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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 685, 20 - 26 SEPT., 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

INDIA GETS INTO COMBAT MODE Response to Uri attack inevitable as PM goes into day-long huddle with NSA, ministers & three service chiefs New Delhi Response to Uri attack inevitable as PM goes into day-long huddle with NSA, ministers & three service chiefs THE government on Monday indicated that it could choose from a range of options on the table – starting from diplomatic isolation of

Pakistan to a spectrum of military and intelligence offensives – in its response to the terrorist attack on the Uri Army base where 18 soldiers lost their lives. Top-level sources in the security apparatus told Mail Today that India”s response will be at Continued on Page 20-21

US, UK snub Sharif’s attempts to raise Kashmir issue at UNGA Washington Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raised the situation in Kashmir in his first meetings upon his arrival in New York on Monday for the annual UN general assembly Monday, but found no traction, particularly with neither the US nor the UK endorsing his views.

On Monday, the Pakistani Foreign Office said that Sharif had sent letters to the US, Russia, China, Britain and France asking them to intervene “to halt more than two months of violence in Kashmir “ which he claims is a threat to international peace and security. The latest Pakistani diplomatic offensive came a day after the terror attac k suspected to have been

carried out by Pak-based Jaishe Mohammad in an army camp in Uri in Kashmir killed 18 Indian soldiers .

His attempts to get world leaders to back Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir met the same fate as his earlier letters to different members of the UN in recent months as he has tried to parlay the issue to secure his position at home.

Sharif railed about Kashmir in his meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and the US secretary of state John Kerry, according to reports in Pakistani press based on briefings or statements from officials in the Prime Minister’s delegations to which Indian reporters have no access.

There were no readouts about the meetings either from the UK or the US till late in the evening on Monday, in contrast to the multiple briefs they

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had put out about their respective leaders’ other interactions.

Sharif’s recent attempts to raise Kashmir at the UN through letters to a range of entities had

elicited no response from the world body, as noted by Indian officials, who believe he is flogging it for political leverage at home against the other Sharif, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif.

The US had no comments on Kerry’s meeting with Sharif, saying there was a “backup of press releases”. But Pakistani press reports were indicative

enough, if not proof beyond doubt, about what transpired at those meetings.

State-owned Radio Pakistan which has historically enjoyed first access to speeches and remarks from the country’s leaders, specially the Prime Minister and the President, said this about the meeting with Kerry: “‘Highlighting Kashmir issue, he (Sharif) said so far one hundred and seven people have been martyred and hundreds injured during the current spree of violence in Occupied Kashmir.

“He said human rights violations are being carried out as state terrorism in the held valley. “John Kerry appreciated Pakistan’s endeavours in fight against terrorism and extremism.

“He said peace and

stability in the region is in the interest of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

There was no mention, to belabour the obvious, to Kashmir or India in Kerry’s remarks as reported by Pakistani press.

Sharif’s meeting with British Prime Minister May didn’t go any better, according to same sources the Pakistani media, Radio Pakistan ignored it completely despite the fact that it did have a few paragraphs on Sharif’s meeting with John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand which has opposed India’s admission to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an elite group of 48 nations which regulates world trade in nuclear resources and equipment.

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Punjabi by nature: Party scene hots up in Punjab and why no one is RSVPing Khushwant Singh “Sir, Common Singh has come to see you,” said my house help just when I had sat down to write the preface to my upcoming book.

“He comes at odd times when I’m doing something important, but nevertheless usher him in,” I replied. Common Singh was one such character that I just couldn’t ignore if I had to update myself with the latest mood in Punjab.

He was the one who provided me with all the ammo required for a drawing room discussion where everyone is under constant pressure to prove that they know all.

Common Singh: Sirji lot of palties (parties) in Punjab?

Me: Yes, so which one are you going to? Palties are fun. Aren’t they?

Common Singh: I haven’t decided. But the politicians have already started palty hopping.

They are recycling from one palty to the other.

Me: Nothing new. But if you were to choose a party, which one would you go to? Sidhu and Pargat bhaji’s looks good. So does Bhagwant Mann’s and apna Ghuggi’s. Lot of sports, games, comedy and entertainment up for grabs. No scope of getting bored.

Common Singh: Ha ha! Sirji, you are very joky. I know you are fond of Bhagwant Mann’s comedy. You used to buy his CDs from a Balachaur shop while driving to and fro from Hoshiarpur to Chandigarh.

Me: This does not answer my question. Which party are you going to?

Common Singh: Sirji one thing. Which language does Sidhu bhaji speak, Punjabi, English or Urdu?

Me: Common Singh, this still doesn’t answer my question.

So you are the traditional party type: Bhangra and Gidda types.

Not for the ‘New Punjab’ slogan of AAP. Though God only knows

what new means.

Common Singh: Yes sirji, entire Common Singh: Sir ji, Congress Punjab is feeling the blues. Utter palty’s social media adds have confusion. One palty says new Punjab, the other talks about bringing back old glory and the third says the present is beautiful. Who do we believe?

Me: Common Singh you are evading my question? You should RSVP by now. It sounds rude otherwise.

Common Singh: Rondey saare viaah pichhon?

Me: Shhhh! You’ll get me killed.

Common Singh: Sir ji don’t do mazzak. We all know the reality, except that we fail to read it even though it’s clearly written on every wedding card.

Me: Stop joking. In the West

lots of Bhangra and Gidda and nothing else to show. I don’t need to go to a Bhangra website.

Me: Are you implying you prefer the Blues. Since you are sidelining all others? That’s what I can deduce.

More than 40% of Japanese single adults are virgins: Poll

Tokyo More than 40 percent of young Japanese single adults are virgins, a government survey has shown, and almost threequarters of men are not in any kind of relationship.

The poll reveals the extent of sexlessness in a country where policymakers worry about low birthrates and the knock-on effect of an ageing society.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research quizzed more than 5,000 singletons aged 18 to 34 about their lives between the sheets.

It found that 42 percent of men and 44 percent of women had never had sex.

The survey, carried out in June 2015, showed the number of people who remained chaste in Japan was increasing over time.

A similar poll conducted in 2005 found only a third of young singletons had always been celibate out of preference or otherwise.

The 2015 survey also found that seven-in-10 men were not in a relationship, while nearly six-inten women were going to bed alone.

Directly comparable international statistics are difficult to come by, but Japanese people across the board appear to have less sex than those in other developed countries.

In a 2010 survey by the same government body, 68 percent of Japanese 18-19 year olds said they were virgins; a study carried out that year in Europe by condom maker Durex found virginity rates among those aged 15-20 were much lower.

For example, fewer than 20 percent of young Germans had not had sex by the time they hit 20, while even in socially conservative Turkey, the figure was only 37 percent. Japan’s apparently low libido sits at odds with the impression many visitors have about the country’s attitude to sex.

Images of impossibly busty and frequently underdressed young women are common in the ubiquitous manga comics and on billboards.

Prostitution is readily visible in even smaller cities and the country produces voluminous amounts of often eyebrow-raising pornography.

Futoshi Ishii, who heads the body that carried out the sex survey said the root of the issue seemed to be the gulf between how people imagine life should be and how it actually turns out.

“They want to tie the knot eventually,” he told the Japan Times. “But they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality,” “That’s why people marry later or stay single for life.” Ishii said.

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everyone RSVPs. The organisers have to plan the pandals, the langar, and especially the social media cameras. They have to be placed in a manner to make the party look large and grand.

Common Singh: In Amrika, people know where they have to go. Desis don’t RSVP till the last moment because they keep their options open to go to the best palty in town. I will also do the same. Till then why not bargain hard for sops, enjoy the raunak mela and the gups. Abhi to party shuru hui hai.

Me: Dost, do whatever but don’t do a Rondey saarey votaan pichon. (singhkhushwant@hotmail.com)

Kejriwal tongue-tied!

NEW DELHI DELHI Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who returned to Delhi from Bengaluru after a 10-day absence for a throat surgery, will again be out of action for the next seven days and not make any public appearances as doctors have advised him to take rest for complete recover after the operation. The chief minister’s office said that Kejriwal, who in the structure and positioning before the surgery was paying in his mouth and throat. to not visits to poll bound states like talk for a couple of days and Punjab and Goa, will remain in based on his recovery, further Delhi till doctors give him decisions will be taken. However, permission for tours on ignoring this advice, Kejriwal examining his improvement after posted a threeand–half minute a week. “A strict care is being long video message on Twitter taken so that there is no and asked for unity to deal with infection. He is resting at home the intense health crisis in Delhi. and all the important files and meeting is being held at his home,” senior officer said. His deputy, Manish Hearty welcome, dear old age, Sisodia, paid a visit to him Book of life’s wondrous page! early on Monday morning A grateful heart welcomes thee, before he went to meet Lt. In whatever shape thee appear to be!

Governor Najeeb Jung, who Bearing the ups and downs of fate, summoned him to return In long years extended your wait, immediately to Delhi from The age bestowed in such a way, Finland in wake of spread A cheerful face and hair grey! of vectorborne diseases.

An age imbued in colorful paint, Doctors have advised Bears no grudge, have no complaint, Kejriwal enlarged soft palate Phases of calm, as of strife. and uvula in relation to a Permeated the self, full of life! slight increase in the volume Child in innocence, youth in rage, of the tongue,” which Find no solace, sans ripe age. means his tongue was too Of livelihood, no thought no worry, big for his mouth. His Grace of God, Allah, Hari! chronic cough has been the By: Jaswant S. Mauj result of a series of 28 Olivia Marie Rd. anatomical abnormalities Brampton, On. that included an enlarged L6Y 0M5 tongue and a soft palate, 647-660-1247 along with other problems

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Issue - 685 (3)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Issue - 685 (4)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Transgenders vs homosexuals in Hindu mythology!

A renowned Indian social scientist Devdutt Pattanaik writes “myths capture the collective unconsciousness of a people and this means they reflect deeprooted beliefs about variant sexualities that may be at odds with repressive social mores.” Since the beginning of recorded history and in a multitude of cultures myths, folklore and sacred texts have incorporated themes of same-sex eroticism and gender identity. In Greek mythology, there are many stories of homosexual love, where men love men, and women love women. Apollo falls in love with Hyacinthus while his sister Artemis drives Callisto away when she lets a man make her pregnant.

In Hindu mythology, we don’t find such stories, but we do find tales of transgender

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men turning into women, women turning into men. Vishnu becomes a damsel and Shiva becomes half-woman. So while the Greek mythology reveals a comfort with queer sexuality (invisible feelings), the Hindu mythology reveals a comfort with queer gender (visible body). There are Greek myths of transgender men and women, such as the tale of Tiresias who becomes a woman when he kills a female snake. But these are not dominant

toilets. Contrast this with debates on transgenders’ toilets in America and the rise of trans-phobic feminists.

Feminist views on transgender and transsexual people have evolved over the years. They used to be very critical and now have become very accepting. Some feminists such as Janice Raymond and Sheila Jeffreys believe that transgender and transsexual people uphold and reinforce sexist gender roles while other

Christian and Islamic communities.

The rise of homophobia and trans-phobia in India can be traced to conservative Christian and Islamic communities and to Hindu supremacists trying to reframe Hinduism along Abrahamic lines.

Interestingly, in many parts of the Middle East and Central Asia, the practice of ‘baccha-bazi’ (man-boy sex) is prevalent, and female transgenders are seen as women, but neither is qualified as

themes. Likewise, homosexuality is not a dominant theme in the Hindu mythology though tales like that of Shudri-Brahmini tirtha do indicate lesbian love.

This divide is reflected in modern LGBTIQ politics. The West, influenced by the Greek mythology, shows greater comfort with the homosexual than with the transgender people. By contrast, India, influenced by the Hindu mythology, shows greater comfort with the transgender than with the homosexual.

So, we have the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, speaking very comfortably about transgender rights, but Ramdev Baba, yoga expert and FMCG guru, vociferously opposing the gay rights, insisting it is a disease that needs cure with breathing exercises. At the Simhastha Kumbha Mela at Ujjain, the government had no problem providing transgenders’ (known locally as Kinnara)

feminists, such as Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam, believe that transgender and transsexual people challenge repressive gender norms and that transgender politics are fully compatible with feminism. Moreover, it’s worth adding here that some transgender and transsexual people, such as Julia Serano and Jacob Anderson-Minshall, are well known feminists.”

Abrahamic religions shun all reference to queer sexuality and gender. God is avowedly masculine, and so are most of his prominent prophets. There are tales of homoerotic love, like between David and Jonathan, son of Saul, but the spotlight is on cities of Sodom and Gommorah that were destroyed by God because residents of this city enjoyed the queer. From this mythology comes the homophobia and trans-phobia seen in the more conservative Jewish,

unnatural or queer. In Hindu, Buddhist and Jain literature there are clear references to three genders: male, female and queer. There are many words for men who are not quite men and women who are not quite women. Kliba in Sanskrit; pandaka in Pali. No one can deny that transgenders are part of Indic culture.

But homosexuality? Of men loving men and women loving women. That is not so clear cut, and open to interpretation and argument. In temples, the goddess is often enshrined with another goddess; on temple walls we see two sages always together. How do we read these images?

If you fundamentally believe any kind of sex is bad and are embarrassed by your desires, then even the suggestion of homosexuality (or its toned down versions), homoeroticism and homosociality, is bound to get your knickers in a twist.

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‘Lucky’ to be alive: Calf born with 2 faces, 4 eyes at Kentucky farm Campbellsville Visitors to a central Kentucky farm may do a double-take when they see the newest addition: a two-faced calf.

Stan McCubbin of Campbellsville told WDRB-TV that he thought he had twins when he first saw the calf on Friday, but quickly realised he had something far more unusual.

The female calf has two noses, two

mouths and four eyes, though the middle two eyes don’t function. Although she can walk, the McCubbins say she ends up going in circles and falling over.

The family says most calves with such a genetic mutation are stillborn, but so far this one is eating and seems healthy.

McCubbin’s wife, Brandy, said their 5year-old daughter, Kenley, named the calf Lucky because she’s lucky to be alive.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

US realises more than 800 immigrants were mistakenly granted citizenship Washington The US government has mistakenly granted citizenship to at least 858 immigrants from countries of concern to national security or with high rates of immigration fraud who had pending deportation orders, according to an internal homeland security audit released on Monday.

The homeland security department’s inspector general found that the immigrants used different names or birthdates to apply for citizenship with US Citizenship and Immigration Services and such discrepancies weren’t caught because their fingerprints were missing from government databases.

DHS said in an emailed statement that an initial review of these cases suggest that some of the individuals may have ultimately qualified for citizenship, and that the lack of digital fingerprint

records does not necessarily mean they committed fraud.

The report does not identify any of the immigrants by name, but Inspector General John Roth’s auditors said they were all from “special interest countries” those that present a national security concern for the United States or neighboring countries with high rates of immigration fraud. The report did not identify those countries.

DHS said the findings reflect what has long been a problem for immigration officials old paper-based records containing fingerprint information that can’t be searched electronically. DHS says immigration officials are in the process of uploading these files and that officials will review “every file” identified as a case of possible fraud.

Roth’s report said fingerprints are missing

from federal databases for as many as 315,000 immigrants with final deportation orders or who are fugitive criminals.

Immigration and customs

deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, didn’t consistently add digital fingerprint records of immigrants whom agents encountered until 2010.

enforcement has not reviewed about 148,000 of those immigrants’ files to add fingerprints to the digital record.

The gap was created because older, paper records were never added to fingerprint databases created by both the nowdefunct Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI in the 1990s. ICE, the DHS agency responsible for finding and

The government has known about the information gap and its impact on naturalization decisions since at least 2008 when a customs and border protection official identified 206 immigrants who used a different name or other biographical information to gain citizenship or other immigration benefits, though few cases have been investigated.

Roth’s report said federal

Sydney An Australian Muslim woman who wore a burkini to a French beach said she was asked to leave despite a ban on the controversial full-bodied swimsuit recently being overturned.

Sydney-born Zeynab Alshelh, a 23-year-old medical student, told Australia’s Channel 7 that she travelled to Europe to show solidarity with French Muslims by wearing a burkini invented by an Australian designer on the beach.

Footage broadcast on Sunday evening showed local bathers make disparaging gestures

towards Alshelh, who is sitting burkini-clad on the sand in Villeneuve-Loubet with her mother.

“We were threatened by locals to leave the beach and if we didn’t they were going to call the police,” Alshelh said.

“Even though it was on the beach that the burkini ban was overturned but the locals were not happy.” Nice and about 30 other French towns banned the Islamic swimsuit after a July terror attack in which a man plowed his truck into crowds gathered for Bastille Day fireworks killing 86 people. In August, France’s

highest court suspended the burkini bans declaring the swimsuit’s prohibition an “illegal violation of fundamental freedoms”.

Aheda Zanetti, the Australian woman who designed the burkini, recently expressed surprise at the furore over her creation, saying it was meant to be a symbol of inclusion and allow Muslim women to take part in beach culture.

But the seemingly innocuous item of clothing has continued to prove an emotive topic and opinion polls in fiercely secular France show burkini bans have the support of a majority of the public.

Australian woman in ‘burkini’ made to leave French beach despite ban overturn

prosecutors have accepted two criminal cases that led to the immigrants being stripped of their citizenship.

But prosecutors declined another 26 cases. ICE is investigating 32 other cases after closing 90 investigations.

ICE officials told auditors that the agency hadn’t pursued many of these cases in the past because federal prosecutors “generally did not accept immigration benefits fraud cases.” ICE said the Justice Department has now agreed to focus on cases involving people who have acquired security clearances, jobs of public trust or other security credentials.

Mistakenly awarding citizenship to someone ordered deported can have serious consequences because US citizens can typically apply for and receive security clearances or take securitysensitive jobs.

At least three of the immigrants-turned-citizens were able to acquire aviation or transportation worker credentials, granting them access to secure areas in airports or maritime facilities and vessels. Their credentials were revoked after they were identified as having been granted citizenship improperly, Roth said in his report.

A fourth person is now a law enforcement officer.

Roth recommended that all of the outstanding cases be reviewed and fingerprints in those cases be added to the government’s database and that immigration enforcement officials create a system to evaluate each of the cases of immigrants who were improperly granted citizenship. DHS officials agreed with the recommendations and said the agency is working to implement the changes.

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New Delhi BACK from his trip to Finland, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was greeted with an ink attack by an ‘angry’ political leader outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s office. The inkthrower, Brijesh Shukla was arrested.

Sisodia had a 20-minute long one-to-one meeting with Jung at Raj Niwas on Monday morning. The deputy CM was summoned by Jung on Friday night to return to Delhi immediately in the wake of the chikungunya and dengue outbreak. According to a source, Sisodia tried to explain to Jung about the importance of his visit to Finland and how the Delhi government can adopt the education system of foreign countries.

Sisodia had gone to Finland with senior officials of the education department last week to study its education system. He was criticised by the Opposition for ‘wining and dining’ in a foreign country at a time Delhi is reeling under the outbreak of vector-borne diseases. Both the BJP and Congress accused him of

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Sisodia explains his trip to Jung ‘abandoning’ the city and touring at public expense. The AAP and Sisodia, however, were unapologetic about his tour. Sisodia said he had gone to study the education system of Finland and saw nothing wrong in it. Apart from discussing the education system, Jung raised concerns about the health situation in Delhi and asked Sisodia to ensure that the situation is under control, said the source. “I met the L-G and told him about the education system of Dengue and chikungunya have claimed at least 33

lives and affected more than 2,800 people in the national capital. Before meeting Jung, Sisodia paid a visit to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence on Flag Staff Road. Kejriwal had also returned to Delhi after having a throat surgery in Bengaluru. Sisodia apprised the CM about his visit to Finland. Later, addressing the media, Sisodia was startled by a splatter of ink that also fell on some reporters. He was seen wiping the stains on his shirt and arms with a white handkerchief. Reacting to the

incident, Sisodia said, “The Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But the BJP and Congress have nothing to do with Delhites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is their dirty politics.”

The ink-thrower was arrested and identified as 42-year-old Brijesh Shukla, the self-proclaimed founder of one Swaraj Janata Party. He said he is an “angry citizen of Delhi” concerned that public money was being wasted on tours. The BJP, however, questioned the timing of the incident. “We condemn the incident. However, a question comes to the mind.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

World’s oldest man turns 113 JERUSALEM The world’s oldest man turned 113 on Thursday and the Holocaust survivor living in Israel readied for the Bar Mitzvah he was

The Bar Mitzvah is one of the most important ceremonies in the life of a Jew. Usually marked at 13 for boys and 12 or 13 for girls

denied a century ago, his family said.

Yisrael Kristal, an observant Jew from Zarnow in what is now Poland and currently living in the port city of Haifa, was born on September 15, 1903, three months before the Wright brothers’ first successful powered airplane flight.

Guinness World Records in March recognised him as the world’s oldest man.

While he turned 113 on Thursday under the Gregorian calendar, his family will celebrate the birthday at the end of September according to the Hebrew calendar, his daughter Shula Koperstoch told AFP. The festivities will include a Bar Mitzvah that will come 100 years late.

- a Bat Mitzvah in that case - it marks the transition into someone responsible for their actions.

Kristal was unable to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah in 1916 because his mother had died three months earlier and his father was a soldier in the Russian army at the time of World War I. “My father is religious and has prayed every morning for 100 years, but he has never had his Bar Mitzvah,” his daughter said.

Around 100 family members will attend, with the date and location being kept secret to avoid Kristal having to contend with a crush of journalists, she said.Asked about his health, Koperstoch said only: “He is ageing.”

After World War I, Kristal moved to Lodz where he worked in the family confectionary factory, married and had two children.

But his life was disrupted when the Jewish quarter of the city became a ghetto under Nazi occupation during World War II and Kristal was sent to the infamous Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Around 1.1 million people, most of them European Jews, perished in the camp between 1940 and 1945 before it was liberated

by Soviet forces.

His wife and two children died but Kristal survived, weighing just 37 kilos (81 pounds) at the end of the war.

He then moved to Israel, where he has lived for over six decades. He remarried, had a son and opened a sweet shop.

He is four years younger than the world’s oldest woman, Emma Morano, an Italian who turns 117 in November - meaning she was born in the 19th century.

The previous oldest man, Yasutaro Koide of Japan, died in January at the age of 112.

Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997, was the oldest verified person ever - passing away in France aged 122 years and 164 days.

With kisses and selfies, EU president Juncker shows his lighter side on YouTube Brussels The European Union’s chief executive shared kisses and posed for selfies with young people on Thursday, in a live YouTube broadcast meant to soften his image as an ageing man shut away from Europe’s crises.Sitting in a studio decked out as a colourful apartment, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker took questions from three German, French and Polish budding video stars, one with more than a million followers on YouTube.

Juncker admitted he had little interest in social media but denied he was above ordinary people.

“I’m not a movie star. Have I kissed you?” Juncker told his Polish interviewer.

“Why not now?”, he said, standing up to kiss him on the cheek.Juncker has faced accusations in

European media that he drinks too much and, as a 61-year-old smoker, is in no shape to run an EU

in the 1980s. The subject did not come up in the hour-long YouTube broadcast.Wearing a

executive overseeing legislation affecting 500 million Europeans. A Twitter hashtag #AskJuncker set up for the broadcast was peppered with anti-EU comments.Juncker denied he had a drinking problem in a separate interview with the French newspaper Liberation on Tuesday, saying he sometimes stumbles in p u b l i c because of a car accident

purple tie, relaxed and sharing jokes in English, French and German, Juncker said was dealing with a range of issues, from the rise in militant attacks in Europe to corporate tax evasion.

He also spoke emotionally about his father, a veteran of the second world war who died this year. Juncker said young people needed to defend the idea of a united Europe.“My father was obliged to serve in World War Two.

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Turkmenistan opens $2b bird-shaped international airport Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Saturday hailed his country’s “solid transit potential” as he unveiled an international airport worth over $2 billion in the capital Ashgabat.

Berdymukhamedov said the new airport’s two passenger terminals would have the capacity to serve 17 million passengers a year while the freight terminal could handle 200,000 tons of freight annually. The fivefloor airport is built in the shape of a giant bird echoing the logo of the Central Asian state carrier Turkmenistan airlines - by Turkish construction company Polimeks who won a $2 billion contract in 2013. A source at the carrier told AFP on condition of anonymity that the new airport cost $2.35 billion by the time it was completed.

Turkmenistan welcomed 105,000 tourists in 2015 according to the state tourism committee, but makes efforts to boost the sector despite a restrictive visa regime.“With an advantageous

geographical position at the crossroads of regional and international

Ashgabat.

The existing airport near the capital mainly caters

communications routes, our country has a solid transit potential we aspire to realise to the maximum,” said Berdymukhamedov, 59, at the airport opening.

Turkmenistan has fallen on difficult economic times after the collapse in global prices for hydrocarbons, which make up nearly all the country’s exports.Despite Berdymukhamedov officially encouraging belttightening, the country has continued to spend heavily on infrastructure ahead of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games it will host in

to the state carrier and a short list of foreign airlines from Belarus, China, Russia and Turkey.

The country on Wednesday passed constitutional changes that will effectively allow Berdymukhamedov to rule for life, in the tradition of other strongmen in the exSoviet region.

Ashgabat, a white marble-clad city of one million people hosts golden statues of both Berdymukhamedov and erratic late predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov, whose own effigy rotated with the movements of the sun.

Issue - 685 (8)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

US declares French jihadist Diaby ‘global terrorist’

WASHINGTON The United States on Friday designated French jihadist recruiterOmar Diaby a “global terrorist” subject to US economic sanctions, the State Department said.The 40-year-old Al-Nusra Front militant, who also uses the name Omar Omsen, became notorious last year for faking his own death in order to leave Syria for surgery.According to the designation, Diaby leads a group of 50 French volunteers who traveled to Syria to fight for AlNusra Front, which says it broke ties with Al-Qaeda in July and renamed itself Jabhat Fateh alSham.“Although assumed killed in August 2015, Diaby reemerged in May 2016, claiming his death was a ploy to allow him to travel to Turkey for an operation,” the State Department said.“Diaby came to the attention of French intelligence due to his involvement with a French extremist group and his online propaganda video series,” it added.

“Diaby’s videos have been credited as the chief reason behind why so many French nationals have joined militant groups in Syria and Iraq.”

Diaby’s parents reported him dead last year but in May he surfaced again, giving an interview by Skype to France 2 television to explain he had traveled for surgery.

France 2 also broadcast footage of a training camp in western Syria housing around 30 young French jihadists, many of them from Diaby’s home region near Nice. While Diaby is not accused of any direct link with attacks in France, he has expressed approval for the January 2015 shootings at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

“I wish I’d been chosen to do that,” he told France 2. Now that he is a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” under US law, American firms and individuals are barred from associating or doing business with him.

Besieged Syrian kids play with swings made of rockets DOUMA Syrian children love playgrounds like kids all over the world but in rebel-held towns near Damascus swing sets are made of spent rockets and jungle gyms are tucked underground. Eastern Ghouta, a besieged opposition stronghold east of Damascus, has been battered by regime air strikes and shelling since Syria’s conflict erupted more than five years ago. Since then, children have grown accustomed to warnings not to play outside - but the grown-ups are finding creative ways to make sure kids can still have fun. In Douma, Eastern Ghouta’s largest town, children sprint towards red-and-black swings made of rockets which government MiG fighters jets once rained on their hometown.

The sets were made by Abu Ali al-Bitar, a 40-year-old house painter who collected dozens of rocket debris, welded them into swings and then gave them a fresh coat of paint. “At first, my neighbours thought I was crazy.

They didn’t realise I was going to make children’s toys out of this,” he tells AFP while sitting next to one of his creations. “It was a huge surprise for everyone when I came outside my shop one day carrying a swing.”

Fellow townspeople urged him to build more sets, and farmers brought him rocket and shell debris that had crashed on their lands on the outskirts of Douma.

“This is how we made the

Iraqi survivor of ISIS’ atrocities appointed UN goodwill envoy A young Iraqi woman, who survived trafficking at the hands of ISIS, has been appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking.

Nadia Murad Basee Taha, the 23-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee , is the Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The appointment marks the first time a survivor of atrocities is bestowed with this distinction.

“Nadia is a fierce and tireless advocate for the Yazidi people and victims of human trafficking everywhere,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday at her induction ceremony, which was held in connection with the UN’s commemoration of the International Day of Peace.

“She was subjected to unspeakable abuse and human rights violations at the hands of ISIL. Nadia has shown exceptional courage in speaking out. She gives a much-needed voice to trafficking victims who continue to suffer, and who demand justice,” the UN chief added.

Murad had briefed the UN Security Council in its first-ever session on human trafficking in December last year.

She described being rounded up with fellow Yazidis in Iraq in 2014 and witnessing as ISIS fighters shot men and boys in cold blood.

She was bought and sold various times.

ISIS or ISIL is an al-Qaeda splinter group and it has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria.

“It is two years since ISIL seized Sinjar. It is unconscionable that thousands of Yazidi, in particular women and children, continue to be held captive,” Ban said, calling for their immediate release.

“And I repeat: the crimes committed by ISIL in Iraq against the Yazidi may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide.”

A relentless advocate for victims,

Murad was recently named one of Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People of 2016.’

During her Ambassadorship, she will focus on advocacy initiatives and raise awareness around the plight of the countless victims of trafficking in persons, especially refugees, women and girls.

UNODC is the lead UN entity fighting all forms of human trafficking, including sexual slavery, forced labour, child soldiering and trafficking for the purpose of organ removal.

It is also the custodian of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and mandated to manage the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons.

“Nadia’s appointment as a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador, provides a unique opportunity to urge others to join us in our fight against human trafficking. We know that Nadia’s extraordinary commitment to the plight of trafficking victims will move people to take action against this scourge,” UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said in his message on her induction.

impossible, possible - that something used to kill can be turned into a toy that makes children happy,” said Abu Ali. A

rocky tunnel that lead to their unconventional playground. It is a vibrant and safe area, with its own merry-go-round, a mini ferris

dozen children clamber onto swing sets nearby, taking advantage of clear skies after a fragile truce brought a lull in air strikes and shelling on the town.

Ten-year-old Hanin - who lost her right hand in a rocket attack on a local market - giggles as she swoops through the air in one of the swings. And Ghadir, nine, says he’s grateful to Abu Ali for making new toys for Douma’s children.

“Bashar al-Assad sent rockets to kill us but Uncle Abu Ali didn’t want us to be sad, so he turned them into toys to make us happy,” Ghadir says. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria’s war, which has ravaged the country’s education system.

The United Nations estimates that at least 2.1 million Syrian children and teenagers do not have access to education. In Arbin, another rebel town in Eastern Ghouta, kids ran down concrete steps into a dimly-lit,

wheel that almost grazes the ceiling and booming music.

Hassan, who works with a local civil society group, says volunteers rent these underground playgrounds to keep the children entertained, including during last week’s Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha. “We decided to rent out spaces underground, in basements.

They have playgrounds, rec rooms, and even a theatre,” he tells AFP. “We planned a lot of activities for the kids and gave out gifts to make them as happy as possible during Eid.” Children pull themselves up on a net of ropes and zip down brightly-coloured slides, while mothers wave from a mezzanine overlooking the cheerful scene.

“We had a party in the basement so that no one has to be afraid of being in the street,” 10-yearold Yumna says timidly. “Here, the world is safe.”

Diver finds wedding ring lost off Spain island 37 years ago, returns it to owner

Madrid Agustin Aliaga’s marriage to his wife Juani Sanchez has lasted 37 years, even though he lost his wedding ring just months after they tied the knot.But now, the ring has been found.Diver Jessy Nisos says she found a gold wedding ring while scuba diving last month off Benidorm in Spain.

She posted a photo of it on Facebook and gave the wedding date inscribed on it: Feb. 17, 1979.She asked people to share the post, noting that “it got lost a long, long time ago because it was covered with sediment.”More than 80,000 people shared the post, with word

finally reaching Aliaga and Sanchez in the northeastern city of Zaragoza. Sanchez says she called Nisos and both of them burst into tears.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

A former American jihadi recounts his turn to, and then from, extremism Washington He urged extremists to kill in the name of Allah. But Jesse Morton says he’s now a different man, countering in Washington the very same ideology that brought him in the shadow of al Qaeda.

A Pennsylvania native who got out of prison just a year and a half ago and now conducts research at George Washington University, Morton had a rough childhood.

His mother beat him, and no one else cared for him. He lost trust in society. He left home at the age of 16, lived on the street and sold drugs.

“I had no sense of belonging or American identity, I was seeking something, anything,” said Morton, 38, recalling those early days.

But his is a redemption story: He offers a rare glimpse into the recruitment of a jihadist who eventually found his way back into mainstream society from radical Islam.

Morton converted to Islam when an ultraconservative Muslim friend asked him to recite a few words in Arabic -- words whose meaning he did not know -- during a standoff when they were surrounded by police.

Those words were the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith in which one declares “there is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.”“I recited them and we didn’t get in trouble (with the

police) so I thought, ‘Wow, this is like magic,’” Morton said.

Some time later, during a stay at a prison in Richmond, Virginia,

an Islamic caliphate.

Back then, he said, he had “direct contact” with Abdullah alFaisal, a radical Jamaican imam

also known as “Jihad Jane” -- an American woman arrested in late 2009 as she was plotting to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars

he learned to become a “real Muslim.”

“In one sense, it was indoctrination from above, in another sense, it was me seeking out something and finding... meaning inside of this worldview,” said Morton, who continues to practice his Muslim faith, although he has renounced extremism.

During his jihadist days, he frequented the Islamic Thinkers Society, a group that is an offshoot of the Al-Muhajiroun extremism that seeks to restore

who spent four years in prison in London. He recruited people to his cause outside mosques.

“We were looking for lions,” Morton recalled.

Morton got out prison shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks -- which he praised at the time -- and took the name Younus Abdullah Muhammed.

In late 2007, he co-founded “Revolution Muslim” which would relay Al-Qaeda messages online.

Among the Islamic radicals who ended up being influenced by the group was Colleen LaRose --

Vilks, who was targeted for drawing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

Turning from jihad Police went on high alert in 2009, when Revolution Muslim threatened to kill the writers of popular animated satirical series “South Park” for an episode that featured the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit.

In early 2010, Morton fled to Morocco, where he was arrested by the FBI in October 2011 after a stint in Moroccan jails.

Education was the key to his turn

enforcement agencies to take concrete measures to deny any militant group safe haven or the use of Pakistani soil to launch terrorist attacks in Afghanistan,” Olson said as top American Senators lashed out at Pakistan

significant development contributions over the past decade-plus,” he said.

China’s role in the region continues to evolve, and includes its participation in the Quadrilateral Coordination

the car Adnani was traveling in.

Officials say Adnani was the main spokesman for IS, and he had played a major role during some of the group’s most high-profile attacks over the past year, including in Paris, at the Brussels and Istanbul airports, at a cafe in Bangladesh, as well as the downing of a Russian airliner in the Sinai and suicide bombings at a rally in Ankara.

Cook has previously said Adnani had coordinated the movement of IS fighters, encouraged lonewolf attacks on civilians and members of the military and actively recruited new IS members. Soon after the strike against Adnani, Russia said it was responsible for his death, a claim Pentagon officials dismissed as a “joke.

Washington The US warned on Thursday that Pakistan’s fight against terrorism would not succeed until it makes a “decisive shift” in its policy of tolerance towards externallyfocused groups and targets all militant groups without discrimination.

“While the progress Pakistan has made through its recent operations is laudable, its struggle with terrorism will not come to an end until it makes a decisive shift in its policy of tolerance towards externallyfocused groups,” Richard Olson, the special US representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told member of the Senate foreign relations committee during a congressional hearing on Afghanistan.“US officials have been very clear with the most senior Pakistani leadership that Pakistan must target all militant groups without discrimination -including those that target Pakistan’s neighbours -- and close all safe havens,” Olson said.Olson, who is the Obama administration’s point person for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told senators that Pakistan’s leaders have assured the US of their intention to do so.

“In this regard, we welcomed chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif’s statement on July 6, in which he directed Pakistani military commanders, intelligence agencies, and law

for its behaviour against terrorism.“Pakistan continues to be tremendously duplicitous partner in this. They are working against our interest there (in Afghanistan). They are supporting the Haqqani network,” Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate foreign relations said.In his testimony, Olson said the US continues to support the India-Afghanistan relationship, including through the revival of a US-IndiaAfghanistan trilateral, which will take place next week on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

“We welcomed India’s provision of training and non-lethal security assistance to Afghanistan and its

Group.“We have also welcomed China’s bilateral development aid and look forward to seeing China at the Brussels conference,” he added.

Olson said while international support for Afghanistan remains strong, regional support continues to be filtered through complex national priorities.

“Despite greater regional cooperation overall, regional players continue to hedge so long as they have doubts about the viability of the Afghan state.

We continue to support Afghanistan as it works to improve relations with its neighbours and near-neighbours, promoting broader regional stability,” he observed.

IS spokesman al-Adnani killed in US air strike: Pentagon

WASHINGTON The Pentagon has confirmed that a US air strike killed Islamic State leader and spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani in northern Syria last month.

“The strike near Al Bab, Syria, removes from the battlefield ISIL’s chief propagandist, recruiter and architect of external terrorist operations,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said on Monday, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

“It is one in a series of successful strikes against ISIL leaders, including those responsible for finances and military planning, that make it harder for the group to operate.”

The August 30 air strike was conducted by a Predator drone, which fired a Hellfire missile at

from the path of jihadist thinking.

While held in solitary confinement, a guard let him visit the prison library at night. Morton says he read a lot, including Enlightenment writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

“I started to realize that these principles are universal, humanist,” he said, adding that they “allow people to be free.”

Turning informant The FBI was keen on obtaining intelligence from Morton’s extremist past and his contacts in that world, so he cooperated with the US federal police agency from his cell.

“They made me realize that they were only protecting the public and not waging a war against Islam,” Morton said, adding that his contributions led to a “very successful series of counterterrorism operations.”

Thanks to his collaboration, Morton only served less than four years of his 11.5 year prison sentence. His recruitment by George Washington University was a first in the United States.

His life story is instructive, said Lorenzo Vidino, who heads the university’s program on extremism.

Morton was “not only somebody who radicalized himself, but also somebody who was radicalizing and recruiting other people,” Vidino said.

Pakistan must target all militant groups without discrimination:US

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Punjabi Sikh parents seek a match for their Canadian born & raised, clean shaven son, 33 yrs. old, 6’-1" tall, handsome, Doctor M.D., completed internal Medicine residency & fellowship (Specialization), now working as a specialist in G.T.A. The girl should be resident Doctor/M.D. or Physician, Born & raised in Canada from Ontario, beautiful atleast 5’-6" tall with family values. Please send your biodata and recent picture to: sm9058@hotmail.com ***682*** 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.

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Looking for a life partner between 45-55, family oriented, must hae Master’s degree, Ph.d or having experience in journalism, prefered Pakistani West Punjabi.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

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Issue - 685 (11)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

More trouble for Kapil Sharma; probe report recommends FIR for destroying mangroves More trouble is brewing for standup comedian Kapil Sharma as the Maharashtra’s forest department has found him guilty of destroying

back side of his bungalow in Versova.

The report said that in all over 450 metres of mangrove land was destroyed by 50-60

mangrove forests in Mumbai. The forest department submitted a negative report to the revenue department headed by collector on Saturday.

The 15-page report said, “Huge mangrove land was destroyed by bungalow owners including Kapil Sharma.” It calls for registering an FIR under relevant environment laws against the comedian immediately.

‘MANGROVE LAND DESTROYED’ The popular comedian is accused of destroying “over ten metres of mangrove land” to build illegal structure at the

bungalow owners in the area- home to several celebrities.On last Monday the forest department conducted a survey at four bungalows area in Andheri West, where Kapil owns a house. The survey was done using GPS technology and the results were matched by Google earth.“The bungalows owner including Kapil Sharma have filled the mangroves land and killed all mangroves. They have in fact planted other trees to destroy mangroves,” the report said.

‘TAKE PROMPT ACTION’ The forest department has sought, in its report,

Istanbul Turkish police have detained more than 20 Islamic State suspects, including a Syrian man believed to be organising

Turkey attacks, in an operation in the capital Ankara, Haber-Turk newspaper reported.

In a separate raid, police held 24 other IS suspects

an attack in Istanbul, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

Police arrested the man, identified as Ali al-Aggal and codenamed Azzov, believed to be the IS group’s organiser of

from Iraq and Syria in Kucukcekmece district of Istanbul, the newspaper said.

It said nine of the suspects were suspected of having direct contacts with alAggal and were awaiting explosives and ammunition from him in order to carry out an attack in Istanbul.

The remaining 15 suspects were planning to cross the Turkish border into conflict zones, the newspaper said.Police found out that suspected IS jihadists used the building in Kucukcekmece as a “sleeper cell” and seized many documents and

immediate action against the violators of environment laws. The owners carried unauthorised constructions on the back side of their bungalows destroying mangroves completely in the affected area, the report said.

“We expect soon the revenue department, which is head by collector will file FIR in the matter at Versova police station,” said the probe report.

RTI FILED AGAINST Meanwhile, RTI activist Asad Patel filed a complaint against Kapil Sharma for allegedly destroying mangroves for his office construction. The complaint was registered at Versova Police Station.

The complainant accused Kapil Sharma of illegal construction, encroachment, illegal ecodestruction, destroying and theft of mangroves and debris dumping. The police have launched a probe into the matter.

TWEET AND TWISTS Earlier, Kapil Sharma created row with his tweet in which he alleged that a BMC official demanded a bribe of Rs five lakh from him. He tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his point.

Turkish police detain IS suspects plotting attack in Istanbul

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digital materials allegedly belonging to the extremist group, according to the report.

Turkey has suffered a series of attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in a city close to the Syrian border in August.

The latest arrests come as several embassies, including Britain’s, closed Friday for security reasons.A member of the anti-IS coalition led by the US, Turkey has started to take an active role in the fight against the group after it had long been criticised by its Western allies for not doing enough.

Turkey in recent months has cracked down on the group’s sleeper cells and launched an ambitious operation inside Syria to oust jihadists and Syrian Kurdish militia from its frontier.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Turkey and the US have discussed an operation to push IS jihadists out of their de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria but there have been no further details.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’, is a Tonga Party: Amarinder Singh Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh Saturday described ‘Awaaz-ePunjab’, floated by former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, as “Tonga party” and dismissed the proposed fourth front as “inconsequential”.

He alleged said this front seems to have been “propped up” by the BJP only.“It (Awaaz-e-Punjab) is like a tonga party of four people, two sitting in the front and two in the back which will hardly have any impact”, he said asserting that four people do not make a political party as it required “much more than that.” ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ has been formed by Sidhu along with former hockey captain and MLA Pargat Singh and two Ludhiana MLA brothers-Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Bains.He said people are welcome to form a party as it is their “democratic right.”Addressing a Christian congregation organised by ex-MLA Harpartap Singh Ajnala here, the PCC president promised to end the “discrimination” against the Christians and other minorities in the state.

He promised that once

Congress comes to power in Punjab, all the welfare schemes announced for the Dalits and downtrodden, like the

PCC general secretary Salamat Masih.

He said each and every demand will be included in the election manifesto and

‘Shagun’ scheme or free power will also be extended to the Christian community.Amarinder agreed that the Christian community in Punjab had been left behind and special measures were required to ensure that it gets its due.

The PCC president also accepted a memorandum from the community which was read out at the stage by senior party leader and

after the government formation each and every commitment will be fulfilled.As a special measure to ensure that the Christian community was represented in the state legislature, he said the Congress after coming to power, will pass a law in the state assembly that will enable nomination of a member of the community in the Vidhan Sabha on the lines of Chhattisgarh.

FIR against society for opposing flat sale to a Muslim family Mumbai Police havefiled an FIR against eleven members of a cooperative housing society in neighbouring Vasai, after a Muslim family was allegedly denied a flat there.

The FIR was lodged at the Manikpur police station late this evening. A majority of the members of Happy Jivan Co-operative Society allegedly opposed sale of a flat by its owner to a Muslim family, a police official said.

Issue - 685 (12)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Man beaten to death by gau rakshaks

Ahmedabad Cow vigilantism claimed yet another life in Gujarat, this time in Ahmedabad. A 29-year-old man, who was allegedly beaten up by gau rakshaks four days ago, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday.

As the news of the death spreads, a steady stream of people have been gathering outside the V.S. Hospital. Police officials too have been stationed at the hospital in anticipation of a law and order situation.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED Mohammad Ayyub was allegedly attacked by a group of cow

vigilantes on Tuesday, a day after Bakri Eid, when he and his friend Sameer Sheikh were bringing a cow and a calf to Ahmedabad, police said.

“People are saying that they found a cow in the car but that doesn’t mean that they should take the law in their hands,” said Rozar Khan, Ayyub’s uncle.In the wee hours of Tuesday, Ayyub’s car had a collision with another car on the highway, leading to the death of the calf, police said.Ayyub, who was also injured in the accident, tried to flee but was chased by a group of men and beaten up, police said.

Hyderabad Craze for taking selfie on mobile phone proved fatal for five engineering students, including two girls, who drowned in a reservoir in Warangal district of Telangana on Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Patti Sravya Reddy, Pollineni Vinootn, Karne Sivasai, P Sivasaikrishna and Sagar Reddy. The students were from Vagdevi Engineering College, Warangal, where they were pursuing third year engineering in computer science.

According to the police, the six students went to Dharmasagar reservoir, a popular tourist

attraction in the district in the morning for an outing. One of the girls, Ramya Pratyusha, tried to

AAP, ‘bunch of unprincipled leaders’, says Punjab CM Prakash Badal

Describing AAP as “bunch of unprincipled leaders”, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the party will “vanish” from the political arena of the state before the 2017 assembly polls in the wake of ongoing “tug of war” within the party.

“Due to the tug of war, AAP will vanish from political arena of the state before the ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections,” he said.

Badal, talking to media on the sidelines of the Sangat Darshan programme in Amargarh assembly segment, said, “What else could be the fate of the party whose two Parliamentarians’ and one state convenor, besides several other leaders were quitting the party one after another.”He said it was a clear indication that the “house of cards” will crumble soon.

Feigning ignorance about the “missing” AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, Badal, while taking a jibe at the former, said if need arises, the government will trace Lok Sabha MP as it is the duty of every government to trace the “missing persons”.

Five engineering students drown in reservoir while taking ‘selfies’

take a selfie along with the others, standing on a rock in the

8 ISIS militants held in Pakistan’s Punjab Lahore Pakistan police have arrested eight Islamic State militants who

were planning “large-scale” terror attacks on government installations in Punjab province.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesman said four members of the terrorist group were arrested yesterday from Lahore, following a tip-off

that “terrorists belonging to the IS were planning to attack government installations on a large scale in Lahore and assassination of officials of intelligence agencies.” He said the arrested men also had links with “terrorists who had killed policemen in Lahore and Faisalabad” and they were attempting to trigger unrest in the province. CTD seized 1,600-kg explosives, safety fuse and four non-electric detonators from them. In another raid in Chan Qila Gujranwala district, about 80 kilometres from Lahore, CTD in collaboration with intelligence agency officials arrested four other IS members.

middle of the water body.

However, the rock was slippery and she fell into the water. In order to save her, the other students got into the water, one after the other. While Pratyusha managed get back to the shore, the others drowned. “Unfortunately, the water level in the reservoir was too high and none of them had gauged the depth of the water. As a result, they drowned,” Dharmasagar Circle Inspector Rajaiah said.

Locals who noticed the mishap alerted the police, who reached the spot along with swimmers. After searching for a couple of hours, they brought out the bodies.

ISIS claims responsibility for killing three Pakistan soldiers in Peshawar

Peshawar Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush in Peshawar city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province yesterday in an attack, for which both the Islamic State and Jamaatul Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban faction, have claimed responsibility. Senior police officer Shaukat Khan said the gunmen struck in Garhi Sohbat Khan on the outskirts of Peshawar, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers, reports the New York Times.

Mann yesterday did not attend AAP’s political conference at Chhapar mela in Ludhiana.

Over the dengue issue, the Chief Minister said the state government was fully ready to

to control this disease,” he said.

Felicitating the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday, Badal said, “Modi has put the country on the high growth trajectory”.

tackle the menace of vectorborne disease in the state.

“Necessary directions have been given to the health department to take all the preventive steps

“Under the visionary leadership of Modi, the country has scripted a new success story in every field due to which India’s prestige has increased manifolds,” he said.

80-year-old woman alleges rape by son’s friend Faridabad An 80-year-old woman here was allegedly raped by her son’s friend when she was alone at home, police said on Saturday.The woman, a widow, alleged Badal raped her after her son left for work on Friday. The victim managed to inform her neighbhours who hospitalised her, police said.A case has been lodged by the victim’s son. The accused is yet to be arrest, they said.Meanwhile, a government school teacher here has been booked on charges of harassing a 14-year-old girl, police said on Saturday.The girl alleged that her teacher Inder Singh asked her about her personal life, police said.She informed the incident to her guardians, who have lodged a case against the teacher. The matter is being investigated, police said.

Writer saves novels from burning home

New Orleans An author in New Orleans has rushed into his burning home to save a laptop, which contained his two finished novels.

“Anybody that’s ever created art, there’s no replacing that,” Gideon Hodge, 35, told The New Orleans Advocate. He safely made it out of the building with the computer and no other injuries were reported. “It [the laptop] has got pretty much my life’s work,” said Hodge. He describes himself as a playwright, novelist and actor.

“This fire could have been much worse,” said Superintendent Timothy McConnell, from the New Orleans Fire Department. “Taking into account the size of the fire on arrival, the job done by our firefighters was incredible.” Edderin

Williams, 38, had enough time to grab his wallet and keys before rushing out of his apartment, one of four in the building, but was not able to save anything more.

He does not have insurance. “I just don’t know how I feel right now. I’m just going to have to pick up the pieces and move on,” he said. The fire is thought to have started in an empty house next door before spreading to the building where Hodge lived. Masses of black smoke could be seen for miles and firefighters tackled the blaze for hours.

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First mercy killing of minor in Belgium BRUSSELS A terminally ill 17-year-old has become the first minor to be euthanised in Belgium since age restrictions on such mercy killings in the country were lifted in 2014, it was learned Saturday.

“The euthanasia has taken

place,” Jacqueline Herremans, a member of Belgium’s federal euthanasia commission, told AFP.She added that the assisted death had taken place according to Belgian law. Wim Distelmans, head of the euthanasia commission, gave no details of the minor involved beyond saying it was an exceptional case of a child with a terminal illness, the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper reported.VRT public television said the incident involved an adolescent who was about to turn 18. “Fortunately, there are very few children who are considered (for euthanasia) but that does not mean we should refuse them the right to a dignified death,” Distelmans told the newspaper.

Since 2014, when its euthanasia legislation was amended, Belgium has been the only country in the world that allows

terminally-ill children of any age to choose to end their suffering as long as they are conscious and capable of making rational decisions.The Netherlands also allows mercy killings for children, but only for those aged over 12.

The Belgian amendment, which

was passed after heated debate - notably over the meaning of a “capacity of discernment” - offers the possibility of euthanasia to children “in a hopeless medical situation of constant and unbearable suffering that cannot be eased and which will cause death in the short term”.

Any request for euthanasia must be made by the minor, be studied by a team of doctors and an independent psychiatrist or psychologist, and have parental consent.When amending the law, Belgian legislators had decided not to include psychological suffering in the list of factors determining whether euthanasia may be allowed for minors, though it is admissable for adults.The 2014 vote was passed by 86 lawmakers in favour and a 44 against, in the traditionally Catholic nation.

A poll which was taken a few

months before the final parliamentary vote indicated that three-quarters of Belgians were in favour of extending euthanasia to minors.Since the law was changed, there have been other euthanasia requests from minors but none had previously been granted, said Herremans.

The whole process is “very controlled” and “often very long” and particularly difficult when it concerns a minor, she added.

Altogether over 2,000 mercy killings were declared in Belgium last year, a record number since the practice was made legal in 2002.

Last weekend Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort said in Rio that she is considering euthanasia to escape a life of unbearable physical pain - only not quite yet.

Vervoort, who won silver in the 400m wheelchair race at the Paralympic Games, played down earlier reports that she planned to be euthanized after her return from Brazil.

“I have my (euthanasia) papers in my hand, but I’m still enjoying every little moment. When the moment comes when I have more bad days than good days, then I have my euthanasia papers, but the time is not there yet,” she told a news conference in Rio, Brazil, where the Paralympic Games are taking place.

After the Netherlands and Belgium, Luxembourg approved euthanasia but for adults only in 2009.

In Switzerland, doctors can assist a patient seeking to die but euthanasia itself is illegal.

Pro-Putin party wins Russian parliamentary election

Moscow/Ufa Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin comfortably won a parliamentary election, early results showed on Monday, but low turnout suggested a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite 18 months before the next presidential election.

The ruling United Russia party won 51% in Sunday’s election, according to a preliminary central election commission tally after a quarter of the votes had been counted.That would allow the party, which was founded by Putin and benefits from his popularity, to extend its dominance in the lower house of parliament, or Duma. An exit poll also had United Russia as the overwhelming winner.

Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed on Sunday night, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine.Putin’s aides are likely to use the result as a

springboard for his own campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term.

“We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it’s won,” Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, who is Prime Minister and the party’s leader.

Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3%, Putin said: “We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result.”Other parties trailed far behind United Russia.

According to the incomplete official vote count, the populist LDPR party was in second place with 15.1%, the Communists were in third on 14.9% and the left-of-centre Just Russia party was fourth with 6.4%.

All three of those parties tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues in parliament, and avoid direct criticism of Putin.

Stone Age mummy still revealing secrets, 25 years on BOLZANO When police heard about the frozen corpse up in the Alps in September 1991, they opened a criminal probe. Murder it was, but the crime was rather old - and the ultimate cold case.

The dead man, found by hikers 25 years ago this week a snowball’s throw from the Austrian-Italian border and put in a wooden coffin at a nearby police station, turned out to have died more than 5,000 years ago.

Mummified in the ice, “Oetzi”, as he was later nicknamed, was a sensation, providing invaluable scientific insights that a quarter of a century later show no sign of abating.“The iceman is without doubt one of the most outstanding mummy discoveries in the history of mankind,” said Angelika Fleckinger, director of the museum in Bolzano, Italy, where the mummy is on display.

“It’s a unique window into the prehistoric era, and gives us an incredible amount of information,” she told AFP. To put it into perspective, when Oetzi died around 3,350-3,100 BC, Stonehenge in England and the first Egyptian pyramids were still hundreds of years from being built.He lived during the Late Neolithic or Copper Age when mineral extraction and copper

smelting, which spread to Europe from the Near East, was fundamentally transforming human society.

Perhaps the resulting upheaval explains his still mysterious death. That he came to a sticky end was confirmed by the arrowhead lodged in his shoulder, only found in 2001, showing he had been shot from behind.

He would have bled to death in minutes and was possibly finished off with a whack on the head. He had at least had a large meal including barbecued ibex around 12 hours earlier, the contents of his stomach showed.

And his untimely demise high in the mountains meant for scientists that he was incredibly well-preserved, allowing detailed studies.Unlike other ancient mummies, Oetzi is “damp”, meaning there is still humidity in his cells and his body is untouched by funeral rites.

Egyptian specimens are generally without brains and other organs. The findings include that Oetzi was lactose intolerant and genetically predisposition to heart disease, as shown by his hardened arteries, something thought of before as a modern phenomenon.The 30 types of pollen in his intestines and the

isotopic composition of his tooth enamel suggest he lived just south of the Alps. He was from a genetic subgroup now extremely rare in Europe but relatively common in Corsica and

the digestion of raw meat and later turned into a pathogen,” Zink told AFP. “Clinicians are very interested (in our research).”

Oetzi was around 46 when he died, a good age for his time.

Sardinia, meaning that people there and Oetzi have common ancestors. Albert Zink, director at the EURAC Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, said that studying the bacteria in his stomach could help advances in modern medicine.For instance Oetzi’s intestine contains H. pylori, a bacteria present in 50 percent of humans’ guts today and which can lead to stomach ulcers or even cancer. “Maybe this was a positive bacteria that helped with

And with not an ounce of excess fat, he must have been fit. He had brown eyes, a beard, long hair - and 61 tattoos.

But these were not ornamental but medicinal. They were where there were signs of wear, and correspond to pressure points used in acupuncture today.

Before Oetzi was discovered, it was thought this technique originated 2,000 years later in Asia. What he did have though was an axe with a copper blade, which would have been a coveted

object - the iPhone 7 of his day as well as a wealth of other equipment.

This included a quiver of arrows, a dagger, two types of tree fungus, one probably for lighting fires and another medicinal, and a pencil-like tool for sharpening arrows.

His clothing is also well preserved, including leggings and a coat made from goat hide, a hat of bear fur, shoes of tree bast netting, hay and deer skin, and even a backpack and possible cape.All this, plus Oetzi himself inside a special air-conditioned container, can be seen in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, which attracts 260,000 visitors a year from the world over and where queues are often long.“We could say that Oetzi has put Bolzano/Bozen on the map,” said Roberta Agosti from the Bolzano tourism office.

In fact a new, bigger museum is planned.And 25 years after his discovery, scientists continue to learn more things about Oetzi, helped by the advent of new technologies.Indeed on Monday a major mummy congress begins in Bolzano revealing new findings including on the bacteria in Oetzi’s stomach and the circumstances surrounding his death.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

27 states challenge Obama on emissions levels LOS ANGELES/ WASHINGTON The 27 states challenging Obama’s Clean Power Plan in court say the lower emissions levels it would impose are an undue burden. But most are likely to hit them anyway.

Already, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Dakota appear to be meeting the CPP’s early targets. And changes in the power market, along with policies favoring clean generation, are propelling most of the rest toward timely compliance, according to researchers, power producers and officials, as well as government filings reviewed

by Reuters.

“We are seeing reductions earlier than we ever expected,” US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said in an interview. “It’s a great sign that the market has already shifted and people are invested in the newer technologies, even while we are in litigation.”

States engaged in the legal battle that is set for an appellate court hearing later this month say their concerns go beyond whether they can meet the mandate. The states, most

of them led by Republican governors, say they object to what they view as federal overreach by Obama and the Democrats and want to maintain flexibility to make energy decisions at the state level that reflect changing market conditions.

should have “sovereignty to make decisions for its own markets.”

The Obama administration finalized the Clean Power Plan in 2015 as a central part of meeting US obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

In February, the US

Cynthia Coffman, attorney general of Colorado, said her state’s likely ability to comply with the CPP’s mandate “truly is not the issue.”

“We don’t have anything against clean air,” Coffman said. “That really doesn’t factor into my decision to say the federal government has gone beyond its legal authority.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said that he sees the Clean Power Plan as a form of federal “coercion and commandeering” of energy policy and that the state

Supreme Court stayed implementation of the rule pending resolution of the states’ litigation. Later this month, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case.

The CPP sets carbonreduction goals for each state, but allows states to decide how to meet them.

During the early years of implementation, the goals are guidelines intended to put states on track to meet the final deadline of 2030.

If a state fails to submit a plan to the EPA by interim deadlines, the agency can

Rare Afghan deer that survived wars KABUL For more than 40 years people believed the elusive Bactrian deer was extinct in Afghanistan, unsurprising considering the conflict across the country in that time.

But then, unexpectedly, in 2013, ecologist Zalmai Moheb and a team of researchers caught a glimpse of one.

Their findings were recently published and the IUCN, the world conservation union and keeper of the Red List of endangered species, is also now considering reclassifying the deer, a move that would highlight just how vulnerable the animal still is. It was an extraordinary moment for Mr Moheb and one that tells a story - not just about the animal and how it managed to survive against the odds - but the country too.“We said to ourselves, ‘wow, we are going to confirm the presence of this rare deer for this first time in 45 years when conservationists had almost lost hope to find this animal again in

Afghanistan’’”, he said.

The Bactrian deer, also called the Bukhara, is a rare sub-species of red deer, native to central Asia. They are typically found in riparian habitats- areas where trees, shrubs and grasses grow along river banks.

The deer was almost feared lost in the 1970s, when researchers claimed that only 120 remained in a small pocket of northeastern Afghanistan, in the Takhar province, on the border of Tajikistan.

Later that decade, in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, heralding a war that lasted nine years and unleashing chaos which saw hundreds of thousands killed and millions flee the country. A devastating civil war followed the Soviet invasion and then the Taliban installed themselves in 1996 until they were ousted by a USled invasion in 2001.The country has since then maintained democracy, albeit with militants still active and dominant in certain regions and security in some parts by no means guaranteed.

“We were not very confident at the beginning,

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but we continued the search nevertheless,” Mr Moheb, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and wildlife ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said as he described his mission.

He led a small team trying to find a trace of the deer in the north, in an area ostensibly at peace but with some security concerns.

“Eventually we found one, which was very exciting,” he said.

It was hoof marks and faecal pellets that led Moheb and his team to believe that the Bactrian deer could still exist.

“Finding field evidence gave us hope that the species still existed in the area,” said Mr Moheb, who came across the young female deer in the Darqad district, along the border with Tajikistan.

They didn’t go in with much optimism, knowing that the violence that swept through the nation for more two decades was bound to have had an impact on the wildlife.“Conflicts have always been detrimental, not only to a wild species, but for the entire ecosystem,” said Mr Moheb.

impose its own plan on that state’s power producers. Failure to comply by 2030 could open a state up to administrative penalties and lawsuits.

To be sure, some states fighting the mandate would have to drastically change course to meet it. West Virginia, which is leading the legal challenge with Texas, still relies largely on carbon-spewing, coalfired power.

And Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming have large gaps between their current emissions and the plan’s mandates.

But, in a reflection of how rapidly the power market is shifting, the US government’s Energy Information Administration earlier this year reduced its forecast for 2030 power plant carbon emissions by nearly 11 percent, without factoring in reductions that may be generated by the Clean Power Plan.

The projection for the nation as a whole would be nearly two-thirds of the CPP’s target by 2030, even if the law never takes effect.

A 2015 analysis by consulting firm M.J. Bradley & Associates for the Environmental Defense

Fund found that 21 of the 27 states suing to block the Clean Power Plan are on track to meet its 2024 targets with existing plants and planned investments.

Eighteen states are on track to hit the 2030 targets with no changes to current plans, according to the Bradley analysis, which was filed with the court as part of an amicus brief from the Environmental Defense Fund in support of the government.

And the outlook has improved for some states since the Bradley forecast.

It didn’t expect Arkansas, for example, to meet the 2024 target. But in 2015, after shifting significant energy generation from coal to natural gas, the state reported power plant emissions for the year that were below the 2030 requirement.

Some of the states contesting the rules say they object to strict timelines.

“The CPP is very dramatic in the speed at which it would require things to happen,” said Chris Nelson, chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. “If you let the market play out, those things take care of

themselves.”

Texas also has protested the CPP’s timetable, saying it would require the construction of transmission lines that could raise costs for consumers. But the state already has moved heavily into wind and solar in recent years, and is nearing its 2030 goals.

John Hall, Texas director for EDF and a former environmental regulator for the state, said Texas could profit from the rule, noting the state ranks at the top of the list of wind energy producers and is making big moves into solar.

“The CPP would enable Texas to make money by exporting wind and solar electricity,” he said.

States that export coal or gas-fired power, on the other hand, are concerned about their ability to keep doing so.

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COLOUR OF CLASS

PINK underlines its gist with a bold, uncompromising brush stroke: When a girl says no, she means no. Her decision must be accorded due dignity no matter who she is, what she is wearing or what impression a man may draw from her behaviour or attitude. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s debut Bollywood feature is the strongest statement in feminism that Hindi mainstream has made in a long time. It is a grim, slice-of-life suspense drama that should serve as a wake-up call for all, cutting across genders.

Pink dazzles with sombre suspense but the film is in no way subdued while making a relevant comment about women’s rights.

Pink for a title, of course, refers to women’s power since the film looks at the resilience of three girls who are stuck in a situation that progressively worsens for them, after a night’s misadventure pits them against a group of boys with powerful family backgrounds. That Pink Power should find a voice in this courtroom drama by way of Amitabh Bachchan could seem ironic. The superstar who trademarked machismo in his heydays takes fourth billing in the casting, after Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tairang — who essay the three girls. Big B

Vinayak Chakravorty By

Pink Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Piyush Mishra, Kirti Kulhari, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Andrea Tairang, Angad Bedi Direction: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

plays the voice of reason as the girls’ lawyer in the court of law.

The film credits Shoojit Sircar as a co-producer, which worked as a sneak peek during the rather muted build-up weeks, on what quality to expect.

Pink manages to live up to that hype. It starts off as a taut thriller in the first half, before turning into an equally engaging courtroom drama that hammers home its comment.

FOR once, you do feel dejected that Vikram Bhatt did not copy from a foreign film. You would have had a watchable script in place that way, at least. Raaz Reboot is so unimaginative that its deplorable scare tactics inadvertently run the risk of turning into fullscale comedy in most parts. Bhatt ought to give horror as a genre a break now. He is clearly running out of fresh ideas the script of this film strikes a similar chord with the recent dud, 1920: London that Bhatt wrote. The raaz of success of the Raaz series lies in the way the makers weave in fear factor with due masala ingredients including unlimited melodrama, some steamy scenes and a few

Ritesh Shah’s writing would seem to have drawn from regular newspaper clips to set up its simple yet gripping drama. Three girls living by themselves in Delhi are out partying with some rich guys one night. When one of them, Rajvir (Angad Bedi), tries forcing himself upon one of the girls, Minal (Taapsee Pannu), she breaks a bottle on his head, leaving a deep gash and almost blinding him. What follows is nightmare for the girls since they refuse to say sorry for a clear act of self-defence. As the girls try approaching the law, it becomes obvious the boys and their families have enough influence to turn the case against them.

However, the girls find a saviour in Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan) a neighbour and an ex-top lawyer who is now retired. Big B’s presence makes a huge difference. The veteran actor carries off his nuanced role well. Taapsee, Kirti and Andrea impress in well-scripted roles, as do prop actors Angad Bedi and Piyush Mishra (playing lawyer to the boys). Almost the entire cast is impressively real. Bodhaditya Banerjee’s crisp editing is also a highlight.

Pink is gripping fare that drives its message with impact. Absolutely worth a watch

good songs. The lack of a few hummable tunes stands out sorely in Raaz Reboot. Like every Raaz flick before, there is functional Bollywood schmaltz involving man, woman and ex-lover at work here.

The central theme, of course, is as old ghost stories go. Stock horror formulae including a haunted house and the possession of a human body are played out elaborately. In essence, Vikram Bhatt has drawn up the hackneyed love triangle formula in a jaded horror set-up. It is never wise to give away spoilers on horror films, no matter how shoddy they are. For a brief idea, the film is about Rehaan (Gaurav Arora) and Shaina (Kriti

Too funny to scare Raaz Reboot Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Kriti Kharbanda, Gaurav Arora Direction: Vikram Bhatt Kharbanda), a young couple that moves to Romania. They move into a lavish home but something seems to be bothering Rehaan.

He starts avoiding Shaina. Soon, Shaina becomes convinced the house is haunted as strange things start to happen, even as she runs into ex-lover Aditya (Emraan

Hashmi). Horror films are never about original concepts. Rather, best in the genre often score with individual scenes than pathbreaking storyline. Raaz Reboot has not one memorable moment and banks too much on genre clichés to leave an eerie impact. A very mediocre cast acting out cardboad cutout characters does not help either.

— Vinayak Chakravorty

Issue 685 (16)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

‘Not running away from image of a serial-kisser’ He has over the years carried the image of a ‘serial kisser’ and actor Emraan Hashmi says the audience does find it difficult to disassociate him with that tag.The actor, who shot to fame with his breakthrough role in Murder in 2004, is no mood to run away from the image.”I am not running away from that image (serial kisser). But may be audience is finding it difficult to disassociate myself from that. They can’t believe when we say it is a family film with my presence.

It definitely is a problem,” he told PTI.”Once you have that stamp of serial kisser, you can waiver a little bit, experiment with different characters, but there is something that people love you for,” he added.Emraan feels of all the characters he has played, the one with shades of grey have always stood out and made a place in audiences heart.”It is not just the kisses. It is the irreverential, immoral characters that I’ve played. The love-able negative characters which have grey shades, they are endearing.

So that’s what they associate with me.” The 37-year-old star is aware that kisses in his films are talked about and he can never shy away from that. Emraan, however, also feels people talk about it even if there aren’t any kissing scenes in his film. “I can never run away from that and now I choose not to. If it has to be there, it should be. I do it and get done with it. Because even if it is not there, there is a conversation about the kiss. So there is no running away from the kiss, I’ve realised that.”His latest movie Raaz Reboot released on Friday.

Have been a victim of eve-teasing, says Taapsee Actress Taapsee Pannu, who features in a pivotal role in Pink - a courtroom drama film on crime against women in cities -- says she has been a victim of eve-teasing and she was also questioned by her parents over her dressing style. "I belong to Delhi and I have been brought up here. Eveteasing and prank calls were a daily thing for me. When I used to go to a bus stop or take a DTC bus, or go to the market, I used to feel it as a part of my life. "I felt that these things will happen come what may," Taapsee said. She also shared how she has experienced being touched at the "wrong places" while in a crowded area or while travelling in a local bus. "That happened a lot," she said. Recounting a particular incident, the Baby actress said: "I am a Sikh. I was 14 or 15 years old.

Once outside a Gurudwara I was standing in a line during Guru Nanak Dev's birthday. I was with m y friend and I knew somebody would try to touch me - as I had suffered it earlier also. "So I kept my hand at my back. When somebody tried to touch me, I had that much guts to stop him through my hands, but I didn't have that much strength to move back and see who he was." Taapsee said she was still made to feel as though the "mistake" was hers.

"We were told that there are problems in your dressing styles. Even in my house, when my dad used to see me wearing a short, sleeveless or backless dress, he used to say, 'Why does she need to wear that dress? Why does she need to go outside after eight in the night?'

"So I always used to feel that I have done some mistake. I don't know what I did wrong, and till today, I am not able to understand that," she added.

I stand by all my films: Sidharth Malhotra idharth Malhotra’s latest film Baar Baar Dekho might have received mixed responses from the audience and critics, but the actor stands by his choice of projects. He says the Nitya Mehra directorial has made him a “better artiste and human being”. Sidharth, who plays a professor in Vedic Mathematics in the film, tweeted on Thursday night: “I stand by all my films! And the making of ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ has only made me a better artiste and human being. Thank you Nitya Mehra.” According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the film’s box office figure in India is “disappointing”. He has tweeted that the movie has earned Rs 29.40 crore. Baar Baar Dekho, the movie which released on September 9, earned Rs 27.98 crore till Wednesday in India. Baar Baar Dekho also stars Katrina Kaif, Rajit Kapoor, Ram Kapoor, Sayani Gupta, Taaha Shah and Sarika. After making his acting debut in Bollywood in 2012 with Student of the Year, Sidharth went on to feature in hit films like Kapoor & Sons and Ek Villain.

Kajol praises ‘baby’ sister for ‘Anna’ teaser Actress Kajol has wished her sister Tanishaa Mukerji good luck for Anna and also praised her for the upcoming film’s teaser, which has received over 150,000 views online within 24 hours.The teaser was released on Thursday.Kajol tweeted on Friday: “Best of luck baby Tanishaa Mukerji for your trailer of ‘Anna’. Looking good.”Kajol’s star husband Ajay Devgn also wished Tanishaa “best of luck”.Based on the life of Anna Hazare, the film’s teaser showcases glimpses of the social activist, essayed by actor Shashank Udapurkar. Tanishaa’s narration adds to the anticipation of the hard-hitting film, directed by Shashank.Slated to release on October 14, the film also stars Govind Namdeo, Sharat Saxena, Kishor Kadam, Daya Shankar Pandey and Prasanna Ketkar.

Issue 685 (18) New Delhi BOBBY, a transgender sex worker, was nervous when she got to know that she has been offered a chance to become the face of traffic discipline along with 20 others of her community.

“I am a sex worker. I was hesitant when I got to know that I will be closely working with Delhi traffic cops and learn traffic rules. Although I accepted the chance, I was a bit worried about how it would work out. To my surprise, this is going to change my life for good. I am quitting my profession as a sex worker and getting employed at a respectable place,” she told Mail Today. Like Bobby, there are 20 other transgenders who are going to get a chance to live with dignity as traffic monitors in an initiative by the Delhi Legal Service Authority and Delhi Traffic Police.

And the next time you violate a traffic rule in Lutyens’ Delhi, a transgender would be there to correct your mistake with a chocolate or a flower. Dressed in ethnic wears, the transgenders would counsel traffic violators at the traffic signal from October 9. While a similar initiative in Mumbai took

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Transgenders to discipline traffic violators in Delhi social media by storm, the DLSA and Delhi Traffic Police are hopeful that the initiative will gain popularity among commuters. “This unique initiative is an attempt to break ice and stereotypes people have about transgenders and at the same time sensitise them on traffic safety. The move will help the transgender community gain confidence and inspire them to live life with dignity,” said a senior DLSA official. A similar exercise was carried out in Mumbai, where transgenders draped in purple sarees enacted road safety manuals on traffic signals that became a rage on social media.

Rizwan, another transgender who had earlier participated in the act in Mumbai, said, “The same initiative cannot be replicated here as it attracted a lot of crowd and people even made fun of it. This is going to be a different exercise. We will individually approach commuters and point out rules

from the traffic manual that they would be found violating.”

“The two-day training with the traffic police has been very useful. We got to know so many things that commuters do not follow like wearing gloves and full length shirts to minimise chances of getting any injury in an accident. The first thing I did after the training was over was sensitise my sister who rides a two wheeler,” said a participant.

With this unique exercise, the participants believe that they have been given an opportunity t o c h a n ge the perception people have about them and will bring pride in their existence.

“People like us who have been begging on the signals have faced hatred, stigma and ignorance.

The hands that were used for begging will now direct the traffic signal.

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Issue 685 (18) New Delhi BOBBY, a transgender sex worker, was nervous when she got to know that she has been offered a chance to become the face of traffic discipline along with 20 others of her community.

“I am a sex worker. I was hesitant when I got to know that I will be closely working with Delhi traffic cops and learn traffic rules. Although I accepted the chance, I was a bit worried about how it would work out. To my surprise, this is going to change my life for good. I am quitting my profession as a sex worker and getting employed at a respectable place,” she told Mail Today. Like Bobby, there are 20 other transgenders who are going to get a chance to live with dignity as traffic monitors in an initiative by the Delhi Legal Service Authority and Delhi Traffic Police.

And the next time you violate a traffic rule in Lutyens’ Delhi, a transgender would be there to correct your mistake with a chocolate or a flower. Dressed in ethnic wears, the transgenders would counsel traffic violators at the traffic signal from October 9. While a similar initiative in Mumbai took

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Transgenders to discipline traffic violators in Delhi social media by storm, the DLSA and Delhi Traffic Police are hopeful that the initiative will gain popularity among commuters. “This unique initiative is an attempt to break ice and stereotypes people have about transgenders and at the same time sensitise them on traffic safety. The move will help the transgender community gain confidence and inspire them to live life with dignity,” said a senior DLSA official. A similar exercise was carried out in Mumbai, where transgenders draped in purple sarees enacted road safety manuals on traffic signals that became a rage on social media.

Rizwan, another transgender who had earlier participated in the act in Mumbai, said, “The same initiative cannot be replicated here as it attracted a lot of crowd and people even made fun of it. This is going to be a different exercise. We will individually approach commuters and point out rules

from the traffic manual that they would be found violating.”

“The two-day training with the traffic police has been very useful. We got to know so many things that commuters do not follow like wearing gloves and full length shirts to minimise chances of getting any injury in an accident. The first thing I did after the training was over was sensitise my sister who rides a two wheeler,” said a participant.

With this unique exercise, the participants believe that they have been given an opportunity t o c h a n ge the perception people have about them and will bring pride in their existence.

“People like us who have been begging on the signals have faced hatred, stigma and ignorance.

The hands that were used for begging will now direct the traffic signal.

On Student Visa?

Looking For A Job? Call: 647-708-2641

Issue 685 (19)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Kate vs Sophie: Royal style showdown London OFFICIALLY, it’s an opportunity for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to introduce their young children to a far-off corner of the Commonwealth that has always had a special bond with the Royal Family. But the seven-day royal trip to Canada, which begins next Saturday, will provide another encounter that is guaranteed to attract intense scrutiny the collision of two of the world’s hottest style icons. Kate will be under more pressure than ever to dazzle because shortly after her aircraft touches down in Victoria, British Columbia, she will find herself face to face with a formidable style rival in the form of Sophie Gregoire Trudeau wife of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Sophie, a former television presenter, is a more ebullient personality than the Duchess and a bit of a show-off she actually burst into song at one event last January. Such a character may not be afraid to try to outshine our own more conservative Duchess. Yet what is interesting about this pair is that while they are different in personality, they often seem to mimic each other’s fashions and style. They both like pastels and lace, for example, and favour hats worn at a jaunty angle. As for those nude shoes

and wedges that Kate persists in wearing despite universal condemnation from fashionistas, guess who wears them, too?

Yes, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau.

Sometimes Sophie seems to be copying Kate, sometimes it’s the other way round. For example, during the Duke and Duchess’s tour of India last April, the Duchess wore a very pretty white dress on one outing in New Delhi.

Two months later, 41-year-old Sophie the Duchess, at 34, has seven years advantage in youth

mimicry was never more in evidence than in the case of the lace dresses. In November last year, Sophie wore a pastel pink number during an official function with her husband in Malta, set off with a pink hat set at an angle.

In June this year, the Duchess wore a cream lace dress and matching hat in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. In this particular fashion head to head, it was Sophie who won. Sophie has been dubbed ‘Canada’s Kate Middleton’, but perhaps some

wore a similarly demure white number at a dinner in Quebec.

On other occasions, it seems that Kate has been the copycat.

In Tokyo this year, Sophie wore a pretty pastel pink dress for an official visit to Japan. Earlier this month, Kate wore a very similar dress when she and the Duke visited Cornwall. But this blatant

could argue that Kate is ‘Britain’s Sophie Gregoire Trudeau’. The two women and their husbands have even posed in weirdly similar happy family shots on the ski slopes, as well as formal portraits. In this country, we have the ‘Kate effect’, what happens when a dress she has worn, or a similar High Street

Accused in Infosys techie Swathi’s murder found dead, suicide suspected Chennai A man who was accused of hacking an Infosys employee to death at a railway station in July was found dead in his prison cell in a case of suspected suicide on Sunday.

Preliminary reports said Ramkumar, a 22-year-old engineer, bit a live wire jutting out of a switchboard in his cell block in Puzhal central prison. He was taken to a government hospital where he was declared brought

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dead, sources said.

Ramkumar, a resident of Thirunelveli district, was accused of murdering 24-yearold Swathi while she was waiting to board a train to work at the Nungambakkam railway station.

According to then Chennai police commissioner TK Rajendran, Ramkumar was “infatuated” with the victim and was angry at being rejected by her. He was arrested from his village in August after CCTV footage showed him near the crime scene following Swathi’s

murder. He had attempted to slit his throat at the time of arrest but was stopped by the police.

His parents, who had denied the charges against him, suspected foul play and called for a CBI probe into his death, a demand backed by VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan.

Police were yet to file a final chargesheet in the case, which triggered widespread outrage in social media over the police’s initial handling of the investigation and the poor security setup at the railway station.

version, flies off the shelves. In Canada, similarly, there is the ‘Sophie effect’. The two women have other similarities. They’re both from middle-class families Sophie is the only child of a stockbroker father and nurse mother and both are outdoorsy types who enjoy sailing, hockey and tennis. Both are mums

Kate to George, three, and 16month-old Charlotte. Sophie has Xavier, eight, Ella-Grace, seven, and Hadrien, two. Both mothers are involved in many charitable causes. The Duchess has reportedly spent weeks in consultations about her wardrobe with her stylist, Natasha Archer.

Issue 685 (20)

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Army says time for restraint is over; cross-border surgical strikes by special forces not ruled out Continued from page 1 multiple levels and not restricted to a tactical operation on or across the Line of Control (LoC).

The sources pointed out that the political atmosphere was charged and there was intense pressure on the government to act. Besides, there was the question of redeeming Indian Army�s pride after suffering one of the worst casualties in Jammu and Kashmir in more than two decades. “We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of own choosing,� said Director General Military Operations (DGMO) lieutenant general Ranbir Singh, after a series of meetings held at various levels starting from the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who remained busy throughout the day meeting with officials of various ministries and heads of the three defence services, later briefed President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, about the government�s strategy.

Aggression “The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in the hinterland,� said Lieutenant General Singh. He stressed that the army had the desired capability to respond to “such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us�. The sources referred to

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the incident when the Indian Army avenged the beheading of its soldiers in 2013 through a tactical operation but never publicised the same.

However, this time the situation was different, they said, and the response had to be in measure with the casualties inflicted by the enemy. The sources said all the military options have their own advantages and pitfalls.

Crossing the Line of Control (LoC) for surgical operation could lead to escalation, felt the officials, even though such an operation by the special forces was not ruled out.

The surgical strikes by Indian Air Force across the border would require precise identification of targets.

The officials said that acquisition of targets like terrorist training camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) continues to be a challenge. At the tactical level, the army can increase firing on the border targeting vulnerable Pakistan army posts. The army said that it had managed to foil 17 infiltration bids on the Line of Control this year and had killed four terrorists each in Punch on September 11 and Uri on September 18.

Meanwhile, the combing operation around the army camp in Uri was called off on Monday evening and the area was declared secured after the recovery of 39 under barrel grenade launchers, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets a mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings. The toll in Sundayâ&#x20AC;?s pre-dawn Uri strike by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists near the Line of Control has gone up to 18 with one of the injured soldier succumbing at an army hospital in New Delhi.

Massive protests were held in Jammu on Monday against the terrorist attack on the army base in Uri. College and university students, lawyers, political parties, traders and various other organisations took out separate protest rallies in solidarity with the army and against the Pakistan for aiding and abetting terrorism.

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party activists took out a rally from the Press Club and held protest demonstrations amid anti-Pakistan slogans.

They also burnt down the Pakistan flag and demanded the country should be declared as terrorist state. Indian army soldiers salute the coffins of colleagues at a wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar on Monday

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7+(5¡6 )22767(36 Bihar DOLEFUL wails of grief, confusion and anger echo across the dingy room that has been lit up by camera lights at Havildar Ashok Kumar Singhâ&#x20AC;?s home. Tears cover wrinkled face as a cacophony of sorrowful chants fill the air at Raktu Tola village in Biharâ&#x20AC;?s Bhojpur district. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Babbua,â&#x20AC;? sobs the mother for her fallen son. At a corner of the room, her widowed daughterin-law mourns inconsolably, her arm attached to an intravenous drip as all the energy has drained from her body.

But Havildar Singhâ&#x20AC;?s teenage son, Vishal Singh, controlled his sobs to pledge to follow his fatherâ&#x20AC;?s footsteps as he waited for his body to arrive. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I will join the army,â&#x20AC;? he said. As Vishal struggled to hold backs his tears, he expressed his frustration at the system. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;?t give them (terrorists) a befitting reply. We must,â&#x20AC;? the young boy lamented. Raktu Tola stands out as a village of soldiers in Biharâ&#x20AC;?s Bhojpur district. Out of its 100 houses, at least 25 have one or more family members serving in the

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Indian army. The loss the family has suffered has not deterred its male members from joining the forces. Havildar Singhâ&#x20AC;?s brother Kamta Singh died in action as part of the Bihar Regiment in 1986 in Rajasthan. The Uri martyrâ&#x20AC;?s elder son, Vikas Singh, and his two nephews are in the army. His mother, Sangeeta Singh, was resentful of New Delhiâ&#x20AC;?s handling of terror. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The government has failed. Had it stayed alert, this wouldnâ&#x20AC;?t have happened,â&#x20AC;? she said.

Srinagar A TEAM of the National Investigation Agency arrived in Srinagar on Monday to take over the investigation of the Uri terror attack, which is the biggest attack on the Army in past 27 years in terms of causalities. The attack left 17 army men dead and 19 others were wounded. An NIA spokesperson told media persons that the next course of action by them would begin after direction from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A combing operation at the Army base was conducted on Monday after reports that two more militants could be hiding in the vicinity, but the search was later called off. The army found 39 under barrel grenade launchers, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets a mobile phone in the search operation. The NIA team is expected to start its probe once the army base has been 'sanitised' and the Army gives its go ahead, sources said.

According to the preliminary investigations by the Army, the four militants belonged to the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaishe-Mohammad. The militants had managed to slip in from the rear of the army base at dawn and strike with incendiary ammunition. All the four militants were killed after a three-hour gun battle. The intelligence agency will find out the lapses that

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allowed the terrorists to breach the army base and slip past the security at both the LOC and the base compound wall. There were also clear intelligence inputs that militants were planning a strike to take advantage of the unrest in Kashmir for the last two months.

On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the headquarters of the Chinar Corps at Badamibagh and laid wreaths on the coffins of the soldiers killed in Sunday's Uri attack.

General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Chinar Corps, Lt General Satish Dua, and Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar were among senior officers present at the somber ceremony to pay their respects. The CM later visited the 92 Base Hospital of the Army to enquire about the welfare of the soldiers injured in the deadly attack. In a show of solidarity, officials from the State govt, administration and other security agencies also joined in paying their last respects to the martyrs.

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Issue 685 (22)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Woman allegedly raped and pushed out of train, loses leg

B’deshi f lesh trade victims in legal trap

Kolkata WITH tears rolling down her eyes, Bangladeshi Tamanna Khan said, “It was my mother who sold me to a trafficker in India, when I turned 18”. She was rescued three years ago,

by Akash who came in as a customer but was pained to see Tamana, who was howling for help. She escaped to her parental home in Dhaka, followed by her mother trying to sell her again. Tamana ran back to Akash, both fell in love and got married. But the mother, who had to return the money to trafficker as a result of her daughters escape, slapped kidnapping case on Akash. As the legal case drags on, Tamanna, 21, who wants to stay with her husband is caught in the web of law.

Seema, 20, another Bangladeshi girl was trafficked by her uncle, who promised her a job in a bar. Instead, she was sold for Rs 2.5 lakh. Raped by over a 100 men in five years she was held captive, she was moved from one brothel to the other. She one day found herself at the Indo-Bangla border, with BSF guarding it.

Seema says her mother does not know that she was victim

Culprits get away with mild punishment, trafficked persons are victimised twice

of a thriving flesh trade. She wants to go back to her family in Bangladesh but is stuck, awaiting a long legal process.

Neela and Sheila both teenagers, also rescued by NGO, have waited for four years already, to head to Dhaka. In 2015 the NGO filed a petition in High Court to fast track their case. In Narendrapur, on outskirts of Kolkata, out of 150 girls in Sanlaap, a shelter home run by NGO, 23 are from Bangladesh. Each of their stories resonates in their faces, is a sense of betrayal of a childhood, their youth and an unsure and perhaps an

unsettling future. But there is another connection. Most of them have been in these shelter homes from several years, fighting legal battles their own way. West Bengal is the hub of internal and cross-border human trafficking in India. It shares approximately 2,220km of land border and 259km of riverine border with Bangladesh, most of which is unfenced, making cross-border trafficking in persons, drugs, and fake currency seamless. The districts vulnerable to cross-border human trafficking include North and South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Nadia, Malda, Cooch Behar. The May-2012 MHA advisory on preventing and combating human trafficking in India dealing with foreign nationals says, “It is seen that in general, the foreign victims of human trafficking are found without valid passport or visa. If, after investigation, the woman or child is found to be a victim, she should not be prosecuted under the Foreigners Act. If the

investigation reveals that she did not come to India or did not indulge in crime out of her own free will, the State Government / UT Administration may not file a charge sheet against the victim. If the chargesheet has already been filed under the Foreigners Act and other relevant laws of the land, steps may be taken to withdraw the case from prosecution so far as the victim is concerned.”

Advisories are often forgotten and sadly the chapter of ordeal does not end with rescue of these women.

These shelter homes often act as a solace, as often they wait for legal battles to conclude. They are unsure if they will be set free ever, even though they yearn for that.

They do not know what awaits them, except for a flicker of hope. With better working relations between Border Guard Bangladesh and better coordination between the governments and NGOs on either side of the border, there seems to be some hope.

Blasts in New York, New Jersey, mall stabbings shake US Washington A powerful explosion injured 29 people on Saturday evening in a crowded part of Manhattan, New York, and an unexploded device made using a pressure cooker similar to the one used by the Boston bombers in 2013 was discovered from the same area.

Authorities called the explosion “an intentional act” but based on preliminary investigations ruled out any links to terrorism. They also

would not say if they suspected the two explosives were planted by the same person or people. There were two other incidents that raised the prospects of terrorism the same day: A pipe bomb explosion in New Jersey and a stabbing spree in Minnesota claimed by the Islamic State. Nobody was injured in the New Jersey blast, which was defined as “clearly an act of terrorism” by the state’s governor Chris Christie.

Mau (UP) A 35-year- old woman was allegedly raped in a moving train and pushed out of it in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. The woman lost her right leg after the incident.

Though the rape was yet to be confirmed, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official said the woman fell from the running train and lost her right leg in the mishap.

“We are looking into the matter and the guilty will not be spared,” GRP official Sudhir Singh said on Sunday.

The villagers found the woman screaming in pain near Khazakhurd railway station on Sunday morning.

She was lying without clothes, indicating that she might have been raped before being tossed out of the compartment, they said.

The woman alleged that she was going to her home in Shahganj area in adjoining Jaunpur district

by Tamsa passenger train Saturday night when two men outraged her modesty and threw her out of the moving train.

The villagers brought her to Khurhat railway station for treatment at the district hospital, but since her condition was serious she was referred to Varanasi.

Earlier this month, a college girl received serious head injuries after being pushed out of a moving train by a man attempting to snatch her purse in Bareilly.

The incident occurred near Abhaypura railway station on the Lucknow-Lalkuan section when the girl was going to college with her sister.

Another woman passenger was robbed and thrown off a Lucknow-bound express train by unidentified persons near Chitbaragaon railway station on Chappra-Varanasi section in Ballia district last month.

As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, there has been a 52 per cent rise in registered crimes on railways from 25,737 in 2011 to 39,239 in 2015.

State-wise, the highest number of crimes in railways has been registered in Maharashtra followed by Uttar Pradesh.

Prevention of crime, registration of cases and maintenance of law and order over station premises and trains is the statutory responsibility of states, which is being discharged by them through Government Railway Police (GRP). On an average, 2,000 trains are escorted by RPF personnel daily.

Issue 685 (23)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Eight months after Vemula, AAP MLA Amanatullah another student found hanging Khan surrenders, police refuse to arrest in University of Hyderabad

Hyderabad A first-year student of Fine Arts in University of Hyderabad was found hanging in his hostel room early Saturday morning. Nelli Praveen Kumar, 25, came from Shadnagar, in Mahbubnagar district on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He had joined the university in August.

While no suicide note was found, police have recovered two notebooks from his room and some jotting in them indicate Praveen could have been suffering from being “lonely”. In one of the notebooks, he had purportedly written on September 9: “Why am I unable to cope with things like others do? Why am I so scared of everything? Why am I unable to mingle with anyone?…”

UoH, also called Hyderabad Central University, was in news earlier in the year after Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula was found dead. Vemula, who was protesting his and four other Dalit students’ suspension from the varsity, was also found hanging from the ceiling fan in a hostel room. According to Inspector N Ramesh of Gachi Bowli Police Station, Praveen’s roommate said the deceased was alone in their room (204 in L Block of UoH campus) Friday night. “The roommate returned around 4.30 am (Saturday), and found the door locked from inside. When Praveen did not open even after minutes of knocking on the door, he and a few other hostel inmates broke open the door and found him hanging,” the

Complaint filed against AAP MLA Sarita Singh for taking bribe NewDelhi A compliant has been filed against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sarita Singh on charges of taking bribe in exchange for providing a job.

The complain has been filed at the Welcome Police Station here by Shakeel, who has alleged that the MLA took nine lakh rupees from him for getting him a job.

Meanwhile, MLA Sarita Singh has also filed a cross complaint in M.S. Park police station asserting that she has been slapped with false charges.

However, an FIR has not yet been lodged yet as the Delhi police is probing the matter. In November last year, Sarita was booked for allegedly misbehaving with a police official on duty in northeast Delhi’s Rohtash Nagar area. According to the police, her driver allegedly hit the police official’s motorbike while reversing his car. An argument broke out between the driver and the officer during which the MLA intervened and allegedly hurled abusive words on the ASI.

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inspector said.

“He did not leave any suicide note. The reason (for his death) is not known yet — he was new at UoH; no one really knew him that well,” Inspector Ramesh added. Dr Gangadhar, the doctor on duty when two hostel inmates brought Praveen to the health centre on a motorcycle, said: “…No pulse or BP could be recorded when he was brought to the health centre. As per protocol, we moved him into the ambulance and gave CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or a lifesaving ‘heart message’) four or five times, put an oxygen mask and rushed him to the nearest hospital.’’

Praveen hailed from a middleclass family, and his father, N Narasimhulu, is a BSNL employee. His younger brother N Naveen said he had spoken to Praveen Thursday evening and had received no indication that he was depressed.

“He was normal. He did not tell me anything about what was in his mind,’’ he said. In a statement, the UoH said after he was declared dead at Citizen Hospital, the body was moved to Osmania General Hospital.

“The police are investigating the matter,” the university said.

New Delhi AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who is facing allegation of sexual harassment, on Sunday went to the Jamia Nagar Police station to get himself arrested but police refused to apprehend him. “We will not arrest him now. Whatever he is doing is of his own accord. We will go by our investigation,” a senior police officer said.

The Okhla MLA had on Saturday said police are “under pressure” to arrest him and on Sunday he said they didn’t arrest him due to “public pressure”. However, senior police officials rubbished the charges.

Khan had reached the Jamia Nagar Police Station with scores of his supporters around 1:30 PM and asked the policemen to arrest him. “It is the victory of common people.

The police didn’t arrest me because of public pressure,” he said. The AAP MLA had on Saturday alleged the police want to arrest him in a false case. “I requested them to not do so since I am personally involved in the ongoing fogging work in my area but they said they are under pressure. I will be courting arrest at Jamia

Nagar police station,” he had said on Saturday.

A case of sexual harassment was registered against Khan last week in south-east Delhi’s Jamia Nagar Police station on a complaint by his sister-in-law.

A case under IPC sections 354(A)(sexual harassment), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) was registered against Amanatullah and the woman’s husband.

Canada agrees to discuss extradition of Bangabandhu’s killer

Ottawa/Dhaka After years of refusal, Canada has agreed to hold talks with Bangladesh on the extradition of the country’s most wanted fugitive — Noor Chowdhury, accused of firing the bullet that killed Bangladesh’s founder ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

This was decided during a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at Hyatt Regency Montreal in Canada on Friday, the Daily Star reported on Saturday.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Huq told the media that the two leaders would discuss a way out to extradite Toronto resident Noor, who is in his 70s.

“The aim of the discussion would be to bring Noor Chowdhury to justice and execute the verdict of the Bangabandhu killing case,” he said.

In 2011, the then Canadian envoy to Dhaka had sparked a controversy when he said that Canada can’t extradite Noor as he could face the death penalty in his home country.

Noor, a former Bangladeshi military officer, was convicted in absentia in the August 1975 killing of Bangladesh’s first president, Sheik Mujibur Rahman.

Both leaders also discussed other issues like boosting trade and investment and export of garment products.

The Bangladesh government has long been engaged with the US and Canada to bring back several killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Twelve persons were found guilty of his murder and five among them were hanged until death. While another one, Aziz Pasha, had a natural death in Zimbabwe.

Five killers - Khandkar Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Moslehuddin Khan, Abdul Mazed and M Rashed Chowdhury have been absconding.

Of them, Noor Chowdhury who is in Canada, was denied political asylum there but Ottawa refused to send him back due to complexity over the death penalty.

It is believe by the Bangladesh

government that another accused, Moslehuddin Khan, has been hiding in the US. Hasina invited Trudeau to visit Bangladesh and the Canadian premier accepted the invitation, Huq said.

Trudeau also recalled his visit to Bangladesh along with his father Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the then Canadian Prime Minister, at the age of 12.

Trudeau told Hasina that he would visit Bangladesh soon as he has some hazy memories about his visit to Bangladesh that took place in 1983.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

This week you have the courage to express true feelings and emotions in a romantic involvement. You appreciate honest communication and begin to get closer to loved ones. You seem to control the life force and make a breakthrough in difficult situations and relationships.

You make a lasting impact on people and situations at home and at work. Your creative expression in any field is appreciated. Meditative spaces within you are elevating. Your health improves as you focus on healing of the body, mind, heart and soul. You need to be firm about business arrangements or you can be the loser.

You integrate forces and resources to strengthen your financial and professional position. Your actions are based on accurate calculation and your success is the result of good management. You do not tire of making artful maneuvers to win the favor of the one you love. A trip is on the cards! People who want to socialize and party with you surround you. Life can get hectic so you may want to meditate and escape in solitude for a while to rejuvenate your energy. Avoid over indulgence in food or drink on social occasions. You could get moody or maudlin - be aware.

You enjoy some success in a business venture, but beware of giving up at the brink of winning due to lack of energy and trust. Rather than make unstable efforts to achieve professional success in the future get focused on current projects. Stay firm with decisions and not keep vacillating about projects and associations. A dubious person in the family may take advantage of your good nature. It's time to take a look and see if you or your partner are being political or double-faced in any area of life.

Playing this game is of no gain to you or to anyone else.

You are sensitive in personal relationships and creative in professional ventures this week. Beware of swinging to extremes in any aspect, as they are your weak points. Justice and fair play are important issues and you can stick your neck out for them. You seek beauty, art and culture in all aspects be it business, work culture, ambiance at home or relationships. You can expect harmony at home and synergy at work. There is likely to be much socializing to keep you busy. Don't allow blocks to come in your way but go around them to achieve targets. Health should not be neglected.

Will Smith Health problems for yourself or the family should not be neglected as healing is available. You are laborious and clever with money matters, practical details and material aspects. Building, farming or working with earthy structures can be therapeutic and gainful. This is a time of spiritual growth and understanding as you slow down and look within to find a space of silence and acceptance of yourself as you are. Yoga, meditation and healthy diets can work wonders for you. Personal relationships are steady and supportive. Children need your support and guidance at this point. An older man is generous and supportive.

A variety of activities help you actualize your potential at work this week. A trip is on the cards! You can expect support from old and new connections. Despite changes you feel secure in work and relationships. You may be selected for or invited to an international convention or meeting. Your social life is busy.

News, visitors and communications arrive when you least expect them. You may work with professional groups in a prestigious venture.

Persistence and patience pays and there is an end to opposition in personal matters or romantic relationships.

It's best to be prudent and careful in all aspects of life and work this week.

It's not a good idea to disclose business plans and changes that you are wanting to make in the future as others try to discourage you or steal your ideas. A slow and steady approach allows you to fulfill ambitions and achieve professional goals.

Some secretive designs against you are unearthed and you are able to encounter your adversaries. It's best to underplay your hand and keep a low profile this week. A natural, easy and simple approach brings better results than a clever and brilliant one.

There is harmony of change and alternation of energies this week as you swing from one level of consciousness to the other, handling different situations in quick succession. Varying occupation can be pleasant as you recharge your energies through it. You go through a gamut of experience and changes in emotional relationships. It is best to remain centered through it all by witnessing rather than participating in arguments. A bit of Yoga or meditation brings positive attitudes, changes and appreciation this week. Schedules and patterns are likely to be reassessed and revised this week.

You are likely to be busy with professional meetings and financial transactions. You build up your reputation and add to your reserves as new opportunities flow in. There is an appreciable increase of income and material aspects. New business projects start on an auspicious note and you get nearer to realizing an ambition. Beware of a selfish person seeking impossible goals. When a triangular personal relationship develops it is best to keep your priorities in mind. Earthy matters and health problems can be resolved easily. It's important to express affection towards partner to gain love.

Things happen very quickly at work and at home this week!

It's important to keep your wits about you as you may need to make snap decisions and take up professional opportunities and challenges! Love, romance and excitement in your life can be expected! You fall in love with a new person or idea, which changes your priorities and perspective for a while. Visitors and communications from overseas are cheering.

Surprises related with family and friends are on the cards! This is a time of change and movement on many levels and it promises to bring adventure and growth in your life.

You tend to go over the top this week by over reacting emotionally and over indulging in food, drink or work. There may be occasion for you to lose your cool or balance but that's not helpful so avoid extremes of any kind. Priorities need to be listed, as you tend to be over careful in small things at the cost of more important matters. Feelings and emotions are reflected and projected in personal relationships so remain clear and loving with a positive attitude. Avoid clutter in the home or office by not acquiring unnecessary objects and luxuries.

Ignore gossip.

You rejuvenate your energy and move into new professional or business ventures and partnerships. You are at your creative best and have the opportunity to be original and the courage to be different in personal and professional aspects.

You may travel or be involved in an international project that brings out your talent and potential.

Visitors and news from far off lands may surprise you. You play a nurturing and preserving role in the family and much depends on you. Personal relationships are deep and meaningful. A daughter or a young woman close to you is ready to take independent decisions about her future.

Issue 685 (25)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Technology India’s online population to touch Twitter rolls out new features for businesses 500 million by 2020: Google Bhopal With the advent of affordable smartphones and growing reach of internet across the country, India’s online population will reach 500 million by 2020, Google’s Asia Pacific Language Head, Richa Singh Chitranshi said.

“India’s online population will reach 500 million by 2020 with majority of them being local language users,” Chitranshi said while addressing IT students at Rajiv Gandhi Proayogiki (Technology) Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) here. The event was jointly organised by RGPV and MPPOST, an online portal, yesterday.

Speaking about the future and present of the internet Chitranshi said it was mainly due to availability of affordable smartphones

and data packs that have enabled millions in Indians to go online.

She also informed that today over 65 per cent of India surf the internet through their phones with majority of the new users accessing it for the first time through phones.

“Interestingly, not all of them are English speaking users,” Richa said.

She said out of the 350 million, 150 million internet users are only comfortable with local language and

This is how you can check someone’s hidden friend list on Facebook

New Delhi Inquisitiveness is a human trait. This gets reflected on Facebook usage too. You can check the friend list of your Facebook friend and know how many friends that person has.

But if your friend has hidden the list, you will not be able to check it.

But if you still have the urge to see the hidden friends list on the Facebook profile of your friend, here’s how you can do it.

Just follow these tricks: - Install Google Chrome browser on your computer.

- Now install Facebook Friends Mapper extension on your Chrome browser.

- Login to your Facebook account on chrome browser.

- Now go to the profile of your friends and open his/ her friend list.

- You will find a new link called Reveal Friends.

- Click on that link.

- It start scanning the hidden friend options and will take a while to complete the process.

- Once the scanning is complete, you can easily view your friend’s hidden friend list.

those users will form the majority of the online population in India.

Stating that the reach of internet is growing rapidly in the country, she said that net users will go up from the current 43 per cent to 62 per cent by 2020.

Chitranshi further pointed out that Google have seen 10 fold growth in local language queries over the past 1.5 years. Hindi content consumption is growing five times the rate

at which English content is consumed.

She also said that content, speed and products are the priority for the company.

The Google Indic keyboard on Android has been downloaded 10 million times. There are 22 official languages in India and Google supports 11 of them including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and seven others. This would help writers in a big way, she added.

The initiatives taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the field of Digital India were also highlighted by MPPOST Founder Editor Sarman Nagele and Madhya Pradesh Rojgar aur Nirman Editor Pushpendra Pal Singh during the event.

New York Micro-blogging website Twitter has rolled out a series of new features to help users connect with businesses offering customer support through accounts on this platform.

With the new features, these businesses can clearly display on their profile if their account offers customer services and also information regarding the times those accounts are active.

“The business can now indicate if it offers service via a new Customer Support settings page on the Twitter Dashboard

website. Once enabled, the business`s Twitter profile will read that it `Provides Support`,” Tech Crunch reported, “This option will also turn on the account`s ability to receive Direct Messages from anyone meaning the business will no longer need to request customers to follow them back so they can send a private message,” the report added.

When customers visit these customer service accounts, they will also see a new button to start a Direct Message with the business in question.

80 million people use Groups every month in India: Facebook New Delhi India has about 80 million users of Facebook ’Groups’, that people are using to collaborate, support or rally around a common interest.

India, which is home to the second largest userbase for social networking giant Facebook, had 155 million monthly active users as of June 2016.

“With Groups, we make it easy for you to build a space for important groups of people in your life ? your family, your soccer team, your book club and bring like-minded people together to learn, support or rally around a common bond or interest,” Facebook Groups Products Manager Adit Vaidya told reporters here.

He added that more than one billion people use Facebook Groups every month.

Vaidya said ‘Groups’ is being used in interesting and meaningful ways.

He cited examples of Iceland’s “G??a Systir” (meaning Good Sister) that has about 50,000 members and focusses on positivity among women.

In India, there are Groups like

Mumbai Moms (69,000 plus mothers), Teachers Help Teachers (4,500 members) and Kai Thari (offers articles/ discussions on handloom weaves from different regions of India and other countries like Indonesia, China, South America are discussed).

“In India, over 80 million people use Groups each month to stay in touch with family, collaborate on projects, plan trips and offer support to friends. We work to keep Groups the best way for people to communicate, collaborate, and plan,” he said.

Vaidya said the company has rolled out a Group discover

feature in India with recommendations based on their friends, location and interests.

“India is the third market, after the US and the UK, where we are launching this feature,” he said, adding subjects like, parenting, schools and education, food and sports were the most popular for groups.

Highlighting the need for a safe engagement platform, Vaidya said Facebook ensures that control tools are available for group administrators and moderators.

He added that Facebook also removes content that does not adhere to its usage guidelines.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Baloch separatist leader Bugti says will seek asylum in India New Delhi Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday said he will seek asylum in India.

Bugti, president of the outlawed Baloch Republican Party and the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, has been living in selfimposed exile in Switzerland since his grandfather was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army a decade ago.

His decision to apply for asylum in India comes days after media reports showed the Pakistani government had sped up the process of obtaining Interpol’s red warrants against the Baloch separatist leader.

“My understanding is that the move by Pakistan comes in response to the references on Balochistan made by the Indian Prime Minister,” analyst Akbar Zaidi said.

In a first for an Indian Prime Minister, Narendra

Modi had hit out at Pakistan in his Independence Day address from the ramparts

of Red Fort, raking up alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistanoccupied Kashmir.

“I want to tell all that I got tremendous response from people belonging to Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The way they have complimented me (for the stand in an allparty meeting), I am grateful to them,” the PM said.

The mention was in line

with the government’s decision to hit back at Pakistan for allegedly stoking unrest in the

Kashmir Valley. Modi said the time had come to expose the plight of people and the atrocities committed by Pakistan.

Bugti had lauded Modi’s reference to Balochistan as the “most powerful statement ” in the last seven decades.

“It is for the first time that an Indian Prime Minister has spoken. We believe that India should have taken this step a long time ago,” he said, adding that he is convinced about

Balochistan’s freedom. “I am thoroughly indebted to Prime Minister Modi ... for raising the voice of Baloch people in his Independence Day address.”

Bugti has claimed widespread human rights violations by Pakistan against the Baloch. He said use of aerial bombardment and deadly gases have become routine, and Balochistan has become the world capital of missing people.

“We are political people.

We want to solve this with peaceful means. But there is no way we are going to be part of the Pakistan any more. We want freedom of Pakistan,” he said.

Bugti reportedly plans to travel around the world on Indian papers and campaign against Pakistan. The Baloch Republican Party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals at international criminal courts.

Vidya Balan contracts dengue, will be off work for a month

Mumbai Actor Vidya Balan, who recently returned from a film shoot in the United States, has contracted dengue and has been advised complete bedrest by her doctors, according to a source close to her. The source confirmed that Balan will take a break from shooting Kahaani 2, her upcoming film that also stars Arjun Rampal, for at least a month. However, she will not be hospitalised just yet.

Officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted a thorough inspection of Balan’s seafacing residence,

Praneta Apartments at Juhu, to find potential mosquito breeding spots.

Though none were found in her home, two were found on an upper floor and one on the ground floor, in a flat that belongs to a top Bollywood actor who recently moved in there.

BMC insecticide officer Rajan Naringrekar said, “On the upper floor, one breeding ground was found in a plastic flowerpot and another under a tarpaulin cover, put up for the monsoon, on an attached terrace.

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20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Complete fiction: Indian-American New York man sentenced to 235 CEO’s daughter denies help’s claims years in prison for child porn Washington The daughter of an IndianAmerican head of an IT consulting firm, accused of underpaying her live-in domestic help from India and mistreating her, has said the allegations against her mother were false and baseless.

“There is not a morsel or even a

nugget of truth to Sheela’s claims. Her story is complete fiction,” Sabina Bhatia said in a statement.

Himanshu Bhatia, the founder of Rose International, which earned $357 million in 2011, has been charged by the United States labour department of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. Bhatia was also accused of subjecting the help, Sheela Ningwal, to “callous abuse” and punishing her for pursuing her rights, according to a complaint filed in a federal court in California on August 22. According to court documents, summons were ordered to be issued to Bhatia

the day after the complaint.

Sabina said her mother was “shocked, saddened and betrayed” by the allegations.

“My mom and dad all of us, in fact treated Sheela like family.

She ate with us and socialised with us... My mom even cared and cooked for her when she was sick,” Sabina said.

“The truth is exactly the opposite of what Sheela claims. She is not a victim,” she added. “It is unfortunate that successful business leaders can so easily become the target of such baseless and false allegations.”

Bhatia, who was born in Delhi and went to the School of Planning and Architecture, was named among the 25 top women business leaders in the US by Fast Company web magazine in 2012.

She and her family live in San Juan Capistrano, California, and own “mansions, luxury penthouse condominiums in Las Vegas, Long Beach and Miami”,

Two police officers shot in Texas while answering suicide call

Fort Worth, Texas Police say a suspect is dead after shooting and wounding two officers who responded to a reported suicide at a Fort Worth, Texas, house.

The shooting happened about 8:30 pm on Friday. Fort Worth

Impotence?

416-992-5489

police say responding officers initially found a man unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head.

The officers were later told a witness was in a backyard shed and were shot after opening the shed door. Police returned fire, a standoff ensued and police later confirmed the unidentified suspect was dead.

Police identified the injured officers as probationary officer Ray Azucena and field training officer Xavier Serrano.Authorities say Azucena underwent surgery after being shot in the upper torso and extremities, and is expected to recover. Police say Serrano was saved from serious injury by body armour.

according to the labour department’s complaint.

Ningwal worked primarily at the family home but also at their other establishments. She was paid a fixed monthly salary of $400, with food and accommodation, regardless of the number of hours of work. The department of labour said this was “grossly below the statutorily mandated minimum wage”.

According to the complaint, Bhatia forced Ningwal to sleep in the garage on a piece of carpet alongside the family’s dogs who slept on a mattress, because she did not want her or her family exposed to Ningwal’s illness.

It also said that the family would “neglect to leave food” for Ningwal, who was dependent on them, when travelling.

Her passport was taken from her and given to her only at the time of travel. Ningwal was fired twice in 2014 once because she was researching “labor laws” online.

The complaint sought the payment of unpaid wages and damages.

This is not the first time an Indian or an Indian-origin American is in trouble over abuse of a domestic help.

In 2013, an Indian Foreign Service officer was arrested in New York for paying the help much lower wages than the amount shown in visa application papers, throwing India-US relations into a major crisis.

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK A New York man has been sentenced to 235 years in prison for sexually exploiting two children to make child pornography.

Forty-year-old Jason Kopp, of Liverpool, was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court in Syracuse, where he pleaded guilty in May to taking sexually explicit photos of two children.

Prosecutors say they launched an investigation in March when a child exploitation task force member began texting with Kopp. Authorities say Kopp told the undercover officer he had

pictures of an infant girl sent to him by a female acquaintance.

The acquaintance, Emily Oberst, was an aide at a Syracuse elementary school. She’s scheduled to go on trial in November.

Hijab clad Muslim women assaulted in New York NEW YORK Authorities say aNew York City woman attacked two Muslim women who were pushing their young children in strollers and tried to rip off one woman’s hijab.Court documents say Emirjeta Xhelili approached the women near her Brooklyn home Thursday afternoon, punching one of them in the head as she screamed obscenities and told her to leave America.

Authorities say Xhelili pushed the woman’s stroller toward the ground and later tried to grab the second woman’s stroller away from her.

Xhelili faces charges including

assault, menacing and endangering the welfare of a

child. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has described the incident as a hate crime.Xhelili is being held on USD 50,000 bond or USD 25,000 cash bail. Her lawyer tells the New York Daily News Xhelili has no previous arrests.

Indian-American CEO charged with $30 million fraud in US Washington A 44-year-old Indian-American former CEO has been charged with two separate fraud schemes totalling more than $30 million and faces a maximum statutory sentence of twenty years in prison for each count.

Navin Shankar Subramaniam Xavier, who has been charged by indictment with 15 counts of wire fraud. He was CEO of Essex Holdings Inc.According to the Indictment, from September 2010 through May 2014, Xavier operated Essex Holdings, raised more than $29 million from nearly 100 investors for supposed investments in sugar transportation and shipping, as well as iron ore mining in Chile.

Xavier used a false financial statement, forged documents, and false promises of fixed rates of return, to induce investors to invest with Essex Holdings, federal prosecutors alleged.

“Most of the money was used for purposes other than what was promised, including to support lavish spending by Xavier and his wife for expensive jewellery, luxury vehicles, wedding expenses, and cosmetic

surgery,” the justice department said.Eventually, Xavier used new investor money to pay old investors in a Ponzi-like fashion before the scheme collapsed, it added.The second scheme involved Xavier using Essex Holdings to obtain $1.2 million in payments and approximately $1.5 million worth of commercial

According to the indictment, Xavier provided false financial documentation to SCCCED in order to obtain the contract, and later provided fake contractor invoices and fake bank statements in order to get paid under the contract.

As with the investment fraud scheme, Xavier spent the

real estate from the South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development (SCCCED), a division of the South Carolina state government, that was supposed to be used to develop a dilapidated industrial property into a diaper plant and rice packaging facility.

development money for his personal living expenses, and wired some of it to the same overseas accounts used in the investment fraud, federal prosecutors said.

He faces a maximum statutory sentence of twenty years in prison for each count and a fine up to $250,000.

Issue - 685 (28)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Boots, Berlin Wall and beans New York cuts off free internet at Wi-Fi kiosks because people buy a piece of Reagan were using it for porn

NEW YORK From cowboy boots to a chunk of the Berlin Wall and a jar of jelly beans: an auction of Ronald Reagan memorabilia offers a tantalizing glimpse into the private world of a US conservative icon.

Hundreds of items from the 40th

president’s White House residence and the Bel Air home he shared with wife Nancy until his death in 2004 go on sale in New York next week and are expected to fetch $2 million. From upholstered furnishings to mementos of his Hollywood career and a monogrammed dinner service, the more than 700 lots include gifts from notables such as Frank Sinatra and Margaret Thatcher. Interest in the sale is likely to be high just six weeks before Americans go to the polls to elect either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican rival Donald Trump in a deeply divisive race that has left many Republicans more nostalgic than ever for the late president. Critics today may root much of today’s income inequality in Reaganomics, but for many on the right it was an era when

American power seemed unchallenged, before the uncertainties of the post 9/11 era and the 2008 recession.

The collection goes on display at Christie’s showroom in New York on Saturday. An online auction begins Monday, followed by a live

auction Wednesday and Thursday.Gemma Sudlow, head of private and iconic collections at the auction house in New York, said the collection was a biography of sorts of Reagan and his wife, who died earlier this year at 94.“It was an incredibly warm home,” Sudlow told AFP. “One really got the sense that it was filled with furniture that they had had for almost their entire married life. There was a modesty to it, there was a simple elegance to it.”A marine chronometer, from Frank Sinatra and his wife, is engraved with “Good Morning Mr President” and dedicated “Love Francis and Barbara.” It is expected to fetch $5,000-10,000 on the auction block.

Fans of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman prime minister, may want to bid for “his ‘n’ her” silver beakers - engraved

Functional gold toilet named ‘America’ to open to public at New York museum

New York A functional toilet made of solid gold called ‘America’ may soon open to public at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, reports said.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan replaced a ‘Kohler’ toilet in one of the restrooms in the museum with a 18-karat-gold working replica.According to the museum the artwork has made “ available to the public an extravagant luxury product seemingly intended for the 1 percent”.“Its participatory nature,

in which viewers are invited to make use of the fixture individually and privately, allows for an experience of unprecedented intimacy with a work of art,” read the museum’s description.“There’s the risk that people will think of it as a joke, maybe, but I don’t see it as a joke,” Cattelan told The New York Times in an interview earlier this year.According to the article, the toilet’s name was inspired by Franz Kafka’s novel Amerika.

The restroom will be available for all museum visitors.

R and N - and each inscribed “With love, from Margaret and Denis Thatcher.”Patriots and historians may hanker after a piece of the Berlin Wall, which Berliners tore down after he left the presidency and following his famous 1987 exhortation to Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

Weighing nearly 20 pounds (nine kilos), the chunk is signed by Reagan and valued at $10,000 to $20,000.It was bought back to the United States by a member of the White House staff and presented as a gift to the former president, Sudlow said.Another star lot is a pair of cowboy boots made of ostrich, cowhide and frog skin, hand-tooled in 14 carat gold, decorated with the presidential seal and valued at $10,000 to $20,000.They were one of four pairs presented to Reagan in 1980 by actor and “singing cowboy” Rex Allen. Custom-made, Reagan never wore them, leaving the boots in impeccable condition.Those short on furniture could splash out $3,000 to $5,000 on floral armchairs - or perhaps bid for one or two dining tables that the Reagans used when not indulging their fondness for eating on TV dinner trays.

New Yorkers will no longer be able to enjoy Internet access at the city’s famed free Wi-Fi kiosks, because when they had the chance, most used them misused it.Why did New York shut down internet access at the free Wi-Fi kiosks?

When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio installed free Wi-Fi kiosks across the city seven months ago, his target recipients were lost and distressed commuters. At these tiny booths, one could search maps, check the news, and even charge their phones.

But then, of course, what

happens when you give people free stuff, especially if that’s something everybody wants more and more? Something like unlimited Internet access?

Exactly. They lose their minds and misuse.That’s what New Yorkers did. Soon, these free WiFi kiosks, which were suppose to have only fleeting users, became refuge centres for the homeless, drug users, and of course, bold pornography watchers.Every now and then, people would be caught settling down on the sidewalk, playing loud music, watching full-length movies and porn at the kiosks.

group of those opting for the surgeries is falling. “Twenty to forty-year-olds demand entry level or skin enhancement,

Lou Jun from a venture capital firm.

But there are problems in the industry. “The main problems

while those who are in their 40s choose more anti-ageing treatment,” it said.

Wang Qianqian, the mother of a three-year-old, spent 50,000 Yuan (about Rs 5 lakh) to tighten the skin on her face and remove spots on her cheeks.

“It is the most valuable investment I’ve ever made,” Wang, a senior executive of an internet and culture company in Beijing, told China Daily. “I am more confident since my face skin looks tighter and brighter.”

The internet too is fuelling the growth of the industry.

“Internet platforms have emerged as a new way for cosmetic surgery institutes to attract customers as traditional advertisers are costing them too much,” said

facing China’s cosmetic surgery industry are nontransparent costs and lack of trust on quality. Many Chinese customers instead go to nearby South Korea, which is well known for its plastic surgery,” Zhang Bin, head of the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, told official Xinhua news agency.

Chinese companies rake in billions of dollars with a nip and a tuck Beijing Cosmetic surgery is making millions of people happy in China. Those going under the knife are happy for their sharper, younger looks, and companies for the money the surgeries are raking in – the industry is worth more than $77 billion.

The total value of cosmetic surgeries in 2015 was around 500 billion Yuan (around $77.16 billion), a state media report quoted an industry survey as saying on Friday.

With a solid 15% growth rate every year, the industry is expected to touch 1 trillion Yuan by 2019, making it the world’s largest market.Why is cosmetic surgery so popular in China?

The answer could be in what Sadie Zhang, a manager at a Beijing-based medical skincare company, told state-run China Daily newspaper: “Good appearance helps relationships and work…Even teenagers have come to us for a better look. It is no longer a treatment only for celebrities.”

The newspaper report said: “Corporate employees, government civil servants and businesswomen accounted for more than 70% of the number of people using medical beauty services in 2015, suggesting the advantages and benefits brought by good looks. But, the newcomers participating in such treatment are getting younger each year.

It suggested that the age

Erection Problem?

416-992-5489

Issue - 685 (29)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Brewing faith:US Christian groups gather at bar to discuss Jesus over beer Waukesha Angela Caddell started struggling with her Christianity 14 years ago when she came out as gay. But a gathering at a bar to talk faith over a cold beer once a month is helping her feel more connected to her religion.

“If you’re an atheist you are

month at area bars about 1½ years ago. He doesn’t have a stand-alone church and knew that his non-traditional gatherings wouldn’t attract social conservatives. About two dozen people attend.

“I think it also completely unsettles everyone’s

welcome. .... I’m a lesbian, I’m totally welcome,” said the 32year-old from nearby Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, at a recent gathering.“Tonight we’re talking about scapegoating. There is no scapegoating that happens here.”This event is called “Jesus & Beer” and it’s part of an effort by some Christian groups throughout the country to recruit parishioners, connect with people struggling with faith or provide a relaxed outlet to talk religion.Caddell heard about the event through Brandon Brown, pastor at CollectiveMKE. He started the gatherings once a

expectations in that they know what it is to talk about their faith in a church but most people have never done it in a bar so it’s a totally new environment and maybe fresh,” Brown said. “In addition to that, I’ll be honest: a beer or two doesn’t hurt the conversation at all.”

While bringing people together to throw one back and talk religion isn’t a new idea, groups have been turning to the non-traditional pub setting to attract younger people such as millennials.

According to a Pew Research Center study, the number of U.S. adults who are affiliated with an

Washington Indian-American physician-author Abraham Verghese, whose work has emphasised empathy in medicine, has been selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal, the White House has announced.

US President Barack Obama

medical enterprise.“His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities, from his efforts to emphasise empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama,” the White House said.

“Abraham Verghese is not only an exemplary clinician, he is an

would confer the honour upon Verghese, along with 11 others, and the recipients of 2015 National Medal of Arts at ceremony on September 21.Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, 61year-old Verghese has authored several acclaimed books, including “My Own Country” and “Cutting for Stone”.In a statement, the White House said on Wednesday Verghese has been given the award for reminding “us” that the patient is the centre of the

exemplary humanist,” said Stanford President Marc TessierLavigne.“Every day in the classroom, he teaches his students that professions such as medicine benefit from an understanding of the human condition.“We are so proud that his breadth of scholarship has been recognised with this honour,” Tessier-Lavigne said.

Inaugurated in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honours individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s

organized religion dropped from 83 percent in 2007 to 77 percent in 2014, a trend particularly striking in the millennial generation.

That younger group is the focus of a monthly bar event organized by the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee, said Emily Burds, the Catholic church’s Director of Evangelization. Besides a free beer, there’s usually a meet and greet, a speaker and discussion.

About 60 to 70 people come each month to the “Brewing the Faith” gatherings, which Burds sees as a “means to an end.”

“Obviously the end is like greater faith and a relationship with God but also to be connected to a parish community somewhere where they are living,” Burds said.During the summer they also organize “Theology on Tap,” a lecture series that has spread worldwide after starting with the Archdioceses of Chicago in 1981.

It involves bars or restaurants and targets younger people.Burds said they trained some young adults in mingling skills to make sure everyone feels welcome and a sense of belonging — “what every millennial really is searching for,” Burds said.It worked for James Wronski, 22, a new Milwaukee resident who attended a beer garden event.“I think this kind of relaxed social atmosphere where you come, you meet people, you drink, you relax and you kind of learn and educate yourself, that’s a big draw to millennials.”

Indian-American physician to receive National Humanities Medal

understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities website.Up to 12 medals are awarded each year.“I am humbled and excited by this honour,” Verghese said in a statement issued by the Stanford University.

He completed his education at the Madras Medical College.“The names of previous recipients include writers I most admire. It is a wonderful affirmation of a path that in the early years I wasn’t sure was the right path, even though it was one I felt compelled to follow,” Verghese, who is also the Linda R Meier and Joan F Lane Provostial Professor, said.Verghese is known for his emphasis on empathy for patients in an era in which technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine, the university said in a statement.“I felt strongly then and now that what I was writing about, and my interest in the human experience of being ill or caring for the ill, was as much a part of medicine as knowledge of the function of the pancreas, for example,” said Verghese, who is also a Vice Chair of Stanford’s Department of Medicine.

‘When we get to heaven, we can walk in together’: Couple of 59 years dies holding hands

After 59 years of marriage, a New Carolina couple died the same way they made a commitmentfor-life to each other - holding hands.Don and Margaret Livengood died within nine hours of each other, in the hospital where they spent the few days of their lives.Don, 84, had difficulty breathing and was receiving 70 liters of oxygen due to his his pulmonary fibrosis and bilateral pneumonia. Margaret, 80, meanwhile, was diagnosed with cancer with in May, along with several other serious health issues.Days before their death, their daughter drove them to the hospital and they were admitted together.

According to a report in the Salisbury Post, two were allowed to share a room together in Intensive Care, despite prohibitory hospital rules. Even hospital staff positioned their beds in way they could lie facing each other, and the tubes and tapes could not stop them from slipping their finger into each others hands.They held hands almost continuously over the next few days, said the report.

Margaret passed on first, and 9

hours later, Don died too after saying air would be better in heaven.

It’s the first time I’ve seen doctors and nurses with tears in their eyes,said their son David Livengood.

A day before their death, the immensely spiritual couple met their priest and Don said, We could walk in together, just like were getting married again.

Their daughter Pattie Livengood Beaver had been maintaining ‘Personal Record Book’ with the help of her parents. A day after death she found a message in it written by her father: “To my family, I love you all!!

Please don’t mourn for me at my death. Have a service of praise and thanks. My faith and trust is in Jesus Christ, not only in my earthly life but throughout eternity. Love, Daddy. My greatest desire is that all of you believe in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and receive Jesus gift of forgiveness from sin (John 3:16).”

Pattie, David and their third son Wayne said their mother was the peacemaker in the family, who never got angry and never said a cross word and was a sweet.

Mother sent to mental hospital for stabbing 2 kids in ‘exorcism’

Rockville A Maryland woman who pleaded guilty to killing two of her children and injuring two of their siblings in what she believed was an exorcism in 2014 will go to a psychiatric hospital, not a prison.

Judge Terrence McGann ruled on Thursday that Zakieya Avery of Germantown, Maryland, was not criminally responsible in the deaths of her children. Avery

pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted firstdegree murder.

Avery’s roommate, Monifa Sanford, who participated in the killings, previously took a plea deal in the case that committed her to a psychiatric hospital.

Sanford said that the women stabbed the children because they believed they were possessed by demons.

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Indian community in UK playing ‘very significant’ role: Sarna LONDON The Indian community in the UK accounts for two per cent of the population and its contribution to the GDP of Britain is six per cent, thus playing a “very significant” role in building bilateral relations, the Indian envoy to UK said.

contribution to the British society.“Today the Indian community here is a major factor in India-UK relations. The Indian community has also made its presence in politics with representation in the House of Commons and House of Lords,”

of Friends Circle International at the Radisson Portman Hotel were Atul Pathak, one of the UK’s most successful franchise entrepreneurs running twentynine McDonald’s restaurants across London and Krishan Ralleigh, Chief Editor of India Link International, a magazine he founded in 1993. Pathak opened his first McDonald’s in 2003 and now employs more than 2,500 staff who, between them, serve over 18 million customers a year.Ralleigh was founding member and general secretary of the Hindu Cultural Society in London, before becoming general secretary and president of the Hindu Centre London.

British envoy to Saudi Arabia converts to Islam, performs Haj “India is the third largest investor in the UK and one of the major creators of jobs in the UK,” India’s High Commissioner to the UK Navtej Singh Sarna said.

Sarna said that though the Indian community accounts for 2 per cent of the population, it contributes 6 per cent to the country’s GDP. He was speaking at a function to honour three Indian-origin businessmen for their contribution to society.

The US is the biggest investor to the UK followed by China.

Sarna complimented the 1.5 million strong Indian community in the UK for their positive

Sarna said.Dr Rami Ranger, a leading businessman who is the winner of the Queen’s award eight times - six times for Business and twice personally for services to British Business and the British Asian Community, received a shield in recognition of his services to the community and business.Ranger set up his first business in 1987 with a mere 2 pounds as capital.

He is now at the helm of two of Britain’s fastest growing companies with an annual turnover in excess of 200 million pounds.The two other leaders honoured at the Annual Dinner

Transgender soldier becomes first woman to serve on British army frontline

London Simon Collis, Britain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia who served in New Delhi in the early 1990s, has performed the Haj after converting to Islam, making news in the British media.

Collis was the first secretary in the British high commission in New Delhi during 1991-94, and head of the India section in the Foreign Office in London from 1987 to 1988.He went on the annual pilgrimage with his wife, Huda Mujarkech, a Syrian Muslim, and was pictured wearing the traditional white robes for the journey. He thanked wellwishers on Twitter: “In short, I converted to Islam after spending 30 years in Muslim societies and before getting married to Huda.”

UK Parliament watchdog to probe Keith Vaz over sex scandal

London Britain’s parliamentary standards commissioner will open an investigation into the alleged breach of MPs’ Code of Conduct by senior Labour lawmaker Keith Vaz, who was allegedly linked to male prostitutes with references to drugs as revealed by tabloids recently.

Scotland Yard is currently assessing whether any criminal offences had been committed during Vaz’s encounter with the male escorts at his London flat in August. The Sunday Mirror’s expose also included references to drugs.

The standards commissioner said Vaz was among MPs who are currently the subject of its investigations, but added that the move had been suspended pending the outcome of the assessment by Scotland Yard.

The commissioner is specifically looking at the alleged breach by Vaz of two paragraphs in the Code of Conduct of the House of Commons applicable to MPs. Para 10 states: “Members shall base their conduct on a consideration of the public

interest, avoid conflict between personal interest and the public interest and resolve any conflict between the two, at once, and in favour of the public interest.”

According to para 16 of the code, “Members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its Members generally.”

Vaz, the senior-most MP of Indian or Asian origin elected from Leicester East since 1987, resigned as chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee of Parliament after the expose. There are also questions over his continued membership of a key Labour committee.

The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards deals with the application of the Code of Conduct and related rules that apply to members of Parliament. This includes the registration of financial interests held by MPs and the investigation of allegations that MPs have breached the rules set out in the Code of Conduct.

Bizarre! Man puts ‘used’ wife up for sale on eBay; bids hit Rs 60 lakhs

London A 24-year-old transgender soldier has become the first woman to serve on the frontline with the British Army.

Chloe Allen joined the Scots Guards as a man in 2012 but began hormone therapy last month, and has officially changed her name.

“All the paperwork within the Army, within the battalion, has been changed and sorted out.

My passport will be done shortly,” she told BBC. “It’s brilliant, it’s amazing... to say everything that I’ve wanted it to say and for me to still be serving as an infantryman is even better,” she added.

The application process for female recruits was due to open later this year after the UK government opened up frontline roles to women.But guardsman

Allen, who had official documents changed by deed poll from her birth name of Ben to reflect her new name and status, was informed she will be able to stay in the infantry, as a woman.

Allen had initially thought she would have to leave her post in the First Battalion Scots Guards.

But she decided to talk to a careers officer and was informed she could continue in her role as a rifleman and driver of a Mastiff armoured truck.

General Sir James Everard, commander of the field army, said: “I’m delighted to have our first woman serving in a ground close combat unit.

“The British Army is really proving itself as an inclusive organisation where everyone is welcome and can thrive... Being the first of anything takes courage.”

London A 33-year-old telecom engineer in the United Kingdom has put up his “used wife” up for sale on eBay and bids have hit a whopping 65,880 pounds (nearly Rs 6 crore), a media reports said on Thursday.

According to a report, Simon O’Kane from Wakefield in Yorkshire posted the picture of his wife Leandra, 27, on eBay last week.

The advert read “used wife” for sale. It also reportedly described the pros and cons of the “purchase”.

The father of two has claimed that his wife has not been playing the role of a devoted wife and hence he has decided to put her up on sale.According to Daily Express, the initial bids alone hit 65,880 pounds (nearly Rs 6 crore) within two days.

“I came in after work feeling a bit tired and unwell - my wife was doing the usual concerned bit but said I was burning the candle at both ends and was basically just whining at me.”

“I thought ‘right I’m going to put

you up for sale,” the report Simon as saying.

The advert read: “For sale one wife. Not new has been used but still got some good miles left in her. Reason for selling: I’ve had my fill and feel like there has to

kitchen result in you ending up in hospital. All in all not a bad model for the year, I’m sure some lucky guy will get lots of use.

“Offers welcome, may consider a part exchange for a younger model.”

be someone (oh dear God please let there be).

“Good points: Body work and paint work still in decent shape and has some skills in the kitchen.”“Bad points: Often makes this noise that cannot be silenced unless you order brand new shiny parts of metal.

“Sometimes them skills in the

The angry wife responded by saying: “I wanted to kill him.

Everyone at work saw it and were laughing their heads off.

“Not only did he put me up for sale but he used such a bad photo.

“If eBay hadn’t taken the listing down, who knows how much I would have got.”

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Girl sues parents for sharing embarrassing childhood photos online

Vienna A 18-year-old Austrian girl has sued her parents for allegedly posting pictures, including embarrassing and intimate images from her childhood, on Facebook without her consent, media reported.

The girl claimed that the parents made her life miserable as they have posted 500 pictures of her since 2009 on the social networking site. The photos were shared on Facebook with her parents’ 700 friends.

The shared images include baby pictures of her having her nappy changed and later potty-training pictures, thelocal.at reported.

“They knew no shame and no limit and didn’t care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot -- every stage was photographed and then made public,” the girl was quoted as saying.Despite her requests, they have refused to delete the photos, prompting her to sue them, she said, adding that her father believes that since he took the photos he has the right to

publish the images.

If it can be proven that the images have violated her rights to a personal life, then her parents may lose the case, noted Michael Rami, the girl’s lawyer.

This is the first case of its kind in Austria, but based on similar cases abroad the girl parents may have to pay some financial compensation for her pain and suffering, and will also be liable for her legal costs, Rami added.

The case will be heard in November and if the parents lose this could have repercussions for Austrians who post countless images of their children on social media without their consent, the report said.

Austrian privacy laws concerning social media are not as strict as some other countries.

In France, anyone convicted of publishing and distributing images of another person without their consent can face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to 45,000 euros. This would apply to parents publishing images of their children too.

Stockholm A Swedish appeals court on Friday upheld an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a 2010 rape accusation, rejecting his request to have it lifted.

The court announced in a

London since June 2012, seeking refuge there after exhausting all his legal options in Britain against extradition to Sweden.

Assange has refused to travel to Stockholm for questioning over the rape allegation, which he

In triumph for Trudeau, China frees Canadian detained for years Ottawa Kevin Garratt, a Canadian held in China for two years and charged with spying, returned to Canada on Thursday in what was a diplomatic triumph for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Canadian leader had raised Garratt’s case during an official visit to China this month when he both pressed for closer economic ties and openly discussed human rights, which is a sensitive matter in Beijing.

“On Thursday, September 15th, Kevin was deported from China and has returned to Canada to be with his family and friends,” the family said in a statement requesting privacy.

A Canadian government official said Garratt had been formally sentenced earlier in the week and then released on bail. He flew into the Pacific city of Vancouver.

In a statement, Trudeau said he was delighted that Garratt had returned safely.

Garratt and his wife Julia were detained in August 2014 near China’s border with North Korea.

He was charged with spying and stealing state secrets.

Julia, who was not charged, was released on bail and left the country.

A source close to the case, who requested anonymity because of its sensitivity, said Garratt was tried on April 20.

The release came as a surprise, since there were few signs of a

Swedish court upholds arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

statement that Assange “is still detained in absentia”, adding that it “shares the assessment of the (lower) district court that Julian Assange is still suspected on probable cause of rape... and that there is a risk that he will evade legal proceedings or a penalty.”The 45-year-old Australian has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in

denies, due to concerns Sweden will extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks’ release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.This is the eighth time the European arrest warrant has been tested in a Swedish court.

All of the rulings have gone against him.The appeals court said Assange’s four-year

embassy sequestration “is not a deprivation of liberty and shall not be given any importance in its own right in the assessment of proportionality.”

The length of his embassy stay and “the earlier passivity” of police investigators were “arguments for setting aside the detention,” it noted.

“However, the relatively serious offence of which he is suspected means that there is a strong public interest (in) the investigation being able to continue.”

“At present, continued detention therefore appears to be both effective and necessary so as to be able to move the investigation forward. The reasons for detention therefore still outweigh the intrusion or other detriment that the measure entails for Julian Assange.”Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny hailed the decision.

“The public interest in having the investigation proceed still carries a lot of weight, in our opinion. The court has here shared our opinion that upholding the arrest warrant is in line with principle of proportionality,” she said in a statement.

breakthrough when Trudeau flew to China. Indeed, while he was in Beijing, the Garratt family expressed their frustration at the lack of progress.

“We raised this case at the

release.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is due to visit to Canada from Sept.

21-24.

Brock University professor Charles Burton, a former

highest levels when we were there. It’s just indicative of the mature and healthy relationship we have that we can do so,” said the government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The affair had undermined efforts by both countries to boost economic ties. China wants a free trade deal with Canada but opinion polls show most Canadians are cool to the idea, in part because of Beijing’s human rights record.

The Canadian official declined to say what the Chinese might have received in return for Garratt’s

Canadian diplomat who had served two postings in China, said in an email that Beijing was likely to press for the return of what it has said are corrupt officials who had fled to Canada to avoid arrest.

China does not have extradition treaties with United States, Canada or Australia, which Chinese state media say are the three most popular destinations for suspected economic criminals.

Yang Tianwen, a spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, said he was unaware of Garratt’s release.

Saddam’s daughter to stand for parliament, could return to Iraq under amnesty

Baghdad To run in the country’s 2018 national elections, media outlets reported on Friday.

Raghad Saddam Hussein, 48, currently lives in Jordan but could return to Iraq under a controversial amnesty passed by Parliament last month.

The Jordanian royal family rejected a request from Iraq’s foreign ministry in May to extradite Raghad and other figures from Saddam’s regime who are wanted by the country’s judiciary.In April 2010, the international police organisation Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Raghad primarily at Baghdad’s request.

She is sought by the Iraqi government on suspicion of terrorism and has openly pledged her support for the Islamic State jihadist group.

Raghad is said to live a lavish lifestyle in Jordan, where she fled with her two younger sisters and mother after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as guests of King Abdullah II.She was charged in November 2006 with supporting the insurgency.

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court of Iraq later issued a revised arrest warrant allegedly based on evidence that directly linked Raghad to terrorist bombings aimed at disrupting Iraq’s 2010 national elections.

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China grants consular access for 5 Indians held for drugs

BEIJING China has granted Indian officials consular access for the five Indian nationals detained in southwestern China, accused of bringing in at least 18 kilograms of cannabis into the country.

The five Indians from Kolkata were detained by security at Kunming international airport on September 7, and accused of carrying 18 kilograms of cannabis in their bags.

WHY INDIAN’S WERE DETAINED Security officials reportedly found the drug hidden in food packets and laptop bags of the five, who had arrived on a China Eastern airlines flight from Kolkata.Indian diplomatic officials were formally informed this week and have been granted consular access on September 21.The case will be dealt with by the Indian Consulate in Guangzhou under whose jurisdiction Kunming, the provincial capital of southwestern Yunnan province, falls.

If found guilty, the five are likely to be formally charged in China.

Drug smuggling is a serious offence in the country and authorities have shown little leniency in the past, with legal

experts often citing China’s past history in dealing with opium smuggling as one reason for the harsh penalties.According to publicly available regulations, ‘possession’ of between 2 and 10 kilograms of cannabis can bring up to 3 years in prison plus fines. Possession of more than 10 kilograms can bring between seven years in prison to life imprisonment. Smuggling, however, can bring even higher sentences.

PENALTIES UNDER CHINESE LAW Heavier sentences have been awarded in the past for smuggling cocaine or heroin, drugs which call for harsher penalties under Chinese law.

In 2009, a British national Akmal Shaikh, a PakistaniBritish businessman, was executed for allegedly bringing in 4 kilograms of heroin into Urumqi airport in Xinjiang.Earlier this year, Juliana Lopez, a 23-year-old ‘beauty queen’ from Colombia, was sentenced to prison for 15 years having been caught with 610 grams of white powder that contained cocaine at Guangzhou airport.

Rome The suicide of a woman who battled for months to have a video of her having sex removed from the internet is fuelling debate in Italy on the “right to be forgotten” online.

woman online. The footage has been viewed by almost a million internet users.

Four people are under investigation over the suicide of the young woman who featured in the pornographic video shared

Love jihad in Pakistan: Abducted Hindu girl sold by policeman for Rs 50,000 In another case of human rights abuse of religious minority in Pakistan, a Hindu girl was allegedly sold for Rs 50,000 by a police official in Sindh province.

Three days after being sold, the girl was forcibly converted to Islam and married to one, Zafar Masoori.The victim identified as Anila Bagri had been abducted some time ago in her hometown, Mirpur Mathelo of Ghotki district.

She was later rescued by police but her ordeal just began here.

One of the police officials, Sajjad Qazi held her back and did not allow her to go home.

GIRL SOLD FOR Rs 50,000 When Anila’s family came to know about her rescue from the abductors, they approached Mirpur Mathelo police. But, Sajjad Qazi refused to let go the girl. He demanded Rs 50,000 from the parents of Anila. This led to a protest by the locals.

But, soon Qazi handed Anila to one of his friends, Masoori in return for money. Local media reported the matter and built up pressure on the administration forcing an inquiry. Ghotki SSP Masood Bangesh was tasked to conduct the probe. Pending investigation, SSP suspended the accused police official.

ANGRY REACTIONS Meanwhile, amidst recent reports of atrocities on minorities in Sindh, Hindus of the area have staged protests at several places.“It’s a matter of routine in Pakistan to abduct a Hindu girl, rape her or force her to convert for Niqah. This has been the norm in the country since 1947. They think that Hindus should be

driven out of Pakistan to make it a total Islamic nation and Anila Bagri was nothing but a part of the plot,” said Rajkumar, a local.

PARTY Responding to the angry protests over frequent abduction of Hindu girls in Sindh, ruling PML Nawaz

Mirpur Mathelo was in news a few years ago but for the same reason. A Hindu girl, Rinkal Kumari was allegedly forcefully converted and forced to marry a local guy. Even in recent months, the town was in news for targeted killing of a Hindu boy, Satish Kumar.Activist Ravi Dawani of All Pakistan Hindu Panchayat said, “Forced conversion of Hindu girls in Pakistan is not new. Such incidents are not about Rinkals, Anjalis, Shobhas or Anilas. It’s not about names. The point is how to find a solution to this problem.”“There seems to be a conspiracy behind it. They want to disturb the Hindu community so that they move out from here.

But, we will stay here. We appeal to the government to protect our children and our family,” Dawani said.

RESPONSE FROM RULING

MP, Dr Ramesh Vankwani said, “Such forced conversion of girls is against humanity. This must stop.”“I am tired of raising voice; nothing happens here. Everyone knows what happens in Mirpur Mathelo. Girls are forced to convert and sold for Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh. Only today, I got a High Court order for the release of one such girl,” Vankwani said.

Erection Problem?

416-992-5489

Political parties in Pakistan Suicide of woman who featured in support terrorism, says its sex video sparks web privacy debate chief justice

The 31-year-old, identified as Tiziana, was found hanged at her aunt’s home in Mugnano, close to Naples in the country’s south on Tuesday.Her death came a year after she sent a video of herself having sex to some friends, including her exboyfriend, to make him jealous.

The video and her name soon found their way to the web and went viral, fuelling mockery of the

on WhatsApp and posted to social media, police said. She had filed a civil lawsuit against them individuals after facing abuse from internet trolls.

In a bid to escape the humiliation, Tiziana quit her job, moved to Tuscany and tried to change her name, but her nightmare went on.

The words “You’re filming?

Bravo”, spoken by the woman to

her lover in the video, have become a derisive joke online, and the phrase has been printed on T-shirts, smartphone cases and other items.

After a long court battle, Tiziana recently won a “right to be forgotten” ruling ordering the video to be removed from various sites and search engines, including Facebook.

But she was also ordered to pay 20,000 euros ($22,500) in legal costs -- a final “insult” which may have driven her to take her own life, according to several Italian media outlets.“Why are these images still there? Why can people still mock and laugh at this young woman who ended her days because of this humiliation that she suffered?” wrote Naples daily Il Mattino on Thursday.Prosecutors in Naples have opened an investigation into “incitement to suicide”, but it may be difficult for judges to establish the precise reasons why she killed herself.

A court in the southern city has ruled that any web pages referring to the porn video she appeared in must be removed from the internet immediately.

Pakistan’s chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has slammed some political parties of the country for endorsing terrorism.

Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday Justice Jamali confirmed what India had been saying for years and international community suspected for long.

“It is disappointing to see some political parties supporting terrorists for their own interest,” Geo News quoted Justice Jamali as saying.

The chief justice said that terrorists were targetting courts in Pakistan in order to instill fear among lawyers and judges.

Terrorism is flourishing in

Pakistan due to internal patronization, he asserted.

INSTITUTIONS MUST WORK IN PAKISTAN Pakistan’s chief justice made an impassioned plea that various institutions of governance must function properly to bring stability in the country.

He said that all institutions should work in their respective domains and not trespass each other, Geo News reported.

Justice Jamali also maintained that religious persecution should not have any place in Pakistan.

“The constitution allows all faiths to practice their religion without fear of being persecuted,” he was quoted as saying.

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China expels journalists from village at centre of protests Beijing Journalists were attacked and forced out of the fishing village where China has suppressed new protests five years after the village received international attention for demonstrations

against land seizures.Wukan remains under siege two days after police arrested 13 protesters on allegations that they incited violence and arrest.

The Chinese government is now staging a broad crackdown on information flow out of the village, refusing to let journalists in and heavily restricting discussion of Wukan on social media networks.Reporters from two Hong Kong newspapers, the South China Morning Post and the Chinese-language Ming Pao, were assaulted on Wednesday night while conducting interviews and later detained for several hours, both newspapers reported.According to the South China Morning Post, a group of unidentified men stormed into a home and pushed the newspaper’s journalist to the ground. The Ming Pao said some in the group were wearing police uniforms, and that someone punched its two journalists even after they had followed orders to squat on the ground.The journalists were later taken to a police station and questioned for

several hours, the newspapers reported. According to the Ming Pao, a government official asked the journalists to sign a pledge not to do any more reporting.Both newspapers said their reporters were eventually taken to the

Hong Kong border.The BBC also reported its journalists in Wukan were stopped from entering the village.Wukan carries heightened symbolic importance after the success of protests in 2011, when its villagers marched against land seizures and corruption.

Facing an international spotlight, the Chinese government responded by letting villagers elect their local leader, a measure the ruling Communist Party has sometimes used to quell local outcry, though national and provincial government officials are all chosen by the party.

The winner of Wukan’s election was Lin Zuluan, a former protester. But earlier this year as Lin was set to lead a new round of protests over new allegations of land seizures, authorities detained him the day before a scheduled protest and later announced he had been charged with taking bribes from developers.Lin went on television to confess to accepting bribes totaling 593,000 yuan (about $89,000). The government often

Super typhoon blows away ‘moon’ in southern China BEIJING Super Typhoon Meranti sent a massive inflatable moon bobbing through the streets of southern China’s Fuzhou, smothering cars and sending at least one

motorcyclist fleeing for cover, as the powerful storm lashed the mainland. Footage broadcast by state television showed the inflatable moon bowling over traffic in the city with the typhoon packing winds of 170 kilometres per hour (105 miles per hour), according to state media. AFP

was unable to confirm where the moon originated from and what fate the inflatable object eventually met. The Xinhua news agency described the storm as the most powerful to hit Fujian province in at least 67 years, with meteorological records only going back to the founding of modern China in 1949. Local media described windows broken by flying roof tiles with fragments littering pavements and water supplies cut. Officials had earlier urged people to stay at home and ordered ships to return to port as Meranti bore down on the mainland, having lashed Taiwan on Wednesday.

The storm left one person dead and 38 injured after skirting past the island’s southern tip with the strongest winds recorded there in 21 years.

broadcasts confessions as a means of winning public confidence in an ongoing anticorruption campaign, though such confessions are often derided by human rights groups as coerced.His supporters staged more than 80 straight days of protests following his detention, even after he was sentenced last week to three years in jail.After issuing warnings against further protests, the government sent dozens of police vans into the village early Tuesday, arrested protest leaders in their homes, and fired rubber bullets at protesters.

Social media postings seen by The Associated Press depict bloodied villagers with apparent bullet wounds. Subsequent posts have shown police posted at street corners, and villagers contacted by The AP have refused to be interviewed.

On Thursday, Chinese state media said life in the village was back to normal. The Global Times, a state-run newspaper, posted a column headlined, “Foreign media fails to trick Wukan villagers on rumor”.

The column accused journalists of trying to visit Wukan to “wait for conflicts”.“Even though some foreign media have been unscrupulously inciting, planning, and directing chaos, local police have not resorted to violence to solve the issue,” the column said.The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it “strongly condemns” violence against reporters in Wukan and called on the Hong Kong government to “take effective measures to protect the rights and safety of Hong Kong journalists working in the mainland”.Hong Kong is a specially administered Chinese region that retains its own political system and civil liberties such as freedom of speech not shared on the mainland, under the principle of “one country, two systems”.

Indian-origin man held in South Africa for 30 cases of car fraud

JOHANNESBURG An elusive Indian-origin man wanted in more than 30 cases of allegedcar fraud and theft in South Africa has been arrested.Muhammad Ismail Essack, 37, landed in the police net after his latest fraud when he hired a luxury car from a rental company at the OR Tambo International Airport here and sold the vehicle worth $35,245 to a man for just $3,172.Police said Essack told the buyer that he was emigrating and needed to sell the vehicle urgently.Already

wanted in 32 cases of fraud and theft, he handed himself over to the police in the presence of his lawyer as detectives closed in on him.Police spokesman Vuyisile Ngesi said the latest charge would be added to the 32 cases which have already been centralised into one investigation by the police.Essack was remanded in custody till September 22.Police would also probe allegations that Essack managed to evade the law for so long after colluding with officials, a source said.

Pokemon Go chase hits a high, Austrian player finds illegal pot garden

Vienna The Pokemon Go craze hit a high Thursday after a player in Austria chasing one of the computer game’s virtual cartoon monsters stumbled across an illegal cannabis garden, police said.The young man noticed a “strong smell” coming from a greenhouse at the back of a garden in Weibern in northern Austria and

informed police, a spokesperson told AFP.The 50-year-old father of the owner of the house has been charged under drugs laws.

The hugely popular smartphone app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings. It has already been blamed for a slew of accidents and traffic violations.

Three Punjabis in election fray in Australia’s Whittlesea Melbourne Victoria state’s local government election has got a “desi” twist with three Punjabi Australians entering the fray in Whittlesea, an extension of Melbourne.

Undeterred by the fact that this city council has never elected an Indian, Lakhwinder Singh Dhillon, Gurinder Kaur and Judgebir Singh are campaigning hard in Whittlesea, where Indians form the fifth largest chunk in a population of 154,900 after the English, Macedonians, Italians and Greeks.Around 40,000 voters in this zone have to elect four councillors through the preference voting system by October 21.Dhillon, who hails from Amritsar, is a taxi driver who

famously returned $110,000 left behind in his cab. He was honoured by the Melbourne City Council for this act of honesty.

Kaur, who works with the Australian government, is also from Amritsar. A baptised Sikh, she does volunteer work through her membership with the

Brotherhood of Saint Laurence and Flying Sikhs of Australia.

Singh, who is from the Abohar region in Punjab, is a businessman also interested in volunteer service. He is associated with bodies such as the Oorja Foundation, Aurora Community Association and the Darebin Chargers Cricket Club.

All three believe in door-to-door campaigning, besides using social media to woo voters.

Local issues dominate their campaign, such as traffic congestion, growing crime, deficient public transportation systems, inadequate and lowgraded schools, insufficient public parks and sports infrastructure.

Issue - 685 (34)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Brazil’s former president Lula and wife charged with corruption CURITIBA, Brazil Brazilian prosecutors filed corruption charges on Wednesday against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his wife and six others in the sprawling Petrobras kickback scandal, dealing a big blow to the popular leader’s chances of a comeback.

This was the first time Lula, still Brazil’s most popular politician despite corruption accusations against him and his Workers Party, was charged by federal prosecutors for involvement in the massive graft scheme at the state-run oil company.

Lula’s case will go before crusading anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro, who has jailed dozens of executives and others involved in the scheme.

Lula could face arrest for receiving a luxury apartment on the coast of Sao Paulo from one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the bribery scandal. Lula has denied ownership of the threefloor condo in Guarujá.

Federal police urged prosecutors last month to bring charges against Lula and his wife, accusing them of receiving some

2.4 million reais ($747,896) in benefits from the builder OAS in relation to the apartment.

The charges announced by prosecutors in a statement were also leveled against Leo Pinheiro, former head of the OAS engineering firm accused of giving gifts to Lula in ex change for favors, and the head of Lula’s foundation, Paulo Okamotto.

Lula, a charismatic former union leader who was a two-term president from 2003 to 2010, has

Pak court orders confiscation of Musharraf’s property Islamabad A Pakistan court on Saturday ordered the confiscation of Pervez Musharraf’s property after the former dictator “persistently

failed” to appear in the case involving the killing of a cleric during the 2007 Lal Masjid operation.A sessions court in Islamabad is trying 73-year-old Musharraf, who is currently in Dubai for purported medical treatment, over the killing of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi when army stormed the Lal Masjid in the heart of the city.Additional district and sessions judge (west) Pervaiz ul Qadir Memon ordered confiscation of Musharraf’s properties under Section 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a lawyer said.“The court ordered

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confiscation of property as the court said Musharraf persistently failed to appear in the case,” according to lawyer Tariq Asad, who represented the cleric.

The court also rejected a plea by Musharraf’s lawyer, Akhtar Shah, who had contended that since army was acting in aid of civilian administration during Lal Masjid operation, hence, no criminal case could be filed against any official of the armed forces.Musharraf, who has been living in Dubai since March, has not appeared even a single time in the court despite warnings.

The former military ruler flew to Dubai for purported medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on his foreign trips and it is believed that he may never return to face a slew of several high-profile cases against him.The court declared him a proclaimed offender and confiscated surety bonds of Rs 200,000 this year.

A case was registered against Musharraf in 2013 for alleged role in killing of Ghazi.

Musharraf ruled from 1999 to 2008 when he stepped down after his supporters lost elections. He lived in Dubai and returned in 2013 to take part in elections but was embroiled in several criminal cases including high treason for abrogating the constitution in 2007.In January this year, Musharraf was acquitted by court for alleged role in killing of Baloch rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006.

separately been indicted by a court in Brasilia for obstruction of justice in a case related to an attempt to persuade a defendant in the Petrobras scandal not to turn state’s witness.

Lula’s fall, and that of the leftist party he founded in 1980, has been dramatic.

Last month, his protégé and successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, was removed from office in an impeachment trial.

Rousseff’s fall was driven by Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s and its biggest ever corruption scandal, which has implicated dozens of politicians from her ruling coalition, including several in the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party led by current President Michel

Temer.

Blow to Lula myth Lula, 70, has not ruled out running again for president in 2018, but a criminal conviction would bar him from being a candidate for the next eight years.

A one-time shoeshine boy and union leader who led massive strikes against Brazil’s military dictatorship, contributing to its downfall, he was elected the nation’s first working class president in 2002 after three failed campaigns.

Wildly popular with Brazil’s poor, Lula’s social policies helped yank millions out of poverty and into the middle class, and he left office in 2010 with an 83-percent approval rating and an economy

that grew at a blistering 7.5 percent.

But two years ago, as the Petrobras probe became public, prosecutors began to slowly put Lula in their crosshairs.

Many prosecutors and investigators say they cannot imagine such a powerful figure was unaware of the institutionalized corruption and political kickbacks taking place at Petrobras and other state-run companies.

Marcos Troyjo, a former Brazilian diplomat and co-director of Columbia University’s BRICLab in Rio de Janeiro, said he thinks Wednesday’s charges are the first of many Lula will be facing in the coming months.

“That means the Workers Party, which may have thought it would move comfortably into the opposition after Dilma’s impeachment, will confront extreme challenges,” said Troyjo.

“It’s certainly the beginning of the end to Lula’s presidential aspirations for 2018.”

Recent polls have shown that despite the investigations targeting Lula and the Workers Party, he would be a favorite to win the next presidential election - by far the Workers Party’s best hope of regaining power.

“But these charges are likely too big a blow to the political myth of Lula, to the candidate Lula and to the Workers Party as a whole for that to happen,” Troyjo said.

Ukraine hands back stolen Dutch masterpieces THE HAGUE Five stolen 17th and 18th-century masterpieces were handed back to the Netherlands on Friday, foreign ministry officials said, and will soon return to a Dutch museum from where they disappeared 11 years ago.

“Ukrainian authorities have handed over five Dutch paintings to the Westfries Museum. The handover has just taken place at the Dutch embassy in Kiev,” the ministry said in a statement.

Twenty-four Dutch Golden Age masterpieces and 70 pieces of silverware were stolen from the Westfries Museum in the northwest town of Hoorn on the night of January 9, 2005. At the time of their disappearance, the paintings were valued at a total of 10 million euros ($11 million).

Ukraine in April announced it had recovered four of the paintings, but it did not give details of how the works were retrieved, saying only they were “in the possession of criminal groups”.

The four paintings are: “A Peasant Wedding” by Hendrick Boogaert, “Kitchen Scene” by Floris van Schooten, “Return of Jephta” and “Lady World” by Jacob Waben.

A fifth painting, Isaak Ouwater’s 1784 piece entitled “Nieuwstraat in Hoorn”, valued at around 30,000 euros ($33,400), was

handed back by an unsuspecting Ukrainian art buyer in May, but details over how he came into possession of the artwork remain vague.The Westfries Museum said in December the 24 missing paintings were thought to be in the hands of an ultranationalist

passengers was shot down over Ukraine’s war-torn east in July 2014. ”Masterpieces should bring pleasure not to the... thieves, but to all mankind,” Lutsenko said, who was accompanied by Ukraine’s SBU National Security Service’s deputy head Mikhaillov

militia fighting the pro-Russian insurgency in east Ukraine. “At this point it’s impossible to say where the other missing paintings are or how long it would take to get them back,” the foreign ministry said.Handing over the paintings, Ukraine’s General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko said he was “very pleased to be in this embassy not for the purpose of laying flowers because of a downed airliner,” referring to the MH17 air disaster, when a jetliner mainly carrying Dutch

Glukovski.The museum, which has previously voiced concern about the paintings’ condition, said they would be “festively” returned to Hoorn on October 7.

Museum director Ad Geerdink said the paintings, particularly “A Peasant Wedding” and “Kitchen Scene”, were in bad condition. ”Luckily they can still be restored, but it will be a timeconsuming effort,” Geerdink said in a statement, estimating restoration costs to be as much as 100,000 euros ($111,000).

Issue 685 (35)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Unlike my predecessor, Harbhajan feels Kohli, Kumble must I have no interest in ICC: BCCI change trend of preparing rank turners president Anurag Thakur NEW DELHI BCCI President Anurag Thakur made it clear that unlike his predecessor Shashank Manohar, he is not “interested” in any ICC post and his sole focus at present is to protect the rights of Indian cricket.

Hinting at Manohar, Thakur said, “One who had to go to ICC have already gone long back. I have no interest and I am happy here with BCCI and nothing is more important for me than India. We have to protect the rights of India. If you don’t think about India then it will be difficult to think about any other country. Today there is India, so world cricket is growing,” Thakur said.

Thakur has been at loggerheads with Manohar over allocation of USD 135m for Champions Trophy, two-tier system and centralised marketing of the broadcast rights of bilateral series.

The BCCI President said: “There is no confrontation with ICC. For the benefit of cricket across the globe whatever steps need to be

taken, BCCI have taken those. If the account or budget has been passed and India, the country which has the biggest market, is not included in the finance committee and all of a sudden you come to know about it then you have to look into it.

“Today other countries need more money than India. When we are asked to cut our shares then we suggested that ICC should cut down on their event cost. If BCCI has been successful in hosting tournaments whether IPL or World Cup and cutting down the event cost then it is also equally important for other organisation to look into this matter. We are here to help.” Out of the

Focus on intensity rather than gym work: Brett Lee to pacers NEW DELHI Former Australian fast bowling great Brett Lee is worried at the alarming trend of young quicks putting effort on beefing up upper body which in turn is adversely affecting the quality of speed merchants.

Lee was forthright when asked about the absence of genuinely quick bowlers at the moment. “I just think that we have to keep promoting wickets where bowlers can bowl quick. I don’t think bowlers are training correctly, there is a lot of emphasis and too much importance only on guys lifting heavy weights.

Gym work is good only if it’s done correctly, it has to be high on intensity and low on weights,” Lee said

during an interaction.

Lee spoke before the start of a panel discussion on India’s upcoming home season organised by broadcast partner Star Sports.

“I don’t see guys doing the right kind of training, finding the right people.

It’s a lot of hard work and it takes a lot on the body and mind. I don’t support resting fast bowlers for long. To be a good fast bowler, one has to keep bowling and not rest.”

Lee also blamed the benign Indian pitches that has led to a drastic dip in quality of fast bowlers in sub-continent.

“The other reason could be the wickets... you got to encourage fast bowlers to run in and bowl quick.

USD 135m allocated for Champions Trophy, ICC will be building an office in London which will be handed over to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) once the tournament is over. Thakur said: “ICC has held tournaments in various countries and in no country they have built any infrastructure and so it is upto the ICC to decide whether they want to built or not so does that mean that if India hosts the Champions Trophy or World Cup 2023, there will be Rs 100 crore spent only to build infrastructure. I mean all we are trying to say that there has to be some justification in the money spent because it belongs to 105 countries.”

NEW DELHI Senior offspinner Harbhajan Singh believes captain Virat Kohli and chief coach Anil Kumble have got a chance to usher in a new era where Indian cricket teams will not require “rank turners” to win matches as the long-used tactic is beginning to boomerang on the side.

With India starting their long home season of 13 Tests with a threematch series against New Zealand, the ‘Turbanator’ opined that designer pitches could backfire on the team.

“Over past four-five years, the previous team managements preferred pitches where Test matches would end inside three days.

But I believe both Anil bhai and Virat are positive people, who would like play on good Test pitches, where the results are decided on fourth evening or by fifth day post lunch session,” Harbhajan told PTI in an interaction.

“We should look at the bigger picture. Are we gaining anything by winning inside two and half to three days? Are we also being fair to our batsmen who struggled against South African spinners during last home series?” India’s third highest wicket-taker asked some serious questions.

“Why do we call it Test cricket? Because it tests your skill from Day 1 to Day 5 at every level. It should give everyone a fair chance to succeed at that level.

“Save the last Test match at Kotla, where Ajinkya (Rahane) batted exceptionally and Virat got runs, our batsmen also suffered. I can tell you if we go for rank

turners, it can boomerang on us like World T20 in Nagpur.

Mitch Santner and Ish Sodhi could prove to be a handful.

“But if we can produce sporting pitch where our batsmen can score 400 runs if batting first, New Zealand can’t beat us.

Man to man, we are a better unit. Even if we prepare sporting tracks, we can win 3-0,” the 36year-old Harbhajan stated.

For Harbhajan, rank turners is of no good use to Indian spinners also. “Fine you can get wickets but there are times when the bowler doesn’t even know that where the ball will land and which direction it goes.

This Indian Test team can be at the top for long time: Laxman

NEW DELHI There was optimism mingled with conviction in VVS Laxman‘s tone and tenor as the batting great on Monday predicted the start of an era of prolonged dominance by the current Indian Test team, akin to the great West Indian and Australian sides of the past.

As the long home season begins with the Kanpur Test against New Zealand, India are seeking to become the numero uno side in Test cricket and Laxman, who called captain Virat Kohli a “trendsetter”, felt achieving the number one status will just be the beginning of a long journey.

“It’s a great opportunity for India because they are going to play three quality Test playing countries.

This India team has the potential to be the number one and they can be the best Test playing nation for a very long time,” Laxman said on the sidelines of a promotional event

by broadcast partner Star Sports.

The elegant Hyderabadi had his reasons.

“The reason for that is everyone is young in their Test careers and also they have played a lot in overseas conditions. From personal experience I have seen that once

you play overseas you become an allround player because you get to play in different types of wickets, different weather conditions, different kinds of oppositions who are very good in their own backyard.

“So I think they are well rounded cricketers now and playing in India they know what kind of conditions to expect, it gives the team the right kind of platform to showcase its talent, play to their potential and once they do that they will start dominating Test cricket for a long time,” Laxman said.

He felt India should go with five bowlers in the first Test at Kanpur, and picked Murali Vijay and KL Rahul as the team’s opening combination, with Cheteshwar Pujara at number three after his impressive run of scores in the Duleep Trophy.

In its quest to be the world’s best, the team was peaking at the right time, Laxman felt.

Issue 685 (36)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

‘Carvan-e-Aman’ bus service between Kabaddi player smuggled Srinagar, PoK not affected by Uri attack drugs across border with BSF backing: Tarn Taran police

Srinagar The Uri militant attack may have ratcheted up tensions between India and Pakistan but a crucial bus service between the two nations remains unaffected and is operating on schedule, though cloaked in unusually heavy security.

The weekly Carvan-eAman (procession of peace) bus service operates between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and was launched in 2005 to allow relatives of families to cross the Line of Control and see their loved ones.

Since then, thousands of families have crossed the border on ‘travel permits’.

On Monday, the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation bus ferried eight passengers from Srinagar through Uri towards the Aman Setu (peace bridge) that leads to PoK. Officials said five of the passengers were from PoK who were going back after visiting relatives in India while three others were local residents travelling to Muzaffarabad.

“The bus went smoothly.

Thankfully there was no effect on the service after Sunday’s attack,” said Baramulla deputy commissioner Nasir Ahmad Naqash. Sources added that the security cover was bolstered after the Uri attack. One man

from PoK on the bus said he had to cut short his visit because of the rising tensions. “The situation became bad, that is why I am returning early.

Otherwise, I had planned to stay for 15 more days,” he said, requesting to not be identified.

He condemned the attack by militants on the Uri base.

“The attacks like these are not good for any side.

These things stop the peace process between the two sides. These things should neither happen on this side nor on the other side,” he said.

Sunday’s attack on the Uri military base left 18 soldiers dead and more than 19 injured, the worst strike on the army in years.

Amritsar A local-level kabaddi player, who was declared a proclaimed offender last year, had been running a cross-border heroin smuggling racket in nexus with the Border Security Force troops in Fazilka sector, claimed the police here on Sunday.

Interrogation of the accused, identified as Balraj Singh, alias Raju Katta, who was brought to Tarn Taran on production warrants from SAS Nagar on Friday, led to the recovery of 6-kg heroin from the cattle shed at his house in Naushera Dhala village here on Saturday.

Balraj and his family had come under the police radar after two drug peddlers were arrested with 12-kg heroin on July 7 last year. The duo — Rajbir Singh and Dilbag Singh — told the Tarn Taran crime investigation agency (CIA) staff they received the contraband from Balraj and his brother Harpal Singh in presence of their mother Rajwant Kaur.

A case was registered against the trio on July 25, following which Rajwant was arrested on July 31

while Harpal was held on March 18 this year. Both are in jail. Balraj, meanwhile, had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO). He was finally arrested by the SAS Nagar police on August 27 this year and booked in a fresh case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. “During his interrogation, Balraj gave information about heroin stashed away in the cattle shed of his house. Tarn Taran CIA staff in-charge Hardeep Singh along with deputy superintendent of police (investigation) Satpal Singh recovered 6 kg of the contraband from the spot on Saturday,” said Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manmohan Sharma

in a press conference here on Sunday.

Sharma said besides being a kabaddi player, Balraj is a smuggler “of international level”, who used to smuggle “large quantities of heroin” through the Indo-Pak border in Fazilka sector, “with the help of BSF troops”.

“Many other cases have been registered against Balraj in various districts, and all his family members have been involved in smuggling and are now behind the bars,” said superintendent of police (detection) Jagmohan Singh.

When contacted, BSF deputy inspector general (DIG), Punjab Frontier, RS Kataria confirmed Balraj’s association with a BSF constable.

Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City.

Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe.

A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said.

Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260.

On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber driver’s vehicle that had been damaged in the

Manhattan blast. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving when the explosion occurred, shattering the car’s windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door.

The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city’s west side.

Naturalised Afghan citizen sought in New York blast, ‘could be armed’ New York The New York Police Department said Monday that it was looking for a naturalized Afghanistan citizen for questioning in a weekend explosion in a Manhattan neighbourhood that injured 29 people.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami could be armed and dangerous.

“We need to get this guy in right away,” de Blasio said on CNN. “My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them.”

Authorities are still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station.

On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped “a vehicle of interest” in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser.

She wouldn’t provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation.

No one has been charged with any crime, and the investigation is continuing, Langmesser said.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday’s blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, said there didn’t appear to be any link t o international

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terrorism. He said the unexploded pressure cooker device appeared “similar in design” to the

of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which

bomb that exploded in Chelsea, but he didn’t provide details.

On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the two New York City devices and the pipe bomb at the Jersey shore are connected.Cellphones were discovered at the site

a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled and no one was injured.

Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Elizabeth Mayor Christian

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Issue 685 (37)

20 - 26 Sep., 2016

Health Workout tips for women: Five best exercises for a fabulous, fit body!

New Delhi Many research has linked a sedentary lifestyle to a number of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression and more.

To worsen the matter, new research claims that if a person sits all day, exercise has little influence in combating heart disease.

Perhaps, our sedentary lifestyles hardly leave us with any time to focus on the most important part of our lives, our health.

But, you can get in shape after being sedendary by making some healthier choices in your daily habits such as eating well,

exercising and avoiding harmful substances.

Kiran Krishnakumar, a Delhi based fitness trainer has come up with some simple exercises for women to help tone up each and every muscle of our body and strengthen the core.

“If you have been struggling to join the gym or find time for a physical activity, commit now to taking 15 minutes off from your schedule and doing the following exercises,” said Kiran.

Push Ups To begin with, go for five Push Ups. One cannot really go wrong with pushing up to tone up the body, especially the upper part, including the chest, shoulders and collar

bones.

In addition to all the toning, the exercise helps in burning a lot of fat and calories, so a double whammy there! It is pretty much a straight-forward exercise, requiring core strength.

“Get down on all fours and keep your hands wide

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Trythesenaturalremedies!

New Delhi Do you often feel that pounding in your head?

That pounding is nothing but headache. It has become very common and usually happens because of dehydration, tension, stress or a hangover. Though there are many medicines for severe headaches, but one can get rid of it naturally.

If you have headache then consume ginger as it helps reduce the inflammation of the blood vessels in the head and provide relief. Mix equal parts of ginger juice and lemon juice and have it daily twice. You can also

boil ginger powder or raw ginger in water, and inhale the vapor to get relief from headache.

Cinnamon Cinnamon is one of the effective agent to get rid of headaches. Grind some cinnamon sticks into a powder and add some water to make a thick paste. Now, apply the paste on your forehead and keep it for 30 minutes and then wash it with lukewarm water.

Cloves Cloves is also another natural home remedy to treat headaches as they can ease the pain with their cooling and pain relieving properties.

Crushing some cloves and put them in a clean handkerchief. Now, inhale the smell of the crushed cloves until you get some relief from the pain.

Chamomile Tea Drinking a cup of chamomile tea helps to get relief from severe headaches as it contains compounds that soothes the pain.

Lemon Lemon is an excellent remedy to get rid of headaches because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon into your cup of herbal tea and drink it. You can also rub fresh lemon on your forehead and temples to get relief.

Almond Almonds helps in getting relief from headaches as it contains salicin that acts as a natural aspirin and ease the pain. So, grab some nuts next time whevener you get a headache, and get quick relief.

apart for them to fall in line with the shoulders and keep your feet closer together. Now, lower down

your body until it is about to contact the ground and just in that moment, push yourself back up regain the first position. For best result, lift up your hips and utilize the core strength of your body to complete the exercise. For best results, repeat set of five pushups five times,” she added.

Squats The go for 15 Squats. It is another classic exercise for toning the body and burning fat. The exercise works on our legs, especially inner thighs and calf muscles and well, a

toned up leg seldom goes out of fashion. Most importantly, squats build our strength and stamina, which goes a long way ahead in giving us freedom in life, in terms of health and fitness.

“For perfect results, do 5 repetitions of 15 squats each,” said the expert.

Crunches Thirdly, tone up your abs with 10 crunches.

Crunches isn’t an exercise one would like to miss, regardless of how occupied she might be in the day.

London Babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes (which develops during pregnancy) or pregestational diabetes (prior to pregnancy) may be at an increased risk of developing malformations, abnormal size, jaundice and low blood sugar, says a new study.

“Both gestational diabetes and pre-gestational diabetes in pregnancy are associated with worse neonatal outcomes compared with normal pregnancy,” said Basilio Pintuadi from Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital in Milan, Italy.

“Other clinical conditions, primarily represented by hypertensive and thyroid disorders could also complicate pregnancy outcome,” Pintuadi added.

For the study, the team analysed 135,163 pregnancies. Out of these, 1,357 cases complicated by gestational diabetes and 234 by pre-gestational diabetes were selected for an experiment.

Infants born to women with gestational diabetes were 10 times at higher risks of developing neonatal hypoglycaemia a condition arising out of low blood sugar in the body.

The risk was 36 times more in babies born to pre-gestational diabetic women.

Mothers with gestational diabetes were 1.7 times more at risk of delivering babies abnormally larger in size. Babies born to women with pregestational diabetes were 7.9 times more likely to be abnormally larger in size.

While women with gestational diabetes were 1.7 times at risk of delivering babies abnormally smaller in size.

Mothers with pregestational diabetes were 5.8 times likely to deliver babies abnormally smaller in size. Babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes were also at 1.7 times risk of developing jaundice, while those born to women with pregestational diabetes were at 2.6 times risk of developing the condition.

Mothers with gestational

diabetes were at 2.2 times risk of delivering babies with foetal malformations.

Infants born to women with pre-gestational diabetes were at 3.5 times risk of having foetal malformations.

Further, babies born to women with gestational diabetes were 1.8 times at risk of having low levels of calcium and magnesium.

The risk was 9.2 times in babies born to women with pre-gestational diabetes.

While the chances of caesarean section in women with gestational diabetes was 1.9 times higher, the risk was 8.5 times more in pregestational diabetic women. Children born to pre-gestational diabetic women were also associated with high risk of respiratory distress (2.7 times), the researchers concluded, in the paper published journal DNA Research.

Maternal diabetes may up health risks in babies

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Omega-3 supplement may improve reading skills in kids This is why you should eat tomatoes!

New Delhi We all love to eat tomatoes as they are an implausibly versatile food and a powerhouse of nutritional benefits. This juicy fruit is also considered good for health as it contain Vitamin C that helps in increasing one’s immunity. It also contain several other vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and dietary fibres that are necessary for a good health. Tomatoes helps in curing skin and eye diseases as the fruit contains vitamin A, flavonoid B complex, thiamine, folates, niacin, etc.

High blood pressure Tomatoes contains rich amount of minerals and nutrients that help in

preventing our body from high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Healthy bones and teeth The fruit is good for bone and teeth as it is rich in calcium that improves bone strength and bone formation in the body. It is also helps in maintaining a healthy teeth.

Boosts immunity Tomatoes are rich in vitamin A that helps in boosting immunity and also help avoid common cold and influenza.

Good for eyes Tomatoes contain high amounts of Vitamin A that has been associated with excellent eyesight, and a deficiency of this vitamin causes night blindness.

Tomato seeds thus helps in improving eyesight.

London Supplements of fatty acids found in fish oil, seafood and some algae may improvereading skills of schoolchildren, says a study.

Children with attention problems, in particular, may be helped in their reading with the addition of these fatty acids, the study said.

“Our study suggests that children could benefit from a dietary supplement with a special formula,” said Mats Johnson from Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

The study included 154 schoolchildren from Sweden in grade three, between nine and ten years old.

The children took a computer-based test (known as the Logos test) that measured their reading skills in a variety of ways, including reading speed, ability to read

nonsense words and vocabulary.

The children were randomly assigned to receive either capsules with omega-3 and omega6, or identical capsules that contained a placebo (palm oil) for three months.

The children, parents and researchers did not learn until the study was completed which children had received fatty acids and which had received the placebo.

“Even after three months, we could see that the children’s reading skills improved with the addition

of fatty acids, compared with those who received the placebo. This was particularly evident in the ability to read a nonsense word aloud and pronounce it correctly (phonologic decoding), and the ability to read a series of letters quickly (visual analysis time),” Johnson said.

No children diagnosed with ADHD (attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder) were included in the study, but with the help of the children’s parents, the researchers could identify children who had milder attention problems.

The findings published in

The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry showed that these children with mild attention problems attained even greater improvements in several tests, including faster reading already after three months of receiving fatty acid supplements.

Polyunsaturated fats and their role in children’s learning and behavior is a growing research area.

“Our modern diet contains relatively little omega-3, which it is believed to have a negative effect on our children when it comes to learning, literacy and attention,” Johnson said.

“The cell membranes in the brain are largely made up of polyunsaturated fats, and there are studies that indicate that fatty acids are important for signal transmission between nerve cells and the regulation of signaling systems in the brain,” Johnson noted.

Quitting alcohol easier than Tumour hardness may trying to control drinking develop cancer cells

London People who aim to quit drinking entirely are more likely to achieve this goal if they are treated by a care provider who advocates total abstinence, a new study suggests. According to the study, those who want to control their drinking or reduce the amount of alcohol they consume are likely to be less successful even when

Impotence?

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guided by a care provider.

“Instead patients whose goal was total abstinence were more successful than those who had chosen to control their drinking,” said Kristina Berglund, Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Published study suggested that people with alcohol dependence can learn to control their drinking. Previous studies have shown that the crucial factor in treatment success is that patients and care providers have the same view and that the choice of treatment method plays a subordinate role. But it has not been found out that what is the extent of influence of ones’s choice on the final outcome of treatment. For the study, published in the journal

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the researchers followed up 201 adult patients for 2.5 years after the onset of treatment . It showed that a shared view between patient and care provider was not decisive for the treatment outcome.

Around 90 per cent of patients who were in agreement with their care provider on total abstinence were still sober at the followup, whereas only 50 per cent, who were in agreement with their care provider on controlled consumption treatment, had succeeded in controlling their drinking at follow-up. “Our study shows that regardless of agreement on goals and methods, in the end it is more difficult to stick to controlled drinking than to give it up entirely,” Berglund added.

New York Tumour hardness and hypoxia lack of oxygen at the tumour’s core trigger a biological switch that causes cancer stem cells to develop, a recent study has found.

This biological switch is critical to a tumour’s ability to invade other tissue a process called metastasis.

“Our study suggests that to combat cancer, we should be developing treatments that target the stiff, hypoxic regions of tumours. We were surprised to see just how important these two properties in the tumour micro-environment stiffness and hypoxia were for regulating cancer stem cells,” said Celeste Nelson, Professor at the Princeton University, in the US. The cancer stem cells that specialise in generating new malignant cells represent only a small proportion of the total cells in a tumour, but researchers believe they play a key role in spreading the disease.

Using cultures of human breast-cancer cells and mouse mammary-cancer cells, Nelson and her

colleagues discovered an association between a protein called integrinlinked kinase and the creation of cancer stem cells.

The researchers created a range of human and mouse breast-cancer cultures reflecting different tissue conditions and showed that stiff hypoxic cultures did indeed promote cancer stem cells.

But when they eliminated the integrin-linked kinase from those samples, they found that the cancer stem cells stopped forming.

Conversely, when they forced abnormal levels of integrin-linked kinase in samples containing softer or less hypoxic tissue, cancer stem cells formed.

They also confirmed a significant association between tumour stiffness, integrin-linked kinase and cancer stem cell presence in samples from human

breast-cancer patients.

“We could see tumour cells expressing cancer stem-cell markers and integrin-linked kinase located at regions with high collagen, which is used to estimate stiffness in a tumour,” said Mei-Fong Pang, Researcher at the Princeton University.

The findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, suggested that stiffness and hypoxia cause integrinlinked kinase to behave abnormally, which in turn triggers cancer stem-cell formation.

There are likely other features in tumours that cause cancer stem cells to form, but the findings indicate that stiff, hypoxic conditions and their effects on integrin-linked kinase are two of the most prominent ones.

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HONEYCOMB-EINKORN SCONES JAPANESE SASHIMI WITH HAZELNUTS AND ROSEMARY AND RICE (CHIRASHI)

Making sushi at home can be a challenge fraught with angst.

That’s where chirashi comes in. It’s a rice bowl covered in colorful slices of fish, glistening balls of orange roe, and a rainbow of other garnishes from sesame seeds to seaweed promising all the architectural potential we lust for in a wellmade sushi platter—but with far less effort. This recipe comes courtesy of chef Mike Lim of Chicago’s Roka Akor.

For the vinegar mixture 1 /4 cup rice vinegar 3 tbsp. (1 1/2 oz.) granulated sugar 1 tbsp. mirin 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. 1/ oz. Kosher salt 2 For the sushi rice and toppings

10 oz. short-grain sushi rice 1 1/4 cups water 1 /2 cup cup mixed, chilled, sliced seafood such as raw tuna, raw salmon, raw yellowtail, and chilled poached squid, left out at room temperature for 10 minutes 3 tbsp. salmon roe (ikura) 1 /2 oz. each thinly sliced chilled vegetables such as cucumber, avocado, and poached asparagus 1 /2 oz. chopped tamago (sushi omelet) Instructions To make the vinegar mixture, in a medium bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar, mirin and salt; set aside.

To make the sushi rice, in a large bowl, add the rice and cover with lots of water. Gently stir with

your hands, then drain and repeat several times until the water is clear.

Let dry for 15 minutes.

Transfer rice to rice cooker and add the water. Cook rice according to manufacturer’s directions.

(Alternatively, add the rice and water to a medium nonstick pot; cook over high heat for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to low and cook just until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes more. Turn off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes.)

Transfer the rice to a shallow mixing bowl (not metal). Spread out the rice across the bottom of the bowl and, using a wooden spatula or wooden paddle to disperse it, quickly but evenly pour the vinegar mixture into the rice. Mix the rice to distribute. Let the rice cool.

Layer 1 ½ cups rice into the bottom of a serving bowl (reserve any remaining rice for another use). Distribute the toppings over the rice as desired, and serve immediately.

Einkorn flour has a subtle sweetness that pairs incredibly well with honey and nuts. More substantial than white flour but less dense than regular whole wheat flour, it makes perfectly textured, toothsome scones, like these, adapted from the Brooklyn Bread Lab. Ingredients 1 cup hazelnuts 4 oz. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter 3 cups all-purpose einkorn flour, plus more for dusting 1 /4 cup granulated sugar 3 /4 tsp. kosher salt 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary 1 /2 cup buttermilk 1 /2 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing 2 1/2 oz. (about 2 1/2 Tbsp.) honeycomb Coarse sugar, such as turbinado or Demerara, for topping Instructions Preheat the oven to 350°.

Add the hazelnuts to a baking sheet and bake until the skins are darkened and some are easy to loosen, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool slightly.

Remove and discard as much of the skin as possible by rubbing with

fingers, then coarsely chop the nuts.

Meanwhile, grate the cold butter on the large side of a box grater; chill.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, granulated sugar, salt, and baking powder to combine. Add the butter, mixing briefly with fingers to distribute. Add the chopped hazelnuts and rosemary, tossing to coat.

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk and heavy cream, then slowly add the mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spatula to incorporate. Break up the honeycomb into small pieces with your fingers and mix into the dough by hand to distribute throughout.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet that’s been

lightly dusted with more einkorn flour, turn out the dough. Using floured hands, shape into a 12inch-long, 1-inch-thick rectangle. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Using a sharp knife, make a diagonal cut crosswise through the dough every 3 inches to form 8 triangular scones. Separate the scones across the baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each.

Brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle each with about 1D 4 tsp. coarse sugar.

Bake until lightly browned on the top and goldenbrown on the bottom, 18 to 24 minutes. Remove and let cool 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

from the refrigerator 15– 20 minutes before you are ready to roll it out.

Make the filling: Combine the plum slices, berries, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl and let stand for 30 minutes. Strain off the juices, sprinkle the fruit with cornstarch, and mix well to dissolve the starch.

Assemble the pie: Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400°. Grease an 8-inch metal pie plate.

Dust your countertop with flour and roll one half of the pie dough into a 15inch circle. Gently lift the crust and settle it into the pie plate, leaving any overhanging crust intact.

Pour the fruit mixture into the crust and press it down carefully to fill evenly.

Roll the second half of the crust into a rectangle

about 6-by-14 inches.

Use a knife or a fluted pastry cutter to cut the rectangle into long, 1D 2inch-wide strips. Place one strip across the center of the top of the pie. Leaving an equal amount of space between each strip, lay one strip on either side of, and parallel to, the first.

Working in the opposite direction, weave the remaining strips of dough perpendicularly over and under to create a lattice.

Trim the ends of the lattice strips to the same

size as the bottom crust, then fold the bottom layer up and over the loose strips. Crimp the edges between two fingers and your thumb to decorate the rim of the pie. Chill the pie in the freezer for 15 minutes or till the dough is firm like cold butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350° for 1 hour and 10–20 minutes, or until the juices are thickened and bubbly and the crust is evenly golden.

BLACKBERRY-PLUM LATTICE PIE

If working with extremely ripe and juicy fruit, you might need a bit more cornstarch to adequately thicken the filling of this pie—add up to 2 additional tablespoons.

The same recipe and technique can be used with just about any summer fruit. Try a combination of berries, peaches, apricots, or black cherries; you can also add flavorings, such as a teaspoon of almond extract, or liqueur.

For the pie crust 3 1/4 cups (1 lb.) allpurpose flour, plus more for dusting 4 tsp. (1/2 oz.) granulated sugar 1 tsp. kosher salt 6 oz. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled 1 /3 cup (3 oz.) vegetable shortening, chilled

1

/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (5 oz.) cold water For the filling 6 cups sliced plums (about 6 plums, or 1 lb., pitted and sliced 1D 3-inch thick) 1 cup (about 5 oz.) blackberries 3 tbsp. (1 1/4 oz.) granulated sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 D 2 tsp. kosher salt 5 tbsp. (1 1/4 oz.) cornstarch Instructions Make the crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and shortening; using a pastry cutter, cut the fat into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Alternately you can use a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade, pulsing until the fat is cut in. Transfer to a mixing

bowl.

Drizzle about half of the water over the flour mixture; using a fork, gently work the mixture into clumps to begin to form a dough. Drizzle the remaining water and continue working just until the dough comes together. Use your hands to pull in the last bits of flour, being careful not to overwork and melt the butter. Shape the dough into a ball.

On a clean surface, flatten the dough to a 1D -inch-thick disk, then fold 2 it over itself. Flatten and fold 4 additional times to form layers. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, about 15 ounces each. Shape each half into a disk, wrap them each in plastic, and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Pull the dough

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