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The Morung Express
Dimapur VOL. X ISSUE 105
www.morungexpress.com
Sunday, April 19, 2015 12 Pages Rs. 4
[T]he economy of undeserved grace has primacy over the economy of moral deserts
Rahul back to work after vacation, to address Kisan rally [ PAGE 8]
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
I
Lauran Neergaard | AP Medical Writer
n a remote part of the Venezuelan Amazon, scientists have discovered that members of Any idea what put him in a village isolated from the such a bad mood? modern world have the most diverse colonies of bacteria ever reported living in and on the human body. The microbiome — the trillions of mostly beneficial bacteria that share our bodies — plays a critical role in maintaining health. Friday’s study raises tantalizing questions about the microbial diversity of our ancestors, and whether today’s Western diets and lifestyles strip us of some bugs we might want back. Most surprising, this group of Yanomami indigenous people harbored bacteria containing genes with the ability to resist antibiotic treatment, even though the villagers preCITIZEN UMBRELLA sumably were never exposed to commercial medCITIZEN UMBRELLA MANUFACTURER LTD. H.O.: 147, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kolkata-7 ications. Ph. No. 033-2268-1396, 2271-2152
1800 kilo ganja haul Dimapur, april 18 (mExN): In a major haul, Dimapur police on April 18 seized 1,800 kilogram of contraband ganja from an oil tanker. The contraband, neatly packed in 120 packets weighing 15 kilo each, was concealed inside the cylindrical tank of an oil tanker bearing registration number MN-03T/0889. The two occupants of the vehicle identified as Salam Pahari Singh (45 yrs) and Thangboi (20) were arrested and a case has been registered at East Police Station.
NDMSA demand immediate ‘Cadre Review Committee’
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Dimapur, april 18 (mExN): Nagaland Directorate Ministerial Service Association (NDMSA) has appealed for immediate constitution of a Cadre Review Committee (CRC) as recommended by the High Power Committee (HPC) in order to cope with the ever increasing workload and expansion of administrative centres in the State and to provide efficient/effective services to the people. A representation addressed to the chief secretary by NDMSA president Botovi Sema and general secretary Atsang reminded that in spite of two HPC constituted in 2007 and 2014, both the committees could not address the grievances and genuine demands of the association, rather had recommended for CRC. The association also mentioned that the directorate ministerial cadre has not been reviewed since inception and creation of full-fledged directorate in all the departments.
US president open to ‘creative negotiations’ on Iran sanctions [ PAGE 9]
—Miroslav Volf
Delhi Daredevils snatch 4-run win over Sunrisers [ PAGE 12]
Indigenous tribe offers unique opportunity to modern health Research says, unprecedented germ diversity found in remote Amazonian tribe with the ability to resist antibiotic treatment
Fax : (033) 2271-2151 E-mail : citizenkolkata@gmail.com
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This isolated population offers “a unique opportunity to put our microbial past under the microscope,” said lead researcher Jose Clemente, an assistant genetics professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. The results bolster a theory that diminished microbial diversity in Western populations is linked to immune and metabolic diseases — allergies, asthma, diabetes — that are on the rise, said senior author M. Gloria Dominguez-Bello of NYU Langone Medical Center. “The challenge is to determine which are the important bacteria whose function we need to be healthy,” she said. Everyone carries a customized set of microbes that live in our noses and mouths, on our skin and in our intestines. This microbial zoo starts forming at
mountains along the border of Venezuela and Brazil, and as a group are fairly well-known. But Friday’s research, reported in the journal Science Advances, stems from the discovery of a previously unmapped Yanomami village in the mountains of southern Venezuela. Researchers aren’t disclosing the village’s name for privacy reasons but say it was first visited by a Venezuelan medical expedition in 2009 that collected fecal, skin and mouth swab samples from 34 villagers. Scientists compared the bacterial DNA from those villagers with samples from U.S. populations and found the Americans’ efmeefìpesve íelee !§!ê˛ˆÏ çl SÈyï˛y microbiomes are about 40 CITIZEN UMBRELLA MANUFACTURER LTD. CITIZEN UMBRELLA MANUFACTURER LTD. percent diverse. The 147ñ Ù•ydy ày!¶˛ ˆÓ˚less yí˛ñ ˆÜ˛y°Ü˛yï˛y ÈüÈ 700007 147, cenelecee ieebefOe jes[, JeÀueJeÀelee - 7 Ph. No. 033-2268-1396, 2271-2152 No. 033-2268-1396, 2271-2152 FILE -In this file photo, Yanomami Indians dance in their village called Irotatheri in Venezuela’s Ph. Yanomami’s microbiomes Fax : (033) 2271-2151 Fax : (033) 2271-2151 Amazon region. In a remote part of the Venezuelan Amazon,E-mail scientists have discovered that also somewhat more : citizenkolkata@gmail.com E-mailwere : citizenkolkata@gmail.com members of a village isolated from the modern world have the most diverse colonies of bac- diverse than samples from teria ever reported living in and on the human body. The microbiome - the trillions of mostly beneficial bacteria that share our bodies - plays a critical role in maintaining health. (AP Photo) two other indigenous populations with more expobirth and varies depending Human Microbiome Proj- tional Institutes of Health, sure to Western culture — on where you live, your diet, ect, or of Europeans. But who wasn’t involved in the the Guahibo community of if you had a vaginal birth or increasingly, scientists are new research. “The more di- Venezuela and rural Malaa C-section and, of course, attempting to compare verse your microbiome, the wi communities in southantibiotic exposure. non-Western populations, more those microbes bring east Africa. Most of what scientists especially those that keep properties to your body that Intriguingly, the Yaknow about the human traditional lifestyles like the you might need.” nomami harbored some The Yanomami contin- unique bacteria with benmicrobiome comes from isolated Yanomami. studies of Americans, such “It’s a fascinating study,” ue to live a hunter-gatherer eficial health effects, such as the U.S. government’s Dr. Lita Proctor of the Na- lifestyle in rainforests and as helping to prevent the
formation of kidney stones, the researchers reported. Then genetic testing uncovered silent antibiotic-resistant genes lurking in some bacterial strains. Antibiotics still could kill the bugs. But when the genes were switched on, by antibiotic exposure, they could block activity of some common modern antibiotics, said study co-author Guatam Dantas of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Today, exposure to antibiotics in medicine or agriculture spurs germs to become harder to treat. But bacteria in soil were a natural source of early antibiotics, Dantas explained, and probably these villagers at some point picked up those bugs which had evolved resistance genes as a defense from competitors. He said it suggests people have a natural reservoir of genes that may have other duties but that can activate to trigger drug resistance in the right environment. “It emphasizes the need to ramp up our research for new antibiotics because otherwise, we’re going to lose this battle against infectious diseases,” Dantas said.
‘friendship’ road turns unfriendly ENPO reaffirms resolution for peace
Eastern Konyak, Lahe Unit laments constant harassment by AR, NPG
moN, april 18 (mExN): Eastern Konyak people living in the areas bordering Myanmar are constantly being hassled by the Assam Rifles and Naga political groups, a press statement has alleged. According to Eastern Konyak Union (Eastern Konyak) Lahe unit, Eastern Konyak people living in the border areas are constantly harassed by both Indian forces and Naga political groups while travelling on public road. Citing the most recent incident, Pobu, a public leader and advisor and K Honwang, general
secretary to Eastern Konyak Union unit in a press statement alleged that on April 7 afternoon, personnel of 33 Assam Rifles (5th battalion) blocked road between Chen Mohu and Throilu and seized goods from innocent public while they were returning from shop. The security forces also prohibited the public from travelling on the road from one village to another, it alleged. In this connection, the union has sought clarification with regard to the activities of the Assam Rifles. The statement pointed out that the road between Chen Mohu and Throilu was constructed under Indian and Myanmar Friendship Project Scheme in 2013-2014 and is yet to be completed. Therefore, the
union questioned why the friendship road was cut off for the public. The union also reminded of the atrocities faced by the public of the area when they could not live free in their own land due to continuous operations conducted by the Myanmar Army, NSCN group and the Indian Army. “Without mercies to the innocent people, houses, granary, church and public property were burnt down every year or month. We have suffered enough as human beings; we want justice on humanitarian ground,” the statement stated. Appealing the Assam Rifles and NSCN for peaceful atmosphere in public area, the union said, “We are not (in) favour of any group, we need peaceful development only.”
Regional Convention Centre at NEZCC soon
A young artiste from Meghalaya in theatrics while performing Wangala dance at NEZCC Dimapur on Saturday. (Morung Photo)
Morung Express News Dimapur | April 18
Union Minister of State for Culture, Tourism (IC) AND Civil Aviation Dr Mahesh Sharma had to postpone his maiden visit to Nagaland and Manipur on Saturday after his flight was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Dr Mahesh Sharma, who was in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh’s capital was scheduled to reach Dimapur today to grace the ‘cultural spectacular’ festival at North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) complex organized under the
theme ‘Our Heritage.’ Despite his absence and the rain playing spoil sports, the cultural festival got underway, with the venue shifted indoors. Featuring young talented artists of the Northeast region, some as young as seven year old, cultural troupes from the eight sister states made a spectacular showcase of their most popular cultural dances. Lipokmar Tzudir, director, NEZCC said the main focus of the event was to celebrate the cultural heritage that we have inherited. It is also to ensure that the continuity of the colorful and unique cultural
heritage of the Northeast region by the young generation through their participation, he added. On the occasion, the NEZCC director also announced the construction of a Regional Convention Centre at the NEZCC complex. The state of the art auditorium which have already been approved in principle by the centre will accommodate at least 2500 people, Tzudir informed. The construction will begin within a month or two. Tzudir pointed out that the upcoming convention centre was a long felt need for the state in particular and the north east in general. Since its inception, NEZCC has been pursuing for construction of such a centre where diverse cultural events and activities would held, irrespective of seasons, he stated. He noted that this was made possible after the Central government made drastic changes in its policy and made it clear that due priority would be given to promotion and preservation of culture. Union Minister Dr Mahesh was also scheduled to visit the Kachari Rajbari ruins at Walford, Dimapur. Dr Mahesh was expected to announce some drastic measures for its maintenance and preservation of the site which lie in shambles.
moN, april 18 (mExN): The Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) has reiterated its December 18, 2007 resolution, which opposes any form of bloodshed, threat, intimidation or violence within ENPO jurisdiction. “The resolution has been reaffirmed over the years since then based on public demand, which was unanimously affirmed and pledged by the House during a Historic Summit at Tuensang head quarter on 18th December, 2007,” ENPO president S. Khoiwang Konyak and general secretary Manlang Phom said in a press statement. Subsequent upon the reaffirmation of the resolution, the ENPO resolved that it will not extend any public co-operation to any faction/ group for non-compliance of the above reso-
lution in the public interest for peace and tranquillity within its jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the ENPO reminded all concerned to respect and honour the wishes of the public “who are anxiously longing for peace who should not be deprived for whatever differences between communities/groups or individuals.” In this, the ENPO appealed to both the Chang and Yimchunger public to adhere to the Longkhim and Longleng resolutions which were collectively resolved for maintaining peace and tranquillity and also co-operate with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the process of their investigation for finding fair and lasting solution in regard to the overall situations and incidences occurring in and around Tuensang town.
A Bungalow with an Old Soul Limasenla Jamir
Mokokchung | April 18
Each year April 18 is celebrated as World heritage Day (aka International Day for Monuments and Sites). In November 1983 the UNESCO in its 22nd session passed a resolution and declared April 18 as International Day for Monuments and sites. Every year special events are held all over the world to draw attention to particularly endangered type of cultural heritage and historical monuments and sites. Nagaland is typically known for its rich culture and heritage. When we look at the list of UNESCO Heritage Sites in India the absence of any heritage sites in Nagaland seems absurd. A state so rich in its culture and history and a place where culture, tradition and properties have been handed down from preceding generations it only seems legit to have at least one heritage site in the cultural state. It may not be listed in the world Heritage list or anywhere but there stands a building in Mokokchung; calm and at peace with nature in a hill top surrounded by trees and misty clouds. More than a hundred year old, the DC’s bungalow in Mokokchung is one of the oldest buildings in the state
The DC’s Bungalow in Mokokchung. Photo by Toshi Kichu
built by the British during the 19th Century. The bungalow has housed thirty-nine SubDivisional officers (Civil) of the district from 1880 to 1957 and thirty-five Deputy Commissioners from 1957 till date. The location of the DC’s bungalow in Mokokchung is one of the most picturesque spots and has a commanding view of Mokokchung town. The DC’s Bungalow in Mokokchung still has furniture and showcase /collectibles that were brought by the British officials during their stay. Necessary restorations of the building have been done in the years but three bedrooms in the bungalow still remains in its original state. The fireplace in the DC’s bungalow which is situated in the sitting room is a much talked about fireplace among old folks in town. According to certain sources the chimney of the fireplace which
is built in the centre of the building is built in such precision and technique by the British people that makes the local people wonder in admiration and awe. ‘This is the best house I have ever lived in. It makes me feel at peace and being in a house like this it helps me in doing my works efficiently’ says Sushil Kumar Patel IAS, the present Deputy Commissioner of Mokokchung. ‘The location of the building is so good that it gives me and my family a pollution free environment and to be surrounded by nature and the clouds and the wind is altogether a blessing which is beyond measure’ adds Mrs. Patel. Alemtemshi Jamir, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Mokokchung from 1985 to 1988 states “the DC Bungalow in Mokokchung, I believe, will be the oldest and the original heritage building in Nagaland.”
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The Morung Express 2 LocaL Pol parties, NGOs & churches urged to work for clean e-roll Multi-Utility Units in Woodland Dimapur
Sunday
19 April 2015
Dimapur, april 18 (Dipr): Special Observer, National Roll Purification and Authentication (NERPAP) for Dimapur District, Neposo Theluo called on the political parties, NGOs and Churches to work together and to play a positive role in cleaning the present prevalent mess adding that corruption could be cured to some extend if the electoral roll is cleansed. “Let us correct all anomalies, come out with a clean e-roll in a true Christian spirit,” said the Special Observer while having a meeting with the administrative Officers, Supervisors and Political parties at DC’s Conference hall Dimapur on April 17.
(From left) DC Dimapur, Kesonyu Yhome, IAS, Special Observer, NERPAP for Dimapur District, Neposo Theluo and ADC & ERO Dimapur, Elizabeth Ngully during the meeting held on April 17. (DIPR Photo)
Neposo Theluo in his remark said that NERPAP had been launched on March 3 and would culminate on August 15. The main purpose of NERPAP was to see that enrollment of voters at more
Science for Nation Building event on April 28
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Kohima, april 18 (mExN): Under the sponsorship of the Department of Science & Technology, Nagaland a competition of innovative science talk on the theme ‘Science for Nation Building’ will be held on April 28 at Little Flower Higher Secondary School, Kohima commencing 10:30 AM. The programme will be conducted to commemorate the National Science Day 2015, emphasizing the importance of science, which alone can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running into waste, of a rich country inhabited by starving people and the unaffordability to ignore science. In a press release, District Education Officer, Kohima K. Mary Dzüvichü further informed that while basic information on the competition is being sent, the programme will be compulsorily participated only by 1(one) high school student of up to Class-10 level as competitor and 5(five) other students as spectators from each of the under mentioned short-listed schools. Cash prizes and certificates shall be awarded to the winning competitors. Schools short-listed for participation 1. Rüzhükhrie Govt. Hr. Sec. School 2. Northfield School 3. G. Rio Hr. Sec. School 4. Don Bosco Hr. Sec. School 5. Baptist High 6. Mezhür Hr. Sec. School 7. Ministers’ Hill Baptist Hr. Sec. School 8. Chandmari Hr. Sec. School 9. Dzüvürü Public School 10. Mt. Sinai Hr. Sec. School 11. Little Flower Hr. Sec. School 12. Fernwood School 13. Model Hr. Sec. School 14. St. Mary’s Cathedral Hr. Sec. School
than one place and electors with multiple registrations to be corrected and a clean and genuine electoral roll be put in place. He added that while enrolling electors an extra effort was needed as there are
many illegal immigrants especially in the case of Dimapur District. He hoped that Dimapur with so many efficient officers would set an example for other Districts to follow suit in bring-
ing out a clean electoral roll. He further said that the election Commission would be awarding to those who came out with 100% clear e-rolls and called on Dimapur to work on to achieve the mark. Deputy Commissioner Dimapur, Kesonyu Yhome, IAS who chaired the meeting said that NERPAP is a process with a purpose to purifying e-roll and to authenticate bonafide voters. He further called on all political parties to appoint Book Level Agents (BLAs) from their respective parties for authenticating genuine electoral list as well or for linking Aadhar card with electoral Photo identity card (EPIC). ADC & ERO Dimapur, Elizabeth Ngully proposed the vote of thanks.
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Nursing Home inaugurated
Advocacy on HIV AIDS held at Chetheba Chozuba, april 18 (mExN): Chokri Area Public Organisation (CAPO) and Lightway Society (LS) supported by Legislators Forum on AIDS (LFA) organised advocacy on HIV/AIDS for 18th Chozuba Assembly Constituency on April 17 at Chetheba Town Hall was attended by 153 persons from 24 villages. Lightway Society President Vesusa Tetseo in a press release stated that the delegates include Village Council Chairman, VBD Secretary, Women Chairperson, Pastor, Youth President and student leaders also students of class 9 & 10 students of Chetheba High School. Dr Vinito Chishi Consultant, LFA Nagaland delivered the keynote address, followed by Kuduvo Kezo District Nodal Officer (DAPCU) Phek presenting the scenario on HIV/AIDS from global down to the district. He also presented the ICTC wise detail of the Phek district. Dr Vijohol Doctor PHC Chetheba also presented how, why and by which means the HIV/
AIDS spreads. Ngotso D Sakhamo Associate Pastor Rükizu Baptist Church presented Church responsed on illicit use of drugs. He mentioned that drug is not only one of the key agents in spreading HIV/AIDS and drug itself is actually killing more people than HIV/AIDS. His also spoke on how and why people take drugs and the church role on dealing with drug users and HIV/AIDS positive people. The meeting was chaired by Vesüsa Tetseo President Lightway Society and Vesüpra Tetseo Pastor Chetheba Baptist Church pronounced a prayer of invocation which was followed by welcome address by Mezahü Medeo Chairman Chetheba Town Council after which an indigenous tune was presented by Chakhesang Cultural Research Institute Chetheba. Vezhosa Chüzho President Chokri Area Public Organisation gave the vote of thanks and the meeting concluded with a word of thanksgiving prayer pronounced by Pfulo koza Pastor CCRC Chetheba.
DPDB Zbto proposes up-gradation of Aizuto School
zuNhEboto, april 18 (Dipr): The monthly Zunheboto District Planning and Development Board meeting for the month of April was held at Atoizu Town Hall on April 17 with Parliamentary Secretary for Jails & Home Guards and Chairman DPDB Zunheboto, Er. Picto. Other agendas discussed in the meeting were up-gradation of Christian School, Aizuto from Class VII to class IX. In this regard, the members decided to forward it to the authority concerned for approval and necessary action.
Meanwhile, the principal of GHSS, Zunheboto, highlighted on the difficulties faced by the school and requested the members to deliberate on the matter as it has been a long neglected issue, which needs to be addressed at the earliest. Atoizu Area Students’ Union also brought up an agenda regarding up-gradation of Kheloshe Polytechnic Atoizu. A PowerPoint presentation was presented by NABARD while Rev Dr. Joshua Rochill invoked blessing. All the officers from Zunheboto attended the meeting.
Dr. JT Walling (second to Left) Sushil Kumar Patel, DC Mokokchung (Centre) and Rev. Ponen Longchar (Right) after the dedication of multi-utility units in Woodland Nursing Home Mokokchung. (Morung Photo) Morung Express News Mokokchung | April 18
Woodland nursing home, the only nursing home in Mokokchung district, inaugurated its Intensive Care Unit, High Dependency Unit, Dialysis and Neo Natal Units at the nursing home on April 18 at Mokokchung, which is funded by the North-Eastern Council. In a short inaugural programme, Dr. JT Walling, the first Gynecologist from among the Nagas and the proprietor of Woodland Nursing Home, expressed that it was a great milestone in the evolution of Woodland nursing home. “The project that we inaugurated today is the first of such units in Mokokchung and has been a long and vital necessity for the people of Mokokchung,” he stated. “ICU and hamodialysis unit is especially necessary on the matter of life and death and most im-
Acknowledgement M
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RANO MESE SHAIZA (Nov.11, 1928—April 1, 2015)
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portantly for the poor and economically backward patients with no means to travel out of the state for better treatment,” he further added. Dr. JT Walling extended his gratitude to the Government of Nagaland for approving the project and the NEC for realizing the need of our people by granting the fund and fulfilling the mission of saving more lives. Deputy Commissioner Mokokchung, Sushil Kumar Patel IAS, who was the Chief Guest at the inaugural function, congratulated Dr. JT Walling and his team for the great achievement and hoped that it will serve its purpose in serving the people of Nagaland and help in the betterment of the society. He stated that poverty and social seclusion are major challenges in the country today and that it was the reason for many health problems and that
education and health are in absolute inequality. He urged for equality in the health sector and also not to fall prey to commercialisation. He lamented that there are only a few good people left in the world and that when your intentions are good even if none helps, God surely will. Imolemba, President Ao Senden, Imo Longkumer, Chairman, Mokokchung Village Council and Dr. S. Akaba, CMO, Mokokchung also gave short speeches. The dedicatory prayer of the units was pronounced by Rev. Ponen Longchar, Pastor, Mokokchung Town Baptist Church. Woodland Nursing Home first started in 1978 as a single room OPDcum- Mother and childcare clinic. Today it has expanded to a 30-bedded nursing home with 50 personals including nonmedical staff.
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Recommendation for State Teachers Awards 2015 Kohima, april 18 (mExN): All concerned heads of both government and private educational institutions under the District Education Officer, Kohima are informed to forward cases of eligible and deserving teachers fulfilling the under mentioned criteria for:
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State Award to Teachers 2015: i. Teachers who have developed an innovative approach to teaching. ii. Teachers who have achieved a certain level of excellence in their profession. iii. In teaching profession for a minimum period of 15 years. iv. A recipient of District Award for Teachers. Financial Assistance from the National Foundation for Teachers Welfare: i. Permanent disability of the teacher. ii. Prolonged treatment for his/her own ailment or ailment of wife/children/husband/dependent parents. iii. Untimely death of the incumbent. iv. Natural calamity of devastating nature for which grant/ relief was not received from any other source. District Education Officer, Kohima K. Mary Dzüvichü in a press release informed that in this regard, it is further informed that format of recommendation can be obtained from the office of the undersigned with immediate effect during office hour and the same, duly filled along with 4(four) recent passport size photographs can be submitted latest by April 30.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” II Tim. 4: 7 On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, our most beloved Mummy, Rano Mese Shaiza moved to her eternal home. Her life’s race was well run, her life’s work well done, and her life’s victory, well won. Mummy’s life was one of bountiful love, patience and benevolence, which brought out the finest in others; her integrity, strength of character and the genuine love for her people were seen by those who knew her, and we will miss her very dearly … we believe Mummy received a glorious welcome upon her arrival in heaven.
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The family of Rano Mese Shaiza would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who shared our pain at the passing of our dearest mother. We deeply appreciate the love, understanding, kindness and support you have showered on us, which has helped ease our sorrow. Your kind expressions through your presence, your words, thoughts and prayers, text messages, phone calls, emails, cards and letters of condolence, generous gifts, and beautiful floral tributes, has meant a great deal to us. We thank you for taking the time to attend the service in celebration of her life at Ura Academy Hall, and for the warm and kind tributes. Thank you for honouring our mother with such grace and dignity. Our deepest gratitude to all those who accompanied us to Zubza, our mother’s final resting place. We are also truly grateful to those who made the effort to travel such long distances in order to be with our family, and for all the continued support during this truly difficult time. Please accept this as a personal note of gratitude to each one of you. May God Bless You. ~ FAMILY OF RANO MESE SHAIZA ~
Dept tap potential horti crops in Southern Angami area Kohima, april 18 (mExN): A day training programme on ‘potential horticulture crops in Southern Angami Area’ was conducted at VBFK Building, Kohima organised by Japfuphiki Baptist Church Council Thepfuko Krotho (JBCCTK) in collaboration with Horticulture Department where around 60 delegates from various villages participated. The main resource person during the Technical Session-I was Senti Longchar, AHO Directorate who highlighted on the potentiality of the area for organic vegetable farming. He also spoke on Kiwi cultivation where the farmers need to maintain the male female ratio for good production. He also covered the topic on temperate fruit crops like Peach, Plum and pears. Naga Mircha and Large cardamom cultivation were the two important spice crops covered during the technical session. Senti Longchar also demonstrated on Mushroom cultivation, which was another fast income generating activity for the rural people. During the Session-II, Chozhule Kikhi, DDH was the main speake who spoke on the ‘Sustainable Development through Horticulture.’ Kikhi also highlighted on the various activities like pickling, jam and jelly making, packaging and value addition which the SHGs could take up for sustainable livelihood. The programme was lead by Nosevol Kin, President, JBCCTK, invocation prayer by Rev. Hosato Kiso Sr. Pastor, VBC and Exhortation by Rev. Vingozu Thapru, President, JBCC. The training programme concluded with interaction session and vote of thanks by Rev. Mekhalie Yoshu, Director, Church Relation and Ministerial Training ABCC.
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REgional
The Morung Express
Sunday
19 April 2015
Shah reaches out to NE states iMphal, april 18 (pti): BJP President Amit Shah today exhorted people of Manipur and other Northeastern states to join BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership to take the region towards speedy development and bring an end to corruption. Addressing a public meeting here, Shah said only BJP can provide a corruption-free government that can usher in development in the region and added that the BJP-led central government has earmarked over Rs 1,900 crore for development of the northeastern region. He also sought public support for BJP candidates in the Autonomous District Hill Council election in May. Shah earlier reached here after undertaking a five-hour road journey from Dimapur, where he spent the entire day yesterday meeting with party leaders and workers. The BJP chief, who is on a four-day visit to the north eastern states, was sup-
posed to travel by chopper but had to take the over 200-km mountainous road route due to bad weather. Shah, accompanied by party's general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and senior leader Tapir Gao, is touring the northeastern region to strengthen the party base and connect with the people there. He told the people of Manipur that after travelling by road through the countryside he could understand the problems of the area and its people. He said the area had tremendous tourism potential to harness and can attract tourists from all over the world. Shah also asked people to connect the people, especially the tribal population, with the Jan-Dhan Scheme to help integrate them in the country's financial system. The BJP President has met party leaders in Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. He visited Mizoram on Thursday and Nagaland yesterday during his fourday visit.
Northeast Briefs
NDFB cadre involved in 2014 Assam massacre held
Guwahati, april 18 (iaNS): A joint team of army and Assam Police on Saturday arrested a National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militant who was allegedly involved in the 2014 massacre of adivasis. The militant was identified as Samar Basumatary alias Sona, a self-styled platoon commander of NDFB in Chirang district, the army said in a statement. He was arrested during an operation at in Kokrajhar district. "One 7.65 mm pistol, three live rounds, one hand grenade were among others recovered during the operation," it said. Defence Spokesman Lt Col Suneet Newton said here that Sona underwent training in Mayanmar in 2010. "He was, thereafter, made responsible for imparting training to new recruits of the group at its camp in Myanmar till 2013." "He was directly involved in the massacre of adivasis in Ultapani on the night of December 23 last year, in which 13 adivasi people were killed," he said. The NDFB militants killed over 70 civilians, including children, in Assam's Kokrajhar, Chirang and Sonitpur districts December 23, 2014.
NPF awareness programme in Tadubi SeNapati, april 18 (MexN): The NPF Senapati District in collaboration with 48 A/C Mao and 49 A/C Tadubi is organising a one day political awareness program at Tadubi Town Hall on April 28 at 11 AM. A press release from the NPF Senapati Division informed that MLAs from Manipur and NPF executive Manipur sector and other dignitaries will speak during the programme. All the NPF workers, well wishers, supporters and village leaders have been requested to attend the said programme.
Tripura CPI-M leader sent to police custody over wife's murder aGartala, april 18 (iaNS): A court in Tripura on Saturday sent senior CPI-M leader Jitendra Das, his two brothers and nephew to six-da'sy police custody in connection with the murder of his wife Kalpana Das, police said. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Jitendra Das, his two younger brothers and nephew were arrested by police on Friday in connection with the murder of 62-year-old Kalpana Das, who was a retired employee of Tripura police department. She was found dead at their home at Ranir Bazar, near here, on Thursday morning. "We have produced all the four accused at the first class judicial magistrate court here and sought 12-day police custody. The court has allowed six days," a police official said, adding that all the four accused would be produced in the court again on April 24. The ruling CPI-M has expelled Jitendra Das from the party. Claiming his innocence, Das told reporters at the court that the murder was a conspiracy against him and his family. Jitendra Das, 64, was the former sabhadhipati (president) of paschim zilla parishad until July 2014 and a senior leader of the CPI-M local sub-divisional committee. Kalpana's death has stirred political and nonpolitical circles in the Left-ruled Tripura.
Shah takes 5-hour road journey to reach rally venue in Imphal
Amit Shah
Shah will inaugurate the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hall at the party's office in Manipur tomorrow, Tapir Gao said, adding that thereafter he will return to the national capital. The visit is aimed at expanding BJP's base and make the membership drive successful, besides hearing the problems of the people of the region. During his interaction
sis are affected by malaria which has an association with sickle cell trait. Sickle Cell Anaemia has no particular treatment," Panda said. "A small test costing Rs two to three per person with immediate results with the Centre bearing the cost will be performed. A card will be provided to any one testing positive and counselled to marry a non-Sickle Cell person to save the next generation," he said. "Five to six lakh children will be surveyed in Assam and a similar number in the other six N-E states by the end of the year. We had a meeting here today with the participation of Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram
reaching there by road," Gao said. Shah will be meeting leaders of the party and public today and will inaugurate the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hall at the party's office in Manipur tomorrow, he added. The visit is aimed at involving the party leaders and public for expanding BJP's base and make the membership drive successful, besides hearing the problems of the people of the region. During his interaction with party workers, Shah has been asking them to take central schemes to the public, including tribals in the area, and usher in development of the region. The BJP chief has previously said that his party government will develop the entire northeast region and bring it on par with other parts of the country, besides improving its connectivity with rest of India.
3
NEFIS demands judicial probe Delhi, april 18 (MexN): The North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) has demanded immediate independent judicial probe into the alleged molestation of three women by army personnel in Arunachal Pradesh. NEFIS has also demanded the immediate arrest of the 12 army personnel involved in the incident. A press release from NEFIS Media Coordinator, Hem Chandra Brahma, informing this stated that a two member delegation from NEFIS submitted a memorandum to resident commissioner of Arunachal Bhawan. The press note from NEFIS alleged that 12 Indian Army personnel molested three Arunachalee women in Jullang village of Lower Taraso in Papum Pare on April 6. Expressing sadness that none of those involved have been identified by the local police, NEFIS stated, “The state government holds the responsibility of safety and well being of its people but
this event shows total failure on government’s side.” NEFIS stated that the women were attacked by the Army at midnight and despite the whole village coming forward to file the FIR, the Arunachal Pradesh government was yet to set up an independent judicial enquiry into the matter. The molesters are still at large, it added. The demands made in the memorandum include setting up an independent judicial enquiry immediately; Arunachal government immediately seek permission from the Centre to prosecute the army personnel involved; Arunachal government track the movement of army personnel in the state; Arunachal government write to the Central government to roll back Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the state. NEFIS warned that it would be forced to take the issue to the national level if their demands are not heard.
BJP to go alone in 2016 Assam assembly polls Tripura ADC polls to witness multi-cornered contest Guwahati, april 18 (et): BJP will continue its Lok Sabha polls formula of going solo in 2016 assembly polls in Assam. Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan who is also the minister in charge of BJP in Assam said that party will go alone in assembly polls 2016. He said that the party has been able to mainstream itself in Assam. "People here want change and are looking forward to BJP. We will go alone." Pradhan has toured the Upper Assam areas and on Friday in Guwahati said, "Earlier despite winning Lok Sabha seats we were
not able repeat the same in assembly seats. However the party has grown well in Brahmaputra valley where the party swept the Lok Sabha polls." Brahmaputra valley is the Congress bastion. Pradhan added, "In Lower Assam we have build good network of the party. In Central Assam we always had our presence as we won the Lok Sabha seat there for several times." BJP had alliance with regional party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Lok Sabha polls 2009. The poll pact has worked for BJP as it managed to get four seats. However both parties parted ways and fought 2011 as-
Assam Police freeze Anil Chauhan’s bank accounts Guwahati, april 18 (aGeNCieS): With the recent arrest of Congress MLA Rumi Nath for her alleged links with notorious car lifter Anil Chauhan, the focus has now shifted to the latter's bank accounts. The state police have frozen 17 bank accounts held by Chauhan and are investigating his financial transactions. Police commissioner Jyotirmoy Chakravarty said, "Chauhan holds accounts in various banks. Not much cash is present in these accounts. He even has accounts in banks in Mizoram and Nagaland." Sources said Chauhan's money trail implicates top businessmen and government officials in Barak Valley, Dimapur and Aizawl. "Transport department officials in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram have links with him. They helped him prepare fake vehicle documents. There are people who helped him deface the chassis of sto-
Survey to find out whether youths have sickle cell anaemia Guwahati, april 18 (pti): A survey would be carried of all youths upto marriageable age from Adivasi community to find out whether they are suffering from sickle cell anaemia, a hereditary blood disorder to counsel them not to marry people suffering from the same disorder, Union Tribal Affairs department secretary Hrishikesh Panda said today. "The Union Tribal Affairs department has taken up a new initiative for a 100 per cent survey to test all school going and school dropouts up to marriageable age youths from the Adivasi community," Panda said. "It has been found that 50 per cent of the Adiva-
with party workers, Shah has been asking them to take central schemes to the public, including tribals in the area, and usher in development of the region. The BJP chief has previously said that his party's government will develop the entire northeast region and bring it on par with other parts of the country, besides improving its connectivity with rest of India.
DiMapur, april 18 (pti) : BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday undertook a five-hour road journey from here to Imphal, where he is slated to address a public meeting in the evening. Shah, who is on a fourday visit to the northeastern states, was supposed to travel by chopper but had to take the over 200-km mountainous road route due to bad weather. The BJP chief, accompanied by party's general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and senior leader Tapir Gao, is touring the northeastern region to strengthen the party base and connect with the people there. Shah is set to meet party leaders in states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. He visited Mizoram on the first day on Thursday and visited Nagaland yesterday. "The BJP chief will address a public rally at Imphal this evening after
Dimapur
and Arunachal Pradesh to work out the protocol of the test," Panda said. Stating the tests would be conducted through government agencies of ANM nurses, doctors, Asha and Angawadi workers, he said medical teams would be trained by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to be deployed in the districts. Clarifying there was no stigma attached to those identified to have traits of the disease, Panda said, "they are not infectious, can lead a normal life, marry a normal person and have the disease-free children." Over one crore children were targeted to be surveyed across the country, he said.
len vehicles and change the engine numbers," the commissioner added. Chauhan is wanted in a host of cases, including murder, gunrunning and smuggling of animal parts. His 14-day police custody at the Azara PS is going to end on Sunday.
sembly election on its own. Fighting alone BJP in 2014 parliamentary polls secured seven seats, the saffron party's highest number of seats in Assam. Pradhan said, "We are strategizing with Central ministers coming here frequently. Assam is our focus. The party has increased its presence among different communities." BJP has swept the civic bodies polls however the Saffron party could win only one seat in the recently held sixth scheduled area, Bodoloand Territorial Council polls. Pradhan said, "We will have to analyze the results of Bodoland elections."
LOST NOTICE I, Kaisa Krehe, am applying for a duplicate copy of Identity Card of Sainik School Punglwa as I have lost it. Name : Kaisa Krehe F/Name : Shri.Krehe Personal No. : 21017T D.O.B. : 18th April 1982 Designation : Asst. Master (English) Identification Mark: A mole on the right chin Date of Appointment : 18 Jul 2011
itaNaGar, april 18 (pti): The elections to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) slated for May 3 is all set to witness multi-corner fight in all the constituencies. All the opposition parities including Congress, Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) are this time contesting the election on their own. A total of 177 candidates are in fray across the 28 constituencies of TTAADC after the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers expired on April 16, Election Commissioner for district council S K Rakesh said here today. He said the number of candidates has been reduced to 177 from 198 after withdrawal of nomination papers by 21 candidates of different political parties. Rakesh said while 18 candidates are contesting on Trinamool Congress symbol, the BJP has fielded 28 candidates.
The CPI(M) is contesting in 25 constituencies while the INPT has fielded on 28, he said. Twenty-seven candidates from IPFT are also in the fray and the Congress is contesting in all the 28 seats, he said. While the highest number of nine candidates will be facing electoral test in Machmara and Karamcherra constituencies, Budhjungnagar constituency registered five candidates, the lowest number of candidates. Of the total polling booths, altogether 79 polling stations have been identified as hyper sensitive while 360 booths have been marked as sensitive and remaining 632 polling stations are tagged as general category. To ensure free and fair elections, the Centre would provide 40 companies of additional central paramilitary forces to the state, the EC said. "The Centre has agreed to provide additional 40 companies of paramilitary forces to conduct the elections peacefully. All the troops will be deployed in election related duties," he said.
GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND DIRECTORATE OF SCHOOL EDUCATION NAGALAND :: KOHIMA CORRIGENDUM
Dated Kohima the April'2015
NO.ED/EST/GR-IV/APPT/DIS-MBA/2011-12:: Reference to the Advertisement dated 16.04.2015 published by the department inviting application for the post of Chowkidar at GMS, Yimjenkimong, serial No. 3 and 4 in the terms & condition of the said Advertisement shall remain deleted. All other terms and conditions shall remain as published. Sd/ZAVEYI NYEKHA Director (SE)
INFORMATION
Admission forms for Class-11 are available in the school office, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Working days)
PATKAI CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (Autonomous) Chümoukedima – Seithekema B.P.O. Patkai – 797 103, Dimapur – Nagaland
Hostel seats are available for both boys and girls.
Affiliated to Nagaland University College with Potential for Excellence NAAC Re-accreditation: ‘A’ (3.06 CGPA) Postgraduate College
Sd/Principal CMHSS
INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN MINISTRY
Sponsored by Toluvi Baptist Church Toluvi Village, Dimapur – 797112, Nagaland Registered under the Government of Nagaland: NO. HOME/SCR - 6826
JUBILEE MEMORIAL COLLEGE MOKOKCHUNG NAGALAND
WANTED
Motto: Every Child, Every Church A six months intensive course (residential) diploma course especially designed for child care givers, Sunday school teachers and others interested in children ministry. • Issue of application forms – 6th April to7th May, 2015 • Last date of submission of application forms – 8th May, 2015. • Date of entrance exam and interview – 12th May, 2015, 10 AM. • 2015 session begins in the month of June.
Applications are invited from interested candidates for the above positions at Jubilee Memorial College, Mokokchung (a new College being set up by the Mokokchung Town Baptist Church).
Interested candidates may contact: Programmee Co-Ordinator, ICM
Interested candidates are informed to send their bio-data/career profile immediately to jubileememorialcollege@gmail.com. All correspondences and information shall be conveyed through email only.
Mobile: 8259973539 or E-mail: icmtoluvi@gmail.com
FACULTY MEMBERS FOR • ENGLISH • HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE • ECONOMICS
• SOCIOLOGY
Qualifications: 1. Consistently good academic career 2. PG degree in the relevant subject from a recognized University 3. Preference for NET-qualified candidates 4. Good command of the English language
Convenor, Jubilee Memorial College Committee
4
Dimapur
businEss
Sunday 19 April 2015
Reliance to restart all fuel pump outlets by March 2016
A watchman of Reliance's closed petrol station walks at Raipur Kalan village in the northern Indian state of Punjab May 7, 2010. (Reuters File Photo)
mumbai, april 18 (reuters): Reliance Industries Ltd plans to restart all of its 1,400 retail fuel pump outlets in the fiscal year ending of March 2016, a report on the company website said. The stations were closed in 2008 when global oil prices touched the $150 mark for a barrel and the government's subsidy to state fuel retailers knocked privately-owned retailers out of the market. Over 320 fuel outlets have already been restarted, a presentation on the website said.
Reliance took a significant share away from the state companies in 2006. The top three state refiners, Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp, between them sell nearly all of the petrol and diesel consumed annually in India. Reliance Petroleum Limited was set up by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), one of India's largest private sector companies based in Ahmedabad. Currently, RPL has amalgamated with RIL, and has interests in the downstream oil business.
The Morung Express
Trillions of dollars needed for Govt to review new ITR Forms, new bid to end poverty by 2030 to make them simple Washington, april 18 (thomson reuters Foundation): World leaders have drawn up ambitious goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and promote development over the next 15 years, but now they have to figure out how to pay the bill. Trillions of dollars would be required to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the United Nations is expected to adopt in September, global experts said. The goals address a wide range of issues from healthcare for all, to education, water, energy and protecting the environment. But in an era of budget austerity, Western governments have made it clear, ahead of a development finance summit in Addis Ababa in July, that foreign aid will be insufficient to do the job. Total official development aid (ODA) currently runs at about $131 billion a year. Heads of state must embrace a new financing framework, one that mobilises ODA, private investment
and higher levels of government revenues, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. "Much more is needed. We need to shift the conversation from billions (of dollars) to trillions," Ban told a World Bank panel on development finance. Improving tax collection in developing countries was high on the agenda at several meetings held this week during the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF)spring meetings to discuss new models for increasing development finance. Better tax systems would bolster budgets and give governments more funds to invest in social programmes. In many lowincome countries, tax as a percent of GDP is under 15 percent against at least 24 percent in advanced economies, IMF data show. Finance ministers asked for more technical help. But equally pressing is the need to crack down on illicit finance, tax evasion by multinational corpora-
tions and unjust mining and energy contracts that rob countries of their natural resource wealth, said Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Multinational corporations have immense expertise on how to exploit tax loopholes, financial knowledge that developing countries lack rendering them unable to capture corporate taxes on profits earned in their countries, she said. A U.N. panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki has estimated that Africa loses $50 billion a year to illict finance, double the amount of official development aid that flows into the region, and that multinationals account for 60 percent of the lost revenues. World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati singled out fighting tax evasion and illicit finance, including the offshore hubs and shell companies used to transfer money, as important elements for addressing the shortfall in development finance.
One U.N. study estimated that $250-300 billion a year in development finance is lost through the outflow of potential revenues that can be taxed. Indrawati said sophisticated financial centers act as "quasi-enablers," assisting corrupt individuals and legitimatecompaniesindiverting money from the poor. "For the schoolchild in Haiti, the new mother in Malawi or the farmer in Bangladesh, these losses have real impact. They result in classrooms that are overcrowded, health clinics that are never built and water that is never delivered," she said. The G20 leaders of advanced and major developing countries have drawn up proposals for sharing tax information and improving corporate tax fairness, and they have vowed to set up registries on who owns assets stashed in opaque corporate structures. But Indrawati said more action is needed, calling it an urgent issue for achieving the new development goals.
neW delhi, april 18 (pti): Government today announced that new Income Tax Return (ITR) Forms that require disclosure of details regarding bank accounts and foreign trips undertaken by an individual will be reconsidered, a move that comes after criticism from tax experts and others. It will come out with simplified ITR forms, it was officially announced. “The Finance Minister has called me from Washington and said the whole matter related to new ITR form will be reconsidered. The government will simplify the ITR form,” Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das told PTI. He said this decision comes in the wake of difficulties expressed by various sections and tax experts on the new ITR forms relation to financial year 2014-15. Yesterday, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department, notified the new ITR forms for the current assessment year, seeking additional details to check the menace of black money.
Vodafone India ties up with Goa postal dept panaji, april 18 (pti): Telecom major Vodafone India in collaboration with department of Posts in Goa has introduced bill payment facility through computerized post offices (POs). Vodafone has taken the initiative to introduce ‘pay through post office facility’ to make it simple, easy, secure and less time consuming for customers to make their bill payments, a company statement issued said. The facility is only for operator’s post-paid customers.“We strongly believe this post-paid bill payment facility will significantly enhance the convenience factor for our valued customers, in remitting their monthly mobile bills,” Ashish Chandra, Business Head, Maharashtra and Goa, Vodafone India said. The facility is available at 53 computerized POs and the company will look into extending the facility to remaining computerized POs.
State Bank of India commits itself to financial inclusion Google shaking up search recommendations on smartphones Washington, april 18 (ians): The World Bank Group and a broad coalition of partners, including the State Bank of India, have made commitments that will help promote financial inclusion and achieve universal financial access by the year 2020. Galvanizing privatesector investment and innovation to accelerate universal financial access, including through enabling policy and regulatory frameworks, was the focus of a flagship event at the World Bank headquarters here Friday. It brought together private-sector leaders, government regulators and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 2020 goal calls for adults worldwide to have access to a transaction account or an electronic instrument to store money, send and receive payments, recognizing financial access as a basic build-
ing block to managing an individual's financial life. Access to a transaction account is a first step toward broader financial inclusion, which helps poor families escape poverty and afford essential social services such as water, electricity, housing, education and health care. For small firms and medium-sized enterprises access to financing can help them reduce risks, grow and expand operations. "More than 700 million people gained financial access between 2011 and 2014, and this gives us fresh evidence that our ambitious goal of universal access by 2020 is attainable," said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. "The World Bank Group's role is to convene and energize a coalition of partners-and also to step up our work. Over the next five years, our institution commits to enabling as many as 1 billion adults,
who are now financially excluded, to gain access to a transaction account." Private-sector leaders from around the world came forward with a committed set of actions to reach a specific number of people by year 2020. "Since inception, the State Bank of India has played a major role in expanding financial inclusion agenda in the country," said Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman of the State Bank of India, a panellist at the event. "During the first three years of its Financial Inclusion Plan (2010-13), SBI covered 20531 villages and opened 20.2 million new accounts," she said. "As part of the second Financial Inclusion Plan (201316) we reached to 85130 villages and opened 70 million accounts." "We see a huge opportunity in our 70 million customers. All these customers can be sold pension and
insurance products. Based on transaction history, they can be credit linked and become part of the global financial system," Bhattacharya said. Announcing MasterCard's commitment to the World Bank Group's efforts toward universal financial access, its Indian American CEO & President Ajay Banga said: "Our target is to reach 500 million people currently considered to be excluded from the financial mainstream." "In making this commitment, we recognise that reaching full financial inclusion by 2020 requires the active engagement and commitment of the private sector, working in partnership with governments and international development organizations." "Together, we can be agents of transformative change who create more inclusive economies and more empowered populations," he said.
_
LEISURE
Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”
SUDOKU Game Number # 3199
Michael Liedtke AP Technology Writer
Google is about to change the way its influential search engine recommends websitesonsmartphonesinashiftthat's expected to sway where millions of people shop, eat and find information. The revised formula, scheduled to be released Tuesday, will favor websites that Google defines as "mobile-friendly." Websites that don't fit the description will be demoted in Google's search results on smartphones while those meeting the criteria will be more likely to appear at the top of the rankings — a prized position that can translate into more visitors and money. Although Google's new formula won't affect searches on desktop and laptop computers, it will have a huge influence on how and where people spend their money, given that more people are relying on their smartphones to compare products in stores and look for restaurants. That's why Google's new rating system is being billed by some search experts as "Mobile-geddon." Here are a few things to know about what's happening and why Google is doing it.
MAKING MOBILE FRIENDS To stay in Google's good graces, websites must be designed so they load quickly on mobile devices. Content must also be easily accessible by scrolling up and down — without having to also swipe to the left or right. It also helps if all buttons for making purchases or taking other actions on the website can be easily seen and touched on smaller screens. If a website has been designed only with PC users in mind, the graphics take longer to load on smartphones and the columns of text don't all fit on the smaller screens, to the aggravation of someone trying to read it. BRACING FOR CHANGE To minimize complaints, the company disclosed its plans nearly two months ago. It also created a step-by-step guide (http://bit. ly/1GyC0Id ) and a tool to test compliance with the new standards (http://bit.ly/1EVi9R3 ). Google has faced uproar over past changes to its search formula. Two of the bigger revisions, done in 2011 and 2012, focused on an attempt to weed out misleading websites and other digital rubbish. Although that goal sounds reasonable, many websites still com-
DAILY CROSS WORD
CROSSWORD # 3209
Answer Number # 3198
plained that Google's changes unfairly demoted them in the rankings, making their content more difficult to find. STILL CAUGHT OFF GUARD While most major merchants and big companies already have websites likely to meet Google's mobile standard, the new formula threatens to hurt millions of small businesses that haven't had the money or incentive to adapt their sites for smartphones. BURYING HELPFUL CONTENT Google's search formula weighs a variety of factors to determine the rankings of its results. One of the most important considerations has always been whether a site contains the most pertinent information sought by a search request. But new pecking order in Google's mobile search may relegate some sites to the back pages of the search results, even if their content is more relevant to a search request than other sites that happen to be easier to access on smartphones. That will be an unfortunate consequence, but also justifiable because a person might not even bother to look at sites that take a long time to open or difficult to read on mobile devices, Gartner analyst Whit Andrews said.
DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:
STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474
Metro Hospital:
227930, 231081
Faith Hospital:
228846
Shamrock Hospital
228254
Zion Hospital:
231864, 224117, 227337
Police Control Room
228400
Police Traffic Control
232106
East Police Station West Police Station
227607 232181
CIHSR (Referral Hospital)
242555/ 242533
Dimapur hospital
224041, 248011
Apollo Hospital Info Centre:
230695/ 9402435652
Railway:
131/228404
Indian Airlines
229366
Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre
W
O Julius Caesar JULIUS BRUTUS LEPIDUS CASSIUS KNIFE BLOOD UNBRACE PREFORM
SOOTHSAYER IDES WORTHINESS FEARFULNESS FLEER AWL DISROBE GUILTINESS FOOLERY CONSTRUE AIRLESS SCENE BEWARE SUFFERANCE GUSTY CROWN NOBLE
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V G A V J R F G N W J B Y K N N H U M O
I J W P U H Z C E N A I J E L B O N Y X
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C L U Z L W A A V L P V J L C G A B Y P
V L E P I D U S X P I P M R O F E R P T
E E R S U R R S K O G E I E N A Z A U O
E
D C V S S G E I V O O I J Z S B S C Y Y
I N W E N V Y U P F L A Z P T I O E X L
G A N N P X A S F F O O L E R Y I S B L
A
L R D I P T S S E L R I A G U S T Y R H
P E Z H N B H E A F U U Q N E L G X U F
Y F I T L D T N R S S X Q Z W H K J T R
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R F H R J P O I F L E E R J J Q R T U B
Z U C O E Q O T U A G P N K R O X F S H
I S R W H D S L L A S Z B O F Q Q U N N
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K C O G G E F I N K D D K C I B A B N K
T E O D R V L U E B D H G R A Z Y W F Y
K N G F K U U G S Y O A I O O U E I T L
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ACROSS
1. Fanatical 6. ___ vera 10. Prompted 14. Avoid 15. Weapons 16. Competent 17. Concur 18. Wildebeests 19. Plunder 20. Express in different words 22. Superhero accessory 23. Chair 24. Spay 26. Not short 30. 16 in Roman numerals 31. L 32. Double-reed woodwind 33. Every single one 35. Silk-cotton tree 39. Piano player 41. Not western 43. Aromatic solvent 44. Historical periods 46. Chocolate cookie 47. Regulation (abbrev.) 49. Commercials 50. Iron oxide 51. Force out 54. Urgent request
56. Armed conflicts 57. Unfeeling 63. Decorative case 64. Any day now 65. Located near the poles 66. Gave temporarily 67. Not soft 68. List components 69. 3 70. Picnic insects 71. Trainee
DOWN
1. Harvest 2. Aquatic plant 3. Prickle 4. Bright thought 5. Oceans 6. Exasperate 7. Madman 8. Burden 9. Ancient ascetic 10. A mathematical device 11. Submarine 12. Run away to wed 13. Discourage 21. Spells 25. Large North American deer (plural) 26. Easy gait 27. Death notice 28. Ark builder
29. Unselfishness 34. Promontories 36. South American country 37. Mining finds 38. Clove hitch or figure eight 40. Angers 42. Donkeys 45. Affinity 48. Japanese hostess 51. Inhabited 52. Consumer of food 53. Wrinkled fruit 55. Savory jelly 58. Groan 59. Greek letter 60. Hemorrhaged 61. Disabled 62. At one time (archaic) Ans to CrossWord 3208
Police Control Room: North Police Station: South Police Station: Fire Brigade: Naga Hospital: Oking Hospital: Bethel Nursing Home: Northeast Shuttles
STD CODE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923
DIMAPUR: 03862 232201/ 101 (O) 9436017479 (OC) CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862 282777/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC)
MOKOKCHUNG: 0369 2226225/ 101 (O) 9436012949 (OC) PHEK: 8414853765 (O) 9862130954(OC) ZUNHEBOTO: 03867 280304/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC) TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 8414853519 MON: 03869 251222/ 101 (O) 9436208480 (OC) KipHire: 8414853767 (O) 8974304572 (OC)
CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE Toll free No. 1098 childline
MOKOKCHUNG:
KOHIMA: 0370 2222952/ 101 (O) 9402003086 (OC)
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Chumukedima Fire 282777 Brigade Nikos Hospital and 232032, 231031 Research Centre
KOHIMA
FIRE STATIONS
STD CODE: 0369
Police Station 1:
2226241
Police Station 2 :
2226214
Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:
2226216 2226263
Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):
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CURRENCY NOTES
222246 222491
BUY(Rs)
SELL(Rs)
US Dollars Sterling Pound Hong Kong Dollar Australian Dollar Singapore Dollar Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen
60.91 90.83 7.6 47.29 45.07 49.87 50.84
63.69 95.26 8.47 49.63 47.32 52.35 54.15
Euro
65.55
68.75
Thai Baht Korean Won New Zealand Dollar Chinese Yuan
1.82
2.03
0.0543
0.0605
46.57
48.89
9.52
10.61
LOCAL
The Morung Express
Sunday 19 April 2015
Dimapur
5
Amit Shah’s visit Value Links training held in Kohima President successful: BJP Nagaland
Kohima, april 18 (mExN): A five-day training programme on Value Links was held in Kohima from April 13-17. Organised by the Climate Change Adaptation-North East Region (CCA-NER) project of the German Development Co-operation (GIZ), more than 25 participants from Sikkim, Meghalaya and Nagaland, representing their states, attended the training programme. The training aimed to provide state-of-the-art know-how on applying the value chain concept in development co-operation following the Value Links methodology developed by GIZ. Speaking at the valedictory function of the training on April 17, Menukhol John, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government Nagaland, and Team
Participants pose with the officials during the training held on Value Links in Kohima from April 13-17.
Leader NEPED, stated that knowledge on Value Links is the need of the hour for Nagaland to market its products. He expressed hope that the State will be able to form a core team
of people trained in value chain concept so that the knowledge gained from the training can be applied at work and others may also benefit from the training programme.
Meanwhile, ImkonglembaAo, Agricultural Production Commissioner (APC), Nagaland, shared his experiences and gave insights into the field of agriculture in Nagaland. The
APC had keen interest in the training programme and attended various sessions of the training and interacted with participants, according to a press release received here.
Certificates of the training programme were given to the participants by Mercy Epao, Director, Ministry of Development of North East Region and Dr. Uwe Scholz, Project Director, CCA-NER (GIZ). The training was conducted by a two-member team of experts from GIZ, one international and one national expert. The CCA-NER project has, amongst other mandates, a strong focus on climate smart value chain. The Value Links Training programme is intended to serve personnel from line departments and consultants working in development agencies associated with promoting value chains keeping in mind environmental sustainability and pro-poor growth.
create fear psychosis in the minds of the citizens who have been living peacefully,” Patton stated in a condemnation note. He further asserted that all sensible people should condemn such “cowardly and dastardly repeated acts of terrorism.” The government, he said, reiterates that violence has no place in a civilized society and it can never be the means to bring peace and solution as violence begets violence only. “The Nagas have been suffering enough and time has come to rea-
son together to finding a permanent and lasting peace in our land, and they should know that their acts of repeated terrorism would not deter people and agencies from their strives to bring peace in their land once and for all,” he added. Under any circumstances, he affirmed, the state government will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to see that peace and tranquility is not disturbed in the state and further urged the state law enforcement agencies to nab the culprits responsible for the crime.
Horticulture dept distributes power tiller Kohima, april 18 (mExN): In a positive step towards the development of horticulture in the State, the department of horticulture distributed power tillers to the selected Farmers Interest Groups (FIGs) of Kohima district under National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (NVIUC), which is a special scheme under RKVY covering the districts of Kohima and Dimapur. The distribution programme held at the directorate of horticulture was chaired by Dr. RE Lotha, Deputy Director with Watienla Jamir, Director of Horticulture as the chief guest. It was attended by the FIGs and host of departmental officials.
Operation of power tiller being demonstrated prior to the distribution.
The chief guest said that getting the power tillers was a long awaited dream of the FIGs and the farmers earned it through their exemplary hard work and called it a Red Letter Day for the farmers. While lauding the efforts of the Farmers Producer Organ-
isations (FPOs) as well as the departmental officers for making it possible, she urged the officers and the farmers to work with a sense of responsibility, sincerity and maintain transparency. She also urged the FIGs to maintain the machineries efficiently since it
is an important tool, which will reduce the drudgery of farm work and make their lives more convenient. Kheza, President FPO, Kohima thanked the department of horticulture for assisting the vegetable farmers through various seeds and other inputs besides maintenance support. He also acknowledged the department for providing the power tiller free of cost to the selected beneficiaries and urged the farmers to use the machineries as instructed by the department. He also informed that with the efforts of the department, four farmers - 2 each from Kohima and Dimapur, has been invited to Bihar for training on vegetable seed production programme.
RD officials’ meet Kohima, april 18 (mExN): Director of Rural Development has informed that review of RD programmes and sensitization programme for all Project Directors, BDOs, APCs and BAPOs will be held on April 23 and 24 at RD conference hall, Kohima. In this regard, the director, Metsubo Jamir directed all officials concerned to report to the venue on April 23 at 10:30 am positively. After the general audience on April 15, Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, the Bishop of Kohima, met Pope Francis and presented him a Naga headgear and Naga shawl. As the Pope put on the headgear, the whole audience clapped and applauded, a press release said, adding the Pope accepted the gifts and assured the bishop of his prayers and good wishes to all Naga people. Rev. Dr. James Thoppil also spoke to the Pope about Pope Francis’ Science Building that he inaugurated on April 7 at St. Joseph's College, Jakhama. Named after Pope Francis, the new science block building was largely funded by the Papal Foundation.
Storm damages transformer in Dmp; load shedding to be imposed Dimapur, april 18 (mExN): The storm in Dimapur on April 18 “badly damaged” the sub-station at Burma Camp affecting 10Mva, 66/11Kv transformer and also 33 Kv and 11 Kv bay. The affected feeders are Veterinary and Tourist Lodge, Civil Hospital, Nagarjan, Purana Bazaar, Airport. Heavy load shedding will be imposed in the mentioned feeders till the affected transformer is restored and put into the circuit, informed executive engineer, Dimapur Electrical Division, Er. Moameren in a release. Therefore, the executive engineer has requested the consumers to bear the inconveniences. The department, he assured, is trying its best to restore normal power supply as early as possible.
Fire burns down houses in Tanhai
moN, april 18 (mExN): Two houses in Tanhai village of Mon district were burnt down completely at midnight of April 17 by fire which started from electric circuit in one of the kitchens. The fire service from Mon town rushed to Tanhai village to douse off the inferno, but was too late bedirector, Youth Resources & cause of the distance; hence returned to Mon half way, acSports. The director during the cording to a press release. All properties were consumed programme exhorted the staff by the fire, the release added. to maintain cleanliness as office is an alternate home of stay where the employees as well as the public come together for BIRThDAy GREETINGS work. She narrated the importance and value of social work Dear NORAH MIACHIEO, in society and quoted “Cleanappy 5th Birthday to our dear prinliness is next to Godliness”. All cess. May all happiness and success officers, staffs of the directorate be yours in the years ahead. attended the social work. from Elena, Mum, Dad and your loved ones.
YRS participate in Swachh Bharat
The DMC organized a social work at DMC slaughterhouse located at Khatkhati road, Dimapur on Saturday and its nearby areas under “Swachh Bharat Mission”. Look East Construction Pvt Ltd, GB and Colony Chairmen of United North Block also participated in the programme.
Kohima, april 18 (mExN): Taking part in the ongoing Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the staff of the Directorate of Youth Resources & Sports (YRS), Nagaland conducted mass social work on April 18 at the premises of the directorate office. The social work was conducted with a view to keep the office compound and rooms clean, neat and tidy, informed a press release issued by Asangla Imti,
sections of all societies to understand that the BJP is a secular party and there is no threat to the Christians and the minorities and urged for cooperation. The BJP Nagaland further congratulated Amit Shah for reaching the landmark target of enrolling 10 crore members in the BJP and beating the communist party of China, which has 6 crore members in the party. The BJP Nagaland State Unit also stated that Nagaland has emerged as the fastest in the membership drive across the nation. The visiting dignitaries, according to the release, were also impressed and expressed happiness over the meeting with the Christian Forum, the Catholic association of Nagaland and the Nagaland Baptist Church Council.
MEx FILE
Home minister condemns recent bomb blasts Kohima, april 18 (mExN): Home Minister Y Patton has condemned the two bomb blasts which occurred in the thickly populated National Highway 2 at Lerie Colony, Kohima causing injuries to innocent public and damaging public properties. “In spite of repeated appeals made by general public to those who were hell-bent on creating nuisances and disturbances, these people showed no compunction for the human lives and their sole intention was seen as to deliberately
Dimapur, april 18 (mExN): BJP Nagaland today said that the visit of party national president Amit Shah and general secretary (organization) Ram Lal to the State was a success and has boosted the confidence of the state BJP rank and file. In a press statement, BJP media cell stated that the visit by the BJP national officials fulfilled the intended purpose. The national president also urged and challenged the party workers to turn the problems into possibilities and possibilities into opportunities. He also emphasised and pointed out that strengthening the BJP would in turn strengthen the relation between the State and Delhi, the media cell said. Amit Shah, the release added, also appealed to all
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YGAO meeting on April 23 Shamator, april 18 (mExN): The Yimchunger Gazetted Officers’ Association (YGAO) will hold its consultative meeting at EBRC Hall, Shamator Town on April 23 at 10 am. A press note issued by Murelim Yim, president has requested all the Yimchunger legislators, Yimchunger gazette officers, Yimchunger Tribal Council (YTC), Yimchunger Akheru Arihako (YAA), Yimchunger Women Organisation (YWO), Yimchugner GBs’ Union, Western Yimchunger Hoho (WYH), Pungro Area Public Forum (PAPF) and all Village Council Chairmen and Head GB under Shamator sub-division to attend the meeting positively.
Kros College departmental seminar Kohima, april 18 (mExN): Kros College, Lerie, Kohima conducted a departmental seminar on April 18 under the topic “Law of Torts.” The seminar was presented by I. Temjentoshi Ozukum, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Kros College. Ozukum spoke on the meaning and importance of the Law of Torts, difference between Torts and Crime, essentials of a Tort, Maxims in the law of Torts, types of Torts, general difference that can be used by the defendant and types of remedies available to the plaintiff. The seminar concluded with a question hour.
Job fair at Kros College on April 22 Kohima, april 18 (mExN): The People Channel and Placement Cell of Kros College will be organising the first job fair at Kros College, Lerie, Kohima on April 22 at 10:00 am. The recruitment will start with a common presentation, thereafter interview to shortlist candidates. It may be noted that the People Channel is the sole recruiter for Vistara Airlines, Jet Airways, Marriot Hotels, UB Group Hospitality, Panchshil Properties. It also has the best recruitment percentage record in the country. For further details, contact the placement cell, Kros College, Kohima at 8014525834, 9615771900.
DDADU conducts social work Dimapur, april 18 (mExN): The Dimapur District Auto Drivers Union (DDADU) conducted a social work on April 18 from Dhobinala to DC Court and Sub-Jail Tina Ali, led by Lanu Aier, Secretary cum Line in-charge, DDADU Dimapur. During the social work, the members of DDADU repaired several portion of the road by filling up the potholes and plastering it, said a press release issued by DDADU president K Hokaito Zhimomi.
KPC approves amended constitution Kesonyu Yhome inducted president of BS&GA Dimapur
Kohima, april 18 (mExN): The Kohima Press Club (KPC), during a general body meeting on April 18, approved and accepted the amended provisions of its constitution. The meeting, attended by about 25 members, was presided over by KPC president Xavier Rutsa. KPC has also constituted a building committee in view of the need for immediate relocation of the
club office and also to find a suitable plot for the same. The following persons have been appointed to the committee - Kopelo Krome (Chairman), Mhalezolie Kire (secretary), Xavier Rutsa (ex-officio member), Karaibo Chawang, Sebastian Zumvü and Kenny Peseyie as members. The club has requested the newly appointed committee to assume the charge given to
them as early as possible. Meanwhile, the KPC has acknowledged the efforts of the constitution review & drafting committee for bringing into effect the necessary changes for the welfare and progress of the press club. Further, it informed that the club membership drive is on and executive members may be contacted for registration/ renewal of membership.
16th ward of Kohima Town condemns blasts Kohima, april 18 (mExN): The 16th ward of Kohima Town comprising four Panchayats – New Ministers Hill, Lerie, Lerie Chazou, and Dairy Farm – in its emergency meeting held on April 16 condemned the bomb blasts which occurred on April 15 and 16 near CRPF Camp at Lerie where three persons were injured. A press release from 16th Ward chairman, Neibo-o Kire and secre-
tary, Lima Imsong also expressed sadness to note that the incident happened while construction of drainage was in progress and now the labourers have refused to continue the work fearing for their lives. The incidents have also created fear and insecurity in the minds of the innocent public where their safety stands at risk, the release added. In this light, the 16th Ward Colony Panchayat
has appealed to the district administration and law enforcing agencies to investigate into the matters at the earliest and book the culprits and punish them as per the law of the land. The release also assured that the Panchayat and the youth organisations are united and ever ready to co-operate with the law enforcing agencies to restore peace and security for the safety and welfare of the people.
DC Dimapur with the district officers and Scouts & Guides of Dimapur after being inducted as the president of Bharat Scouts & Guides Association Dimapur on April 18. (DIPR Photo)
Dimapur, april 18 (Dipr): Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur Kesonyu Yhome (IAS) was inducted as the President of Bharat Scouts & Guides Association (BS&GA) Dimapur with full Scouts & Guides honour at the DC’S conference hall on April 18.
After his induction, the DC in his short address said that it was a great honour for him to be re-inducted as he had been inducted before as head of the administration in other district. Bharat Scouts & Guides is not only an organization but is a movement in itself,
he stated. It is an organization where we mould ourselves to become responsible peace loving and good citizens as a duty to our nation, he added. The DC was also honoured with a Scouts & Guides cap and scarf on the occasion
Other highlights of the program included special presentations from the scout and guides of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Vidya Bhavan Higher Secondary School, Eastern Academy Higher Secondary School and Assisi Higher Secondary School.
The programme was led by District organizing Commissioner (Guide) Kevileno Haikam while District Organizing Commissioner (Scout) DM Agay Joseph led in the flag ceremony and induction. Other district officers, Masters besides students attended the program.
Sunday 19 april 2015
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Food Adventures 5 edible Latin American bugs Simeon Tegelon | Global Post
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f you’re hungry enough, then you’ll eat it. That seems to be the reasoning from the United Nations as it promotes “entomophagy,” the fancy scientific name for eating insects, as the key to food security in the 21st century. With increasing ecological depletion and the earth’s human population set to reach as much as 11 billion by 2040 — compared to today’s 7 billion — bugs are one of the cheapest, most efficient and nutritious food sources available. Yuck, you might say. But in many parts of the world, including Latin America, they’ve been eating tasty, tiny creatures with way too many legs since time immemorial. Here GlobalPost highlights five:
Wriggling weevil babies No, not the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. In Peru, suri is the name of the outsize larvae of the palm weevil, a staple of the Amazonian diet. An inch or two long, fat and fatty, this grub can be fried, roasted or barbecued on a spit. Locals in jungle towns, however, prefer to offer it to visitors not
and “buttery” in flavor, they are typically served in a tortilla, along with the usual Mexican musts of hot salGrasshoppers and beer Mexicans have been eating all sa, salt and lime juice. kinds of arthropods since long before the Spanish showed up in the Barbecued tarantulas OK, OK, so spiders aren’t insects. 16th Century. Chapulines, or grasshoppers, are probably the most fa- But this one was too good to leave out. mous. There are various recipes but Various cultures around the world eat a personal favorite is Oaxacan-style; tarantulas but the Piura tribe in the deep fried and smothered in chili Venezuelan Amazon have the best recipe. They barbecue goliath, aka “bird-eating” tarantulas whole, on the end of a stick. Cooked this way, the giant spider, the size of an adult human’s hand, is about as crunchy as Col. Sander’s extra crispy chicken recipe. just raw but live and wriggling.
Big-assed ants In Colombia, they like their ants culonas or “bigColombian fried ants. assed.” They even export them to Europe now, where powder. Spicy and salty, they go per- one company sells them covered in fectly with a cold cerveza. chocolate. In Brazil, the preference is for queen ants, or ica, of several speAnt larvae tacos cies. Amazonian ants aren’t like their Another Mexican classic is es- US cousins; they can get up to an inch camoles, ant larvae that are a com- long and many are poisonous. They mon delicacy in the Yucatan penin- can be cooked in various ways or eaten sula. They are harvested from agave raw. If you do eat them alive though, be cactuses used to make tequila and sure to rip off their lower jaw to stop mezcal. Often described as “nutty” them biting inside your mouth!
Every year, Egyptians risk their lives eating this dangerous delicacy
Laura Dean | Global Post very year on the day of the spring festival Shem el-Nessim, Egyptians are rushed to the hospital after eating the traditional delicacy of fermented (sometimes rotten) fish, or “fesikh.” The ancient holiday marking the new season falls every year on the day after Coptic Easter and is celebrated by Christians and Muslims. Shem el-Nessim means “smelling the Zephyrs,” or smelling the breeze, in Arabic. Fesikh — a grey mullet, dried in the sun and fermented in salt for up to a year — is considered an essential part of the celebration, even though it can sometimes be deadly. The way the fish is prepared leaves those who partake at risk of botulism. Every year the newspapers are full of stories of poisonings, despite calls from health officials for citizens to forgo the dish. This year, like every year, Egypt’s Health Ministry issued a warning that advised Egyptians against eating fesikh. “The way of preparing fesikh can be unsafe due to the lack of salt in the fish, and some people use dead fish floating on the sea surface,” Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said on Monday.
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A vendor serves Fisikh to his customers at his shop in the town of Nabaroh, near the Nile Delta city of Mansura, on April 26, 2008, as they celebrate Sham al-Nessim.
The most recent figures show that two people died from eating fesikh in 2010, and the same number in 2009. In 1991, 18 people were killed after eating it. Although there have been no reports of deaths so far this year, six people have already been hospitalized. But for some, the risk is worth it. A long line formed today outside a shop in Cairo belonging to Hajj Mohamed, who has been selling fesikh in his neighborhood for as long as anyone can remember. “I throw those warnings out the window,”
says Ezzat el Hennawi, a local schoolteacher. “I’ve bought my fesikh from him forever. He has a great health record. No one’s gotten sick.” “Hajj Mohamed is famous, everybody buys from him,” says Mumtaza Zaki, 50. She is buying her fesikh on the day after the holiday because she didn’t have enough money on the day. The delicacy costs 80 to 100 Egyptian pounds ($10-$13) for a kilogram, a lot of money for many Egyptians. She buys nearly $2 worth. Public parks have been
filled with families getting some fresh air and eating a concoction of fesikh, onion, lemon, lettuce and tahini — some people say the lemon and onion aid with digestion. It's not to everyone's taste, however. This year on Twitter was awash with fesikh humor. One meme subbed the word fesikh into well-known movie titles (50 Shades of Fesikh, The Fesikh and the Furious). Others on Twitter bemoaned the fesikh smell in their houses and having to eat it with their families.
This insane fruit is probably the world’s most celebrated (and persecuted) Marie Dhumiereson | Global Post fascination for foreign visitors. A bit like Britain’s marmite, for any years ago, an aging most outsiders, durian is a matter king wasn’t loved by his of love or hate. young bride. So he went Lindsay, a self-declared durito see a hermit. The hermit sent an-obsessive, doesn’t really see the king on an epic journey to col- what all the controversy is about. lect various rare and wonderful “Durian is very easy to love,” aringredients and plant them in his gued the 25-year-old from Oregon. garden. The king did as he was told She is certainly one of the tropical and, not long after, a luscious, fra- fruit’s biggest fans. For the past grant durian tree sprang up. three years, her life has been all After tasting its splendid fruit, about eating and learning about the young bride immediately fell durian. She and her husband have for the king, and the king threw followed the trail of durian and its a big party to celebrate. Unfortu- different varieties across Southnately, he forgot to invite the her- east Asia, including Thailand, Inmit so the hermit cursed the tree. donesia, Malaysia, durian’s main From that day on, the delicious producers. Her blog “Year of the durian retained its seductive taste, durian” (that turned into three but smelled like a trash dump on years, and a book) is a goldmine of a hot summer’s day, and was cov- information on the most divisive ered in a shell of nasty spikes. fruit of all. Slightly more complex versions “A lot of people are very intimiof this legend can be found across dated by durian but I think it has a Southeast Asia, but what’s sure lot more to do with its bad rep in is that the stench and spikiness the media than with anything parhaven’t had the negative effect the ticularly wrong with durian,” Lindhermit intended. The durian is say said. known as the “king of fruits” and She acknowledges the “preis revered throughout the region. historic, spiky dangerous looking” It has even become something of a fruit can be disquieting at first.
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Shaped like a football, entirely covered in a shell of thick, sharp, greenish horns, durian looks like a crazy scientist experimented on a lychee and that something went terribly wrong. But more than its looks, what makes durian controversial is its smell. If durian is around, you’ll know. Food writer Richard Sterling has described its smells as “pig shit, turpentine and onions garnished with a dirty gym sock.” Its pungent odor is acknowledged in Southeast Asia — the fruit is banned on most public transport, and you probably won’t be allowed in a hotel, a taxi or an airplane with a durian in your bag. You’ll often hear that durian smells like hell but tastes like heaven. “Yes, I freely admit that when ripe it can smell like a dead animal … But get down to the pale yellow, creamy flesh, and you’ll experience overtones of hazelnut, apricot, caramelized banana and egg custard,” writes The New York Times’ Southeast Asia correspondent. “Of course everyone loves it. It’s delicious,” says Robi, a durian seller in Jakarta’s Palmera street mar-
ket. Armed with a vicious-looking machete, he cuts a delicate V in the thorny shell, and peels it back for customers to taste. He says he easily sells 200 durians a day. Personally, and to my great disappointment, the only overtones I could taste were of rotten onion. And as renowned chef Anthony Bourdain (who actually loves durian) puts it, “your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.” It is definitely the superstar fruit of Southeast Asia, and it’d be hard to find someone in the fruit’s native region who doesn’t love durian. It’s unlikely that any other fruit in the world has as many festivals dedicated to it — several every month across the region and even a “World durian festival” and a World durian beauty pageant in Thailand. Beware if you’re planning to try your luck, being pretty is not enough. You have to be able to talk nice about the fruit to be a Miss Durian. In Indonesia’s Semarang durian festival earlier this month, local farmers fought for “tastiest” and “best looking” durian titles, while
proud aficionados entered speedeating competitions. Organizers say 1,000 attended the festival and that 10,000 durians were sold. Durian can taste very different according to where it’s from, and how it’s eaten. It’s usually guzzled directly from the shell, but you will also find durian cake, durian pastry, durian sweets, durian coffee, etc. In Indonesia, real durian addicts can even get durian-flavored condoms. And there is more to durian than its taste. It is believed to be an aphrodisiac — there is an Indonesian saying that goes “when the durian falls, the sarong comes up” — especially if it has passed uncracked through the digestive system of an elephant. Durian could also improve eyesight, but over-consumption might kill you, and every connoisseur will tell you not to drink and durian — that might kill you too. Lindsay says there is definitely something special about durian. “If I have too much durian I tend to feel a blush in my cheeks, very similar to if I had something to drink,” she said. She has met many durian lov-
This is what durian looks like, in the Philippines
ers across her travels, and says “pretty much everyone I talk to say they experience some kind of happy feeling” after eating durian. Maybe that’s what makes it the king of fruits. “I don’t think you can say the same about a banana. I had a banana when I was in a bad mood and it didn’t do anything,” Lindsay laughs.
Korea is pulling out all the stops to popularize its cuisine coming out of a traumatic and painful past,” said Joshua Hall, who runs a website called WineKorea. He was referring to Korea’s relatively recent struggle with colonialism and civil war. “There’s a strong desire to assert an identity. Food is less aggressive, a fun way to assert nationalism.” So like it has supported the rise of its country’s pop music all over Asia and its technology all over the world, the government is peddling its food as well. And it is pulling out all the stops. It is a maze of sometimes hilarious promotional campaigns and government-sponsored studies.
Chefs prepare traditional Korean food, "bibimbap," to serve 12,013 people on Oct. 23, 2013 in Seoul, South Korea. The Korean food industry kicked off a mammoth festival in downtown Seoul to promote its campaign to establish a day that celebrates Korean food.
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Geoffrey Cain | Global Post
ntil a few years ago, legions of foodloving Americans had never heard of bulgogi or kimchi, those Korean staples that are now available in most cities and towns across the country. Sushi is so 1980. Thai went the way of the American Chinese fast food restaurant long ago. But this last decade, this has been the time for Korean. Kimchi, despite its pungent aroma and intense spice, has gone mainstream in America. But unlike most other food trends, the
popularity of Korean is not the result of some celebrity chef’s declaration, or the opening of well-placed restaurant in New York. The Korean trend is the result of a slightly more corporate undertaking. The truth is that behind every bulb of kimchi and pot of rice wine, and hovering over every sizzling plate of barbecued pork and beef, is a stuffy Korean bureaucrat. The South Korean government — sometimes aided by the more nationalistic of its citizens — has gone to insane lengths to export its cuisine to America and beyond. “There’s a recent sense of nationalism, of
Here are some of the best examples. Bibimbap is man food The Korean Food Foundation is the government agency tasked with spreading the joys of Korean food the world over. But sometimes, its zealous bureaucrats can go a little overboard. In 2008, one government study claimed that eating Korean food increases sperm count and makes you manlier. A team of researchers, which is probably a polite name for them, studied subjects eating pork cutlets and burgers and compared them to people feasting on hearty servings of bibimbap and kimchi. They concluded that those eating the Korean food were blessed with increased sperm activity and a rise in male hormones. The report was swiftly and widely ridiculed. And is now missing from the agency’s website.
Shin-Soo Choo, an outfielder with the Texas Rangers, holding a slice of beef between chopsticks. “Spring’s here and I’m ready to play! And do you know what got me through training? Bulgogi. Try some at your favorite Korean restaurant. It’s delicious!” So natural. So believable. The people of Seoul followed up with several parodies (Fish and chips? Ham sandwich?). Eventually, National Public Radio unmasked the ad’s mystery man, a local professor and Korean food activist. His previous efforts include a befuddling Times Square commercial for bibimbap and billboards touting Korean cuisine in Uzbekistan. Grilled pork goes with champagne Samgyeopsal, or barbecued pork belly, is the Korean classic. Dished out at your local hole in the wall, this stuff is for kicking back with friends over copious amounts of beer or soju (or, if you’re feeling adventurous, mixing the two to create a hangover-inducing cocktail called somaek). This is a bluecollar meal with countryside roots. But not according to Psy, the goofy Gangnam Style rapper, who thinks we’ve got it all wrong. Cool people actually pair their samgyeopsal with champagne, he proclaimed in a 2013 commercial that was laughable to just about every Korean who’s grown up with genial family Fridays at the grill. Soju, that cheap vodka-like liquor, is so backwards. Whatever floats your boat, Psy.
sine around the world. At these events you can get a sampling of Korea’s best. The food stalls seemed harmless at first. They raised few eyebrows until their mastermind, a state-run company, started putting out bizarre advertisements in broken English, full of nonsensical references to obscure dishes paired with equally obscure Korean celebrities. One 2013 commercial has a riveting pitch for the best of Korean food: "Energizing Persimmon, Romantic Mushroom, Fit Milk, Mighty Red Ginseng, Sexy Red Pepper Paste, Pleasant Paprika, Pure Pear, Fun Makgeolli, Exciting Kimchi, Happy Ramen and Calm Citron Tea" Following?
Korean food is healthy Live in Seoul, and you’ll regularly hear that Korean food is superior to the heathen Western diet of hamburgers and pizza. There is some truth to this. But Korean food is hardly the salad of cuisines. Koreans have the highest rate of stomach cancer per capita, according to a 2002 study. And kimchi and soybean pastes have been identified as a risk factor. The World Health Organization says that nobody should eat more than 5 grams of pickled food a day. South Koreans, meanwhile, eat 13.4 grams. And Korea has no shortage of its own heart attack-inducing delights. Budae jjigae, a Korean stew made with liberal doses of spam, hot dogs and ramen noodles, is a hit Bulgogi is my pride among the younger generation. In Seoul, In March 2014, a full-page ad appeared Romantic mushrooms you can order a Korean pizza topped with in The New York Times. “Bulgogi?” read Korean Food Fairs are events in which cheesy French Fries. Oh, and let’s not forits headline. Below it was a photograph of the government promotes its beloved cui- get the infamous ramen burger.
Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.
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THE MORUNG EXPRESS 19 April 2015
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INSPIRATIONAL STORIES, MESSAGES, POEMS & SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
prayers on His terms These may be the last Christians God answers (Luke 11:1-13) of the Middle East – unless we help I
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hristianity is under siege in the very place where it was born. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled Iraq and Syria in the face of Islamic extremism and conflict. After a six-week trip across the Middle East in which I met church leaders and embattled congregations, it is clear to me that Christianity is hanging by a thread, and may not survive in some places. Some Christians said that after the brutality they had suffered and witnessed, they feared that relations with their Muslim neighbours could never be restored. In Iraq the situation is critical. I visited the monastery of St Matthew, which has occupied a mountain top above the plain of Nineveh, in the north of the country, since the fourth century. Below you can hear artillery blasts and see western airstrikes on Islamic State positions. When Christianity stretched across the Roman empire, 7,000 monks worshipped here: today only six are left, and hardly anyone dares visit the ancient site which could soon become just a relic of Christianity in the region. Many of the inhabitants of the Christian villages in the valley below the monastery have fled to Irbil, in Kurdistan, where more than a thousand displaced Christian families are camped in a halfbuilt shopping mall. Leila and Imad Aziz fled Mosul last summer when Islamic State occupied the city, and gave Christians the same harsh choices faced by their ancestors under Muslim rulers centuries ago: convert to Islam, leave the city, or pay the jizya – a heavy Christian tax. “We can’t go back to Mosul for fear of being killed, kidnapped or robbed,” Imad told me. Like many Christians the couple once had a good life and a successful business. Leila crosses herself as she remembers passing through Isis roadblocks where their money, jewellery, even clothes were taken. “We can’t ever return to Mosul as we have nothing left there” says Leila. Imad believes Christians have become an endangered species in the region. “I believe that in four to five years very few Christians will remain – they will be able to point a finger at them saying ‘he’s a Christian’.” But what should be remembered is that this wave of Christian persecution began not with Islamic State, but a decade ago in the chaos sparked by the US- and British-led invasion of Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein’s rule Christians in fact enjoyed what they now recall as a golden age. They were free
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aster this year took place in the dark shadow of the brutal murder of 147 students in a Garissa University in Kenya. Christian students were callously singled out and brutally killed in cold blood by a murderous terrorist group that continues to terrorise the region. The sermons and teachings of religious leaders this weekend were rich in references to this suffering. The Archbishop of Canterbury this weekend referred to these victims as martyrs in the latest struggle against rising Christian persecution. Whilst many of us attended services and sermons during Holy Week, our fellow Christians in Kenya turned to armed guards to protect their congregations on the most important day of the Christian calendar. So while for many Christians, the past few days have been spent with family and friends reflecting on the importance of Easter, this is also a time to acknowledge the sacrifices made in the struggle to defend faith. Christian persecution is once again filling our headlines, dominating our prayers and weighing down our hearts. Even before this latest massacre in Kenya, 2015 had been a year
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Jane Corbin
“I believe that in four to five years very few Christians will remain – they will be able to point a finger at them saying ‘ he’s a Christian’” to worship and played a full role in society. However, the removal of the dictator let loose an ugly Shia-Sunni power struggle. Father Douglas Bazi, a Catholic priest I met in Irbil, explained the consequences: “They looked at the west as infidels, and as Christians we were seen in the same way”. Father Bazi is now caring for 135 families in tents. The priest’s church in Baghdad was bombed and he was taken hostage until the church paid a ransom. His captors broke his back with a hammer – then his teeth, one by one. “If you look at history, we are the same group who lose every time. They push us to lose our faith, our people, our role, our positions, our job, now we have lost our homes – so what next?” A million people, two-thirds of Iraq’s Christians, fled in the decade following the fall of Saddam. The same story is repeated across the Middle East, where the Arab spring unleashed forces that turned against authoritarian leaders and the Christians they once protected. In Syria I visited Maaloula, where 3,000 Christians fled during battles between government forces and Islamic militants. This ancient place of pilgrimage is one of only three places in the world where they still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. Christians are starting to come back now that government forces have re-taken the town. One
woman showed me the blackened ruined walls of her home and the cafe, she ran for tourists. “We never believed the Muslims would do this to us, but we have to be strong and thank God we are alive,” she said. The sixth century monastery of St Sergius was occupied by militants who destroyed precious Christian treasures. Muslim families from Maaloula fled the fighting too but have not been allowed to return – Christians accuse them of helping the militants. More than 200,000 people have died in Syria’s four years of civil war. They are overwhelmingly Muslims, many killed by the Assad regime. But Christians have had to make hard choices. Maaloula was seen as a turning point, and many have now put their faith in the Assad regime as the only option for their religion to survive. As Antoinette Nasrullah told me: “I cannot leave Maaloula – if there are no Christians here there will be no Christians in Syria.” In Damascus I met Father Nawras Sammour, who runs the Jesuit Relief Service, which is feeding 5,000 people a day, mostly Muslims displaced by the war. “This was our way of serving our country in this crisis” says Father Narwas. “Syria is a beautiful mosaic of different communities and it should stay that way”. Like many church leaders he cannot accept the Islamist vision of society. The present government is seen as somehow a guarantee of some security for Christians – but tens of thousands have already fled Syria, never to return. Christianity remains a force only in Lebanon, where the common enemy for Muslims and Christians alike is Islamic extremism. There are other threats, however – in historic Palestine young Christians leave for jobs and a more secure life abroad. Emigration and fear are sapping the life of Christian communities even in relatively peaceful parts of the region. But it’s in Iraq that the religion faces its greatest test. It may even be too late for Christianity to survive on the plain of Nineveh. So should the west, instead of wringing its hands, help them to leave? As Father Bazi told me: “Open the gates, give my people visas.” Providing Christians with dignity and the right to life is now paramount. Not, as he says, preparing them once again to be sheep for slaughter.
Tackling religious persecution is a moral necessity Douglas Alexander of recurring tragedy. Last month in Lahore, suicide bombers attacked two churches killing 17 people and setting off a cycle of violence across the city. Those murdered included Christians praying at their place of worship, and those brave volunteer security guards that give up their time, and ultimately their lives, to protect their right to do so. The Open Doors charity recorded 1,062 churches being attacked in twelve months. Each of these individual tragedies together paints a picture of global suffering that cannot be ignored. That is why the Archbishop of Canterbury was right to appeal for more to be done. He has called on us all to tackle this "climate of fear and animosity". It is our shared task, indeed our shared responsibility to answer the Archbishops call to now "speak out in solidarity" because upholding the dignity of
t a time when the persecution of Christians has reached "historic proportions," Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and other faith leaders will address the United Nations on Friday about what Cahn calls one of the "greatest crises in the modern age." "The persecution of believers has increased to historic proportions," said Cahn, The New York Times best-selling author of The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah. "It is happening all around the world. It has become one of the greatest crises in the modern age. "And yet very few are doing anything to stop it, to curtail it or even to protect the innocent. That's the purpose of the event at the United Nations—to make a plea to the nations to not sit idly by as innocent people, men, women and children are perishing." At the event in New York City, ambassadors, Christian and Jewish leaders, businessmen and high-ranking military officials will speak out against the worsening Christian persecution in the Middle East and around the globe. The symposium is called "The Persecution of Christians Globally: A Threat to International Peace and Security." Sponsored by the Global Strategic Alliance, the Eng Aja Eze Foundation and the National Israel Hispanic Coalition, some of the speakers include Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Family Research Council Executive Vice President Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William G. Boykin, Archbishop Bernadito C. Auza, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the U.N., Charisma founding editor and publisher Steve Strang, and María Cristina Perceval, the new Permanent Representative of Argentina to the U.N. "The fate of the regions' religious minorities is indeed of the greatest concern,"
every human being means upholding their right to religious belief. Today 76 per cent of the world's population live in countries with high restrictions on religious freedom and the vast majority of those facing persecution are Christians. Christians are subject to violence, intimidation and discrimination in more than 50 countries. Churches and charities already work tirelessly to amplify the cries of the persecuted. But no one is absolved of the responsibility to speak up. In the face of persecution on this scale, neither ignorance not fear of offence can be an excuse for walking by on the other side in silence. Pope Francis has warned that "the world seeks to hide" the scale of the suffering. Our shared task is to shed light on this darkest of stories. At this time of great peril, it is the responsibility of any British Govern-
ment to step up, rather than stepping back. Other governments are already showing strong leadership. The United States and Canada have both appointed international ambassadors for tackling religious persecution. The UK, having fallen behind, should now follow suit. So an incoming Labour Government will appoint a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom, reporting directly to the Foreign Secretary. Government should also harness the concern, expertise and understanding of faith leaders from across the UK and beyond. So in addition, Labour would establish a multi-faith advisory council on religious freedom within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A Labour government would make tackling religious persecution a key foreign policy priority. Not just because it is politically right, but because it is a moral necessity. Britain must set its sights on striving together to realise the promise of the 21st Century – and that means a government leading in global efforts to support the building of societies that respect freedom of religion as a universal concern.
n order to further impress upon the now large company of followers the readiness of the Father to answer their prayers and give them such things as they needed, Jesus told them a story. At midnight, He said, a man opened the door of his house to receive a friend who had arrived unexpectedly from a distant city. The lateness of his arrival may have been the result of delay on the road or because the visitor had chosen to travel after dark to avoid the smoldering heat of the day.A host in first-century society Selie Visa would be expected to provide a welcome to a guest regardless of when he arrived. The friend’s unexpected arrival was quite an embarrassment to the lady of the house, for she had just run out of bread and would not have a fresh supply until she baked the next day in the communal oven. So she asked her husband to call on a neighbour, whom she knew had a good supply, and borrow a few loaves. The manwent to his neighbour at midnight and standing at the door says, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.” The annoyed neighbour replied, “Don't bother me. The door is already locked and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.” His refusal was not without justification. The scene is that of a Palestinian home in which the family are all asleep in one room-perhaps the only room in the house. In those days it was customary for the whole family to huddle together for warmth on mattresses laid upon the earth floor. Therefore getting up and opening the door was much more of a business than it would be for us today. For one person to rise would meant disturbing the rest of the sleepers. The father could not get over to the door and slide back the heavy bolt that bars it without waking up his family.In such a situation no one would be happy to respond, especially in the middle of the night. Moreover, the door would be secured not by a single lock or bolt, but by several wooden beams which would need to be lifted out of their sockets. But the caller was insistent about the urgency of his need, and so at last, with much grumbling the man of the house rose and gave him the required loaves of bread. Jesus commented, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”He also added, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” By contrast with the neighbour who had to be importuned to help someone in need, this parable presents the way God answers prayer. If in human circumstances one will respond to a request, even though reluctantly when pressed hard enough, surely God will answer and do so far more graciously. God needs no persuading to grant our requests if they are according to His will. But we must also remember that some prayers will not be answered. James 4:3 explains why, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” God will not listen to those who use prayer to gratify themselves rather than help others and please God. There maybe times like that of the importunate caller when God let us ask repeatedly before answering. God is as ready to hear a prayer at midnight as at midday. There is no reluctance on the part of God to give us blessings. He is even more willing to give when we cry to Him in our need. He may delay because He sees that an immediate answer would not be best for us. His seemingly lack of response and necessity of perseverance in prayer on our part are, therefore, according to the wise providence of God. God allowed Paul three times to ask for the removal of his “thorn in the flesh”. At first the apostle was not prepared to accept a negative answer to his petition. But he finally understood that the sustaining grace of God is a greater blessing than the removal of his affliction. Sometimes God may allow us to persist in prayer, not to persuade Him to change His mind, but to persuade us to change ours. Let us never upbraid God for the answers He gives to our prayers. When we receive an answer very different from what we have asked, let us realize that God has some purpose in it, and in His good time, we will understand that what seemed to be a stone was really bread to our souls.
Persecution of Christians is among the ‘Greatest Crises in the Modern Age’ according to a statement by the Eng Aja Eze Foundation, a New York based organization that focuses on rebuilding the social, economic and political fabric of societies following conflict. "The mass exodus of Christians who have been an integral part of the Middle Eastern mosaic for centuries is particularly troubling." The historic event comes amid growing concerns regarding widespread crucifixions, beheadings, immolations, kidnappings and the torture of Christians in the Middle East by the Islamic State, or ISIS. In the last couple of years, thousands have died at the hands of ISIS – more than 24,000 in the first eight months of 2014 alone, according to a U.N. report. The slaughter of Christians in the Middle East isn't just a recent phenomenon, though. A century ago, Middle Eastern Christians represented about 20 percent of the population. Now they represent about 4 percent. In Iraq before the Gulf War, there were about 1.4 million Christians. Today, there are only about 200,000 left. "We are literally watching the genocide of Jesus' followers in the Middle East," Strang wrote in "The Strang Report." On his blog this week, New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg wrote the "persecution of Christians is worse than ever." "We are living in a time of unprecedented persecution of Christians in the Middle East and around the world,"
Troy Anderson Rosenberg wrote. "The Lord Jesus warned His disciples that they would be persecuted, and that persecution would intensify as the time of His return drew near. Today, we are seeing His prophecies come to pass as never before." Kevin Jessip, president of the Global Strategic Alliance, a Wellington, Florida-based ministry that stands against anti-Semitism and the campaign to delegitimize the nation of Israel, said ISIS is seeking to abolish Israel and is a growing menace to Jews and Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East and throughout the world. "The Islamic ideologies of ISIS is a danger that mirrors the Holocaust aggression of world domination (seen in World War II)," Jessip said. "ISIS has declared Christianity as its No. 1 enemy. I think Christian persecution is happening just as Jesus said it would. John 15 talks about persecution, and I would say the persecution we are witnessing today is known in the Bible as the Antichrist spirit. "I think what we are seeing here with Isalmic jihadism going on around the world is really an attempt by the enemy, Satan himself, to unleash an Antichrist spirit and create an Islamic caliphate worldwide, and their ultimate goal is to have worldwide Sharia law. We began to see this on American soil in Oklahoma when the lady was beheaded for not con-
verting to the Muslim faith." Cahn, whose books claim that the same nine harbingers of judgment that preceded the destruction of Israel 2,700 years ago are now manifesting in America and that a seven-year biblical cycle known as the Shemitah may bring economic calamity or war in the Middle East in the near future, says it's an honor, as a Jewish believer, "to speak out on behalf of persecuted believers across the world." "One of the great influences on my life, recognized as one of the greatest believers of the age, and a personal friend, was Richard Wurmbrand," Cahn told Charisma. "Wurmbrand was a Jewish believer from Romania who stood up for the Lord in the time of Nazism and then Communism. He was imprisoned for his faith for fourteen years. "After emerging from prison, he started a ministry to help the persecuted believers of the world called 'Jesus to the Communist World' and later 'Voice of the Martyrs.' So the persecution of believers throughout the world has always been close to my heart. One of the first people of the age to ever help persecuted Christians was the apostle Paul. Paul was a Jewish believer. So as Jewish believers it is part of our heritage and calling to speak out on behalf of those who are persecuted." Each year, 100 million Christians suffer persecution, imprisonment and even death for their sacred religious beliefs. According
to The Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry dedicated to assisting the persecuted church worldwide, "more people have died for their faith in Christ in the last 100 years" than in the previous 19 centuries combined. "Of the 60 million Christians who have been martyred since Christ's death, 26 million documented cases of martyrs occurred in the 20th century alone," Jessip said. "The statistics are that nearly 165,000 Christians are martyred every year. One Christian is martyred every three minutes. More than 250 million Christians in over 60 countries are currently living under the threat of persecution—and 60 percent of those are children." The objective of the event is to highlight the persecution of Christians in the Middle East as a threat to international peace and security and the role that education can play in building bridges of peace between faiths. The sponsors expect the event to lead to resolutions by the U.N. Security Council; General Assembly and the U.N. Human Rights Council regarding the protection of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East and an investigation into "Christianophobia" in the Middle East. The event will heard around the world live through the U.N. television network at http://webtv.un.org "I'm being told that the General Assembly is going to convene a meeting April 20 to initiate a resolution against religious intolerance, against Christians and against minorities," Jessip said. "We are also looking to have an International Day of Prayer in solidarity for the plight of Christians. And we're looking to the president of the United States to appoint an envoy to begin taking action against persecution on a global scale."
Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.
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Sunday 19 April 2015
The Morung Express
Rahul back to work after vacation, to address kisan rally
New Delhi, April 18 (iANS): Back after a 56day break from politics, Rahul Gandhi along with party president Sonia Gandhi will address a rally on Sunday over the land acquisition bill and against the Narendra Modi government policies that the party describes as "anti-farmer". The "kisan khet mazdoor" (farmer-farms labour) rally is being widely seen as a show of strength for a party desperate to reverse its sliding fortunes after a string of election drubbings. Rahul Gandhi, who led a 'padyatra', a protest march in Bhatta Parsaul in 2011 against the then Mayawati government's land acquisition in Uttar Pradesh, will be seen in the forefront once again at the farmers' rally here. He was not seen in public for nearly two months since the budget session of parliament began on February 23. He returned here on April 16 from an undisclosed destination where he was said to have retreated in a leave of absence from politics. On the eve of the second half of the budget session set to reconvene on April 20, farmers will converge here to attend the rally at Ramlila Maidan, where most political protests in the capital are held. The Congress, which
Cong launches "Zameen Wapsi� website ahead of farmers' rally
Congress Party Vice President, Rahul Gandhi interacts with farmers outside his residence in New Delhi on Saturday, April 18. Gandhi will lead a farmers’ rally on Sunday against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Land Acquisition Bill, calling it anti-farmer in a country where agriculture is the main livelihood for more than 60 percent of the 1.2 billion people. (AP Photo)
has been strongly opposing changes in the original legislation on land acquisition brought by its government in 2013, is protesting the dilution of the original consent clause which makes it mandatory to secure 80 percent approval of those dependent on the land being procured. The Congress is "determined to oppose" the land bill that will be introduced in the Lok Sabha for the second time in the upcoming session, said Congress leader Anand Sharma.
"They will face a brick wall of opposition," he said, adding that Rahul Gandhi is likely to address the Lok Sabha on the issue this time. The party vice president held meetings on Saturday with multiple delegations of farmers from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh to hear their issues regarding the land acquisition ordinance as well as their concern due to the crop loss. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told
IANS that the rally is being organised at a mammoth scale to protest the Narendra Modi-government's "anti-farmer and antipoor" policies. "We will protest against the Draconian land acquisition ordinance 2015 and raise voice for the stress caused to farmers by the damage of 200 lakh hectare of land..." Following a trail of destruction caused by unseasonal rain and hailstorm across the agrarian states in the country, the partial-
ly damaged crop lying in wholesale is yet to be picked up by the government. "We would raise the issue at the rally since the government is rejecting that crop on the plea that it has 14 percent moisture content. But even the good crop would have some. Where would the poor farmer go for help," asked Surjewala. "We will also raise our voice against the embargo on states for not releasing the compensation. The poor farmers are not get-
New Delhi, April 18 (pTi): Taking the battle on the land bill issue to social media, Congress today launched a "Zameen Wapsi" website on the eve of its farmers' rally which is expected to see the first major attack on the government by Rahul Gandhi after his return from leave of absence. The bilingual website 'www.zameenwapsi.com' has been started as the Narendra Modi government was resorting to a "bundle of lies" on the issue to mislead people, party leader Jairam Ramesh said after launching it. Party General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is the convenor of tomorrow's rally, dared the government for an open debate on the land acquisition issue. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari say ting adequate market selling price for the Rabi crop. That is another area of concern for us," he added. A 17-coach 'Kisan Express' train will carry farmers from Jaipur to Delhi on Sunday. Huge billboards dot the streets of the national capital and radio spots publicise the rally. Following a stormy first half of the budget session that witnessed multiple walkouts by the opposition in the Lok Sabha over the land acquisition bill, the Congress has sought to up
that they are ready for a debate. If that was the case why did they bring the ordinance. Gadkari talks of debate in such a way as if he was throwing a challenge. I as well as Jairam Ramesh are ready for such a debate wherever they like," said Singh. Ramesh said the website will serve as a medium to farmers in rural and urban areas for placing their views and problems. "Congress will try to take their issues to the government," he said, adding that the website, which is to be updated daily will provide all related information on the issue of land acquisition. Tomorrow's rally organised by the party at the Ram Lila grounds here is significant as it is being held on the eve of the second phase of the Budget session of Parliament.
the ante by protests against the land bill issue. Sonia Gandhi led a foot march by the opposition from parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan while the party fielded a battery of senior leaders who raised slogans like "Kisan Virodhi Narendra Modi" on the streets of Delhi and at Jantar Mantar on March 16. Rahul Gandhi meets farmers Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who returned home two days ago after a 56-day leave of
absence, met farmers here on Saturday. The farmers who met Gandhi said they discussed the land acquisition bill, which they described as anti-farmer. The farmers also discussed the "mammoth" crop damage caused by unseasonal rain and hailstorms. The meetings were originally scheduled for Friday but were deferred till Saturday. The meetings are being held a day ahead of a Congress rally to be held at the city's Ramlila Ground on Sunday.
'India is closing the gender gap' Kashmiri protester killed in firing, two cops held, probe ordered ADDiS ABABA, April 18 (iANS): The condition of women in India is going through a sea change in terms of fighting violence against them and closing the gender gap, said visiting Indian parliamentarian Tarun Vijay. "Crimes against women is linked to sick minds and has nothing to do with poverty or wealth. Highest rate of rapes and other crimes against women occur in Britain, the US, Sweden and other developed countries. In India, we too are fighting it with determination," the BJP MP, who is also a member of the World Bank Parliamentary Network, told IANS. Vijay said that his party is committed to 33 percent representation of women in parliament and state assemblies. "About 49 percent voters in India are women. Indian democracy survives because of women voters, who play a crucial role in deciding the country's destiny," he said. The bill, which proposes to reserve one-third of parliament and state assembly seats for women, is now being seen as an apt vehicle of electoral reforms, the parliamentarian added.
Elaborating on the government's plan to empower women, he said the focus is on states like Manipur where women have a dominant position in society and the economy. Vijay said that in India's post-independence history; it is for the first time that there is the largest number of women representatives in parliament and the highest number of women cabinet ministers. He accused some journalists of focusing only on crime against women and making such incidents into global news. "We are keeping India safest for women and eliminating the gender gap fully. India will be incomplete without its women." Despite recent progress, women are still a small minority in politics. Gender specific obstacles to participating in political life remain, as well as experience of disproportionate levels of threats, harassment and violence. The glass ceiling has not yet been shattered, but does have some cracks, according to Naya Bathily, Head, Global Parliamentary Unit, World Bank. "Women are key contributors to the economy and society and good health is critical for the full par-
ticipation of women. Still, women experience a gap in access to care and too many women die every year from easily prevented illness and from other violence related issues", she said. Today about 200 million people globally are unemployed and estimates indicate that 600 million new jobs will be needed worldwide in the next 25 years. Otherwise, large portions of our national populations will be left behind, unproductive, unhappy and posing an increasing financial burden on social welfare programmes, she further states. "India is, however, yet to become a nation wherein women have proportional representation in politics. However, the current movement and the government's move on policy changes seem promising". In a recent study conducted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), India is placed at 111th position in the list of 189 countries having women representatives in Parliament. Even the lesser-developed neighbours of India such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have around 20, 19 and 30 percent women members in their respective parliaments.
SriNAgAr, April 18 (pTi): A teenager was shot dead by security forces in the Kashmir Valley today during a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference against the recent killing of two youths in an army operation in Tral, prompting the authorities to register a murder case and order a magisterial probe. Two policemen have been arrested in connection with the incident, sources said. As violence erupted in several parts of the Valley, fuelling tensions further, state police personnel opened fire to disperse protesters at Narbal in Budgam, wounding three, including a 16-year-old boy. The injured were rushed to a hospital here where Suhail Ahmed Sofi died. Earlier reports had said the boy was killed in firing by the CRPF. "Additional Deputy Commissioner has been asked to probe the incident that led to the death of the boy. He has been asked to submit a report within 15 days," District Magistrate Budgam Mir Altaf Ahmad told PTI. A controversy erupted over the killing of the boy
A policeman jumps to avoid a stone thrown at him by Kashmiri protesters in Narbal, some 15 Kilometers (10 miles) North of Srinagar on Saturday, April 18. Government forces fired on anti-India protesters Saturday and killed a teenage student on the second day of violent clashes in the disputed Himalayan region, police said. Relatives disputed the official account, saying the boy was killed in custody. In an unusual move for law enforcement in Kashmir, police quickly opened a case for murder and began investigating the boy's death. (AP Photo)
with the police admitting that their personnel had prima facie not followed the standard operating procedure at the time of the incident. Exactly how they violated the SoP was not yet known. He said a case under Sections 302 (Murder), 147, 149, 341 and 427 RPC has been registered at Magam police station. "We regret the unfortunate incident and extend our sympathies to the be-
reaved family," the spokesman said. The family of the deceased claimed he was detained before being shot. "Suhail was first detained and asked questions before he was shot dead," Tariq Ahmad Sofi, uncle of the deceased, told reporters at their family residence. The death of the teenager sparked more violence in the area with stone-pelting protesters setting ablaze an
abandoned police picket and a tourism hut at Narbal. Reports of protests were also received from Pattan in Baramulla district and Kupwara town in north Kashmir. Several separatist leaders including Chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have been put under house arrest as a "preventive" measure. Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is already
under house arrest since Thursday night. JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik and social activist Swami Agnivesh were today briefly detained when they tried to lead a march to Narbal. Meanwhile, Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission requesting it to take cognizance of the incident and conduct parallel proceedings. He also condemned the killing, saying "black laws like AFSPA have given licence to Indian forces to kill unarmed Kashmiris." "Despite repeated pleas for its revocation by the Kashmiri people, the centre and so-called state government is not ready to repeal it," he said. Ruling PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the killing of the teenager and voiced concern over the police not adhering to the SoP.Meanwhile, Geelani, who is under house arrest, said he would lead an hour-long sit-in at Partap Park tomorrow against the Narbal killing. He also called for a shut down in entire Budgam district against the killing tomorrow.
Tutu reaches Dalai Lama's abode to meet long-time friend 'Judicial appointments should conform to highest standards'
DhArAmSAlA, April 18 (iANS): South African anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Saturday reached this north Indian hill station to meet his long-time friend and fellow Nobel laureate the Dalai Lama. An official of the Dalai Lama's office told IANS that Tutu would stay here till April 26 and will attend a series of functions being organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) here in his honour. Expressing a gesture of friendship, the Buddhist monk specially visited the Gaggal airport, 15 km from his official palace at McLeodganj, to receive Tutu in the morning. This has been Tutu's second visit to the CTA headquarters in since 2012. Officials said Tutu last visited McLeodganj on February 10, 2012, after the globe-trotting monk had called off his South Africa visit as it was "inconvenient" for the government there to grant him a visa as it had close ties with China. At that time the Dalai Lama was invited by Tutu on his 80th birthday. The two Nobel peace
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, left, is received by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the Kangra airport in Dharmsala on Saturday, April 18. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is in town to work on a book on joy that he is co-authoring with the Tibetan leader. (AP Photo)
laureates will meet in Dharamsala later this month as well as marking the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday, they will spend time "in deep dialogue and playful laughter as they share their experience of how to find joy in the face of life's challenges", said The Guardian on April 15, quoting publisher Hutchinson. It acquired the pair's collaborative "The Book of
Joy" in what the bookseller described as a "very spirited" 12-way auction. Their discussion will form the basis of the text, with the pair - who call each other "spiritual brother" also inviting members of the public to ask the questions about joy and happiness they most want answered on the authors' Facebook pages. The most popular will
be addressed during the meetings this April said the paper. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since he fled Tibet during a failed uprising in 1959. He favours "greater autonomy" for Tibetans rather than complete independence. Chinese leaders have, however, called him a separatist who wants Tibet to secede from China.
pATNA, April 18, 2015, (pTi): The process of selection and appointment of judges should conform to the highest of standards, President Pranab Mukherjee said today, describing an independent judiciary as the "cornerstone" of democracy. "The process of selection and appointment of judges should conform to the highest of standards. We must make haste in this regard but without compromising on quality," he said addressing a gathering after inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the Patna High Court. Mukherjee's remarks came against the backdrop of a controversy over establishment of the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which ended the collegium system where judges appointed judges. The NJAC Act gives a say to the executive in appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts. "The independence of the judiciary is the cornerstone of our democracy. The judicial system in our country should be not only
The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurating the Centenary Year Celebrations of Patna High Court on Saturday, April 18 at Patna (Photo Courtesy: presidentofindia.nic.in)
accessible but also affordable," he said. Referring to high pendency of cases, the President stressed on the need to speed up the process of disposal of cases, saying "justice delayed is justice denied". Mukherjee emphasised on filling the vacant posts of judges in courts across the country on a priority basis to expedite delivery of justice. The Patna High Court today has 31 judges against the sanctioned strength of 43 judges, he said, adding 1,33,297 cases were pending there as of March 31, 2015. The pendency in the subordinate courts under the Patna High Court is an estimated 20 lakh and more than 16.8 lakh of them are
criminal cases, he said. The President said the Patna High Court has lived up to the expectations of the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India Lord Hardinge. "I feel assured, that within its walls in future days, justice will be administered with courage and impartiality, to the terror of evil-doers, and to the triumph of every cause which is right and true, so that the High Court of Bihar shall earn a name for sound sense and good law," Mukherjee quoted Lord Hardinge as having said while laying the foundation-stone of the Patna High Court building on December 1, 1913. The President said if any one goes through the history of Patna High Court, it
will be seen that it has more than lived up to the expectations of Lord Hardinge. "Landmark judgements have been delivered by this court," Mukherjee said as he remembered its illustrious past. The President said luminaries of the Patna High Court included country's first President Rajendra Prasad. Syed Hasan Imam, president of the Indian National Congress in 1918, and the first president of the Constituent Assembly, Sachchidanand Sinha, were also the members of the court bar. Three Chief Justices of the Patna High Court--Justice B P Sinha, Justice Lalit Mohan Sharma and Justice R M Lodha went on to become the Chief Justices of India, he said. Bihar Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi, Chief Justice of India H L Dattu, state chief minister Nitish Kumar, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were among those present. The President also released a postage stamp to mark the centenary celebrations of the court.
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US president open to 'creative negotiations' on Iran sanctions WASHINGTON, AprIl 18 (Ap): President Barack Obama left open the door to "creative negotiations" in response to Iran's demand that punishing sanctions be immediately lifted as part of a nuclear deal, even though the initial agreement calls for the penalties to be removed over time. Asked at a White House news conference whether he would definitively rule out lifting sanctions at once as part of a final deal aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Obama said he didn't want to get ahead of negotiators in how to work through the potential sticking point. He said his main concern is making sure that if Iran violates an agreement, sanctions can quickly be reinstated — the so-called "snap back" provision. "How sanctions are lessened, how we snap back sanctions if there's a violation, there are a lot of different mechanisms and ways to do that," Obama said. He said part of the job for Secretary of State John Kerry and the representatives of five other nations working to reach a final deal with Iran by June 30 "is to sometimes find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is
more acceptable." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani insisted last week that they would not sign a deal unless it lifts all sanctions on its first day. Obama initially portrayed their comments as a reflection of internal political pressure, while pointing out that the initial framework agreement reached earlier this month allows for sanctions to be phased out once international monitors verify that Tehran is abiding by the limitations. Obama, speaking Friday at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said the sanctions issue "will require some creative negotiations by John Kerry and others." Obama also said he would sign legislation expected to pass the Senate and House giving Congress a say on a final deal, calling it a "reasonable compromise" that addresses his previous objections over Congress interference. The legislation would block Obama from waiving congressional sanctions against Iran for at least 30 days after any final agreement, which would give lawmakers time to weigh in. Obama said he still has some concerns that some lawmakers are treading on his unilateral
Obama getting tough on critics
In this April 14, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. A compromise between Congress and President Barack Obama on Iran marks a rare moment of cooperation, keeping alive Obama’s hopes of a legacy-building nuclear deal and sparing him, for now, the sight of Congress overriding a veto. (AP Photo/File)
power as president to enter into a political agreement with another country, but the bill has language that makes it clear that lawmakers' review will be limited to the sanctions imposed by Congress. "That I think at least allows me to interpret the legislation in such a way that it is not sending a signal to future presidents that each and every time they're negotiating a political agreement, that they have to get a congressional authorization," Obama
said. He said he takes lawmakers who have drafted the legislation at their word that they will not try to derail negotiations. Obama also weighed in on Russia's announcement earlier this week that it would lift a five-year ban on delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, giving the Islamic republic's military a strong deterrent against any air attack. The White House initially objected, but Obama said, "I'm frankly surprised that it held this long." Russia signed the $800
million contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007, but suspended their delivery three years later because of strong objections from the United States and Israel. "Their economy is under strain and this was a substantial sale," Obama said. Russia, which also is party to the talks along with China, France, Britain and Germany, said the preliminary nuclear agreement made its 2010 ban on sending missiles to Iran no longer necessary.
WASHINGTON, AprIl 18 (Ap): Just as Congress is hitting something of a bipartisan stride on such issues as Medicare, Iran and trade, President Barack Obama and his White House team have decided to go after their Republican critics, picking fights and scornfully calling them out by name. In just the past week, the president and his spokesman have targeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sens. John McCain and Charles Grassley, on topics from climate change to the Iran nuclear deal. On Friday, he used a news conference to deliver to senators a testy lecture about the delayed confirmation of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch. This is a White House unleashed, forgoing niceties for the kind of blunt talk some of Obama's allies have been demanding for some time. But the rhetoric carries risks of sounding peevish and signals that a president who once ran on the promise of changing the tone in Washington has fully embraced its political combat. Obama on Friday decried the long wait Lynch has faced since she was nominated in early November. "Enough. Enough!" he said, addressing Senate Republicans. "This is embarrassing, a process like this." Last Saturday, Obama hit McCain especially hard, after his 2008 presidential rival declared a major setback in the Iran nuclear talks after Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, demanded that sanctions against Tehran had to be lifted immediately after a deal went into place. (The preliminary deal says the sanctions will be lifted as Iran proves it is complying with limits on its nuclear program.) Obama cast McCain's criticism as an assault on the credibility of Secretary of
State John Kerry. "That's an indication of the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries," Obama said. "That's a problem. It needs to stop." He went on: "We have Mitch McConnell trying to tell the world, oh, don't have confidence in the U.S. government's abilities to fulfill any climate change pledge that we might make." On Thursday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest singled out Grassley, declaring comments he made about the Lynch vote "duplicitous." Asked how harsh words might help his cause, Earnest replied: "Being nice has gotten us a 160-day delay. So maybe after they look up 'duplicitous' in the dictionary we'll get a different result." Republicans maintain Obama would be better off working on bipartisan efforts, such as trade. Top lawmakers on Thursday revealed a bipartisan agreement to give Obama authority to negotiate trade deals without having to face delays in Congress. But many Democrats oppose such deals, fearing they will cost jobs or lower environmental standards. "Rather than spending so much time criticizing people like Chuck Grassley and myself, he ought to be out there lining up the Democratic votes for trade promotion authority," McConnell said in an interview Friday. "This is a time for presidential leadership." For many Democratic allies of the White House, Obama's confrontational talk could have even come sooner. The last two years of a second term are especially liberating for presidents. They don't face re-election and they don't feel they have much to lose legislatively by going on the offensive.
Australia foils alleged terror attack Afghanistan suicide blast kills 35 MElBOurNE/SYD NEY, AprIl 18 (rEuTErS): Hundreds of Australian police on Saturday arrested five teens planning an Islamic Stateinspired terrorist attack next week at an event to mark the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli during World War One, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. More than 200 police were involved in a series of raids in the southern city of Melbourne in the early hours of Saturday, police said, following a monthlong sting operation. Five men aged 18 and 19 were detained. The run-up to this year's centenary - a major holiday in Australia and New Zealand - has been marked by numerous television programmes and commemorations, sparking concerns that radicals may target the celebrations for a high-profile attack. "There were a series of raids in metropolitan Melbourne. Five people were An archer in a samurai warrior costume aims at a target arrested," Prime Minister in the Asakusa Yabusame horseback archery event at Tony Abbott told reporters. Sumida Park in Tokyo on Saturday, April 18. (AP Photo) "Two will be charged with
preparing a terrorist act. "The act that we believe was in preparation involved attacks against police officers on ANZAC Day." Senior police officials said that they found "edged weapons" including a sword and knife during the raids, but were confident the threat had been contained. Australia has sent hundreds of soldiers to Iraq to help train forces fighting the Islamic State, heightening concerns about reprisal attacks in the homeland. Australia, a staunch ally of the United States and its action against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown Islamist radicals since last year. Canberra raised the national terror threat level to "high" for the first time last September, when hundreds of police conducted raids after receiving information that Islamic State supporters planned to conduct a public beheading. Australia believes at least 70 of its citizens are
fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, backed by about 100 Australia-based "facilitators". The suspects arrested on Saturday are believed to have at the very least taken their inspiration from Islamic State, which has proven adept at recruiting from Western countries. "We believe the attack was inspired by the Daesh death cult in the Middle East," Abbott said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State. Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews said the threat had been contained and condemned what he called an "evil" plan. Melbourne is the biggest city in Victoria state. "These people are not people of faith. They do not represent any culture," Andrews told reporters. "They are ... acts of evil. It is as simple as that." All five suspects are "associates" of Abdul Numan Haider, a teenage Islamic State sympathiser who was shot dead by police in Melbourne last year after he stabbed police officers.
Afghan security forces members inspect the site of a suicide attack near a new Kabul Bank in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, April, 18, 2015. (AP Photo)
FAIZABAD, AprIl 18 (Ap): A motorcycle-riding suicide bomber attacked a bank branch Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 people in a deadly attack the country’s president said was claimed by the Islamic State group. The attack marks a major escalation in the country’s fight against an affiliate of the extremist group that now holds a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared caliphate. It also comes as Afghan security forces fight against the Taliban after U.S. and NATO forces ended their combat mission in the country at the start of the year, yet another challenge for the war-ravaged nation. The attack in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, targeted a crowd of
soldiers and civilians gathered outside the bank to receive their monthly salaries. The blast killed at least 35 people and wounded 125, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Hours after the attack, President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Islamic State group for the bombing. “In the horrific incident in Nangarhar, who took responsibility? The Taliban didn’t claim responsibility. Daesh claimed responsibility for it,” Ghani said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. The Taliban denied it carried out the attack and another elsewhere in the province that killed one civilian and wounded two. “We condemn/deny involvement in both,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted.
Ex-Marine amputee begins DNA test confirmation of al-Douri’s death awaited 2nd attempt to scale Everest KATHMANDu, AprIl 18 (Ap): A former U.S. Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp. Former Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, is using a specially designed metal foot outfitted with a climbing boot and another one with crampons in his quest to conquer the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit next month. "My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are," Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday, on his way to Tibet in neighboring China, from where he will set out on Everest. He was an explosives expert serving in Afghanistan in 2011, when he went to investigate an explosion that wounded his colleague. He was hit by another explo-
In this Thursday, April 16, 2015 photo, former U.S. Marine Charlie Linville holds his prosthesis during an interview with the Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal. Former Staff Sgt. Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp. (AP Photo)
sive device and seriously wounded, and two years later, had his right leg amputated below the knee. He retired from service and has been climbing since with The Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization that helps wounded veterans. Everest would be his highest and toughest mountain that he has attempted to climb. His quest last year was thwarted following the deaths of 16 Sherpa guides in April, the beginning of the climb-
ing season, when an avalanche swept down. At the time, Linville was at the base camp at 5,360 meters (17,595 feet). This time, he plans to approach from the northern, Tibetan side, together with the Heroes Project's founder Tim Wayne Medvetz and an eight-member team. "The only difference between me and any climber on the mountain is that I am missing one limb and I have to deal with metal," he said.
BAGHDAD/ErBIl, AprIl 18 (rEuTErS): Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former right-hand man to late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a leader of Iraq's Sunni insurgency, has been reported killed by Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias. Douri was killed in a military operation, Raed al-Jubouri, the governor of Salahuddin province, told Reuters. The pan-Arab television network al-Arabiya showed images of a dead man who looked like al-Douri. Baghdad has mistakenly announced al-Douri's death several times before, but this time photos are circulating showing a man with features and red hair like his. Al-Jubouri told Reuters DNA from the body would be tested and results released "very soon". His killing, if confirmed, would be a big blow to the Sunni insurgency, an alliance of former Baathist officers and Islamic State. "The mastermind of terrorist operations has been killed and he is Ezzat al-Douri," al-Jubouri told Arabiya TV. "Al-Douri is the biggest mastermind behind all attacks that undermined Iraq. This news
will have an impact on the morale of the fighters." After the 2003 U.S.led invasion, Douri was ranked sixth on the U.S. military's list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and a $10 million reward was offered for his capture. Iraqi and U.S. officials accused him of organizing and leading the insurgency that swept Iraq in 2005-07. He evaded capture during the long U.S. occupation as other Saddam aides were killed or put on trial and sectarian civil war engulfed the country. Karim al-Nouri, a leader in the Badr organisation and spokesman for Shi'ite militias fighting Islamic State, said his forces had been involved in the operation although they thought the target was the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr alBaghdadi. "We received intelligence from our sources that a VIP was in the city of Hawija and we were waiting to ambush him. Based on our intelligence, it was believed that the man was al-Baghdadi, but it turned out to be al-Douri." "He was the second man after Saddam Hussein and was the coordinator between the Baath
In this Sunday, December 1, 2002 file photo, Iraqi Vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri salutes during a ceremony at the Martyrs Monument in Baghdad, Iraq. Salahuddin province Gov. Raed al-Jabouri says soldiers and allied Shiite militiamen killed al-Douri early on Friday, April 17, 2015 in an operation east of the city of Tikrit. A graphic photo issued by the government purports to be of al-Douri’s corpse, but DNA tests are still pending. (AP Photo/File)
party and IS. The body is now taken for identification, but we are certain it is al-Douri," al-Nouri added. Khdhayer Almurshidy, an exiled spokesman for Iraq's former Baath party, said in comments to Iraq's al-Ha-
dath TV that the reports of al-Douri's death were false. Al-Jubouri however told Reuters that "a group of security forces went and surrounded an area and those terrorists were killed. Three of them were suicide
bombers and blew themselves up. Amongst the bodies was Douri's." He said the operation was carried out in the Hamrin area near al Alam in Salahuddin province. Iraqi forces did not know al-Douri was there beforehand. Jubouri described the operation as "a major victory and a strike against the terrorists", referring to Islamic State, a hardline Sunni Muslim offshoot of al Qaeda which has taken swathes of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a caliphate. The Shi'ite-led Baghdad government has mounted an offensive against Islamic State and former Baathists. Douri, born in Saddam's hometown Tikrit, helped plot the 1968 coup that brought the Baath party to power. He served as vice-president until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam. He was a senior official responsible for northern Iraq when poison gas was used on Halabja in 1988, killing some 5,000 Kurds. He cut short a visit to Vienna for medical treatment in 1999 to avoid arrest for suspected crimes against humanity.
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The Morung Express
Royal Wahingdoh sink Mohun AndeRSon iS englAnd’S leAding teSt wicket tAkeR Bagan in i-league thriller guwAhAti, April 18 (iAns): A goal feast saw league leaders Mohun Bagan slump to their first loss of the 2015 I-League as host football club Royal Wahingdoh beat them 3-2 in a thrilling encounter at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. Jackichand Singh, Trinidadian Densil Theobald, Thockchom Singh scored for Wahingdoh while Balwant Singh, later red carded, and Haitian Sony Norde found the net for the visitors. It was Balwant who opened the scoring for the
visitors as early as in the eighth minute as he placed it over an advancing goalie to give Mohun Bagan the lead. Debjit Majumder, the custodian for the visitors, was once again brilliant in the first half as he thwarted away a couple of chances from the hosts. After the breather, Jackichand equalised for Mohun Bagan as his rightfooter for once got the better of Majumder. Sony struck in the 80th minute as he breezed into the box and then fired the ball into the net. The visitors
looked all set to take all three points home when Densil who struck gold for Wahingdoh after converting a penalty which was awarded following an incident where Balwant had handled the ball and was shown the red card. A 90th minute screamer for Thockchom proved to be the winner as the ball thundered into the roof of the net. Mohun Bagan tried to comeback but it was too little too late. They remain league leaders but the Wahingdoh have caught up, with only two points adrift.
Tamim and Mushfiqur shine as Bangladesh finally beat Pakistan
Bangladesh's cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan congratulates teammate Mushfiqur Rahim, facing camera, for scoring a century during their first one-day international cricket match against Pakistan in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 17. (AP Photo)
DhAkA, April 18 (reuters): Centuries from Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim powered Bangladesh to their highest total and a victory against Pakistan in one-day internationals after a gap of 16 years on Friday. The 79-run win in Dhaka gave Bangladesh a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and their second victory in the 50-over format against Pakistan. The minnows also defeated them in Northampton during the 1999 World Cup in England. Tamim (132) and Mushfiqur (106) added 178 in 130 balls for the third wicket as Bangladesh recovered from a sluggish start to post their highest ODI total of 3296 after winning the toss and opting to bat first against a new look Pakistan side. In reply, the visitors were bowled out for 250 in the 46th over, despite half-centuries from Azhar Ali (72), debutant Mohammad Rizwan (67) and Haris Sohail (51). Azhar, who replaced the retired Misbah-ul-Haq as Pakistan's new ODI captain, would have been delighted with the performance of his bowlers in the first 20 overs as Bangladesh limped to 67 for two. But Tamim, who scored his first ODI hundred since March 2013, and former cap-
tain Mushfiqur, whose 77-ball knock contained 13 fours and two sixes, turned the momentum in Bangladesh's favour with their record stand -- the highest for any wicket for the side in the 50-over format. With some of their first-choice bowlers ruled out with injuries before the start of the series, Pakistan had high hopes of offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who has returned to international cricket after remodelling his illegal bowling action. Ajmal bowled well for his first five overs, giving away only 11 runs, but ended with figures of 0-74 from his 10, his worst figures in ODIs. Left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz, who was impressive during the recent 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, was once again the pick of the Pakistan bowlers with figures of 4-59. Azhar, playing his first ODI in two years, gave Pakistan a strong start, putting on 53 with Sarfraz Ahmed for the opening wicket and then 89 with Haris Sohail for the third. But after his dismissal to fast bowler Taskin Ahmed in the 28th over, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and the required run rate climbed steeply. Taskin and left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny took three wickets each for Bangladesh.
'At my best, it's ... almost impossible to beat me'
Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, center, playfully races with youths during a visit to a social sport program at Mangueira slum in Rio de Janeiro on April 16. (AP Photo)
riO De JAneirO, April 18 (Ap): Usain Bolt has a few goals left before he retires: He wants to break his own 200-meter world record and do it by running under 19 seconds. He set the record of 19.19 seconds in 2009, and also set the 100 record of 9.58 in the same year. "That's one of my biggest goals," Bold said Friday in Rio, which will host South America's first Olympics next year. "It's actually to run under 19 seconds. I think this season it will be hard to do, but the key thing is trying to stay injury free so I can go into the Olympic season in the best shape that I can be." The six-time Olympic gold-medal sprinter is in Rio to run an exhibition race over the weekend. Asked to rate himself, Bolt was forthright. "When I'm in great shape, I'll tell you guys, I worry about nobody because I know that when I'm at my best — it's definitely almost impossible to beat me." Bolt reiterated that Rio will be his last Olympics, but not his last season. He said he'll retire after the 2017 world championships in London. "After the Olympics I'll go on for one more season," he said. "My sponsors asked me if I could continue. I'll do one more season, and then I'll hopefully hang my spikes up." Bolt will turn 30 the day the Olympics close — Aug. 21, 2016. Forbes reported Bolt earned $23.2 million in 2014, almost all from sponsorships. He is No. 45 on Forbes' list of the highest earning athletes. Bolt won three golds in Beijing in 2008, and three more in London in 2012. This will be third exhibition race in Rio, which he said is an advantage as he's getting to know the city, the people and what to expect. "It makes it easier to transition into the Olympics next year, which I'm really getting exciting about," Bolt said. "I'm just happy that I get to come here and be a part of this so early, so I'll be much more comfortable when the Olympics come around."
Holder earns Windies a draw AntiguA, April 18 (reuters): Jason Holder struck his maiden firstclass century to lead West Indies to a draw in the first test in Antigua on Friday after James Anderson had become England's leading test wicket-taker. Denesh Ramdin and Holder shared a resolute seventh-wicket stand of 105 and although the former became Anderson's 384th test victim in the final session, the hosts did enough to ruin England's hopes of going 1-0 up in the three-match series. Holder ended unbeaten on 103 and Kemar Roach was 15 not out as West Indies finished on 350 for seven, 88 runs short of their improbable victory target of 438. Paceman Anderson surpassed Ian Botham's tally of 383 test victims when he had Ramdin caught by captain Alastair Cook at first slip for 57. Holder held his nerve, however, and he reached three figures by hitting James Tredwell for four in the penultimate over of the match. Earlier, England looked to be closing in on victory when they dismissed Devon Smith,
Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the morning session, leaving West Indies on 162 for five at lunch. First-innings centurion Jermaine Blackwood fell for 31 soon after the interval, aiming a wild heave at Chris Jordan and edging a catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler. But Ramdin and Holder comfortably survived on a flat pitch and the hosts took tea at 268 for six. Anderson equalled Botham's total in the morning session when Samuels, on 23, flashed at a wide ball and was well caught by Tredwell in the gully. Off-spinner Tredwell had already tempted Smith to try to drive him over the top but the opener holed out to Gary Ballance at mid-on for 65. Tredwell should have dismissed Samuels in his next over, Buttler missing a difficult stumping chance from a sharply turning delivery. Samuels soon fell to a full delivery from Anderson before Chanderpaul and Blackwood dug in. The limpet-like Chanderpaul appeared well set for another marathon knock but, on 13, he was trapped lbw by parttime spinner Joe Root.
England's James Anderson celebrates taking the wicket of West Indies' Denesh Ramdin on the last day of their first cricket Test match at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda, Friday, April 17. Anderson became the leading Test wicket-taker in England's cricket history. (AP Photo)
TYO, FC Rangers enter Frolic Cup final
MeDzipheMA, April 18 (Mexn): Tsiepama Youth Organization will take on FC Rangers in the final of the Frolic Cup after both teams registered wins in their respective semifinal matches on Saturday played here at the Local Ground, Medziphema Town. The final match will be played on April 20 at 1:30 PM. In the first semi-final FC Rangers took on KYC in a thrilling match that ended scoreless at the end of stipulated time. The wa-
terlogged ground helped neither of the team and the match had to be decided via a tie breaker. In the penalty shootout, FC Rangers prevailed scoring 10 goals against 9 scored by KYC. In the second semifinal between TYO and VFA, TYO drew first blood as Anato scored in the 6th minute. Chaba added a second in the 21st minute while Tokavi scored the third a minute later. Pusum scored a consolatory goal for VFA in the 27th minute FC Rangers and KYC in action during the Semifinal of the Frolic Cup at the Local Ground, via a penalty kick. Medziphema, on April 18.
serena Williams gets a rare test from Giorgi but holds on
BrinDisi, April 18 (Ap): Nineteen Grand Slam titles. Nearly 20 years as a professional. An undefeated record this year. And not one career loss in the Fed Cup. Serena Williams' vast experience proved the difference during an extremely tight first set against Italy's Camila Giorgi in a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win for the United States in a Fed Cup playoff. Wearing red, white and blue, the top-ranked Williams was put to the test as she kicked off her clay season in front of a hostile crowd Saturday. The end result, though, was quite familiar. "I competed well," the 33-year-old Williams said. "She played very, very well and I stayed in there. I didn't get negative. I stayed positive and just did the best that I could. I've been working really hard my whole life, so maybe it was just experience." Neither player broke serve in the first set, which was only decided when Giorgi missed two straight forehands to end the tiebreaker. "My game is very instinctive and I made two key errors," the 23-year-old Giorgi said. "Two errors are not many but it depends when you commit them. In a tiebreak, two points are worth gold. But I have no regrets for how I played." Italy's Sara Errani then evened the best-of-five series with the U.S. at 1-1 by routing 57th-ranked Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-2. Williams improved to 19-0 this year and 15-0 for her career in Fed Cup. The
Serena Williams of the United States returns the ball to Italy's Camila Giorgi during a Fed Cup World Group playoff tennis match in Brindisi, Italy, Saturday, April 18. (AP Photo)
only blemish on Williams' 2015 record came when she withdrew before the Indian Wells semifinals last month with a knee injury. Giorgi was an unexpected choice by captain Corrado Barazzutti for Italy's second singles spot over Brindisi native Flavia Pennetta but she showed surprising poise and was even able to match Williams' power in the opening set.
Giorgi and Williams had 17 winners apiece in the first set — which lasted more than an hour — while Williams committed 18 unforced errors to Giorgi's 15. Unable to impose her game, Williams appeared frustrated and kept shouting "Come on!" to herself in angrier and angrier tones as the first set wore on. Williams consistently applauded, putting one hand to her racket, when
Giorgi blasted winners by her, prompting the capacity crowd of 4,000 to break into chants of "I-TAL-IA, ITAL-IA." But Williams played solidly in the tiebreaker and Giorgi clipped the top of the net on Williams' first set point. "It was a great match. Giorgi played great throughout," U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez said. "Serena did a good job to really fight and play a solid tiebreak. She served really well in the tiebreak, which I thought was the difference." In the second set, Williams took control early on. "I haven't played that many points on the clay so I think that factored a little bit," Williams said. "But it was also that she played really well. She had a great game plan and that's the player she is. She just goes for a lot." Barazzutti was pleased with the score at the end of the first day. "I hoped it was going to be 1-1 and that's where we're at," he said. In Sunday's reverse singles, Williams plays Errani followed by Davis against Giorgi, although Barazzutti will likely substitute Pennetta for Giorgi. The doubles teams named were Christina McHale and Alison Riske against Karin Knapp and Pennetta. But Fernandez has said that Williams will play doubles if the series is tied. The winner returns to the World Group and can compete for the Fed Cup trophy next year while the loser will be relegated to World Group II.
public discourse Rejoinder to article titled ‘Sycophancy at its best’
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n a rejoinder to the article titled ‘Sycophancy at its Best’ written by K. Sema, IAS (Retired) which was published on 17th April, 2015 in local newspapers. The Home Commissioner to the Government of Nagaland Neihu C. Thur has refuted and clarified the charges as follows: “First, Shri Amit Shah, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party was not declared as State Guest by the State Government. The Nagaland Police provided security for him since he is a Z plus Protectee. “Secondly, I had assumed the charge of the Home Commissioner, Nagaland on the 2nd March, 2015 (FN) and till today had not entered inside the Nagaland Police Complex at Chumukedima. Therefore, I would request Shri Khekiye K. Sema to substantiate the allegation/claim that, Quote "The Home Commissioner of Nagaland have been hovering all over the place to ensure that all things are in order" Unquote. If Shri Khekiye K. Sema cannot substantiate his allegation/ claim made out in his article referred above he should withdraw the same in regard to the undersigned publicly”. (DIPR)
CM T. R Zeliang plea to Amit Shah on party less Govt in Nagaland
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hile appreciating the bold plea of 'Party less' government by Shri. T.R Zeliang Hon'ble Chief Minister of Nagaland, we the senior citizens of Nagas back to clarify that this is in line with the wishes of the people of Nagaland. And also we are confident that the Hon'ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi who is for the unity of India will surely support the party less government of Nagaland for the unity of the Nagas. And express optimistic that, neither central political parties nor its leaders should insist their party colours to split the Nagas from becoming oneness. Such party less government of the state of Nagaland will itself be a clearest called to the Naga National leaders to unite in one voice in search for solution to the long pending Naga political issue. Therefore, I on my behalf and behalf of the Village Chiefs in Nagaland strongly appealed to all the leaders of Naga national political groups to come together and joint hands under the dynamic leadership of Shri. T.R Zeliang Chief Minister of Nagaland in order to achieve the Naga Common goal as desired by the Nagas. T.L.Angami Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.
Entertainment
The Morung Express C M Y K
19 April 2015
PiPPa Middleton criticised for eating whale meat D
u c h e ss o f Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton has been criticised by rights groups for eating whale meat. "Pippa is not known for common sense or compassion, but it still beggars belief that anyone, let alone someone from a country like ours, where whale meat has long been banned, could be oblivious to the uproar over Norway's slaughter of these gentle giants," Elisa Allen, associate director of animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said in a statement on Thursday. The statement fur-
ther read: "Does (Pippa) think or read? What's next, a panda steak or elephant canape? These whales are harpooned and bled to death before they're gutted. If Pippa is looking for culinary experience, some of the best high-end vegan food -- recently named by Forbes magazine as a top food trend can be found in Norway, and it's good for the heart, an organ Pippa seems to lack." Another animal rights group, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, expressed
their disappointment over Pippa's action, writing on their website: "This is really disappointing news, particularly as Pippa is so high-profile, and given how active her brother-inlaw, William, is on speaking out against poaching and wildlife crime. Commercial whale hunting is banned, the UK government backs the ban and for good reason." The younger sister of Kate Middleton wrote in a recent column for Daily Telegraph about the moment when she ate smoked, uncooked whale carpaccio during a trip to Norway. She claimed the whale meat tasted "similar to smoked salmon but looks more like venison carpaccio."
‘Star Wars’ Yoda in the Bible? Similar Green creature appears in the story of Samson
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oda first appeared on screen in "Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, but the green, pointy-eared swamp creature may have debuted much earlier in 14th century biblical texts. Julian Harrison, curator at the British Library, first presented the manuscript with the Yoda-like drawing in an interview with The Guardian. Harrison runs the Medieval Manuscripts blog which features the drawing and many other illuminated manuscripts now available to see on the In- comes from a 14th-century Smithfield Decretals," Harternet. "The Yoda image manuscript known as the rison told NPR. "I'd love to
say that it really is Yoda, or was drawn by a medieval time traveler. It's actually an illustration to the biblical story of Samson - the artist clearly had a vivid imagination!" The volume, created in southern France between 1300 and 1340, is also known as "The Decretals of Gregory IX with gloss of Bernard of Parma." Decretals were papal decrees (or decision) that determined a point of doctrine or church law. God gave Samson supernatural strength that allowed him to battle his enemies and perform heroic
feats. He could kill a lion, wipe out an entire army with the jawbone of an ass and destroy a pagan temple. His two vulnerabilities were untrustworthy women and losing his hair. Both led to his demise in the story of Samson and Delilah. The late British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn designed Yoda's look using Albert Eistein's facial features as well as his own. Frank Oz voiced Yoda for all five films he appeared in and was the character's puppeteer for episodes V, VI and I. Episodes II and III converted Yoda into a CGI format.
lindSay lohan's stepmother arrested
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Sunday
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indsay L ohan's her father on Thursday tody after she reportedly Lohan at their home in stepmother was ar- night. Kate Major Lohan got into an alcohol-fueled Palm Beach, Florida. But rested for attacking was taken into police cus- altercation with Michael the 'Mean Girls' star's father blames her mother and his ex-wife, Dina Lohan, for the dispute because she is suing him for $16,000 in back child support payments. He told gossip website TMZ.com: "At the end of the day, this is all because of what Dina is doing in court ... It affects Kate too, and like anyone with a drug or alcohol problem, when they can't handle the stress, they resort to drinking." The 54-year-old reality TV star recently had his passport revoked and his driving license suspended after a judge ordered
him to write a cheque for Dina, with whom he also has three other children, Michael Jr., 27, singerand-actress Ali, 21, and 18-year-old Cody. Michael called the police after Kate allegedly came home drunk and struck him. According to the police report, Kate was visibly intoxicated when officers arrived at the scene and admitted she had been drinking. The blonde beauty, who has two sons, Landon, two, and Logan, four months, with Michael, was released on Friday morning.
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A group performs at ‘Powercomm Friday Live’ event, which happens every third Friday of the month at Ozone Café in Kohima. This month's Friday Live was based on the theme of ‘Freedom and Love.’ (Morung Photo)
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Senti Longchar ‘Desert King’ sings to promote his unique song “Chaiberachi King Chilly” and the historical song “Potato” during a Value Link Seminar Programme at Hotel Vivor from Nagaland to Ireland, North East to Germany.
Online audition dates for K-POP India announced
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he Korean Cultural Centre here has announced the online auditions of the fourth edition of KPOP 2015 festival, where artistes of the popular music genre compete with one another. In the new edition of K-POP 2015, auditions are happening on a larger scale, and not just across India, but other neighbouring countries Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal are also participating. With two and ahalf months of online auditions, K-POP will continue to pore through the submissions on their website and will prepare for the August 29 announcement of semi-finalists. The finale will be held in Delhi on August 29 at Siri Fort Auditorium, said a statement. K-POP is a music genre from South Korea, consisting of dance-pop, pop bal-
lad, electronic, rock, hip-hop and R&B. The preliminary rounds will happen in each zone and will witness the grandeur and craze of K-POP in the northeast, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai Kolkata, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and New Delhi. "We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the people last year. We are expecting K-POP 2015 to be one of the most sensational events of the year," Kim Kum-Pyoung, director, Korean Cultural Centre, said in a statement. "It's the ultimate platform for the gifted and talented young performers to showcase their talent and challenge themselves to achieve their goals," he added. For participating in the auditions, contestants can upload their videos, and music files from April 17 to June 30 at www.kpopindia.com.
Taylor Swift look-alike Model appears in Japanese McDonald's Commercial
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Japanese McDonald's commercial which features a model who looks similar to Taylor Swift is going viral again. The model in the ad remarkably resembles the "Shake It Off" singer as she dresses in a more fashionable Ronald McDonald's
costume. The Tomato McGrand ad was uploaded to YouTube all the way back in 2006, the same year Swift released her first album. The ad which has gained 18 million viewers captures a red-haired model sitting while holding a burger
she's about to eat. As the wind blows her hair, the side look from the model's face shows her similarity to Swift's even more. It's later revealed that the model in the ad is a Hungarian model, Agotoa Varga. She used to work with Chanel, Yves Saint Lurent and Versace.
SPice GirlS
Louis Tomlinson starts own Record talking about Label, already signs first artist 2016 reunion The 23-year-old boybander has already signed U.K.'s 'The X Factor' finalist Jack Walton to his new label, which will be backed by Sony, and will hold auditions later this year to find a new girl band.
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ouis Tomlinson is launching his own record label. As reported by British newspaper The Sun, the One Direction
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hottie's new project is being backed by Sony and will be a part of Syco label, Simon Cowell's record label Louis and his bandmates are
currently signed to. "This is something I've wanted to do for some time," Louis told the publication. "To be given the opportunity to
potentially give new artists a platform is an incredible feeling. I hope to sign some really exciting new artists down the line." The 23-year-old singer adds that he has signed his first artist, a finalist of U.K.'s "The X Factor" named Jack Walton. He will hold auditions for a new girl band in the near future. The news comes just a few weeks after Zayn Malik quit One Direction to be "a normal 22-year-old." The band is currently taking a break from their world tour while also working on what will be their fifth studio album. The group's first Zayn-less effort is due out later this year.
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he 39-year-old star says she and former bandmates, Halliwell, Emma, Mel C and Victoria Beckham, haven't ruled out doing something special to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2016. She said: ''I mean, we got together for the Olympics and nobody thought that we were going to get together for that. Next year is our 20th anniversary so we'll see. Maybe we'll do something. Who knows?'' Asked if they have already started making plans, she told E! News: ''We talk a lot and we text and we Facetime. I was just Facetiming Geri the other day, she's about to get married so we're going to go over to England for her wedding.'' Mel also insists she and fashion designer Victoria, 41, are still very close. She said: ''We see each other more in London than we do here [in Los Angeles], because here she's got her kids and I've got my kids. In London, I usually go there for work, so I don't necessarily have the kids with me because I'm usually on a short trip and so is she, so it's weird how it works out like that.''
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Sunday,19th April 2015
Rajasthan Royals VS Chennai Super Kings
Sunday,19th April 2015
Royal Challengers Bangalore VS Mumbai Indians
4:00 PM IST
Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad
8:00 PM IST Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Delhi Daredevils snatch Mayweather-Pacquiao: 4-run win over Sunrisers Not a ticket to be seen
Delhi Daredevils captain Jean-Paul Duminy is clean bowled by Dale Steyn of Sunrisers Hyderabad during match 13 of the Pepsi IPL 2015 (Indian Premier League) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevild held at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam, April 18. (Photo by IPL)
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V i s a k h a pat n a m , april 18 (ians): Delhi Daredevils snatched a thrilling four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to earn their second victory in the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) in four outings at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Saturday. Two brilliant half-centuries from opener Shreyas Iyer (60) and captain JP Duminy (54) guided the Daredevils to a competitive total of 167/4 in 20 overs. In
reply, the hosts could only manage 163/8 with Man of the Match Duminy also starring with the ball, taking 3/17 in four overs. Opting to bat, Daredevils did not start well as they lost opening batsman Mayank Agarwal (1) cheaply in only the third over. But a 78-run second-wicket partnership between Iyer and Duminy revived the innings. The two performances were the only notable contributions from
the Daredevils batsmen. Iyer played a superb innings of 40 balls which included five sixes and three boundaries while South African Duminy hit five boundaries and two sixes. Star batsman Yuvraj Singh, who was purchased by the Delhi franchise for a record Rs.16 crore, failed to click as he was caught while batting on 9. Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews (15 not out) and wicketkeeper-batsman
Kedar Jadhav (19 not out) played small cameos towards the end to propel the score beyond 160. Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers as he was the only one from Sunrisers to end with an economy rate of less than six per over. Bhuvneshwar, Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Reddy all picked up a wicket each. While chasing, the Sunrisers took off well with opening batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (18) and captain David Warner (28) striking a 50-run stand. However, a brilliant seventh over from spinner Duminy sent back both the openers and turned the match in favour of the visitors. Ravi Bopara (41) and Lokesh Rahul (24) came out with crucial contributions for the home side but regular fall of wickets slowed down the flow of runs. However, despite the fall of wickets, the Sunrisers were able to maintain a strong run rate, helping them needing only 10 runs off the last over. But a brilliant last over from pace bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile helped the Daredevils allow the Sunrisers only five runs, bagging the match.
Messi, Suarez score as Barca beat Valencia
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BarCElOna, april 18 (ap): Lionel Messi set up Luis Suarez's first-minute opener before adding another goal in stoppage time to give Spanish league leader Barcelona a hard-fought 2-0 win over Valencia on Saturday. Suarez netted his 12th goal in his last 12 appearances to give Barcelona the lead 55 seconds into the match at Camp Nou. But Valencia dominated the rest of the first half and the hosts needed goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to save Dani Parejo's penalty in the 10th minute. Valencia striker Paco Alcacer went close several times before Barcelona settled down after halftime, and Messi netted his 35th league goal of the season right before the final whistle. The victory lifted Barcelona a provisional five points clear before secondplace Real Madrid hosts Malaga later. FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, duels for the ball against Valencia's Nicolas Otamendi during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18. (AP Photo)
sakhir, april 18 (ap): Defending champion Lewis Hamilton will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position for the first time after clinching his fourth straight pole of the season on Saturday, finishing well ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes driver, who leads the Formula One championship after winning two of three races so far, finished 0.411 seconds ahead of Vettel and 0.558 clear of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg — who had started the previous two Bahrain GPs from pole position. Hamilton won last year's Bahrain GP after starting second on the grid, and Rosberg will have his work cut out Sunday to win his first race of a frustrating campaign so far. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen qualified in fourth place, confirming the two teams as the dominant cars of the season so far.
Djokovic downs Nadal to reach Monte Carlo final
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Tim Dahlberg AP Boxing Writer
Don't expect to snag a $1,500 nosebleed ticket — or any other ticket — at the box office for the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Just two weeks before the bout, tickets for the most anticipated fight in recent times have yet to go on public sale, with the two camps and the MGM Grand locked in a standoff over allotments. When they are finally put on sale, only a few will be sold at the listed price. The impasse has left fans in the dark, and ticket brokers perplexed. "It's bizarre, normally there's a public sale 10 weeks before the fight," said Connor Gregoire, an analyst for Seatgeek.com. "To our knowledge no one has a printed ticket in their hands right now." Mayweather's promoter, Leonard Ellerbe, said Tuesday that tickets would go on sale this week for the May 2 fight, but MGM officials have been tight-lipped about their availability. The hotel issued a statement Friday saying there would be a "limited number of tickets available for sale" and that it is working with promoters to finalize a date for their release. The fight was always going to be a tough ticket, with announced prices of $1,500 to $7,500 in the 16,500seat Grand Garden arena. But those prices have already tripled in the resale market even before tickets are available, and the two camps and the MGM have been dickering over how many seats — and at what price level
— each party gets. Pacquiao's manager, Michael Koncz, blamed the Mayweather camp for holding up the ticket sales, saying they have refused to sign a term sheet negotiated months earlier that specified the allotments. "It's a real mess right now," Koncz said. "I can only surmise the motivation is greed and an attempt to manipulate the tickets, otherwise why the holdup? I'm more than a little upset they're not for sale to the public." Millions of dollars are at stake in the dispute, because after the MGM takes its share each camp gets a certain percentage of tickets and is able to resell them with ticket brokers for higher prices. The estimated gate for the tickets if they are sold at retail prices is already a staggering $72 million, far surpassing the previous gate record of $20 million for Mayweather's 2013 fight with Canelo Alvarez. Promoter Bob Arum said he has heard of people cancelling their reservations to Las Vegas because they're afraid they can't get tickets. "This is not acceptable," said Arum, who promotes Pacquiao. "This is a worldwide event that the city of Las Vegas is involved in. It's one of the craziest things I've ever seen." Gregoire said the fight is one of Seatgeek's most searched events, but that only a few dozen tickets have been sold through the website. Those tickets are what the ticket industry calls "spec tickets" because the sellers don't actually have them in hand, but expect to get them before the fight. The cheapest seat on the site on
Friday was $4,800, and Gregoire said the average sale so far is in the $8,000 range. "People are hesitant to buy in the secondary market before there's been an original sale," he said. "And you've also got the incredible prices being asked for tickets now. That means a lot of people are not buying tickets at this point." At Stubhub there are no tickets for sale, spokeswoman Alison Salcedo said, because the ticket reseller is waiting for actual prices to be set and tickets to be printed. "There's still so much up in the air for this fight that we're not allowing spec sales," Salcedo said. "We're not willing to take that risk now." Tickets have also not gone on sale for the closed circuit telecast of the fight at the various MGM properties in Las Vegas. Thousands of those tickets are expected to be sold to fans that can't get into the arena itself, but no price has been set for them. Koncz said he talked to Pacquiao on Thursday about making sure he had enough tickets to take care of people in his camp. He said there have been requests from around the world for fight tickets, but that they have been forced to put them off because of the uncertainty over how many tickets are available and their pricing. One thing that is certain, he said, is no one — including the celebrities who generally populate the ringside seats — is getting in for free. "Nobody's getting free tickets," Koncz said. "Even Bob (Arum) has to pay for his ticket in the first row."
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Win against Swans lift Leicester to 18th
Hamilton takes pole position for Bahrain GP
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FILE - At left, in a May 4, 2013, file photo, Floyd Mayweather Jr. exchanges punches with Robert Guerrero (not shown) in a WBC welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. At right, in a Nov. 12, 2011, file photo, Manny Pacquiao exchanges punches with Juan Manuel Marquez (not shown) during a WBO welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. Don't expect to snag a $1,500 nosebleed ticket _ or any other ticket _ at the box office for the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Just two weeks before the bout, tickets for the most anticipated fight in recent times have yet to go on public sale, with the two camps and the MGM Grand locked in a standoff over allotments. (AP Photo)
mOnaCO, april 18 (ap): Top-ranked Novak Djokovic overcame a strong challenge from Rafael Nadal to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final with a 6-3, 6-3 win Saturday. Djokovic will face sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych as he bids for a second title at the clay-court Masters. Following his title at the Paris Masters last year, Djokovic posted back-to-back victories at Indian Wells and Miami and will try to become the first player to win the first three Masters of the season. Nadal showed glimpses of his old self, mixing aggression and superb defensive shots but the Spaniard, who has been struggling to get back to his best after a wrist injury and an appendectomy, was not consistent enough to deny Djokovic a shot at his fourth Masters title in a row. Earlier, Berdych overwhelmed Gael Monfis 6-1, 6-4 to advance to his first final in Monte Carlo. Berdych immediately took control from the baseline and Monfils struggled to cope with the fast pace imposed by the bighitting Czech. Monfils won just 11 points in a lopsided first set before the Frenchman changed strategy to break level at 1-1. Monfils failed to build on the momentum, though, dropping his next service game.
lEiCEstEr, april 18 (ap): Leicester boosted its chances of avoiding relegation by beating Swansea 2-0 on Saturday in the Premier League, lifting the team off the bottom of the standings. Leonardo Ulloa gave the host the lead in the 15th minute with his first goal since January and Andy King made sure of the win in stoppage time, giving the Foxes a vital three points in the fight against the
drop. Leicester climbed from last to 18th place and is now two points ahead of both Queens Park Rangers and Burnley with a game in hand. It is tied on points with 17th-place Hull and one point behind Sunderland. Swansea is eighth. Results: Stoke City 2 – 1 Southampton Everton 1 – 0 Burnley Crystal Palace 0 – 2 West Brom
Dortmund win as Klopp’s farewell begins Bayern close in on Bundesliga title
BErlin, april 18 (ap): Shinji Kagawa sealed the victory as Borussia Dortmund began coach Juergen Klopp's farewell with a 3-0 defeat of Paderborn in the Bundesliga, while Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Hoffenheim on Saturday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang crossed for Henrikh Mkhitaryan to head in Dortmund's opener just after halftime, then scored seven minutes later. Kagawa sealed it with a fine effort near the end. It was Dortmund's first game since Klopp announced on Thursday his end-of-season departure. Sebastian Rode's 38thminute strike and an own goal from Andreas Beck in injury time were enough for Bayern to move another step to claiming the title. Also, Bayer Leverkusen routed Hannover 4-0 to move to third, Mainz won 3-2 at Freiburg, and Hertha Berlin drew 0-0 with visiting Cologne.
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Borussia fans hold a banner reading "Thanks Kloppo" and a picture of head coach Juergen Klopp with a crown prior the German Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and SC Paderborn in Dortmund, Germany, Saturday, April 18. (AP Photo)
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