The contact

THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 635, 6 OCT. - 12 OCT. 2015 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Moscow admitted one of its aircraft had overflown the Turkish skies

A Russian pilot climbs from an SU-25M jet fighter at Hmeimim airbase in Syria Turkey threatened to react with military force to future violations of its airspace by Russian warplanes, after revealing that it scrambled two F-16 fighters on Saturday when a Russian fighter

jet briefly crossed the border from Syria. A meeting of Nato ambassadors was called to discuss the incident after Moscow admitted that one of its aircraft had overflown the Turkish province of Hatay.

Moscow’s military push to prop up Bashar alAssad’s government in Damascus – now in its second week – has caused consternation in the West.

Russian officials blamed a navigation error for the

incident, and promised that it would not be repeated. The excuse, and the assurance, was met with scepticism in Western capitals as Turkey, a Nato member, said that a Continued on Page 2

19-yr-old NRI transgender boy gets back passport, free to return to US

AGRA Nineteen-year-old Shivy, who wants to shed the name of Shivani Bhatt and assume a male identity, got respite from the Delhi high court on Monday. The NRI parents of Shivy handed back his passport and other documents at the court

on Monday, leaving him free to return to the US, to his studies there and his girlfriend. On September 18, an Indian newspaper had reported that the ‘daughter’ of NRI parents had gone missing from the Dayalbagh University after she was allegedly sent there to “reform her sexuality”. The parents had hoped that a spell at the university would “bring her back on track”. After the girl went missing, police had started a nationwide search. The parents had, meanwhile,

alleged that their daughter had been “kidnapped”.

The fight between Shivy and his parents started in mid-June this year when he wanted to cut his hair short but his conservative Indian-American parents were completely against it. It was because nineteen-year-old Shivani Bhatt, who prefers to be called by Shivy, was born

female but identifies as male. The fight got so violent, and Shivy claims that his mother abused him verbally and physically, confiscated his phone and forcefully unlocked it. It was then that his parents found out that Shivy was transgender. “They took away my mobile Continued on Page 2

Harbhajan Singh to tie knot with actress Geeta Basra this month

Harbhajan Singh and Bollywood actress Geeta Basra are all set to get married October 29, it’s revealed. Indian fashion designer A.D. Singh took to twitter to post a picture of the red and gold wedding invitation, with the couple’s initials on it and captioned it ‘Countdown to Wedding of year of my friends

Indian Man sets Guinness World Record with 909.6 cm long nails with no trimming since 1952 Mumbai Shridhar Chillal, 78, has been growing the nails on his left hand since he was at school, and hasn’t trimmed them since 1952. That’s before the first Guinness World Records book was even published.

Shridhar, who hails from Maharashtra, has

had sent the body, identified to be Powar’s by a friend, to the UK through a private agency after nobody from his family came to collect it. The family has now taken to social media to seek help to trace him.

now been officially recognised by Guinness as the person with the ‘Longest Fingernails on a Single Hand Ever’ and features in their 2016 edition. When Sridhar was in school, he decided to grow his nails as a challenge. “When I was a schoolboy, we were once beaten by our teacher, because my friend broke his nail.

Continued on Page 2

Continued on Page 2

Punjab Police sent wrong body, says family Four months after the Punjab Police claimed that a body, recovered from the Bhakra canal, was that of UK-based NRI hotelier Ranjit Singh Powar, who had gone missing in the state, his daughter on Monday said DNA tests conducted in Britain have

revealed the body was not that of her father. Police

@Geeta_Basra & @harbhajan_singh Royalty & Class! #GeetawedsBhajji #bridal.’ Sources have revealed that the ceremony includes sangeet, mehendi and reception over a period of five days. Harbhajan Singh was recently been picked for the South Africa T20I series.

Issue - 635 (2)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Indian Man sets Guinness World Record with 909.6 cm....

Continued from Page 1 The teacher had grown a very long nail,”he said.

When he asked the teacher why they were beaten for just ‘breaking his nail,’ the teacher said they would not understand as they had never grown long nails.

Shridhar ‘took it as a challenge’ and started growing his nails. His nails now have a cumulative length of 909.6cm. The most impressive is his thumbnail which measures an unbelievable 197.8 cm and curls into a tight coil at the end.

But it wasn’t easy for Sridhar. He had to be very careful especially when sleeping: “I can’t move much, so every half an hour or so I wake up and move my hand to the other side of the bed.”His family and friends didn’t approve of it either. “My family really didn’t like it, no one would wash my clothes and I had

to wash them by hand.

Finding a job was also difficult, as no one was ready to employ me,”he said in an interview to the Guinness World Records when they visited him in Maharashtra.

Finding a wife for Sridhar was equally difficult. “No one was ready to marry me, I saw nearly 10 to 12 girls.

If the girl agreed to marry, her parents would say I would strangle their daughter’s neck and refuse,”he said. However, Sridhar may soon get rid of the world-record nails.

He plans to have his nails cut and have them preserved in a museum but he’s keeping the date of when this will happen a secret. “Now that I am 78 years old, my nails have become much more delicate due to my age, so my wish is to preserve these nails in a museum,”he said.

19-yr-old NRI transgender boy...

Continued from Page 1 phone and laptop even while we were in America, but I still never imagined then that our annual holiday to India in July would have any other motive,”Shivy told the BBC. According to the video that Shivy has uploaded on NGO Nazariya’s, YouTube channel, his parents allegedly coerced him into coming to India with them under the pretense of a family holiday, since after the haircut incident, Shivy had moved out of his parents’ house.

Shivy alleged that his parents took away all his documents passport, green card and even his birth certificate for “travel purposes”. In Agra, at his family house, Shivy alleges that his parents were forcing him into marrying a man and were trying to “fix”him. “It was completely suffocating, my every movement was being

Moscow admitted one of its aircraft had ...

Continued from Page 1 similar incident had taken place on Sunday when a Mig-29 had engaged two Turkish F-16s for more than five minutes, including locking its radar on to one of them. The Turkish military said that it did not know who the jet belonged to, but the suspicion will fall on Russia, which has attacked rebels close to the Turkish border. Nato issued a statement of protest at the Russian incursions, adding: “Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour. ”Meanwhile, there was worldwide condemnation of Isis after it blew up the Arch of Triumph, one of the most

prominent monuments in Syria’s 2,000-year-old Roman city of Palmyra, whose remains it has been systematically destroying.

Unesco, the UN’s cultural body, said the act showed the group was terrified of history. The perpetrators should be tried and punished as war criminals, it said.

There are fears that if one side shoots down an aircraft belonging to the other side the situation could spin out of control. The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoðlu, accused Moscow of escalating the crisis and declared: “The Turkish armed forces have their orders. The necessary

Punjab Police sent wrong body...

Continued from Page 1

“No one has corrected the media in stating that Ranjit’s body has not been found. Our family had an agonising wait for a formal identification of a body found in India, to discover it was not Ranjit…,”reads a post on a Facebook page titled ‘Help Find Ranjit Singh Powar’.

Powar, a millionaire hotelier from Wolverhampton, went missing after landing in Punjab on May 8 this year.

The Jalandhar police had then alleged he was killed by his business partner Baldev Singh Deol (an NRI ) and his nephew Sukhdev

Singh. The latter has been arrested. In an email sent to journalists, however, Powar’s daughter, Emma Laura, on Monday stated the recovered body was not of her father. ADCP -2, Jalandhar, Amrik Singh Puar, on the other hand, said police had received an email from the British High Commission in September, saying a DNA test was conducted on the body. He said the email did not mention the test’s result.

Puar said a DNA test conducted in the UK may not be valid in Indian courts.

will be done, even if it’s a bird that violates Turkey’s border.Our rules of engagement are very clear.”Speaking in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, questioned the Turkish version of events and said “some facts”needed to be checked. The Russian ambassador to Ankara was summoned to a meeting with Turkish officials yesterday and the foreign ministers of both countries spoke by telephone.

monitored,”he says in the video, clearly on the verge of tears. When Shivy’s mother and his brothers went back to the US, he managed to get back his phone and run away from the house to Delhi, where

would return to the US, which offered a better “support system for people like us.”He said he had a green card, Rs 10,000 and US$300. He expressed happiness that he would soon be able to return to

the NGO Nazariya offered to help him. “I finally felt safe in India,”he says in the video.

The Neurobiology student, who is studying in the University of California, Davis, with help from his lawyers moved to Delhi High Court seeking protection from harassment, intimidation and coercion and asked his parents to return him his passport and green card. In a remarkable judgement, the judge granted him and his friends protection from any harassment by the police. The order from the Delhi High Court was communicated to his parents who have acknowledged receiving the order. At the court on Monday, Shivy said he

his girlfriend and studies in biology in a US university.

Soon after the parents took the matter to police, Shivy had filed a petition in the Delhi high court, saying his parents had wronged him.

He said he was a transgender, a student of neurobiology at a prestigious California college. He said his parents had forced him to go to India and study at Dayalbagh University in a bid to “reform”his sexuality.

The Delhi high court had then ordered protection to the young transgender and summoned his parents on October 5. On Monday, his mother handed back his documents at the court, leaving him free to travel and return to the US. The court also ordered Shivy’s

parents to aid his studies.

This too was accepted by the parents, with some conditions. Speaking over phone, Shivy expressed gratitude to NGO Nazaria which aided his efforts to gain freedom. He said he was happy at the the court’s stance on the rights of transgenders. “The court has given me my freedom back. Now I will be going back to the US. I will get back to my studies there and live with my girlfriend.

My mother agreed to provide me financial help in my studies on a few conditions, which I am okay with.”He said that when he first identified himself to his parents as a man trapped in a woman’s body, he was “tortured”and sent to Agra, to be with his mother’s parents there.

His father, a researcher in the US, according to police, admitted Shivy to Dayalbagh University for the “proper inculcation of moral discipline and values”. Shivy fled the college on September 10. That was when the parents approached Agra police, claiming their ‘daughter’ had been kidnapped so her green card and passport could be misused. We attempted to contact Shivy’s parents, who refused to talk to the media.

Dayalbagh University registrar Anand Mohan said, “At the time of admission, the girl expressed a desire to opt for computers. Her parents never revealed anything about the issues she had been struggling with. We considered her like any other student.”

Groom from UK dupes Mumbai resident The next time you receive a gift from a prospective groom or a bride or a friend, whom you have only met online, be wary of their intentions. A 34-year-old employee of a sports channel learnt this lesson the hard way after being duped of Rs 16 lakh by a fraudster. The victim registered an FIR at the RAK Marg police station last week. In her complaint, the Sewri resident claimed she had met the crook six months ago on a renowned matrimonial website. She said they started chatting regularly and became close over the following months.

It was during one such online conversation that she accepted his marriage proposal.

The con job Elaborating the fraudster’s modus operandi, a police officer said, “A month ago, he told the woman that he

had sent her a gift worth over Rs 3 crore. A few days later, the fraudster told her that the package was confiscated by the Custom officials over a pending duty

address on the package belonged to her and the Customs officials would come looking for her if the taxes were not paid in time.

Petrified, the woman raised

of Rs 16 lakh. He then asked her to deposit the amount into his account so that he could do the needful.”The officer added that initially the victim refused to pay stating that she did not have the money.

However, he threatened that she could be jailed if she did not pay because the

the money by borrowing from her friends. She even had to sell off her belongings.

Smelling a rat A few days later, the fraudster again demanded Rs 4 lakh, stating there was another tax to be paid.

Sensing that something was amiss, she sought help

from one of her friends. It was the friend who told her she was being duped and must seek police help immediately. A police officer said, “The woman saw pictures of the fraudster, which we suspect aren’t his, following which they began chatting. He claimed to be a doctor at a top hospital in the UK. Her mistake was that she trusted him blindly.”Sub-inspector Ajay Birajdar from RAK Marg police station said an FIR had been registered last week, and the fraudster was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act. “His account is still active. We suspect the fraudster has duped other women as well. Always be wary while befriending people online.

Never trust an online friend until you meet him/her personally.

Issue - 635 (3)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Issue - 635 (4)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Putin’s playing a very dangerous game!

Russian warplanes violated Turkey’s airspace on two occasions over the weekend, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. Russia’s Defense Ministry admitted Saturday’s intrusion, saying that it was an accidental intrusion caused by poor weather, but denied knowing anything about Sunday’s intrusion. Based on the experience and Ukraine, we know that anything that a Russian official says is going be partially or completely a lie; there is no particular reason to believe Russia’s Defense Ministry. Indeed, an unnamed senior US official said the Obama administration does not believe the incursion was an accident, and officials are in urgent talks with allies about what to do.

Since Turkey is a member of NATO, an attack on Turkey is an attack on all of NATO. Nato Secretary General Jens

THE CONTACT STAFF: EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sunny Bains Lt. Hon. President : Dr. (Prof.) Darshan Singh Executive Editor: Kanwaljit Kaur Bains EDITOR Vinny Bains Foreign Editor: Syed Asif Shahkar (Sweden) Sr. Assistant Editor: Prempal Bajwa Marketing Executive Vinny Bains Special Correspondents: Balkar Chatha France Financial Advisor : Sarabjit Singh Sagoo Photographer: Sandeep Brar 647 294 4948 Head Office: 2-7015 TRANMERE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA ONTARIO CANADA L5S 1T7 For Advertisement : Call Kanwaljit 416-899-2548 Tel: 905-671-4761 TOLL FREE: 1-888-371-2548 FAX: 1888-982-2818 EMAIL: INFO@AJITWEEKLY.COM

The Contact Weekly and people associated with it are not responsible for any claims made by the advertisers and don’t endorse any product or services advertised in the Contact Weekly. Please consult your lawyer before buying/hiring/ contracting through the ads published in the newspaper. The Contact Weekly is in the business of selling space and claims made by the advertisers are not tested/ confirmed by an independent source.

Stoltenberg issued the following statement: “I just met with the Foreign Minister of Turkey Feridun Sinirlioglu to discuss the recent military actions of the Russian Federation in and around Syria.

Including the unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace by Russian combat aircraft. I made clear that NATO remains strongly committed to Turkey’s security.

I will convene a meeting of the North Atlantic Council later today to discuss the situation. Russia’s actions are not contributing to the security and stability of the region. I call on Russia to fully respect NATO airspace and to avoid escalating tensions with the Alliance.

I urge Russia to take the necessary steps to align its efforts with those of the international community in the fight against ISIL.” The harshest threat came from Turkey’s prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who said any future warplanes violating Turkey’s airspace could be shot down: “What we received from Russia indicates that this was a mistake, that they respect Turkey’s borders and that this will not happen again.

Turkey’s rules of engagement apply to all planes, be they Syrian, Russian or from elsewhere. Turkey’s armed forces have very clear instructions. The necessary steps will be taken against whoever violates Turkey’s borders, even if it’s a bird. For Russia, which long opposed foreign intervention in Syria and blocked UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, to be actively involved in Syria is both a contradiction and a move that has escalated the crisis. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have their orders. What is necessary will be done, even if it’s a bird that violates Turkey’s border ... Our rules of engagement are clear,” The back story is that in June, 2011, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish air force jet. A furious Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the rules of engagement would be changed, and that Turkey would use military force in response to any incursion by Syrian

aircraft.

On September 16, 2013, Turkey scrambled two F-16 jets, and shot down a Syrian Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter, after SUNNY BAINS warning it that it was approaching Turkish airspace.

The helicopter was shot down over Turkey’s officials believe that the Russians are airspace, but it landed in a ball of flames lying, beyond the fact that Russia’s on the Syrian side of the border. Reports president Vladimir Putin lies about pretty indicates that Syrian anti-government much everything. The reason was rebels shot the pilots dead after they expressed in a BBC interview by James ejected.

Jeffrey, former US ambassador to Turkey, It’s hard to overestimate the significance now at Washington Institute for Near East of these developments as Russia opened Policy. According to Jeffrey: “It’s a dangerous new chapter in Syria and the tremendously destabilizing, and here’s Mideast.” Russia’s military incursion into one reason why. The area they flew into, Syria is substantially inflaming sectarian Hatay province, I know it well, was part of tensions throughout the Mideast. Russia Syria until the end of the 1930s, and Syria has never acknowledged that as Turkish territory, so you have a very interesting situation. It’s very difficult for me to believe that the Russians made a mistake. ... I think this (Russian intervention) is long term, and I think it is that Putin doesn’t think there’s any real beef behind this coalition, beginning here in Washington. He thinks that as he bullies his way forward, everybody’s going to fall back. The coalition of forces and capabilities weigh against him. Putin’s a guy all about intentions. and Turkey are age-old enemies that have He doesn’t think that president Obama fought many generational crisis wars. intends to do anything other than back Russia is allied with Iran, who is a bitter down when Putin threatens him.” enemy of Saudi Arabia. And Russia’s So the implication is that Russia’s military incursion is inflaming Sunni jihadists who may invade Hatay province and annex it are reminded of the Soviet invasion of to Syria in the same way that Russia’s Afghanistan in the 1980s. Russia feels military invaded Crimea and annexed it to that it can do anything it wants in the Russia. Russia can count on Obama and Mideast or elsewhere because the NATO to back down, but Monday’s Obama administration is extremely weak incursions tested whether Turkey would and will always back off from any Russian also back down. In fact, Turkey did back show of force. As I’ve been writing for down from its rules of engagement, and years, the entire Mideast is headed for a only warned Russia instead of shooting full-scale sectarian generational crisis war down the warplanes, but that could change that will engulf the region. Russian officials next time, as Davutoglu’s threat implies. may believe that Obama’s weakness Most of the population of Hatay province allows them to do anything they want, is Alawite, the same as Syria’s president but their actions are inflaming age-old Bashar al-Assad. The population is ethnic and religious conflicts that will lead strongly secular and committed to religious to a major war. tolerance, but the people are divided about Russia’s incursions may be targeting the Syrian war, with Alawite’s supporting Turkey’s Hatay province the regime and Hatay’s Sunni population There’s a major reason why Western supporting the opposition.

Vietnamese journalist sentenced for passing state secrets to China Vietname A Vietnamese journalist has been found guilty of spying for China and sentenced to a six-year jail term by a Hanoi court after a threehour trial, his lawyer said on Thursday.Ha Huy Hoang, who had worked for a Foreign Ministry-run magazine, was jailed on Wednesday for colluding with a Chinese spy and would appeal, lawyer Ha Huy Son told Reuters.“He was found guilty of supplying information and material about Vietnam’s economy and its leaders to the Chinese government,” he said.Issues related to China are highly sensitive in Vietnam, where the ruling Communist Party shares close but rocky ties with Beijing, despite deeprooted resentment among its people and

territorial squabbling over the South China Sea.Thursday’s Vietnamese newspapers did not report the case.

Prominent news outlets Tuoi Tre and VNExpress had posted online reports at the start of the trial, but soon removed them without any explanation.Prior to its removal, Tuoi Tre’s story said Hoang had visited China six times and was

providing information to a spy whom he had met in 2009, according to the indictment.Hoang had denied espionage and said he believed the spy had been a fellow journalist, and the information he had shared had been in the public domain.

Reuters received no response for requests for comment from Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, which cancelled its regular news briefing on Thursday without explanation.Mistrust of China runs deep in Vietnam and experts say it is a divisive issue within the ruling Communist Party. Vietnam has vastly improved ties with the United States, and some party members have publicly backed a shift away from Beijing’s sphere of influence.

Issue - 635 (5)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Trio wins Nobel Medicine Prize for parasite therapies

When the teacher asks the class a question, many hands may go up.

Probably these belong to the ones who know the answers. But what about the hands that do not rise?

Are those children being shy? Modest? Unsure of themselves? Or, do they simply not know? Why do we feel that ‘not knowing’ is such a bad thing? Why should that be anything to feel ashamed of? Far better to know that you don’t know something about someone and to seek the truth - than to think that you do know and act with inappropriate confidence. !!!

Is it truly possible to have too much of a good thing?

Of course! A soothing piece of music, for instance, that you love to hear at gentle volume, every now and then becomes a different proposition when it’s at full volume on a neighbor’s stereo on ‘repeat’ play. And what is a problematic relationship other than a friendly bond in which a dynamic tension has become too tense? ‘Bad things’ are almost always ‘good things’ that have gone too far. You have something very good in your world now. Don’t go too far with it! !!!

When we wake up in the morning, we all have to begin our day by remembering what it was we were trying to achieve yesterday. You’ve got a determined disposition. It’s never hard for you to pick up the threads. But they do say variety is the spice of life. Maybe you should forget about the past, and experiment with something novel and amusing. Maybe if you change one thing you will change many things ... for the better. A new mood in your heart suggests it’s time for a new approach and a different idea! !!!

One of my favorite stories involves a remote farmer.

One day, his plough breaks. He needs a tool to mend it. So he sets off to visit the owner of a neighboring farm. As he walks, he thinks, ‘What if my neighbor refuses to help me?’ The closer he gets to his destination, the more convinced he becomes that he is about to be turned down. When his neighbor finally opens the door with a big smile on his face, the farmer immediately punches him right on the nose. Watch for such negative expectations in your personal life now. !!!

They say that you should always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

But are they right? If you are not prepared for the best, you won’t be in a position to take advantage of it when it happens.

Unless, of course, the best is so brilliantly good that it works its magic regardless of whether or not you are ready for it.

But that’s asking an awful lot of the best and there is some debate about whether you will get the very best. But in your emotional life, you’ll certainly wind up with something that’s a long way from the worst! !!!

So much depends on our expectation, our point of view and our frame of mind. No wonder we find it hard to stand back and see our life objectively. To achieve such a feat of disassociation, we would probably have to be living saints. If we were, we wouldn’t think of ourselves as such because, well, saints don’t do that, do they?

From which we can reasonably deduce that if you were a living saint, you wouldn’t know it. So how can you be sure that you aren’t one? Soon, you may give many of us cause to wonder.

STOCKHOLM A trio of scientists earned the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for unlocking revolutionary treatments for malaria and roundworm, helping to roll back two parasitic diseases that blight millions of lives.

Tu Youyou of China won half of the award for her work in artemisinin, a drug based on ancient Chinese herbal medicine, the Nobel jury announced. She is the first Chinese woman national to win a Nobel prize in science.

Irish-born William Campbell and Satoshi Omura of Japan shared the other half for an antiroundworm treatment dubbed avermectin, derived from soildwelling bacteria. “These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the Nobel committee said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”

Tu, 84, has been chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 2000. She conducted

research in the 1970s, at the height of China’s Cultural Revolution, that led to the discovery of artemisinin, a drug that has slashed the number of malaria deaths.

The treatment is based on traditional medicine - a herb called sweet wormwood or Artemisia annua.

Artemisinin-based drugs

honoured Omura and Campbell for “a new class of drugs with extraordinary efficacy against parasitic diseases,” the Nobel statement said. Registered drugs derived from avermectin “have radically lowered” the incidence of river blindness and elephantiasis, both caused by parasitic worms, it

are now the standard combination for treating malaria since the mosquitotransferred Plasmodium parasite developed resistance to other drug types like chloroquine.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were about 198 million malaria infections in 2013 and 584,000 deaths - most of them African children.

The other half of the prize

added.

River blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, is caused by a worm transmitted to humans through the bites of infected blackflies. Its symptoms include disfiguring skin conditions and visual impairment, including permanent blindness. More than 99 percent of those affected live in Africa.

Elephantiasis or lymphatic filariasis, is a mosquito-

Australia to spend $1b on armoured vehicles SYDNEY Australia will spend Aus$1.3 billion (US$1 billion) on next-generation armoured land vehicles for its army, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said

Monday as he announced the latest update to modernise the nation’s military. Australian forces are part of the coalition fighting Islamic State group militants in Iraq and Syria, but Turnbull denied that the procurement of 1,100 blast-resistant Hawkei’s from Thales Australia suggested a greater global engagement. “I am not signalling that,” Turnbull told reporters at a joint press conference with Defence Minister Marise Payne at a test facility for

the Hawkei vehicles north of Melbourne.”However, the reality is that IEDs (improvised explosive devices) for example are a feature of the modern battlefield and regardless of

the context in which the Australian Defence Force is operating that type of threat is almost certainly going to be there. These vehicles are able to operate in every terrain.” Australia last year beefed up its air power with the $12.4 billion purchase of 58 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to bring its total JSF force to 72 and this year said it would buy two long-distance C-17 Globemaster planes in an Aus$1 billion procurement to boost military and disaster relief operations worldwide. Canberra has

not yet decided on its biggest ever defence procurement programme an estimated Aus$50 billion project to replace current diesel and electricpowered Collins Class submarines. Turnbull said the government would purchase the 1,100 locally-built Hawkei protected vehicles, as well as more than 1,000 trailers, manufactured at Thales Australia’s production line in Bendigo in the southern state of Victoria. “It is an example of how the Australian Defence Force is investing in technology to meet the threats of the modern battleground,” he said. Turnbull said the program will provide 170 jobs directly and a further 60 in the supply chain as the vehicles, which are designed to be more mobile and have greater blast resistance, are manufactured in Bendigo.

The Hawkei is also the only protected mobility vehicle in the Australian Defence Force that can be transported by Australian military helicopters.

borne infection which causes grotesque and disfiguring swelling of the limbs.

Omura, a microbiologist, isolated new strains of a group of bacteria called Streptomyces, and successfully cultured them in the lab.

Campbell, a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in New Jersey in the United States, was born in 1930 in Ramelton, Ireland. His role was to show that a component from one of Omura’s cultures was active against parasites - this became avermectin. “I humbly accept the prize,” 80-year-old Omura, a professor emeritus at Kitasato University, said in a interview with the Nobel Foundation. He thanked the “many, many researchers” who had contributed to his findings, saying he was “very, very lucky.”

The Swedish news agency TT said the Nobel Foundation had not yet been able to reach Tu and Campbell to inform them of their prizes.

This year’s Nobel laureates will share the prize sum of eight million Swedish kronor (about $950,000 or 855,000 euros).

Crowdfunding site Patreon hacked data leaked

Washington About 15 gigabytes of data including names, addresses and donations have been published online following a hack attack on crowdfunding site Patreon.

Patreon allows people to make regular donations to artists for projects. Projects currently seeking funding include a science video series featuring former International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield.

Credit card details were not stolen, said chief executive Jack Conte. “We do not store full credit card numbers on our servers and no credit card numbers were compromised,” he wrote on the firm’s blog.– BBC “Although accessed, all passwords, social security numbers and tax form information remain safely encrypted with a 2048-bit RSA key.”

Issue - 635 (6)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

10 richest people of all time across history Today, it seems as though many of the worlds wealthiest have built their mountains of money through business ventures or inheritance, but throughout history, things are a bit more violent, the Dunyanews has said. This ranking of the richest people has

been determined despite the difficulty of comparing wealth across a wide range of time periods and economic systems.

Following is a rigorous but highly debatable attempt to list the wealthiest historical figures in order of their economic influence.

Akbar The greatest emperor of India’s Mughal dynasty, Akbar controlled an empire that accounted for about one-fourth of global economic output. Historians cite that India’s GDP per capita under Akbar was comparable to Elizabethan England, but with “a ruling class whose extravagant lifestyle surpassed that of the European society.” Mughal Dynasty was one of the most effective empires of all time at extracting wealth from the population.

Joseph Stalin Stalin is an uncommon figure in modern economic history: a dictator with absolute power who also controlled one of the largest economies in the world.

While it is virtually impossible to separate Stalin’s wealth from the wealth of the Soviet Union, his unique combination of economic might and complete control of the USSR lead multiple economists to nominate him as one of the richest people of all time.

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie may be the richest American of all time. The Scottish immigrant sold his company, US Steel, to JP Morgan for $480 million in 1901.

That sum equates to about slightly over 2.1 percent of US GDP at the name, giving Carnegie economic power equivalent to $372 billion in 2014.

Emperor Shenzong China’s Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) was one of the most economically powerful empires of all time.

According to Prof. Ronald A. Edwards, a Chinese economic historian of the Song Dynasty at Tamkang University, the nation accounted for between 25 percent and 30 percent of the world’s economic output during its peak.

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan is undoubtedly one of the most successful military leaders of all time. As leader of the Mongol Empire, which at its height stretched from China to Europe, he controlled the largest contiguous empire in history. However, despite his great power, scholars say Genghis never hoarded his wealth. On the contrary, the Khan’s generosity was key to his influence.

Alan Rufus The nephew of William the Conqueror, Rufus joined his uncle in the Norman conquest. He died with £11,000, according to Philip Beresford and Bill Rubinstein, authors of The Richest of the Rich, which they say amounted to 7 percent of England’s GDP at the time. That would amount to $194 billion in 2014 dollars.

Bill Gates As the richest living person, Bill Gates’ wealth is refreshingly easy to determine. As of this year, Forbes estimates the Microsoft founder’s net worth at $78.9 billion. That’s about $8 billion more than Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega, the second-richest person in the world.

Mansa Musa Mansa Musa, the king of Timbuktu, is often referred to as the wealthiest person in history. According to researchers Musa’s west African kingdom was likely the largest producer of gold in the world - at a time which gold was in especially high demand.

John Rockefeller Rockefeller began investing in the petroleum industry in 1863 and by 1880 his Standard Oil company controlled 90 percent of American oil production.

Rockefeller was valued at about $1.5 billion based on a 1918 federal income tax return and estimates of his overall fortune - the equivalent of almost 2 percent of US economic output that year according to data compiled by MeasuringWorth.

Augustus Caesar Not only was Augustus Caesar in charge of an empire that accounted for 25 percent to 30 percent of the world’s economic output and at one point held personal wealth equivalent to one-fifth of his empire’s economy. That fortune would be the equivalent of about $4.6 trillion in 2014.

Issue - 635 (7)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

World first ‘drone-port’ planned in Rwanda KIGALI It sounds like science fiction: unmanned drones carrying emergency medicine zooming above the rolling hills of Rwanda.

But proposals - including one by eminent British architect Norman Foster - plan exactly that, to set up “cargo drone routes capable of delivering urgent and precious supplies to remote areas on a massive scale”, with the East Africa nation of Rwanda chosen

as a test case. “Specialist drones can carry blood and life-saving supplies over 100 kilometres (60 miles) at minimal cost, providing an affordable alternative that can complement road-based deliveries,” the proposal reads.

Rwanda, left in ruins after genocide in 1994, has rapidly rebuilt with the government pushing initiatives to boost technology and the powerful ruler President Paul Kagame dreaming of turning the capital Kigali into a regional hub for investors and multinational companies.

Government efforts have rapidly

pushed mobile phone and internet coverage across the landlocked nation, but the rolling landscape of a nation dubbed the “land of a thousand hills” means physical access to some areas is more of a challenge. The proposal - by architecture firm Foster + Partners, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and its linked Afrotech company - hopes to see drones with a three-metre (10-foot)

wingspan able to carry deliveries weighing 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds).

Drones with a six-metre (19.5 foot) wingspan, capable of carrying payloads of 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds) are planned to follow by 2025.

“Africa is a continent where the gap between the population and infrastructural growth is increasing exponentially,” Foster said at the project launch earlier this month. “The dearth of terrestrial infrastructure has a direct impact on the ability to deliver life-giving supplies, indeed

where something as basic as blood is not always available for timely treatment. We require immediate bold, radical solutions to address this issue,” Foster said.

The pilot project is slated to begin next year, with three “drone-port” buildings due for completion by 2020, enabling the drones to cover almost half of Rwanda’s countryside. While Rwanda’s government has yet to comment on the proposals, people have welcomed the plan. “The introduction of drones can add to the many solutions we have available to tackle infrastructure challenges in Rwanda,” Junior Sabena Mutabazi wrote in a the pro-government New Times newspaper.

Rwanda, small, tightly controlled and where there is only modern infrastructure in key hubs, offers the chance to test case cargo drones before possible expansion into wilder, less developed countries on the continent. “The Droneport project is about doing ‘more with less’, capitalising on the recent advancements in drone technology - something that is usually associated with war and hostilities - to make an immediate life-saving impact in Africa,” Foster said. Those developing the project point out that in many parts of Africa, too remote to establish telephone landlines, mobile technology leapfrogged that step, with mobiles now common across the continent even in the remotest of places.

Senior Vatican priest comes out as gay on eve of key synod on family Rome A high-ranking Polish priest from the Vatican revealed he was gay on Saturday, saying he wanted to challenge the Church’s “paranoia” on the eve of a key synod on family. In two separate interviews to Italy’s Corriere Sera and to the Polish version of Newsweek, Father

Krysztof Olaf Charamsa, who works for a Vatican office for protecting Catholic dogma said he was a practising homosexual with a partner.The explosive revelations by the 43-year-old priest who works for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were published a day before a bishop’s synod at which the Church’s approach to homosexuality. among other topics, will come under review.

“I know that I will have to give up my ministry which is my whole life,” he told the Italian daily.

“I know that the Church will see me as someone who did not know how to fulfil his duty (to remain chaste), who is lost and who is not even with a woman but

with a man!” Charamsa said his decision to come out was motivated by concern for the Church’s attitude to homosexuals, which he described as “backwards”.

“It is time that the Church opened its eyes to gay believers and understood that the solution is it proposing -- total abstinence and a life without love -- is not humane,” he said.

“I am not doing it in order to be able live with my partner, I am doing it for me, for my community and for the church. It is a much deeper decision borne out of my reflection on what is advocated by the Church,” he said.

The Church’s attitude to homosexuality was “backwards when compared to the level of awareness that humankind has reached,” he told the paper.

“The clergy is largely homosexual and unfortunately, it is also homophobic to the point of paranoia but paralysed by the lack of acceptance for its own sexual orientation,” he told the Polish version of Newsweek.

“Wake up, Church, stop persecuting the innocents,” he said, insisting his aim was to help the Catholic church.

“My coming out is a plea to the Synod that the Church stop its paranoid actions with regards to sexual minorities,” he said.

Pope didn’t give support to clerk in gay marriage row Vatican City Looking to limit the controversy surrounding Pope Francis’ meeting a Kentucky county clerk who had been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, the Vatican on Friday has clarified that the Pope did not ask to meet her, nor did he offer her unconditional support.

On the last week’s meeting in Washington, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Kim Davis was one of “several dozen” people who had been invited by the Vatican ambassador to see Francis.

The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” Lombardi said in a statement.

The meeting with Davis, which was originally kept secret, disappointed many liberal Catholics but delighted conservatives, who saw it as a sign that the pope was clearly condemning a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage. A senior

Vatican official, who declined to be named, said there was a “sense of regret” within the Holy See over the encounter, which sparked widespread debate in the United States,

overshadowing almost all other aspects of the pope’s visit. He added that Davis had been in a line of people the pope had met at the Vatican embassy in Washington before he left for New York. “The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature (Vatican embassy) was with one of his former students and his family,” the statement said.

Davis was jailed for five days in September for refusing to comply with a judge’s order to issue marriage licenses in line with the Supreme Court ruling.

Davis has said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevent her from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Her church belongs to a Protestant movement known as Apostolic Pentecostalism.

Issue - 635 (8)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Album of Maharaja Duleep Singh sold for 22,000 pounds

An old photograph album containing photos of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire has been sold for 22,000 pounds after it was originally valued 22 times less than what it fetched at an auction, a media report said.

The leather-bound album containing 240 photos four of which are of Maharaja Duleep Singh once belonged to Sir John Spencer Login, who worked for the East India Company and was appointed Duleep Singh’s tutor when he was five, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.

The album was discovered recently by a house clearer who won a contract to clear out a property.In one of the photographs, Duleep Singh is seen standing outside Osborne House, the former royal residence in Isle of Wight, when he was aged 17.

The Maharaja’s first drawing from 1853 was also part of the collection. The auction of the album containing Maharaja Duleep Singh’s photos along with two other albums took place at C&T Auctioneers in Rochester, Kent. A British buyer of Indian-descent purchased the albums for 19,000 pounds, but with all the fees added on the overall price paid was 22,400

pounds, the daily added.

“Victorian photography is always very popular anyway but it was really the connection with the Maharaja that made it,” Matthew Tredwen of the auctioneer group was quoted as saying.

“He is very much a cult figure in the Sikh world. He was the last ruler in the Sikh Empire and quite an historical figure,” Tredwen added.

Duleep Singh was proclaimed Maharaja of the Sikh Empire in 1843 when he was aged five.

After the first Anglo-Sikh war, the British initially retained him as a nominal ruler under the tutelage of Sir John. But he was dethroned and sent to Britain in 1854, initially staying at Claridge’s Hotel in London before the East India Company took over a house in Wimbledon, south-west London, for him.

He was given money by the East India Company on condition that he complied with the will of the British government.

In the 1880s, Duleep Singh made a bid to return to India against the wishes of the British. He was detained in Aden and then returned to Europe. He died in Paris in 1893, aged 55.

UK allows Sikhs to wear turbans at workplaces Sikhs across the UK will no longer face the prospect of disciplinary action for wearing turbans in workplaces after new rules come into force today.

Sikh groups campaigned for years to close a loophole in UK employment legislation which meant that Sikhs were exempt from safety headgear only in high-risk areas, such as construction sites.

An amendment was introduced to the Deregulation Bill by the UK government to close that loophole.

“This change demonstrates that, whoever you are, whatever your background, and whatever industry you choose if you work hard and want to get on in life, this government will be on your side,” said UK minister for employment Priti Patel.

“As the Prime Minister’s Indian Diaspora Champion as well as employment minister, I’m delighted to be part of the government that has made this change. It makes me proud that the UK is the home of such a talented, ambitious and hardworking community”.

Since 1989, Sikhs working in the

construction industry have been exempt from rules requiring head protection but because of the legal loophole those in less dangerous industries, such as those working in factories and warehouses, were not.

This meant that Sikhs in many jobs who chose to wear turbans rather than the required head protection could be at risk of disciplinary action or even dismissal.

Turban-wearing Sikhs will now have the right to choose not to wear head protection and will be exempt from legal requirements to wear helmets in the majority of workplaces. “We are pleased that Parliament listened to our

campaign and enabled this vital change in the law. It will make a real difference to Sikhs in the UK by increasing the number of workplaces that turban-wearing Sikhs can work in whilst maintaining their religiously mandated identity,” said Gurinder Singh Josan, spokesperson for Sikh Council UK. A new clause into the Deregulation Bill 2015 extends the existing exemption in the Employment Act to all workplaces. Should an individual suffer injuries as a consequence of not wearing head protection, employers will be legally protected through the extension of limited liability. There are exclusions for emergency response services and the military, which apply only in hazardous operational situations when the wearing of a safety helmet is considered necessary.

This may include entering a burning building or those where protective clothing needs to enclose the whole body in situations such as bomb disposal, or dealing with hazardous materials like chemical leaks, biohazards or radiation.

In Jammu, BJP leader, teacher booked over WhatsApp message Police claimed the person who uploaded the photograph was identified as Atam Prakash, a BJP district general secretary.

A BJP general secretary and the PRO of a senior BJP leader are among nearly one dozen people booked by police for allegedly trying to incite communal tension in Jammu’s Rajouri district.

Police said the two were booked in connection with the circulation of a WhatsApp

Police said Prakash is absconding, while Vikrant is being questioned, though he

message, which showed a photograph of the Kaaba a building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque in Mecca with an image of Lord Shiva superimposed on it. The messages were circulated on September 14. Others have been booked for attacks on Muslims found in possession of bovines.

Police claimed the person who uploaded the photograph was identified as Atam Prakash, a BJP district general secretary.

Police also claimed the administrator of the WhatsApp group where the photo was circulated was Vikrant Sharma, a government teacher working as the public relations officer (PRO) of BJP leader Kuldip Raj Gupta, th vicechairperson of the State Advisory Board for Development of Pahari Speaking People.

had not been taken into custody. Gupta said he had reached out to Muslim leaders and requested them not to pursue the case.

Police said others booked for trying to incite communal tension had attacked Muslims found in possession of bovines.

Such attacks have become frequent following last month’s order by the state high court, asking police to strictly enforce a law against slaughter of bovines and sale of beef in the state.

On September 26, one Abdul Hamid and his wife, found transporting a buffalo and a calf in Rajouri, were allegedly attacked by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists. In another case, a Muslim man transporting a buffalo was attacked at Alfa gate on September 29.

Ministers’ panel to examine NRI voting rights The issue of voting rights to NRIs has been referred to an 11-member panel of ministers, which would examine its feasibility. The panel will also examine similar rights to migrant labour a move opposed by the Election Commission.

The Law Ministry, which in August circulated a Cabinet note on bestowing voting rights on NRIs, has been directed by the Prime Minister’s Office to first refer the proposal to “an Inter-Ministerial Committee of Ministers”. The PMO also directed that the InterMinisterial Committee “examine the feasibility of extending the voting rights to migrant labourers/ workers within the country”.

Both groups are denied voting because the Representation of the People Act mandates that “a citizen, to avail voting rights, should be an ordinary resident in his constituency”.A letter dated September 1 from the Law Ministry’s Legislative Department says that it has been directed to constitute the ministers’ committee with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as its chairman and the Law Secretary as its member

secretary. Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad would be among the members.

Soon after taking office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra

overseas electors and service votes” by permitting electronic and postal ballots. But it did not move a similar proposal for millions of domestic migrants based on EC’s admission that it was logistically

Modi had abolished the practice of creating Group of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered GoMs, which had become a symbol of policy paralysis during the previous UPA government. Many such panels hardly ever met.

The Law Ministry’s Cabinet proposal had sought amendment in the laws to “amplify the existing modes of voting available to

incapable. An estimated 12-15 per cent of the 815 million voters fall in this category.

Sources said the PMO’s decision to link migrant labourers with NRIs was taken following widespread opposition in Rajya Sabha where the NDA is in minority over the government’s rush to include rich NRIs while neglecting the poor domestic migrants.

Issue - 635 (9)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Taj Mahal needs 9-year India a bright spot in slowing world mud pack to tackle pollution economy says Christine Lagarde NEW DELHI IMF chief Christine Lagarde has said that global growth will likely be weaker this year with only a modest acceleration expected in 2016 but India remains a bright spot. “India remains a bright spot. China is slowing

down as it rebalances away from export-led growth.

Countries such as Russia and Brazil are facing serious economic difficulties.Growth in Latin American countries, in general, continues to slow sharply,” Lagarde said.“We are also seeing weaker activity in low-income countries, which will be increasingly affected by the worsening external environment.

At the global level, there is still a drag on the economy because financial stability is not yet

assured,” said she in her address Wednesday.She noted that despite progress in recent years, financial sector weaknesses remain in many countries, and financial risks are now elevated in emerging markets.Referring to the release

of World Economic Outlook numbers next week, she said global growth will likely be weaker this year with only a modest acceleration expected in 2016.

“The good news is that we are seeing a modest pickup in advanced economies. The moderate recovery is strengthening in the Euro Area; Japan is returning to positive growth; and activity remains robust in the US and the UK as well,” she said.Lagarde said the

prospect of rising interest rates in the US and China’s slowdown are contributing to uncertainty and higher market volatility.“There has been a sharp deceleration in the growth of global trade. And the rapid drop in commodity prices is posing problems for resourcebased economies,” she said.

China, Lagarde said, is in the midst of a fundamental and welcome transformation. “It has launched deep structural reforms to lift incomes and living standards.

These reforms will, by design, lead to a new normal of slower, safer, and more sustainable growth.

“The new model relies more on consumption and less on commodity-intensive investment. More on services and less on manufacturing,” she said. “It also requires transitioning to a stable, more market-driven financial system. In other words, China’s policymakers are facing a delicate balancing act: they need to implement these difficult reforms while preserving demand and financial stability,” she said.This kind of major transition can create spillover effects through trade, exchange rates, asset markets, and capital flows, the IMF chief added.

NEW DELHI The Taj Mahal will need nine years of mud packs to remove yellow stains from its white

marble walls caused by air pollution, the Times of India reported on Wednesday.

Archaeologists said the lengthy period was needed to properly and safely clean particles from the four minarets and the main dome of the famed monument

to love. Auhorities have taken numerous steps in recent years to try to protect the 17th-century monument from pollution coming from the busy city of Agra nearby, including banning local coal-powered industries.

The mud pack cleaning was announced last year, followed by a local ban on the common practice of burning cow dung for fuel, in order to reduce the carbon deposits on the Taj’s walls.

The Times of India newspaper outlined an action plan by authorities after submitting a Right To Information request to access government documents.

The Taj - India’s top tourist attraction - was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631.

Issue - 635 (10)

Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonail alliance for their dauther, born and raised in Canada, 30 yrs. old, 5’ 6” tall, post gradute degree in Clinical Psyclology, professionally employed, well versed in both cultures, can speak punjabi as well. The boy should be well educated, professionally settled with family values between 28-34 yres. of age.

Lower Mainland area prefered.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: parmjit50@gmail.com or Call : 1604-317-7576 ***635*** Jat Sikh family seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born and raised Son, 34 yrs. old, 5’-10 tall, well setlled in Job. The girl should be beautiful educated and family oriented from BC area only.

Please Call: 1-604-671-0002 ***635*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, 35 yrs. old, 5’-11” tall, well educated & well settled, Canadian Citizen, Govt. employee, divorcee (One daughter custody with mather).

The Girl should be educated, beautiful & family oriented. Divorce girl on work permit/student visa & visitor can also be considered.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: ss100283@ gmail.comOr Call : 647-719-0077 ***635*** Ja Sikh Brar parents invite materimonial alliance for their daughter 28 yrs. old, 5’4” tall, BSc. Nursing four years degree holder, well versed in both cultures and family oriented. The boy should be professionally qualified with family values from Jat Sikh family only. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : avtar.brar@hotmail.com Or Call : 416-930-3261 ***635*** Professionally qualified match for Lubana Sikh Girl, 26 yrs. old, 5’4” tall, vegetarian, Pharmacy degree from Toronto University, Working with a reputed company of Brampton in her own field. The boy should be turbuned, vegetarian, equally qualified & employed. G.T.A preferred.

Please send your bio-data & recent piture to nsmpu@yahoo.com Or Call : 647938-9464 ***635*** Ravidassia Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 28 yrs. old, 5’-8” tall, J.B.T. B.A., living, in Malasiya. The Girl should be Canadian/American Immigrant or Citizen, family oriented.

Divorcee can also be considered.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to rash46@shaw.ca Or Call : 1-778-866-7755 ***635*** Jat Sikh Parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, Canadian born, DOB 1980, 5’-5” tall, University graduate, working in government job, divorced after a short marriage. The boy should be Jat Sikh, University educated in raised in Canada. Please Call : 1-604-214-0911 ***635*** Jat Sikh parents invite materimonial alliance for their son 24 yrs. old, 5’-9” tall, BDS (Dentist), presently in India

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

practising in Dentistry. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant/ Citizen, educated, beautiful and family oriented, parents are in Canada these days on visitor Visa. Younger brother is settled in Canada. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: amanpreetaujla@ymail.com Or Call : 416-953-2504 ***635*** Seeking a professionally qualified Jat Sikh match for a Jat Sikh Canadian Citizen girl, 80 born, 5'7" tall , Convent Educated, B.Sc. Computer Science working as a Programmer Analyst in a Software Company in Toronto, Canada. Please respond with your bio-data and recent picture to: d.sdhindsa@yahoo.com or contact 011-91921-6713431. ***635*** Jat Sikh Cheema Parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 26 yrs. old, 5’-6”, tall, at present in Canada on work permit, working as a manager in a reputed transport company, very handsome and belong to a good family. The girl should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen, educated, beautiful with family values, girls on student visa or work permit may also be considered. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: kanwarpalc@gmail.com Or Call :416-803-533 ***635*** Match for Canadian PR Jat Sikh boy, 28 yrs. old, 5’-8”, tall, M.Tech. from Canadian University, working as electrical engineer in Bramton, Urban and rural property in Punjab. Looking for educated, beautiful, family oriented girl having PR/work permit/student visa in Canada.

Please email recent picture and bio-dafta to: thindmohie@yahoo.com Or Call : 905-412-0225 ***635*** Jat Sikh Parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 28 yrs. old, 5’-4”, tall, B.Sc. (Medical) from India, Postgraduation in bio-technology from Canada, family oriented and well settled in job. The boy should be well educated, professionally settled, from a good family background. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : preetmann58@ yahoo.com Or Call : 011-91-98158-91252 ***635*** Jat Sikh Parents seek a suitable for their Canadian Citizen son, 31 yrs. old, 6’ tall, well educated, well settled, professionally Employed. The Girl should be from Canada, beautiful, tall, slim, fair, family oriented, professionally Educated or Employed. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: bajwap@hotmail.com ***635*** Jat Sikh Dhaliwal Parents looking for suitable match for their 28 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall daughter, born and raised in Canada, holding two degrees in health. The boy should be Canadian Citizen or immigrant. Please email you information to: abc_1512@hotmail.com or call 416-357-0472 ***635*** Well Established US Jat Sikh

parents seek a Jat Sikh match for their handsome, clean shaven MD son, 29 years, 6’ tall. The girl should be born and raised in USA or Canada, at least 5’4" tall, non-drinker and highly educated with strong family and Sikh values. Please send biodata and recent photo to 113hsingh@gmail.com or call: 1- 916-296-1528. *** 635*** Jat Sikh Sidhu family seek a suitable match for their beautiful, fair, slim daughter, 30/04/1986 born, 5’-5" tall, Highly educated (B.Sc., M.Sc.-Botany, B.Ed., PDCA), working as a Lecturer (Botany) in a reputed college in Punjab, well-cultured and pure vegetarian. Good status family.

Many respectable well established close relatives in Surrey, BC. Early marriage.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: sidhugurpreet91@yahoo.co or call: 1604 825 4276 (before 9am or after 8pm BC time) or 011-91- 94644-19612 (India) *** 635*** Well settled Jat Sikh parents living in North California USA seek a suitable match for their very handsome son, 26 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, American born, well settled, owns a very successul business. The Girl should be well Educated, beautiful, attractive.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: ssandhu1966@gmail.com Or Call: 1-209-890-9384 ***635*** * Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, Canadian Citizen, 30 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, born in India, University degree holder from Canadian University, running his own successful business. The girl should be tall, educated from good family.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: manpreetgill48@yahoo.com Or Call : 1-778-344-0303 ***635** Saini Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 25 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, living in India, B.Sc. B.Ed., bearutiful, slim, having 10 yrs. Multiple Visa of Canada. The boy should be clean shaven, Canadian/ American Immigrant or Citizen, Educated, belong to a well settled family. Caste no Bar. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: lakhbir184@gmail.com Or Call: 1-250-885-1291 ***635** Saini Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5’-1” tall, Canadian imiigrant, did Engineering, Working as a I.T. Consultant in a Major Bank of Toronto, beatiful, family oriented, well versed in both cultures. The boy should be professional, family oriented & well versed in both cultures.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: saini080185@gmail.com Or Call : 647-709-1853 ***635** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 38 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, Canadian Citizen, Never married, well versed in both

cultures, working full time in health field, family oriented. The boy should be Jat Sikh, professionally employed, clean shaven, well versed in both cultures. Please send your biodata and recent picture to: health2016@hotmail.com ***635** Jat Sikh Parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 22 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, born and raised in Argentina, School graduate, diploma holder, handsome with family values. The girl should be Canadian Citizen/ immigrant and family oriented.

Uncle (Chacha Ji) is well settled in Canada. Divorced may also be considered. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : pdeol3@yahoo.ca Or Call : 647-740-5792 ***635** Ramgaria Sikh parents a seek a match for their son 26 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, Bachellor in engineering, living in India. The girl should be beautiful, Canadian/American immigrant citizen. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: sohalsp@gmail.com Or Call : 647-829-5872 (Leave Message) ***635** Ramgaria sikh parents a seek a match for their daughter, 27-1/2 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, done registered nursing and now finished B.Sc. nursing in a few months, living in India. The boy should be Canadian/American Immigrant or Citizen. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: sohalsp@gmail.com Or Call: 647- 829-5872 (Leave Message) ***635*** Ramgaria sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their daughter, 29 years old, 5’ tall, BSc. nursing degree holder in India. The boy should be Canadian/American Citizen/ immigrant with family values.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: singh636raj@gmail.com Or Call: 416-247-8865 ***635*** Ramgaria sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 25 years old, 5’-8” tall, Dental Surgeon in India at present in USA on visiter visa, belongs to a very well settled family. The girl should be American citizen, beautiful and family oriented.

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: piarausa@hotmail.com Or Call: 662-347-9532 ***635*** Saini Sikh Parents invite matrimonial alliance for their beautiful daughter, 26 yrs. old, 5’-6”, tall, M.Sc. in Health Administration and MBA degree holder. Professionally employed.

The boy should be well educated, clean shaven, handsome, professionally settled around Fremont City.

Doaba preferred. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: kamalkaur1966@gmail.com Or Call :1-510-566-1872 ***635*** Jat Sikh Parents seek matrimonial alliance for their daughter Canadian Citizen, 27 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, working in a Reputed Company in

Mississauga, family oriented, innocently Divorced after short Marriage. Boy should be Jat Sikh, well settled with family values. Boys from India, Work permit, Visitor Visa please don’t contact. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: alliance55@outlook.com *** 635*** Jat Sikh family invite matrimonail, alliance for their daugher, Canadian Citizen, 35 yrs. old, 5’8” tall, bearutiful, Slim, Lawyer, Working in a well established law company. The boy should be University gradute, 6’ tall with family values. Please email recent picture & biodata to : jattsikh2015@hotmail.com Or Call : 647-786-0496 ***635*** Ramgarhia Sikh parent seeks matrimonial alliance for their Canadian Citizen, 27 years old son, well qualified and employed as a Mechanical Technologist, wears dastar and uncut beard.

The girl should be professionally compatible, family oriented and beautiful. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: rsrehal1@gmail.com or call: 1778-869-7172 ***635*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their 1986 Canadian born and raised daughter, 5 ’6” tall, gradute from U OF T and professionally employed in a government Job in Toronto area.

The boy should be Jat Sikh, Canadian born or raised, University graduate, professionally employed and clean shaven. Please send recent Picture and biodata to : matchontario@gmail.com OrCall : 647-213-6284 ***635*** Goldsmith, Bagga family looking for a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, 25 year old, 5’-6” tall, graduate in B.Sc Nursing, Working as a registered Nurse in India, Nanka family is settled in Brampton, Canada. The boy should be Canadian immigrant/ citizen, well educated and nonsmoker. Please send your biodata & recent picture to : jkhwumi67@gmail.com or Call: 647-403-6811 Or 647-983-6859 ***635*** Jat Sikh Parents seeking a suitable match for their son, 28 yrs old, 6’ tall, Canadign Citizen, Master’s degree hoolder from a reputed University of Canada and professionally employed. The girl should be University graduate, beautiful, tall, family oriented and well versed in both cultures. Please email recent picture and bi o - d a t a t o : seeking4myson@gmail.com Or Call: 647-927-3779 ***635*** Jatt Sikh parents seek suitable match for their 6’1" tall, US citizen,born 1984 son holding computer engineering degree, CFA & MBA. Seek family-oriented and professional Jatt Sikh girl willing to live in New York.

Please send your bio-data & re cent picture to: NycSingh23@gmail.Com *** 635***

Issue - 635 (11)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

World’s highest marathon returns to quake-hit Everest

KATHMANDU Dozens of runners donned snow goggles and braved icy temperatures to participate in the world's highest marathon in the foothills of Mount Everest Monday, five months after a 7.8magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal.

The annual Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, which kicked off in 2003, is usually held in May to mark the anniversary of the first conquest of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.

But organisers postponed this year's race to October after a massive earthquake hit the Himalayan nation in April, killing nearly 8,900 people and triggering an avalanche on Everest base camp that left 18 dead.

“We decided not to cancel the race entirely because

we wanted to send a positive message about Nepal to the world and help revive our tourism industry,” organiser Shikhar Pandey told AFP. “Everest represents Nepal.

We want to tell the world that Nepal is safe by successfully organising an event like this,” he said.

Fifty-four people from countries including the UK, United States, Israel, Poland and Australia took part in this year's race, with half of the participants belonging to Nepal.

Runners in trekking boots kicked off the marathon around 07:00 am (0115 GMT), with the snow-covered trails taking them from Everest base camp at a height of 5,364 metres (17,598 feet) to the finishing line about 2,000 metres below in the Himalayan town of Namche Bazaar.

Nepali soldier Bhim Gurung bagged first place by completing the marathon in four hours, one minute and 54 seconds. “A race at this altitude is very difficult. I am very happy to have come first,” Gurung told AFP. The air at base camp contains only half as much oxygen as at sea level, leaving many runners gasping for breath on even the slightest incline along 42 kilometres of narrow, rocky mountain paths.

While turnout was far lower than the 150 people who took part last year organisers said they were happy nonetheless.

They describe the route, which weaves past Buddhist monasteries, yak herds and over suspension bridges, as “probably the most adventurous trail run in the world”.

Muslims banned from Garba in Gujarat’s Mandvi; Hindus asked to sprinkle cow urine on themselves Ahmedabad A saffron outfit in Gujarat’s Mandvi area in Kutch, ‘Hindu Sangathan Yuva Morcha’

Garba events will have to apply ‘tilak’ on their forehead and sprinkle cow urine on their body.Hindu Sangathan

has issued a diktat not to allow Muslims in Garba events during Navratri festival.According to a report published in ‘Times of India’, the group which is said to have close ties with Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has announced that Hindus who wish to participate in the

Yuva Morcha president Raghuvirsinh Jadeja said his associates will keep a strict vigil across Garba venues in Mandvi area.

Local Muslim leader Azam Angadia said other members of the community are expected to meet soon and take a decision on the

order.

Meanwhile, the newspaper quoted a BJP leader saying that such decree are in poor taste.

“There are many Hindus here who keep roza during Ramzan and Muslims join them with fervour in Ganesh Chaturthi,” he said.

Last year, firebrand VHP leader Pravin Togadia had announced that Muslims must not be allowed inside the Garbha events and insisted identity cards of each and every person be checked for participation in the event.“Navratri is the festival of Mother Amba’s prayers and worship, so we cannot allow beef-eating Muslims to enter into Garba places,” Togadia had said.

Govt wants panic button in mobiles to ensure women safety NEW DELHI Ensuring women safety, Ministry of Women and Child Development has proposed introduction of a panic button in all mobile phones. According to the proposal, pressing the panic button will not only send an SMS to a set of numbers, it will also provide location information of the mobile. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday said that the government has asked all mobile phone manufacturers to work out the feasibility of such a feature.

“When we asked for suggestions about what precautions girls can take to keep themselves safe and escape out of emergency situations, we were flooded with ideas including wearing specialised necklaces, bracelets and rings which had certain SOS message sending features. Why should we do that? Are women prisoners, so they always have to move with

these devices? How can we ensure availability, affordability and usage of these devices among rural women. Considering the limitations of these devices, the government has come up with an idea of having inbuilt panic button in all cell phones,” Gandhi said while addressing a ‘Student Parliament’ on issues faced by girl students.

Women safety

too long to access during a rush and configuring one of the existing buttons on a phone for the task would be much simpler and quicker,” she said. The minister also discussed about various other schemes rolled out by the NDA government.

“The main focus is on initiatives such as ‘beti bachao’, ‘beti padhao’ and reservation for women

The panic button in the phones will be connected through GPS. “We are in conversation with phone manufacturers and the proposal is likely to be executed in few months.

The administration is of the view that emergency response apps can take

posts in police stations to ensure an effective interface between the complainants and the police. The problem is not with schemes, we have enough of them. The task is implementation and we are focusing on the same,” Maneka said.

Issue - 635 (12)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Iraq’s cutting off wages, pensions in IS cities can backfire Erbil In order to choke off funding for Islamic State, the Iraqi government decided to cut off all wages and pensions in cities controlled by the militant group.

But pulling off the plug has plunged people into hardship and could help the insurgents tighten their grip, according to some officials and residents.

For a year after Islamic State fighters swept through a third of Iraq, Baghdad continued to pay pensions and salaries of state employees inside the selfproclaimed caliphate.

But since July all such payments have been halted, depriving whole cities’ pensioners, civil servants, doctors, teachers, nurses, police and workers at state-owned companies of both their income and some of their last official links to Baghdad.

The move is meant to cut Islamic State militants off from of an income stream they have been skimming to fund their efforts to build a self-sustaining state in Iraq and Syria.But officials and residents in militant-held areas

say it has left residents even more desperate, alienated from a government many feel has abandoned them.“The government has severed its last tie to us,” said Younes Khalaf, a retired border policeman from Mosul, whose pension used to sustain seven people. “The situation has never been as miserable as it is now.”

Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, rules its caliphate across swathes of northern Iraq and eastern Syria with extreme violence and an uncompromising vision of Islam.It has a number of ways of funding its operations

- looting millions of dollars in hard currency from banks, selling oil from captured fields, kidnapping for ransom and extorting or taxing new subjects.The Parisbased Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body overseeing global efforts to fight money laundering and terrorism financing, identified Iraqi salary payments as a “recurring source of revenue” for the group, potentially providing hundreds of millions of dollars per year.Government officials concede that cutting off salaries is painful for those affected, but say they cannot continue to

effectively bankroll the caliphate.

“We are fighting Daesh and suspending salaries is a part of the war against Daesh,” said Ali al-Freji, an advisor at the cabinet’s economic committee, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. “Regrettably, in every war there is collateral damage”.

“Humanitarian Catastrophe” State workers will be reimbursed once their areas are “liberated”, and those who manage to escape Islamic State territory can claim their wages and pensions elsewhere, the government says.

But Islamic State maintains strict travel restrictions preventing people from leaving the territory it controls, although there are signs more people are escaping since the payments were halted.

Hassan Allaf, deputy head of the Nineveh provincial council, said there could be a “humanitarian catastrophe” unless payments resume. His province is mostly under Islamic State control and the provincial council now operates in exile in the neighbouring Kurdish region of

Iraq.

Freji, the government economic adviser, estimated as many as 400,000 people were on the government payroll in areas controlled by Islamic State.

Each salary or pension may support whole families of dependents. And the impact is being felt even more widely among others whose livelihoods depend on customers with cash.

In Mosul, a city which had nearly 2 million people before Islamic State rolled in last July, a clothes salesman at the Sarjkhana market said business had dropped by around 70 percent in the weeks since the salaries were withheld.Several residents of Mosul and other areas under Islamic State control said people were saving money and spending only on basic necessities. Some are selling valuables for cash, although the price of non-essential items has fallen.Ahmed Fathi, who runs a small shop in Mosul’s Bab al-Tob market, said his main customers these days were militants.

Islamic State British female militants ‘Malaysians with IS are turning call out for more recruits: UK think tank snipers, suicide bombers’ Tripoli Three women, believed to be British, have been using social media to lure Muslims in western

three have reached out to their hundreds of followers, the Guardian reported. As routes into Syria via its 500-mile border with

countries to join the dreaded Islamic State militant group in Libya, according to a UK-based think tank.

The women, who have been monitored for months by UKbased think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), claims to be living in war-torn Libya since around May this year.

Using a variety of social media platforms, including Twitter and encrypted messaging apps such as Surespot and Telegram, the

Turkey have become further restricted, the women have advertised the journey to Libya as the easiest way of joining the IS. “Where we see movements of women migrating, that represents the organisation (ISIS) trying to consolidate their territory and state-build rather than just fight and conquer territory. (And) the more that you consolidate that territory, the more you populate that territory, the more difficult it is for that to

change,” said Melanie Smith, a ISD researcher.

While none of the nowsuspended social media accounts made any explicit mention of a previous existence in the UK, Smith said other pieces of evidence pointed towards British associations.

“The type of colloquialisms they use are quite common among the other British women we follow who are in Syria and Iraq; very similar language, very similar slang, and references,” she added.One of the women calling herself Umm (sister) Unknown wrote: “Come to Libya. Hijra (religious migration) is not only to Shaam (Syria) now. Libya needs you too.”Umm Unknown’s Twitter account was operational for nearly two years before being suspended.

She stated she arrived in Libya on June 19, 2015, posted links to various events in Libya, and had connections with one verified English-speaking fighter in Libya and the two other native Englishspeaking women also understood to be in the country.

Kuala Lumpur As Islamic State is trying to regain its hold over the wartorn Iraq, Malaysians, who fell prey to the dreaded terror group’s false promise of “jihad” and began serving as cleaners and guards, are being trained to become snipers and suicide bombers, according to special branch counter terrorism division head and senior assistant commissioner Ayub Khan said.

The Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS and ISIL, now counted on some Malaysians to carry out its special ops missions all over Iraq. “The presence of the IS in Syria is quite solid but the group is losing control over Iraq as many territories have fallen back to Iraqi government.

“Our intelligence show that they are relying more on Malaysians now to carry out strike missions against several key structures in I r a q , ” h e t o l d T h e Sta r

newspaper on Wednesday.

The new development came to light following the deaths of three Malaysians in Iraq, believed to be on special ops missions, Ayub was quoted as saying by the paper. The latest deaths bring the number of Malaysians killed in Syria and Iraq to 14.

“As with some deaths involving Malaysians in both countries, it was hard to get a DNA sample to completely verify and identify the militants involved,” he said, adding that they relied on their intelligence gathering network.

At present, he said police have identified 69 Malaysians who are fighting along the IS in Syria. “ P r e v i o u s l y, t h e r e w e r e militants who joined other terror groups like Jabhat alNusra, al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria. However, this trend has stopped as all of them have joined the IS,” he added.

26/11 planner Headley’s aide to be stripped of Canadian citizenship Toronto The Canadian Government is moving to strip Canadian citizenship from Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who facilitated David Coleman Headley in his reconnaissance mission in Mumbai as the latter planned the 26/11 terror attacks in that city.

According to a report in the Canadian daily, National Post, Rana “is the only one of the 10 Canadians whose citizenship the government is seeking to revoke for terrorism who was convicted by a foreign court, the U.S. District Court in Chicago.”

The Canadian Government has undertaken these measures under a new law that was enacted earlier this year that enabled it act against those holding dual citizenship and were engaged in terror activities. Rana, who is also a Pakistani citizen, operated from Chicago, where he ran First World Immigration Services, which also had offices in New York and Toronto.

While Rana was acquitted of conspiracy to provide material

support for the 26/11 attacks, he was convicted of providing

material support, from late 2005 to October 2009, to the Lashkare-Toiba, the Pakistan-based

terror group, that planned and executed the Mumbai attacks.

He was also convicted on similar charges relating to a plan to behead employees of the Copenhagen-based Danish publication, Morgenavisen JyllandsPosten.

Rana was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment, followed by another five years to supervised release by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in January 2013. According to a

US Justice Department statement of that time: “Headley obtained approval from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, to open a First World office in Mumbai as cover for his activities. Rana directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley’s cover story and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India, according to Headley’s testimony, as well as e-mails and other documents that corroborated his account.

Issue - 635 (13)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Pakistan submits dossier alleging Indian hand in terrorism to UN Pakistan said it has handed over dossiers to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon containing “evidence” of alleged Indian involvement in terrorism in the

country and links of its security agencies with the Tehrik-eTaliban in Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Exercising its Right of Reply in the UN General Assembly late yesterday night in response to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj‘s address, a Pakistani representative said it handed over yesterday to the Secretary General dossiers containing “evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism and fermenting instability in Pakistan.

“The dossiers include details of Indian interference and support for terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi as well as its security and intelligence agencies link with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan especially in FATA,” the representative said in the Right of Reply from the floor of the General Assembly.

The representative accused India of using the “terrorism bogey” for

Vegan Lalu says Hindus too eat beef, attacks PM

RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday jumped into the raging controversy over lynching of a man for allegedly eating beef when he said Hindus too eat beef, prompting BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh to say that he had lost his mind.Even as BJP sharpened its knives against the RJD leader for his controversial remarks, Lalu asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to refrain from politics of violence on issues of eating habits and faith.

“Modiji, rahan-sahan, khanpaan aur aastha ke binduon par phasad ki rajniti band karo (Modiji, stop politics of violence on issues of living, eating habits and faith),” Lalu tweeted from his official Twitter account.

Reacting to the lynching incident near Dadri, Lalu tweeted: “It was wrong to kill a man on rumour over eating something. Everyone is free to consume food items of his/her choice. What happened in Dadri was communal violence. The BJP is responsible for it.”

not only staling the bilateral dialogue but also mitigating the overall atmosphere between the two countries.

“India’s insistence to limiting the talks to a one-point agenda proves that it is neither interested nor serious in engaging in a genuine dialogue,” he said.

The representative accused India of failing to bring to justice perpetrators of terrorism against civilians in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings.

Rubbishing Pakistan’s four-point formula for peace, Swaraj had asserted that it is ready to discuss all issues if the neighbouring country addresses “just one” point of ending terrorism emanating from there as she proposed NSA-level talks to address the problem.

Swaraj had also referred to the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks who continue to roam freely in Pakistan and pressed the world community to ensure that countries which provide finances, safe havens and arms to terrorists “pay a heavy price”.

Cow cannot be anyone’s mother, it’s just another animal, says Katju Describing lynching of a man near Delhi over rumours that he had consumed beef as “politically motivated”, former Supreme Court judge Markande Katju on Saturday said cow was just another animal “which cannot be anyone’s mother”.“Cow is just an animal and an animal cannot be anyone’s mother, if I like to eat beef then what’s harm in it, even people worldwide consume beef, if I like to too eat then who can stop me...” he said during a function at Banaras Hindu University here.

Katju said he too ate beef and was not harm in it.“Are those people across the world who eat beef are bad and only we (in the country) who don’t eat are saints and seers, whats harm in it when people eat beef, I too eat and will even continue to eat further...” he said.

The former Allahabad High Court judge strongly condemned the killing of the man in Dadri and demanded severe punishment to

those involved in it.“I too came to know from media and others that an announcement was made from (inside) a temple that a man eats beef and then mob rushed and lynched that man.“What could be more unfortunate than this that a man

slogans against him.They also tried to block the way of Katju while he was heading to the seminar hall. Later the security guards shielded Katju and took him wit them.Iqlakh was dragged out of his home and stoned to death on a village street after a

is killed on the basis of rumour and for no other reason. The culprits must be given severe punishment at an earliest,” he told reporters.Later, agitated over Katju’s remarks, several students staged protest and shouted

public announcement from the local temple that the family had slaughtered a calf and eaten its meat. While Iqlakh died, his 22year-old son Danish is battling for life at a hospital following two brain surgeries.

Russia says warplanes hit Islamic State, denying criticism Russia on Thursday insisted its warplanes in Syria were hitting at the same terrorists targeted by the US and contradicted American criticism that its military failed to coordinate the airstrikes, describing the allegations as a “war of disinformation.”

Alexander Orlov, the Russian ambassador to France, said Moscow’s intervention came only after a year of airstrikes by the US and its partners failed to dislodge Islamic State extremists, and predicted that Syria could be ready for “free elections” within a year.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its warplanes on Thursday targeted and destroyed eight positions belonging to extremists from the IS group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, in what President Vladimir Putin called a pre-emptive strike against the militants.

The ministry gave no specific locations, but Orlov said the targets were installations for Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria. Orlov told France Info radio the planes were acting as air support for Syrian ground troops.

The US and Russia agree on the need to fight the Islamic State but not about what to do with President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian civil war, which grew out of an uprising against Assad, has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011 and sent millions of refugees fleeing to other countries in the Middle East and Europe.

“We see that this coalition has been operating in Syria for a year, 5,000 airstrikes have been carried out, and Islamic State is still there,” Orlov said.

With American and allied airstrikes daily, and now Russian

warplanes in the Syrian airspace, the war is taking on a dangerous new dimension. Orlov said Russian officials warned the Americans “via confidential

the name of Abu Baraa, had died in Iraq. He said he learned of his son’s death after seeing his photo on social media accounts linked to IS.

Kornet missiles,” he said.

Musa Abdullat, a leading Jordanian lawyer for Islamist groups, told AFP the legislator’s son was killed on Tuesday in an

channels” of where they planned to strike.

He also noted a coordination center was being set up in Baghdad that would include Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians and Russians and any other country that wants to participate.

Khaled Khoja, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said at the UN that Russian airstrikes in four areas, including Talbiseh, killed 36 civilians, with five children among the dead. The claim could not be independently verified.

Jordan lawmaker’s son carried out suicide attack in Iraq Amman A Jordanian parliamentarian’s son was killed while carrying out a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group in Iraq this week, Jordanian media said on Friday.

Independent legislator Mazen alDhalaein was quoted as telling the Khaberni website that his son, Mohammed, who went by

Dhalaein said his 23-year-old son had been studying medicine in Ukraine before deciding to join IS this summer, travelling to Iraq through Turkey and Syria. “He considered me and his mother to be apostates and was trying to convince us to join IS,” he added.

The MP said he had last heard from Mohammed in August when he sent a message that he “had been signed up for a suicide attack soon”.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday, IS claimed a triple car bombing on the northern outskirts of Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad under IS control since May.Iraqi military sources confirmed suicide attacks in the area Tuesday but were unable to identify the bombers. “Three suicide car bombs targeted Iraqi security forces in their progress in Al-Jaraishi”, an army colonel told AFP. “The security forces repelled the attacks using Russian-made

attack on the Iraqi army. Up to 4,000 Jordanians are members of jihadist groups in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, Abdullat said.

Students in Gandhi dress create Guinness record School children in the southern Indian city of Bangalore have created a world record for “the largest gathering of people dressed as Mohandas Gandhi”.The 4,605 children between the ages of six and 14 dressed in traditional white dhotis - long loin cloths - came dressed in spectacles, fake moustaches and skull caps and carried bamboo sticks. They assembled for four hours at Bangalore’s Kanteerva Stadium for Guinness adjudicators to count and verify the numbers.

The record had been previously held by a school in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.

Issue - 635 (14)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Irish woman’s rape case hits Skype hurdle New Delhi The case pertaining to the rape of an Irish woman in Kolkata two years ago took a new twist with the

such witness in a criminal trial, when there is no extradition treaty between India and his/her country,” said the petition.

accused moving the Supreme Court questioning permission to the victim to depose from Ireland through Skype.

Accused Sujoy Mitra has also complained of poor quality of the video saying it will seriously prejudice his case and also accused the victim of using unfair means while deposing.

While the trial is on at a fast track court in Alipur, Kolkata, the victim is being examined through videoconference from the Indian Embassy in Ireland.

At the outset, Justice J S Khehar heading the bench refused to entertain Mitra’s plea while observing, “you commit rape on a foreign national who comes here.

Now you expect her to come here each time she is required for the trial.”“The present petition carries a substantial question of law as to whether a prime witness who is a foreign national can be examined through web cam through the Skype personal account of

Verbal duel Mitra’s lawyers R Basant and Manoj George argued that SC had, in State of Maharashtra vs Dr Praful B Desai (2003), ruled that evidence by video conferencing in open court should be only if the witness is in a country which has an extradition treaty with India and under whose laws contempt of court and perjury are also punishable.

The court itself has said that the video was blurred while she was being examined through Skype and as she was using her computer, she kept looking down during the examination despite being asked to look up. Judges, after a brief discussion, agreed to pass an order to the effect that the video conference should be done in a proper manner and the victim should not be allowed to take the help of any material while being examined.

SC hearing “The accused is

apprehending miscarriage of justice on account of flawed recording of evidence of the main witness,” said the lawyers.

When the court asked what technology should be used for video conferencing as an alternative, Basant sought time to take further instruction, following which the court posted the matter for Monday for further hearing. This was the firstever video-conference trial in Bengal where a rape survivor deposed from foreign shores. The woman was allegedly raped by Mitra after being drugged at the latter’s SP Mukherjee Road residence on May 31, 2013.

According to the police charge sheet, the Irish woman had landed in Kolkata on May 7. She met Mitra for the first time on the dance floor of a nightclub. They met again when she went to the same nightclub to celebrate her birthday. There, Mitra allegedly spiked her drink, took her home and raped her.

Queries before SC 1. If a prime witness who is a foreign national can be examined through video conference when there is no extradition treaty between India and his/her country?

2. Can such deposition be permitted when there is no provision to prosecute her in India in case of perjury or contempt of court on her part?

3. What is the procedure to be followed during such videoconferencing?

Restaurant, days before his face was slashed with a knife in Arab Street on August 26, the Straits Times reported on Thursday.

“I have your photograph in my mobile phone, you watch out,” Navas threatened Ali outside the Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant in North Bridge Road on August 22, the daily said. Navas

is accused of abetting a conspiracy with Zackeer Abbass Khan and Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen to grievously injure Ali. According to court documents, three Singaporeans Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, Joel Giritharan and Ramge Visvamnathan slashed Ali’s face with a knife on August 26.

Indian national Nasir also faces one charge of threatening the restaurant manager outside Zam Zam Restaurant. His bail has been set at $40,000. The duo’s passports have been impounded. They are required to report to the investigation officer every Wednesday if they are out on bail.

Indian men face intimidation charges in Singapore

SINGAPORE Two Indian nationals are among seven men charged with criminal intimidation and assault of a restaurant manager in Singapore, that left the man with a disfigured face, according to a media report. Koleth Navas and Koleth Abdul Nasir allegedly threatened Liakath Ali, manager of Victory

Was Indian Army plotting coup against Rajiv Gandhi govt in 1987?

New Delhi In a revelation that has brought the political era of 1987 back into the limelight, Lt General PN Hoon, a former Army commander of the prestigious Western Command in his recently released book ‘The Untold Truth’ has divulged that a plot was hatched to topple Rajiv Gandhi government in the late 80s.

As per a Times of India report, Hoon has revealed that three crack paracommando battalions including one from the Western Command, were asked to move Delhi to take over the government.

The octogenarian Lt General has claimed that the former Army chief and vice chief General Krishnaswami Sundarji and Lt Gen SF Rodrigues were part of the action plan.He has also shared in his book that some senior politicians who had to settle old scores with Rajiv Gandhi were behind the plan.Hoon has also stated that during his farewell function, hosted by the ex-Punjab governor in Siddharth Shankar Ray in Chandigarh, former president Giani Zail Singh had held Rajiv responsible

for corruption and negligence and also stated that he was not bothered about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, states TOI

Commands.

These three battalions were ordered to be placed under Rodrigues. He said he immediately briefed

report.

The report further states, that Hoon has claimed that as chief of the Western Command in May-June 1987 he had received a message that a letter had been received at command headquarters from army HQ seeking three para-commando battalions. The battalions included the First-Para Commando, which was under the Western Command, and the 9th and 10th Para Commando which were under the Northern and Southern

Rajiv and his principal secretary Gopi Arora about the development and showed them the letter demanding special forces.

VC Shukla, who a cabinet minister in Congress-led government, was aware of this possible army action, the ex-Army official has stated in his book.

Hoon has also stated, that Zail Singh, out of his fear that the action against the government could transfer the power to the armed forces, didn’t pursue the plan further.

Issue 635 (15)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

A bling-bling joyride from Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta, Rati Agnihotri, Yograj Singh, Kay Kay Menon, Kunal Kapoor Direction: Prabhudheva Ratings: 2 Stars Here’s a disclaimer, before anything else: I really like Akshay Kumar as an actor. On those rare occasions when he ACTS, I mean. Sadly, those occasions are extremely rare.

Therefore, when year after year one is bound to see inane, mindless nobrainers masquerading as comedies with Akshay Kumar (not) acting in them, there’s a slight sense of disappointment somewhere. Just this year, for example, had a film like

Baby. It had Akshay winning over even the harshest of his critics - that good

was his performance. But even if one argues the case of actors having to be versatile and such stuff, Prabhudheva’s Singh Is Bliing is not a comedy one can love Akshay in. For he’s given us better in the past. Anyway, to the film at hand, then.

Raftaar Singh (Akshay) spends his days whiling his time away dancing and jumping through fire hulahoops at fairs in Bassi Pathana in Punjab. While his father (Yograj Singh) is tired of his ways, his mother (Rati Agnihotri) caters to his appetite with home-cooked jalebis, before the former asks Raftaar to choose a path for himself. Either get married to a certain Sweety, or

move to Goa and work under his father’s friend. Considering the first option

unimaginable, Raftaar chooses the second.

Meanwhile in Romania, filthy-rich businessman Kirpal (Kunal Kapoor) needs to face an adversary called Mark (Kay Kay Menon). The latter has a particularly nasty first meeting with Kirpal’s daughter Sara (Amy Jackson), and is consumed by the extra-macho lust to tame her by either marrying her or killing her. Director Prabhudheva does try to redeem himself from the ‘Mera Maal’ in Rowdy Rathore by getting Sara to kick and beat people around, but the impact doesn’t really last long.

Main reason behind that: Amy Jackson’s oh-sopretty face doesn’t make up for her lack in acting skills.

Anyway.

Once Sara realises that Mark is a threat to her very existence (he’s really powerful and all), she takes a flight to (where else) Goa to her father’s friend’s place. Raftaar is entrusted the responsibility of taking care of Sara, a task which is formidable because he cannot speak English, and she is unlearned in Hindi. A translator Emily

(called Imli all through the film, played by Lara Dutta) is hired, and Raftaar ends up falling in love with Sara, quite inevitably.

As for the performances, Akshay does limited justice to his role as Raftaar.

He gets his kicks and punches right, and the frequent laughs too. But

Irrfan, KonKona’s grIppIng taKe on the aarushI talwar murder case

Cast: Irrfan, Konkona Sensharma, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah, Sumit Gulati, Prakash Belawadi Direction: Meghna Gulzar Ratings: 4 Stars In 2008, the murder of 14year-old Aarushi Talwar had stirred the nation. For several months, the case dominated prime time news, as the police were left baffled by the case. We saw this macabre turn of events unfolding on our TV screens, as from one murder the count went up to two, charges were fixed on the servants, and finally Aarushi’s parents ended up behind bars. There was

a sense of discontent back then, as there is now. The lack of a closure prodded director Meghna Gulzar to take up the story and make a film on it. And the results are pretty impressive in the fact that Talvar leaves the audience disturbed.

The ‘open-and-shut case’, as the Noida double murder case was described by some people, turned out to be anything but that. After 14-year-old Shruti (Ayesha Parween) is found with her throat slit one morning, the police is called to the crime scene. Parents Ramesh (Neeraj Kabi) and Nutan Tandon (Konkona Sensharma) are ques-

tioned, the apparently-absconding servant Khempal is called the murderer. As the police get on with hunting for the servant, his body is discovered on the terrace. The initial theory of Khempal-killed-Shruti is turned on its head, and the blame is shifted on to the parents.

Messed up investigations and the unwillingness of the story to get off news channels compels the CDI (Central Department of Investigation) to hand the investigation over to a reluctant Ashwin (Irrfan). In between playing games on his phone, Ashwin shoulders the case and discovers, in his words, that

“Crime scene ko machchhi bazaar banake rakh diya tum logo ne!”

Meghna Gulzar takes extra care in treading a middle ground, and leaves the film as open-ended as the real case is. Of course, the filmmakers couldn’t draw a conclusion any which way, given that the Aarushi-Hemraj case is sub-judice.

The differences of perspectives that the film presents the main story from is a commendable effort by the Talvar makers. The way the case is investigated, albeit on screen, makes your blood boil at times and you snort in disbelief at others.

we’ve seen better display of Akshay’s comic timing in the past. As for Amy Jackson, maybe it is a good thing she hasn’t got more than sign language to communicate with in the film. When she’s kicking goons and punching people in the face, Jackson is fantastic. When it comes to getting the audi-

ence to connect with her plight, Jackson fails miserably. Also, Akshay and Amy’s chemistry is as cold as dry ice.

Lara Dutta’s comeback to the big screen is just passable. As the translator ‘Imli’, she gets her act right more or less, but doesn’t leave one with anything to remember her by.

Issue 635 (16)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

‘Singh Is Bliing’ milestone of my career says Amy Jackson Actress Amy Jackson is not only overwhelmed with the response to her latest release Singh Is Bliing, but she also believes that the film is the biggest milestone of her career. Amy, who started her career in 2010 with Tamil film Madrasapattinam, made her Bollywood debut in 2012 with Ekk Deewana Tha. “Completely overwhelmed, it is huge project to be working on Singh Is Bliing.

How everyone is enjoying the film is everything to me.

Definitely, it is the biggest milestone of my career,” said Amy who recently visited a theatre in Mumbai to see audience reaction to her film.

Amy also says that she has a big list of stars with whom she wants to work with in the future.

“Can’t even think about that to be very honest. So many people on my wish list. But I am very fortunate that I have a film with Akshay and to be doing a film like this in Bollywood,” she said. Released on October 2, Singh Is Bliing is directed by Prabhudheva and stars Akshay Kumar, Kay Kay Menon and Lara Dutta in key roles.

Salman Khan intimidated me says Sonam Kapoor Sonam Kapoor has shared screen space with Salman Khan in her debut film Saawariya, however a report on Mid-day.com states that the Khoobsurat actress revealed during the launch of the first trailer of the film that she was intimidated to romance the superstar in Sooraj Barjatya’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. The report further quotes her as saying that she felt privileged to be a part of the film and even though she has been a huge Salman Khan fan, she was a bit nervous.

The report mentions that the

actress also said that it was intimidating for her to be on the sets but she was excited as well. In the report she has asserted that after a few days she got comfortable as Sooraj (Barjatya) sir gave her a lot of love which she would cherish and that she had an amazing experience.

As Salman Khan returns as Prem in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, the comparisons with the yesteryear Prem are bound to happen. The PRDP poster which has Salman Khan writing with a feather on Sonam Kapoor’s

back has however been compared to his and Aishwarya Rai’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

When Salman Khan was asked to comment on the comparison by a reporter at the trailer launch, co-star Anupam Kher came to his rescue and said that the actor is actually thinking about the reporter’s address. But when Salman Khan actually spoke about it after a long silence that it was a nice poster and this one is also beautiful, Sonam Kapoor added that this one is prettier, as reported by Pinkvilla.com.

What do you think?

Dancercise is Shruti Haasan’s fitness mantra Multilingual actress Shruti Haasan practices yoga and also goes to the gym, but it’s dance that she loves the most to keep herself fit.”I love to dance and end up exercising while dancing. I am trying to get into yoga as well as I believe it’s great for the body and the mind. I also regularly workout,” Shruti told IANS when asked about how she remains healthy. The actress was in Bengaluru last month to launch a GAP store where she flaunted a chic fashion statement in a simple pair of jeans and t-shirt. In general also, Shruti seems to have an edgy fashion appeal.

Talking about her choice of fashion, Shruti said: “I think style is very personal. I don’t believe in following trends and prefer to wear things I feel the most comfortable in. This is my style statement and I recommend that people should also dress the way they feel instead of blindly following trends.” “I don’t like the colour yellow - you won’t see me wearing anything in yellow if I can help it,” quipped the actress, whose last Bollywood outing was opposite John Abraham in Welcome Back. Shruti’s upcoming line-up of films include Nishikant Kamat’s Rocky Handsome and Tigmanshu Dhulia Yaara in Hindi.

‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ trailer gets over 5 mn views

The trailer of Salman Khan’s much awaited Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has generated over 5 million views within just 24 hours, on social media. On Rajshri Productions’ YouTube page, and the film’s Facebook page combined, the views of the trailer are growing rapidly.

The movie marks the reunion of director Sooraj Barjatya and Salman after a gap of 16 years.

They have previously worked in three blockbusters Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and Hum Saath Saath

Hain. And ironically, in the new film too, Salman essays a character named Prem.

Salman is paired in the film with Sonam Kapoor.

The film’s trailer gives a glimpse into the film, which will touch upon love and family ties. It seems to be mounted on a ‘larger than life’ scale canvas with music and dance weaving in a ‘desi’ heartwarming story. Presented by Fox Star Studios, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is produced by Rajshri Productions. The film will release on Nov 12.

Issue 635 (17)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Blake Lively shuts down her lifestyle website Actress Blake Lively is shutting down her lifestyle website Preserve, which she launched in the summer of 2014 as it is not “making a difference” in people’s lives. The 28year-old Gossip Girl star explained her reason for closing the site and her plans to turn it into something new in an

interview to Vogue magazine. “I never thought I would be able to do that, to take the site dark and to say, ‘You know what? I haven’t created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be...’

“We launched the site before it was ready, and it never caught up to its original mission: It’s not

making a difference in people’s lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way.”

Lively said she would rather end the website now than release a product that she knows could be better. “I’m going to take this hit, and the only way I can prove all the negative reactions wrong is to come back

with a plan that will rock people. And I have that plan. And I’m so excited about it, and that’s what gave me the courage to do this.” Preserve met with scepticism and mockery when it was launched, for its confusing name as well as its apparent impersonation of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop.

Cate Blanchett to visit India for Women in the World summit Hollywood diva Cate Blanchett will make her maiden trip to India next month for the prestigious Women in the World summit, reveals

actress Shabana Azmi.

Blanchett will be in Delhi for the annual summit on November 20. Azmi, who will cohost the session, took

Kate Winslet keeps her Oscar in bathroom

“Titanic” star Kate Winslet has revealed she keeps her Oscar gong, which she won for her role in “The Reader”, in her bathroom.

“The whole point is for everybody to pick it up and go, ‘I’d like to thank my son and my dad’ - and you acan always tell when someone has, because they’re in there a little bit longer after they flushed,” she said. “They’ll come out looking slightly pinkcheeked. It’s hysterical.”

Winslet, 39, said she feels proud not to reveal much about her failed marriages

to Jim Threapleton (19982001) and Sam Mendes (2003-11). “No one really knows what has happened in my life. No one really knows why my first marriage didn’t last; no one knows why my second didn’t. And I’m proud of those silences. “I know lots of people who are not in the public eye who have gone through several marriages, I really do, and it’s just those are the cards that life dealt me. I didn’t plan on it being that way...

It hasn’t been easy, you know.”

to Twitter toshare the news with the fans.

“Cate Blanchett coming to New Delhi on 20th Nov for Women in the world summit, hosted by Tina Brown. Nita Ambani, Barkha Dutt and I are co-hosts,” she tweeted.

Women in the World summit was launched in 2010 by Brown, the British-born former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Talk, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

The summit brings together women leaders, activists and political change-makers from around the world to share their stories, and offer solutions to building a better life for women and girls.

Blake Lively

First look of Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Baby unveiled The first official image from “Bridget Jones’s Baby” has been released by Universal Pictures, and it gives a look at Renee Zellweger who is returning as the title role in the upcoming third installment.

Zellweger is seen smiling while holding an iPad, reported Ace Showbiz. Sharon Maguire, who helmed the first film Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2001, will also be back at the helm. Zellweger is joined by another returning cast member, Colin Firth, who played her love interest Mark Darcy in the previous films. Hugh Grant, who played Jones’ other suitor Daniel Cleaver in the first two films, was originally set to reprise his role but he eventually left the project. Grey’s Anatomy alum Patrick Dempsey was then brought in to join the movie. The plot is still scarce but Bridget Jones is expected to have a baby like the title is suggesting.

Issue 635 (18)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

when a 500Kg cow fell from sKy on a car bonnet London A man driving in France met with a bizarre accident in which a cow fell on his car’s bonnet.

The incident happened when he was driving with his stepson through the Pyrenees mountains near Perthus on the border with Spain.

While the father-son duo had a narrow escape after the 500 kg animal crash landed on the car, the cow

did not survive the impact.

The car which was badly damaged, was halted abruptly.

The animal had been walking along a cliff high above the road and lost its balance, ‘The Local’ reported.

“We were more scared than hurt,” the unhurt driver told France Bleu radio, adding that he was very affected by the death of the animal.

Calculator helps predict risk of breast cancer LONDON A new online calculator can help predict if a woman will develop breast cancer within the next five and 10 years. The tool estimates a person’s risk based on age, race and ethnicity, family history, whether or not they have had a breast biopsy in the past, and breast density. Researchers behind the test hope it will enable doctors to identify those patients at highest risk of the disease. Dr Charlotte Gard, from the New Mexico State University and a consultant at the National Cancer Institutefunded Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC), said: ‘Our tool is unique in that it combines both breast density and biopsy results.

Sikhs raise $12,000 for national awareness campaign in US

WASHINGTON A group of Sikhs in California have raised about $12,000 to create national awareness campaign about Sikhs and Sikhism in the US media and society.

At a dinner fundraiser organized by the Sikh Riders of America in Bakersfield, California, over 70 Sikhs endorsed the initiative in this regard by Washingtonbased National Sikh Campaign which has devised a national strategy engaging President Barack Obama’s media team to present an accurate view of Sikhism in the national media.

Bakersfield Sikhs have witnessed several incidents of hate violence and an incident of Gurdwara being vandalized in the past since 9/11 attacks.

“Our community has faced many problems since 9/11 and it is high time that we change the narrative and adopt a proactive approach to tackle the menace of hate crimes.

This task belongs to all members of the community,” said D Rajwant Singh, coFounder of the National Sikh Campaign and the chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education.

Issue 635 (19)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

UK planning tougher test to Know why sex loses cut international students its steam in couples Amidst continuing concern among stakeholders about dwindling student numbers from India and other countries, the David Cameron

to announce plans to replace the existing tests with a more rigorous international English language testing system.

Student numbers from India

government is planning to introduce a tougher English language test to slash the number of international students coming to the UK. Cameron and Home secretary Theresa May have called for the tougher tests to cut student numbers, but there is opposition from some senior ministers on its potentially adverse impact on the higher education economy. The new test will reportedly cut 25,000 students a year.

According to The Sunday Times, the Home Office held a workshop last week with representatives of universities

have showed a marked decline in recent years, but this has been made up by increasing numbers from China.

International students need to pass a written and spoken English language test as part of university admission and visa procedures.

Plans for the new test have sparked renewed concern in universities that depend on income from international students, who typically pay twice or more than UK/EU students in course fees and also contribute to local economies. Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of

Universities UK, said: “There is no evidence to suggest that students recruited under the current English language requirements are held back by their English language skills or are performing poorly academically”.

She added: “In fact, official data shows the degree results achieved by international students are similar to those of UK students, with 87% of non-UK students achieving a first or second-class degree.”

Since 2010, the Cameron government’s efforts to curb immigration included a crackdown on several bogus colleges and closing the poststudy work visa that was popular among self-financing Indian and other international students.

May said: “We’ve made changes to the student route to ensure that those coming to those institutions are eligible to do so. Nine-hundred private colleges are no longer able to bring in overseas students as a result of action we’ve taken. We constantly look to see if there are other issues that we need to address.”

80-yr-old NRI in UK to walk from Kanyakumari to Delhi LONDON An 80-year-old NRI philanthropist in the UK will undertake a 4,160-km long walk from Kanyakumari to New Delhi in six months to raise 1.5 million pounds for various charities. Balwant Grewal, who is the chairman

Ranchi, Gaya, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow and Noida. During the charity walk, a four-day Mobile Cancer Screening camp will be held in Patna from February 26 and one in Delhi in April where about 400 to 500 patients will be

of India Association, will commence his marathon walk from Kanyakumari on October 25 and finish in New Delhi on April 4 next year. The Londonbased NRI, known to his friends as Bobby, would cover Madurai, Pondicherry, Chennai, Nellore, Guntur, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Asansol,

screened every day, Joint Secretary of the India Association Rajan Bhanot said. The funds he would raise would go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Children’s Charity and the British Asian Trust in the UK and deserving causes in India. Bobby had earlier walked from Amritsar to Kanyakumari and Edinburgh

to London to raise funds for charitable causes and cancer research in UK and India.

From the funds raised so far, the Indian Association donated 80,000 pounds to St Marks Hospital (Harrow) for Bowel Cancer Research in 2009, 50,000 pounds to the Northwick Park Hospital for Cancer Research in 2007, 45,000 pounds to Northwick Park Hospital and Oxford University for HIV research in 2007, 2,000 pounds to Earthquake Relief in Gujarat and House building in Bhuj in 2005, 25,000 pounds to Haiti Earthquake. The forthcoming walk will be a challenging one, due to Bobby’s age (he will be celebrating his 81st birthday during the talk), the extreme heat and the tough terrain. He will need to cover at least 30 to 40 km a day, in order to reach various milestones along the route, Bhanot said. Bobby will be accompanied by a single support vehicle and a team of four, his walk project director Bhanot, a driver, a chef and a physiotherapist who will ensure that he remains in good health during the marathon walk.

London If you are married and find that the interest in sex is on the decline, don’t be surprised. According to a new study, frequent arguments and domestic fights and not children are behind a decrease in bedroom action among couples in just 12 months of living together.

The situation, however, may change as they begin communicating and understand their sexual preferences in the due course of time. “We found a positive development of sexual satisfaction in the first year of a relationship, followed by a steady decline,” said study author Claudia Schmiedeberg from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. For the results, some 3,000 participants in the age group 25-41 answered a survey on

bedroom behaviour titled “Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration?”

Surprisingly, children did not appear to have much effect on the sex life, the authors said.

“We analysed how sexual satisfaction changes over the course of a relationship using three waves of the German Family Panel study,” Schmiedeberg said.

The team focused the analyses on young and middle-aged heterosexual individuals in committed relationships.

“Moreover, we found significant effects for the control variables of health status, intimacy in couple communication and conflict style, as expected,” the authors noted.

The results were published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour.

Issue 635 (20)

n " t

+HUH·V KRZ 'LJLWDO ,QGLD LV :KDWV$SSLQJ FRPPXQDO UHYROXWLRQ IURP 'DGUL WR 0X]DIIDUQDJDU In India we have seen again and again, the deadly consequences of this alternate media underworld We are not a country of beggars and elephants and snakecharmers. This is a new India of WhatsApp and smartphones and MyGov.in. That’s the Digital India Narendra Modi sold, to a starstruck Silicon Valley just the other day. Mr. Modi told an inspiring story about an India where farmers in Maharashtra are on a WhatsApp group to share agricultural tips and techniques. Days later barbaric violence erupted in Dadri village, not too far from Delhi. A mob, apparently fired up by announcements of cow slaughter made at the local temple, barged into the house of the Muslim ironsmith, convinced that he had beef in his refrigerator. Soon the iron smith was dead, his son in hospital and #DadriLynching was the latest hashtag of shame on Twitter. It sounds medieval but this too was powered by WhatsApp and social media.

The villagers of Bisada, writes Betwa Sharma in Huffington Post, have pictures of meat and bones, clinching proof in their minds that Mohammad Akhlaq’s family slaughtered a cow. “The photos have spread like wildfire across the village, and almost everyone has images on their own phones,” writes Sharma. Pictures circulated via WhatsApp. Vandana Rana, the sister of Vishal Rana who has been named in the police FIR as being part of the lynch mob, tells Supriya Sharma of Scroll that she often gets messages and videos on the subject of cow slaughter.

“The videos are from Kashmir, from Muzzafarnagar, basically from Mohammedan areas, where cows are being killed,” she says. She gets the images via WhatsApp. WhatsApp is just technology. It’s neither good nor bad. It just depends on how we use it - to share farming tips or get blood boiling. The government is not unaware of its power for rumormongering.

At the height of the Hardik Patel reservation agitation in Gujarat, there was a clampdown on social media, such as WhatsApp and Facebook. But the larger and more troubling issue outlives the ban. There is a whole alternate media universe that has been spawned via social media where rumors, Photoshopped pictures and canards go viral faster than a news story can. This is a global phenomenon. A decade old picture of two Hmong children comforting each other in north Vietnam has been peddled on the Internet as “two Burmese orphans”, “victims of the Nepal earthquake” and even the Syrian civil war. In India we have seen again and again, the deadly consequences of this alternate media

2Q VDIH JURXQG underworld. In 2013, a WhatsApp video of two boys being beaten, fanned the Muzaffarnagar riots. By the time it was determined the video was at least two years old, filmed perhaps in Afghanistan or Pakistan, it was too late. It had served its deadly purpose.

“We did not imagine so many people would have access to the net on their mobile phones and WhatsApp,” a police offer admitted to Indian Express. Is the uber-connected digital India Mr. Modi plans going to be as swift to burst these bubbles as a politician is about using Section 66A against someone forwarding a cartoon? When Mr. Modi tells the Silicon Valley technorati about how Twitter has turned everyone into a reporter, he misses a very important caveat.

It is a “reporter” who is in the end unaccountable, whose “report” does not have to stand the scrutiny of a newsroom and an editor. News trader. Presstitute. Paid media - All these epithets are used routine and with relish, not just by trolls but even by ministers. In the civic elections in Bengal this weekend, a female journalist was threatened with gangrape allegedly by Trinamool goons and others were beaten up for daring to take pictures of outsiders at polling booths. It might suit a political party to take potshots at the media, and sometimes those potshots might even be deserved, but the more we vilify media as a whole, the more we ensure that conspiracy theories and Photoshopped pictures thrive.

Their oxygen is this distrust of the mainstream media. It should give us pause that ordinary people accept something blindly because they “saw it on the Internet” while they dismiss everything they don’t like in the papers or on television as “paid news”. As Shashi Tharoor writes in India Shastra, a friend’s father says once he did not believe anything if it was not in the Times of India. Now he does not believe anything if it is in the Times of India. The quip always elicits a chuckle.

But the consequences of that, and media has indeed played its own part in its degradation, are devastating for all of us.

“Even if one felt that Hinduism was under threat, that media was engaged in a conspiracy against the current regime” it should have been easy, writes Santosh Desai in The Times of India, to say “‘you cannot get together in a mob and stone a man to death because of what he eats. It is wrong’.” But that did not happen. In an anguished piece after visiting Basehara village, NDTV’s senior executive editor Ravish Kumar asks “How is it that I didn’t find a single person who looked ashamed or had even a shred of remorse? Why was no one distraught that thousands of people from the village could have been transformed into a killer mob?” The answer could lie in what they are reading and watching. Why do they believe their phones and not his channel? Why is WhatsApp the paper of record? In our haste to determine via forensics what the Akhlaq family was eating, we forget to check what the mob that attacked them was being fed. This is where the silence of Narendra Modi becomes damning. He cannot be responsible for every WhatsApp rumor, but he has the bully pulpit to do his best to puncture its bubble. And every day he tweets about Safaigiri awards, the World Billiards championship and Sushma Swaraj’s UN speech but not Dadri, the bubble grows bigger. Every time he vilifies media, the bubble grows stronger. Until one day it gains enough power to leap outside the virtual reality of a mobile phone and go into a man’s house, ransack his refrigerator and beat him to a pulp with a sewing machine. “The pace at which people are taking to digital technology defies our stereotypes of age, education, language or income,” Modi had said proudly at a gathering of Silicon Valley CEOs. He was right. Dadri, Muzaffarnagar,Vadodara proved it. Chillingly so. And it will happen again.

(21)

Allegedly fearing that a visit to Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) would cost his chair, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav called the family members of Mohammad Ikhlaq to Lucknow on Sunday to apply the balm of solace. Never mind that only five days have passed since the gruesome murder and

that Ikhlaq’s son, Mohammad Danish, is still struggling between life and death - it is believed in political circles that CMs lose their posts after visiting Gautam Budh Nagar.

“The so-called technology savvy CM believes in the myth that he would lose his

post if he visits Noida. So the family of Ikhlaq were brought to Lucknow via the national Capital,” UPCC spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi said. “Bringing the mourning family to Lucknow was an insult to them,” Tripathi alleged. The CM has inaugurated many developmental schemes

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

for Noida in the last three years, either from Lucknow or New Delhi via video conferencing. However, an SP leader speaking on condition of anonymity said that it was a conspiracy of some officers posted in Noida to keep the CMs away from them.

¶30 VKRXOGQ·W VSHDN LQ VXFK PLQRU FDVHV· %-3 VPHOOV D UDW LQ 83 &0·V PRYH In an interview with Rahul Kanwal on Aaj Tak’s Seedhi Baat programme, Union minister Sanjeev Balyan termed the lynching of Ikhlaq, over an alleged beef consumption rumour, a minor incident and added that PM Narendra Modi should not be expected to comment as such incidents are common in Uttar Pradesh.

Responding to a query that a BJP leader’s son’s name figured among the accused, Balyan - who is a lawmaker from Muzaffarnagar - said the Bharatiya Janata Party would take action against an accused whether he is a party worker or relative of a party worker.

Balyan also targeted the Akhilesh government, asking how the beef processing industry was flourishing in a state with a ban on cow slaughter.

“From where does beef come. Cows are being slaughtered illegally in UP and the people involved in it are protected by the government,” he said.

Balyan distanced himself from the recent remarks of party MP Sadhvi Prachi, who

justified Ikhlaq’s lynching while adding that union minister Mahesh Sharma knew the ground scenario better.

“Whatever happened is very unfortunate. I

do not know about the incident much.

Mahesh Sharma is the local MP he would know better,” he said.

When informed that deputy superintendent of police of Dadri had confirmed that the meat recovered was mutton and not beef, the minister said cases of cow slaughter come to every police station in UP, but it is converted to mutton.

By Piyush Srivastava The political slugfest continues in UP as the BJP accused CM Akhilesh Yadav of giving communal colour to the Dadri incident.

The party on Sunday questioned the decision of the state police to send meat samples for forensic tests instead of focusing on arresting the culprits.

The party wondered if the state administration’s decision to send the meat for forensic tests was made to give a communal slant to the raging row.

BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said: “Rather than shedding crocodile tears, Akhilesh Yadav should answer as to why his police wanted to do forensic test of meat sample when the issue should have been arresting the culprits of the most unfortunate and barbaric killing in Dadri. Was not his administration trying to give it a communal slant by ordering forensic test? What action does he propose to take against his Azam Khan who ranted on communal lines from day one of the incident?”

BJP MLA Sangeet Som also blamed the ruling SP government for framing ‘innocent

people’ in Mohammad Ikhalq’s murder case ‘to appease the minority community’.

An accused in the August and September 2013 riots of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, Som visited the village where Ikhlaq was lynched on Sunday and said: “The state government is biased in dealing with this

case. Innocents are being detained by the police. The government had acted exactly in the same manner during previous riots in the region.” “The state government has different set of rules for different people. One Rahul Yadav was shot and injured by the police when he along with a mob was demanding death penalty for those involved in cow slaughter. But the state government is silent on his injury,” Som alleged.

Issue 635 (22)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

asthma steroIds could stunt growth London Young children given asthma medication before the age of two may not grow to their full height in later life, a preliminary report suggests.

The study of 12,000 Finnish infants found that, on average, those who used inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) long-term showed signs of stunted growth. Previous research has suggested a link with growth suppression.

Experts said the study was a reminder that steroids should be used with caution in pre-school children.

However, Asthma UK said inhaled corticosteroids played a crucial in controlling asthma symptoms and reducing trips to hospital for young infants.

The findings are presented at the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology conference. One in 11 children in the UK has asthma, making it the most common long-term medical condition among chil-

dren.

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are strong medications commonly found in inhalers, used to treat asthma in adults and recurrent wheezing in chil-

dren - but they are known to have side-effects in some people. The latest guidelines for GPs recommend that all children taking inhaled steroids for asthma should have their height and weight checked every year for any signs of reduced growth.

Lead researcher Dr Antti Saari, from the University of Eastern Finland, said his team had analysed in-

formation on the height of the children's parents, as well as data on the children's weight and asthma medicine, to calculate expected height and growth. He found an

association which, if permanent, could lead to around 3cm of decreased adult height. Dr Saari said: "It is important that doctors think twice whether these steroids are needed or not in this age group."

Jonathan Grigg, honorary medical adviser to the British Lung Foundation and professor of paediatric respiratory medicine at Queen Mary University London,

said treating very young children who were wheezing was not easy.

"We haven't worked out who responds to steroid treatment in this group.

In young pre-school children who wheeze, it is unclear which ones should be targeted with steroids.

Many grow out of asthma and won't need further treatment."

He said a larger study of different groups of younger children was needed to find out more. Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said inhaled corticosteroids were crucial for reducing and controlling asthma symptoms and the impact on height was "relatively minor".

She added: "No parent should stop their children taking these lifesaving medicines, because a slight reduction in growth is a small price to pay for medicines which may save your child's life."

Internet giants race to faster mobile news apps

NEW YORK US tech giants are turning to the news in their competition for mobile users, developing new, faster ways to deliver content, but the benefits for struggling media outlets remain unclear. Mobile "drives so much traffic" because many people start their day reading news on a phone or tablet, said Cindy Krum, chief executive at MobileMoxie, a mobile marketing consultancy.

Several new apps hope to capitalize on that by attracting news readers and the advertising dollars they bring. Apple News, an app included in Apple's updated iOS 9 mobile operating system, launched last month, delivers content from more than 50 media partners, including the New York Times, Vanity Fair and

Vogue.

Facebook launched its "Instant Articles" earlier this year in partnership with a number of media organizations to provide access to the news 10 times more quickly, through its social media infrastructure, than most news websites do.

And Google is said to be preparing a similar system in partnership with Twitter to allow mobile users to fully load an article on their phone in a fraction of a second, compared with nearly 10 seconds today.

The rapid development of the news products demonstrates how mobile has become the new battleground for tech companies seeking to keep users within their ecosystems, where they can reach them with more products, services and advertising.

Issue 635 (23)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Indian-origin man wins right to sell alcohol in dry UK village LONDON An Indian-origin shopkeeper in the UK has won a legal battle to be allowed to serve alcohol in what has virtually been a “dry village” for about 120 years.

Kamal Sharma made history this week when Birmingham City Council’s licensing subcommittee allowed his Mary Vale News convenience store in Bournville to sell booze.

The tiny village near Birmingham in the West Midlands region of England is best known for its chocolate connections and has been dry for decades as a result of the teetotal Quaker roots of its founders, the Cadbury family.

“If it had been turned down, I would have seriously looked at closing the business down. I am doing all I can to save my business and selling alcohol may just

do that,” said Sharma, who has been running the shop for seven years.

The 38-year-old will have to comply with strict rules such as putting up clear signage telling customers

UK spends 1mn pound to keep Indian-origin surgeon off work LONDON Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) has spent over a million pounds to keep an Indian-origin surgeon off

work since 2011, after he raised patient safety concerns at the facility.

The Royal Blackburn Hospital in northern England sent liver surgeon Ditya Agrawal, 43, home on full pay in 2011 after he spoke about his fears over working practices at the hospital. The hospital has

since paid legal bills of at least 250,000 pounds fighting Agrawal’s complaint that he was unfairly treated — and has spent more than 700,000

pounds paying his salary for four years and on locums to cover his absence, the Mirror reported.

A high court judge has ruled in Agrawal’s favour when the General Medical Council sought to stop him practising pending a full disciplinary hearing.

However, Agrawal was finally sacked in May as hospital authorities cited “a breakdown in working relationships between you and your colleagues”.

Backed by Labour MP Lucy Powell and Tory Sir Peter Bottomley, Agrawal has now appealed, claiming he has been fired for speaking out, the paper reported.

Peter, who has supported a number of NHS whistleblowers, told the Commons recently the East Lancashire NHS Trust that runs the Royal Blackburn Hospital had suspended Agrawal “in retaliation for raising concerns”. “I raised concerns about patient safety and working practices. It turned into a nightmare. I want to restore my good name,” Agrawal said. The hospital declined to comment on the issue as legal proceedings were underway, the report said.

not to drink alcohol outside the premises and CCTV will have to be installed at the shop with alcohol allowed to be sold between 10am and 9pm.

“I certainly don’t want to

alienate my wonderful customers who have supported me through this. It will remain a newsagents and convenience store but will now sell alcohol,” Sharma told the Birmingham Mail.

Over 400 people had signed a petition in favour of the proposals but there had been 230 objections from residents.

“This is a catastrophic decision and goes against 120 years of history and heritage in Bournville.

There will be a rise in antisocial behaviour in the area now with the selling of alcohol. It is a devastating blow for residents but we will appeal,” said Bournville councillor Rob Sealey, who is opposed to the

move.

Bournville was built in the 1890s by the Cadbury family to create homes, schools and shops for its chocolate factory workers. The area has remained dry ever since with the exception of alcohol sold at two social and working men’s clubs.

Bournville’s founder, George Cadbury, intended that Bournville should have no alcohol selling shops and pubs.

He famously said: “We wish to preserve that unique cultural identity for the area.”

In 2010, Cadbury was sold to US giant Kraft Foods for a reported 11.5 billion pounds and is now part of global snacks business Mondelez.

Indian American chief of US maritime education, training

WASHINGTON An Indian American has been named chief of the education and training wing of US Maritime Administration (MARAD), a media report said.

Shashi Kumar, currently dean of US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, has been appointed the deputy associate administrator and national coordinator for maritime education and training of the Maritime Administration, newsindiatimes.com reported on Tuesday.

Kumar will assume his new role in October this year. He will lead MARAD’s efforts to build a pipeline of future merchant mariners

and working with state maritime academies to address the intersection between state and federal maritime education, including ship requirements, a US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) statement said.

“After serving at the US Merchant Marine Academy since January 2007 as the academic dean, and as interim superintendent three times, I am moving on to pursue other challenges,” Kumar was quoted as saying.

The Maritime Administration is the agency within the US Department of Transportation dealing with waterborne transportation

and its seamless integration with other segments of the transportation system, as well as maintaining the viability of the US merchant marine.

“His commitment to delivering a world-class education has been an inspiration to the Kings Point faculty, staff, Midshipmen and alumni who have had the opportunity to work with him,” USMMA Superintendent Rear Admiral James A. Helis said. Kumar has graduated from Indian Maritime Academy with a masters from the Maine Maritime Academy and a Ph.D from the University of Wales.

19-year-old daughter killed by father for stealing condoms to have sex with boyfriend Berlin A 19-year-old girl was strangulated to death by her father after she was caught stealing condoms from a shop to have sex with her boyfriend.

Asadullah Khan, 51, who hails from Pakistan, killed his daughter Lareeb on 28 January this year for bringing dishonour to the family.

Khan and his wife Shazia,

41, are both on trial for the murder in Darmstadt, Germany.

Khan has confessed to killing Lareeb, as he disapproved of his daughter having sexual relations with a Muslim man.

During the court hearing, Shazia said she tried to save Lareeb on the fateful night, but was unable to do so as she was a downtrodden woman.

However, adding to the

twist, the couple’s younger daughter Nadia informed the court saying, “My

Mama was not suppressed, she could do what she wanted. She

used to hit me with a stick.”

Nida told the court that her father never allowed them to talk about Lareeb’s boyfriend and wanted his elder daughter to be forcibly married in Pakistan. While narrating the whole incident, Shazia told the court, “Lareeb stayed away from the home for several nights in a row and stopped wearing the headscarf. One day we

received a letter from the police saying she had been caught trying to steal condoms.”

“At this point it became clear that there was sexual contact. When I showed the letter to my husband he snapped.”

Lareeb’s boyfriend Raheel also informed the court that she was repeatedly tortured by her parents for being in relationship with him.

Issue 635 (24)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

You’ll be very aware of what needs to be done this week. You likely have a lot on your plate, too, and will need to keep your focus in order to get it all done.

However, last week’s Lunar Eclipse in Aries may have shaken your resolve, and you could find yourself getting upset or emotional about a key situation.

You may think you’re fine with a certain situation, but your feelings could reveal a completely different picture. You could find yourself getting emotional even though you’re trying hard not to. This could be due to last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse stirring up feelings and perhaps causing you to consider the worst-case scenario.

Your social life may still be affected by last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse, causing situations to become quite emotional.

If you’re holding a party or celebration, it could be boisterous, so be prepared for plenty of noise. In fact, if you want to have an easier time, it might be a good idea to invite fewer people.

The Moon is your personal planet, so you may notice the residual effects of last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse more than most.

Be ready for action in your career sector, which might include a new opportunity or the chance to change to a more lucrative job. When one door closes, another opens. The cosmos may have big plans for you, so look at the bigger picture.

Mercury’s retrograde phase could be causing a few delays to your best-laid plans, but try not to let it faze you. Remember to keep your personal details safe, back up important files, and keep receipts and paperwork if you buy big-ticket items or sign contracts. The Lunar Eclipse may have stirred up a desire for adventure perhaps a kind of wanderlust!

You’re full of vitality and eager to take the world by storm. However, Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse may have brought up emotions that you didn’t know you had, which could derail you somewhat. Consider lightening your schedule if you can, as it might make your life a lot easier.

Where finances are concerned, you may experience delays.

Though you may have good intentions at the start of the week, go easy, as your relationship sector is affected and could unleash powerful feelings. If you’ve sensed that you and another have an issue, you might want to tread with care on Monday and for a few days after. It might not be easy to compromise either, so go with the flow.

Take care of yourself, especially early in the week as there could be minor accidents, especially if you’re feeling upset or frustrated. Try to leave Monday and Tuesday free of too many appointments and unnecessary stress, as you’ll find life a lot easier if you do. The Sun in your spiritual sector encourages you to relax.

Try to resist should you find yourself falling in love this week. If you can’t, then at least avoid rushing into anything. Last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse probably stirred up feelings, even obsessive ones. Should you be in the midst of an emotional maelstrom, then knowing what’s happening might help you avoid acting impulsively.

Beware from Monday to midweek, as there could be an upset at home. If you already know what this is about, then it might help to try and resolve it sooner rather than later. Opt for a heart-to-heart talk, if possible. If that isn’t going to work, then you might need to go with the flow and tackle any problems if and when they show up.

Watch out for communication snafus, especially on Monday and in the days following. A volatile vibe could see you ready to stand your ground and be completely honest. Given the emotional factor that’s showing up, it might be better to try a more tactful or conciliatory approach. If you don’t mind losing a friend or business connection, go for it.

Watch your spending this week, as you may be encouraged to splurge on impulse. If you see something you like, you’ll be very tempted to go for it no matter how much it costs. However, it’s best to avoid doing anything you might regret at a later date or that might wreck your credit rating. Relationships continue to be fun and motivational.

Issue 635 (25)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Technology Critical medical tweets from smartphones more lIKely to be egocentrIc devices vulnerable to This may annoy some souls but according to an Indian-origin researcher and his team, tweets sent from smartphones are more likely to be egocentric and self-

egocentric to nonegocentric tweets is consistently greater for mobile tweets than from non-mobile sources.

“As we increasingly use social media from mobile

negative language from mobile devices than from web-based ones,” he noted.

Along with Sawyer Bowman from Bowdoin College, Alexander J.

praising in nature than those sent from computers or laptops.

Dhiraj Murthy from the University of London and associates found that mobile tweets are not only more egocentric in language than any other group, but that the ratio of

devices, the context in which one uses social media is a critical object of study,” Murthy said.

“We found that not all tweets are the same and the source of tweets does influence tweeting patterns, like how we are more likely to tweet with

Gross and Marisa McGarry from the University of Maine, Murthy conducted an analysis of tweets to see if presentations of self are more likely to be more egocentric, negative or positive, gendered or communal based on

Cheating not so serious while gaming on Facebook A new study shows that cheating is not so serious when it’s done on Facebook. In the study, researchers at the Concordia University

network game as breaking with the social behaviour that is expected of players. The second group is made up of those who define cheating as simply playing outside of

polled 151 social media gamers between the ages of 18 and 70. They asked them to respond to questions about why people would choose to cheat on a social media game. The responses break down into two main categories. The first consists of players who define cheating in a social

the formal game rules.

Researcher Mia Consalvo said that for some participants, specific actions or practices did not determine what was cheating, instead, they defined cheating by the purposes or motives behind those actions or practices.

The majority of survey respondents reported at

least some kind of cheating. They admitted to playing social network games to help friends or family members advance their scores, and to asking friends or family to play a social network game in order to advance their own scores, and to adding strangers to do the same.

In addition, a high number of participants admitted to purchasing currency to advance play, creating multiple accounts and logging into someone else’s account.

Consalvo said that players believed cheating might be different based on the platform on which play takes place, concluding players believed social network games were not real games, so they could not cheat at them. The study is published in the Journal New Media and Society.

whether users were on a mobile device or using a web based platform.

Over the course of six weeks, the researchers collected 235 million tweets.

Nearly 90 percent of the top sources to access Twitter were coded to denote mobile, non-mobile and mixed sources.

Drawing from social psychological methods, they studied language use in tweets by analysing the frequency and ratios of words traditionally associated with social and behavioral characteristics.

Regardless of platform, tweets tended to employ words traditionally associated as masculine.

‘We found that tweets from mobile devices are more likely to employ egocentric language as opposed to non-mobile device Tweets,” the authors pointed out.

Previous studies have linked activities performed face-to-face to tweets from a particular source.

This is one of the first studies to take a look at how mobile versus nonmobile plays a part in the language used on social media.

hacking, warn experts

Security researchers warned that thousands of critical medical systems, such as MRI machines, are vulnerable to hacking, creating significant health risks for patients.

As per a BBC report, some 68,000 medical systems from a large unnamed US health group have been exposed to hackers.

Security researchers Scott Erven and Mark Collao conducted an experiment to illustrate how hackers were already targeting

medical devices.

Presented their findings at Derbycon security conference, they said medical devices should not be made available on the public internet, but should be behind multiple layers of protection. They also revealed that they had created fake medical devices which attracted thousands of hackers.

The research also shows that some medical devices have already been compromised.

Google, Microsoft end patent litigations

Technology giants Google and Microsoft have agreed to drop 18 patent lawsuits between the two companies in the US and Germany, the media reported.

The agreement brings an end to legal battles over the use of technology in mobile phones and Wi-Fi and of patents covering games for the Xbox videogaming console and Windows products, Efe cited the two companies as saying in a joint statement. “Google and Microsoft have agreed to collaborate on certain

patent matters and anticipate working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers,” the companies said without disclosing financial

compliance with its obligation to allow companies to license patents covering wireless networking and video technologies at a reasonable price.

terms. The legal battles began in 2010, when Microsoft accused Motorola, later acquired

by Google, of non-

Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo last year but kept some assets, including the majority of its patents.

Issue 635 (26)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Her 30-year-old flower vase turned out to be unexploded WWI bomb Kathryn Rawlins had no idea how fatal her favourite 30-year-old flower vase was until she saw a war documentary on TV. The heavy metal shell turned out to be an

flowers until she saw a documentary featuring World War I bombs that had been dropped on nearby Coventry by German zeppelins and realised she may have

family now,” Kathryn said. “I have had the shell on the mantelpiece for three decades now and even took it to university.

I used to stick plastic roses out of the top of it

UN chief calls for impartial probe UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned an air strike on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan on Saturday and called for an impartial investigation of the incident. “The SecretaryGeneral strongly condemns the air strikes in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that resulted in the death and injury of medical workers and patients at a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital on October 3,” Ban’s press office said in a statement.

The statement added that “hospitals and medical

personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law.” Ban called for a

“thorough and impartial investigation into the attack in order to ensure accountability,” it said.

China biker clocked at 237 kph in Beijing speed stunt unexploded bomb from World War I! The 45-year-old motherof-two and a school careers advisor in UK, had found the shell when she was 15 in the playing fields of her school and had been using it as an antique in her house.

She had filled with the vase with her favourite

been sitting feet away from a live explosive.

“The police said the shell had the potential to have killed anybody within about 20 metres of it and could have taken the house down.

It’s funny to think that I had it on my mantelpiece the entire time - it’s just become a part of my

when I was dancing around to Madonna.

Luckily my husband Chris just thought it was funny,” she was quoted as saying by The Mirror.

Rawlins had called the police and experts were brought in to safely remove the explosive before the vase was handed back to her.

Beijing police have detained a motorcyclist who touched a speed of 237 kilometres per hour (147 mph) on the city's ring road, state media reported Sunday, after the stunt went viral on the Internet.

The man, identified by China's official Xinhua news agency only as Peng, reached the speed during a lap around Beijing's 37.5 kilometre Second Ring Road in the early hours of August 22, according to the report. His feat, which took just 13

minutes and 43 seconds, became an Internet sensation and was seen more than 220,000 times on a Chinese video sharing site, Xinhua said.

But police apprehended the 30-year-old Peng in the faraway southern province of Guangxi and he was sent back to Beijing on Saturday, the report said.

Issue - 635 (27)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Asteroid, volcanoes implicated in dinosaur doom

Washington It was a combination of calamities - an asteroid strike followed by vast volcanic eruptions half a world away - that doomed the dinosaurs and many other creatures 66 million years ago.That is the conclusion of scientists who said on Thursday they have determined with new precision the proximity of the dates of these catastrophes: a space rock about 6 miles (10 km) wide striking Mexico’s Yucatan region and colossal eruptions in India.The two events roiled Earth by throwing dust, ash and harmful fumes like carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the air, altering the climate and killing off about 75 percent of all species in one of Earth’s worst mass extinctions.The researchers said the asteroid strike occurred 66.04 million years ago, plus or minus about 30,000 years. They said eruptions in a region called the Deccan Traps were already underway at a lower intensity but dramatically accelerated after the asteroid strike as if the powerful impact triggered it. The

dating method they used found this acceleration began within 50,000 years of the impact, but it could have been in the mere days, months or years afterward.“Within measurement error, they’re simultaneous,” said volcanologist Loyc Vanderkluysen of Philadelphia’s Drexel University.“The two processes in tandem caused the extinctions,” added Paul Renne, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and a University of California, Berkeley geologist, who led the study in the journal Science.Scientists

have debated for about 35 years which of the two disasters drove the extinction, some touting one while calling the other inconsequential.“The debate has been contentious,” Renne said.

“Now it’s time to stop dismissing one cause or the other. They clearly happened at the same time and both contributed.” “An asteroid 10 kilometers across, about the size of Manhattan, hitting the Earth is traumatic enough. But what followed were the largest volcanic eruptions the Earth had seen in 60 million years. And in their wake would have come 4,000 centuries of changing climate, ocean acidification and acid rains,” Vanderkluysen added. The Deccan eruptions lasted 420,000 years after the asteroid and extruded enough lava to cover the continental United States 600 feet (180 meters) deep.“We as humans wouldn’t be here if the dinosaurs had not been wiped out,” said Cal-Berkeley geophysicist Mark Richards, noting the extinction at the Cretaceous Period’s end paved the way for mammals to become the dominant land animals.

LOS ANGELES Eighty fur seals have been found stranded or dead on California’s coast so far this year, eight times more than normal, scientists said Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 42 of the seals were found dead and the remainder were found alive but half-starving. The NOAA said it was declaring an Unusual Mortality Event in light of the

11-year-old boy in US helps mom deliver baby at home Washington An 11-year-old boy in the US is being praised after he delivered his baby brother with help from an emergency operator when his mother suddenly went into labour at home.

James Dukes, from Marietta, Georgia, was at home with his mother, Kenyarda, earlier this week when she suddenly went into labour earlier than expected.

James then jumped into action

to help deliver the baby.

“It didn’t really scare me. It was

more just like, let me clean the baby off, make sure he’s OK, make sure my mom’s OK,”

People-rating app sparks firestorm

SAN FRANCISCO Creators of an app that will let people assign ratings to those they know vowed to launch as planned next month as planned despite online outrage at the idea.Peeple has been likened by critics and supporters alike as a Yelp-style review service at which people are rated, without their consent, the same way a person might give a grade to a restaurant or an airline.

Yelp was quick to make it clear it was not associated with the Peeple startup, which some reports valued at $7.6 million based on investment funding raised. Peeple is an app for rating and commenting about those who one interacts with in daily life personally, professionally, or romantically, according to the forthepeeple.com website.

Founders and close friends Julia

Rare fur seals dying on California coast

Cordray and Nicole McCullough defended their creation on Thursday as an online venue for praise and constructive feedback.A firestorm of criticism at Twitter, Facebook and other online venues countered that the creators of Peeple were either naively or intentionally downplaying how nasty commentary can get on the Internet. “Innovators are often put down because people are scared and they don’t understand,” read a message from chief executive Cordray at the Peeple website.

“We are bold innovators and sending big waves into motion and we will not apologize for that. “ Cordray referred to Peeple as a “positivity app” that will launch in November.“Whether you love us or our concept or not; we still welcome everyone to explore this online village of love and

abundance for all,” the website message said. Peeple lets people rate friends, family, dating partners, or others with one to five stars.

Subjects being rated are not asked for permission. Raters must log in using Facebook accounts with their real identities, and need only a name and matching mobile phone number of the person they are judging.

Those targeted with unflattering commentary at Peeple are held for two days to give the involved parties time to work matters out.

Twitter erupted with vitriol aimed at Peeple. A barrage of tweets condemned the idea of an app for rating humans as a nightmare that would be used as a weapon by bullies or stalkers with potentially tragic real-world results. “At least, I signed up to have the world judge and grade me publicly,” model Christine Teigen said in a tweet from @chrissyteigen.

“I f—ing hate this app and the boardroom table it was created around.” “In an age where both truth and gossip on the Internet can literally ruin lives, this peeple app is horrible and scary,” Teigen said in a separate tweet. In a move critics pounced on as hypocritical, Peeple’s founders blocked or condemned some of the unsolicited online criticism being fired their way.

James said.

James called 911 and the emergency operator instructed him on what to do to keep the newborn safe and warm until help could arrive, ‘CBS News’ reported.

The mother and James’ baby brother are both doing well. “He was my help, he was my guardian angel. He was the man, he was the doctor, he was my superhero,” Kenyarda said.

strandings and deaths, a designation that allows for more federal funds to be allocated for the threatened species.

Teneya Norris, of the Marine Mammal Center which is caring for some of the animals, attributed the strandings to changes in the availability of food due to ocean-warming trends.

“These stranded animals are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of animals affected by the unusually warm water temperatures we’ve been seeing off the coast,” Norris said.

The fur seals were nearly brought to extinction in the late 1800s because of hunting and today about 10,000 remain. They breed almost exclusively on Guadalupe Island, off the Mexican coast, and little is known about the species. In 2013, the NOAA also sounded the alarm on California’s sea lions after hundreds became stranded along the coast.

Colouring book, Ninja Turtles among Toy Hall of Fame finalists

WASHINGTON Will the good old colouring book make the cut? Or do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have what it takes? The National Toy Hall of Fame is out to determine which old favourites are worthy of its hallowed halls of fun. Twelve 2015 finalists, announced Monday, include American Girl dolls, Battleship, the colouring book, Jenga, Playmobil, the puppet, the scooter, the Super Soaker, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the top, Twister and Wiffle Ball. Two winners will be announced on November 5 and will join the likes of Barbie,

Monopoly and the teddy bear all past inductees into the hall located at the The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

In total, 56 toys have been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame since it was established in 1998. Anyone can nominate a toy but it has to meet a number of requirements, including being widely recognized, respected and remembered, according to a news release from the museum.

“Will the top spin itself into contention?” joked spokesman Shane Rhinewald.

Issue - 635 (28)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Hillary Clinton gets endorsement of largest US labor union WASHINGTON US Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, who has been vying with challenger Bernie Sanders for the support of organized labor, scored a win on Saturday with an endorsement from the National Education Association, a huge teachers union. The NEA, the largest

US labor union with 3 million members, is the latest in a string of unions to support Clinton, including the American Federation of Teachers and the machinists’ union.

Clinton’s lead in opinion polls has been narrowing against Sanders, a Vermont senator who has rallied progressives with his pledges to tackle income inequality and rein in Wall Street. NEA President

Lily Eskelsen Garcia praised Clinton as a strong leader who would work for students, teachers and families “because she understands the road to a stronger US economy starts in America’s public schools.” Eskelsen Garcia said 75 percent of the 175-member board of directors voted to endorse Clinton.

Clinton issued a statement saying she was honored to get the NEA endorsement. “As president, I will fight to defend workers’ right to organize and unions’ right to bargain collectively, and I will ensure that teachers always have a voice and a seat at the table in making decisions that impact their work,” she said.

Clinton is trying to win over labor, often a key source of volunteers and funds for

Democrats in the effort to build a broad coalition within her party and avoid a potentially damaging, drawn-out primary fight.

In a setback for Clinton, the International Association of Fire Fighters has abandoned its initial plans to endorse her, the New York Times reported on Friday. Clinton has struggled recently following a stream of news about her use of a private email server while secretary of state. A rolling fiveday Reuters/Ipsos poll dated Sept. 29 found Clinton’s support within her party at 44 percent, compared to 28 percent for Sanders.

As recently as August she had 56 percent support for the nomination.The winner of the primary contest will face the Republican nominee in the November 2016 election.

Labor leaders are pressing Clinton on issues ranging from the minimum wage to trade.

One flashpoint is the TransPacific Partnership, a proposed free-trade agreement backed by President Barack Obama but opposed by unions, which see it as bad for US jobs and wages. Clinton has remained neutral on TPP, saying a final agreement must protect American workers.

Hillary Clinton aides worried about private email use in 2011

New York A hacking attack on Google’s Gmail service in 2011 prompted Hillary Clinton and her aides to worry about the security of private email accounts widely used by government officials who found their “antiquated” governmentissued laptops inefficient.Clinton’s use of a private email account connected to a server in her New York home while she led the State Department now hangs over her campaign to become the Democratic nominee for the November 2016 presidential election.The seemingly prophetic concern is revealed in the latest batch of Clinton’s emails released by the State Department, the fifth release in a monthly series set to last until January 2016 under a schedule ordered by a federal judge.After Google Inc revealed in June 2011 that suspected Chinese hackers tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Gmail accounts held by senior US government officials, Clinton and three top

aides discussed the issue.“NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up using their home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, who had recently left her job as director of policy planning at the State Department, wrote in an email to Clinton.Slaughter suggested that someone outside of government write an op-ed about the State Department’s “antiquated” technology, blaming it on budget cuts.Clinton replied saying she thought the idea made “good sense” and asked how the department should follow up with Slaughter’s idea.Her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, was less sure, writing that both she and policy aide Jake Sullivan had concerns.Mills, who said hackers had attempted to infiltrate her email, wrote, “I am not sure we want to telegraph how much folks do or don’t do off state mail (because) it may encourage others who are out there,” Mills wrote.

Big Auto look to tech companies to fix cars over the air SAN FRANCISCO As cars increasingly resemble digital devices, a group of technology firms that can send wireless software updates to cars are in hot demand by carmakers scrambling to catch up to Tesla Motors in the arena of over-theair updates, or OTAs. Interest in the technology, through which certain car functions can be upgraded much the same way as an iPhone, comes as Tesla is set to deliver an OTA for handsfree cruise control this month, allowing its electric Model S sedans to drive themselves on freeways.

“Tesla has made great strides in raising the profile of OTA, making it appear somewhat sexy by showing how features could be added,” said Strategy Analytics consultant Roger Lanctot. “They’re almost poking the traditional carmakers in the eye by making it look so easy.”

That has spurred the big automakers to get more serious about OTAs, although they are hampered by the challenge of making software compatible with internal combustion engines, dealers worried about losing service revenue and security concerns. “There’s a whole mindset change” as automakers embrace the need for the

technology, said Honda spokesman Matt Sloustcher.

Oren Betzaleli, product strategy head for Israeli OTA firm Redbend, said four years ago it was hard to get in the door.

“Today, OTA is so important to car makers that we can get in right away to see the VPs of manufacturing,” he said.

Betzaleli said between six and 10 auto companies are “engaged” with Redbend’s technology for cars but declined to name them. There are about 70 different computers in every modern car, each with software that has to be managed, Betzaleli said.

Michelle Avary, VP of auto products and strategy at wireless carrier Aeris, said she had “yet to speak to a single OEM (original equipment manufacturer) who is not active in this space right now.”

The technology has set off a wave of partnerships, investments and acquisitions. Audio products maker Harman International Industries paid $170 million to acquire Redbend and another $780 million to buy Silicon Valley-based Symphony Teleca, another OTA firm. Both deals were in January. Some big carmakers, including GM, BMW and Mercedes, are already using

OTA updates, but mostly for their entertainment systems.

Mahbubul Alam, chief technology officer of Michigan-based global OTA firm Movimento, predicted that in three years nearly all car makers will have some kind of OTA capability. Tesla has already

quickly repaired.

Besides the practical advantages for consumers, who won’t need to waste time at dealerships for new fixes, the technology may save money for automakers because up to half of warranty repair issues and

introduced over 75 features via OTA, from raising the ground clearance of cars to boosting acceleration. The recent hacking of a Jeep Cherokee through its telematics system has highlighted security vulnerabilities as cars add more digital technology, and auto experts say OTAs are the best way to minimize breaches because weak links can be

recalls can be corrected through OTAs. The cost of fixing an issue through a safety recall, in which dealers are compensated for repairs, versus an OTA is higher by a factor of 20 to 30, said Alam, without saying how he arrived at that estimate.

A September report from research company IHS found that global cost savings from

OTAs will grow from $2.7 billion today to more than $35 billion in 2022. Those potential savings have eroded earlier resistance to OTAs, said Lanctot.

“That’s where the chief financial officer says to the chief information officer, ‘Get out of the way, buddy, if we don’t do this, we’re going out of business.’”

As much a tech company as an automaker, 12-year-old Tesla is free of the constraints its rivals face - complicated combustion engines, huge model ranges, four-year development cycles and a reliance on car dealerships.

Tesla “started from a blank piece of paper,” said Avary. “They didn’t have 100 years of legacy engineering to contend with.

“Your typical combustion engine is still very mechanical. Your gasket blows, it’s gone. Tesla is different, they have a lot more software in their cars, it’s a very different beast.”

Traditional carmakers’ reliance on car dealers also impedes OTA adoption, with some dealers worried their lucrative service revenue will drop off if car owners come less frequently to dealerships when fixes are done

by OTA updates, said Lanctot.

“It’s not in carmakers’ interest to annoy the dealer,” he said.

Issue - 635 (29)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Americans shift away from traditional jobs WASHINGTON More than 42 million Americans are part of the independent workforce, representing a shift

estate agents. But much of the growth is coming from “sharing economy” platforms that allow people to work flexible hours, said

away from traditional jobs as more people join sectors such as the “on-demand” economy, a study showed Tuesday. The study by MBO Partners covers a variety of professions, but a growing portion of those are made up of young workers taking “gigs” with startups such as ride-sharing giant Uber or delivery services like Instacart. The number earning a substantial part of their income from independent work was estimated at 30.2 million in 2015 - 17.8 million full-time and 12.4 million part-time.The survey found another 11.9 million Americans are “occasional independents,” bringing the total number to 42.1 million. The total includes many traditionally independent workers including accountants, doctors and real

Gene Zaino, founder and chief executive of MBO, which provides services to independent workers.“We think most of the occasional independents work in the sharing economy, along with a large number of the parttimers,” Zaino told AFP.While the study does not break down sectors, Zaino said anecdotal evidence suggests “more than a third” of the total number of independents work in the ondemand economy.The 2015 numbers are little-changed from 2014 - probably because some independents are moving to traditional jobs as the labor market firms - but have grown considerably since the survey began in 2011, MBO said.The trend toward on-demand jobs has sparked concern that these

US leads the world in public mass shootings Washington When it comes to gun massacres, there are more public mass shootings in the United States than in any other country in the world, according to a new study.Between 1966

and 2012, there were 90 mass shootings in the United States, where there is nearly one firearm for every American. The 90 mass shootings in the country are nearly a third of the 292 such attacks globally for that period.

While the US has five per cent of the world’s population, it had 31 per cent of all public mass shootings.Mass shootings are defined for the study as having four or more victims and don’t include gang killings or slayings that involve the death of multiple family members.“People have been a little surprised by these statistics,” CNN quoted Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, who did the analysis.Lankford presented his work at the American Sociological Association’s annual conference last weekend and says it’s the first research of its kind to do a global

comparison.Lankford combed through the records of every incident and found a few common factors that set the US incidents apart from the rest of the world’s.

In the US, people have a greater chance of dying in mass shootings if they are at work or at school. Overseas, these incidents typically happen near military installations.In more than half the American cases, the shooter had more than one firearm. In global incidents, the shooter typically had only one gun.And in the US, there are 6.87 victims on average per incident. In the other 171 countries Lankford studied, the average was 8.8 victims per incident.

The incidents of mass attacks tripled from 2011 to 2014, according to a new analysis by the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University.The Harvard research showed that public attacks in that time occurred every 64 days on average. During the previous 29 years, they happened every 200 days on average. In contrast, the overall US homicide rate and rate of gun violence have dropped significantly over the past two decades.Some researchers also believe these mass killings can be contagious.The copycat phenomenon is more acute in the US because guns are more accessible than in other countries, Lankford said.

workers lack the traditional social safety net of conventional employees, such as employerpaid health insurance, sick leave and disability coverage.Roughly six in 10 said that working independently was their choice entirely and nearly 80 percent of the independents said they were happier working, the consultancy found.Some 45 percent said they believed they made more money working on their own than they would in a traditional job.Those working independently were split on whether the lifestyle carries more risks - 48 percent said being independent carries more risks than traditional employment, and 32 percent said the risks were roughly equal.A solid majority of independent workers said they were satisfied with their situation, compared with 47 percent of traditional workers, MBO said.The report said the number of independent workers in America is expected to grow from 30.2 million to roughly 37.9 million in 2020, in part due to businesses seeking flexibility and also because young adults are more comfortable in the lifestyle.Adding occasional independents, the projected number of US adults working independently will grow to an estimated 54 million or nearly 45 percent of the private, non-farm workforce, the group said.“The independent workforce is thriving, and we’re predicting that it will expand at more than five times the rate of the overall hiring growth in the United States in the next five years,” said Zaino.

Titanic’s last lunch menu sells for $88,000 at auction

NEW YORK A menu for the last luncheon served to the first-class passengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic has sold for $88,000 at an online auction.

The menu, which was saved by a first-class passenger, was sold on Wednesday to a private collector, Auctioneers Lion Heart Autographs said. The price was in line with pre-sale estimates.

Stamped with a date of April 14, 1912 and the White Star Line logo, the menu included grilled mutton chops and custard pudding; corned beef; mashed, fried and baked jacket potatoes; a buffet of fish, ham and beef; an apple meringue pastry; and a selection of eight cheeses.

Lion Heart Autographs said the menu was saved by Abraham Lincoln Salomon, one of the passengers who escaped on the so-called “money boat” lifeboat that was filled with wealthy people. It is thought to be one of only three or four menus from the ship’s last lunch that still exist.

The menu was offered for sale by an unidentified person who was given some Titanic items by a descendant of one of the lifeboat survivors.

The luxury ocean liner foundered in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York. Some 1,500 people lost their lives.

Florida Police in Sanford, Florida, had their hands full Monday morning trying to capture an unusual criminal: a rascally monkey who went on a rampage in a residential neighborhood. The furry culprit, a macaque named Zeek, escaped from his owner’s home and took to the streets of Sanford, causing a minor disturbance with his wild antics.

At around 8am, police got a 911 call from a neighbor about a

monkey eating letters out of a mailbox in the Hidden Lakes subdivision. A female officer who

Mischievous mail eating monkey caged

responded to the scene snapped a photo of the sticky-pawed primate sitting atop the mailbox with a white envelope in his hands.

US couple rents chickens to egg fans, urban farmers HARRISBURG A Pennsylvania couple has come up with a solution to soaring US egg prices: Rental chickens.

RentTheChicken.com is the brainchild of Jenn and Phil Tompkins, of Freeport, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. More than just a costbeater, they see their business as a way to change how people think about food.

“It changes the mindset of people when they know where food comes from,” said Jenn Tompkins, 38. “Pretty soon they’ll have tomato plants and be turning the chicken manure into compost.”

Since starting their home-based business in the summer of 2013, they have rented chickens, either directly or through affiliates, to about 200 customers in 12 US states as well as Ontario and Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Interest has been spurred by a surge in US egg prices, which rose a record 85 per cent last month after an outbreak of bird flu led to the culling of millions of laying hens nationally, according to US labor department data.

For about $400, depending on location, the service provides two laying hens for the four to six warm months of the year, plus a

chicken coop and a guidebook.

The hens typically produce eight to 14 eggs a week, and at the

special for my kids to see that food does not necessarily come from the store.”

end of the rental period customers have the option of buying the chickens or returning them.

The venture is one of a handful that have sprouted up around the United States in the past few years, capitalizing on renewed interest in local food production.

Hope Stambaugh, 37, and her husband Paul, 40, rented four hens this year for $600, which they are raising along with their four young children in Export, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb.“I love the idea of knowing where my food comes from,” Hope Stambaugh said. “How

Municipalities vary widely in their attitude toward urban chicken farming.

Philadelphia bans it, Tompkins said, while Pittsburgh earlier this month relaxed its licensing requirements to allow homeowners with lots of a minimum size to raise small numbers of chickens, ducks or hornless goats, or to keep bees.

Stambaugh said she plans to buy the chickens, named Jessie, Fluffy, Lacey and Princess, at the end of the rental period, and is thinking about moving further out in the country to add a few more.

Issue - 635 (30)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Gunman in Oregon college massacre committed suicide ROSEBURG The gunman who killed his English professor and eight others at an Oregon community college committed suicide after a shootout with police who were

Christopher Harper-Mercer, took his own life. Releasing a timeline of the massacre’s first hour, Hanlin said two Roseburg police officers were on the scene within five minutes, and reported to

on the scene within five minutes and exchanged fire with him almost immediately, authorities said. Investigators had previously said the 26-year-old shooter was killed by the officers who raced to the rampage at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, which ranks as the deadliest among dozens of U.S. mass shootings in the past two years. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin told a news conference on Saturday the state medical examiner had determined that the gunman,

dispatch that they engaged the gunman just two minutes later.

Hanlin said they “neutralized” him.

“Officers responded immediately ... there was an exchange of gunfire, (and) the shooter was neutralized at that point in time,” the sheriff said. “As far as the very specific information regarding whet.Hanlin said an additional handgun was also recovered from the shooter’s apartment, making a total of 14 weapons seized: eight from his home, and six he took to the

Amazon bars sale of Apple, Google devices

college. Harper-Mercer was officially identified on Friday as the assailant who survivors said stormed into the classroom of his introductory writing class on Thursday and shot the professor at point-blank range, before picking off other victims one at a time as he questioned each about their religion and whether they were Christians.

Authorities have disclosed little of what they may know about the gunman’s motives.

Citing unnamed sources, CNN said he left a statement that showed animosity toward blacks. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation. Bonnie Schaan, mother of 16-year-old Cheyeanne Fitzgerald who was shot in the attack, said her daughter told her the shooter chose a male student and handed him an envelope. “He told everybody else to go to the middle of the room and lay down,” Schaan said outside the hospital where her daughter remains in critical condition after having a kidney was removed. “She was right there,” Schaan told reporters. “He (the gunman) called the one guy, gave him the envelope and told him to go to the corner of the classroom because obviously he was going to be the one that was going to be telling the story.” Asked if the shooter had given anything to anyone at the scene, Sheriff Hanlin said he did not know.

Charon moon seen in super detail New York Pluto’s major moon, Charon, takes centre stage in this week’s release of new pictures from the New Horizons mission.The latest images are both the most highly resolved and the best colour views that we have seen so far.

The US space agency mission is in the process of downlinking all the data it gathered during its historic flyby of Pluto on 14 July.

It is expected to take well into 2016 to get every bit of information back. The slow drip feed is a consequence of the vast distance to New Horizons, which continues to push ever deeper into the outer Solar System. The probe has already gone 100 million km beyond the dwarf planet since the flyby, putting it some five billion km from Earth.

But as slow as the data is in coming back, the scientists could not be more thrilled with its quality. The latest example - of Charon - is no exception.

Researchers feared this object, which is half the diameter of Pluto at 1,214km wide, might be quite dull compared with Pluto.

Instead, they see some fascinating and diverse surface features: craters, mountains, battered and crumpled northern highlands, and smooth, rolling southern lowlands.What particularly catches the eye is

the vast system of fractures and canyons stretching around Charon’s middle. It is evidence, the New Horizons team says, of a colossal geological upheaval in the moon’s past. “It looks like the entire crust of

Charon has been split open,” said John Spencer, a senior scientist on the mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

“With respect to its size relative to Charon, this feature is much like the vast Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars.”

Researchers have done a count of craters and find the smooth southern plains, which have been dubbed Vulcan Planum, to have fewer large impact sites, indicating their relative youthfulness. The smoothness of Vulcan Planum is itself a clear sign of wide-scale resurfacing, they say. The team is toying with the idea that a kind of cold volcanic activity, called cryovolcanism, may have been responsible.

Oregon gunman may have killed more if not for hero student

Silicon Valley Amazon is to stop selling videostreaming TV devices from Google and Apple because they don’t “interact well” with its own media service.

The online retailer said it had made the decision to avoid “customer confusion” and the devices will be removed from sale by 29 October. Amazon wants to sell products that work with its in-house streaming video service known as Prime Video.

Prime Video is not available on Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast.

But it can be watched via an app on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.

Amazon said along with its own Fire TV, it will continue to sell other companies’ devices that are compatible with Prime Video.

These include Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sony’s Playstation.

Amazon has rapidly expanded its online content, using it to

attract subscribers to its Prime loyalty membership scheme which offers fast delivery on purchases.

Google has just unveiled a new version of its Chromecast TV device, and Apple is due to release the latest version of its TV this month. Richard Windsor, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said that by refusing to sell such products, Amazon could be diminishing the experience of its customers.

“These days it is all about enticing users to join one’s community and then providing great digital life services so that they stay. “This is why Amazon’s sledgehammer approach is very likely to backfire. “This approach implies that Amazon is doing everything it can to prevent users from accessing what very well may be superior services from its competitors,” he said.

Amazon has used similar tactics with book publishers.

ROSEBURG The gunman who went on a deadly rampage at an Oregon college was well armed and equipped with extra ammunition, authorities said on Friday, and he may have killed more people if not for the heroism of a military veteran in an adjoining classroom.A day after the shooter killed nine people and wounded nine others at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, authorities sought a motive for this year’s bloodiest mass shooting in the United States, where such massacres have become all too common.

The gunman, who was killed by police, had 13 weapons, body armor and ammunition, said Celinez Nunez, assistant special agent of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.He burst into a classroom in the former timber town, about 180 miles (290 km) south of Portland, shot a professor in the head and then ordered cowering students to stand up and state their religion before shooting them one by one, according to survivors’

accounts.As the gunman moved toward an adjoining classroom, Chris Mintz, 30, a US Army combat veteran who served in Iraq, tried to stop him, Jamie Skinner, the mother of Mintz’s 6year-old son told Reuters. The gunman opened fire, striking Mintz.“When Chris hit the ground, he told him it was our son’s birthday yesterday. He took a couple more rounds after that,” said Skinner. The gunman

then changed direction, entering a different room.“The assailant was not able to make it into the classroom, because Chris stopped him,” she said, noting Mintz is hospitalized with two broken legs and seven bullet wounds.The Oregon shooting, the latest in a series of highprofile mass killings across the country, has led to fresh

demands for stricter gun control in the United States, including an impassioned plea by President Barack Obama for political action, and statements by some Republican presidential candidates supporting the right of Americans to bear arms.

The latter is a position championed in the past by Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, who has repeatedly declined to name the gunman during press conferences since the shooting and refused to comment on the gun control issue.Law enforcement sources have identified the suspect as Chris Harper-Mercer, 26.

“Media and community members who publicize his name will only glorify his horrific actions,” he said. “And eventually, this will only serve to inspire future shooters.”Six of his guns were found on campus and another seven guns - all legally purchased - and a significant amount of ammunition were found at the apartment he shared with his mother in nearby Winchester, the ATF’s Nunez said.

Issue - 635 (31)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Student-built solar motorbikes hit the road in Kenya URUDI Motorcycle taxi operators waiting for passengers in this village in western Kenya’s Kisumu County lounge on their various machines - but Alfred Omondi’s plug-in electric scooter stands out from the crowd.Surrounded by motorbikes running on polluting fossil fuels, Omondi sits astride his solar-powered rechargeable motorcycle, which uses technology developed by students from the University of Nairobi. Charles Ogingo, Robert Achoge and James Ogola - all final year students - have built a system they call Ecotran, which captures the sun’s energy, stores it in batteries, and uses it to charge a motorcycle’s electric motor.Much of western Kenya has no grid electricity, and the places that do face frequent power disruptions, so solar energy is a promising alternative, they say. The three students have set up a “fuelling” station with 40 solar photovoltaic units, each generating 250 watts of electricity. The energy is stored in batteries before being transformed by powerful inverters into the alternating current needed by the motorcycle.

The motorbike uses a small portable battery which, fully charged, can run for 70

kilometres (40 miles), after which it must return to the station to be recharged while another charged battery is fitted to the bike. The students, who have set up a company called Pfoofy Solar Ltd, put together their system in 2014 at a climate change innovation center at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, where they had been sent to give practical form to their ideas.

After successfully trying out the Ecotran technology on three locally bought motorcycles in Kisumu County’s Nyakach area early this year, the young innovators are now expanding the project, and powering 40 more bikes. “We were awarded $100,000 by the United States African Development Fund and Power Africa for the ingenious innovation. It is this money that we are now using to upscale the solar project,” said Pfoofy Solar manager Achoge.

The new motorcycles are imported from China, he said. The students will lease the bikes to 40 riders who they have trained in road safety.

Most motorcyclists in Kenya, like Omondi, have no bikes of their own but ride leased machines.

Omondi, who used to ride a petrol motorcycle, said he used

Manila worst city to drive on Earth

Manila Officials in the Philippine capital Manila say they are putting measures in place after the city received the unwanted distinction of having the worst traffic in the world, it’s reported.

Users of a road navigation app participated in a “Global Driver Satisfaction Index” poll, voting on their local driving experience based on factors such as traffic levels, road quality, parking and fuel prices, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports. According to members of the Waze application community who took part across 167 metropolitan areas, Manila scored 0.4 points out of 10, closely followed by Jakarta in Indonesia, and Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil. It’s a finding which has led government officials to promise more to be done to help drivers in a city where the average road commute takes over 45 minutes.

Speaking at a media briefing,

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said that officials were already looking for effective solutions to the city’s traffic problems, but stressed that long-term measures were preferable to quick fixes. Traffic in Manila not only hampers economic activities, but also affects the health of motorists and commuters alike, GMA Network quoted him as saying.

One of these solutions could be a mass transit system. Speaking to the Manila Bulletin newspaper, a planned “Mega Manila Subway line” would help ease the city’s traffic problems, says Francis Toletino of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. The city is currently served by a light railway system carrying millions of passengers daily, and current plans hope to have major transportation projects in place, including a new subway system, by 2030. “Subways will solve our problems,” Tolentino says.

to make 1,000 shillings ($9.60) on a good day, but would spend about 350 shillings on fuel and another 300 to lease the bike from its owner.

Now it costs him 100 shillings (96 cents) to recharge the electric motorbike, saving him money even as he helps the environment by curbing pollution and climate-changing emissions.

“The only challenge is that this electric bike has low acceleration and cannot work in hilly terrain,” he pointed out. Ogingo, a mechanical engineering student, agreed that the technology promises lower operating costs as well as environmental benefits.Taxi motorbikes are a big industry in Kenya, employing thousands of young people. The World Health Organization estimates that between 2005 and 2011, motorcycle registrations in Kenya increased almost 40-fold, and that by 2011 motorcycles made up 70 percent of all newly registered vehicles in the country. In the capital Nairobi the number of registered

motor vehicles stood at 2.25 million in 2013, many of them older vehicles emitting relatively high levels of pollution.

Shem Wandiga, a researcher at the University of Nairobi, said air pollution can damage residents’ health in highly polluted areas such as Kisumu, Kenya’s third biggest city, and Nairobi. Illness and deaths linked to air pollution cause economic losses of $15

million a year, according to a 2014 study in Nairobi by the University of Nairobi. In Kenya, 39 percent of air pollution is caused by motor traffic, the study said. The motor industry is the main source of air pollution in Africa, and air pollution causes an estimated 176,000 premature deaths a year on the continent, according to a World Health Organization survey of 2012.

repatriate bodies.“The Saudi government is not carrying out its obligation to repatriate and in some cases shows slyness,” Khamenei told military commanders in northern Iran in comments broadcast on state TV.“The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far showed self-restraint, observed Islamic decency and brotherly respect in the Islamic world, but they should know that Iran’s hand is superior to many others and has more capabilities.

If (Iran) wants to react to disturbing and sinister elements, their situation will not be good.”Khamenei has already called on Saudi Arabia to apologize to Muslim nations and accept responsibility for the hajj

disaster.The pilgrims suffocated or were trampled to death when two massive crowds converged on a narrow street in the tent city of Mina, just outside Mecca.

Saudi Arabia has launched an investigation and says officials will be held accountable if it finds that mistakes were made. The hajj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all ablebodied Muslims are required to undertake it once in their lives.

This year some 2 million pilgrims from 180 countries took part in the hajj.The pilgrimage poses a major logistical challenge for Saudi Arabia, but the country has hosted more than 3 million pilgrims in recent years without any major incidents.

Top Iran leader warns Saudi Arabia of harsh measures over Haj disaster

Riyadh Iran’s top leader on Wednesday warned Saudi Arabia of “harsh” measures if the kingdom fails to promptly repatriate the bodies of more than 200 Iranian pilgrims killed in last week’s hajj stampede. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning came as Iran summoned Riyadh’s envoy for the fourth time since last Thursday’s deadly crush of pilgrims to protest what it called the kingdom’s “mishandling” of the incident.Saudi authorities say 769 pilgrims died in the stampede near Mecca in the worst disaster to strike the annual pilgrimage in a quarter-century. Iran appears to have lost the largest number of pilgrims, with 239 dead.Tehran says 241 Iranian pilgrims remain unaccounted for, and Iran’s state media have accused Saudi Arabia of a cover-up, saying the total death toll exceeds 4,700. It has offered no evidence to corroborate the claim.The disaster has fed into the bitter regional rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen. Iran has led a chorus of international criticism directed at Saudi Arabia’s response to the incident, saying its diplomats were not given access to victims until days after the stampede.

Iranians have staged daily protests near the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, and President Hassan Rouhani devoted a significant part of his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday to blaming Saudi authorities for the disaster and demanding it be “fully investigated.” Khamenei said Saudi Arabia “will not be in a good situation” if it disrespects Iranian pilgrims or fails to

New Zealand to create massive marine sanctuary WASHINGTON New Zealand has unveiled plans to create a South Pacific marine sanctuary the size of France, saying it would protect one of the world’s most pristine ocean environments. Prime Minister John Key said the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary would cover an area of 620,000 square

kilometres (240,000 square miles) about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) off New Zealand’s northeast coast. Announcing the plans at the United Nations in New York on Monday, Key said the Kermadec area was home to thousands of important species, including whales, dolphins, seabirds and endangered turtles.

Issue - 635 (32)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

UK tops university rankings Scientists start stem cell trial

of potential blindness cure

Cambridge The UK has 34 universities in the Times Higher Education ranking of the world’s top 200 institutions. Oxford climbs to second place, while Cambridge and Imperial College London also make the top 10 in fourth and eighth places respectively.

Keeping the top spot for the fifth consecutive year is the California Institute of Technology in the US. Europe has a record number of universities in the world top 200, with 105 compared to 87 last year.

The tables rank universities worldwide on measures like teaching, research and international outlook - for example numbers of overseas students and staff. The majority of UK universities have moved up this year, some - for example Warwick, St Andrews and Exeter - by a significant margin. There is good news for Reading, Dundee and Newcastle, reestablishing their places in the top 200 after slipping out last

year. However, four universities Manchester, York, Sussex and Royal Holloway, London - have slipped to lower positions in the tables, compared with last year when there were only 29 UK institutions in the top 200. While the US remains the world leader when it comes to elite universities, its dominance has been eroded this year. It has six of the top 10 universities - down from seven last year - and 39 of the top 100 - down from 45 last year. There is a mixed picture for Asia, with Japan and South Korea falling back this year and China remaining steady. Europe is catching up on the dominance of the Anglo-American universities, with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich being the first institution from outside the US and UK to make the world top 10 in a decade. Germany has 20 universities in the top 200 and the Netherlands has 12 and there are five from France, while Spain and Italy each have three.

LONDON The first patient has been treated in Britain in a pioneering trial of a new treatment co-developed by Pfizer and derived from embryonic stem cells designed for patients with a condition that can cause blindness.

Specialists at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital said the operation, described as “successful”, was the first of 10 planned for participants in a trial of the treatment for a disease called ‘wet’ age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The trial will test the safety and efficacy of transplanting eye cells known as retinal pigment epithelium, which have been derived from embryonic stem cells.Stem cells are the body’s master cells, the source of all other cells. Scientists who support the use of embryonic stem cells say they could transform medicine, providing treatments for blindness, juvenile diabetes or severe injuries. But critics object to them because they are harvested from human embryos.This trial involves surgeons inserting a specially engineered patch behind the retina to deliver the treatment cells to replace diseased cells at the back of the eye.The first surgery was successfully performed on a patient last

British archaeologist aims to pinpoint Nefertiti’s tomb LUXOR Standing before the majestic gold, ochre and white frescos of Tutankhamun’s tomb, British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves

has passionately defended his daring theory that Nefertiti is buried in a secret chamber. With the help of a sophisticated radar, Reeves aims to prove Nefertiti is buried there in a hidden chamber of the young pharaoh’s underground tomb that long hid the most fabulous treasure ever discovered in Egypt.

Archaeologists have never discovered the mummy of this legendary beauty who played a major political and religious role in the 14th century BC. Nefertiti actively supported her husband Akhenaten, the pharaoh who temporarily converted ancient Egypt to monotheism imposing the single cult of sun god Aton.

Reeves’s theory is that Nefertiti is buried in a room adjacent to the tomb of Tutankhamun, the son of Akhenaten.According to Reeves, the boy king, who died

unexpectedly at 19, was buried in a rush in an underground burial chamber that was probably not intended for him.

His death would have forced priests to reopen Queen Nefertiti’s tomb 10 years after her death because the young pharaoh’s own had not yet been built, Reeves said at Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, southern Egypt.

In the burial chamber, just a few steps away from the darkened mummy of the boy king who died in 1324 BC after just nine years on the throne, the archaeologist pointed to a fresco representing Tutankhamun and his successor

Ay.Circled by archaeologists and officials from Egypt’s antiquities department, Minister of Antiquities Mamduh al-Damati listened attentively to the expert from the American University of Arizona as Reeves said the frescos in the chamber could conceal two secret doors.

“The theory is a very good theory but it doesn’t mean it’s true. The best theories don’t always work,” he added with caution, in the midst of the Valley of the Kings where on November 29, 1922 another British Egyptologist, Howard Carter, discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb.“But I think it’s definitely worth checking because we can check easily and without damage,” the archaeologist said, explaining that with a radar being brought in from Japan he will be able to scan the chamber’s walls.

“I hope we can do some radar and find out whether there is a hollow,” Reeves said, aiming to start the tests in late November.

“You have to get security clearance and that always takes time,” he said.

Reeves has been on a visit to Egypt, ending with a press conference in Cairo on Thursday, to discuss his theory with Egyptian colleagues and for preliminary research in the field.

“I am now 70 percent certain that we are going to find something,” said Damati, the minister, as he stepped out of the tomb.

month, Moorfields said in a statement on Tuesday, and “there have been no complications to date”.

“The patient wishes to remain

blood into a region in centre of the retina. This trial is part of The London Project to Cure Blindness - a partnership between Moorfields, University

anonymous, but the team hope to determine her outcome in terms of initial visual recovery by early December,” it added.

Retinal surgeon Lyndon Da Cruz, who is performing the operations, said he hoped many patients “will benefit in the future from transplantation of these cells.”Macular degeneration accounts for almost 50 percent of all cases of blindness or vision loss in the developed world. It usually affects people over 50 and comes in two forms, wet and dry. Wet AMD, which is less common than dry AMD, is generally caused by abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid or

College London’s (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology, and Britain’s National Institute for Health Research.

The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer joined in 2009.Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at UCL, said the trial is important both as potential step towards curing a major cause of blindness, and as a way of deepening understanding of the use of embryonic stem cells in treatments.“If the AMD trials are successful, then by using embryonic stem cells as the starting material, the therapy can then be affordably manufactured at large scale,” he said.

UK bans smoking in cars with children

LONDON A new British law banning smoking in cars while children are present came into effect Thursday but police representatives said it will be “extremely challenging” to enforce. Under the changes, which apply only in England and Wales, anyone found to be smoking with a passenger under 18 in the vehicle could be fined £50 (68 euros, $76), even if the windows are open. A driver who fails to stop a passenger smoking in the same circumstances is also liable to be fined, in legislation aimed at protecting children from the effects of passive smoking. The Scottish parliament is considering bringing in a similar law next year. Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, hailed the “landmark” legislation. “Smoking just a single cigarette in a vehicle exposes children to high levels of air pollutants and cancercausing chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde and tar,” she said.

But Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation which represents rank and file officers, told AFP the ban would be “extremely challenging” to enforce. “Our officers are telling us they cannot get to some quite serious incidents like burglaries... how are we going to resource this?” he asked, saying that the policing budget had been cut by 25 percent in four years.

“This is largely a public health issue we should be getting on with the job of being police officers,” he said. The changes follow an experiment by Newcastle University which found that levels of dangerous chemicals were over 100 times higher than recommended safety guidelines when a passenger was smoking — even with windows open. On 20-minute journeys replicating the school run, researchers found that levels of toxic particles known as PM2.5 were more than 200 times over the safe limits with windows closed and fans on.

Issue - 635 (33)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

World headed for 2.7 Celsius warming PARIS Earth is on track for average warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100, higher than the UN target, said an analysis

Thursday of country pledges for curbing climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

While exceeding the UN goal of limiting overall warming to 2 Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, the number was an improvement on the 3.1 C

forecast issued in September by Climate Action Tracker (CAT), a tool developed by a quartet of research bodies.Thursday was the informal deadline for countries

to submit emissions pledges, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs, which will form the backbone of a universal climate rescue pact to be inked in Paris in December. Some 140 countries representing nearly 80 percent of global emissions have

Boooze back in Britain’s only dry village after 120 years

submitted their plans so far, including major polluters China, the United States and the 28member European Union. “The INDCs still produce global warming well above the 2 C limit set by the global community,” said a CAT statement. “This reflects the less than sufficient climate targets submitted by many governments”, though still a “significant improvement” of 0.4 C from the last estimate. The latest forecast includes estimated numbers for India, the world’s fourth-largest greenhouse gas polluter extrapolated from public statements as the country has not yet filed a formal contribution.

To get on the path to 2 C, annual greenhouse gas emissions would have to be 11-13 billion tonnes lower in 2025 than pledged, said the CAT, and 15-17 billion tonnes lower in 2030. Based on pledges to date, emissions would be 5254 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) in 2025 and 53-55 (GtCO2e) in 2030 more than today’s estimated 48 GtCO2e per year. It was “not very likely” that submissions by countries which have not yet filed their pledges would get us to 2 C, Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, a CAT contributor, told AFP.

Bronze Age Britons mummified dead

LONDON Ancient Britons may have mummified their dead during the Bronze Age, claims a study that is the first to show that mummification may have been a common funerary practise in the UK.Building on a previous study conducted at a single Bronze Age burial site in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, Tom Booth from University of Sheffield used microscopic analysis to compare the bacterial bioerosion of skeletons from various sites across the UK with the bones of the mummified bodies from Yemen and Ireland.

The damp British climate is not

favourable to organic materials and all prehistoric mummified bodies in UK will have lost their preserved tissue if buried outside of a preservative environment, researchers said. “We know that bones from bodies that have decomposed naturally are usually severely degraded by putrefactive bacteria, whereas mummified bones demonstrate immaculate levels of histological preservation,” said Booth. “The idea that European Bronze Age communities mummified and curated a proportion of their dead fundamentally alters our perceptions of funerary ritual and belief in this period,” Booth said.

700,000 Seat vehicles fitted with cheating software

London A British newsagent has been granted permission to sell alcohol, ending a rare 120-year ban in the last remaining “dry” village in England, officials said Wednesday.

Bournville, a suburb of Birmingham, central England, was founded at the end of the 19th century by the Cadbury family -- owners of the famous chocolate brand -- who were Quakers.

No bars or licensed alcohol stores have ever been built in the village of 25,000 inhabitants which was built to house Cadbury’s factory workers and declared booze-free by the teetotal family.Bournville councillor Rob Sealey said the decision was “catastrophic”, telling the Birmingham Mail: “This goes against 120 years of

history and heritage in Bournville.”

But Kamal Sharma, the 38-yearold owner of the shop, said he was just trying to save his business.“I’ve tried to diversify by selling fruit and vegetables but no-one bought them,” he told the newspaper.“I asked my customers what they wanted and they were unanimous in wanting somewhere nearby to pick up a few beers or a bottle of wine.”

Birmingham councillor Lynda Clinton said concerns had been raised about “anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder”, and the potential impact on Bournville’s “unique character”.

But no objections were raised by police and “local residents who attended today’s meeting were strongly in favour of the application being approved,” she added.

MADRID Seat, the Spanish carmaker owned by the Volkswagen group, fitted 700,000 of its cars with pollution cheating software to dupe emissions tests, a company spokesman said Tuesday.“These 700,000 vehicles were distributed by Seat’s global network and we are currently working to determine how many of them were sold in each national market,” the spokesman said.VW had sparked global outrage last week when it admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide are equipped with socalled defeat devices that activate pollution controls during tests but turn them off when the car is on the road. Seat said it would summon the owners of vehicles equipped with the affected EA 189 motors to authorised service centres to undergo tests. It will also set up a search engine on its website to allow customers to find out if their vehicle is affected. Seat said it had temporarily suspended the sale and delivery of all new

ZURICH As India debates the sensitive topic of meat ban, an alleged murder over beef eating and other issues that has the country divided in opinion, here’s a trivia: the world’s oldest “continuously operational” vegetarian restaurant, according to the Guinness Records is in Switzerland’s Zurich where vegetarianism is a personal choice and not a cultural issue.

Haus Hiltl, run by the fourth

generation of a family, is still a sought-after place notwithstanding the fact that most of Zurich is nonvegetarian, as many places in Europe are. Started in 1898, at a time when Bengaluru was battling a plague, Haus Hiltl was founded by Ambrosius Hiltl.

With more than 500 dishes on the buffet and an a la carte restaurant, the place is a hit, with many people having shown interest in buying it over. Having entered the Guinness Book of

World Records only in 2012, the place is not void of an Indian touch. From vada-sambar to palak and rice, there are a host of Indian dishes served everyday, with one section exclusively for our cuisine.

“As far the bread is concerned, we cannot make roti(s) or chapatis, as the number of visitors are too high for someone to be continuously be making them. So we use breads available here,” a steward said.

vehicles with the EA 189 motors.

Volkswagen’s top-of-the-range automaker Audi said that 2.1 million of its diesel cars worldwide are affected, as are another 1.2 million vehicles of VW’s Czech subsidiary Skoda.

A spokesman for Volkswagen’s light commercial vehicles business said 1.8 million of its light utility vehicles were also similarly equipped.

German prosecutors announced Monday a criminal probe of Volkswagen’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn,

who resigned over the scandal.

The group named Matthias Mueller, head of VW’s luxury sports car brand Porsche, as Winterkorn’s successor.

With the carmaker facing the possibility of having to recall as many as 2.8 million vehicles in Germany alone, the direct and indirect costs of the affair are still incalculable. VW has already said it will set aside 6.5 billion euros in provisions in the third quarter. But analysts at DZ Bank suggested it could be one to three billion euros more.

Veg vs non-veg: World’s oldest veg restaurant in Switzerland says it’s all about choice

Issue - 635 (34)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Baby boy born with two tubes instead of nose Know what is Patau syndrome

Washington A baby boy was born with two tubes growing out of his face instead of a noise in the city of Chimbote in Peru. The baby has been named Angelito which means little angel.

The parents of the baby have been told by the doctors that he is keeping well. The baby will have to go through an operation to treat the unnecessary growth and provide him with a normal nose. The doctors said that he is born with this condition because of a rare

genetic deformity called Patau Syndrome.Patau Syndrome is caused by a chromosomal abnormality wherein some or all cells of the body contain extra genetic material from chromosome 13. It is a very rare syndrome and happens in just one birth out of 15,000. The doctors have said the baby’s heart and respiratory system is working properly but he will need a plastic surgery and soon would look completely normal.

WHO urges preventative ARVs for HIV patients GENEVA People who regularly face a “substantial” risk of HIV infection should take preventative antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, the World Health Organization said in new guidelines released Wednesday.

Prophylactic, or precautionary, treatment should become “an additional prevention choice” available to high-risk individuals, along with counselling, access to condoms and safe injection material, WHO said.

Those defined as facing regular substantial risk include “some groups of men who have sex with men, transgender women in many settings and heterosexual men and women who have sexual partners with undiagnosed or untreated HIV infection,” the organization said in a statement. Some commercial sex workers also face elevated risk of HIV infection.

Along with its first-ever endorsement of broad, prophylactic ARV use, the WHO

She poured drain cleaner into her own eyes to go blind and is happy now

Washington She had dreamt of being blind ever since she was a kid and she finally got to make her dream

come true in 2006. Jewel Shuping, 30, from North Carolina, who suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), managed to convince a sympathetic psychologist to pour drain cleaner into her eyes to make her go blind.During the process, the psychologist put in numbing eyedrops which Jewel had bought in Canada and then put in a few drops of drain cleaner in her eyes.In an interview to Daily

Mail, Jewel admits the process was painful. “My eyes were screaming and I had some drain cleaner going down my cheek

burning my skin. But all I could think was ‘I am going blind, it is going to be okay’.” She was taken to a hospital where doctors tried to restore her vision - much against her wishes - but by that time, her eyes had been permanently damaged. Though the drain cleaner did not completely turn her blind, the effects of the procedure took about six months for her to go completely blind. Jewel’s left eye

suffered a complete ‘corneal meltdown’ and had to be removed while her right eye developed glaucoma, cataracts and scars.

Jewel Shuping’s fascination with blindness began early in her childhood and she would invariably end up walking the halls at night. In order to go blind, Jewel would spend hours sitting in the sun and staring at it even though her mother told her it would damage her eyes. By the time she turned 21, the need for her to be blind was going off in her head like a non-stop alarm.Before undergoing the drain cleaner procedure, she started wearing thick black sunglasses and even bought her first white cane when she turned 18. By the time she had turned 20, she was fluent in Braille. Now, completely blind, disowned by her family, Jewel with the support of her finance Mike, 50, who is also blind - is pursuing a degree in education.

But is she happy now that she’s blind?“I really feel this is the way I was supposed to be born, that I should have been blind from birth,” she told Daily Mail.

said people who test positive should begin treatment immediately, a departure from past guidelines that called for delaying treatment in certain cases. “WHO removes all limitations on eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART),” the statement said, adding that the revised guidelines were a product of recent findings from clinical trials. With these new recommendations, “the number of people eligible for anti-retroviral treatment increases from 28 million to all 37 million people who currently live with HIV

globally,” the statement said.

According to provisional estimates from UNAIDS, this significant expansion of antiretroviral therapy, if properly implemented, could help prevent 21 million AIDS-related deaths and 28 million new infections by 2030. “Everybody living with HIV has the right to life-saving treatment,” UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe said in the statement.

“The new guidelines are a very important step towards ensuring that all people living with HIV have immediate access to antiretroviral treatment,” he added.

Rare Swatch watches to be auctioned

GENEVA A rare collection of Swatch timepieces which traces the beginnings of the Swiss brand more than three decades ago will be auctioned in Geneva in November, Sotheby’s said Friday.

The collection, which will go under the hammer on November 10, comprises around a thousand watches, among them 380 prototypes with an estimated value of over a million Swiss francs (900,000 euros, $1 million). The collection was put together by Marlyse Schmid and Bernard Muller, two designers

who worked on the brand in the early 1980s before its launch.

Swatch, best known for its brightly coloured plastic-cased watches, is considered the product which saved the Swiss watch industry during the 1908s.

At the time, Swiss watches were hard hit by the emergence of Asian-made quartz timepieces.

It was in this context that a small team began to work in secret to develop a bold and innovative Swiss watch in a new and creative style, Sotheby’s said.

Among the top lots is the original Jelly Fish the first transparent watch dating back to 1983

been expected to do the actual picking.But some artistes who enjoy the patronage of President

Islam Karimov see it as a way to “prove their loyalty”, says Radio Liberty.

Uzbek stars told to pick cotton Tashkent The Uzbek government has told musicians, film stars and directors to help bring in the cotton harvest or risk blacklisting, it’s reported. Several actors told the Uzbek Service of US-run Radio Liberty that they got a call from their employers the state cinema company Uzbekkino - to this effect, and stage actors were also told to head to the cotton fields of Tashkent Region. “They were pretty firm,” says one film actor.

“They put us on buses, drove us out to the fields and said ‘pick 30 kg [66 pounds] each by lunchtime, and don’t let us down’.

They made it clear that anyone who failed to go would miss out when it comes to casting and awards.” The story has been widely picked up in Central Asian and Uzbek emigre media, but not in the country itself, where strict censorship prevents criticism of the authorities.

Local newspapers have nonetheless featured reports of farms “inviting

artistes” to come and help out, Liberty adds. Uzbekistan has been on the receiving end of unfavourable international publicity over its policy of what amounts to forced labour for soldiers, students, state employees and sometimes even children in gathering the harvest on the inefficient, Soviet-style state farms. In another throwback to Communist rule, singers and actors have often been sent to entertain labourers in the fields, but this is the first time they’ve

Issue 635 (35)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Virat Kohli: Fastest to score 1,000 runs in T20 Internationals

In the first T20I against South Africa at Dharamsala, Virat Kohli broke the record of being the quickest to 1,000 T20 International (T20I) runs in terms of innings. Bharath Seervi highlights Kohli’s record and related statistics regarding 1,000 runs in T20Is. The GandhiMandela series 2015-16 has started off with several records. The first T20I between India and South Africa at Dharamsala witnessed several. One of the most important was Virat Kohli getting to 1,000 T20I runs in the fewest innings in history. Kohli hit a six off Imran Tahir to get to this

milestone.

Kohli is also the first Indian to complete 1,000 T20I runs. India played her first T20I match in 2005-06 but Kohli made his debut in this shortest format of the sport only in 2010 but got to the milestone before everyone.

Overall, Kohli is the 20th batsman to complete 1,000 T20I runs. He did it in just his 27th innings 5 fewer than the previous record holders, Kevin Pietersen and Alex Hales, who got there in their 32nd innings. Kohli has been shattering records in ODIs, and seems to be doing the same in T20Is.

Indian Athletes Should be Ambitious to Achieve Success at the World Stage says Sebastian Coe In his first official visit to a member country after assuming office in August, earlier this year, world athletics body IAAF chief Sebastian Coe urged the Indian athletes to learn from countries like Jamaica and Kenya, who have excelled at world stage.

“One of the most important ingredients is strong presence and quality of track and field in schools.

“In Jamaica and Kenya, there is a vibrant presence of track and field in schools.

India can do the same,” Coe said at the press conference after addressing the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials in New Delhi.

“I have visited Jamaica many times and 50,000 people would watch school and college level championships there. One of the things I want to do as IAAF president is to sign MoUs with education ministers of countries to include track and field programmes in schools,” said the Briton.

Coe, who is on a two-day visit to India, attended the executive committee meeting of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), said India should have “ambitions” to achieve success despite not being able to win a medal at the Olympics.

When quizzed about the fact why India has not won a medal in the Olympics, he felt that India are not far away from winning one.

Didn’t like the way Stephen Constantine spoke to me says Roberto Carlos Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos, now managing Delhi Dynamos, has expressed his displeasure over the behaviour of Stephen Constantine, saying he “didn’t like the way” the Indian national football team coach spoke to him.

The World Cup and Champions League winning coach was not happy with the fact that Constantine did not pay heed to the franchise’

request of playing the likes of Robin Singh,

Sehnaj Singh and Francis Fernandes against FC Goa in their opening Indian Super League (ISL) match last night. Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos, now managing Delhi Dynamos, has expressed his displeasure over the behaviour of Stephen Constantine, saying he “didn’t like the way” the Indian national football team coach spoke to him.

“It’s very tough to win a medal in a World Championships or the Olympics.

India has a huge potential

seems interesting if you have to sponsors coming.

Some of the world’s biggest MNCs are in India and

and Indian athletes should be ambitious to achieve success at the world stage and I don’t see why they cannot do it. They are not far from doing that.”

Flanked by AFI president Adille Sumariwalla, who became a member of the IAAF Council recently, Coe said that India will have to work to attract corporate sponsorships to raise the profile of the sport in the country. “The (proposed) Indian Athletics League

you need to engage with them. You have to have sponsorships, have regional championships and work to bring big events.

You need to strengthen the competition structure,” he said. “In the last 20 years, in every Championships there have been photo finishes in many events to win medals. India have been doing well be it in junior events, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

“The 2010 Commonwealth

Games were a big success, especially in track and field events. I feel that the 2010 CWG made a big impact in Indian athletics with youngsters taking up athletics,” Coe added, who is also expected to have detailed discussions with the AFI top brass.

Athletics, which was hit hard by allegations of widespread doping in recent reports by Sunday Times in London and German broadcaster ARD, but Coe defended his sport, saying that “he would have the embarrassment of testing positive than not testing”.

“I am not in a position to respond to these external reports. It’s a technical and complicated area and WADA is looking into the issue. But every sport has issues. Our sport tested samples more than any other sport in the world. Usain Bolt is the most tested athlete in world and he is clean.

Irate fans hurl water bottles at Barabati Stadium CUTTACK Angry spectators hurled missiles, mainly water bottles, into the cricket ground, as South Africa were cruising towards victory against India, which halted the second T20 International at the Barabati Stadium on Monday. The visitors were 64 for three in 11 overs, needing 29 runs more to win when the crowd interrupted the proceedings. Put into bat, India were bundled in just 17.2 overs, to record their secondlowest total in T20I. Their lowest was 74 against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in February 2008. As India collapsed, fans vented their fury by throwing water bottles from the two-levels gallery three and four as it continued unabated in the innings break. Bottles

are incidentally banned in most of the venues in India where water is supplied in pouches but an Odisha Cricket Association official

bottles did not invade the playing area and fell on the practice surface outside the fence near the dressing room and the play re-

said in Barabati Stadium the situation is different.

“We have banned small water bottles and water pouches which can travel more distance than a big size bottle which is not banned here,” an OCA official told PTI. Thankfully the

sumed after the scheduled break with police officials taking control of the situation. There were also repeated announcements from the OCA to pacify the spectators and the match began without any further interruption.

Issue 635 (36)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Six experts vie for top UN Satellite Internet gets a fresh look, cash infusion climate science job OSLO Six candidates are vying to become head of the UN's top authority on climate change science this week, seeking to narrow down uncertainties about future warming to guide a trillion-dollar shift to

an IPCC meeting in Croatia. Governments have to pick a successor to Rajendra Pachauri of India, who quit the Nobel Peace Prize winning panel in February, after 13 years, when a female researcher in India accused

greener energies.

Top scientists - all men from Austria, Belgium, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States will seek to become chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a vote due on Tuesday at

him of sexual harassment, an allegation he denies.

The outcome of the vote is hard to predict, especially after Sierra Leone's Ogunlade Davidson, a former IPCC vice-chair, joined the race in recent weeks, scientists and officials said. He could be

well placed, if developing countries back him in the one-nation, one-vote election. "He's thrown a wild card into the race," one scientist said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the vote.

Rivals include Chris Field of Stanford University and expert in the impacts of warming, who would be an eloquent advocate of climate science for Americans if a Republican who doubts that warming is man-made succeeds President Barack Obama. JeanPascal van Ypersele, an IPCC vice-chair from Belgium known for an ability to build consensus, was the first candidate to enter the ring in early 2014.

And there are still many uncertainties about warming. Governments will meet in Paris from Nov. 30-Dec. 11 to agree ways to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

WASHINGTON The race for Internet service from space is on, again. After a series of failed satellite Internet projects over the past two decades, fresh investment is coming into the sector, and at least three high-profile projects are moving forward.

OneWeb, a Londonbased consortium backed by tycoon Richard Branson, announced in June it had raised $500 million from investors including Airbus, Qualcomm and Intelsat to advance its plan for satellite broadband to underserved parts of the world.

Also this year, USbased space exploration firm SpaceX secured a $1 billion investment that could help founder Elon Musk's plan to build a satellite Internet network, with backing from Google and the financial firm Fidelity.

US-based LeoSat, backed

by Europe's Thales Alenia Space, is also working on

a satellite broadband project aimed at business.

And Samsung outlined plans in a research report this year "to make affordable Internet services available to everyone in the world via low-cost microsatellites."

The projects seek to

Teledesic, a 1990s project backed by Microsoft's Bill Gates and Saudi royal family investors, died before it went into service, as did another venture called SkyBridge, whose assets were eventually acquired

by OneWeb. Greg Wyler, chief executive of

launch hundreds of low-orbit satellites to beam the Internet from space.

The initial costs could be high, but would avoid the expense of building ground-based systems for wired or wireless broadband. If the plans sounds familiar, we've seen this before.

OneWeb, said much has changed since Teledesic abandoned its "Internet in the sky" plan more than a decade ago: the cost of satellite technology has come down, and most people now realize that connectivity is needed to spur economic development.

Issue 635 (37)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Health Health benefits of Are you coming in the Keep your feet firmly ground with mulberry! wAy of your weight loss? on the Have you been concerned with your weight loss lately? Do you feel you’re doing everything in your power to reach that particular kilogram, yet unable to?

Yes, most of us do go through that plateau phase.

But, the question is, are you really doing everything right to reach your destined weight?

No, the answer is not in your genetics and neither is it natural. However, you may be, unintentionally of course, obstructing yourself from achieving your goal.

But worry not! Because listed below are a few

2. Not eating enough: Now, welcome to the other side! Yes, there are people who are probably not eating the right amount, which means lack of the right nutrients.

This can also hamper your weight loss goals.

Nutrients are fuel for the body and for that you need to eat but eat right.

Neither to little nor too much.

Do it right: Eat at least 3 balanced meals per day and 2 snacks. You can also eat small portions every couple of hours. By doing this, you’ll keep your metabolism running high and you’ll ensure that you’re getting

things you may be doing wrong, along with ways you can fix them!

1. Too much eating: Eat healthy, the doctor said. But nowhere did he mention eat a lot! Health food does not imply hogging on it. Excess of anything is bad and this statement holds true in the case of health food as well. If the amount of calories you’re consuming is higher than the number of calories you’re burning each day, it’s only going to add to your waistline.

Do it right: Include more of protein-rich foods in your diet. Also keep track of the amount of food you’re eating. Don’t overeat and check your portion sizes. Ensure that you eat a balanced meal so that you consume all the nutrients.

enough food to support your activity for the day.

3. Nibbling your way out: Oh, how we love to cheat!

Those little ‘bites’ you come across everyday – the plate of cookies on the table for the kids, a bite of a delicious snack from a friend when you’re stuck with just a salad, the so-called “I need a break” snack at work, et al – all add up! You’re simply raking in the calories this way.

Do it right: Allot a cheat day every week or simply save the “bites” for the special foods you can’t live without.

4. The lying fitness tracker: Ever found yourself thinking, “That can’t be right!” after a workout session? Well, the bitter truth is that you’re probably using it wrong or

these simple hacks!

the most possible problem is that you trust your tracker too much.

Do it right: A piece of advice would be to not trust machines too blindly. Technology isn’t that advanced yet. This does not in anyway mean that if you run on the treadmill for 30 minutes and it says you burned 300 calories, you can go eating 300 calories worth of extra food.

5. Temptation: If you’re one of those who give in to temptation easily, this advice is for you. You probably keep your favorite food stocked up. Food like chips, popcorn, etc.

But are they good for you? You know the answer better than anyone. NO. Guilty are we? Simple. Stop buying them.

Do it right: Surround yourself with healthy foods. Those that you will actually consume. Don’t buy those food items that you know will end up in your stomach and ultimately send you on a guilt trip.

6. Water intake: This is one of the most common reasons of not being able to reach that desired weight loss goal.

You’re probably not drinking enough water.

Were you aware that most of the times you feel ‘hungry’ is because you’re actually thirsty?

Confused? Don’t be. Next time, just try drinking a glass or two of water when you feel ‘hungry’. It will probably be just the thirst calling out to you.

Do it right: Keep a water bottle handy wherever you go. If you don’t like refilling constantly, buy a gallon and make it your goal to finish all or most of it by the end of the day.

Your feet are the most grounded (read: lowest) parts of your body and this is probably the reason why many don’t give them a second thought, unless you have to get a pedicure of course!

Your feet probably need all the attention they can get! For that, we bring out a few foot hacks for you for good, healthy feet!

For hurting feet: Most people have a shoe fetish. No S, M, L, XL or XXL business there, because foot size doesn’t really matter, does it? But the pain of a shoe bite from a new shoe is something everyone likes to avoid.

To do just that, the best thing to do is apply a deodorant all over the feet. This works like magic and lets the freshness last for up to a good 12 hours.

Smelly feet:

Surely, no one wants people to stand 50 feet away from them when they’re barefoot. To avoid that embarrassing situation and get rid of the repelling odor from your shoe, simply throw a teaspoonful of baking soda along with some talcum powder inside the shoe for a night and throw it out the next day.

Pain from high heel strain: Getting ready for a night of partying, are we?

Wearing your favourite pair of stilettos? Then you probably want to avoid a possible nerve damage. This may sound strange, but a medical tape wrapped around the third and fourth toe of your feet can reduce the strain on the nerve between these two toes to a considerable level, thereby preventing pain in the foot’s ball.

Exercise improves fertility in women Exercise and weight loss improves ovulation in women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common hormone disorder that often causes infertility, a new study says. “The findings confirm what we have long suspected - that exercise and a healthy diet can improve fertility in women who have PCOS,” said one of the study authors, Richard Legro, a professor at

Penn State College of Medicine in Pennsylvania.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common cause of female

infertility. The condition occurs when a woman’s body produces slightly higher than normal amounts of testosterone and other androgens, sex hormones associated with male traits. The resulting hormone imbalance can cause irregular or absent menstrual periods, weight gain, acne, excess hair on the face and body, or thinning hair on the scalp.

Issue 635 (38)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

Love to workout? Don’t overdo it! Know the wonders

Exercise is always considered good for health. Without adding physical activity in your fitness routines or weight loss routines, it’s next to impossible to achieve the desired goal.

Hitting the gym, a jog in the park, brisk walking, swimming, cycling, yoga, practicing martial arts, etc., can be a part of your regular exercise routines.

harmful too. This is why it is important that you give the body a muchdeserved break when it needs to rest after strenuous workouts.

Therefore, it’s important to be well aware of the negative aspects of overexercising.

1. Osteoarthritis: Also referred to as degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis causes inflammation of

Many people exercise to remain fit, others do it to achieve a particular weight goal, some even suffer from lack of it. But there are also those, who soon become addicted to their workout and intentionally or unintentionally overdo it.

Like excess of anything is bad for health, too much of exercise can be

the joints in the body.

One of the risk factors that may contribute to the health condition is too much exercise.

2. Targets mental health: Exercise and physical activity play a crucial role in shaping your own image about yourself and your life as a whole.

According to studies,

excessive exercise causes poor mental health, sometimes resulting in depression.

3. Menstrual problems: Women who indulge in vigorous exercise, may have irregular periods, heavy or loss of their normal menstrual cycles.

You need to review your current nutritional status, exercise regimen and overall health in such circumstances.

4. Eating disorders: Those who are addicted to exercising have just fitness goals in mind. In their quest to achieve the desired fitness goal, they

become prone to various eating disorders. Such people are more likely to fall bait to disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.

5. Fatigue: Over exercising leaves you drained. Mental or physical exhaustion can affect you in several ways. Your arduous exercise routine doesn’t let your body rejuvenate and you are left fatigued and tired with no energy left for anything else. You may also develop chronic fatigue syndrome.

6. Hampers heart health: While exercising, the heart rate temporarily increases. Overexercising can put stress on the heart to get back to normal heart rate.

Moreover, there is always a lurking risk of a heart attack during exercise if you have a known problem with your heart.

7. Sore muscles: Constant muscle soreness is one of the signs that you are exercising more than you should. Joints, bones and limbs may start to hurt when there is an overuse of muscles. Whether you are doing strength training or cardio, ensure that your body gets enough time to revitalize.

8. Sleep problems: In a state of overload, you are at a greater risk of

falling victim to sleep problems and even insomnia. When your muscles are overworked, you become restless and have problems falling asleep.

9. Impacts immunity: If you are prone to falling ill with common cold or seasonal flu and other minor infections, over exercising could be the culprit. Excessive exercise suppresses your immune system, leading to frequent viral infections.

10. Backache: An overdose of exercise can overwork the back muscles and can also sometimes place unwanted stress on the spine, which may result in a backache.

of papaya juice!

Who doesn’t like papaya? Everybody loves to eat this fruit because of its nutritional value. For those who don’t like to eat the fruit, they can try its juice. One should include a glass of papaya juice in their daily diet for healthy lifestyle.

Here are some health benefits of papaya juice which we all must know: Makes your skin glow: Regular consumption of papaya juice is good for skin.

The enzyme papain in the fruit helps to dissolve dead cells which gives a glowing skin. Skin related diseases can be treated with the help of papaya juice.

Treats cancer: Deadly disease cancer,

especially colon cancer, can be treated with the help of papaya juice.

Papaya contains high amount of fibre which seals the cancercausing toxins from the healthy colon cells which reduces the risk of the disease.

Good for digestion: High amount of fibre content in papaya juice helps in proper functioning of the digestive system. It also helps in getting rid of constipation problem.

High Blood Pressure: Papaya juice is said to be one of the most effective remedies for treating and preventing high blood pressure and stroke. The nutrients present in the fruit helps to decrease the pressure exerted by blood on the walls of the arteries.

Sensitive skin? Organic is the way to go!

Changes in the weather as well as seasons has maximum effects on the skin.

Skin eruptions, tanning, itchiness, roughness, acne, etc. are all part and parcel of the seasonal changes.

People with sensitive

skin have the hardest time coping with the harsh seasonal impact, because no amount of

imported creams, gels, face washes, or face packs seem to make any difference.

To help the skin breathe, you have to go au natural!

Because, where all else fails, home remedies always come to the rescue.

Natural and organic, home remedies have curative and preventive properties that can fix up

any problem in a jiffy. So, if you’re in search of something that can help you get rid of that pesky pimple that emerged out of nowhere, you’ve come to the right place! Listed below, are six DIY easy home remedies that you can trust and see which suits you and your skin!

1. Aloe Vera: You saw that coming, didn’t you? Aloe Vera gel or juice is the most common and most trustworthy treatment for irritable skin or skin infections. It contains a calming ingredient that on application, tames inflammation and soothes sensitive skin. You can grow your own Aloe Vera plant at home, because pure aloe vera gel would

be ideal in comparison with those you get in markets.

2. Cucumber: Again, a perfect remedy to ensure that your skin gets the proper natural treatment. Cucumber has cooling properties along with many useful ingredients to help with your skin problems including inflammation.

Using cucumber on the affected area of your skin, gives it a soothing effect.

3. Honey: Yes, this delicious syrup is not just good for the body, but works wonders on the skin too! All you need to do is apply a thin

layer on your face, keep it for 15 minutes and then rinse it off with warm water.

4. Egg and Orange: A strange combination, no doubt, but super effective! The ‘recipe’ is easy. All you need is one egg yolk, 1 tsp orange juice, 1 tsp olive oil, few drops of rose water and a few drops of lime juice.

Combine these ingredients together to form a liquid of thick consistency.

5. Papaya: Papaya pulp is a perfect substitute for any face scrub you get in the market. Just cut a few big pieces of a ripe papaya, mash it with your hands and apply on the face like a scrub.

Issue 635 (39)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015

BANANAS FOSTER

ISRAELI COUS COUS Ingredients: 2 tbsp. olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 shallot, finely chopped 1 carrot, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/ 2-inch pieces (fronds reserved for garnish) 1 cup Israeli cous cous 2 cups chicken stock 1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro 1/3 cup finely chopped mint 2 tbsp. store-bought or homemade ras el hanout 1 English cucumber, halved, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces Zest and juice from 2 oranges Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Instructions: Heat oil in a 4-qt. saucepan over me-

Ingredients: 8 tbsp. unsalted butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 cup banana liqueur 4 bananas, peeled and quartered 1/4 cup white rum Vanilla ice cream, for serving Instructions: Melt butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a 12" heatproof skillet over mediumhigh heat. Cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, 4 minutes.

Add liqueur and bananas; cook, until bananas are soft and slightly caramelized, 4-6 minutes.

Add rum, and using a match or lighter, ignite to flambe; cook until flame dies out. Spoon bananas and sauce over ice cream.

PRESERVED LEMONS Ingredients: 1 tsp. each coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and whole black peppercorns (or use whatever other seasonings you like) 1/4 cup kosher salt 6 lemons 2 cups fresh lemon juice 2 fresh bay leaves Instructions: Toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and whole black peppercorns in an 8" skillet over medium-high until seeds pop, 1–2 minutes. Let cool and mix with 1/4 cup kosher salt in a bowl.

Quarter 6 lemons lengthwise so that they stay attached by 1/2" at the stem ends; stuff lemons with salt mixture.

Transfer lemons to a sterilized 1-qt. glass jar. Add 2 cups fresh lemon juice and 2 fresh bay leaves. Seal jar with a

dium-high; add garlic and shallot and cook 2 minutes, or until soft. Add carrot and fennel and cook 3 minutes more. Add cous cous and toast 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer cous cous until tender, 12-15 minutes. Stir in cilantro, mint, ras el hanout, cucumber, orange zest and juice, salt, and pepper; transfer to a serving platter and garnish with reserved fennel fronds. Serve with pan seared snapper, if you like.

SIMNEL MARZIPAN BONBONS

tight-fitting lid and set in a dark place, shaking jar every other day or so, until lemons are soft, about 1 month. Refrigerate after opening, and use within 6 months. Makes 1 quart.

Ingredients: 2 cups almond meal 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup superfine sugar 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. ground cloves 1 tsp. brandy 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1 tsp. honey 1/4 tsp. almond extract 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1 egg plus 1 yolk Blowtorch, for caramelizing Instructions: Whisk almond meal, sugars, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl until combined; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk brandy, lemon juice, honey, extracts, egg, and yolk until smooth. Stir

CARROT AND PISTACHIO SALAD

PARMESAN POLENTA WITH SAUSAGE RAGÙ

Ingredients: 1/2 cup diced fresh figs 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 shallot, minced Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. olive oil 2 lb. multicolored carrots, halved lengthwise 1 head radicchio, roughly chopped 1/2 cup pistachios, roughly chopped Instructions: Heat oven to 375°. In a medium bowl, combine figs, vinegar, shallot, salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. water; while whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup olive oil until vinaigrette is emulsified and set aside. Toss carrots with 1/4 cup oil and salt; transfer to a baking sheet and cook until brown and crisp,

Ingredients: 1/4 cup olive oil 1 lb. Italian sausages, casings removed 1 red onion, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 (28-oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand 1 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1 1/4 cups polenta (not quick-cooking) or yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for garnish Instructions: Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high; add sausage and cook, breaking it into small pieces with a

about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high; add half the radicchio and cook until its just wilted and browned in spots, 2–3 minutes. Add to a large bowl and toss with reserved vinaigrette, uncooked radicchio, carrots, and pistachios. Transfer to a platter and serve immediately.

wet ingredients into dry; using your hands, knead mixture until smooth. Divide mixture into thirty-eight 1/2-oz. balls and place on a baking sheet. Using a blowtorch, torch tops of bonbons until lightly caramelized, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

They can be rolled and chilled for up to 2 days before being caramelized.

wooden spoon, until browned, 5 minutes.

Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add tomatoes and boil; simmer until thick, 20 minutes. Add basil, vinegar, kosher salt, and pepper; keep warm.

Meanwhile, bring sea salt and 5 cups water to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan; slowly add polenta and cook, stirring constantly, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and creamy, 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining oil, 1/2 cup parmesan, and kosher salt. Divide between bowls and top with ragù; garnish with more parmesan.

Issue 635 (40)

6 Oct. - 12 Oct. 2015