VOL. 15, THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 757, 6 - 12 FEB., 2018 PH: (905) 671 - 4761
Life of a 19-yr-old crypto-millionaire Teenager says ‘if you don’t become rich, it’s your fault’ ERIK Finman was only a child when he invested the $1,000 he got from his grandma in bitcoin. He came from a rich and well-educated family in Idaho, in the north-west US, but just a few years into high school realised that college wasn’t for him. With his parents desperate for him to follow in their footsteps he made them a bet: If he could become a millionaire before his 18th birthday he could skip college. Now, having watched the price of the Bitcoin skyrocket well beyond the $12 when he began, the 19year-old has amassed a cryptocurrency wealth of more than $6million. Despite the price of the “crypto” plummeting across the board over recent weeks, Finman has made a bold claim to the doubters: “If Continued on Page 4 you’re not a
Too late to make a bitcoin fortune? BITCOIN is a digital currency, known as cryptocurrency, which began in 2009 and were initially worth just a few cents. In 2013, it hit the USD$100 mark for the first time, before rising to USD$900 at the start of 2017. Today, it is worth USD$8,600. Thousands of amateur traders are now betting huge amounts, while startup firms use it to raise money and avoid the transparency needed in a stock market float. But experts fear it has become a vast speculative bubble detached from reality. Worldwide watchdogs have warned there could be a sudden massive crash if the market turns, losing investors billions dollars. Economist Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the global financial crisis, is one who has called cryptocurrency a “giant speculative bubble” bound to end in disaster. Cryptocurrency investors claim the price will continue to boom, potentially as high as USD$80,000. Bitcoins are generated by using an open-source computer programme to solve complex math problems. This process is known as “mining”. Each bitcoin has a unique fingerprint and is defined by a public address and a private key.
US warns countries not to aid terrorists eyeing nuke weapons THE United States has warned countries against supporting non-state actors and terrorist groups trying to obtain or employ nuclear weapons. The US will hold accountable any state or non-state actor that supports terrorist efforts to obtain or employ a nuclear weapon, under secretary of state for political affairs Tom Shannon told reporters at a Pentagon news conference where the Trump Administration rolled out its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Neither Shannon nor the NPR report, running into 100 pages, identified any country which could be seen aiding terrorist groups in this regard. US officials have in the past expressed concern over the possibility of nuclear weapons of Pakistan landing into the hands of nonstate actors or terrorist groups and thus has been working with Islamabad
in enhancing the security of its nuclear weapons. “Pakistan has repeatedly denied such fears and asserted that its nuclear arsenals are one of the safest and secure ones in the world. Shannon said nuclear terrorism remained a major threat in the 21st century and countries need to work to mitigate it. “The potential threat of non-state actors getting their hands on a nuclear weapon remains at the front of all of our minds,” Shannon told reporters at a news conference held at the Pentagon. Deputy energy secretary Dan Brouillette said the US will keep a close watch on nuclear proliferation activities. “The department of energy will continue to focus on nonproliferation, counterproliferation and counterterrorism. Together with our allies and partners, we have enjoyed great, great
success in these areas,” he said. In a special section on nuclear terrorism, the
report said the US strategy to combat nuclear terrorism Continued on Page 4
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Russian pilot blows self up to avoid arrest
A RUSSIAN pilot downed by rebel fighters in Syria killed himself with a grenade to avoid being captured by the jihadists, Moscow has confirmed. Video footage filmed by the rebels themselves, sees Major Roman Filipov shouting ‘This is for our guys!’ before detonating the explosives as the fighters surround him. The Russian defense ministry said that the 33- year-old was ‘fighting the rebels until the last minute’ and detonated the grenade when they approached. In a statement seen by Russia Today, the ministry of Russia, it was reported. Vladimir Putin is expected said the pilot had ejected from his Sukhoi 25SM fighter to grant the award. The pilot was flying at 4,000 metres jet after being hit with a missile from a portable surface- (13,123ft) when he was hit, and the jet crashed nearby. to-air system in Idlib, Syria. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Video and photos from the scene shows rebel fighters Peskov said it was too early to say celebrating as the wreckage burns on the who had supplied the weapons system ground. Earlier reports suggested Maj. which rebels had used to shoot down Filipov had been captured by rebels and the plane, but that it was extremely separately that he had been killed in worrying that such rockets were falling fighting. But later it became clear that he into the hands of ‘terrorists’. After had exploded his grenade to take his own landing, Maj. Filipov remained in radio life rather than be captured. Syrian and contact with the Russian airbase in Russian forces were reported to be on the Khmeimim, Syria, and reported ground at the scene of the incident aiming shooting and killing two jihadist fighters to retrieve the pilot’s remains. Russia’s with his hand gun as they closed in on defence ministry confirmed the pilot had him. But realising his situation was been shot down, saying: “A Russian Suhopeless, he pulled the pin on his 25 aircraft crashed during a flight over the grenade to kill himself. His last words Idlib de-escalation zone. “The pilot had caught on the video, filmed by the Alenough time to announce he had ejected Qaeda linked group Al-Nusra Front, into the zone, under the control of al-Nusra were: ‘This is for our guys’. Maj Filipov, Front fighters. The pilot was killed in from Vladivostok, has been fighting against terrorists.” Russia has posthumously nominated for the been supporting the Syrian government Kremlin’s highest honour — the Hero in Idlib where President Bashar AlAssad’s
Gunmen kill six at underground cockfight in Mexico AUTHORITIES in northern Mexico say gunmen opened fire at a clandestine cockfight arena in the Chihuahua state capital, killing six people and wounding 14. The state prosecutor’s office says in a statement that several masked attackers fired at people gathered at the ‘Santa Maria’ cockfight club late Saturday off a highway on the southern edge of Chihuahua city. Prosecutors said on Sunday that four victims were killed at the scene and two more died while receiving medical treatment. Five of the six victims were identified by Milenio as Hector Murillo Tavarez, Josue Otero, Alan Vallina, Leonardo Rodriguez and Daniel Magallanes. Two children aged 7 and 10 were among the wounded. There were no immediate arrests. Cockfighting is popular in the country and particularly in western Mexico, where every town in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero has a Palenque, or cockfighting ring. Gambling is a major aspect of the event, and as much as $40,000 (`25.5 lakh) can be placed on a single bout. Bookkeepers patrol the stands and take bets. Spectators gamble only on the overall outcome, and all odds are set at 2:1. While cock fighting is banned in Mexico City and other parts
of the country, it remains popular in areas where agriculture supports much of the economy. In recent years, a number of government initiatives have attempted to ban the bloodsport nationwide; threats which have angered the community that makes its living from the spectacle. The cock fights are a big draw for the narcos, members of Mexican organised crime, who come to high
stakes games in order to gamble. “It’s not uncommon to see shootouts towards the end of an event,” says game cock breeder Juan Carlos, who attends cock fighting festivals across the country in order to keep abreast of his rivals’ animals. “Mix Mexican gangsters with drugs, alcohol and high stakes gambling and you’ve got a recipe for murder.” Rodrigo García Escalante of the governing National Action Party (PAN) had earlier said that close to 30,00,000 cockfights are held every year in Mexico, 1,00,000 of which are in Veracruz, and that the state is the country’s leading producer of fighting cocks.
forces have been fighting against the Al-Nusra Front. After Maj Filipov was shot down on Saturday, Russian jets intensified their raids on rebelheld towns and cities in the province Civil defence sources in Idlib said air raids struck the towns of Kafr Nubl and Maasran, as well as the cities of Saraqeb, Maarat al Numan and Idlib, and that several deaths and dozens of injuries were reported as rescuers dug through the rubble. A hospital was hit in Maarat al Numan, witnesses and residents said, and at least five people were feared killed in another attack that damaged a residential building in Kafr Nubl.
CHLORINE ATTACK LEAVES PEOPLE GASPING FOR AIR CHLORINE gas left civilians gasping for air in a rebelheld Syrian town after a chemical attack as Bashar al-Assad’s regime launched a wave of airstrikes, activists claimed. Victims had to be hosed down with water after being poisoned in the helicopter attack on Saraqeb in Idlib province. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a ‘foul smell after regime aircraft struck several areas of the town, causing civilians to suffer from suffocation’. It quoted residents and medical sources as saying ‘toxic gas’ was used in the attack, without elaborating. Syrian regime air strikes also killed six civilians in the town of Kafr Nabi, near Maaret al Numan in the southern countryside of Idlib province, the Observatory said. Four other civilians were killed in regime bombing on Maaret al Numan and Maasarin. The Observatory also said that ‘airplanes believed to be Russian hit the main hospital in Maaret al Numan causing damage’. The facility shut down until repairs could be carried out, the war monitor said. The latest developments come as the United States this week accused the Syrian regime of using chemical weapons on opposition forces near the capital Damascus. The Syrian foreign ministry denied the accusations as ‘lies’. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters on Friday his government was concerned sarin gas may have been recently used in Syria, citing reports from NGOs and rebel groups. These reports said toxic gas has been used. Mattis however said the United States has no proof to support these accusations. Last month, 21 people were treated for respiratory problems after rockets were fired on the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus.
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Putin marks Battle of Stalingrad’s 75th anniversary
VLADIMIR Putin on Friday presided over a number of commemorations ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. The German defeat in the 200- day long battle was a pivotal moment in the war and is glorified by Russia as the event that saved Europe from Adolf Hitler and as a symbol of the country’s resilience. Putin
flew to Volgograd, the current name of the city, where he laid flowers and a wreath at the city’s war memorial Mamayev Kurgan, as well as posed with a group of young women dressed in historic World War II-era uniforms. He also attended a military parade in Volgograd, involving about 1,500 troops, armoured vehicles and jets flying over a crowd of spectators bundled up to protect
against the sub-zero temperatures. “There was no other such battle in the history of mankind,” Putin told a crowd of veterans he met at Volgograd during a concert commemorating the event. “The unified resistance and readiness for self-sacrifice were truly undefeatable, incomprehensible and frightful for the enemy. Defenders of Stalingrad have passed a great heritage to us:
Former Hizb man returns home, eager to start life afresh TWENTY-TWO-year-old Danish Farooq Bhat is anxious, apprehensive and ever-eager to prove that he has turned over a new leaf. Last year, when his photograph was splashed in newspapers at the funeral of Hizbul commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, and he was identified as a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, his family was stunned. Today, he is part of the recently launched de-radicalisation programme of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. “I temporarily slipped and was brainwashed,” Danish told India TV today. “I hope they accept (his college) me back,” Danish says. He wants to be an Indian Forest Service officer. “I want to go back and take the civilservices exam,” he said. Bhat was studying for his Bachelor’s degree from Doon (PG) College for Agriculture Science and Technology. Last year, he disappeared to join the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. That he had turned away from a comfortable life, leaving his siblings behind to join a terror group came as a rude shock for his family. “His phone was switched-off for a few days. I was worried,” Danish’s father Farooq Ahmed Bhat said, recounting the events leading up to his being identified as a terrorist. With assurance from the police that his boy would
receive help to get back to normal life and his family, Farooq had set out to get him to surrender. Danish gave himself up in June after a brief stint with Hizbul Mujahideen. The police alleged that Danish first came in contact with the terror groups through social media. “Since 2007-08, we are seeing a different phase of radicalisation,” said Shabir Khan, sub-divisional police officer of Handwara, who is handling Danish’s case. Khan, who recently received a gallantry award for anti-terror operations, keeps a hawk-eye on Danish. Khan will decide when and whether at all Danish can go back to normal life. “It is a gradual process,” Khan told said, explaining the process of de-radicalisation. He meets Danish every day. “We keep monitoring his progress and also
keep assuring him that by shunning violence he has taken the right decision,” Khan said. Apart from constant monitoring, the police also look out for whether the person undergoing de-radicalisation is in touch with over-ground workers of terror
groups. “Our idea is to help him get back to normal life,” Khan said. “Obviously, this programme is not for hardened terrorists. We check whether the boy has been involved in any terror act, then check his background and his friends,” Munir Khan, Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police told India TV today. Local boys had stopped joining terror groups, but the phenomenon has come back to haunt the Valley. About a year ago, at least 70 boys from the Valley joined terror groups. Security agencies estimate that at least 130 local boys and girls joined Pakistanbased terror outfits like Jaish-eMohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and an indigenous group like Hizbul Mujahideen. This year the number of youth joining terror groups may rise. The deradicalisation programme is an attempt to win the heart of people.
love for the Motherland, readiness to protect its interests and independence, to stand strong in the face of any test,” he said, calling on Russians to measure up to their ancestors’ example. To mark the occasion, traffic controllers in the city of a million people, one of the poorest in Russia, were dressed in Red Army winter uniforms, complete with felt boots. Viktoria Rybakova, a 31-year-old dancer performing in the concert, said: “In everyone, there is gratitude for our future, for the fact that we are living today.” Soviet victory and sacrifice in the war has been increasingly upheld by Moscow in recent years to stoke patriotism, which “has practically become a state ideology”, said political analyst Konstantin Kalachev. Moscow needs positive symbols while ties with the West are at a post-Cold War low, so dates like war victory anniversaries are used to “promote the image of a country capable of accomplishments and defeating all of its enemies”, Kalachev said. It will be his second World War II-associated trip in two weeks. On January 18, Putin took part in an event marking the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad outside Saint Petersburg. The battle of Stalingrad is regarded as the bloodiest war battle in history. The death toll for soldiers and civilians was about two million. Most of the city was reduced to rubble before Nazi troops eventually capitulated on February 2, 1943, in the first surrender by the Nazis since the war began. The city was completely rebuilt after the war and renamed Volgograd in 1961, eight years after the death of Joseph Stalin. In 2014, lawmakers voted to rename the city back to Stalingrad.
Banned exports earn Kim $200 mn NORTH Korea is flouting UN sanctions by exporting coal, iron, steel and other commodities banned under UN sanctions, earning nearly $200 million (‘1,280 crore) in revenue last year, a UN report said. A UN panel of experts also found evidence of North Korea’s ongoing military cooperation with Syria to develop its ballistic missile and chemical weapons programmes, and with Myanmar.
“North Korea continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in the resolutions, generating nearly $200 million (‘1,280 crore) in revenue between January and Sept 2017,” it said. “Coal shipments were delivered to China, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam by ship using a combination of multiple evasion techniques, routes and deceptive tactics,” said the report. The security council last year adopted a series of resolutions to tighten and expand exports bans aimed at cutting off revenue to Kim’s military programmes. The US led the push for tough economic sanctions against North Korea after its sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches that indicated the US mainland could soon be within reach of a nuclear strike by Pyongyang. Seven ships have been barred from ports worldwide for violating UN sanctions with coal and petroleum transfers, but the experts said much more must be done to confront these rampant illicit activities. While sanctions have been significantly broadened, this expansion of the regime is yet to be matched by the requisite political will to implement the measures, experts said.
Bus-sized dinosaur’s fossil found in Egypt SCIENTISTS have discovered a new species of dinosaur, a school bus-sized, long-necked plant-eater with bony plates embedded in its skin, in the Sahara desert of Egypt. The fossilised remains of the new species, named Mansourasaurus Shahinae, were unearthed by an expedition undertaken by an initiative of the the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology (MUVP) in Egypt. The findings reveal ancient links between Africa and Europe. “Mansourasaurus Shahinae is a key new dinosaur species, and a critical discovery for Egyptian and African paleontology,” said Eric
Gorscak, a research scientist at The Field Museum in Chicago, US, and a contributing author to the study. By analysing features of its bones, Sallam and his team determined that Mansourasaurus is more closely related to dinosaurs from Europe and Asia than it is to those found farther south in Africa. This shows that at least some dinosaurs could move between Africa and Europe near the end of these animals’ reign. “Africa’s last dinosaurs weren’t completely isolated, contrary to what some have proposed in the past,” said Gorscak, who began work on the project as a doctoral student.
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SRK faces I-T heat for building bungalow on land meant for farms
AFTER India TV today expose on how Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan committed criminal offences while
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acquiring a huge farmland to construct his superluxury bungalow in Alibag, the investigation wing of Mumbai’s Income Tax department has provisionally attached the farmhouse under Benami Property Transactions Act. In December 2017, the I-T department had issued an attachment notice under Section 24 of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act against the actor. “But the entire process of attachment got over in the first week of January 2018,” an I-T official said. After conducting a detailed investigation, the I-T department also issued a show-cause notice (SCN) to Déjà vu Farms Ltd and Shah Rukh. “From the day of provision attachment and issuing SCN, the farmhouse would remain attached for 90 days. After that period, the case would be heard by appropriate authority from both sides. Till the final order comes from adjudicating author ity, the property would remain with the I-T department till next one year.” On November 14, 2017, India TV today had revealed how the IT department took cognisance of the alleged violations committed by Shah Rukh, his wife, Gauri Khan, and others in acquiring and constructing a farmhouse in the area of 19,960 square meters. In the past six months, the I-T officials recorded statements of the actor’s in-laws, Namita Chibba and Savita Chibba (sister and mother of Gauri Khan respectively), for being the bogus directors of Déjà vu Farms Ltd. The department also summoned two promoters, Srinivas Parthasarathy and Somasekhar
Life of a 19-yr-old crypto-millionaire
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Sundareshan, who had transferred all of company’s shares to the Khan couple. It was India TV today exposure that revealed that a written complaint had been filed by an Alibag-based activist against the actor, his wife, Deva Vu Farms Pvt Ltd and company’s CEO, Moreshwar Ajgaonkar, for using forged papers, criminal conspiracy and cheating under Section 120-B, Section 467, 468, 471, 420 and Section 09 of Indian Penal Code, 1860. The major allegation against Shah Rukh was that he applied to purchase agricultural land, but instead constructed a super-luxury farmhouse to throw lavish parties and celebrate his birthdays with Bollywood stars. The second allegation was that the actor got the permission under the said Section 63 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (which stipulated that only a farmer could
millionaire in the next decade, it’s your fault.” After hitting a high of USD$19,343 in mid-December 2017, the price of one Bitcoin dropped to as low as USD$8,568 overnight. The volatility of cryptocurrency, combined with a widespread lack of
understanding of the market, has led many financial experts to warn people to steer clear. But Finman, the budding tech and cryptocurrency expert, said he found it so easy to get rich, there’s no excuses for anyone not to do the same. “I say if you do not become a millionaire in the next 10 years, then it’s your own fault,” the teenage millionaire said. But while many of his peers aren’t confident in the strength of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the rich kid is telling anyone and everyone to invest. “I still believe in cryptocurrencies, there are always ups and downs on the way up,” Finman said. “I have many friends and fans who almost begged for a crash... because they wanted to buy but thought the price was too high. “The biggest mistake (you) can make is to get out of the market now and sell (your) bitcoins just because of a setback.” Happy to brag about his success Finman has some 8,700 followers on Instagram where he’s shared pictures of himself in luxury cars and playing with wads of cash. His bold story of success has seen him featured on stage at Tedx and regularly talk at business forums.
buy agricultural land) and then fraudulently used the land to construct his house. Prior to the year 2009, the concerned plot was an agricultural land. As per the coastal zone management plan, the land was within the coastal regulation zone (CRZ)-III area (within 200 meters of the high tide line). The rule says, ‘on such land no new construction could be done, only repairs of pre1991 houses were permitted without changing the plinth of the old house.’ Activist Surendra Dhavale, who filed the complaint on January 11, 2017, in Khar Police Station, said: “In actuality, there was no such old pre-1991 bungalow, which gets confirmed from the Google Earth satellite photograph from 2003. The fact is, the bungalow appeared only in the fake and forged revenue records.”
US warns countries not to aid terrorists eyeing nuke weapons encompasses a wide range of activities that comprise a defencein-depth against current and emerging dangers. The report said the US would try and prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons or technology and respond to nuclear incidents by locating and disabling a nuclear device or managing the consequences of a nuclear detonation. For effective deterrence, the US will hold fully accountable any state, terrorist group, or other non-state actor that supports or enables terrorist efforts to obtain or employ nuclear devices, the report said. The report also said a terrorist nuclear attack against the US or its allies and partners would qualify as an extreme circumstance under which the US could consider the ultimate form of retaliation. The US will continue its efforts to minimise the number of nuclear weapons states.
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Lab tests suggest Assad gassed his own people
LABORATORY tests have linked Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile to the worst sarin gas attack of the Syrian civil war, scientists have revealed. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the atrocity in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21, 2013. Experts working for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons compared samples taken from the scene by a UN mission to chemicals handed over by the government for destruction in 2014. The tests found ‘markers’ in samples taken at Ghouta and at the sites of two other nerve agent attacks, in the towns of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib governorate on April 4, 2017 and Khan al-Assal, Aleppo, in March 2013, two people involved in the process said. The findings support Western claims that government forces under dictator Assad were behind the atrocity.
“We compared Khan Sheikhoun, Khan al-Assal, Ghouta,’ said one source who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the findings. There were signatures in all three of them that matched.” The same test results were the basis for a report by the OPCWUnited Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism in October which said the Syrian government was responsible for the Khan Sheikhoun attack, which killed dozens. The findings on Ghouta, whose details were confirmed by two separate diplomatic sources, were not
released in the October report to the UN Security Council because they were not part of the team’s mandate. They will nonetheless bolster claims by the United States, Britain and other Western powers that Assad’s government still possesses and uses banned munitions in violation of several Security Council resolutions and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW declined to comment. Syria has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in the conflict now in its seventh year and has blamed the chemical attacks in the rebel-held territory of Ghouta on the insurgents themselves. Russia has also denied that Syrian government forces have carried
out chemical attacks and has questioned the reliability of the OCPW inquiries. Officials in Moscow have said the rebels staged the attacks to discredit the Assad government and whip up international condemnation. Under a US-Russian deal after the Ghouta attack in 2013, Damascus joined the OPCW and agreed to permanently eliminate its chemical weapons programme, including destroying a 1,300- tonne stockpile of industrial precursors that has now been linked to Ghouta attack. But inspectors have found proof of an ongoing chemical weapons program in Syria, including the systematic use of chlorine barrel bombs and sarin, which
they say was ordered at the highest levels of government. The sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun in April last year prompted US President Donald Trump to order a missile strike against the Shayrat air base, from which the Syrian operation is said to have been launched. Diplomatic and scientific sources said efforts by Syria and Russia to discredit the U.N.OPCW tests establishing a connection to Ghouta have so far come up with nothing. Russia’s blocking of resolutions at the Security Council seeking accountability for war crimes in Syria gained new relevance when Russia stationed its aircraft at Shayrat in 2015.
Pak extends rail link pact with India for 3 more yrs Despite skirmishes across the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan has officially confirmed that it has extended agreement of rail link with arch-rival India for three more years. Rail link connects the two South Asian nucleararmed neighbours, which had fought three wars since 1947, through MunabaoKhokhrapar rail line. Pakistan and India had signed an agreement to run the Thar Link Express in 2006. It is one of the cheapest means of transport between the two rival countries. “The Government of Pakistan has agreed to extend the agreement of the Rail link between Munabao (India)Khokhrapar (Pakistan) for another three years from February 1, 2018 to January 31, 2021,” Dr Faisal, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs told
journalists during weekly press briefing held on Friday. “The rail link facilitates peopleto-people contacts, which Pakistan believes are essential for improving relations between both the countries,” spokesperson added. The decision which came as skirmishes continues across LoC has been widely appreciated by civil society in Pakistan. “It’s indeed a wise decision. Peopleto people contact between the two countries must continue at any cost,” Sohail Bhati, an Islamabadbased expert on foreign policy told this paper. Sources told this paper that ‘decision to extend agreement was a result of backdoor diplomacy that is working well between Pakistan and India’. “Governments of Pakistan and India have been constantly in touch discussing ways to
normalize bilateral relationship,” a senior official of Pakistan’s foreign office said. It is worth mentioning that Pakistan and
Since then tension has been running high between the two sides. However, extension in ‘rail link’ agreement is been
India had locked horns following Uri attack which killed 19 Indian soldiers in September 2016. Furthermore, India’s claim to carry out a “surgical strike” inside Pakistan ended hope of normalization of bilateral ties.
perceived as ‘first drop’ of rain by many in Pakistan. Decision has sent pleasant waves across Pakistan’s Sindh province, which is home to majority of Pakistan’s Hindu population. “It’s a wise decision,” Lajpat Meghwadg, a
local Hindu leader who often travels to Rajasthan to meet relatives, told this paper over telephone. A higher government officials in Pakistan told this paper that things are improving between Pakistan and India following a meeting held between national security advisors of two countries on December 26, 2017. Pakistan’s national security advisor Lieutenant General Nasir Khan Janjua met his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in Bangkok last year on December 26 believably to defuse the tension between Pakistan and India. “It was an important meeting,” said the official, who wished not to be named. “Extension of rail link is just the beginning. You can expect more good gestures in the near future,” he added.
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Human genome decoded with pocket-sized device PARIS Scientists used a portable device no bigger than a cellphone to sequence the most complete human genome ever assembled with a single technology, according to a study published Monday. The breakthrough, detailed in the journal Nature Biotechnology, brings us closer to the day when family doctors will order up genome scans during a regular check-up along with blood work, the authors suggested. “We are definitely approaching the point where sequencing genomes will become a routine part of advanced clinical exams,” lead author Matthew Loose, a professor at the University of Nottingham, told AFP. The new sequencing method is the first to read long, unbroken strands of DNA, yielding a final result that is 99.88 percent accurate. “The process of assembling a genome is like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle,” said coauthor Nicholas Loman, a scientist at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection and the University of Birmingham. “The ability to
German court rules mosque must stop broadcasting Friday call to prayer A mosque in northwest Germany may no longer broadcast its Friday midday call to prayer by loudspeaker for now after a local court upheld a challenge by a couple who live nearly 1 km (1,000 yards) away. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court found that the town of Oer-Erkenschwick had not assessed the local Muslim community’s request properly in 2013, but a court spokesman said on Friday that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. Anti-Muslim sentiment and support for antiimmigration policies are growing in many parts of Germany after the influx of well over a million migrants from Iraq, Syria and other mostly Muslim countries, beginning in 2015. Huseyin Turgut, a senior official with the affected mosque, said the court’s decision was disappointing.
produce extremely long sequencing reads is like finding very large pieces of the puzzle.” Critically, the so-called
nanopore technology sheds light on poorly understood regions of the genome governing the body’s immune responses and tumour growth. This may help detect cancer DNA in the blood, and “pick up tumours before they are symptomatic or visible through radiological techniques,” said Loman. In the case of a patient with a suspected infection, the sequencing can be used to ferret out the genome of a virus or bacteria, he told AFP. “We could also simultaneously look at how the patient is responding to that infection,” he added, noting that each individual’s immune system is different. Likewise for sequencing a person’s microbiome, the vast community of microbes we each host, mostly in the digestive
tract. “For personalised medicine, we will want to build up a picture of how individuals may respond to
antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs,” Loman said. The human genome is composed of more than three billion pairing of building-block molecules, and grouped into some 25,000 genes. It contains the codes and instructions that tell the body how to grow and develop. Flaws in the instructions can lead to disease. The first decoding of a human genome — completed in 2003 — was a Manhattan Project-like effort: it took 15 years, cost three billion dollars, and marshalled hundreds of scientists and the computing power from 20 major universities and research institutes. The new sequencing — carried out by a dozen researchers and half-adozen hand-held devices called MinIONs — cost a few thousand dollars and took three weeks to complete.
“In five to ten years, genetic sequencing will be a ubiquitous as boiling a kettle or making a cup of tea,” predicted co-author Andrew Beggs, a professor at the University of Birmingham, one of nine institutions involved in the project. The researchers pieced together the genome by passing strands of DNA through minuscule tubelike structures — manufactured by Oxford Nanopore Technologies — along with electrically charged atoms. Changes in the electrical current identify DNA molecules, which can then be mapped. Complete sequencing is not to be confused with the gene kits offered by companies such as 23andMe and deCODEme, which only provide DNA snapshots, not the whole shebang.
German far-right figure embraces Islam over church’s ‘moral decline’
BERLIN A member of Germany’s far-right and anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party (AfD) who recently converted to Islam has said he did so in protest at what he sees as the “moral decline” of the Protestant church. Arthur Wagner, 48, until recently a leading party member in the state of Brandenburg, told the Bild newspaper on Wednesday that his decision was in part sparked by the church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage and the presence of priests at gay pride marches.“One of the reasons (for the conversion)
Punjab Cop Commits Suicide During Flag-Hoisting Programme Republic Day celebrations turned tragic after a head constable posted with Ludhiana (Rural) allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service weapon at a government senior secondary school in Jagraon. The deceased identified as 44-year-old Manjit Ram. He was posted as a driver and gunman with the Station House Office (SHO) Jagraon city.According to the reports of Indian Express, Ram a resident of Nakodar shot himself in the head and died on the spot. He was reportedly sitting outside the venue in a police vehicle where the flag hoisting ceremony was going on.Talking to the daily, SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Surjit Singh said that Manjit Ram took the extreme step due to personal reasons.“He was depressed due to a property dispute going on in his family. Also he had taken loan to construct a new house but was finding it difficult to cope up with instalments. Still we are probing the matter,” Singh informed Indian Express.
is tied to changes that have taken place in the church, which no longer reflects my values,” he told the daily. Explaining his decision, he singled out the church’s position “with regard to the AfD, its support for marriage for all and the participation of pastors at Christopher Street Day, where there are children. It’s unacceptable!” Christopher Street Day is an annual gathering of the LGBT community in several German and Swiss cities.Wagner’s conversion is perhaps all the more surprising given that he formerly held an official position within the Protestant church. He converted in October but only announced the decision last week, when he quit his leadership role in the AdF, although he remains a party member. His decision has not gone down well in the party, which is strongly antiIslam.One of his local party colleagues, Kai Berger, said he was “very disappointed”. “Many members are waiting for him to quit the party. Unfortunately our statutes do not allow us to kick him out,” he said. Wagner told Bild he had received a few threats since announcing his decision.
Issue - 757 (8)
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Raptors guarding Mexico’s airport MEXICO CITY Far from the crowds of passengers, lines and passport control, Madison spreads his wings on the side of a runway at Mexico’s international airport,
the busiest in Latin America. He is one of several peregrine falcons deployed to prevent “bird strikes” - a hazardous collision between birds and planes that can have dangerous and even catastrophic consequences. In 2009, for instance, a US Airways jet had to set down on the Hudson River in New York after a flock of birds took out its engines. In January this year, a Mexico-bound KLM flight made an emergency landing after hitting birds on take-off in the Netherlands. “It’s dangerous. Birds don’t mix with planes. They can hit a turbine,” Oscar Chavez, a 26-year-old who is one of the biologists handling the falcons in Mexico, told AFP. Each day, Madison and another peregrine falcon named Ilse are on duty at the airport, which sees 44 million
passengers pass through it each year. “The other birds realize a predator is around and they disappear,” said Nayely Flores, who is in charge of animals at the terminal. Getting Madison
ready requires a daily procedure that Chavez said was like a ritual: attaching a geolocalization tag to his leg while dangling quail meat to distract him. Depending on the weather, Madison can soar aloft for two hours at a time. Like all raptors, he likes to float in warm air currents while scanning below for targets. These days, however, the days in Mexico’s capital are cooler, limiting his forays. Still, the goal is being met and no other birds are spotted in the vicinity. Swallows, kestrels and kites are among the species of bird that Madison and Ilse like to hunt. Before 2014, airport authorities used raptors to swoop down and kill their prey as a way of keeping the runways clear. But now, the
falcons are trained to fly and keep the other birds away by their threatening silhouette in the sky. That way, biologists avoid protected species being ripped apart by the falcons beaks and claws. “If that ever happened, we could get fined” by environmental agencies, Flores said. The new method also has an advantage in that the falcons are not gorging on prey, which would result in them becoming too sated to want to fly aloft again. Peregrine falcons are not the only birds of prey deployed at the airport. A blue-gray aplomado falcon called Panchito and three Harris’s hawks also fly as sentinels over the tarmac. One of the hawks is named Loca crazy in English - because of her aggressive nature. Because they fly low, these carnivorous birds can be used close to boarding halls where there are more plane movements. But there are other, less spectacular animals at work, too. The team of biologists can also call on dogs trained to chase birds away from the ground between runways. And insect populations in the area are kept in check through chemical products, robbing the nuisance birds of a source of food.At the end of the day, the animals - feathered and furred are ushered into a hangar next to the airport for a night’s rest. In the meantime the buzzing facility nearby keeps on with its frenetic activity.
WWII bunker hidden under Paris train station
PARIS It lies hidden deep beneath Paris’s bustling Gare de l’Est railway station, its sprawling subterranean rooms and sparse furniture pristinely preserved if a little dusty.Originally built a few years before World War II for luggage storage, the underground bunker was repurposed after war broke out. French railway historian Clive Lamming said its 1939 overhaul was to provide “a place to retreat in case of an air attack” so staff could keep the trains running east towards Germany.Leading this AFP reporter through a concrete air lock and heavy door to the shelter, he said: “The concern was gas.” “We remembered World War I - a perfectly airtight place was needed,” he added.With its three-metre (10-foot) thick concrete ceiling, it was designed for about 70 people to be able to take refuge in the small rooms of the 120-square-metre (1,300square-foot) shelter. But, in the end, the bunker never really saw any action - Paris was largely spared from air attacks during
WWII, and there was little danger of poison gas.After France’s defeat in 1940 and Nazi occupation, the bunker was requisitioned by the Germans and traces of their presence remain, including a sign that reads “Notausgang” (emergency exit). “In my opinion, it hasn’t been finished,” said Lamming, as a high-speed TGV train loudly rumbled overhead. Today, few of the thousands of travellers passing through the busy central Paris station will likely have any inkling of the time capsule under their feet. Just a discreet trapdoor on the platform opens up to reveal a staircase leading down to the bunker, which is not publicly accessible except on certain occasions.“For 80 years, it has been ‘Sleeping Beauty’,” Lamming said. “Everything is in mint condition from 1939.” Entering the machine room is like stepping back into the 1930s, with the old contraptions, dials, copper piping and Bakelite handles only in need of a good polish.
Jolie to work with Nato to Scholar Tariq Ramadan charged with rape in France combat sexual violence
BRUSSELS Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said Wednesday she would work with the Nato military alliance to combat sexual violence. “As a humanitarian, it’s an interesting step for me,” Jolie told a press conference in Brussels with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Jolie, a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said she was “honoured to be working with (Stoltenberg) over the coming months and years”. “We are very clear that this effort must be about practical results that make a real difference on the ground in conflict-affected areas
and in changing attitudes towards women globally.” One of the first countries she was likely to visit in her new role was Afghanistan, where women’s rights have struggled as the government and US-backed forces pursue a 17-year-long battle against Taliban militants. She said part of her Nato role would be “questioning where it needs to improve and change”, for example where it involved civilian casualties in air strikes. She added: “I am joining Nato as a humanitarian, I am not a military personnel. I am here to help and work on this side on where Nato does training that affects their relationship to citizens on the ground.”
PARIS Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been charged with rape and remanded in custody, a judicial source said, following claims by two women that he assaulted them in French hotel rooms. Ramadan, who was arrested by French police on Wednesday, was charged on Friday with rape and rape of a vulnerable person, the source said. He has denied the charges. The accused is a Swiss citizen whose grandfather founded Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement. After two days of questioning by investigators, the 55-year-old Oxford University professor was brought before three magistrates who have been assigned to the case, suggesting that he is facing an extensive investigation, judicial sources said. He was remanded in custody pending a bail hearing, to be held within four days.“If there are other victims in France or elsewhere, they now know that the justice system will respond to what has happened to them,” said Jonas Haddad, lawyer for feminist activist Henda Ayari, the first woman to accuse Ramadan. Women who have testified anonymously during three months of preliminary investigations might now also
file rape complaints, one of the sources said. The claims against the prominent scholar, which
emerged in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States, have divided many Muslims, with his legions of fans, as well as his lawyers, saying he is the victim of a smear campaign. But critics have long suggested that despite Ramadan’s moderate tone as a familiar face on television programmes, he preaches a more radical line when addressing Muslims in Arabic. Ramadan is the most
high-profile figure to be held in France over the sexual assault and harassment claims that have rippled around the world as a result of the “Me Too” campaign. The married father of four has denied the accusations from the two women.The first was made by Ayari, a feminist activist, had described being raped in a book published in 2016, without naming her attacker. But in October, she said she had decided to name Ramadan publicly as the alleged perpetrator as a result of the “Me Too” campaign, using the French hashtag “Balance Ton Porc” (Expose your pig). She said Ramadan raped her in his hotel room in 2012, telling Le Parisien newspaper: “He choked me so hard that I thought I was going to die.” She lodged a rape complaint against Ramadan on October 20. Several days later an unidentified disabled woman, a Muslim convert, also accused the academic of raping her in a hotel room in the southeastern city of Lyon in 2009.
Issue - 757 (9)
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Indian government changes its mind on orange passports, removing last page with address proof Owing to protest and concerns from various quarters, the government has reversed its decision to make changes to the passports, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said Your passports will retain the last the page with your address and other personal details. Yes, they can be used as address proof. And, they won’t sport orange jackets. Owing to protest and concerns from various quarters, the government has reversed its decision to revamp passports, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said in a release on Tuesday.
“After comprehensive discussions with the various stakeholders, the MEA has decided to continue with the current practice of printing of the last page of the passport and not to issue a separate passport with orange colour jacket to ECR (emigration check required ) passport holders,” the ministry said in the release. A decision was taken by the ministry on the recommendations of a three-
Only time will tell what political choices I make: Shatrughan Sinha
member committee comprising officials of the MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, not to print the last page of the passport booklet. The MEA had decided to issue a passport with an orange jacket to holders with emigration check required (ECR) status, with a view to help and assist them on a priority basis. ECR status is issued to citizens who have not passed 10th
standard and such passport holders have to take clearance from the immigration office while travelling abroad for work. The ministry had received several individual and collective representations requesting it to reconsider these two decisions. “The decision of the MEA on both these issues was reviewed in the light of these representations”, said the release.
Without the last page, the practice of using the passport as an address proof would have stopped. The decision to have an orange jacket, critics said, would discriminate against citizens on the basis of educational qualifications.
In Delhi’s jumbo loss, major gain for Uttarakhand tiger reserve
Forest officials are likely to confiscate all seven domesticated elephants in Delhi and shift them elsewhere. Four of them would be donated to Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha has said only time will tell what political choices he makes during the next Lok Sabha polls and also shrugged off speculation his party may deny him a seat. The actor-turned-politician yesterday joined 'Rashtra Manch', a political platform launched by another disgruntled BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to take on the government's policies, saying there was no forum within the BJP for him to air his views. Asked on the sidelines of an event here if he will fight the next Lok Sabha polls, Sinha, who has turned a critic of the Centre's policies, shot back, "Why are you doubting it?" To another question about
speculation that the party leadership may not give him a ticket due to his public attacks on the government, he said similar claims were made during the previous Lok Sabha polls and that his name was among the last ones to be declared. This is not an issue whether they (BJP) will give me ticket or not. It will also have to be considered why they would not give me the ticket. I had the highest vote share margin ... Secondly, Whether I will take it or not, or from where I will fight, or not fight ... only time will tell. I have no worries. I am fearless," he said yesterday.Sinha had won the 2014 elections from Patna Sahib constituency by securing over 55 per cent of votes.
The tourists at Rajaji Tiger Reserve would soon be able to go on safari astride four elephants that are likely to be shifted to Uttarakhand from Delhi after being confiscated from their owners.Delhi currently has seven domesticated elephants owned by four people. All of them are kept in crowded localities and allegedly in poor conditions. The Delhi forest department is likely to shift them to sanctuaries outside the national capital, including ‘donating’ four to the Rajaji Reserve. Two others will be sent to Kalesar in Haryana. It will be a windfall for the Uttarakhand forest department that had earlier planned to bring six
elephants from Karnataka. For this a proposal worth over Rs 25 lakh was submitted to Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).This comes days after a team of officials from Rajaji visited Delhi’s crowded Sangam Vihar locality where six of the elephants are being kept in captivity by their owners. The other elephant is kept at JJ Cluster in Laxmi Nagar, another crowded area.As per the officials in the know of things, acting on a complaint by People for Animals (PFA), an NGO that works for animal welfare, a committee comprising wildlife officials had
recommended that all the seven domesticated elephants in Delhi should be confiscated as their health was poor and the animals were kept in bad conditions.he owners, who have the ownership certificate, had, however, moved Delhi high court challenging the committee’s report. The HC rejected their plea saying that chief wildlife warden has the powers to issue and cancel the ownership. Section 40 of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 states that the ownership certificate could issued only if the owners have proper infrastructure and capacity to keep the animals. The HC also directed to form a separate committee to inspect the elephants.The committee comprising officials of the forest department, the central zoo authority and the vet of the National Zoological Park in New Delhi, submitted its report in July 2017. The report stated that the elephants were kept in poor conditions in crowded localities. Most of the animals were suffering from poor health and had cracked nails.
VWhid hid devastating result from monkey tests VW ‘devastating’ result from monkey tests German auto giant Volkswagen tried to keep secret the results of a diesel emissions test on monkeys because it showed a worse health impact than expected, a news report said Wednesday. Bild daily reported that the exhaust fumes tests on 10 monkeys that have sparked fresh public outrage following VW’s emissions-cheating scandal “were never supposed to come to light” because the results were “too devastating”. Amid a storm
of criticism over the experiment and over separate tests on German human volunteers commissioned by an auto industry-financed research institute, VW on Tuesday suspended its chief lobbyist Thomas Steg and labelled the testing “unethical and repulsive”. The US study using monkeys in an Albuquerque, New Mexico laboratory, which VW said took place in 2015, was meant to show that the diesel exhaust fumes from a VW Beetle were cleaner
than those from an older Ford pickup. “This was not what the results showed at all, however,” reported Bild, citing internal study papers, despite the fact that the VW model had been fitted with a so-called defeat device that reduced emissions while testing. The Bild report said that after four hours of exposure, blood was taken from the animals and a special endoscope was inserted into their windpipes and bronchia through their noses or mouths.
It said some of the monkeys that had inhaled VW fumes showed a
higher degree of inflammation than other animals.
Issue - 757 (10)
Ramgarhia Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, born in late 1986, Canadian, 5’ 5" tall, slim, professionally educated, master’s degree in education, employed in Govt. sector in education department, belongs to a well off family in Mississauga & Brampton. The boy should be professionally qualified, born & raised in Canada. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: seekamatch_31@hotmail.com or call: 289-499-6718 *** 759 *** Suitable Canadian citizen/ immigrant match for fair beautiful, family oriented girl, belongs to a Brahmin family, 28 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, Canadian citizen, Bachelor’s degree from Canadian University, employed. Seeking a professionally qualified and well settled match from Canada. Toronto area prefered. Please contact with latest pictures and bio-data to : matrimonial9667@gmail.com *** 757 *** Well established, well educated, Jat Sikh family seeking a match for their Canadian born daughter, 27 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, beautiful, athletic with down to earth values. Dentist (Doctor), all education from private schools and top ranking Canadian University, Gold Medalist and well versed in punjabi language as well, seeking professional respondent only from Canada. Brother is also Dentist (Doctor) in Canada. Please respond with recent pictures and bio-data to: jst.guru@gmail.com *** 757 *** Well establish, well educated Jat Sikh family seeking a match for their gursikh son, 29 yrs. old, 5'-10 tall, Canadian born,handsome, good looking, athletic with down to earth values, dentist, doctor and Master in Physiotherapy. All education from private school and top ranking Canadian Universities. Well-versed in both cultures. Seeking professional respondents from Canada and America younger sister is also dentist doctor in Canada. Please send your recent pictures and bio-data to : jsvancouver76@gmail.com *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family from Distt. Hoshiarpur seeking a suitable match for their son, 42 yrs. old, 6' tall,naver married, Candian borne, M.Sc. in Computer Science, Well established, business oriented, living with family Surrrey B.C. looking for good life partner from Cananda/ America.Girl on work permit/visiter Visa can also be considered. Please send your bio-data & recent pictrue to : 1-604-307-2458 (WhatsApp) or call : 1-604-580-2458 *** 757 *** Saini Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 35 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, Candanian citizen, well educated, innocently divorced. The boy should be well educated, family oriented and from Canada/USA. Cast no bar. Please send your biodata & recent pictrue to : chaandi.saini@gmail.com or call :1-604-722-4502 *** 757 ***
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Jat Sikh family seeks a suitable match for their son, 36 yrs. old, 5'10" tall, born and raised in Canada, handsome, clean-shaven,well settled in a good job. The girl should be raised in Canada, family oriented and from Vancouver (BC) area. Call:-1-604-671-0002 (WhatsApp) *** 757 *** JatSikh girl,oct 88 born,5'- 4" tall, divorcee (no kids),M.Sc. nursing, living in Ludhiana (Punjab),beautiful,smart, English speaking. Wanted professional, American citizen, divorcee. Caste no bar. Uncles is well settledin California. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: billoogrewal@yahoo.com or call: col Grewal 1-209-5799636 cell:1-209-652-0220 *** 757 *** Jatt Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, Born and raised in India, Canadian citizen, 1983 born, 5’-5" Tall, Well educated,Working in a bank, Beautiful, Innocently divorced. The boy should be from B.C. Canada, good family background, Professionaly qualified, Employed or Businessman,Well settled, handsome, Non-Smoker, NonDrinker with good family values. Please send your bio-data & recent picture with to: nijjar0808@gmail.com or call: 1-778-387-5750 *** 757 *** Khatri Sikh Parents from West Vancouver Canada seek a suitable match for their daughter, 33 yrs. old, 5’-7" tall, beautiful, welltravelled, athletic, spiritual, and famous Canadian Doctor. The boy should be handsome, athletic, nonsmoker, non-drinker and an educated professional belonging to a Khatri or Brahmin family. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: dalipmehta@hotmail.comor call: Dalip Singh Mehta @ 1- 778927- 4669 *** 757 *** Saini Sikh parents seek suitable match for their 30 yrs. old, 5’-9" tall son, working as a medical officer in Government Civil Hospital in Haryana, presently on a 10 yrs. visitor visa in New York. His Bhuaji with whole family is well settled in New York for the last 30 yrs. Parents are well settled in Mohali, running a senior secondary school from last 35 years. Thegirl should be appropriately educated, tall, beautiful, Canadian/US citizen. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to:Docharman1243 @gmail.com or call: 011-91-7508176013 (Whats App.) *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 36 yrs. old, 6'2" tall, born & raised in Canada, university educated, MBA, working as a manager, vegetarian. The girl should be educated, family oriented. Please send your biodata & recent picture to : tormgr13@gmail.com or call :-647391-0478 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 29 yrs. old, 5'8" tall, born in Canada, B.Sc.
Nursing from Rayerson University Toronto, working in hospital as RN for last 6 yrs. earning $80,000 annually, clean-shaven, nondrinker, non-smoker, owns a house in Toronto and family also owns some rental properties. The girl should be well educated, beautiful and family oriented. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : randhawa71@hotmail.com or call :-416-997-0560 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 34 yrs. old 6 tall, well versed in both cultures. born and raised in Canada, Doctor (MD) employed in the USA till 2018 and may be beyond. Please send your bio-data and recent pictures to : b200348@gmail.com or call :-1519-351-8043 *** 757 *** Well settled Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, 59 yrs. old, 6'-2" tall, deaf, well settled plumber and gas fitter, non-drinker and skilled. Looking for a deaf match from Canada between 5060 yrs. of age without kids. Caste no bar. Please contact father (Hardev Singh) at :-1-604-302-1933 or 1-604-226-1955 *** 757 *** Tonk Kshatriya parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian citizen daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, B.Com, CGA/CPA working with federal government. The boy should be clean-shaven, well educated, professionally settled with family values. Boy on work permit may also be considered. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : jagsingh513@gmail.com or call :416-722-9771 *** 757 *** Well established Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their Canadian born and raised only son, 29 yrs. old, 5'-9" tall, handsome, software engineer, working in very reputed company, non-drinker, non-smoker, well versed in both cultures. Looking for a beautiful, slim, professionally educated match.Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : gkt2017ca@gmail.com *** 757 *** Jat Sikh Canadian immigrant male, well educated, 60 yrs. old, 5'-10" tall, retired, getting handsome pension, widower, owns good property in India. Two daughters happily married and settled in Canada. Looking for a suitable sincere and educated life partner. Caste no bar. Please call :-647-821-7170 *** 757 *** Sikh parents seek a matrimonial alliance for their pagridhari son, 29 yrs.old, 5’-7" tall, Canadian Citizen, qualified and employed as a Mechanical Technologist. The girl should be professionally compatible, family oriented and beautiful. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: raspal@gmail.com or call: 1778-218-3417 *** 757 *** Seeking handsome, qualified and well-settled match for Jatt
Sikh girl, 1986 born, 5'-5" tall, Canada PR, very beautiful, fair, slim, convent-educated, MBA, working with a reputed firm in BC, Canada. Family is settled in Amritsar, Punjab. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: reetsidhu0912@gmail.comor call: 1-7785513171 ( whats App) *** 757 *** Ramgarhia Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their son, 28 yrs. old, 6’ tall, US citizen, born in India, bachelors degrees in Finance & Accounting from CSUN & UCLA, working in a reputed company with good annual package, also pursuing CPA. Family belongs to Ludhiana and well settled in Los Angeles. The girl should be qualified having pleasing personality and with family values. Please send your biodata &recent picture to: virdirs27@yahoo.com *** 757 *** Jat Sikh Gill family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 29 yrs. old, 5'-2" tall, American citizen, R.N, working as a nurse in california. The boy should be equally qualified, family oriented, from US only. The boy on student/visitor/H1B visa can be considered. Please send your bio-data & recent pictrue to : ramandeep.gill87gmail.com or call :-1-661-487-0835 or 1-661343-0155 *** 757 *** Kamboj Sikh family seek a suitable match for their never married son, 39 yrs. old, 5'-7" tall, M.B.A., software Engineer, working in Bay Area California. The girl should be in USA, educated. Caste no bar. Please send your bio-data & recent pictures to : manjisca@gmail.com or call :1-510-974-9255 *** 757 *** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5' tall, B.Sc. nursing degree from India, living in India, beautiful, fair & from good family background. The boy should be Canadian/ American immigrant or citizen, educated with good family values. Please send your biodata and recent picture to : piarausa@hotmail.com or call :647-829-5872 *** 757 *** Jatt Sikh family seek a suitable match for their rurbaned son, 36 yrs. old, 5'-11" tall, Canadian born and raised, University degree holder, non drinker,non smoker, never married. The girl should be well educated, family oriented and from Jatt Sikh family. Please send your biodata and recent picture to : permjitsandhu01@hotmail.com or call :-1-778-320-0183 *** 757 *** Ramdasia Sikh parents invite a matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5'-5" tall, beautiful, BDS degree holder from India, Master’s Degree in health sciences from Australia,
presently in Canada. The boy should be Canadian immigrant/ citizen, professionally qualified and settled, non-drinker, nonsmoker from a good family back ground. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : kiransimak@gmail.com or call :-647-408-4989 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 32 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, University graduate, working in Human Resurces Department, beautiful and belongs to a good family background. The boy should be professionally qualified and employed, well settled, handsome with family values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : talktobal@gmail.com *** 757 *** Jatt Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, 29 yrs. old, 5’-4" tall, U.S. citizen, family oriented, well-educated, working as a CPA. The boy should be Jatt Sikh, clean shaven, welleducated, tall, & living in the U.S. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: mkaurm13@gmail.com or call 510-299-8413 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their only son, US citizen, 30 yrs, 5’-10’’ tall, professionally educated, lives in CA. Seeking Jat Sikh female with B. Sc in medical profession, well suited & cultured, permanent resident living in CA. Please send your bio-data &recent pictures to: kksdp15@gmail.com or call: 1-805-405-8721 *** 757 *** Jatt Sikh Gill parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, 26 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, American citizen, RN. The boy should be jatt Sikh from Canada / US. Please send your bio-data &recent picture to: gillfamily203@gmail.com or call: 1- 203-981-9213 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, January, 1991 born, 5'-3" tall, B.Sc. Nursing, working as a nurse in hospital. The boy should be well settled, educated, Canadian/ American immigrant or citizen, family oriented. Family is well settled in America only girl is in India. Please send your bio-data & recent pictures to : jaspreet8762@yahoo.com or call :-1-916-342-7010 or 1-571-4392427 *** 757 *** Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their Canadian immigrant daughter, 33 yrs. old, 5'-5" tall, post graduate, doing govt. job in BC. The boy should be professionally qualified & employed or well settled in business, non-smoker, nondrinker. Please send your bio-data & recent pictures to : tgill626@yahoo.com or call :-1-604704-3674 or 011-91-98727-25025 *** 757 ***
Issue - 757 (11)
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Saudis say $107b recovered from graft, 56 people still held RIYADH Saudi Arabia’s attorney general said on Tuesday $107 billion has
been recovered so far in a major crackdown on high-level corruption and that 56 suspects were still being investigated. Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said he has completed inquiries into 381 high-profile corruption suspects and decided to keep 56 in custody and free the rest. Those released include individuals proven not guilty but also others who had agreed financial settlements with the government after admitting corruption charges, he said. Total settlements with the suspects had topped 400 billion riyals ($107 billion) in various forms of assets handed over that included property, securities and cash. In November, the authorities launched an unprecedented antigraft swoop that netted hundreds of members of the extended royal family, top businessmen and officials. The anti-corruption drive was led by Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old crown prince and author of the “Vision 2030” programme of social and economic reforms in the ultraconservative Muslim Gulf nation. Among those detained was one of the desert kingdom’s most high-profile and wealthiest men,
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. The man dubbed the Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia was
released on Saturday after striking an undisclosed financial agreement with the authorities. He remains chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company in which he owns a 95-percent stake. Some critics have labelled Prince Mohammed’s campaign a shakedown and power grab, but authorities insist the purge targeted endemic corruption as the country prepares for a postoil era. “The total number of subpoenaed individuals reached 381, a significant number of whom were called to testify or provide evidence,” the attorney general said on Tuesday in a statement released by the information ministry. Mojeb said he had decided to “keep in custody those individuals - 56 in total - where the attorney general has refused to settle with them due to other pending criminal cases”. He said he will continue investigating the 56, but provided no further details about their identities. On Friday, the authorities also released media mogul Waleed al-Ibrahim, owner of influential Arab satellite network MBC. Another high-profile detainee, former National Guard chief
Indonesian family lived with dead relatives to bring them back to life BANDUNG An Indonesian family lived with the bodies of two dead relatives in the hope that keeping their corpses could bring them back
to life, police said Wednesday. The bizarre discovery came after a medical officer on a routine visit tipped off authorities after 77year-old Neneng Hatidjah refused to let the officer inside the house, which was emitting a strange smell.When local authorities forced their way into the home in Cimahi, West Java, they found the nearly skeletal bodies of Hatidjah’s deceased husband and daughter covered with cloth
and laid out in a bedroom. She had sprinkled powdered coffee around the remains and police said they also found dozens of perfume bottles in the home, about a three-hour drive from the capital Jakarta.The remains were identified as Hatidjah’s husband, who died in December at the age of 85, and her 50-year-old daughter, who had been dead for two years. Hatidjah, whose two other children were living in the home, told police that the pair both died of illness, but she did not bury them in the hopes they could be resurrected.“She said she heard whispers that if she took care of the dead bodies, they would come back to life,” local police spokesman Hari Suprapto told AFP Wednesday. The septuagenarian was not charged but police said they’re investigating whether foul play may have been involved.
Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, was released recently following a “settlement” with the authorities which reportedly exceeded $1 billion. The government said most of those detained agreed monetary settlements in exchange for their freedom. Those caught up in the corruption crackdown were detained at the luxury RitzCarlton hotel in Riyadh. The hotel is due to reopen on February 14, and it was not immediately known if any of the 56 still in custody were kept there. The windfall from the settlements will help finance a package announced by King Salman this month to help citizens cope with the rising cost of living, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. He said part of the estimated $13 billion aid package for this year will come from the proceeds of the financial settlements. Saudi Arabia relies heavily on oil income, and introduced a string of austerity measures after crude prices began to slide in mid-2014, resulting in massive budget shortfalls. Riyadh twice raised the prices of fuel and power and imposed excise duty on certain products and a five-percent value-added tax (VAT), in addition to taxing expatriates. Saudi Arabia, which pumps 10 million barrels of oil per day, has posted budget deficits totalling $260 billion over the past four years, and projects a shortfall of $52 billion this year.
Secret Australian government papers found in old furniture
SYDNEY Hundreds of “top secret” and classified Australian government papers have been found in locked cabinets sold at a secondhand shop, national broadcaster ABC reported Wednesday as Canberra ordered an urgent probe. The two filing cabinets were bought for “small change” from a store in the nation’s capital that sells off ex-government furniture, the broadcaster said. The cabinets were locked and sold without keys, it added. They were unopened for several months until someone used a drill to get into the drawers, finding a trove of documents detailing almost a decade of government workings, the ABC said. The files include a report on the Australian Federal Police losing nearly 400 national security files in five years, and another about how 195 top secret documents were left behind in a senior minister’s office after Labor lost the 2013 elections. The documents also featured defence plans in the Middle East, Afghanistan conflict
updates and intelligence on Australia’s neighbours, the ABC reported. Others detailed policy debates within the cabinets of previous Labor and LiberalNational coalition governments under former leaders Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and John Howard. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quipped on Tuesday before the ABC revealed its filing-cabinet source for one story that it appeared their reporters “have come across someone’s bottom drawer in Canberra”. The ABC have broadcast a series of stories over the past few days, without declaring the source of the information. It has also declined to say who found the documents or handed them over to the broadcaster. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said Wednesday it had “initiated an urgent investigation” into how the filing cabinets were disposed. Australian cabinet papers are usually not released to the public until two decades after they were created.
Turkey court rules local AI chief to remain in jail ISTANBUL An Istanbul court ordered the continued detention of Taner Kilic, the head of Amnesty International in Turkey, in a dramatic reversal of its decision to release him into judicial control within 24 hours which the rights group slammed as a “travesty of justice”. Kilic has been held since June 2017 in the western city of Izmir, accused of links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who Turkey says ordered a failed coup in July 2016. Amnesty has denounced the allegations against Kilic as “baseless”. “The Istanbul court has now overturned its own release verdict,” Turkey’s Amnesty researcher Andrew Gardner said on Twitter. “This is devastating for Taner’s family and a disgrace to justice .”To the delight and relief of Taner’s family and friends, the Istanbul court had on Wednesday ordered his release on judicial control, meaning he would remain charged but have to report regularly to the authorities.But their joy was sapped hours later after he was taken back into custody straight after his release.It later emerged that the prosecutor had appealed the decision to release him on Wednesday, while a second court ordered his continued
detention and issued an arrest warrant, Gardner told AFP. Then on Thursday the first court reversed its own decision, he added. The case has sparked major concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey, with activists accusing the authorities of using the state of emergency
suspended in its aftermath over alleged links to Gulen. Gulen and his followers deny any links to the coup, and reject the Turkish government’s attempt to label them as a terrorist group. Amnesty slammed the decision and urged the authorities to release Kilic, with its secretary general, Salil Shetty, describing
to crack down on opponents. The emergency was imposed following the July 2016 attempted putsch and was renewed for a sixth time last time. Some 55,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 public sector workers sacked or
the move as “a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions”. He added: “To have been granted release only to have the door to freedom so callously slammed in his face is devastating for Taner, his family and all who stand for justice in Turkey,” Shetty said.
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Leaked Ferrari presentation drops details on super hot 488
Ferrari convened a gathering of dealers and special customers recently, and presented them with some of the specs on that special, monstrous version of the Ferrari 488 that’s been percolating in public for nearly a year. Someone in the audience snapped pics of a few
slides, those pics made their way to Ferrari Photo Page, and now we can assemble the loose bolts of rumor into something approaching a real vehicle. Not just “a” vehicle, but the most powerful Ferrari V8 the company has ever made. Ferrari uses the 488 GTB as the base for its Ferrari Challenge racing series;
now the Italian carmaker’s returned the Challenge motorsport lessons to the production car.Leaked Ferrari presentationFirst, the coupe almost certainly won’t be called 488 GTO. Ferrari owners in the Ferrari Chat forum have been wheedling their dealers for information, and several contributors to an 80-page thread attested that even the dealers don’t know the name of the coupe yet. The presentation refers to it as “New V8 Sport Special Series.” The slides also note the “highest horsepower increase vs donor car for a V8 special series,” so watchers expect more than 700 horsepower from the 488’s 3.9-liter twin-turbo engine; production numbers come in at 660 horsepower and 561 pound-
feet of torque. The engine making all that fuss is an evolution of the racing unit in the Challenge car, is ten percent lighter than the production car motor, and can produce a “unique track-like sound” as if Ferraris haven’t been doing that since the 1960s.Leaked Ferrari presentationThe coming coupe gets more carbon fiber than ever seen in a Ferrari production car: the hood, bumpers, and large rear spoiler come in resin-soaked cloth, as do the dashboard, center tunnel, and the 20-inch wheels. Those wheels, dressed in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber, are 40-percent lighter than stock alloys. The cabin floor will be made of aluminum, with added lightness courtesy of less sound deadening and, thinner
Harley-Davidson Likely To Launch Three New Bikes Harley-Davidson Likely Launch Three New Bikes:The iconic American marque recently trademarked three names which lead us to believe that we could see three new motorcycles soonHarley-Davidson Likely To Launch Three New BikesAccording to reports, American bike manufacturer Harley-Davidson has filed a trademark for three new model names. Between December 7 and 21 last year, the company trademarked the names – the Bronx, 48X and Pan America – for exclusive use on its motorcycles. In the past two years, both the Touring and the Softail range have received massive updates. However, the same cannot be said about the Sportster range, which is starting to show its age. Hence, we think, the launch of three new models to refresh the range is a high possibility.Harley-Davidson Likely To Launch Three New BikesThe 48X, we believe, could be an upgraded version of the already existing Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight. As the motorcycle is already
facing stiff competition from the new Indian Scout Bobber and the Triumph Bobber Black, this move only seems obvious. As seen on the recent Milwaukee-Eight engine, the engines powering new bikes could switch to four-valve heads as well. Also, since Euro 5 emission norms are around the corner (from January 2020), Harley will have to update the engine in the Forty-Eight soon. Harley-Davidson Likely To Launch Three New Bikes We expect the Bronx to be an urban-focused bike that could possibly replace the Harley-Davidson Iron 883. The Pan America, on the other hand, is likely to be a Sportster-based tourer that could replace the HarleyDavidson 1200 Custom. As the trademark office in the US has a 36-month ‘use it or lose it’ policy, we expect the three new Harley-Davidsons to debut sometime next year. Stay tuned for more updates.
fixtures like side windows, and the omission of non-essential parts like the glove compartment.Leaked Ferrari presentationNew S-ducts in front and a GTE-inspired rear diffuser help increase aero efficiency by 20 percent over t h e s t a n d a r d 488. The “extremely direct steering ratio,” “new race gearshift strategy” programmed into the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and new Sideslip management settings will contribute to either track-day superiority or overtime pay for the track-day tow-truck driver. The Ferrari Chat discussion says the vehicle won’t have an active air brake, but the options sheet might offer a lithium battery and titanium exhaust.
French startup launches world's first hydrogenpowered bicycles
A French start-up has become the first company to start factory production of hydrogen-powered bicycles for use in corporate or municipal fleets. Pragma Industries, which is based in Biarritz, France and makes fuel cells for military use, has sold some 60 hydrogen-powered bikes to French municipalities including Saint Lo, Cherbourg, Chambery and Bayonne. At about 7,500 euros per bike, and at least 30,000 euros for a charging station, the bikes are too expensive for the consumer market, but Pragma is working to cut that to 5,000 euros, which would bring their price in line with premium electric bikes.hydrogenpowered bicycles“Many others have made hydrogen bike prototypes, but we are the first to move to series production,” said founder and chief executive Pierre Forte. The firm’s Alpha bike runs for about 100 km (62 miles) on a twolitre tank of hydrogen, a range similar to an electric bike, but a refill takes only minutes while e-bikes take hours to charge. One kilo of hydrogen holds about 600 times more energy than a one-kilo lithium battery. Pragma also sells refueling stations that produce hydrogen through the electrolysis o f water as well cheaper tank-based stations.hydrogen-powered bicyclesThe bikes, which look and ride the same as any normal bicycle, are aimed at bike-rental operators, delivery companies, and municipal or corporate bicycle fleets with intensive usage.
Sri Lanka elephant kills top Buddhist monk A senior Buddhist monk died in hospital Saturday, a day after being attacked by an elephant at his own temple near the capital, police said.Bellanwila Wimalarathana, 77, was violently pushed to the ground by the tusker, but the mahout managed to prevent the monk from being gored, police said.The monk was rushed to hospital but died a day later. He was also a vice chancellor of a state-run university and becomes the first high profile monk to be killed by a tamed elephant in the country.The elephant was gift to the temple by the government of Myanmar in mid 2013
and it had been named “Myan Kumara.” Elephants are considered sacred animals protected by law in Sri Lanka. Several Buddhist temples have pet elephants which are paraded at annual pageants.Despite laws protecting them, about 200 elephants are killed annually by farmers who say they stray onto their land and destroy crops. About 50 people are killed in wild elephant attacks annually.Sri Lanka’s elephant population has dwindled to just over 7,000, according to the latest census, down from an estimated 12,000 in 1900.
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
4 Indian airlines interested in Air India stake sale : Report CAPA also expects Air India’s domestic and international airline operations, including budget subsidiary Air India Express, will be sold as a single entity while subsidiaries such as aircraft maintenance, catering, ground handling and hospitality will be hived-off.
More Indian airlines could show interest in the flag carrier Air India, consulting firm CAPA has said in its 2018-19 outlook released in Mumbai on Tuesday. “Up to four Indian carriers could express interest – Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara,” in Air India,
CAPA said in its report “Indian Aviation: Review of FY2018 & Outlook for FY2019” IndiGo has already shown interest while Tata’s which run Vistara has said they too would like to see the terms and Singapore Airlines, a Tata partner in Vistara has
also not ruled out interest. Bidders will be expected to be asked to submit a business plan for a 200 aircraft airline within 5 years and tender conditions are expected to be designed to attract investor interest. CAPA also expects Air India’s domestic and
international airline operations, including budget subsidiary Air India Express, will be sold as a single entity while subsidiaries such as aircraft maintenance, catering, ground handling and hospitality will be hived-off. Real estate will be transferred into a special purpose vehicle and working capital debts will restructured. Meanwhile, India’s air traffic is also likely to cross 150 million passengers by next fiscal CAPA said “Domestic traffic expected to grow by 18-20%, crossing 150 million annual passengers, with capacity growth closer to 25%,” the firm said The domestic
traffic will touch 125 million by March 2018 alone and international traffic will be 65 million. Growth could however be hampered because of capacity issues. “Growth may be tempered to 15% if some capacity if some aircraft inductions are delayed. International traffic to grow by 12% or more, to reach 70-7 5 million passengers,” it added. The firm expects the airline industry to post a loss of $350-375 million. IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways are likely to be profitable while Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara are likely to be unprofitable. The airports
sector could see an IPO by GMR group which runs Delhi and Hyderabad airports besides those outside. “IPO by GMR is likely. Disinvestment of MIAL (GVK group-run Mumbai International Airport Ltd) cannot be ruled out after it won the concession f o r N a v i Mumbai Airport. Both GVK and especially GMR l i k e l y to focus on international opportunities,” it added. CAPA expects IndiGo’s fleet size to reach over 230 by 2018-19 from 153 currently. IndiGo has 445 planes on order. Jet’s fleet size is likely to touch 122 from current 117.It has 86 planes on order.
GDP growth revised to 8.2% in ArcelorMittal says profits more than doubled in 2017 2015-16, FY17 unchanged at 7.1% ArcelorMittal’s bottom-line net profit rose to $4.6 billion, up from $1.8 billion a year earlier.
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal said on Wednesday that its net profit more than doubled last year as the worldwide market for steel improved.ArcelorMittal said in a statement that its bottom-line net profit amounted to $4.6 billion, up from $1.8 billion a year earlier.Underlying or operating profit jumped by 30% to $5.4 billion on a 21% increase in sales to $68.7 billion, the statement said.“The combination of improving market fundamentals and delivery against our strategic objectives contributed to a successful year for the company,” said chief executive Lakshmi Mittal.Looking ahead, market conditions were “favourable,” and the demand environment “remains positive,” the company said.“The market environment remains supportive but the industry must continue to address the twin challenges of overcapacity and unfair trade,” said Mittal.
The estimates of GDP and other aggregates for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 have undergone revision due to use of latest available data on agricultural production
The Central Statistics Office Wednesday revised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for 2015-16 to 8.2% from the earlier estimates of 8% and kept the 201617 growth unchanged at 7.1%. The real GDP or GDP at constant (201112) prices for the years 2016-17 and 2015-16 stands at Rs 121.96 lakh crore and Rs 113.86 lakh crore respectively, showing growth of 7.1% during 2016-17 and 8.2% during 201516, the CSO said in a statement. In terms of real GVA (gross value added), it said the GVA at constant (2011-12) basic prices grew 7.1% in 2016- 17, as against a growth of 8.1% in 2015-
benchmark-indicator method employed at the time of release of Provisional Estimates on May 31, 2017.The estimates of GDP and other aggregates for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 have undergone revision due to use of latest available data on agricultural production; industrial production especially those based on the provisional results of Annual Survey of Industries (ASI): 2015-16 and final results of ASI: 2014-15; government expenditure and also more comprehensive data available from various source agencies and State/ UT Directorates of Economics and 16. According to advance GDP Statistics. estimates of CSO, the GVA growth on 2011-12 price was estimated at 6.6 per cent for 2016-17. The CSO Wednesday released the first revised estimates of national account for 2016-17 along with second revised estimates for 2015-16 and third revised estimates for 2014-15 (with base year 2011-12).Under the third revision, the CSO has estimated GDP growth in 2014-15 at 7.4% from earlier estimates of 7.5%. The CSO said that the first revised estimates for 201617 have been compiled using industry-wise/institution-wise detailed information instead of using the
California wants 5m ‘green’ cars on roads by 2030 LOS ANGELES California Governor Jerry Brown Friday signed an executive order detailing aims to have five million electric cars on the state’s roads by 2030 - by accelerating the production of such vehicles using financial incentives and rebates. The $2.5 billion, eight-year plan also involves the installation of 250,000 electric vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations by 2025. “To continue to meet California’s
climate goals and clean air standards, California must go even further to accelerate the market for zero-emission vehicles,” the governor’s office said in a statement. The order aims to “dramatically reduce carbon emissions from transportation - a sector that accounts for 50 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of smogforming pollutants,” it added.The previous target, from 2012, aimed to get 1.5 million “green” vehicles
on the roads of the most populated US state - which boasts the biggest automobile market, with around 14.5 million vehicles for 40 million people.California, where the number of zero emissions vehicles has risen by 1,300 percent in six years according to the order, will need to maintain similarly exponential growth to meet its latest goal. Currently, eco-friendly vehicle sales represent five percent of sales in the state.
Issue - 757 (14)
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Aceh orders female flight crews to wear hijab BANDA ACEH An Indonesian province said Tuesday it is ordering Muslim female flight
adding that he would aim to meet with some half dozen affected airlines this week. “We are
attendants landing in the region to don a hijab upon arrival - or face punishment by religious police. Muslim women in Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, are required to wear the Islamic headscarf under religious law, while non-Muslim females can opt to wear modest clothing instead. But some Muslim flight attendants who do not regularly wear the hijab were skipping the local practice during short layovers, forcing Aceh to issue the new regulations, said Mawardy Ali, head of Aceh Besar district which includes provincial capital Banda Aceh.“I hope the airlines respect the uniqueness of Aceh where Sharia (Islamic law) is implemented,” he told AFP,
disseminating this regulation to the airlines through the end of this week. Later, we’ll talk about punishment if we find there have been violations,” Ali added. “If a (Muslim) crew member fails to comply, we will reprimand her. If she does it repeatedly, I will order Sharia police to nab her.” He did not say what sort of punishment would apply to those who refused to comply, though hijab violations usually result in a stern reprimand.Many women in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslimmajority nation, do not wear the hair-covering scarf and Islamic law only applies in Aceh - the region won special autonomy in 2001
as part of a deal to end a long-running separatist insurgency.Concern has been growing among rights activists about rising religious conservatism in Aceh, where police at the weekend forcibly cut the hair of a group of transgender women and made them wear male clothing to make them more “manly”. Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda and its low-cost arm Citilink service Banda Aceh, which hosts the province’s main airport. Garuda said it would comply with the new regulations and may add a special uniform worn by its female staff on MiddleEast bound flights - which includes the hijab - to Aceh flights. “Garuda respects the local culture in Aceh,” said company spokesman Ikhsan Rosan. Citilink spokesman Benny Butarbutar, meanwhile, said the carrier has already been using an Islamiccompliant uniform for its attendants servicing Banda Aceh since 2015. Other airlines affected include Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air and its fullservice subsidiary Batik Air, which operate regular flights between Aceh and other parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago.
Kenya’s High Court suspends media shutdown NAIROBI Kenya’s High Court ordered authorities to allow three major broadcasters to temporarily resume service Thursday, after they were switched off for covering the opposition leader’s mock inauguration, prompting outrage over press freedom violations.Judge Chacha Mwita ordered the two-week reprieve in order to hear a petition by activist Okiya Omtatah Okoiti that described the gag as “grossly arbitrary, disproportionate, oppressive, and unreasonable.”The three private stations - Citizen, NTV and KTN - were shut off on Tuesday morning as they broadcast opposition supporters gathering for the swearing-in of their leader Raila Odinga as “people’s president”. They had defied orders by President Uhuru Kenyatta himself, who summoned media bosses last Friday and “expressly threatened to shut down” any station broadcasting the event, the
Kenya Editors’ Guild said in a statement.While authorities allowed the mock inauguration to go ahead, Interior Minister
Media Group, which runs NTV, according to Linus Kaikai, a Nation journalist. Warned by police sources that they would be arrested
Fred Matiang’i warned Wednesday that investigations were underway, prompting fears and rumours over imminent arrests. The lawyer and MP who swore Odinga in TJ Kajwang - was arrested on Wednesday afternoon and police fired teargas to disperse his supporters ahead of a planned court appearance Thursday. Meanwhile armed plainclothes police officers, were stationed Wednesday night outside the headquarters of Nation
if they stepped outside, Kaikai and two of his colleagues stayed in the office overnight. “It is a very sad moment for media freedom in this country and as the fraternity that we are in together with civil society organisations, we must stand together because if we don’t, then we will perish, we will go back to the days when we don’t even want to remember,” said Tom Mshindi, the Nation Media Group’s editor in chief.
HK bans ivory sales in landmark vote HONG KONG Hong Kong voted to ban ivory sales in a landmark move Wednesday to end the infamous trade in the city.Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted for the bill that will abolish the trade by 2021, following on the heels of China’s complete ban on ivory sales that went into effect at the end of last year. “Shutting down this massive ivory market has thrown a lifeline to elephants,” said Bert Wander of global advocacy group Avaaz in a statement. “Today is a great day for elephants. Hong Kong has always been the ‘heart of darkness’ of the ivory trade with a 670-tonne stockpile when international trade was banned in 1989,” said Alex Hoffard of WildAid Hong Kong.The amendment to the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants ordinance will phase out the trade in three stages, a time period some conservationists say could be exploited as a loophole and too late for African elephants which continue to be killed in huge numbers. The steps include a ban on trade in hunting trophies and ivory dating from after
1975, when a global treaty regulating the trade took effect. It would later extend to ivory acquired before 1975, and finally traders would have to dispose of their stock by 2021.
flourishing in Hong Kong, which saw its biggest ivory bust in three decades last July, when more than seven tonnes of tusks worth over $9 million were seized.
Penalties for offenders will be increased to a maximum fine of HK$10 million ($1.3 million) and 10 years’ imprisonment. Dozens of demonstrators including schoolchildren gathered outside the city’s legislature to protest against ivory sales holding up signs that read, “Do you really need ivory chopsticks?”Angry ivory traders have said they will be forced to close down their businesses and demanded the government compensate them for their stock - which the new ordinance rejected. Despite the planned ban, the trade was still
In the months ahead of Wednesday’s vote, the legislature heard tales of murder and suffering involving African park rangers who were shot dead while protecting elephants and others drowned or set on fire. African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol, and used to fetch as much as $1,100 a kilogram ($500 a pound). Poaching in Africa has seen the elephant population fall by 110,000 over the last 10 years to just 415,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
SIMPLY BUSTED WEAVES SUBTLE MAGIC Phantom Thread Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps, Richard Graham, Camilla Rutherford, Harriet Sansom Harris Direction: Paul Thomas DANIEL Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson last collaborated a decade ago, and the outcome was There Will Be Blood. That film won Day-Lewis a Best Actor Oscar, while Anderson received a nomination in the Direction category. Phantom Thread lives up to that legacy. The duo’s laudable latest has garnered six Oscar nominations this year, including one each for the actor and the filmmaker. The Oscar nod apart, there is another reason why the film is special for fans. This is DayLewis’ final act — the veteran retires after this project. Phantom Thread, though, hides a joker in its pack. You go in expecting this film to be all about Daniel DayLewis’ histrionic might and Anderson’s craft as a storyteller. While the duo does not disappoint, the pleasant surprise comes from leading lady Vicky Krieps. The Luxembourger actress, known over the years for
several remarkable roles in European cinema, leaves a solid impact on Hollywood with Phantom Thread. Anderson’s cinema invariably has a dark edge to it, especially in the way human obsessions are portrayed. His latest film bears that streak through Reynolds Woodcock, renowned dressmaker in London of the 1950s, essayed superbly by Day-Lewis. Woodcock, along with his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville), rules the post World War fashion scene in England, catering to royalty and London’s super rich. Woodcock is a popular man — especially among the ladies — for his creativity as well as charm. Then, a young woman named Alma (Krieps) comes into his life. Woodcock is happy at the idea of a lover and muse. However, Alma’s advent throws his life in a turmoil owing, owing to his excessive fixation for her. Phantom Thread overflows with vivid details as Anderson creates the lushness of a bygone era. Relationship drama has always been the director’s forte. This film only reiterates that fact. — Vinayak Chakravorty
THIS time, Gerard Butler steps into Den Of Thieves in a bid to reinvent a career that has only been slowing down over the years since he served up that solid thwack with 300. Den Of Thieves is a heist thriller that tries hawking what every other film in the genre essentially does, mixing crime drama with a dash of humour and action. The impact is only partial. For one, director Christian Gudegast doesn’t seem inspired enough with fresh ideas. From The Usual Suspects via Reservoir Dogs and the Oceans flicks (just to name a random few gems), you have savoured too many smart flicks in the heist thriller genre to find this lazy mediocre fare enjoyable. As the minutes tick, a rather uncomplicated filmi tale unfolds. The backdrop is Los Angeles, where the Federal Reserve branch takes out and destroys around $120 million cash every
Vinayak Chakravorty By
Den Of Thieves Cast: Gerard Butler, 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, Max Holloway, Jay Dobyns, Alix Lapri Direction: Christian Gudegast day. A notorious local gang plans to loot the stash one day. The job, of course, is easier said than done. Standing in the gang’s way are the ruthless law enforcers of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s office. Rather than look at original thrills, Den Of Thieves banks on oldfashion choreographed stunts and exaggerated machismo to grab the eyeballs. The odd relationship melodrama subtext is added too, in an obvious bid to
strike an emotional cord. It only ends up hampering the pace. Den Of Thieves lacks surprises, and the flaw is only made worse by the fact that the film’s mostly predictable narrative leads to a lame twist in the climax. You might just see what’s coming in the end long before it actually does. For Butler, this is too regular a role to let him leave any impact whatsoever. The high point of the actor’s performance must be taking aim and spraying bullets at adversaries. The fact goes for every other actor, too. Still, the cast tries making most of the absolutely bland roles they are given to play out. Butler apart, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Pablo Schreiber exude odd moments of brilliance to the jaded screenplay. Den Of Thieves is a heist flick that seems to be in haste to leave an impact. In the process, the film commits too many logistic gaffes.
Lost in a maze Maze Runner: The Death Cure Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas BrodieSangster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aidan Gillen Direction: Wes Ball IT’S more of the same actually, and certainly not for you unless you are a hardcore fan of the franchise. The Death Cure, third and final chapter in the Maze Runner film series, has nothing new to offer to the saga. The sequel, like previous editions, talks of valour, loyalty and friendship in a dystopian world, through the continuing tale of a bunch of youngsters facing unending peril. The idea obviously lets the makers set up random action and drama. The stunts, especially,
remain the enjoyable bits in the film. Picking up from where we left the story in The Scorch Trials, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and the escaped Gladers embark upon their final and most dangerous mission. They need to break into Last City, an impenetrable labyrinth, in order to save a few friends. The labyrinth also seems to hold answers to a few important questions that have plagued the Gladers. Director Wes Ball, who has directed all three Maze Runner flicks, sticks to tested tricks, serving high-tempo, CHIloaded stunts. There is an undercurrent comment somewhere, you realise, but it gets lost in the convoluted maze of mediocre filmmaking. — Vinayak Chakravorty
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Fitness Is Not About Showing Six-Pack Abs: Akshay Kumar
Urging Indians to put health first, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who on Sunday became a part of the Max Bupa Walk For Health 2018 here, said fitness is more about being overall fit rather than just six-pack abs. At the Max Bupa Walk For Health 2018, Akshay power walked on a special machine to generate electricity. The actor also stressed on the dual health benefits of the
innovative machine on physical health and the environment by saving natural resources consumed in generating electricity. “There is absolutely no excuse for ignoring one’s health, we’ve got one body, one heart, one chance, lets live it like we’re scared of losing it. Fitness is not about showing off six pack abs built from a bottle full of enhancers. Fitness is about becoming the best version of
you, no matter what level you may be at, level 1 is better than 0,” Akshay said in a statement. “So, I urge one and all to respect the body God has gifted you with, and become the healthy person you have always wanted to be. I’m not asking anyone to spend lakhs on gym memberships. All I’m saying is make the most of what’s around you. Let’s be honest, walking is free,” he added. Akshay flagged off the walkathon here. A 7 km competitive category, Power Walk, was introduced in India through the event. Actor and VJ Rannvijay Singha became the ambassador of Power Walk in India, with wellness enthusiasts Sucheta Pal and Mickey Mehta keeping the participants entertained with fitness activities. Rannvijay said: “It doesn’t take a lot to stay healthy but people simply lack the motivation to get started and stay committed to their fitness regime. The first and easiest step to good health is walking for just 30 minutes a day.”
Vidya Balan On Padmaavat Row: All Films Deserve To Be Released Vidya Balan believes that every movie should be released in the way it has been made by the director and says that instead of protesting against a film, people should just not watch it if they feel offended. The actor’s comments came in the aftermath of the controversy over the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat, which faced protests from various Rajput groups, including the Karni Sena, which alleged that it distorted history, a claim repeatedly denied by the director. The film, starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, was released on January 25 after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared it with a ‘U/A’ certificate and five modifications, including title change from “Padmavati” to “Padmaavat”. “I feel every kind of film should be allowed to be released in the way it’s been made and then if you don’t want to go and watch it, don’t watch it. But at least watch it to know what it has,”
said Balan, who is also a member of the Central Board of Film Certification. Balan said the protesters should not raise their voices against the film’s content till they have actually watched it in its entirety. “It is our fundamental rights for making film on any subject and its screening in the theatres and should not be violated,” the actor told reporters.
Ranveer Singh’s 83 I Am Already Stereotyped And I Don’t Postponed; Here’s The Care About That: Kartik Aaryan New Release Date
Ranveer Singh announced on Instagram that ‘83, his film based on India’s unlikely triumph at the 1983 World Cup, will be
delayed as he is busy with Z o y a A k h ta r ’s G u l l y B o y. Kabir Khan’s directorial venture, in which Ranveer plays Kapil Dev, will now hit the screens on August 30, 2019. The film follows how, under the captaincy of then newbie Kapil Dev, the Indian cricket team defeated West Indies. It tracks the coming-of-age of not just a cricketing team, but of a young nation in the eyes o f t h e w o r l d . E a r l i e r, t h e makers were planning an April 2019 release for the film. The film is being made by Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films in association with Vibri Media and Kabir Khan Films.
Actor Kartik Aaryan says the youth connects with his kind of films like “Pyaar Ka Punchnama” and now “Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety “and he doesn’t care” about being stereotyped. “I am already stereotyped and I don’t care about that,” Kartik told IANS when asked if he is not scared about being typecast by doing similar kind of roles. “Audience has given us their love and I want to continue this journey as well. We have this connect with youth and they are always waiting for our films. I am blessed that so early in my career this happened. Monologue has got trendy. I did it twice and it worked second time also.” “The thing is that I am already working o certain projects and I don’t want to change it as everybody is loving it,” he added. Kartik walked for designer Amit Wadhwa’s label ‘AW’ that had a rich theme called “Treasure” but his concept was “Slow Future” for men’s wear. Using khadi and mulmul with touches of yesteryear, Amit splashed them with contemporary, hand embroidery along with interesting screen-printed details. The amazing reversible shirts told a fascinating dual story, while Nehru Jackets were sober but the draped pants
Katrina Kaif Has More Than 7 Million Followers On Her Instagram Account Katrina Kaif has been reigning on Instagram ever since she made a remarkable debut with a sunkissed picture, raking in 3.5 million followers in just a few months. Quirky, fun and relevant, the gorgeous actress currently rules the social media space with stunning pictures, witty captions and candid moments from her life, making her account one of the most entertaining celebrity Instagram accounts. No wonder then that Katrina Kaif has crossed the 7 million mark on Instagram in record time, in less than 9 months to be precise. Says Katrina, “It took
me a while to join Instagram. I was told that I would enjoy the interactions and follow new people I like, and that is exactly what has happened. I’m having fun. I’m sharing real moments with my followers and enjoy having a platform where I have my own voice. It is a personal reflection of me.” On the professional front, Katrina has had a successful film, ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ and is now working on ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ with Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. Apart from this film, she is also prepping up for ‘Zero’ with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma.
spelt pure comfort. Kartik sported a hand embroidered safari jacket teamed with a reversible shirt and parallel trousers with side box pleats on seams.
Won’t Compromise On My Opportunities: Kangana Ranaut
Actress Kangana Ranaut says she is a career-oriented woman who won’t compromise on her opportunities.
The actress, who walked for designer duo Shyamal and Bhumika at the Lakme Fashion Week Sumner-Resort 2018, was asked about her recent stint at “India’s Next Superstar”, where she shared the frame with Karan Johar. Kangana said: “In my professional career, I didn’t have any such feelings. I am not here to be friends with everyone and won’t get into their personal space either. I am a very professional person and a career-oriented woman. I won’t compromise on my opportunity. I will be out there. I will get what I deserve.”
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Gary Oldman’s Ex-Wife On Celebrities Come In Support Of Uma Thurman After She Revealed Her Darkest Hours With Him She Was Sexually Assaulted
Several Hollywood actors and actresses came in support of Uma Thurman after the actress revealed that she was sexually assaulted by film producer Harvey Weinstein. Stars such as Jessica Chastain, Judd Apatow, Asia Argento and more others extended their support to the ‘Kill Bill’ actress. Thurman recently opened up about being sexually assaulted by Weinstein and claimed that director Quentin Tarantino forced her to do a car stunt that resulted in injury. The Hollywood Reporter quoted Thurman as saying that she did not feel comfortable operating the car and asked for a stunt person to do the scene, but Tarantino
insisted she drive the car, which resulted in a crash that she claims gave her a concussion and damaged knees. The actress also released a footage of the onset incident. She claimed that Tarantino spat in her face and strangled her with a chain for other scenes. Chastain tweeted, “I keep imagining Tarantino spitting in Uma’s face and strangling her with a chain for KILL BILL. How many images of women in media do we celebrate that showcase abuse? When did this become normalized ‘entertainment’?” Argento, who was one of the first women to publicly speak out against Weinstein, strongly
Here’s How Mark Ruffalo Hinted At Final Exit From Marvel Cinematic Universe Actor Mark Ruffalo has hinted at his last appearance in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ruffalo may make his final appearance as The Hulk in an upcoming Marvel movie. He shared on Instagram a photograph from his last day shooting for Avengers: Infinity War, reports aceshowbiz.com. “Saw this on Reddit. Hhaha. My last day on IW. The final exit,” he wrote along with the photo in which he is seen wearing a CGI suit while carrying a bindle. Fans compared to the customary closing scenes from Bill Bixby’s Incredible Hulk TV show.
supported the actress. “Weinstein and Tarantino, what a pair! A serial rapist and a near murderer. It¿s no fucking joke what these abhorrent criminals did to Uma Thurman, before and after #KillBill. They put her life, her dignity, her sanity in danger. Burn in hell you sick fucks,” she tweeted. Thurman was a part of the movie “The Pulp fiction” which was produced by Weinstein. Post the release of the movie, she met Weinstein for the first time along with his former wife. In an interview, she said, “He used to spend hours talking to me about the material and complimenting my mind and validating me. It possibly made me overlook warning signs. This was my champion. I was never any kind of studio darling. He had a chokehold on the type of films and directors that were right for me.” The first incident happened at his suite in Savoy hotel in London where the producer tried to force himself on Thurman and molested her, reported The New York Times. The actress severed all ties with him immediately after the incident and, on the other hand, Weinstein stopped doing any projects with her. Later, she received a bouquet of yellow roses from the producer along with a note saying, “You have great instincts.”
A former wife of Gary Oldman, a frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar this year for “Darkest Hour”, has opened up about the darkest moments of her four-year marriage with him. She wants him to take responsibility for the physical and emotional abuse she went through. Donya Fiorentino, the third of Oldman’s five wives, says during their marriage, the actor “yelled at me constantly, ruined my life and stole my children”, reports dailymail.co.uk. Breaking a vow of silence, the former model says she wants the world and her children to know the reality about Oldman. “He stole my children and ruined my life. The truth needs to be told. I would like Gary to stand up and take responsibility for his actions. Will he? Who knows? He has always denied everything,” she said. The #MeToo movement sweeping Hollywood emboldened Fiorentino to speak up. “He is a great actor. Was he a great husband? No. Our marriage was a giant car crash in which demented things happened. I lost my self-esteem, I was broken.
adding that “I would rather get eaten by a great white shark than go through that marriage again”. “I have $20 in my purse. I’ve got nothing else he can take from me. I’m not speaking out to hurt Gary. In fact, I wish him well. He’s a brilliant actor and he fully deserves his Oscar. But when you are nominated for an Academy Award you have to be held to a higher standard.” Since his divorce with Fiorentino, Oldman has become one of Britain’s most successful exports to Hollywood, starring as Sirius Black in “Harry Potter” and in blockbusters such as “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”.
Quentin Tarantino Accused Of Trying To Kill Uma Thurman In a recent interview, Uma Thurman revealed a secret feud with director Quentin Tarantino after he allegedly made her do a dangerous stunt on Kill Bill. Her accusations refer to a famous scene which sees her driving the blue convertible to Kill Bill. Uma told the New York Times she didn’t want to drive the car as it had been deemed unsafe by others on set, but said Tarantino, who described her as his muse, forced her. “Quentin came in my trailer and didn’t like to hear no, like any director,” she said. “He was furious because I’d cost
them a lot of time. But I was scared. He said: ‘I promise you
Justin Timberlake Pays Tribute To Prince At 2018 Super Bowl Justin Timberlake honoured the late Minnesota native Prince during his Super Bowl halftime show. ‘Minneapolis, Minnesota, this one’s for you,’ the 37-year-old said before paying a tribute to Prince, who was born in the city and continued to have deep ties there throughout his life, before dying in his Minnesota home on April 7, 2016. The ‘Man Of The Woods’ entertainer sang alongside a large projection of Prince, singing his classic ‘I Would Die 4 U.’ The performance, however, stumped some fans who had
“I’ve been empowered by hearing other women speak up. When a woman gets her voice back, she gets her power back,” she said,
criticised Timberlake for reportedly considering the use of a hologram to show Prince performing during the tribute. The reports had incited mixed responses, including rejection from Prince’s former collaborator Sheila E. ‘Prince told me don’t ever let anyone do a hologram of me. Not cool if this happens!’ she tweeted on Saturday ahead of the show. However, she later clarified, tweeting, ‘Family, I spoke w/Justin 2nite and he shared heartfelt words of respect for Prince & the Purple fans.
the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road.’ Hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won’t blow the right way and I’ll make you do it again.’ But that was a deathbox that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and it was not a straight road.” She smashed into a palm tree and unseen footage released to Thurman 15 years later by Tarantino shows her slumped over the steering wheel and being carried out of the car. She said: “When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and a large massive egg on my head, I wanted to see the car and I was very upset. Quentin and I had an enormous fight, and I accused him of trying to kill me.
Issue 757 (18) SANJAY Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmaavat has sparked a raging debate on whether the Hindu custom of mass self-immolation, “Jauhar”, was “honourable exit” for a woman facing abduction and rape at the hands of a conqueror. Now, 18- year-old Nihad Barakat Shamo Alawsi, a Yezidi girl from Iraq’s Shinghal town who was sold to ISIS as a sex slave and managed to flee after 15 months in captivity, recalls how hundreds of Yezidi women even today choose death over rape— slitting their wrists or jumping off buildings. Nihad, who had herself attempted to take her life on several occasions to escape the brutality of ISIS men, told this paper how young prepubescent Yezidi girls taken as sex slaves would lock themselves up in washrooms hours before being forcibly married off to Islamic State fighters, and try to slash their wrists or devise other ways to end their lives. “My younger sister, who was just 13 years old then, was repeatedly raped in the adjoining room and her screams still echo in my ears. In those dark hours, several other captive Yezidi girls, who were brought in from different camps, first told me that many chose suicide to escape rape and torture,” recounts Nihad as her glassy eyes remain fixed on her restless hands. Nihad arrived in India last week as part of an eightmember
6 - 12 Feb., 2018 delegation comprising other ISIS rape and persecution survivors to attend the Republic Day celebrations in the national Capital and draw support from the Indian government for the Yezidi community. The trip was facilitated by philanthropic groups such as Sewa International, Yezidi Human Rights OrganisationInternational. On this sunny morning, as the delegation planned to take a tour of the Capital, for Hanifa Khalaf, another ISIS abductee who escaped before she could be sold off as a sex slave, the world came apart yet again. She received a call from her family informing her that the terror group had demanded $16,000 (`10,20,400) for the release of her younger sister. Two of Hanifa’s younger sisters, aged seven and seventeen, too had attempted suicide. While both of them were lucky to escape and are now in Germany, Hanifa lives in northern Iraq, hoping to rescue other members of her family still in captivity. “The first man, who took me, died soon after and his family then sold me off to another ISIS fighter in Mosul. Months later, I
heard he was planning to pass me on to his cousin... The neighbours saw my plight and took pity on me... they helped me connect with my family, who got support from Steve Mamman, a Jewish brother from Canada, and sent a smuggler paying $800 (`51,020) to rescue me. On October 15, 2015, when his family was sleeping, I was smuggled out of Mosul. It was a five-hour walk to freedom and family. I still remember seeing my parents waiting impatiently for me at the border of Zamar,” said
Nihad, her face lit up at the memory. Nihad had to leave behind her three-monthold son and has not heard of her younger sister, who was taken captive along with 27 others from her family on August 3, 2014 in an ISIS attack on Shinghal. The sunworshipper Yezidi community has close links with Hindu cultural traditions and is reaching out to Hindus and the Indian government for support. Mirza Ismail, (44), chairperson of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization, who himself fled
persecution by ISIS in Iraq as a 16-year-old and walked barefoot for 19 hours traversing rocky mountains, said, “Even today over 3,500 people are held captive in Iraq by Islamic State of which majority are women and children from the Yezidi community. Here in India, we met minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, who was extremely warm and promised us full support. Many of my fellow Yezidis live in pitiable conditions in refugee camps in Iraq and are in need of desperate financial help.”
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6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Russia bolsters its arsenal with stealth nuke torpedo Can carry bomb 1,000 times more powerful than Hiroshima one RUSSIA is building a nuclear torpedo that can travel thousands of miles underwater to destroy coastal cities, according to a new Defense Department report.The weapon, called Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System, can deliver a thermonuclear bomb 1,000 times as powerful as the one used to destroy Hiroshima. The robotic torpedo would be released from a submarine and travel through water at 110mph at depths that make it immune to anti-missile defense systems. It is described in the report as ‘a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo.’ Russian specialist Edward Geist, who studied the weapon, said: “The radius of total or neartotal destruction is the size of a pretty large metropolitan area. It’s difficult to imagine in normal terms.” The weapon was first seen in 2015 when Russia state television showed Vladimir Putin looking at a drawing of the system. Arms control expert Pavel Podvig said the weapon would be used as a ‘last resort’ by Russia if it was attacked by the US. He added: “The detonation would cause a very large amount of radioactive fallout.” In response to Russia’s building project, the United States will expand its nuclear capabilities, the policy document released on Friday said. Some critics say the move could increase the risk of miscalculation between the two countries. It represents the latest sign of hardening resolve by President Donald Trump’s administration to address challenges from Russia, at the same time he is pushing for improved ties with Moscow to rein in a nuclear North Korea. The focus on Russia is in line with the Pentagon shifting priorities from the fight against Islamist militants to ‘great power competition’ with Moscow and Beijing. “Our strategy will ensure Russia understands that any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is unacceptable,” the document, known as the Nuclear Posture Review, said. The rationale for building up new nuclear capabilities, US officials said, is that Russia currently perceives the United States’ nuclear posture and capabilities
as inadequate. By expanding its own lowyield nuclear capability, the United States would deter Russia from using nuclear weapons, US officials argue. Low-yield nuclear weapons, while still devastating, have a strength of less than 20 kilotons.
Schoolgirl gets stabbed repeatedly in Brazil THIS is the shocking moment a 15-yearold school girl was knifed repeatedly in the chest during a vicious brawl in a Brazilian school. The girl was allegedly attacked with a penknife at St Joseph State College in Jaragua, central west Brazil, on Friday morning following a long-standing feud between the two. The footage shows the moment the assailant launched her frenzied attack. She raises the knife and strikes several times while other students scream in horror at the scale of the violence. At the beginning of the film, the knife-wielding pupil is spotted holding the weapon and hiding it behind
her back before apparently launching the onslaught. The clash was broken up by a man who dragged the aggressor away from the conflict and held her in a classroom until police arrived. The injured student appears defenceless during the attack as she is forced to the ground and tries to fend off the blows. She was later pictured slumped on a chair being attended to by ambulance crew after the incident. Her white school top was soaked with blood. In another photo, a stained rose-coloured bra with a slash in the left cup shows where the knife reportedly hit the victim.
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had about the same explosive power. The argument for these weapons is that larger nuclear bombs are so catastrophic that they would never be used and do not work as an effective deterrent. With less power
and destruction, the low-yield option would potentially be more likely to be used, serving as an effective deterrent. The Pentagon document, which is largely in line with the previous review in 2010, said the United States will modify a small number of submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads with low-yield options. In the long term, the US military will also develop a new nucleararmed sea-launched cruise missile. The missile could have the less powerful option, but a decision has not been made, and will take up to a decade to develop, officials said. Greg Weaver, deputy director of strategic capabilities at the Pentagon, said the United States would be willing to limit developing the missile if Russia would ‘redress the imbalance in non-strategic nuclear forces. Weaver said the most difficult task for those working on the review was trying to address the gap between Russian and American nonstrategic nuclear weapons. Russia has a stockpile of 2,000 nonstrategic nuclear weapons, according to the Pentagon.
Cambodia will jail and fine those who criticise the king CAMBODIA’S government has approved the country’s first lese majeste law handing a five year sentence to anyone found guilty of insulting the king, a move rights groups fear will be used to target dissent. Unlike neighbouring Thailand where royal defamation often results in decades in jail, Cambodia’s largely symbolic monarchy was not until now shielded from criticism. The law, which was adopted on Friday during a cabinet meeting chaired by premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who is poised to extend his tenure at elections in July after dissolving the opposition and driving many of his critics into selfexile. The new law, which bans insulting Cambodia’s constitutional monarch King Norodom Sihamoni, was added to the criminal code to ‘phold and to
protect the reputation and royal name,’ government spokesman Phay Siphan wrote in a Facebook post. ‘Insults to
the King shall be punished between one to five years in prison’ plus a $2,500 fine, the post said. The power of the monarchy has waned significantly in recent decades under Hun Sen, who has amassed tight control of the kingdom.
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‘Apple’ of an eye: Insta window Woman dies af shows glam life of Steve’s child almost tore o
EVE Jobs the youngest daughter of late Apple founder Steve Jobs is making quite a name for herself. The 19-year-old, who shows off her luxurious lifestyle on Instagram, currently attends Stanford University and is an accomplished equestrian with years of national and international competition. Last year, Eve was named “rider of the month” for March 2017 after competing in the Amateur-Owner division in the East Conference of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series. She earned the award riding Charleville, and placed first and second respectively in the Show Jumping Hall of Fame classes during weeks eight and nine at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida. Eve competes other young heiresses like Jennifer Gates, daughter of Bill Gates, Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce Springsteen and Destry Spielberg, daughter of Steven Spielberg. In 2016, her mother, billionaire investor Laurene PowellJobs, bought a $15million (`961,662,000) ranch in Wellington, Florida, where she frequently competes and trains with Missy Clark. The ranch features four bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a 40foot long screened-in pool, a detached barn for up to 20 horses, plus a show-jumping training rink. Eve has aced competitions
60 hospitalised in South Africa after eating poisoned cow SIXTY residents of a village in South Africa were rushed to hospital after eating meat from a cow that had been killed by a venomous cobra. The victims, from Mpoza near Tsolo on the Eastern Cape, reported symptoms like diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches and stomach cramps. It is believed they were suffering from the after effects of the snake’s deadly venom, which had settled in the animal’s flesh. As many as 16 children had to be ferried to hospital. Eight of those were transferred to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital’s paediatric ward for specialist treatment. Others were taken to the Mthatha Regional Hospital on
Thursday. Four elderly patients who also ate meat from the contaminated corpse were transferred to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital. It is unclear whether any of their conditions are life threatening. Eastern Cape department of health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said: “Given the mass casualty nature of the incident, St Barnabas Hospital in Libode has also been put on standby to create space for additional patients that don’t require tertiary or regional services. The department is urging communities to stop consuming meat from dead animals you find as it is dangerous to do so.” Cobras are a kind of Elapidae - a family of venomous snakes found in the tropics and subtropics around the world. Their venom contains postsynaptic neurotoxins that spread rapidly in a victim’s bloodstream, causing respiratory failure and, eventually, death.
around the world, including events from the Hamptons, Kentucky, Canada and the United Kingdom, reported a news website. Eve is also dating equestrian and Miami School of Business student Eugenio Garza Pérez. Pérez, who is from Monterrey, Mexico, moved to the US at the age of 15 to study and follow the equestrian activity practiced by family tradition. He and his horse has competed in multiple competitions, and even met Eve at one of the events. Like Eve, he is also member of a family with successful entrepreneurs. Eugenio is the great-grandson of Eugenio Garza Sada, who
was president of the Visa Group and founder of a prestigious private university in Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies. The 19-year-old and her longtime boyfriend post numerous photos together in luxurious destinations all over the world. According to Forbes, Eve, her mother, and siblings, are worth nearly $20.1billion (`1,288,486,380,000). Steve Jobs died in 2011 for a pancreatic cancer, and according to his official biographer, Walter Isaacson, Jobs didn’t doubt that it would be his youngest daughter who would run Apple in the future.
A RUSSIAN teenager is under investigation for causing the death of a woman after forcing a car jack inside her and then extending it. Suspect Danil Cheshko, 19, was held by police after “almost tearing out the womb of his victim” in an horrific sex attack. Svetlana Sapogova, 41, a mother of two, was initially beaten and “raped with a stick” after accepting a lift from her attacker, said Russian reports. She died after a car jack was inserted inside her vagina and partly extended, police said. The horrific attack took place in a car after Cheshko had offered her a lift home from a mutual friend’s funeral near Saratov in southern Russia, it is reported. He is accused of tearing off her clothes before the violent attacks, to which he has confessed during police interrogations, said reports. He then “left her for dead” in the car, but she was noticed by passersby who called police and an ambulance. She was alive after the attack and doctors operated through the night to try and save her, but her injuries were too severe. A friend of the victim called Nadezhda said: “The car jack was found on the back seat of the car next to Svetlana. It was all covered in blood. Now, it is being examined by police. Svetlana lost three litres of
‘I AM NOT AFRAID OF I PUT MY TRUST IN A THE only terrorist survivor of the murderous ISIS attack on Paris that killed 130 people today told a judge: “I am not afraid of you, I put my trust in Allah.” Salah Abdeslam, 28, was flanked by two specialforces police officers brandishing machine guns and wearing balaclavas at the start of a trial in Brussels. In hugely dramatic scenes at the Palais de Justice, the notorious jihadi told the judge: “I’m not afraid of you, I place my trust in Allah. What I see is Muslims being judged and treated in the worst possible way.” Abdeslam refused to stand and also invoked his right to prevent cameramen picturing or filming him in court. If found guilty of terrorist charges along with 24-yearold Sofien Ayari — an alleged accomplice from Tunisia — he faces up to 40 years in prison. He was wearing a white jacket and thick black beard as he was led in front of judges, one of whom said: “Confirm your identity. Are you Salah Abdelslam? Say who you are.” In turn, the French passport holder from a Moroccan background who was brought up in Brussels, stared at the floor. But later in proceedings, Marie-France Keutgen, president of the judges bench, asked him why he refused to stand up in court. “I’m tired,” Abdeslam replied, to which Keutgen said he should show some respect, and get off his seat. Then Keutgen asked the defendant why he had bothered turning up in the first place. “I’ve been asked to come, I’m here, I’m being accused, so I’m here,” Abdeslam replied. “I’m staying silent, it’s my right, it doesn’t make me a criminal. It’s my defence, that’s it. I want it to be based on scientific and tangible evidence.” The failed suicide bomber and so-called “quartermaster” of the November 13, 2015 massacre was captured in Belgium four months later. Monday’s trial relates to
a shoot-out with police in March 2016, with Abdeslam and Ayari accused of possession of weapons and attempted murder in a terrorist context. There will be another process later this year or in 2019 in Paris, when Abdeslam will face trial in relation to the attacks in France. Meanwhile, there were 200 armed officers inside the court building in Brussels alone on Monday, where Abdeslam appeared inside the 90th Correctional ‘Apple’ of an eye: Insta window shows glam life of Steve’s child Chamber. It was the first time he has been seen in a public court since being shot in the leg during his dramatic capture. The Paris attacks were on the Stade de France during a football match between France and
Germany, bars, restaurants, and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 died. Among the nine attackers involved was Abdeslam’s brother, Brahim Abdeslam, 31, who blew himself up inside a packed restaurant. Both men had run a bar in the
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ter teen sadist out her womb blood. Her crotch was ripped out. He left her in the car to die and fled. “Doctors made surgery all night through, and twice resuscitated her. He was caught immediately and he confessed everything.”
F YOU, ALLAH’
6 - 12 Feb., 2018
Smart Chinese sex dolls will even help you in daily chores
A CHINESE sex doll maker is working to create the world’s first truly “smart” companion that can talk, play music, and even turn on your dishwasher. Exdoll — located in the port city of Dalian — currently makes around 400 custom robots per month, with the most popular being the basic model which costs $400 (`25,641.52). It’s current smart model, called Xiaodie, retails for $4,000 (`256,415.20) and comes equipped with a Siri-like device which allows it to speak, browse the internet, and use smart appliances connected to WiFi. But within a year, the firm aims to have the doll mimicking complex movements and facial expressions, recognising user’s voices, and following people around the room with their eyes. They eventually plan to make the robots so advanced they could be used to cure loneliness in the elderly and care for the handicapped. The dolls could even be repurposed to work as medical assistants and receptionists, the manufacturer says. When AFP visited the factory their reporter was greeted by a programmer in a lab coat who asked a petite blonde prototype sitting on a chair and dressed in a see-through white blouse: “What is your name?” “My name is Xiaodie but you can also call me ‘baby’. But if I’m not happy, I won’t answer,” the robotic voice says through a speaker, though its lips do not move. There are 33.6 million more men than women in the country of 1.4 billion people. The gap is attributed to China’s former one-child policy and a traditional preference for sons, which has led to selective and illegal abortion.
Some 114 boys are born for every 100 girls, far above the global average. China also has a rapidly ageing population, which is putting strains on the healthcare and social welfare system. Seated between two nonrobotic silicon companions, one in a short black skirt and a smaller model in a schoolgirl outfit, marketing director Wu Xingliang said
his company’s products could solve the country’s major social problems. “China has a shortage of women, and this is a factor in why there’s this demand, but they’re not just for sex,” Wu, whose customers include single young and older men but also married ones, told AFP. “We’re designing them so they can have meaningful conversations with you and help with chores around the house. They could eventually even work as medical assistants or receptionists,” Wu said. Xiaodie is essentially a sex doll fitted with a wifi
function similar to the iPhone’s Siri application, which can surf the internet and respond to voice commands. It can turn home appliances that are connected to the wifi on and off. Users can control the 25,000 yuan (`256,415.20) doll with a phone app or by giving it oral instructions — much costlier than the traditional sex dolls that the company sells for as little as 2,500 yuan (`25,641.52). In the next year, Exdoll hopes to roll out more advanced robots featuring artificial intelligence technology, complex facial expressions and body movements, voice recognition systems and eyes that can follow people’s movements. A shapely prototype in a racy white dress bows to greet male engineers at the factory. The programmers pore over 3D models on computer screens while another one assembles a skeleton with exposed wires and joints — reminiscent of the white droids in the Will Smith sci-fi film I, Robot. The machine becomes more lifelike as he gingerly affixes a silicon skin — handpainted in sultry makeup colours — over its face. Qiao Wu, chief development officer at Exdolls, said the goal is to create the most beautiful and most human-like robot possible. “There are already good robot technologies developed, so we want to concentrate on having a robot with the most beautiful face, and the hottest body,” he said. The firm makes 400 custom dolls per month, up from 10 in 2009. It began research on sexbots in mid-2016 and now employs 120 people.
Fans pay tribute to world’s loneliest bird
Belgium capital, in the Molenbeek district where Salah was found hiding on March 18, 2016. He was then linked to another Isis attack in Brussels on March 22 2016 when 32 people were killed in coordinated suicide attacks.
BIRD-lovers have been paying tribute to Nigel “no mates” — the gannet who lived happily in a “concrete colony” of birds — because he didn’t have any real-life friend. The rare gannet, who lived on remote Mana Island, off the coast of New Zealand, was surrounded by nearly 80 replica birds who looked just like him as wildlife conservationists tried to keep him happy and encourage other gannets to live with him. Since his death was announced last week, there’s been an outpouring of grief with many paying tribute on social media, and the conservationists who looked after him even penning a poem in his honour. Dubbed “the loneliest bird in the world”, Nigel seemed delighted with his instant family and even tried to woo one of them, building a seaweed, mud and twig nest to impress his inanimate friend. The news that Nigel had been found dead alongside one particular concrete bird suggests that he believed it was his partner in life. The solitary gannet had given hope to conservationists after he settled on Mana Island five years ago,
lured by the concrete colony he thought were real. Despite his ability to bond with the birds, no other followed him...until Christmas Even last year, when three new gannets arrive. However, the jubilation for a potential new generation was cut short, when Nigel was found dead. The ‘Friends of Mana Island’ Facebook group was first to report the death, saying: “Some sad news from the island... Nigel our first gannet has died suddenly. “Nigel won the hearts of Friends of Mana Island members and visitors to the island, settling there alone.” On social media, response to Nigel’s passing saw thousands of people express their sadness with poems and photos shared about the lonesome gannet. @ReetuKabra wrote: “I never thought a story about an isolated New Zealand bird would break my heart but it has. No point making any more plans for Nigel.” @AnnCaito1 added: “So, so sad. Why couldn’t he have been placed with others? Why leave him alone? Having a decoy just set him up 4 loneliness and kept him from seeking true mates. Mortifyingly sad.?”
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Intelligence officials say jihadi outfits now using private messenger services to radicalise youth and plot attacks
POPULARAPPS TURN TOOLS FOR TERRORGROUPS NUDGING out WhatsApp that has been one of the most popular mobile applications among terrorist outfits, private chat rooms available on Google Play Store that do not leave any trail even for a single day are now becoming the top picks of jihadis. Sources in intelligence agencies say in the past few years many android-based applications have come up in the market that draw users by promoting the unique selling proposition of end-to-end encryption. “Apps such as ICQ, Wickr and Jabber are the most popular private messengers available on Google Play Store. The terror outfits have been using these apps for internal communication that includes radicalisation of youths and for
spreading motivational speeches. These apps are now officially being used by the terror organisations for plotting strikes,” highly placed source in the cyber team of an intelligence agency told this paper. Experts say jihadi fanatics can now instantly talk to each other using software that scrambles their messages so no one else can read them. Islamic State extremists were till recently using Viber, which also offers the ability to encrypt messages, but have now ditched it because it allegedly keeps a record of the messages users have sent. Security and intelligence officials confirm that advanced tech tools are being employed by terrorist
organisations such as ISIS, alQaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Cyber experts say these private chat rooms are in a hot demand only because the messages are end-to-end encrypted and the files, photos along with the videos are in complete control of the person who has access to the receiver and content. The situation came to light during recent anti-terror operations where several indoctrinated youths were traced and detained. “Even if any radicalised youth is caught with a handset that has these apps installed, the agencies fail to prove the charges as the chats and files are no longer accessible,” an officer in a security agency said. These software are specifically made with security and privacy
features, dedicated to provide a protected communication platform to users. “Every message is encrypted with a new key using advanced vetted end-to-end encryption. These apps never have access to your messages or your contact list. No phone number or email address is required to register,” an ethical hacker, requesting anonymity, told this paper. “The address book of the user remains private and is not stored on the servers,” he added. Describing the other features of these apps that are a challenge for the security agencies, the hacker said the applications do not store any metadata associated with communications. “The code,
policies, and security practices have been verified by the mostrespected security research teams in the industry. The messaging protocol enables strong end-toend encryption and perfect forward and backward secrecy for user content.” this paper learnt that these apps also provide the facility of “configurable expiration time”. This helps the user set the expiration time on all messaging content. Apart from that, the shredder facility to overwrite all deleted content on the device makes the situation more complicated for agencies. Like WhatsApp, these private chat rooms also provide the facility of communication in private groups but this is limited to 10 users each. this paper had earlier reported about this modus operandi followed by terrorist outfits. “After identifying youths who could be radicalised and turned into members of sleeper cells, they are invited to a closed group where discussions are carried out in an organised manner.” “Further, when they are spotted as the most-active
Desert turns white as snow hits Middle East THESE incredible images show the aftermath of a freak snowstorm that left parts of the Middle East covered in a blanket of snow. Up to 16 inches of snow fell on the Sahara desert after a freak winter storm hit the area. The desert experienced snow for only the third time in 40 years. Bizarre pictures show camels with their humps covered in snow, while neardeserted landscapes have been left covered in flakes. The Iranian capital of Tehran was transformed into a winter wonderland after temperatures plunged and as much as 4ft of snow fell. Locals made the most of the change in weather and were pictured writing their names in the snow, sledging down hills and taking their 4x4s for a spin. Snow fell on Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia as the region experienced an Arctic blast.
members, they enter into a private chat window and at last when the stage of payment delivery arrives, the hackers managed to receive a call from the sympathisers.” “This is where the location and other confidential details were retrieved from,” the source explained. “The terrorists these days are well-equipped with tech and sophisticated weapons, and have remarkable command over
technology and online anonymity compared to many security agencies,” a senior official, who does not wish to be named, said. “Apart from the private chat rooms, the terrorists use TOR – an Internet browser known for anonymity, VPN hotspot shields, counter honeypots, private email servers, and anonymous filesharing techniques for secrecy of their insurgent operations across the world.”
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Victims have clips of Nassar putting his hands between their legs
Paedophile US doc molested 40 girls during FBI probe
A SHOCKING new report claims that while the FBI was slowly looking into allegations that ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar had molested three teen gymnasts, he reportedly molested 40 women and young girls who were under his care. Those girls and women were identified by the New York Times as having been molested during the period between July 2015 to September 2016, when the FBI first started digging into Nassar’s activities to when the Indianapolis Star publicly exposed his alleged behaviour. Nassar, a convicted predator, is now said to have 265 women and young girls accuse him of molesting them while they were seeking treatment from him. It appeared that the FBI continued to take its time investigating claims against Nassar, despite the fact that the agency was in possession of “instructional videos” showing an ungloved Nassar demonstrating treatment techniques including moving his hands around beneath a towel draped over the private parts of young women who were lying face down on a table. In the footage, the Times reported, Nassar discussed clinical issues about pulled hamstrings and trigger points and can be seen massaging girls legs, then placing his ungloved hands between the girls’ legs. To the camera, he says, “It’s not a fun place to dig.” At one point, he can be seen shaking his hand vigorously between a girl’s legs saying, “Do the hand-shaky thing.” One alleged victim, dancer Emma Ann Miller, now 15, told
the Times that Nassar began molesting her under the guise of treatment when she was only 10 years old. Over the years, the pain she experienced during the “treatments” increased. Between 2015 and 2016, Miller said she had gone to Nassar about 12 times for treatment at his office near Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. She said during the sessions, he would ask if her lower back hurt and “he would always find a way to touch me down there” by saying that her pelvis needed an adjustment, whether or not she said her back hurt. When Miller told her mother that she didn’t want to be in the room with Nassar alone anymore, Nassar apparently continued to grope her, using his body to shield Miller’s mother’s view while he was doing it. During that same period, Hannah Morrow, said when she was 11 or 12, she started taking four-hour car rides from her Illinois home so that she could go to Nassar for treatments, using music as a way to take her mind off of the alleged molestation she would experience during the treatments. Morrow, who is about to turn 18, told the Times that she also recalled making
excuses for Nassar’s alleged inappropriate touching, saying to herself that if Olympians went to him, it was OK, and that even though she might’ve been uncomfortable, he just “doesn’t realise he’s too close to my butt, or that he brushed over my boobs”. Also during the time that the FBI was investigating, gymnast Alexis Alvarado, 19, continued being one of Nassar’s patients. She first went to him in 2010 for treatment of a back stress fracture. She said when she was 12, the treatment had involved Nassar massaging her legs and then inserting his fingers inside of her. At the time, she said she didn’t realise that he was doing something inappropriate. Alvarado said her teammates called Nassar the “butt doctor” because he “thought everything could be fixed through the butt”. She continued seeing him on a monthly basis during 2015-2016 period when the probe was occurring. In Spring 2015, elite gymnast Maggie Nichols and Olympian Aly Raisman were overheard talking about Nassar’s inappropriate actions while attending a national team training sessions run by Martha Karolyi. USA Gymnastics was told about the conversation on June
17. When Maggie’s mother Gina Nichols heard, she said she told the president of USA Gymnastics in June, who allegedly told her that the organisation would tell the appropriate authorities and that she should stay quiet about the situation. After sending in a workplace harassment specialist to investigate and receiving her recommendation that Nassar be reported, USA Gymnastics contacted the FBI bureau in Indianapolis, where the organisation is headquarted, on July 27 — 41 days after receiving the initial complaint. However, Gina said it took 11 months before she was contacted by the FBI. It wasn’t until June 13, 2016, that Gina got a mail from an FBI agent based in Los Angeles named Michael Hess, who asked her to contact him to discuss “a complaint that was filed involving alleged misconduct by an individual linked with USA Gymnastics”. On September 12, 2016, The Indianapolis Star ran an expose about his alleged molestation involving a gymnast. In the months that followed, other alleged victims came forward and Nassar was caught trying to dispose of hard drives containing more than 37,000 images and videos of child porn.
Internet porn addicts could be putting their brain health at risk
VIEWERS of racy images on the internet could be putting their brain health at risk – as it can cause serious headaches, say Taiwanese neurologists. Brain scans
from a 40-year-old married man who regularly looked at such images showed activity in areas of the brain that are associated with pain, rather than those associated with sexual activity. One theory is that in some people, viewing porn triggers an increase in nerve sensitivity which in turn increases blood flow to the brain, causing pain. She’s the queen of stress-free baking, rarely breaking a sweat when fashioning even the most decadent of sweet treats. And celebrity chef Lorraine Pascale, 45, says her chilled persona is all down to a daily
dose of meditation and weight-lifting. “I practise transcendental meditation,” Lorraine, left, told The Mail on Sunday. ‘And mindfulness too. “It teaches me to let go of things I am powerless about. But it’s taken me a long time to get here. I haven’t always been this balanced!” She has also mastered the art of balance when it comes to her diet. “I don’t diet, I just watch my portion sizes,” she says. “And I don’t deny myself anything. I probably have a packet of crisps every day, because I love them.” The chef offsets the treats with regular weight-lifting
workouts. “It helps prevent the muscle loss that comes with ageing,” she says. The first digital stethoscope, which promises crystalclear sound recordings of the heart and lungs, has been approved for medical use. The 5cm device known as Stethee, uses innovative audioprocessing technology to record and measure sounds. When attached to headphones or a mobile phone, it lets users listen directly to organ rhythms and flags up irregular readings. The hand-held device is paired with an app, allowing medics to track vital signs over time.
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You can expect some changes in personal relationships that probably look negative initially but prove to be beneficial finally. You are happy and satisfied as you are rewarded with success in whatever aspect you choose to pursue, be it a matter of the heart or a matter of business. You are the peacemaker in an ongoing family conflict for which you gain appreciation and respect. Beware of pity, waste and dissipation in any situation. Family relationships are rejuvenated with positive attitudes. You need to move ahead carefully with new friends and connections. Be light and playful.
You are a whirling force of activity with so much to be done this week. Intellectual activity, brainstorming, decision-making and artistic pursuits are gainful and satisfying. You play a significant role in making policy or expressing new ideas, which lead to progress and expansion. You command great energy and power that motivates others towards a prestigious business project. It’s a good time to attempt difficult tasks and encounter tough people. You affirm and uphold justice, values and authority admirably this week. You are sensitive and amicable to your friends and family who look up to you for love and support.
You are endowed with physical energy and good health enabling you to cope with busy schedules and social engagements. Your wisdom and expertise brings a positive and gainful influence in earthy matters and creative activity. Investments and plans are lucrative and actualize with ease. However, it would be wise to flow with divine plans that may be a shade different to yours. Production, gain and creativity at work are satisfying. You can make travel bookings now for a trip that you have been looking forward to. A new home or property develops at a fast pace. Your social life is likely to be busy.
You are likely to be laid back and lazy while waiting for things to happen at work and at home this week. You tend to swing to extremes and go through mood changes when things don’t go your way. It’s best to let go rather than hang on to anything that is finished. New dimensions are waiting to be discovered. Life is trying to show you the way, so be aware, strong and centered to recognise this turning point. Sooner or later, one learns that clinging to the past is of no use, so it’s best that you drop dead weight and take a triumphant step towards the future.
Your intelligent mind brings clarity and perspective in chaotic situations this week. Professional and business matters need to be viewed from a realistic point of view so that finances and material aspects are not ignored. You are ambitious in business and professional areas, affectionate and kind in family situations and charming on social occasions. Business opportunities are lucrative. You can evaluate people and situations swiftly and accurately but need to act graciously. Stability in professional ventures can be achieved at this point.
Family matters and business affairs may take time to resolve be patient and persistent this week. The knack of responding totally to whatever comes, as it comes in life equips you to face problems and challenges! Unexpected disturbance at home or at work should be taken in your stride. Quarreling and infighting if not curbed in the bud can be detrimental to your business and disturb harmony in the home. Avoid confrontations; invite discussions instead. You are surrounded by loved ones and it is best that you stop worrying and start realistically looking at the love and kindness right in front of you.
It’s time to do some spring-cleaning in the home, office and mind to throw out dead weight, fixed ideas and unburden yourself. A positive and creative approach brings gain and resolution in old conflicts and work situations this week. You need to view professional and business problems from a balanced perspective. A new work opportunity can change the way you work and relate with people professionally! Adopt new and alternate therapies to get past health problems. Change being a constant factor of life there is no need to hang on to dead relationships. Express your feelings this week!
You can achieve a lot in business and professional aspects by combining creativity with practicality this week. You can expect superiors to support you and stand up for you in tough situations at work. A father figure earns your respect and confidence. Your good heart and positive approach brings you peace inside and friendship outside. Be aware of not becoming egoistic and presumptuous, as this could put you back at square one. Receptivity, openness, communication and sharing is your meditation and your path. You learn a lesson from a strong experience that touches you deeply and transforms you.
You have deep roots and a strong foundation, which allows you to grow and flourish in material and earthy aspects. You may need to be involved with family, parents and visitors during an event. It is a good idea to invest in land, home, property or art. An official trip is gainful. Despite changes in personal and professional situations, you maintain a position of power and authority. You are likely to meet a variety of interesting and powerful people who might invite your participation in a project. Bring celebration and humour back into your life as you may tend to be serious about everything.
It’s time to move into the future with a new vision about personal and professional situations. A few interesting surprises delight your sensibilities during a celebration. Love and romance blossom as personal relationships are rejuvenated. A loved one may arrive without prior information to surprise you. A breakthrough or turnaround is possible in personal, family and professional situations. Don’t make extensive plans as they can be disrupted. Since this is a week of happenings, it is best for you to sit back and watch the magic in your life unfold. Meditation gets you in touch with higher levels of consciousness.
You resolve conflicts and complications with a wise and subtle approach this week. Do not make investments or speculate heavily. Finances and material effects need to be evaluated and preserved. You are firm and aggressive while dealing with destructive and negative elements, be it in the family or in the business area. A daughter or young woman has her way, and everyone had better keep out of her path. You have an inquiring mind and seek clarity and the truth in all aspects. Be aware of attaching too much value to material gain at the risk of losing sight of long term goals.
The perfect balance of mental and moral faculties is suggested as you gain perspective and clarity in business associations and collaborations after a series of forceful discussions. You realise targets with intelligence, hard work and persistence. You are able to juggle with multifarious activity and come up with gainful results. Don’t allow intellectual pride to come in the way of a long-standing friendship. Personal relationships can’t be resolved through discussion and analysis but through love, acceptance and freedom. You have the energy and inclination to indulge in sport, music, theatre or media.
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Technology Facebook may soon tell if Instagram adds GIF stickers to Stories you are rich or poor
London Facebook has filed a patent application for a technology that will automatically detect the users‘ socio-economic status and segregate them into one of three classes — working class, middle class or upper class. According to the patent, the social media giant wants to build a system that collects users‘ personal data, such as education, homeownership and internet usage, in order to predict their socio-economic status, Dailymail reported on Saturday. The patent, that was made public on Friday, suggested an algorithm that might improve Facebook‘s targeting
capabilities, helping it serve up more relevant advertisements to users. “By predicting the socioeconomic groups of users, [Facebook] is able to help the third party present sponsored content to the target users,” the patent read. “Third parties are able to effectively promote their products or services, and the online system can provide a more engaging user experience to users,” it added. Facebook would ask the users what is their age and from there, it would throw questions that would be seemingly relevant to users of that age group. “In the filing, 20 to 30-year-olds
Facebook bans cryptocurrency ads on its platforms San Francisco Facebook has banned ads that promote initial coin offerings (ICOs), cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and binary options trading from its platforms, including Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger.The new policy prohibits ads that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, Facebook said in a statement late on Tuesday.”We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception.”That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs
and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith,” said Rob Leathern, Product Management Director at Facebook.The enforcement will begin to ramp up across Facebook platforms.”We will revisit this policy and how we enforce it as our signals improve,” Leathern added.The social media platform is asking its over two billion-strong community to report content that violates its advertising policies.”People can report any ad on Facebook by clicking on the upper right-hand corner of the ad,” Facebook said.”Two of our core advertising principles outline our belief that ads should be safe, and that we build for people first. Misleading or deceptive ads have no place on Facebook,” the company added.
are asked how many Internet devices they own, while 30 to 40year-olds are asked whether or not they own a house,” the report said. However, it is still unclear if the patent will ever actually be used for user targeting. The social media giant might also consider other information like a person‘s travel history, what kinds of devices the user owns, how many Internet-connected devices they own and what their highest level of education is, to know the socio-economic status. Interestingly, Facebook has skipped the income question acknowledging that users might not be comfortable telling about how much they earn per year, the report said. “Online systems often do not have information about the income of users, for example, because the users are typically not inclined to share income information, which may be sensitive information, on online systems,” the daily quoted the patent as saying. Facebook could also refer to the “actions performed by the user on Facebook.”
San Francisco Popular photo-sharing platform Instagram is rolling out a new feature that helps users search and add GIF stickers to their Instagram “Stories”. “When you tap to add a sticker to a photo or video in stories, you`ll now see a new GIF option. Tap it to open a library full of hundreds of thousands of moving stickers powered by GIPHY,” the Facebook-owned company wrote in a blog post late on Tuesday. Users can also browse through currently trending topics on “GIPHY” platform or search their collection to find a sticker. “From bouncing letters and twirling hearts to dancing cats and pizza in space, these animated stickers help you
make any photo or video funny, interesting or creative,” the company added. The photo-sharing platform will also roll out a feature that allows users to upload photos and videos of any size to their story, so they never have to lose part of a photo or edit anybody out of a group video. “When you upload a photo or video, pinch to share it in its original dimensions, whether it`s square, portrait or landscape. Any extra room will be filled with a custom colour gradient that matches what you`ve shared,” the company added. The GIF stickers feature is available as part of Instagram version 29 for both iOS and Android devices.
Apple to use Intel chips for 2018 iPhones San Francisco As legal action between Apple and Qualcomm intensifies with billions of dollars at stake, a report on Monday claimed that the iPhone maker will use Intel baseband chips for its devices in 2018. According to Taiwanese business group KGI Securities, Apple shared baseband chip orders for iPhones 7 with Qualcomm and Intel. For the 2018 devices, the company is set to rely on Intel as the exclusive supplier, saying that it can meet Cupertino-based company’s technical requirements and offers more competitive prices. However, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst associated with KGI Securities, did not rule out Qualcomm returning to the supply chain “perhaps as concessions in the patent lawsuit settlement”. There is also a risk that Intel might not be ready for 5G networking as quickly as Qualcomm, which might also force Apple’s hand. A report in 9to5mac said that Intel’s chip will support dual SIM and dual standby. However, there were no direct claims that Apple will make an iPhone model with two physical SIM slots. In November 2017, KGI reported that Apple will improve LTE transmission speeds significantly by supporting 4×4 MIMO chipsets. At the time, Ming-Chi Kuo believed Apple would
give about 30 per cent of the orders to Qualcomm because benchmarks showed that units with the Qualcomm baseband chipset performed better than the ones with Intel hardware. Soon after this report, Qualcomm filed three fresh complaints against Apple in a US court, alleging violations on 16 different patents by the iPhone maker that includes the “super-premium” iPhone X. The lawsuits filed in the San Diego District Court alleged that Apple was infringing on patents “related to technologies that boost bandwidth in phones, save power and enhance photos from dual rear-facing cameras, among other things”.
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DISOWNED BY PAK, FIVE ‘SPIES’ARE STRANDED They’re stuck in Delhi’s Lampur prison despite having served time for espionage and other offences as home country refuses to own up ONCE “wanted” men, these five inhabitants of the Lampur detention centre in Delhi are now castaways. The Pakistan natives who were jailed for spying and other crimes have completed their prison terms in India. But they remain at the detention facility as their home country has disowned them. The Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) under the external affairs ministry has written several letters to the Pakistan embassy in Delhi for their deportation over the past five years. But sources say the requests have been turned down despite their origins having been established. So, they have no choice other than to remain in prison. this paper has accessed the names of the five men with their native identities who are currently lodged in Lampur jail. They were caught between 2007 and 2013, completed their prison terms in different jails and then transferred to Lampur for deportation. Mohamad Hasan alias Mohamad Munir, a resident of Khurd-Jhelum of Pakistan’s Punjab province was arrested in 2007 by Delhi Police’s special
cell. An FIR (no 28/2007) was registered at Lodhi Colony police station as he did not have any documents to establish his identity. He confessed to being a Pakistani national during questioning. He completed his jail term on October 10, 2012 and has been waiting to be sent back to Pakistan. The second prisoner currently lodged in Lampur is Abdul Jabbar, son of Musa Ibrahim, a resident of Karachi-Sindh region. He was also arrested by Delhi Police in 2009 for carrying objectionable secret documents. He was booked under the Official Secrets Act in Delhi. A definite with ISI was established and Jabbar has been in Lampur prison despite having completed imprisonment in December 7, 2015. In the case of Jabbar too, Pakistan embassy in India has denied to confirm his identity. The third name on the FRRO list is of Mohamad Kamar alias Mohamad Kamil, son of Mohamad Amin and resident of Lahore-Punjab province in Pakistan. He was arrested in
Meerut’s Delhi Gate police station in 2011 and also completed his jail term in February 2015. Mohamad Hanif alias Danis is the fourth detainee. He is son of Late
Kanpur in 2013. Idrish has also completed his prison term in mid2017 and has been on the waiting list since then. “They were arrested in Delhi and three different cities of Uttar Pradesh.
Salamat Jaan, resident of Karachi. He was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh anti-terror squad in Sitapur district in 2012. He served his prisons sentence till June 2016 and then FRRO initiated the deportation process but this was met by refusal of the Pakistani embassy. The fifth prisoner is Mohamad Idrish, a resident of Green Town in Karachi. He was also arrested by Uttar Pradesh police from
These cities are far away from the border of India and Pakistan and therefore were suspected by Indian security agencies of being spies hired by Pakistan’s ISI for covert operations possibly in Delhi or other northern Indian cities,” an official said. Denial is Pakistan’s age-old policy, agencies say. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the arrested LeT terrorist involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, was also not accepted by
Pakistan. According to top sources in Delhi Police, the detainees were considered highly trained spies used by ISI against India to execute covert operations, revive terrorist organisations like Indian Mujahideen and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), or recruitment for sleeper cells. India has several porous borders that enemies use for infiltration. The India-Bangladesh border is exploited by HarkatulJihadi-al-Islami (HuJI) having close links with Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The Nepal border is also used by intruders, say observers. Pakistani spies also try to sneak through parts of Kutch and Ladakh. “According to law, they have to be released from jail after their terms get over. As they have confessed to being Pakistanis, we cannot let them go from prison to roam free in India. There is a chance of their revival and execution of assigned operations against us,” an official said. “We have only one option: to deport them to their native country following acceptance from the other side.”
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Rise in hate crimes against Muslims, Hindus and other communities in US Washington A year after President Donald Trump’s election, there has been a substantial increase in hate violence against South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities in the US, a report said on Friday.
Between November 9, 2016 and November 7, 2017, the not- forprofit group South Asian Americans Living Together (SAALT) said in a report that it recorded 302 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric aimed at these communities.This is an over 45% increase from its previous analysis in just a year, SAALT said, adding that this has not been seen since the year after the attacks of September 11, 2001.This breaks down further into 213 incidents of hate violence and 89 instances of xenophobic
political rhetoric — of which 248, or an astounding 82%, were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, it said. One in five perpetrators of hate violence incidents referenced President Trump, a Trump policy, or a Trump campaign slogan, underlining a strong link between
the president’s anti-Muslim agenda and hate violence postelection, the SAALT said. Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT alleged that through its policies and rhetoric, the Trump administration’s incessant demonisation of Islam has created an environment of hate and fear-mongering for Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim. “Deadly shootings, torched mosques, vandalised homes and businesses, and young people harassed at school have animated an acutely violent post-
Slender Man teen handed 40 yrs in mental hospital
CHICAGO One of two US girls who pleaded guilty to stabbing their friend to appease a fictional internet character, was sentenced to 40 years in a mental hospital on Thursday.Morgan Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier were both 12-years-old when they stabbed classmate Payton Leutner 19 times in 2014 in a woodland area near their home in a suburb of Milwaukee. Leutner survived the attack.Geyser and Weier, both now 15, said they believed a sinister fictitious internet character known as “Slender Man” was real and demanded they commit the murder or their own families would be harmed. A judge sentenced Geyser to 40 years in a restrictive adult mental health facility, as opposed to the lesser 25 years her attorney was seeking at a juvenile facility where she would have been
eligible for supervised release if she was considered well enough. “I’m sorry. I never meant this to happen. I hope that she’s doing well,” a tearful Geyser said in court prior to sentencing. Both Weier and Geyser were found not responsible for their crime due to mental illness. Their case inspired the 2016 documentary “Beware the Slenderman,” which featured video of the girls’ interrogations in which they admitted to stabbing Leutner. Weier was sentenced in December to 25 years in a mental institution - a shorter period than Geyser because she had reached a plea agreement on a lesser charge. Geyser is still eligible to petition for supervised release every six months, but would have to appear before a judge who would decide on her mental fitness.
election year. This administration must break eye contact with white supremacy if our nation is to live up to its highest ideals of religious freedom,” Raghunathan said. The report, among other things, underlines the way intersectionality informs hate both the identities of victims targeted and the systems that criminalise communities. Women who identify or are perceived as South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, or Arab were the targets of attack in 28% of the 213 documented hate incidents postelection, it said. Of the 213 incidents of hate violence documented, one in five perpetrators invoked Trump’s name, his administration’s policies, or his campaign slogans during attacks, it claims. Women who wear hijab or head scarves are particularly vulnerable, accounting for 63% of the documented hate incidents targeting women. The report discusses the intersection of immigration, racial profiling, surveillance, and criminal justice policies that compound against communities. “The growth of white supremacist hate groups and mounting attacks on our communities are proof positive that this administration’s anti-Muslim agenda is not making America great, it’s making Americans afraid,” Raghunathan said.
Chinese found guilty of selling fake Apple devices worth $1.1 million in US
New Jersey A 43-year-old Chinese national who lived in the US has pleaded guilty to taking part in a counterfeiting operation out of China that involved selling fake iPhones and iPads to customers in the country. “Jianhua ‘Jeff’ Li, pleaded guilty before US District Court Judge Kevin McNulty of New Jersey to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and labels and to smuggle goods into the US, and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods,” the US Department of Justice said in a statement late on Friday. Li also received payments worth over $1.1 million in sales proceeds from US accounts into his bank accounts. The case has been ongoing since 2015, when Li was charged and taken into custody. From July 2009-February 2014, the Chinese national, working through his company “Dream Digitals”, conspired with Andreina Becerra, Roberto
Volpe, Rosario LaMarca and others to smuggle and traffic into the US from China more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories. The smuggled devices included Apple iPads and iPhones, along with labels and packaging bearing counterfeit Apple trademarks, according to the documents filed in this case. He shipped devices separately from the labels bearing counterfeit trademarks for later assembly to avoid detection by US Customs and Border Protection officials, the documents filed in the case added. The counterfeit devices were then shipped to conspirators all over the country. Li will be sentenced on May 30 while LaMarca, another member of the conspiracy, was the first to be sentenced in July 2017, receiving a prison term of 37 months. Both Becerra and Volpe, Li’s other conspirators, are still awaiting sentence.
US airlines tighten leash on emotional support animals WASHINGTON Major US airlines are clipping the wings of “emotional support animals” hoping to take flight with their owners over safety concerns, as a would-be peacock passenger created a social media tizzy. United Airlines - which this week turned Dexter the Peacock away at New Jersey’s Newark Airport over health and safety concerns - announced Thursday it was reining in regulations on emotional support animals, citing a 75 percent jump in customers taking creatures on board and a spike in related incidents.Federal guidelines support the right of passengers with disabilities to board with a variety of emotional support or service animals, but airlines can deny boarding to some exotic or “unusual” pets. “The Department of Transportation’s rules regarding emotional support animals are not working as they were intended, and we need to change our approach in order to ensure a safe and pleasant travel experience for all of our customers,” the airline said in a statement. Queried by AFP, United spokesman Charlie Hobart said the peacock kerfuffle had “no relevance whatsoever” to
the policy change, which will go into effect March 1, and the timing “was a complete coincidence.” “We’ve been working on this policy for some time, well before this weekend’s incident with Dexter.”
He noted that the majestic bird with iridescent blue and green plumage was not allowed onboard under current policy, which prohibits from cabin travel for a menagerie including hedgehogs, rodents, nonhousehold birds and “animals not properly cleaned or carrying a foul odor.” United’s move follows Delta’s decision to implement new documentation requirements for owners hoping to fly with their animals, a new policy it said “comes as a lack of regulation that has led to serious safety risks involving untrained animals in flight.” That airline said it had seen an 84 percent jump in reports of animal incidents since 2016, including an emotional support
dog weighing 70 pounds (over 30 kilograms) that gave another passenger facial wounds requiring 28 stitches. “Customers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, gliding possums known as sugar gliders, snakes, spiders and more,” Delta said. “Ignoring the true intent of existing rules governing the transport of service and support animals can be a disservice to customers who have real and documented needs.”The Association of Flight Attendants heralded Delta’s tightened requirements. An American spokeswoman told AFP that the airline was reviewing its policy, while vowing to “continue to support the rights of customers, from veterans to people with disabilities, with legitimate needs.” Dexter the Peacock, meanwhile, was forced to make the trek to Los Angeles via car, according to the bird’s Instagram account. “Spent 6 hours trying to get on my flight to LA,” read a caption next to an image of the peacock - which reportedly belongs to a New York-based performance artist - perched on a baggage trolley.“Tomorrow my human friends are going to drive me cross country!”
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US lifts ban on refugees from 11 countries WASHINGTON The United States has announced it is lifting its ban on refugees from 11 “high-risk” countries, but said those seeking to enter the US would come under much tougher scrutiny than in the past. Applicants from 11 countries,
Speaking anonymously, a senior administration official told journalists that the policy of enhanced security assessments for the 11 countries was not designed to target Muslims. “Our admissions have nothing to do with religion,” the official said, adding that there is “nothing
unnamed but understood to include 10 Muslim-majority nations plus North Korea, will face tougher “risk-based” assessments to be accepted. “It’s critically important that we know who is entering the United States,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “These additional security measures will make it harder for bad actors to exploit our refugee program, and they will ensure we take a more risk-based approach to protecting the homeland.” The 11 countries, hit with a ban in October in the Trump administration’s revised refugee policy, have not been identified officially. But refugee groups say they comprise Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
especially novel” about tougher screening for countries deemed to have a higher level of risk. Donald Trump has pursued a much tougher stance on immigrants and refugees from all countries since becoming president one year ago. His predecessor Barack Obama set refugee admission in fiscal 2017, which began on October 2016, at 110,000.When Trump took office a year ago, he slashed that to 53,000, a number that was cut again to a maximum of 45,000 in fiscal 2018.But refugee arrivals this year could come in significantly lower than that, due to the backlog from the 120-day halt and a slowdown in processing because of generally tougher applicant reviews. DHS would not explain what the tougher vetting measures for the
Three-year-old boy killed in US over cupcake
New York Two sisters in the US city of Atlanta have been charged over the killing of a three-year-old boy whose only crime, police said, was taking a cupcake. Kejuan Mason had sneaked the cupcake from the kitchen while at home with Glenndria and Lashirley Morris, the BBC quoted the police as saying.According to the indictment, Lashirley then beat the child with a baseball bat while her sister Glenndria, his legal guardian, spanked him with her hand.The child died of blunt force trauma to his head and his torso, a hospital official said.The Morris sisters had given conflicting accounts of what happened on October 31,
2017, initially claiming he had choked on the cupcake, the media reports of the time quoted the police sources as saying.The sisters were charged with two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault and two counts of cruelty in the first-degree. They face life in prison without parole if found guilty.According to reports, the child’s mother had lost custody of her son when she lost her home, but she was attempting to get him back.She had even asked a judge to remove Mason from Glenndria’s care when she noticed he had scratches and bruises, but her request was denied three days before the child died, a newspaper report said.
11 countries would include. But all applicants are being asked to supply more detailed histories and evidence of their past activities, and many are having to allow access to personal electronics and social media accounts. The move comes as Trump presses for a sharp turn in overall US immigration policy that critics say will result in a 50 percent cut in arrivals each year and bias admissions away from African, Asian and Muslim countries. Last week, Trump proposed to end the 27-year-old “green card lottery” program that aims to diversify the source of immigrants, leading to an upturn in those from Middle Eastern and African countries.He also proposed to tightly limit the family members who can join immigrants to only spouses and younger children. Until now, such “chain migration” could extend to immigrants’ parents, grandparents, siblings and extended family.The White House said the policy was necessary to protect national security from terror and crime threats.In return, Trump proposed a plan that offers 1.8 million young unauthorized immigrants known as “Dreamers” a path to citizenship over 10-12 years. Democrats and Republicans are starting negotiations on those proposals, along with Trump’s request for a $25 billion “trust fund” to build a wall on the southern US border to deter illegal border-crossers from Mexico.
No aid to countries which don’t keep drugs out of US: Trump
Washington US President Donald Trump has threatened to end foreign aid to countries who do not prevent illegal drugs from reaching the US. “I want to stop the aid. If they can’t stop drugs from coming in, ‘cause they can stop them a lot easier than us,” he said on Friday during a visit to the US the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Training Center in northern Virginia, Efe news reported. “They say, ‘oh we can’t control it.’ Oh great, we’re supposed to control it,” Trump said. “So we give them billions and billions of dollars, and they don’t do what they’re supposed to be doing, and they know that. But we’re going to take a very harsh action.” The President did not mention any countries by name in regard
to the drug issue, though he previously pointed to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico as sources of illegal immigrants. “These countries are not our friends, you know,” he said, though it was not entirely clear which nations he was talking about. “We think they’re our friends, and we send them massive aid, and I won’t mention names right now. But I look at these countries, I look at the numbers we send them, we send them massive aid and they’re pouring drugs into our country and they’re laughing at us,” Trump said. In a discussion with CBP officials, the president asked about the origin of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines that reach the US and the routes used by traffickers.
Dallas man executed for killing daughters while mom listened Huntsville A former Dallas accountant condemned for fatally shooting his two young daughters while their mother listened helplessly on the phone was put to death in Texas.John David Battaglia received lethal injection for the May 2001 killings of his nineyear-old daughter, Faith, and her six-year-old sister, Liberty. Battaglia and his wife had separated and the girls were killed at his Dallas apartment during a scheduled visit.The punishment was carried out after the US Supreme Court rejected appeals from his lawyers to review his case, contending Battaglia, 62, was delusional and mentally incompetent for execution.His was the nation’s third execution this year, all in Texas.The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in the day rejected an appeal that argued a lower court improperly refused his lawyers money to hire an expert to further examine legal claims of his mental competency.The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners can be executed if they’re aware the death penalty is to be carried out and have a rational understanding of why they’re facing that
punishment.Attorneys for Battaglia contended he didn’t have that understanding and that the state’s highest court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, misapplied the Supreme Court’s
guidance when it ruled that Battaglia is competent.State attorneys said the Texas courts ensured proper legal standards were followed and that Battaglia had been provided expert help and a court hearing in accordance with Supreme Court
precedents.Another unsuccessful appeal challenged the effectiveness of the pentobarbital Texas uses as its execution drug.Attorneys contended the state’s supply was outdated and Battaglia was at risk for unconstitutionally cruel punishment.A state judge and the state appeals court described Battaglia as highly intelligent, competent, not mentally ill and faking mental illness to avoid execution.Testimony at a hearing showed Battaglia used the prison library to research capital case rulings on mental competence and discussed with his father during a phone call from jail the “chess game” of avoiding execution.State Judge Robert Burns, who found him competent, said Battaglia’s intelligence and education--he has a master’s degree--shows he’s not a “typical inmate” and has the “motive and intellectual capability to maintain a deliberate ploy or ruse to avoid his execution”.
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US citizenship query could threaten 2020 Census: Experts Washington The United States is gearing up to conduct its next population Census in 2020 but a thorny question on citizenship has ignited controversy even before it has begun.When the decennial national headcount gets under way, census takers may have to ask respondents if they are US citizens, which observers say would discourage some ethnic minorities from participating and undermine the accuracy of the data. Arturo Vargas, head of the NALEO Educational Fund, said surveys have shown as recently as September that test respondents are now experiencing “unprecedented fear of the US government.” President Donald Trump took office on a nationalist antiimmigrant agenda, linking foreigners and migration to terrorism, crime and lost jobs. In his State of the Union address last month, he reiterated his pledge to cut legal immigration and beef up enforcement. In this heated environment, with frequent reports of immigrants tearfully torn from their families and deported, large segments of the population could refuse to participate in the census, out of fear authorities could use the information against them, critics say.In December, the Justice Department kicked up a storm when it asked to have a question on nationality added to the survey conducted by the Census Bureau, which is a part of the Commerce Department. The Justice Department argued that citizenship information would help enforce the Voting Rights Act, however that law is aimed at prohibiting racial discrimination at the ballot box. Only US citizens are allowed to
register to vote. But Trump has long claimed that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 presidential election,
without providing proof. “The Census Bureau is conducting a review of the DOJ request,” said Al Fontenot, associate director for Census programs.“We are focused on having the final list of questions submitted to the Congress by March 31st.” The debate over the questions and how they could affect response numbers is not just one of politics. Required by the Constitution, the census determines the number of seats allotted to each state in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US legislature. Stanford sociology Professor C. Matthew Snipp, the survey is “essential for American democracy.” The population tally also impacts distribution of more than USD 675 billion in annual federal funding for schools, hospitals, roads and public services, according to the Census Bureau. Underreporting in some communities is a longstanding problem. Analysts estimate that
Palestinian triplets named in anti-Trump protest KHAN YUNIS Palestinians have reacted to Donald Trump’s recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital with street protests, but one couple have come up with an idea of their own, in the naming of their triplets. Nidal and Islam al-Saiqli from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip decided to name the three children Jerusalem, Capital and Palestine. Palestinians also see the disputed city as their capital and Trump’s December 6 recognition broke with decades of international policy that the issue should be resolved through negotiations.
The three babies - boys Jerusalem and Palestine, and girl Capital - were born in December, two weeks after the Trump decision. “Thank God, I had triplets so we were able to name them in response to Trump’s decision,” said mother Islam, 25. “There is no value to the Trump decision. Jerusalem is our eternal capital,” her husband Nidal, 30, said. To illustrate the names, the couple arrange the three tiny sleeping children on a bed with their birth certificates on their stomachs. Trump insisted his decision did not pre-judge future negotiations, but the Palestinians cut ties with his administration in anger at the move. Widespread street protests have broken out in the West Bank and Gaza.Israel seized Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community.
the 2010 Census undercounted Latinos by 7,75,000 people. The problem could be worse this time.If minority populations, often concentrated in Democratic-leaning urban centers, do not fully participate, this could affect the balance of power in Congress. “States like Texas, California, Arizona that have large Hispanic populations could lose seats in Congress if there is a very large undercount,” Snipp said. And NALEO’s Vargas warned that making a major last-minute change to the questionnaire would sabotage the Census Bureau’s technical efforts to improve results and analysis. Vargas said an imprecise census also could have economic and financial impacts. The change also could increase the cost, currently estimated at USD 15.6 billion, up from USD 12.9 billion in 2010, due in part to the need for follow-up visits to convince members of the public to respond.And businesses use the decennial survey to identify demographic trends and locate consumers and potential employees, allowing them to tailor planned investments, plan for factories and retail outlets, and convince banks to provide financing. In 2010, the Census counted 308.8 million Americans, an increase of 9.7 per cent from 2000. According to the latest estimates, the US population has since risen 5.8 percent to 327 million.
The long and the short: Hong Kong’s sausage dogs go walkies
Hong Kong In a city that likes to dress up its dogs, 50 dachshunds gathered in Hong Kong Saturday wearing everything from patterned winter jumpers to dapper tweed. It was Hong Kong’s first “sausage walk”, emulating popular mass dachshund gettogethers in Britain. The band of excitable dogs and their owners carved a path through the heart of the city on a chilly morning, taking in footbridges, seafood markets and roadside temples en route. Organiser Mat Gallagher said he had been inspired to get owners and dogs together after adopting 10-year-old rescue dachshund Jai Jai six months ago. “They’re very cool dogs, very chilled out. He’s very relaxed and likes to be with people,” Gallagher said, holding Jai Jai, who was sporting a fleece-lined grey tweed hoodie with leather buckles. The group congregated first at
one of the city’s few dog parks, on its famous harbour front. As they embarked on their walk, they ran the gamut of delivery drivers, loaded trolleys and Saturday shoppers on the streets of the busy Sheung Wan neighbourhood. “Hong Kong is not a dogfriendly city,” said Ivan Lo, who had brought dachshunds Kaka and CC for the walk. “But they are good friends for us, for humans, so we still want to own one.” Gallagher said he hoped 2018 would see improvements in Hong Kong’s canine landscape -- the walk ended in a dogfriendly cafe. For Isabella Redmayne, six, who came with dog Boris, the pleasures of owning a dachshund were simple. “He’s six-years-old like I am and he licks me on my face. He likes to go to sleep on his blanket and he’s really soft,” she said, adding that she hoped he would make new friends Saturday.
Canadian Senate approves genderneutral wording for National Anthem Ottawa The Canadian Senate has passed a Bill that makes the country’s National Anthem gender-neutral after two years of stalling. The Senate on Wednesday gave its final approval to the legislation, which would alter the anthem by replacing “in all thy sons command” with “in all of us command” as part of a push to strike gendered language from “O Canada”, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported. The amendment was the dying wish of Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, who introduced the Bill two years ago. The House of Commons had overwhelmingly approved the change in 2016, with the ailing Belanger in the House. The long time Liberal died just over two months later. The legislation now only requires an official assent by the Governor General before it officially becomes law. Since 1980, when “O Canada” written by Robert Stanley Weir officially became the country’s anthem, 12 bills have been introduced in the House of Commons to strip the gendered
reference to “sons”, which some have argued is discriminatory. A motion from Independent Senator Frances Lankin led to a final vote on the legislation longdelayed by Conservative
Independent Quebec Senator Chantal Petitclerc, a former Paralympian who has been awarded 14 gold medals for wheelchair racing, said she was “jealous” of those athletes
filibuster. Lankin said: “I’m very, very happy. There’s been 30 years plus of activity trying to make our national anthem, this important thing about our country, inclusive of all of us,” she said. “This may be small... but it’s huge ... we can now sing it with pride knowing the law will support us in terms of the language.”
headed to Pyeongchang for the winter games, as they will finally be able to sing a gender neutral anthem. Larry Smith, the Conservative leader in the Senate, called Lankin’s motion — a “Draconian tool” that has never before been used by an Independent senator that was like a “guillotine” coming down on voices in the minority.
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Victims’ dad apologises after lunging at disgraced gymnastics doc Charlotte (US) A distraught father seething over sexual abuse suffered by three daughters tried to attack former sports doctor Larry Nassar in a Michigan courtroom after a judge
rejected his request to confront the “demon” in a locked room, a stunning rush that reflected the anguish felt by parents who trusted him with their children. Randall Margraves was blocked by an attorney, tackled by sheriff’s deputies and hauled out of court yesterday. He later apologised, saying he had lost control.Eaton County Judge Janice Cunningham said there was “no way” she would fine him or send him to jail under her contempt-of-court powers. “I don’t know what it would be like to stand there as a father and know that three of your girls were injured physically and emotionally by somebody sitting in a courtroom. I can’t imagine that,” the judge said.Nonetheless, she added, it is “not acceptable that we combat assault with assault.” The incident occurred during the third and final sentencing hearing for Nassar, who has
admitted to sexually assaulting girls under the guise of medical treatment. This case focuses on his work at Twistars, an elite gymnastics club southwest of Lansing.Nassar, 54, already
will spend the rest of his life in prison. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison for assaults at Michigan State University and his home and was ordered in December to spend 60 years in a federal prison for child pornography crimes. Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting nine victims in Eaton and Ingham counties, but the courts have been open to anyone who says she was assaulted during his decades of work at Michigan State, Twistars and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.More than 200 accusers so far have spoken or submitted statements in the two counties, and at least 80 percent have agreed to be publicly identified.Margraves’ dramatic move occurred after he listened to two of his daughters speak in court for 10 minutes. Lauren Margraves, a college student,
said her parents were “filled with regret” because they took three daughters to see Nassar for sports injuries.“I see the look in their faces and I know they want to be able to do something but they can’t,” she told Nassar. “The guilt they have will never go away. All this is because of you.” Her father then stepped up and asked the judge if she would grant him “five minutes in a locked room with this demon.” Cunningham declined and also turned down his request for “one minute.” That is when Randall Margraves rushed toward Nassar.There were gasps and tears in the courtroom. Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis turned to the gallery and told families to “use your words,” not violence. “This is letting him have this power over us,” she said. “We cannot behave like this.” During a return to court, Margraves told the judge that he just snapped. He said he had not known what exactly his daughters were going to say about their abuse.“I look over here and Larry Nassar’s shaking his head, no, like it didn’t happen. ... I’m embarrassed,” Margraves said of his conduct. “I’m not here to upstage my daughters. I’m here to help them heal.” About 30 more people spoke in person, by video or had statements read after the incident. The case will end Monday with final remarks from the prosecutor, defense and Nassar, followed by the judge’s sentence. Nassar faces a minimum of 25 to 40 years in prison.
Suspect arrested for petrol bomb thrown at Suu Kyi’s Yangon villa Yangon Myanmar police say they have arrested a mentally ill man who confessed to tossing a petrol bomb into the Yangon compound of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi this week. Suu Kyi was not home when the crude bomb landed inside the gate of her lakeside villa on Thursday, causing little damage other than a fire that burned a water pipe. But the incident unnerved supporters of the Nobel laureate, who championed Myanmar’s democratic transition but has suffered a fallout with the international community over her failure to condemn army abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Using photos taken by a witness of the attack, officers arrested Win Naing, 48, in the early hours of Friday, according to a report posted on Yangon police’s official Facebook page. “He confessed that he took a bottle filled with petrol...and threw it into the compound,” the report
said, adding that Win Naing does a security job for a construction company. Police said they believe Win Naing has “mental health problems” but will continue to
take legal action against him. He told officers that he was motivated to throw the bomb because he had been “cursed by magic”, the police report said. Suu Kyi has not commented on the incident, which took place
Dutch cow escapes death, crowdfunding saves her from slaughter
The Hague Fame and fortune have smiled on Hermien the Dutch cow, who escaped as she was being sent to slaughter, and has become a social network star after a month on the hoof.Thanks to her tenacity and a crowd-funding campaign which has raised 48,000 euros ($59,820), the three and a half-year old red Limousin will get to live out her days in pasture.Hermien’s plucky bid for freedom came as she was about to loaded into a truck to be taken to the abattoir and spawned an outpouring of support.For more than four weeks she has refused to be caught, hiding out in the safety of the woods in northern Friesland, while Twitter lit up with hashtags such as #JesuisHermien, #GoHermien and #MeKoe. The latter is a play on the #MeToo campaign, incorporating the Dutch word for “cow”.Even the royal family took up her case, with Pieter van Vollenhoven, the son-in-law of former Queen Beatrix urging
“we’ve got to save Hermien”. “Let’s all buy her together and give her freedom,” he said. Officially called “Joke 18” after the wife of her owner, Toon van den Enk, Hermien escaped with another cow, which was swiftly re-caught. “She must have been stressed at the moment she was walking into the truck for the abattoir. Since then we haven’t been able to catch her,” vet Edo Hamersma told AFP. At night, Hermien has been sneaking into nearby stables for food, before disappearing again into the shadows. According to the AD daily, the campaign has raised enough money for her to live comfortably in the fields for the rest of her days. But she still needs to be recaptured, and remains “very fearful,” said Hamersma. “We’ll have to leave her alone, and wait for better weather when the herd goes out into the fields. Then she’ll probably approach them by herself.”
Pak lawmaker disqualified after threatening judges
almost exactly one year after the assassination of one of her top legal advisors Ko Ni. Ko Ni, one of few Muslims to hold a prominent government position in mainly Buddhist Myanmar,
was shot in the head as he waited outside Yangon airport while holding his grandson. The murder horrified the Muslim community and the ruling party in particular in a country where political assassinations are rare.
Islamabad A ruling party lawmaker was on Thursday disqualified by Pakistan’s Supreme Court for five years for targeting judges in a speech last year. The apex court in its verdict in the contempt case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Nehal Hashmi also sentenced him to one-month imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000. The court ruled that Hashmi stood disqualified from holding public office for a period of five
years.The Supreme Court had served Hashmi with a contempt notice following a speech to workers in Karachi last year, in which he had threatened the officials appointed by the Supreme Court to probe ousted premier Nawaz Sharif. Hashmi had targeted ‘enemies’ of former Prime Minister Sharif whose disqualification case was being heard by judges of the apex court at that time. Hashmi was arrested by the police from the court premises after the verdict.
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US warns countries against aiding terrorists eyeing nuclear weapons Washington The United States has warned countries against supporting nonstate actors and terrorist groups trying to obtain or employ nuclear weapons.”The US will hold accountable any state or nonstate actor that supports terrorist efforts to obtain or employ a nuclear weapon,” Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Tom Shannon, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference where the Trump Administration rolled out its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).Neither Shannon nor the NPR report, running into 100 pages, identified any country which could be seen aiding terrorist groups in this regard.US officials have in the past expressed concern over the possibility of nuclear weapons of Pakistan landing into the hands of non-state actors or terrorist groups and thus has been working with Islamabad in enhancing the security of its nuclear weapons.Pakistan has repeatedly denied such fears and asserted that its nuclear arsenals are one of the safest and secure ones in the world. Shannon said nuclear terrorism remained a major threat in the 21st century and countries needed to work to mitigate it.”The potential threat of non-state actors getting their hands on a nuclear weapon remains at the front of all of our minds,” Shannon
told reporters at a news conference held at the Pentagon.Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said the US would keep a close watch on nuclear proliferation activities.”The Department of Energy will continue to focus on non-proliferation, counterproliferation and counter-
terrorism. Together with our allies and partners, we have enjoyed great, great success in these areas,” he said.In a special section on nuclear terrorism, the report said the US strategy to combat nuclear terrorism encompassed a wide range of activities that comprised a defence-in-depth against current and emerging dangers.The report said the US would try and prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons or technology and respond to nuclear incidents by locating and disabling a nuclear device or managing the consequences of a nuclear detonation.”For effective deterrence, the US will hold fully accountable any state, terrorist group, or other non-state actor that supports or enables terrorist efforts to obtain or employ nuclear devices,” the report said.The report said a terrorist nuclear attack against the US or its allies and partners would qualify as an “extreme circumstance” under which the US could consider the “ultimate form of retaliation”.According to
Two journalists found dead in Guatemala
Guatemala City The corpses of two Guatemalan journalists were found among cane fields with bullet wounds to the head and their hands and feet bound, authorities said.The slain reporters, identified as Laurent Castillo and Alfredo de Leon, had recently disappeared and were discovered by farm workers near the municipality Santo Domingo, Suchitepequez in the Central American country’s south, said its human rights ombudsman Jordan Rodas.The journalists
had traveled to the nearby city of Mazatenango to cover a carnival celebration.”I demand from authorities an immediate investigation to find those behind such a despicable act” of violence, Rodas said, demanding also that authorities implement protections for journalists.On March 10, 2015 two other journalists were killed in the Mazatenango park. Congressman Julio Juarez was arrested last month in connection with those deaths.
the report, the US will continue its efforts to minimise the number of nuclear weapons states, including by maintaining credible US-extended nuclear deterrence and assurance; and deny terrorist organisations access to nuclear weapons and materials.It will also seek arms control agreements that enhance security, and are verifiable and enforceable.The US will enhance cooperation with its allies, partners and international institutions to combat nuclear terrorism, and deterring state support for nuclear terrorism through advanced forensics and attribution capabilities.Noting that the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, the report said nuclear non-proliferation today faced acute challenges.Most significantly, North Korea is pursuing a nuclear path in direct contravention of the NPT and in direct opposition to numerous UN Security Council resolutions, the report said.The report also lists Iran as a challenge in terms of nuclear proliferation.”Although the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) may constrain Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme, there is little doubt Iran could achieve a nuclear weapon capability rapidly if it decides to do so,” it said.According to the report, the US will work to increase transparency and predictability to avoid potential miscalculation among nuclear weapons states and other possessor states.”..through strategic dialogues, risk-reduction communications channels, and the sharing of best practices related to nuclear weapons safety and security,” the report said.
Police kidnap Catholic priest in DR Congo
Kinshasa Police “kidnapped” a Catholic priest today after mass in Kinshasa, witnesses said, amid spiralling tensions between the church and the DR Congo’s government over the president’s refusal to step down. “Father Sebastien was taken away by the police just after morning mass,” a nun of the Saint-Robert parish told AFP in N’sele on the eastern outskirts of the capital. “A police vehicle drew up outside the church, officers jumped out and started to beat the priest,” said another nun who had also witnessed the incident. “They threw him in the jeep and drove off with him,” she said, adding that an unidentified man filmed the priest on his mobile phone during mass.” Police refused to comment on the incident when contacted by AFP. Priest Sebastien Yebo has worked for the parish since August 2017. The incident comes after a deadly crackdown by the government on Catholicorganised protests against
President Joseph Kabila. At least 15 people have been killed in clashes with security forces at rallies on December 31 and January 21, according to the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO. Kabila, 46, has been in power since 2001, at the helm of a regime widely criticised for corruption, repression and incompetence. His constitutional term in office expired in December 2016 but he has stayed on, stoking a bloody spiral of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Under a deal brokered by the powerful Catholic Church, he was allowed to stay in office provided new elections were held in 2017. The authorities then postponed the election until December 23, citing what they said were logistical problems in preparing for the vote. The delay, coupled with the mounting violence, has placed Kabila on collision course with the church, which has a prominent role in the DR Congo due to its educational and social care work.
Russian accused of hacking extradited to US from Spain Washington A Russian man accused of operating a network of infected computers used by cyber criminals has been extradited to the United States from Spain and will make an initial court appearance on Friday, the US Department of Justice said. US prosecutors said Peter Levashov, 37, ran the Kelihos botnet, a network of more than 1,00,000 infected devices used by cyber criminals to distribute viruses, ransomware, phishing emails and other spam attacks. Levashov denies the charges in an eight-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Connecticut in April. Levashov, who fought the extradition, told Spain’s High Court in September that he had worked for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party for the last 10 years, Russia’s RIA news agency
reported. He told the court that investigators in the United States would torture him for information about his political work if he was
carry a potential prison sentence of up to 52 years if he is convicted at trial. He was arrested while on holiday in Barcelona last April and in
sent there to face the charges, RIA said. Levashov was charged by US prosecutors with causing intentional damage to a protected computer and wire fraud, which
October, Spain’s High Court granted a U.S. request to extradite him. Levashov was scheduled to appear in court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Justice Department said.
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Philippines says anti-dengue vaccine Castro’s eldest son ‘Fidelito’, a scientist, commits suicide may be connected to 3 deaths Manila The Philippines said on Friday the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia may be connected to three deaths in the country,
according to a governmentordered inquiry, and that the drug is not ready for mass immunisation. Sanofi revealed in November that Dengvaxia — the world’s first dengue vaccine — might increase the risk of severe disease in people who had never been exposed to the virus. The news prompted an uproar in the Philippines, where more than 8,00,000 school-age children had been vaccinated in 2016. “We sympathise with all the families who have suffered the loss of a child. Sanofi Pasteur’s mission is to reduce or eliminate suffering for millions around the world through vaccination, including in the Philippines,” a spokesman for the French drugmaker said in an emailed statement. The Philippine Health Ministry halted Dengvaxia immunisations in November. It formed a 10member panel of experts to determine if the drug was directly connected to the deaths of 14 children after they were given the
vaccine. It found it may have been connected to the deaths of three. “Three cases were found to have causal association. They died of
dengue even (though) they were given Dengvaxia. Two of them may have died because of vaccine failure,” Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo told a news conference. “These findings strengthen the decision of the Department of Health to stop the vaccine. It has failed in some children. “Dengvaxia is not ready for mass vaccinations and we would need three to five more years to watch and monitor if there would be other adverse reactions from the vaccine.” Mosquito-borne dengue is the world’s fastestgrowing infectious disease, afflicting up to 100 million people worldwide, causing half a million life-threatening infections and killing about 20,000 people, mostly children, each year. Domingo said the panel’s findings would be shared with the justice department, which is considering cases against those responsible for the mass immunisation programme.
Minister, wife found dead at their Karachi home
Karachi The bullet-riddled bodies of a senior Sindh province minister and his wife were found today at their home in Karachi, the financial capital of Pakistan. Sindh Minister for Planning and Development Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, 71, and his wife, former lawmaker Fariha Razzaq, were found lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom in their Defence Housing Authority residence,
police said. Both were shot dead at close range, they said.”A pistol has been found at the scene of the crime,” Senior Superintendent of Police Raja Khatab of the Sindh Counter Terrorism department told the media.Police officials have said that the case is being investigated from all possible angles.Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto asked the police to share all details with him.
Paediatrician and panel member Juliet Sio-Aguilar, from the University of the PhilippinesPhilippine General Hospital (UPPGH), said the team was recommending further studies as it was difficult to directly connect the three deaths to Dengvaxia. No vaccine has a 100 percent success rate, she said. The dengue death rate in the Philippines was 60 times higher than global rate, Sio-Aguilar said. Sanofi said on Saturday the UPPGH’s findings confirmed there is currently no evidence directly linking the Dengvaxia vaccine to any of the 14 deaths. “In Dengvaxia clinical trials conducted over more than a decade and the over one million doses of the vaccine administered, no deaths related to the vaccine have been reported to us,” the company said in a statement. The Philippines spent 3.5 billion pesos ($68 million) on the Dengvaxia programme to reduce the 2,00,000 dengue cases reported every year. Sanofi said clinical evidence confirms dengue vaccination in the Philippines will provide a net reduction in dengue disease, including severe dengue. The Philippines has already fined Sanofi a symbolic $2,000, citing violations in product registration and marketing.
Havana The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro DiazBalart, committed suicide on Thursday aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported.The nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalised and then continued treatment as an outpatient. Fidelito, who had the highest public profile of all Castro’s children, was born in 1949 out of his brief marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart before he went on to topple a US-backed dictator and build a communist-run state on the doorstep of the US during the Cold War. Cuban scholars say his mother took him with her to the US when he was aged five
after announcing she wanted a divorce from Castro, while he was imprisoned for an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago. Castro was able to bring Fidelito back to Cuba after the 1959 revolution.A multilingual nuclear physicist who studied in the former Soviet Union, Castro Diaz-Balart was head of Cuba’s national nuclear programme from 1980 to 1992, and spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the Caribbean’s largest island until his father fired him. Cuba halted its plant plans that same year because of lack of funding.Fidelito had been working for his uncle President Raul Castro as a scientific counselor to the Cuban Council of State and vice-president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences at the time of his death.
‘I was angry, lost control’: Indian-origin man in UK jailed for killing wife, stuffing body in suitcase London Ashwin Daudia, described as a ‘controlling’ husband who strangled his wife Kiran, put her body in a suitcase and dragged it near their house to dispose it off, was on Friday jailed for life in a widely followed case in the east Midlands city of Leicester. The incident on January 16 last year was preceded by tense relations between the two, who were married in 1998 and divorced in 2014. Their house was sold to Kiran’s sister so that she continued to stay there with their two sons without Ashwin.The Leicester Crown Court was told that both lived in the same house after divorce, but the sale had been completed on January 16 and Ashwin was to move out. They had an altercation when Kiran returned from work and saw Ashwin sleeping, and woke him up.It was during this altercation that she reportedly told him to go to India to die, which further enraged Ashwin, who said he “lost control” and strangled her. He was said to have later gone about his normal life, until the body was recovered and the police caught up with him. Judge Timothy Spencer said Ashwin’s conduct represented “selfishness and violence on a wicked scale”, described him as “arrogant, bullying and bent on maintaining control” as opposed
to his “academically gifted, outgoing, fashionable and westernised” wife. Sentencing him, the judge said: “You’ve deprived this world of a bright and vibrant woman, who had much to offer, who lived for her
family apart, leaving two doting sons without a mother and other family members distraught and struggling to get over the pain and heartache he has caused.” In a statement, Kiran’s family said: “Kiran was full of life, with a
children…You were less bright, but your cover-up in this case reveals you’re not without wit or, for that matter, cunning”. “You were conservative, content to go to work and then to drink in the pub or at home. You regarded yourself as the dominant figure in the marriage…You clung to the view you were the dominant force of the family and were entitled to control events”. Detective sergeant Mark Wesley, who was part of the investigation team, said: “The evidence against Daudia was overwhelming, with CCTV work and forensic examinations helping us to build a strong case against him”. “Through his own selfish, cowardly actions, Daudia has ripped this
vibrant personality, a loving, caring mother and a very thoughtful daughter, sister and aunt. Her friendly and charismatic nature meant she had many friends. She was simply beautiful and loved having photographs taken. She was the backbone of the family, very kind, generous and angelic”. “We as a family cannot even begin to describe the loss and emptiness in our heart. Her perpetual smile will be missed everyday of our lives by everyone who knew her. Kiran had lots of dreams and aspirations which were untimely taken away by this demonic act. Life without her will never be the same”.
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‘A lunar photobomb!’ International Space Station spotted crossing in front of the supermoon in stunning new NASA photo blood moon’, the moon above the UK was just a super blue moon. This occurs when a blue moon occurs at the same time as a super moon, but without also combining with a blood moon. Despite the UK not experiencing a lunar eclipse, and therefore missing out on a blood moon, many pictures seemed to show the satellite glowing red. Dr Daniel Brown, an astronomer at Nottingham Trent University, told MailOnline this is because when the moon is quite low in the horizon - for instance when it is rising or sinking past the horizon - the atmosphere of the earth will redden it independent of an eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun is on the other side of the Earth while the moon is located on Earth’s opposite side. ‘Most of the time the full moon sits above or below Earth’s shadow and the moon remains flooded with sunlight’, explains Dr Tanya Hill, an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne, writing for The Conversation. ‘But twice a year, the three bodies fall into line so that Earth casts its shadow on the moon.’ The Earth’s shadow is not completely black but has a reddishy hue, which has led many cultures to describe it as a blood moon.Sunlight manages to reach the moon but first it has to pass through Earth’s atmosphere.
A new photo from NASA shows the International Space Station photobombing Tuesday night’s supermoon - just hours before the rare ‘super blue blood moon.’ NASA tweeted the picture and wrote: ‘A lunar photobomb?! The Space Station and its six passengers pass in front of the full moon last night in this incredible NASA image.’ The space station was traveling at about five miles a second. The lunar trifecta in the early hours of the following morning had not been seen by much of the world for more than 150 years, but was caught in spectacular photos gracing the world’s skies earlier this week. A ‘super blue blood moon’ is the result of a blue moon – the second full moon in a calendar month – occurring at the same time as a super moon, when the moon is at perigee and about 14 per cent brighter than usual. It also combines with a blood moon – the moment during a lunar eclipse when the moon, which is in the Earth’s shadow, takes on a reddish hue. While people in the eastern Hemisphere saw their last Blue Moon total lunar eclipse in 1982, for the Western Hemisphere, the eclipse was the first blue moon total eclipse since 1866. While much of the world has experienced a ‘super blue
Democrats furious over Trump’s immigration rhetoric The opposition party says the president has made a Dreamers deal only harder to reach
Democrats were infuriated by President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech, claiming the president put an immigration deal even further out of reach with what they called bigoted remarks during the 80minute address. After Trump and his White House team teased a bipartisan theme, the minority party was waiting to hear something conciliatory about how to protect hundreds of thousands
of young immigrants facing deportation. Instead, Democrats booed Trump’s reference to “chain migration” and fumed afterward that his remarks conflated immigrants with gang members and did little to give so-called Dreamers any reassurance at all. “The tone was of a divider-inchief,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview. “It was a red-meat appeal to the antiimmigrant base of his party, not the unifying, coming-together
appeal that we all know is necessary.” Trump reiterated his proposal to offer 1.8 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship, dramatically scale back legal immigration and spend billions on a border wall. His only explicit reference to Dreamers, however, was his line that, “Americans are dreamers, too.” Democrats called it a nativist appeal that belittled a cause — extending protections provided by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — that is supported by both parties. “He’s laying out pillars that are not going to get him a deal from Democrats. A lot of empty rhetoric,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). “Those words were not helpful.”“Nothing about the Dreamers,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “He had
opportunities to heal. I’ve never seen a president that cares nothing about reaching out to people that didn’t vote for him.” But Trump’s Republican allies pushed back on Democrats’ complaints. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said it was a “good speech” that was “consistent with everything I’ve heard from him.” “If Democrats don’t figure out a way to negotiate, then the DACA program will end and that’s not an outcome I think anybody would like,” Cornyn said. “But they will be responsible for it. I think they need a little reality check.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had urged her members to resist jeering Trump during his speech. But a smattering of boos was heard in the House chamber after Trump said that “a single immigrant can
bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives.” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who has a bipartisan DACAborder security bill in the House, tilted his head back and laughed when Trump called his immigration proposal a “downthe-middle compromise.” But it was Trump’s “Americans are dreamers, too” remark that rankled Democrats most. “Really stoking the fires, from my perspective, of bigotry,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Rep. Joe Crowley (DN.Y.) said after hearing Trump’s speech “you would think coming out of this that every undocumented alien is actually a member of MS-13.” That was a reference to Trump’s repeated mentions of the violent gang in the context of his desire to reform immigration policy.
Baby milk contamination began in 2005 PARIS The French dairy group at the centre of a baby milk scandal, Lactalis, has admitted some of its products may have been tainted over more than a decade.Millions of boxes of powdered milk have been recalled worldwide following a salmonella outbreak last year.
Researchers say that the exact same strain of salmonella was responsible for another outbreak in 2005.The company said it was possible other babies could have been affected by Lactalis products since then. In a newspaper interview published on Thursday, Lactalis CEO Emmanuel Besnier said
tests had shown that a factory at the centre of the latest scare, in Craon in north-western France, was also responsible for the 2005 outbreak.The factory - owned by Lactalis since 2006 - was closed in December after it emerged that contamination had started in one of its drying towers. In the 2005 outbreak, 146
children fell ill. In last year’s outbreak, at least 38 cases in
France and Spain were traced to Lactalis milk.On Thursday, researchers from the Pasteur Institute in Paris said the salmonella bacteria had remained at the Craon factory until it was closed. As a result, they said, a total of 25 babies had been affected between 2005 and 2016.
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UK man who drove van into mosque worshippers jailed for life London A man found guilty of murder and attempted murder after he drove a van into worshippers near a north London mosque last year was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 43 years in jail. During sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court here, Justice Cheema-Grubb described Darren Osborne as a dangerous man on “a suicide mission” who had been brainwashed by far-right
extremist ideology in the lead up to the attack in June, 2017. “This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill. Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred. In short, you allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claimed to be leaders,” the judge said. The 48-year-old reacted to the sentencing from the dock with the words, “God bless you, thank you”.He was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of the murder of Bangladeshi-origin Makram Ali and of the attempted murder of others at the scene. Osborne, from Cardiff in Wales, was handed two life sentences
on the charges, to be served concurrently which would mean he would effectively die in jail. “Many of them (victims) were wearing distinctive Muslim dress. You had found your target. You accelerated the van towards them intending to kill as many people as you could,” the judge noted. She also praised Mohammed Mahmoud, the ‘imam’ from the local Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, who stepped in
to save Osborne from being beaten up.“This was a demonstration of true leadership...He chose to respond to evil with good,” the judge said.Prosecutor Jonathan Rees read out a victim impact statement from Ruzina Akhtar, the daughter of 51-year-old Ali, who had rushed to his aid on the street outside their home in north London.“I have suffered with recurring nightmares. The scene of the incident is near to our house. We walk past this most days and are constantly reminded,” she said. Osborne used a rented van to target worshippers as they
returned from prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, and the court was told that he wanted to kill as many Muslims as possible. His trial was told that he had become radicalised after watching a BBC docudrama about a child-grooming scandal involving Pakistani-origin men in Rochdale and reading online content from far-right organisations such as ‘Britain First’. “Your use of Twitter exposed you to racists and anti- Islamic ideology,” the judge told Osborne during sentencing. Osborne had previously appeared before the courts on 33 occasions for 102 offences, making him a “belligerent and violent character” in the eyes of the law. UK home secretary Amber Rudd reacted after Osborne’s conviction, saying that the government was determined to combat all forms of terrorism. “We are continually adapting our approach to respond to the terrorist threat...We give parity to all terrorism regardless of ideology. I see no difference between a violent Islamist and a far-right terrorist. All terrorists must face the full force of the law,” she said in a statement. Osborne’s attack came after three Islamist terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. “I welcome the judge’s decision to sentence Osborne under the Terrorism Act, which reflects the gravity of his actions,” said Commander Dean Haydon, the Head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Indian-origin physiotherapist gets 14year jail for supplying guns to gangs in UK Birmingham Mohinder Surdhar, a Birmingham-based physiotherapist who played the role of a middleman in the sale of prohibited weapons and ammunition between an arms supplier and criminal gangs, was jailed for 14 years at the Birmingham crown court this week. Surdhar, 57, and the arms supplier, Paul Edmunds, 65, were an unlikely duo supplying guns and ammunition that the police linked to more than 100 crimes around the United
Kingdom. Edmunds was sentenced in December to 30 years in jail. Edmunds, a registered firearms dealer from Gloucester, used his knowledge and role to source, purchase, import and then supply prohibited guns and ammunition to Surdhar, who then sold them on to the criminal underworld, law officers said. The crown prosecution service (CPS) said: “The weapons and ammunition have been directly linked to crimes across nine police forces, including murders,
attempted murders and the 2011 Birmingham riots when shots were fired at the West Midlands Police helicopter.” “The sole benefit for both men was money. The prosecution proved in the trial that Edmunds had unexplained deposits of more than £350,000”. Edmunds was found to have imported huge quantities of antique and other firearms from the United States over a six-year period and was also responsible for manufacturing specialist ammunition to fit the handguns. Following his arrest, the police discovered Edmunds had also falsified entries in his firearms register and damaged tools which he had used to make the ammunition. This was in an attempt to remove unique markings to frustrate later scientific examination. Warren Stanier of the CPS said: “These two men used their expertise to exploit the illicit firearms market for financial gain and in doing so put the lives of the general public and police in danger”.“We work with colleagues in the criminal justice system to identify and robustly pursue those involved throughout the supply chain for illegal firearms. The removal of Edmunds and Surdhar from that supply chain has reduced criminals’ opportunity to source firearms and use them in further serious crimes.”
Anti-corruption court head charged with bribery
Egypt unveils tomb of ancient priestess CAIRO Egyptian archaeologists on Saturday unveiled the tomb of an Old Kingdom priestess adorned with well-preserved and rare wall paintings. Antiquities Minister Khaled alEnany told reporters that the tomb on the Giza plateau near Cairo was built for Hetpet, a priestess to Hathor, the goddess of fertility, who assisted women in childbirth.The tomb was found during excavation work in Giza’s western cemetery by a team of Egyptian archaeologists led by Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The antiquities ministry said the cemetery houses tombs of top officials from the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty (2465-2323 BC), and that several have already been dug up since 1842. The newly discovered tomb “has the architectural style and the decorative elements of the Fifth Dynasty, with an entrance
leading to an ‘L’ shaped shrine”, the ministry said. “The tomb has very distinguished wall paintings in a very good conservation condition depicting Hetpet standing in different hunting a n d f i s h i n g s c e n e s o r. . . receiving offerings from her children,” it said. The paintings also show scenes of musical and dancing performances as well as two scenes featuring monkeys domestic animals at the time
- one picking and eating fruit and the other dancing in front of an orchestra. Waziri told AFP the paintings were unusual. “Such scenes are rare... and have only been found previously in the (Old Kingdom) tomb of ‘Ka-Iber’ where a painting shows a monkey dancing in front of a guitarist not an orchestra,” he said. That tomb is located in Saqqara, a necropolis about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Cairo. Enany told repo ers the new tomb includes “a purification basin on which are engraved the name of the tomb’s owner and her titles”.
ABUJA Nigeria’s top judge handling corruption cases against public officials has himself been charged with bribery, court papers showed Saturday. Danladi Umar was accused by the country’s anti-graft body EFCC of demanding 10 million naira (22,300 euros; $27,800) from a suspect “for a favour to be afterwards shown to him in relation to the pending charge”, according to court papers seen by AFP. The embattled judge was also alleged to have received in 2012, through his personal assistant, the sum of 1.8 million naira from the same accused “in connection with the pending case before him”, the papers revealed. The bribery allegations against Umar were first brought
to the fore when Saraki was charged with corruption linked to false asset declaration and money laundering as governor of his central Kwara state between 2003 and 2011. Doubts about Umar’s integrity grew further when the senate president was cleared in June 2017 of the charges against him. The EFCC appealed the ruling and in December, a panel of judges ordered a retrial of three of the 18 charges initially brought against Saraki, Nigeria’s third-ranking politician after the president and vice-president. The case has been one of the most high-profile prosecutions since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015, vowing to end graft and impunity at the highest level.
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CAN SA GET OUT OF MAGIC WEB? T HE INDIANS have flown into Cape Town, which is also the world’s most beautiful city, fully secure in their knowledge that there is an acute water crisis here. The rain Gods haven’t been kind to this otherwise nature-blessed city which is why you can’t have a shower for more than two minutes. Any extra water, if available, comes at a premium. Meanwhile, on the field, the South African cricketers are facing another major crisis. There’s an absolute crisis of runs from their batsmen. And going by the turn of events in the first two one-dayers, the hosts are facing a rout. Two of South Africa’s celebrated batsmen, AB de Villiers and Faf Du Plessis, are on casualty list while two most experienced Quinton De Cock & JP Duminy against are all at sea dealing with spin. Accordingly, their greenhorn captain, Aiden Markram’s childhood dream of becoming a captain now threatens to become his worst nightmare. In the event, India, who had never before won a oneday series in South Africa, not only look set to put the record straight but also topple the Proteas to be the new No. 1 in oneday cricket. The two Bogeymen making their life difficult are the men with magic wrists – Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav – who have taken 13 wickets between themselves in two games. And the problem is, even the South Africans know, there is no getting away from the Indian spinners. Playing spin, to them, is like speaking Chinese. “It’s very difficult,” said their batting coach Dale Benkenstein who accompanied skipper Markram to face the media probably to share his captain’s predicament rather than save him from the grilling. “Unless we can call them (Chahal & Yadav) to our nets for some practice! That’s the beauty of international cricket. At the end of the day, the batters have got to work it out. They got to come up with a plan obviously and execute it well in the middle,” he explained. For starters,
however, the South Africans might just as well go back to playing on a wicket with good pace and bounce. It was here at Newlands that South Africa won the first Test against India early last month. If they can get another pitch that negates the bite that the spinners might be getting, they can be a bit more competitive. India, meanwhile, has had it a bit too easy. They fought back well at Durban while Centurion was a massive rout. And now, Virat Kohli isn’t willing to give his opponents an inch. Three straight victories on this tour is a
huge achievement for his team. Another victory at Newlands will push his team
within handshaking distance of being No. 1 team. However, thanks to India’s thumping victories, the batters who have just joined the group must feeling like they are on a paid holiday. South Africa’s injury list continues to grow as wicket-keeper
batsman Quinton de Kock has been ruled out of the remaining four ODIs and the ensuing T20Is series against India. De Kock suffered a left wrist injury while batting during the second ODI at Centurion on Sunday.
Adaptability key to Chahal-Yadav’s success RAVICHANDRAN Ashwin feels adaptability has been the key to success for spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in first two ODIs in South Africa. Chahal and Yadav have bamboozled the South African batting line up with their wrist spin in the first two ODIs in Durban and Centurion to help India take a 2-0 lead in the six-match series. “I think there is a bit of novelty factor there. It is not about wrist finger or finger spin, it is about the ability to adapt,”
said Ashwin when asked about the success of Chahal-Yadav duo in South Africa. “When T20 first started people thought there was no place for spinners. Then, finger spinners dominated literally for 10 years and then wrist spinners started doing well, which is good. It is more about adaptability,” he said. Ashwin is a regular in India’s Test squad but has lost out his place in the limited-overs side since the ICC Champions Trophy in England last year. But Ashwin said he
was not losing sleep over his ODI place and instead was focusing on strengthening his armoury. “As I told you I can only do my part. I don’t think I am at that phase of my career that I am going to fret much and look forward to something,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group ‘C’ match between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat here. “Genuinely speaking if I am good enough I will play and I have always believed I have been very good enough to play as a bowler in any team. That is my selfconfidence. But I will try to strengthen my ammunition.” The lanky Tamil Nadu cricketer, who
has been trying his hand at leg-spin in recent times in local matches, said it was a part of his plan going into the upcoming Indian Premier League and future.
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FIVE Britons held in Cambodia over images of a Twister-style ‘sex position game’ have been provisionally charged with making porn, it has emerged. The men are among a group of 10 foreigners arrested in a raid on the ‘Let’s Get Wet’ event at a rented villa in the holiday hotspot Siem Reap province, home to the ancient Angkor Wat ruins. They are charged with ‘production’ of pornography under Article 39 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, which carries a maximum prison sentence of one year. The case has been sent to the investigating judge who will decide whether to pursue the charges. Pictures show how the men have had their heads shaved and have been forced to wear orange Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuits while they are held on remand at a prison in Siem Reap. Prison authorities ordered their heads to be shaved to prevent lice and the orange jumpsuits are standard issued prison uniform. It comes as the father of one of the Britons claims the party photos used to accuse them are five years old. Guy Harris said the images that appeared online which were said to show the game were taken half a decade ago - well before his bar manager son Paul arrived in Cambodia. Paul Harris was arrested along with Britons Vincent Harley Robert Hook, 35, Daniel Richard Leeming Jones, 30, Thomas Alexander Jeffries, 22, and Billy Stevens, 21. Also detained were Dutchman Job Robertus van der Wel, 22, Canadians Jessica Drolet, 25, and Eden Koazoleas, 19, along with Norwegian David Nikolaus Aleksandr Ballovarre, 22, and 32-year-old New
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Zealander Paul Martin Brasch. Sourng Sophea, an attorney for the group, said in his three-page submission to the court that the partygoers had not been naked. A further 77 foreigners arrested were freed after being ‘educated’ about their unacceptable behaviour. “When police arrived, they were wearing underwear and bras as they drank,” Sourng Sophea told Reuters, adding that they could face between one month and one year in prison if convicted. “The charge of producing pornography is a little too harsh,” he said. “Now, they are in prison and this is too much.” He said the accused had not published any pictures of the event and had committed no crime. Prosecutor Keut Vannareth declined further comment. Tourism minister Thong Khon said he supported the arrests of the tourists. “The law bans this kind of thing and maybe they were warned in advance,” he said. “Siem Reap is a heritage site.” Police sources said organisers of the pool party had twice been warned not to hold any further events. When last Thursday’s event was advertised police decided to launch a raid. A police source
Russian jet blocks US plane over Black Sea A RUSSIAN SU-27 fighter plane flew within five feet of a US Navy EP-3 Aries and crossed directly into its flight path, government officials said. The intercept occurred over the Black Sea on Monday and prompted the US aircraft to abort its mission before completion, CNN reports. The US aircraft was flying in international airspace during the incident, which lasted for two hours and 40 minutes, Navy captain Pamela Kunze said in a statement. The EP-3 flew through the SU27’s jet wash, or turbulence created by an aircraft, Kunze said in a statement deeming the interaction ‘unsafe’. “The Russian military is within its right to operate within international airspace, but they must behave within international standards set to ensure safety and prevent incidents,’” Kunze said in a statement. “Unsafe actions increase the risk of miscalculation and midair collisions.” The statement added: “The US aircraft was operating in accordance with international law and did not provoke this Russian activity.” The Russian Defense Ministry said in response that its planes were investigating an ‘unidentified air target’ and were ‘preventing it from violating Russian airspace, observing all necessary security measures.’ The Russians’ statement added: “The entire flight of the Russian SU-27 was strictly in accordance with international rules for the use of airspace and there were no extraordinary events.”
said: “The organisers had been told not to hold further parties but defied the warning.” The group was arrested on Thursday and were charged for allegedly “producing of pornographic pictures’ at a night for backpackers. Cambodian authorities are understood to have taken offence at the ‘Let’s Get Wet’ event, where a Twister-style ‘sex position game’ is said to have been played and photographed. It comes as a video emerged of an event of the same name in February last year, which shows women flashing their breasts and twerking in bikinis on bar stools. It also features scores of drinks lined up on a bar as shots tumble into them like dominoes, before revellers pile in and grab them. Harris, from Portsmouth, said his 33-year-old son has been in Cambodia for three years and had never been in any trouble before. Speaking from his terraced house, he said: “Paul had been at work five minutes when the police turned up and made the arrests. The bar he manages is near a number of other bars, and this guy had sold tickets for an event where tourists would go to visit several of them.”
N Korea can nuke US in a few months DONALD Trump’s spymaster warned that North Korea could have the ability to hit the US with nuclear weapons in a ‘handful of months’. Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA, also said he wanted America to get back on its ‘front foot’ by stepping up covert action overseas — pledging to do his ‘damnest’ to steal secrets from foreign powers. Speaking from the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, he revealed the US President is briefed on ‘the most exquisite truth’ that the CIA has learnt almost every day, and is ‘curious’ about the facts. In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, he warned that he expected Russia to target the US mid-term elections later this year, but insisted the US would be ready to ‘push back’. Pompeo, a Trump loyalist who was handed the job in January last year, said Kim Jong-Un and North Korea’s nuclear programme were high on his agenda. He went on: “We talk about him having the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the United States in a matter of a handful of months. Our task is to have provided the intelligence to the president of the United States that will deliver to him a set of options that continue to take down
that risk by non-diplomatic means.” The President and senior officials were ‘mindful’ of the fact that all-out conflict could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, but that ‘many things were possible’ in scenarios for removing Kim Jong-Un or preventing him being able to launch nuclear missiles, he added.
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Health Ibuprofen in early pregnancy Try standing for six hours daily to shed those extra kilos, suggests study may harm daughter’s fertility
New Delhi Losing weight is not an easy feat to accomplish, even when you have set a specific target. It requires hard work, discipline, dedication, immense willpower and self-control. It is a slow and steady process and many people go to all sorts of lengths to achieve their desired goals like trying out all sorts of diets that suit their requirements or have been proven effective, in order to quicken the process. A lot of people even tend to give up halfway through their journey, simply because they run out of patience. While there are a lot of studies that have mentioned certain exercising techniques and diets that can help in this regard, another study has just come up with a way to help you shed
those kilos faster. According to the study, standing instead of sitting for six hours a day may help you shed those extra kilos over a long term. The researchers found that standing burned 0.15 calories (kcals) per minute more than sitting. By substituting standing for sitting for six hours a day, a 143.3-pound adult would expend an extra 54 calories (kcals) in six hours. “Standing not only burns more calories, the additional muscle activity is linked to lower rates of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. So the benefits of standing could go beyond weight control,” said Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, Professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, a US-based non-profit. Importantly, calories burned
between standing and sitting is about twice as high in men as in women. This likely reflects the effect of greater muscle mass in men on the number of calories burned because calories burned is proportional to the muscle mass activated while standing, researchers noted. “It’s important to avoid sitting for hours at a time. Standing for long periods of time for many adults may seem unmanageable, especially those who have desk jobs, but, for the person who sits for 12 hours a day, cutting sitting time to half would give great benefits,” Lopez-Jimenez added. In the new study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the team analysed 46 studies with 1,184 participants. Participants, on average, were 33 years old; 60 percent were men, and the average weight was 143.3 pounds. Replacing standing for sitting could be yet another behaviour change to help reduce the risk of long-term weight gain. However, more research is needed to see whether such a strategy is effective and whether there are long-term health implications of standing for long periods.
London: Women who consume commonly used Ibuprofen even for just two days during the first 24 weeks of their pregnancy may reduce their daughter’s number of eggs, potentially affecting their fertility in the future, new research has warned. The research carried out on human cells in the laboratory revealed that exposure to Ibuprofen during the crucial first three months of foetal development results in a “dramatic loss” of the germ cells that go into making the follicles from which female eggs develop. The germ cells would either die or fail to grow and multiply at the usual rate. “We found that two to seven days of exposure to Ibuprofen dramatically reduced the germ cell stockpile in human foetal ovaries during the first trimester of pregnancy and the ovaries did not recover fully from this damage,” said Severine MazaudGuittot, a researcher at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in France. For the study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, the team exposed a part of the tissue from each of the 185 human foetuses between 7-12
weeks of development to Ibuprofen and kept the second part as the control. They found that Ibuprofen crosses the placental barrier, with the foetus exposed to the same concentration of the drug as the mother.
C o n v e r s e l y, t h e t i s s u e exposed to the drug for a week had approximately half the number of ovarian germ cells. The researchers observed significant effects after seven days of exposure to the drug, with cell death seen as early as two days after treatment. “This is the first study to look at the effects of Ibuprofen on the ovarian tissue of baby girls, and the first to show that it can cross the placental barrier during the first trimester of pregnancy, exposing the foetus to the drug,” Mazaud-Guittot said.
Bacteria in milk associated Chemotherapy treatment for breast with risk of rheumatoid arthriti cancer may increase heart failure risk s
New Delhi Milk has always been synonymous with good, improved bone health and bone density due to the rich amount of calcium it contains.
However, a study has associated it with rheumatoid arthritis, saying that the condition can be triggered because of the bacteria present in milk. A strain of bacteria commonly found in milk may be a trigger for developing rheumatoid arthritis in people who are
genetically at risk, researchers said. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease that causes the immune system to attack a person’s joints, muscles, bones and organs. Patients suffer from pain and deformities mostly in the hands and feet. It can occur at any age but the most common onset is between 40 and 60 years old and is three times more prevalent in women. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, showed a link between rheumatoid arthritis and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, known as MAP. Humans can contract the bacteria through the consumption of infected milk, beef and produce fertilised by cow manure.
New Delhi The American Heart Association (AHA) has warned that breast cancer treatment which involves chemotherapy and radiation can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. While the advances in treatment have witnessed a growth in survival rate among breast cancer patients, survivors crossing the age of 65, were more likely to die from heart
disease than breast cancer, the new study showed. HER-2 and other breast cancers use targeted therapies which could weaken the heart muscle – a condition known as heart failure, it said. Other therapies could also affect the heart arteries and cause the development of coronary artery disease or blockages, the study added. Prompting attention to the fact that during treatment not
only one’s breast health but also general health, including that of the heart, should be considered, the researchers suggested. “Any patient who is going to undergo breast cancer treatment, whether they have heart disease at the beginning or not, should be aware of the potential effects of the treatments on their heart,” said Indian-origin Laxmi Mehta, Associate Professor at The Ohio State University in the US. However, it should not deter or scare patients from undergoing the cancer treatment, instead, allow them to make informed decisions with their doctor on the best option available, Mehta added, in the statement published in the journal Circulation. In some cases, post cessation of the treatment and/or the addition of heart medicines can improve heart function.
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New paper-based test can help in early detection of HIV
New Delhi While finding an effective cure for most deadly diseases is on the list of priorities for scientists, a timely detection or diagnosis is equally important. A cure for HIV/AIDS has possibly been a big, long-standing challenge for experts. As scientists work on procuring an effective vaccine or a drug, an affordable and highly sensitive paper-based diagnostic tool for HIV has been developed to make the early detection of the virus possible. The test was developed by researchers from the Imperial College London in the UK and could also be adapted to be used for other dangerous transferable diseases like Ebola and Zika. In recent years, diseases such as Ebola and Zika have caused
wide-scale devastation, and HIV continues to be a pandemic health threat for many, researchers said. The problem is particularly prominent in developing countries, where infectious diseases often go undetected for long periods of time, resulting in widespread epidemics. Currently, cheap point-of-care methods employed to detect infectious diseases have their limitations, particularly when it comes to detecting very low levels of markers in the blood. Now, Imperial researchers, alongside their collaborators at University College London, have developed a new diagnostic tool for HIV that is affordable, capable of withstanding harsh conditions and highly sensitive, making the early detection of the disease possible.
Breakthrough! Five children receive new ears grown from their own cells
New Delhi Scientists have made a breakthrough in regenerative medicine after they successfully grew a perfectly compatible ear in a lab and grafted it onto a patient. Five children have received new ears through the process – a world’s first – which uses their own cells combined with a 3Dprinted biodegradable mould. The children, aged between six and nine years, who underwent the experimental surgery were all born with a defect in one ear known as microtia, a condition in which the external ear is small and underdeveloped. Two-and-a-half years ago, the first child to undergo the procedure showed no signs. The body had rejected or accidentally absorbed the new cells, the Chinese team who developed the procedure wrote when they published their findings
in the journal EbioMedicine. The scientists created reversed 3D-printed replicas of the children’s normal ears and used the replicas to make biodegradable moulds full of tiny holes. The next step involved the collection of the cartilage cells called chondrocytes from the children’s deformed ears which were used to grow ear-shaped cartilage with the moulds in a lab. After three months, the ears grown in the lab were grafted on the children as the cartilage cells begin to grow in the shape of the mould, and the mould itself begins to break down. “It’s a very exciting approach,” Tessa Hadlock, a reconstructive plastic surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, told New Scientist, which first reported on the research.
The research, published in the journal ACS Nano, refined a current diagnostic method known in the field as a lateral flow immunoassay, a similar method employed by pregnancy tests. In the case of HIV, if a patient is positive, virus components present in the blood will bind to coloured particles on the paper test, indicating HIV infection. “To the best of our knowledge, our newly developed test is the simplest and most sensitive colourimetric paper-based lateral flow diagnostic test for HIV to date,” said Mike Thomas from Imperial. This newly developed technology employs a similar technique to the lateral flow immunoassay, but is far more sensitive, meaning it can detect HIV even when the level of the virus in the blood is very low, allowing for earlier diagnosis. The test senses a protein called p24, found on the outside of the HIV virus, which acts as a biomarker of the disease. By incorporating an ‘amplification stage’ to the standard immunoassay, which acts to increase the signal produced by p24 up to 100-fold, the team was able to detect the presence of the virus with sensitivity surpassing that of the current industry standard tests.
Scientists develop world’s first blood test to detect Alzheimer’s
Sydney Australian scientists in collaboration with researchers from Japan on Thursday announced the world’s first accurate blood test for Alzheimer’s disease which can detect the illness up to 20 years before any symptoms occur. The test, which spots the illness at an accuracy of over 90 percent, identifies the build-up of a protein called amyloid-beta, which is an early indicator of the disease, Xinhua news agency reported. Up until now, the only way to determine if a patient had Alzheimer’s was by highly invasive and expensive methods, including brain scans and lumbar punctures. But the breakthrough by the University of Melbourne’s Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health will mean
diagnosing the disease will become far easier. “In the first instance, it will be an invaluable tool in increasing the speed of screening potential patients for new drug trials,” said Colin Masters, Professor at Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. “Progress in developing new therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease has been disappointingly slow,” Masters said. “New drugs are urgently required, and the only way to do that is to speed up the whole process,” he added. At the moment due to the long time spans involved in pharmaceutical studies, companies require extremely accurate predictions of who is most at risk before going ahead with trials.
Migraines could increase risk of cardiovascular diseases New Delhi Headaches are a huge nuisance. They occur at the most inappropriate times, reduce concentration and happen due to various reasons. However, there is one headache disorder that surpasses most of them and that is migraine. Migraines are super intense and give you a splitting headache that takes hours to subside and the associated dizziness and sensitivity to light don’t exactly help matters. The disease can be debilitating and although a number of interventions exist, many only work for a certain time before they fail to prevent or relieve pain. Now, researchers have associated migraines with cardiovascular health saying that people who suffer from migraine may be at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, blood clot and an irregular heart rate. Around one billion people worldwide are affected by migraine. It has a considerable impact on quality of life and imposes a substantial burden on society. Although the absolute risks were low, the findings suggest that “migraine should be considered a potent and persistent risk factor for most cardiovascular diseases in both men and women”, said
researchers from Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark and Stanford University, US. Migraine’s association with cardiovascular disease risk can be attributed to the increased use of anti-inflammatory drugs, by the patients suffering from the headache disorder. Anti-inflammatory drugs are associated with increased risks of heart problems, while immobilisation related to migraine attacks may be behind the increase in the risk of blood clot. Current guidelines do not recommend the use of anticlotting drugs such as aspirin to treat migraine, but clinicians need to “consider whether patients at particularly high risk of heart disease would benefit from anticoagulant treatment”, the researchers said, in a paper
published in the journal The BMJ. For the study, the team compared data from over 51,000 Danish people who had been diagnosed with migraine with over 510,000 Danes who were migraine free over a 19 year period, from 1995 to 2013. While a link between migraine, stroke and heart attacks, have been previously established, the new study showed that migraine also was positively associated with a blood clot and irregular heart rate. For example, for every 1,000 patients, 25 patients with migraine had a heart attack compared with 17 migraine-free patients while 45 patients with migraine had an ischaemic stroke (blood clot in the brain) compared with 25 migraine-free patients, the study showed.
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NICARAGUAN SEAFOOD SOUP
Ingredients: 6 cups unsweetened coconut milk 1 lb. conch meat, cut into 1/2inch cubes, 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 large Cuban oregano leaves (available at garden nurseries) or 1 standard oregano sprig, 2 green bananas, peeled and
each cut crosswise into 4 pieces 1 green plantain, peeled and cut crosswise into 8 pieces, 1 yellow plantain, peeled and cut crosswise into 8 pieces 1 medium cassava root, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces 1 medium malanga or taro root, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, 2 (8-oz.) skinless king mackerel fillets, each cut into 8 pieces 4 rock lobster or Maine lobster tails, halved lengthwise Lime wedges, for serving Instructions: In a large Dutch oven, combine the coconut milk with 4 cups water and add the conch, garlic, oregano, bananas, both plantains, cassava, malanga, and onion. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces and the vegetables are just tender, about 1 hour. Add the mackerel and lobster and cook until the seafood is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and serve with lime wedges.
SOUR CREAM CORNBREAD Ingredients: 2/3 cup vegetable oil, plus more for greasing 1 cup sour cream 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 medium yellow onion, grated 1 (16-oz.) can creamed corn 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. kosher salt 1 cup (about 5 oz.) grated cheddar cheese Instructions: Heat the oven to 350° and grease a 9-inch round cast-iron skillet. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil with the sour cream, eggs, onion, and corn until evenly combined. In another bowl, whisk the cornmeal with the baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they form a slightly lumpy batter. Scrape half the batter into the prepared skillet, sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese, and spread the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and bake until golden brown
FREEKEH PILAF WITH SUMAC
Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups whole (not cracked) freekah 2/3 cup canned tomato purée 2 vine-ripe tomatoes, cored, peeled, and finely chopped 1 tsp. sumac, plus more to garnish Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Instructions: In a 4-qt. saucepan, heat the olive oil over mediumhigh. Add the onion and
cook, stirring, until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the freekeh and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Pour in the tomato purée, vine-ripe tomatoes, and 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, covered, until the freekeh is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the sumac, and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the pilaf into a bowl and sprinkle with more sumac before serving.
TRINIDADIAN GREEN SEASONING
and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Transfer the skillet to a rack and let the cornbread cool for 20 minutes before serving.
SKILLET-BRAISED SWISS CHARD Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil 1 1/4 lb. (2 bunches) Swiss chard, trimmed and halved crosswise 2 large shallots, peeled and finely chopped 2 small carrots, peeled and finely chopped 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes 2 tsp. sugar Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper Instructions: Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch high-
sided skillet over medium. Add the Swiss chard and sprinkle with the shallots and carrots. Pour the tomatoes evenly over the chard, sprinkle with the sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Pour in 1/2 cup water, bring to a simmer, then cover partially with a lid. Cook until the liquid is almost evaporated and the chard is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover, transfer the chard to a platter, and pour the vegetables and any cooking liquid over the top before serving.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup finely chopped culantro or cilantro 1/2 cup finely chopped flatleaf parsley 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 2 tbsp. water 1 tbsp. finely chopped thyme 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 scallions, thinly sliced 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped 1/4 red bell pepper, finely chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Instructions: In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together with 2 tablespoons water and season with salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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Prez Yameen suspends all basic rights for a fortnight MALDIVES President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency on Monday, amid a deep political crisis in the Indian Ocean island nation. The Maldives’ legal affairs minister said the emergency would last 15 days, Reuters reported. News reports quoted MP Eva Abdulla as saying all basic rights had been suspended, and security forces had sweeping powers to arrest and search. Yameen, who has run the country with an iron hand since 2013, is facing mounting pressure at home and from the United States and India to release former president Mohamed Nasheed from a 13year jail sentence, and free eight other political opponents from prison. Earlier on Monday, Yameen said legal conflicts made it difficult to comply with a Supreme Court order to free jailed opposition leaders. The Maldives, home to 4,00,000 people and best known as a tropical paradise for tourists, has experienced political unrest since Nasheed, the island’s first democraticallyelected leader, was forced to quit amid a mutiny by police in 2012. The following year, Yameen then defeated him in an election that Nasheed maintains was rigged. Subsequently, imprisoned on terrorism charges, Nasheed was allowed to go to Britain for medical treatment in January 2016, and has been living in exile since, though he is currently in Sri Lanka. In its ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court said it found that prosecutors and judges had been influenced “to conduct politically motivated investigations” into allegations
levelled at Nasheed, former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and other opposition leaders. The court also ordered fresh investigations and trials to be held. The ruling has energised an Opposition that hopes Nasheed will be allowed to return home to run against Yameen in a presidential election due in October. Anticipating a possible escala tion by the Supreme Court, attorney general Mohamed Anil has warned that the government will resist any
Israel and Egypt in secret pact against ISIS ISRAEL has joined forces with Egypt’s military to smash ISIS militants in Nothern Sinai. Unmarked Israeli drones, helicopters and jets have carried out a covert air campaign to rid Egypt of Islamic terrorists, for more than two years. Around 100 airstrikes have been executed in the country, with often more than one a week. Jihadists in Northern Sinai have slaughtered hundreds of people, including children, police officers and soldiers. In 2015, ISIS terrorists shot down
attempt to impeach Yameen for non-compliance with the order. On Monday, a minister quit in protest at the government’s defiance of the Supreme Court. “It is not possible for my con science to accept the lack of answers to the way the government is dealing with the orders of the highest court on state institutions,” Hussain Rasheed, state health minister, said in his resignation letter. Speaking to state run TV Maldives, legal affairs minister Azima Shakoor sought to justify the government’s stance. “There are many legal challenges... and these challenges made it difficult to enforce the ruling. The criminal justice system will be
compromised if the ruling’s orders to free the prisoners is enforced,” she said. Since Thursday’s ruling, Yameen has fired two police chiefs who tried to implement the court ruling and a politically neutral secretary general of parliament, who was also to implement the ruling, has resigned. Police has started investigations into Supreme Court judges and officials since the ruling, and said that they plan to question former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is now in the Opposition, in a separate case. Gayoom, who is a halfbrother of Yameen, said unidentified armed men had tried to intimidate him overnight.
a Russian passenger jet over the region killing all 224 people on board. While just last year around 30 terrorists carrying an ISIS flag murdered 305 people at a mosque in the region. The gunmen created an arena of death around the place of worship by blocking off escape routes with burntout cars before gunning down the penned-in worshippers in a 20minute massacre. But Israeli assistance in the region has helped Cairo regain a footing in the battle against extremism, reports the New York Times. The partnership marks a new dawn for the two countries, who were once enemies in three wars. However, the nations have shared foe with ISIS, Iran and extremist Islam. According the US military official’s Israel’s military presence has played a key role in helping the Egyptian military fight ISIS. However, there are concerns that Israel’s role in keeping terrorists at bay in Egypt is having a negative effect on the region.
Russian billionaires to Putin: Allow us to return home without arrest RUSSIAN billionaires living in Britain have begged Vladimir Putin to be allowed back into Russia without being arrested. It is understood that more than 10 oligarchs have contacted the Kremlin asking for safe repatriation back home after fleeing the country to escape court proceedings. It comes amid a crackdown in Britain on businessmen suspected of corruption who cannot account for how they accumulated their vast wealth. Russian business tsar Boris Titov said the list was ‘with the president’ and contained names of those ‘who managed to leave and not end up in a pre-trial
detention centre’. “As yet, the list is not final, as we continue receiving applications,” he told news agency Tass. “Some people live outside for 20 years without a chance to return, as the criminal proceedings continue. There may be no claims against them, even Interpol may take them off the list, but the case in Moscow still continues.” Last week, it was announced that Russian oligarchs suspected of corruption will be forced to account for their luxury lifestyles in the UK in a new crackdown on
crime. Security minister Ben Wallace said the ‘full force of government’ would be brought to bear on foreign criminals and corrupt politicians who use Britain as a haven. Officials will use new unexplained wealth orders — which came into effect this week - to seize suspicious assets and hold until they have been properly accounted for. In an interview with The Times, Wallace said: “When we get to you, we will come for you, for your assets and we will make the environment that you
live in difficult.” The move comes as London’s role as a playground for Russian gangsters and the super rich has been highlighted by the BBC drama series McMafia. It was reported in Russia that Titov met with about 40 businesspeople in London on Saturday. It is not known if any of the attendees were named on the list. Among those to attend were mobile tycoon Yevgeny Chichvarkin, who has lived in London
since fleeing Russia while facing charges for kidnapping and extortion. Georgy Trefilov, considered among the 100 richest Russians, is also in the English capital while facing charges of fraud.