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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 716, 25 APRIL - 1 MAY , 2017 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Trump’s order on H1B visas to affect Indian IT workers

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that calls for a review of the H-1B visa programme, saying they should never be used to replace American workers and must be given to the most skilled and highest paid applicants.

Trump signed the order targeting the programme popular with Indian technology professionals at the Kenosha, Wisconsin headquarters of tool maker Snap-on Inc on Tuesday. “Right now,

widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for, sometimes, less pay. This will stop,” Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Wisconsin before signing the executive order. He said the order sets in motion the first steps for long-overdue reforms to end visa abuses. “Right now, H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random

lottery, and that’s wrong. Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans,” he said. “No one can compete with American workers when they’re given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades,” Trump added. He said his administration is going to enforce ‘Hire American’ rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of workers in

the United States. According to the order signed by Trump, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries. In a statement, the White House said H-1B visas are supposed to bring the highest skilled and paid labour to the United States. But according to studies, 80 per cent of the approved applications were for the two lowest wage levels. Currently, companies routinely abuse the H-1B visa programme by replacing American workers with lower paid foreign workers, it said. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H1B visas every year is grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issued 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution.

Embattled ISIS to merge with Qaeda?

ISLAMIC State is talking to alQaeda about a potential alliance to form a combined terror group as Iraqi troops close in on jihadis in Mosul. Messengers representing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and his alQaeda counterpart Ayman al Zawahiri have discussed what is understood to be a potential merger deal. This month, it was reported the two terror groups had already formed a partnership in Libya amid mounting pressure on the jihadi movements and a leaked memo suggested they could be working together as one organisation by 2021. Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi revealed the new information in an interview on Monday, citing regional contacts in the country.

“The discussion has started now,” said Allawi. “There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and

representing Zawahiri.” Islamic State split from alQaeda in 2014 and the two groups have since waged an bitter battle for recruits, funding and the mantle of global jihad. Zawahiri has publicly criticised Islamic State for its brutal methods, which have included beheadings, drownings and burning prisoners to death.

It is unclear how exactly the two groups may work together, Allawi said, but mergers have popped up elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. Libyan branches of the two terror groups held talks

this month about sharing a governing council, according to documents leaked to newspaper Al Sharq al Awsat. The memos also revealed ISIS and Al-Qaeda believed they would be united fully by 2021. Islamic State blazed across large swathes of northern Iraq in 2014, leaving the Iraqi central government reeling.

Baghdadi declared a caliphate over the territory the group controlled from the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul the same year, which also became a point of con tention with al-Qaeda.

Last October, Iraqi security forces and Shi’ite volunteer fighters, commonly referred to as the Popular Mobilisation Units teamed up with an international coalition, including the United States, to drive Islamic State from of Mosul and the areas surrounding the city.

The group has been pushed out of the half of Mosul that lies east of the Tigris River, but Iraqi soldiers and their allies are now bogged down in tough fighting in the narrow streets of the Old Continued on Page 4 City of

Issue - 716 (2)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Muslim teen boxer in US wins right to fight in hijab, will cover her entire body

INDIA’S digital warriors have crippled 30 Pakistan government websites in virtual surgical strikes as protest against the neighbouring country’s announcement of the death penalty to former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. A Pakistani military court this month ordered the punishment for Jadhav, after he was accused of espionage and sabotage activities in Karachi and Balochistan. “All the hacking in Pakistan was part of our operation ‘Justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav’,” one of the hackers told Mail Today. Indian and Pakistani hackers also fought pitched battles in cyber space after last September’s terrorist attack on a military camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri sector. A message on a hacked Pakistani website read, “Charges against Kulbhushan Jadhav are fictitious, fake and farcical. There is no evidence of wrong doing by him.

This is an act of “premeditated murder’. Earlier it was Sarabjeet, now it’s Jadhav.” Responsibility of hitting the websites was taken by “lulzsec India”, comprising 11 hackers. Experts say many nations are deploying cyber warriors to attack vital organisations in enemy countries. Pakistan, China, Iran and North Korea have deployed hackers by granting them immunity from consequences.

Another hackers’ group,

Telangana Cyber Warrior, claims it has infected the network of a government hospital in Karachi.

“We have their entire computer network under our control. We can modify patients’ records and monitor their health condition,” said a member of the group. The Kerala Cyber Warriors hacked the website of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. The website’s main page is warped in a way that it displays a message demanding “justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav Ji”.

The message reads that the “Indian spy”, in custody of Pakistani authorities, “lives for

India” and all the cases filed against him are completely fake.

Observers say Pakistani hackers will try to respond in kind and attempt to hack prominent and sensitive Indian websites. They have in the past carried out mass defacement and are focused on targeting government portals.

State police websites were defaced by Pakistani hackers where they posted anti-India comments with an image of the Pakistan flag. Experts say the intelligencegathering process has intensified as hackers are not only defacing the sites but

are silently spying into critical networks. Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested reportedly from Balochistan after he entered Pakistan from Iran. He was accused by Pakistan of being a “RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) agent” and planning “subversive activities” in the country. The Indian government, on the other hand, believed that he was picked up from Iran.

India has acknowledged Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer, but denied that he was in any way connected to the government.

Sikh regiment plan in British army dropped again London First mooted and abandoned over a decade ago, the plan to raise a Sikh regiment in the British army was revived before the 2015 election, considered by the chief of army staff, and has again been dropped, official sources told .

The demand for a Sikh regiment to honour the contribution of Sikh soldiers in the two world wars was

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raised by some organisations at the recent Vaisakhi celebrations in London, but defence secretary Michael Fallon is “a little wary” of military units based on religion.

A ministry of defence spokesperson said, “The army is considering a range of options to better recognise the historical contribution of Sikh soldiers,

whilst ensuring that we continue to adhere to current antidiscrimination legislation.”

In 2007, the proposal was abandoned after the Commission for Racial Equality argued that a separate Sikh regiment would be divisive and amount to ‘segregation’. But it was revived by former armed forces minister Mark Francois in February 2015.

Washington A 16-year-old Muslim-American boxer, who wants to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, has won the right to wear a hijab and fully cover her arms and legs while boxing in the US. Amaiya Zafar, from Oakdale, Minnesota, no longer will have to choose between her religion or the boxing ring after she recently won a battle that will allow her to wear a hijab and fully cover her arms and legs while taking part in bouts in the US. A new USA Boxing exemption means Zafar can adhere to her religious beliefs rather than to a mandate that she wear a sleeveless jersey and shorts that cannot go below the knees, The Star Tribune reported.

“This is a big step. She’s put a lot of labour into this. She earned the right to showcase her skills, and I’m happy for her,” her coach Nathaniel Haile was quoted as saying.

“But it’s just the first step in letting her achieve her dreams,” Haile said.

Zafar has her sights set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. To get there, she would have to persuade the international boxing organisation — the International Boxing Association (AIBA) — to allow her to box in her modest attire, the report said.

For now, her right to wear the scarf is only with USA Boxing, it said. Zafar will now have the opportunity to fight in local matches and many tournaments throughout the country, Haile said.

Zafar, who is relieved she can finally compete, said, “I’m ready”.

Over the past couple of years, she thought she was close to jumping into competition.

Last year, she flew to Florida and weighed in for her fight. But before she got her gloves on, officials informed her that she could not wear her hijab, leggings or long sleeves, and she left.

“You get so invested. My weight is in the right place. My head is in the game,” she said. To be turned away — “it’s exhausting,” Zafar added. On April 29, the 5foot-1, 116-pound teen expects to face off with a girl from Iowa at an amateur boxing match at the Richard R Green Central Park School in Minneapolis.

Her mother, Sarah O’Keefe, is more excited than nervous, pointing to her daughter’s training and skills.

Issue - 716 (3)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

5 Indians jailed in Singapore for fraudulent GST refund claims

Singapore Five Indians, who were part of a syndicate, were jailed and fined in Singapore on Monday for making fraudulent goods and services tax (GST) refund claims amounting to over $120,000.

They were jailed for making fraudulent GST refund claims amounting to Singaporean dollars 167,253 ($120,092) between January 2015 and May last year.

Kothandaraman Gnanam, 29, Karunanidhi Rajesh, 32, Ramaiyan Karthikeyan, 44, and Waithiyalingam Karunanidhi, 61, were jailed for three years and three months.

Their accomplice, Karunanithi Saravanan, 37, was jailed for three years and two months, the Strait Times reported.

They were also fined between 14,000 Singaporean dollars ($10,052) and 70,000 Singaporean dollars ($50,262). Each man also had to fork out 51,952 Singaporean dollars ($37,303) as a penalty.

However, only 5,434 Singaporean dollars worth of tax refunds made to the five men have been recovered.

The court heard that the men loitered in and around jewellery shops in Little India area to obtain invoices and jewellery tags from customers, who were Singapore permanent residents and work pass holders, not entitled to GST refunds.

They would buy the invoices from the customers but no mention was made on the amount they paid for each invoice.

Tourists visiting Singapore can claim GST refunds on goods they have bought when they leave the country. They receive a receipt for goods purchased and an Electronic Tourist Refund Scheme (eTRS) ticket when they buy items from a GSTregistered retailer. They can then use the eTRS ticket to make GST refund claims at ports of departure such as the Changi

airport.

They can also make similar transactions using the credit cards which they had used to buy their goods.

The five men used their passports and white embarkation cards to obtain eTRS tickets from the respective shops using the receipts they had obtained.

They then matched the invoices, jewellery tags and eTRS tickets with the jewellery they already had at hand.

Saravanan also provided jewellery from his own wholesale purchases to his accomplices to help them make false claims.

The men would then claim eTRS GST cash refunds at the airport before flying off.

When there were not enough valuables to go around, they would share among themselves the same piece of jewellery.

Investigators from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) arrested them on February 1, this year.

The men pleaded guilty last Friday to 14 GST-related charges involving 17,317 Singaporean dollars ($12,432) each. Each man also had between 198 and 235 similar charges taken into consideration during sentencing. They also removed from Singapore a total of 112,924 Singaporean dollars ($80,630) which were ill-gotten gains from their criminal conduct. Each man pleaded guilty to between seven and 11 charges of removing money from the country.

New Delhi India was at fifth place on the list of the world’s highest spenders on defence in 2016 as global military expenditure rose for a second consecutive year to $1,686 billion, according to a new report.

New Delhi’s military expenditure grew by 8.5% last year to $55.9 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual report on defence spending.

The United States remained at the top of the list, with its military spending growing by 1.7% between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion. Military expenditure by China, the second largest spender, increased by 5.4% to $215 billion, a “much lower rate of growth than in previous years”, the report said.

Russia hiked its spending by 5.9% to $69.2 billion, making it the third largest spender. Saudi Arabia was the third largest spender in 2015 but dropped to fourth position in 2016 as its spending fell by 30% to $63.7 billion despite its involvement in regional conflicts.

Total global military expenditure in 2016 rose by 0.4% over 2015 in real terms, according to the new figures from SIPRI. In February, India hiked its allocation for defence in 2017-18 by 6% to Rs 2.74 lakh crore, including Rs 86,488 crore for modernisation. However, experts said the modest increase could hurt the military’s modernisation plans, crucial to keeping up with China’s expanding might.

India’s military spending has averaged an annual increase of 10% during the past three years, much to the disappointment of the military that is struggling to scale

up its capabilities.

The armed forces are currently negotiating several big-ticket deals for Rafale fighter jets, Apache, Chinook and Kamov helicopters and the M-777 lightweight howitzers.

The SIPRI report also said military spending in North America saw its first annual increase since 2010, while spending in Western Europe grew for the second consecutive year.

Global military expenditure rose for a second consecutive year to a total of $1686 billion, marking the first consecutive annual increase since 2011, when spending reached a peak of $1,699 billion.

The report said spending continued to grow in Asia and Oceania, Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa. By contrast, spending fell in Central America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, South America and sub-Saharan Africa.

“The growth in US military expenditure in 2016 may signal the end of a trend of decreases in spending, which resulted from the economic crisis and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq,” the report said.

US spending last year remained 20% lower than its peak in 2010.

India is fifth largest military spender with outlay of $55.9 bn: SIPRI

Issue - 716 (4)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

HEADLESS & BLEEDING CRPF, which lost 26 men to Maoist attack in Sukma, does not have a full-time boss and is low on morale

THE Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that leads antiMaoist operations across the country has been headless for almost two months. The paramilitary wing lost more than two dozen of its men on Monday to an ambush by the communist guerillas in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district— the second attack on the CRPF in the area within 40 days.

“Why is a force of 300,000 personnel headless for two months?’’ asked Prakash Singh, former director general of BSF. “Where is the leadership for the force? When this government took over, (home minister) Rajnath Singh made a grand announcement about a policy to

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deal with the situation. Three years later, where is that policy?” The patrol team of 99 personnel was on a road-sanitisation operation. “The CRPF party had left their camp around 5.30am. While patrolling the road they took a break around 10.30am. That’s the time they noticed some villagers approach them. The villagers had cattle with them and soon moved away. It now appears they were a Maoist patrolling party to assess the number of CRPF personnel and their weapons,’’ top sources in the ministry of home affairs told MAIL TODAY. Around 12.45pm, the 99member CRPF patrol decided to break for lunch. “As per standard operating procedures, the entire party does not eat together. While one section eats, the other stands guard. In this case, during the shift between the two parties, they saw a large group of villagers approach them. Even as they focused their attention on the villagers, another group of about 50 Maoists opened fire from the other direction and there was a loud explosion,’’ sources added. Before the CRPF patrol could take cover, the first group of Maoists hiding behind villagers opened fire. The firing started from two sides. “The Maoists were dressed in all-black and very wellarmed. We could not open fire immediately because they were using villagers as a human shield. By the time

we took cover and opened fire, there was an attack from two sides,” constable Sher Bahadur, an injured CRPF jawan, told MAIL TODAY. The Maoists, or Naxals, are inspired by the political philosophy

of China’s late Chairman Mao Zedong.

They say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers, but have been found to be involved in crimes such as kidnapping, smuggling and mass murders. Sher Bahadur says he shot at least four armed Maoists in

Security of PM, Yogi tightened after intel alert AS KASHMIR Valley remains tense due to fresh clashes, an intelligence alert from central intelligence agencies has tightened securities of PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yodi Adityanath. A recent alert by the intelligence agencies has indicated that both of them could be on the radar of some Londonbased Kashmiri terrorists.

According to the alert, these terrorists have infiltrated in Kashmir Valley and will try to travel to UP in small groups in a train. The locators of the terrorists are unknown.

Highly placed intelligence sources said this threat perception has been conveyed both to Special Protection Group responsible for the PM’s security and officials supervising UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s security arrangements. PM Modi continues to remain a high-value target for both international and domestic terror outfits. Series of bomb blasts in a public rally addressed by him at Patna while he was Gujarat CM on October 2013 is a clear indicator that he faces high security risks. Sources said another alert by Mumbai Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau has suggested that both PM and UP CM have high security risks. An alert had been issued by the state Intelligence Bureau unit suggesting some people in Raigarh in Maharashtra were heard discreetly talking about carrying attacks on both the

VVIPs. Police are probing the inputs and trying to identify the persons who reportedly indulged in the conspiracy.

While both the leaders enjoy highest standards of security in the country,

the chest before being injured in the encounter. As the CRPF personnel retaliated, a second wave of Maoists came and began firing at the security forces. The paramilitary soldiers claim several women cadre of the Red terror group were also involved in the attack.

“There were about 300 Maoists in all and they came from two sides in three waves. We were outnumbered and outgunned,” Sher Bahadur added.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh cut short his visit to Delhi and rushed back. He visited the injured CRPF jawans at hospital. “Our jawans will not back down. Sukma is a Naxal bastion. The road (construction when completed) will cripple their network,’’ he told the media. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh too condemned the attack and said Hansraj Ahir, union minister of state for home, will travel to the affected area. Ex-BSF chief Prakash Singh also hit out at the Chhattisgarh government. “There have been a series of attacks on the CRPF in Chhattisgarh. Has the Raman Singh government done an audit of the number of personnel trained in their Jungle Warfare School? Is there an audit of the intelligence gathering capabilities and the state police force operations on ground,’’ he asked. The Maoist insurgency feeds off antigovernment hostility in some rural areas, highlighting the uneven nature of India’s economic boom. Prakash Singh is not the only one seeking a national policy and multi-state operations against the guerillas. “These attacks cannot go on.

It is now time to gather actionable intelligence and carry out parallel operations across the entire Red Terror corridor,’’ concurs Vikram Singh, former police chief of Uttar Pradesh. One of the biggest problems the security forces on the ground face is lack of actionable intelligence. “If 300 people with arms are assembling to launch a terror attack on security forces, word must have gone out across several villages. Why is it that the state intelligence agencies did not learn of it,’’ says an official monitoring the situation.

Embattled ISIS to merge with Qaeda? sources said the details of the alerts have been conveyed to all security formations for necessary briefing at places where ever the VVIPs visit. After the alerts last week a highlevel Union Home Ministry meeting took place. In the meeting it was decided to provide NSG Commandoes to Yogi Adityanath along with the regular Z plus security cover. So far only 16 VVIPs have been provided with the elite security cover NSG commandoes. According to an alert issued earlier an unidentified associate co-located with Kashmir Valley based LeT operative Ukasha revealed that he and Dujana are proposed to be sent to Delhi for targeting PM. The alert had said one undisclosed associate would be sent to North and South Kashmir each.

continued from page 1 Mosul, west of the river, according to Iraqi security officials. Islamic State has used suicide bombers, snipers and armed drones to defend the territory under their control. The group has also repeatedly targeted civilians or used them as human shields during the fighting, according to Iraqi and American security officials. The militant group has lost ground in Mosul but still controls the towns of Qaim, Hawija and Tal Afar in Iraq as well as Raqqa, their de facto capital in Syria.

Even if Islamic State loses its territory in Iraq, Allawi said, it will not simply go away. “I can’t see ISIS disappearing into thin air,” he said. “They will remain covertly in sleeping cells, spreading their venom all over the world.”

Issue - 716 (5)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Govt rules out talks with J&K separatists

Crackdown to continue on use of social media in the Valley DESPITE the surge in violent protests across the Kashmir valley, the government has decided against holding any parleys with the proPakistan Hurriyat conference for controlling the situation. “The government is taking steps to address the situation in Kashmir but under no circumstances, there would be any engagement with the separatists including the Hurriyat Conference,” senior government sources told MAIL TODAY. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir has not been normal in the recent times as the number of clashes between protesters and security forces is on a rise due to stone-pelting incidents on troops. Sources said the government was prepared for

dealing with the situation which is likely to continue for the next couple of months and even adversely affect the tourist season there. “In the present circumstances, there is lot of pressure from various quarters including the mainstream political parties to engage with the separatist leaders but the feeling is that talking to them is not going to yield any results,” they said. Leaders of the Hurriyat including Syed Ahmed Shah Geelani are at the forefront agitations where it has emerged that money is paid to the hooligans to hurl stones at the security forces convoys and patrol parties.

Geelani also issues the strike calendars for the local population with instructions on the date and time of protest against Indian interests there. After the Narendra Modi-led government came to power, it declined to talk to the separatists as the groups like Hurriyat are pro-Pakistan and Islamabad has been using them to undermine the authority of the central and state governments while dealing with the Kashmir issue. To deal with the situation, the sources said the government will continue its crackdown on the social media-based activities of the separatists who are using applications like WhatsApp and Facebook to gather protesters and spread false information against the Indian government. “Already, there have been cases where the local police has apprehended some group administrators who are paid to spread rumours against the forces while a large number of

Facebook and WhatsApp groups are being tracked by the Information Technology experts in the valley,” they said. Sources said the government does not want a short-cut or stopgap arrangements for settling the Kashmir situation and is looking at finding longterm solutions for establishing peace. The present scenario has also created a situation where the security forces are feeling tied down but they have been ensured that the government would fully back them, the sources said. The government has also given a go ahead to the security forces to go after the top terrorist leadership in Kashmir to break the backbone of their infrastructure and is also working to involve countries in the middleeast to curb the funding of these Islamic groups.

Chhota Rajan guilty in fake passport case TWO YEARS after being deported to India from Indonesia, underworld don Chhota Rajan had his first conviction on Monday in the matter of fake passport.

Along with Rajan, three retired passport officials- Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan – were convicted for helping Rajan to obtain a fake passport by entering into a criminal conspiracy.

After being convicted, the three retired government officials broke down as the court ordered for taking them in immediate police custody. The three are so far out on bail. Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, 55, who is currently in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail, appeared before the court through videoconference. All the four were convicted of the same offences for which the punishment ranges from seven years to life term. They were convicted of cheating, using as genuine a forged document, forgery for the purpose of cheating, forgery of valuable security or will, cheating by impersonation and criminal conspiracy under the IPC and violating relevant provisions of the Passport Act as well. The court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence

on Tuesday. The court noted that Rajan had twice got passports issued in the name of Mohan Kumar on false and fabricated documents — first from RTO, Bangalore and then from consulate general of India, Sydney, Australia. It added that signatures appearing in the application form for reissue of passport on the basis of same particulars, were the same as tallied with the specimen signatures of Rajan. Rajan had impersonated himself as Mohan Kumar with the help of false partic - ulars, address etc., supported with false and fabricated documents. Deported after being on the run for 27 years, Rajan, once a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, was brought to India to face trial in over 70 cases of murder, extortion and drug smuggling in Delhi and Mumbai. He was deported to after his arrest in 2015.

Issue - 716 (6)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

US First Ladies have a ‘frosty’ relationship MELANIA and Ivanka have a reported frosty relationship as Trump’s eldest daughter has frequently filled the role as First Lady in Melania’s absence. Two unnamed sources said they noticed the President’s leading ladies were not getting along, it was revealed on Sunday.

Although a White House spokesperson denied the allegations by saying the two women have always had a close bond and still do, the frigid relationship could stem from Ivanka being a stand-in for First Lady duties. In a Vanity Fair article centered on the private life of Melania, the magazine claims that two unidentified sources in both fashion and media noticed the cold interactions. Melania was greeted with disapproving headlines when it was announced she would be staying in New York City with her son Barron for the remainder of the 11-year-old’s academic school year, despite Trump moving to Washington DC. Ivanka on the other hand, quickly rounded up her three children and husband Jared Kushner to move into a $5.5million dollar (‘35 crore) home in the exclusive neighborhood of Kalorama. The First Daughter, who will be traveling to Germany next week on behalf of the president to mourn Holocaust victims, has always been at her father’s side.

From being an integral part of his company, to appearing on his Apprentice show and cheering him on during his presidential campaign, Ivanka has been Trump’s go-to child and perhaps biggest supporter. So when Melania, who was absent for a

host of campaign rallies and speeches, shied away from her new political duties as First Lady, Ivanka was the clear choice to fill her shoes. The 35-year-old businesswoman since has appeared at meetings with

Chinese leaders, accompanied Trump on his Dover Air Force Base visit and welcomed back a recently freed American charity worker in the Oval Office.

But now, Melania seems ready to take back her place at

Trump’s side. She has been seen more frequently in Washington DC and joined her husband in his first military hospital visit where he awarded an Army veteran with a Purple Heart, on Saturday.

CHINESE GODDESS IVANKA

HER father’s brand may be struggling for popularity in the US, but Ivanka Trump is cultivating a cult following in China. An online fan club on the website Weibo, which is similar to Twitter, even refers to the President’s daughter as ‘Goddess Ivanka’. NBC News reports the page with the same title has about 12,000 followers, many of whom are effusive in their praise for the 35-yearold. Hu Xingdou, a Beijing professor, told the network much of Ivanka Trump’s

popularity comes from people thinking she is supportive of China. “Most people in China love Ivanka because of her friendly gestures towards the Chinese people,” Xingdou said. “Ivanka is an important bridge during this period of uncertainties in China-US relations.” The professor then referenced videos Trump posted on social media of her daughter, Arabella, singing in Chinese to President Xi Jinping earlier this month. “That was a boost for Chinese cultural nationalism,” he said.

N Korea arrests another US citizen NORTH Korea has arrested a US citizen, according to reports, bringing the total number of Americans held by the Hermit Kingdom to three. The man, a Korean-American in his fifties identified only by his surname Kim, had been in North Korea for a month to discuss relief activities, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country on Friday.

North Korea has arrested a US

citizen, according to reports, bringing the total number of Americans held by the Hermit Kingdom to three. The man, a KoreanAmerican in his fifties identified only by his surname Kim, had been in North Korea for a month to discuss relief activities, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country on Friday.

Tensions between the US and North Korea are particularly high at the moment however, with the isolated country threatening America with nuclear war if it is attacked.

“The DPRK will react to a total war with an all-out war, a nuclear war with nuclear strikes of its own and surely win a victory in the deathdefying struggle against the US imperialists,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman wrote Saturday. This message, which was one of three delivered Saturday, echoed the message delivered by a top official at the massive ‘Day of the Sun’ military parade in Pyongyang earlier this month. The increased tension in the region and with the United States will be a hot topic in Washington on Monday with the visit of US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who will be escorting Security Council members to the capital for a series of meetings with congress and in the White House.

Obama returns: Ex-Prez meets at-risk youth in Chicago FORMER President Barack Obama headed back to his hometown of Chicago on Sunday to meet at-risk men and boys. The former president spent time at a roundtable with youth from the organisation Chicago Create Real Economic Destiny in the impoverished South Side of Chicago where Obama started as a community organiser at age 25. The CRED program provides job skills and employment opportunities for at-risk young adults. Spokesman Kevin Lewis says Obama listened to the young men’s stories and shared some of the

challenges that he faced growing up.

Obama ‘was optimistic about their

potential to positively contribute to their communities and support their families

because of the services provided in the program,’ Lewis said. The program was founded by Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, who also attended the meeting. “The president and Mrs. Obama look forward to working with similar organisations through the Obama Foundation and the My Brother’s Keeper initiative that are already committed to bringing much needed expansion of opportunities in Chicago neighborhoods,” Lewis said. Obama will speak Monday to young community leaders and organisers at the University

of Chicago, where his presidential library is planned. Obama’s first public engagement comes as President Donald Trump nears his 100-day mark in office. The Democrat has been mostly quiet since leaving 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue on the heels of President Donald Trump’s shock win over his preferred replacement, Hillary Clinton. He has spent much of the three months on vacation. The 55-year-old ex-president has only just returned from French Polynesia, where he was reportedly working on his memoir.

Issue - 716 (7)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Student jailed for joking about Franco-era killing, brings spotlight on free speech in the country Madrid Cassandra Vera, a 21year old student from the south-eastern region of Murcia was sentenced to one year of prison time for joking about the 1973 assassination of Spanish’s prime minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco on micro-blogging site Twitter. Spain’s top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional reportedly found her guilty of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims. But this began a row in Spain and people have started questioning if free speech is under threat in 21st century Spain.

The 21 year old has also been barred from being employed in any publicly funded job for seven years on account of the tweets she posted, back in 2013 and the years to follow. As per The Guardian‘s report on the incident, Vera is a student of history at

Man eats leaves, fresh wood for 25 years, has never fallen ill

Lahore A man in Pakistan’s Punjab province has been surviving on fresh leaves and wood for the last 25 years and has never fallen ill.Mehmood Butt, 50, who hails from Gujranwala district in Punjab province, started surviving on leaves at the age of 25 as he had no work and could not afford a basic meal.“There was too much poverty in my family. Everything was beyond limit and it was very difficult for me to get a meal, so I thought it is better to eat wood rather than begging on a street,” Butt said.“Eating wood and leaves has become my habit now,” Butt was quoted as saying by ‘The News International’.

Years later, as he took up work and could afford meals, he found himself strangely keen on maintaining his unique eating practice, the report said.Butt, who earns Rs 600 a day by transporting things from one place to another on his donkey cart, has never fallen ill and is always looking to consume fresh wood and leaves.He said wood from Banyan, Tali and Suck Chain trees were his favourites.“He has never visited a doctor or any hospital. We are shocked how can a person not fall ill despite eating wood all these years,” his neighbour Ghulam Mohammad said.

Murcia University and she argued that she had no intention whatsoever to praise terrorists or insult the victims. She pointed

out that 13 of her tweets were used against her and she is scared and surprised at the same time to find herself at the Audiencia Nacional.

She said that Audiencia Nacional is where Spain’s corruption cases end up, and also the terrorist and the drug traffickers, but she could not believe she ended up there and just for a joke in “today’s Spain”, The Guardian quoted her saying. This decision by Spanish authorities have divided the political parties. While the conservative People’s party (PP), which is the ruing party supported the court’s order and said they respect it, leader of Podemos Party, Pablo Iglesias defended Vera along with his coalition partner belonging to Izquierda Unida Alberto Garzon.

Iglesias tweeted out in

favour of Vera and said that ‘Joking is not a crime and Spain is not a dictatorship.’ he further stated that if joking can

take someone to Audiencia Nacional, he would like to be taken there along with Vera.

Vera’s sentence was, however, suspended as the offence was not violent but according to her, she is afraid that the court’s decision will stain her future.

According to The GuardianVera wishes to be a teacher, but she cannot get a government loan to carry on studying at the University and is clueless about how she will manage after this incident.

According to Vera, she was angered by the fact that the Madrid regional branch of the People’s party (PP) tried questioning if she was fit to be a teacher by bringing up old tweets of hers where she said she hated children. A spokesman for BGD Abogados, the law

firm representing Vera, told The Guardian they would appeal the sentence in the Spanish courts and if necessary, will take the case to the European court of human rights.

Noteworthy that about two months ago, Spain’s supreme court sentenced lead singer of the group Def Con Dos, Cesar Strawberry to a year in prison for a similar offence where the singer joked about Basque separatists Eta and giving the king “acake bomb” for his birthday. In June 2016, two puppeteers came under scrutiny for allegedly praising terrorism during a theater show. While the artists emphasised that the performance was satirical, they were arrested and jailed for five days.

On December 20, 1973, the Spanish prime minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid.

As per reports, the bomb exploded and blew the PM’s car for more than 20 metres into the air. This apparently showed how the Basque separatists Eta could strike at the highest level of dictatorship.

Incidentally, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco’s granddaughter, Lucia, had come out in support of Vera and termed the decision to prosecute the student as “absolutely mad”.

Go back to India: Woman screams at passengers on-board train in Ireland

Dublin In yet another incident of racist abuse, passengers on a train in Ireland were told to ‘go back to India’ by a woman after one of them placed a bag on an empty seat. A video of the incident, on the train travelling from Limerick Colbert to Limerick Junction, went viral after it was uploaded on YouTube.

As per media reports, the rail operator described the Sunday incident as “shocking and disgraceful”. In the footage, captured by another female commuter, a woman can be seen furiously ranting at a group of people. She also told a man to “f*** off back to India” as he referred to her as an old lady.

Claiming that the group ‘hadn’t paid for four seats’, she yelled asking them to vacate the seats and show respect to her country.

According to reports, the problem began when the woman objected to an Asian passenger placing a bag on an empty seat of

the train. However, the nationality of the aggressive woman or the other passengers was not clear.

The video also shows another passenger trying to quieten her down but the woman went on saying, “Look at the ugly head of that fella. That’s the only reason he’s backing you up is because he’s ugly.”

Meanwhile, the police in Ireland are investigating the matter.

The woman who shot the video was quoted as saying by the Irish Independent that the group of passengers who were abused eventually moved to another carriage after 16 minutes. She also informed that the ranting went on for almost the whole train ride.

Irish Independent also quoted an Irish rail operator as terming the incident as shocking and disgraceful. “Any form of abuse of customers is intolerable, particularly discriminatory abuse,” he said.

Issue - 716 (8)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Paris Champs-Elysees shooter: An unstable criminal who hated police Paris The Champs Elysees shooter fits a pattern of many extremists inspired by Islamic State in France in recent years: a violent, unstable criminal not known for any religious conviction.

Karim Cheurfi, 39, was described as an oddball by his neighbours in the multi-ethnic suburb of Chelles east of Paris, about a

30-minute train ride from the centre of the City of Light.

“Everyone knew him here,” said one resident in the quiet area where Cheurfi lived with his mother. “It was someone who had lost all reason, who was psychologically very damaged,” said the resident, asking not to be named.Another local man, Salim, described him as “nuts” and someone never seen at the local mosque, while fellow resident Abdel said Cheurfi had been influenced by his repeated experiences in prison.

“He hated the police and France,” 23-year-old Abdel said, yet he found it hard to believe he was linked to the Islamic State group, which claimed the attack a few hours after theshooting on Thursday evening.

Salim, who said he knew Cheurfi’s cousin, said the gunman “could hardly use a remote controller for the television. Go on the internet and contact esh (Islamic State)? I can’t see it.”

After shooting a policeman dead

with an automatic weapon and injuring two others on Thursday night, Cheurfi was killed in return fire. A hand-written note praising IS was found near his body.

Serial offender Cheurfi had a long criminal record that dates back to at least 2001 when he was involved in an accident southeast of Paris while driving a stolen car.

After being pursued by a police officer and his brother, he seriously wounded the two men after shooting with a revolver he was carrying.

Two days later, after being arrested, he grabbed the gun of a policeman while in custody and tried to kill him.

He received a 20-year jail term on three counts of attempted murder, reduced to 15 years on appeal in February 2005, but was released early from prison in 2013.Three months later, he committed a violent robbery which culminated in another car chase with police.

In July 2014, he was sentenced to four years in prison, but the last two years were suspended.

He was released in 2015.

“At the time there was no sign he had been radicalised,” his lawyer, Jean-Laurent Panier, said. “It was someone very solitary and introverted. He talked very little, didn’t even defend himself.”

A police source told AFP that after he was released in 2015,

Three persons die while trying to save a cow that had fallen into well

Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) Three persons died after they inhaled toxic gas when they were trying to save a cow which had fallen into a well.

Ashwini (40), Shrawan (35) and Arun (15) got into the well to save the cow in Chauhan Basti in Karaura village, Superintendent

of Police Atul Saxena said.

Before the police could arrive and arrange for generators to light up the well, all three died due to inhalation of poisonous gas, the SP said.The cow also died. One more person who tried to save it was taken seriously ill and was rushed to hospital for treatment.

he slipped under the radar. “We had a few things on him, but nothing massive,” said the source, asking not to be named.

This changed in February of this year when he was arrested again, this time on suspicion of wanting to attack security forces. He was released the next day for lack of evidence.

Since March he was the subject of an investigation by French anti-terror police but had not been flagged as an “S-File” by the security forces -- the term used for extremists.

There are an estimated 10,000 people flagged as Islamic extremists in France and security forces say their resources enable them to monitor and mount surveillance of only a limited number.

On Tuesday, police arrested two men in the southern port city of Marseille with an arsenal of weapons and explosives.

The suspects, who met in prison and are suspected Islamic extremists, are thought to have been preparing an attack to disrupt France’s two-stage presidential election which gets underway this Sunday.

French authorities claim they have thwarted on average one plot every month since December 2015 when a wave of Islamistinspired violence began.

In January 2015, gunmen targeted the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket, which was followed by atrocities around Paris including at the Bataclan concert hall in November of the same year.

Shark kills teenager in front of her family

SYDNEY A 17-year-old girl has died after being mauled by a shark in full view of her parents on Australia’s southwest coast, authorities said Tuesday.

She was surfing with her father near Wylie Bay late Monday afternoon, reports said. The girl had lost a leg and was bleeding heavily when she was pulled from the water and rushed to hospital in the Western Australian town of Esperance.

Her mother and two younger sisters witnessed the attack from the beach and alerted emergency services.

“The girl’s father had been some distance away at the time of the attack and heard her scream before she was pulled under water by the shark,” The West Australian newspaper reported.

“When she resurfaced, her father paddled over and dragged her to the shore with the help of another teenager.”

“Condolences to the family and friends of the victim involved in today’s tragedy,” Esperance police tweeted. “Devastating circumstances”.

Local authorities announced Wylie Bay beach was closed until further notice and people were urged to stay out of the water.

The Esperance Express said the department of fisheries would patrol the beach Tuesday. A man lost his left arm and right hand when two great whites attacked him at Wylie Bay in October 2014.

Last May-June there were two fatal shark attacks in Western Australia.

A 29-year-old man died following an attack at Falcon Beach, near Mandurah, and a great white killed a 60-year-old woman near the state capital Perth.

Experts say shark attacks are increasing as water sports become more popular and bait fish move closer to shore.

Egypt 500 kg woman loses half her weight after surgery NEW DELHI An Indian hospital treating an Egyptian woman, believed to have been the world’s heaviest woman, says she has lost 250kg (550lbs) after surgery.

Eman Abd El Aty’s family said she originally weighed 500kg and was unable to leave her home for 25 years.

Ms Abd El Aty underwent bariatric surgery at Mumbai’s Saifee hospital two months ago.

The hospital said she could now fit into a wheelchair and sit up for longer periods of time.

The surgery was performed by a team of doctors led by bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala.

The hospital has released new pictures of Ms Abd El Aty following weight reduction surgery. Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese (having a body mass index of 40 or above, or 35 with other obesity-related health conditions). Dr Lakdawala said in a statement that Ms Abd El Aty continued to “rapidly” lose

weight, but added that a stroke she had suffered as a child meant that she was still paralysed on one side of her body and continued to suffer convulsions. She also has difficulty speaking and

currently attempting to procure the drug from a US based pharmaceutical company.

Ms Abd El Aty’s family says she weighed 5kg (11lb) at birth and was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition in

swallowing.The statement added that the hospital was now waiting for her to lose enough weight for her to be able to fit inside a CT scan machine to ascertain the cause of her stroke.Dr Lakdawala said the next stage of her treatment involved putting her on a trial drug for obesity after six months. The hospital is

which body parts swell due to a parasitic infection.

By the time she was 11, her weight had risen sharply and she suffered a stroke which left her bedridden.She is cared for by her mother and sister.

Ms Abd El Aty’s weight loss means she may no longer be the heaviest woman alive.

Issue - 716 (9)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

China wants India to be part of its new Silk Road project Mumbai China today said it would like India to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) that seeks to link Asia with Europe, adding if concerns of sovereignty over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was a hurdle, they would be “resolved.” “India is an important partner of the Belt and Road Initiative. It was, remains and will be so in the future,” Liu Jinsong, minister at the Embassy of China in India, said.“Without hesitation, the Chinese side sincerely invites the Indian side to join many BRI forums, including the Forum to be held next month,” Liu said.“If this (concerns over ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor) is the only reason that affects Indian friends’ will to join the Belt and Road Initiative, this concern could be resolved,” he said.He was addressing a conference on “The Belt and Road Initiative: India’s perspectives on China’s ambitious plan for infrastructural connectivity in Asia, Africa and Europe,” organised by Observer Research Foundation here.

“Transportation is the basis of CPEC, and connectivity between China and Pakistan will unavoidably pass through PoK area,” he said.“China has

no intention to interfere in territorial and sovereignty disputes between India and its neighbours,” he said, adding that China’s position on the Kashmir issue has not changed either. “President Xi Jinping will host the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation from May 14 to 15 in Beijing.

Leaders of 28 countries and the UN Secretary-General will attend the Forum,” he said.Referring to the debate on whether India should join the Belt and Road Initiative, he said, “India has always been on the Belt and Road”, and cited travels of explorers from both the countries.“The Belt and Road Initiative is an inheritance, revival and

H-1B visa a trade and services issue, mutuality of interests involved, says Gopal Baglay

upgrade of the ancient Silk Route,” he said.The two countries should resume common efforts and work to revive the Silk Route, he said.“In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which aims to provide financial support for infrastructure construction in countries along the BRI routes,” he said.“India gave a positive response to China’s proposal and held the second round of negotiation working group meeting in Mumbai. India contributed 8 billion US dollars and became the second largest shareholder at the AIIB,” he said.

“Over 40 countries have signed the BRI cooperation agreements with China. At the Forum next month, another over 40 countries and international organisations will discuss and sign cooperation agreements with China,” he said. “China and India, each with over 1.3 billion people, are still not connected by railways,” he said.

Indian Americans launch White House petition to save Kulbhushan Jadhav

Washington A White House petition has been launched seeking US intervention to ensure Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer sentenced to death in Pakistan for alleged spying, “doesn’t get punished for the act which he never committed”.

The petition that started on April 14 needs 96,984 more signatures by May 14 to qualify for a response from the administration. Reports have said that the new US administration is mulling the very fate of this practice of petitioning the White House, which was started by President Barack Obama in 2011.None of the petitions launched since President Donald Trump took office have gotten a response. White House communications director Mike Dubke told US News the fate of the practice was “under review”.

If the Trump administration does decide to continue it and with the same rules, the Jadhav petition will need 100,000 unique signatures in 30 days from the day of its launch to get a response from the White House, which may or may not accept

the demand. This petition, “To save Kulbhushan Jhadav from death sentence awarded by Pakistan millitry (military)”, was started by an individual identified only by the initials “S.S”, who doesn’t indicate if he or she is Indian American, and says it seeks “justice” for Jadhav.

“I humbly request appropriate and capable authorities to intervene in the matter and make sure that Mr Kulbhushan Jadhav doesn’t get punished for the act which he never committed. I also United Nation(s) to look into this matter.”India called the charges against Jadhav “farcical”. In a demarche issued on Monday, New Delhi has said, “If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder.”

“The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our high commission was not even informed that Jadhav was being brought to trial.”

From America’s sexiest man to Kiwi ambassador

New Delhi With the US visa restrictions coming into effect the Indian government on Thursday said it was keeping a close watch on the stringent the H-1B visa rules of US. This visa restriction laid out by the Trump government will impact Indian IT professionals.

The Indian government asserted that the matter will be taken up with the Trump administration.

Gopal Baglay, spokesperson, External affairs ministry, termed the visa issue as ‘trade and service’ and not a matter relating to immigration. He stated that India will make an overall assessment of the impact of the changes after the US’ internal process relating to the visa programme was over. He on this issue further stated that it is not an immigration issue, rather a trade and service issue, adding,” there is a mutuality of interests involved.” This he referred to the US professionals working in American firms in India.

US President Donald Trump signed an order tightening the

rules and norms of H-1B visa+programme to ensure that the visa is granted to the most skilled person and not just anybody.

The MEA spokesperson said the executive order has to be “acted upon” and on the visa issue, while addressing the media, he told it will be a part of India’s talks with the countries where changes in visa programme have been made. “It is an internal process in the US which will unfold in the coming days and weeks and we will keep a close watch on that. We will keep this issue on our radar,” he told reporters.

The MEA spokesperson also said India had already conveyed to the US about thecontribution of Indian IT professionals+ to the country’s competitiveness and innovation. he also showed concerns over Australian visa programme restrictions, adding,” Australian officials have told India that it will have “negligible” impact on Indian professionals who are in the high-skill category.”

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has nominated former Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown to be the US Ambassador to New Zealand. The 57-year-old former male modelturned politician replaced Ted Kennedy in 2010 after the legendary Democrat scion passed away. Known as a vociferous supporter of Trump, Brown is also a former Fox News contributor who has been accused of sexual misconduct during his time at the network. He also infamously posed nude for Cosmopolitan 35 years ago and was voted ‘America’s Sexiest Man’. Brown, who will require a Senate confirmation, was accused by former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros in August of making several sexually inappropriate comments to her. Among them Brown allegedly said she ‘would be fun to go to a nightclub with’. She claimed he said these in a ‘suggestive manner’.

Brown has vehemently denied the allegations which are part of Tantaros’ suit against Fox News and former chairman Roger Ailes, which she labeled a ‘sex-fueled, Playboy Mansionlike cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny’. Brown is not a defendant in the lawsuit and said that he is a survivor of sexual abuse himself and ‘would never perpetuate language or actions as described in (the) Fox complaint’.

Brown’s nomination by the President follows the firing of Bill O’Reilly after numerous sexual harassment allegations against him and the removal of Ailes as chief. Despite this, Brown received the endorsement of his successor

Elizabeth Warren on Thursday who congratulated him on the nomination and said she is sure he will ‘make the people MA proud’. Brown won Cosmopolitan’s ‘America’s Sexiest Man’ contest as a 22-year-old law student at Boston College.

He said he crashed dieted on ‘three cans of tuna a day’ and went to the gym religiously before posing for the risque shot. The $1,000 (`65,000) prize he received as winner inspired him to become a full-time model for two years before he returned to Boston College and completed his degree. He then went into practicing law before deciding to enter politics in 1992 when he was elected property assessor of Wrentham (Massachusetts). As senator, he supported waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’.

Issue - 716 (10)

Exceptionally good looking, handsome, United Kingdom boy, belonging to Jat Sikh Aujla family, educated from U.K. A level standard in advanced business studies, March 1981 born, 5'-10" tall, down to earth, fluent in Panjabi, well versed in both cultures. The girl should be Canadian/American Immigrant or citizen, family oriented, willing to relocate to Brampton. On. Nursing professional preferred.

Please send your bio-data and a recent picture to: haujla614189024@aol.com or call 011-44-7751246775 *** 718 *** Jatt Sikh Sandhu family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 25 yrs. old, 5'-6" tall, M. Tech.

(Energy Science), working for a big corporation, only child of parents belonging to a decent well-settled family, living in India, looking for a Canadian/American citizen or immigrant boy. Serious inquiries only. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: SANDHURISHTA @hotmail.com or call: 647 875 9342 *** 718 *** Hindu Brahman parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, 27 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, Canadian Citizen, University educated, professionally employed. The boy should be Canadian/Amarican professionally educated, employed, non-drinker, nonsmoker, vegetarian with family values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: matrisearch7325@gmail.com *** 718 *** Ravidasia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, Canadian Citizen, 34 yrs. old, 5’-3” tall, B.Sc. Nursing, professionally employed as RN. The boy should be well educated, professionally settled, Canadian Immigrant/Citizen with family values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: san1622002@yahoo.com Or Call : 647-409-5939 *** 718 *** Match for Jat Sikh Dhillon girl, 1985 born (looks like 24-25 yrs old), 5’-5" tall, beautiful, wellcultured, canadian pr, B. Tech (india), Post graduate project management (canada), working in admn. dept in canada. Brother & Parents in USA. The boy should be Jat sikh, equally qualified, clean-shaven. Only serious inquiries via email (no sms/what’s app). Contact father. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : dhillonintl@yahoo.com call: 1718-414-4618 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seek alliance for their son 1972 born,5'-8" tall, educated in India & United Kingdom, B.E (Mechanical) Engineer, studied computer science from a London college, acquired number of IT qualifications in England, Very fair, Good-looking, clean shaven, has good work experience in UK firms, currently here with family in California. The girl should be

25 April - 1 May, 2017

educated, US citizen with good family values. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: Abigail_maldeepjawanda @ y a h o o . c o m or call : 1209-417-0210 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitble match for their son, 1972 born, 5'-7" tall, MBBS Doctor, preparing for USMLE, clean shaven. The girl should be educated, US citizen with good family values. Please send your bio-data & recent pictures to:asharra355@yahoo.com or call: 1-510-301-0664*** *** 718 *** Saini Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance from the GTA for their slim, fair, beautiful, 5’2"/’83 born daughter, born, raised, educated in Canada, Bachelors in Business Management, and employed in the Finance division of a reputable Canadian company. The boy should be clean shaven, born, raised and educated in Canada & professionally employed.

P l e a s e email sub2405@gmail.com or call 416-741-0777 *** 718 *** Well settled Jat Sikh parents seking a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 40 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall, pretty, fair complextion, professionally employed with Toronto Board of Education as a teacher, never married before, having good family values. The boy should be professionally qualified and employed and family oriented. Caste no Bar. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: jim.dtoronto@gmail.com Or Call : 416-716-2040 *** 718 *** Well established Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, born and raised in Canada, 35 yrs. old, 6’ tall, degree om Criminal Justice, running his own business, very handsome and family oriented.

The girl should be born or raised in Canada, well educated, professionally employed, beautiful, tall with family values.

Other castes no bar. Please email recent pictures and biodata to: jim.dtoronto@gmail.com Or Call : 416-716-2040 *** 718 *** Jatt Sikh Sandhu family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 25 yrs. old, 5'-6" tall, M. Tech.

(Energy Science), working for a big corporation, only child of parents belonging to a decent well-settled family, living in India, looking for a Canadian/ American citizen or immigrant boy. Serious inquiries only.

Please send your biodata & recent picture to: S A N D H U R I S H T A @hotmail.com or call: 647 875 9342 *** 718 *** Hindu Brahman parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, 27 yrs. old, 5’-4” tall,

Canadian Citizen, University educated, professionally employed. The boy should be Canadian/Amarican professionally educated, employed, non-drinker, nonsmoker, vegetarian with family values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: matrisearch7325@gmail.com *** 718 *** Match for Jat Sikh Dhillon girl, 1985 born (looks like 24-25 yrs old), 5’-5" tall, beautiful, wellcultured, canadian pr, B. Tech (india), Post graduate project management (canada), working in admn. dept in canada. Brother & Parents in USA. The boy should be Jat sikh, equally qualified, clean-shaven. Only serious inquiries via email (no sms/what’s app). Contact father. Please send your biodata & recent picture to : dhillonintl@yahoo.com call: 1718-414-4618 *** 718 *** Well settled & established business Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their only son, 26 yrs.old, 5’-11” tall, certified professional accountant, doing last year of M.B.A. (Schilich school of Business) working a top class company. The girl should be Canadian immigrant or citizen, professional, homely, beautiful.

Call: 647-290-9267 *** 718 *** Jatt Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their canadian born daughter, 24 yrs. old, 5'-7" tall, university graduate. The boy should be living in the Ontario Canada, well settled, belong to Jatt Sikh family, under 28 yrs. old, graduate. Call: 416-6692144 or 647-574-2434 *** 718 *** USA settled wealthy Jat Sikh family seek a m suitable match for theirson, 25 yrs. old, 5’-11” tall, handsome, clean shaven, Convent educated, studying in Australia, having decent commercial & Agricultural property bac home consider him well settled in U.S.A. The girl should be Canadian/American Immigrant or Citizen & from Jat Sikh family. .Please send you recent pictures and bio-date to: ss202@yahoo.com Or Call : 1317-918-1718 (Whatsapp) *** 718 *** Jat sikh family seek a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, 24 yrs. old, 5'-4'’ tall, Indian born, Master’s of Science in Education from Canadian university, working in teaching profession. The boy should be Jat sikh, Canadian immigrant/ citizen, well educated, professionally employed, well settled , having good family values. Please send your biodata & recent picture to :jatsikhmaterimonial @gmail.com or call: 1-289-5691895 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their Medico daughter, 35 yrs. old, 5’-9” tall,

U.S. Citizen. The boy should be American/Canadian, clean shaven, well educated and from Jat Sikh family. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: srsingh191@gmail.com *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their Canadian born son, 28 yrs. old, 6’ tall, handsome, working as power engineer, family is well settled in Vancouver area and belong to Jalandher. The girl should be good looking, educated with good family values.

Please Call : 1-604-724-0079 Or 1-604-244-0094 *** 718 *** Well educated Jat Sikh parents invite a matrimonial alliance for their son, DOB 1991, 6’ tall, turbaned, B.Tech in Computer Science from Thaper University, Patiala (India),working in one of the top ranking MNCS in Delhi, earining handsome salary, nondrinker, non-smoker. The girl should be Canadian/US Citizen/Immigrant, well educated, beautiful with family values. Canada prefered.

Sister’s family well settled in Canada. Please Call : 647-5696787 (Whats app) Or 011-9198726-56787 (Whats app) *** 718 *** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5’ tall, B.Sc. Nursing degree from India, residing in India, beautiful, fair and from good family background. The boy should be Canadian/American, Immigrant/ Citizen, educated with family values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: bloorkiplinggac@gamil.com Or Call : 647-829-5872 *** 718 *** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 27 yrs. old, 5-8”’ tall, Dental Surgeon in India, at present on visitor visa in USA. The girl should be American Citizen/ green card holder, faimly oriented. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to: sukhjits031@gmail.com Or Call : 1-662-347-9532 **** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their daugter, 30 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, currently living in Canada. The boy should be educated and must have received ITA in express entry.

Family well settled in Canada.

Please Call : 905-462-5927

*** 718 *** Well settled Chandigarh based Arora Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 33 yrs. old, 6’ tall, clean shaven, M.B.A. (USA) working as a programme Manager in Amazone (Sansfrancasco based). The girl should be beautiful educated, family oriented. Please send you recent pictures and bio-date to: jashanbathla@gmail.com Or Call : 1-480-646-2882 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their only son, 30 yrs.old, 5’-11” tall, Canadian citizen, well educated, running his own business. The girl should be Canadian immigrant or citizen, educated, beautiful with family values. BC area prefered.Girl on student visa/work permit may also be considered. Call: 1-778-5520316 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents invite a matrimonial alliance for their son, 31 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, Canadian Citizen, professionally educated, running his own successful business. The girl should be from USA/Canada, educated, beautiful, tall, family oriented with good family values.

Please Call : 1-778-344-0303 *** 718 *** Looking for suitable match for 34 yrs. old, Canadian born male, 5’5” tall, with athletic built, minor physical disability, however fully independent and capable. The girl should be from Canada/America only. Divorced may also be considred. Please Call : 1-604722-0279 Or : 1-604-525-8062 *** 718 *** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 26 yrs. old, 5’-2.5” tall, American Citizen, Registered Nurse (RN).

The boy should be professionally educated.

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Mechanical, College Professor in India. The girl should be educated, American/Canadian Immigrant or Citizen. Uncle is well settled in U.S.A. Caste No Bar. Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: ashokkumar1955@hotmail.com Or Call : 1-408-960-9190 *** 718 ***

Lady Helper White House Canada in Brampton, requires a Live-in lady helper. Hotel experience preferred but will train the suitable candidate. Must be available to stand, walk and bend for extended periods of time. Duties include making beds, dusting, cleaning bathroom, vacuuming, replenishing supplies, cooking and elderly care (1 hr. daily approx).

Please Call:

647-970-2665

Issue - 716 (11)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

In Beijing, Aamir Khan hopes Dangal will cross borders, wow Chinese fans Beijing Bollywood star Aamir Khan had a simple message when he spoke on international coproductions at the Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF) this week: “A good character and a good story can help you cross

Dangal’s promoters in China told Hindustan Times that Khan’s five-day, three-city tour and events organised to popularise the film have made it, by far, the most-promoted Indian movie in China, both in terms of budget and scope.

borders.”

Khan is hoping his hit movie Dangal is able to do just that and strike a chord with Chinese audiences – who have just delivered a fantastic record opening for The Fate Of The Furious, the latest in The Fast And The Furious series, fuelling its box office earings of $ 190 million over the first weekend.

Dangal, which releases across China on May 6, will be tested against Hollywood blockbusters that routinely do well in the country. If it doesn’t fare well, it won’t be because the movie hasn’t been promoted in China.

Known to be a hard worker, Khan’s schedule was packed.

Talking at BIFF, sharing the stage and events with China’s top boxer and most popular American basketball player in Beijing, interacting with students in Shanghai, feeding giant pandas, wrestling with two members of the Sichuan women’s wrestling team in Chengdu and giving an interview to China’s national broadcaster CCTV were some of his engagements.

In the meantime, Khan’s new account on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, notched up

Doctor who got ‘IS death threats’ seeking patented drug formula attacked, robbed

around 220,000 fans and his first welcome comment on it was liked some 30,000 times.

He is possibly among the few Indian stars known in China, because of the popularity of 3 Idiots and PK and despite the failure of Dhoom 3. His fans were clearly thrilled with his China visit and the promotional events.

Weibo user AkarLai wrote: “Dear Aamir, welcome to China. Love you and your work so much.

Hope you have fun on Weibo.”

Another fan, Nemo, left a message that said: “So many years have passed, and finally have the opportunity...thank very much for your movie ‘3 Idiots’ giving me a very profound education.”

A young fan, Jinranfengyu, wished him in Hindi: “Suprabhaat (good morning) uncle Aamir, I am overjoyed to know that you will come to China. Your movies and talk show series open a window for us to understand India culture and people living there. I am quite moved by the characters in your movies for their wisdom, courage and love.”

Another fan, Xusongtao, was impressed with his varying looks in movies: “Forgive me, I didn’t recognise him. His ability to change appearance is unbelievable.”

What will be tested here in May is Khan’s ability to deliver another hit in China.

At the same BIFF event, China Daily newspaper quoted Khan as saying that he doesn’t look at the market when he is searching for a story and that he follows his heart and the script he likes. In India, that has worked for him. Now, for China.

Swiss test wireless cameras to monitor newborns’ vital signs GENEVA Swiss researchers said Monday they have developed a wireless camera system to monitor vital signs in premature babies, a move that could replace uncomfortable and highly inaccurate skin sensors. The skin sensors currently used to monitor vital signs in babies born prematurely generate false alarms in up to 90 percent of cases, mainly set off by the baby’s movement.

“This is a source of discomfort for the babies, because we have to check on them every time,” Jean-Claude Fauchere, a doctor at University Hospital Zurich’s neonatal clinic, explained in a statement. “It’s also a significant stress factor for nurses and a poor use of their time - it distracts them from managing real emergencies and can affect quality of care,” he added.

His hospital is preparing to begin tests of a new, contactless system created by researchers at the EPFL polytechnical university in Lausanne and at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, CSEM, in Neuchatel, the two schools said in a statement.

Researchers elsewhere have also shown an interest in camera-based baby monitoring, including a British company, Oxehealth, which has run tests on newborns at a hospital in Oxford, England. The system devised in Switzerland should allow premature babies kept warm in neonatal incubators to

be medically monitored using highly sensitive cameras that detect the newborn’s pulse by detecting and analysing its skin colour, which changes ever so slightly every time its heart beats.

“Breathing is monitored by measuring movements of its thorax and shoulders.

At night, infrared cameras take over, which means that monitoring can be carried out non-stop,” the statement said.

The optical system was designed by CSEM researchers, who chose cameras sensitive enough to detect minute changes in skin colour, while the EPFL researchers designed algorithms to process the data in real time, it said.

“We ran an initial study on a group of adults, where we looked at a defined patch of skin on their foreheads,” EPFL doctoral student Sibylle Fallet said in the statement.

“With our algorithms we can track this area when the person moves, isolate the skin pixels and use minor changes in their colour to determine the pulse,” she said, adding that “the tests showed that the cameras produced practically the same results as conventional sensors.”

Once the system has been extensively tested on premature babies, it could one day replace skin sensors altogether, the schools said. “In addition to cutting down on false alarms, it would also be more comfortable for the babies,” the statement said.

9-yr-old raped by brother-in-law, 3 others in Gwalior; sister held for abetment

Ahmedabad A doctor, who claimed to have received death threats from the Islamic State seeking the formula of his “patented” drug against HIV, was allegedly attacked with a chemical spray and robbed by three persons in Surendranagar, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday night when the doctor, Mukesh Shukla, was returning home from office, police said.

Incidentally, the police department has been providing a 12-hour (8 am to 8 pm) protection to the doctor, who claimed to have got a US patent for his bio-active drugs for HIV. However, the alleged attack took place when he was going alone, after the policeman’s duty got over.

Police have been providing protection to Shukla, ever since he complained of receiving the threat letter in Arabic, demanding

the drug formula.

“Shukla was returning home from his office on a two-wheeler last night when three unidentified persons on a bike sprayed some chemical on his face, which caused a burning sensation and robbed him of Rs 24,000 cash,” Surendranagar B-Division police station sub-inspector D J Vaghela said.

“We have registered a case against the three unidentified persons for attacking and robbing Shukla,” he added.

An FIR was registered under IPC sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc with intent to commit offence) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), police said adding that no arrests have been made so far in this connection.

“He was attacked just after the policeman, who is deployed to protect him, left for his home after completing his duty.

Bhopal Police in Gwalior late Friday arrested three persons including the brother-in-law of a nine-year-old girl for allegedly raping her over the last few weeks.

The survivor’s 32-year-old sister was also arrested for abetting the crime.

A search is on for two others who were named by the survivor and who are absconding. The accused have also been booked under provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.

According to police, after the girl’s parents died a few years ago, she was living with her sister and 35year-old brother-in-law in Maharajpura area of Gwalior.

On March 31, a resident of the area called the Child Line to complain that the girl was being physically tortured in his neighbour’s house.

A Child Line team rescued the girl with the help of police and shifted her to Matrichaya shelter home.

At the shelter home, she told the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) about how she was being sexually exploited for last few weeks. After her medical examination, police swung into action and lodged a

raped in a toilet of a school in Jabalpur district.

According to the fresh data submitted in the ongoing assembly session, 11 women were raped daily and six gang-raped every

case of rape against the five accused, Sexual violence and increasing crime against women have become major concerns in Madhya Pradesh. In August last year, a three-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in a Gwalior school. The girl, a nursery student, later identified the suspects from photographs following which police caught them. In February this year, a four-year-old girl was allegedly

week in the state on an average during last one year. Over half of the rape victims were minors according to the data. The latest figures presented in the state assembly for last six months coupled with figures submitted to the House in July last year show that between February 1, 2016 and mid-February 2017, 4279 women were raped and 248 gang-raped in MP. Of 4279 rape victims, 2260 are minors.

Issue - 716 (12)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

So many questions: Moments that leave all puzzled A WOMAN hoovering her lawn, a beachgoer covered in slices of bread, and a Darth Vadar-clad unicycler playing the bagpipes.

The overwhelming sentiment, is why? We don’t have the answers, but this gallery of

peculiar characters from around the world, rounded up by MailOnline Travel, elicits plenty of questions. Under what circumstances, for example, did an elderly woman find herself towing her male companion down the street on a rocking horse - one who is brandishing a riding crop no less. And how did a nice round of golf end up in a disastrous battle between one man and a cactus?

There was also this man who seemingly plastered himself with sliced bread - and is quite clearly enjoying the experience Perhaps the most confounding of all? A tuxedo-clad gentleman who is not only posing in front of a car crash with a grin on his face, but also clutching a sewing machine.

Punjab’s abandoned wives relive trauma as NRI grooms leave, never to return

Chandigarh “I did not even get time to grieve after my wife died of breast cancer in September last year.

I was too busy fighting for my daughter, Sarita, whose husband left her,” says Jalandhar resident Jai Gopal, a lump forming in his throat.

For the 29-year-old girl, the cancer has stayed on, in their marriage. Her husband Saurabh Dharna, who works at a casino in Melbourne, now wants to have nothing to do with her.The two had tied the knot in May 2015. “After learning about my mother’s illness, he got me medically examined thrice in Amritsar and once in Jalandhar. Following her death, he accompanied me to India but left after 20 days. He later told me I could also get cancer someday,” says Sarita.

Though her family filed a case at the NRI cell in Jalandhar, there has been no hearing so far.Jai Gopal was among the few parents who accompanied

their daughters to a national seminar on NRI marriages, cohosted by the National Commission for Women and Punjab State Women Commission, in Chandigarh on Thursday.For others like Phagwara farmer Kulwinder Singh, the wait for their daughters’ visa papers culminated in divorce. “They call daughters ‘nanhi chaan’ in Punjab, but that’s about it. I had to approach the Punjab and Haryana high court to procure bail for my child, Rajwinder, after she was arrested for refusing to vacate her husband’s house,” he says. The 28-year-old woman says her husband, Pradeep Singh, returned to the United States a week into their marriage in 2013. He returned after over two years to buy a house in Phagwara, and things seemed fine even then. “After a few months, I was still staying in the Phagwara house when he sent the divorce papers along. A few days later, he sent some goons

over to make me vacate the property. I approached the local station house officer, who told me to take Rs 8 lakh as compensation and leave the house. I stayed put, and eventually wound up spending four days behind bars on false charges of cheating, stealing and criminal trespass,” recalls Rajwinder.However, not all the daughters are lucky enough to have such understanding parents. Manpreet Kaur (28), for instance, had to deal with familial opposition before taking the fight to her husband. “My husband, Tajvir Singh, lives in the US,” she relates. “He went back after our marriage in January last year and returned in June. We went touring Maldives and Sri Lanka, but he simply wouldn’t consummate the wedding. When I questioned his behaviour, he sent me divorce papers in March. When I told my father about this, he reprimanded me for questioning my husband. He said I should have thought about

my younger siblings first.”

Ironically, deserted wives are the ones who face social stigma, and even being in a position of power gives them little leverage. One of the women, who identified herself as an assistant sub-inspector, claims she had to approach the inspector general of police to get an FIR filed against the groom and his family. And then there are men who desert their wives after procuring foreign visas.

Satwinder Kaur, a 38-year-old woman from Ludhiana, says her husband left for Ukraine after proclaiming that she was incapable of bearing a child. “My father retired from the Army, and my brother is posted on the China border. If the daughters and sisters of Armymen cannot get justice, who can?” she asks.

Another woman from Hoshiarpur says she will always be haunted by the “holiday wife” tag.

Identifying her husband as a train driver in the UK, the 30-year-old says: “After we tied the knot in 2014, he went back. Later, my

husband told me over the phone that he already has a wife and two children – aged 20 and 12 – in the UK, and he had only come to Punjab on holiday.” It’s with tears in her eyes that the woman describes the sad situation her family is in. “I lost my mother to cancer in February this year, and my father is too old. I worked mornings in a school and nights at a hospital to pay for her treatment. I filed a case against my husband two years ago, but the hearings keep getting postponed. I can’t be certain if even my own lawyer is on my side,” she says.

Punjab women commission chairperson Paramjit Kaur Landran admits that abandoned wives can “grow old” fighting such cases. “But it is not easy to get NRI grooms extradited. An NRI commission has been set up to help them obtain legal aid.

Our role is to counsel them to start a new life,” Landran says.

Issue - 716 (13)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Photojournalist drops camera to save girl hit by stone during Kashmir protest Srinagar Press photographer Dar Yasin was out on a regular assignment on Thursday in Srinagar, covering a student protest against

security forces when he noticed Khusboo Jan, profusely bleeding.Khusboo, a class 12 student, was one of scores of high-school girls demonstrating in the Nawakadal area of Srinagar when a stone hit her on the forehead and cracked open her skull.Blood gushed out, splattering her white school uniform and hijab, as she collapsed. Her friends panicked: There was no one to help them, only hostile-looking policemen and a battery of presspeople.

But Yasin knew what he had to do. The Associated Press staffer tossed his camera aside, leapt

to Khusboo and scooped her in his arms and rushed to get her a cab to the nearest hospital .

This image – of Yasin running with the girl in his arms – was captured

by another young photojournalist and has gone viral, striking a chord with hundreds of Kashmiris.Many are comparing Yasin with Syrian photographer Abd Alkader Habak, who was captured in a now-iconic photograph picking up a young boy and running to safety after a bomb hit a convoy of buses.

For millions, the photo clicked earlier this week brought home the horrors of war but also rekindled hope in humanity.

Many on social media say Yasin has done the same for them in a region where human bonds have been eroded by decades of

insurgency.“I told the girl’s friends that I have two daughters and this girl is just like one of them. If you are the father of two girls or if you are a father of any child, you

cannot just see anyone’s child helplessly suffering like that,” says Yasin, whose daughters are aged 7 and 10.The 43-yearold has covered Kashmir since 2002 and received at least 15 international and national awards for his work. He says he picked up the girl when he realised no one was around to help her.

“Looking back, I feel happy that I helped her. Pictures will keep coming,” he says. The story has a happy ending: The girl got to the hospital in time, was treated and is now stable.Yasin says in a conflict zone, photographers are often faced with such a dilemma:

Of whether to take pictures or keep the camera aside for some time and help the wounded. He brushes aside praise for thinking about the girl first, and not his photography.“I am not the first one to have done this. I can tell you there are so many guys on the field in Kashmir who would have done the same what I did that day,’ Yasin adds.The image was captured by young Srinagarbased photojournalist Faisal Khan. “Dar Yasin handed the camera to someone else, lifted he girl and began running. My first instinct was to assist him, but then I realised I should capture this moment in a picture,” Khan tells Hindustan Times.“We got a cab to stop, put Khusboo and some of her friends in it and they were taken to SMHS hospital,” Khan says, adding that the incident was a lesson for him on how to react in a tough situation.Who caused the injury is still unclear: Police say the stone that hit Khusboo came from miscreants and students, locals say otherwise.

Khan’s picture has been widely appreciated by Kashmiris, who are hailing Yasin’s act as immensely humanitarian and responsible. Senior journalist Yusuf Jameel tweeted Khan’s picture, commenting: “Proud of you colleagues. This is a commitment to embrace and embed social responsibility into our personal and professional values.”

Police arrest man with knife at Paris’ Gare du Nord station

Paris A man with a knife has been arrested by police at Paris’ Gare du Nord station, sending a brief ripple of concern over social media a day before the French presidential vote.No one was injured.A French police official told The Associated Press that a man carrying a knife walked into the station and was flagged to police, who arrested him immediately. Video online shows heavily armed police surrounding a prone man as travellers hurried past. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak publicly.

The Gare de Nord is one of the French capital’s top transit hubs, serving the city’s metro, suburban trains as well as intercity and high-speed trains like the Eurostar from London.

Pakistan’s ISI sheltering al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Karachi: Report New Delhi Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency has been sheltering al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in the port city of Karachi after he survived a drone strike in a remote area near the Afghan border last year, according to a media report.

Egyptian-born Zawahiri, a trained surgeon, has been protected by the ISI since US forces evicted al-Qaeda from Afghanistan in late 2001, Newsweek quoted several authoritative sources as saying.

His “most likely location”, the sources said, is Karachi. “Like everything about his location, there’s no positive proof,” said Bruce Riedel, a 30-year CIA veteran who was the top adviser on South Asia and the Middle East for the past four US presidents.“There are pretty good indications, including some of the material found in Abbottabad” (the Pakistani garrison town where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011), “that point in that direction,” Riedel said.

“This would be a logical place to hide out, where he would feel pretty comfortable that the Americans can’t come and get him.”In the first week of January 2016, the Obama administration carried out a drone strike to target Zawahiri in the remote Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s

Federally Administered Tribal Areas, multiple sources told Newsweek. An unnamed senior militant leader in the region said Zawahiri survived but five of his security guards were killed. “The drone hit next to the room where Dr Zawahiri was staying,” the militant leader said. “The shared wall collapsed, and debris from the explosion showered on him and broke his glasses, but luckily he was safe.”

Zawahiri had “left the targeted room to sleep just 10 minutes ahead of the missile that hit that room”, the militant leader said.

The militant leader further said Zawahiri had vowed that he would never be captured alive. He has a “desperate last wish” for one last big attack against America “before folding his eyes”, the militant leader added.

Zawahiri had been in Pakistan’s lawless semi-autonomous tribal region since 2005, according to the forthcoming book, The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight, by British journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy.“Married to a local Pashtun girl, (Zawahiri) had been given a new home, a large mud-brick compound up in the hills” at Damadola, according to the book. Riedel said Karachi was an ideal hideout for Zawahiri because it would be a “very hard”

place for the US to conduct the kind of commando raid that killed bin Laden on May 2, 2011.

Unlike the sleepy garrison town of Abbottabad, the city of 26 million has a major nuclear complex and hosts naval and air bases, from where forces could quickly be scrambled to intercept

An Afghan Taliban leader said Zawahiri, now 66 and frail, had survived several drone strikes since 2001 but is “worried and sad about the overall situation of Islamic groups”.

One of the Taliban’s former ministers said Zawahiri and alQaeda are “no longer welcome”

foreign raiders.“If (Zawahiri) was in someplace along the border with Afghanistan, I think the temptation would be enormous to go after him,” said Riedel, who now heads the Brooking Institution’s Intelligence Project in Washington. “But in Karachi, that would be stunning and very difficult.”In July 2015, Zawahiri was in Shawal Valley, often with one of his three wives and his top assistant, Saif al-Adel, a former bomb expert and colonel in the Egyptian special forces, according to the militant leader.

in areas controlled by the Taliban because the group is engaged in peace negotiations with the Afghan government and doesn’t want to be seen as “a threat to world peace”.

Closed out of the tribal areas, Zawahiri was “moved to Karachi under direction of ‘the black leg’”, the Afghan Taliban’s code name for the ISI, according to the Taliban leader. Zawahiri may have taken al-Adel, indicted in the US in connection with the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, with

him.A former top Pakistani official who maintains close ties with the Islamabad government would confirm only that Zawahiri is “in a large Pakistani city”.

Karachi “makes sense” as a sanctuarythe official said, given its sympathies for militant Islam, congested 19th-century streets and large military presence. The official said he was “100 percent” sure bin Laden’s 26-year-old son, Hamza, a rising power in alQaeda, is also in Pakistan under ISI protection.

The report said that if Pakistani political leaders “cannot, or refuse to, bring the ISI under control and turn over al-Zawahiri, Hamza bin Laden and other militant figures, Washington could go nuclear on Pakistan diplomatically speaking by declaring it a state sponsor of terrorism”.American experts believe al-Qaeda remains a “potent force with the ambition and capability to launch another spectacular attack” against the US. Riedel pointed to a 2014 plot by al-Qaeda to place sympathisers on a Pakistani frigate, hijack it and use it to “attack American naval ships in the Indian Ocean, or maybe Indian ships, or maybe both”.An unnamed Western diplomat said al-Qaeda remains interested a carrying out attacks “related to airlines”.

Issue - 716 (14)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Amnesty International lobbies in ‘I’ll eat his liver’: Phillipines’ Duterte says he can be ‘50 times’ US on human rights issues in India more brutal than terrorists Manila Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Sunday that he could be “50 times” more brutal than Muslim militants who stage beheadings and said he could even “eat” the extremists if they’re captured alive by troops.

Duterte has repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death, but he raised his shock rhetoric to a new level as president when he said in a speech during the opening of a national sports tournament what he could do to terrorists who have staged beheadings and other gruesome attacks.

Duterte ordered troops to kill fleeing Muslim militants behind a foiled attack in the central resort province of Bohol and not bring them to him alive, calling the extremists “animals.”

“If you want me to be an animal, I’m also used to that. We’re just the same,” Duterte said. “I can dish out, go down what you can 50 times over.”

The foul-mouthed president said that if a terrorist was

presented to him when he’s in a foul mood, “give me salt and vinegar and I’ll eat his liver.”

The crowd broke into laughter, but Duterte cut in, “It’s true, if you make me angry.”

Duterte, a longtime city mayor who built an image as a deadly crime-buster, won the presidency in May last year on a promise to battle illegal drugs, corruption and terrorism.

Thousands have died under his anti-drug crackdown, which has alarmed Western governments and human rights groups.

He has warned he may place the southern Philippines, scene of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion, under martial rule if terrorism threats spin out of control.

He recently offered a reward for information leading to the capture of Abu Sayyaf and other militants behind a foiled attack in the central province of Bohol. Eight militants, three soldiers, a policeman and two villagers have died in clashes in Bohol, which lies far from the southern jungle bases of the militants.

Washington The US state of Indiana has unanimously passed a resolution recognising the Sikh community’s “significant contributions” to America.

“The Indiana Senate recognises and acknowledges the significant contributions that American Sikhs have made across the United States and to the State of Indiana on the great occasion of Vaisakhi as ‘National Sikh Day’,” said the resolution.

Passed unanimously by the Indiana Senate on Friday, the resolution was introduced by Indiana lieutenant governor Suzanne Crouch.

Eminent community leader and chairman of Sikhs political affairs committee Gurinder Singh Khalsa started the senate session with a Sikh prayer.

United States vicepresident Mike Pence sent his support for the resolution, a media release said today.

Also for the first time, National Sikhs and Vaisakhi Day will be celebrated on May 15, 2017 in the Indiana State House with governor Eric

Holcomb.

Passage of the resolution is an important milestone in the history of Sikhs in the US, said Khalsa who was instrumental for the move.

This is “start of something special and significant for Sikhs” all across America, he said.

Khalsa, who has been developing relationships with public officials in other parts of the country, hoped his efforts will expand Sikhs culture of selfless service to community and be a beacon of hope in spreading the Sikh values of humanity, diversity, interfaith dialogue and economic empowerment.

The move comes after several anti-Sikh attacks grabbed national attention.

Earlier this year in Kent, Washington, a Sikh man

was accosted by another man in his driveway and told to “go back to his country”. The individual then shot the Sikh in the arm.

25-year-old Sikh cab driver Harkirat Singh was assaulted and his turban knocked off by drunk passengers last week during a trip from Madison Square Garden to the Bronx.The attack on Singh occurred just hours after thousands of Sikhs had gathered at Times Square for the ‘Turban day’ event organised by a Sikh group to spread awareness about the faith.

In the years since the 9/11 terror attacks, Sikhs remain more likely to be targeted in cases of profiling, bigotry and backlash than the average American.

Indiana passes resolution hailing Sikhs’ contributions to America

Washington/new Delhi Leading NGO Amnesty International is lobbying with the US lawmakers to advocate for “protection of human rights defenders” in India among other countries, as also to seek “political pressure” on the American companies responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy. It also wants the top leaders of the US and India to demonstrate “the importance of making the respect and protection of human rights an integral part of a just society”. In its latest quarterly lobbying disclosure report filed with the US Senate last week, Amnesty International has listed “protection of human rights defenders” in India and several other countries among the “specific lobbying issues” for the quarter ended March 31.

There are several other issues listed in the report, including the issues related to the Trump administration, on which it has lobbied with the Senate as well as various government departments in the US during this period.

While the lobbying report did not further explain the Indiarelated lobbying issues, the global rights group told PTI, in reply to specific queries, that it raises human rights

issues around the world at various levels of government to supplement its “research, campaigning and mobilisation to highlight various human rights issues and seek accountability”. An analysis of previously disclosure reports filed by Amnesty shows that Amnesty has been lobbying on India-related issues in the past also, while in the year 2014 ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to the US, one of the “specific issues” included that visit itself.Under the US laws, all entities engaging in lobbying activities with the lawmakers and the government departments need to file a ‘lobbying disclosure report’ on a quarterly basis, listing out the lobby issues, the departments and offices approached and the costs involved. Incidentally, Modi is expected to visit the US later this year. Asked about the points of advocacy regarding

this, Amnesty International India’s Executive Director Aakar Patel said the group has submitted “briefings to both governments on human rights concerns in each other’s countries” ahead of the bilateral meetings between the Indian prime minister and the US president since 2014.“We intend to submit similar briefings in 2017 as well. Amnesty International believes that the leaders of the US and India — the oldest and largest democracies in the world – have a great responsibility to demonstrate the importance of making the respect and protection of human rights an integral part of a just society,” Patel said. With regard to Indiarelated advocacy issues undertaken in the US, Amnesty said the primary focus has been the impunity for American companies for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.

Issue 716 (15)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Utter disaster

By

Devarsi Ghosh

IF one edited out the audio track of Noor, which consists of Sonakshi Sinha blabbering rubbish 90 per cent of the time, and then play it full volume, it would make for a terrific torture device at Abu Ghraib.

Noor is insufferable, boring, tedious, torturous, f... words will not be enough to describe how bad the film is. Based on the Pakistani novel Karachi, You’re Killing Me!, the film explores the life of the titular character played by Sonakshi, who is a journalist. We know this because Noor tells us this fact at least 10 times and, by the way, Noor is really bad at her job but that comes later. Director Sunhil Sippy clearly doesn’t believe that cinema is about ‘show, not tell’, so Sonakshi gives monologue after monologue to describe what happens on screen. For example, if Noor walks in front of the mirror, checks her waistline and shrugs, we get it that she is upset about her weight. She does not have to say out loud, “I am so fat, I hate my life,” which she does innumerable times. Dear reader, get ready for hot takes from angry ladies about how Noor glorifies fat-shaming, and that’s not even the most offensive thing about the film. An entire chunk of the first half is spent on establishing that Noor is like any other 27year-old independent, working woman in a big city. Her love life, her weight issues, her struggle with finances, her EMIs; these things are not cinematically unique! So, making Noor say out loud every single thought that passes through her head does not make the film interesting or cute.

My life is a mess! So, what? Why does one need to watch an entire movie about you? The film does not give us answers.

Suddenly comes an unexpected twist.

Noor, who has so far been a features reporter, comes across a big story. She is sent out to do a positive story on a doctor but turns out this doc is nasty. Lives have been lost because of greed. Noor gets hold of a source and gets her to speak on camera. Wait, could the film get interesting now? The first half ends on a promising note. But no. The bad-doctor plot point is a minor tool to bring about a change in Noor’s story and this change is contrived.

Suddenly, Noor becomes a bleedingheart, socially conscious journalist and in what is the worst Bollywood moment of this year so far, delivers a long, exasperating monologue titled “Mumbai, you’re killing me!” It is an unbearable five minutes (or what felt like much more than that) where Noor looks at the camera and

starts off with corruption in the medical field in the first sentence and suddenly jumps to Mumbai being an unsafe city for women in the third and before you know it, it has become a rant on how people are apathetic about each other in a big city.

Noor’s monologue, which she shoots with her webcam, goes viral, the doctor gets arrested and she becomes an icon.

Thankfully, no one calls her a feminist icon.

Noor is neither a slice-of-life film on the lines of Bridget Jones’s Diary, which it tries to emulate, nor does it develop into a good film about the journalism business. Noor calls herself a broadcast journalist but comes back to a newsroom which has literally no more than three people working at any given point. Is this a news channel or a website? We don’t know. Noor loves a kind of rum that she and the other characters keep calling “Old Rum”. No self-respecting filmmaker in India would want to desecrate the legacy of our national hard drink like that! What’s worse is that the characters go to bars and drink beer from bottles off which stickers have been peeled. Sonakshi Sinha plays, perhaps, the most uncharismatic character of her

life in Noor. After Akira, this is another failed attempt to reinvent herself as a soloheroine who can put butts in seats. The film also has Purab Kohli who at one point looks at himself in the mirror sadly and probably wonders, I could have rocked on with Farhan Akhtar. Kanan Gill moonwalks through his role, takes the paycheck and leaves through the back door. Manish Choudhary plays Noor’s editor, a man who was once a war reporter but now has chosen the desk-life after marriage. He doesn’t disappoint. The one single issue in Noor that had the potential for great drama is the bad-doctor thread but the makers seem reluctant to touch it. Every time, this plot point rears its head, the film quickly shifts to scenes of Noor hanging out or moping about with friends. The film unavoidably brings up uncomfortable truths about journalism: At what point does a journalist lose empathy? Do news organisations give airtime to Sunny Leone because people would rather see her than real issues? Is doing a story that could incriminate powerful people important when you put a source’s life in danger?

The film raises these points and

abandons them because focus needs to be on Sonakshi, all dolled up and dancing to the remix of Gulabi aankhen. If nothing else, the existence of the remix should tell you all you need to know about Noor.

Strictly for bachha party Smurfs: The Lost Village Voice cast: Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Michelle Rodriguez Direction: Kelly Asbury THE new Smurfs flick unfolds with just one ambition: it sets out to regale the little ones and nothing else. Ironically, that makes the film an oddity — it is rare to come across a toon flick that does not cater some sort of socio-political

comment beneath the fun and CGI-rich hoopla. Smurfs: The Lost Village does not show any intention to tell an exciting story that may reach out to audiences across age groups. The film was clearly created to set up a few random laughs for the kids, you realise, as the story takes us with Smurfette (voice of Demi Lovato) and her buddies Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty on an adventure through the Forbidden Forest.

There is not much of a plot twist to keep you engaged as they encounter magical

creatures including an evil wizard (Rainn Wilson). As they fend against the wizard, they are set to make an important discovery that will alter Smurf history. The Lost Village is simply told, and maintains the tempo of a telly toon series, rather than a film. It is colourful and cute — the sort of visual trick just right to hold attention of young viewers. The film, however, would bore the wider segment.

Even the 3D effect does not manage to lift the overall bland fare.

Issue 716 (16)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Sonakshi Sinha doesn’t believe in pleasing everybody

Actress Sonakshi Sinha says she believes in doing things on her own terms and conditions as she has realised that making everyone happy through her work is not possible.

The actress says just like anybody else, she too went through a phase where she was going all out to please others while neglecting her own happiness. “There are times in life when you reach a saturation point, trying to please everyone but yourself. Self acceptance is very important. For me, I’ve always tried to be as real as I

can because that’s the only way I know,”Sonakshi told PTI. “I learnt very early in life that you can’t please everyone, so don’t even try. Then you realise it’s not worth it. I’ve to be happy in what I am doing, only then I’ll be able to make others happy.”

Sonakshi feels this approach to life has helped her in the industry so far and not give in to the “pressure” of what others expect her to do.

“If you like me, great, if you don’t, it’s fine. Which is why I’ve been able to work on my own conditions, do the work I want

to do and not succumb to any kind of pressure from anyone,” she says.

While Sonakshi has featured in hit Bollywood pot boilers like “Dabangg”, “Rowdy Rathore” and “R Rajkumar”, it is her performance in movies like “Lootera” and “Akira” which have impressed the critics.

Sonakshi is aware that there is an audience which wants her to experiment and feels she will try something new only when she wants to.

Sonakshi feels this approach to life has helped her in the industry so far and not give in to the “pressure” of what others expect her to do.

“If you like me, great, if you don’t, it’s fine. Which is why I’ve been able to work on my own conditions, do the work I want to do and not succumb to any kind of pressure from anyone,” she says.

While Sonakshi has featured in hit Bollywood pot boilers like “Dabangg”, “Rowdy Rathore” and “R Rajkumar”, it is her performance in movies like

“Lootera” and “Akira” which have impressed the critics.

Sonakshi is aware that there is an audience which wants her to experiment and feels she will try something new only when she wants to.

“I think it’s very flattering that people understand what you’re capable of and they expect that from you. It’s very flattering when people say ‘oh you should do stuff like that, there’s so much you can do, your potential is so much.

“It will happen in time, but just not on their (audience) time. It will happen on the right time, when I want it to happen and am ready to do it.”

In her career of more than half a decade, the actress has witnessed both highs and lows, something which she says she learnt to deal with looking at her actor-turned-politician father Shatrughan Sinha.

“I’ve seen my father handle, success and failure, in a very dignified, calm and composed manner. He is unfazed by these things. The very fact that I’ve

seen him do this, I have also imbibed the quality where things don’t really faze me.

“It’s okay if certain things didn’t go as planned. We will try again with next film. I don’t get bogged down or bothered by these things (failure of films),” Sonakshi adds. The 29-year-old actress says in her family, she has been brought up in such a way that she treats failure and success equally.

“When a film does really well, you won’t see me going on rooftops and shouting about it; when it (film) doesn’t work you won’t see me sitting in a corner and dwelling about it.

“Life goes on, irrespective.

Success and failure is part of everybody’s life. Be it a student in school or even the prime minister, anyone. If there are no ups and downs, what kind of life is that?”

Her recent film “Noor” has hit theatres this week, her first release of the year. She is currently working in the remake of “Ittefaq” in which she is paired opposite Sidharth Malhotra.

Gauahar Khan becomes Priyanka Chopra confirms late face of fashion league astronaut Kalpana Chawla biopic After gaining rave reviews for her performance in Begum Jaan, Gauahar Khan has become the face of a fashion league which will showcase local and international trends by teams consisting of a designer, models and a celebrity. The teams will battle it out on the catwalk to showcase their finest threads. The event will be held in Kolkata next month. Gauahar has always been known for her fashion sense and edgy looks the reason she was chosen as the face of the first fashion league in the country.

Priyanka Chopra has been missing from the Hindi film scene after ‘Jai GangaaJal’ released early last year. But it won’t be long before she greets Bollywood fans in theatres. The actress will take up the biopic on late astronaut Kalpana Chawla as her next project.

Last year, Viacom 18 had announced a film based on a life of an astronaut, without taking names. A source says, “The film will be mounted on an international scale. A new production company, Getway, is likely to produce the biopic.”

After wrapping up ‘Quantico’ season 2 shoot, Priyanka returned to Mumbai on Saturday and will soon kickstart the promotions of her Hollywood flick, ‘Baywatch’.

Sources close to the project reveal PeeCee’s team has also been involved in legwork of the project for nearly a year. “The script has also been locked,” adds a source.

Confirming the story, debutante director Priya Mishra says, “I have been working on it for the past seven years. A new

production banner will back the project.”

Priya has also met Kalpana’s parents several times as part of her research for the film. “I was last heading a TV channel creatively and post 2011, quit to pursue filmmaking. This is one of the two scripts that I have written,” she adds.

Prateik Babbar on battle with drug addiction: I’m work in progress Prateik Babbar has come to terms with all the complications of his life, and says he has fought the demons of substance abuse.

But the actor says he is still “work in progress”, and wants to write a book about his struggle to inspire people who are going through the same.

The actor said that his fans were under the impression that he was leading a “happy life”, and were unaware about the dark truth of his life. And that is the reason he decided to talk about it in public. He says the “guilt of being an addict yet having unconditional love from people with all aspirations and

hope” from him was killing him. The actor came out in the open about substance abuse in April last year, and has maintained his distance from drugs and alcohol for over a year now. “There was a part of my life that people didn’t know about. All these years, people, fans and admirers saw me in a certain way as a good actor, a happy guy. But that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t being good to myself. I was a heavy addict. It was a huge problem,” Prateik told IANS over phone from Mumbai. He added: “I wanted the fans and admirers to know that side of my life. I didn’t want them to have any false

impression and that is why I wanted people to know about the downfall of my life. I wanted to tell them this happened to me and I am not perfect.”

Prateik, son of late actress Smita Patil and actor-politician Raj Babbar, started his acting career with a small but noticeable role in “Jaane Tu...

Ya Jaane Na” in 2008. He followed up his act with films like “Dhobi Ghat”, “Dum Maaro Dum” and “Ekk Deewana Tha”.

Issue 716 (17)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

I had a secret script Doing ‘To The Bone’ was kind for Groot: Vin Diesel of nerve-wracking: Lily Collins

Vin Diesel says he was privy to a secret script to play the role of Groot in the upcoming film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2’.

The 49-year-old actor says he a great time voice acting the character as he knew what the talking tree was trying to say, reported Daily Star.

“As an audience what you hear is, ‘I am Groot’, but he is expressing himself and you have to try and convey what he intends to say and his emotions in those three words.

“I actually had a secret script where I was told what Groot was trying to say. That made him a lot of fun to voice,” Diesel says.

The ‘Fast and Furious 8’ star

adds it is always difficult to play the role.

“Groot is - always challenging to play,” he says.

The sequel to the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ will hit the screens on May 5.

Actress Lily Collins says she was initially unsure about taking up the film “To The Bone” as she suffered from anorexia in her real life and she was too close to the issue.

The 28-year-old actress reveals she had written about her struggle with the eating disorder in her book “Unfiltered” almost a week before she received the script, reported Elle US.com.

“At first I was apprehensive, because we don’t get the opportunity very often to step back into shoes we once filled that weren’t necessarily positive. And it was kind of nerve-wracking. You’re doing it for a part, but it’s something so close to you...

“The interesting thing is that I wrote my chapter in my book on my history with them about a week before I got the script for this project. It was like the universe sending me the message...” Collins says. The actress adds director Marti Noxon and the team made sure she did not face any trouble while shooting for the film. “Right away, Marti and everyone made

Sofia Vergara accused of ‘harassing’ former fiance Actress Sofia Vergara is accused of “harassing” her former fiance Nick Loeb. According to Loeb, Vergara is making his life “a living hell” nearly three years after they called off their engagement in 2014, reports radaronline.com. As per reports, Vergara is still in a legal battle of “he said, she said” with Loeb over who owns the embryos they froze to make future children, and what should happen to them. He accuses her of “annoying” and “harassing” him with her legal maneuvers. Loeb is suing Vergara over two embryos they froze back in 2013. He wants to retrieve the embryos, use a surrogate to deliver them. He has even named them Emma and Isabella,

radaronline.com reported.

Vergara hit back at Loeb with a contract they signed which states one parent needs the other’s approval to use any embryo. But Loeb’s attorney insists the contract never existed and accuses Vergara of trying to bully his client. “The complaint is defective and wholly untenable on so many grounds, it can only be described as a transparent and illconceived attempt to annoy and harass Mr. Loeb,” the attorney states in documents.

Sylvester Stallone turns baby guru for Jason Statham Action star Sylvester Stallone, also a father, has become a “baby guru” to his “The Expendables” co-star Jason Statham.

Statham is expecting his first child with fiancée and modelactress Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley.

And during Stallone’s frequent visits to the star pair’s Beverly Hills mansion “the chat always seems to be parenthood”, a source told mirror.co.uk.

“It’s not a sight you expect — two action heroes talking about nappy duty over a beer in the

back garden. Rosie and Jason are so fond of Stallone and he’s like their baby guru.”

“He has said 1,000 times he’d love to babysit their child. They’d take him up on it too. He’s one of the few people they’d feel comfortable leaving their baby with.” The insider said the “Rocky” star, 70, gave Statham, 49, some stern advice for if the baby is a girl.

Stallone has always been very strict about the dating plans of his three daughters, aged 14 to 20 — and once admitted hoping they wouldn’t have boyfriends till their 40s.

The source added: “He’s warned Jason how hard it is to be a dad to girls. So, it’s not only advice on new-borns but teens too.”

“If Jason has a snag with raising his baby, he’ll probably call Sly before he Googles it.”

Stallone’s first-born, son Sage, died at 36 in 2012.

me feel so comfortable. They definitely had my best interests at heart, so that fear went away,” she says.

Would die for my daughters: Blake Lively Actress Blake Lively says she would die for her daughters James and Ines, whom she has with husband and fellow movie star Ryan Reynolds.

Lively described her urgency to “do anything to protect” her children as she spoke at Variety’s Power Of Women event here on Friday, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The actress told the starstudded audience: “I would do anything to protect them. I would literally die for them without a moment’s thought.”

The former “Gossip Girl” star was giving an emotional speech about the dangers of child pornography at the event.

She is determined to help eliminate the crime and has

partnered with the Child Rescue Coalition, an organisation which uses technology to track down people who share or download explicit images of children.

Kim Kardashian slammed over Virgin Mary Kimoji Reality TV star Kim Kardashian received online backlash after she transformed herself into Virgin Mary for her Kimoji app.

Kim posted three new animated images of Kimoji on the app’s Instagram page, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Kim has transformed into The Virgin Mary and each of the animated image becomes blurred when it’s played, indicating that this Kimoji was made to “celebrate” Weed Day. The caption of one of the images read: “420 drop now available.”

However, Kim’s Kimoji was not liked by her fans who criticised her in the comments column saying that this act is beyond disrespectful and offensive.

“This is beyond disrespectful.

What does this even have to do with 420? Just some pathetic idea but mostly... Disrespectful

to God,” one user wrote.

Another pointed out that Virgin Mary is a sacred figure.

“This is shameful. Remove this image our blessed Mother Mary is irreplaceabley sacred. We will not stand for this mockery,” the commenter said.

Many people have demanded Kim to take down the images,

but up until now they are still on Kimoji’s Instagram account.

“Take it off!! Get over yourself seriously. Do u have no shame?

You being raised a Catholic/ Orthodox would know the significance of Mother Mary’s role in the Church. Blasphemy.

May God have mercy on your soul,” one user posted.

Issue 716 (18)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Modi govt’s flip-f lop on bringing Kohinoor back THE NARENDRA Modi government on Friday told the Supreme Court that it is exploring diplomatic channels to bring back the $200 million (‘1,293 crore) worth Kohinoor diamond back from the United Kingdom.

But this significantly marked a major U-turn on the part of the government regarding its stand on getting the treasured gem back. The diamond is set in a crown which is on display in the Tower of London. In 2013, during a trip to India UK Prime Minister David Cameron had ruled out sending the diamond back to India, declaring that he does not believe in “returnism”. On April 19, 2016, the last date of hearing of the PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to bring back Kohinoor, the Centre had said it was a gift given to the British by Ranjit Singh’s successor Prince Dalip Singh as some “compensation” after the 1849 Sikh wars and

cannot be brought back. Till then, the stand of successive central governments was that the

validly gifted to Queen Victoria, an affidavit filed by the Centre also said the government was mindful of

gem was “stolen or forcibly taken away” from India and will take steps to bring it back. Centre’s affidavit said Kohinoor is India’s property but international conventions as well as the laws restrain it from making a rightful claim for its return from Britain.

The government however said it is devising ways and means to see if the diamond could be brought back based on any agreement with the UK. Stating there was no concrete evidence to show that the diamond was

the Indian public sentiment attached with the gem.

However, the government said it did not have The diamond worth ‘1,293 crore is set in a crown and is on display at Tower of London. % Stand of successive governments has been that Kohinoor was “stolen or forcibly taken away” and it will take steps to bring it back % On April 19, 2016, the Modi government said it is a gift given by successors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to East India Company in 1849 and cannot be brought back %

But on April 21, 2017, Centre said “we are devising ways and means” to see if the diamond can be brought back based on any deal with the UK DIAMOND STOLEN OR WAS IT A GIFT? Modi govt’s f lip-f lop on bringing Kohinoor back many legal options and would have to resort to diplomatic relations to seek its retrieval from UK. The Supreme Court disposed off the PIL saying the court cannot do much in this issue and the government was anyways taking diplomatic measures to get it back. “See diplomatic measures cannot be under any supervision and can a court in India pass any order asking any country to return something? And all the more at a time when the government in its counter affidavit says they are taking steps to bring it back?” Chief Justice J S Khehar -led bench asked lawyers for the petitioners in two PILs.

US sends 2 more warships to Korean peninsula THE US is sending two more aircraft carriers towards the Korean Peninsula, it has been claimed. Donald Trump has already dispatched the USS Carl Vinson, powered by nuclear reactors, carrying almost 100 aircraft and accompanied by destroyers, a cruiser, and a submarine to the region.

Reports in South Korea claim the US President is bolstering the deployment by sending the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz to the Sea of Japan next week. It comes as Trump warned North Korea that it needs to keep its nuclear ambitions in check, telling dictator Kim Jong-un he has “got to behave”. USS Ronald Reagan is currently stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, according to Yonhap News Agency while the USS Nimitz is undergoing “final predeployment assessment” off Oregon. Like the USS Carl Vinson, both vessels are more than 1,000-ft

long, and capable of carrying 90 aircraft. News of their possible deployment comes days after North Korea staged a huge military parade as part of a day of celebrations to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung.

There are fears Pyongyang is preparing to carry out a sixth nuclear test. This morning, US Vice President Mike Pence assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Tuesday that America is ready to work closely with its Asian allies in the region to achieve “a peaceable resolution and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”. “We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan,” Pence said after arriving from Seoul for talks with Abe. “We are with you 100 per cent,” the visiting vice-president said.

Issue 716 (19)

FRENCH voters turned their backs on the political establishment last night in round one of the presidential election.

Emmanuel Macron — an independent centrist — won first place ahead of National Front leader Marine Le Pen. The result will have major implications for Britain and its departure from the EU. Le Pen wants to completely renegotiate France’s relationship with Brussels, while Macron wants closer links. According to France’s Interior Ministry, 46 million people voted in the first stage of the elections which knocked the traditional Right and Left parties out of the running for the first time in 60 years. With 97 per cent of the vote counted, Macron achieved 23.9 per cent, followed by Le Pen on 21.4.

A total of 36.7 million voted, a turnout of 78.2 per cent. But it is thought that Le Pen’s chances of winning the second round are limited as supporters for Republican candidate Francois Fillon, who conceded but has gained 19.9 per cent of the votes, will support Macron. However, far-left leader JeanLuc Melenchon, who gained 19.6 per cent, refused to concede until the final results of first-round vote were announced.

Macron took to the stage in Paris earlier, with his wife Brigitte, and urged national unity against Le Pen. To chants of ‘Macron president!’ and ‘We’re going to win’, Macron began his speech by paying tribute to his opponents, and praised his supporters for his lightning rise. He said: “We have turned a page in French political history,” and added he wants to gather ‘the largest possible’ support before May 7. Macron

25 April - 1 May, 2017

France kicks out old guard

Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen make it to the second round of French presidential poll

deeply divided France, which saw a campaign full of twists and turns and widespread anger at traditional parties. It signals a stinging defeat for the Fillon and Socialist Benoit Hamon, meaning neither of France’s mainstream parties will be in the second round for the first time in 60 years. Macron, a 39-year-old who had never stood for election before and only started his independent centrist movement 12 months ago, will be the overwhelming favourite to win the second round on May 7.

How Pen turned the fate of NF acknowledged widespread anger at traditional parties and promised ‘new transformations’ in French politics. At a rally last night, Le Pen told her supporters she is offering ‘the great alternative’ in the race.

She said: “This is a historic result. This is the first step to drive the French (people) into the Elysee Palace. It is time to liberate

the French people from the arrogant (political) elite.” Former favourite Fillon conceded and voiced support for Macron after initial projections showed he and Melanchon got 19.5 per cent of the vote.

French PM Bernard Cazeneuve also called for support to Macron. The outcome capped an extraordinary few months for a

At 17, Macron said he’d marry me

FRANCE’S next first lady could be a grandmother of seven who is 25 years older than her husband and taught him at school when he was only a teenager. Brigitte Trogneux, now 64, was once the drama coach of centreLeft candidate Emmanuel Macron, 39, who exit polls predicted will be the next president. On Sunday night, Trogneux stood by her husband waving and grinning broadly after he won first place ahead of National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the country’s presidential elections.

Macron and Trogneux are likely to be the next residents at the Elysee Palace with Macron becoming the youngest leader of France in modern history. They first met when Macron was 15 and he later made a startling promise to his teacher. “At the age of 17, Emmanuel said to me, ‘Whatever you

do, I will marry you!’,” Trogneux told Paris Match magazine last year. The relationship started after Macron acted in Trogneux’s theatre pieces when he was aged 18 at a school in Amiens. Then Brigitte Auziere, a married mother of three, she was supervising the drama club.

Trogneux recalled in a television documentary: “Little by little, he overcame all my resistances in an unbelievable way, with patience.” She also said: “He wasn’t a teenager. He had a relationship of equals with other adults.” She eventually moved to Paris to join him, and divorced her husband.

They have been together ever since. The couple married in 2007 and Trogneux is now campaigning by his side. “I don’t hide her,” Macron told a TV channel. “She’s here in my life, she has always been.”

SHE is the leader of a party founded by her father JeanMarie Le Pen, who was booted out for his anti-semitic views. Now, Marine is set to battle with centrist independent Emmanuel Macron to become the next French president. She is a polarising figure who has stood trial for inciting racial hatred, and her policies include expelling foreigners from France.

Just last month, MEPs voted to lift her immunity after she was accused of posting images of ISIS killings on Twitter.

Distribution of violent images is illegal in the country. It is not her first attempt to become head of state since taking over the National Front in 2011. Five years ago, she won 18 per cent of the vote. She is currently projected to receive 21.7 per cent. In 2010, she compared Muslim prayers on the streets of France to Nazi occupation during WW-II.

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Issue 716 (22)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

For Indians, America under Trump is a land of vanished opportunity

New York Generations of Indians have admired the United States for almost everything. But many are infuriated and unnerved by what they see as a wave of racist violence under President Donald Trump, souring the United States’ allure.

The reaction is not just anger and anxiety. Now, young Indians who have aspired to study, live and work in the United States are looking elsewhere.

“We don’t know what might happen to us while walking on the street there,” said Kanika Arora, a 20-year-old student in Mumbai who is reconsidering her plan to study in the United States. “They might just think that we’re terrorists.”

Recent attacks on people of Indian descent in the United States are explosive news in India. A country once viewed as the Promised Land now seems for many to be dangerously inhospitable.

Further alienating Indians, especially among their highly educated class, is the Trump administration’s reassessment of H1-B visas given mostly for information technology jobs.

More than 85,000 are granted a year, the majority to Indians.

“America was the land of great opportunity,” Sanket Bafna, 21, said as he emerged one afternoon last week from an exam at K.C. College, where he is studying financial management. “It’s not the same land.”

This year, undergraduate applications from India fell at 26 percent of U.S. educational institutions, and 15 percent of graduate programs, according to a survey of 250 U.S. universities by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

The number of applications for

H1-B visas also fell to 199,000, a nearly 20 percent decline, according to data kept by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Like many others, Indians were offended by Trump’s promises to block the Mexico border with a wall and bar people from six predominantly Muslim countries.

Some took solace that India was not targeted.

But they soon saw that antiimmigrant rage in the United States did not discriminate.

In February, two Indian immigrants were shot, one fatally, at a bar in Kansas by a man who witnesses said had shouted ethnic slurs and told them they did not belong in the United States.

Since then, several more attacks on Indian immigrants have been closely covered by the Indian news media. While officials have not linked all to anti-immigrant bigotry, the belief that Indians are under attack in the United States seems cemented in the minds of many.

About 3.2 million people of Indian descent live in the United States, slightly more than 1 percent of the population, a Pew Research Center report found.

Most hold green cards and H1B visas, and are far more affluent and educated than the average American.

Indian-Americans play an

outsize role in Silicon Valley, where some, including Google Inc.’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, have founded or run some of the most successful companies.

But success stories like Pichai’s no longer inspire the jealousy they once did in India.

Arora, leaving H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, where she had finished an exam, said her parents had reservations about sending her brother to the United States, where he had been planning to enroll in college this year.

Arora said she, like her brother, “did aspire to work and study in America, but I’m reconsidering.”

The biggest reason, she said, was the violence directed against Indians.

“Every day, there’s a new headline about an Indian or Asian getting killed,” she said.

Now, Arora said, she and others in India are looking more favorably on Europe for study and work, despite the upheaval over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union.

“Comparatively, it’s considered safer,” she said.

In the end, Trump’s policies may benefit their home country by cutting off the brain drain, Arora and other Indians said. “All the intelligent people are coming back and can work here,” she added.

Meet the Indonesian villagers who live with their dead kin IN THE west, death is often kept out of sight and out of mind — relatives pass away in hospitals, and are buried a few days later. But not so among the Torajan people in Indonesia, whose relatives die at home and can be kept around for years afterward. In Torajan culture, people are not considered dead until their funerals have been held, with their families treating them as if they were sick.

Their bodies are injected with a preservative called Formulin to stop them decomposing, and they are given a room in the house to ‘live’ in, the BBC reports. Doting relatives will bring food, drink and cigarettes to the corpses twice a day, regularly wash the body and change its clothes, and even leave a pot in the corner as a ‘toilet’. They will also speak to the body as if it were still alive, introducing visitors and asking it

questions. The corpse is never left alone, and is always kept in a lit room, for fear the spirit will start causing trouble if it is upset. Torajan funerals are elaborate affairs, often lasting for days on end, involving relatives brought from around the world, and the sacrifice of hundreds of animals. As such, they can take an entire lifetime to save up for - so if a person dies with only a little money, their relatives may keep them around for years while they save. Mamak Lisa, a Torajan woman who spoke to the BBC, has kept the body of her father Paulo Cirinda for 12 years. She claims his presence has helped her deal with his passing. She said: ‘If we buried him straight away, we would also feel the pain very suddenly. “We wouldn’t get time to deal with grief and adjust to the separation,” she said.

As students of Mumbai’s colleges reviewed dog-eared question papers with friends on the sidewalk, after finishing their exams, they returned again and again to astonishment that someone like Trump could be elected.

“I was like, ‘Wow, how did you elect somebody like him,’” said Shantanu Sivan, 20, who studies mass media at Wilson College.

“I think I lost hope in the people of America.”

Ananya Gupta, 21, who studies financial management at K.C. College, laced his disappointment with contempt.

“That just shows where they stand intellectually, electing a person of Trump’s nature as a president,” he said.

When asked if he had an opinion on the United States under Trump, Gupta, standing across the street from his college, among other students at a beverage stand, replied “Who doesn’t?”

“Of course as a child, I used to dream about going to America, the land of opportunity. But today,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to go there.”

Not everyone is so negative about the United States under Trump. Devanshu Jain, 21, said he still planned to study and work there.

“There’s racism in India, too,” he said. “Who doesn’t want to

work for Goldman Sachs in New York City, right?”

But he said some friends were “so shaken up about what’s happening” that they have transferred from American universities to Canadian institutions in recent months.

At Mumbai’s Todi Mills, an old mill area converted in recent years into restaurants, bars and office space for young entrepreneurs, Trump’s America is also viewed with trepidation.

“People are really thinking America’s going downhill,” said Shikha Mittal, 33, founder of Be.artsy, a nine-person firm specializing in using art for marketing.

“It’s hard to take him seriously because the perception is so nonserious about him, that he’s not fit for the role he’s got,” Mittal said. “It’s affected how people think about America.

What made people vote for him?

What sort of people have voted for him?”

Around the corner, Abhishek Singh, 23, sat with a friend at a patio table of a pub, worrying about the effect of Trump on the world.

“The U.S. has been such a good country with such good policies,” said Singh, a brewer.

“And this guy comes to power, and you don’t know what he might actually do.”

Issue 716 (23)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Friends buy Iraqi tank on eBay and find $3.6m in gold bars inside

Soldiers of fortune

THE incredible moment stunned military buffs discovered five gold bars worth $3.6millions hidden inside an Iraqi tank has been captured on camera. Nick Mead and Todd Chamberlain expected to find rusty guns when they investigated the diesel container of a tank they had just bought for $50,000 on eBay. Mead, who runs Tanks-a-Lot in Helmdon, Northamptonshire, filmed their search and was left gobsmacked when instead of artillery his mechanic pulled out a stash of glistening bullion.

Seconds before the discovery Mead is heard telling his colleagues what they should do with the weapons in the tank, only for Chamberlain to pull out the gold and exclaim: “Well, it’s not guns that’s for sure.” He then proceeds to recover the rest of the bars, believed to have been looted by Iraqi soldiers during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, while an excited Mead celebrates from behind the camera. The

tank had been restored by previous owner Joe Hewes, 23, who replaced its tracks and fixed its engine without ever discovering the valuable booty

inside. Despite missing out on the lifechanging find, Hewes said he wasn’t bitter and simply expects a small token gesture from Mead. He said: “It’s crazy

and a great find so I hope they get to keep it. “Everyone is thinking I should be devastated to have missed out on what could be a fortune but I’m not

BSF terminates jawan who posted video on bad food BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who had posted a video online complaining about poor quality food being served to the troops on icy heights along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, has been dismissed on charge of indiscipline. A spokesman for the BSF said constable Yadav was found guilty of all the charges and awarded dismissal from service. The order comes five months after he posted the video on Facebook, triggering public outcry over the working conditions of troops guarding the country’s frontiers. The BSF had conducted a Summary Security Force Court (SSFC) where Yadav was tried on two counts of making false allegations on social media regarding the quality of food, and carrying two mobile phones while on operational duty, the spokesman said. He said making false allegations about the quality of food was an act prejudicial to good order and discipline of the force, and that he did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism available. He

alleged that constable Yadav did not obey a general order of the force and carried two mobile phones while on operational duty which was against the Standard Operating Procedure.

“Yadav also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions,” he said. “The SSFC began its proceedings from April 13 during which all opportunities were given to Yadav to defend himself,” the spokesman said, adding he can appeal against the punishment to an appellate authority within three months. Yadav, clad in battle fatigues and carrying his service rifle, had in January this year posted a video on Facebook, claiming poor quality food like watery daal and burnt chapattis were being served to the troops at inhospitable terrains. “While the government procures essentials for the soldiers, the higherups sell them off in an illegal manner in the market making the lower level personnel in the force suffer,” he had alleged.

too upset because I made a fair bit of money on the tank anyway.

“I haven’t been in touch with Nick but if he does get to keep some of the some of the money, I expect a pint! It’s incredible to think for months I had quite literally been sitting on a gold mine.” From watching Mead’s footage of the find, it is safe to say that his attitude towards the gold is very different. As the bullion is revealed from inside the diesel tank, he exclaims: “Is that what I think it is? How heavy is it? Seriously?! Is that gold? Oh god, that’s about five or six kilos. Wow, good here init (sic). See how many there are, find the rest! Yeehaah!

What are we going to do with them? “Oh my God. I don’t believe it, what do you reckon they’re worth? Where did they come from? It could be Kuwaiti or Iraqi. How many more are there? This is better than having puppies!

Incredible.” After pulling the bullion from inside the Chinese-made T54 tank, the pair then ring the police to register their find. Talking to the camera, Mead says: “It’s not something I’d thought I’d

be doing, finding b***** great bars of gold hidden in a tank.

Absolutely incredible. “But, we’ve got to ring the police. I don’t know whether this is millions or hundred of thousands worth. But one thing is for certain, I don’t want it lying around my office.

“We’ll get a receipt and hopefully, just hopefully, we’ll get to keep it. What’s the chance of us keeping it?” Off camera, some one replies: “Absolutely zero.” The film then ends with the crew weighing their loot in order to find out how much it is worth.

Mead, who has a collection of 150 military vehicles, had traded an Army lorry and an Abbot self-propelled gun for the tank. Chamberlain said: “We didn’t know what to do. You can’t exactly take five gold bullion bars down to Cash Converters without questions being asked, so we called the police.” Mead said: “We know it is definitely an Iraqi tank and our theory is the gold is from Kuwait but we don’t know. When we found it, we were all laughing and joking and deciding what we were going to spend the money on.

Issue 716 (24)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

You can charm many with your strong personality and soft approach!

This is truly a festive week for you as you glow with all the attention you receive at home and at work. Watch out for old patterns of behavior, excesses, and negative relationships. You draw a lot of attention at a professional meeting while expressing new ideas. A dramatic happening can lead to a new opportunity. With inner strength and hard work, you can transform a breakdown at work into a breakthrough. Do not be afraid to restructure work patterns or systems! Surprises and unexpected happenings are on the cards!

You are socially sought after and may find it hard to cope with the demands on your time and energy this week.

Professional exposure, material gain, and triumph in competitive situations are on the cards! You are seen, noted and heard as you express valuable insights and share professional expertise with people who appreciate your work. You cannot help being frank in personal relationships and friendships. You gain trust and confidence of people who matter with your candid humour, and frank expression of opinions. Sudden and unexpected happenings cannot be ruled out.

Like the waves in the ocean you go through ups and downs in life, which are both to be experienced and celebrated. You express true feelings, ideas and plans without being afraid of consequences. Enjoy every moment, whatever it brings - the peak and the valley without getting addicted to it. Change is constant in life and one has to learn to flow with it. You can attempt difficult tasks, resolve complicated issues and connect with unapproachable people. You achieve victory in competitive situations. A media splash or coverage enhances your public image.

You spend time at home and outside, bringing balance and perspective into your life this week. News and visitors from far-off places are likely to arrive. Redecorating home or office space brings in fresh energy and aids creativity. You are nurturing and caring in personal relationships. Finances and material effects need to be evaluated and preserved.

Walking or gardening can be therapeutic pastimes. You are in good shape and sport new styles and clothes. Your heart gives you insights and answers that you have been looking for intellectually.

Your mystical and enigmatic personality attracts some interesting people around you. A personal relationship has the qualities of love, balance and freedom you have been searching for. You need not over analyse personal relationships but rather respond with your heart and deep feelings. Only then can you expect love, support and care from your partner. As a new understanding dawns you feel free to explore new ideas, adventures and unknown areas of experience.

Spread your wings and fly! It’s time to express your feelings and ideas and share what you have learned through a variety of experience in this life.

It’s time to let go obsolete patterns and routines and have a new vision for the future. Adopt new and alternate therapies to get past health problems this week. A positive and creative approach brings gain and resolution in old conflicts and work situations. You need to view professional and business problems from a balanced perspective. Learn from past experience and get on with your life rather than repeat old patterns. A new work opportunity can change the way you work and relate with people professionally and socially! You celebrate an event in an unusual and exciting way this week.

Your brilliance shines through as you manage and juggle busy schedules and different aspects with ease this week. Opportunities and invitations take you on an unplanned journey! Visitors, friends and family make this a happy time as an event is celebrated.

You have a broad universal perspective and need to leave details and practicalities to others.

Delegating responsibility and sharing your burdens with others is a therapeutic consideration. You begin to gain self-esteem and know yourself better.

You are appreciative and caring as you give total support to loved ones through a difficult time.

You are likely to swing to extremes this week, sometimes being happy and playful and at other times heavy, serious and depressed. Your social life can be busy and scintillating. Professional situations and personal relationships are sensitive and tend to go through ups and downs. Beware of obsession and discontent as they make you restless and tired. Be in touch with your famous sense of humour to reach the highest peak in any aspect of life, rather than sit at the bottom of the hill with a heavy, serious attitude. Ignore negative influences and gossips around you.

You can achieve a lot in business and professional aspects by combining creativity with practicality this week.

Your goodness of heart brings you peace inside and friendship outside. You play the role of the father figure in family and personal situations by taking on extra responsibility and giving direction. Listen to your heart and intuition when assessing situations around you. You learn a lesson from a strong experience that touches you deeply and transforms you. You can expect superiors to support you and stand up for you in tough situations at work.

Plans of any kind actualise smoothly this week. Finances and earthy details can be resolved easily. Maintain a balance in material and creative aspects for the right blend of success. An overseas connection grows into business collaboration. You unite people and ideas to achieve success and synergy in the work area.

However, you don’t have to give in and betray your own truth to seek approval of others. End of the week finds you making compromises with the family and pressing for peace in personal relationships so that the wheel of life turns smoothly towards accord and amity once again.

Choices and decisions are on the cards this week! A business venture can be gainful if you are willing to lend it some energy. You are involved in multifarious activity and need to avoid mental stress. Beware of superficiality in social connections, as you are much in demand with friends and family. This week you are likely to examine relationships and analyse priorities in an effort to make decisions and commitments. Beware of thoughtless or inconsiderate friends who tend to take advantage of your good nature. Don’t forget to list your priorities when life gets busy and hectic.

There is growth and increase of material aspects while unexpected expenditure may also have to be met this week.

You remain busy with meetings and commercial transactions to stabilise your financial position.

Material growth and sound investments lead to a better lifestyle. Personal relationships develop with speed, demanding your time, attention and clarity. Your heart tends to repeat old patterns in personal relationships, be aware. This is a time for breakthroughs, endings and new beginnings! Your strong spirit supports you through changes.

Issue 716 (25)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Technology Be careful and think twice before becoming group admin on WhatsApp, facebook- why

Varanasi Think twice before becoming administrator of a group on WhatsApp or Facebook as one is liable for prosecution if any rumour or fake news is circulated on it.

Social media platforms allow a person to create a group on which members can share views, photographs or videos.

Concerns have been raised about social media misuse as fake news, morphed photographs and disturbing videos with fabricated local narratives can easily be circulated that can trigger tension and even communal rift

in an area.

In a joint order issued by District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari, it has been made clear that any factually incorrect, rumour or misleading information on a social media group could result in an FIR against the group administrator. “There are several groups on social media which are named on news groups and also groups with other names which are propagating news and information which is not authentic. These are being forwarded without cross

checking,” it said.

Considering this issue, directives are being issued to social media groups, WhatsApp and Facebook group administrators and members, the order said.

There are over 200 million WhatsApp users in India.

It directed that social media group administrators should be ready to bear the responsibility and ownership of the groups.

The administrator must include only those members who are personally known to him or her.

If any statement is made by a group member which is fake, can cause religious disharmony, or rumour, the group admin must deny it on the group and remove the member from the group, the order said.

“In the event of inaction from the group admin, he or she will be considered guilty and action will be taken against the group admin,” it said.

Such a post must also be reported to the nearest police station so that action can be taken against the member under the law, it said.

New York Facebook is quietly developing the most useful virtual assistant ever that may outshine Jarvis — the artificial intelligence (AI) assistant its CEO Mark Zuckerberg developed in 2016.

The company’s experimental assistant called Facebook M

assistant Siri. So when you fire a message to M, algorithms try to figure out what you want. But what makes M better than Siri is its ability return a meaningful answer.

When Siri cannot answer a question, it replies: “I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.”

In the case of M, a human being invisibly takes over and responds to your request and it seems that the chatbot is answering your question.

Since this project was too expensive to scale to the 1.2 billion people who use Facebook Messenger, the company offered M to a few thousand users in 2015.

The human-algorithm move was intended to provide data that would let the algorithms learn to take over the work of their human “trainers”.

“Everybody in this field is dreaming of creating the assistant that will finally be very, very, very smart,” said Alex Lebrun, who started the project.

San Francisco In an apparent reaction to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel’s purported disinterest in expanding business to “poor countries” like India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is for everyone and not just for “the high end”.

In a subtle jab at Spiegel, Zuckerberg told TechCrunch on the sidelines of the annual Facebook F8 developer conference in San Jose on Tuesday: “I think one thing that people probably don’t think about as much as we do is innovation to serve everyone in the community, not just the high end, right? So we focus on a lot of things like Facebook Lite. It’s up to 200 million people in like a year”.

Last week, US-based news website Variety quoted Snapchat’s ex-employee Anthony Pompliano as saying that Spiegel in September 2015 told him that “the app is only for

Twitter adds two-factor authentication app support New York: Twitter quietly released support for third-party two-factor authentication applications enabling the twitterati to now use these apps to protect their accounts, a media report said.

A Twitter developer said that this feature had been live since “late last year or early this year”, tech website Android Police reported on Monday. This feature allows Twitter users to use thirdparty apps, such as Google Authenticator or LastPass Authenticator, to protect their accounts. To turn this feature on, users can go to the Settings menu on Twitter’s website, then go to Account, and look for “Login verification” under the Security menu.

Twitter already has its own twofactor authentication feature, and new users will need to activate this system before being allowed to set up a third-party authenticator app.

Once Twitter ’s system is activated, users can click the button reading “Setup a code generator app” to activate the third-party app of their choice.

In January this year, computer scientists have found massive collections of fake accounts on the micro-blogging site and suggested that one person or a group is managing these accounts.

According to a BBC report, the largest network that was found have tied together more than 350,000 accounts and further

rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain”.

Indians did not take the comment lightly and took to

he (Pompliano) knows exactly nothing about Snap’s current metrics. He and his lawyers are — not to put too fine a point on matters — just making things up,” Variety reported Snap’s attorneys as saying in another report.

Denying the claims of Snapchat being termed as a “rich people’s app”, the attorneys termed Pompliano a “disgruntled employee fired for poor performance”.

Some users wrote, “Poor India & Spain need better than Snapchat”, “Good bye, My Snapchat Account and Snap Inc. You’ll be product of gone by era and derision”, and “Poor Evan Spiegel”.

The app was also trolled on Twitter. #boycottsnapchat became the most trending hashtag on Twitter overnight.

work suggested that others might be even bigger.

The networks were uncovered accidentally when some researchers were probing Twitter to see how people use it.

Some of the accounts were used to fake follower numbers, send spam and boost interest in trending topics.

As of the third quarter of 2016, the micro-blogging service averaged at 317 million monthly active users.

Facebook developing Zuckerberg takes a jab at Snapchat, says Facebook is for all “perfect” chatbot

is offered inside the company’s Messenger app and shows the value of having a true digital butler in your pocket.

Instead of just retrieving simple pieces of information from databases, M can understand complex orders and take actions like booking theatre tickets or contacting companies for information, a report in MIT Technology Review said.

M works like Apple’s AI

social media to lash out at the statement from the CEO. As the ratings of the app dropped, the criticism of the CEO and the app increased.

The controversy also resulted in the rating of the popular app dropping to a “single star” from an apparent “five star” on the App Store.Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc later denied the allegation, saying no such remark was made by CEO Spiegel.

“The simple fact is that

Issue 716 (26)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Sonu makes a ‘bald’ move against cleric fatwa over azaan tweet

Singer Sonu Nigam made a strong statement on Wednesday when he appeared before the media with a shiny bald pate — answering a Muslim cleric’s open offer of a ‘10-lakh bounty to anyone who would shave his hair. Tweeting a report titled “‘10 lakh to shave Sonu Nigam’s head: West Bengal maulvi issues fatwa”, Nigam said, “Today at 2pm, an aalim will come to my place and shave my head. Keep your ‘10 lakh ready, maulvi. And the press is welcome to participate.” The Muslim cleric was angry after Sonu Nigam shook the Internet on April 17 with a series of tweets questioning why he needed to be woken up by the ‘Azaan’ in the morning and when this “forced religiousness would end in India”? Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi, the vice-president of West Bengal United Minority Council, had announced a reward of ‘10 lakh to anybody who tonsured the Bollywood singer and garlanded him with old shoes. Sonu appeared before media bald at his home Wednesday and said, “I believe in all faiths and I didn’t speak against any religion.” He told mediapersons he raised a social topic and not a religious one when he tweeted about being woken up by the sound of azaan, the Muslim call to prayers. “I am a secular person. It was not about azaan, it was about the loud sound. Playing loud sound on a speaker is gundagardi for me,” Nigam told reporters.

“What is happening to the country? Anyone can lynch anyone or anyone can issue a

fatwa. I’m not talking about any single religion,” he added. The singer went on to say that he has spent his entire life idolising Mohd Rafi as a father figure. “I am someone whose teacher is Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan, and I am being labelled antiMuslim… it’s not my problem but the other person’s,” he said.

For the last two days, Nigam has been at the receiving end of anger after questioning the practice of azaan over loudspeakers.

But on Wednesday, Twitterati went berserk not only applauding him for going through with the whole affair, but also taking a stand for what he believes in.

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25 April - 1 May, 2017

Indian national on FBI’s top ten fugitives list

WASHINGTON A 26-year-old Indian national wanted for the 2015 murder of his wife in Maryland is the newest addition to the FBI’s ten most wanted Fugitives’ list, and a reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information leading to his capture, the Bureau and local police announced on Tuesday.

Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel, a native of India, had been in the US on an expired visa with his 21-year-old wife Palak when the crime took place, official said.

At the time of the murder, both were working the night shift at a donut shop about an hour outside Washington DC in Hanover, Maryland, owned by a relative of Patel’s.

Just before midnight on April 12, 2015, while customers were in the front of the shop, Patel is said to have stabbed Palak multiple times in the back of the shop and left by a rear door.Investigators theorise that Palak Patel wanted to return to India - their visas had expired just month before - and her husband was against the idea.“The best guess is that he didn’t want her to leave,” said Special Agent Jonathan Shaffer, who is investigating the case from the FBI‘s Baltimore Division.

“It’s possible that he thought he would be disgraced by her leaving and going back to India.”

After leaving the donut shop,

Patel walked across the street to the apartment he shared with his wife, retrieved a few items and some cash, and then hailed a taxi. The cab driver took him to a hotel in New Jersey near Newark Liberty International

Airport. “He checked in about 3 am with no bags, just the clothes on his back,” Shaffer said. “He checked out around 10 am, and took a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station. That’s the last anyone has seen of him.”After the murder, a customer who entered the shop realised something was wrong when no one came to take his order. He alerted a nearby Anne Arundel County Police Department officer, who discovered Palak Patel’s body. “It was horrific what had been done to this young woman,” Shaffer said.Local

US parents win battle over toddler’s last name of ‘Allah’

Atlanta Georgia has issued a birth certificate for a toddler with the last name “Allah” after initially declining to do so because that doesn’t match either of the parents’ last names, a civil rights group that sued on behalf of the parents said on Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia sued last month on behalf of Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk, who had chosen the name ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah.The group said it is dropping its lawsuit because the Georgia Department of Health has issued a birth certificate with the name the couple had chosen.

“This is an important vindication of parental rights and a long overdue victory for Elizabeth and Bilal,” ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young said.“No one wants to live in a world where the government can dictate what you can and cannot name your child. It goes against

our values, the legislature’s intent, and the plain language of the law.”Now that the 23-monthold child has a birth certificate, her parents, who are expecting another child in July, can get a Social Security number for her, which will make it possible for them to access medical coverage and enroll her in public school, Young said.A Department of Public Health lawyer had argued state law requires a baby’s surname to be that of the father or the mother for the initial birth record. They said the last name of the child, who was born in 2015, should either be Handy, Walk or a combination of the two.Lawyers for the parents argued that the law says the birth certificate shall include the surname “as designated by both parents.”

Additionally, they noted, the state had previously issued birth certificates with the last name “Allah” for two older sons.

police then requested FBI assistance, and several days after the murder, a federal arrest warrant was issued charging Patel with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He has also been charged with his wife’s murder.Although the motive for the murder is uncertain, and there is no way to know if Patel planned the crime, Shaffer noted that “his actions show a very cool and calculated mentality about escaping the scene and fleeing the area.”

Investigators believe that Patel could be with distant relatives in the US or that he could have fled to Canada. “Or he could have traveled through Canada back to India,” Shaffer said. “Those are among the plausible options we are exploring.”

The FBI believes the $100,000 reward will help in the capture of Patel.“Somebody out there who either sees the publicity or knows something already but has been reluctant to come forward will be encouraged by that amount of money,” Shaffer said. “Whether they do it for the right reasons or just for the money doesn’t really matter. Patel needs to be apprehended.”Information regarding Patel-who should be considered armed and dangerous- should be conveyed to the local FBI office or the nearest US Embassy or Consulate, through a tip on the FBI website, the Bureau said.

US prepares charges to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Washington The United States is reported to have prepared charges to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, for revealing sensitive government secrets, who has been living in the London embassy of Ecuador for at least four years. While the CNN said, citing unidentified officials, the charges had been prepared, other media outlets said discussions were still on and no decision had been reached.Asked at a news conference, attorney general Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that Assange’s arrest was a priority.

“We have already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail,” he added. This development marks a significant departure from US President Donald Trumps’ own views on WikiLeaks. During the election campaign he had famously said he loved the website, which was then releasing embarrassing details from the campaign of his Democratic party rival Hillary

Clinton.But his administration has taken a different track.

CIA director Mike Pompeo said recently, “WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service.”

He had added: “It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is – a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.”

Now reports come of US preparing charges against Assange, whose lawyer, however, has said they have not heard yet from US authorities.

“They have been unwilling to have any discussion at all, despite our repeated requests that they let us know what Mr Assange’s status is in any pending investigations,” Barry Pollack told CNN. Possible charges include conspiracy, theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act, the Washington Post said, though any charges would need approval from high-ranking officials in the justice department.

SHE recently spoke out about her strict Christian upbringing.

But now Katy Perry has been slammed for sharing a picture of a Hindu goddess on Instagram on Wednesday, which she captioned with the words “current mood”. Social media users immediately took to the site to criticise the post, describing it as “offensive”. One user, posting under @chhibber_sahb, wrote: “This is a shameful and offensive act. You can’t compare yourself with The Great Goddess KALI MAA.” Another fan, @ m r. c h a u h a n 1 , added: “Respect her she is our goddess of hindu u can’t use it in this way , seriously u lost Respect in my eyes .”

Meanwhile @kumarsanjay46 posted: “Please do not compare yourself with God !!

You can have any kind of mood what you want but you must respect other religion also!!”

However, some fans took to Instagram to defend Katy, with one writing: “Well im an indian

and Hindu also.this is not offensive at all.some people get offended so easily.” And @renes0307 simply commented: “Well that is kind of offensive.” The image shows the Hindu Goddess, Kali Ma, or the Divine Mother. Katy, 32, has previously said she doesn’t align herself to a particular religion, but described feeling a “deep connection with God”. She told Marie Claire in an interview in 2013: “I’m not Buddhist, I’m not Hindu, I’m not Christian, but I still feel like I have a deep connection with God. “I pray all the time — for selfcontrol, for humility. There’s a lot of gratitude in it.” Despite saying she didn’t belong to a particular faith, Katy got married to ex-husband Russell Brand in a lavish Hindu ceremony in India back in 2010. The Firework hitmaker recently opened up about her strict evangelical upbringing by her pastor parents, revealing that she was not “allowed to interact with gay people” when she was younger.

KATY’S POST THAT SPOILED THE MOOD OF MANY FANS

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25 April - 1 May, 2017

Australian govt searching for Punjab descendants of WW1 Sikh soldier, records carry clues Melbourne On June 16 this year, the governor of South Australia will be hosting a historic reception to mark the death centenary of a decorated Australian soldier, Private Sarn Singh. A member of the Australian Imperial Force, Pte Sarn Singh was killed in action in Belgium on June 10, 1917, while serving in the 43rd Infantry Battalion. He is one of 19 Sikhs who enlisted in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) during World War 1.

But, he is the only known casualty in the line of duty. All others returned home to Australia after the war ended, but very little is known about the descendants of most of these pioneering Sikh Australian soldiers As historian Prof Peter Stanley from University of New South Wales, Canberra, says, ““Sarn Singh, and the ‘Indian-born Anzacs’ who served with him in the Australian Imperial Force, represented a remarkable

phenomenon. They were remarkable because they were among the few non-white members of a force that was legally only supposed to include Europeans, an extraordinary exception to the prevailing racist policy of ‘White Australia’.”

Now the Australian Sikh Heritage Association (ASHA) is seeking to find any of Sarn Singh’s living descendants in India, who could possibly attend the landmark commemoration on June 16 in Adelaide, to mark the centenary of his ultimate sacrifice. A ceremony of this kind has never taken place in Australia ever before.

Records say a lot Pte Sarn Singh’s military records reveal quite a lot about his background. He belonged to village Chhokran, and his postal address was “Post office Moron (possibly Moran), tehsil Phillaur, district Jullundur (now Jalandhar).”

His father’s name was Kishan Singh Zaildar (also named as

Mayor Kishan Singh in some records), his brother’s name was Charan Singh (who lived in Jandiala) and his wife’s name was Partap Kaur.

There are records of Partap Kaur’s thumb impression on a delivery slip dated June 12, 1922, where she acknowledged receiving the British War Medal and the Victory Medal that were awarded posthumously to her husband Sarn Singh. In fact, she was in touch with Australian authorities repeatedly, desperately seeking a pension after the death of her husband, to alleviate “the pitiable condition” she was living in India.

She states, “My father in law and the real brother of my husband are no more ready to support me for my lifetime and it would have been much better if I might have died before my husband.”

Although the communication to and from Partap Kaur is recorded for posterity by the National Archives of Australia, it is unclear if she actually went on to receive any pension from the AIF. Harjit Singh from ASHA says, “Although all of Australia will be marking this day with great fervour, one family deserves to be

‘Animals have no place in art’

French ‘human hen’ artist condemned after eggs hatch Perris A French artist who hatched nine eggs after sitting on them for three weeks has been condemned by an animals rights group for depriving the chicks of a mother.

Abraham Poincheval hardly slept in the 23 days he spent nesting inside a glass vitrine in a Paris

art museum which he finally left Thursday after all but two of the eggs hatched.

Last month the man dubbed France’s most extreme artist made headlines worldwide after spending a week entombed inside an egg-shaped rock at the Palais de Tokyo.

But animal rights group PETA

said they took a dim view of the birth of the chicks, the first of which emerged on Tuesday.

“There is nothing to celebrate in the birth of this chick born alone in a museum,” the organisation said in an open letter to the artist.

“Considered merely as a part of an ‘artistic’ performance, it will

never meet its mother.

“Animals have no place in art,” it added.

But a spokeswoman for the museum insisted that the chicks, eight of whom are yellow and one brown, “are doing well and they are going to live in the country” with Poincheval’s parents.

His father Christian told AFP that he had made them a luxury hen house on his Normandy smallholding where they would live out their natural

lives.

Chicks won’t be eaten Poincheval senior, an inventor best known for his pills which make farts smell of roses, promised the chicks would never end up in the pot.

“I can assure you that they will never be the centrepiece of a grand feast,” he added.A museum spokesman said that although his son was exhausted after the marathon performance during which he never left the vitrine, he was “very happy. He never hoped that so many of the eggs would hatch.”

“It has been really tough for him.

He has slept sitting on the eggs.

It’s been a lot harder than being shut inside the rock,” the spokeswoman had earlier told AFP. As well as having to spend 23-and-a-half hours a day sitting on the eggs, Poincheval had to contend with the heat, having to keep the eggs at a minimum of 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The 44-year-old artist is no stranger to bizarre performances.

He once spent a fortnight inside a stuffed bear eating worms and insects, was buried under a rock for eight days and navigated France’s Rhone river inside a giant corked bottle.His big dream, however, is to walk on the clouds.“I have been working on it for five years, but it is not quite there yet,” he said.

there much more than any other the family of Sarn Singh who never saw their great-grandfather return home after fighting a war for Australia, in some faraway land. If anyone knows of any descendant of Sarn Singh, please let us know immediately, because we’d like them to attend the commemoration in Adelaide. The family must know that all of Australia salutes Sarn Singh’s valour.”

What will says In his will, Sarn Singh had appointed Amon Bux (of Waikerie, SA) as the executor, who was asked to remit any savings to his brother Charan Singh (of Jandiala, Punjab), in case he died in war. After being informed of his son’s death in the line of duty, father Kishan Singh wrote a letter in September 1917 asking, “I beg you to be good enough and inform me the details, whether he died of wounds in any hospital , or was killed in the front and whether or not his body was found,” going on to query about any monies that may be owing to the family.

AIF records reveal that Sarn Singh’s body was buried by G Huthnance on August 13, 1917,

two months after he was killed.

Slight build, tall valour Military records indicate that Sarn Singh was a man of slight build – he was 5 ft 3 inches tall, weighed 136 lbs and his chest measured up to 34.36 inches. He joined the Australian Imperial Force on May 15, 1916, at Waikerie (SA), declaring he was 33 years old at the time, was a farmer by profession and was born in Jullundur (Jalandhar), India. He sailed from Adelaide on August 12, 1916, on board the ship Ballarat, landing in Devonport (England) a month and a half later. He served in France for a few months and was then deployed to Belgium, where he was killed on the battlefield in Messines, after completing one year of active service for the Australian Imperial Force.

His name is included in the list of fallen soldiers, inscribed on a special collective cross at the Messines Ridge British cemetery in Belgium. As Stanley says, ““Sarn Singh is now commemorated equally in death alongside his overwhelmingly white comrades on memorials in Belgium, in South Australia and in Canberra.”

Argentina woman gives birth in coma, meets son months later

Buenos Aires In late 2016, a 34-year-old policewoman in Argentina in a coma after a car accident gave birth. Four months later, Amelia Bannan has regained consciousness and has finally met her son.

During the first part of 2017, “she moved sometimes, made signs of waking up,” said her brother Cesar in Buenos Aires.

“Last Thursday, during Holy Week, we were in her room at the clinic, and we heard someone say ‘Yes.’ We approached her. It was a very moving moment.”

On November 1, Bannan and her colleagues including the father of her child, also a police officer were in an accident in their service vehicle. Bannan was gravely injured.

As she lay in a coma in a hospital in the city of Posadas, her pregnancy moved along as planned. Santino was born by cesarean section a few hours

before Christmas, in perfect health.

Bannan’s sister Norma “took care of Santino. And every day at 6 pm, she brought the baby to Amelia,” said brother Cesar.

When Bannan finally regained consciousness last week, and her sister brought Santino to her, she at first thought the baby was her nephew. Then her family explained the happy news.

Bannan began to remember what happened to her. At first speaking in a confused manner, she eventually made herself understood, her brother said.

“The doctors said that Amelia has defied all scientific logic, that her case is truly a miracle,” said Cesar, who is also a cop.

“Amelia is young, and despite the traumatic brain injury she suffered, she is surprising us,” said neurosurgeon Marcelo Ferreira, who is treating her.

“She still has a lot to give. She needs time, and everyone needs to be patient.”

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25 April - 1 May, 2017

United Airlines removes engaged couple traveling to wedding from plane

NEW YORK An engaged couple flying on United Airlines from Houston, Texas, to their wedding in Costa Rica were removed by a federal law enforcement officer from the flight on Saturday amid disputed circumstances, according to media reports.

The removal comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of the airline’s approach to customer service after a video emerged a week ago showing security officers dragging a bloodied passenger off an overbooked United Express flight in Chicago.United said the couple

repeatedly tried to sit in more expensive seats for which they had not paid and would not follow flight crew instructions, according to the KHOU 11 New channel in Houston.

United, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday evening.Michael Hohl and his fiancee, Amber Maxwell, gave a different account. Hohl said he and Maxwell found another passenger sleeping sprawled across their seats after they were the last to board the flight, according to an interview with KHOU.Soon after

moving to other, empty seats in the economy cabin a few rows up, flight crew denied their request to pay a supplement for the seats, which United sells as “economy plus”, and told them to move back to their original seats, Hohl said.

“We thought not a big deal, it’s not like we are trying to jump up into a first-class seat,” Hohl told KHOU. “We were simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat.”They then cooperated with an officer from the U.S. Marshals Service who boarded and told them they had to get off the plane, Hohl said.The couple were rebooked on a flight on Sunday, KHOU reported. Dr. David Dao, the 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor who was seen in video being dragged off a United flight a week ago, will likely sue the airline, his attorney said on Thursday.After the incident triggered international outrage, United Chief Executive Oscar Munoz apologized to Dao, his family and its customers, saying the carrier would no longer use law enforcement officers to remove passengers from overbooked flights.

out of outcrop rock formations with water cannons. According to Dr Leshchinskiy, the remains of the mammoths, that lived about 12,000 to 13,000 years ago, are perfectly preserved. Dr Leshchinskiy found that 42 per cent of bone samples showed signs of diseases. Among the conditions are two that have never been observed in mammoths before. One of the diseases observed causes fragments of bone or cartilaginous tissue to float freely in the joint cavity — a condition doctors call ‘articular mouse’ or ‘rice grain’. Another anomaly observed was the openness of the of the transverse apertures of the cervical vertebrae — where blood vessels and nerves are normally located.

ARVIND Kejriwal’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party is poised for a rout if Delhi were to hold assembly elections now, according to a comparative analysis of the India TodayAxis-My-India’s MCD forecast. In Sunday’s municipal vote in the city, the BJP is expected to bag 202-220 of the total 272 wards, up from its tally of 142 in 201. Axis-My-India pollsters have predicted a sizeable decline in the Congress’ share— from 77 five years ago to somewhere between 19-31 in the MCD of 2017. Kejriwal’s AAP, which debuted in municipal elections this year, is projected to win 23 to 35 wards. And if extrapolated to 70 assembly constituencies of Delhi, these figures for the MCD boroughs would spell doom for the Aam Aadmi Party government. A ward-to-constituency computation of exit polls suggests the AAP numbers would plummet down to a single digit if elections for Delhi’s legislature were to held right now. Two years ago, Kejriwal’s party won the same house with a landslide of 67, delivering a bloody nose to its powerful rivals. But if municipal projections are any indication, the AAP seems to have lost popular support among various sections of Delhi voters, who catapulted it to power in the

Mammoths got diseases that are typical in humans

MAMMOTHS suffered from bone diseases typically found in humans, a researcher has found. Almost half of the mammoth bones analyzed showed signs of serious bone diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis and osteolysis — the wearing down of bones. The mass extinction of mammoths may have been caused by mineral starvation, which led to these diseases. Dr Sergey Leshchinskiy, a paleontologist at Tomsk State University (TSU) in Russia and the author of the research, analyzed over 1,500 bones and eight teeth from at least 47 mammoths. They were found in Berelyokh site in Russia.

The bones were originally obtained between the 1970s and 1980s, mainly due to the wash

St Petersburg train attack mastermind arrested THE suspected mastermind of the St Petersburg train bomb attack that killed 14 two weeks ago has been arrested while carrying a pistol. Dramatic pictures show Russian officers grabbing Abror Azimov and wrestling him to the ground in Odintsovo, a city just outside Moscow. The 26-year-old from exSoviet Central Asia was then taken into custody for questioning. It is thought he helped prepare suicide bomber Akbarzhon Jalilov from Kyrgyzstan who killed himself and others with nail bombs on the subway on 3 April. Azimov is the ninth person to have been detained on suspicion of having colluded with the bomber.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) identified the detained man as Abror Azimov, born in 1990, from exSoviet Central Asia. The FSB described him in a statement as one of the organisers of the attack, who had trained Jalilov.

According to Russian media, bomber Jalilov had made a telephone call to someone in Moscow before the attack but it’s not clear if this was Azimov. Meanwhile on Monday, at a court hearing to formally arrest him, Azimov

admitted indirect involvement in the attack but denied organising it. “I do not oppose being arrested. But I did not say that I was involved in the blast, Azimov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. There was some involvement by me, but not direct. I was given an order. I did not understand that I was taking part in terrorist activity.”

The impoverished, predominantly Muslim countries in Central Asia are seen as fertile ground for Islamic extremists. Thousands of their citizens are believed to have joined the Islamic State group. At least 14 people were murdered and 50 injured in the blast and horrifying pictures show bodies, blood and wreckage strewn across the carriage of the train blown up between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya metro stations in Russia’s second city.

‘AAP doomed if Delhi goes to polls today’

state assembly back in 2015.

A deeper study of exit-poll predictions from the MCD elections unfolds a potential fall of the Aam Aadmi Party and a sterling rise of the BJP in the event of a mid-term vote for the state assembly around this time. Together with the Congress, Kejriwal’s AAP might have to settle down at 4-7 seats if elections to the Delhi legislature were held now, the extrapolated data show. The BJP, on the other hand, is expected to get 56-62 constituencies in such a scenario, up from 03 in 2015.

The saffron party is also set to retain all its seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi if general elections happened today, the data illustrate. The Axis-MyIndia’s city-wide survey found

57 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the state administration of Arvind Kejriwal compared to 68 percent endorsing the Modi government at the centre for its performance. Individually, the AAP convenor still remains the most preferred leader of Delhi’s citizens, with 25 percent of respondents placing their confidence in him. The BJP’s Manoj Tiwari follows him closely, with 21 percent rallying round in support. Ajay Maken of the Congress party trails badly, with only 4 percent of citizens ticking him off on the favourite list. In terms of party-preference though, the BJP tops public choice with 43 percent of people in its support, followed by the AAP (25 percent) and the Congress (18 percent), according to the survey.

Issue - 716 (30)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Sikh cabbie assaulted, turban snatched by passengers in US

NEW YORK A 25-year-old Sikh cab driver in the US was assaulted and his turban knocked-off by drunk passengers, an incident the police was investigating as a possible hate crime.The incident took place here early on Sunday

morning and has left Harkirat Singh, an immigrant from Punjab who moved to the US three years ago, scared.

“I’m so afraid. I don’t want to work,” Singh told the New York Daily News. “It’s an insult on my religion, also. An insult of my faith. It’s horrible.”

The report said the New York Police Department is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted in his support, saying “Harkirat Singh -- You are welcome here. What happened to you was wrong. You did the right thing by calling the NYPD.” Last week, Sikhs in the US launched a million-dollar awareness campaign aiming to inform Americans about the Sikh faith amid continuous incidents

of hate crime against the community.

Singh said he picked up three men and a woman - all in their 20s - around 5am on Sunday from Madison Square Garden.

When they reached their destination in the Bronx, they

began complaining that Singh had taken them to the wrong address.

The passengers were allegedly drunk and could not give Singh a straight answer about where they wanted to go, leaving him “confused.”

The passengers then began hurling slurs and banging on the plastic partition in his cab, Singh recalled.

“They’re using bad words, also,” he said recalling that those used expletives and called him “Ali Baba.”

Singh told the group to pay $41.76 and find another cab.

While the women gave him the cash after Singh called 911, one of the men got back into the cab and tried to smash the meter.

Then he punched Singh in the

Trump administration replaces US surgeon general Vivek Murthy with nurse

Washington US?surgeon general Vivek H Murthy was on Friday dismissed by the Trump administration, and replaced by his deputy, Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams.

The US department of health and human services issued a statement saying Murthy was asked to step down “after assisting in a smooth transition into the new Trump Administration,” USA?Today reported.

Murthy, an Obama administration holdover, was the

19th surgeon general, heading the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He is expected continue to as a member of the corps.

His deputy, Trent-Adams, who took over as acting surgeon general, is one of the first nurses to serve in the position.

By Friday evening, Trent-Adams had already replaced Murthy on the surgeon general’s official Twitter account and Facebook page.

It was not immediately clear why Murthy was relieved from duty.

arm, he said.

“After that, he picked off my turban from my head,” he said.

“He wanted to snatch my phone also...It was too horrible.”

As the men became violent, Singh got terrified and began to cry, saying he pleaded with the man to calm down.

“Why are you doing this, brother?

We can sit. We can talk,” he recalled telling the unruly passenger.

“At that time, I’m so afraid - they can do anything to me. They’re gonna kill me.”

With the police on its way, the group ran away from the scene with Singh’s turban, a primary symbol of the faith. The incident occurred just hours after thousands of Sikhs had gathered at Times Square for the ‘Turban day’ event organised by a Sikh group to spread awareness about the faith.The report said police sources described the suspect as a clean-shaven white Hispanic man in his 20s, around 5-foot-9.Police say they are only seeking one suspect, though they’d like to speak to the other three passengers. Singh did not require a medical attention but filed a report with police. He was able to snap a photo of two of the passengers.Harpreet Singh Toor, the chairman of public policy and external affairs at The Sikh Cultural Society, said the theft reflected prejudice against Sikhs, who often targeted in antiMuslim bias despite following a different faith.

More than 100 men arrested in Canada child sex case: police

Montreal Police in Toronto today announced the arrests of more than 100 men accused of using the internet to solicit sex with minors as young as 13.

In all, 104 men were arrested over a four-year period, said Detective-Sergeant Thai Truong, who headed the investigation.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering in 2013 that a third of women prostitutes arrested in the Toronto suburb of York were aged 18 or less, with an average age just under 15.

Officers pretending to be young girls posted online ads.

When potential clients were told the “girls” were aged 13 to 16, most men dropped the matter, but 104 attempted to arrange meetings and were subsequently arrested.

So far, 35 of the 104 have pleaded guilty or confessed,

leading to prison terms of three to seven months. The other cases are still before the courts.

Ten of the arrests were made in 2014, 22 in 2015, 53 last year and 19 so far this year.

Police said dismantling child prostitution rings was always difficult: young people pressed into prostitution sometimes live in fear and are not always willing to denounce their pimps.

Of 85 adolescents arrested on prostitution-related charges in Toronto-area hotels, only 49 have denounced their pimps or the people who sold them into prostitution, Truong said.

Police had tried to help the young people, providing services or reuniting them with family members, he said. But even when the young women showed signs of bruising or other abuse, many refused to identify the aggressors.

American Airlines employee hits mom with baby stroller Washington An American Airlines flight attendant has been suspended pending an investigation after he allegedly smacked a mother with her baby stroller on board a domestic flight, media reports said today.

The incident took place when the woman boarded the flight from San Francisco to Dallas yesterday.

In a video posted on Facebook by Surian Adyanthaya, the employee of the Texas-headquartered American Airlines (AA) can be seen arguing with a passenger on board the flight.

The footage does not catch the moment when the flight attendant allegedly struck the woman, but the atmosphere in the cabin gets tense as a man steps in to defend her, New York Daily News reported.

“OMG! AA Flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby,” Adyanthaya captioned the video.

“Hey bud, you do that to me and

I will knock you flat,” the man says to the attendant as the distraught woman stands to the side clutching her baby, with tears streaming down her face, the report said.

“You stay out of this,” the

attendant shouts.

The man then takes a step forward and the attendant immediately turns confrontational.

“Hit me, c’mon, bring it on!.

C’mon, you don’t know what the story is,” the employee says.

“I don’t care what the story is, you don’t hurt a baby,” the passenger replied.

The woman was eventually escorted off the flight, but the quarrelsome attendant is allowed back on.

The video has gone viral on the social media with more than

3,500 shares.

AA condemned the flight attendant’s behaviour and said it had launched an investigation into the incident, the report said.

“What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident,” the airline said in a statement.

The airline said the woman and her baby have since boarded another flight bound for an international destination.

The attendant has been removed from duty pending an investigation.

“We are disappointed by these actions,” it said.

The incident comes weeks after a Vietnam-origin doctor was dragged and beaten up by police officers on board a United Airlines flight at Chicago international airport after he refused to give up his seat to an airline employee who needed to catch a connecting flight.

Issue - 716 (31)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Epilepsy drug behind 4,100 birth defects in France PARIS The epilepsy medication valproate is responsible for “severe malformations” in 2,150 to 4,100 children in France since the drug was first marketed in the country in 1967, according to a preliminary study by French health authorities.”

“Women who took the drug during pregnancy to treat epilepsy were four times more likely to give birth to babies with congenital malformations, said the report, jointly issued by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) and the national health insurance administration.” ““The study confirms the highly teratogenic” - that is, capable of causing birth defects — “nature of valproate,” said Mahmoud Zureik, scientific director of

ANSM and co-author of the report. “The figure of about 3,000 severe malformations is very high,” he told AFP in an interview before the findings were made public. The types of birth defects attributed to the drug included spina bifida - a condition in which the spinal cord does not form

properly, and can protrude through the skin - as well as defects of the heart and genital organs.”

“The risk of autism and developmental problems was also found to be higher, and will be quantified in a follow-up report due later this year. An earlier estimate suggested that 30 to 40 percent of children exposed in the womb could suffer such disorders.”

“From 1967 to 2016, between 64,100 and 100,000 pregnancies

in France were exposed to valproate, resulting in 41,200 to 75,300 live births, according to the report.”

“The vast majority of the birth defects occurred for women under treatment for epilepsy. But starting in the late 1970s, valproate - marketed around the world as Depakine, Depakote, Stavzor and other trade names was also prescribed in France to treat bi-polar disorder.”

“Bi-polar women taking the drug were twice as likely to give birth to children with major birth defects, the study found.”

“The lower risk compared to women treated for epilepsy is probably due to the fact that - for pregnant bi-polar women doctors stopped prescribing valproate early in the pregnancy, Zureik explained. “The risk of severe malformation is limited to the first two trimesters of pregnancy,” said Alain Weil, a researcher at the French health insurance administration and a co-author of the report.”

“The risk of birth defects associated with valproate has been known since the 1980s, especially for spina bifida, which occurs 20 times more frequently in foetuses exposes to the medication.”“But the drug can still be prescribed to pregnant women when all other forms of treatment for epilepsy fail. That ruling, however, was only put in

Interpol red alert for Chinese tycoon, interview cut short under pressure

Beijing An interview of Guo Wengui, a Chinese real estate tycoon mostly based abroad with an Interpol “red notice” against him,

by Voice of America was cut short by the broadcaster, triggering rumours on social media.

Guo, who was among the top 80 rich persons in China a few years ago, was known for developing the landmark Pangu Plaza, a torch-shaped building near the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.

He is also is a member of President Donald Trump’s Mara-Lago resort in Florida, where the US leader met President Xi Jinping earlier this month.

By 2015, however, investigations

by Chinese finance magazine Caixin revealed that Guo’s rise to the top was built on corrupt deals and shady political

connections.He left China soon after.“Guo Wengui, who also goes by the name Miles Kwok, reportedly started his career as a public servant in eastern China’s Shandong province. His highest-profile investment is Pangu Plaza, an office and seven-star hotel complex in Beijing that overlooks the Olympic Stadium. He also controls a business that owns a stake in China’s Founder Securities,” Forbes magazine described him in an article.

Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported earlier this week that the flamboyant tycoon is accused of bribing disgraced former state security vice minister Ma Jian with $8.71 million. Ma has been expelled from the Communist Party of China and is being investigated for graft.Reuters reported that the

Chinese government pressured Voice of America “to cancel the interview ahead of time (on Wednesday), with the foreign ministry summoning one of the broadcaster’s Beijing-based correspondents on Monday”. ”What we understand is that Interpol has already issued a red notice for criminal suspect Guo Wengui,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

He did not give details.

“However the ‘red notice’ is not an arrest warrant and the US does not have an extradition treaty with China,” a state media report said.

On Thursday, Lu refused to respond to questions about the aborted interview, saying he would only answer if Voice of America asked the question.

China’s sensitivity about Guo’s case can be understood - he has been levelling allegations against the government, saying his family and he were being harassed under the guise of President Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.Guo, the head of real estate company Beijing Zenith Holdings, reportedly created a “Pangu Club” or a network of the elite and the powerful in China comprising top officials and businesspeople.

Who stashed life changing amount of gold inside British piano? It’s a mystery

London British officials say they’ve been unable to trace the rightful heirs to a trove of gold coins found stashed inside a piano and worth a “life-changing” amount of money.

The school that owns the piano and the tuner who found the gold are now in line for a windfall after a coroner investigating the find declared it treasure. But a couple who owned the piano for three decades before donating it to their local school will likely miss out.

Coroner John Ellery said Thursday that, despite a thorough investigation and a public appeal for information, “we simply do not know” who concealed the coins.

The hoard was discovered last year when the piano was sent for tuning in Shropshire, central England. Under the keyboard neatly stacked in hand-stitched packages and pouches were 913 gold sovereigns and halfsovereigns minted in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Piano tuner Martin Backhouse said when he found the pouches and slit open the stitching, he thought: “Ooh, it looks like there’s rather a lot of gold in this.”

The hoard, which weighs 6 kilograms (13 pounds), has not been formally valued. But Peter Reavill of the British Museum has said the trove is worth a “potentially life-changing” amount.

Revenue from items declared “treasure” is generally split between the owner in this case, the Bishops Castle Community College and the finder.

The piano was owned for 33 years

by Graham and Meg Hemmings, who donated it last year to the school near their home. But Meg Hemmings said she’s not bitter at missing out on treasure that was right under her nose.

“The sadness is, it’s not a complete story,” she said.

“They’ve looked and searched for the people and they unfortunately haven’t come forward.

“It’s an incomplete story but it’s still an exciting story.”

Dhaka university canteen leaseholder fired for serving beef to Hindu students

Dhaka A canteen leaseholder at Bangladesh’s prestigious Dhaka University has been fired for serving beef to Hindu students and hurting their religious sentiments, a media report saidon Thursday.

The university has formed a committee to investigate the incident and asked to submit a report within a week.

Zakir Hossain, a class-four employee who was the leaseholder of Faculty of Fine Arts canteen, was expelled on Sunday for ‘creating disorder’ on ‘Pahela Baishakh’ when thousands of students gathered on the campus to celebrate the Bangla New Year.

The students said beef was never allowed in their canteen

considering the fact that it is ‘forbidden’ for Hindus.

“He was running the canteen without permission (from the authorities),” Acting Proctor Amzad Ali was quoted as saying by bdnews24.

The students ordered Tehari for breakfast after working overnight to prepare for the ‘Mangal Shobhajatra’ procession.

Zakir admitted to making the Tehari with beef, but alleged that Bangladesh Chhatra League leader ‘Sohag’ and his associates in the Pahela Baishakh Celebration Committee ‘intentionally’ ordered the beef Tehari and fed it to their Hindu ‘co-students’, the report said.

Zakir said they did so because he did not agree to their demand to pay extortion money.

Issue - 716 (32)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Is the London dream dead? Highest number of ‘voluntary returns’ from UK are Indians London Thousands of Indian citizens who either entered the United Kingdom illegally or overstayed their visas over the years are returning home, reflecting difficult economic conditions here and the tight curbs that make it

difficult for them to seek work and access civic services.

Britain has long been the destination of illegal migrants, who believe the streets of London are paved with gold but a hostile environment in recent years for such people and rapidly changing conditions in countries such as India has reversed some routes.For the first time, official figures for 2016 show the highest number of “voluntary returns” (of those not under police investigation or in detention) was for Indian nationals: 5,365, or 22% of the total returns from the UK, marking a new point in the discourse.

“These are people who feel they don’t have a future here. It is the UK government’s humanitarian gesture, to help those who want to return voluntarily, by providing them air fare and some assistance to resettle back home,” senior Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma told Hindustan Times.

The MP for Ealing Southall, with a large population of Indian origin, added: “Their return is a reflection of a combination of factors. India

is also progressing rapidly, they may feel that it is better to be back among family and friends.”

Those without the right to remain in Britain are unable to work, open bank accounts, obtain driving licences or access other services. Recent curbs make it

mandatory for landlords to check prospective tenants’ immigration status.

“Conditions are bad here. They don’t get social security, can’t work. Rather than sit in poverty here, they prefer to return. Many such people have some land or other assets back home. There have also been very few asylum seekers from India in the last 10 years,” said Jasdev Singh Rai, director of the Sikh Human Rights Forum.

The home office believes that “Indian nationals are one of the top nationalities remaining in the UK illegally”.

The issue of returning the illegals is central to India-UK talks over visas. As Prime Minister Theresa May said in New Delhi in November, “(The) UK will consider further improvements to our visa offer if at the same time we can step up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain in the UK.” The nationality of the 5,365 voluntary returnees may not have been in question but the home office and Indian authorities have been debating the complex issue

Dutch ‘abortion boat’ hopes to make waves in Mexico

xtapa (Mexico) A Dutch sailing boat offering abortions, often in defiance of some country’s laws, arrived in international waters off Mexico on Friday, the organisation crewing it said.The ‘Women on Waves’ vessel was expelled from near Guatemala in February without carrying out a single pregnancy termination.It had taken up position off Guerrero state, on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

The ‘Women on Waves’ group said in an online statement that

it was offering “free legal medical abortions till 9 weeks of pregnancy” to women who needed them.

It said its ship “has all required permits” and would receive women until Sunday.

It noted that Mexico permitted abortions in cases of sexual violence. Abortion is limited in other cases to different degrees across the 31 Mexican states.

The Dutch group has previously sent its ship to waters off Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

of verifying the identity of many more whose Indian citizenship needs to be established before they are sent home.

A home office official told Hindustan Times: “A major barrier for removal is the current process for obtaining travel documentation for those without a current passport. While we are grateful for the cooperation of the Indian government, the current process – which may involve checks in India at state level – can be quite lengthy and often relies on the cooperation of the individual concerned.

“We are therefore seeking to expedite the process for those individuals for whom we have indisputable evidence that they are Indian nationals from the passport which they submitted as part of their UK visa application.

“Since the UK-India Returns Memorandum of Understanding was not renewed by the previous Indian government in 2011, our cooperation on returns has lacked a formal framework. The current process cannot deliver emergency travel documents in sufficient number or at sufficient speed.”

However, the Indian view is that the nationality of an individual can be established only through an investigation conducted by Indian agencies, and not on the basis of information provided by UK authorities.

Thieves grab $3.5 million in cash from businessman in daylight mugging

Tokyo Three masked robbers snatched a suitcase stuffed with millions of dollars in cash from a businessman who had just withdrawn the money from a bank in western Japan on Thursday, police said.

In the audacious daylight mugging, assailants set upon the 29-year-old victim as he dragged the case containing $380 million yen ($3.5 million) across a parking lot in downtown Fukuoka, a police spokesman and local media said.

He was sprayed in the face with what is thought to have been tear gas by the attackers, who made off in a car with the suitcase.

Few other details were initially available.

While Japan is still a cash-based society, it is unusual for

someone to carry such a large sum, which would have weighed at least 38 kilogrammes (84 pounds).

The country has an enviable safety record and muggings and other forms of street crime, such as pickpocketing, are rare. But Japan does have a shadowy underworld run by ‘yakuza’ organised crime syndicates.

The case came after local media reports in December said thieves posing as police officers had walked off with more than $5 million of gold last year in Fukuoka after telling a group of men carrying it in briefcases to hand it over.

Police in Fukuoka have refused to confirm those reports, which claimed the theft took place in July, most likely involving organised crime gangs.

Victorian sex toy made of Indian ivory tickles many London The Victorian era is known for its prudery about sex but things were a bit different for the elite, or so it seems – at least if one goes by a 19th century sex toy carefully carved from the tusk of an elephant shot in India that is going under the hammer in Ireland.

Of the hundreds of items being auctioned over the weekend in Oldcastle, County Meath, the phallus-shaped piece of erotica has tickled the fancy of many, and the auctioneers hope bids will reach a climax way beyond the guide price set at 500 euros to 800 euros.

The item has been put up for auction by a well-known AngloIrish family, auctioneer Damien Matthews told The Irish Times, a leading daily from Dublin. Its provenance is said to date to the mid-19th century.

Matthews said: “It is a beautiful piece…A family member found it in a drawer, and he put it in the auction for fun really. We believe the ivory dates back to the 1840s. This fellow, the original owner, was in India in the 1840s, where he shot himself an elephant, and brought the tusk home.”

The piece was later carved in China between 1899 and 1901, where the man went to fight in

the Boxer Uprising, a violent antiforeign and anti-Christian uprising. The level of detail in the lifelike carving is “incredible”, he added.

The item is identified as Lot 475 in the auctioneer’s catalogue, and described as an “antique carved ivory ladies companion in scarlet lined leather upholstered

because the level of detail is incredible, down to the folds of the skin. There’s a heart carved at the base of it, where her finger would have been, and a receptacle in which she could keep a lock of his hair.”

The man returned to Ireland, where the box was subsequently custom-made.

carry box with inset bevelled glass panel”.

Matthews said: “The Chinese were famous for carving ivory, and the quality of carving is so good, I think that is where he would have had to have had it done. He would not have known that he was coming home, and would have wanted his wife to have this.

“This was a very enlightened family, and this would have been a very loving gift from a husband to wife. You can see that

“This piece is a great rarity…You’ve got to remember in Victorian times, the amount of people that could afford to indulge or create something like this was tiny. Ninety-nine per cent of the country were trying to get by, so there were perhaps 400 or 500 families in the country with those kind of means. It’s not just a piece of erotica – it’s a work of art, and a fascinating piece of social history,” Matthews told the daily.

Issue - 716 (33)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Trump says his administration not after young immigrant ‘dreamers’ but criminals Washington Young immigrants brought to the US as children and now in the country illegally can “rest easy,” President Donald Trump says, telling the “dreamers” they will not be targets for deportation under his immigration policies.

Trump, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press, said his administration is “not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals.”

The president, who took a hard line on immigration as a candidate, vowed anew to fulfill his promise to construct a wall along the US-Mexico border. But he stopped short of demanding that funding for the project be included in a spending bill Congress must pass by the end of next week in order to keep the government running.

“I want the border wall. My base definitely wants the border wall,” Trump said in the Oval Office interview. Asked whether he would sign legislation that does not include money for the project, he said, “I just don’t know yet.”

Throughout the campaign, he had firmly and repeatedly guaranteed that Mexico, not US taxpayers, would pay for the wall.

Eager to start making progress on other campaign promises, Trump said he would unveil a tax overhaul package next week — “Wednesday or shortly thereafter” — that would include

a “massive” tax cut for both individuals and corporations. He would not provide details of rate proposals or how he planned to pay for the package but asserted the cuts for Americans will be “bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever.”

Congressional Republicans seemed caught off guard by Trump’s announcement and did not appear to have been briefed on the details of the White House’s forthcoming plan.

Trump spoke with the AP ahead of his 100th day in office.

He panned that marker as “artificial.” Still, the White House is eager to tout progress on the litany of agenda items he promised to fulfill in his first 100 days, despite setbacks including court bans on his proposed immigration limits and a highprofile failure in repealing and replacing the current health care law. The president said Friday he spent his first 100 days laying the “foundation” for progress later in his administration, including by building relationships with foreign leaders. He cited German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a leader he was surprised to have developed strong chemistry with, given that he has been critical of her handling of immigration policies.

As a candidate, Trump strongly criticized President Barack Obama for “illegal executive

amnesties,” including actions to spare from deportation young people who were brought to the country as children and now are here illegally. But after the election, Trump started speaking more favourably about these immigrants, popularly dubbed “dreamers.”

On Friday, he said that when it comes to them, “This is a case of heart.”

This week, attorneys for Juan Manuel Montes said the 23-yearold was recently deported to Mexico despite having qualified for deferred deportation. Trump said Montes’ case is “a little different than the dreamer case,” though he did not specify why.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was launched in 2012 as a stopgap to protect some young immigrants from deportation while the administration continued to push for a broader immigration overhaul in Congress.

Obama’s administrative program offered a reprieve from deportation to those immigrants in the country illegally who could prove they arrived before they were 16, had been in the United States for several years and had not committed a crime since being here. It mimicked versions of the so-called DREAM Act, which would have provided legal status for young immigrants but was never passed by Congress.

DACA also provides work permits for the immigrants and is renewable every two years. As of December, about 770,000 young immigrants had been approved for the program.

On foreign policy, Trump said it was “possible” the US will withdraw from the nuclear accord with Iran forged by Obama and five other world leaders. He said he believes Iran’s destabilizing actions “all over the Middle East and beyond” are violating the spirit of the accord, though the State Department this week certified that Tehran is complying with the tenets of the deal aimed at curbing its nuclear program.

The president also appeared to

side with his advisers’ increasingly harder line on Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Assange’s arrest was a priority for the Justice Department as it steps up efforts to prosecute people who leak classified information to the media.

The president said that he was not involved in the decisionmaking process regarding charging Assange but that the move would be “OK with me.”

During the campaign, Trump and his allies publicly delighted in WikiLeaks’ release of stolen emails from a top adviser to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Hair-splitting in North Korea

White House messaging app Confide not secure, says lawsuit New York Confide, a popular encrypted messaging app said to be used

by White House officials, does not keep communications confidential as its maker promises, a proposed classaction lawsuit charges.

According to a complaint filed on

Thursday with the federal court in Manhattan, Confide Inc cannot assure app users of the “unequivocal confidentiality” it advertises because messages can be saved on screenshots, and do not self-destruct once read.Jeremy Auman, a Michigan resident, said he bought a $6.99 per month Confide app subscription in January because the company promised “message ephemerality and screenshot protection,” only to

discover his messages could be copied and stored permanently.

“We’re dealing with an environment where people are very concerned about the security and confidentiality of their communications,” his lawyer, Christopher Dore, said in an interview. “What people are

paying for is not what they are getting.”Jon Brod, Confide’s president and a co-founder, in an email called the accusations “unfounded and without merit.

We look forward to responding to this frivolous complaint and seeing this case swiftly thrown out of court.”Founded in 2013, Confide is based in Manhattan, and its app competes with such rivals as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp.A series of highprofile hackings and leaks,

including from Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks, has boosted the importance of securing sensitive communications.

According to the lawsuit, such security issues have also become a concern at the White House.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, has demanded that some aides surrender their phones for inspection and warned them against using apps such as Confide and Signal, Politico reported in February.

President Donald Trump later said he would have handled the matter differently but was “OK” with Spicer’s actions.

Confide’s website says its app lets customers have “honest, unfiltered, off-the-record conversations” that “disappear without a trace” once completed.

It suggests that the app is useful for sensitive matters including job referrals, human resources issues and deal discussions, as well as “good-natured office gossip.”Auman’s lawsuit was filed by Edelson PC, a Chicago firm that often sues technology companies over alleged privacy violations.Two days ago, the firm filed a lawsuit accusing Bose Corp of using apps to track what its wireless headphone customers listen to, and selling that information to third parties.

NORTH Korean men and women have a choice of just 15 approved hairstyles, it has been claimed. Illustrated guides have appeared in hair salons across Pyongyang showing haircuts deemed acceptable by Kim Jongun’s authorities. But surprisingly none of the male styles appear to match the distinctive cut favoured by the dictator. Finnish journalist Mika Mäkeläinen captured images of the poster during a visit to Pyongyang to cover the Day of the Sun - a celebration of 105 years since the nation’s founder Kim Il-sung was born. And he even tried one of the country’s salons,

selecting what he said was “the most popular” style on offer — and described the experience as the “best shave and head massage that I have ever had”. He tweeted: “North Korean men can choose between 15 approved haircut styles. I had the most popular one — and it’s not like Kim Jong Un.” Mäkeläinen then wrote: “Equality in North Korea: Both sexes have 15 approved haircut models. You can forget about dyeing your hair though.” However, Twitter users pointed out that the poster may simply have been guides for customers rather than “mandatory styles”.

Issue - 716 (34)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

North Korea warns of ‘super-mighty preemptive strike’ as US plans next move Seoul North Korean state media warned the United States of a “super-mighty preemptive strike” after US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the United States was looking at ways to bring pressure to bear on North Korea over its nuclear programme.

US President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from sole major ally China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, did not mince its words.

“In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only US imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the US mainland and reduce them to ashes,” it said.

Reclusive North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United

States and has shown no let-up in its belligerence after a failed missile test on Sunday and a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang.

Tillerson told reporters this week that the United States was “reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang.”

US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said during a visit to London the military option must be part of the pressure brought to bear.

“Allowing this dictator to have that kind of power is not something that civilised nations can allow to happen,” he said in reference to Kim. Ryan said he was encouraged by the results of efforts to work with China to reduce tension, but that it was unacceptable North Korea might be able to strike allies with nuclear weapons.

North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The United Nations Security

Council on Thursday condemned North Korea’s latest failed missile test and demanded Pyongyang not conduct any more nuclear tests, in a statement that had been delayed as the United States and Russia sparred over language.

A North Korean missile blew up almost immediately on its test launch on Sunday, the US military said. The 15-member Security Council traditionally condemns all such launches by Pyongyang.

South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, at a meeting with top officials on Thursday, repeatedly called for the military and security ministries to maintain vigilance.

The defence ministry said U.S. and South Korean air forces were conducting an annual training exercise, codenamed Max Thunder, until April 28. North Korea routinely labels such exercises preparations for invasion.

“We are conducting a practical and more intensive exercise than ever,” South Korean pilot Colonel Lee Bum-chul told reporters.

“Through this exercise, I am sure

India-born US doctor, wife arrested for assisting in female genital mutilation New York An India-born doctor and his wife were arrested and charged with helping another Indian-origin doctor perform genital mutilations on minor girls, a procedure criminalised in the United States.

Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and his wife Farida Attar, 50, from Michigan state were charged with

law, which criminalises FGM. According to an online physician directory, Fakhruddin graduated from the Baroda Medical College in Gujarat, India in 1988.

The charges say that Nagarwala used to perform the medical procedure on minor girls at Burhani Medical Clinic (BMC) in Michigan owned and operated by Fakhruddin.

conspiring with Jumana Nagarwala, 44, to perform female genital mutilations (FGM) out of Fakhruddin’s medical clinic in Livonia.

The Attars were arrested on Friday while Nagarwala was arrested last week and charged with performing the procedure on six- to eight-year olds.

Nagarwala, Fakhruddin and Farida are believed to be the first people charged under federal US

Fakhruddin’s wife was employed at the BMC as an officer manager. A complaint against the Attars said the couple arranged and assisted in the mutilation, allowing their clinic to be used by Nagarwala. Fakhruddin told federal agents this month that he had known Nagarwala and she occasionally saw patients at his clinic even though she was not employed there. He said Nagarwala only saw the patients at BMC when the clinic was closed and that Farida used to be present in the examining room while Nagarwala treated the minor

girls. Several minor girls informed forensic personnel that Nagarwala had performed the procedure on their genitals while one minor girl said Farida had been present when Nagarwala did the deed.

According to the complaint, some of the minor victims travelled interstate to have the procedure performed.

The number of girls under 18 at risk for FGM in the US has quadrupled since 1997. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 513,000 women and girls are at risk of FGM in the US. FGM has been a crime under federal law since 1996 and is punishable by up to five years in prison, however it is not a crime in 26 US states, including Michigan.

The complaint filed against Nagarwala last week had said federal agents reviewed her telephone records and further investigation revealed that parents of two minor girls had travelled to Michigan.

The girls were later interviewed by a forensic expert during which one of the girls said she was told she was coming to Detroit for a “special” girls’ trip, but after arriving at the hotel she learned that she and the other girl had to go to the doctor because “our tummies hurt.”

The World Health Organisation said female genital mutilation comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

we can deter war and remove our enemy’s intention to provoke us.”

The North has said it has developed a missile that can strike the mainland United States, but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturising a nuclear warhead.

William Perry, who served as US defence secretary from 1994 to 1997 and negotiated with North Korea, said he did not believe Pyongyang was planning a surprise attack, despite the fiery rhetoric.

But he warned: “They are doing a lot of bluster and a lot of threats, and they might misplay that hand and blunder into a war.”

South Korean presidential candidates clashed on Wednesday night in a debate over the planned deployment in South Korea of a US-supplied

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, which has angered China.

On Monday, Hwang and Pence reaffirmed their plans to go ahead with the THAAD, but the decision will be up to the next South Korean president. China says the system’s powerful radar is a threat to its security.

There had been confusion over the whereabouts of a US aircraft carrier group after Trump said last week he had sent an “armada” as a warning to North Korea, even as the ships were still far from Korean waters.

The US military’s Pacific Command explained that the USS Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-thanplanned period of training with Australia. It was now heading for the Western Pacific as ordered, it said.

Pakistani women track down, kill man accused of blasphemy a decade ago

Sialkot Three women dressed in burqas killed a man who had been accused of blasphemy in 2004 in a northeastern Pakistani town, police said on Thursday, the second brutal killing over alleged insults to Islam in a week.

Blasphemy is a highly charged topic in Pakistan where there have been at least 66 murders over unproven allegations since 1990 according to figures from a Centre for Research and Security Studies report and independent records kept by Reuters.

The country’s strict blasphemy laws carry sentences ranging from small fines to the death penalty.

The women entered the home of Fazal Abbas, a faith healer and a leader of the minority Shia community in the small city of Sialkot, and asked him to perform a spiritual ritual during which one of them shot him in the chest, police told Reuters.

Abbas was accused of blasphemy in 2004 by members of a hard-line conservative group after which he fled to Denmark, his cousin Azhar Hussain and police inspector Nadeem Afzal said.“He returned recently with the conviction that he would prove his innocence in court and had been granted bail by a local judge,” Hussain said.

Police say that one of the

women acted as an instigator, persuading the other two to carry out the act and identifying Abbas as a blasphemer.

“It is their personal act, and I could not find their link to any religious group,” inspector Afzal said.

However, Abbas’ family believe that a hard-line religious group incited the women to track down their victim and pull the trigger.

On April 13 a mob beat student Mashal Khan to death when blasphemy accusations spread across a university campus in the northern city of Mardan. Police are now investigating a number of university students and faculty for their involvement in a brutal attack that shocked the entire nation.

In 2011, a bodyguard assassinated Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer after he called for reforming blasphemy laws.

Taseer’s killer, executed last year, has been hailed by religious hardliners as a martyr to Islam and a shrine has been erected at his grave.

Recently, fighting blasphemy has also become a rallying cry for the government.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an order last month for the removal of blasphemous content online and “strict punishment” for those found guilty of posting such content.

Issue 716 (35)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

DEADLINE DRAMA Champions Trophy squad to be named after ICC meet

A LMOST all the cricket boards have announced their squads for the Champions Trophy, but the Indian team for the mega event won’t be selected until the fight to grab the big revenue share in the International Cricket Council (ICC) is resolved. As per ICC rules all country participating in Champions Trophy will have to submit their squad by April 25 and any changes in the squad therefore can be made only if player is ruled out due to injury or any other mishap.

According to a BCCI official, the selection committee had been kept on hold as the board is actually waiting for the muchawaited ICC meeting from April 24-27 in Dubai where countries will adopt the new ICC financial model. “Everything (team selection) will be decided after the ICC meeting. Well, there is nothing called deadline in today’s cricket. There is enough time to go for the Champions trophy,” a BCCI official told Mail Today.

“The selection panel is on stand-by mode right now,” he added. In the recently concluded SGM of Indian board, a resolution was passed by its members to request ICC to retain the ‘Big Three’ revenue model introduced in 2014 by N Srinivasan, and according to which BCCI was to get a large pie of ICC revenue.

There were reports that India may pull out of the event. But the Supreme Court appointed Committee of administrators

(CAO) are against any such move to blackmail the ICC with Indian team withdrawal to aid its objective of retaining a larger revenue share from ICC income.

India is scheduled to play their first practice game of the Champions Trophy on May 28 against New Zealand at Oval and the main tournament is set to start on June 1.

Sindhu eyes Asian Championship title

THREE years after winning a bronze at the Gimcheon edition, PV Sindhu will once again eye a superlative performance when she leads the Indian challenge at the Asia badminton championship, starting in Wuhan on Tuesday. The Rio Olympic silver medallist had clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January this year before annexing the India Super Series title early this month. The fourth seed Sindhu then reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open, where she lost to Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

The Indian ace will look for another consistent show this week. The 21-year-old from Hyderabad will square off against Indonesia’s Dinar Dyah Ayustine in the opening round. Another shuttler from Hyderabad Saina Nehwal, who had skipped Singapore Open to work on her game after losing in the first round of Malaysia Open, will open her campaign against Japan’s Sayaka Sato at the Wuhan Sports Center Gynasium.

The World No. 8 Indian has a 6-1 head-

tohead record against the Japanese, having last beaten her at the Hong Kong Open last year. The London Olympic bronze medallist had clinched the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in January after recovering from a careerthreatening knee injury. She reached the quarterfinals of All England championship and India Open. In men’s singles, Ajay Jayaram, who reached a career-best World No. 13 last Thursday, will face a tough competitor in fifth seeded Chinese Tian Houwei, who clinched the China Masters Grand Prix Gold on Sunday.

“I have a tough first round against Tian. The goal as of now is to get past that first hurdle,” Jayaram said. H S Prannoy, who had skipped Malaysia and Singapore Open, to change a few things in his game ahead of future tournaments, will take on Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus, seeded eighth. “I had a good two and a half weeks of training after I decided to skip Malaysia and Singapore Open as I felt I am performing below par.” said Prannoy.

Issue 716 (36)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

MASSIVE ISIS HUNT IN FIVE STATES

SECURITY agencies in a sweeping operation have arrested four suspected terrorists belonging to the ISIS Khorasan module spanning five states who were allegedly plotting a major strike. The crackdown against the Islamic Stateinspired unit was conducted by the Delhi special cell, the antiterrorism squads of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as the police of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar. Simultaneous raids were carried out in Mumbra (Maharashtra), Jalandhar (Punjab), Narkatiaganj (Bihar), as well as Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar (both in Uttar Pradesh). Six other suspects were taken into custody for interrogation.

The Khorasan group is formed by senior al-Qaeda members operating in ISIScontrolled Syria and reportedly has a small number of fighters. Its leaders are based in Bawabiyah, Aleppo and primary area of operation is northwestern Syria, though it has been recruiting heavily in other countries, including India and Pakistan. UP ATS chief Aseem Arun said that the accused were planning to launch a major terrorist attack in the country.

Mufti Faizan and Tanveer, who are allegedly connected with ISIS, were arrested from Bijnor. Nazim Shamshad Ahmed (26), from Bijnor, was nabbed in Mumbra township of Thane district adjoining Mumbai, and Muzammil was apprehended from Jalandhar. Arun confirmed that six people have been taken into custody and are being questioned in Noida. “Three accused will be produced in a Noida court where the ATS will seek

their transit remand to take them to Lucknow. Important documents related to ISIS were seized from them,” he said.

The operation followed a March 7 encounter in Lucknow in which a suspected terrorist belonging to the Khorasan module was killed. The official said the youths arrested were not directly working for any group: they are selfmotivated, self guided and selfradicalised. “They got in touch with each other over the internet and the security agency intercepted a keyword ‘Bada Kaam’, which was their future plan to carry out a strike in the country. They were being readied to carry out terror activities in the country. However, these youths are misguided and so far have not directly been involved in any terror activity and will deradicalised,” a top source told MAIL TODAY. Officials have

of late intensified operations to track down and nab such terrorists following a clutch of attacks on railways infrastructure purportedly by groups linked to the global terror outfit. MAIL TODAY broke the story last month about how India’s most populous state, UP, is turning into a breeding ground for Islamic State. About 15-20 youths are being deradicalised by the ATS, while over 100 sympathisers are under surveillance of several security agencies. The reasons behind this surge in numbers are high Muslim population, unemployment and a rash of communal violence in the state.

Even in the recent crackdown, evidences of self-indoctrination through the web were discovered. “We have also found that they were definitely influenced by the material available on the internet,” UP ADG (law & order) Daljit Chaudhary

Meet the Pakistani trucker who fathered 54 kids

A 70-YEAR-OLD truck driver in Pakistan claims to have fathered 54 children with six wives because when he was younger he ‘had to have sex daily’. Abdul Majeed Mengal, 70, from Nushki, in Quetta, western Pakistan, has fathered an extraordinary 54 children in his life time. Even though tragically 12 of his children have died, he still has 22 sons and 20 daughters. He said: “In the early days, my strength was good and I had to have sex daily. But some of my kids died. I worked hard and provided a good education to my

older sons. But now I’m old, these things are out of my hands.”

Abdul married his first wife when he was 18-years-old and has married five other women since.

Along side the death of 12 of his children, he has lost two of his wives. “They (babies) were not getting enough milk and I was out of money so they died,” he admitted. “One of my wives died alongside our baby. She was ill and because we didn’t have any money she died. I was helpless and unemployed.” Abdul has worked all his life as a truck driver earning between 15,000

Pakistan Rupees (`9,250) and 25,000 Pakistan Rupees (`15,000) a month depending on the work available. His oldest son alive, Abdul Bari Mengal, is now 32- year-old, and he has followed his father’s footsteps as a truck driver. Abdul and his oldest son are the only earning members of the family. Their salaries have to feed the 54 members of the household. The huge family live in a seven room house where the children sleep separately with their respective mothers.

Pakistani men are permitted to marry up to four wives under Islam, though to do so they must seek permission from their first wife and an arbitration council.

But activists insist women and children suffer the most in any polygamous marriage. But Abdul said he juggles the affections of each of his 42 children by taking turns to attend family events with each of them and their mothers.

The majority of his children are under tenyears-old and his youngest child is a daughter, twoyear-old Bibi Zainab. He insists everyone lives in harmony.

said in Lucknow. Investigations show that one of them wanted to finance the group and they were continuously communicating with each other about carrying out some major strike in the near future. Cops claim that those arrested were suspected to be looking for potential recruits in Bihar, UP and Maharashtra. The ATS had received intelligence that some known terror suspects in western Uttar Pradesh had become active and were hiring new members. The police and intelligence agencies are keeping a close watch on cyberspace and communication through WhatsApp, Viber and other chat rooms to keep abreast of attempts to indoctrinate the youth. According to a senior official, these self-radicalised suspects are the biggest worry as it is difficult to track them.

People with extreme views likely to have kinky sex FRENCH people’s political stances have been tied to their sex habits in a revealing new survey. A survey of 4,000 French nationals revealed that those with extreme political views are more likely to have threesomes and enjoy spanking and other dominant sex acts. The information connecting sex and French politics was published by swingers networking group Wyylde just days ahead of the first round of the nation’s presidential election. When it comes to Marine Le Pen voters, the extreme right-wing electorate don’t appear to go for conservative sexual behavior.

The far-right Le Pen voters, who are usually younger and less religious than the average French person, are more likely to experiment in dominant sex acts and practices from porn culture, including spanking. The nationalist voters are seemingly less influenced by feminist culture and think less about symbolic violence in sex.

Meanwhile, those on the other

end of the spectrum — the farleft — are more likely to have had a threesome. Thirty-seven per cent of farleft voters, who would likely select Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the ballot, said they have participated in threesomes, while only 19 per cent of farright have done so.

Only 13 to 15 per cent of those in the centre right and centre left respectively have taken part in a threesome. The far-left voters were also far more likely to have been swingers at some point in their life, with 23 per cent admitting to sharing partners, compared to 12 per cent of the far-right saying the same. It appears that voters with homosexual experiences are more widespread in the centre than the extremes. Twelve per cent of men nationwide have had sex with another man, and among Emmanuel Macron voters the number is 16 per cent, compared to Francois Fillon voters, where the number is eight per cent.

Issue 716 (37)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Health Mindfulness meditation helps Multiple sclerosis start college freshmen stress less showing signs five years before onset of disease and smile more, says study

College blues? Well, a new study has found that mindfulness meditation may help college freshmen feel less stress and smile more.

According to Penn State researchers, mindfulness training may be one way to help students successfully transition to college life.

The first semester of college is a time of great transition for many students; they often are living away from home for the first time, have a much more fluid schedule than in high school and are potentially surrounded by a new peer group.

For all of these reasons and more,

this can be an incredibly stressful time in a student’s life.

As per lead author Kamila Dvorakova, researchers offered an eight-session mindfulness training program to first-year students at Penn State to help ease this transition.

Researchers said that in mindfulness meditation, practitioners learn how to develop an accepting, nonjudgmental and kind attitude toward present moment thoughts and feelings.

At the end of the eight sessions, the intervention was associated with significant increases in the students’ life satisfaction, as well as a significant decrease in

depression and anxiety, when compared to students who did not participate in the training.

There was also an overall drop in alcohol use between the students who took part in the mindfulness program and the control group.

“We offered an experiential, practice-oriented training,” said Dvorakova.

“Rather than telling the students what to do, we had them explore and talk about how to be mindful in their daily lives and discover the benefits for themselves. We found that underneath the stress that students are experiencing is a deep desire to appreciate life and feel meaningful connections with other people. It is our responsibility as educators to create academic environments that nurture both students’ minds and hearts.”

Fifty-two undergraduate students participated in the intervention, with another 53 serving as a control. The program included selfawareness practices, emotionregulation skills and simple mindfulness techniques to help students manage stressful situations, the researchers said.

The participants were also given cards and stickers for home practice to serve as reminders to use mindfulness techniques when they encounter stressful situations.

What really gets your energy levels going in the mornings or when you’re absolutely exhausted? Some people would say coffee, some may say tea, while some would also go for a cold shower. However, looks like there’s an even better, more powerful way to rejuvenate and energize yourself than your usual caffeine punch. All you have to do is walk up and down a flight of stairs for 10 minutes!

Researchers at the University of Georgia found that doing this at a regular pace was more likely to make participants feel energised than consuming 50 mg of caffeine, about the equivalent to the amount in a can of soda. “We found, in both the caffeine and the placebo

conditions, that there was not much change in how they felt,” said co-author Patrick J.

exercise, but with the 50 milligrams of caffeine, we didn’t get as big an effect.”

O’Connor. “But with exercise they did feel more energetic and vigorous. It was a temporary feeling, felt immediately after the

The study aimed to simulate the hurdles faced in a typical office setting, where workers spend hours sitting and staring at

Canadian researchers have found that people with multiple sclerosis start showing symptoms of something wrong, five years before the onset of disease.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks the protective coating, known as myelin, around brain cells. The research, published in Lancet Neurology, could help doctors screen for the disease and start interventions earlier in a new direction for finding the root cause of the disease.

“Proving that people with multiple sclerosis have already changed their behaviour in the five years before even the earliest medical recognition of the condition is very important because it means we have to look beyond those five years to understand how it is caused,” said researchers

from University of British Columbia in Canada’s Vancouver.

The team examined health records of 14,000 people with multiple sclerosis for over a 20year period and compared them to the health records of 72,000 people without the disease.

They were looking for something called a prodrome, an early set of symptoms that can indicate the onset of a disease.

Prodromes have been identified for other neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The recognition of these prodromes has provided clues about how the diseases might begin and has stimulated new research into causes or triggers. “There’s something going on here that makes this population of people unique,” said first author Jose Wijnands.

Feeling drained? Forget coffee, take the stairs for 10 minutes to re-energize yourself! computer screens and don’t have time for a longer bout of exercise during the day. For the study, participants on separate days either ingested capsules containing caffeine or a placebo, or spent 10 minutes walking up and down stairs, about 30 floors total, at a low-intensity pace.

O’Connor wanted to compare an exercise that could be achieved by people in an office setting, where they have access to stairs and a little time to be active, but not enough time to change into workout gear, shower and change back into work clothes. “Office workers can go outside and walk, but weather can be less than ideal.

It has never rained on me while walking the stairs,” said O’Connor.

“And a lot of people working in office buildings have access to stairs, so it’s an option to keep some fitness while taking a short break from work.” Study participants were female college students who described themselves as chronically sleep deprived, getting less than 6 and half hours per night. To test the effects of caffeine versus the exercise, each group took some verbal and computer-based tests to gauge how they felt and how well they performed certain cognitive tasks. Neither caffeine nor exercise caused large improvements in attention or memory, but stair walking was associated with a small increase in motivation for work.

Issue 716 (38)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Should we stop consuming animal protein-rich diet?

A new study has linked a diet high in animal protein with a higher risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition in which fat builds up in the liver.

These findings from The Rotterdam Study, presented at The International Liver

Congress 2017 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, also showed that fructose consumption per se might not be as harmful as previously assumed.

NAFLD is a major health concern, because it can lead to permanent scarring (cirrhosis) and subsequently to cancer and malfunction of the liver.

This may result in lifethreatening complications for which a liver transplant is needed.Additionally, NAFLD also contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis.

NAFLD is diagnosed when accumulation of fat in the organ exceeds 5 percent of hepatocytes (the cells that make up the majority of the liver).

It is estimated that approximately 1 billion people worldwide may have NAFLD with a prevalence of 20-30 percent in Western countries.

It parallels one of world’s most rapidly growing health concerns, obesity, which is also one of the most important risk factors in NAFLD. In its early stages NAFLD can be treated through diet and lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, but it can progress to more serious liver diseases.

However, there is still a lot of debate whether weight loss alone is enough to reverse NAFLD, while emerging evidence suggests that the composition of the diet, rather than the amount of calories consumed, might also be important in NAFLD. “A healthy lifestyle is the cornerstone of treatment in patients with NAFLD, but specific dietary recommendations are lacking,” said lead author Louise Alferink.

“The results from this study demonstrate that animal protein is associated with NAFLD in overweight elderly people.

This is in line with a recently proposed hypothesis that a Western-style diet, rich in animal proteins and refined food items, may cause low-grade disturbances to the body homeostasis, glucose metabolism and acid based balance.

You thought sugary soft drinks were bad? Diet soda could be worse! - This is why

Whoever said that diet soda’s are better and healthier than their sugary counterparts, needs to think again.

With sugary drinks, the outcome is pretty clear rotting teeth, obesity, heart attack, stroke and diabetes risk and the list goes on.

When it comes to diet sodas, the evidence has been less solid, but nevertheless remain a debatable topic, since artificial sweeteners have been associated with but not shown to necessarily cause weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease.

However, you may have to stop drinking these beverages, irrespective of their properties, if you don’t want to risk your memory or increase your chances of stroke and dementia.

You heard that right!

Researchers have found that while drinking sugary beverages frequently may lead to poorer memory, daily intake of diet soda may increase the risk of stroke and dementia.

Both sugary and diet drinks correlated with accelerated brain ageing, according to the findings published in two separate studies.

People who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller hippocampus – an area of the

Know the surprising health benefits of mint leaves

We all know that mint leaves, also known as pudina, provides many nutritional benefits to our health. It also helps to aid digestion, improves oral health, treats cold and more.

One can use this leaves in many ways like seasoning your salad and adding it to your cup of tea etc.

Here are a few health benefits of mint leaves: Aids digestion The leave is loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients

which provide relief to the stomach muscles and help in digestion. It also soothes the stomach instantly and works wonders when it comes to treating tummy troubles.

Relives headaches and migraines The herb is a naturally soothing substance, so it can alleviate the inflammation and temperature rise that is often associated with headaches and migraines.

Improves oral health Mint leaves helps in improving

our oral health as it is loaded with anti-bacterial and antiinflammatory properties that kills bacteria in the mouth preventing tooth decay, beats bad breath and keeps your tongue and teeth clean naturally.

Helps relieve cough and cold Pudina helps in treating cough and cold because of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that relieve inflammation along the respiratory tract.

Good for skin The anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties work wonders for acne-prone skin.

Also, when applied topically, mint has the effect of calming and cooling the skin affected by insect bites, a rash or other reactions.

Boosts immunity As mint is packed with nutrients such as calcium, phosphorous, vitamin C, D, E and small amounts of vitamin B complex, it helps in improveing the body’s immune system, keeping it safe from infections and inflammation.

brain important for learning and memory, said the study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

A follow-up study, published in the journal Stroke, found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not.

Scientists have put forth various hypotheses about how artificial sweeteners may cause harm, from transforming gut bacteria to altering the brain’s perception of “sweet,” but “we need more work to figure out the underlying mechanisms”, said Boston University’s Matthew Pase, who is lead author on the two studies.

For the studies, researchers used data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), a study that aims to identify common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease

(CVD).

“These studies are not the beall and end-all, but it’s strong data and a very strong suggestion,” said Sudha Seshadri, Professor at Boston University School of Medicine (MED) in the US. “It looks like there is not very much of an upside to having sugary drinks, and substituting the sugar with artificial sweeteners doesn’t seem to help,” Seshadri, who is senior author on both papers, said.

Excess sugar has long been associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases like obesity, heart disease and Type-2 diabetes, but little is known about its long-term effects on the human brain.

He chose to study sugary drinks as a way of examining overall sugar consumption. “It’s difficult to measure overall sugar intake in the diet,” he says, “so we used sugary beverages as a proxy.”

Doctors at a Mumbai hospital managed to save the life of a 60year-old man through new minimally invasive procedure.

The man was diagnosed with aortic bio-prosthesis degeneration with severe stenosis — condition in which calcium gets deposited on the aortic valve in theheart — was successfully operated using a new minimally invasive procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). A resident of Solapur, Kishore Rathi’s condition was not serious. Due to

his medical condition calcium got deposited on the aortic valve in the heart and could cause narrowing at the opening of the aortic valve. According to medical sciences, in such conditions if medical intervention is delayed the narrowing can become severe enough to reduce blood flow through the aortic valve, a condition called aortic valve stenosis.

Docs save 60-year-old’s life through new minimally invasive procedure

Issue 716 (39)

25 April - 1 May, 2017

Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza

Ingredients: 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and

cubed 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 (2 ounce) bottle hot sauce

1 (8 ounce) bottle blue cheese salad dressing 1 (16 inch) prepared pizza crust 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

In a medium bowl combine the cubed chicken, melted butter and hot sauce. Mix well.

Spread whole bottle of salad dressing over crust, then top with chicken mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly, about 5 to 10 minutes. Let set a few minutes before slicing, and serve.

Stuffed Peppers Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef 1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice 1 cup water 6 green bell peppers 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon onion powder salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.) In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of

Marinated Flank Steak

Ingredients: 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/3 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 1/2 pounds flank steak Directions: In a medium bowl, mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon

juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper. Place meat in a shallow glass dish.

Pour marinade over the steak, turning meat to coat thoroughly. Cover, and refrigerate for 6 hours.

Preheat grill for mediumhigh heat.

Oil the grill grate. Place steaks on the grill, and discard the marinade.

Grill meat for 5 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.

Ingredients: 2 pounds ground beef 1 cup chopped onion 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce 3 1/2 pounds chopped cabbage 1 cup uncooked white rice 1 teaspoon salt 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large skillet, brown

beef in oil over medium high heat until redness is gone. Drain off fat.

In a large mixing bowl combine the onion, tomato sauce, cabbage, rice and salt. Add meat and mix all together. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Pour broth over meat mixture and bake in the preheated oven, covered, for 1 hour. Stir, replace cover and bake for another 30 minutes.

Cabbage Roll Casserole

the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

Broccoli Chicken Divan Ingredients: 1 pound chopped fresh broccoli 1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat, 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of broccoli soup 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon butter, melted, 2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Place the broccoli in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Place the cooked broccoli in a 9 inch pie plate. Top with the chicken. In a bowl, mix the soup and milk, and pour over the chicken. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle over the cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly brown.

Issue 716 (40)

25 April - 1 May, 2017