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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 633, 22 SEP. - 28 SEP. 2015 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Dad’s tip-off stops Hindu girl from joining IS ISIS Jihadists defecting for not getting promised luxury goods & cars NEW DELHI Intelligence agencies in Delhi were in for a shock recently when a girl, who did her graduation from a reputed Delhi University

said she even seemed keen to join the terror organization whose brutality has dwarfed the notoriety of al-Qaida. The girl, born to Hindu

IS executes 10 gays in Syria college and went to Australia for her further studies, showed an interest in the activities of Islamic State. Sources

parents, reportedly developed interest in IS while she was in Australia, top sources said. She was counselled

and de-radicalized

by Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency officers.

Top officials in the government claimed that it was the first such case where a Hindu girl was found interested in joining IS, which set alarm bells ringing.

However, they clarified that she was not able to contact anyone in the militant outfit and was only at the stage of checking its motivational material on the internet.

The agencies were alerted by her father, who is a retired Indian Army lieutenant colonel, about two-and-ahalf months ago.

The father sought the NIA’s help in counselling her after seeing material related to IS on her computer and social networking pages.

The agencies suspected that she may have been in touch with IS

operatives on the internet and during her three-year stay in Australia. The NIA, along with IB, is learnt to have counselled the girl and tried to deradicalize her for the past several weeks and let her go after nothing was found against her. Senior officials, however, said she was being kept under watch. “People she met and studied with in Australia may have influenced her thoughts for the cause of Islamic State but we are yet to establish anything. She may have been

brainwashed there,” said an official.

The government, meanwhile, said it was closely monitoring activities connected with the terror outfit in the country and taking necessary action. “The matter is being closely watched by agencies concerned. Whenever required, action will be taken,” minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju told reporters. He was responding to a question on deportation of four Kerala youths from the UAE for their alleged links

Syrian refugee walks 500km to Europe carrying his dog Damascus A 17-year-old Syrian refugee has walked more than 482kms carrying his pet dog after he could not bear to leave the animal in his wartorn homeland. Aslan, from Damascus, was interviewed by the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Holding the tiny dog as

it yapped happily in his arms, he said: “I love this dog, I need her.”

The teenager said he had walked 500km carrying all his belongings in a rucksack, and holding the dog in a red carrier.

“The dog is Rose,” Aslan said, holding up his pet’s animal passport, before giving her a drink from his water

bottle.”They said you can’t take your dog. I have food and I have water, I have everything.”

When asked by aid workers why he did not leave Rose in Syria, he replied: “I love my dog.”

A spokesperson for the UNHCR said it had seen many refugees like Aslan carrying their animals with them on dangerous journeys.

with IS. “We will take action at an appropriate time,” he said. Asked about the Delhi girl planning to join IS, Rijiju said the government has taken note of the issue.

“We have taken note of it.

The agencies have taken certain action and I believe those are right action,” he said. Isis jihadists defecting because they are not getting luxury goods and cars as promised Dozens of Isis recruits have left the Islamic militant group partly because the luxury goods and cars they were promised before they joined failed to materialize, a new paper has found.

The report, entitled ‘Victims, Perpetrators, Assets: The narratives of Islamic State defectors’ looks into the reasons why enthusiastic Isis recruits may have changed their mind and decided to defect from the militant group. Published

by London-based think tank Continued on Page 2

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Sikh designer in UK Sculpts Historic Figurines

Mourners attend the funeral and memorial service for the six victims of the Sikh temple of Wisconsin mass shooting in Oak Creek.

WASHINGTON Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) introduced House Resolution 413 earlier this month to honor the victims of hate crimes motivated

by Islamophobia and antiimmigrant sentiment in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, where individuals were targeted by violence and hatred because they were Muslim or perceived to be Muslim. The bill is cosponsored by Representatives Andre Carson (D-IN), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Paul Tonko (DNY). “While no one denies that the 9/11 attacks were abhorrent and tragic, what is often forgotten is the scores of Americans who were discriminated against, abused, and murdered due to a backlash rooted in senseless hatred and ignorance,” Honda told NBC News. “This resolution is an important step in acknowledging and denouncing the violence

and harassment that was incurred by countless innocent Americans, particularly in our Muslim and Sikh communities.” The bill names Sikh American Balbir Singh Sodi and several other individuals who were killed in hate crimes immediately after September 11, 2001, because they were perceived to be Muslim or Arab. In the bill’s summary, it recognizes that Islamophobia is a growing threat to Arab, South Asian, Sikh, and Muslim American communities, which have been the targets of numerous hate crimes since 2001. It also recognizes the positive contributions of these communities. “As one of the thousands of Japanese Americans who was wrongly imprisoned in internment camps simply because of my ethnicity, I vehemently oppose broad mistreatment of people based on their race, ethnicity, or religion,” Honda said. The resolution has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Dad’s tip-off stops Hindu... included in the report objected to the brutality of the group - in particular, its extreme violence to innocent civilians and hostages. Others took issue with the violence Isis fighters themselves are subjected to with some

clean toilets due to the colour of his skin. In the opening paragraph of the report, it describes a moment when a British Isis fighter phoned ICSR research fellow Shiraz Maher, complaining that in reality, Isis’ ‘jihad’

northern Syria today, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists shot dead seven men in Rastan, a town in Homs province of central Syria, “after accusing them of being homosexual”. IS

describing the execution of fighters by their own commanders.

However, the report pointed out that this was not a “universal concern”, but was most sharply felt when it was other Sunni Muslims being subjected to violence.

One of the defectors’ “persistent criticisms” was the extent to which Isis is fighting against other Sunni rebel groups, rather than focusing on fighting Assad’s government forces. They also took issue with the squabbling and in-fighting within Isis, and with the leadership’s obsession with “spies” and “traitors” within its ranks.

Another main criticism was the perceived corruption within the group - Syrian defectors from Isis complained about the privileges given to foreign fighters, where others pointed out more direct opportunity to pay tribute to racism within the group, the sagacity, fortitude and such as one Indian Isis courage of these valiant recruit who was forced to people far away from India.”

Former T&T Foreign Minister Winston Dookeran, in a message, said that as with other diasporas, BEIJING the Indian community does Computing giant Apple said have an affinity with Monday it has removed the home country. software from its App Store, “That affinity was after reports said hundreds kept alive by films, of apps including some of letters and the ties China’s most popular were of kinship. The infected with malware. More earlier generations than 300 apps including the under-standably hugely popular instant were nostalgic. messaging service WeChat Globalization today, and ride-hailing app Didi however, is Kuaidi were infected with triumphant. With growing code potentially allowing convergence among tracking of user data, nations and states, Chinese state-run media nostalgia will recede and said. The reports were a some memories lost. While blow to the US firm, which not losing their heritage, the has Greater China as its Indian community is first second-largest market. and foremost part and Apple told AFP that it had parcel of the citizenry of “removed” the affected apps Trinidad and Tobago,” from its online store. Citing US-based cybersecurity Dookeran noted.

consisted of “Muslims fighting Muslims,” while Assad was “forgotten about.” The overarching reason for their defections seems to be how different life under Isis actually was, when compared to what they had been lead to believe. The ICSR hopes that these stories can be used to keep young men and women from becoming radicalized and travelling to join Isis. The report recommends that governments begin to recognize the value of these stories, and says they should provide the defectors with ways to speak out, help them in resettlement, and remove legal blocks that may dissuade them from defecting and returning home.

IS executes 10 people accused of being gay in Syria The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group executed nine men and a boy it accused of being gay in central and

also executed two men and the boy in the town of Hreitan, in the northern province of Aleppo, for the same reason, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. He said the executions were carried out in public, but that IS fighters destroyed any cameras that had been used to film the killings.

IS has used brutal violence to enforce its rule in the socalled “caliphate” it declared in territory straddling Iraq and Syria. Along with homosexuality, witchcraft and loyalty to President Bashar al-Assad are also considered capital punishment offences in IScontrolled areas. In previous cases, IS has beheaded alleged homosexuals or thrown them from rooftops.

According to the Observatory, IS has executed more than 3,000 people, including at least 1,800 civilians, since it announced its caliphate in June 2014.

Continued from Page 1

The International Centre of the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), the report gives an interesting insight into why defectors left, with stories that the ICSR believes could be vital in stemming the flow of foreign fighters travelling to Syria. The ICSR identified four main narratives in the stories of 58 defectors from Isis, who came from 17 different countries. One of these was the “harsh and disappointing” realities of life under Isis. They point out that those who left due to these realities usually joined for ‘selfish’ reasons because they wanted the life of luxury that they were promised by Isis propaganda. Many Isis defectors said they were encouraged to leave by the group’s brutality to innocent civilians. Others described their actual duties within Isis as dull and boring, complaining about the lack of actual fighting and the claims that foreign fighters were exploited.

Beyond the underwhelming nature of life under Isis, which is generally presented as utopian by online propaganda, the other main reasons for leaving were less materialistic.

Many of the defectors

‘Indian diaspora in the Caribbean most vibrant’ The Indian diaspora in the Caribbean is one of the most vibrant across the globe, says India’s Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, in a just

published book titled, “India In The Caribbean”.

The book was initiated and coordinated by Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Gauri Shankar Gupta and edited by Atlury Murali.

“Though numbering less than two million across the Caribbean islands, they

(Indians) occupy a position of considerable power and influence. They have produced some of the best artists, writers, spiritual leaders, political thinkers, doctors, lawyers, scientists

and sportsmen. Indian festivities including Diwali, Holi, Maha Shiva(Rathri) and Ram Navami are celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety. Indian films and music are as popular as they are in India,” Sushma Swaraj said in a message in the book.

“I, therefore, take this

Malware infection hits Apple’s App Store firm Palo Alto Networks, the could transmit information Wall Street Journal said about a user’s machine,

that the attack affected more than three dozen apps on Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. Apps infected by the malware code-named XcodeGhost -

mount phishing attacks to try to steal passwords, and access clipboard information, it said. It was not clear whether all the infected apps were Chinese.

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Pakistan’s Gen Raheel Sharif slowly but surely stepping into Zia’s shoes Russia has shown it is willing to tackle the Daesh or ISIS threat head on by coming to the aid of President Assad’s regime in Damascus when the chips are down. Moscow’s role in Syria has been an open secret but with the terror group closing in on a strategic airbase, it is now clear Russia will do everything it can to take back the initiative from the extremists. First there were arms shipments and military advisers. Now there are Russian ground troops in Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may have denied his country’s rising involvement in the conflict, but it is clear Assad will be backed to the hilt. With this surge, Russia has two objectives in mind: one, save Assad from losing all of Syria and two, show the world that Russia is the only country that is ready and willing to put boots on the ground. Simply put, it has stepped in where the US has feared to tread. Differing reports now indicate that Russia has already sent heavy weapons and dozens to hundreds of troops to Syria, though the buildup appears to be

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limited for the time being. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later confirmed that the huge Russian transport planes landing in an airport near Latakia, a port city on the Mediterranean, are carrying weapons and Russian servicemen.

Other reports confirm that two Russian Navy tank landing ships are moored at the Port of Tartus, also on the Mediterranean Sea, where the Russians have a naval base. According to the reports that the ships are offloading armored vehicles, tanks as well as nearly 50 Russian marines. The weapons and soldiers are arriving from Russia’s Sevastopol port in the Black Sea, in Crimea, that Russia invaded and annexed last year. Further reports indicate that hundreds of troops from Iran’s élite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have also arrived, and are deployed northwest of Damascus near the border with Lebanon.

The first reports that Iran was planning to deploy troops in Syria came several months ago. That massive troop deployment appears to be occurring now.

Moscow’s stand has been consistent from the start. For this, it must be lauded. But why should the US be concerned if this is a war against terrorism? It should have sent in ground troops two years ago when the world realized Daesh is a Frankenstein in the making. Or is it more important to get Assad out of the way after four years and let the group do as they please in the region? Both sides have committed atrocities; Daesh even more than the regime in Damascus, yet Washington dragged its feet doing nothing as red lines were crossed by Assad and the extremists of every hue. As a result, 250,000 have died and 12 million Syrians are refugees in their own land and abroad.

So, how will the war pan out if Moscow’s troops join in the defense of Damascus?

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia that Daesh backers would increase their support of the terror group if the Kremlin decides to go on the offensive. But who are these backers that

Secretary Kerry is talking about? “Once again this is an attempt to appease those who are using terrorists in their fight against unwanted By: SUNNY BAINS regimes. I believe this is a colossal mistake,” responded in the plan because it relieves tensions Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.

According to one analysis, Russia’s with Russia in Ukraine, and they would president Vladimir Putin does not really like to mediate a rapprochement in want to end up in a quagmire in Syria, Ukraine crisis. but is using the threat of a massive From my point of view, “Putin’s plan” is Russian military deployment to Syria to absolutely fascinating. In the coming blackmail the West into accepting “Putin’s Clash of Civilizations world war, Iran, plan” for Syria. Putin’s plan would be to Russia and India would be allied with the United States and West, while the Sunni Muslim nations would be allied with China. Years ago, if I had predicted this my prediction may have sounded completely fantastical, but for the last couple of years we’ve seen it coming true, step by step. “Putin’s plan,” if adopted, would be a major step in bringing that prediction closer to reality. Whatever else happens, there’s absolutely no doubt that the Sunni nations, starting with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, would be infuriatedly opposed to any form a broad international coalition, such plan for the West to align with Iran targeting the so-called Islamic State. The and al-Assad, who Sunni leaders consider all-inclusive anti-ISIS coalition would unite to be existential threats to their countries.

Syrian regime forces with Western forces The White House has limited its role in and Russian forces against ISIS, and this conflict to air raids and has restrained would receive a mandate from the United itself for the sake of President Obama’s Nations General Assembly. Putin plans legacy. Military strategy has focused on to address the UN General Assembly in drawdowns and withdrawals. Afghanistan mid-September, and may discuss the plan is lost, Iraq has gone and Syria is in a then. The plan would mean that Western mess. America does not want to take forces would join with Russia and Iran to responsibility for continuing conflicts. A prop up the regime of Syria’s president reluctant United States is in a battle of Bashar al-Assad, with the nominal wills with a resurgent Russia that is objective of fighting ISIS. Russia’s power carving out an important role for itself in and military base in the Mideast would the region. It was party to the nuclear deal be firmly established, and Russia would with old ally Iran and has made its take on the job of defeating ISIS and al- intentions clear with its military ground Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra moves in Syria. The US on the other hand Front). Some European leaders, including has reluctant to cede geostrategic space Italy’s former prime minister Silvio to its old Cold War foe. With that space Berlusconi and France’s former president slipping away, it has also lost the moral Nicolas Sarkozy, have expressed interest high ground in the Middle East.

In US, Patels divided, one group objects to anti-Modi rally at UN A prominent Patidar group in the US has opposed the proposed rally against Narendra Modi outside the United Nations on September 25, even as another community outfit threatened a protest when the Prime Minister visits Silicon Valley. Extending support for Modi, Patidar Samaj of Gujarat on Saturday issued a press release in the name of Baldev Thakor from North Carolina. The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the US between September 23 and 28, and he is also expected to speak at the United Nations. Referring to the proposed demonstration, the release said, “The community of the US has unanimously opposed the proposed rally against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the UN on 25th September.” “As members of the overseas Patidar community, we condemn it (the proposed rally). This is an exercise in political mud-slinging and we do not want to be a part of it,” Thakor, who runs a chain of hotels Maya Hotels, was quoted as saying. “The group believes that the agitations in India and now in the US are politically motivated and these protests do not represent the voice of the entire Patidars,” the release

stated. Danny Patel, president of PeachState Hospitality, said: “We Patels in the US are not taking any sides. Our intention is to make

serve and protect innocent civilians,” they said in a statement to community members. “Please note that this is not against or pro any political party. This

everybody aware that not every Patidar is against Modi.” However, another section of the Patel community held a meeting in Silicon Valley to organise the protest rally when the PM visits California next week. “...we must not ignore the facts that gross violations of human rights and brutality by Gujarat police has occurred and the state and the central governments have failed to

is not against Modi. However, as the PM of India, we need Modi to recognise that those who are responsible for unconstitutional brutal actions must be punished,” it said. On September 12, Varun Patel, leader of Lalji Patel-headed Sardar Patel Group, had stated that “Gujarati Samaj’ would wear black clothes and wave black flags in protest during Modi’s US visit.

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Beware harming your “personal brand” on social media

How many fingers am I holding up? Tricky, eh?

You can’t see my hands.

Perhaps you could take a psychic guess? Close your eyes, let your mind go blank and think about nothing. Now, what can you see? Tell you what.

Let’s try a logical approach. It can’t be more than eight. I haven’t got more than eight fingers.

And if I am holding up all of those, how am I also managing to type this?

Actually, I am not holding any fingers up at all. Don’t play guessing games if you seek emotional happiness now.

Imagine you are at an airport, waiting for a longdelayed plane. Not being the kind of person to let time pass idly by, you have bought a book, found a pen or sought some other way to keep yourself occupied. As an hour in the life of someone like you is similar to a whole day for someone else, you have changed, grown or moved on a little. Indeed, come to think of it, why did you want to make that journey in the first place?

You had better remember, for in your emotional life now, you need to be sincere and wholehearted.

From time to time, we find ourselves wanting something so badly, we can almost taste it. We set our minds (or our hearts) on a goal. We feel that all will be well if we can attain this and that the consequences of failure hardly bear thinking about. Hence the way humanity generates the motivation to keep marching down the road of progress.

But progress, as many a historian has observed, is often an illusion. Change for the sake of change is rarely good. You can get what you are after if you try. But is it worth trying?

You think you know yourself. In one way you do. In another, you don’t.

You think you know where your limits lie. That’s a distorted view. Think about those mirrors that you sometimes get for towing caravans. They come with a warning, printed on the glass.

‘Objects appear further away than they actually are.’ That’s how you tend to see objectives. You can see them, but they seem oh-so-remote and unattainable. Best think differently about your personal life now. There’s something very wonderful, very possible, very near.

Football has many enthusiastic fans and followers. So does baseball. But baseball fans rarely argue with football fans. If they are going to argue with anyone, these enthusiasts will take umbrage with supporters of another team who play the same sport. Generally speaking, that’s how arguments work. They emerge most commonly and viciously between people who have a great deal in common, but who differ on some small, seemingly crucial detail.

Don’t rise to unnecessary bait in your personal life now.

What is it that you can’t afford? What do you fear you will never experience or enjoy? How can you be so sure? Your heart is a magnet. If you charge it up enough with ‘the energy of desire’, it can draw almost anything to it. But if that desire is not tempered by wisdom, the result will be less than ideal. You don’t want to get what you want only to discover that you don’t really want it! In your emotional life now, if you understand why you need what you need, somehow, you will see a way to get it!

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that on August 27th, “1 in 7 people on earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family” -- which means about 1 billion people in a single day.

It’s a startling statistic and it means human connectivity is evolving at an exponential rate.

It also means that when we are online someone, somewhere is watching what we’re doing, what were saying and what we’re posting.

Because of the higher level of visibility social media brings to our lives, it’s important to apply the golden rules of etiquette, manners and respect to your online life just as you do in real life, helping ensure you build and maintain your personal and professional brand now and into the future.

TMI – too much information?: Social media is the perfect vehicle for the narcissist in all of us, with many users believing that we are the stars of our own little movie.

But that doesn’t mean we are and not everyone is interested in the minutiae of our daily lives. Whether

lamenting about missing out on the perfect parking space at the grocery store or sharing intimate secrets of a broken relationship, the simple fact of the matter is, no one really cares to read the constant details of your daily life.

So do yourself a favor and

aggressive or simply meanspirited. On professional platforms like LinkedIn, any postings that portray you as anything less than calm, cool and collected should never see the light of day.

Further, more and more companies routinely search personal and professional

edit your postings before updating by asking yourself, “Is this an important detail that my friends and family (and their friends and family) really need to know or is it TMI?” Negativity: No one likes a ‘Debbie Downer’ and online negativity can adversely influence both your personal and professional relationships.

On personal social networks like Facebook and Twitter, posting negative comments online can be viewed as passive

social sites as part of background checks for prospective employees (and to check up on current ones). You don’t want any negative posting that could brand you as uncooperative, uncollaborative or simply uncool.

Picture Imperfect: If a picture is worth a thousand words, an unflattering upload could paint you into a corner. Whether you’re chugging a bottle of champagne at your sister’s wedding or showing a bit

‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ wins runner-up award at TIFF Indian director Pan Nalin’s film “Angry Indian Goddesses”, a story about a group of Indian girls in Goa gone wild, has been voted as the first runner-up at the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which

concluded here on Sunday. A huge cheer went up when TIFF creative directive Cameron Bailey announced the name of “Angry Indian Goddesses” as the first runner-up for the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at this year’s festival. Of the seven girls in the film, Sandhya Mridul and Rajshri Deshpande, who were present in the audience, shouted with joy at the announcement

of the award for the film.

Toronto film festival CEO Piers Handling said tonguein-cheek that he hopped “Angry Indian Goddesses” as the audience clapped for the Indian film. “When we started this film, we never expected it anything. We

were not even sure whether or when we will complete it.

We are so excited now,” said Sandhya. Sandhya said her experience in the communications field stood her in good stead in playing her role in the film.

“We shot the film in 40 to 45 days... mostly in Goa and some in Mumbai,” she said.

Rajshri, who plays the role of housemaid Lakshmi in the film, said: “We had great fun doing this film, and we

are happy that the audiences at TIFF have liked our film. Hopefully, the film will go on to do will when it opens in India.”

“Angry Indian Goddesses” is a powerful portrayal of new girl power in contemporary Indian society -- the girls who want to have fun, the girls who are uninhibited.

As this group of girls gathers in Goa to join in the wedding of their college friend Freida (played by Sarah Jane Dias), they have fun, they discuss sex, they discuss boyfriends, they discuss everything. But there is a hitch -- Freida won’t reveal who the groom is.

On the night of the wedding, the girls’ party takes amazing turns and twists. And in the hands of award-winning director Pan Nalin, the film has such an emphatic finale.

Indeed, “Angry Indian Goddesses” is a powerful portrayal of new girl power in Indian society -- or women empowerment, so to speak.

too much skin in a party dress, an inappropriate photo can come back to haunt you.

So before you hit upload in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, think hard about what a particular photo can do to enhance or detract from your image.

We live in a culturally diverse world and social media puts us into contact with a host of people who may not share our same views on religion, social issues, politics or intellectual interests.

Variety is truly the spice of life, but not everyone has the same tastes. So even if you have a strong opinion about a particular issue or belief, you may want to consider saving your thoughts for the appropriate audience in real time to ensure they do not come across online as discriminatory or inflammatory, particularly in regards to race, gender, religion, sexuality and other hot button issues.

By showing cross-cultural respect and tempering your comments, you can leave an impression that extends way beyond an illconceived, reactive rant.

Nine Kabaddi Players From Odisha Killed in Road Accident

Nine rural Kabaddi players were killed and 15 others seriously injured after a minitruck in which they were travelling fell off a bridge near Surapalli under Lahunipara police limits in Odisha’s Sundargarh district. Three persons died on the spot while the 15 others are undergoing treatment in a Rourkela hospital. The incident occurred around 4:30 on Saturday evening when the team from Sendhapur village in Bonai block was returning after playing a tournament with the neighbouring Dhundigaon village. The deceased have been identified as Abhiram Kalo (50), Dharanidhar Nayak (60), Chandra Sekhar Pradhan (18), Gauri Chandra Kissan (22) and Umesh Kissan (25).

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Protecting elephants with Google

SAMBURU As elephant poaching in Africa by organised crime gangs using high-tech equipment rises, those working to stop their extinction in the wild have turned to technology too.

In the remote wilds of northern Kenya’s Samburu reserve, the latest technology from US internet giant Google creates threedimensional maps using data from satellite tracking elephant collars, providing security for the animals in the short term, and helping protect their habitat in the long term.

“It is a priceless bank of information,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, head of conservation group Save the Elephants, demonstrating the complex near-real time map, where tiny elephant computer icons are shown moving across an enormous television screen.

With ivory raking in thousands of dollars a kilo in Asia, conservationists have warned that African elephants could be extinct in the wild within

a generation. But the d e c a d e - l o n g collaboration between the conservationists and Google has meant that, at least in this small corner of Kenya, poaching is at last on the decline.

“It is an anomaly on the continent of Africa that we seem to have gone through the eye of the storm, and that poaching is on the decrease here,” Douglas-Hamilton said, although warning there could be no let up in efforts.

The mapping technology is protected from wouldbe poachers with tough security measures.

“We’re able to use the tracking technology overlaid on Google Earth - and hence understand their migration patterns, and therefore build better protection around that,” said Farzana Khubchandani of Google.

Each collared elephant shows up on a map overlaid with land use, as farmland and development encroach ever closer on wilderness areas.

China launches new type of carrier rocket SHANGHAI China on Sunday launched a new, smaller type of rocket from its “Long March” family which will be primarily used for carrying satellites aloft, state media reported, as the country races ahead with an ambitious space programme.

The Long March-6, a newly developed carrier rocket which uses liquid propellant, took off from a launch base in the northern province of Shanxi on Sunday morning carrying 20 “micro” satellites, the official Xinhua news agency said. The white rocket, imprinted with the Chinese flag at the top, climbed into bluish-grey skies, footage aired by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed. One Chinese official suggested that the smaller rocket will make China more competitive in the lucrative market for commercial satellite launches. “We believe it will greatly boost the competitiveness of Chinese carrier rockets in the international market,” Zhang Weidong, chief

designer at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, told Xinhua.

toxicity and pollution. State media hailed the achievement, saying the

“The new model will also significantly improve our ability to access space,” he said. China launches its own satellites as it continues to build a homegrown navigation system, but also carries out launches for other countries and commercial companies. The rocket is 29.3 metres (97 feet) high, shorter than others actively used in China’s space programme, reports said. Long March-6 uses fuel composed of liquid oxygen and kerosene, which is said to be free of

launch marked a record for the number of satellites carried by a Chinese rocket and its first time for the “environmentallyfriendly” fuel. The small satellites will be used for “experiments” in technology and new products, CCTV said, but gave no details. China’s space programme, which has potential military applications, is shrouded in secrecy. “The separation control for 20 satellites required high accuracy, precision and reliability,” Hao Yaofeng, a technician

at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, told CCTV. A 2011 policy paper issued by the State Council, or cabinet, said the Long March-6 would be capable of placing a tonne of payload into orbit at a height of 700 kilometres (434 miles).

State media publicly announced plans for the Long March-6 in 2009, but said at the time the first launch was scheduled for 2013.

China’s “Long March” rocket family is named after an epic journey by Communist forces escaping the then ruling Kuomintang in the 1930s.

Chinese scientists earlier this month said the country is planning to land a lunar probe on the dark side of the moon before 2020, according to state media.

In 2013, China landed a rover dubbed Yutu on the moon, making it only the third nation after the United States and Soviet Union to land on the Earth’s natural satellite. China completed its first return mission to the moon last year with an unmanned probe landing successfully back on Earth.

16 pyramids discovered in ancient cemetery in Sudan Khartoum Archaeologists have discovered the remains of 2,000-year-old pyramids with tombs underneath in a cemetery near the ancient town of Gematon in Sudan.

The 16 pyramids date back around 2,000 years, to a time when a kingdom called “Kush” flourished in Sudan. Pyramid building was popular among the Kushites. They built them until their kingdom collapsed in the fourth

century AD. Derek Welsby, a curator at the British Museum in

London, and his team have been excavating at Gematon since 1998. So

far, they have excavated six pyramids made out of stone and 10 made out of mud brick. The largest pyramid found at Gematon was 10.6 m long on each side and would have risen around 13 m off the ground.

A tin-bronze offering table was found in one of the tombs beneath a pyramid.

Carved into the table is a scene showing a prince or priest offering incense and libations to the god Osiris, the ruler of the underworld, ‘LiveScience’ reported.

Myanmar mulls left-hand drive car law YANGON Myanmar plans to make left-hand drive cars compulsory, state media reported Sunday, causing concern in a country where the vast majority of vehicles remain right-hand drive despite cars driving on the right.

The law is an attempt to correct one of the more unusual legacies of decades of junta rule.More than four decades ago Myanmar’s paranoid and notoriously superstitious dictator Ne Win ordered all citizens to drive on the right. The reasons were never stated, but many said the change was either made following advice from an astrologer or was a rebuke to Myanmar’s former colonial master Britain,

where vehicles are driven on the left. After junta rule gave way to a quasi-civilian reformist government in 2011 and the lifting of most Western sanctions, the car market exploded. But an estimated 90 percent of the vehicles remain right-hand drive - primarily because most of the affordable cars available and brought in by importers are secondhand vehicles from Japan.

The strange quirk creates daily havoc on Myanmar’s increasingly congested roads, with drivers often having no clear line of sight before overtaking and buses regularly disgorging passengers into the middle of a road rather than onto a pavement. The government now aims to correct that anomaly.

According to a report in the Global New Light of Myanmar a new law was given initial approval last week that will make lefthand drive vehicles compulsory.

The report made no mention of when the law would come into effect or whether citizens would

receive any help from the government to initiate the change.

“The new law drawn by the Road Transport Administration Department pointed out that use of right-hand drive cars is incompatible with the existing drive-on-theright traffic system from

the standpoint of ensuring road safety in Myanmar,” the report said, adding that drivers would have 90 days to make the change.

The same state media report voiced rare official criticism of the proposals, saying many were hoping the government would give drivers more time to make the switch.

“People will suffer losses if they are asked to abandon their right-hand drive cars during a short period of time,” U Nyan Tun Oo, Yangon Region Minister for Electricity and Industry, was quoted as saying, adding that taxis and buses should be switched first.

The report added that over 50,000 right-hand drive vehicles are currently on showroom floors waiting to

be sold, according to Dr Soe Tun, president of Myanmar Automobile Manufacturers and Dealers Association.

In recent years Myanmar’s roads particularly in cities like Yangon and Mandalay have become choked by the influx of cars that accompanied the country’s opening to the world after decades of military rule. And the gridlock looks set to get worse.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is working with Myanmar on several nationwide transport projects, predicts the number of cars clogging Yangon’s pot-holed roads will quadruple to around one million.

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

US House passes anti-abortion bills as shutdown looms Washington The Republican-led US House of Representatives passed two anti-abortion measures Friday, highlighting intense efforts to inject the controversial issue into a spending debate two weeks before a potential government

The videos have outraged many Americans, particularly conservatives, who have used the scandal to intensify their attacks on the organization and demand an end to all public funding for Planned Parenthood.

The House also adopted a

shutdown.

Lawmakers voted largely along party lines to halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation`s largest women`s health care services provider, for a year while Congress conducts investigations on the organization.

It has been mired in controversy since secretly recorded video surfaced showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research.

Critics say the videos show the group intended to sell fetal tissue. The group has denied the charge, insisting its officials were merely discussing how they obtain the tissue and legally provide it to researchers.

separate measure that provides for criminal penalties for health care workers who do not attempt to provide adequate care for infants who survive abortion procedures.

“Those who would deny the weakest among us the right to life are on the wrong side of history,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement applauding the votes.

Nearly all Democrats voted against both bills, which are almost certain to be blocked by the Democratic minority in the Senate. President Barack Obama has also pledged a veto.

Public funding accounts for some 40 percent of the budget for Planned Parenthood`s roughly 700 clinics, which

Man spends USD 1500 and 6 months to make sandwich from scratch

Washington A 28-year-old YouTuber has spent six months and USD 1,500 to make a chicken sandwich from scratch - a task which included growing his own vegetables and making his own cheese.

Andy George hosts a YouTube channel that documents the entire process of creating everyday items like tools and suits.

In his latest endeavour George set out to document the process of making a “simple” chicken sandwich from scratch. The ingredients list for the sandwich included lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, dill, peppers, garlic, sunflowers, eggs, salt, honey, wheat, milk, and one live chicken.

To create the sandwich, George produced the ingredients himself.

This included planting seeds in a community garden to grow vegetables, extracting honey from a local bee farm, milking a cow to make butter and cheese, and processing wheat to create bread.

George told ‘ABC News’ that the hardest ingredient to retrieve for the sandwich was the salt (George had to travel from his hometown of Minneapolis to the Pacific Ocean to collect salt water, which he then processed into salt), and the hardest ingredient to make was the mayonnaise.

The entire project took six months and cost USD 1,500. The video of the sandwich-making process on YouTube has had over half a million views. For his next project, George hopes to travel to Mexico to create coffee and chocolate from scratch.

provide medical services including breast exams and other screenings, and conducts millions of tests for sexually transmitted infections.

The group`s abortions are funded through private sources, a distinction that Republicans insist is illusory. US law has long prohibited the use of public funding for virtually all abortions.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton blasted the House vote to defund the group as “an attack on women`s health nothing more, nothing less. Republicans should be ashamed.”

The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday, two days before Pope Francis speaks to a joint meeting of Congress, on a bill that bans all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but Democrats have the numbers to defeat it.

The abortion dispute threatens to disrupt haggling over funding for the new fiscal year.

Lawmakers will have a handful of workdays to agree to the terms of a temporary spending bill that would prevent the government from shutting down on October 1.

But hardcore conservatives have pledged to oppose any spending bill that does not defund Planned Parenthood.

That has frustrated some Republican moderates who warn that pushing another bitter shutdown fight, like the one that closed the government for 16 days in 2013, could only hurt Republican chances in the 2016 presidential election.

Obama nominates first openly gay service secretary to lead army WASHINGTON US President Barack Obama nominated Eric Fanning to become the next secretary of the army, the White House said on Friday, paving the way for the first openly gay leader of a military service branch in US history.

Fanning is currently serving as acting army undersecretary,

and previously worked as Air Force undersecretary and chief of staff to US Defense Secretary Ash Carter. His nomination to the post must still be confirmed by the US Senate.

“Eric brings many years of proven experience and exceptional leadership to this new role,” Obama said in a statement. “I am confident he will help lead America’s soldiers with distinction.”

Advocacy groups said the nomination of an openly gay man to lead a US service branch was a significant sign of progress in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals serving in the world’s most

powerful military.

The Pentagon updated its equal opportunity policy in June 2015 to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation, a change in policy which Carter announced at a gay and lesbian pride celebration.

That change brought the Pentagon’s rules into conformity with the 2011 decision to end the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military only if they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation.

“The Department of Defense has been in a lot of ways a leader in LGBT rights, both in the Obama administration and in government in general,” said Matt Thorn, interim executive director of OutServe-SLDN, an advocacy group for LGBT military personnel.

But LGBT individuals face lingering inequalities within the military, Thorn said. Same-sex spouses cannot accompany servicemembers for deployments to many overseas bases, such as those in Gulf countries, Thorn said.

The LGBT community is also awaiting the results of a study on the implications of lifting a ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the military, the results of which are expected towards the end of this year, Thorn said.

Barack Obama invites Muslim schoolboy held with homemade clock to White House Washington US President Barack Obama has invited a 14-year-old Muslim schoolboy, who was arrested after his homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb, to the White House, saying “we should inspire more kids like you.”

Ahmed Mohamed, a SudaneseAmerican engineering enthusiast, brought the digital clock, made from a pencil case, to his school in Irving, Texas on Monday to show it to his teacher who mistook the clock to be a bomb. Hours later, he was handcuffed and arrested by school resource officers as part of “standard procedure”.

The incident has created an outrage in the country with messages of support pouring in from Obama, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg.

“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great,” Obama tweeted.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama like many others were struck by these reports.“In this instance,

it’s clear that at least some of Ahmed’s teachers failed him.

That’s too bad, but it’s not too late for all of us to use this as a teachable moment and to search our own conscience for biases in whatever form they take,” he

said. “This episode is a good illustration of how pernicious stereotypes can prevent even good-hearted people who have dedicated their lives to educating young people from doing the good work that they set out to do.“So Obama was pleased to extend an invitation to Ahmed to participate in Astronomy Night that will be hosted here at the White House next month,” Earnest said.Astronomy Night will bring together government scientists and NASA astronauts and others to spend

some time with young people examining the wonders of the heavens, and it’ll be an opportunity for them to talk about science and our solar system and the universe.

Meanwhile, Clinton too came out in support of Ahmed.

“Assumptions and fear don’t keep us safe - they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building,” she tweeted.

Zuckerberg publicly defended and praised Mohamed. “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed.

“Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you,” he said.

Google also invited Mohamed to take part in its science fair, urging him: “Bring your clock!”

Meanwhile, Irving’s police chief announced yesterday that charges won’t be filed against Mohamed.

“The follow-up investigation revealed the device apparently was a homemade experiment, and there’s no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” said Larry Boyd, Irving police chief.

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

This summer was the hottest in modern history says US scientists

Washington Last month was the hottest August in modern history, in the latest sign of an unusually warm year across the world’s land and sea surfaces, US government scientists said Thursday.

Record-breaking warmth was seen across much of South America and parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The most scorching August on the planet in 136 years was also the sixth month this year to have broken a monthly temperature record, putting 2015 on pace to beat 2014 as the warmest year ever, scientists said.

“The world is basically dominated by areas that are record warm or much warmer than average,”

said Deke Arndt, monitoring branch chief of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

“This applies really to almost every continent, and to large portions of every ocean basin.”

Researchers have calculated it is 97% likely that 2015 will be the warmest ever recorded, Arndt said. Other months this year that have broken records were February, March, May, June, and July, said the NOAA report.

The record continued a worrying trend of warming, which many scientists say is caused by fossil-fuel burning and is exacerbated by the presence of El Nino, which has a warming effect on some parts of the world’s oceans.

Much of August’s warmth was driven by the world’s water.

Labs open their ears to cosmos Washington The experiment that should finally detect ripples in the fabric of space-time is up and running.

Labs in the US states of Washington and Louisiana began “listening” for the gravitational waves that are predicted to flow through the Earth when violent events occur in space. The Advanced Ligo facilities have just completed a major upgrade. Scientists believe this will now give them the sensitivity needed to pick up what should be a very subtle signal. The theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, one of the pioneers behind the experiment, went so far as to say that it would be “quite surprising” if the labs made no detection.

“We are there; we are in the ball park now. It’s clear that this is going to be pulled off,” he confidently told The Documentary programme on the BBC World Service. Gravitational waves are a prediction of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. They describe the warping of space-time that occurs when masses accelerate.

But their expected weakness means only astrophysical phenomena on a truly colossal scale are likely to generate waves that will register on even the remarkable technologies

Apple explores rules of the road for self-driving cars SAN FRANCISCO The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has said that it met with Apple to discuss rules of the road regarding testing self-driving cars.

“The Apple meeting was to review DMV’s autonomous vehicle regulations,” a department spokesperson told AFP in an email response to an inquiry.

“DMV often meets with various companies regarding DMV operations.”

Apple has not commented on rumors that it is working on a self-driving car, and the California-based technology colossus did not respond to an AFP request to contribute to this story. The DMV’s responsibilities include developing regulations for safe operation of self-driving vehicles. To that end, members of the department meet with companies to better understand

the technology. Google and several major car makers have been pursuing autonomous vehicle technology. Google has been testing self-driving cars in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

Toyota early this month announced plans to invest $50 million into building artificial intelligence into cars, an indication it could be joining the race to develop driverless vehicles. The joint research with Stanford University and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology will take place over the next five years, Toyota Motor Corporation said, emphasizing its interest in technology that could be used by people as they grow old or become less able to drive safely.

While the Japanese automobile giant did not mention making cars that drive themselves, it did promise work on “intelligent vehicle technology.” A Stanford lab led by professor Fei-Fei Li will work with Toyota and MIT to use computer vision, machine learning and large-scale data analysis to enable vehicles to navigate complex traffic situations.“Our team will work to help intelligent vehicles recognize objects in the road, predict behaviors of things and people, and make safe and smart driving decisions under diverse conditions,” Li said.

assembled at Hanford in the American northwest and at Livingston in the southeast. The technique being employed is laser interferometry. Both Ligo

thousandth of the width of a proton.

The equipment’s peak sensitivity will be to waves with a frequency of around 100 Hertz, which in

labs work by splitting a light beam and sending the two halves down separate, 4km-long, evacuated tunnels.

The beams are bounced back and forth by mirrors before being recombined at their starting point and sent to detectors. If the delicate gravitational waves pass through the set-up, the laser light should show evidence of having been ever so slightly disturbed either lengthened or shortened.

Advanced Ligo is looking for changes in laser-arm distance that are on the order of one one-

auditory terms is at the low end of what humans can hear. And it is for this reason that gravitational wave detection is often described as trying to pick up the “sounds of the cosmos”.

“These detectors are like microphones where we’re listening to the Universe,” said Jamie Rollins from the California Institute of Technology, one of the project’s lead institutions. “It’s sort of like we’ve been deaf to the Universe until now, and turning on these detectors is like turning on our ears.”

US zoo pandas get $4.5m gift WASHINGTON An American benefactor has donated $4.5 million for the giant panda conservation program at the US National Zoo, where twin cubs were born last month.

David Rubenstein, a co-chief executive of the Carlyle Group asset management firm, pledged to fund the Washington-based program through 2020. The zoo is home to female giant panda Mei Xiang, adult male Tian Tian, female two-year-old Bao Bao and an unnamed male cub born on August 22. His twin died of pneumonia within a week of birth.

“The National Zoo’s panda program has been a remarkable success - two healthy pandas in just two years - and I am pleased to support it for another five years,” Rubenstein said in statement issued by the zoo.

The zoo’s panda habitat - its star attraction - is named after the Rubenstein family in recognition of a previous donation to the program made in 2011.

Eleven conservation biologists

have also been awarded fellowships funded by Rubenstein to study pandas in the United States and China. A

twitter account set up in honor of the newborn panda cub reacted gleefully to the news.

“So wait $4.5m divided by us 4 pandas here.

Holy moly! Am I a millionaire now????? #NeedanAccountant,” he tweeted under the handle @houseofcubs. A member of the zoo-owning Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents since 2009, Rubenstein has given a total of $9 million for panda research and another $2 million in 2013 for Asian elephant research.

Universal urination duration wins Ig Nobel prize Georgia A study showing that nearly all mammals take the same amount of time to urinate has been awarded one of the 2015 Ig Nobel prizes at Harvard University. These spoof Nobels for “improbable research” are in their 25th year. The team behind the urination research, from Georgia Tech, won the physics Ig. Using high-speed video analysis, they modelled the fluid dynamics involved in urination and discovered that all mammals

weighing more than 3kg empty their bladders over about 21 seconds.Their subjects included rats, goats, cows and elephants - and although the findings reveal a remarkably consistent “scaling law” in bigger beasts, they also emphasise that small animals do things quite differently. Rats can urinate in a fraction of a second, for example. This might make rodents a poor choice for studying urinary health problems.

“We don’t have a proper animal model for urinary system

research,” said the study’s lead author Patricia Yang, a PhD

student in mechanical engineering. She told the BBC there might also be physical lessons to learn, from the adaptability of the system in

bigger creatures. From water towers to drinking backpacks, Ms Yang said, “every time we need a new function, we figure out a new design for it.“But in nature, they just have one system for all different sizes.

This might inspire us - we could have a scalable design that fits different purposes.” Ms Yang and three colleagues published their findings in the journal PNAS last year, and on Thursday all four researchers were present to accept their prize at the Ig Nobel

ceremony. Run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, this is a jubilantly irreverent affair. It has become world famous for recognising scientific achievements that “make people laugh, and then think”. This year’s Ig winners travelled from six continents to accept their trophies. The triumphant research included a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg, and the discovery that the word “huh?” occurs in every human language.

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

Contribute to election US poised to unveil next super bomber campaign, with a tweet

WASHINGTON Twitter announced Tuesday a new feature allowing users to make contributions to a political candidate through a tweet.

“This is the fastest, easiest way to make an online donation, and the most effective way for campaigns to execute tailored digital fundraising, in real time, on the platform where Americans are already talking about the 2016 election and the issues they are passionate about,” said Jenna Golden, who heads political advertising for Twitter.

Twitter is teaming up on the service with Square, the online

payments firm launched by Jack Dorsey, who is also a co-founder of Twitter and its interim chief executive.

Once a campaign has been verified by Square, it can tweet a unique link to request donations from supporters.

The tweet will include an image with a “contribute” button, to allow anyone to click to donate directly through the social network.

Twitter, which is in the midst of a search for a new CEO, has been struggling to regain market confidence amid growth below that of rival social networks.

WASHINGTON The US Air Force is getting ready to announce the winner of a multibillion-dollar contract to build a new generation of longdistance bombers that will replace aging, Cold War machines.Dubbed the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) program, the Air Force will in the coming weeks award the megacontract to either Northrop Grumman or a team made up of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The program envisions the creation of between 80 and 100 strategic bombers to replace America’s fleet of B-52s and B1s. Almost everything about it is classified, save for the cost of each plane, which was set at $550 million per unit in 2010 dollars. Experts and industry watchers say the bomber will be a very different animal from those it replaces. Far from merely transporting bombs - nuclear or otherwise - the new planes will be high-altitude intelligencegathering machines packed with sensors and surveillance equipment to scoop information.

Aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia said the LRSB is likely to be of a “flying-wing” design giving it stealth capabilities that make it hard to spot on radar.

It will also be able to mask its electronic signals, as well as being packed with powerful

Obama’s Nobel Prize fell short of hopes WASHINGTON The effect of giving the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama fell short of the nominating committee’s hopes, and several awards in the past 25 years were even more questionable, the committee’s former secretary

says in a new book. Geir Lundestad, lifting a veil on the secretive five-member panel, also reveals that former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, late Czech president Vaclav Havel and several rock stars were among those who were considered for the award but never won.Lundestad writes in “Secretary of Peace” that the prize to Obama was the most controversial during his time as director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute from 1990-2015. He attended committee meetings but had no vote. “Even many of

Obama’s supporters thought the prize was a mistake,” Lundestad wrote, adding that many Americans viewed the award as making Obama a spokesman for international peacemaking values rather than their own interests. “In that sense the committee did not achieve what

it hoped for,” he wrote, noting Obama himself rarely mentioned the prize. The award, made by the committee in particular recognition of Obama’s vision of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, was widely criticised in the United States as premature. It came just nine months after he took office.

Lundestad, a professor of American history, said he had strong doubts before the award but denied Norwegian media reports that he regretted it. The five-member committee was unanimous in awarding the prize.

In the past 25 years “there were no obvious mistakes,” Lundestad said. But two or three were questionable, such as the 2004 award to late Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai, he added. Maathai was the first to get an award for environmental protection, with a campaign to plant millions of trees across Africa, but “it’s far from given that she was the best candidate,” he wrote. He said former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy should perhaps have shared the 1997 prize awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its coordinator, Jody Williams.

It was Canada that launched the process that led to a treaty to eliminate landmines, signed in Ottawa that year.

Lundestad noted that campaigning rock stars such as Bono, Bob Geldof and Sting had all enjoyed a high profile in international politics. “In the 2000s several such names were in fact considered, but the conclusion was that these artists were better suited to receiving Grammy prizes than Nobel Prizes,” he wrote. He said he wanted to push for greater openness around the prize, which has a 50-year secrecy rule. “We plan to read the book first before making any comment,” said Annika Pontikis, spokeswoman of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm which oversees prizes from Chemistry to Literature.

jammers to stop enemies from targeting the plane. It won’t fly at supersonic speeds, Aboulafia said, because doing so would burn up too much fuel and reduce its range, while also

Additionally, the Pentagon wants the new planes to eventually be capable of being flown without a crew and to be refuelable while airborne. But a remote-controlled bomber is not necessarily a good

making it easier to spot. “Don’t make a lot of noise, don’t create a radar signature, go as high as you can and of course have those on-board electronic warfare systems that can jam the other guy if he does target you,” Aboulafia told AFP.The United States already has a fleet of B-2 Stealth Bombers, which are virtually invisible to radar and have the distinctive, flying-wing design that makes them look a bit like a sci-fi boomerang. But overseas deployments of the B2 are rare because the United States jealously guards the costly aircraft’s secrets. There are only 20 B-2s in existence.

idea, Aboulafia said, because it could be vulnerable to hacking and would need to be exploded via a “kill switch” if anything seemed to be going wrong. “Pilots are the cheapest insurance policy ever,” he said, noting that a crew could get a plane out of trouble if anything went awry. Being able to fly extremely high is important too because it would put the LRSB out of range of many surface-to-air missiles and fighters. Countries such as Russia and China have invested heavily in missile systems and ultra-modern radar to try to counter the threat of any approaching enemy.

Pinterest claims 100 million users

SAN FRANCISCO More than 100 million users are on Pinterest, the online bulletin board-style service which allows people to “pin” images based on their interests, the California company said Wednesday. Cofounder Evan Sharp told AFP that most of the users “are not just visiting Pinterest once a month, but they’re actually discovering something so interesting that they’re saving it or are clicking through to the website.” “It’s 100 million active users, more than 70 percent of whom are actively engaged,” he said in a telephone interview. The disclosure from Pinterest is the first time since its launch in March 2010 that it has discussed the number of users.

Sharp said that the majority of Pinterest users are women but noted the gender gap “is closing a little bit every month.”

Based on the latest figures, Pinterest remains well behind Facebook-owned app Instagram, also a photo-sharing service,

which claims some 300 million users.

But Sharp said the two platforms serve different needs and different audiences. “Instagram is more of a social service at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s more similar to a social network,” while Pinterest “is much more like a search engine,” he said. “On Pinterest, you search for something, you find a great outfit, you can buy that outfit.

(The two platforms) serve very different purposes.”

Pinterest has taken pains to avoid being labeled a social network. Earlier this year, cofounder and chief executive Ben Silbermann described Pinterest as a “catalog of ideas” to help people discover and try new things in their lives. The number of new Pinterest “pins” is now estimated to be more than 1.5 billion per month, according to the company, which is seeing its strongest growth globally, noting that some 45 percent of users are outside the US market.

Issue - 633 (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 ***633*** 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 ***633*** 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 ***633*** 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 ***633*** 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 ***633*** 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 ***633*** 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.

22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

Please email recent picture and bio-data to: seeking4myson@gmail.com Or Call: 647-927-3779 ***633*** Seeking a professionally qualified Jat Sikh match for a Jat Sikh Canadian Citizen girl, 80 born, 5'6½” tall , Convent Educated, B.Sc. Computer Science, working as a Regular Developer in a Software Company in Toronto, Canada. Please respond with your bio-data and recent picture to: aman.25jk@gmail.com *** 633*** 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 & recent picture to: NycSingh23@gmail.Com *** 633*** Jatt Sikh Mann family looking for professionally qualified, well settled Canadian/American Jatt Sikh match for their 1989 born, 5’3", Canadian PR, M.Sc. Nursing daughter. Preference will Malwa Zone with property at least 40 acres in India. Girl family all settled in Canada. Study visa may be considered. Please send biodata & recent picture to: sukhdeepmann38@yahoo.ca or call: 1-780-908-7866 *** 633*** Status jatt sikh family seek a suitable alliance for their daughte,r canadian PR, 5'-8", 1981 born, fair, convent educated, MBA, working in a reputed canadian bank. Immediate marriage. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: shaganshubh@gmail.com or call: 011-91- 99884-21210 *** 633*** 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 bio-data & recent picture to: atalliance55@outlook.com *** 633*** Suitable match for Tonk-Kshatriya boy, 1986 born, 5'-6" tall, Canadian PR, B.TECH (ECE), MBA, working in city of Calgory as project Manager, salary six figure Canadian Dollar seeks a punjabi life partner, beautiful, educated. New comers and student visa in Canada are also welcome. Caste no bar. Gotra/ Purba. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: kainthharminder@gmail.com or jagdevkanwal@gmail.com or Call: 1-604-854-5099 *** 633*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son 24 yrs. old, 5’-9” tall, B.DS (Dentist), presently in India prectising 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:amanpreet.aujla@ ymail.com Or Call : 416-9532504 Or : 011-91-98147-02918 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents, looking for a match for their 32 year old daughter, born and raised in California. Has a Masters Degree.

The boy should be educated, clean shaven and family oriented.

Please email bio-data and pictures to: bbkaur1963@gmail.com ***633*** Jatt Sikh (Bajwa) Parents seek suitable match for their son, 6’1”, born 1987, Masters in Engineering, H1B visa holder, working in the automotive industry in USA. Girl should be family oriented and professionally qualified. Please contact brampton1980@hotmail.com ***633*** Jat Sikh Brar parents invite matrimonial alliance for their dauter, 31 yrs old, 5’-6”, US green card holder, will get Citizenship next year, M.A. B.Ed., Working as quality inspecter/computer programmer in Sanjose (Calefornia). The boy should be professionally employed, non drinker/non smoker, Boy on Student Visa/HI Visa may also be considered. Jat Sikh boy from India with Master’s degree in Engg. or with medical background welcome to. No marriage bureau.

Please email recent picture & biodata to : brar_2012@outlook.com or Call : 1-831-524-4850 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 36 yrs. old, 5’4” tall, beautiful, innocently divorced, Canadian Citizen, well versed in both cultures, professionally employed in Toronto. The boy should be family oriented and from a respectable Jat Sikh family. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to : torontomatrimonail@gmail.com Or Call : 416-509-5012 Or : 416-418-5151 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents invite metrimonial alliance for their daughter, Canadian Immigrant, 28 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, completed CGA from Canada, beautiful, family oriented, wll versed in both cultures, innocently divorced after a very short marriage. The boy should be Jat Sikh, well educated, professionally employed with family values. Boy on student Visa/Work permit may also be considered. Family is well settled in Canada. Pl. email recent picture and biodata to cherubic125@gmial.com ***633*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their beautiful, 31 yrs old, 5’-7” tall daughter, born and raised in Canada, well educated, professionally employed in govt. job in Calgory. The boy should be educated Canadian/American, born and raised from good family.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to :kaur198431@gmail.com Or Call : 1-604-356-0226 ***633*** Suitable match required for Professionally Qualified boy, Cana-

dian immigrant, 5'- 8" tall,1982 born, M.Sc Electronics & Communications Engg. (UK)., B Tech Electronics & Instrumentation Engg. India. Caste No Bar. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: bcalliance1@gmail.com or call: 1- 604-512-1078 *** 633*** Jatt Sikh girl, 29 yrs. old, 4'-11" tall, MBA, bank employee, USA citizen, only child (willing to relocate), family owns business/ property in NJ/PA. The boy should be Jatt Sikh, USA/Canadian citizen, college educated and professionally employed. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: tksohi@yahoo.com *** 633*** Well settled Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born son, 29 yrs. Old, 6’ tall, educated, handsome, wears turban. The girl should be educated, attractive, having good family background. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: skaur222@outlook.com or Call: 1-604-728-3530 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents seeks a suitable match for their Canadian born daughter, 25 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, well educated, working in her own field. The boy should be GurSikh, professionally qualified, settled with family values. Please email recent picture and bio data to : skaur222@outlook.com or Call: 1-604-728-3530 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 27 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, Master degree in software engineering from a reputed University in Canada, Amritdhari and professionally employed. The boy should be equally qualified, professionally settled, Amritdhari from Jat Sikh family. Please email recent picture and biodata to: gilljs.369@gmail.com ***633**** Well settled Jat Sikh Gill family seeks a suitable match for their daughter, 32 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, college graduate with diploma iin Business administration and accounting. The boy should be 30-37 yrs. of age, well qualified and raised in Canada. Please call: 905-874-0721 ***633*** Professionally qualified match for Jat Sikh Sidhu Turbaned, non drinker, Canadian citizen boy 25 yrs, 6’, Electrical Engineering from Canadian University and now working in a reputed company in Mississauga. Family well settled in Brampton since 2005, GTA preferred. Respond with recent pic and biodata to sidhutoronto@hotmail.com or 905-497-3860 ***633*** Ravidasia family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 36 yrs old, 5’-3”, vegetarian, beautiful, innocently divorceds in two month, Canadian Citizen, Convent Educated, well settled in good job, belongs to a very educated family. The boy should be vegetarian, non-drinker, nonsmoker, well settled. Students/ Visitors/on work permit can be considered. Caste no Bar. Please send your bio-data & recent

picture to : surjeetkamal@hotmail.com or Call : 1-778-998-3707 ***633*** Parents (SC) invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 33 yrs. old, 5'-2" tall, M.Sc. IT, Diploma in Pharmacy and presently working and residing in India. The boy should be Canadian immigrant/citizen, professionally employed with family values.

Sister's family is well settled in Canada. Cast no bar. Please Call: 1-306-737-9328 or 011-9197794-57530 ***633*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, Canadian born 1980, 5'-5" tall, university graduate, working in government job. Divorced after short marriage. The Boy should be Jat Sikh, university educated and raised in Canada. Call: 1-604214-0911 *** 633*** Parents of American citizen, Jatt Sikh Girl, 27 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall,RN, BSN. looking for American Citizen Sikh boy, between 27-29 yrs. of age, well educated, family oriented, vegetarian, non drinker, non smoker. Call: 1-724-599-0722 *** 633*** USA citizen /Greencard /H1B above 5'-5", beautiful, professional girl for cleanshaven, handsome, jatsikh 28/6'-0 “,MTech (India) , presently USA study visa (Chicago) completing MBA (Finance) December 2015.mangat.harjit@yahoo.com .

Phone- 917-353-8909 *** 633*** Jat Sikh Parents invite suitable Match for their Handsome well behaved/cultured son, Medical Doctor (MBBS), 5'- 7'’, 27 Yrs. old, Canadian Immigrant and very well Family oriented with good Cultural Values in both indian/ north american cultures. Parents well settled. Please send your Bio-Data and recent picture to: hssharis@ yahoo.com or Call: 647 949 8191 *** 633*** Jat Sikh Parents invite suitable Match for their Daughter, doing B.A. (India), Beautiful, Slim, Fair, 5'- 5'’ tall, 24 Yrs. old, intelligent, Canadian Immigrant and very homely/ family oriented with good Cultural Values in both indian/ North American cultures. Substantial property on our daughter’s name. Please send your Bio-Data & recent picture to: hssharis@ yahoo.com or Call: 1 647 949 8191 *** 633*** Seeking equally qualified and employed match for Canadian citizen Jat Sikh Boy, born in India and raised and educated in Canada with Computer Engineering degree from a reputed University with current employment in Ontario Government as Software developer in Toronto. He is 27, 5’8”, athletic build and very fair complexion. Father retired Veterinary Doctor and mother retired Lecturer from India.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: chahalcanadian100@outlook.com or Call: 1-416-998-9662 ***633***

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

US astronaut misses fresh air Nasa confuses sun, moon halfway thru year-long mission in tweet to 1.2m followers WASHINGTON Halfway into a year in space - the longest-ever attempt at the International

feel pretty good overall,” Kelly said in an interview from the ISS, broadcast on NASA television.

Space Station - American astronaut Scott Kelly has said he misses fresh air but is adapting well.Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko agreed to double the length of a typical astronaut’s mission at the ISS in order to help the world’s space agencies study how longterm space travel affects the human body and mind.

Such research is viewed as invaluable as NASA aims to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, but it is not easy for the two men, who have been circling the Earth since late March. “I

Kornienko did not participate in the event, which was organized by the National Press Club in the US capital.“What I am looking most forward to is just getting to the end of it with as much energy and enthusiasm as I had at the beginning,” added Kelly, whose participation in the study could be particularly useful since his health can be compared to that of his twin brother Mark, a retired astronaut participating in the study from Earth.

Asked what he missed most about Earth, Kelly said “being with people you

care about, family and friends, just going outside.”

“This is a very closed environment, you can never leave,” he added.

“The lighting is pretty much the same, the smell ... everything is the same.

Even most prisoners can get out but we cannot.”

Kelly and Kornienko’s mission is the longest at the ISS, which was first visited by astronauts in the year 2000. But the record for the longest time spent in space is held by Russia’s Valeri Polyakov, who stayed at the Mir Space Station for 14 months in the mid-1990s.

Living in space can have odd effects on the body, said Kelly, who has been to the ISS multiple times and previously spent a sixmonth stint there, the typical mission length.

“We do not really use the bottom of our feet much,” he said. “After five months you have baby feet.”

But he also said he is better able to do certain tasks now than he was at the beginning. “My ability to move around is really improved over time,” said Kelly. “You just get more comfortable,” he added.

Indian couple in US sued over autistic son’s behaviour WASHINGTON An Indian couple is being sued in California, alleging that their autistic son is a

at a Silicon Valley company, was quoted as saying. The couple’s hired caregivers gave the boy

“public nuisance” and created an “as-yet unquantified chilling effect” on the otherwise ‘hot’ local real estate market”, a media report said.

Vidyut Gopal and Parul Agrawal were slapped with a lawsuit filed by their two neighbours. They were ultimately forced to leave their home of seven years in Sunnyvale, one of the major cities that make up Silicon Valley, the San Jose Mercury News reported on Thursday.

“This has been pretty devastating for us, but we are doing our best to cope with it,” Gopal, an engineer

special medication and put him in therapeutic classes after neighbours complained about the young boy pulling children’s hair, biting a woman and other menacing behaviour.

Last year, the couple was slapped with a lawsuit that alleges the boy’s disruptive behaviour created an “as-yet unquantified chilling effect on the otherwise ‘hot’ local real estate market” and that “people feel constrained in the marketability of their homes as this issue remains unresolved and

the nuisance remains unabated”.

To the Indian-origin parents’ dismay, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge last October issued a preliminary injunction against them to ensure their son does not strike, assault, or batter anyone in the neighbourhood or their personal property.

Next week, a judge will hear arguments about whether the plaintiffs should have access to the boy’s school and medical records.Agrawal, a research scientist at Nasa Ames Research Centre, said they remain focused on helping their son. But they hope this case “will raise awareness about autism and educate the public” about the challenges that families of children with autism face.

Parents of children with autism fear that such lawsuits could be slapped against them as well.

“What scared us in the Bay Area is that there are thousands of kids just like this one,” Jill Escher, president of the board of the Autism Society of the San Francisco Bay Area, was quoted as saying.

Texas It is an embarrassing error for a space agency confusing the sun and moon. Nasa tweeted its 1.2 million followers with this stunning image, claiming to show the sun and Earth. However, it was soon forced to delete the tweet - and experts pointed out the ‘shiny’ area was actually the moon, make bright by the picture’s long exposure.

The problem was initially spotted when people realised stars are clearly visible around the ‘sun’.

Emily Lakdawalla, planetary scientist and senior editor of The Planetary Society, told Mashable. ‘Well, seeing as how stars and city lights at night are both visible in the field of view with the bright light source, it can’t possibly be the sun.’ Just a few months ago, scientists made the exact same mistake, similarly calling the moon the sun in another tweet. Scott Kelly, who took the image, has been a prolific snapper from space.

Earlier this week Scott Kelly got so excited when this everyday view was photobombed by both the moon and Venus. He

why the planet appears so bright in Mr Kelly’s images. The moon looks equally bright because of reflected sunlight, and

tweeted two images of the alignment, 12 hours apart, as the station orbited towards the US and journeyed over Texas.

Venus was particularly visible overnight because of its ‘high albedo’. Albedo is the amount of light the planet reflects back into space and comes from the permanent cloud layer that surrounds it. These clouds reflect around 75 per cent of the sunlight they receive back toward Earth, and this reflected light explains

also looks larger due to its proximity to the station. In reality, the moon has a radius that is three-and-ahalf times smaller than Venus.In fact, the moon is the only object in the night sky brighter than Venus.

Mr Kelly, together with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, boarded the ISS in March and are part of a first-of-its-kind experiment to test how the human body copes with prolonged space travel.

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Travel news

Salalah, which is a 12- hour drive from Oman, is for those who are set for strange tales, stupefying destinations and novel experiences.

By Adila Matra THIS city is not for the feeble spirited.This is the land of pirate queens and ancient capsized settlements.Salalah, which is a 12- hour drive from Oman, is for those who are set for strange tales, stupefying destinations and novel experiences.Salalah doesn’t boast of skyscrapers or branded showrooms.There are quite a few fabled hotels like the Crowne Plaza and Marriot, but I would recommend finding rented apartments that are cheap and abundant in the heart of the city.

Once you’re settled and rested, switch on your GPS and explore the city.Well, technically the city lasts for less than 15 minutes. It is in the outskirts that Salalah hides its true wonders.About 40 km west of Salalah is where the mountains meet the sea. The cerulean Mughsayl beach and rugged Manreef caves make for picture- perfect photographs and postcard memories.The towering cave- like mountains that look like they have been scooped out, apparently formed when the sea backed off for a few kilometres, giving us the beautiful sea- coastmountain trio. When the sea is rough, it is a pleasure watching the huge waves crash against the mountains, sometimes rising as tall as them.The blow holes near the caves roar like a giant and unexpectedly spray you with the saltiest and the most powerful spout of water that can give you Marilyn Monroe moments!

SALALAH’S streets are filled with tales of their glorious past and the sad downfall.The story of trade and treachery fares high among these. It is said that the city, which is the traditional capital of Dhofar, was the highest producer and exporter of frankincense in the 13th century.

The business went down around the 19th century and Dhofar, which was an independent city

THE LAND OF LOST CITIES

till then, was brought under the sultans of Oman. The locals will tell you that many forests around Salalah and Dhofar are filled with frankincense trees. Since Dhofar has been declared by UNESCO as the land of frankincense, do not forget to stop by the local market to get some for family and friends.Along the coastal highway from Salalah city to Mirbat is the ‘ rchaeological Site of Sumhuram’. As you set foot on the site, you are as unassuming as all those traders who were trapped by the

queen of Sumhuram.The lore, one of my travel buddies narrates, is that the Queen of Sheba, a pirate of sorts, used to trap the English trade vessels in Khor Rori, a fresh water lagoon near her fort that meets the sea at a thin stretch of white sand.

The traders would stop by the ravine for a break and would be tricked before they knew what hit them. You find y o u r s e l f wishing that Sumhuram still held its hustlebustle.

Because the

remains of a 2,000- year- old fort are all that’s left of a settlement which was once the centre of frankincense production. Pirate or no pirate, you cannot help but be jealous of the queen, for the magnificent view that she could behold from her balcony: the river meeting the sea, the camels grazing and the seagull calling.

Add to that, a few imaginary ships sailing from afar and your day is made.After the heavy dose of a stormy past, it is time for some science- defying act.

Around 63 km from the city, along the same road to Mirbat is an anti- gravity point! I rubbished it but as I changed the gear to

neutral, the car began to roll uphill! It is creepy for a moment but soon, you begin to dig for a possible explanation, which, so far has not been found.WE are then on the way to Tawi Atair, a sinkhole formed by karst processes. Tawi Atair, literally translates into the ‘ well of the birds’ and the name fits because of the many birds that have settled comfortably inside the sinkhole, flying out in hundreds to the noise of visitors.The sight is unbelievable.After a slew of tomb visits: Prophet Ayoob, Swalih and Imran along with that of the great warrior Cheraman Perumal, it is time to bid adieu to the city of surprises.Around 170 km north ofSalalah, stop by the large inscription on a wall that says, ‘ Lost City of Ubar’. The life around this walled area goes on as normal. It is unsettling, given the history of Ubar.

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

Afghan paragliders soar through Kabul’s skies KABUL Zakia Mohammadi, a woman in Afghanistan’s first national paragliding team, waited on a hilltop on the outskirts of Kabul for a wind to lift her craft into the sky, as dozens of watching teenagers clapped and cheered.

She is one of a group of young Afghans taking to the skies of a capital where military helicopters and surveillance balloons are a far more familiar sight.

“When I went up to the sky, I thought I was a bird which had just been freed from a cage,” said Zakia, one of two women in the newly established team of 15 that includes two trainers. “I really enjoyed it.”

Women in Afghanistan’s conservative Muslim society are increasingly entering areas such as education, sports and the workplace, but most still wear the head-to-toe garment, the burqa.

“When women see me they don’t

believe that an Afghan woman can do this,” said Leeda Ozori, the other woman in the team.

“The situation is not good, there is no security, but I am brave and I can do it.”

During the rule of the militant Taliban in the 1990s, Afghan women were kept out of schools, universities and public life. They could not leave their homes unless accompanied by a male family member.

“When we first came here, children were pelting us with stones,” paragliding trainer Mehran Rahbari told Reuters at the top of the hill in Kabul.

“But later, when they found out that we were coming here for sports, they stopped throwing stones at us. Now they love us.”

Paragliding is an expensive pastime, however, in a city where the average wage is about $200 a month.

Even a middle-class Afghan will find it tough to afford the $500

cost of two weeks of training, while paragliding equipment costs $5,000. Getting to the tops of hills takes hours of climbing in a four-wheel drive vehicle, in the absence of proper roads. An army vehicle carries the team’s equipment, with a police escort to fend off possible attacks. But

Google appeal on cleaning up search results rejected PARIS French data privacy regulators took a step towards sanctioning Google by rejecting the company’s request to drop a case against it for refusing to clean up information from its

search engine results.

Under Europe’s so-called right to be forgotten, individuals can ask search engines such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing to remove information that appears under a search of their name if it is incorrect, out of date, irrelevant or inflammatory. Since the European Court of Justice ruling last year that granted this right to European residents, Google has fielded nearly 320,000 requests, granting about 40 percent of

them. But it only de-lists the links on European versions of its sites, such as Google.fr or Google.de not globally, meaning the information remains available.

The French authority, the CNIL, in June ordered Google to de-list

on request search results appearing under a person’s name from all its websites, including Google.com. The company refused in July and requested that the CNIL abandon its efforts, which the regulator officially refused to do on Monday.

“The President of the CNIL rejects Google’s informal appeal against the formal notice requesting it to apply delisting on all of the search engine’s domain names,” the watchdog said.

France is the first European country to open a legal process to punish Google for not applying the right to be forgotten globally. But an umbrella group of European data protection watchdogs took a similar position in December on the issue of cleaning up search results globally, saying that it was the only way to ensure the “effective and complete protection of data subjects’ rights and that EU law cannot be circumvented”.

A CNIL spokesman said Google was required to comply immediately and begin de-listing information about French residents from all of its sites. If it refused, the CNIL will spend the next two months preparing sanctions that can include up to 150,000 euros ($169,000) in fines, climbing to 300,000 euros for repeat offences.

Google said it had worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten ruling “thoughtfully and comprehensively in Europe” and would continue to do so. “But as a matter of principle, we respectfully disagree with the idea that a single national Data Protection Authority should determine which webpages people in other countries can access via search engines,” said a spokesman for the company.

the team’s biggest concern is their vulnerability when aloft. “We fly for around 20 minutes in the sky and sometimes we fly over people’s houses,” said Naweed Popal, who pooled his cash to set up the group just over three years ago.

“We are concerned if something happens and we find ourselves with no means of defence.” Each craft has a steering mechanism to avoid collisions, and every team member is given a radio to maintain contact.

Lefties have better sex

Are you a lefty? This news would get you off your feet as according to a latest global sex survey, lefthanded people are 86 percent more satisfied in bed than righthanded people.

In a survey of 10,000 people, 86 percent of left-handed people reported that they were extremely satisfied as compared to only 15 percent of right-handed people.

Keeping the results in mind, a Swedish intimate lifestyle products company LELO, that did the survey, has developed a new sex toy especially designed for the lefty.Named DEXTRUS, this is the

Taiwan boat caught with shark fin haul A Taiwan-flagged boat has been caught with an illegal haul of more than 100 shark fins and is being escorted back to a home port, Taiwanese authorities said.Five shark carcasses and 110 shark fins were found on the vessel in an “obvious violation of shark finning”, Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency said in a statement late Friday. The boat was carrying over 10 tons of fish, including yellow fin tuna, an amount “significantly discrepant” to that recorded in the

vessel’s logbooks, the agency said.

The boat was being escorted back to a home port by a Taiwan patrol vessel for further investigation.

Environmental activist group Greenpeace earlier this month boarded the boatl, accusing her crew of operating illegally near Papua New Guinea.The group said it it found sacks of shark fins from at least 42 shark carcasses though only three had been recorded in the boat’s logs.

At the time, Taiwan’s Fisheries

Although the team hopes to expand operations to other Afghan provinces, security worries now restrict it to Kabul.

“We cannot go anywhere outside Kabul,” said Iranian trainer Rahbari. “We are afraid if we go out and get attacked, one bullet can end all our efforts.” But the women on the team are undeterred.

“Our idea is to show to the world that Afghan women, although living in war and insecurity, have the ability to improve and become developed,” said Zakia.

Agency rebuked Greenpeace for boarding a vessel without permission from the government, countering that the boat was licensed. Under both Taiwanese law and Pacific fishing rules shark fins cannot make up more than 5 percent of the weight of sharks caught, according to Greenpeace. A lucrative black market trade in shark fins flourishes in Asia with poaching vessels plying waters beyond national jurisdictions often escaping authorities’ efforts to clamp down on illegal fishing.

first vibrator that claims it would increase your sexual pleasure as well as make you smarter. The sex toy is shaped like a stress ball and used similarly. “When the user squeezes the ball with their left-hand, vibrations are sent up the arm, stimulating the right side of the brain,” LELO said in a statement. Left hand clenching (right hemisphere activation) pre-recall in superior memory. It also makes you smart, the survey added. Use the toy in the bedroom to tap in to the left-handed sexual mentality. The creators were quoted as saying on news.com.

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22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

China teaching troops folk Antibacterial soap no real threat to germs dances to make friends BEIJING China’s military has been teaching its soldiers in the unruly region of Xinjiang folk dances and songs as part of efforts to improve

policies ... and refute rumours”, it said.

Soldiers have also told to get closer to the people by learning the languages, folk songs and folk dances of

relations with the minority people who live there, it said on Wednesday. Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in the far western region in the past few years.

The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan for minority Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language and hail from Xinjiang. Chinese forces in Xinjiang, which also borders Central Asia, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, are at the “centre of the storm” when it comes to fighting militants and separatists, the Communist Party committee for the Xinjiang military command wrote in the official People’s Liberation Army Daily.Their job is more than just fighting, it said, pointing to the thousands of activities they have arranged in the last five years going into villages to “explain the party’s ethnic and religious

the peoples of Xinjiang to “make friends with the minority masses”, the command said.“With faceto-face communication and heart-to-heart exchanges (we can) increase ethnic unity and feelings, like the closeness between fish and water,” it said.“The story of the unity between people, military and government, military and the people, and ethnic unity are as plain to see as the grapes of Turpan, and all are as close as pomegranate seeds, and can never be split apart,” it added, referring to a part of Xinjiang famous for its grapes. Many Uighurs chafe at Chinese restrictions on their culture, language and religion.

China says it offers broad freedoms in Xinjiang, though few Chinese officials make the effort to learn Uighur or other minority languages or understand much about Islam in what is officially an atheist country.

PARIS Antibacterial hand soaps containing a chemical flagged as potentially dangerous are not much better at killing germs than regular suds, researchers said Wednesday.

The chemical, triclosan, was long one of the commonest ingredients in antibacterial soaps, which are used by millions of people and generate $1 billion (880 million euros) in sales annually in the United States alone, experts say. But studies have linked it to antibiotic resistance and hormone problems, prompting a safety review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that may yet lead to restrictions.

Now a study in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy reports that when it comes to normal hand-washing, there is “no significant difference” between the bactericidal effects of plain soap and antibacterial soap. The agent only became effective after microbes had been steeped in the stuff for nine hours, the authors found.

“At times less than six hours there was little difference between the two (soaps),” the researchers wrote of their tests. To evaluate triclosan’s germ-killing abilities, the team placed 20 dangerous bacteria strains, including Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enteritidis, in

AI bots try to fool human judges

Bristol Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bristol gives some perspective to the prize:“It is fun, like robot-wars can be fun to watch, but it tells us nothing about machine intelligence” Nello told me.

“This test mixes notions of consciousness with those of empathy and language and intelligence, with cultural aspects too.”

“Much better to focus on the definition of intelligent machines as agents pursuing their own goals and learning to get better at those, autonomously, with experience” he said.

It has been a fascinating day - and has revealed a

great deal about where we are with AI. The chatbots in the competition didn’t seem too convincing to me, but then conversation is a hugely complex thing and something that a lot of humans I know aren’t particularly good at. The main thing I’ve got out of the day is a realisation about how truly amazing the human brain is.

I’m starting to question whether we should be attempting to recreate it.

As Steve Worswick, runner-up in this year’s contest, pointed out maybe the whole idea of making a machine human is missing the point. What we really need is machines that are

intelligent, but does that intelligence need to mirror our own?

Perhaps we should let the robots do it their way!

Jenny Abbot was watching the action unfold here at Bletchley.

She came to support her partner who was one of the humans chatting to the judges. She was trying to work out whether he was talking to Rory in the last round.

“They are talking about gardening and he doesn’t garden so I don’t think it is him,” she said. She isn’t entirely convinced that she can tell which of the chats is a bot and is surprised at how much personality they seem to have.

Petri dishes with either antibacterial or regular soap.The samples were heated to 22 or 40 degrees Celsius (72 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit),

antibacterial or regular soap and 40-degree water.

For all the tests, the team used antibacterial soap containing 0.3 percent triclosan - the maximum

nine hours of exposure,” they found - a rather long period for washing one’s hands. The researchers said consumers need to be made aware the

simulating exposure to warm or hot water for 20 seconds - the World Health Organizationadvised duration for handwashing. The team then spread bacteria on the hands of 16 adults - who had refrained from using antibacterial soap for at least the preceding week.

They were then told to wash their hands for 30 seconds using either

allowed in the European Union, Canada, Australia, China and Japan, said study co-author Min Suk Rhee of Korea University in Seoul. They found no “significant” difference between antibacterial and normal soap, and decided to see if soaking would yield a different outcome.

The triclosan-containing soap “performed significantly better after

antibacterial soaps do not guarantee germ protection. “It should be banned to exaggerate the effectiveness of products which can confuse consumers,” said Min. Several soapmakers have already stopped using triclosan, he added. Only 13 of 53 antibacterial soaps studied in Korea in 2014 still contained the chemical.

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Too little of Kangana and too much of Imran make the film a tiring watch Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Imran Khan Direction: Nikhil Advani Ratings: 2 Stars A few years ago, director Ned Benson visited friendactress Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) with a script which focused on a breakdown of a love marriage. Chastain told him that the story was missing the equally significant female perspective. Benson rewrote it and so there were two films in 2013 in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her. The

Payal (Kangana Ranaut).

Not having enough of one of the more talented actresses in Bollywood is the biggest folly of Katti Batti.

Audiences get to know Payal through a series of flashbacks which are largely seen through Maddy’s perspective. But they never quite reveal enough about her other than she is colourfully dressed, heavily accessorised, and therefore a free spirit. When a sequence arrives which offers Payal’s point of view, it’s an interesting development but it is left too late

films saw the story through the point of view of both the husband and the wife.

Nikhil Advani’s second film of the year also focuses on a relationship gone wrong and shuttles between the past and the present, but it tells the story mostly through its uncharismatic leading man, Maddy (Imran Khan) and doesn’t have enough of its colourful leading lady,

and not elaborated much on. The net result is that the little audiences know of Payal is through Maddy’s puppy-dog eyes, or those of his intrusive friends or sister who don’t think highly of her.

With Payal as what seems like the periphery, the core of Katti Batti is Maddy. The film follows him around as he runs about trying to trace Payal, understanding

why she left him, struggling to move on and then get her back. But there is only so much of Khan’s sulking loverboy exercise one can endure. The film often seems reminiscent of countless Khan films including Break Ke Baad which also dealt with a character coping with a break-up and trying to win over his girlfriend. It doesn’t help that writer Anshul Singhal is never able to lay out compelling reasons as to what makes Maddy to be truly, madly, deeply in love with Payal. The opposites attract trope here doesn’t work because Payal is an underdeveloped character.

All we know is that she is a rich kid of divorced parents, who here are never seen, and a colourful wardrobe.

As if knowing little of Payal isn’t bad enough, it’s hard to figure Maddy too. A female character sums him up best by repeatedly saying, “Tum Kya Ho Maddy?”

Gradually Maddy’s “I Just Can’t Get You Out of My Head” act seems less like true love and more like a frustrating obsession.

With the first half focusing on the hunky-dory jab Maddy met Payal which is low on laughs and charm, the film further loses momentum in the second half as Advani and Singhal fail

to get viewers emotionally invested in the love story which tries to be a hipper version of an Eric Segal or a Nicholas Sparks mawkish romance.

It explains the inclusion of random supporting characters such as Roger, who is a pet shop owner, a Sufi music singer and a selfappointed shrink, and a

pet turtle named Milkha who is dragged along in Maddy’s ‘Get Payal Back’ mission. A chunk of theatre actors are made to go over the top including Bugs Bhargava as Maddy’s south Indian boss. The only actor to walk out of the film with her credentials more or less intact is Ranaut. She con-

veys the vitality of Payal as well as envelopes her in mystery. But she alone cannot salvage this film because there isn’t much of Payal in the first place.

Khan, returning after a year and a half, feels like he is reprising an act all too familiar and thereby continues to look perplexed and lost.

home (a horribly misused Knightley and Wright), almost none of the climbers here some legendary, other novices, almost all brave get any context

about what brings them to conditions “not meant for the living”. A journalist for Outside magazine who is also climbing with the mountaineers as part of a

story, Krakeur (Kelly), even asks them helpfully “Why?”. But nobody has any real answers. Perhaps the only actor who stands out as a character is mail-

man/carpenter Doug, and that is largely on the strength of Hawkes’s acting, who makes even a mushy tale about schoolchildren a real motivator.

Everest Cast: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Sam Worthington Director: Baltasar Kormákur Rating: 4 Stars THE biggest star of this film is the world’s highest peak, as it should be. The script inspired by several accounts (including Jon Krakeur’s bestseller, Into Thin Air) of what happened atop that mountain on the fateful days of May 10-11 1996 — resulting in the

highest number of casualties Everest had seen in one day till then, 8 is clear that surmounting Everest is about endurance above all else. Everest throws everything the way of the climbers, from storms and avalanches to treacherous ice falls and mind games, and by the time you get up there, it is time to come down. However, at the heart of any adventure lie stories of the men and women who embark on it.

Kormákur’s challenge lay in making these worth the Everest, and it is here that the film limply fails. Apart from worrying wives back

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‘Calendar Girls’ gets no takers from Pakistan as distributors reportedly refuse the film

Calendar Girls, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, is the latest to face the heat in Pakistan. The local distributors have reportedly refused the movie stating the Pakistan Censor Board doesn’t want to see it because of a particular line in the trailer. The dialogue in question is “Paksitani ladkiyaan bhi utne hi bold kaam karti hain jitni baaki

Priyanka Chopra

Acting with dad will be weird says Athiya Shetty Athiya Shetty, who has forayed into Bollywood with “Hero”, says sharing screen space with her father and actor Suniel Shetty will be a “weird” experience for her.

“Acting with dad will be weird. I will be scared most of the time,” Athiya told IANS, adding that if

ladkiyaan karti hain, balki kabhi kabhi uss se zyada bhi” spoken by Avani Modi who plays Nazneen Mallik, a Pakistani girl aspiring to become a supermodel.

The Pakistan Censor Board has apparently deemed this dialogue as demeaning to their women and they do not want to even view it for certification, says a source.

given a chance, she’d love to dance on the beats of her father’s popular song “Shehar ki ladki”. “If I have to choose a song, which is being remade, then it would surely be ‘Shehar ki ladki’,” said the actress, who opted for remake of Subhash Ghai’s 1983 film Hero to foray into the Hindi film world.

Athiya Shetty

Shabana Azmi is my favourite says Priyanka Chopra Actress-singer Priyanka Chopra says Shabana Azmi, who turned 65 today, is her inspiration in the showbiz world.

“Happy bday @AzmiShabana! My favourite... Always look up to you so much!

Lots of love,” Priyanka, who is currently in the US, posted on Twitter.

Shabana, the wife of noted lyricist Javed Akhtar, started her career with Shyam Benegal’s directoria debut “Ankur” in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of Parallel Cinema. Her performances in films in a variety of genres have generally earned her praise and awards, which include a record of five wins of the National Film Award for best actress and several international honours. Actressproducer Dia Happy wrote, “Happy Birthday @AzmiShabana. You are awesome and I am grateful to have your humanity inspire me.”

I am a realistic person says John Abraham

Bollywood actor John Abraham, who has delivered several hit movies recently, thinks he is still far away from being successful. It has not been a cakewalk for the model turned actor-producer, who has been in the industry for past 10 years. “I am far from being successful. I have set a benchmark for myself and I am working hard towards it. I don’t get euphoric with the success of the film or dejected by the failure of the film. I am completely a realistic person,” John told PTI. “I don’t get taken in by praises. It is all momentary. Working hard is the only thing. I am thankful to the audience for watching my films. I want to be influential not only in India but abroad as well,” the 42year-old actor said. Charming his way into showbiz with his looks and chiselled body as a model first, the “Force” star initially faced criticism. Though his debut film Jism did well at the box office, films like Saaya, Paap, Lakeer among others which released after failed to garner attention.

The film that turned his fortune was Aditya Chopra’s Dhoom followed by other hit films like Dostana, New York, Force and Madras Cafe.

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Dresses are my favourite says Eva Mendes Actress Eva Mendes says she prefers wearing dresses as she’s “lazy” and finds them very easy to put on. “I love designing dresses and clothes...Dresses are my favourite. Don’t you find it easier (with dresses)? I’m not anti-jeans or pants; it’s just easier. I’m lazy, I want fast; it’s just a zipper and you’re done,” Mendes told The Wendy Williams Show, an American talk show, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“Jeans are not comfortable. We do make a nice soft pant sometimes and that’s comfortable but jeans can be a little restrictive,” she added. The 41-year-old actress had joked that sweatpants were the number one reason for divorce in the United States.

She said: “You can’t do sweatpants...ladies, number one cause of divorce in America, sweatpants, no! I love a soft pant,

so I make sure they’re included in every collection. But if you see me in jeans it’s probably because all my skirts are at the dry cleaners or just dirty. “I mean, I think jeans are really uncomfortable actually - aren’t they? ‘I always prefer a boyfriend jean, but I found those to be restrictive, too.

Megan Fox back on Instagram after filing for divorce Actress Megan Fox is back on social media platform after filing for

divorce from “Beverly Hills, 90210” actor Brian Austin Green. The actress has not shared any new photograph on her Instagram since Easter but she returned to the photo-sharing site on Thursday after filing for divorce from her actor husband, reports aceshowbiz.com. The

actress posted a photograph of herself. It’s her first selfie as a single woman. “Hi I’m still here, I just continue to have an angsty relationship with social media. But what better way to express my apprehension than with a selfie. This time in black n white!,” Fox wrote. The image was also shared on her Facebook.

Her return to social media comes after news broke that she was tapped to be on “New Girl” to fill in the void left by the lead actress, Zooey Deschanel, who is on a maternity break after giving birth to her daughter in August. Fox filed for divorce from Green a few days after they announced their separation. They split after five years of marriage. They have two sons, Noah who

is going to turn three later this month, and one-yearold Bodhi. She asked for joint custody of the kids.

Blake Lively

Why Naomi Watts sent love letters to Matthew McConaughey Naomi Watts has revealed she wrote a series of love letters to Matthew McConaughey in preparation for The Sea of Trees. The 46-year-old actress - who appears alongside the Hollywood hunk in the drama movie has revealed she sent Matthew some intimate letters as she prepared to play his wife in the upcoming film. She shared: “We didn’t have any time to prep (for the movie) so when Matthew reached out to me via email, I said: ‘Do you mind if we write to each other in character?’ And he wrote back and said: ‘Write at will, Joan.’ “So we proceeded to create this relationship through letters. Some would be just a few lines or something fairly benign, and then other times it would be a long letter about how we failed and how we need to change and accu-

sations of giving up; the same old story, your classic marriage problems.” Naomi said the unusual form of preparation was “great” and it helped her to get into character. She told Vogue Australia magazine: “Sometimes we would write poetry, sometimes love letters, sometimes stormy letters, sometimes I would leave a voice recording (as Joan) knowing he was going to be shooting in the forest that day.

It was great.” The British actress also said that although there remains a gender inequality between the sexes, things are moving in the right direction. She reflected: “It feels like the woman’s voice, overall, is more powerful (these days). “And as I get older ... you have a stronger sense of yourself about what you need and what you want. And so you’re able to be more proactive about going out there and making it happen.

“And there are a lot more female directors around and a lot more successful female writers, it feels like it’s opening up.”

Kate Winslet on how she got Joanna Hoffman’s role in Steve Jobs biopic Kate Winslet may have given some awardwinning performance in almost all her films, but

she still faces the ‘blonde with breasts’ hurdle.

The actress faced the same before bagging the part of Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs, a biopic by Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle. “I couldn’t get hold of a script. For some

reason they had mental blocks and couldn’t get beyond my blonde hair and boobs and see me in the part,” Kate was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “I look nothing like Joanna. She has dark hair and glasses. We’re very different.

That shouldn’t have been a problem because actors transform themselves in films all the time. But blonde and boobs were getting in the way,” she added.

Wanting badly to be a part of the film, Kate found out a way to impress the makers. “I put on the wigs, had a bit of make-up done and shot selfies that I pinged over to the producer Scott Rudin.”

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Parcel reaches destination after 40 years in Australia Melbourne A parcel in Australia took 40 years to reach its destination.

The battered parcel was delivered to a Melbourne tennis club after it was first ordered in the mid-1970s, a media report said on Friday. The parcel, containing sew-on patches of the club’s crest, is believed to have fallen behind machinery in a sorting centre at Australia Post - the state-owned mail service - only to be

discovered recently when the company moved to another facility, reported

Xinhua citing News Corp.

Former committee

member of the tennis club Irene Garrett, who the package was addressed to, said she “had a good laugh” when the item finally arrived. “I couldn’t believe it, I’d forgotten all about.

We’re guessing it must have been around 1975, and I must have ordered it,” Garrett was quoted as saying on Friday. “I’m guessing I ordered it because it was addressed to me.” The name and address on the envelope remained legible

four decades on, according to Garett.

Garrett, who is no longer associated with the tennis club, thanked Australia Post workers for its betterlate-than-never attitude.

“It’s allowed us to get back in touch with past members of our club and we’ve heard some fantastic stories about what used to happen in the early days,” Garrett said. “(The parcel) could have just been thrown in the bin but it’s great that people are so honest to say we found something and to deliver it.”

Snakes search for water in toilets Sydney Snakes in Australia are hiding in toilets as a lack of rainfall in northern Queensland has them searching for water.

Two carpet pythons have been pulled from two toilets in the north Queensland town of Townsville the past two weeks, while reports have flooded social media of snakes being found near

kitchen sinks and drain pipes, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The first one I got in the toilet we actually had to unbolt the toilet to get it out because he just wasn’t budging,” Townsville volunteer snake catcher Elliot Budd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

“The second one, by the time I got there most of its body was already through

the pipes and so I was only really holding onto it around its neck,” he said.

“I loosened my grip a bit and he just started coming out on his own.”

The lack of rainfall in north Queensland as seen snakes - and other reptiles - become creative at finding water, particularly due to the breeding season.

Air Canada pilot diverts flight to save dog

Toronto In a heart-warming incident, an Air Canada pilot diverted a flight to save the life of a pet dog on board after realising that a cargo hold heating unit of the plane failed, thus threatening the canine’s life.

The dog named ‘Simba’ was flying from Tel Aviv (Israel) to Toronto when the the pilot noticed a problem with the cargo area’s heating system.

“As soon as the crew became aware of the temperature issue, the captain grew rightfully concerned for the dog’s comfort and well-being,”

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick told CNN. “With the altitude it can become very uncomfortable, and possibly the situation could have been lifethreatening if the flight had continued,” he added.

The aircraft was diverted to Germany where the 7year-old bulldog was boarded onto another flight, causing a delay of more than 1 hour for the original flight’s 200 passengers.

“While we recognise this was an inconvenience for our customers, the overall reaction was positive, particularly

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NZ killer tiger won’t be put down WELLINGTON A tiger that mauled a New Zealand zookeeper to death will not be put down because the attack was “in line with his natural instincts”, zoo officials said Monday. Experienced

zookeeper Samantha Kudewah died on Sunday morning when the tiger, a Sumatran male called Oz, attacked her at Hamilton Zoo, south of Auckland.

Hamilton Council, which runs the zoo, described Kudewah’s death as a tragedy but said there was nothing to gain from destroying the big cat.

“Although there is an inherent risk for zoo professionals who manage big cats like Oz, there is no wider ongoing risk - there is no reason for us to put Oz down,” the council’s community general manager

Lance Vervoort said in a statement. “This is our call, and the decision on Oz rested solely with us. Oz is a significant animal for his species.

He is the father of our two cubs, and he is vital to the

ongoing breeding programme to conserve this rare species.” Vervoort added: “The widely held view among zoo professionals was that Oz’s attack on Samantha was in line with his natural instincts.” Sumatran tigers are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature with only an estimated 500 left in the wild.

The zoo’s decision comes after an online petition opposing euthanasia attracted more than 5,000 signatures and a separate “Help Save

Oz” Facebook page gained more than 10,000 likes. Police and workplace authorities are still investigating how Kudewah was killed and Vervoort said he could not comment on tiger management procedures until their work was done. Kudewah’s colleague Catherine Nichols said the 43-year-old, motherof-two was a passionate conservationist whose expertise in captive breeding programmes was recognised internationally.

“Samantha was an experienced zoo industry professional who had an exceptional reputation following more than 20 years in the conservation and zoo sector,” Nichols said in a statement.

Vervoort said the zoo will reopen on Thursday, although no decision has been made on whether Oz will be on public display.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the death of the keeper was sad but not surprising given the list of such incidents around the world, including a fatal attack in Poland earlier this month.

In that incident, a 58-year-old keeper was mauled to death by a Sumatran tiger as he cleaned its cage in an incident the zoo in the southwestern city of Wroclaw said was likely due to human error.

“Attacks by captive big cats on people... illustrate the profound levels of stress, anxiety and agitation that these animals experience every day of their lives,” PETA said in a statement, as it called on zoos to reconsider the confinement of big cats.

Best-selling author Jackie Collins dead Washington Best-selling author Jackie Collins, whose 32 hugely popular but often controversial steamy novels chronicled the fast and extravagant life of the

the younger sister of acclaimed actress Joan Collins.

Born on October 4, 1937 in London, Jacqueline Jill “Jackie” Collins debuted with “The World is Full of Married

Hollywood glamorous set and of Mafia families, died on Saturday, reports said. She was 77. The cause of death was breast cancer, her family said in a statement, reported the New York Times. The BritishAmerican author, who moved to Los Angeles in 1980, was

Men”, about a middle-aged philandering advertising executive in London of the Swinging Sixties. Pilloried mercilessly by Barbara Cartland as “nasty” and “disgusting”, it was banned in Australia and South Africa but the furore led to increased

attention and sales in Britain and the US. She followed up with “The Stud” in 1969, about the ambitious nightclub owner Fontaine Khaled - which was subsequently made into a film starring her sister. Khaled returned in “The Bitch” (1979).

But Collins’ most famous character was the ravishing Lucky Santangelo, the daughter of Italian-American former gangster Gino Santangelo, who first appeared in “Chances” (1981) and would go to appear in eight of her works which are set in the world of Mafia and organised crime and its relation with business and the entertainment industry and span from the 1920s to the present day. Her other famous novels included “Hollywood Wives” (1983) about the glamorous lives of women behind the scenes of the film industry, “Lovers & Gamblers” (1977), the story of rock/soul superstar Al King, “Rock Star” (1988). She also wrote the screenplay for several of her novels adapted into films or TV series.

Put Mother Teresa’s picture on USD10 note says US prez aspirant

Washington Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa’s picture should be put on the redesigned USD 10 note, a prominent US Republican presidential candidate said today, describing her as an inspiration to everyone.

The suggestion came during the Republican presidential debate when all the 11 candidates on the podium were asked which woman they thought should take Alexander Hamilton’s place on the USD 10 bill (note), which the Department of Treasury has announced will be redesigned in 2020. “Well, it’s probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Teresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own,” Ohio Governor John Kasich said. “An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbour as we love ourselves,” he said in response to the question which was

posed to each of the 11 candidates.

Mother Teresa was the recipient of numerous honours including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2003, she was beatified as “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”.

A second miracle credited to her intercession is required before she can be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church. After having lived in Yugoslavia for some thirty years, she moved to India in 1929, where she lived for most of her life.

Ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush opted for former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as his choice for the honour.

“I would go with Ronald Reagan’s partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck?” he said. Presidential candidates Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz opted for Rosa Parks, an African-American Civil Rights activist, whom the United States Congress called ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of the freedom movement’.

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Survivor’s account of watching MSG - 2

by Deepanjana Pal Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji Insan released MSG – Messenger of God on Valentine’s Day this year. In a miracle that rivals the Immaculate Conception, the godman has birthed a sequel just seven months later. It’s called MSG 2 – The Messenger. If there is a god, then no doubt he’s heaving a sigh of relief that “of god” has been dropped from the title. Sadly, no one else can feel relieved – certainly not this writer, who paid Rs 250 for a ticket and thus unwillingly contributed to MSG 2’s kitty.

I walked out of MSG – Messenger of God because to consider it worthy of being reviewed offended my sensibilities. Not because I’m Bengali (our sensibilities are notoriously delicate and sophisticated) but because I have a functioning brain and I know the difference between cinema and propaganda. Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji Insan is not a filmmaker and what he makes aren’t films. When we watch his on-screen spectacles, we are choosing to be entertained by the most tasteless exhibition of rhinestones in the history of human endeavour and letting a man with thoroughly questionable credentials get away with seeming like he’s a harmless

entertainer.

Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji Insan is neither harmless nor entertaining. If he was either, then one presumes he wouldn’t have to round up crowds of people from other parts of the country to fill theatres. In Mumbai, there was only one morning show of MSG 2 and it was a full house. When I reached the cinema about 45 minutes before the show time, there was a man near the ticket counter who was talking loudly on the phone. “Twenty four were booked and I’ve bought 96 more,” he said in Punjabiaccented Hindi. (When I went to get my ticket, I was told at the counter that there were just two seats available. “They’ve made block bookings,” said the man at the counter, with a pained expression.)

Fifteen minutes before the start of the show, the hordes started gathering outside the cinema’s entrance. Dressed in their Friday best, they came in like a procession. “Break it up,” ordered a young man wearing reflective wayfarers like the ones “Guruji” sports in MSG 2. “Go in in groups of two or three, not more than that,” he said. “Remember, two or three.” Another man said, “Those who are going to the counter, over here.” Ten-odd people, mostly men, gathered around him. “You go one by

one, and ask for tickets to the man on the other side of the glass.”

Further away, a woman was talking about the afternoon show’s timings. Someone else was distributing tickets to the people around him. One person asked him, “When will we go in?” He told them to be patient,

down the aisles, occasionally talking to someone who was seated. From time to time, one person would leave and another would take their seat.

Sometimes groups of two or three would leave. Their seats would be filled by different people. It’s as though the audience was on rotation.

On screen, Guruji was telling us about the paramilitary relief force that he has set up, which has saved lives in Nepal and West Bengal.

From being the man with a bastion of hospitals in MSG, Guruji is now the Dear Leader of an actual army it seems. His deputies wear boxy suits and have medals pinned to their chest. Just to make sure you don’t read too much into that or the fact that there’s footage of mass marriages that Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji Insan has held for adivasi couples in order to “civilize them”, Guruji sings a love song. To himself. As in, he gazes into the eyes of his own mirror image and croons romantic lyrics. Praise be.

In MSG 2, which we’re told right at the onset is based on true events and “a fiction” simultaneously, adivasis need civilising and Guruji is the man to do it. Thanks to his awesomeness, he’s able to see adivasis are in fact human despite their tiger-striped-leopard-spotted boxers, brown body paint, dreadlocks, blackened teeth and the whooping noises that some of them make. So what if in addition to all this, the adivasis also eat beef, get drunk and don’t believe in marriage? They’re also cannibals,

that they would be told when it was time. I didn’t get the point of this vague answer until much later. When the film started, the theatre was about half full. It was evident that most of the audience were not from Maharashtra.

Either that or they’re unused to watching films in theatres.

As the slide announced that the national anthem was about to start, just seven people stood up (four of them were film reviewers, incidentally). It took a few bars of “Jana Gana Mana” and some hissing to get everyone else in the theatre up on their feet.

By the time 10 minutes of the film had unfolded, more audience members started trickling in. Two or three people – most of them brandishing the torchlight on their phones – walked up and

primitive, cruel, stupid and have a surprising affinity for shell jewellery, which is curious given MSG 2 appears to be set in landlocked north India.

Fortunately, Guruji is here to hose adivasis down, and give them manicures, clothes and moral values. Next thing we know, the adivasis emerge fairer, without dreadlocks and with brightly-coloured ensembles and nail paint. That a man with Guruji’s fashion sense is going to give any one advice on what to wear is itself astounding, but before you can be ironic, you have to listen to Guruji’s offensive spiel on how adivasis just need a love to go from asabhya to sabhya.

On the plus side, at least Guruji is anti child marriage and recognises that girls should be given an education. There’s also a contest between Guruji and an elephant and without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say the bigger belly wins. It’s worth pointing out that Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji Insan may be pulling out his goldtrimmed armguards and his Made-In-China sudarshan chakra, but his audience was

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The Messenger in a ‘house-full’ show

not riveted by either his antics or his lectures. From my last-row perch, I could see a constellation of glowing screens, which is never an indicator of engagement (at least not to what’s on the bigger screen). There were no applauses, no cheers. There may have been a snore or two. About 15 minutes before the interval, when I was trying to decide if I should leave the cinema now or let my intelligence and aesthetics be assaulted till the end of the first half, the seat next to me emptied. A woman sat down a little while later. “You’re not allowed to record the film,” she told me. I told her I would rather die than have even a second of this on my phone. She blinked. I realised I’d spoken in English so I said in Hindi that I wasn’t recording it. “You turned on your phone,” she said. “I saw the light.” Then she realised that I was using the phone to light up the page on which I was taking notes (yes, it’s true, I have notes for MSG 2).

“What are you writing?” she asked me. “You can’t write down the story.”

“There’s a story?”

“What?”

“I’m allowed to write anything I want actually,” I told her.

“You can’t write the whole story,” she insisted.

“According to whom?”

“I want to see what you’ve written.”

I handed her my note book, confident in my ghastly handwriting. I can barely make out my notes and I’m the one who wrote them. This hapless woman didn’t have a chance in hell.

By this time, one of the torchlight patrolmen had

showed up. He peered down at us.

“She’s writing in her book,” the woman told him. He shone the light at my notebook for a moment and then on my face.

“You can’t write in here,” he told me.

“Who says?” I asked.

“It’s not allowed.”

“Who says?” I repeated.

“Where are you from?”

“Where are you from?” I asked in return.

“Punjab.”

“You’re far away from home,” I told him.

On screen, an eagle had dropped what looked like a coconut on an adivasi village.

The coconut cracked open and it appeared to be full of blood instead of, well, coconut.

“It’s not allowed, to record the story,” said

the young man.

“I’m not recording it.”

“You’re writing it.”

“First of all, I’m not writing the story.

Secondly, even if I did, it’s allowed.” I smiled with what I hope was saccharine sweetness.

“There are more of us here,” he told me.

“That doesn’t mean the rules change,” I replied. “It’s still not a crime to write in a cinema. I’m pretty sure it is a crime to bring in more than one person with one ticket though.” I smiled at him again, inwardly cursing my ghastly Hindi grammar. The young man switched his torch off. “You want me to sit here?” he said in Punjabi to the woman beside me.

The woman shook her head. He went and dislodged a boy from the row in front of me and sat down.

On screen, an adivasi boy grabbed hold of a CGI snake and shook its head. A little later, Guruji revealed among his many miraculous talents is the ability to communicate telepathically with buffaloes.

A buffalo whisperer – if that isn’t an honestto-goodness Punjabi superpower, I don’t know what is.

I left the cinema at interval. When I reached the office, in my inbox was an email informing me MSG 2 had had recordbreaking first shows in Gurgaon. I’m expecting one about its box office run in Mumbai soon enough.

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Snooping proof of Netaji being alive after 1945 Kolkata While the declassified West Bengal government files may not provide “conclusive” proof of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose being alive after 1945, researchers asserted that the documents reflect that even the Indian government post Independence did not buy the ‘Taiwan plane crash’ theory.

Also read: Files on Netaji declassified - ‘A million myths could be busted’ Researchers and some Bose family members believe that the snooping was a result of the Indian government not buying the plane crash theory and believing that Netaji was still alive. “There are more than a dozen instances of reports claiming Netaji to be dead before the August 18 1945 plane crash. In fact in 1942, it was reported that he died in a plane crash,” said researcher and author Jayanta Chowdhury.

“So it is quite natural for the authorities not to buy the Taihoku plane crash theory,” said Chowdhury, who deposed before the Justice MK Mukherjee

Commission of Inquiry which in 2006 concluded that Bose did not die in the alleged air crash of 1945.

A document dated July 17, 1942 addressed to the

home department, government of India, states that “a newspaper Hindusthan Standard was alone of all newspapers of Bengal which appeared definitely to discredit the news of Bose death in a plane crash”. Chandrachur Ghose, founder member of “Mission Netaji, an

organisation spearheading the declassification campaign, opined that snooping on the Bose family was testament of the government believing Netaji to be

alive after 1945. “The Justice Mukherjee Commission has already established that Netaji did not die in the plane crash.

These classified files which reveal the extensive snooping only concretise the fact that the Nehru government too believed Netaji was alive,” said

Ghose. “It is not known whether the news of living Bose is based upon positive evidence of his whereabouts suspected to be in Red China or Soviet Russia or upon what is described as the negative evidence of the failure of the best brains to the Anglo American Security Services to dig up slightest evidence in confirmation of the story of Bose’s death in a plane crash and subsequent cremation with full military honours in Tokyo.” One of the declassified files refers to a secret document by the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Branch Calcutta from January 1949 stating that Sarat Chandra Bose believed Netaji was somewhere in China.

“Sarat Chandra Bose gave out that he was inclined to believe from information gathered during his European tour, that Netaji Subhash Bose was alive and that he was now somewhere in China controlled by the Communist Army in China,” reads the document.

British judge forced to resign for racist remarks against Indian-origin woman

London A British judge who allegedly made racist comments in a court about an Indian-origin crime victim has been forced to resign, a media report said. An official inquiry was initiated last year against District Judge Terence Hollingworth after he told lawyers that it won’t be a problem for them to fetch Deepa Patel - the victim in a harassment case - to attend the court hearing as “she won’t be working anywhere important where she can’t get the time off. She’ll only be working in a shop or an off-licence”, the Daily Mail reported on Monday. The judge’s comments led prosecutor Rachel Parker to withdraw the case, saying: “I am professionally embarrassed.

I cannot prosecute this case.” “I was born and bred in this country.

I went through school, college and then on to

university to study law. It’s shocking and disgusting for anyone to say that, especially a judge,” Patel, a law graduate, told The Sun after the incident on October 30 last year. The Crown Prosecution Service later filed an official complaint and four weeks later, Hollingworth resigned as a district judge. However, he continued to work as an immigration judge for the Asylum and Immigration Chamber despite the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office starting an official inquiry into his behaviour.

“Judge Hollingworth resigned as a tribunal judge during the course of the conduct investigation. He is no longer a judicial office holder in any capacity,” a spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

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China officials ‘delayed shipment’ of author’s frozen body S Korea to test VW cars

BEIJING A US firm has blamed Chinese “government bureaucracy” for delays in shipping the frozen body of a science fiction editor out of the country in the hope that she might later be revived.

A small number of people around the globe are opt-

ing to have their brains or bodies frozen after death in a procedure known as cryonics, hoping to be revived once medical technology advances. The concept is unproven.

Chinese children’s writer and science fiction editor Du Hong - who oversaw the

publication of The ThreeBody Problem, which last month won the prestigious international Hugo Award died of cancer in May, reports and US company Alcor said. Surgeons from the firm, which had been contracted to freeze her brain, flew to China to pre-

serve her body, Alcor said on its website over the weekend. They spent “a fair amount of time” discussing their equipment with Chinese Customs officials before being allowed into the country, it added.

“Two government officials observed the entire procedure, and then immediate cooldown with dry ice,” it said. The company was told that authorities would allow Du’s body to be shipped out of China but ran into delays, it said. “Chinese government bureaucracy delayed the approval process,” it said, adding: “Dry ice was added every two days while the paperwork was sorted out.” Eventually the body was flown to Los Angeles, where “neuroseparation” - the removal of Du’s brain - was carried out in a nearby mortuary.

for emissions cheating

SEOUL South Korea will conduct emissions tests on three Volkswagen car models, the Yonhap news agency reported Monday, after the German car maker was accused of cheating on air pollution standards in the United States. Yonhap cited officials at the Environment Ministry in Seoul as saying the tests would take place in mid-October to ascertain whether a similar deception had been perpetrated with VW models in the Korean mar-

ket. The models to be tested are the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta and the Audi A3 sedan, the officials said. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the German company had been fitting diesel vehicles in the US with software that turns on full pollution controls only when the car is undergoing official emissions testing. As a result, the diesel cars emit greater-than-allowed quantities of pollution linked to smog and various health problems.

Pakistan summons India Dubai ruler’s son dies of heart attack at 33 diplomat over civilian killing Islamabad For the second time this week, Pakistan today summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner here

tentional targeting of innocent civilians is high condemnable,” a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. “Pakistan has

and lodged a protest over killing of three Pakistani civilians in alleged firing by Indian troops across the LoC. Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh was summoned to the Foreign Office and was told that “in-

expressed its deep concern at the continuous unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian security forces and the intentional targeting of innocent civilians, which is high condemnable,” the statement

said. Pakistan claimed that three of its nationals were killed in Nikial sector due to ‘unprovoked’ ceasefire violations by Indian troops. The deputy envoy was summoned on a day when a villager in Poonch district was injured when Pakistan violated the ceasefire for the fourth consecutive day by resorting to heavy firing and mortar shelling on forward posts along the LoC, forcing Indian troops to retaliate. On Wednesday previously, Pakistan had summoned Singh to lodge a protest over the killing of a solider in alleged firing by Indian troops. Pakistan had on Thursday asked India to honour its commitment regarding observance of ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC).

Dubai Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the son of the ruler of Dubai, died of a heart attack on Saturday, the state media reported. He was 33.

Sheikh Rashid was the son of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice-president and the prime minister of United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the ruler of Dubai. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan declared a three-day official mourning following Sheikh Rashid’s demise, WAM news agency reported. Sheikh Rashid was a horse racing enthusiast. In a message, Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al

Mu’alla, the ruler of Umm al-Quwain (UAQ), one of the seven emirates of the UAE, mourned Sheikh Rashid’s death. In his condolence to Dubai ruler

Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also conveyed his heartfelt condolences to Sheikh

Sheikh Mohammed, the UAQ ruler “prayed to almighty Allah to rest departed soul in paradise and grant solace and patience to the family”. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy

Mohammed and the Al Maktoum family. Fujairah ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi also mourned Sheikh Rashid’s death and in his condolences to Sheikh Mohammed, he prayed to Allah “to rest the departed soul in paradise and grant patience and solace to the bereaved family”. Sharjah’s ruler Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi mourned the death of Sheikh Rashid and prayed to almighty Allah “to rest the departed soul in paradise and grant patience and solace to bereaved family”. Ajman ruler Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi prayed to almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in paradise. Meanwhile, the Egyptian presidency also mourned the death of Sheikh Rashid, extending its deepest condolences and sympathies to Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed and people of the UAE.

In Europe, Iraqis and Syrians escape Islamists’ harsh rules MYTILENE Among the tens of thousands fleeing war and despair in the Middle East, one group feels a special relief in reaching Europe: those who have escaped areas ruled by Islamic State extremists and the harsh scrutiny of their religious police.

These refugees tell of how a Western-style haircut, a pair of jeans or a simple interaction with the opposite sex can lead to punishment by the Hisba, the branch of enforcers carrying out a brutal interpretation of Islamic Shariah law.

For many who lived in the ruined landscape of the Islamic State’s self-declared

“caliphate’’ across parts of Syria and Iraq, constant

of being berated every few days by members of the

fear is what finally drove them to Western Europe.

Ahmed, who owned a women’s shoe store in the Syrian city of Raqqa, told

Hisba because he was waiting on female customers. His wife or sister should do that, they insisted, while also forbid-

ding him from hiring women not related to him.

And if one of his customers so much as lifted the veil from her face to look at a pair of shoes, members from the Hisba _ or its women’s branch, al-Khansaa _ would beat her with a bamboo pole, Ahmed said in an interview with The Associated Press. Like other refugees who used to live in ISheld territory, he spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals against relatives still there.

His own nerves were shot

from worrying about being arrested or flogged, he said, just minutes after landing on the Greek island of Lesbos in a dinghy with 30 other people. They had sailed from Turkey on the first leg of their journey west.

Ahmed left his wife and three children behind in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the caliphate, and said he plans to send for them once he finds refuge in Europe.

“They are worse than an occupation army and act like they will never leave,’’ he said. ``I couldn’t take it anymore. Something had to be done, and I am doing it now.’’

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Though action and adventure may call to you, Jupiter’s retrograde phase encourages you to slow down and opt for inner journeys that encourage greater selfknowledge. The emphasis shifts with a focus on exploring those beliefs that affect your creativity and experience of romance. You may feel a desire to be free of rules and regulations.

You’ll be eager to explore ideas for earning m o r e m o n e y, a n d y o u m a y b e tempted to invest in classes with this aim in mind. Information is key this week, and accessing the knowledge you need could prove a turning point.

At home, Jupiter’s retrograde phase may slow down your plans for your house or family.

Partnerships and relationships flourish this week as your involvement with others expands. You can expect a lot of encouragement, but try not to promise more than you can deliver. Later, the cosmos encourages you to reflect on deep soul bonds and committed relationships and how much you’re willing to share.

There are advantages to be gained from stepping outside of your comfort zone this week. Say yes to new people, places, and experiences, particularly if you're looking for a new job or hoping to set up a business for yourself.

Meanwhile, Jupiter’s retrograde phase encourages you to ponder the spiritual source of your supply.

Creative and r o m a n t i c opportunities seem well starred, especially early in the week. Yet as Jupiter rewinds in your sign, you may find certain associations or projects a bit too superficial. It's time to direct your energy to activities and people who have depth and inspire you.

Despite this, your social life continues to flourish, as do romantic options.

Focus on home affairs, plans, and projects that need to get sorted before the holiday week. You may be the one organizing get-togethers, especially as people seem to enjoy chilling out at your place. Give yourself a chance for some alone time, as this is when inspiration could strike, bringing solutions to problems and creative ideas.

Your outlook is upbeat and expectant, with a desire to reach out and connect. As the festive season gets underway it’s time to send cards and messages to those who are dear to your heart, which you’ll enjoy. Jupiter turns retrograde in your social sector, so you may prefer your own company and the chance to reflect at times.

Spend time at home where you can think up ambitious plans and share your ideas with family and friends. You might want to invest in gadgets and other devices that make life easier.

Jupiter turns retrograde in your career sector on Monday, so a goal or career move could take longer to materialize.

Your responsibilities to others may seem to restrict your freedom and dampen your enthusiasm. If real-life demands weigh you down, perhaps you’ll escape through travel or other adventures. As Jupiter turns retrograde in Leo, you may prefer to acquire more knowledge. Regular meditation and reflection over the weeks ahead can encourage you.

You may want to help out with charity work or volunteer your time in other ways. A focus on your spiritual sector encourages you to be generous, as by giving you will receive. Meanwhile, Venus hikes into your sign on Wednesday, boosting your confidence and making you an attractive option.

Your social life is busy, but you are not complaining! With festive get-togethers keeping you busy, you’re in your element. Jupiter turns retrograde in your relationship sector on Monday, so interactions could slow. For instance, a business partnership may see you both acting more independently for a while and learning much as a result.

A focus on Sagittarius and your career sector makes this a good time to get your message out to the world, and to be bold and forthright about doing so. When it comes to everyday matters or lifestyle issues, it might be time to journey within to uncover and release anything blocking success. Your social life picks up midweek, with romance looking likelier.

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Technology Developer pulls leading ad-blocking Facebook woos journalist with news gathering tool app from Apple Store Tumblr co-founder Marco Arment, who developed the most popular paid adblocker on Apple’s US app store, has pulled the product, citing concerns that the tool could hurt independent Web publishers.

In a blog post on Friday, Arment, wrote that he was pulling his Peace app because he does not feel that it is his role to decide what content is blocked.

“Adblockers come with an important asterisk: while they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit,” Arment wrote.

Arment did not respond to an e-mail and call requesting comment.

The controversy around adblocking software kicked up this week after Apple made it available on the new version of the iPhone operating system on Wednesday. Arment’s $2.99 ad-blocking app, Peace, was the No. 1 paid app in the United States

over the past two days, according to Arment’s blog.

According to Apptopia Inc, a Boston-based company

that tracks app store downloads and revenue, the Peace app generated $113,521 in gross proceeds in the 36 hours it was live.

“Even though I’m ‘winning,’ I’ve enjoyed none of it,” Arment wrote in his blog.

“That’s why I’m withdrawing from the

market.”

Ad-blocking tools are designed to help Web pages load much faster by stripping out so-called

scripts and trackers that are used to serve the ads.

However, many argue that such tools hurt publishers, particularly smaller ones, by forcing them to develop dedicated iPhone apps, rather than relying on mobile-friendly websites.

Some have even suggested that using such

apps amounts to theft that will all but destroy the Web as we know it.

“Ad blocking hurts publishers, prevents businesses from communicating and competing, reduces the diversity of voices in digital media, and hinders consumers from obtaining important information about products, services, even politics and culture,” wrote Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, in an e-mailed statement.

“All it does is empower the biggest companies, which are the only ones that can afford to endrun the roadblocks and toll gates.”

Some 20 million people used ad blockers last year, up 40 per cent from a year earlier, resulting in $22 billion in lost advertising revenue, according to a study by Adobe and PageFair, an anti adblocking tech company.

As of Friday afternoon, two other ad-blockers were the No. 1 and No. 4 most popular apps in the US app store.

Social networking giant Facebook has released a new tool to help journalists find, organise and publish content found on its extensive network.

The tool called Signal, helps journalists find, source, and embed content from Facebook and Instagram.

The tool will be free for journalists.

“We’ve heard from journalists that they want an easy way to make Facebook a more vital part of their news-gathering with the ability to surface relevant trends, photos, videos, and posts on Facebook and Instagram for use in their storytelling and reporting,” Andy Mitchell, director of media partnerships at Facebook wrote in a blog post.

He stated that media organisations had been asking for a strategy to higher use the social community for reporting

functions. This launch comes a week after Facebook made its ‘Mentions’ app available to journalists with verified profiles. That app, which lets users track mentions of themselves and stream live video, was previously only for public figures like athletes and actors. If ‘Mentions’ is for outwardfacing content and selfpromotion, ‘Signal’ ? which is desktop-only for now ? is designed to make the backend of the newsgathering process easier.

‘Signal’ is simply the newest of Facebook’s efforts to intertwine itself with the journalist and media publications which have discovered success attracting an enormous viewers by way of the social community. The group of tools will give journalists a behind-thescenes look at what is trending on Facebook and find more on those topics.

message, seen by Reuters.

“We hope the actions we’re taking will help make the situation less desperate for some, and ease the

giants have also pledged to help. Earlier this week, Google said it will match the first $5.5 million worth of donations globally until

hardship so many are enduring.” An Apple spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the message. As Europe grapples with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, other Silicon Valley

it raises $11 million. The crisis in Europe has worsened as civilians seek to escape the four-year-old civil war in Syria, in addition to fleeing conflicts in Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and Libya.

Facebook says won’t pull out internet.org from India Apple says it will help Europe deal with migrant crisis Facebook said on Thursday that it will not pull out its controversial zero-rated platform internet.org from India.

principles of net neutrality, especially as it offers an opportunity to all developers if they provide lighter versions that use

As per a Times of India report, the internet search giant will rather open it up further to newer telecom operators in order to provide internet access to the unconnected despite scathing criticism from a top government panel.

“Facebook internet.org does not violate the

limited bandwidth, “Kevin Martin, vice-president for Facebook’s Mobile and Global Access Policy, was quoted as saying.

Martin, who has earlier served as the chairman of the high-profile Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the US, said that Facebook has no plan to withdraw

internet.org from India.

Speaking to TOI, he said: “This program is not exclusive and is open to all operators. We are trying to work with others, and are anxious to work with them.”

When asked about Facebook’s stand on net neutrality, he said companies who owned the telecom infrastructure (operators) should not be able to limit where people want to go on the internet.

A Department of Telecom (DoT) panel, which submitted recommendations on the various aspects of net neutrality in May, had opposed to Facebook’s internet.org initiative, saying, it favoured the social media giant and provided access only to select applications.

Apple is stepping up aid to the thousands of migrants that are streaming into Europe from war-torn countries, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told employees in an internal message on Friday. Cook wrote in a message on the company’s intranet site that the Macbook and iPhone maker will make a “substantial donation” to relief agencies supporting the migrants and will match employee donations to the cause by 2-to-1. The Cupertino, California-based company is also offering customers the option to donate to the Red Cross through its App Store and iTunes Store. “Apple is dedicated to advancing human rights around the world,” Cook wrote in the

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Killing of endangered Sumatran elephant sparks anger JAKARTA A critically endangered Sumatran elephant who had patrolled Indonesia’s jungles to help protect threatened habitats has been killed for his tusks,

an official said Monday, sparking a surge of anger online. Yongki, a tame creature who worked with teams of elephant keepers, was found dead close to the camp where he lived in a national park on the western island of Sumatra, said park official Timbul Batubara. His one-metre (three-foot) tusks had been hacked off, leaving just bloody stumps, and his legs still bore the chains put on him by his keepers

to ensure he stayed in the camp. There are estimated to be less than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild. They are frequently targeted by poachers for their tusks,

which fetch a high price for use in Chinese traditional medicine. Batubara, from the Bukit Barisan Selatan national park, said it was not yet known how Yongki was killed. His body, which was found Friday, bore no bullet wounds but he had a blue tongue. Elephants have in the past been poisoned. Yongki, aged about 35, was well-known among the local “mahouts” or elephant keepers.

Nazaruddin, the head of

the Indonesian Mahout Forum, said keepers in the area were “very shaken”.

“We are mourning the lost of an elephant who has been helping us in handling conflicts and helping forest rangers patrol the forest, and he was a good elephant,” Nazaruddin, who goes by one name, told AFP. The elephant was involved in patrols aimed at reducing tensions, with the tame elephants stopping wild elephants from rampaging through villages. The patrols also help rangers keep a lookout for illegal logging and poaching that threaten Indonesia’s vast rain forests.

There was anger on social media after pictures of the elephant’s body circulated, with users posting comments on Twitter next to the hashtag #RIPYongki. “It is time we enforce life sentences for hunters of legally protected animals,” said Facebook user Aprilia Putri.

Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the Sumatran elephant as critically endangered. It is one of many species that are under threat in Indonesia.

Scientist awarded ‘parody Nobel Prize’ for unboiling egg Melbourne A scientists from an Australian university has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize, parody of the Nobel Prize, for showing how to unboil an egg. Colin Raston from Flinders University has built ‘Vortex fluidic device,’ a machine that can unravel proteins and he had his ‘Eureka’ moment when he fed a boiled hen egg into the machine and it came back uncooked, News.com.au reported. This technique could be a game-changer for the targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment. Raston said that it was living the dream, adding that all scientists want to do some-

thing that was significant, but this had the wow factor. He said that it was not

Raston was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in a ceremony at Harvard University by

what they set out to do, but it was the way of explaining the science involved and helping the wider world realise the momentousness of unboiling of egg.

Nobel Laureates in front of thousands of spectators.

After winning the award, Raston said that it was both humbling and amazing.

Man spends USD 1500 and 6 months to make sandwich from scratch Washington A 28-year-old YouTuber has spent six months and USD 1,500 to make a chicken sandwich from scratch - a task which included growing his own vegetables and making his own cheese. Andy

George hosts a YouTube

channel that documents the entire process of creating everyday items like tools and suits. In his latest endeavour George set out to document the process of making a “simple” chicken sandwich from scratch.

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Dying Dutchman’s last wish of building brain cancer app

AMSTERDAM Dying of a brain tumour, Frederik van den Broek had one last wish on his “bucket list”: serving as his own guinea pig to build a smartphone app for fellow cancer patients. Now Dutch neurologists say the input from Van den Broek, who died late last month aged 41, has been invaluable in creating what is believed will be the world’s most advanced mobile-based app for cancer patients. MindApp for Android and iPhone mobiles will allow users with a few simple clicks to track and update appointments such as for radio and chemo therapy, to help

remember who their doctors are and even to manage the myriad pills they must take.It will also allow patients to input data - such as when they have had an epileptic seizure - and “talk” to doctors about their condition without having to come into hospital.

Van den Broek told AFP a few days before his death that his idea for a specialised “brain cancer app” was “born out of pure frustration”.“The hospital gave me a printout of appointments, which medicines to take, and when, as well as a diagnosis of how long I had to live,” Van den Broek said in an emailed

interview, his last. “I lost the printout within an hour. These things happen when you’ve lost a large part of your brain and your short-term memory has gone to pieces,” he said.

Van den Broek was intensively involved in the app’s development, with himself as the guinea pig: deciding the features it should have and even the colours to be used to give patients maximum ease of use.

“Brain tumour patients often suffer from loss of cognitive abilities, for instance memory loss and changes in behaviour,” said Jaap Reijneveld, a neurologist at Amsterdam’s Free University Medical Centre (VUMC), who is helping with the app’s development.

“This app will be of huge support to patients, particularly those suffering from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer that’s often highly malignant,” Reijneveld of the VUMC’s Brain Tumour Centre told AFP. “Patients have a massively complicated treatment schedule, and the app, the most advanced to date, will help them remember things, but more importantly give constant feedback to us as doctors on the patient’s condition,” he said.

Blue diamond may fetch record $55m

GENEVA A blue diamond weighing 12.03 carats and described by experts as internally flawless could sell for a record $55 million (47 million euros) when it goes up for auction in November, Sotheby’s said Thursday.

The Blue Moon diamond, discovered in South Africa in January last year, will be exhibited in Hong Kong, London and New York before its likely purchase at auction in Geneva on November 11. “The Blue Moon diamond is a simply sensational stone of perfect colour and purity,” David Bennett, who heads Sotheby’s international jewellery division, said in a statement.

He added that the immense hype which followed the stone’s

discovery “has now been proven to have been totally justified.”

The Gemological Institute of America previously declared the Blue Moon to be “internally flawless”.Categorised as a fancy vivid blue diamond, the Blue Moon is the largest cushionshaped stone in that category to ever appear at auction. Sotheby’s put its estimated sale price between $35-$55 million which, at the higher end, would mark a record for any diamond sale. In November 2010, a 24.78 carats pink diamond - known as the Graff Pink - sold in Geneva for just over $46 million. The record sale for a blue diamond so far came in November last year, when a 9.75 carats fetched $32.6 million at an auction in New York.

UK pilots killed 330 Islamic Canada to accept 10,000 Syrians within one year State terrorists in a year

London Air strikes by Britain’s Royal Air Force have killed about 330 Islamic State (IS) fighters since the UK began its campaign as part of a US-led global coalition against the terrorist group in September 2014.

Defence secretary Michael Fallon said the figure was “highly approximate”, partly because there were no UK troops on the ground to confirm the impact of the Iraq campaign.

“The estimated number of IS fighters killed as a result of UK strikes from September 2014 to 31 August 2015 is around 330.

This figure is highly approximate, not least given the absence of UK ground troops in a position to observe the effects of strike activity,” Fallon said in a written answer to the UK Parliament. IS also goes by acronyms such as ISIL and ISIS. “We do not believe there have been any civilian casualties as a result of UK strike activity. Any overall estimates would be a matter for the coalition,” he said. In September 2014, British MPs had approved British participation in air strikes against IS targets in Iraq. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas had specifically asked

Fallon what estimate the US-led global coalition to counter IS made up of more than 60 countries has made of civilian casualties arising from its activities. However, he was able to give an assessment on the impact of UK action only between September 2014 and August 31 this year. The David Cameron-led government is expected to draw up proposals within the next few weeks to extend British action to missile attacks in Syria against IS. In August, he had informed the House of Commons that two British IS terrorists Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin were killed by an RAF drone strike in Raqqa, Syria. Last month, Britain announced it was extending its air strikes in Iraq by a year to March 2017. Newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said British drone attacks were “legally questionable” and called for a “rapid political development” as a way to end the violence in Syria. He is expected to oppose any proposal to expand the air campaign against IS.

IS-affiliate claims responsibility for killing top cop in Egypt Cairo A top Egyptian police officer has been shot dead by Islamic State militants in north Sinai, in the latest attack carried out by the jihadist group in Egypt.

Major General Khaled Kamal Othman was killed on Wednesday after militants opened fire at him during an inspection in Al-Arish city, the interior ministry said.Egypt’s branch of the Islamic State group

Sinai Province has claimed the responsibility of the attack on Twitter.Egyptian police have cordoned off the area and are currently searching for the attackers, the statement said.Egypt’s North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January, 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.The attacks targeting police and military increased

after the ouster of Islamist expresident Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.Over 600 security personnel have been reportedly killed so far.The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza strip.

OTTAWA Canada’s conservative government on Saturday said that it would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees within one year by simplifying and speeding up the immigration application process. Visa officers will no longer ask the applicants to prove that they are refugees through a United Nations refugee agency, but will instead “presume those fleeing the conflict meet the definition of a refugee, which will make processing faster,” the ministry of immigration and citizenship said in a statement.

As a result, “we anticipate meeting Canada’s current commitment of resettling 10,000 Syrians by September 2016 - 15 months earlier than planned.

Canada’s existing commitment to resettle 23,000 Iraqis will also be fulfilled by the end of this year,” the statement read. Visa officers will focus their interviews

“on security, criminality and medical screening,” the statement added. By this different designation “we are greatly expanding the potential for candidates,” immigration minister Chris Alexander said.

“We will have more human resources hitting the ground in the coming days and weeks” to process the applicants, he said.

Canada’s Conservative Party, currently in power, has been criticized in the past weeks for moving too slowly to help Syrian refugees pouring across the Mediterranean into Europe.

Opposition parties have promised, if they gain power in October 19 elections, to have a more generous policy towards Syrian refugees.Polls show Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Tories in a tight race with center-left parties.

Harper is seeking his fourth mandate in nine years.

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You too can have a broken sex organ!

This is the story that separates fact from fiction when it comes to the most baffling questions on sex The human body doesn't come with an instruction manual. And not everything you hear about sex is true.

Here's what's medically proven and what's a figment of people's flowery imagination.

We know there is no bone in the penis, yet it can break.

Experts say, extremely vigorous sex or a sudden change in position can cause penile fracture. The corpus cavernosa — the cylinders that become engorged with blood during an erection — ruptures. So, the crack that one hears is from this and it is extremely painful. To lower the chance of this mishap, start in the missionary posi-

tion and then gently roll over if you want to be on top. This is a myth. Lack of lubrication can cause the condom to tear and create little holes that you can't see. Besides, it is not just the little breaks that you need to fret over. An obvious break can also go unnoticed. An expired condom, or one stored improperly (stashed away in your wallet), can both be reasons for an unwanted tear. Protect yourself by keeping your condoms in a cool and dry place. Remember, heat, air and light exposure increase the risk of a condom break.

Sexperts say, oil-based lubricants degrade rubber and shouldn't be used with latex condoms. Pick water-based ones,

instead.Although you may not see it, the genital herpes virus can still shed (the active virus is at skin level) and can be passed on. Condoms don't always protect you against herpes infections. Using a condom correctly and on a consistent basis can only help reduce that risk. So, the best way to avoid a herpes infection is to avoid sexual contact with those who have herpes, especially during an outbreak.Sorry to break this to you, guys, but women can develop an allergy to semen. Just like other allergies, a reaction can range from a rash to hives to anaphylactic shock. If you suffer from this unfortunate reaction, we suggest you run to an allergist as soon as possible and try a desensitisation treatment to save your sexual sanity.

What the doctor might do is introduce a small amount of your partner's semen into your vagina to develop, so you don't have any more allergic reactions. However, research shows, the most effective treatment against a semen allergy is using a condom. If you wish to get pregnant and you suffer from a severe allergy, try IVF or insemination, where the sperm is separated from the pro-

teins that cause the allergic reaction.Ladies, if you have been staring at big male feet, you would be disappointed to learn that it's not true. Recently, a group of urologists scanned measurements and found that there was no correlation between the two. Incidentally, according to a 2007 study published in BJU International, it is men who care about penis size.

Women, on the other hand, are more interested in personality and looks.It is not that your man is not that into you; it may actually be the reverse. He may be so hell bent on trying to satisfy you that he is experiencing performance anxiety. Apart from trying too hard, there are many other reasons that lead to erectile dysfunction, such as stress, depression, too much alcohol and fatigue.Human papillomavirus or HPV is a cancer-causing STD, which you need to be wary about.

Medical studies state, there are

about 40 types of HPV; most go away on their own without you ever knowing you were suffering from it. However, certain types of HPV can change normal cells into genital warts, while other strains can cause the cells on the cervix to become cancerous. If untreated, it can lead to cervical cancer.

Doctors says, unless you go for a routine Pap test, it is difficult to detect the problem since HPV-related cancer has no symptoms.

Use condoms to help lower the risk of transmission, and consider Cervarix and Gardasil HPV vaccines, which can protect against some of the highrisk types of HPV. Remember, the risk of falling prey to cancer is increased if you have HIV. According to Planned Parenthood, less than one in 100 women get pregnant during the time they are nursing the baby.

5 things women always hide from men From what is known of peeking into most women's diaries, the life of a woman seems synonymous with the life of a secret. What goes on inside a girl's mind usually fails to agree with her heart, leading her to hide a few things, not because she's afraid, but because she loves those things in her personal space.

A survey carried out on a social media website asked women - single and committed - 'what would you hide from your boyfriend'? At first, the responses were few and far be-

tween. Most women refrained from opening up about their hidden secrets, which clearly indicated that there's a lot to hide!

But, as their masks started to unveil, the poll witnessed a rapid fire of some of the most outrageous answers given by bold and fearless ladies. Here are the top five answers that were found on the survey that every man should be reading...

Flings-capades While you may feel that your girl has divulged her most intimate experiences with you, she might be hiding her share of "fun

experiments". Most women are afraid of being judged for their character, while others felt that sharing their 'dirty little secrets' would make their current partner insecure and jealous. Most men want to know, "Am I better than him?" and women find this very annoying.

Off the record girl-talk You will never be able to break into the most classified realm of girl talk (unless you go undercover into a girls' room) where some of the most sizzling, spicy secrets are openly discussed with graphic

juicy details! Most women who gave their opinions said that they would never tell their friend's secrets because it has nothing to do with their relationship with the guy. The inside scoop of a ladies night is your girl's place to vent. Sorry, men not allowed!

Make-Up kits If you ever wondered how she manages to look so pretty all day long, it is obvious that you haven't seen where she keeps all of her cosmetic back-up.

She wants you to keep wondering where the prettiness comes

from and how it never goes.

While some of you may be smart enough to know it's the make-up on her skin, your girl might prefer to cover up her anti-ageing cream, her undereye make up or her pimple solutions!

Heart-tales of her ex Virginia Woolf so aptly quoted, "Love, the poet said, is a woman's whole existence. "You know that she had a life pre-you. You know that she didn't spend all her days in a girl dorm before you saved your damsel in distress.

more likely to be old, sick or hurt – not starving because of a lack of prey or ice. ‘You have to be a little bit careful about drawing

conclusions immediately,’ he said. ‘The bear may be starving, but it may just be old. A difficulty hunting could be involved.’

Saddest polar bear on the planet Berlin Emaciated and dragging an injured leg, this polar bear is unlikely to survive long. It is thought the female bear was hurt while hunting a walrus and the injury has led to a struggle to find food.The animal was captured on camera by nature photographer Kerstin Langenberger. She says the picture symbolises the plight of the polar bear. Miss Langenberger, who is based in Germany, posted the image of the ‘horribly thin’ injured bear on Facebook last month, and it has

now been shared more than 41,000 times. The photo was taken in Norway’s Svalbard region, a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean where tourists often go to see polar bears in their natural habitat. She claims the picture is also evidence of the retreating sea ice, which she thinks is affected by global warming.Females are particularly affected as they tend to stay on the pack ice with their young and have an increasing struggle to find food, she wrote.

She added: ‘Only a few times I

have seen beautifully fat mothers with beautifully fat young. Many times I have seen horribly thin bears, and those were exclusively females – like this one here. ‘A mere skeleton, hurt on her front leg, possibly by a desperate attempt to hunt a walrus while she was stuck on land.’ But Ian Stirling, a polar bear researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada, told the website Mashable that people should be careful about blaming climate change for the bear’s condition.He said the bear was

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New Zealand PM admits flag change vote ‘a tough ask’ WELLINGTON Prime Minister John Key conceded Monday he faces a challenge persuading New Zealanders to change the na-

tional flag in a referendum after an opinion poll found overwhelming support for the existing banner.

Key’s flag change proposal will be put to a vote later this year and the leader insisted there was still time to win over the public.

“It’s always going to be a tough ask to change the flag by a public referendum,” he told Radio New Zealand. “You’ve got to engage people, you’ve got to get

them to think through the issues... no one’s arguing it’s not a big challenge.” He was speaking after a TV3 poll published Sunday found 69 percent of New

Zealanders wanted to keep the current flag, which features Britain’s Union Jack in the corner. Only 25 percent of 1,000 respondents wanted a new flag, with six percent undecided. The poll was taken after a government committee this month unveiled four potential designs for a new flag, to a lacklustre response from the public.

Three of the designs include a silver fern leaf, the informal na-

tional emblem which Key has said he wants on the flag. The fourth depicts a spiralling blackand-white koru, or fern frond, a traditional Maori symbol of new life and creation.

Kiwis will pick their favourite among the four at the referendum and the winner will then go headto-head against the existing flag in a second vote in March. Key has made the flag reform issue his pet project since his conservative government won a third term late last year, arguing the country needs a banner “that screams New Zealand”.

He has also expressed frustration the existing flag - which also features four red stars representing the Southern Cross on a dark blue background - is frequently confused with Australia’s banner.

Despite the poll, he said he still believed most people had open minds on the issue.

“Every audience I go to at the moment I ask them the question at some point and I haven’t had an audience that’s been more than 50 percent wanting to keep the flag,” he said. “In fact, the vast, overwhelming bulk want a change.”

For US pilots, the real war on ISIS is a far cry from ‘Top Gun’ ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, in the Persian Gulf: Soon after this aircraft carrier arrived here for its Middle East deployment, two F/ A-18 Super Hornets catapulted off its deck for a 6-1/2-hour bombing run toward Islamic State targets in Iraq. In one of the fighter jets was Navy Lt. Michael Smallwood, 28, call sign Bones, and in the other was

his friend and roommate, Navy Lt. Nick Smith, also 28, call sign Yip Yip. For a minute or two that day in May, the Hornets were right next to each other in the sky, but then Smith’s plane had engine trouble and began to lose altitude. Over the radio, Smallwood could hear his friend turn around, try to land back on the carrier and then eject into the Persian Gulf. The $60 million Hornet crashed into the sea.Smallwood found himself fighting to keep his mind off the fate of his friend, but his orders

were to continue climbing and fly on to Iraq. On many such missions, he simply loitered in the skies, dropped no munitions and headed back to the carrier.This is the life of the modern day US fighter pilot long periods of monotony, combat missions that end with bombs still intact to avoid hitting civilians, occasional moments of fear. It is a long way from “Top

Gun,” the iconic 1986 Hollywood blockbuster that made Tom Cruise a household name and Navy fighter pilots the heroes of adolescent boys everywhere.

But these real-life pilots the elite of the elite, trained to routinely land on moving aircraft carriers and to refuel in midair, two of the most difficult maneuvers in aviation are some of America’s main warriors against the Islamic State. In the year since airstrikes against Islamic State militants began, U.S. pilots have assumed a huge bulk of

the war effort. They have conducted more than 4,700 airstrikes since August 2014 .

87 percent of the manned flights by the U.S.-led coalition and provided air support for Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters on the ground.The Islamic State may have shoulder-fired, heatseeking missiles, commonly known as MANPADS for ManPortable Air Defense Systems.

But at the moment, the militant Sunni group does not appear to have the capability to bring down U.S. fighter jets.

A Jordanian plane that crashed in Syria in December, leading to the capture of the pilot and his eventual immolation by the Islamic State, is widely believed to have gone down because of mechanical failure or pilot error, and not because it was shot down.“Quite honestly, the US Air Force, Navy and Marines own the skies,” said Maj. Anthony Bourke, a former Air Force fighter pilot.

“So even though pilots dream of dogfights, the biggest risk now is small-arms fire, and if you stay above 10,000 feet, you’re not going to be hit.”The risks are different. As Smallwood’s plane flew toward Iraq in May after his friend had ejected from his own jet, he could hear from the chatter on the radio that a recovery effort was underway. But Smallwood knew better than to clog up the frequency asking if Smith and his weapons officer on the plane had been found alive.

Syria commends India’s stand on crisis in the Arab country

Syria on Saturday appreciated India’s position on the crisis in that war-torn country, saying had such a stance been adopted by other countries there would not have been any conflict. Syrian Ambassador Riad Kamel Abbas also said some Indians from the Gulf countries may have joined ISIS ranks in the fight against the Bashar al-Assad regime.

“I have heard from the Indian media that there are some ISIS cadets of India mainly from the Gulf states…but how many I do not know. ISIS contains people from all nationalities including Afghanistan, Pakistan,” he told a group of journalists at the Indian Women’s Press Corps here. Speaking on India’s role, he welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s remarks on terror opposing making any distinction between good and bad terrorism. “We highly appreciate India’s position on the Syrian crisis in adherence to the UN charter of non-interference for a political dialogue and looking at the aspiration of Syrian people. If everyone had taken

India’s position, there would not have been any problem in Syria.

We also appreciate Modi’s comment that there is no good terrorism or bad terrorism. It’s just terrorism,” he said. Abbas underscored that countries of the BRICS block can contribute towards peace and security of the world much better than the “erstwhile unipolar world”.

He said the solution to the Syrian crisis lay in supporting the Syrian army, closing Turkey’s borders and putting pressure on Saudis and countries like Qatar while claiming that the Assad government had control over large swathes of territories in the country. “Syrian government can reach any place in the country at any time. It is controlling more populated areas whereas ISIS is holding deserted areas,” he claimed.

The Ambassador also hailed Russia’s role claiming that its recent “strong position” on the issue had nudged other countries to move towards reconciliation and a “political solution.”

Afghan Taliban says major leadership dispute now resolved Peshawar After relatives of the militant group’s late leader, Mullah Omar, pledged support for his appointed successor Mullah Mansour, the Afghan Taliban has said that a major dispute undermining the movement has been resolved.The relatives could not be contacted directly, but a close aide to Omar’s son confirmed that the agreement had been celebrated at a secret ceremony after Mansour accepted a list of eight demands.“Mullah Mansour accepted all these demands,” the aide said, asking not to be named.The conditions included restructuring the leadership council and ruling by consensus.

The Taliban’s official spokesman, representing Mullah Mansour, confirmed that the changes would be implemented.“Mullah Mansour and his associates promised them that only the Shura (leadership council) would have the power to make decisions, rather than individuals,” the spokesman said.The Taliban

announced the death of Mullah Omar in July, more than two years after his demise, derailing a fledging peace process with Kabul and raising the spectre of

a split within the group that is fighting to topple the Afghan government and restore hardline Islamist rule.The Taliban said concealing the leader’s death had been necessary to preserve unity at a time when NATO forces were preparing for the 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan, and swiftly appointed his longtime deputy Mullah Mansour as successor.“We intend to protect and keep this movement united,” the Taliban said in the statement published late on Tuesday on its website, which is controlled by Mullah Mansour’s supporters.

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Alton Towers crash to haunt Merlin into 2017 LONDON Merlin Entertainments said it might be another two years

before visitor numbers at its Alton Towers theme park recover to previous levels following a roller coaster crash in June which hit summer trade and took a chunk out of profits.

The steep drop came as regulars and potential first-time visitors stayed away from Alton Towers, one of Britain’s biggest theme parks, after the roller coaster crash seriously injured four teenagers and led to two having leg amputations. Merlin, the

world’s second biggest visitor attractions group behind Walt Disney, on Thursday said sales

at its theme parks division fell 11.4 percent in the 36 weeks to Sept. 5.

The company reiterated a July warning that group profit would fall below forecasts to the 249 million pounds ($386 million) reported in 2014. “In the past in America where there have been accidents occasionally it’s been anything from 6-18 months recovery time,” Merlin Chief Executive Nick Varney told Reuters.“I am not sure how long

it will be before that (safety concerns) dissipates and people feel confident again. Our view is that resort theme parks, Alton Towers, will come back but I don’t think you’ll see a full bounce back in 2016.” The operator of attractions such as Madame Tussauds, Sea Life Centres and London Eye said 2015 core earnings at its theme parks business would now be at the lower end of a guided range of 40-50 million pounds, versus 87 million pounds last year.

Varney said while demand in 2016 was difficult to gauge the business’ financial performance would be helped by a more cautious cost approach and park re-launches and new products.

Shares in the firm fell 1.1 percent to 378.4 pence by 0800 GMT. They are up 11 percent on a year ago, reflecting strong trade elsewhere in the group and clear expansion plans. “With more (openings) in the pipeline and the clouds of the tragedy likely to lift over time, the general view of the company’s prospects remain buoyant, with the market consensus coming in at a strong buy,” said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.

British bid to genetically modify human embryos LONDON Britain’s embryology regulator has received an application to genetically modify an embryo, which would be the first such

attempt since a Chinese effort earlier this year. “We have recently received an application to use CRISPR-Cas9 in one of our licensed research projects, and it will be considered in due course,” said a spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

The CRISPR-Cas9 technique can target and modify faulty DNA with greater accuracy.

Kathy Miakan, a stem cell scientist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said she had asked the HFEA for the licence to conduct genome editing on human embryos.

“The knowledge we acquire will be very important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops, and this will inform our understanding of the causes of miscarriage,” she told The Guardian newspaper.

The modified embryos will not

become children as they must be destroyed within 14 days and can only be used for basic research. Niakan wants to find the genes at play in the first few

days of human fertilisation, The Guardian said, when an embryo develops a coating of cells that later become the placenta.

“Genome editing of embryos for

use in treatment is illegal,” said the HFEA spokesman. “It has been permissible in research since 2009, as long as the research project meets the criteria in the legislation and it is done under an HFEA licence.”

In a research paper published in April, Chinese scientists described how they were able to manipulate the genomes of human embryos for the first time, which raised ethical concerns about the new frontier in science.

Junjiu Huang, a gene-function researcher at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and colleagues describe how they used the CRISPR-Cas9 technique to edit the genomes of embryos obtained from a fertility clinic. The embryos were described as non-viable, and could not have resulted in a live birth because they had an extra set of chromosomes after being fertilised by two sperm.

Sustainability award for Technology doesn’t artificial milk firm ledsmarter

by Indians make pupils

TOKYO Computers do not noticeably improve school pupils’ academic results and can even hamper performance, an OECD report said Tuesday that looked at the impact of technology in classrooms across the globe.

While almost three quarters of pupils in the countries surveyed used computers at schools, the report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found technology had made no noticeable improvement in results.

Conversely, in high-achieving schools in parts of Asia, where smartphones and computers have become an integral part of people’s everyday lives, technology was far less prevalent in the classrooms.In South Korea, students used computers for an average of nine minutes at school and in Hong Kong, only 11 minutes - just a fraction of the 58 minutes spent in Australia, 42 in Greece and 39 in Sweden.“Where computers are used in the classroom, their impact on student performance is mixed at best,” OECD’s

BMW boss faints at auto show press conference FRANKFURT BMW chief executive Harald Krueger fainted Tuesday during a press briefing at the IAA auto show in Frankfurt, forcing the German carmaker to halt the presentation, an AFP photographer reported. The 49year-old Krueger, who has headed BMW since May, was

Smuggler held in Nigeria for swallowing $111k LAGOS Nigerian security services said they had recovered $111,000 in cash, wrapped up and swallowed by a member of a suspected smuggling ring. Six suspects, including a bureau de change operator, were arrested and held in the commercial capital Lagos until one of them had excreted 74 tightly-wrapped packets of money, The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said. Another man was caught with $45,000 that he was about to swallow and take to Brazil with other members of the group, the

agency added. “They were placed under observation to

excrete the wraps of money.

There is strong suspicion that the money was from the proceeds of drugs sales, meant for further purchase of cocaine in Brazil,” said NDLEA

education director Andreas Schleicher said in a foreword to the report, the think-tank’s first on the topic. “Students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after accounting for social background and student demographics.” The report measured the impact of technology use at school on international test results, such as the OECD’s Pisa tests taken in dozens of countries around the world and other exams measuring digital skills.It found that education systems which have invested heavily in information and communications technology have seen “no noticeable improvement” in results for reading, mathematics or science. The OECD urged schools to work with teachers to turn technology into a more powerful tool in the classroom and develop more sophisticated software for experimentation and simulation, social media and games. “The real contributions ICT can make to teaching and learning have yet to be fully realised and exploited,” it concluded.

spokesman Ofoyeju Mitchell.

“The illicit exportation of currency by ingestion is a new trend in circumventing money laundering legislation,” Mitchell added.

West African nations are often used as transit points by gangs moving drugs between South America and Europe. The men were arrested in late August, but the agency only announced details of the operation on Thursday. Authorities said they had been transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and were still in custody.

speaking to reporters at the company’s exhibit at the show

when he apparently felt dizzy and collapsed. He was helped away by two bodyguards. In a brief statement BMW said the CEO had a dizzy spell and that he had not been feeling well in the morning after returning from a trip abroad.A company spokesman at the auto show a short while later said Krueger was feeling better but that he had cancelled all his meetings scheduled for Tuesday and returned to his home.The IAA auto show opened Tuesday for a press tour. Alongside Volkswagen and Daimler, BMW has a prime place in the huge exhibition, where more than 1,000 exhibitors are showing their latest models.

In early trade in Frankfurt Tuesday, BMW shares were up 1.03 percent to 86.22 euros.

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AAP hits high note, HS Phoolka steps down CHANDIGARH The dissidence-hit Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received a fresh jolt on Saturday after its 2014 Lok Sabha Ludhiana candidate and prominent Delhi lawyer HS

Phoolka resigned from all party posts. He said he was quitting active politics but refused to say that he was quitting AAP. Phoolka insisted that he wanted to give “undivided attention” to court cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and insisted that he had taken party chief Arvind Kejriwal into confidence. His announcement in Chandigarh came at a time when AAP is consolidating lost ground in

Punjab before the crucial 2017 assembly elections and three weeks after the party suspended its two MPs Dr Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala and Harinder Singh Khalsa from Fatehgarh

Sahib for anti-party activities. “I am of AAP, but my dedication to the cause of 1984 (riot victims) remains unaltered,” he said. “At this stage I feel I am needed more for these cases and must not hesitate to take a step back from everything else and give the cause my undivided attention.”

The lawyer was holding three key posts as AAP’s national spokesperson, legal affairs incharge and executive member of

Odisha forms 3 panels to claim rights on rasgulla BHUBANESWAR The Odisha government on Saturday raked up a fight over rasgulla belonging originally to the state, by deciding to set up

three committees to counter neighbouring West Bengal’s claim over the sweet. Confirming the news, science and technology and higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahi said the committees would have members from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and culture departments. The first

panel would look into facts and evidence regarding the origin of Rasgulla in Odisha, the second would study the ground based on which West Bengal is making its claim. The third would collect necessary documents to support and validate Odisha’s claim, Panigrahi said. The minister said the committees would submit their reports within a week.

The pearly white, mouthwatering rasgulla finds itself amid a controversy over its origin. While West Bengal believes it was invented in then Calcutta by confectioner Nabin Chandra Das, Odisha says it was invented in the holy city of Puri way back in the 13th century. Odisha has sought a geographical indication (GI) tag on the sweet too.

party’s Punjab unit.

Hitting out at the NDA for not doing enough to prevent CBI from giving a clean chit to Congress’ Jagdish Tytler on September 11 in the anti-Sikh riots case, he said that he was satisfied with his own fight and the plea to transfer the case against Sajjan Kumar to another court. The Delhi high court had on Wednesday suspended proceedings against Kumar and issued notices to him and the CBI on Phoolka’s plea.

In an open letter, Phoolka said that he has resigned from all posts in AAP. “I am resigning from AAP to focus full-time on ensuring justice for 1984 riot victims,” Phoolka said in his letter. In a bid to scotch murmurs of a rift with the party leadership over his decision, Phoolka said that he would remain an “inherent” part of AAP, which he said is standing on the cusp of winning the next assembly polls in Punjab. “After detailed discussion from Kejriwalji and with his approval, it has been decided collectively that I quit active politics and resign from all party posts to entire devout myself for getting justice ofr 1984 riots victims,” Phoolka added.

Phoolka said that “AAP is doing very well in Punjab and it will win in next assembly polls.”

7 Indian-origin businessmen charged with tax evasion in US

CHICAGO Seven Indian-origin businessmen in the US have been charged with sales tax evasion of over USD 3.5 million and face up to 15 years’ imprisonment. Law enforcement authorities filed charges against Cherag Patel, Dipakkumar Patel, Jiggarkumar Patel, Mukesh Patel, Nishant Patel, Rajanikant Patel and Vishal Patel following a two-year criminal tax investigation, according to a statement from the attorney general’s office.

From July 2010 to December 2013, nine defendants, including the seven Indians, collectively defrauded the state out of more than USD 3.5 million in sales taxes, NBC Chicago reported on Friday. Seven operators were charged with sales tax evasion of more than USD 100,000, a

Class 1 felony punishable by up to four to 15 years in prison.

Yasir Kanan and Dipakkumar were charged with sales tax evasion of more than USD 10,000, a Class 2 felony punishable by up to three to seven years in prison, according to the statement.

Five of those charged were arrested yesterday by Illinois Department of Revenue special agents, the report said.

All nine defendants were scheduled to appear in bond court yesterday, according to the statement but information on the same was not immediately available. The charges are the result of the criminal probe into untaxed liquor brought in from out of the state by the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Indian man slaps cleric during Friday prayers in Kuala Lumpur KUALA LUMPUR A 31-year-old Indian has been detained here in Malaysia for allegedly slapping a Muslim cleric at a mosque during Friday prayers, according to police.

The man, who was later identified as Shabir Ahmad Khan, on Friday slapped the 37-year-old Imam at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.

“The man was an Indian national from Kashmir and had walked to the front and tried to shove the Imam Mohd Zuhairee,” the Royal Malaysian police said.

“After that, the suspect went straight to the complainant (Imam) and pushed him from his place and tried to take the microphone that he was using.

“The suspect later slapped the complainant once and immediately took the Imam’s

spot to lead the prayer,” police said. The man was later taken out of the mosque by the

preliminary investigation found that the suspect was of unsound mind as he was seen speaking

maintenance staff before he was handed over to traffic police personnel who were on duty there. It was not clear what triggered the man to attack the Imam. According to police,

to himself.

The incident momentarily halted the Friday prayers which were resumed shortly after the suspect was escorted away, police said.

Noise may shorten sparrow lives PARIS The noise of cars honking and zooming through the streets may shorten the lifespan of sparrows growing up near the clamour, scientists said Wednesday.Researchers from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) noticed that chicks conceived and raised in the din of city traffic have shorter caps on their chromosomes than those reared in a quieter place. Often likened

to shoelace tips, these protective ends dubbed telomeres, can predict how cells age. Numerous studies have shown a link between longer telomeres and a longer life.“Our results provide the first experimental evidence that noise alone can affect a wild (animal’s) early-life telomere length,” said the study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. For the experiment, researchers blasted pre-recorded traffic noise six

hours a day, seven days a week, at the chicks’ parents and then

the 21 baby birds themselves.

Another 16 chicks were born and raised in the relative quiet of the

French countryside. When the chicks in both groups were just nine days old, scientists gave the baby birds a full physical exam, which included harvesting their telomeres. They found that chicks reared near the racket had “significantly shorter telomeres”.

The team was not sure why noise hurts telomeres, but speculate it may disrupt the chicks’ sleep and cause them stress. They could not actually measure whether birds in the quiet group lived

longer. “We tracked the chicks only up to their first flight. It would be interesting to follow them longer to see how long it takes for the shorter telomeres to have an impact on the birds’ lives,” said study co-author Alizee Meillere.

The effect on bird telomeres adds to the list of negative impacts of noise pollution on wild creatures.

“Noise interferes with acoustic communication, which is very important, especially for birds,” Meillere said.

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China: Sperm banks entice donors with iPhone cash Beijing Chinese sperm banks are trying to attract donors by offering men enough cash to buy a brand new iPhone, it’s reported.

Renji Hospital in Shanghai is among several facilities using the appeal of Apple’s recently announced iPhone 6s in a campaign to encourage more sperm donations, the Changjiang Times reports. “No need to sell your kidneys - you can easily have a 6s,” the hospital says in an online posting, referring to cases in which people raised cash to fund their iPhone and iPad purchases by giving away an organ. Underneath several iPhone images, the hospital says if a man passes a full health examination and then makes regular sperm donations, he’ll be rewarded with up to 6,000 yuan ($940; £610) - enough to cover the cost of the new handset. Chinese consumers’ love for all things Apple is wellestablished. The release of an earlier iPhone model was stopped on safety grounds in

2012, after a near-riot outside a Beijing stockist where about 2,000 people had gathered.

Using the appeal of the new product to attract sperm donors has caused much amusement among Chinese social media users. “I don’t know whether to take this seriously or not!” one person on the Sina Weibo social network says. “This is great!” says another. “I hope that those who sold their kidneys can see this.” And one person writing on the NetEase news portal sees nothing wrong with the initiative, describing the sperm banks’ methods as “very creative”.

Asia’s millionaires to become world’s richest SINGAPORE Asia Pacific millionaires are set to become the world’s richest this year, a report said Wednesday, driven largely by wealthy individuals in India and China.The combined wealth of Asia Pacific’s super rich will surpass its 2014 total of $15.8 trillion and overtake that of their North American counterparts - currently the world’s richest group with a shared wealth of $16.2 trillion last year, the study said.The research by computer services consultancy Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management said the Asia Pacific region already had the largest number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs), with 4.69 million in 2014 against 4.68 million in North America. HNWIs are those with investible money of at least $1.0 million apart from the value of their homes and other collectibles.“Looking further ahead, HNWI wealth is expected to expand more in Asia Pacific than in any other region of the world with much of the new wealth expected to come from the

emerging economies of China, India, Indonesia and Thailand,” the firms’ Asia-Pacific Wealth Report 2015 said. “China and India, in particular, have propelled Asia Pacific HNWI wealth growth

respectively, from a year earlier.

Globally, India recorded the fastest pace of growth in the number of millionaires - 26.3 percent to 198,000 - while total wealth surged 28.2 percent to

in recent years and are expected to continue to act as key drivers both in the region and globally.”The report said China and India represent nearly 10 percent of global HNWI wealth, and accounted for 17 percent of the worldwide increase in new wealth since 2006. China had 890,000 millionaires with a total wealth of $4.5 trillion in 2014, up 17.5 percent and 19.3 percent,

$785 billion, the report added.

The “Asia Pacific continues its tremendous run in wealth creation and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon,” said Barend Janssens, Asia head at RBC Wealth Management. He added that “despite some recent economic issues, the region’s wealth is expected to lead global growth”.

Mozambique declares Seaside town celebrates itself free of landmines Agatha Christie vintage-style TORQUAY The ghostly shadow of Agatha Christie emerges in a dimly-lit garden on a mystery-filled night

in Torquay, the birthplace of the queen of crime which is celebrating the 125th anniversary of her birth.“Do you think it’s her?” a young woman asks her neighbour half-jokingly when she spots the hat-wearing silhouette crouched over her typewriter in the glamorously old-fashioned English Riviera town. Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective she invented, can be seen pacing nearby in Torre Abbey - one of the Torquay landmarks hosting a legion of Christie fans and experts who enjoy a bit of dress-up.Wearing a blazer and a straw boater at the garden party, Piers Cardon said he was a “super fan”. “I want to get in the atmosphere, to feel the golden age,” the 66-year-old retired school teacher said.

Cardon and his fellow faithful have descended on Torquay from around the world for the 10-day festival. Many of the men wear gaiters and coat tails and the

women are in pearl necklaces and satin or lace dresses, gathering in the evenings to dance to piano tunes or drink

cocktails in Art Deco hotels.But it is not all about fun, there is also a more academic side to the events. “I want to develop my knowledge about Agatha Christie,” said Cardon, who read his first novel by the queen of crime fiction at the tender age of 10 and has never looked back since. At one festival workshop, crime writer Martin Edwards talked about how Christie and her contemporaries set the

foundations for the modern murder mystery with the legendary “Detective Club” they created.At another seminar, David Brawn, editorial director at publisher HarperCollins, talked about the difficult ties the author had with her editors, displaying different covers for her books starting with the “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” (1920). Among the 100 events at the festival are also theatre evenings with performances of some of the 20 plays that the prolific Christie, who died at the age of 85 in 1976, also authored.“Normally I do not like crime.

I detest cruelty,” said Veronika Hotowy, a dancer attending a lecture in which attendees laughed out loud at extracts from the witty repartee in Christie’s novels. “But Agatha Christie’s are more detective stories, putting the puzzle together. Not cruel at all,” said Hotowy, originally from the Austrian capital Vienna. “There is a short description of the murder, only one sentence. It’s a game, you have to use your little grey cells,” she added, using Poirot’s famous phrase.

Indian manager’s jail term for sexual assault upheld in Dubai DUBAI A Dubai court has upheld a threemonth jail term handed down to a 43-year-old Indian manager for sexually assaulting an Emirati female employee.

The convict, identified only with his initials MP, worked as a manager at Dubai International Airport. In February, MP molested the 26-year-old victim

who is a customer service agent, the newspaper “National” reported.

“I was at Terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport where I work.

I took a short break and headed to the Indian airline section, where the defendant was,” the victim said. MP then joined her in the break room and they spoke about her aviation exam.

MAPUTO Mozambique’s government announced Thursday that the country was free from the threat of landmines more than 20 years after its civil war ended, even as tracts of land remained unsurveyed.

“It’s with great pleasure that I have the privilege to declare Mozambique a country free of the threat of landmines,” foreign affairs minister Oldemiro Baloi announced to a gathering of ambassadors and international organisations that helped demine the country.

But the minister admitted that only certain areas had been inspected and cleared, and not the territory as a whole. “It would be unrealistic to say that there will never again be accidents related to mines or other explosive devices. History shows otherwise,” he said.

Mozambique was one of the most mined countries in the world, alongside Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia and

South Sudan, the result of the 10-year war of independence from 1965 to 1974, followed by a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992. Most of the landmines were planted by former colonial power Portugal, and the rest by the newly-independent Mozambican government in an effort to protect critical infrastructure. The demining process began in 1993 shortly after the civil war ended and by 2000 over 214,000 mines had been cleared, said Alberto Augusto, director of the National Institute of Demining. Police officers were being trained to deal with any remaining mines found, he said. Baloi praised the deminers - working with metal detectors, bulldozers, sniffer dogs and sometimes even sniffer rats - for “the risks they took with their lives and bodies”. Gregory le Blanc, director of aid agency Handicap International, welcomed the announcement as “a sign of hope for all countries facing this scourge”.

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Sikhs raise USD 80K for national awareness campaign in US US-based Sikhs have raised USD 80,000 for a national campaign to tackle the growing misperceptions about their community in the country post

9/11 terror attacks, days after an elderly Sikh-American man was brutally assaulted in Chicago .

Over 300 Sikhs gathered from all around Los Angeles area to increase awareness about their religion and the positive contributions the SikhAmericans have made so that they do not become victims of hate crime.

The National Sikh Campaign’s (NSC) gala over the weekend featured Devenderpal Singh of Indian Idol fame. The event was

successful in raising USD 80,000 to support the national campaign, a media release said yesterday.

One-year-old NSC has worked

with President Obama’s campaign media team, AKPD, to design a national media strategy to educate Americans about the Sikh community’s presence and its contribution in the US. NSC provides an opportunity to adopt a strategy to present our community’s struggle and triumph to the American audience with courage and integrity, said Rajwant Singh, cofounder and senior advisor of NSC.Sikhs need to launch a world class website and create

ad campaign to bring awareness about appearance, he said.

“The turban is a symbol of human rights and justice but now is seen as cause of anxiety among Americans due to it being confused with people who stand against democracy and American values, Singh said.

“It is thrilling that the community has come together to be proactive and launch a positive campaign to show the contribution of Sikhs in America from last 100 years,” Singh added.

“This gathering has turned out to be the largest gathering of the Sikhs in US for a Sikh awareness campaign,” said Surinder K Dargan, head of Los Angeles chapter of NSC. In a hate crime, an elderly SikhAmerican man was brutally assaulted and left with severe facial injuries by an assailant who yelled racial slurs like “terrorist” and “Bin Laden”, just before the US’ commemoration of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Inderjit Singh Mukker of Chicago was assaulted on September 8 when the assailant pulled up to his car yelling racial slurs, including, “Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!”

US man sentenced to 13 yrs for hate crime against elderly Sikh An American man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of hate crime for brutally hitting an 82-year-old Sikh with a steel rod outside a gurdwara in the US state of California two years ago.

Piara Singh had just finished preparing meals for the lungar (community kitchen) when Gilbert Garcia spotted him outside a Southwest Fresno gurdwara. Garcia screamed something about the Taliban and Muslims as he attacked Singh.

Local prosecutors treated the incident on May 5, 2013 as a hate crime.

Singh was hospitalised for more than a week with head wounds, broken ribs and lung lacerations.

“It stands to reason from common sense that anyone who would engage in this type of horrific behaviour would be someone who is classified as not necessarily being normal,” said Fresno County Superior Court Judge Alvin Harrell III. “The bottom line is justice was meted out today and in our

community, if you’re going to commit a hate crime, you’re going to go to prison,” said prosecutor Tim Donovan.

“Justice has been served. Not only does the victim and his family have closure, but so does the entire Sikh community because there was an acknowledgement that a hate crime occurred,” Ike Grewal a local Sikh community activist told local media outlets.

According to Grewal, Garcia made racial slurs about Muslims and told Singh: “I’m going to destroy your mosque”. Sikhs he said, continue to be mistaken as terrorists because the media tends to show instances of terrorist attacks and images of the terrorists wearing turbans.

Indian-origin man filmed driving Indian-origin anti-apartheid activist dies in S Africa naked by schoolchildren Indian-origin veteran anti-apartheid activist in South Africa, Reggie Vandeyar has died at the age of 84. Vandeyar, who died on Thursday, was a member of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC)’ the South African Communist Party (SACP)’ the African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

Condoling his demise, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said, “In comrade Reggie we have lost a veteran whose legacy inspired many generations to liberate our country.” Kodwa called for Vandeyar’s legacy to be preserved and protected.

“Vandeyar was a rare calibre of activist and leaders who remained

An Indian-origin former prison guard in the UK has been banned from the roads for six months by a court after being filmed driving naked by school children.

The Canterbury Crown Court heard that Anand Singh, 37, was driving past the bus carrying the students when he was spotted “abusing” himself in February this year, the Mirror reported on Friday.

Prosecutor Robert de Banzie said Singh, a former prison guard, was completely naked when he drove alongside the bus while abusing himself.

“He pulled alongside the bus before reducing his speed and making eye contact with witnesses on the bus. These included a number of children who proceeded to film him using their phones,” he was quoted as

saying.

Police got the registration number of his car from photos taken by the French students.

The defence lawyer said Singh had “no appropriate explanation” for his actions, adding that “driving in his own car along a motorway completely naked is hardly sneaky or sophisticated”.

“He was struggling with a number of events in his life including a marital break-up and three bereavements within 12 months,” the court was told.

Judge Adele Williams ordered Singh to go on a treatment programme for his problems and was banned from driving for six months.

Singh had also received a police caution in April this year for indecently exposing himself for a third time in his car.

modest despite their mammoth contributions,” said Kodwa.

Vandeyar was born into a poor family in 1931 after his father came to South Africa from India,

lured by the promise of golds and diamonds, only to find racial prejudice amid the predominance of the minority white apartheid government. After several bad experiences at the hands of white

students and leaders, a young Vandeyar was inspired by leaders of the Communist Party and TIC to join the resistance movements. By 1961, Vandeyar had become one of the first combatants in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC, but was soon arrested alongside Shirish Nanabhai and Indres Naidoo. The three became the first Indian-South Africans to be arrested for activities of MK in the then Transvaal province. In 1964, Vandeyar was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on Robben Island alongside Jacob Zuma, who is President of South Africa today. Vandeyar is survived by his wife and 2 children.

Canada police hunt for Indian-origin cabbie for molesting woman Toronto police have sought public help to identify an Indian-origin Uber cab driver who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman, a media report said.

Listed as Amritpal with the cab service company, he is described as a young man between 26 and 30 years of age, short black spiked hair and a short chin-strap beard, National Post newspaper reported on Thursday.

“This is the first report of a sexual assault involving an Uber driver in the city,” police said. A 25-year-old woman boarded Amritpal’s cab from the Eglinton Avenue area, Toronto, for Lawrence Avenue on Tuesday night.

“The woman was sexually

assaulted in the vehicle at around 1am local time,” the police said. She reported the incident to police shortly after

driver was immediately removed from the platform, the daily reported. “Upon learning of these disturbing allegations, we

and was suffering from minor injuries. Meanwhile, Uber spokesperson Xavier Van Chau said the vehicle service was cooperating with police and the

immediately removed the driver from our platform and have reached out to law enforcement to assist in any way that we can,” Chau said.

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Spas, night clubs offering sexual services Japanese tourist dies turning Gurgaon into Delhi’s Bangkok at India’s Taj Mahal

It is said that in Bangkok, if you throw a stone it is likely to hit a gambler or a brothel goer. In Gurgaon, it is likely to hit a spa goer or a club hopper. Spa centres and night clubs that offer sexual services on the side are fast turning the Millennium City

Rs 500 for 30 minutes. “The money is easy,” says Sweta, a bar girl (name changed) working in Sahara Mall. “We earn Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per night. But 50 per cent of the money goes to the bar,” she reveals.

According to her, a majority of

into the Capital’s Bangkok.

These centres and clubs which operate from various malls and luxury hotels in Mehrauli Gurgaon Road (MG Road) specialise in offering sensuous/ erotic massages to clients depending on their financial ability and preference.

The sex business kicks off in the night, usually after 9 pm, with club and spa operators deploying touts to solicit potential customers. The conversation begins with negotiation over alcoholic products before moving into ‘hotter’ stuff. Once a customer is inside the bar, a hooker who also doubles up as the bar girl, approaches him with an open bargain ranging from Rs 300 to

the bar girls clinch the deal with customers for sexual services while inside the club. There are over 60 night clubs in Gurgaon alone, according to excise and taxation department officials.

The modus operandi in spas too is similar with women from the Northeast dominating the sector.

Thanks to their facial features, they are presented before unsuspecting customers as “Thai girls” to offer “Thai massage” - a popular therapy on the menu of the parlours along with services such as Tuscany, Thai, Burger, body to body, Swiss, Ukrainian and Indian massages. Women from the Northeast are also sought after by customers due to their fair skin and “soft touch”.

Though women from other countries are also involved in the business, they are mostly employed at high-end spas. They come to India on short-term tourist visas, work here and get replaced after a month or two by a new set of girls. For these women, Gurgaon is the new El Dorado.

While an average massage starts at around Rs 1,000, it can be availed at half the rate if one goes for a packaged deal. A highend place can also offer massages up to Rs 10,000 per session. “The charges depend on the kind of facilities you are availing. A one hour package worth Rs 699 includes 40 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of shower,” says Dharampal Rathi, a regular spa goer. But when it comes to loosening the purse strings not all clients are equal.

Interestingly, the women have their own state-wise grading scale by which they measure the readiness of their clients to part with money after a rendezvous.

“Men from Delhi, UP and Bihar are the worst. Some of them are real misers and ask for a discount on everything. We try to avoid them,” says Rambha (name changed), a masseur.

While spas officially provide only those services which are permissible under the law, more intimate services such as bodytobody massage and hand jobs are offered depending on the rapport a customer is able to strike with a masseuse.

A Japanese tourist died Friday after suffering a heart attack while he was visiting India’s historic Taj Mahal monument, a senior police official said.

The 66-year-old was accompanied by three others as well as a local guide when he collapsed just after climbing up the stairs at the white marble tomb, said the officer in charge of the tourist police station in Agra. “He was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital but he could not be revived,” Sushant Gaur told AFP. “A post mortem was

carried out and the cause of death is heart attack. We have duly informed the Japanese embassy about the unfortunate incident.” Police gave his name as Hideto Ueda. The BBC quoted an eyewitness, Sagar Singh, as saying the tourist fell while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal’s Royal Gate. 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.

It attracts about 12,000 visitors a day.

Duped Danish national seeks Asaram’s daughter-in-law alleges Sushma Swaraj’s help on con baba torture by godman, hubby The daughter-in-law of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who

along with his son Narayan Sai are lodged in jail in connection with separate rape cases, accused the father-son duo of mentally torturing her.

Janki (38), who is separated from Sai, has also sought protection from police alleging that her family members and relatives were being threatened over phone to withdraw cases of domestic violence and alimony that she had filed against Sai in various local courts earlier, her counsel Rohit Yadav told reporters.

However, Janki did not name anybody for issuing the “threats”.

Yadav said police have recorded Janki’s statement.

While Sai is in Surat jail under various offences including rape

of a Surat-based woman, Asaram has been in jail in Jodhpur since August 2013 over allegations of raping a schoolgirl in one of his ashrams.

In her complaint to Khajrana police station, Janki stated that after she got married to Narayan (Harpalani) Sai on May 22, 1997, the latter established illicit relations with other women causing her mental torture.

“When I objected to my husband’s illicit relationship with other women, Sai used to threaten me to keep quiet,” Janki told reporters at the police station. She also accused Sai of indulging in religious hypocrisy and impregnating his disciple. Janki alleged that Sai had threatened to remarry after divorcing her and subsequently married his disciple in Rajasthan and a child was born to them.

She also accused Asaram of pressurising her late father Devraj Krishnani to ‘donate’ a valuable property in Bhopal to the godman.

While Radhe Maa and the litany of allegations against her came to shock the country recently, a Danish national is running from pillar to post for bringing to justice an Odisha-based godman, alleging the latter of having duped him of €3.2 lakh, nearly Rs 2 crore. Left with little hope, he is also trying to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to seek help in the case.

Allan Franklin Nielsen of Denmark is extremely fond of India and has visited the country on several occasions. However, he is now a harried lot as he flies between Denmark and India these days regarding a police case in Bhubaneswar and a litigation he had filed in the Cuttack High Court in 2010 against Baba Swami Shankarananda Giri. Giri runs the Kriya Yoga Ashram in Bhubaneshwar. “I have met each and every police officer in Bhubaneswar and have also submitted all evidence of Giri’s malpractices. I had to move the high court when I saw that nothing was becoming of the police inquiry. Since 2010, I have been commuting between

Denmark and India to be present in the court at the hearings,” claims Nielsen. Nielsen claims that the Danish Embassy in India has also turned a blind eye to his problem. “I had approached the Danish Embassy, but they

did not show any interest in pursuing the matter of helping me out with this case,” he said.

Nielsen is now trying to meet Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj but to no avail.

“I am trying to fix an appointment with the external affairs minister but have not had much luck as her staff have been making false promises. I also tried to meet her at her residence yesterday, but I was not successful. I have

written to her narrating my tale and Giri’s fraudulent practices,” he claimed.’ “I had met Giri in Copenhagen in Denmark during an international seminar in 1992.

I was impressed by him as he posed as a teacher of Kriya Yoga and I wanted to be a yogi.

He played it very smart as he borrowed some $5,000 from me and then returned it on time. Later, I gave him 3.2 lakh, which he has not returned yet. I had lent that money on the promise that he was going to use it to set up a hospital and that he would return double the amount borrowed,” he alleged. Nielsen showed Mail Today the evidence, which he carries close to him at all times. “I have the receipts of the money that I wired to his account here in India from my bank in Denmark which was routed via another bank in Germany. The money trail is clear. I have the signed agreement with Giri where he pledged to return my money. I have been threatened to leave India and not return on several occasions, over one of which I had lodged an FIR in Bhubaneswar as I had also been mugged by assailants,” claimed Nielsen.

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I look for people who have plotted gaps in my game: Viswanathan Anand

Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand on Monday said he looks “for people who have plotted gaps in my game” when it comes to choosing his team. “I pick people with whom I get along, which is a fundamental quality. You also have to look for chess players. I will look for people who have plotted gaps in my game, also point out thing that I do well and which don’t do well. It is important to be good friends to be a good trainer and learner.” Anand says what matters most to him are the moves that he makes on the board. “In chess there is one fundamental truth, it doesn’t

matter what the truth is, it matters what you execute on the board. In chess you get rewarded for what you do on the board in those two hours, not what you do before that and what you do after that,” Anand said here.

He added, “It doesn’t matter what you think after you make the move. It is a much specialised thing.

After playing for some time you will get to know what you are good at and what you are not and you are the best judge of that. It is important to have respect on yourself that makes your game much easier,” he said.

Jagmohan Dalmiya laid to rest with state honours, bigwigs pay homage From his former rivals N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar to the current BCCI heavyweights, the Indian cricket fraternity on Monday bid an emotional farewell to Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was laid to rest with full state honour and gun salute. The 75-year-old talismanic cricket administrator passed away at 8.45 pm last night following a massive cardiac arrest at the B M Birla Heart Research Centre where he was admitted on Thursday evening.The news spread shock waves across the cricket fraternity who mourned the loss of the man who is credited for making the sport popular and rich, prompting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to announce a full state honours for the departed Dalmiya.

India’s top cricket administrators including , BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, ICC chairman Srinivasan, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, former presidents Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar gathered to pay their homage at Eden Gardens, where his body was kept for more than two

Shoaib Akhtar expresses interest in owning Pakistan Super League team Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has expressed his interest in owning a Pakistan Super League (PSL) team. The

tournament will be played in Qatar in February 2016.

“Everyone is excited about PSL and so am I,” Akhtar said. “It’s like a gift to the nation; it’s not [just] the brand of PCB, it’s the brand of Pakistan. I am inter-

ested in buying a team in the league and want to serve Pakistan cricket this way by promoting cricketers and making more

Shoaib Akhtars who can bowl at 100 (mph). My business partner and I are testing the waters; assessing whatever is put on table and how it suits us.”

Although Akhtar has been critical of the functioning of

the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), he said that he did not meet Najim Sethi to take up a PCB job. “There are more ways to serve Pakistan cricket than taking a job at the PCB. You all know what kind of person I am. I might be critical at some point but my intentions are always positive and I want things to be right.

By buying a team, I can offer the talented boys in my team a platform. [I can] make an academy and recruit the best possible talent in my team,” he said, according to espncricinfo.com. “I might be very critical of the board on many things but I only want Pakistan to win. There is a lot of talent in our country but they need guidance.

The PSL is a good initiative and we should support it.

This is the product that can help us revive cricket in Pakistan,” he added.

hours. The chief minister came around 3pm as it was time for the state guard of honour followed by a three-round gun salute

companied by Ravi Shastri, BCCI secretary Thakur was the first to come and the duo first went to Dalmiya’s 10

called it a “a great loss” for the cricket fraternity while IPL chairman Shukla also echoed the same sentiments, saying it would be

by 10 Kolkata Police officials.

A senior member chanting ‘Dalmiya Amar Rahe’ (long live Dalmiya) put the national flag on the body as it began its final journey to Keoratala crematorium.

Banerjee, former India captain Sourav Ganguly along with state ministers and other CAB officials went to the crematorium to pay their homage as a pall of gloom descended on the city. His son and daughter performed the last rites by placing the body on the wooden pyre with sandalwood at 4pm. Earlier, ac-

Alipore Road residence from where the Team India director left for the national camp in Bengaluru.

Dalmiya’s last journey began from his residence at 12.15pm before arriving at his ‘second home’ Eden Gardens around 1 pm accompanied by son Avishek, daughter Vaishali and wife Chandralekha and other relatives. Now a CAB joint secretary, Ganguly along with his colleague Subir Ganguly and treasurer accompanied the dignitaries while paying floral tributes to Dalmiya.

ICC chairman Srinivasan

hard to fill the void. Giving credit to Dalmiya for revolutionising the sport, he said: “When we won the 1983 World Cup the board didn’t have even 15 lakh money to reward the players and it was Lata Mangeshkar who had helped the Board. “From that crisis he made a way by selling TV rights and ensured that cricket reaches to all the countries and at the grassroots level.

If we take into account of the domestic matches we conduct 55000 matches (every season),” Srinivasan said.

Dhoni is my role model, I relate to him: Gurkeerat Having earned a maiden call-up in the Indian ODI side for the upcoming South Africa series, Punjab all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann on Monday said that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh are his batting and bowling role models respectively.

Gurkeerat, who was rewarded with a place in the ODI team for his consistent performance for India A in the recent limited overs matches, said that he got to learn a lot from just watching the limited-overs skipper Dhoni play. “In the current lot, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is my batting role model because we

both play very much at the same batting order. I relate to his game and earnestly watch him bat whenever he

Bangladesh A to clinch the series 2-1 at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangaluru. While talking

is playing for India. I get to learn a lot from him,” Gurkeerat told reporters after India A won the third unofficial ODI against

about his Kings XI Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar’s influence on him, Gurkeerat said, “Bangar has been a valuable factor for me.

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Nepal formally adopts constitution amid stepped-up security Nepal on Sunday formally adopted a much anticipated and long-delayed constitution that took

more than seven years to complete following a decade of political infighting.

Security was stepped up across the nation, with smaller political parties and ethnic groups opposed to the new constitution issuing fresh threats of violence. President Ram Baran Yadav signed

the constitution and made the proclamation announcement, setting off a roar of applause from

members of the Constituent Assembly in Kathmandu. “We believe that the adoption of the new constitution has now opened the path for development of the country,” Yadav told the assembly.

The new constitution replaces an interim one that was supposed to be in ef-

fect for only a couple of years but has governed the nation since 2007. On the streets of Kathmandu, the

capital, many Nepalese said they were happy with the new charter. “This really long chapter is now finally closed,” said Shyam Sharma, a student who watched the president’s motorcade drive toward the assembly. “Now the country can focus on other important issues like devel-

oping the country, improving the economy. If these politicians had agreed a few years back, we would not have wasted so much time, energy and money.” The key part of the constitution, passed on Wednesday after a decade of bickering and violent protests, sets the country up as a secular federation of seven states, each with a legislature and chief minister. However, some ethnic and religious groups say lawmakers ignored their concerns over how state borders should be defined.

They want more states, including ethnically based ones, bigger territory for larger groups and more seats for ethnic minorities in parliament and government. Laxman Lal Karna, a senior leader of the Madhesi ethnic group in southern Nepal, said the new constitution failed to address many of the issues and that protests would continue.

Eiffel Tower closed following terror threat

The Eiffel Tower was shut to all visitors on Sunday after three “terrorist suspects” with “large rucksacks” were seen ascending France’s most popular tourist attraction.

Anti-terrorist police supported by a helicopter could be seen at the iconic landmark following the alarm being raised in the early hours.

But after a search which went on all morning it was thought they escaped via parachute -- prompting a theory that they had been extreme sportsmen all along.

“There were reports of three people climbing the tower from the outside from about 5.30 am,” said

a police source. “They were said to have large rucksacks so no chances could be taken. They completely disappeared, so enquiries are centred on them being extreme parachutists. “There were, of course, fears that they may have left dangerous material on the tower before leaving.” According to Daily Mail online, the tower has frequently been threatened by terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda and IS, with security stepped up since attacks by three radical Islamist gunmen in the city in January. A police cordon was formed around the tower and people were moved to the banks of the nearby River Seine.

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Health Healththe benefits of Add Eggs to Your daily dite Know wonders

by Udita Madan Eggs are considered to be the most common breakfast item in every household across the

your breakfast menu, nothing can fill the void.

This powerhouse of protein can provide you with many benefits which you

globe, barring pure vegetarians, of course.

But, by cutting eggs from their diet, vegetarians and vegans alike are probably missing out on one of the most healthiest food item.

In any way and in any

probably may not be aware of.

1. Size of eggs: You can find eggs in various sizes from medium to extra-large. This happens because of weight of the egg and not

form, eggs can be touted as your daily dose of health. Be it poached, fried, boiled or scrambled, eggs form a wholesome part of a person’s diet.

If eggs are not a part of

the volume.

2. Healthy dose: Many people accept that the high cholesterol content in the yolk is harmful for the heart.

However, this possibility

Want quick relief from acidity?

Try these 10 home remedies

has been ruled out by a relevant research which has been continuing for more than 40 years. The research has shown that eggs are an integral part of a healthy diet.

3. Weighing it down: If you are aiming at a certain weight goal by incorporating eggs into your diet, it is a wise decision.

This protein-filled goodness will keep you full for longer and help you curb the tendency to overeat.

4. Fit is good: Having an adequate amount of protein after sweating it out is essential.

It helps you rebuild and mend the muscles that have been worn out during the workout session. Eggs are the most expedient way of supplying those indispensable nutrients to the body.

5. Source of Vitamin D: Apart from proteins, eggs supply you with another essential nutrient – Vitamin D, which is required for maintaining bone health.

Eggs are one of the few natural resources that can meet your body’s requisite

of vitamin D. 6. Fat content: A large egg consists of 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 1.8 grams of monosaturated fat, and one gram of polyunsaturated fat. A large egg also supplies 185 milligrams of cholesterol and the maximum limit of cholesterol to be consumed in a day should

be less than 300 milligrams.

7. Ageing process: Do you dispose off eggs earlier than is necessary?

Eggs can be used within three weeks from the date of purchase when stored inside a refrigerator. Eggs turn bad faster when stored at room temperature.

An important note for all you egg-lovers out there, that no matter how healthy eggs are for you, it is important to maintain a nutritious balance.

Consider incorporating other protein sources like fish and legumes in your diet and combine these with wholesome carbohydrates and fat sources and guarantee yourselves a healthy diet.

mulberry! of yogurt!

Yogurt is thick, creamy and above all, has a good taste. It is considered as one of the most accessible foods and a wonderful source of nutrients which are essential for good health.

One must include yogurt in their daily diet for a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some health benefits of yogurt: Weight loss: Good news for those who want to lose weight as yogurt helps you in getting rid of that extra fat.

Studies have shown that daily consumption of calcium through yoghurt helps the body use its stored fats. And thus, it aids you in reducing weight.

Makes bone healthy: Yogurt contains calcium and vitamin D which are very essential to maintain healthy bones. The calcium it contains, helps to maintain and strengthen the bones. It

also helps to prevent bone related problems like osteoporosis.

Lower high blood pressure: Yogurt helps in lowering blood pressure because of the presence of potassium in it. It is not only rich in calcium but also in potassium.

Boosts immune system: Daily consumption of yogurt is good for health as it helps to produce higher levels of immune system in the body. It also helps in stimulating infection-fighting white cells in the bloodstream.

Good for skin: Yogurt not only provides you with internal benefits but also gives you other physical advantages. It is good for skin as it contains lactic acid which acts as an exfoliator that helps in getting rid of dead cells. Yogurt can also be used as a face pack for beautiful skin.

Lesser known benefits of lettuce!

We have all suffered from acidity at some point or the other. Excess stomach acid can cause uncomfortable symptoms, pain, and even severe health problems.

Well, instead of popping up antacids, there are some natural home remedies you can try to get rid of the problem.

Cold milk: The calcium in milk prevents acid build up

and absorbs the excess acid produced, thereby reducing the symptoms of acidity.

Mint leaves or pudina: Mint leaves is known for its cooling properties which helps reduce the pain and burning associated with acid reflux. Pudina helps lower the acid content of the stomach and improves digestion.

Who doesn’t want to eat the leafy green vegetable, lettuce? Be it in your crunchy green salads, sandwiches or burger, these leafy vegetables are the most sought after greens.

Rich in minerals, vitamins and fiber, the crispy, green or crimson-red leaves of lettuce contains incredible sources of essential nutrients that are beneficial to our health.

Several types of lettuce are available - green or red leaves, romaine, iceberg or asparagus lettuce.

Here are some of the amazing health benefits of

this leafy vegetables: Weight loss: Lettuce helps in getting rid of those extra fat as it contains fiber

and cellulose. It also has a good proportion of nutrients with such less fat and calories which is

considered as perfect weight loss-inducing veggie.

Good for hair: Eating lettuce and drinking its juice regularly stimulates hair growth and makes them healthy.

Healthy heart: This leafy veggie is good for heart as it contains vitamin C and betacarotene which help to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. So, one must include lettuce in their daily diet to protect from any heart diseases.

Insomnia: A white fluid called lactucarium found in the leafy vegetables helps in inducing relaxation and sleep.

Issue 633 (38)

22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

The side effects of Green Tea Green tea is considered the go-to beverage in most households and has steadily been gaining popularity as a natural source of energy.

Green tea has many health benefits apart from a

number of healing properties. Whether you’re ill, tired, upset or just generally need a hot beverage, then green tea becomes your confidante.

Everyone is aware of the numerous health benefits of the hot drink, however, there are some negative effects of the drink that you should be aware of.

Knowing about them will help you optimize your green tea intake.

1. Caffeine consumption: Green is a healthy drink, no doubt, but it still is a “tea” which means that it contains significant amount of caffeine. Enjoy your hot cuppa, however,

don’t drink it in excess as too much caffeine may cause side-effects such as anxiety and nervousness.

2. Osteoporosis: The properties in green tea impacts directly on the calcium deposited in your body. Drinking too much of green tea may eliminate more calcium from the body through urination, leading to calcium deficiency. It is best to limit your green tea intake

to two cupfuls a day.

3. Pregnant or lactating mothers: Green tea should be avoided by pregnant and lactating mothers, since consumption of the beverage during pregnancy

may pose higher risk of miscarriage and other side-effects. Caffeine in green tea may find its way into breast milk in lactating mothers and affect the infant. However, if cutting out green tea from your daily life is difficult, then limit yourself to not more than two cupfuls a day.

4. Medical interference: Green tea may cause problems if you’re taking

Beetroot juice may boost muscle power Drinking concentrated beetroot juice increases muscle power in patients with heart failure, new research has found. “It is a small study, but we see robust changes in muscle power about two hours after patients drink the beet juice,” said study Senior

Author Linda Peterson, Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers believe that high nitrate content in beet juice could explain the improved muscle power in the study participants. Earlier re-

search had found that dietary nitrate improves muscle performance in many elite athletes. The nitrates in beet juice, spinach and other leafy green vegetables such as Arugula and Celery are processed by the body into nitric oxide, which is

known to relax blood vessels and have other beneficial effects on metabolism.

Patients in the study served as their own controls, with each receiving the beet juice treatment and an identical beet juice placebo that had only the

nitrate content removed.

There was a one-to-two week period between trial sessions to be sure any effects of the first treatment did not carry over to the second. Two hours after drinking the beet juice with high nitrate content, patients demonstrated a 13 percent increase in power in muscles that extend the knee.

The researchers observed the most substantial benefit when the muscles moved at the highest velocities. The increase in muscle performance was significant in quick, powerbased actions, but researchers saw no improvements in performance during longer tests that measure muscle fatigue.

The researchers also pointed out that participants experienced no major side effects from the beet juice, including no increase in heart rates or drops in blood pressure, which is important in patients with heart failure.

medication such as stimulants, hormones, antibiotics, blood thinners or any drug that poses a risk of liver damage. It can also worsen certain conditions such as diarrhoea, glaucoma and bleeding disorders.

Therefore, avoid green tea while you are on heavy medication.

5. Iron deficiency: Drinking more green tea may affect the absorption rate of iron into the body.

You can drink a couple of cups of green tea without any risk of poor iron absorption rate; moreover, you can add a pinch of lemon juice in your green tea to improve iron absorption.

6. Empty stomach: People often seek relief in green tea when their stomach is empty, especially when they are fasting. You may want to give that a second a thought, since it may do more harm than good.

Drinking green tea on an empty stomach may cause toxicity.

A bonus advice to you would be not to add sugar to your cup of green tea, since that would not only increase your calorie intake.

Lack of exercise can increase eye disorder risk

Heavy smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise can put you at increased risk of Agerelated Macular Degeneration (AMD), especially if you have a family history of the blinding eye disorder, says a new study.

The findings suggest that genetic and lifestyle factors may contribute to AMD in a synergistic way.

“If you have a family history of AMD, the good news is that the study findings suggest that there are things you can do to potentially lower your risk of developing AMD yourself,” said one of the Lead Researchers Julie A. Mares from University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.

The researchers studied the risk among women aged 50 to 79 years. The researchers evaluated the diet and exercise patterns of 1663 women and categorised them into lowest, moderate and highest-risk groups.

They also evaluated whether the women smoked and, if so, how many years they smoked a pack of cigarettes or more each day.

They also assessed genetic data from the women to determine whether they carried known genetic risk factors for AMD. A total of 337 women in the study developed AMD, of whom 91 percent had early-stage disease.

Alcohol addiction may trigger various cancers in Indians Not just harming their heart and brain, alcohol dependency may also be behind several forms of cancers among heavy drinkers in low-income countries like India, researchers have warned. The new study of alcohol use in countries of all-income levels- including low-income nations like India and Zimbabwe- shows that alcohol dependence increases the risk of alcohol-related cancers and injury with no reduction in risk of mortality or cardiovascular disease overall.

The data came from 12 countries participating in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, a prospective cohort study of individuals aged 3570 years. The high-income countries were Sweden and Canada; upper-middle-income countries were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Poland, South Africa and Turkey; lower-middle-income countries were China and Colombia; and low-income countries were India and Zimbabwe. The research, published in The Lancet journal, included 114,970 adults, of whom 28,813 people (25 percent) were from low-income countries.

Current drinking was asso-

ciated with a 51 percent increased risk of alcohol-related cancers of mouth, oesophagus, stomach, colorectum, liver, breast, ovary, and head and neck and a 29 percent increased

duce harmful alcohol use, especially in low-income countries like India,” the authors noted. “Because alcohol consumption is increasing in many countries, especially in low-income

risk of injury in current drinkers. Although current drinking was associated with a 24 percent reduced risk of heart attack, there was no reduction in risk of mortality or stroke. High alcohol intake and heavy episodic drinking were both associated with significant increases in risk of overall mortality. For higher-income countries, current drinking was associated with a 16 percent reduced risk of combined disease outcome, while for lowerincome countries current drinking was associated with a 38 percent increased risk. “The world needs better health strategies to re-

countries, the importance of alcohol as a risk factor for disease might be underestimated. Therefore, global strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol are essential,” explained Dr. Salim Yusuf, President of the World Heart Federation.

According to Lead Author Dr. Andrew Smyth from the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Canada, “the data support the call to increase global awareness of the importance of harmful use of alcohol and the need to further identify and target the modifiable determinants of harmful alcohol use”.

Issue 633 (39)

22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015

COCONUT RICE AND RED BEANS

CHILEAN TOMATO AND PEPPER SAUCE Ingredients: 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves 1 tbsp. kosher salt 2 vine-ripe tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped 1 green ajé cristal chile or 1/2 banana pepper, stemmed and seeded 1/2 cup olive oil 6 tbsp. distilled white vinegar Instructions: In a small skillet, stir the flour over medium heat until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool. In a blender, combine the cilantro with the salt, tomatoes, and chile. Then, with the machine on,

slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the vegetables emulsify into a smooth sauce.

Scrape the sauce into the bowl with the toasted flour and add the vinegar. Stir to combine the ingredients and then let stand for 5 minutes to allow the flour to thicken the salsa before serving.

PEPPER POT SOUP Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 6 scallions, roughly chopped 3 sprigs thyme, stems removed 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 small white onion, roughlychopped 8 oz. fresh or canned callaloo or spinach, roughly chopped 4 cups vegetable stock 3 Scotch bonnet chiles (1 halved; 2 stemmed, seeded, and minced) 1 yellow yam or russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Instructions: In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium. Add the scallions, thyme, garlic, and onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 7 minutes. Stir in the callaloo, stock, and halved chile. Bring

Ingredients: 8 oz. dried kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 2 scallions, thinly sliced 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk 1 green Scotch bonnet chile, pierced with a paring knife 2 cups long grain white rice Instructions: In a large saucepan, cover the beans with water, season liberally with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring, until tender, about 40 minutes. Drain the beans in a colander and return the

pan to medium heat. Heat the oil in the pan and then stir in the garlic and scallions and cook, stirring, until softened, 3 minutes. Return the beans to the pan, add the coconut milk and chile, and bring to a simmer. Cook the beans, stirring, until the coconut milk is reduced and thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, rinse the rice in a sieve under cold water until the water runs clear, and then drain. Stir the rice and 2 cups water into the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook, undisturbed, until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover the rice and season with salt and pepper before serving.

BANANA FRITTERS WITH CINNAMON-SUGAR AND RUM

to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the callaloo is tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender, discard the chile, and purée until smooth. Return the soup to the pan over medium heat, stir in the yam, and cook, stirring, until the yam is tender, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and then serve the soup with the minced chiles on the side.

Ingredients: 3 ripe bananas (14 oz.), peeled 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. packed dark brown sugar 1 tsp. fresh lime juice, plus more lime wedges, for serving 1 large egg Kosher salt 1 tbsp. granulated sugar 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 cup vegetable oil Dark rum, for serving Instructions: In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with the flour, brown sugar, lime juice, and egg until smooth, and season lightly with salt. In another bowl, stir the granulated sugar with the cinnamon.

In a 12-inch skillet, heat the oil over

MARINATED CELERY AND AVOCADO SALAD

CHILEAN SPICE RUBBED PORK SHANKS

Ingredients: 6 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, leaves reserved 2 radishes, thinly sliced Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 3 tbsp. vegetable oil 2 avocados, halved, pitted, and peeled 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted Instructions: In a medium bowl of ice water, soak the sliced celery and radishes for 10 minutes. Drain and return the vegetables to the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Pour the lemon juice over the vegetables and toss to combine. Let the vegetables stand for 10 minutes to marinate in the juice.

Add the oil to the vegetables and toss

Ingredients: 2 (1 1/2-lb.) pork shanks Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tbsp. paprika paste 1 tbsp. merkén or hot paprika 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 tsp. ground cumin Instructions: Heat the oven to 325°. Layer one 24inch square sheet of foil with a 24-inch sheet of parchment paper and place the shanks on the paper; season with salt and pepper. On a cutting board, use the side of your knife to mash the garlic with a pinch of salt into a smooth paste.

Scrape the garlic into a bowl and stir in the paprika paste, merkén, oregano, and cumin. Rub the spice mix all over the

to coat. Cut each avocado half into 4 wedges and then gently toss with the celery and radishes. Transfer the salad to a platter and sprinkle with the olives and celery leaves before serving.

medium-high. Working in batches, drop tablespoonfuls of batter into the oil and cook the fritters, turning once, until dark golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fritters to paper towels to drain, and then toss with the cinnamon sugar until evenly coated.

Serve hot and drizzled with rum.

pork shanks.

Bring the sides of the parchment and foil up over the pork and crimp to form a packet. Transfer the packet to a 9-by-13inch baking dish and bake until the meat is very tender, about 4 hours. To serve, cut open the packet and serve the pork warm with its pan juices.

Issue 633 (40)

22 Sep. - 28 Sep. 2015