THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 664, 26 APRIL - 2 MAY 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761
World’s first ‘anti-ageing’ gin launched
Indian-origin appointed dean at Calgary University in Canada
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See on Page 6
ISIS EXECUTES 250 WOMEN FOR REFUSING TO BECOME
SEX SLAVES LONDON The Islamic State, notorious for its brutality, has reportedly executed 250 girls in northern Iraq for refusing to become sex slaves, according to a media report. The girls had been ordered to accept temporary marriages to the terrorists and were murdered, sometimes
alongside their families, for their refusal to be sex slaves in Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul. ISIS began selecting women of Mosul and forced them into marrying its militants, calling it temporary marriage since it has taken control over Mosul, and the women who refused to submit to this practice would be executed,
said Kurdish Democratic Party spokesman Said Mamuzini. “At least 250 girls have so far been executed by IS for refusing to accept the practice of sexual jihad, and sometimes the families of the girls were also executed for rejecting to submit to IS’s request,” Mamuzini told London-based Kurdish news
agency ‘AhlulBayt’. Another official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party Ghayas Surchi said that human rights were being widely violated in all IS-held territories, particularly the womens’ rights as they’re seen as commodities and have no choice in choosing their spouses. Surchi said that
women were not allowed to go out alone in Mosul and cannot choose their spouses. The executions follows a spate of similar killings that took place last August in which 19 Mosul women were slaughtered for refusing to have sex with ISIS fighters, the report said.
the overwhelming majority choosing the former. Analysis by the CTC, an academic institution at the United
States Military Academy, revealed citizens of 77 countries in ISIS ranks, with the
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Male, well-educated, but not so hot on Quran? You’re a perfect ISIS terrorist By Lizzie Dearden LONDON: Male, 26, single, quite well-educated but not an expert on the Quran - this is the profile of an average fighter joining ISIS. Analysis of thousands of entry documents leaked from the terrorist group has provided vital new insight into the background and expertise of its international jihadists. The US military’s
Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) said all evidence pointed to the cache being genuine, exposing personal details of 4,188 militants who joined ISIS in 2013 and 2014. “The importance of this data for understanding the Islamic State and, in particular, the foreign fighter flow, cannot be overstated,” analysts said, hailing an important step in
fathoming the group’s motivations and techniques. A unique personnel form exists for each individual, containing their real and “war” names, ages, education level, “jihad experience”, nationalities and numerous other details. Each recruit was also asked whether they wanted to be a fighter, istishhadi (suicide bomber), or inghimasi (suicide fighter), with
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Issue - 664 (2)
26 April - 2 May 2016
ISIS executes 250 women for refusing...
Taiwan’s company under fire over mass fish deaths HANOI Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa was under attack in Vietnam’s normally staid statemedia Monday over allegations of industrial pollution leaching from a multi-billion dollar steel mill that may have caused mysterious mass fish deaths. Tonnes of dead fish, including rare species which live far offshore and in the deep, have been washing up on beaches along the public alarm and hitting local country’s central coast, causing fishermen.
Continued from Page 1 Up to 500 Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped and sexually abused by militants in August 2014. In October, more than 500 Yazidi women and young girls were reportedly abducted by the
ISIS when they stormed the Sinjar region in northern Iraq. ISIS took control of Mosul in June 2014 after the fall of Iraqi army in the city and since then has been slaughtering its residents for various charges to spread fear. US President
Barack Obama said on Monday that he expected Mosul to be retaken from the ISIS “eventually. My expectation is that by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall,” Obama had said.
‘Miracle’ moment as two-year-old girl sees, hears for first time
Risk of ‘marked increase’ in Zika cases: WHO PARIS The UN’s health agency warned Monday of the potential for a “marked increase” in Zika infections, and the spread of the virus to new parts of the world,
even as the outbreak declines in Brazil. Largely contained to Latin America and the Caribbean, Zika’s range is likely to expand as summer arrives in the northern hemisphere - and with it virustransmitting mosquitoes. “As seasonal temperatures begin to rise in Europe, two species of Aedes mosquito which we know transmit the virus will begin to circulate,” World Health Organization assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny told a Zika science conference in Paris.
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“The mosquito knows no borders.” Add to that the risk of Zikainfected men passing the virus on to women via sex, and the world “could see a marked increase in
the number of people with Zika and related complications,” Kieny said. At the same time, with cooler temperatures in the tropics and subtropics, the outbreak in hardest-hit Brazil was “clearly on the decline,” she added, without providing numbers. About 600 disease experts from 43 nations are in the French capital to pore over scant but increasingly worrisome data about Zika. Despite a flurry of research, very little is known about the virus - how long it can hide out in the human body, the degree of risk of sexual transmission, the full list of diseases and disorders it may cause, and all the mosquito types capable of transmitting it. Recent scientific consensus is that Zika causes microcephaly, a form of severe brain damage in newborns, and adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.
“It’s not what we know but what we don’t know that is concerning,” infectious diseases professor David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told AFP on the conference sidelines. “We can’t make recommendations (for prevention) if we don’t understand the full potential of a virus or bacteria.” Kieny described Zika as a “global emergency” and a “growing threat”. There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which in most people causes only mild symptoms - a rash, joint pain or fever. The most urgent priority, Kieny said, was for new tools for quickly diagnosing Zika - particularly in pregnant women whose babies risk severe disability. Developers in the United States, France, Brazil, India and Austria are working on 23 vaccinedevelopment projects, Kieny said. But it could take years, and the feasibility of an “emergency-use” vaccine was being examined. Until then, the first line of defence remains mosquito control and bite prevention, the experts said, and advising women in endemic regions to put off pregnancy. Duane Gubler of the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, said Zika “surprised” the world, just as Ebola before it, despite both viruses having been known about for decades. “I think we should take this as a wakeup call and start developing our surveillance systems so we canmonitor these viruses a little more effectively,” he told the conference. Kieny said particular vigilance was required in Africa, where the virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947.
New York This is the heart-warming moment a two-year-old girl who has been deaf and blind since birth sees and hears her mother for the first time following ‘miracle’ surgery in the US. Nicolly Pereira, who is from Brazil, is seen gurgling with delight as mother Daiana, 26, comes into view for the first time before the little girl throws her arms around her mom’s head for a cuddle. Meanwhile Daiana is left speechless and in floods of tears as she is overwhelmed by a moment she had dreamed of for so long. Pereira told the Miami Herald: ‘The only word that can be used to describe the feeling is “God”. My daughter is free now. She now shines more than before. ‘She has now become a reference for people who didn’t believe in miracles.’ The little girl was born with infant glaucoma, a rare genetic condition that affects around 1 in 10,000 children and causes excess fluid to build up inside the eye, distorting vision. Since being born Nicolly had undergone seven unsuccessful surgeries in her home country of Brazil, with doctors telling her distraught mother there was nothing more they could do to help her. With no other options left, Pereira turned to social media where she appealed for donations to help her
daughter, eventually managing to raise $17,000 to pay for treatment at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. While most children with the condition are able to see something, by the time Nicolly arrived in Miami her condition was so severe she was unable to detect light at all. Pressure inside a normal human eye is between 10 and 20 millimetres in Mercury, or mm Hg. When doctors examined Nicolly’s eyes the reading came back as 50mm HG. A fluid buildup in her ears also stopped her from hearing, meaning she was also unable to talk, and never learned to walk because she could not see the world around her. Since being born Nicolly had undergone seven unsuccessful surgeries in her home country of Brazil, with doctors telling her distraught mother there was nothing more they could do to help her.
Issue - 664 (3)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Issue - 664 (4)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Me, my selfie and the big picture! How many photos of you are on your phone right now? These days, humans take almost one trillion photos a year. To put that into context, that’s more photos every few minutes than in the entire 19th century. And lots of these photos are selfies - self-portraits, usually taken with a smartphone. The editors at Oxford Dictionaries describe “selfie” as an informal noun and define it as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” Did you know that the first photographic selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839? Did you know that 288,527,850 Instagram photos bear the hashtag #selfie to date? Most selfies taken in one hour is 657. Highest price ever paid for a photograph was for a selfie. It was $3.9 million at Christies for a Cindy Sherman print. Makati City, Philippines boasts of most selfies taken followed by NYC. Selfie became an official word in the Oxford and
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Merriam Webster Dictionaries last year. You might have guessed that women take more selfies than men ...
until age 40 but then the trend reverses. A survey of 2,000 women, conducted by a beauty site FeelUnique, has revealed that, in fact, women take an average of only seven selfies prior to choosing one to post - and, when they settle on one, it will most likely be uploaded to two social media outlets. Although that’s lower than Kim’s guess, other findings of the survey were far more startling. For example, 10% of 16- to 25-year-olds surveyed have at least 150 selfies on their devices, and the average young woman spends about five hours a week taking photos of herself. The study also uncovered some of the more insincere reasons why women take selfies in the first place. For example, 14% of women admitted to taking selfies in order to make one of their followers jealous, while 15% have uploaded a particularly flattering photo to make an ex regret breaking up with them. Luckily, 1 8 % o f those surveyed said they simply take selfies for the confidence boost that c o m e s w i th uploading them. At this very moment, there are more selfies being taken than cameramen or professional photographers taking pictures! A f e w months ago, while visiting a local store I found selfie sticks being sold for less than five dollars! But along with progress comes danger. There have been hundreds of cases of selfie accidents: Terrible accidents as the person taking a selfie
can’t see what is behind, whether a precipice, gorge or valley! Can’t see what’s coming from the side, maybe an approaching train, maybe a killer wave! The selfie takers are so intent on taking their own picture that they notice nothing else! I thought about this today: I realized to the selfie photographers the only object they can see is within the camera frame, and since it is most often a phone, within their phone screen! Anything outside the frame remains unseen to them. Their whole concentration is the way they looks, they smile, his or her hair in place, lipstick not smudged, eyes twinkling, and maybe the mountain or sea as a background! All else ceases to be of interest! Even the sound of a train horn, the impending doom of a cliff edge do not register to their senses because they do not appear on their little screens! The frame is the event! The next moment the train can crush them, the cliff edge can make him or her plunge down to their death, but for that moment they do not see this or even know it can happen! Who sees the big picture? Someone who is looking at the selfie taker and also looking at the danger around him. Sometimes they shout, they warn the selfie taker, but quite often when the taker of the picture is alone, he is crushed or falls to his death. How like prayer this all is! We pray for something looking only at the immediate need! We pray for wealth, but the sky sees how wealth can destroy us at the moment and doesn’t give it to us immediately. We pray for relief from a pain, but our guardian knows that the pain is caused by some bigger problem, and doesn’t take away the pain till the bigger probe or medical investigation is done. We are all selfie takers; just looking into the frame, nature answers the prayers seeing the big picture!
Crocodile attacks sleeping Australian camper SYDNEY A 19-year-old on a family camping holiday in northern Australia had a lucky escape Monday when he fought off a crocodile which bit into his foot as he slept. The reptile struck at about 4:30am as the group slept at their campsite in the Northern Territory. Peter Rowsell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he was woken by something “shaking” his right foot. “I was sleeping in a mozzie (mosquito) net, and ... I woke up and there was something shaking my foot, and I woke up and had a look and it was three to four metres long,” he said. He said he hit the reptile “once or twice” on the head and it went back into the water. His screams woke his fellow campers who drove him to hospital, more than two hours’ drive away. Department of Health spokeswoman Gail
Liston confirmed a man was treated in Katherine Hospital after the attack in the Douglas Daly region south of Darwin. “He was bitten on the right foot by a crocodile,” she told AFP.
“He has puncture wounds.” The man’s injuries were not life-threatening, she said. Rowsell told the ABC he was not sure
whether the crocodile was a freshwater variety or the larger and more feared saltwater type. In January a crocodile bit off a woman’s arm in a “death roll” at a creek in a small town in neighbouring Western Australia state. The reptiles are common in Australia’s tropical north. Numbers have increased since the introduction of protection laws in 1971, with estimates putting the Northern Territory’s population in the wild at about 100,000. In 2015 more than 250 of them were removed from waterways around Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, including a 4.25 metre-long (13.9 feet) male. Despite the dangers they pose for swimmers, boaters and fishermen, the Australian government in 2014 rejected the idea of crocodile safari hunts - saying there was a danger of “cruel and inhumane” behaviour.
Issue - 664 (5)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Maybe I am not mommy material
Imagine if you were immortal. Wouldn’t life become terribly tedious after a century or two? Isn’t it only the fact that we are here for such a short while that keeps it all interesting? And what would happen, if we really did have everlasting life, to those profound philosophical thoughts that so often preoccupy us? Such as ‘where do we come from?’ Or, ‘What happens when we die?’ We wouldn’t even have all those imponderables to ponder! Something fleeting may soon lead to something truly magical. Just be glad of that. We know that a relationship must be in some kind of difficulty when we find ourselves asking whether we feel that the involvement is worthwhile. Are we getting back what we are putting in? Is there a happy balance or a disappointing disparity? It must, though, be worth noting that sometimes the very act of asking such a question can tip the balance. If you don’t know quite what to think about a situation in your emotional life now, the best thing might be to try not to think about it at all! ‘You always hurt the one you love ...,’ so goes the old song. But surely that can’t be true? If it were, why would any of us ever bother loving? Because, even if we do sometimes inadvertently hurt (or get hurt by) the people who mean the most to us, we benefit enormously from their company too. We can also bring each other such joy and fulfilment, so much understanding and support. If, lately, your emotional life has touched on the downside of a close connection, you will soon know the upside once more. Some psychologists explain why interpersonal communication is never as simple as we expect. They say we use one another to meet slightly perverse emotional needs that we aren’t even fully aware of having. We get others to act out roles and try to put them in positions where they have no option but to be who we somehow need them to be. Much conflict can be resolved when we notice ourselves doing this and rise above that tendency. A positive step towards greater, deeper maturity will soon be taken. Do you really know a certain other person? We all project an image of ourselves that differs, slightly, from our true, full personality. We may give a superficial impression that disguises depth or we may seek to convey a glamourized version of who we would like to be thought of, rather than who we actually are. There is nothing wrong with any of that but a relationship is always so much more meaningful when it is between the two genuine faces that hide behind their masks! That’s developing now. Life forever teaches us new things. Yet, like all students, in all schools, we don’t necessarily pay the lessons full attention. Our minds wander, our ideas drift and then we wonder why we no longer understand as much as we feel that we ought to. Might a process like this explain the recent crisis of faith that you have lately begun to experience? You are even wondering if it is time to alter some of what you believe in and trust to be true. Actually, though, as your life journey approaches its next ‘station’, this is the right time to get fully back on board a familiar train.
By Haya S. Qureshi, Seoul Being a woman means a lot of things: facing discrimination in certain fields of life, holding a job and running a house, trying to figure out ways to lose weight despite being overworked and sleep deprived. But most of all, it means fulfilling the obligation to become a mother. I call it an obligation because this is what women are conditioned to believe the moment they are conceived. No matter who you are or where you live, there is no getting away from the expectation that one day you will become a mother. I have been married for a few years now and recently an old friend asked me when exactly I was planning to have a baby. This is not an unusual question for a Pakistani woman to hear repeatedly, so I told my friend very frankly that I was not sure if I wanted one. He stared at me for a while as if thinking, “You must be mad!” Then he came out with the words and asked me, “Are you mad?” All of us are mad in our own ways, but no I do not fit the category of clinically insane. It’s just that this is one of the biggest decisions we make. So call me crazy, but I believe that the matter requires careful consideration before one takes the plunge. Following the conversation with my friend, I paid my gynecologist a visit who ran some tests and told me
that I had, at least, another good fifteen years left. Great news. No rush. But why wait? The climate change and threat of nuclear war scare me! I have discussed these concerns with some of my close female friends who have already entered the realm of motherhood. Incredibly smart women with very successful careers. The response I got was quite extraordinary. All of them thought I had a loose screw or two. Except for one friend related to electrical engineering. She admitted that my concerns were valid. But then she added that when people decide to have a child, such concerns are the last thing on mind. (She was pregnant with her second child at the time.) Let’s say I agree with everyone that my concerns are irrational, and I am paranoid. There are several other problems involved. I have seen some of my very close friends who either had trouble conceiving or had to delay the process because of financial reasons. I have seen them look at other people’s children with eyes full of love and longing. Their longing had an element of desperation that wanted to hold a baby. They looked like mothers without a child. But I feel none of that. I did when I was younger but not anymore. Age changes more than the way we look. It changes the desire to fulfill obligations the society imposes on us. It changes something on a much
deeper level. The desire to hold life in my hands and cherish and nourish it is gone. A friend of mine who is a mother of three and an MD told me that love for the baby will come after the baby comes. Perhaps it is true because then I will have no choice but to love what I have created with the man I love. If that time comes I will certainly learn to love. But all the arguments failed to convince me. I took a slightly different approach and changed my line of questioning. I started asking my friends why they decided to have children. What made them think this world was a place good enough for their child? Everyone used different words, but the content pretty much remained the same; because this is what humans do and this is what gives meaning to life. I made a list of reasons on my computer. Everything boiled down to circular reasoning running around in circles: Because I want to. Because the society says so. You are supposed to be married by a certain age. You are supposed to have children by a certain age. Who will take care of me when I am old and frail? I was amazed to learn that we are making the biggest most consequential decision of our lives based on what the society thinks, and what we think we want on some abstract level. The best argument seems to be that you hope they will look
after you when you are old and gray. Personally, I do not like that reason one bit. It sounds selfish. The decision never considers if we will be able to give these children all that they deserve. If we are worthy enough to instill moral values in them that will make them wholesome human beings who contribute to the world in all the good ways. We are not even willing to wait long enough to get past some of our personal grievances and wounds. Just a few years to heal so that we can give them the very best they deserve. Because having a child is a commitment that I will give you what is rightfully yours. Of course, I am not talking about extravagant material possessions. That will be nothing short of criminal. I am not a parent, and I am not trying to judge those who are. This is simply a personal take on the matter. But if I am not allowed to judge them, why have they been granted the privilege to judge me? The decision to discontinue my genes should not attract pity or derision. All of us lead different lives, have our own stories, our experiences and conclusions vary. When did we decide that what works for one can be generalized to work for everyone? I might someday change my mind and have a child if I feel ready. I might decide otherwise. I don’t know. First, I need to figure out if I am mommy material.
Six African nations could be malaria-free by 2020 GENEVA Six countries in Africa, the continent where malaria is most widespread, could be free of the disease by 2020,
according to a WHO report published Monday to mark World Malaria Day. One of the goals of the World Health Organization’s 2016-2030 programme against malaria is to wipe
out the disease in at least 10 countries by the end of this decade. “WHO estimates that 21 countries are in a position to achieve
this goal, including six countries in the African Region, where the burden of the disease is heaviest,” the Geneva-based organisation said in a statement. These countries
are Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Comoros, South Africa and Swaziland. In South Africa the elimination of malaria is a public health objective. The country registered 11,700 cases of the disease in 2014 - down from 64,000 in 2000 - with most diagnoses coming from areas bordering Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. “Through targeted action and crossborder collaboration, South Africa has the potential to eliminate malaria by 2020,” the WHO report said. The other countries the organisation believes could achieve this objective are China, Malaysia and South Korea, eight Latin American nations (Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and
Suriname), as well as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, TimorLeste and Nepal. Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus eradicated malaria in 2015, according to a WHO report published earlier this month. Some 214 million people suffered from malaria last year of which 438,000 died from the disease, according to the organisation.
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Issue - 664 (6)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Fears mount in quake-hit Nepal as tourists stay away LANGTANG Nepal Former guesthouse owner Tenzing Lama remembers when foreign tourists thronged Nepal’s Langtang valley, trekking through the breathtaking Himalayan wilderness and soaking up the tranquility. But the massive earthquake that ripped through Nepal one year ago killing almost 9,000 people, obliterated the valley, part of the
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country’s oldest national park, along with the tourism industry on which it relied. Villagers have since returned to the valley and started the Herculean task of clearing trails and rebuilding homes and guesthouses flattened in a massive quake-triggered avalanche. But as is the case in the rest of the country, trekkers and backpackers have so far stayed away, leaving already desperate locals facing an uncertain future. “Every family here depended on tourism. One hundred percent of our economy came from that,” said Lama, 45, who grew up in Langtang village which was decimated by the avalanche that sent huge blocks of ice barrelling through the valley. As a boy, Lama often saw foreigners passing through
his village, where they would sometimes stop for a meal or an overnight stay, sharing chocolates with local children, during dayslong trekking expeditions. By the time he built his own guesthouse in 2000, the valley was enjoying a tourism boom, with Langtang village alone hosting dozens of lodges that served up everything from Nepali staples of lentils and rice to trekker favourites like apple pie. When the avalanche struck on April 25, killing his brother, niece and nephew and burying hundreds of neighbours and friends in rubble, Lama and other survivors were evacuated to Kathmandu until the valley was deemed safe. The disaster killed 283 locals and 43 foreign visitors in the valley, according to police. Many villagers like Lama
have since taken rebuilding matters into their own hands, carrying sacks of supplies along steep, hilly paths and repairing trails and lodges on their own. “I had nothing left... but then, as time passed, I thought I should go back, I should try and rebuild my life, my guesthouse,” the father-offour told AFP. When the earthquake struck, triggering avalanches and
landslides, many backpackers were stranded for days in remote, mountainous areas accessible only by helicopter. Terrified foreigners fled the Himalayan nation and many prospective tourists cancelled bookings, even avoiding popular trekking routes such as the Annapurna trail, which escaped the carnage
unscathed. The industry’s annual revenues fell by 32 percent in 2015, according to the Nepal Tourism Board, dealing a devastating blow to the economy of the already impoverished country. Nepal relies on tourism for around four percent of its gross domestic product, with the industry providing 3.5 percent of employment.
Earth being pummelled by World’s first ‘anti-ageing’ gin launched radioactive debris Washington They are titanic explosions that fling out radiation and debris across space. Now it appears the ashes of a nearby supernova giant exploding stars - are showering the Earth with material, allowing scientists to reconstruct when and where they happened. At the same time researchers have also discovered evidence ancient Arabic astronomers living around 1,000 years ago observed a supernova as it happened. Despite being some of the biggest explosions in the universe, until recently relatively few supernovae had been directly observed. Instead astronomers have had to search for the glowing remnants left by these cataclysmic events. Computerised telescopes capable of searching the skies for almost imperceptible changes in light coming from distant galaxies and stars have made it far easier to spot supernovae. But now researchers have discovered they may be able to trace the history of supernovae elsewhere in our galaxy by looking for signs here on Earth. In particular they found the isotope iron-60, which does not form on Earth, in sediment buried beneath the ocean floor. This rare isotope of iron is
generated when massive stars explode and flung outwards as cosmic rays. And one group of researchers has found
some supernova may still be flinging iron-60 towards the Earth. Using data from the Advanced Composition Explorer, which is currently orbiting between the sun and the Earth, the
researchers found 15 cosmic ray events with iron-60 fingerprints. Iron-60 has a half-life of around 2.5 million years which means it takes this amount of time for half of the material to break down into simpler atoms. Dr Martin Israel, an astrophysicist at Washington University who led the research, told Gizmodo: ‘The fact that we’re seeing iron-60, with a half life a little more than 2.5 million years, is telling us the supernova explosion that accelerated these cosmic rays must not have been too far away, and must not have been too long ago.’
LONDON A UK-based company claims to have developed the world’s first anti-ageing gin, an alcoholic drink infused with collagen that may make you look younger. The newly launched drink that costs about 35 pounds a bottle may provide a novel way to consume collagen aside from the usual capsules available in the market. The beauty and cosmetic industry markets collagen because as people get older, they lose this valuable component, resulting in lack of firmness and wrinkles. The alcoholic drink named ‘Anti-AGin’, was developed by the UK-based Bompas and Parr, that creates food art using gelatin desserts. The 40 per cent spirit is a combination of chamomile
and tea tree scents. Other ingredients include witchhazel, nettle, juniper, coriander and angelica root, the ‘Tech Times’ reported. “The ingredients were specifically chosen
Indian-origin appointed dean at Calgary University in Canada TORONTO An Indian-origin veterinary medical expert has been appointed as the Dean of the prestigious University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Canada. Baljit Singh, will take over the position of Dean on September 1, provost and vicepresident (Academic) of the university Dru Marshall said in a statement. Singh is a
highly accomplished researcher, educator and
administrator in the field of veterinary medicine, with specific expertise in lung biology and anatomy, she said. Singh has done his Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry and Master of Veterinary Science from Punjab Agricultural University. He completed his PhD from the University of Guelph in Ontario and postdoctoral training at Texas A and M University
and Columbia University, New York. “I am deeply honored to be selected as the dean of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. I am excited that the faculty has outstanding opportunities to lead in veterinary medical education and knowledgecreation to solve complex animal and human problems at the local, national and international level,” Singh said in a statement issues by the university.
due to their revitalising qualities, including healing sun-damage, being rich in minerals, inhibiting scar formation and to help smooth cellulite,” Warner Leisure Hotels, which commissioned the drink, wrote in its website. Collagen is naturally produced by the body, but as people age, its production diminishes. Taking in products with collagen or using beauty products with it, could help reduce wrinkles and other signs of premature ageing on the skin.
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Issue - 664 (7)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Pakistan PM Sharif’s assets doubled to Rs 2 billion in 4 years Islamabad Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is one of Pakistan’s richest politicians with declared personal assets in excess of Rs 2 billion,
On Thursday, the information was updated and put back on the website. The website shows the value of assets owned by
an increase of more than a billion in just four years. According to data released by the Election Commission, Sharif has no assets abroad but receives significant amounts from his son Hussain Nawaz, who is settled in Britain. The statements of assets for 2015 was released by the poll panel amid a controversy over the Panama Papers leaks, which showed Sharif’s two sons and a daughter were among around 220 Pakistanis who own offshore assets. The Election Commission had removed the information on the wealth of MPs from its website on the pretext that it is no longer a legal requirement to provide details of assets.
Sharif and his spouse at more than Rs2 billion. The value of his assets in 2011 was Rs 166 million, which swelled to Rs 261.6 million in 2012 and then to Rs1.82 billion in 2013, making him a declared billionaire. In 2014, the value of his assets rose to Rs 2 billion. Sharif received more than Rs 215 million from his son Hussain Nawaz in 2015. He had previously received Rs 239 million and Rs 197. 5 million as remittances from his son in 2014 and 2013.Sharif owns a Toyota Land Cruiser, which was gifted to him by an unspecified individual, and two Mercedes cars. He has multiple foreign and Pakistani currency accounts, huge tracts of
agricultural land and investments in sugar, textile and paper mills. He also declared, for the first time, ownership of birds and animals worth Rs 2 million. The release of the data coincided with the sacking of several senior military officers by the Pakistan Army chief for corruption. Gen Raheel Sharif has called for across the board accountability to root out graft and ensure the success of the campaign against terrorism. The army chief’s action has increased pressure on the Prime Minister to initiate an investigation against the 220 Pakistanis named in the massive leak of documents from Panamabased law firm Mossack Fonseca. Prime Minister Sharif has insisted that his family has done nothing wrong. On Thursday he told a meeting of senior members of his PML-N party that his hands were clean. Besides Sharif, the few other billionaires in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament are petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khayal Zaman and Sajid Hussain Toori, both lawmakers from KhyberPakhtunkhwa province.
Artist Turner to appear on England’s new £20 note The artist J M W Turner will appear on the new £20 note, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has announced.The new design will include Joseph Mallord William Turner’s self-portrait and his 1838 oil painting ‘The Fighting Temeraire’. ‘Turner is perhaps the single most influential British artist of all time,’ Carney said.’His work was transformative, bridging the classical and modern worlds. His influence spanned his lifetime and is still apparent today.’ Carney made the announcement as he unveiled a concept image of the note at the Turner Contemporary art gallery in the southeast English seaside resort of Margate. ’Turner bequeathed this painting to the nation, an example of his important contribution to British society,’ said Carney. The new note ($28.80, 25.70 euro) will also include the quote ‘Light is therefore colour’, from an 1818 lecture by Turner referring to his use of light, shade, colour and tone.Turner was selected by Britain’s
central bank following nominations from the public. ‘It’s so amazing that an artist has been chosen for the £20 note and an artist who was a wild maverick,’ artist Tracey Emin said at the
launch. Emin - who grew up in Margate - shot to fame when her unmade bed was nominated for the 1999 Turner Prize, Britain’s top award for contemporary visual artists. ‘It’s wonderful that Britain’s creative side is being honoured in this way,’ she said.The current £20 note, first issued in 2007, carries a picture of 18th-century economist Adam Smith. Alex Farquharson, director of London’s Tate Britain gallery, said: ‘Turner’s popularity is unrivalled - he was voted the nation’s favourite artist last year and now everyone can
celebrate Turner’s great contribution to art on a daily basis.’The Bank of England issues £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes. The new £20 note, which will enter circulation by 2020, will be the third in a series of banknotes printed for the first time on polymer rather than paper. A new polymer £5 note featuring World War II prime minister Winston Churchill is to be unveiled on June 2 and enter circulation in September.A £10 note on polymer featuring novelist Jane Austen will be issued in 2017. The new notes retain a regular layout, featuring a 1990 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, and a historical figure on the reverse. Sterling is the first of the world’s most traded currencies - ahead of the US dollar, the euro and the yen - to switch to polymer. The one-time slave turned abolitionist Harriet Tubman was named Wednesday as the new face of the $20 banknote, the first time an African American has featured on US currency.
App aims to bring Shakespeare to new generation LONDON A new iPad app intended to make William Shakespeare’s works more accessible is being launched by actor Ian McKellen and director Richard Loncraine on Saturday, the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. The app users see actors reading out ‘The Tempest’, facing the camera with no costume or staging as the text scrolls, and its developers said they hope eventually to cover all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. ‘This is not a production. We’re in our own clothes, the actors are not relating to each other. The person we’re relating to is you, the person at the other end of the app,’ said McKellen, who worked with Loncraine on a production of ‘Richard III’ 20 years ago. ‘We’re trying to help you,’ he said. ‘Shakespeare did not mean you to read it. He wanted the actors to read it, learn it, put the script aside and speak it to the audience,’ he added. ‘The Tempest’ was chosen because it is Shakespeare’s last play but also the one that appears first in a compilation of Shakespeare works put together in 1623 - seven years after the famous
playwright’s death.Users can pause the readings to click on notes whose level of detail can be adapted if the viewers are schoolchildren or university students. Loncraine, who
in front of the cameras and with a large prompter scrolling the text. In September, Heuristic Media is planning to record four more plays - ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Macbeth’,
set up Heuristic Media, said the app ‘helps people to comprehend’ Shakespeare but was ‘not meant to be a substitute’ for watching a play.’It was written 400 years ago so it’s very, very difficult for modern audiences who haven’t studied it,’ he said. The programme ‘strips away elements that you don’t need to understand the text,’ he said. The filming took place over two days at Pinewood Studios near London, which were recently used for the latest instalment of ‘Star Wars’.The actors are all experienced Shakespeare hands, sitting side by side
‘Othello’ and ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ - always with a prominent actor in the primary role.’ Shakespeare’s work stays alive by evolving into new media,’ said Jonathan Bate, professor of English literature at Oxford University, adding that the new app was ‘true to Shakespeare’. The app is addressed mainly to students reading Shakespeare in the original language - an audience estimated by Loncraine at 56 million people.But can also help adult audiences familiarise themselves with plays before going to the theatre.
Issue - 664 (8)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Heir to British throne Charlesis ‘boring’: Canadians
MONTREAL Canadians believe that Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne which reigns over the country, is “boring,” according to a poll Monday that said they prefer the crown be passed to his son, William. Most Canadians have only known Elizabeth II, who is about to celebrate her 90th birthday, as their head of state and a majority (64 percent) are fond of her. But their affections do not extend to her son Prince Charles, whom they described as “boring” and “unimportant” in the poll. When
it comes time, most Canadians (63 percent) would prefer that Prince Charles step aside and let his son Prince William ascend to the throne, seeing him as more “charismatic” and “down to earth,” according to the Angus Reid Institute survey. Roughly 42 percent of respondents want to see Canada remain a constitutional monarchy “for generations to come” while 38 percent say it should not be. The online survey of 1,513 Canadians was taken April 5 to 7, and has a 2.5 percent margin of error.
Palmyra arch rises again in London LONDON A replica of one of the most iconic monuments destroyed by Islamic State (IS) militants in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square Tuesday. The six-metre (20 feet) tall scale recreation of the Triumphal Arch is made of Egyptian marble and was carved in the northern Italian region of Tuscany using precision digital technology such as 3D modelling. The project is the brainchild of the Oxford-based Institute of Digital Technology (IDA), a joint venture between a group of international academics. “If something can be rebuilt in this fashion, then those images of things being blown up and destroyed forever, that’s undercut,” IDA director Roger Michel told AFP after the replica was revealed in front of a crowd of several hundred people. “Part of what we’re doing is to send the message that things that have been destroyed can be replaced and that act of destruction is not final,” he added. Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site northeast of Damascus known as the “Pearl
World Press Photo winner’s 1,000-mile walk for prize THE HAGUE A photographer who snapped up the 2016 World Press Photo Award with a haunting picture of refugees crossing a border at night was Tuesday nearing the end of a near 1,000-mile walk to collect his prize. “This
type of journey is something that I always wanted to do. But because I spent time with the refugees fleeing places like Syria, it has special significance,” Warren
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Richardson told AFP. The 47year-old Australian, who scooped the award with his grainy moonlit picture of a man passing a baby under a barbed wire fence, set off on foot on his remarkable journey in mid-February, leaving his home in Budapest for
Amsterdam. He maintains his aim is not to recreate the arduous trek being undertaken by hundreds of thousands who have arrived in Europe fleeing conflict in the hopes of starting a new life. But he did want to check up on some of the refugees he has photographed since they arrived on the continent’s shores last year. Richardson is expected to arrive in Amsterdam on Thursday after walking more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles), sleeping next to the road in his tent and using nothing but the sun, stars and the kindness of strangers for navigation.“The original plan was to walk from Budapest to
northern Norway and meet up with some of the refugee people I met in Hungary and elsewhere to see how they’re doing,” Richardson told AFP by telephone from somewhere near the northern Dutch city of Edam. “But the day I was leaving the phone rang and they told me I had won the World Press Photo Award. That changed things somewhat,” an out-of-breath sounding Richardson said as he made his way through some of the maze of small ditches and canals that dot the Dutch countryside. “So instead I am walking to Amsterdam which is actually just half-way to where I want to go,” the intrepid photographer said. He had set off armed with a backpack, a tent, a sleeping bag and his trusty camera. And virtually no money. On Sunday evening Richardson will be presented with a 10,000 euro ($11,300) cash prize by Dutch Prince Constantijn, brother of Dutch King WillemAlexander, at a prestigious invitation-only event in Amsterdam. On Tuesday morning however, a weather-beaten Richardson, who told AFP his “shoes were falling apart” was asking bypassers the way to Edam, about 23 kilometres north of Amsterdam.Richardson said a group of refugees were waiting for him in Edam to accompany him on the final stage to the Dutch capital after weeks of adventure on the road.
of the Desert”, was taken back by the Russian-backed Syrian army from IS fighters last month. The city was a major tourist destination before the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, known for its ancient ruins, colonnaded
in London and suggested that the replica arch could go on display in the modern city of Palmyra. “We need you, we need the international community,” he said. London Mayor Boris Johnson,
streets and 2,000-year-old temples. IS seized Palmyra last year and beheaded its 82-yearold former antiquities chief three months later. The militants destroyed some of the city’s most striking monuments and used the ancient amphitheatre as a venue for public executions. The remains of the Triumphal Arch, dating back to the era of Roman Emperor Severus in the third century, are now scattered on the ground, with only the two columns that once sustained the central crown still standing. Experts are divided on whether the ancient ruins can be restored. Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim has said the job could be done in five years but Annie Sartre-Fauriat, a member of a UNESCO group of Syrian heritage experts has voiced doubts. Abdulkarim repeated his appeal for international assistance for the restoration at Tuesday’s event
who spoke at the unveiling ceremony, told the crowd that they were “here in a spirit of defiance of the barbarians who destroyed the original”. “We’re here today in solidarity with the people of Syria,” added Johnson, who is known for his love of classical antiquity. “We all know that Syria’s future depends on the conservation and protection of Syria’s past.” The replica arch will be on display until Thursday before travelling to New York and Dubai for further public displays.
Nude food: London to get a naked restaurant London What’s the best dress code for enjoying a meal? If a new London restaurant is to be believed, it’s your birthday suit. It’s the naked truth, apparently. The restaurant, called The Bunyadi, already has a waiting list of more than 11,000, British media reported. It will be open for just three months from June 2016 with a section where clothing is optional. It’ll also offer a changing room for customers seeking to strip down. So how does the entire thing work? Is it just minute after minute of awkwardness? Here’s how it works. According to Britain’s Telegraph, “customers will be escorted to a changing room, asked to place their clothes in lockers and given a light gown. It is then up to them whether to remove the final item of clothing at the table. Tables will be partly obscured by bamboo screens and large napkins will presumably be
provided to prevent unfortunate burns.” That’s not all. The serving staff will also be naked. Clearly, giving them a dressing down for poor service may not work out.
“We believe people should get the chance to enjoy and experience a night out without any impurities: no chemicals, no artificial colours, no electricity, no gas, no phone - and even no clothes,” The Telegraph quoted the founder Seb Lyall as saying.
Issue - 664 (9)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Koh-i-Noor belongs to Pakistan, says British politician London The Koh-e-Noor saga taken another interesting turn as Indian-born British politician said the coveted diamond actually belonged to Pakistan.’If Koh-enoor belongs to anybody, it belongs to Pakistan,’ Lord Meghnad Desai said while speaking to India Today. Referring to the 19th-century Sikh king Ranjit Singh, who had given the stone to the British, Lord Desai reasoned that since Singh’s seat was in Lahore, the diamond should go to Pakistan.’Because his territory was mainly in, what is now Pakistan – in Lahore there is a
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Ranjit Singh museum - it will go back to wherever the Punjab kingdom had its seat and his seat was in Lahore. So I think if it belongs to anybody, it belongs to Pakistan,’ he said.Indian government said Tuesday that it will make all possible efforts to get back the Koh-e-Noor Diamond from Britain despite comments by New Delhi’s solicitor general that the priceless jewel should stay with the former colonial ruler. India has repeatedly demanded that Britain return the 105-carat diamond, which was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 and today sits on display as part of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.India’s solicitor general surprised many on Monday when he told the Supreme Court that his country should forgo its claims to the jewel because it was given to Britain as a gift by an Indian king in 1851, rather than stolen as many Indians today believe.The ministry said the stone was a ‘valued piece of art with strong roots in our nation’s history’ and that Prime Minister Narendra
Shakespeare more popular abroad than in Britain
LONDON On the 400th anniversary of his death, Shakespeare is more popular abroad than in Britain, according to a survey published on Tuesday which also found he makes a significant contribution to the UK’s prosperity and influence. The British Council, which commissioned the YouGov survey of 18,000 people from 15 countries, said the results showed that internationally Shakespeare is widely known, liked and understood. All the world’s a stage, in fact. But he was more popular as a percentage of people - 65 percent - in non-English speaking countries such as China, Turkey and Mexico than in countries using the tongue he helped so much to develop, such as Britain, Australia and the United States.The Bard was not dissed too much at home, however, being liked, understood and still regarded as relevant by 59 percent.“Four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare’s work continues to play a vital role in educating and entertaining people around the world,” said the Council’s Rosemary Hilhorst in a
statement.The Council, which fosters cultural relations between Britain and other countries, said Shakespeare’s influence internationally helps generate a positive attitude towards the UK. Over a third of people questioned said Shakespeare made them feel more positive about Britain in general, with the greatest number of respondents holding this view in Brazil (57 percent) and India (62 percent). The British Council said his popularity had a direct influence on Britain’s economy, not just in terms of attracting visitors to Shakespeare’s theatres but also contributing to the country’s standing in the world which had the knock-on effect of attracting tourists. William Shakespeare’s work, which includes 38 plays and 154 sonnets has been translated into over 80 languages and is performed throughout the world. The precise date of his death is not known but his funeral was held on April 25, 1616.As theatre fans prepare to mark the anniversary, auction house Christie’s on Tuesday presented to media the first four folios of Shakespeare’s collected works to be auctioned next month.
Modi was determined to get it back. A lawyer in Pakistan last year filed a court petition calling for the stone’s return. The Kohe-Noor is set in the crown worn by Queen Elizabeth, the mother of the reigning monarch, at the coronation of her husband George VI in 1937, and was placed on her coffin at her funeral in 2002. The Duchess of Cambridge, who last week visited India with her husband, Prince William, will wear the crown on official occasions when she becomes queen consort. William is second in line to the British throne. Moreover, India’s government was accused Wednesday of reversing its stance on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, after vowing to reclaim the priceless gem just days after the solicitor general said it was gifted to Britain.The 108-carat Koh-i-Noor gem, which came into British hands during the colonial era, is the subject of a historic ownership dispute and has been claimed by at least four countries including India. But India’s Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar surprised many on
Monday when he said the stone was not stolen, and instead 19thcentury Sikh king Ranjit Singh had given it to the British. It is now set in the crown that was worn by Queen Elizabeth’s mother until her death in 2002, and is on public display in the Tower of London. The government said Kumar had merely been explaining the history of the diamond to the Supreme Court as well as previous administrations’ views on the gem being a gift.In a statement released late Tuesday, the government said it would ‘make all possible efforts to bring back’ the diamond ‘in an amicable manner’. ‘The Government of India remains hopeful for an amicable outcome whereby India gets back a valued piece of art with strong roots in our nation’s history,’ it also said.Kumar had been responding in court to a petition from a non-
governmental organisation seeking the diamond’s return. The main opposition Congress party, which also supports the gem’s return, accused the government of a flipflop after Kumar’s comments sparked anger from various political groups.’On #KohinoorDiamond, #ModiSarkar has not just done a flip-flop. It has done a full flop,’ Congress party spokesman Sanjay Jha said on Twitter, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. A leader of the Hindu nationalist RSS, the ideological fountainhead of Modi’s ruling party, this week declared the diamond ‘India’s property’.The stone was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 after the Anglo-Sikh wars in which Britain gained control of the Sikh empire of the Punjab, which is now split between Pakistan and India.
British astronaut runs marathon in space LONDON British astronaut Tim Peake ran a marathon in space in record time, strapped into a treadmill on the International Space Station as thousands ran the London Marathon below. Peake opened the race by counting down in a video message as runners waited at the start line in the British capital. He then joined them 400 kilometres above earth on a simultaneous feat on board the space station, wearing weights on his body to counter the zero gravity conditions. “Hello #London! Fancy a run?” Peake wrote on Twitter before the race, accompanied by a photograph of London from above. He followed up with a message sent after he completed the marathon, in which he noted that while he had run the 42 kilometres the International Space Station had travelled almost 100,000 kilometres. “Congratulations to everyone in #LondonMarathon & #teamastronaut,” he wrote. “Gonna sleep well tonight!” Peake is the second person to complete a marathon in space, after US astronaut Sunita Williams ran the Boston Marathon on the ISS in 2007 in a time of four hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds. But Peake managed to achieve the fastest ever marathon in space by making a time of three
hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds, according to estimated times posted on the website of the European Space Agency. The Guinness World Records announced that it was a new
was taken by fellow Kenyan Jemima Sumgong, who finished in two hours, 22 minutes and 58 seconds despite earlier hitting her head in a heavy fall. Peake, 44, is the first Briton to travel to the
record. “Guinness World Records can confirm that ESA Astronaut Tim Peake has achieved a brand new Guinness World Records title for the Fastest marathon in orbit,” the records body wrote on its website. Peake had been helped by a training regime onboard the space station and an iPad showing a moving image of the run. Back on earth in the British capital, more than 39,000 people completed the London Marathon, the biggest number ever as the event marked its 36th edition. The men’s race winner was Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, who finished in two hours, three minutes and five seconds - the second fastest time ever recorded. The women’s title
International Space Station. He blasted off in December for a sixmonth mission that has generated considerable excitement in Britain. “It was an unforgettable experience,” he said of the marathon in a statement issued by the race organisers.
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Issue - 664 (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*** Brahmin parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 26 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, Canadian Citizen, pretty, family oriented, university graduate. The boy should be Canadian/ American, Immigrant/Citizen, Professionally qualified, employed from good family background. Boys on student visa for higher studies (university level) may also be considered. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: : bhupp1958@gmail.com Or Call : 905-956-2392 (or leave Message) ***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 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 ***664** 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 *** 664*** Jat Sikh Dhaliwal parents seek a suitable match for their son, 26 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, handsome, vegetarian, living in India, B.Sc. nursing degree holder, running his own successful business. The girl should be Canadian/American, Citizen/Immigrant, good looking,
26 April - 2 May 2016
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her field. The boy should be Jatt Sikh, Canadian Citizen, educated and professionally employed. Call : 604-522-4470 ***664*** Tonk Kshatriya Rakhra parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 29 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, Canadian Citizen, Graduate in general Accounting professionally settled with a reputed company. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen, educated, beautiful and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: simpoorakhra@hotmail.com Or Call : 647-990-9093 ***664*** Tonk Kshatriya Well settled Family Invites Matrimonial alliance for their US born son 26, 5’-7” educated, registered Respiratory therapist, working in reputed Hospital in U.S.A. The girl should be educated, beautiful, family oriented, well-versed in both cultures, preferred from medical field. Please send your bio-data & recemt picture to: tjsingh55@gmail.com ***664*** 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 ***664*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, Canadian Citizen, born in 1986, 5’5” tall, beautiful, University graduate, employed in a reputed company. The boy should be professionally employed/ businessman, family oriented from Canada. Prefered Vancouver area. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: : ibr@live.ca Or Call : 1-604-727-7663 ***664*** Ravidasia parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 33 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, Canadian Citizen, working as a nurse, family oriented. The boy should be highly qualified, professionally employed, Canadian Citizen, between 30-35 yrs. old, with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: : charan1949@yahoo.com ***664*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 32 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, born and raised in Canada, degree in business accounting, well settled in job and well versed in both cultures. The boy should be born/raised in Canada, well educated, professionally employed and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: : baidwan.kuldip@yahoo.com Or Call : 647-625-6929 ***664*** Sikh Rathore Rajput family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 24 yrs. old, 5’-2” tall, B.Sc. Nursing, Working as a Nurse in
Hospital in Patiala (India). The boy should be Canadian/American Immigrant or Citizen, Educated & Well settled. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: : kulwantrathorsingh@gmail.com Or Call : 416-856-0984 Or : 647909-8484 ***664*** Jat Sikh parents invites matrimonial alliance for their son, 24 yrs. old, 5’-10” all, diploma in Computer and Network from Humber College, now on work permit and working as a Computer Network technician, handsome, clean shaven, vegetarian, nonsmoker/non-drinker. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen with family values. Parents govt. employees in India. Only sister married and well settled in Canada. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: nav_t@hotmail.com Or Call : 647531-4760 ***664*** Jat Sikh parents seek a compatible match for their Non drinker, P. Eng. son, 05/1987 born, 5'-7" tall, family oriented, Non-vegetarian, B.Eng. from Ryerson and M.Eng. from University of Toronto, well employed with an Engineering Company in Toronto, drawing handsome salary. The girl should be slim, university graduate and well settled. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: rdrandhawa@yahoo.com or call : 647 294 9721 *** 664*** Well established, well respected, Ramgarhia Sikh family invite matrimonial alliance for their son, born and raised in Canada, 29 yrs. old, 5'-6" tall, 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 ***664** Jat Sikh Grewal parents seeking a suitable match for their son, 36 yrs. old, 6’-1” tall, Canadian Citizen, MBA degree holder, working with a reputable bank. The girl should be educated, professionally employed and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: :grewal2016@yahoo.ca Or Call : 1-604-765-9214 ***664** Seeking a suitable match from USA/Canada, for a very attractive 47 yrs. old, South Indian educated woman, American Citizen, Master’s degree from US, well settled with excellent job. Looking for an educated, honest person with good family values. Reply with details and a recent picture to Email : partnersearch16@yahoo.com ***664** Tonk Kashatrya Mangleek girl, 27 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, B.Sc. Nursing living in India. The boy should be educated, Canadian/American Immigrant, Mangleek. Please send
you bio-data to: rozy_b_2007@hotmail.com Or Call : 905-578-3319 ***664** Jat Sikh parents invite a matrimonial alliance for their daughter, DOB 1983, 5’ 5” tall, Lawyer, Working with a reputed law firm in B.C., beautiful and family oriented. The boy should be well educated, professionally employed, clean shaven with family values. Please Call : 1-250-545-9063 ***664** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their only son, 23 yrs. old, 6’ tall, Post graduate, handsome, non-smoker, nondrinker belongs to a well to do land lord family of Muktsar, currently residing in India. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen with family values. Boy’s nanaka family is well settled in Canada. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: : jaspinderdhillon@gmail.com Or Call : 647-588-1345 ***664*** Kamboj Sikh family looking for a suitable match for their son, 28 yrs. old, 6’ tall, Canadian Immigrant, Software developer, working with a reputable company in GTA. The girl should be beautiful, well educated, professionally employed and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : singh_n56@yahoo.com Or Call : 647-430-1077 ***664*** Goswami Puri parents seek a suitable match from a sound background family in India or Canada for their handsome, Canadian Citizen son, 5'-8" tall, Born September 1992 in India & graduated in Canada, working in a Courier Company in Vancouver & holding Class one licence. Caste no bar. Student visa /work permit can also be considered. Please your bio-data & recent picture to: goswami1957@gmail.com or Call 778-680-4440. (6-8 pm weekends & 2-4 pm Friday) *** 664*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 32 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, beautiful, Master’s degree in English, working in a top ranking bank of Canada, divorced after short marriage. The boy should be well educated, professionally employed, Canadian Citizen and with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data: gill.roop@hotmail.com Or Call : 1-604-615-4316 Or : 1-639-317-7836 ***664** Jat Sikh family seeking USA/ Canada based match for their beautiful daughter, 27 yrs. old, 5’4” tall, well settled, born and raised in USA, Master of Science in Nursing-Nurse Practitioner/ Bachelor of Science in Nursing, well cultured in both English and Punjabi with traditional values (Non drinker, non smoker). The boy should be Jat Sikh and equally qualified. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: dhaliwal.sr85@gmail.com Or Call : 1-754-673-8388 ***664***
Issue - 664 (11)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Chinese Internet mogul pledges $2b donation BEIJING The founder of China’s Internet giant Tencent will donate $2 billion in shares to charity, the company said - one of the largest gifts ever given in a country whose new super-rich have no tradition of philanthropy. Pony Ma, Tencent’s chief executive, will give the shares to a new foundation for mainland projects in health, education and environmental conservation, among other issues, his company said. The donation - which will vest over several years appears to be the largest ever by a single individual in China, where there is great public mistrust of charitable organisations battered by years of scandal. “After 10 years of exploration and participation in philanthropic activities, I increasingly feel that a longer-term and more organised way is needed to give back to society,” Ma said. Pony Ma is the 34th richest man in the world with a net worth of $20.2 billion, according to Bloomberg’s ranking of billionaires.Greater China surpassed the US last year as home to the world’s largest population of billionaires, according
to luxury publisher Hurun, but top mainland businessmen fall far behind their Western counterparts in corporate
social responsibility. In 2014, Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, co-founders of rival Internet behemoth Alibaba, pledged to establish a philanthropic trust funded with shares in the company estimated to be worth $3 billion at the time.But the country’s most generous donor last year was He Xiangjian, founder of appliance maker Midea, who gave 400 million yuan ($61.7 million), according to data compiled by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. China is the world’s second-largest economy but ranks 144th out of 145 countries for giving, according to a study last year by the Charities Aid
Foundation. Chinese citizens donated just $16 billion in 2014, according to the most recent data from the China
Charity Information Centre - less than 0.2 percent of annual GDP. In the US in 2014, giving accounted for 2.1 percent of GDP, according to the National Philanthropic Trust. The contrast is a consequence of China’s rapid wealth accumulation in recent years, with no time for a charitable culture to develop, explained Anke Schrader of business research group The Conference Board. “In the US, you have multiple generations of entrepreneurs, whereas in China you really only have the first generation just now maturing and wondering as they get older about how they’re going to redistribute their
Better to dance in bars than beg on streets: Supreme Court to Maharashtra Rejecting a petition filed by the Maharashtra government against dance bars in the state, the Supreme Court today said it is better to dance for a living than beg on streets. “It is better to dance than
keeps looking for an excuse to ban the dance bars. “If the women earn in a dance bar, it is their constitutional right,” they said. The Supreme Court directed the state government to complete the po-
to go to streets for begging or earning livelihood through unacceptable means,” the top court said as it pulled up the Maharashtra government for not issuing licences to the dance bars. An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Mishra and Justice Shiv Kirti Singh said the Maharashtra government
lice verification process of dance bar employees and issue them licences within a week. “Why should dance bars have separate NOCs from the health department when they have the ones for hotels or restaurants?” the court asked. The Supreme Court also asked the Devendra Fadnavis government to
remove the clause that bans dance bars situated within the radius of a kilometre from a school. Last week, the Supreme Court had taken a strong note of non-compliance of its order asking Mumbai Police to grant licenses to dance bars within ten days after they complied with the modified conditions, and sought the presence of the concerned police officer before it. Earlier, the court had rejected certain conditions like providing live CCTV footage to police on the performances in the dance bars and asked Maharashtra government to grant licenses to owners within 10 days after they complied with modified guidelines. The bench had also granted three days to dance bar owners to comply with the modified conditions.
wealth,” she told AFP Thursday. China’s highly centralised public welfare system and its authorities’ close control over the nonprofit sector also give many the impression that the government should be in charge of social issues. “A lot of citizens perceive NGOs as an extension of the state - not really as a separate, independent third sector - and it really doesn’t encourage giving,” Schrader added. Two of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, are noted philanthropists themselves. They hosted a banquet for China’s super rich in 2010 to encourage giving, sparking debate when reports said wealthy invitees were reluctant to attend for fear they would be pressured for money. The country passed its first charity law in March, which sought to increase public confidence in giving while tightening its control of the sector. It will take effect on September 1. But analysts say the legal framework for charitable trusts is still inadequate, with both donors and recipients potentially liable for tax.
World’s oldest message in a bottle discovered LONDON A 108-year-old postcard offering a shilling in exchange for its return to an English marine research institute is now officially the world’s oldest message in a bottle after being recovered in Germany.The Plymouth Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association (MBA), which received the card, said this week that the bottle had smashed the old record of 99 years and 43 days in the Guinness World Records. It was discovered by retired German postal worker Marianne Winkler while on holiday on Germany’s North Frisian islands, 108 years and 138 days after it was thrown into the North Sea off the English coast by distinguished marine biologist George Parker Bidder on November 30, 1906.Winkler followed the message inside reading ‘break the bottle’, and found a postcard inside asking to be returned to the MBA in Plymouth, on England’s south coast. ‘The postcard asked the finder to fill out information about where the bottle was found, if it was trawled up, what the boat’s name was, and asked once the
postcard was completed for it to be returned to a George Parker Bidder in Plymouth for a reward of one shilling,’ said Guy Baker of the MBA. When Winkler wrote a letter
addressed to Bidder ‘our receptionist was somewhat confused’. Bidder released a total of 1,020 bottles between 1904 and 1906.He found that many bottles that sank to the bottom of the southern North Sea washed up in England, while floating bottles moved towards mainland Europe. From this, he deduced for the first time that the North Sea’s deep sea current flowed from east to west. The MBA is still an internationally renowned research institution, and Bidder served as its president between 1939-45 before his death in 1954, aged 91. Honouring its promise, the MBA forwarded a thank you letter and an old shilling piece to the finder.
Issue - 664 (12)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Tokyo cat cafe shut down for animal neglect ‘Louis Vuitton fried chicken’ TOKYO A Tokyo “cat cafe” has been raided by health inspectors and ordered to close its doors due to animal neglect after complaints about nasty smells coming from the
spokeswoman from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health told AFP the cafe had received several warnings over hygiene standards, before the patience of
therefore forced to order them to cease business.” Inspectors who went to the cafe in Tokyo’s Sumida ward found more than 60 cats crammed into a confined space of just 30 square metres (320 square feet) - despite it having applied to keep just 10 of the animals - after they bred due to a lack of cages. “There were more cats than cages,” added Iwamoto. “The cages they did have were not properly controlled so they just multiplied.” The inspectors also discovered more than 40 cats displaying cold symptoms and pointed out there was insufficient space or opportunity for them to exercise.
CHARGED premises. The “Neko no Te” (cat’s paw) cafe - one of many in Tokyo where guests can stroke the fluffy felines while sipping on a cappuccino - was visited by authorities after the cooped-up kitties bred rapidly and began showing signs of illness, Tokyo officials said Friday. A
authorities snapped and they revoked its licence for 30 days. “We issued repeated requests but there was no improvement,” said Yuriko Iwamoto. “The property wasn’t being cleaned properly and it was beginning to smell very bad,” she added. “In line with animal welfare laws we were
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China firms accelerate toward driverless future BEIJING Chinese manufacturers and Internet giants are in hot pursuit of their US counterparts in the race to design driverless cars, but the route to market is still littered with potholes. While Google has been working on autonomous vehicles for at least six years, with the likes of BMW, Volvo and Toyota in its wake, more recently Chinese businesses have entered the race, from Internet search
technologies, unveiling Wednesday in Beijing an electric car that can park itself and be summoned to its owner’s location via smartphone. And late last year Baidu tested China’s first locally designed driverless vehicle, a modified BMW, with a 30 kilometre ride through the streets of Beijing. Despite China’s relatively late entry to the field, analysts believe the country could become a key market for driverless vehicles
giant Baidu to manufacturer Changan. Last week, ahead of the Beijing Auto Show opening on Monday, two self-driving Changan cars made a mountainous 2,000 kilometre (1,200 mile) journey from Chongqing in the southwest to the capital in the country’s first long-distance autonomous vehicle test. Another Chinese Internet giant, LeECO, is also venturing into autonomous
thanks to a more favourable regulatory and consumer environment.The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) forecasts that global sales of driverless cars will reach 12 million by 2035, with more than a quarter sold in China. Vehicles which automatically adjust their routes in response to real-time traffic information could solve chronic gridlock in China’s major cities, BCG’s Xavier Mosquet told AFP. ‘If they believe this would ease traffic, Chinese authorities will do all they can to promote the development of this technology and then its use,’ he said.Public concerns over the safety of driverless cars are far lower than elsewhere, according to a survey by Roland Berger consultants in 2015, which found 96 percent of Chinese would consider an autonomous vehicle for almost all everyday driving, compared with
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58 percent of Americans and Germans.In a country notorious for accidents, the promise of better safety through autonomous technologies could also be appealing. The ultimate prize, say analysts, will be when mass transport firms such as taxi-hailing giant Uber, or its Chinese rival Didi, can deploy huge fleets of robot taxis. ‘The real payoff for truly driverless technology will come when cars on the road are no longer owned by people, but are owned by fleet management services,’ said Bill Russo, managing director of the consultancy firm Gao Feng.’That’s where you want to think about taking the driver out of the equation. Mobility on demand is hugely popular here.’ In the Roland Berger survey, 51 percent of Chinese car owners said they would prefer to use robot taxis rather than buy a new vehicle themselves, compared with 26 percent of Americans.With a ready market, China may soon become the top location for companies to refine driverless technology. Swedish manufacturer Volvo, owned by China’s Geely since 2010, this month announced plans to test drive up to 100 of its vehicles on Chinese roads this year. Changan, a partner of Ford, is set to roll out commercial autonomous vehicles for motorways from 2018, while mass production of driverless city cars is projected to begin in 2025.Baidu, meanwhile, says it will launch self-driving buses by 2018, which will operate on fixed routes in select cities in China. Like Google, the Internet giant already owns detailed roadmaps and has experience in electronic security, and a company spokeswoman told AFP it had had ‘very positive feedback’ from the government.
owner fined in S Korea SEOUL A South Korean court has ordered a fried chicken restaurant owner to pay 14.5 million won ($12,500) for refusing to comply with a ban on using the luxury Louis Vuitton brand name for his outlet, a report said Tuesday. The owner, identified only by his surname Kim, had called his restaurant in Seoul, “LOUIS VUITON DAK” - a play on the word “tongdak” which means whole chicken in Korean. He also ran up a logo very similar to that of the French fashion house and had it printed on his napkins and fried chicken takeout cartons. None too pleased with Mr. Kim’s ingenuity, Louis Vuitton filed a suit in September last year, saying the use of the company’s name to sell fried chicken was damaging to the brand. A district court in Seoul agreed and in October ordered Kim to
desist and threatened a 500,000 won-per-day fine for noncompliance.Kim responded by tinkering with the restaurant name and came up with
“chaLouisvui tondak” which he unsuccessfully argued was different enough to comply with the court ruling.Louis Vuitton complained again and this week and the court ordered Kim to pay the fashion house 14.5 million won for the 29 days that the amended name was displayed. “Although he changed the name with different spacing, the two names sounded almost the same,” the Korea Times quoted the judge as saying.
Two Apple services blocked in China BEIJING Apple confirmed Friday its iTunes Movies and iBooks service have become unavailable in China, after reports authorities ordered them to be taken offline. “We hope to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman for
Apple, the US technology giant, said in a statement. The services, launched less than seven months ago in China, were shut down last week on demand from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the New York Times cited unnamed sources as saying.
Norwegian fighter jet helps save dying patient
OSLO Quick-thinking medical staff in Norway saved a patient’s life by calling in an F-16 fighter jet to whisk live-saving medical equipment from one hospital to another, media reports said Friday. The patient was fighting for his life and without a special lung and heart procedure called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) he would die. But the hospital in the town of Bodo in central Norway, where he was being treated, had neither the equipment nor the skills to carry out the complex last-ditch treatment. A hospital in Trondheim, about 450 kilometres to the south, did, however, have a machine available. Staff there contacted the air force on April 4 for help in transporting the equipment - a
request that came in just as two F-16 fighter jets were getting ready to take off from an airbase near Trondheim, the reports said.”They didn’t ask any questions, except for what size the machine was,” Anders Wetting Carlsen, chief doctor at Trondheim’s Saint Olaf hospital, told AFP. In a stroke of good luck one of the fighter jets was equipped with an external hold that allowed it to transport equipment. The machine was loaded onto the aircraft, which made for Bodo at top speed.”Usually we cover that distance in 35 minutes,” air squadron head Borge Kleppe told Norwegian daily Verdens Gang. “But given the special nature of the cargo, the pilot stepped on it and arrived at the destination less than 25 minutes later,” he added.
Issue - 664 (13)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Myanmar’s ‘long-necked’ women promoting tourism PANPET Wearing a stack of bronze neck coils - a sign of beauty for her Kayan tribe - Mu Par dreams of a time when all “long-necked” women can return to Myanmar from Thailand where they are a tourist attraction. For years Kayan women and girls have been driven across the border by poverty and conflict to earn money posing in holidaymakers’ pictures in purpose-built Thai villages decried by rights campaigners as “human zoos”. Now several have returned to their remote
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native Panpet area in Kayah state, Myanmar, with an entrepreneurial plan to reverse the flow of departures as their once junta-ruled homeland emerges from decades of solitude. Mu Par came home just a few months ago having saved enough money after 14 years working in Thailand. She now runs one of a dozen neat little shacks selling locally-made wooden dolls, scarves and individual bronze neck rings - giving tourists a more ethical window into their unique culture. Lining up a neat row of handmade “longneck dolls” at a new craft market, Mu Par hopes to entice tourists to her eastern Myanmar homeland, and provide for her four children, aged between four and 15. “In Myanmar my children can attend school and also I am happy to be among my relatives,” the 33-year-old told AFP, as a handful of tourists milled through the area. Once the preserve of intrepid
Fossilised tooth of gigantic ‘killer’ whale found
travellers as it languished under junta rule, Myanmar is now a hot new tourist draw. Arrivals have doubled in the past
cluster of five hamlets grouped together to build the market.They share the profits from the 5,000 kyat ($4) visitor
five years and numbers are expected to surge under a new government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party. Much of tiny Kayah state was off limits to foreigners until recently. Authorities now hope the region’s emerald hills and languid waterways will become the country’s next top travel destination. Mu Par and her neighbours from Panpet’s
entrance fee. “If we can get many tourists here, we want all the Kayan girls in Thailand to come back,” she told AFP.From as young as five years old, Kayan girls are given up to ten neck rings to wear, they then add a new one approximately every year until adulthood. The practice, which gives them a giraffe-like appearance, painfully compresses their shoulders and collarbones,
rather than actually stretching their necks. A grown woman can wear as many as 25 rings, weighing a total of five kilos (11 pounds). One local legend suggests women began wearing the rings to protect themselves against tigers, who once roamed the region in large numbers and bite the necks of their prey. Men in the village also used to wear face-shaped masks on the backs of their heads in a bid to ward off tiger ambushes, according to local people, although the practice has since died out.Fewer women now wear the coils, which force them to keep looking straight ahead. Families often cannot afford the costly, handcrafted rings, while many young girls feel they are an impediment to getting a job outside of their region. The women can remove their rings with the help of a specialist and their shoulders and collarbones can eventually return to normal, depending on the age when they are taken off. Several dozen women and girls still wear the traditional bands, including those at the new handicraft market in Panpet.
French court bans smoking area in high school
SYDNEY A huge, five-million-year-old whale tooth has been discovered on an Australian beach, providing the first evidence of the now extinct killer sperm whale outside the Americas. The 30centimetre-long (12-inch) fossilised tooth, which is larger than that of a Tyrannosaurus rex, was found by a fossil enthusiast at Beaumaris Bay near Melbourne in February. “After I found the tooth I just sat down and stared at it in disbelief,” Murray Orr said after the find was announced on Thursday by Museum Victoria, to whom he has donated the tooth. “I knew this was an important find that needed to be shared with everyone.” Museum Victoria said
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the unique fossil belonged to an extinct species of “killer sperm whale” which would have measured up to 18 metres (60 feet) in length and weighed some 40 tonnes. It is the only example ever found outside the Americas, it added. “Until this find at Beaumaris all fossils of giant killer sperm whales were found on the west coast of South and North America,” Erich Fitzgerald, a paleontologist at the museum, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The museum said the tooth, which dates from the Pliocene epoch of some five million years ago, was not only larger than those of a living sperm whale but also of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Unlike today’s sperm whales, which eat a diet of squid and fish, their extinct relatives are thought to have used their bone-crushing teeth to prey on much larger animals, including fellow whales. “If we only had today’s deepdiving, squid-sucking sperm whales to go on, we could not predict that just five million years ago there were giant predatory sperm whales with immense teeth that hunted other whales,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.
CERGY-PONTOISE A French court ruled Thursday that a high school outside Paris was not allowed to create a smoking zone on its premises, a measure taken by many schools after the jihadist attack on the capital in November. The move was a bid to stop high school pupils crowding on pavements to grab a quick smoke between classes, which authorities and some parents feared would make them a target for potential attacks. The Paul Lapie high school in Courbevoie is one of three taken to court by anti-smoking groups, who are up in arms at teenagers being given the right to smoke in schools a decade after it was banned. The administrative court said the school’s principal must “ensure the respect of public health laws banning smoking in school establishments.” Pressure group Non-Smokers’ Rights (DNF), which filed the complaint along with another anti-tobacco group, said the ruling would set a precedent. “This is the confirmation of the illegality of all smoking zones in high schools, including in open air spaces,” the DNF’s Stephen Lequet said. Shortly after the November 13 attacks on Paris nightspots and the national stadium which left 130 dead, the Islamic State group issued threats against French schools.Under the state of emergency imposed after the attacks, a circular signed by both the education ministry and interior ministry was sent to
schools urging them to avoid having pupils gather outside their premises. Some schools then sent out letters to parents about new dedicated smoking areas,
the union had “noted” the court’s ruling, but he maintained it was “unrealistic” to ask pupils not to smoke during school hours. “We have been placed in a difficult
even specifying that ashtrays would be provided. However the official rules have been clouded with confusion, with conflicting guidelines from the education ministry. Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said last week that “during this period of heightened security, high school students must simply be asked not to smoke”. “According to the minister it is a difficult balance and we must remain pragmatic,” a spokeswoman at the education ministry told AFP earlier this week. Vallaud-Belkacem’s remarks were slammed by the main school principals’ union SNPDEN, which said it felt “abandoned” by the education ministry. SNPDEN national secretary Joel Lamoise told AFP
situation, this circular allowed us to create special zones inside schools, we feel abandoned now,” he said.Lamoise has argued that “the terrorist risk is much greater right now than the health risk. Between two diseases we are trying to deal with the worst.” A study in June 2015 showed that one in three 17-year-olds smoke daily in France.The mother of a 16-yearold boy in the central city of Lyon, who is also a lung specialist, has filed criminal charges against his school in a separate case. She told AFP that security fears were “not a reason to let them smoke inside. We are not going to let them bring a bottle of vodka inside because it is dangerous to drink on the pavement.”
Issue - 664 (14)
26 April - 2 May 2016
India’s beef politics ‘troubling’, Islamic State claims Bangladesh mosque attack says former Singapore minister Dhaka The Islamic State terrorist group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a packed mosque of minority Ahmadi
adhere to a mystical form of Islam - have also been attacked and killed in recent months, and two Christian priests have survived attacks claimed by
community during Friday prayers in northwestern Bangladesh, in which 10 people were wounded. US-based monitoring group SITE reported that IS, which has claimed responsibility for many recent attacks in Bangladesh, said it targeted worshippers at the mosque in Bagmara town, some 250 kilometres from Dhaka, according to bdnews24 online. The monitoring group quoted IS as saying that the bomber detonated an explosive belt at a mosque of the “polytheist Qadiani sect,” a derogatory term for Ahmadi Muslims, the report said. SITE had reported IS claiming credit for several previous militant attacks. The attack came as Muslim-majority Bangladesh celebrated the birth anniversaries of Prophets Mohammad and Jesus Christ amid festivity and tight security. “The explosion killed the suicide bomber and injured 10 others,” a police officer on Friday said.The attacker had exploded the bomb he had concealed under his garments.In recent months, homegrown militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and IS have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on a shrine and a mosque of minority Shia Muslims in northern Bangladesh.Members of other minority groups, including Sufis - who
Islamist militants. Bagmara area is the hometown and stronghold of outlawed JMB kingpin Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, who was executed along with three other top leaders of the Islamist group in 2007. Bangladesh has seen several violent incidents in recent months, including attacks on foreigners and secular bloggers claimed by the IS, although the government says the attacks have been carried out by local Islamist radical groups. Last week, six people were injured when two Molotov cocktails exploded at a mosque inside a major naval base in Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong after Friday prayers. The attacks have alarmed the international community and raised concerns that religious extremism is growing in the traditionally moderate South Asian nation. Islamic State sanctioned organ harvesting in fatwa: US intelligence The terrorist group Islamic State has sanctioned the harvesting of human organs in a previously undisclosed ruling by the group’s Islamic scholars, raising concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts.The ruling, contained in a January 31, 2015 document reviewed by Reuters, says that taking organs from a living
captive to save a Muslim’s life, even if it is fatal for the captive, is “permissible”. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the document. US officials say it was among a trove of data and other information obtained by US special forces in a raid in eastern Syria in May. According to the document, which has been translated by the US government, Islamic State leaders have approved harvesting human organs to save Muslims as an “apostate’s life and organs don’t have to be respected and may be taken with impunity.” The document is in the form of a fatwa, or religious ruling, from the Islamic State’s Research and Fatwa Committee. “Organs that end the captive’s life if removed: The removal of that type is also not prohibited,” Fatwa Number 68 says, according to the translation. The document does not offer any definitive proof that Islamic State actually engages in organ harvesting or organ trafficking. But it does provide religious sanction for doing so under the group’s harsh interpretation of Islam - which is rejected by most Muslims. Previously, Iraq has accused Islamic State of harvesting human organs and trafficking them for profit. The document does not define “apostate,” though the Islamic State has killed or imprisoned nonMuslims, such as Christians, and Shiite Muslims, as well as Sunni Muslims who don’t follow its extremist views. Documents shared with allies US officials say the records that were seized have given the US government a deep look into how Islamic State organises, raises funds and codifies laws for its followers.
Mallya lives in $15 mn British mansion bought from Hamilton’s dad New Delhi Liqour baron Vijay Mallya, who owes Rs 9,000 crore to various banks in the country, has been living at a $15 million mansion in England’s Hertfordshire county, The Sunday Times reported. The mansion was bought from the father of Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One champion, by a company with offshore links, the
daily said. An arrest warrant for Mallya, 60, nicknamed “the King of Good Times”, was issued by an Indian court last week after he
flew to Britain. The use of companies with offshore links to buy properties in Britain has come under increasing scrutiny as the practice can allow the real owner or beneficiary to remain hidden sometimes for tax purposes. Such companies collectively hold up to $245 billion of British property, much of it in London and the home counties.
Singapore The politics surrounding consumption of beef in India refuses to die down and has caused anxiety even outside the country, with Singapore’s former Foreign Minister George Yeo saying he is “troubled” by the nervousness in India over the issue. Yeo, who is now a chancellor of Bihar’s Nalanda University that is being rebuilt as a global institution, writes in a lengthy foreword to veteran journalist Ravi Velloor’s new book how he was once advised by a well-wisher to delete a Facebook post that had a picture of him eating beef noodles. The 61-year-old politician said he was “troubled” when a former Congress minister’s son advised him to delete the post. “I had uploaded a picture of my wife and I eating pho (Vietnamese beef noodles) in Harvard Square,” wrote Yeo. “The son of former Congress leader thought it might elicit a negative response in India to my role as the new chancellor of Nalanda University. “I knew he meant well. I did not follow his advice of course but his nervous-
ness troubled me,” he wrote in the foreword to “India Rising: Fresh Hopes, New Fears” which was launched here last week. Yeo said the tolerance and celebration of diversity in the Indian civilisation was
It also claims that Modi, then a newly-installed chief minister of Gujarat, had reached out to all three neighbouring states for police reinforcements after rioting started but help was declined to him.
an important reason for India’s less violent ways. As long as it stays rooted in this tradition, its contribution to the world will be much greater than just the political and economic, he said. Velloor says that the world would have looked at Narendra Modi differently had the ill-fated train that was burnt in 2002 in Godhra, Gujarat, been attacked a 100 kms earlier while it was still in Madhya Pradesh.
After that initial stumble, Gujarat had enjoyed a long period of communal peace under Modi, says the book, which was released by Singapore Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. However, the book - that portrays the rise of India as a global power - says that though there is a growing sense of excitement about the country, its closest friends abroad have started to worry about strains to its secular fabric.
Issue 664 (15)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Boman Irani and Vir Das’s film is all pain, no pleasure Director: Akashdeep Cast: Boman Irani, Vir Das, Neha Dhupia, Lisa Haydon, Sanjai Mishra, Johnny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Tinnu Anand, Vijay Raaz Ratings: 1 Star Recovering from the mindnumbing assault of Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 and Mastizaade was hard enough, now audiences
have to deal with yet another deadly blow in Santa Banta. Watching Santa Banta will leave viewers asking relevant questions. Were Santa Banta jokes
so bad that they were good? Did they never ever make us laugh? That’s the effect of this film which follows two-good-for-nothing Punjabis - Santa (Boman Irani) and Banta (Vir Das) - who are passed off as secret agents. Sent on a mission to rescue the Indian High Commissioner of Fiji, the fools court trouble consistently but the ensu-
ing situations rarely make you giggle let alone draw a hearty laugh. “Humpe haske thodi si hasee aa jaati hai [They get a few laughs by laughing
at us],” says one of the heroes. Sadly, there is no such joy to be derived from the film. Instead the film tests the limits of patience whenever the two leads, who are presented as the desi Dumb and Dumber, occupy the frame. The exchanges are never amusing and mostly exasperating especially with Banta’s tendency to ask silly questions that drag the conversations. Santa Banta is the kind of film where supporting characters have to remind viewers that the heroes are “majakiyaan” [funny] which they clearly are not. Nothing makes sense here including the sudden shift to animated sketches and the ghastly use of green screen. The Sikhs, who early on are wooed with descriptors such as “dilwale” and “khushmijaaz”, will be bummed after watching this film for it makes them appear the unfunniest people to be around with. The Nepalis aren’t spared
either as Johnny Lever plays Choosa, a wannabe gangster who wears a skirt, a ridiculous moustache and is but obviously mistaken for Bahadur the watchman. Vijay Raaz gets to recite the one memorable one-liner of the film. A rotund Ram Kapoor is a sweaty antiques dealer, who makes viewers wonder is Fiji really that hot and where his make-up man was when he was most needed. Neha Dhupia screams her lungs out, perhaps venting her frustrations on being part of a bore of a film. Poor Lisa Hayden takes her part of a secret agent so seriously that she forgets that this is a comedy. But given that nothing about this film is even remotely funny, you can’t blame her. Irani and Das stick out as sore thumbs as two Sikh buddies, struggling to uplift the proceedings. It’s not entirely
their fault for apart from bad casting, the film has a bad script with jokes that fall flat. But it does come with the odd warning sign. “Main toh pagal ho jaaoongaa,” says one frustrated character. It is akin to what the audiences will feel after watching this film.
tress, best known for supporting parts in Tanu Weds Manu and Raanjhanaa, finally gets to carry a film on her shoulders. She also has a reliable partner in crime in Riya Shukla, who lives up to all the labels hurled at her -maharani to sonpari and gadhi to
guddu. It’s a tricky character to play for Appu’s beblunt and rebellious ways make her the so-called antagonist in the film. But the newcomer handles the part with an assuredness of a pro, never hesitating in her character’s shades of grey.
Swara Bhaskar and Riya Shukla score high in this drama Director: Ashwini Iyer Tiwari Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Riya Shukla, Pankaj Tripathi, Ratna Pathak Shah Ratings: 3 Stars Maths is that five-letter word that evokes as much fear in some as the word devil. Against the background of complex equations, Ashwini Iyer Tiwari
has set a sweet, straightforward tale of a stubborn teenager and her equally stubborn mother. Chanda (effortlessly good Swara Bhaskar) is a single
parent in Agra on a singleminded mission: to ensure that her daughter gets the education that will help her reach the heights that she couldn’t. She toils, doing three jobs in a day, to ensure that Appu aka Apeksha (Riya Shukla) has a better life. But Appu (the A grade newcomer Riya Shukla) in the crucial tenth standard is more fo-
cussed on fooling around with her backbencher friends and idolising Ranbir Kapoor than overcoming her weakness: maths. Soon the sole source of joy
in Chanda’s life becomes a constant source of worry. As one of the many who has struggled with the subject, Appu immediately wins your sympathy until her attitude problem comes in way. Appu has chosen her fate - follow her mother’s footsteps and become a bai [domestic help] - and resigned herself to it without much fuss. But Appu’s lack of ambition has Chanda annoyed, angry and disappointed. With the support of a persistent and benevolent employer (the amiable Ratna Pathak Shah), Chanda enrols in the same school as her daughter and even studies in the same class. A mother-daughter contest on ‘who is better with numbers’ begins. Also rise insecurities and dares. Tiwari’s film is as much about the mother-daughter bond as it is about the significance of aspirations and hard work. For all its plusses, Nil Battey Sannata has a few minuses in the unwarranted and mushy Sanjay Suri
cameo, tendency to protract the gimmicky battle between Chanda and Appu and the preachy happy ending. Further, the implication that Appu’s desire to be a maid or her friend’s to be a driver makes them less driven human beings could have been addressed with some subtlety. But Tiwary does nail her two female leads, offering viewers a nuanced portrait of a temperamental teenager and a spirited woman. From showering affection on her daughter to losing her cool with her, Bhaskar conveys a mother’s tenderness and her frustrations with aplomb. The talented ac-
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Issue 664 (16)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Radhika Apte to reveal different Hope SRK will remain like himself like phobias in a series of videos Salman Khan says Ram Gopal Varma Maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma lashed out at superstar Shah Rukh Khan saying that he might lose his star status to Salman Khan just like Kamal Haasan did to Rajinikanth. He also questioned SRK’s movie selection process saying that he “should learn from Kamal’s mistakes and just be Salman”. In a series of tweets, the ‘Satya’ filmmaker took digs at Shah Rukh’s recent decision to turn into an obsessed fan in “Fan” and also upcoming Aanand L. Rai’s project in which he will be seen as a dwarf. He also hinted at Kamal’s “Appu Raja”. He shared:
CAUGHT
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“Megastar SRK becoming ordinary fan, dwarf etc is as big a same blunder as what Kamal Haasan did to lose his stardom to Rajinikanth (Salman Khan). Kamal was as big
“I call SRK as megastar because neither (he) has muscles of Salman nor workmanship of Aamir (Khan) but yet he is taller than both by being just himself. Rajinikanth
a superstar as Rajinikanth till he started doing dwarf, fat, tall etc and as a fan I hope SRK doesn’t listen to wrong advisers.” The filmmaker, who is awaiting the release of his Kannada directorial debut ‘Killing Veerappan’, based on the shooting down of the forest brigand, added: “SRK must learn from mistakes of Kamal and not listen to near and dear ones who are stopping him from becoming a Mega Rajinikanth.
is Rajinikanth because he always himself and Kamal always trying to be someone else. I hope SRK will remain like himself like Salman. Kamal could have been a better Rajinikanth if he didn’t keep becoming someone else ... so SRK should learn from Kamal’s mistakes and just be Salman”. The ‘Aag’ director also shared that “great actors” are available in abundance, but being a star comes as a blessing.
Vaani Kapoor indulges in sweetness of Paris Radhika Apte will be next seen in a psychological thriller ‘Phobia’, directed by Pavan Kirpalani. The talented actress, who’s riding high on the success of ‘Manjhi: The Mountain Man’, ‘Hunterr’ and ‘Badlapur’ released last year, will be seen facing
her fears in ‘Phobia’. Radhika’s character suffers from Agoraphobia (extreme or irrational fear of open or public places) in ‘Phobia’. In an inventive twist to promote the film, the makers of the psychological thriller will showcase special
videos featuring Radhika which will see the actress revealing different phobias to the internet audience. The special series of videos centre on different phobias – from the fear of spiders to the fear of flying to even the fear of germs.
Manoj Bajpayee to be honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Foundation Award for Aligarh Manoj Bajpayee will be honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Foundation Award in the Best Actor category (Critics’ Choice) for his performance in Hansal Mehta’s biographical drama, Aligarh. Mehta took to Twitter to mention about the award and wrote, “Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the Best Actor (Critics’ Choice) to Manoj Bajpayee for his portrayal of Professor Ramchandra Siras in Aligarh (sic).” Aligarh is a film based on the real life incident of Dr. Srinivas Ramchandra
Siras, who was suspended from his job because of his sexual orientation. Manoj played the character of a gay
professor in Hansal Mehta’s film. He was appreciated by both the fans and critics for his performance in the film.
The Tevar actor also took to Twitter to thank everyone for their love and appreciation. In an interview with Hindustan Times, the Shool actor said, “I am honoured to be the recipient of this award; it’s a wonderful feeling. I would like to dedicate it to Siras, for the struggle he faced in his journey to show to the world the true meaning of love. I want to thank our director, Hansal Mehta, for his courage to present this story. I also want to thank my co-star, Raj Kummar Rao, and the entire team of Aligarh.
Taking out some time from her busy shooting schedule, actress Vaani Kapoor went ‘Befikre’ to pamper her sweet tooth. The actress, who is shooting with Ranveer Singh for Aditya Chopra’s ‘Befikre’ in Paris, shared an image of a dessert that she had. She posted: “Believe me it’s heaven! #cheatday #carefreeinparis #igersparis”. The plot of the story has not been revealed. But going by the first look, where the lead pair can be seen locking lips in a carefree way, the film seems to be a passionate love story. ‘Befikre’, set to release on December 9, will mark the return of Aditya to direction. He last helmed ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ in 2008.
Vidya Balan to play a brothel madam in ‘Begum Jaan’ The actress begins shooting from June for the film, which is a remake of the Bengali film Rajkahini, and is being directed by Srijit Mukherjee. The original had Rituparna Sengupta essay the role. As Vids is familiar with Bengali and has shot her earlier projects in Kolkata, she considers the City of Joy her second home.
Issue 664 (17)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Britney Spears wants to date Leonardo DiCaprio? Leonardo DiCaprio is currently on cloud nine post his debut Oscar win. The 41-year-old actor is getting plenty of female attention, especially these days after his split from his girlfriend Kelly Rohrbach. The suave and stylish actor has always been considered as one of the most eligible bachelors in Hollywood. He enjoys massive female fan following with the likes of yesteryear pop icon Britney Spears going ‘ga-ga’ over him. In a recent turn of events, pop sensation of 90s, Britney Spears is reportedly desperate to go on a date with actor Leonardo DiCaprio. According to reports, the Toxic singer is doing everything to get Leo’s attention. A source close to the singer told Closer magazine, “Britney has insisted she’ll do whatever it takes to catch Leo’s attention and has even sent him tickets to her Vegas show, as well as reaching out to him personally on Twitter after taking control of her social media accounts again.” The singer had posted a throwback photo of herself and The Revenant actor and as the gossip goes, it was a classic ploy by the 34-year-old singer to strike up a romance with the 41-year-old star, reported Femalefirst. In her previous interviews, Spears had also claimed that she only fancied two men in world, Leo and Brad Pitt. During KIIS 1065’s Kyle and Jackie O show in 2015, she said, “The most star struck I was with was probably Brad
Pitt. I saw him probably 10 years ago at the Teen Choice Awards.” But as we all know Brad Pitt is a married man with six children. So, now for Britney the only possible option to get
I don’t have the desire to be famous says Elizabeth Olsen Elizabeth Olsen insists she never signed up to be an actress for the fame or the money. The ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ star said it felt like such a “cliche” when she shared her dreams of entering the film industry, reported Femalefirst. “I wanted to be an actress, but felt it was such a cliche. I thought if I could make it more of a pretentious theatre experience, I could justify it. But celebrity and fame are so odd to me, I just don’t have any desire for that at all,” she said. The 27-year-old actress also insisted she doesn’t confirm to any beauty ideals and would never care enough to figure out a healthy way of becoming “actress thin”. “It’s not like I’m superconfident but I exercise a lot because I’ve always been a dancer and an athlete. I think I’m a pretty thin person, but
I’m definitely not actress thin, that’s a whole other world! I don’t know how to do that healthily. And I don’t think I care to figure it out.”
hitched is with Leonardo DiCaprio. According to the source, even Leo has a ‘soft spot’ for her too. The source said, “Leo always had a crush on Britney and, when they saw each other at a
party a few years ago, he made a play for her, but she wasn’t single at the time.” But, we aren’t sure whether the Oscar winner is ready to play the role of step dad to Britney’s kids or not.
Mariah Carey suffers wardrobe malfunction
Singer Mariah Carey suffered a wardrobe malfunction when she stepped out here donning a cleavage revealing black dress. While attending an event on Thursday, Mariah Carey was captured flashing her breasts more than she intended to as she walked out of a building alongside her entourage, reports aceshowbiz.com. Carrying a lollipop in her hand, Mariah Carey didn’t seem to be aware of the mishap or she just didn’t care about it. Mariah Carey was in Paris on Thursday for a concert on her ongoing tour. During the show at AccorHotels Arena, the singer paid tribute to Prince by dedicating her song “One sweet day” to the late musician, who passed away on Thursday.
Emilia Clarke has no plans to return for ‘Terminator’ sequels ‘Game of Thrones’ actress Emilia Clarke is sure she doesn’t want to return as Sarah Connor for the next installments in the ‘Terminator’ franchise. The British actress, who appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the latest installment titled ‘Terminator Genisys’, gave a straight “no” when asked if she would reprise her role as Sarah Connor in its follow-ups, reported Aceshowbiz. “No. Can I say that? It’s okay. No. Uh-uh,” the 29-year-old star said in a chat with Coming Soon. “But I have some very different roles coming up.” One of the roles she’s talking about is the lead in “Me Before You”. “I read the book and it was just the most beautiful thing I had ever read,” she said of Jojo Moyes’ novel on which the romantic drama is based. ‘Genisys’, which also starred
flop as it earned less than USD 100 in North America, though it did perform well in some other countries like China. Fans assumed the trilogy was cancelled after Paramount removed the next “Genysis” films from their release schedule. The sequel’s original May 19, 2017 slot is occupied by the ‘Baywatch’ movie. The third film’s 2019 release date remains empty. Schwarzenegger, however, is pretty optimistic the next films will still happen. While discussing the franchise’s future in an interview a few weeks ago, he said, “I am looking forward to it, absolutely.”
CHARGED
Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney, was planned as the first of a trilogy of new ‘Terminator’ movies. The big-budget 2015 film received a lot of negative reviews and was a commercial
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Issue 664 (18)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Pakistan arrests six in Sikh leader Soran Singh killing, denies Taliban role Peshawar Police in northwestern Pakistan on Monday arrested six people accused of gunning down a Sikh political figure, attributing the killing to rivalry rather than a Taliban attack, as claimed by the militants. The gunmen had shot and
killed Soran Singh, a prominent leader of Pakistan’s Sikh religious minority and a lawmaker from cricket legend Imran Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, outside his home in the town of Buner on Friday. “We have arrested six people, including a member of the Sikh community
Buldev Singh,” Azad Khan, a senior police official, told reporters in Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “During initial investigations, Buldev and other people acknowledged their involvement in the murder of Soran.”
The killing followed a dispute over the distribution of party tickets in local elections, Khan said. Soran was a senior member of Khan’s party and an adviser to the provincial chief minister on minority affairs. “Soran reportedly refused a party ticket to Buldev, which enraged him and he hired assassins to kill
Soran,” the police official added. Reuters was not able to immediately reach representatives of Buldev’s family for comment. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility soon after the shooting, saying they would continue attacks until their strict interpretation of Islamic law was enforced across Pakistan. However, police official Khan rejected the claim as false, saying: “The Taliban aren’t behind this murder.” Religious minorities make up about two percent of Pakistan’s population of 190 million, government data shows, and religiously motivated violence against them has become increasingly common. An Easter Sunday bombing targeting Christians in a public park in Lahore killed 72 people last month.
ISI-link remark: Sikh group to file defamation suit against Amarinder in US Amritsar The US-based organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) will file a defamation suit there against Punjab Congress president and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for accusing it of playing into the hands of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In response to SFJ’s filing of a case of torture in Canada that forced Amarinder to cancel his Toronto and Vancouver visits, the Amritsar MP had on April 23 stated that the SFJ was “playing into the hands of the anti-India forces like the ISI to embarrass India and project as if rights violations was the norm of the day in the country (India) like some dictatorships in different parts of the world”. Rebutting, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal ad-
viser to the SFJ, said in a statement emailed to HT on Monday: “SFJ is an independent human rights advocacy group with a mission to promote Sikhs’ right to self-determination
bring a case against an individual as long as statements are reasonably understood to refer to the organisation in question; and in this case Amarinder openly named
and is seeking a referendum in the state of Punjab.” The defamation suit will be filed in the Federal Court of California, a state that Amarinder is scheduled to visit during his tour of the United States aimed at wooing Punjabi NRIs ahead of the assembly polls due early next year, it is learnt. California’s defamation law provides that an organisation can
and accused SFJ, noted the group. Amarinder had also urged the government of India to “rise above political considerations” and take up the matter with the Canadian government “at the highest level”. The earlier case, filed in Canada, pertains to the alleged torture of a Sikh man when Amarinder was the Punjab CM.
Issue 664 (19)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Pope tells teens White House poised to release secret pages from 9/11 inquiry happiness not an app Washington The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into “specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept The Obama administration is likely to release at least part
of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11 that may shed light on possible Saudi connections to the attackers. The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into “specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States.” Bob Graham, who was cochairman of that bipartisan panel, and others say the documents point suspicion at the Saudis. The former Democratic senator from Florida says an administration official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents. The disclosure would come at a time of
strained US relations with Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally. “I hope that decision is to honor the American people and make it available,” Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is, did these 19 people
conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?” Tim Roemer, who was a member of both the joint congressional inquiry as well as the 9/11 Commission and has read the secret chapter three times, described the 28 pages as a “preliminary police report.” “There were clues. There were allegations. There were witness reports. There was evidence about the hijackers, about people they met with all kinds of different things that the 9/11 Commission was then tasked with reviewing and investigating,” the former Democratic congressman from Indiana said Friday. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government says it has been “wrongfully and morbidly accused of complicity” in the attacks, is fighting extrem-
ists and working to clamp down on their funding channels. Still, the Saudis have long said that they would welcome declassification of the 28 pages because it would “allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner.” The pages were withheld from the 838-page report on the orders of President George W. Bush, who said the release could divulge intelligence sources and methods. Still, protecting US-Saudi diplomatic relations also was believed to have been a factor. Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said Obama asked National Intelligence director James Clapper to review the papers for possible declassification. “When that’s done we’d expect that there will be some degree of declassification that provides more information,” Rhodes told reporters in Riyadh last week, where Obama met with King Salman and other Saudi leaders. The White House says the 28 pages did not come up during discussions. Neither the congressional inquiry nor the subsequent 9/ 11 Commission found any evidence that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials knowingly supported those who orchestrated the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. But Graham, the relatives of victims and some lawmakers think there is reason to further probe possible Saudi links.
Queen’s letter on how she fell in love sells for 14,000 pounds London A two-page letter penned by the Queen on how she and Prince Philip first fell in love attracted “furious” bidding and sold for a whopping 14,000 pounds, nearly 18 times the pre-auction estimates. The letter was written to author Betty Shew by the 21year-old princess in 1947, months before her marriage. The two-page note describes how the couple met, were chased by a photographer in Prince Philip’s sports car and danced at London nightclubs. It was given a pre-auction estimate of 800 pounds to 1,200 pounds but sold for
14,000 pounds. Describing it as a “fantastic result”, Richard Edmonds of the Chippenham Auction
Rooms in Wiltshire said: “It was quite an honour to be able to sell such an important document, particularly as the country is celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday. “The bidding was both online and over eight phone lines. It
was pretty fast and furious. At times our internet connection looked like it was lighting up.” The identity of the buyer has not been disclosed, the BBC reported. The then Princess Elizabeth agreed to share the details of her relationship with Philip, for a royal wedding souvenir book being written by Shew. In the letter, written in ink on white paper adorned with the royal crest, the princess recalls how she met Prince Philip at the age of 13, describes his love of fast cars and how the couple danced at nightclubs Ciro’s and Quaglino’s in London. The future Queen also writes about her wedding ring, which she says will be made of Welsh gold.
VATICAN CITY Happiness is not an app you can download on your mobile phone, Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers on Sunday at a mass to mark a weekend dedicated to youth. “Freedom is not always about doing what you want. In fact it is the gift of being able to choose the right way,” he said in a homily punctuated by regular bursts of applause from the crowd on a packed St Peter’s Square. “Your happiness has no price. It cannot be bought and sold: it is not an application you download on a mobile phone. Even the latest version cannot help you to grow and become free in love.” An estimated 70,000 teenagers were in Rome for a weekend of events to celebrate Francis’s Jubilee year dedicated to the theme of mercy. In a surprise move on Saturday, the 79-year-old pontiff heard confessions from 16 of them and a video message from him was broadcast at a rock and rap concert in the Stadio Olimpico. One of the teenagers chosen to confess to the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said she had been trembling as she approached the chair on which the pope was sitting in St Peter’s Square. “But as soon as I sat down I had the feeling of being next to a normal person rather than the pope. Francis is really one of us,” Anna Taibi, 15, told La Repubblica newspaper. The Sicilian teenager said she had been touched by Francis’s tenderness as he listened to her confes-
sion. “I expected him to give me a penance ... instead he absolved me and let me go.” The importance of mobile phones to contemporary teenagers was also reflected in Francis’s message to the concert. Clutching an iPhone, he told his audience that living without Jesus was like not having any signal. “Always be sure to go where there is a network: family, parish, school,” he said.
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Issue 664 (20)
An amateur vs ISIS A car salesman investigates and ends up in prison By Scott Shane (NYT News Service) WYOMING: By his own account, Toby Lopez was a supremely ordinary guy. He sold Toyotas and lived with his mother in a tidy rancher here with a cherry tree out front. He was proud that he could connect with customers - anyone from a superior court judge to, as he put it, “Redneck Bill from down on the farm.” What passed for excitement was the time his young niece won a beauty contest and he chauffeured her in a red Corvette in a local parade. Then a high school friend was killed in Afghanistan, and the Islamic State began
humdrum life. He was pulled into the murky world of Internet jihadis, sparring with them from his office at the car dealership and late into the night at home. Before long, he was talking for hours on Skype with a man who claimed - falsely, as it would turn out - to be a top ISIS military commander, trying to negotiate the release of hostages. Lopez contacted the FBI and began a testy relationship with counterterrorism agents who came to believe he might pose a danger. In the end, he landed in federal prison, where he was held for nearly 14 months without trial.
beheading US journalists. Horrified, Lopez heard on CNN one day in the fall of 2014 that the Islamic State was active on Twitter, and he went online to see what he could find. “I was intrigued,” said Lopez, 42. “What could they possibly be saying on Twitter?” What followed was a radical break from his
The story of one man’s deepening obsession with a terrorist group is a reminder of how the Internet provides easy portals to distant, sometimes dangerous worlds. It shows the complications for law enforcement agents who confront an overeager amateur encroaching on their turf.
But it also underscores how lost a person can feel inside the criminal justice system. Deprived of his freedom, his sanity in question, Lopez found himself without a legal advocate he trusted or access to evidence he believed could free him. The hundreds of emails, text messages and recorded Skype calls that Lopez saved show him growing more and more frantic when FBI agents did not see things his way. Believing US hostages’ lives were at stake, he sent an agent 80 increasingly overheated messages in 10 days. In one, he declared, “Just remember whatever ends up happening to you ... You deserved it,” and added an expletive. On February 11, 2015, a dozen police and FBI cars surrounded the house with the cherry tree, arrested Lopez and charged him with transmitting a threat. He was shuttled among federal facilities in Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Without access to his records, prison psychologists assumed his tales of talking to Islamic State members were fiction, symptoms of a mental illness that made him incompetent to stand trial. Prosecutors sought a hearing to decide whether he should be forcibly medicated. The defense finally obtained a third mental health evaluation - the first one by a psychologist who had actually reviewed Lopez’s voluminous files. It found him competent, and he was released on bail late last month. “Without having the documents,” Kirk Heilbrun, a Drexel University psychologist, wrote in his March 2 evaluation, “I would have concluded that his account of this entire series of events sounded both grandiose and
delusional. Having reviewed these documents, however, I would not describe his account as delusional.” On Friday, the US attorney’s Office in Delaware said it had taken the “exceedingly rare” step of dropping the charges. “We have not hesitated to do so when the facts and law support such a decision,” a statement said. In an interview last week, Lopez’s voice broke as he described his prison ordeal. “Nobody deserves to get dragged through what I got dragged through, along with my family,” he said. “It’s sad that when someone does something with righteous intentions and gets treated by the government this way.” By his own admission, Lopez knew almost nothing about the Islamic State before 2014. Athletic and fun-loving, he had managed an Italian restaurant for years before becoming a car salesman. He became addicted to painkillers for a while, but he kicked the habit and has been off drugs for several years, he said. “Toby is your regular guy,” said Mary Roloff, who is married to Lopez’s half-brother, Edward. On Google, Lopez discovered that one man who had engaged him on Twitter, calling himself @shishaniomar, seemed to be Omar al-Shishani, or Omar the Chechen, the nom de guerre of the military commander of the Islamic State. Soon, the two were regularly chatting on Skype. By early November 2014, he had left his job, agreeing with his boss that his online life had become a distraction. Male, well-educated, but not so hot on Quran? You’re a perfect ISIS terrorist The man who claimed to be the Islamic
Male, well-educated, but not so hot on Quran? You’re a perfect ISIS terrorist Continued from Page 1 highest number identifying themselves as Saudi Arabian. There were 26 British fighters on the list, far below the numbers from Germany and France in the files, which included names of known UK militants and three of the Paris attackers. But the figure doubled to 57 for those saying they had been resident in the UK before travelling to ISIS territories in Syria, suggesting that many of the men may have had foreign or dual nationalities. The average year of birth was 1987, making the typical recruit between 26 and 27 years old at the time of signing up. Ages varied hugely by country, with the younger fighters tending to be from Western nations including the UK, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Canada and Australia, compared to older militants from the Middle East, North Africa, Russia and China with experience fighting in
other conflicts. “The average age of Western and many listing higher education and fighters is lower than that of non-Westerners,” university degrees. The report described the the CTC noted. “This suggests the need for group as “generally well educated” and said that although some of the fighters recorded no formal education, a roughly equal number held advanced degrees. PhDs in economics, computer science, English, physiology and teaching were among those listed, with Western fighters being more highly educated on average. Of those who answered a question on the level of their religious knowledge, 70 per cent described it as “basic”, while those citing greater expertise were mainly Saudis, Egyptians, Tunisians and Indonesians. The finding supports analysts’ assertions that ISIS has twisted the Quran to serve its tailored and nuanced prevention, intervention, purposes, introducing brutal and “un-Islamic” and reintegration programmes.” punishments in its territories. An open letter Another startling finding was the level of signed by more than 100 Muslim scholars education listed, with most of the recruits accused ISIS of deliberately misinterpreting saying they had completed secondary school the holy book in 2014. “It is forbidden in Islam
to oversimplify Sharia matters and ignore established Islamic sciences,” said the missive directed at the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “One cannot ‘cherry-pick’ Quranic verses for legal arguments without considering the entire Quran and Hadith.” When asked about their previous occupation, the most-cited role was unskilled labourers, then trade and “student” in third place. More than 200 listed themselves as unemployed, while double that number left the field blank, suggesting they were also without work. “The average recruit either was a student or had a job, just not a particularly high-paying one,” the report said. The CTC said some of the positions in the cache “might prompt concerns about future threats”, including petrol technicians, former soldiers, IT experts, pilots, plane mechanics and a former aircraft security officer who was previously affiliated with the Saudi interior ministry. “There are clear
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State commander regaled him with tales of battle, grumbled about condescending Arab bosses and called Lopez “brother.” The man confided that he did not believe that Islam condoned the taking of women and children as slaves. Soon, he asked Lopez to raise ransom to free hundreds of members of the Yazidi religious minority held hostage by the Islamic State. Lopez contacted the FBI, and two agents visited his home and interviewed him, he said. Through Allan Ripp, a New York public relations specialist he found online, Lopez also contacted The New York Times. Two reporters visited him in January 2015 and spent several hours reviewing his emails, texts and audio recordings. But after checking with experts, the reporters concluded that Lopez was talking not to the real, red-bearded Shishani, but to an impostor. The actual commander did not speak fluent English, and the language overheard in the background of Skype calls was not Chechen, as the impostor claimed, but Kurdish. His multiple Twitter accounts had an antic tone; he once posted a “Simpsons” cartoon about the Islamic State. When the Times reporters told Lopez they did not believe he was dealing with the real Islamic State commander, he grew angry. He was hearing similar skepticism from the indicators in the data that the Islamic State was using these forms to ‘talent scout’ and identify individuals with specific educational, professional, or military backgrounds that might prove useful to the group in the future,” it added. Not all occupations would be seen as desirable by the so-called Islamic State’s fanatics. A 24-year-old from Gaziantep, Turkey, was listed as having been a “drug and hashish dealer”. His form contained a note from an Islamic State official stating: “May God forgive him and us!” When the employment field was narrowed down to those with post-secondary education, the vast majority of extremists said they were students, self-employed or in trade. The CTC said the discrepancy may support theories about the radicalisation process in Europe, where many of the ISIS fighters identified so far have had few prospects at home. “Some in this dataset may have been motivated by frustration over failure to achieve expected success in the job market following their education,” the report noted. “Relative deprivation is a well-covered theory of political violence.” Analysis also showed that almost two thirds of the fighters were unmarried, while 90 per cent had no previous “jihadist experience”. Some of the personnel records were initially published by Syrian opposition news site, Zaman al Wasl, followed by
26 April - 2 May 2016
surrounded. “Cars all over the place,” she recalled. “Toby was standing there with his hands up. I said, ‘What’s wrong?’” The authorities had interpreted Lopez’s heated emails as a “threat to injure” Reising, a crime with a sentence of up to five years. Lopez said later that he had threatened only to expose what he considered government bungling to the news media. He was locked up, and federal prosecutors soon sought a court order for a mental health assessment. ‘Your brother is very sick’ At an initial court hearing in Wilmington, family members urged Lopez’s public defender, Daniel I. Siegel, to collect the records of his online contacts, which they thought showed his intentions were good. By their account, Siegel ignored their pleas. “He just said, ‘Your brother is very sick and he needs help,’” Roloff recalled. Lopez said Siegel never came to see him in the year that followed, as he cycled through the Metropolitan FBI, according to email exchanges with had a shotgun and was in a “poor mental Correctional Center in Manhattan (where he Jeffrey A. Reising, a senior counterterrorism state.” Joyce Lopez, 78, said recently she surprised a few terrorism defendants with agent based in Wilmington, Delaware. From the emails, it appears that Reising was exploring Lopez’s contacts even as he tried to persuade him to disengage from the online jihadi world. But Lopez connected with a second Twitter user claiming to be an Islamic State figure who could get US hostages released, and Lopez tried to contact several hostages’ families. At least one of them complained to the FBI. Convinced that he could save lives, Lopez brushed off Reising’s warnings. He wrote dozens of emails to the FBI, some proposing that he talk to the bureau’s director or even to President Barack Obama. He focused on the case of Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old US aid worker being held by the Islamic State. His online contacts had suggested that she might be freed. When Mueller was reported killed two days later in an airstrike, Lopez was furious and blamed the FBI for not cooperating with him. His messages to the bureau grew more defiant. “Any attempt to arrest me will be treated as a hostile act,” he wrote to Reising. had simply asked whether the gun had to Arabic phrases); a medical prison in Butner, By then, agents had been informed by the be registered. North Carolina (where he played on the Delaware State Police that Lopez’s mother, By February 11, the FBI had had enough. softball team); and three other facilities. The Joyce Lopez, had told them that her son Joyce Lopez arrived home to find her house first two psychological evaluations found that Lopez was suffering from “delusional disorder, grandiose type.” To Lopez’s distress, Siegel did not contest the findings. A year into Lopez’s imprisonment, after complaints from his family and reporters’ inquiries, Edson A. Bostic, the chief federal public defender in Delaware, took over the case. He quickly obtained from the family the files documenting Lopez’s online history and arranged for the third psychological assessment. Heilbrun, the Drexel psychologist, declared in his report that if Lopez had not been talking with the real Shishani (who was killed last month), then someone posing as the Islamic State commander had pulled off “a clever, detailed, and well-constructed hoax.” In a statement Friday, Bostic called the case “a complex matter” and praised Siegel’s record of representing indigent German media outlets, Sky News and NBC, criminal minds to keep pushing their clients. But he said the complaints from which passed their documents on to CTC agenda. Time the majority speaks. Ask , Lopez and his family would be analysts. The American broadcaster said it what Muslim scholars have done , except investigated. Siegel did not respond to acquired the files from a former ISIS fighter abetment to the horrendous crimes. “It will emails seeking comment. Lopez said he who became disillusioned and stole the be a great blow for their recruitment process had consulted lawyers and was records before defecting from the because these documents show not just the considering a lawsuit against the organisation. Afzal Ashraf, a visiting fellow people joining but the networks involved in government officials responsible for his at Nottingham University’s centre of conflict, radicalising them and facilitating their travel,” incarceration. “If I hadn’t gotten another security and terrorism, previously told The he said. “Any recruit will know they are very evaluation, I might still be sitting down at Independent the leak was “devastating” for likely to be discovered and there will be Butner, with a needle in my arm,” he said. the terrorist group. The silent majority in serious consequences for them - it doesn’t “This was the United States of America, Islam only strengthens the resolve of the inspire a great deal of confidence.” flexing its muscles on me.”
Issue 664 (22)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Anger over kidnappings, forced conversions of Hindu girls in Pakistan Threatened by kidnappings and forced conversions of their teenage girls and abandoned by the government of Pakistan, the Hindu minority living in Sindh province is waiting for a divine miracle to rescue them. Earlier this month, on April 9, 2016, three teenage girls of Hindu community in Sindh province went missing from their villages. The missing includes 14-year-old daughter Pirma Bheel of Sobho Bheel, a resident of Village Nikno Bheel Talka Islamkot, Kiran Menghwar from Hyderabad, and Leelan jogi, the 14-year-old daughter Malook jogi kid-
has been felt among Sindh’s Hindu community following the kidnapping of Hindu teenage girls. Member of Pakistan’s National Assembly Ramesh Kumar says the girls were kidnapped and converted to Islam forcibly. He alleged that girls have been kidnaped by Influential Muslims of area, including Hayat Hingorjo, allegedly supported by a member of Pakistan’s lower House Faqir Sher Mohammad. Until filing of this report, the whereabouts of all four girls were not known despite continuous efforts by the police and the victim’s families. The kidnapping of Hindu girls and forced conversion are not new in the Sindh
napped from Sanghar district. A wave of fear and anger
province. Pakistan’s Hindu Council says four Hindu girls every month are
forced to convert to Islam. Burning the religious books of the Hindu minority, kidnapping and forced conversions of Hindu girls in Pakistan have made the lives of the Hindu community miserable, ultimately forcing them to cross border and take refuge in India. Two years ago in May 2014, member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, dropped a bomb shell in the lower House, revealing that around 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Pakistan to India every year. Currently, Pakistan is home to about two million Hindus, most of who live in the southern province of Sindh and belong to lower castes, including Sochi. While upper-caste Hindus complain of their traders being kidnapped for ransom, lower-caste Hindus say their daughters are being targetted. There have been a number of incidents involving kidnappings of Hindu traders and businessmen for ransom. “Our community can bear looting and the kidnapping of our men, but the abduction of our daughters and burning of holy books are
too painful,” Dr Ramesh Kumar, who holds a National Assembly seat, told Mail Today. “Unfortunately, the frequency of these crimes is increasing due to religious extremism.” According to another report from the Movement for Solidarity and Peace, about 1,000 non-Muslim girls are converted to Islam each year in Pakistan. According to this report, every month, an estimated 20 or more Hindu girls are abducted and converted, although exact figures are impossible to gather. On April 24, 2016, Patroninchief of Pakistan Hindu Council, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, who is in fact a ray of hope for the
Hindus community living in Pakistan, criticised provincial governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for failing to protect the minorities. Talking to Mail today, Ramesh Kumar said the establishment of Special Task Force for the Protection of Minorities on urgent basis is the need of time. He said the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed for the protection of minorities’ rights, while founder of the Nation Quad-e-Azam had also announced to provide religious freedom for those living in the newlyborn Muslim state. Dr Ramesh said it was highly regrettable that both the provincial govern-
ments were not interested in implementing the detailed ruling of the Supreme Court dated June 19, 2014 for providing security to the minorities. “When all other religious places and leaders are having state security then why the innocent Hindu community is being left at the mercy of terrorists,” he questioned while mentioning the recent incident at Dera Murad Jamali, where religious Hindu literature books were stolen from a Hindu temple. He demanded the provincial governments to take solid steps such as curriculum reforms.
Issue 664 (23)
26 April - 2 May 2016
China could electrify global rechargeable car market BEIJING Electric cars have their highest-profile prophet in US-based entrepreneur Elon Musk and their widest adoption in Norway, but China’s vast auto market will decide their worldwide future, experts say. Top global brands will be fighting it out to electrify buyers at China’s premier car show opening Monday in Beijing. The country is already the world’s largest auto market and took the number one spot for electric models last year, with some 247,000 “zero emission” cars sold — quadruple the number in 2014 according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. So far only around one percent of cars owned in China are electric, but au-
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thorities are pushing them as a potential solution to the country’s crippling air pollution health crisis.– AFP The central government gives buyers subsidies of up to 55,000 yuan ($8,500) for each car and electric vehicles are exempt from traffic restrictions in China’s congested major cities. While electric cars are becoming more popular worldwide, particularly high-end brands like Tesla, their hefty price tags and restricted driving range mean they are still only a niche market. Their evolution has been mainly statesubsidised, as in Norway, which has the world’s highest penetration at 17 percent of new sales in 2015. But experts say winning even a small chunk of Chinese sales — which totalled 24.6 million last year — could be a gamechanger for electric cars. “Given the size of the market, it would be a powerful driver” at a global level, Flavien Neuvy, auto expert
at Observatoire Cetelem, told AFP. Jean-Francois Belorgey, an expert with consultancy
that batteries will start to be reasonable in terms of price, it’s China.” China’s government aims
EY, predicted that by 2020, up to 750,000 electric cars will be sold in China every year. “China is perhaps the one place in the world where the automobile industry can achieve the economy of scale needed to bring down costs,” he said. Laurent Petizon, a specialist on the auto market with AlixPartners, added: “If there is a market where electric (cars) can hit enough of a critical mass
to have at least five million rechargeable cars on the roads by 2020. But Ben Scott, an expert in electric cars with IHS, said that target looked “quite optimistic”. “The incentives and
Aussie politician sets river on fire to protest fracking SYDNEY An Australian politician has set fire to a river to draw attention to methane gas he says is seeping into the water due to fracking, with the dramatic video attracting more than two millions views.
boat,” Buckingham, from New South Wales, said in the footage posted on Facebook on Friday evening, which has been viewed more than two million times. “Unbelievable, the most incredible thing I’ve seen. A tragedy in the Murray-Darling Basin (river
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham used a kitchen lighter to ignite bubbles of methane in the Condamine River in Queensland, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) west of Brisbane. The video shows him jumping back in surprise, using an expletive as flames shoot up around the dinghy. “Unbelievable. A river on fire. Don’t let it burn the
system),” he said, blaming it on nearby coal-seam gas mining, or fracking. Australia is a major gas exporter, but the controversial fracking industry has faced a public backlash in some parts of the country over fears about the environmental impact. Farmers and other landowners are concerned that fracking, an extraction method under which highpressure water and chemi-
cals are used to split rockbeds, could contaminate groundwater sources. The Murray-Darling Basin is a river network sprawling for one million square kilometres (400,000 square miles) across five Australian states. But the industry has said the practice is safe and that coal seam gas mining is a vital part of the energy mix as the world looks for cleaner fuel sources. Origin Energy, which operates wells in the region, said it was monitoring the bubbling. “We’re aware of concerns regarding bubbling of the Condamine River, in particular, recent videos demonstrating that this naturally occurring gas is flammable when ignited,” the company said in a statement to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We understand that this can be worrying, however, the seeps pose no risk to the environment, or to public safety, providing people show common sense and act responsibly around them.”
subsidies that are being offered to consumers right now will be eventually phased out and will stop by the year 2020,” he said. “We’re still in the very early days of the electric car market in China,” he added, explaining that recharging infrastructure remained in its infancy, in a “classic chicken and egg problem”. Several Chinese manufacturers already produce electric vehicles, including the domestic market leader BYD, which also makes the Denza brand in a joint venture with Daimler. France’s Renault plans to release its Fluence ZE in China in 2017, and PSA group will be showing a unique CElysee electric sedan at the Beijing show that is
also due to be released next year. Chinese companies have also provided funding for Western firms’ development projects, including Britain’s Aston Martin and the US’s Faraday Future, which sees itself as a possible competitor to Tesla. But despite the progress, critics say China’s electric cars will never be truly green if they are powered by electricity that is generated in carbon-intensive ways. “It could be argued that you’re just moving the CO2 from the exhaust pipe to a power plant somewhere,” said Scott. Belorgey adding that cutting the carbon footprint of China’s electricity “will take some time”. “This does not solve the problem of the greenhouse effect, but it addresses the issue of the concentration of particles,” he said.
Uyghur activist Dolkun Isa disappointed by visa withdrawal, blames China Beijing Germany-based Uyghur activist Dolkun Isa expressed disappointment on Monday at India’s decision to withdraw a visa granted to him to attend a meet in Dharamsala, blaming China for blocking him from travelling to other countries. After China protested against the grant of the Indian visa to Dolkun and pointed out that there was an Interpol red corner notice for him, official sources said on Monday that the travel document had been cancelled. “I remain disappointed with the final decision, but I am hopeful that positive steps may be taken to maintain India’s relationship with the Uyghur community,” Isa said in a statement emailed to Hindustan Times. Dolkun, who was granted asylum by Germany in the late 1990s, said China has always attempted to prevent him from travelling to other countries. “This is not the first time that I have faced difficulties in my international travels to advocates (sic) Uyghur rights. In September 2009, I was detained briefly and denied entry to South Korea while travelling to attend the World Forum for Democratisation in Asia, to which I was an invited guest,” he said. “China also has regularly attempted to block or interfere with my human
rights work at the UN in Geneva, in particular.” With the cancellation of the visa, India has apparently avoided a diplomatic situation with China in the runup to President Pranab
government’s efforts to subsume the unique local culture. Dolkun acknowledged that his visa could have been cancelled because of the “controversy” generated by
Mukherjee’s visit to Beijing and Guangzhou in May. Dolkun, branded a terrorist by China and wanted on terror charges, had been granted an electronic visa to attend the Interethnic Interfaith Leadership Conference in Dharamsala at the end of this month. Beijing had reiterated its stand that he is a “terrorist” wanted by the Interpol. “Dolkun Isa is a terrorist on red notice of Interpol and the Chinese police. Bringing him to justice is a due obligation of relevant countries,” China’s foreign ministry had said. Dolkun, who is a leader of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), belongs to Xinjiang in China’s remote northwest. The region has seen rioting and frequent violence between the local Uyghur population and government forces. Exiled Uyghur activists say the violence is a result of Beijing’s hardline policies and a reaction against the
media reports about his planned visit to Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-inexile. “The Indian (government) had granted me a tourist e-visa, but it was cancelled after my visit was widely reported in the Indian press. Following numerous reports, Indian authorities then proceeded to rescind the visa on April 23, 2016,” he said. “I recognize and understand the difficult position that the Indian government found itself, and regret that my trip has generated such unwarranted controversy.”
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Issue 664 (24)
26 April - 2 May 2016
This actionoriented week can bring promising results if you channel your energy into key goals and ambitions. The more willing you are to override your limitations, the more successful you can be. Tread with care on Tuesday, as a fiery combination could cause an argument or even a minor accident. This is one day when it pays to go slowly.
Feelings could be intense, yet you might keep them to yourself, which wouldn’t be such a good idea. The pressure could be explosive, especially on Tuesday, causing a bout of anger and frustration. To avoid this, it would be best to tackle issues as they arise and discuss them with those who need to know. Not only will this help create a solution but can save you a lot of stress as well.
Your social life bubbles with excitement and opportunity. The more people you meet, the more your life opens up in interesting ways. It would be best to avoid cantankerous folks or those looking for trouble on Tuesday. Keep a low profile. Mercury eases into Pisces and your career sector on Thursday, encouraging you to research your options, apply for jobs.
There’s plenty of activity in your career, kickstarting a new phase. If you’re looking for work, the presence of Mars encourages a proactive approach to getting what you want. Use creative solutions and try to stand out from the crowd and showcase your skills. Avoid impulsive moves on Tuesday, particularly when dealing with those in authority.
The desire for adventure continues to show up this week, spurring you to take up new challenges. An unexpected romantic opportunity could appear, disrupting your best-laid plans. Think very carefully about getting too involved, as it might not be in your best interests and could even have negative consequences.
Go easy regarding finances this week, as it could be all too easy to make the wrong moves. Overspending or the unwise use of funds in general could leave you struggling at a later date. If you need to talk, discuss things with a professional adviser who can help set you on the right track. Tuesday is the day to watch out for splurging and melting your plastic.
Your relationships can be very direct and honest this week. An upbeat aspect on Monday could encourage you to melt the ice concerning someone you’ve admired for some time. You’ll need to be careful and sensitive to other people’s feelings on Tuesday. Even an innocent remark could cause a spat, leaving you hurt as a result.
There’s a pleasant focus on your romance sector, paving the way for some wonderful date nights. Use your leisure time to channel your creative skills, as doing so can be very therapeutic now. You can make great strides this week where your job and career are concerned if you focus on one goal and work to achieve it.
The fun meter is set on high, with m a n y opportunities for leisure and pleasure providing thrills and spills. Romance can also be a heady subject, bringing passion and intensity your way. There’s little chance you’ll want to make a commitment, however, which is just as well. Avoid dangerous sports or activities on Tuesday, when it’s best to keep things low-key.
It’s “all systems go” at home, with a chance that the days ahead could be fun yet disruptive. Unexpected events will mean that your best-laid plans may fall by the wayside. Avoid frustration if possible, as that will only make things worse. If you’re feeling annoyed or edgy, channel your energy into exercise or a long walk. Doing so will be calming and therapeutic.
Communication is fast paced this week. You may be busy closing deals, discussing ideas, and generally interacting with others. There’s a lot to be gained from expanding your network and meeting new people, as the lucky breaks will come rolling in. It would be to your advantage to avoid arguments on Tuesday.
An upbeat aspect on Monday can be excellent for attending interviews and meetings with a view toward getting results. Your ability to project a confident demeanor can go a long way to helping you succeed. Avoid impulsive spending on Tuesday, as it will certainly do more harm than good. Channel your energy into exercise instead, which will leave you feeling calm and centered.
Issue 664 (25)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Technology No salary but $68,506 in compensation for Twitter CEO Dorsey Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey did not take salary or stock options since he joined the struggling microblogging website last year and received personal and residential security costs totaling $68,506, a media report said on Saturday. His predecessor Dick Costolo was awarded a total of $91,795, which included a monthly salary of $7,162, car service and security costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the microblogging website, it now has more than 300 million active users, far less when compared with Facebook’s 1.5 billion users making it more popular, faster, and the choice of more marketers. Twitter reported 305 million monthly active users for the fourth quarter this year, compared to 307 million in the third quarter that excluded SMS-only followers. The almost-flat user growth led to its shares falling as much as 13 percent in extended trading, Tech Crunch reported, hitting another new low of around $13.75 before flattening out
to 3 percent in extended trading. “We saw a decline in monthly active usage in Q4, but we’ve already seen January monthly actives bounce back to Q3 levels.
We’re confident that, with disciplined execution, this growth trend will continue over time,” the company said in its earning statement. Recently, in an interview on NBC, Dorsey said that while a number of changes are being planned for Twitter, its 140-character limit represents a beautiful constraint, which helps deliver strong statements. The short character limit for tweets is an element that gives Twitter a unique identity. Dorsey also said the micro blogging platform will stay true to its original val-
ues - “It’s breaking news, but you can actually interact with the news makers,” he said. “We have so many creators and influencers on the platform and the cool
thing is that they actually have conversations with people directly,” he added. With Dorsey promising a number of changes to product and organisational structure in order to appease sceptical investors, the company is all set for a turnaround to see its monthly average users go up. In an attempt to bring tweets to more people across the globe, Twitter is planning to introduce an algorithmic timeline like Facebook. The timeline will reorder tweets
based on what Twitter’s algorithm thinks people most want to see. The home timeline will be rolled out to people across 23 countries, including India, who visit Twitter homepage on their mobile devices. The microblogging site has been looking for ways to elevate popular content for quite some time. An algorithmic feed would be, to date, the boldest change so far under Jack Dorsey, who took the reins of Twitter as new CEO in October last year, analysts maintain. Dorsey has made several moves, including cutting jobs and naming Google’s former chief business officer, Omid Kordestani, as Twitter’s executive chairman. Under Dorsey, Twitter has released a news curation feature “Moments” and the company is reportedly working to extend Twitter’s identifying 140-character limit to 10,000. Twitter is also set for a major overhaul under Dorsey to revive the company’s fortune with some of the high-profile executives putting in their papers.
Google believes its Artificial Intelligence key to growth
Internet giant Google has asserted that its Artificial Intelligence(AI) and cloud computing is the most lucrative and promising businesses in the tech industry. That AI type of service-based business is fast becoming the new way to reap profits in the tech industry, the California-based tech giant said. “We’ve always been doing cloud, it’s just that we’ve been consuming it all internally at Google. But as we have grown, really matured in how we handle our data center investments and how we can do this at scale, we have definitely crossed over to the other side to where we can thoughtfully serve external customers,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said. “We have been investing in machine learning and AI for years, but I think we’re at an exceptionally interesting tipping point where these
technologies are really taking off. That is very, very applicable to businesses as well. So thoughtfully doing that externally we view as a big differentiator we have over others,” Pichai added. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also the name of the academic field of study which studies how to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behaviour.
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After WhatsApp, Viber to Cyber criminals see India encrypt user conversations as lucrative destination Following the footsteps of larger rival WhatsApp, instant messaging app Viberwill encrypt user messages to protect texts and calls on its platform from “interception”. “Our team at Viber has been working hard to give you more control over your private conversations. Today we are taking another
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step in this direction by making your private communication even safer through end-to-end encryp-
tion, hidden chats and message deletion,” Viber COO Michael Shmilov said in a blogpost. He added that the company has been working on this for a long time and users can “confidently use Viber without fear of their messages being intercepted - whether it is in a one-to-one or group mes-
sage, on a call, on desktop, mobile or tablet”. Earlier this month, Facebook -owned WhatsApp had announced end-to-end encryption to protect conversations of its over one billion users from hackers and “regimes”. The development came close on the heels of a legal battle between Apple and FBI over the US agency’s demand that the iPhone maker help unlock its mobile phones. Many Silicon Valley players had supported Apple citing that user data privacy needs to be respected. According to Viber website, it has more than 600 million unique users in 193 countries.
India might have moved ahead in the field of technology but it still remains one of the most attacked victims when it comes to cyber crimes. Recently, the country has definitely seen a decrease in the amount of spams and malicious activities but sadly, it continues to be on the third spot when it comes to cyber crimes like malware and phishing hosts and bots. According to Symantec, global leader in cybersecurity, after ranking sixth in 2014, India now ranks 18th as a source of spam. However, the country continues to be a top source as well as destination of cyber attacks, said Symantec’s “Internet Se-
curity Threat Report”. “The report reveals just how lucrative India is for cybercriminals,” Tarun Kaura, Symantec director, solution product manage-
attacks per hour. Almost 10 percent of these attacks were cryptoransomware posing a threat to consumers and enterprises alike,” Kaura
ment for Asia Pacific and Japan, said in a statement. “In fact, India is the second most favoured destination for Ransomware in Asia with the average number of attacks per day increasing 114 percent to 15
added. November was the busiest month for cybercriminals in India last year, and across the globe an average of 2.5 targeted attacks per day were being aimed at the Indian enterprises in the month.
Issue 664 (26)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Afghan Prez Ashraf Ghani asks Indian head hunter for ISIS Pakistan to act against Taliban killed in US drone attack
New Delhi President Ashraf Ghani on Monday signalled a major shift in Afghanistan’s policy on the Taliban, saying he expects Pakistan to take military action against the militant group instead of
bringing it to the negotiating table. In an address to a joint session of both houses of Parliament, Ghani called on Islamabad to take action against all militant groups that are using Pakistani soil to target Afghanistan. The leadership of the Taliban is based in the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Peshawar, from where they coordinate and launch attacks in Afghanistan, he said, according to reports in the Afghan media. The Afghan government
“will no longer call on Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table” despite having relied on it in the past to do so, he said. Pakistan should act responsibly in the fight
against terrorist groups, he added. Ghani warned that Afghanistan will approach the UN Security Council and other international organisations to lodge complaints if action is not taken by Pakistan. The doors to peace will now be open only to some factions of the Taliban and there will be no difference between “good terrorists and bad terrorists”, Ghani said. The Taliban “will suffer in the battlefield and eventually request for peace talks”, he said.
The Afghan government, he added, has “ended its efforts in calling for peace and will now use all its resources to defend the country”. The “time for unjustified amnesty” has ended and terrorists will be executed, he said. Ghani described the enemies of Afghanistan as “alien hireling groups like Daesh, al Qaeda, murderous groups of Haqqani and some Taliban who enjoy shedding their countrymen’s blood and continue the war and terrorism”. The President’s remarks came against the backdrop of last week’s deadly bombing in Kabul by the Taliban that killed 64 people and injured more than 340. Afghanistan has seen a major spike in violence since the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive earlier this month. The joint session was attended by MPs, senior officials and members of the High Peace Council and Ulema Council. However, CEO Abdullah Abdullah was absent from the session.
Shafi Amrar the head and principal recruiter of Islamic State (IS) in India was reportedly killed in a drone strike few days ago, said sources. Shafi Amrar (26), a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka, was allegedly in charge of recruiting members for the ISIS in India. Shafi Amrar was listed on the Interpol website as the founder of Junud al Khalifa-e-Hind (Soldiers of the Indian Caliphate). The outfit spawned from the Ansar-ul-Tauhid (AuT) with Shafi’s elder brother Sultan Armar as the head. Sultan too was killed in an air strike in March 2015. Apparently, Shafi was in contact with at least 600700 Indian youngsters on private Facebook groups and messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Skype for the past one
year. There is a possibility that he may have recruited some men for the outfit. Amrar arranged funds for IS recruits in India using hawala transactions. He even sent an estimated amount of Rs 6 lakh to Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh, who he had appointed as ‘Emir’ of IS in India. However, the security measures undertaken by the agencies in India proved to be a hurdle for IS recruits to migrate to Syria. “We have learnt about his death and more details
are awaited. Official confirmation may take time as it is difficult to relay information from Syria, where IS has a strong presence, but nevertheless it’s big news,” a top official said
Issue - 664 (27)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Bangladesh professor hacked to death in suspected Islamist attack Dhaka Unidentified attackers hacked to death a university teacher in northwestern Bangladesh on Saturday, amid growing concerns at home and abroad about the confrontation between
attackers used sharp weapons, and fled the scene immediately. ‘Wrote poems, short stories’ Siddique’s family said they had no idea whether he faced any threat or was concerned about his life.The professor used to
Islamist hardliners and secularists in the country. AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique, an English professor , was attacked in the morning when he was walking for a bus near his home to get to Rajshahi University, where he worked, Sushanta Chandra Roy, assistant commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said over phone. Roy said they had no immediate clues about the killing and no group immediately claimed responsibility. He said the killing has similarities with recent murders of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh, adding that some witnesses told them that the attack was carried out by two young men riding a motorbike.The official said the
play Tanpura and led a cultural group and edited a literally magazine, his brother Sajidul Karim Siddique. “It’s a mystery to us, I can’t believe someone can kill such a simple man,” Siddique told Hindustan Times by phone. Asked whether he suspected any radical groups, he said his brother was never outspoken about any ideology that could hurt anybody. “He used to write poems and short stories,” he said. Protesting Siddique’s killing, his colleagues and students marched through the Rajshahi University campus while angry students blocked a highway demanding justice.Global rights group Amnesty International in a statement condemned the killing
Pak Taliban claim killing of minority minister Sardar Soran Singh
Peshawar The Pakistani Taliban have claimed the killing of a provincial minister for minority affairs for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province who was shot dead in a restive northwestern Buner district. Gunmen on motorbikes stopped Sardar Soran Singh ‘s car on Friday evening and opened fire, killing him on the spot.
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“These activities will continue until implementation of Islamic system in Pakistan,” Muhammad Khurasani, spokesperson for the Tehreeke-Taliban Pakistan, said in an emailed statement late Friday. Singh’s murder was widely condemned by his fellow lawmakers and rights activists. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose PakistanTehreek Insaf (PTI) party rules the restive northwestern province, urged his government to set up an inquiry commission. “Shocked at murder of PTI’s KP MPA & Minorities Minister Sooran Singh. KP govt must immed set up inquiry. A great loss for all of us,” Khan tweeted. “When will Pakistan stop targeting minorities?” Twitter user Saqeena Qasim said.
and said the responsible must be brought to justice. “The vicious killing of Rezaul Karim Siddique is inexcusable and those responsible must be held to account. This attack sadly fits the gruesome pattern established by Islamist extremist groups in Bangladesh who are targeting secular activists and writers,” Amnesty South Asia Director Champa Patel said in a statement. “The authorities must do more to put an end to these killings. Not a single person has been brought to justice for the attacks over the past year,” Patel said. Police said an autopsy has been conducted and the body was handed over to the family for burial, expected to take place on Saturday night. “We are preparing for his burial,” his cousin Nazrul Islam said. “This is a difficult time for us. Please pray for us.” Since last year, a number of atheist bloggers, activists and publishers had been attacked and killed allegedly by Islamist groups. Since 2006, three other teachers of the same university have been killed. Police have blamed radical Islamist groups for those killings. One of the slain teachers was a follower of mystic poet and lyricist Lalon. Attacks also took place against foreigners and minority Shia, Ahmadiya and Hindu communities. Many Christian priests have reported that they have been threatened by unidentified people.
Workers from India hardest to understand, says Maine governor Paul LePage
Maine’s Republican governor says it’s hard to understand workers “from Bulgaria” and workers from India are “the worst ones”. Governor Paul LePage said Saturday that foreign workers are being used in restaurants after he criticized a referendum proposal to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12. He says he’s disappointed his alternative proposal to hike the wage to $10 didn’t get traction. He described Indians as “lovely people but you’ve got to have an interpreter”. LePage is known for making controversial remarks. In this case, he was chuckling as he spoke at the state party convention. He
joked that his wife is going to get a job as a waitress for supplemental income. He also had a crude remark about President Barack Obama, saying Obama stands for “one big-ass mistake, America”.
70 British Islamic State recruits plotting attacks in UK London Around 70 of the 350 British terror suspects who travelled to Syria to join IS and returned home may be plotting attacks in the UK, a report said on Thursday. Scott Wilson, a senior UK home office official and national coordinator of the Protect and Prepare counter- terrorism programmes, told the Security and Counter Terror Expo in London that these suspects pose a “high risk” to Britain. I cannot answer where it is going to go. It [the terrorism threat] is going to be with us for a long, long time,” he said this week. According to The Times, he indicated that a fifth of the 350 so-called returning terror suspects were “high threat” extremists and are suspected of plotting or wanting to carry out attacks in Britain. They are also keen to spread the extremist group’s propaganda and seek new recruits in the UK. More than 800 British extremists are believed to have joined IS in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, an analysis by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ found that one in three terrorists convicted of plotting attacks on British soil
were able to enter the UK after training abroad.Preliminary research by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank and the newspaper found that of the 77 Britons convicted of major terror plots or attacks which posed an imminent threat to life since 1999, 27 had become trained or fought overseas in war-torn countries. “Those who have sought training or combat experience abroad, and then come back to the UK, are the most likely to be perpetrators of high impact mass casualty attacks or other serious offences,” said Hannah Stuart, a research fellow from the Henry Jackson society. An examination of the major attacks and plots in the UK over
the 15 year period found that 10 of the 13 ringleaders had travelled abroad for training or combat experience and returned to the UK.Indian-origin MP Keith Vaz, the House of Commons’ home affairs select committee chairperson, said: “These figures are extremely concerning and what they show is that people are leaving our country without the authorities knowing that they are going. “What we need to do is to stop them leaving in the first place because what is clear is that once they go they are further radicalised and when they return, no matter what programmes they are put on, it is very difficult to turn them around.”
Issue - 664 (28)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Captain Amarinder Singh cancels visit to Canada Toronto After three days of drama, Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh is learnt to have cancelled his seven-day trip to Canada because of the prospect of possibly facing a case related to torture in a court in Toronto.
That decision came on Saturday, after Singh had already postponed his arrival in Toronto as he waited for the court to issue an order before he decided on his course of action. The case was filed by the activist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) on behalf of a Canadian resident, who was allegedly tortured during Singh’s tenure as chief minister of Punjab. An official statement
released by Singh slammed SFJ’s lawfare, saying it was “playing into the hands of the antiIndia forces like the ISI to embarrass India and project as if rights violations were the norm of the day in the country (India) like some dictatorships in different
parts of the world”. He added, “The government of India, rising above political considerations must take up the matter with the Canadian government at the highest level.” Referring to the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s proposed visit later this year, Singh also asked, “And will the SFJ raise similar objections when Arvind Kejriwal will visit Canada by invoking the Canadian policy that prevented me from
addressing public functions?”In a statement, SFJ’s legal advisor Gurpatwant Pannun said, “Since Capt Amarinder’s presence in Canada is a condition precedent to charges going forward, the matter was delayed pending further information about Capt Amarinder’s plans to visit Toronto. The victim and his counsel intend to return to court upon confirmation of Capt Amarinder’s presence in Toronto.”This led to a stalemate, with the matter unlikely to be settled until Singh arrived in Canada, where he was scheduled to hold some private meetings arranged by the local unit of the Indian Overseas Congress.Singh, who arrived in Chicago on April 19 to begin a North American tour aimed at reaching out to the Punjabi NRI community, was to visit Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
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FBI hints it paid over $ 1 million to hack terrorist’s iPhone London The FBI paid more than $ one million to a company to break into the locked iPhone used by a Pakistani-American shooter involved in the San Bernardino terror attack, Director James
Comey has hinted. Speaking at a security conference in London, Comey did not give the exact amount that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) paid to unlock the iPhone, but threw hints in his statement.Comey, according to media reports here, said yesterday the cost of the tool was “more than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months, for sure.” The Washington Post said the FBI Director makes $ 185,100 a year.“As a result, Comeys remarks strongly implied that the bureau paid at least $ 1.3 million to get onto the phone, which had belonged to Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife, killed
14 people during the December 2 terror attack in San Bernardino, in California,” the daily reported. Farook, a Pakistani-American and his wife Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani national, died in a firefight with police after the terror
attack.“But it was, in my view, worth it,” Comey said in defence of his decision.The Washington Post said FBI cracked the phone with the help of professional hackers who were paid a onetime flat fee.However they were not able to find any links to
foreign terrorists on the phone, it said.“I am hoping that we can somehow get to a place where we have a sensible solution, or set of solutions, that does not involve hacking and does not involve spending tons of money in a way that is unscalable,” Comey said.The FBI chief underscored the need for a continued national conversation over the issues surrounding universal encryption and how that factors into the privacy versus security debate.“This will be a feature of our work - there will be other litigation, I am sure - but it will be a feature of our work, increasingly, over the months and years to come,” Comey added. The FBI had taken Apple to court to force it to break into the encryption-protected iPhone 5C. Apple, backed by technology giants such as Google and Facebook, was opposed to assisting the agency in unlocking the iphone, citing it would have wide-reaching implications on digital security and privacy.
Brussels bomber identified as IS jailer of foreign hostages in Syria Paris One of the Brussels airport suicide bombers, Najim Laachraoui, has been identified as one of their prison guards by several Frenchmen who were held hostage by Islamic State in Syria , sources close to the investigation said.According to one of the
sources, four French journalists kidnapped in Syria in 2013 and 2014 had identified a guard known as “Abou Idriss”. One of these journalists, Nicolas Henin, “formally identified” Abou Idriss as Najim Laachraoui, said his lawyer Marie-Laure Ingouf, confirming reports in French newspapers.
US concerned over Pakistan’s tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups
Washington The US expressed concern on Saturday over Pakistan’s continued tolerance for terrorist groups like Haqqani network and said that it has raised this issue at the highest level with the authorities in Islamabad. “We have consistently expressed our concerns at that the highest level of the government of Pakistan about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups, such as the Haqqani network, operating from Pakistani soil,” state department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said. America’s concerns were raised with Pakistan again after the dreaded terrorist attack in Kabul this week in which more than 70 people were killed. Afghan authorities have blamed this to the Haqqani network and alleged this had the backing of the Pakistani establishment. “We have pressed the government of Pakistan to follow up on its expressed commitment not to
discriminate between terror groups, regardless of their agenda or their affiliation by undertaking concrete action against the Haqqanis,” Trudeau said in response to a question. Pakistani authorities have reiterated their commitment that they will not discriminate against those groups, she noted. “We continue to call on them to live up to that commitment,” the spokesperson said. “I think words matter and we continue to encourage them to have their actions match those words,” Trudeau said responding to Afghan allegations that Pakistanis helped the Haqqani network in this Kabul attack. “Any attack the Haqqani group conducts is not possible without Pakistan’s help and this has been repeatedly proven in the last 14 years,” a presidential spokesperson, Dawa Khan Meenapal, was quoted as saying by Voice of America on Saturday.
97-year-old man in Bihar appears for MA exam
Patna A 97-year-old man, who had graduated in 1938, has appeared in an exam for a post-graduate degree of Nalanda Open University (NOU). Clad in a light coloured shirt and dark trousers, Raj Kumar Vaishya wrote in English and used 23 sheets in his M.A. economics part one exam. He sat for three hours in the examination centre like the others, most of them younger than his grand-children, the official said. “Despite heat wave that forced people indoors,
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Vaishya surprised all of us including young examinees, when he appeared at examination centre,” said the official. Vaishya enrolled last year for an M.A. in economics for two reasons: to fulfil his long nurtured desire to get a Masters degree and to study economics to be able to understand why India has failed to solve problems like poverty. “I have appeared in exam and now I am a step closer to fulfilling my dream,” he said. Born on April 1, 1920, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly town, Vaishya retired in 1980 as a general manager in a private firm in Koderma (now in Jharkhand). He did his graduation from Agra University in 1938 and got a degree in law in 1940. He said he failed to study for a Master’s degree then due to increasing family responsibilities. Vaishya lives with the family of his second son Santosh Kumar in the posh Rajendra Nagar colony here for the last 10 years after his wife’s death.
Issue - 664 (29)
26 April - 2 May 2016
UK ‘concerned’ about violence against women in India London Britain on Thursday said it was aware of “particular concerns” over violence against women and girls in India during a review of the global human rights situation in 2015.It also listed 30 nations as “human rights priority countries” where it plans to “prioritise engagement”. India does not figure in the list that includes Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The annual human rights report released by the Foreign Office said Britain is committed to working with the Indian government on violence against women and girls. “We are aware of the particular concerns around violence against women and girls in India...We welcome the steps the Indian government
has already taken, such as fasttrack courts and public safety measures,” it said. The report said a group of Indian women leaders visited Britain in November to learn about the approach to tackling violence against women and girls. The visit took place during the week that marked the International Day for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. “The group met Baroness Anelay, parliamentarians, represe-ntatives of the private sector, UK civil society and UK officials. The objective was to help shape public policy in India so that the criminal justice system and society will be more responsive to women victims of violence, specifically those from
42 bags containing crores of rupees recovered from ashrams of Asaram, Narayan Sai!
Surat Self-proclaimed jailed Godman Asaram Bapu and his son Narayan Sai have embroiled themselves into fresh trouble. According to media reports, the father-son duo have been imposed a fine of whopping Rs 750 crore. Assistant Commissioner of Police Mukesh Patel on Friday, April 22, told a news agency, ‘‘Raids against both the spiritual gurus had led to recovery of hoards of cash and property papers.’’ During the raid, 42 bags containing crores of rupees were allegedly recovered by the Income tax authorities. Asaram’s lawyer Kalpesh Desai
confirmed about the I-T raid at the ashrams of tainted godmen in Surat. Asaram had allegedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl at his ashram near Jodhpur in Rajasthan in 2013, following which he was arrested. Later, a Surat-based woman had accused Asaram of raping her repeatedly between 1997 and 2006 during her stay in his ashram. The younger sister of the complainant had levelled the allegation of rape against his son Narayan Sai between 2002 and 2005, following which he was booked under various sections of IPC, including rape, unnatural sex, molestation, wrongful confinement.
demonstrable benefits for countries’ prosperity of women’s economic empowerment, too many countries – at national, provincial and community level – continue to restrict the human rights of women and girls, including to adequate health care and to justice,” it said.
vulnerable, marginalised and minority groups,” the report said. On the global rights situation, the report said despite progress achieved at the UN level and elsewhere, significant challenges remained, including ending the many forms of violence against women, securing sexual health and
reproductive rights, achieving gender equality at the workplace and in political and public life, and women’s economic empowerment and equal access to education. “Regrettably, despite the fact that women make up around 50% of any country’s population, and despite
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Panama Papers: Amitabh Bachchan denied link, records show he joined board meetings via phone New Delhi On April 4, as part of its ongoing investigation into The Panama Papers, The Indian Express reported that records of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca showed that actor Amitabh Bachchan served as director of four offshore shipping companies between 1993 and 1997. A day after the report appeared, Bachchan he did not respond to emails and phone calls from The Indian Express issued a statement that he did not know any of the companies, had not been a director of any of them and that “it is possible that (his) name has been misused”. New records obtained and investigated by The Indian Express contradict Bachchan’s version. On April 4, as part of its ongoing investigation into The Panama Papers, The Indian Express reported that records of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca showed that actor Amitabh Bachchan served as director of four offshore shipping companies between 1993 and 1997. A day after the report appeared, Bachchan — he did not respond to emails and phone calls from
The Indian Express issued a statement that he did not know any of the companies, had not been a director of any of them and that “it is possible that (his) name has been misused”. New records obtained and investigated by The Indian Express contradict Bachchan’s version. These show that Bachchan, as director of two of these firms, took part in their board meetings “by telephone conference.” These meetings of Tramp Shipping Limited (Bahamas) and Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd (British Virgin Islands), were held on December 12, 1994. The venue of these meetings: “38/ 39, The Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE4 8SD.”
Bachchan’s name was also recorded in the list of directors and office bearers on the Certificate of Incumbency issued by both companies. These records relate to a $1.75million loan from a Jeddahbased investment company that also finds mention in Mossack Fonseca records investigated by The Indian Express. The Indian Express had reported earlier that Mossack Fonseca records show Bachchan was appointed director and managing director of Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd (BVI), Lady Shipping Ltd, Treasure Shipping Ltd and Tramp Shipping Ltd (Bahamas) in 1993. He was also listed under “Nombre Miembro” (member name) of these companies.
Germany gurudwara blast carried out by radical Islamists: Police Berlin An explosion at a gurudwara in Germany’s Essen city was a “terror attack” carried out by radical Islamists, authorities have said for the first time, terming it as an “entirely new” strike targeting Sikhs.After the interrogating two
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teenagers, investigators said the blast was “religious motivated terror of the Islamist scene”, Essen’s police commissioner Frank Richter said on Thursday.The blast ripped through the entrance hall of a gurudwara on Saturday evening during a wedding ceremony and damaged part of the building, shattering windowpanes and injuring three people, including a priest. The interior minister of the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Ralf Jaeger, spoke of an “Islamic background” to the blast and called for a thorough investigation into the incident. It also must be investigated who are the other people with whom the two terror suspects were in contact, he said.Jaeger said it was “entirely new” that the Sikh community in
Germany had been targeted.The two terror suspects’ affiliation to a particular group cannot be established right now, Richter told
a news conference in Essen.German TV network ARD on Thursday reported that one of the two men arrested, identified by
police as Yusuf T, is an Islamic State (IS) sympathiser and investigators treat him as the main suspect in the attack.
Issue - 664 (30)
26 April - 2 May 2016
US suicide rate jumps 24 percent since 1999 The suicide rate in the United States has jumped 24 percent in the past 15 years, including a troublesome spike among girls aged 10-14, according to US government statistics out Friday. The rate increased by about one
percent a year from 1999, then accelerated to two percent annually from 2006 to 2014, said the findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.The rise was seen among both males and females and for all ages 10-74, said the report. The biggest jump was among girls aged 10-14, whose suicide rate tripled from 0.5 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 1.5 per 100,000 in 2014. A total of 150 girls in this age group killed themselves in 2014, a 200 percent increase over 1999, the report said. “We are seeing younger and younger kids dying by suicide,” said Victor Fornari, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York.This is
“really a worry,” added Fornari, who was not involved in the study. “I think it may be a reflection of access to social media, Internet and cyber bullying, and youth are hurried. They are being exposed to things
sooner than they would have been,” he told AFP.Suicide rates among boys aged 10-14 were higher than in girls, but they did not experience the same spike over the course of 15 years. In 1999, 1.9 per 100,000 people in this age group committed suicide, and by 2014 the number had risen to 2.6 per 100,000, a 37 percent increase.Among men, those over age 75 were most likely to kill themselves in both 1999 and 2014. However, in contrast to other age groups, elderly men’s suicide rate decreased by eight percent over the 15 years studied, going from 42.4 per 100,000 in 1999 to 38.8 in 2014, the report said.The second-highest suicide rate among men was in those aged 45-64, a group that saw the largest percent increase (43
US mom forced to dump 14.8 litres of breast milk at Heathrow airport
A US mother of two has spoken of her frustration that she was forced to dump 14.8 litres of breast milk at security at London’s Heathrow Airport. In an open letter posted on Facebook, Jessica Coakley Martinez, who was travelling without her eight-month-old son, said she felt “humiliated”, BBC reported. “You made me dump out nearly two weeks worth of food for my son,” she said. Heathrow says the London government’s rules on carrying liquids on planes are set out for passengers on its website. The rules, set out by the Department for Transport, reads
that liquids may only be carried in containers holding 100ml or less in a transparent and resealable single bag. The website says exceptions are made in the case of baby food or baby milk but only if the passenger was travelling with a baby. It says excess liquids should be carried as hold luggage. Martinez wrote that, although she should have looked up the rules, the regulation that breast milk was not allowed if the mother was travelling without her baby was “incredibly unfair and exclusionary in consideration of all of the other working mothers like me”.
percent) in rates, increasing from 20.8 in 1999 to 29.7 in 2014, said the study. Among women, suicide rates were highest for those aged 45-64 in both 1999 (6.0 per 100,000) and 2014 (9.8), said the report.”This age group also had the second-largest percent increase - 63 percent since 1999.” The study pointed to a narrowing of the suicide gender gap over the years, largely due to a 46 percent increase in female suicides. Men remain more than three times as likely as women to commit suicide.The most common method of suicide for men was by firearm (55.4 percent). Among women, it was poisoning (34.1 percent). The findings raised concern among mental health experts, who urged a new push for suicide prevention efforts.”The vast majority of people who die by suicide have a psychiatric illness - such as depression, bipolar disorder, chemical dependency, schizophrenia,” said Jeffrey Borenstein, president and CEO of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.”
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Obama says he is adamant against racially profiling Sikhs
US President Barack Obama insisted on Saturday that it was not his administration’s policy to target people based on their looks at airports, but said keeping people safe and preventing terrorism was one of his “biggest challenges”. Responding to questions from a young Sikh at a town hall-type meeting in Westminster on the second day of his three-day visit to London, Obama said he had taken an “adamant stand” on not racially profiling people at US airports. Asked why he had not taken a firm stand following reports of Sikhs being targeted as Muslims or being racially profiled at US airports, Obama said terrorism in pluralistic societies like the US and Britain would continue to be a challenge, but one that would be overcome.
He said: “I have taken an adamant stand on not racial profiling at airports. It is explicit TSA (Transportation Security Administration) policy not to racially profile”. “Does that mean that out of hundreds of airports and thousands of TSA officials that there has not been times where a Sikh is going through the airport and somebody targets them for secondary screening because of what they look like? Of course that’s happened.” “But that’s not my administration’s policy. But it does raise a broader issue, that in pluralistic societies like the United States, like the UK, in diverse societies, one of our biggest challenges is how we are going to approach keeping people safe and preventing terrorist acts”, Obama added.
Dutch students open world’s first pop-up drone cafe Would you like a drone with your cocktail? The world’s first cafe using the tiny domestic unmanned aircraft as servers has opened in a Dutch university. The pop-up drone cafe will be serving up all weekend as part of celebrations for the ‘Dream and Dare’ festival marking the 60th anniversary of the Eindhoven University of Technology. The 20 students behind the project, who spent nine months developing and building the autonomous drone, aim to show how such small inside craft could become an essential part of modern daily life. ‘It has potential as a useful tool for human kind. We see it as the next mobile phone. You choose and you programme it like you want,’ student and project leader Tessie Hartjes told AFP. The drone, nicknamed Blue Jay, which resembles a small white flying saucer with a luminescent strip for eyes, flies to a table and hovers as it takes a client’s order, who points to the list to signal what they would like. ‘The blue eyes of the first drone load’ up by scanning the list to register the order, said Hartjes. ‘Once it’s fully loaded, then the order is ready. And another one comes with the order in a cup
in the grip.’ The cafe is offering four different alcoholic and nonalcoholic cocktails, which are either bright blue or green - the same colour as the drone’s ‘eyes.’The drinks are picked up and carried by a set of pinchers
buildings and navigate crowded interiors, unlike other drones, which rely on a GPS system. ‘The Blue Jay is an intelligent bird that lives in complex, social environments,’ the students say in a video presenting their work.
underneath the drone, in a bid to show that these aerial machines could be used to carry out delicate missions such as delivering medicines or even helping to track down burglars. Each drone has cost about 2,000 euros to build, in a project funded by the university which the students say aims ‘to give a glimpse of the future’. Thanks to sensors and a long battery life they can fly inside
They believe the drone’s applications could be endless: as extinguishers to put out fires, alarm systems to warn of intruders or mini-servants which would respond to commands such as ‘fetch me an apple.’ ‘We believe that one day, domestic drones will be a part of society. One day, a drone could be a friend,’ says one of the students in the video presentation
Issue - 664 (31)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar gets parole
Punjab’s dreaded separatist outfit Khalistan Liberation Force militant Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a convict in 1993 Delhi bomb blast case, was today released on 21-day parole after nearly 23 years. Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring of 31 in a bomb blast in 1993. Among those who survived the attack are former Youth Congress chief MS Bitta. Behind the bars following his conviction in the case, Bhullar is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence. He was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court on August 25, 2001. Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur,
along with her relatives, received him when he was released from jail custody today. Bhullar was shifted to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi’s Tihar Jail in June last year. After being shifted from Delhi’s Tihar Jail, within a week he was admitted to local Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction Centre from Amritsar Central Jail. Navneet Kaur had sought the shifting of Bhullar to Amritsar Jail citing his poor health. Navneet, who had migrated to Canada with her in-laws in 1994, has her parental house in Amritsar. Former terrorist Gurdeep Singh Khera, who was transferred to the Central Jail in Amritsar last year in June, was released yesterday on 42-day parole.
Indian-origin ex-CIA officer faces extradition from Portugal to Italy, jail An Indian-origin former CIA officer is facing extradition from Portugal to Italy and a possible four-year jail term for her alleged role in the American intelligence agency’s abduction of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 from Milan, according to a media report. Sabrina De Sousa, 60, who has a dual citizenship of the US and Portugal, told The Washington Post that she played no role in Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr’s, also known as Abu Omar, kidnapping. She lives in Portugal while her 90year-old mother lives in India. She was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia by Italian courts for her alleged role in the February 2003 rendition of Omar. She faces no threat for imprisonment in Italy as she moved back to the US long before the Italian trial began. However, she was detained in Lisbon last year by Portugal authorities in response to a European arrest warrant. “This week, Portugal’s highest court upheld the country’s lower courts’ rulings, declared that they did not violate the constitution, and said De Sousa should be sent to Italy as soon as May 4,” the Post reported yesterday.
Over 50 children die of cancer in India every day, finds study Over 50 children in the age group of one month to 14 years die of cancer every day in India, according to a recent study which also highlights the significant monetary burden of the disease and lack of advanced
suffering with cancer are cured because of significant progress in treatment. The study, conducted by researchers from international institutes, including University of Toronto and Mumbai’s Tata
treatment options in the country. The study, published in the Journal of Global Oncology, says dearth of medical data in low and middle-income countries like India hampers efforts to place childhood cancer on public health agenda and hinders framing and implementation of national strategies to counter the disease.In developed countries, more than 80% of children
Memorial Centre, pegs the rate of mortality due to pediatric cancer in India at 37 per million every year. Researchers utilised data from the Million Death Study, a unique, nationally representative and longitudinal survey of over 14 million people, including a cohort of more than 27,000 pediatric deaths in India. Researchers say the low
penetration of advanced treatment options in low and middle income countries like India is primarily because of underestimating the true incidence or mortality. Cancer is fast taking epidemic proportions in India. According to a Lancet report of 2014, slightly over 10 lakh new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year in the country. As per WHO’s latest assessment, cancer cases in India will multiply five times over the next decade (by 2025). Increasing incidence and mortality from cancer is also leading to economic burden of treatment, which was 20 times the annual income of an average family, an assessment by AIIMS showed. Alarmed by the rising trend, the health ministry is working on an overarching National MultiSectoral Action Plan with the aim to reduce premature deaths from cancer, diabetes and heart diseases by 25% in the next 10 years. However, successful implementation of the plan would require several measures, including improved lifestyle, healthy eating, anti-tobacco and anti-sugar measures, pollution control, early screening and detection, and infrastructure development.
At the same time, Portugal’s Constitutional Court also reiterated a condition set by the lower courts and guaranteed by
with our US government affiliation disavowed. “I would have never joined the CIA if I was told there was a
Italy in De Sousa’s European arrest warrant that once she arrives in Italy, she must be given another trial or a chance to appeal with new evidence, and the ability to call Italian and US witnesses, because she had been tried in absentia, the daily reported. “De Sousa’s extradition and potential imprisonment would be an astonishing turn of events for a case that raises major questions about how much diplomatic protection CIA case officers abroad possess when carrying out operations sanctioned by their superiors,” the paper said. Benjamin Fischer, a former CIA chief historian, described this as unprecedented. In her interview to the daily, she rued that the CIA is not helping her. CIA declined to comment. “Those of us who were convicted were accredited diplomats and declared to the Italian government. We instead find ourselves treated like NOCs
remote possibility that I would never see my mother in Goa again and not travel abroad. This has set a terrible precedent. This rendition was funded by Congress with approval of senior government officials in the US, Italy and Egypt,” De Sousa said. It all began on February 17, 2003 when a team of CIA agents in Milan swooped down on Omar, as he walked from his apartment. He was flown to Egypt, where he was interrogated and released later. In 2005 reports surfaced that CIA officers had allegedly broken local laws against detaining terrorist suspects in Europe. De Sousa resigned in 2009 after she failed in her efforts to persuade the State Department to grant her immunity. According to a 2012 report in Caravan, Sabrina grew up in Mumbai. She married a US diplomat in 1985 when she changed her citizenship. They divorced in 1996.
SpiceJet sacks pilot for misbehaving with air hostess during flight
Budget carrier SpiceJet fired a senior pilot for allegedly misbehaving with an air hostess during an international flight. The incident, which allegedly took place on February 28 on SpiceJet’s Kolkata-Bangkok flight, came to light after the air hostess lodged a complaint with the airline, which in turn informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).The regulator is
probing the incident and may suspend the pilot’s license if the allegation is found true, sources said.Sources said the pilot allegedly called the air hostess inside the cockpit after sending the co-pilot out and made her sit in the pilot’s seat while flying to Bangkok. He allegedly repeated the stunt on the return flight as well.“The pilot has been sacked,” a SpiceJet official confirmed.
Issue - 664 (32)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was not a ‘terrorist’, declassify Operation Blue Star files: Subramanian Swamy
New Delhi Bhartiya Janata Party leader and newly appointed Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy on Saturday termed the 1984 Operation Blue Star “foolishness on the part of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi”. Swamy while addressing the students said the leader of Damdami Taksal, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was not a terrorist and demanded to declassify files of Operation Blue Star to bring out the truth behind allowing the army to march into the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Swamy who was addressing a group of students at Lovely Professional University (LPU) said that, he
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believed slain militant leader Bhindranwale was a preacher. While answering a question posed by a student Swamy said, Bhindranwale promoted Sikhism and motivated young students to stay away from drugs. According to Hindustan Times, Swamy said, “During Operation Blue Star, Bhindranwale was only 35, he was bit aggressive when it came to preaching and that’s what made others think that he was a hardliner, even a terrorist. I met him before Operation Blue Star. He would call media for casual meetings in routine at Akal Takht”. Read Also: (Operation Blue Star: 15 facts about the infamous incident inside the Golden Temple). “Why would any terrorist hold press conferences?” asks Swamy. The BJP MP further explained that, the then communist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet had allegedly conveyed a message to USSR that if Sikhism returned to Punjab, it would wipe out communism from the state. Swamy further revealed that a Soviet Ambassador to India has asked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the operation.
Three burnt to death in India over ‘human sacrifice’ NEW DELHI Three members of an Indian family burnt to death after a mob locked them in their house and set it on fire following rumours of their involvement in human
sacrifices, police said Tuesday. Ten men have been arrested over the incident on Sunday in underdeveloped Jharkhand state when hundreds of villagers armed with sticks and other sharp weapons targeted the family, an officer said. “There was a rumour that they had kidnapped children for sacrifice, which was followed by an attack,” Kartik S, police chief of Lohardaga district where the incident happened, told AFP. Five other family members were rescued from the burning house in Lohardaga, 75 kilometres (46 miles) from the eastern state’s capital Ranchi. Kartik said the
head of the family, Gowardhan Bhagat, had been accused by locals of being a sorcerer. According to local media reports, Bhagat had been jailed many years ago, allegedly for beheading someone, fuelling fears of his involvement in ritual killings. “We don’t have any evidence that he kidnapped children for sacrifice now,” Kartik said, adding that police were investigating if the attack was orchestrated because of a personal grudge against Bhagat.Some 2,097 people, mostly women, were killed in India between 2000 to 2012 after being branded witches, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Some states including Jharkhand have introduced special laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft. There are also occasional reports of human sacrifices in rural and remote areas. On Monday Delhi police rescued a kidnapped four-monthold girl and arrested three men including the infant’s uncle who had allegedly sold her to a sorcerer for sacrifice.
Hema Malini got Rs 70 crore land for Rs 1.75 lakh New Delhi Bollywood actress and lawmaker Hema Malini has been alloted land worth Rs 70 crore for just Rs 1.75 lakh for a dance academy in upmarket Oshiwara in Mumbai under a revised policy of Maharashtra government, an RTI query has revealed. Documents accessed by RTI activist Anil Galgali from the Suburban Collectors office shows the government has allotted a 2,000 square metre prime plot to the BJP Lok Sabha MP for Rs 1.75 lakh at a rate of Rs 87.50 per square metre for construction of a dance academy. An RTI plea filed earlier by Galgali had revealed the actress was allotted the land at a rate of Rs 35 per square metre (costing Rs 70,000). After the issue generated a controversy in February this year, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a revision of the policy of allotting land to private trusts and artists. Since Malini, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, has already paid Rs 10 lakh as advance, the government would have to refund her the outstanding Rs 8.25 lakh, said Galgali. “This would be a major embarrassment for the government,” he said. When contacted, Mumbai
Suburban Collector Shekhar Channe said, “Yes, we would have to return money to her. However, the money would be returned only if the government
which was Rs 350 per square metre. “Since a government resolution stipulates that the land allotment in such cases would be done at
orders us to do so.” “The land having a market value of Rs 70 crore has been given to Hema Maliniji for a paltry Rs 1.75 lakh. The state government would have to return Rs 8.75 lakh to her as she gave Rs 10 lakh as advance in 1997,” he said. Galgali had sought information from the Collector’s office regarding the rate at which the land has been given to the actress-politician for the institute. According to the documents, the land in question is reserved for a garden, and allotment has been done on the basis of valuation prevailing as on February 1, 1976,
25 per cent of the valuation, Hema Malini has got the prime piece of land at the one fourth of Rs 350 per square metre - that is Rs 87.50 per square metre,” said Galgali. Malini in the past has refuted allegations of favouritism and land grabbing, saying she had struggled for 20 years to get the plot. “I am getting 2,000 square metre of land for a dance institute to be built by Natyavihar Kalakendra Charity Trust (headed by her). I will have to develop a garden (on a piece of land which is not part of the academy) and give it to the BMC,” she had earlier said.
Attacked Indian horse buried with police honours DEHRADUN A horse was buried with “police honours” after dying from injuries suffered in an attack allegedly by an Indian politician, with his death triggering renewed outrage. The police horse, called Shaktiman, became the subject of a weeks-long row between rival political parties in India after his injured hind leg turned gangrenous and had to be amputated. Ganesh Joshi, from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was briefly arrested last month on charges of cruelty to the horse which was wounded during a party protest in the northern state of Uttarakhand. Shaktiman was fitted with a prosthetic limb reportedly rushed in from the United States and every detail of the animal’s road to recovery was covered by the Indian media. But Uttarakhand police announced on Wednesday that Shaktiman had gone into shock and died after being given anaesthesia to treat another infection. “The doctors had administered anaesthesia to him as they needed to treat an infection but he could not handle the anaesthesia,” senior superintendent Sadanand Datte told AFP. Datte said the animal was buried with “full police honours” in state capital
Dehradun late Wednesday. Shaktiman was wrapped in a white cloth in a ceremony
had spared no expense in treating the horse, with the creature becoming a cause
watched by politicians and police, an AFP reporter at the funeral said. The news triggered fresh anger, with national minister and animal rights campaigner Maneka Gandhi calling for those responsible to be thrown in jail for “killing a police officer”. BJP state lawmaker Joshi again denied he had attacked the horse with a stick during the protest. “If I am found guilty, then cut my leg,” Joshi was quoted as saying by the Times of India. The Uttarakhand government, run by the rival Congress party,
celebre. Shaktiman had been treated to repeat visits from the state’s chief minister and an American veterinary surgeon had reportedly been flown in from Bhutan to provide treatment, in what some critics saw as a case of political point-scoring. Indians took to Twitter on Thursday over the death, some accusing politicians of “using #Shaktiman as a political tool”. Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia said: “We are sorry #Shaktiman. U didn’t deserve this. It’s us. What’s the human race coming to.
Issue - 664 (33)
26 April - 2 May 2016
US drops fight with Apple after iPhone access NEW YORK The US Justice Department has dropped its effort to force Apple Inc to help unlock an iPhone in a drug case in New York after someone provided authorities the passcode to access the device. In a letter filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, prosecutors said that investigators late on Thursday used that passcode to access the iPhone at issue, and as a result ‘no longer needs Apple’s assistance.’ The letter marked a sudden end to a closely watched case, in which the Justice Department had been appealing a ruling by a federal magistrate judge holding that he could not force Apple to assist authorities. The case gained further significance after prosecutors in March dropped a similar effort to force Apple to help access an iPhone used by one of the shooters in December’s San Bernardino
killings, after a third party provided a way to crack it.Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said the cases have ‘never been about setting a
Apple spokesman declined comment. Previously, the company had argued in court that prosecutors had not provided any evidence to bolster their
court precedent; they are about law enforcement’s ability and need to access evidence on devices pursuant to lawful court orders and search warrants.’ An
claim that they had exhausted other methods to get data from the phone. Apple said it was not even clear that they had asked the suspect and his associates.
Metsu painting heads to auction NEW YORK Sotheby’s has said it will auction a work by Dutch painter Gabriel Metsu, looted by the Nazis in 1938 from the Rothschild family collection before it was recovered in 1998. The work - ‘An Officer Paying Court to a Young Woman’ - goes on the block in New York on May 26; it is expected to fetch $6-8 million, the auctioneers said. The 17thcentury painting has had a storied and complicated history. It was seized by the Nazis in 1938 from the Alphonse Rothschild palace collection, after Germany annexed Austria. The work was finally recovered in 1998, thanks in large part to a group of US and British experts known as ‘The Monuments Men’ who identified the painting and
sent it back to Vienna. Alphonse de Rothschild died in 1942. His wife Clarice then negotiated the return of his collection with Austrian authorities. She won the case in 1948, but only after surrendering some 250 works to the Austrian state, including the Metsu work. It took another fifty years before Austria voted in
Pet dog fatally mauls 3 days-old baby
SAN DIEGO A 3-day-old boy was mauled to death by the family dog, police said on Friday.The parents were in bed watching TV with their newborn son and dog Thursday night when the mother coughed. The coughing startled the dog and it unexpectedly bit the baby, Sgt Tu Nguyen said.He said the parents pulled the animal off and took their only child to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. “At this time, we’re looking at this as nothing more than a tragic
incident,” said Nguyen, a member of the child abuse unit. An autopsy is underway to determine the cause of death. Animal control officers took the 2-year-old dog, a neutered male American Staffordshire terriermix named Polo, into custody, said Dan DeSousa, deputy director of the county Department of Animal Services. The dog will be held in quarantine for 10 days to determine whether it has rabies.It will be up to the owners to decide whether to reclaim the dog, DeSousa said.
1998 to implement a restitution law, which let the Rothschild family recover the missing pieces.
Though officials said the passcode had just come to light, the development marks the second time the federal government has dropped a contentious fight over the extent of its power over private companies after Apple pressed it to say what methods it had tried.Prosecutors had been challenging a Feb. 29 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein holding he did not have the authority to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone seized in a drug probe. The case predated the government effort to force Apple to help access the phone of Rizwan Farook, one of the two killers in the San Bernardino massacre, which left 14 people dead and 22 wounded.While the Justice Department dropped that bid after a third party provided a way to access the San Bernardino phone - apparently for more than $1 million - it continued appealing Orenstein’s ruling. FBI Director James Comey has said that the method used on the San Bernardino iPhone 5c would not work on other models, including the iPhone 5s, the type in the Brooklyn case.The phone belonged to Jun Feng, who has pleaded guilty to participation in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy, which prosecutors are continuing to investigate. Unlike the phone used in San Bernardino, Feng’s phone had an older operating system, iOS 7, which is not protected under the same encryption technology, which is why Apple could access it.Apple has some 70 times
before the Brooklyn case emerged helped authorities access data on iPhones, according to court filings. The company changed its stance last year after the New York magistrate invited them to argue whether the Justice Department was stretching the more than 200year-old and very general All Writs Act, which compels help executing warrants, to include more active assistance.Apple said prosecutors were going too far, especially since Congress had more recently limited what communications providers could be compelled to do. Magistrate Orenstein agreed. Though prosecutors have continued to push for mandated cooperation, in many cases under seal, Apple has been objecting and appealing.The New York case has drawn less attention than the one in California, but the fact that a ruling favorable to Apple has been allowed to stand gives it more significance going forward. While the FBI is continuing to fight in other courts, more attention has turned to a draft bill by leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee that would force all manner of companies to turn over unencrypted data when served with a court order.The majority of the technology industry bitterly opposes the measure, arguing that requiring back doors would make all communication more vulnerable to hackers and that US citizens and companies would simply get their encryption from providers in other countries.
US man sentenced to 80 hours of community service at LA gurdwara Los Angeles A 21-year-old man, who vandalised a gurdwara at Buena Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti following the San Bernardino shootings, has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service at the place of worship he targeted and 240 hours of graffiti cleanup. Brodie Durazo pleaded guilty to misdemeanour vandalism and vandalism of religious property charges in exchange for serving 80 hours at Gurdwara Singh Sabha as well as 240 hours of graffiti removal elsewhere. Deputy district attorney Jess Rodriguez told the judge that gurdwara leaders had agreed to allow Durazo to work there for his community service.“They believe it can be a productive result, having him learn about them and their beliefs. They wanted to see something positive come from this,” Rodriguez said at the hearing on Tuesday. Durazo sprayed graffiti, including references to the Islamic State terror group, on a parking lot wall and a parked truck at the gurdwara. The graffiti was discovered on December 6.
The incident came just days after Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married
what I wrote on the truck was because I was intoxicated and I figured the truck travels through
Pakistani couple living in the city of Redlands, targeted a San Bernardino County department of public health training event and a holiday party, killing 14 people. Shortly after his arrest, Durazo read an apology letter to the congregation, denying that he meant the vandalism as hate speech.“I know your guys’ faith and church have nothing to do with the Muslim religion or Islam, that is why I did not write the profanity on your walls or temple,” Durazo said to the congregation in remarks videotaped and posted on Facebook by the Sikh Coalition.“The only reason I wrote
the state and through the country,” he said. “I have shed so many tears to my daughter and fiance. I cannot imagine the amount of stress or tension I have brought upon your temple, especially with what is going on in this world at this time,” Durazo said.He was initially facing felony charges in connection with the vandalism. However, a judge downgraded the charges to misdemeanours, over the objections of prosecutors. Durazo will be on probation for three years and is required to pay an unspecified amount of restitution back to the gurdwara.
Issue - 664 (34)
26 April - 2 May 2016
At least 8 dead at 4 locations in Ohio shootings; no arrests made Ohio At least eight people were found dead on Friday in four locations in rural Ohio, authorities said. Seven of them, including two children, were slain in “execution-
planned to provide an update in Pike County later on Saturday afternoon, she said. DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader had said earlier that seven victims were believed
style killings” at three homes along a rural road, but no arrests were made and it’s unclear whether the killer or killers were among the dead, authorities said on Saturday. Details on the death of the eighth person weren’t immediately available, but the body was found in a fourth location, said Jill Del Greco, spokeswoman with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Attorney General Mike DeWine
to be members of the same family. All were shot to death, they said. There is not an active shooter and no arrests have been made, DeWine and Reader said. Authorities are trying to determine a motive, identify the deceased and determine if the killer or killers are among the deceased individuals or on the loose. A dozen Bureau of Criminal
Donald Trump campaign hit by links to Pakistan’s ISI
Investigation agents were called today morning to Pike County, an economically struggling area in the Appalachian region some 80 miles east of Cincinnati. TV reports from the scene said a staging area has been set up with ambulances and fire personnel. Governor John Kasich, campaigning in Pennsylvania for his Republican presidential bid, said his office was monitoring the situation in Pike County. “Reports we are receiving from Peebles are tragic beyond comprehension,” Kasich wrote on his Twitter account. The FBI in Cincinnati also said it was closely monitoring the situation and has offered assistance to the Pike County sheriff’s office if needed. Peebles High School imposed a precautionary lockout on Saturday morning after authorities notified the superintendent of shootings that had occurred a few miles away, according to Regina Bennington, secretary to the superintendent for the Adams County Ohio Valley Schools district. High school officials said the school was back to normal operations later today morning. Piketon is the site of a Cold Warera uranium plant that was closed in 2001 and is still being cleaned up.
Fully functional gold toilet to be installed at US museum NEW YORK An 18-karat solid gold toilet seat is set to be installed at a US museum bathroom and the ‘piece of art’ will not just be for viewing but could be used too. The Guggenheim Museum here will install the fully functional, 18karat solid gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan in one of its public bathroom stalls. “You can lock the door and have your experience, whether that be just looking at the toilet or using it,” Guggenheim publicist Molly Stewart told the New York Daily News.Stewart said she believes this work, titled ‘Maurizio Cattelan: America’, to be the first time a toilet that is available to public use will be on display at the Guggenheim.The lavatory masterwork marks an end to its creator’s self-imposed retirement.Cattelan, 55, walked away from the art world in 2011, right around the time the Guggenheim held a retrospective for his work. He said at the time the demands of the art world had sent his inspiration down the drain. The idea for “America” though, brought him roaring back to the scene.Cattelan told the New York Times that he alluded to economic inequality as a theme of the toilet piece, but said the meaning is left up to the seer -- or the sitter.“It’s not my job to tell people what a work means. But I think people might
see meaning in this piece,” Cattelan said. The museum said in a statement that the piece “makes available to the public an extravagant luxury product seemingly intended for the 1 per cent.” The work will replace one of the museum’s Kohler toilets in a unisex bathroom.
It will even have its own full-time security guard standing outside the restroom to “check in” occasionally and make sure it’s not vandalised, Stewart said. Doing one’s duty, though, will not count as defacement.“I don’t think peeing in it or defecating inside it is considered vandalising the object,” Stewart said.”‘America’ will remain on display in the stall for the long term,” she said.
America ready for first woman resident, but not for female CEOs
WASHINGTON The Republican frontrunner’s top campaign aide Paul Manafort was reportedly a registered lobbyist for the Kashmiri American Council, which the US justice department prosecutors charged with operating as a front for Pakistan’s intelligence service ISI. Manafort’s portfolio included a gallery of controversial foreign clients ranging from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Zaire’s brutal dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, but the ISI connection is considered the most toxic given
the agency’s ties to terrorism, including recent disclosures that it might have funded the suicide bombing that claimed the lives of seven CIA agents at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan in 2009.“Court records show that Manafort’s Kashmiri lobbying contract came on the FBI’s radar screen during a lengthy counterterrorism investigation that culminated in 2011 with the arrest of the Kashmiri council’s director, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, on charges that he ran the group on behalf of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, as part of a scheme to secretly influence US policy toward the disputed territory of Kashmir,” Yahoo News reported on Monday , even as the Trump campaign seemed to be going off the rails in a brutal and internecine Republican battle for the presidential nomination. Manafort’s lobbying firm, Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly , was reportedly paid $700,000 by the Kashmiri American Council between 1990 and 1995.
WASHINGTON Prospects of the first-ever female president in the United States’ 240-year history are brightening every week, and Washington just decided to put a woman on its $20 bill, replacing the slave-owner President Andrew Jackson with the abolitionist AfricanAmerican activist Harriet Tubman. But when it comes to women CEOs, America hasn’t come a long way . In fact it may have taken a step back.Only one among the 87 new CEOs named to lead the largest public firms in the US and Canada in 2015 was a woman, according to a study released this week by the strategy consulting division of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). That signal honour went to Andrea Greenberg, who was named CEO of MSG Networks in September after it was spun off from Madison Square Garden.Worldwide, the PwC study found only 10 women among the 359 permanent or interim CEOs in the 2,500 largest global companies it examined in 2015. The study, first reported in the Washington Post, said at 2.8% of all new CEOs, it is the lowest rate of female elevation since 2011. In a year when Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House is attracting worldwi de notice and there is a surge of attention and support for equal pay and equal opportunity for women, the study
shows that rate of new female CEOs declined for the third year, and dipped to its lowest point since 2004, when PwC began tracking the number. Just 1.1% of the new CEOs named to the
Phebe Novakovic at General Dynamics (100). The remaining 13 are scattered in the bottom 400 of the Fortune 500. While this is a modest improvement from 20 years ago, when there were no
job last year were women in PwC’s analysis of North American companies down from 4% in 2014, 4.7% in 2013, and 7.3% in 2012.Overall in the US, just 4% of S&P 500 CEOs and Fortune 500 CEOs are women dropping from 24 in 2014 to 21 in 2016. But the distribution of female CEOs is uneven.Eight are in the Fortune 100 -Mary Barra at General Motors (6), Meg Whitman at Hewlett-Packard (19), Virginia Rometty at IBM (24), and Indra Nooyi at Pepsi (44), Marillyn Hewson (64) at Lockheed Martin, Safra Catz at Oracle (81), Irene Rosenfeld at Mondalez International (91), and
female CEOs in the Fortune 500, questions are now being asked why things are sliding back just as the US is starting to embrace the idea of a woman President. A Pew survey in early 2015 found that 34% of the respondents believe that male executives are better than women at assuming risk, even though 31% said said top female executives may be more honest and ethical than male executives.Some surveys have shown that women hold 50% of middle management positions, but that drops to less than 5% at the top level, showing the continued existence of the notorious glass ceiling.
Issue 663 (35)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Youngsters who want to be Dhonis and Kohlis don’t get chance: SC The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the BCCI for having “monopolised” cricket in the country and for its “inequity” in providing opportunities to budding cricketers. “Several youngsters in the country want to make their career in cricket and want to be Dhonis and Kohlis due to the glamour and glitz associated with it. They do not get equal opportunity if they are not on the right side of the BCCI. Sometimes they are prevented by the people at the helm of affairs,” a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said. The country’s highest court also appointed senior advocate Gopal Subramanium as amicus curiae and asked his help to find ways to implement structural reforms that Lodha Committee had recommended for the board. The Bench, also comprising Justice FMI Kalifulla, also said the cricket body was running a “prohibitory regime and monopolising cricket” across the coun-
try. “If a player has to play cricket he has to be with you. You have complete monopoly. You have monopoly over members and you prevent people from becoming members.
“Suppose a state from North East wants to be a member in BCCI. You are not allowing it to become a member because your writ lies there also. You don’t want to give them equal opportunity. You have complete monopoly over Team India because you select them and don’t want to give the right to anyone else. We need to balance things,” the bench
said. The court wondered how Lodha Committee’s of opening up BCCI’s membership to many states and said its ‘one-state-oneone’ — arguments the cricket board has stood by
could pose problems. The Bench also criticised the Baroda Cricket Association, which has opposed the panel’s reforms, saying a cricketing body associated with the BCCI will have to reform itself. “If any cricket club or association wants to do anything, we are least bothered. We are not here to reform every cricketing club. But if any institution
Salim Khan lashes out at Milkha Singh After Salman Khan was appointed as brand ambassador for Indian contingent of Rio Olympics 2016, legendary athlete and world record holder
Milkha Singh had raised strong objections saying that sports, especially Olympics don’t need Bollywood stars as ambassadors. Sports people are the real ambassadors of India to the world. This certainly hasn’t gone
down too well with Salman’s father, veteran writer, Salim Khan, who lashed out at Milkha Singh in a series of tweets, defending his son Salman and said that the
‘Dabangg’ star is an A-level swimmer, cyclist and weight-lifter. Milkha Singh, in his statement, had said, “India has produced so many sportspersons who have given their sweat and blood for the country like PT
Usha, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ajit Pal and so many others. One of these could have been made a goodwill ambassador. What was the need to import a person from Bollywood?” Singh made it clear that he has nothing personally against Salman but the fact that no Indian sportsperson had been picked up as ambassador saddened him. “I want to make it clear that I am not against Salman Khan, but the decision of the IOA is wrong and the government should intervene in the matter. This is for the first time I am seeing a Bollywood hero being made goodwill ambassador for Olympics. I want to ask has Bollywood ever made any sportsperson an ambassador for any of their mega event?” he said.
which is discharging public duty like BCCI, then any organisation or association associated with it will have to reform itself,” the court said. The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal against recommendations of the Lodha committee — a panel it had appointed to suggest changes in a board plagued by corruption scandals. The BCCI had said in its appeal that although it was willing to accept some recommendations, it found it “difficult” to implement some others primarily believed to refer to an age limit for those holding executive positions in the board and the number of terms they could remain in office. The committee appointed after several corruption scandals hit Indian Premier League tournament — had recommended that no person above 70 could run for a position on the board’s executive panel. It also recommended limiting the number of terms one could remain in BCCI’s executive panel to three.
Sania Mirza has inspired a generation of Indians: Sachin Tendulkar lauds tennis star
Sachin Tendulkar showered high praise on Sania Mirza after the tennis star was named by Time magazine in its list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. In a profile for Sania, cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar wrote that her “confidence, strength and resilience reach beyond tennis”. Tendulkar described Sania, who recently was awarded India’s third highest civilian honour the Padma Bhushan, as an “inspiration” on the court. He lauded her “dedication and willpower” to reinvent herself fully as a doubles player when her singles career was cut short by wrist injuries. “The Mirzas probably knew what the future held for their daughter. Her name,
Sania, means brilliant,” Tendulkar wrote. “I first heard about Sania Mirza back in 2005, when she became the first Indian to win a Women’s Tennis Association event. In 2008 I saw her play in the third round of the Australian Open against Venus Williams. Though she lost, I believed she had the potential to be a star.” Sania, the only tennis player on the list, made history in 2015 when she became the first Indian woman to achieve a No.1 ranking in tennis, win a Grand Slam and claim a second WTA Finals title. With her massively successful doubles partnership with Martina Hingis, she has not just produced spectacular tennis, she’s inspired a generation of Indians.
Don’t see anything wrong with Salman’s appointment says Gavaskar Former India cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar said there was nothing wrong with IOA appointing Salman Khan as the Indian Olympic contingent’s goodwill ambassador and cited the example of how IPL “benefitted” through its association with Bollywood stars. “Why not a known face who is not really a part of that particular profession. If he can bring a lot more awareness to that particular profession then why not? I don’t see anything wrong in it,” Gavaskar said. “How has IPL been benefitted by having Bollywood stars in it? It has helped considerably in bringing the crowd to the stadium. Eventually, it’s mainly because of the kind of cricket being played that will decide the fate of that edition of the IPL but having Shah
Rukh (Khan), Preity (Zinta) in the ground, a lot of people come to see them, so that’s a plus,” he was quoted as saying by ‘NDTV’. Salman’s appoint-
Asked why do sportspersons need bollywood stars to promote them, the legendary batsman said: “Well you tell me a sportsperson who is well
ment as the goodwill ambassador triggered a furore that left the sports fraternity divided with the likes of star wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and sprint legend Milkha Singh questioning the move, while Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and other athletes supported the decision.
known than Salman Khan all over the country or may be outside the country. I don’t think so. May be just a couple of them. Olympics sports are played in a lot of countries where the Indian sports personalities may not be well known at all but Indian films reach all over the world.”
Issue 663 (36)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Brit-Indians top UK rich list, Reuben brothers on top, Hindujas at No 2 London Britain’s annual rich list unveiled on Monday has a distinctly Indian flavour with two India-born brothers - Reuben and the Hindujas - grabbing the top two slots as some of the UK’s super-rich suffered the worst hammering of their fortunes following the steel industry crisis. Mumbai-born tycoons David and Simon Reuben have topped ‘The Sunday Times’ Rich List 2016 with a fortune of 13.1 billion pounds, followed by the Hinduja brothers at 13 billion pounds. The Reubens were born in India to a wealthy IraqiJewish family before moving to Britain in the 1950’s and made their fortune in metals and property. This year they have increased their fortune by 3.4 billion pounds to jump to the top slot from last year’s fifth position. Their mouth watering collection of London prop-
erty includes Millbank Tower, the John Lewis Partnership HQ in Victoria and shops in Sloane Street. The list goes on. They own London Oxford Airport and London Heliport and were a leading
investor in Metro Bank, which floated last month at 1.6 billion pounds,” the newspaper notes. “Famously wary of debt, David, 77, and Simon, 74, keep a large proportion of their wealth in liquid assets, such as cash and bonds, and cautiously value their properties at cost. “Overseas property and a metals operation add 300 million pounds,
while the hidden value in their London portfolio and their Global Switch stake take the Reubens, who live in Switzerland, to 13.1 billion pounds,” it adds. Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, who head the
Hinduja Group, hold on to their second rank from last year with an unchanged fortune. “The old War Office in London’s Whitehall was bought for 300 million pounds by the Hinduja family in March on a 250- year lease. They plan to turn it into a hotel worth 1 billion,” it noted. However, another Indian tycoon did not have a similarly fruitful year with Lakshmi N Mittal’s steel
empire taking a hit from the global industry crisis and losing nearly threequarters of his wealth. The 65-year-old ArcelorMittal chief held the top slot on the list back in 2008 with a whopping 27.7 billion pounds, which is now down to just 7.12 billion this year. He slips to 11th on the list from 7th last year. “The guys at the top who are feeling the pain this year are often hit by a cocktail of plunging stock markets, low oil prices and the crisis in the steel industry — sometimes by all three,” said Robert Watts, compiler of the 2016 list. NRI steel tycoon Lord Swraj Paul and family are also among those hit by the steel crisis, with their fortune registering a 66 per cent drop to 740 million pounds, to be ranked 154th this year compared to 44th in 2015.
Indian-origin doctor Anjali who attacked Uber driver fired Houston A 30-year-old Indian-origin doctor at a US hospital has been fired after a video that showed her attacking an Uber driver in his vehicle in Miami went viral. Anjali Ramkissoon has been on administrative leave since the video surfaced in January. She was reportedly inebriated when the incident took place. Ramkissoon was fired, according to a statement released by the spokesperson of Jackson Health System. “Jackson Health System is moving forward with the termination of Dr Anjali Ramkissoon, a resident doctor,” The Miami Herald quoted the statement as saying. “She is entitled to an appeal process.” Ramkissoon, who was a four-year neurology resident at the hospital, was seen in the video attempting to strike and scratch the driver, climbing into the man’s vehicle and throwing objects out of it, while yelling and swearing at him
and trying to force him to drive her home without a reservation. The driver has opted to remain anonymous and has
declined to press charges. Ramkissoon later apologised for the incident. The video of the incident has nearly seven million views and sparked outrage and controversy.
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Issue 663 (37)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Health Aspirin pills may reduce bile duct cancer risk Aspirin a common painkiller often used to treat
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pain, fever, and inflammation is likely to reduce the risk for bile duct cancer, finds a new research. Bile duct cancer -- also called cholangiocarcinoma -- is an aggressive type of cancer that forms in the slender tubes (bile ducts) that carry digestive fluid through the liver. “The evidence has been accumulating that regular, longterm use of aspirin is associated with a decreased
risk of a number of different cancer types, particularly gastrointestinal cancers,” said one of the researchers, Lewis Roberts, gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Mayo Clinic in the US. The findings showed that individuals who took aspirin had a more than a two-and-half to three-and-half times lesser chance of developing bile duct cancer, compared to individuals who did not take
aspirin. The researchers found that aspirin, with it’s an anti-inflammatory properties can decrease the risk of bile duct cancer by lessening inflammation through slowing down an enzyme called cyclo-oxygenase (COX), which is known to promote inflammation. “We know that continuous unremitting inflammation is one of the main factors that promotes cancer of the bile ducts,”
Roberts added in the paper published in the journal Hepatology. In addition to the COX enzyme pathway, according to previous studies, aspirin also blocks additional cellsignaling cascades that promote cancer development. However, it is not yet certain that as-
pirin is safe to use for cancer prevention.
Easy home-made remedies for dry skin! Want healthy eyes? Try these five superfoods!
Dry skin is the most problematic out of the numerous skin types and needs constant and regular moisturizing. The moisturizers also needs to be oily enough for the dry dkin otherwise it will dry up really soon. Though there are many products available in the market but they are harmful to our skin. So, one should try homemade remedies to treat dry skin as they are readily available, extremely efficient and reusable. Here are some easy homemade remedies for dry skin: Honey Pack Honey is great for dry skin as it smoothens out the skin’s wrinkles and leaves it silky and soft. Take some honey and orange juice and mix it. Now apply the pack onto the skin and leave it 10 minutes and then washed off. Besan Pack Besan are good for skin as it hydrates dry skin and removes fine lines and wrinkles. Take some besan with one teaspoon of turmeric, honey , littl e milk and mixed thoroughly. Now,
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add few drops of lime and apply the pack to the face, leave it for some time and then rinse it off with warm water. Egg Pack Eggs are an excellent source of protein and they
are good for healthy skin. It is one of the best homemade beauty tips for dry skin. Take the egg yolk and mix it thoroughly with orange juice, castor oil, olive oil, some rose water, honey
and a few drops of freshly squeezed lime juice. Apply this mixture in the morning before taking a bath and then washed off with water. Chocolate Pack Chocolates not only taste good, they are also good for skin. It makes the skin soft and supple and gives it the glow that dry skin lacks. Take some cocoa powder and mixed thoroughly with honey, maize flour and some mashed avocado. Now apple the pack for half an hour and washed off with luke warm water.
Get rid of back pain with these tips Back pain and spinal problem are the two most common health issues that
To avoid spinal problem and back pain, it is essential to sit on the right chair.
people come across at workplace. Most of the professionals suffer from these two conditions due to inactivity and poor posture. It is difficult to live with these problems but at the same time, it is easy to deal with them by taking precautions. Here are some tips that can help you in dealing with severe back aches. Choose a comfortable chair
Choose a chair that suits you and provides comfort. Avoid sitting on soft sofas, bean bags and stiff backed chairs. Ensure proper back support One should always choose such a chair which has proper back support with hips all the way behind and legs supported on the floor. This helps in equal distribution of chair throughout
the spine. Drink enough fluids It is important to keep yourself hydrated especially in summers. It is essential to nourish our invertebral discs as they largely consist of water. So to keep them healthy, stay hydrated. Avoid stress on the spine If you have to pick up anything, it is advisable to bend your knees, get the thing closer to your body and then lift it. Follow this rather than straight away bending your back as it puts immense pressure on the muscles. Eat properly Pay attention to whatever you consume. Specialists say that consumption of vitamin B12, vitamin D3 and calcium helps in keeping the spine and bones healthy.
Everyone wants to have healthy eyes and for that one needs to have a healthy balanced diet. As we all know that a healthy diet of vegetables and fruits promotes eye health and good vision. So, one should include lots of veggies in their daily diet. Green vegetables Consume lots of green vegetables like spinach as they are packed with lutein and zeaxanthin and antioxidants tht helps lower the risk of developing macular degeneration and cataracts. Salmon Salmon are good for eyes as it help protect the retina from damage and prevent blindness and contains rich amount of omega-3 fatty acids which prevent dry eyes. This omega-3 fatty acids also help ward
off age-related macular degeneration. Regular consumption of salmon fish Carrots Regular consumption of carrots is good for eyes and makes them healthy as it contain lot of betacarotene, which is a precursor for vitamin A which further prevents night blindness. Vitamin A also helps maintain a healthy and clear cornea, and protects the cells in eyes. Blueberries One should eat blueberries regularly as the fruit helps to improve the vision and strengthens blood vessels in the back of the eyes. Bell peppers The vegetable contains certain enzymes such as lutein which is good for eyes. Lutein protects the eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration.
Issue 663 (38)
26 April - 2 May 2016
Oral bacteria may help spot pancreatic cancer The presence of certain bacteria in the mouth is likely to identify the risk for pancreatic cancer and enable earlier and precise treatment in patients, finds new research. Pancreatic cancer patients are known to be vulnerable to gum disease, cavities, and poor oral health in general, said the team from New York University. The findings showed that bacterial changes in the mouth could potentially show us who are at the risk of developing pancre-
atic cancer. “Our study offers the first direct evidence that specific changes in the microbial mix in the mouth represent a likely risk factor for pancreatic cancer along with older age, male gender, smoking and a family history of the disease,” said one of the researchers Jiyoung Ahn, associate professor and epidemiologist. Men and women whose oral microbiomes included Porphyromonas gingivalis - an anaerobic bacteria --
had an overall 59 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those whose microbiomes did not con-
Running can make your bones denser A new study has analysed the effect of endurance running training on the stiffness index, a variable that is directly related to bone quality.
The results confirm that the greater the race distance that is trained, the better; this can be used, therefore, to prevent the progressive decline in bone mineral density that occurs with age. The research that was lead by Camilo Jose Cela University determined how training to compete in endurance races can modify
the mechanical properties of the calcaneus, a bone in the foot that forms the heel. The changes in the mechanical properties of the
bone were measured using the stiffness or rigidity index, a variable that is directly related to the bone density of the calcaneus. Author Beatriz Lara said that the results showed that the endurance runners had a greater stiffness index than the sedentary individuals. Lara added that it was also possible to confirm a dose-
response relationship, meaning that greater amounts of training correspond to a greater improvement in the mineral density of the calcaneus. The scientists assert that training for endurance races is effective in producing physical changes in the physical properties of the calcaneus; hence, this can be used to prevent the progressive decline in bone mineral quality that occurs with age. Lara said that sports such as swimming or skating, in which body weight or impact loading are reduced, do not generate high osteogenic benefits. Nevertheless, the effect that endurance running training may have on our bones is not yet known -while it does not entail high impacts, it does require running long distances.
tain the bacterium. Similarly, people whose oral microbiomes contained Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans
-- bacteria often found in association with periodontitis -- were at least 50 percent more likely overall to develop the disease. Both types of bacteria have been tied to diseases such as periodontitis or inflammation of the gums. According to previous research, cigarette smoking was also linked to changes in the amount and mix of bacteria in the oral microbiome. For the study, the researchers compared bac-
terial contents in mouthwash samples from 361 men and women who developed pancreatic cancer with samples from 371 people of similar age who did not. The team cautioned that further research is needed to determine if there is any cause-and-effect relationship. The findings were recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in New Orleans, US.
Know why beetroot juice is good for health! Beetroot juice is good for health as it provides us with many health benefits. It contains rich amount of nutritional compounds like magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and calcium as well as small amounts of copper, selenium, zinc, iron in it. So, one should include the juice in their daily diet to lead a healthy lifestyle. Here are some health benefits of the juice: Improves blood pressure Regular consuming a cup of beetroot juice helps in reducing the level of blood pressure. Prevents cancer Beetroot juice is an amazing antioxidant which helps in preventing the formation of cancerous tumours. Improves liver function The juice is good for liver as it helps in improving the
liver function which in turn helps in detoxify toxins from the body. Good for hair One should drink a glass of beetroot juice daily as it prevents hair loss and promote hair growth because
of it contains rich source of potassium in it. Prevents dementia Drinking a glass of beetroot juice daily actually aids blood flow to the brain and halt age-related ailments like dementia.
HIV infection can lead to premature ageing
Talk to your kids at dinner time and keep them fit Children who have their dinner along with other family members are generally fit and eating
meals together can also help kids cut the risk of developing eating disorders or weight problems later in life, say researchers. In a study of 200 families, researchers found
that children whose family members shared meals that lasted at least 20 minutes each a
minimum of four times a week weighed significantly less than peers whose family dinners were three or four minutes shorter. Parenting styles, parentchild attachment rela-
tionships and feeding practices all have been found to be reliable indicators of children’s
food consumption, eating behaviours and risks for obesity. “Although the causes of obesity are complex, families have significant influence on children’s dietary habits and
weight and should be involved in planning healthy living campaigns and efforts to curb food marketing that targets children,” said Barbara H Fiese from the University of Illinois. “The family system plays an important role in understanding childhood obesity -- not as a source of blame but as part of a larger ecology that may support or derail children’s health,” the researchers stated in the paper published in the journal Family Relations. Family communication is key to the developmental processes that promote or disrupt healthy eating habits, physical activity and internal cues to satiety, they noted.
A new study has shown that people with HIV infection can become susceptible to premature ageing. As per the study, HIV can prematurely age patients by at least five years. This study comes in a contradiction to all the antiretroviral therapies that had led to a significant fall in the mortality rates earlier. Experts have discovered that HIV-virus infection is capable of prematurely advancing the human ageing process and also propel the onset of age-related diseases like neurocognitive impairment, liver problems and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers suggest that people with HIV infection should be aware of all this and should try to minimise the risks by leading a healthy lifestyle and also keep a check on the diet, tobacco and alcohol use.
Issue 663 (39)
26 April - 2 May 2016
CARROT AND PISTACHIO SALAD
PARMESAN POLENTA WITH SAUSAGE RAGÙ
Ingredients: 1/2 cup diced fresh figs 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 shallot, minced Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. olive oil 2 lb. multicolored carrots, halved lengthwise 1 head radicchio, roughly chopped 1/2 cup pistachios, roughly chopped Instructions: Heat oven to 375°. In a medium bowl, combine figs, vinegar, shallot, salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. water; while whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup olive oil until vinaigrette is emulsified and set aside. Toss carrots with 1/4 cup oil and salt; transfer to a baking sheet and cook until brown and crisp,
Ingredients: 1/4 cup olive oil 1 lb. Italian sausages, casings removed 1 red onion, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 (28-oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand 1 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1 1/4 cups polenta (not quick-cooking) or yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for garnish Instructions: Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high; add sausage and cook, breaking it into small pieces with a
about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high; add half the radicchio and cook until its just wilted and browned in spots, 2–3 minutes. Add to a large bowl and toss with reserved vinaigrette, uncooked radicchio, carrots, and pistachios. Transfer to a platter and serve immediately.
HOMEMADE RICOTTA
URUGUAYAN STEAK SANDWICH Ingredients: 1 tbsp. canola oil 1 (1/4") boneless strip loin steak 2 tbsp. mayonnaise 1 milk bun or kaiser roll 2 slices bacon, cooked 1 (1-oz.) slice fresh mozzarella 1 hard-boiled egg, cooled, peeled, and sliced 2-3 pickled hot peppers Lettuce, to serve Tomato, to serve Instructions: Heat oven broiler. Heat oil in a 12? skillet placed over medium-high flame. Season steak with salt and pepper; cook, flipping once, until browned and cooked through, 3–4 minutes. Spread mayonnaise on insides of a sliced milk bun or kaiser roll; broil until lightly
Ingredients: 5 qt. whole milk 5 cups full-fat buttermilk 3 cups half & half Instructions: Heat milk, buttermilk, half & half in a large heavy-bottomed pot over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until curds begin to form, 6–8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, without stirring, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the milk reads 175°, about 25 minutes. Let cool; cover and chill completely. Set a cheeseclothlined sieve over a bowl. Ladle curds into sieve and cover with plastic wrap; chill overnight, and then transfer ricotta to a container. Discard whey or save for another use. Chill up to 1 week.
WHOLE GRILLED SEA BASS Ingredients: 4 (1-lb.) whole sea bass (or sea bream or red snapper), cleaned 2 tsp. crushed red chile flakes Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 3 lemons 1 bunch marjoram 1 bunch thyme 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened 6 cloves garlic, minced Instructions: Heat a charcoal or woodburning grill or set a gas grill to medium-high. (Alternatively, heat a cast-iron grill pan over high.) Season cavity of fish with chile flakes, salt, and pepper; stuff with lemons and herbs. Mix butter and garlic in a bowl; rub over outside of fish;
wooden spoon, until browned, 5 minutes. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add tomatoes and boil; simmer until thick, 20 minutes. Add basil, vinegar, kosher salt, and pepper; keep warm. Meanwhile, bring sea salt and 5 cups water to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan; slowly add polenta and cook, stirring constantly, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and creamy, 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining oil, 1/2 cup parmesan, and kosher salt. Divide between bowls and top with ragù; garnish with more parmesan.
SEA BASS CRUDO
grill, flipping once, until slightly charred and cooked through, 12–15 minutes. Serve with more lemon.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless sea bass, thinly sliced Kosher salt, to taste 1 red Holland chile, seeded and minced 1 lime, zested 3 tbsp. lime juice 1 medium white turnip, thinly sliced on a mandolin 1 small white onion, thinly sliced, soaked in ice water 10 minutes, drained 1/2 bunch cilantro sprigs, trimmed Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Instructions: Arrange bass on a platter; season with salt. Sprinkle with chile, plus lime zest and half the juice. Toss remaining lime juice, the turnip, and onion in a bowl; sprinkle over fish. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and a drizzle of olive oil.
toasted, 1–2 minutes. Place bacon and fresh mozzarella over one half of roll; broil until cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Add reserved steak; top with egg, pickled peppers, lettuce, and tomato. Serve with french fries, if you like.
Issue 663 (40)
26 April - 2 May 2016