempts were made by Baghdadi to persuade her to return but Dulaimi was adamant.

After she gave birth to their daughter Hagar, he offered to accept both of them if she remarried him. However, Dulaimi refused to change her stand.

She now fears that someday Baghdadi may send his men to abduct her.

children, women and elderly -- in Palmyra city and buried them on the outskirts of the city.

The source said engineering units continue to dismantle landmines and explosive devices which were planted by the IS in the city.

On February 27, Syrian army regained control over the ancient city of Palmyra from the IS.

The United States military has launched another strike in Somalia in a month to target terror group al-Shabaab in the region.

The Pentagon Press Secretary, Peter Cook, said that the airstrike conducted on Thursday targeted a senior leader, Hassan Ali Dhoore, of al-Shabaab terror group, reports the Guardian.

Cook, however, did not confirm if Dhoore was killed in the strike.

Any assessment of the civilians or militant casualties was not provided by Cook.

US warplanes and drones had last month attacked a Somali

training camp for al-Shabaab, killing more than 100 people.

Cook claimed al-Shabaab was part of al-Qaida, which places asserted legal authority for the strike under the umbrella of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), a broad wellspring of counterterrorism authorities meant to respond to the 9/11 attacks. A video in 2012 announced the merger of alShabaab and al-Qaida.

Asserting that Dhoore played a key role in the 2014 Mogadishu airport attacks, Cook said that he was directly responsible for the attack on a Mogadishu hotel last year that claimed 15 lives.

China blocks India’s bid to ban Masood Azad for the second time China on Friday claimed that its decision to block India’s move at the UN to ban Jaish-eMohammad chief Masood Azhar was objective and just based on facts and rules. China has blocked India’s resolution at the UN to proscribe Masood Azhar, who New Delhi has identified to be the mastermind of terror attack on the Pathankot air force base, for the second time. In the wake of the attack, India had moved the 1267 Committee of the Security Council in February this year to add Azhar to the banned terrorists’ list. The JeM is already on the banned list.

But like in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, India’s attempt to ban Azhar this time around too has faced the Chinese veto road block.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said, “China opposes all forms of terrorism, supports the UN in playing a central and coordinating role in global counter-terrorism cooperation, and plays an active part in this area. China deals with the listing matter of the 1267 Committee on the basis of facts and in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and relevant rules of procedure.” China had previously cited “lack of evidence” as reason for its action. This time, no rationale or explanation was provided to the 15-member committee where Beijing was the sole one

to object. “China remains in contact with all relevant parties on this matter,” the spokesperson added. Unlike in the past, this time the US, the UK and France voluntarily chose to co-sponsor India’s

supply and overseas travel of the head of a banned terror outfit.

Evidence is not an issue here.

But this move exposes the ChinaPakistan Nexus.” During the recent US visit of Sartaj Aziz, the Advisor on Foreign Affairs to

resolution as it awaited any objections from member countries during the “silent procedure”. It is learnt that India in the resolution had said the JeM was put on the global terror list ten years ago and was recently involved in the Pathankot attack. India has shared evidence on the case with the country from where the act of terror perpetrated and based on actionable intelligence they are investigating it. So citing the context and circumstance of the fresh case, India seeks a ban on the JeM chief. Speaking to Mail Today on the condition of anonymity, a diplomat said, “This resolution does not seek arrest of Masood Azhar. It asks for blocking weaponry, funds

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif, the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue joint statement had mentioned that “Noting the steps taken by Pakistan to date, including the detention of (JeM) leader Maulana Masood Azhar, the US appreciated PM Sharif’s stated commitment to take prompt and decisive action on this investigation and to bring the perpetrators of the January 2, 2016 attack on the Pathankot air base to justice.” This too had been included in the additional documents provided by India to support its resolution targeting Azhar. China’s move of technical hold, a step away from blocking it, came on a day PM Narendra Modi arrived in Washington for the 4th Nuclear Security Summit.

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Indian diplomat insulted in 17 years on, Sukhbir acquitted of violence during canvassing Pakistan for Rs 10 donation NEW DELHI Despite the political rancour underlining Indo-Pak ties, a feeling of warmth and conviviality

Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal on AfPak relations. Among them was an Indian diplomat representing India’s high commissioner to

always shone out in exchanges between the people of the two countries. Is the situation changing now?

An Indian diplomat representing India’s high commissioner was ridiculed and humiliated this week in Islamabad in the presence of top international diplomats with the host accusing him? of underpaying for his presence there.

The Kehkeshan Hall of Isla?mabad’s swanky Serena Hotel was teeming with diplomats on Thursday evening.

The occasion was Oxbridge Lecture organised by Pakistan’s Oxford and Cambridge Society.

They had gathered to listen to Afghanistan’s ambassador to

Pakistan Gautam Bambawale.

While introducing the speaker, the chairman of the Society, Irshad-Ullah Khan, started to talk “on a lighter note” about the dropbox voluntary donation of Rs 500 and above from all guests.

Leaving his audience bemused, Rhodes Scholar Khan whipped out his wallet saying he had with him an Indian Rs 10 currency note which he claimed had been contributed by the Indian guest when he attended the last Oxbridge Lecture in February this year, again representing india’s high commissioner.

“How do you expect to resolve the Kashmir issue with a Rs 10 contribution,” Khan said calling out the Indian diplomat from the

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to be taken to France

Paris A Belgian court decided on Thursday that Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam could be extradited to France, Belgium’s federal prosecutors said.A lawyer for Abdeslam said earlier that Abdeslam had dropped his initial objection to being extradited and had also renewed an offer to cooperate with French authorities investigating the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people.

“Salah Abdeslam wishes to be transferred to the French authorities,” lawyer Cedric Moisse told reporters. “He

wishes to cooperate with the French authorities.” Prosecutors said France and Belgium would now discuss how to proceed with the transfer, which the French Justice Ministry said should take place within the next 10 days.

After his arrest in Brussels on March 18, Abdeslam answered some investigators’ questions but then exercised his right to silence following the suicide bombings in Brussels on March 22 that killed 32 people.

Investigators believe the attacks in Paris and Brussels were carried out by militants from the same Islamic State network.

audience.

Even as Zakhilwal waited to take the floor, Khan went on to talk about how his staff had been “ more vigilant this time and used cameras to establish that the diplomat? had contributed only Rs 100” on this occasion. A businessman and poet, Khan is a very popular figure in Pakistan.

The invite to the guests clearly said that the donation was voluntary and was meant to meet the Lecture expenses.

It didn’t end there though. After the lecture by Zakhilwal, Khan thought it proper to bring up India’s contribution again saying he had finally found the Rs 10 note in his wallet and displayed it to the audience. He went on to say that the Oxford and Cambridge Society would keep it as a souvenir from the Indian high commission.

The humiliation has stunned India’s diplomatic community.

India believes that what Khan did was “intentional” and an act of frustration, or even intimidation at a time when the Pakistan government is under pressure to ensure Kashmir remains the centrepiece of its engagement with India. Indian authorities say the diplomat on both occasions had dropped Rs 500 into the box.

The diplomat in fact accosted Khan after the event and, as a source put it, thanks him for his “kind words and? warm hospitality”.

Faridkot Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal on Saturday got a major relief when a Faridkot court acquitted him in a decade-old case related to poll violence in 1999. The court of judicial magistrate Ist class (JMFC) Satish Kumar declared Badal not guilty in the case of causing hurt and robbery filed against him by Naresh Sehgal, a resident of Kotkapura town of Faridkot district. It was on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court that the police had registered the case against Sukhbir on June 30, 2006, seven years after the alleged incident. Initially, the case was registered under attempt to murder and various other serious charges. However, the section pertaining to attempt to murder was dropped by Faridkot sessions court on December 7, 2006, while taking up the challan presented by the police. Sehgal had alleged that on September 5, 1999, Badal beat him up while the latter was in the fray to the contest parliamentary election from Faridkot constituency. Sehgal, who was then working as a

photojournalist with a vernacular newspaper, had clicked pictures of Badal allegedly canvassing at a religious place. He had also accused the deputy CM and his

accomplices of having damaged his camera besides assaulting him.Sukhbir’ counsel Shivkartar Singh said, “The trial court acquitted Sukhbir Badal from the charges under sections 323 (causing hurt) and 392 (robbery) of the IPC.” After the court order, Badal said that the court had given justice to him. “I had done no wrong and was falsely named in the case,” he said.

On the other hand, complainant Sehgal announced that he would file an appeal in the sessions court against the trial court’s order. He said, “Justice has been denied to me. I will appeal against it.”

Indian cigarette makers halt production over health warning rules

NEW DELHI Indian cigarette makers including ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco, suspended production on Friday over what they said was ambiguity in the government’s new health warning rules for packs, a leading industry body said.

Rules that mandated 85 percent of a cigarette pack’s surface to be covered in health warnings, up from 20 percent, kicked in from Friday after being delayed for a year.

But cigarette makers failed to comply, with packs with smaller warnings still being sold in the capital New Delhi.

The Tobacco Institute of India (TII) said the industry was concerned over potential violation of health warning rules by continuing production, adding that the production halt would cost the industry $53 million a day.

India was last year forced to delay implementation of stringent pack warning rules as a parliamentary panel sought time to assess how the industry would be impacted.

The health ministry later decided to implement the rules from April this year, but the panel last month issued a report saying the size of warnings should be reduced to 50 percent in the

interest of the industry and tobacco farmers.

Health activists have criticized the panel for favouring the industry. The World Health Organization has called the debate on reducing the warnings

the new rules.

A senior health ministry official, who declined to be named, said the government was committed to implementing the rules.

Smoking kills about 1 million people in India each year, BMJ

size in India “worrisome”.

India’s $10 billion cigarette market is dominated by ITC and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd, a partner of U.S.-based Philip Morris International. ITC declined to comment. Godfrey Phillips was not immediately available for comment.

TII, which has called the new rules drastic and impractical, said the industry had written to the health ministry seeking clarification. It did not elaborate on what was ambiguous about

Global Health estimates. The Canadian Cancer Society in 2014 ranked India 136th out of 198 countries that use pack warnings to deter smokers, lagging nations such as Thailand.

“The industry is holding the government to ransom. There is no ambiguity in the rules,” said Amit Yadav, director, southeast Asia region at Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, a group of more than 350 global organisations.

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Windies overcome adverse circumstances to join league of champions It’s probably easier to eulogise a cricketer than an entire team. It has to be led by a Machiavellian captain, must have a famed pace bowling lineup, one or two great spinners, two

complementing opening batsmen and a solid middle order that comprises one of those eulogised batsmen.

The last 50 years have produced some legends of the game. Great teams, however, are fewer. Like the West Indies team of the 70s and 80s or the Australia team that lifted three consecutive World Cups

along with winning 16 Tests in a row first in 1999-2001 and then again in 2005-08.

Even the Sri Lanka team, to some extent, that redefined 50-over cricket in the mid-90s was a tough unit.

For possibly the first time now, a T20 group has nudged the boundaries of greatness. Not only because they have now won two World T20 titles in the space of four years but also because of the adverse circumstances in which they achieved it. They have a captain who neither has a central nor an IPL contract, no particularly express fast

bowler, a spinner on selfexile because of his action, a truly great batsman who has two Test triple centuries but makes himself available for T20 selection and an exceptional middle

order batsman who most likely will be forgotten in a few years’ time because he doesn’t have a decent Test record to go with it.

It’s essentially a group of men united by a cause, standing up for their right to a decent life and speaking their mind. What it’s not is a team of cricketers whose silence has been bought by hefty central

contracts and undisclosed franchise league deals.

“We have been painted as money-grabbing players. I tell you we would have paid to play here. When we came here we didn’t have shirts or caps. Our manager Rawl Lewis had never managed a team before.

But he came here a few days earlier to ensure we got our shirts stitched here,” said West Indies captain Darren Sammy after the post-match media interaction. Holding the trophy outside the stairwell of the Eden Gardens press conference room, Sammy looked pained at the prospect of perhaps never sharing the dressing room with dancing buddies Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo again. But he was also relieved to know that their last ride together was worth it, that he could walk his talk of being ‘in it to win it’. “I don’t know when I will see the guys in the dressing room again. I don’t see any T20 schedule this year. We have a triseries, then a Test series against India where I’m not eligible for selection. This win meant a lot,” he said.

Chris Gayle challenges Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers to do the champion dance

The champion song and dance has gone viral and now with West Indies winning the ICC World T20 2016 title the Dwayne Bravo song becomes a relevant one. Not only men’s team did the ‘Champion Dance’ after their win in final, but women’s team too joined the jig. he celebrations did not stop there. Six-time gold medalist Usain Bolt also joined in the celebrations and posted a video of his ‘Champion Dance’ on the social networking site.

Bravo recorded the song just before the World T20 2016. When Chris Gayle smashed unbeaten hundred against England in the Super 10 round match, the left-hander was seen

performing few of ‘Champion Dance’ steps.

Gayle has now posted a video on his Instagram account wherein he accepts the challenge from Bravo and performs the ‘Champion Dance.’ The lefthander further nominates Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, whom he recently met, his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team-matesVirat Kohli & AB de Villiers as well.

Amitabh Bachchan had recently invited Gayle for a dinner, and the 36-yearold was impressed with Big B’s hospitality. It will be interesting who responds to Gayle’s challenge first, Big B, Kohli or de Villiers?

Kohli named captain of ICC BCCI wants Rahul Dravid to coach India WT20 XI, no place for Dhoni Indian batting star Virat Kohli was on Monday named captain of the ICC World Twenty20 XI, which had no place for current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni but featured veteran

seamer Ashish Nehra.

For the second successive time, an Indian has been named captain of the allstar XI and incidentally it was Dhoni, who was declared skipper after the previous edition in Bangladesh where India reached the fi-

nal. Four Indians had made the ICC XI after the previous edition and the number has dropped to two this time.

Kohli was adjudged Man of the Tournament for his sub-

lime form which made him the backbone of India’s batting line-up.

He scored 273 runs with a staggering average of 136.50 and an equally astounding strike-rate of 146.77 with three 50 plus scores.

“Although I’m disappointed that we were not able to make it through to the final and win the ICC World Twenty20 title on home soil, I’m proud to be named player of the tournament,” Kohli said in a statement released by the BCCI’s official website.

“As a team, we have all loved the experience of playing in this event in front of big, passionate home crowds and I’m pleased the tournament in India has been successfully staged.

And I’d like to add my congratulations to the West Indies men’s and women’s squads for their successes,” he added.

The prolific right-hander hit 29 boundaries and five sixes in all and was second in the list of leading run-getters behind Tamim Iqbal of Bangladesh, who scored 295 runs.

The Indian cricket board’s advisory committee, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, has approached batting legend Rahul Dravid - in charge of India A and India U 19 squads for almost a year now - to enquire whether he would be interested in taking over as chief coach of the senior team.

The ever-dependable former No. 3 batsman, it is learned, was asked about his availability if such a proposition were to be made in the near future.

“Rahul has said he will give it a thought,” said a source in the know of developments. BCCI is keen to have a man who can show the way forward to a bunch of talented young batsmen in the side, especially where Test cricket is con-

cerned. Sources say should Dravid agree to take up the challenge, he is

ing to work with the Indian team, but highly-placed sources say he is not be-

likely to be given a free hand and a long-term contract, possibly extending till the 2019 World Cup. There is no clarity, however, on ex-cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri, whose term as India’s team director ended with India’s campaign in the World T20. Shastri, it is learnt, is keen on continu-

ing considered for the role of the head coach.

The advisory committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue of the chief coach. Dravid is presently the mentor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Daredevils.

Before this he led the India Under-19 team to the WC final last month.

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Squatters barrier to protecting Delhi’s ancient monuments NEW DELHI In the crypt of a 16th-century nationally protected tomb in New Delhi, a family is busy preparing a meal in their brightly painted kitchen that boasts a fridge and electricity.

New Delhi, where emperors ruled for at least 2,000 years, is rich with ancient tombs, shrines and forts which are packed into almost every suburb of the Indian capital. But the city is also teeming with millions of desperately poor and homeless and with land at a premium, the ancient monuments have become valuable homes, making removal of socalled squatters a tough battle.

“There are far too many monuments and not enough resources. That means they are neglected and open to abuse and occupation,” Delhi conservationist AGK Menon said.

“Nobody occupies the Taj Mahal because it’s looked after, but that’s not the case for other precious monuments.”

Deep inside Delhi’s packed Nizamuddin neighb-

ourhood, past the goats and snack vendors, the family of Sufi musicians has lived in the vaults of the Atgah Khan tomb, built in 1566, for generations. There are cupboards, rugs and aqua-

coloured paint on the walls. “We are connected to the shrine. We have a duty to be here,” said one woman, whose nephews perform at the nearby Nizamuddin Dargah, adding that they have not

been asked to leave. One floor up, a string of small homes have been built against the perimeter walls of the striking red sandstone and marble tomb, making any substantial conservation work

difficult. Three months ago, men armed with sledge hammers and welding equipment started demolishing one of the occupied homes. Official warnings against undertaking extensions that

might encroach on the tomb had gone unheeded, according to neighbours, forcing the destruction.

But the 18-member family has defiantly continued to live in the ruins, setting up beds in the rubble, and

hanging laundry from the now-exposed rafters. “If somebody thinks we are going to leave this place, they are very mistaken,” said 75-year-old Shamama Khan who insists her family bought the

land on which they built decades ago.

Squatters - or encroachers as they are called in India - are just one of the many headaches facing conservationists as they endeavour to preserve the city’s monuments.

More than 1,000 listed heritage sites are scattered in Delhi, where Mughal emperors and other rulers rose and fell for hundreds of years, before the British later moved in, with thousands more spread across India.

But only 176 of those in Delhi are protected by the top government-funded Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) whose funds are limited.

Cash-strapped city and state bodies are responsible for some, while others are not protected at all, and are crumbling under the strain of the everexpanding city of more than 16 million people.

Some have disappeared altogether under developers’ bulldozers.

“It’s a full-time job to protect the ones we have,” ASI joint director general R.S

Fonia told AFP when asked if more should be added to its list.

At a sprawling archaeological park across town, Menon and his team from INTACH, a non-governmental conservation organisation, have worked hard to restore some of the 100-odd monuments dating back to the 11th century.

INTACH received government funding to carry out the restoration work, but says the authorities failed to maintain the monuments after they were handed back.

“It is a waste of public money,” says Menon, whose organisation took legal action to try to force the authorities to act.

CAUGHT

DRUNK DRIVING? CALL VICKY SINGH AT:

416-887-4971

Issue 661 (37)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Health Activity-friendlier the neighbourhood, more the exercise People, who live in activity-friendly neighbourhoods, take up to 90 minutes more exercise per week, a new study suggests.

With physical inactivity responsible for over 5 million deaths per year, the University of California authors say that creating healthier cities is an important part of the public health response to the global disease burden of physical inactivity.

The study included 6822 adults aged 18-66 from 14 cities in 10 countries from the International Physical activity and Environment Network (IPEN). The cities

or regions included were Ghent (Belgium), Curitiba (Brazil), Bogota (Colombia), Olomouc (Czech Republic), Aarhus (Denmark), Hong Kong (China), Cuernavaca (Mexico), North Shore, Waitakere, Wellington and Christchurch (New Zealand), Stoke-on-Trent (UK), Seattle and Baltimore (USA).

The research team mapped out the neighbourhood features from the areas around the participants’ homes, such as residential density, number of street intersections, public transport stops, number of parks,

mixed land use, and nearest public transport points.

Physical activity was measured by using accelerometers worn around participants’ waists for a minimum of four days, recording movement every minute.

On average, participants across all 14 cities did 37 minutes per day moderate to vigorous physical activity - equivalent to brisk walking or more. Baltimore had the lowest average rate of activity (29.2 min per day) and Wellington had the highest (50.1 min per day).

The four neighbourhood features which were most

strongly associated with increased physical activity were high residential density, number of intersections, number of public transport stops, and number of parks within walking distance. The researchers controlled for factors including age, sex, educa-

tion, marital and employment status and whether neighbourhoods were classed as high or low income. The activity-friendly characteristics applied across cities, suggesting they are important design principles that can be applied internationally.

The difference in physical activity between participants living in the most and least activity-friendly neighbourhoods ranged from 68-89 minutes per week, representing 45-59 percent of the recommended 150 minutes per week.

Cataracts and your eyes: Five things to know! Know why muskmelon A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye. It can occur in either both eyes, but cannot spread from

one eye to the other.

Cataracts are mostly due to aging process, and are the most common cause of vision loss in older people. It is said that cataracts cause more vision problem worldwide than any other eye condition or disease.

Here are five facts about cataracts: What is the lens?

The lens is the clear part of the eye behind the iris that helps to focus light on the retina. It helps to focus on both far and near objects so that they are perceived clearly and sharply.

What causes cataracts?

While age is the most

common cause of cataracts, environmental factors such as radiation, toxins, and ultraviolet light can

put you at an increased risk. Also, some cataracts are congenital and babies are occasionally born with them.

Risk factors: Risk factors include: • Age • Diabetes • Family history of cataracts • Obesity • Previous eye injury/surgery/inflammation • Long-term exposure to bright sunlight • Tobacco use Symptoms Usually, cataracts show few symptoms until they are at an advanced stage.

Symptoms include:

• Decrease in clarity of vision/blurry vision • Glare – vision becomes worse when light is very

bright • Difficulty with vision at night • Frequent changes in eye glasses

• Double vision or multiple images in one eye.

Can cataracts be prevented?

While there is no proven method of preventing cataracts, doctors believe that several strategies may be helpful. These include: • Following a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables • Not smoking • Limit alcohol intake • Avoiding excessive exposure to UV light or wearing UV-blocking sunglasses whenever you step out in the sun • Maintaining a healthy weight • People with a history of eye problems or other medical conditions that increase the risk of eye disease should get regular eye examinations

is good for health!

Muskmelon also known as kharbuja is a popular summer fruit which is loved by everyone because of its refreshing and unique taste. Many might not be aware of it but the fruit is loaded with immense health benefits. Here are some health benefits of muskmelon: Good for constipation The fruit helps you get relieve from constipation because of its high fibre and water content in it.

Boosts immune system Muskmelon is a good source of Vitamin C which helps in boosting your immune system by stimulating the White Blood Cells in the body.

Good for eyes Regular consumption of

the fruit is good for eyes and also recuces the risk of developing cataracts as it contains rich amount of

vitamin A and beta carotenes.

Controls blood pressure Muskmelon helps prevent the risk of stroke and heart disease because of the potassium content in the fruit.

Treats menstrual cramps The fruit contains vitamin C which helps in relieving the period pain in women by regulating menstrual flow.

Zika causes fetal brain damage in unborn babies A recent study has further helped in untying the mystery behind the zika virus. As per a research conducted

by Olli Vapalahti from University of Helsinki, Finland, zika virus can cause fetal brain damage in unborn babies.

Till now, it had been just linked to the same but with this recent outbreak, it stands confirmed. The re-

search has further found that small amounts of genetic material from the Zika virus can be detected from a blood sample taken from

a pregnant woman even weeks after the acute rash caused by the infection has passed, when the development of brain damage in the fetus is underway. Severe brain abnormalities can be detected through neuroimaging already at this early stage, even before the development of the intracranial calcifications

and microcephaly previously associated with Zika virus infections. The virus was isolated from fetal brain tissue in a cell line representing neural cell precursors.

Researchers mapped the entire genome of the virus and discovered eight mutations, which distinguish this virus from the Zika strains previously reported in Central America.

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5 April - 11 April 2016

Sunscreen can put your sperms at risk Turns out, sunscreens can be used as a male contraceptive! A new study has revealed that some of its ingredients may disrupt sperm cell function.

The Danish study found that many ultraviolet (UV)filtering chemicals commonly used in sunscreens interfere with the function of human sperm cells and some mimic the effect of the female hormone progesterone, a new study finds.

Senior investigator Niels Skakkebaek of the University of Copenhagen said that these results are of

concern and might explain in part why unexplained infertility is so prevalent.

Although the purpose of the chemical UV filters is to reduce the amount of the sun’s UV rays getting through the skin by absorbing UV, some UV filters are rapidly absorbed through the skin, Skakkebaek said. UV filter chemicals reportedly have been found in human blood samples and in 95 percent of urine samples in the U.S., Denmark and other coun-

tries. Skakkebaek and his colleagues tested 29 of the

Two cups of coffee a day keep bowel cancer at bay If you have a daily coffee habit, here is something to buzz about: A new study has found that those cups of joe cut the risk ofbowel cancer.

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehen-

sive Cancer Center of Keck Medicine of USC examined over 5,100 men and women who had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer within the past six months, along with an additional 4,000 men and women with no history of colorectal cancer to serve as a control group.

“We found that drinking

coffee is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, and the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk,” said senior author Stephen Gruber.

The data showed that even moderate coffee consumption, between one to two

servings a day, was associated with a 26 percent reduction in the odds of developing colorectal cancer after adjusting for known risk factors. Moreover, the risk of developing colorectal cancer continued to decrease to up to 50 percent when participants drank more than 2.5 servings of coffee each day.

The indication of decreased risk was seen across all types of coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated.

“We were somewhat surprised to see that caffeine did not seem to matter,” Gruber said. “This indicates that caffeine alone is not responsible for coffee’s protective properties.”

First author Stephanie Schmit said that the good news is that our data presents a decreased risk ofcolorectal cancer regardless of what flavour or form of coffee you prefer.

Lead author James Sallis explained that neighbourhoods with high residential density tend to have connected streets, shops and services meaning people will be more likely to walk to their local shops. Interestingly, distance to nearest transport stop was not associated with higher levels of physical activity, whereas the number of nearby transport stops was.

31 UV filters allowed in sunscreens in the U.S. or the European Union (EU) on live, healthy human sperm cells, from fresh semen samples obtained from several healthy donors.

They found that 13 of the 29 UV filters tested induced calcium ion influxes in the sperm cells, thus interfering with normal sperm cell function.

Furthermore, nine of the 13 UV filters seem to induce this calcium ion influx by directly activating the CatSper channel,

thereby mimicking the effect of progesterone. This finding suggests that these UV filters are endocrine disruptors, Skakkebaek said. In addition, several of the UV filters affected important sperm functions normally controlled via CatSper, such as sperm motility.

Skakkebaek called for clinical studies to investigate whether chemical UV filters affect human fertility.

He added, Our study suggests that regulatory agencies should have a closer look at the effects of UV filters on fertility before ap-

proval. Eight of the 13 UV filters that disrupted sperm cell function are approved for use in the U.S. They are avobenzone, homosalate, meradimate, octisalate (also known as octyl salicylate), octinoxate (or octyl methoxycinnamate), octocrylene, oxybenzone (also called benzophenone-3 or BP-3) and padimate O. These chemicals are common active ingredients in sunscreens as well as sunscreen-containing personal care products, such as makeup, moisturizers and lip balms.

EndomEtriosis ElEvatEs risk of hEart disEasE in adolEscEnt womEn A new study has revealed that women having endometriosis are at a higher risk of heart disease. Endometriosis is a chronic and painful health condition that majorly affects the reproductive organs.

Women with endometriosis are more likely to develop chest pain, heart disease or probably need a treatment for blocked arteries.

The pain can sometimes be excruciating which eventually develops anxiety and depression in women.

Since it does not have a full-fledged treatment, however, there are certain tips that can lessen the risk of a heart disease. Read below: Essential to stay active At least 20 to 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise is a must for the women with this condition.

Being physically active can help improve pain symptoms and also reduce the chances of a heart attack.

Diet Eating healthy fats, having a low carb, low sugar diet is another essential thing.

Include healthy proteins such as fish and poultry in

your daily diet. Consuming balanced diet works well in this condition.

is one of the major issues with endometriosis and heart disease.

Maintain healthy weight If you are overweight or think that you are on the run of gaining it, take a step back. Control your diet which can decrease chronic inflammation, that

Don’t smoke If you are a smoker, it is advisable to kick the butt as soon as possible. Women who smoke are definitely at a higher risk of developing a heart ailment.

Emergency tips to survive an asthma attack without inhaler!

You can predict obesity as early as 6 months of age If you have never considered having your baby’s BMI tested, this news could change your mind. A new study has found that it is possible to identify those most at risk of becoming dangerously overweight.

Severe obesity can be predicted using a simple body mass index (BMI) measurement as early as 6 months of age, according to a new study. The study is believed to be the first to show that weight gain during infancy differs in those who eventually develop obesity.

“BMI at 6, 12 or 18 months

of age above the 85th percentile on the growth chart can accurately predict children at risk for early childhood obesity,” says lead author Allison Smego.

“These children have a

high lifetime risk for persistent obesity and metabolic disease and should be monitored closely at a very young age.”

The researchers studied several groups of children

of lean and obese children under the age of 6, including a group of severely obese children referred for specialized care to Cincinnati Children’s.

“It’s not currently recommended to measure BMI in children under the age of 2, but we say it should be because we now know it predicts obesity risk later,” says Dr. Smego. “Pediatricians can identify high-risk infants with BMI above the 85th percentile and focus additional counseling and education regarding healthy lifestyles toward the families of these children.

Living with asthma can be tough and terrifying. But the good thing is that there are ways that can help reduce your symptoms and risk of having an asthma attack. If you have asthma, you probably would never go out without your inhaler. But, if you forget your inhaler due to negligence or unforeseen circumstances, follow these emergency guidelines: • Sit up right and don’t lie down – Bending over or lying down can constrict your breathing even more.

• Stay calm – Maintain calm and not to panic is the best in such situation. Staying calm also prevents fur-

ther tightening of your chest muscles and makes your breathing easier.

• Take long, deep breaths – Taking long, deep breaths may help to slow down your breathing. Try to breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth.

• Drink hot caffeinated drinks – Taking hot caffeinated drinks like coffee can help relax the airways, providing some temporary relief.

• Avoid asthma triggers – An asthma attack could be triggered by exposure to dust, cigarette smoke or smell of other chemicals.

Issue 661 (39)

5 April - 11 April 2016

Baked Halibut Steaks

Kabob Marinade Ingredients: 1 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup prepared mustard 1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely cracked black pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon meat tenderizer (optional) Directions: In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ground black pepper, garlic, and meat tenderizer. Mix well, and add your favorite meat. Seal the bag, and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours.

Ingredients: 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 cup diced zucchini 1/2 cup minced onion 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 (6 ounce) halibut steaks 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Lightly grease a shallow baking dish.

Heat olive oil in a medium

saucepan over medium heat and stir in zucchini, onion, and garlic. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Remove saucepan from heat and mix in tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper.

Arrange halibut steaks in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Spoon equal amounts of the zucchini mixture over each steak. Top with feta cheese.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

Pasta Fagioli

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon canola oil 1/4 pound chorizo sausage, chopped 1/3 pound cooked ham, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 (1 pound) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 1 large red bell pepper, diced 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice 1 small hot green chile pepper, diced 1 1/2 cups water 2 (16 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained 1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1/4 teaspoon salt Directions: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the chorizo and ham 2 to 3 minutes.

Place the onion in the pot, and cook until tender. Stir in garlic, and cook until tender, then

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes salt to taste 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1/2 cup uncooked spinach pasta 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, with liquid Directions: Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook celery, onion, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt in the hot oil until

mix in the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes with juice, chile pepper, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.

Stir the beans into the pot, and cook uncovered until heated through. Mix in the mango and cilantro, and season with salt.

Maple-Garlic Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Black-EyEd PEa GumBo Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped 5 stalks celery, chopped 2 cups chicken broth 1 cup brown rice 4 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas with liquid 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped Directions: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion, pepper, and celery until tender. Pour in the chicken broth, and mix in rice, black-eyed

onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add pasta and cook 10 minutes, until pasta is tender. Add undrained beans and mix well. Heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

peas with liquid, diced tomatoes and green chiles, diced tomatoes, and garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Add water if soup is too thick.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon sesame oil 3 cloves garlic, minced fresh ground black pepper to taste 1 cup maple syrup 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin Directions: Combine mustard, sesame oil, garlic, pepper, and maple syrup. Place pork in a shallow dish and coat thoroughly with marinade. Cover, then chill in the refrigerator at least eight hours, or overnight. Preheat grill for medium-low heat. Remove pork from marinade, and set aside. Transfer remaining marinade to a small saucepan, and cook on the stove over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Brush grate with oil, and place meat on grate. Grill pork, basting with reserved marinade, for approximately 15 to 25 minutes, or until interior is no longer pink. Avoid using high temperatures as marinade will burn.

Issue 661 (40)

5 April - 11 April 2016