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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 652, 2 FEB. - 8 FEB. 2016 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

Alphabet beats Apple Becomes most valuable US company

NEW YORK Alphabet Inc. surpassed Apple Inc. as the most valuable company in the United States in after-hours trading on Monday, knocking the iPhone maker from the top spot that it has held for the better part of four years. The change may signal the passing of the technology baton to Alphabet formerly known as Google - from Apple, which surged past Microsoft Corp in market value in 2010. Microsoft in turn eclipsed International Business Machines Corp two decades ago.

It is not without piquancy for Apple and Alphabet, which worked handin-hand to develop mobile computing, but fell out bitterly after Google launched its own Android mobile operating system in 2008.

Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt left Apple’s board the following year. The two companies’ operating systems and apps are in direct competition with each other and Apple is still in litigation

with Samsung Electronics, the biggest Android smartphone maker. Alphabet shares jumped on Monday after reporting strong quarterly earnings, making its combined share classes worth

devices, while Apple has struggled due to signs of softening demand for its signature phone, especially in China, and the lack of another blockbuster product in its pipeline.

“This makes Alphabet an even

Alphabet’s stock price growth started around July last year.

Since then the company has restructured, forming a new holding company and splitting into two parts. Google includes its search

$568 billion, compared with Apple, which had a value of about $535 billion. Alphabet will officially overtake Apple in market value if they open around current levels at the open on Tuesday. The Internet powerhouse’s stock has surged in the last year, helped by increasing sales of advertising on mobile

stronger bellwether for investors to watch,” Scott Fullman, chief strategist at Revere Securities Corp, after the earnings on Monday. “The company has been tracking very well given the volatility in the market, dominated by falling energy prices and weakness from China.” The latest spurt in

engine, YouTube and related parts of the company, while a unit called ‘Other Bets’ includes its ‘moonshots’ such as self-driving cars, and encompasses Google Capital, the secretive X research division and Nest, which offers smart-home accessories.

Investors have appreciated the

No Hindu marriage law in Pak creating multitude of issues

Pakistani lawmakers’ lack of political will to pass the pending Hindu marriage Bill despite a Supreme Court directive came in for criticism Friday, with a leading newspaper questioning the government’s commitment to minority rights, especially for Hindu women.“While many politicians are quick to issue public statements about the rights of minorities in Pakistan, when it comes to taking practical steps to secure these rights, there is very little to show,” Dawn

newspaper said in a scathing editorial.“A prime example of

this strange paradox is the decades-old issue of legislation related to Hindu marriage,” it said, highlighting that the “legal

vacuum that created a multitude of issues especially for minority communities.”A Bill on Hindu marriage was jointly presented in the parliament in 2014

by Ramesh Lal of opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Darshan of ruling Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N). A separate but similar government bill was tabled in parliament

by Law Minister Pervaiz Rashid in March 2015.

The Hindu women have to face problems in proving their Continued on Page 2

company’s new discipline on costs, which started with the arrival of new Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat. For a time it looked as if Apple would never relinquish the top spot in terms of market value.

Bolstered by success of the iPhone, an enormous cash hoard, Apple took over the top U.S. spot in 2012 from Exxon Mobil, and at one point in early 2015 was worth more than $760 billion. Alphabet shares are much more expensive, relatively speaking, than Apple’s, trading around 38 times earnings for the last 12 months, compared to about 11 times for Apple.

Alphabet pays no dividend, whereas Apple’s dividend currently yields about 2 percent of the stock’s value annually. Alphabet’s move into the top spot makes it the 12th company to be recognized as the largest publicly traded U.S. name since 1928, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Past No. 1 names include General Electric, General Motors and IBM.

Dhami gets life for murder SACRAMENTO An Indo-American man from Elk Grove was sentenced to life in prison last Friday for the murder of a man at a 2008 Sacramento Sikh temple festival, Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz said in a news release. Amandeep Singh Dhami was sentenced to 82 years to life. A jury convicted Dhami on June 17, 2015 of second-degree murder and attempted murder with firearm use enhancements. At trial, prosecutor Anthony Ortiz said, Dhami was ready to settle a score with rival Parmjit Pamma Singh, 26, in a long-standing feud that reignited at a San Jose nightspot. The prosecution and defense varied in their versions of what happened, but, minutes after the pair arrived, Pamma

Singh was shot dead on the festival’s cricket grounds, and his confidant, Sahibjeet Singh (a sexual assault criminal), was wounded but alive. Gosal was quickly captured in the mob scene that ensued and would go on to serve a prison term for second-degree murder in the shooting. Dhami managed to escape, eluding authorities for five years in India before he was returned to the United States in 2013 to stand trial.

Continued on Page 2

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Pakistan woman raped on No Hindu marriage law in... the orders of village elders Continued from Page 1 relationships when dealing with officials, while widows are particularly disadvantaged, it said.The editorial noted that this issue was highlighted by the chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice at a seminar in Islamabad on Wednesday which is supposed to approve the pending Hindu marriage bill to be tabled in the

house.“Without official proof of relationships, getting government documents issued or moving forward on any other activity which involves documentation from opening bank accounts to applying for visas becomes next to impossible for any citizen,” it said.It said that these issues were a reason for conversion as some experts point out that forced conversions are also facilitated by the lack of

documentation of Hindu marriages.Despite the fact that even the Supreme Court has ordered the state to enact the law, lawmakers have failed to do the needful, the editorial noted.

Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have passed the requisite resolutions, but the Sindh and Punjab assemblies have not yet done so.“This tardiness and lack of political will are inexcusable.

Man Who Murdered At Sacramento..

Islamabad A Pakistani woman was allegedly gangraped by four men on the orders of a Panchayat (village council) in Muzaffargarh district in revenge for ‘dishonouring’ their family. Bachal Mai, 47, of Lundi Pitafi village, near

Jatoi, was allegedly brutalised because her husband’s younger brother Bilal had reportedly developed illicit relations with a girl. Police said Bilal and his brother, also Bachal Mai’s husband, were earlier taken into custody for

Indian-origin Islamic State recruiter killed in Australia

Melbourne An Indian-origin Fijian, who is Australia’s most senior recruiter for the Islamic State group in Syria, has been killed, local media said on Sunday. The report of Neil Prakash’s death, a Melbourne-born radical, was posted on secure communications app Telegram, quoting an IS memb e r. T h e I S c l a i m Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, has been “shahada” the terror group’s description

when a fighter is killed. No details have yet emerged of how or where he reportedly died, Herald Sun reported.

The terrorist, who allegedly had contact with some of those accused of plotting an Anzac Day terror attack in Victoria, fled to Syria in 2013, the report said. The government and police sources were on Sunday night unable to confirm Prakash’s death, which would hurt the terror group’s international recruitment efforts.

13 Pune college students drown during picnic at Murud beach

Thirteen students from Pune’s Abeda Inamdar Senior College, who had gone for a picnic to Murud breach in Raigad district, drowned on Monday.

The dead include 10 girls and three boys. All of them were aged between 18 and 20 and were studying Computer Science.

The group, comprising 112 students, eight teachers and three non-teaching staff, left the college in three buses at 7 am for their annual excursion.

In the afternoon, while some students were having lunch, others went for a swim. But the tide pulled them into the sea, witnesses said.

sexually assaulting the girl on the complaint of her father Noor Mohammed.

Four of the attackers took her to a room where they allegedly raped her.

Continued from Page 1 Dhami took the stand at trial, testifying that he and Gosal went to the festival to mend fences after the incident at the San Jose nightclub, Pamma Singh, Alvinder Khangura and they’re gang were waiting for Dhami. Dhami was

armed in case of an ambush. Alvinder testified that he Pamma, his brother (Jaskinder) & 15-20 guy night before they were all calling out Dhami from KTS truck yard in Sacramento. A person who doesnt want to be named said When cars moved

they found a bag full of handbags. So both groups came armed. Next to Pamma’s body was a gun.

Dhami friend Baljinder Bajwa is seen in pictures picking up Pamma’a gun.

Gosal was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.

Dolce & Gabbana support surrogacy, put same-sex parents on handbags Rome Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have appeared to weigh in to an impassioned debate about gay people’s rights in their home country with cosy designs showing same-sex couples with children.

Last year, Dolce angered many when he used the common derogatory term “womb rental” for surrogacy, which is banned in Italy. His comments were thought unlikely to harm sales, but drew threats of boycott from the likes of British singer Elton John.

New social media posts suggested they had relaxed their views. Avid Instagram user Gabbana posted photos of handbags and t-shirts adorned with childlike drawings of family groups of two men or two women with chil-

dren of various ages.

Feverish opposition to a bill currently before parliament to offer limited rights to same-sex and unmarried

open the way to surrogacy, which is banned in Italy. The term “wombs for rent” was a rallying cry at a mass demonstration against the

tween two causes.

Gabbana replied “Yesss”.

The pair, who remained business partners after their romantic relationship

heterosexual couples is mainly focused on a provision that would allow gay people to adopt their partner’s biological children.

Opponents fear this would

bill in Rome on Saturday.

Another user commented “Volta&Gabbana” on the picture of the handbags, a pun on the Italian for “turncoat”, or someone who switches allegiance be-

ended, have put pregnant models on the catwalk and are selling a t-shirt showing a cartoonish image of themselves with their dogs and cats, with #dgfamily on the back.

UN envoy declares ‘official beginning’ to Syria peace talks Syria peace talks, UN peace talks Syria, Syria crisis, ISIS in Syria, Syria under attack, Destruction in Syria, Syria needs help., peace talks in Syria, Overview of the Syria peace talks at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 1, 2016.

Members of the main Syrian opposition group said Monday they plan to give U.N. envoy Staffan de

Mistura a “roadmap” for implementation of their humanitarian demands on Syria that they say must happen before they formally join indirect peace talks

with a government delegation in Geneva.

Syrian peace talks gained a small measure of momentum Monday with the U.N. special envoy

formally declaring the start of indirect negotiations, even as the opposition spokesman accused Russia of producing a “new Hitler” in Moscow and supporting another Hitler in Damascus. Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy, is now working to keep a wobbly process alive and compel world powers who helped set the stage for the talks to do more to bring about a cease-fire in a fiveyear Syrian civil war.

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Ye world maange radical political change!

In Henry Ford’s 1923 autobiography “Henry Ford - My life and work” he quotes himself as saying “Any customer can have a car painted any color he wants so long as it is black.” According to the BBC program QI the quote was never actually said by Henry Ford or at least there is no evidence he did do. BBC may be right about Henry’s infamous quote but since that time, the customer service in North America changed by leaps and bounds.

In today’s world, no salesman or person can even imagine of hanging their customers out to dry. As Dr. Mark Jarvis rightly pointed out in his article in the Globe and Mail, “today companies offer their customers all kinds of options tailored to their means, aesthetic preferences and pragmatic concerns. The manufacturers or sellers who presents us

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with the multitude of options in customer service bend over backwards to make us, the customers, feel happy.”

He further says, “politics is a totally different ball game altogether. The political parties’ existence is not solely based on serving public interests, so to speak. Look at all the political parties across the globe solely as some kind of special interest groups of private legal entities that unite like-minded, or partially like-minded, people into an outfit with a common agenda of seeking political power in order to further their mutual interests. By doing so, parties, at least in theory, offer voters sharp divides that highlight their divergent perspectives on issues and possible approaches to them for their consideration.

Mark further says that these parties also understand that there’s a balance to be struck by them between focusing only on advancing their agendas and keeping an ‘ear to the ground’ to make sure they remain relevant and are able to secure enough support to gain power.

But, voters should not expect the same kind of treatment or customer service from the political parties that they are used to receiving as consumers from other businesses in the market. If parties started operating like this, they would be nearly become undifferentiated from one another, reduced to staking out bland, unclear positions as they try to blend a range of differing beliefs. This would diminish the essential dynamic of public accountability in a democratic system – the institutionalized adversarialism of partisan politics that the entire parliamentary process is based on. The reality, Dr. Mark Jarvis says, is that political parties aren’t just campaigning to win votes; they are trying to win votes that reflect an often narrow range of particular preferences.

Ted Cruz, a fiery, conservative Texas senator loathed by his own party’s leaders, swept to victory in Iowa’s Republican caucuses Monday, overcoming billionaire Donald Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were deadlocked in a tight race.

The victory in the first Republican nominating contest ensures that Cruz will be a force in the presidential race for weeks to come - if not longer. The firstterm Texas senator now heads to next week’s New Hampshire primary as an undisputed favorite of the furthest right voters, a position of strength for drawing in evangelical voters and others who prioritize an abrupt break with President Barack Obama’s policies.

Perhaps most importantly, Cruz’s win denied Trump a huge opportunity to gain momentum heading into New Hampshire.

Trump parlayed his fame as a real estate mogul and reality television star into large rallies and national poll numbers that before Monday night had established him as the Republican front-runner. The Iowa caucuses kicked off voting in the 2016 presidential race, a tumultuous contest with unexpected candidates challenging both the Republican and Democratic establishments. Candidates faced an electorate deeply frustrated with Washington. While the economy has improved under Obama, the recovery has eluded many Americans. New terror threats at home and abroad have increased national security concerns.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, had been expected

SUNNY BAINS

to cruise to victory in Iowa and beyond. But Sanders has appealed to the Democrats’ liberal base, especially the young, who are concerned about growing income inequality and the shrinking of the middle class. Vote counts at the 90 percent point in tabulations showed Clinton and Sanders in a virtual tie. Iowa has long led off the state-by-state contests to choose delegates for the parties’ national conventions. Historically,

economy. The Republican and Democratic primaries will lead to a gladiatorial showdown come November.

Despite their extreme positions, both Trump and Sanders have defied the pundits by consistently polling strongly; in Trump’s case, far ahead of “establishment” moderates like the fella from the House of Bush, and in Sanders’, either even with or ahead of Hillary Clinton,

a victory has hardly assured the nomination - Iowa accounts for only about 1 percent of the delegates who select the nominee. But a win there, or even an unexpectedly strong showing, can give a candidate momentum and media attention, while a poor showing can end a candidacy.

In the state’s Democratic contest, the tight race revived memories of Clinton’s disappointing showing eight years ago when Obama won the caucuses and, ultimately, the Democratic nomination and presidency. Clinton has campaigned as a progressive who could get things done in a Washington split by an intense partisan divide. But her familiar name and long resume aren’t necessarily advantages in an election year dominated by anti-establishment candidates. Clinton has also been on the defensive over her use of a personal email account for official business as secretary of state, raising questions about whether she mishandled government secrets and her overall trustworthiness.

The septuagenarians polling atop the two main parties have mouthed radicalisms to much excitement and horror. On the right is businessman Donald Trump, who famously promised to wall the USAMexico border to keep out “rapists and criminals”, to ban Muslims from entering the USA, and to bomb the “shit” out of Islamic State (he’s also denigrated menstruation). On the left is Bernie Sanders, who famously promised to tax bankers and other carrion, to provide free college education and generally uplift the middle class by socializing USA’s

who was supposed to be creating history as the first woman leader of the free world.

How can these men - one who derides immigrants in a land built on immigration, and the other who unapologetically says ‘socialism’, previously taboo in American lexicon, command such staunch electoral support?

Simply, it is a measure of how America’s voters are tired of business as usual; how they feel their nation has veered dangerously off-course, and how they feel their nation needs a radical change of direction. The rise of the far-right Tea Party and the far-left Occupy Wall Street movement were warnings of this public disenchantment with the system. These phenomena have been called a reflection of similar grievances and movements around the planet.

Countries have increasingly nationalist governments, prodded further rightward by nativist parties like Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front, or even the British Tory Party, which had the UK Independence Party nipping at its heels in the last election. Despite his majority, Prime Minister David Cameron could depart this year if he insists on staying in the European Union, against the wishes of the rest of his rightwardmoving party. In America and elsewhere, people want a radical change. With the way the global economy is spiraling downwards, this demand will only increase. Maybe we exist in an era of transition between political superstructures. What’s obvious is that ‘business as usual’ is a sure recipe for losing power.

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Designer babies soon? UK gives green signal to alter DNA of embryos

Does the secret of a successful love life involve mysterious, magical, interpersonal chemistry? Or is it all about communication? There are some who say that anyone can be talked into almost anything, just as long as they are willing to be persuaded in the first place. What governs that willingness?

Chemistry! In your heart of hearts, you already know whether you’ve got that. If you haven’t, give up! If you have, keep trying. You may yet be amazed and delighted by the personal progress you make. !!!

All relationships, be they social or emotional, frivolous or serious, involve a degree of give and take.

Those who seek successful communication and rewarding exchange know the importance of compromise. We can’t have it all our own way. We must let someone else gain at least an occasional sense of victory. Such balancing acts become much easier to achieve when both parties know, in their heart of hearts, what they want! Negotiation will go more smoothly where edges are not fuzzy! !!!

We don’t always have control over the speed at which our life is moving. We can try to slow things down or hurry them up, but we are never the only players in the game. Others have a say, too.

Sometimes, their dramas become so urgent that they take precedence over all else. Someone who matters greatly is setting a slightly uncomfortable agenda. Go along with it as best you can and try not to complain. The process they are undergoing, is one that will benefit you, too. All will be well in the end! !!!

You are understandably keen to improve the quality of a personal relationship. Someone is proving a little difficult. This may be partly to do with their personality and partly, to do with yours! The real issue now, though, is not ‘what has caused a situation to come about’ but ‘how can it be peacefully, happily, comfortably resolved?’ The attribution of fault or blame won’t help. An expression of humility, sincerity and a true willingness to move on and start afresh is the only healing balm that needs to be applied. !!!

Why do some people say what they say and do what they do? We may as well ask why they feel what they feel. Psychologists dedicate their lives to understanding what motivates humanity. They’re still not sure. We may be predictable, but we are unpredictably predictable! We may be logical, but our logic follows mysterious lines. Don’t drive yourself to distraction by trying to understand what may make no sense, regardless of how much thought you give it. Just allow love to lead you wherever logic may fail. !!!

What are we supposed to conclude when plans go awry? When arrangements get changed? When new developments distract us? Is this the universe trying to tell us that we should keep a tighter grip on our circumstances? Or does it represent a cosmic invitation to relax, let go, adapt and benefit from change? It can sometimes be especially hard to feel happy and positive about unexpected developments in our lives. But something wonderful can yet happen if you greet the ‘new’ with trust.

London Prospects of “designer babies” through genetically modified human embryos moved a step further after Britain’s fertility regulator gave the go-ahead to scientists to “edit” or alter the DNA of embryos less than a week old as part of research into infertility and miscarriages.

This is the first time such a green signal has been given, after years of debates on ethical issues and nearly 40 years after Britain had the first test tube baby (through in vitro fertilisation) in 1978. This approval potentially opens the door to “designer babies”.

China carried out DNA editing to correct a gene that causes a blood disorder last year, but experts said this is the first time the process has gone through a proper regulatory system and approved. After the approval

by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), experiments with surplus embryos from IVF treatments are scheduled to begin at London’s Francis Crick Institute in the next few months.

However, the regulator has

tor to carry out the research. She previously said: “We would really like to understand the genes needed for a human embryo to develop successfully into a healthy baby.”

She added, “The reason why it is so important is

not allowed modified embryos to be implanted into a woman. The embryos will be destroyed within 14 days and can only be used for basic research.

The modification work will be led by Kathy Niakan, who applied to the regula-

because miscarriages and infertility are extremely common, but they’re not very well understood.”

The research, she said, could help scientists improve their understanding of the earliest stages of human life. Niakan plans to

find the genes at play in the first few days of fertilisation, when an embryo develops a coating of cells that later become the placenta.

Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, said: “I am delighted that the HFEA has approved Dr Niakan’s application.

Niakan’s proposed research is important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops and will enhance our understanding of IVF success rates, by looking at the very earliest stage of human development.”

Sarah Chan, from the University of Edinburgh, said: “The use of genome editing technologies in embryo research touches on some sensitive issues, therefore it is appropriate that this research and its ethical implications have been carefully considered by the HFEA before being given approval to proceed”.

Over 10,000 migrant kids missing; possibly exploited for sex, slavery The Hague Over 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children have disappeared in Europe, the EU police agency Europol said Sunday, fearing many have been whisked into sex trafficking rings or the slave trade.

Europol’s press office confirmed to AFP the figures published in British newspaper The Observer, adding that they covered the last 18-24 months.

The agency’s chief of staff Brian Donald said the vulnerable children had disappeared from the system after registering with state authorities following their arrival in Europe.

“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children,”

Donald said, adding that 5,000 had disappeared in Italy alone.

“Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might

structure” established over the last 18 months to exploit the migrant flow.

The Observer reported that Europol found evidence of

have been passed on to family members. We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with.”

Donald said there was evidence of a “criminal infra-

links between smuggling rings bringing people into the EU and human trafficking gangs exploiting migrants for sex and slavery.

“There are prisons in Germany and Hungary where

the vast majority of people arrested and placed there are in relation to criminal activity surrounding the migrant crisis,” Donald said.

Over one million migrants and refugees, many fleeing the Syria conflict, crossed into Europe last year.

“Whether they are registered or not, we’re talking about 270,000 children,” Donald told the paper.

“Not all of those are unaccompanied, but we also have evidence that a large proportion might be,” he said, adding that the 10,000 is likely to be a conservative estimate.

He said many of the children are “visible”, and not “spirited away and held in the middle of forests”.

Youngest ever conjoined twins separated in Switzerland Geneva Swiss doctors have separated eight-day-old conjoined twin sisters fused at the liver and chest -- the youngest ever successfully separated, a Swiss paper reported Sunday.

Five surgeons, assisted by two nurses and six anaesthesiologists, carried out the successful, five-hour operation last month to separate the tiny identical twins, the Le Matin Dimanche weekly reported.

Maya and Lydia were born

at Bern hospital two months prematurely along with their triplet sister Kamilla on December 2.

The two were joined by the

liver and the chest.

The conjoined twins were initially stable and doctors had planned to allow them to settle after birth and

separate them after a few months.

But after a week, their situation deteriorated dramatically: one suffering from hypertension and the other suffering from the opposite condition, known as hypotension.

Both conditions were lifethreatening to the frail twins, who weighed just 1.1 kilo (2.4 pounds) each, and the doctors decided their only chance was attempting surgery never before performed on such young infants.

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Saudi police arrest nine American ‘terror’ suspects Riyadh Saudi authorities have arrested nine American citizens among 33 “terror” suspects rounded up over the past week, the Saudi Gazette newspaper reported Sunday.

Four Americans were arrested last Monday and five others over the past four days, the paper reported, citing an unidentified source.

Washington, a strong ally of Riyadh, confirmed it was aware of the report but declined to elaborate.

A US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: “We are aware of reports alleging that several US citizens were detained in Saudi Arabia.

“The Department of State takes its obligation to assist US citizens abroad seriously. Due to privacy considerations, we have

no further comment.”

The Saudi Gazette said the arrests also included 14 Saudis, three Yemenis, two Syrians, an Indonesian, a Filipino, an Emirati,

a Kazakhstan national and a Palestinian.

It did not say if any of the “terror suspects” was linked to the Islamic State jihadist group, which has claimed several deadly attacks against security forces and Shiites in the kingdom since last year.

On Friday, a suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque in Eastern Province, killing four people before worshippers disarmed and tied up his accomplice who had fired on them.

IS, a radical Sunni group that considers Shias heretics, did not claim that attack.

The Saudi Gazette said some 532 IS suspects accused of plotting attacks in the kingdom are

being questioned ahead of their trial at the criminal court in Riyadh.

They are members of six cells arrested in “pre-emptive” raids across the kingdom and include a Saudi woman and a Filipina, the paper said.

Also on Sunday, the interior ministry said they were searching for nine suspects allegedly involved in an August suicide bombing that targeted a mosque inside a police headquarters, killing 15 people.

IS had claimed the attack in the southern city of Abha.

The ministry said in a statement that three other suspects, including a member of the kingdom’s special forces, had been arrested in connection with the Abha mosque bombing. The oil-rich kingdom offered rewards of between one million riyals ($276,000) and seven million riyals ($1.87 million) for anyone who helps in the arrest of a suspect or thwarts an attack.

Despite ban, Pak 182 Pak ‘madrassas’ sealed since channel brings JuD chief 2014 Peshawar school massacre Hafiz Saeed on talk show

Lahore Notwithstanding Pakistan government’s ban on the media coverage of militant groups like the JuD and LeT, Jamaat-udDawah chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has appeared on a private Pakistani channel’s talk show.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on November 2 had restrained all Pakistani television channels from “all kinds of coverage” of the JuD, its front Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and about 60 other proscribed organisations and their leaders.

Saeed made an appearance on a talk show on Channel 24 on January 27. He glorified his organisation’s “public welfare” works and talked about how India and the US were ”pressuring” the Pakistani government to take action against organisations like the JuD and Jaish-eMohammad.

Saeed, in reference to the Pathankot terror attack, dismissed the suggestion that the government was “patronising”

some “non-state actors and banned organisations”.

A PEMRA official told PTI that a notice to the channel would be issued for the violation of the directive. “We had warned the electronic media that in case of non-compliance (to the directive), we will take legal action -- imposition of fine or suspension or cancellation of licence,” the PEMRA official said.

The PEMRA notification banned all TV channels and FM radio from coverage of banned groups including LeT, JuD and FIF under UN restriction.

The UN declared JuD a terror organisation and also individually designated Saeed as a terrorist in December 2008. The US has already put 10 million dollar bounty on his head.

Saeed, who orchestrated the November, 2008, Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, roams around freely in Pakistan despite being a designated terrorist and has made many anti-India remarks and speeches.

Islamabad About 182 ‘madrassas’ have been sealed in Pakistan since the deadly Peshawar school attack in 2014, in a countrywide crackdown on religious seminaries allegedly involved in extremism, a media report said on Monday.

The madarassas were in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because of their involvement in promoting extremism and other suspicious activities, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported.

The action was taken under the National Action Plan (NAP) that was put in place after militants stormed an army school in December, 2014 killing at least 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.

As part of the strategy to choke terror financing, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has so far frozen Rs 1 billion in 126 accounts which have a link to banned militant groups.

Law-enforcement agencies have also recovered around Rs 251 million in cash. The government has put names of 8,195 people in the fourth schedule and 188

74 have been declared unlawful by the UN. Activities of some organisations are constantly being monitored and their activists are under sur-

on the Exit Control List while movement of 2,052 hardcore militants has been restricted.

Similarly, the government has registered 1,026 cases and arrested 230 terror suspects.

There were 64 banned organisations in the country while

veillance. With regard to hate speech, over 1,500 books and other hate material have been confiscated and 73 shops sealed. Law-enforcement agencies have registered 2,337 cases for hate speeches and material and arrested 2,195 people.

Indian woman faces deportation for role in $170,000 phone scam in US Washington A 25-year-old Indian woman faces deportation for her role in a fraud in which victims were forced to pay money they were fooled into believing they owed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The woman, Nikita Patel, was a “runner”, who collected the money paid by the victims, kept a cut for herself and wired the rest to accomplices based in India, US authorities said on Friday.

Patel was sentenced to three years probation by a New Jersey judge on Friday, and marked for deportation. Her accomplice here, Akash Patel, also

Indian, has been deported already.

Nikita was found staying in the US on expired visa. Local Bergen

County prosecutor Brian Lynch has said he will work hard to see that she is sent back to India.

Both the Patels they are not re-

lated were arrested in September 2015 and found guilty as charged in a $170,000 IRS phone scam that claimed 70 victims in 32 states.

A victim from Kentucky tipped off New Jersey police last September, according to news reports. He was told he owed the IRS $1,400 and would be arrested if he didn’t pay up.

He was directed to wire that amount to an account with MoneyGram, a money transfer company, in the name of “Vincent Arora”, who turned out to be Akash Patel. He had made 30 other such transactions, MoneyGram told authorities.

Issue - 652 (7)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Indian-origin Maoist cult leader jailed for 23 years in UK

LONDON Aravindan Balakrishnan, a 75-year-old Indian-origin man who ran a secretive extremist Maoist cult here, was today sentenced to 23 years in jail by a UK court for a string of sexual assaults, rape, and imprisonment of his own daughter for three decades.

Balakrishnan, known to his followers as Comrade Bala, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London for six counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape and two counts of actual bodily harm.

He had been convicted following a jury trial in December last year where it emerged that he had kept his daughter in captivity for over 30 years of her life.

The 33-year-old daughter, who said she had been a “non- person” throughout her life, today choose a new identity for herself and described her situation as

“horrible, dehumanising and degrading”.

Katy Morgan-Davies, a new name of her choosing, told the BBC, “I felt like a caged bird with clipped wings. The people he looked up to were people like Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein - you couldn’t criticise them either in the house.

They were his gods and his heroes. These were the sort of people he wanted to emulate”.

She had told the court she was beaten and banned from singing nursery rhymes, going to school or making friends.

Sentencing Balakrishnan, the judge said, “You decided to treat her as a project, not a person. You claimed to do it for her to protect her from the outside world, but you created a cruel environment”. The judge also recommended a donation of 500 pounds to Palm Cove Society charity which helped Morgan-

Davies escape.

Balakrishnan’s wife, Chanda, who had lived with him as part of the Workers’ Institute of MarxismLeninism-Mao Zedong Thought for nearly 30 years had claimed earlier this week that his conviction was a “frame-up”. She had been unaware that her husband had fathered a daughter with his devoted follower Sian Davies and kept her confined in a London flat for years, spending her entire life until the age of 30 effectively imprisoned in the commune ruled by her father. Balakrishnan had denied charges of rape and told the jury that he was “the focus of competition” between “jealous” women who made sexual advances towards him.

The sentencing ends an over two-year police investigation into a case which Scotland Yard detectives described as “completely unique”.

Driverless shuttle bus to take to Dutch public roads in world first AMSTERDAM An electric, driverless shuttle bus will take to the Dutch public roads on Thursday, rolling six passengers along a 200

unmanned vehicle has never been used on public roads,” the project’s technical director, Jan Willem van der Wiel, said.

“This is a milestone.

metre (yard) stretch of road in the first trial of its kind worldwide.

The WePod, one of a fleet to be rolled out in coming years, will ride back and forth in the central Dutch agricultural town of Wageningen.

At 8 kilometres (5 miles) per hour, it’s not going to set a speed record, “but an

“ Several trials of so-called autonomous vehicles are under way in the automotive and technology industries, from Tesla’s Model S sedan, which can change lanes with minimal driver input, to plans by Google and Daimler to introduce driverless vehicles.

“There are initiatives all

over the world, but this is the first time one will operate without a driver, on a public road,” said Iris van Cattenburch of Connekt, a group of companies developing sustainable public transport.

The shuttle pilot project will be expanded in coming months and will eventually be used as public transport along a 6 kilometre route in the town, she said.In April, the Netherlands will hold the first trial with driverless semi-trucks at Rotterdam port, which autonomous road trains sending cargo from Europe’s biggest port, throughout the continent by 2019.

The trial of the WePod, developed with the Delft Technical University for roughly 3 million euros ($3.

3 million), will be streamed live at http://wepods. com/, at 1415 local time (1315 GMT).

When fully operational, the WePods will travel at 25 km per hour.

World’s oldest tea found in Chinese emperor’s tomb PARIS The tomb of a Chinese emperor who lived more than 2,100 years ago has yielded the oldest remains of tea, said researchers who used it to re-date part of the ancient Asian Silk Road.

The plant remains were retrieved from burial pits around the tomb of Liu Qi, the fourth emperor of the Han dynasty who lived between 188 and 141 BC, and his wife, a team of researchers from China and Britain wrote in the journal Scientific Reports.

The oldest written reference to tea is from the year 59 BC. And the oldest physical remains ever discovered were hundreds of years younger than the new find - dating from the northern Song Dynasty (960-1,127 AD). “Our study reveals that tea was drunk by Han Dynasty emperors as early as 2,100 years BP (before present),” wrote the team.

They compared this tea to residues unearthed among burial artifacts at Gurgyam Cemetery in Tibet, and dated to about the second or third century AD. This revealed

that tea was already transported from China to central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau several hundred years earlier than previously recorded — by around 1,800 years ago, said the researchers. Tea does not grow in Tibet. “This indicates that one branch of the Silk Road passed through western Tibet at that time,” said the researchers. The previous oldest record of tea having been carried along the Silk Road into Tibet, central Asia or southern Asia from Chia, was from the Tang Dynasty (618907 AD). “These data

indicate that tea was part of trade of luxury products, alongside textiles, that moved along the Silk Road around 2,000 years ago and were traded up into Tibet,” the study said. Tea today is considered the most popular drink after water drunk regularly by threequarters of the world’s population. The plant remains were too decayed to be unequivocally identified as leaves and buds, so the team used molecular analysis to identify what they were. The tea was most likely from the Camellia plant, said the study.

Issue - 652 (8)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

World’s most visited cities: Hong Kong top, London second, Rio climbs but Kiev falls London has leap-frogged Bangkok and Singapore to be named the second most visited city in the world. Nearly 17.4 million foreigners visited the UK capital in 2014, an increase of 3.6 per cent on the previous year, according to research by travel analysts Euromonito.

Hong Kong however, which hosted 27.7 million visitors in 2014, representing an increase of 8.2 per cent, retained top spot in the 100-strong list for the sixth consecutive year.

Euromonito travel analyst Wouter Geerts said: “London is one of the most iconic cities in the world. The resounding success of the London Olympics in 2012 has boosted visibility and popularity even further.“However, with London

airports nearing capacity, the capital risks losing out to European rivals. To remain competitive in the international city destinations landscape, ensuring connectivity and innovation is key.”

Rio de Janeiro was the biggest climber among the top 100 by shifting 12 places to 80th, attracting 47 per cent more travellers, and largely thanks to the FIFA World Cup according to Euromonito.

Cancun in Mexico follows not far behind, with a rise of 42.1 per cent thanks to four million visitors, as jetsetters flocked to its famous white sands.

Kiev meanwhile dropped off the list amid a deadly conflict in Ukraine, while St Petersburg and Russia each saw a double-digit decline.

Raj Kapoor’s ancestral house in Pakistan partially demolished The historic home of legendary Bollywood actor-director Raj Kapoor here was partially demolished by its owners for constructing a plaza but timely action by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities saved the building from total destruction.The archives department on Saturday obtained a stay from a local court to save the demolition of the Kapoor Haveli situated at Dhaki Munawar Shah.However, the new owner by the time had pulled down the first storey of the building for construction of a commercial plaza on it. The doors and windowpanes on the second and third floors have also been removed.

Ancient Babylonians first to use geometry Berlin Sophisticated geometry - the branch of mathematics that deals with shapes - was being used at least 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, a study suggests.

Research shows that the Ancient Babylonians were using geometrical calculations to track Jupiter across the night sky.

Previously, the origins of this technique had been traced to the 14th Century.

The new study is published in Science. Its author, Prof Mathieu Ossendrijver, from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, said: ‘I wasn’t expecting this. It is completely fundamental to physics, and all branches of science use this method.’

The Ancient Babylonians once lived in what is now Iraq and Syria. The civilisation emerged in about 1,800 BC. Clay tablets engraved with their Cuneiform writing system have already shown these people were advanced in astronomy. ‘They wrote reports about what they saw in the sky,’ Prof Ossendrijver told the BBC World Service’s

Science in Action programme.

‘And they did this over a very long period of time, over centuries.’

Century, and which are now held in the British Museum’s archives. The script reveals

But this latest research shows they were also way ahead when it came to maths. It had been thought that complex geometry was first used by scholars in Oxford and Paris in medieval times.

They used curves to trace the position and velocity of moving objects. But now scientists believe the Babylonians developed this technique around 350 BC. Prof Ossendrijver examined five Babylonian tablets that were excavated in the 19th

that they were using four-sided shapes, called trapezoids, to calculate when Jupiter would appear in the night sky, and also the speed and distance that it travelled.

‘This figure - a rectangle with a slanted top - describes how the velocity of a planet, which is Jupiter, changes with time,’ he said. ‘We have a figure where one axis, the horizontal side, represents time, and the other axis, the vertical side, represents velocity.

Don’t come in pyjamas to drop New Potter story found after 100 years kids: UK schools to parents LONDON A story by children’s author Beatrix Potter, written more than a century ago, is to be published for the first time after the rediscovery of the tale which features some of her best-known characters such as Peter Rabbit.

“The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots”, penned by Potter in 1914, was found by publisher Jo Hanks after she came across an outof-print biography of the author from the 1970s which referred to the story in a letter Potter had sent to her then-publisher and an unedited manuscript.

Hanks then discovered three handwritten manuscripts in children’s school notebooks which were in the archive of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum along with a rough colour sketch of Kitty-inBoots.

“The tale really is the best of Beatrix Potter. It has double identities, colourful villains and a number of favourite characters from other tales (including Mr Tod, Mrs TiggyWinkle, Ribby and Tabitha Twitchit),” Hanks said in a statement. “Most excitingly, our treasured, mischievous Peter Rabbit makes an appearance - albeit older, slower and portlier.”

Penguin Random House are to publish the new story in

September with drawings provided by Quentin Blake, one of Britain’s most renowned illustrators. “Once upon a time there was a serious, wellbehaved young black cat,” the book starts, according to an extract on the Penguin website.

“It belonged to a kind old lady who assured me that no other cat could compare with Kitty.

She lived in constant fear that Kitty might be stolen - ‘I hear there is a shocking fashion for black cat-skin muffs; wherever is Kitty gone to? Kitty! Kitty!’”

Hanks said Potter intended to publish the tale but marriage, the outbreak of World War One and her concentration on her farming business had got in the way.

Potter, born 150 years ago,

remains one of the world’s most popular children’s authors. Two million copies of her “little books” are sold globally every year and more than 45 million copies of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” have been sold since it was first published in 1902.

“She was a wonderful storyteller. There’s nothing like it, tell a good story, tell it clearly, tell it well and you’ve got an audience,” actress Patricia Routledge, patron of the Beatrix Potter Society, told BBC Radio. “She was very scientific about her approach to animals. She was a bunnyboiler. She and her brother boiled a bunny to find out what the structure was like.”

London In an unusual appeal, a primary school in the UK has asked parents to wash in the morning and stop dropping their children off in their pyjamas.

Kate Chisholm, the Head Teacher of Skerne Park Academy, Darlington, Durham, made the appeal after she noticed more and more adults wearing pyjamas at the school gates as well as at meetings and assemblies. She said her aim was to help set a good example for pupils.Chisholm said the final straw came when parents wore pyjamas to the Christmas show and to recent parents’ evenings.

“It just got to the point when I thought enough’s enough,” she said.“I’m not trying to tell people what to do with their lives, but I just think having a really good role model first thing in the morning, getting yourself up, dressed and out to school is a

really good example to set,” she said. “I’m afraid wearing pyjamas, going to school, maybe doesn’t reinforce that somehow,” she added.

In her letter, Chisholm wrote: “If we’re to raise standards it’s not too much to ask parents to have a wash and get dressed. I have had loads of support from the community and people saying it’s about time something was done. I have had far more positive responses than negative.”Parent Phil Naylor said wearing nightwear to school was ‘disgraceful’.

Naylor said, “It’s disgraceful, and we should be guiding our children not giving them bad habits.”Skerne Park Academy is not the first school to have problems with dishevelled parents. In 2011, 11 schools across Middlesbrough wrote to parents, asking them to dress appropriately for the school run.

Issue - 652 (9)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

British imperialist Rhodes statue in Oxford to stay

LONDON A statue at Oxford University of 19th century British imperialist Cecil Rhodes will not be taken down despite protests, the college at the centre of the dispute said Friday, to the fury of campaigners. ‘Following careful consideration, the college’s governing body has decided that the statue should remain in place,’ Oriel College said in a statement.

But it denied newspaper reports that it feared losing donations worth some £100 million (130 million euros, $140 million) if it did take the statue down. Rhodes - a white supremacist like many builders of the British empire - gave his name to the territories of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and Zambia, and founded the De Beers

diamond company. The tycoon was also a donor to Oriel, one of Oxford’s 38 colleges, and endowed the Rhodes Scholarship, which has helped non-British students like former US president Bill Clinton and ex-Australian prime minister Tony Abbott study at the prestigious university. Inspired by the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign which prompted the removal of the University of Cape Town’s Rhodes statue last year, many current students objected to the presence of his statue in the heart of the historic English city. The ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ group on Friday called Oriel’s decision ‘outrageous, dishonest, and cynical. ‘This is not over. We will be redoubling our efforts and meeting over the weekend to discuss our next actions.’

Architects call for radical rethink on rebuilding LONDON Aid agencies should stop shipping in mass-produced, prefabricated shelters after disasters and help people rebuild their villages with local materials like mud and bamboo, a leading Pakistani architect says.

Yasmeen Lari was inspired to rethink post-disaster construction after massive flooding in 2010 left one-fifth of Pakistan under water and affected some 20 million people.

She has since helped survivors of floods and quakes build around 45,000 low-cost homes and shelters which she says can easily be copied and have a tiny carbon footprint.

Her designs feature in an exhibition opening in London on Wednesday called “Creation from Catastrophe”, which examines how architects have reinvented communities and cities after disasters - from the Great Fire of London in 1666 to last year’s devastating earthquake in Nepal. “A disaster zone where everything is lost offers the perfect opportunity for us to take a fresh look, from the ground up, at what architecture really is,” says Toyo Ito, one of five architects who set up “public living rooms” after Japan’s 2011 quake and tsunami.

The exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) shows how architects working in disaster zones are increasingly focusing on helping people rebuild their own communities with local materials

Cancer kills 7,500 daily in China MIAMI Chronic infections, smoking and pollution have contributed to skyrocketing cases of cancer in China, with an estimated 4.3 million new diagnoses last year

percent - and used old data sets from the 1990s, said the findings. But higher quality data in recent years has come from a number of population-based registries via the National

and 2.8 million deaths, researchers said Tuesday.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in China, said the report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and led by Wanqing Chen of the National Cancer Center in Beijing. The report described cancer as a major public health problem in China, where the population is about 1.37 billion.

In the past, the burden of cancer has been difficult to estimate because research was based on small samples of the population - less than two

Central Cancer Registry of China. The latest report is based on data from 72 local cancer registries, dating from 2009 to 2011 and representing 6.5 percent of the population.

Using that information, researchers projected there would have been 4,292,000 newly diagnosed invasive cancer cases in 2015 in China.

That would equal almost 12,000 new cancer diagnoses each day, and 7,500 deaths. The most common forms of cancer in men were lung, stomach, esophagus, liver, and

colorectum. In women, breast cancer was the most common, making up about 15 percent of all new cases of cancer in Chinese women.

Following breast cancer, cancers of the lungs, stomach, colorectum and esophagus made up the bulk of women’s cases.

Cancer is more deadly for men than women in China, killing men at a rate of 166 per 100,000 cases, about twice the rate for women.

Mortality rates from cancer since 2006 are down significantly for both males and females - about 21 percent per year. But due to the aging and expanding population, the overall number of cancer deaths has substantially increased - by 74 percent - during the same period, said the report.

Chronic infections of the stomach, liver and cervix led to nearly one third of all cancer deaths. Tobacco smoking accounted for about one-quarter of all cancer deaths. “Outdoor air pollution, considered to be among the worst in the world, indoor air pollution through heating and cooking using coal and other biomass fuels, and the contamination of soil and drinking water mean that the Chinese population is exposed to many environmental carcinogens,” said the report.

rather than imposing solutions on them. Lari said housing provided by aid agencies after disasters were too expensive, with the result that many people were excluded.

Alejandro Araveno, who helped redesign the coastal city of Constitucion after a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2010, has pioneered a radical scheme to provide half-built houses which

“Whatever we do, we can never do enough because there are so many destitute people - it is horrifying,” Lari told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview from Karachi. “The only way we can get to them is if we find very low-cost solutions, and if we train everybody how to do things themselves.”

Her buildings are made of limehardened mud walls which are “as strong as anything and totally water resistant”. The roofs are made of bamboo which lasts 25 years, covered with straw matting, a layer of tarpaulin, and pozzolana, a waterproofing material. “You can teach this to everybody,” said Lari who has also provided shelters for people left homeless by October’s quake in northern Pakistan. Also on show is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban who has helped survivors of Nepal’s earthquake build new houses, using cardboard tubes filled with quake rubble. In Chile, architect

meet immediate needs and can be completed by the inhabitants when they can raise the money.

The prediction that disasters will increase in frequency and severity is leading architects to look at ways to “disaster-proof” communities and explore ways to work with nature rather than against it. One flattened waterfront area is being replanted as a forest to act as a buffer against future floods and tsunamis.Lari’s projects in Pakistan include two-storey community centres built on bamboo stilts which allow water to flow underneath during floods.

The top floor converts into a shelter so that people don’t have to move away from their village.

In Nigeria, where flooding in 2012 uprooted over 2.1 million people, architects NLE designed a threestorey floating school in a Lagos slum which was built by local residents using off-cuts from a nearby sawmill and locally grown bamboo.

Why aeroplane windows are rounded?

London While not everyone will have pondered the subject while staring out of the window during a flight, the question as to why aeroplanes have circular windows rather than square ones is interesting.Over the years, aerospace engineering has made huge leaps in aeroplane technology, meaning planes can carry more passengers and go faster. The planes have also changed shape to increase safety - including the windows. In the 1950s, when

jetliners were starting to become mainstream, the de Havilland Comet came into fashion. With a pressurised cabin, it was able to go higher and faster than other aircraft.However, the plane had square windows and in 1953 two planes fell apart in the air, killing 56 people in total. The reason for the crashes? The windows.

Where there’s a corner, there’s a weak spot. Windows, having four corners, have four potential weak spots, making them likely to crash under stress - such as air pressure.

Issue - 652 (10)

Jatt/Saini parents seek an eligible alliance for their intelligent, down-to-earth and beautiful daughter, born Jan. 1984, 5'-4" tall, M.Sc. from University of Toronto and professionally employed. The boy must be clean-shaven, university graduate and professionally employed.

Serious enquiries only. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: rc.match.784@gmail.com or call: 905-792-0981 *** 654 *** Jat Sikh parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 29 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, Master’s degree in nursing, currently working in GTA. The boy should be well educated, professionally employed, prefered non-drinker, non-smoker, vegetarian. Malwa area prefered.Please email recent picture and bio-data to: msbrar100@gmail.com Or Call : 416-970-7028 ***652*** Toronto based Ramgharia Gursikh parents seek M.D.match for their M.D. daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, working in research in the USA, waiting residency.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: ajitsinghjhita@yahoo.ca or call: 416-274-4196 *** 652*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 31 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, born and raised in Canada, Chartered Accountant, vegetarian, non-drinker, nonsmoker, clean shaven, working in GTA with family values, the girl should be from Jat Sikh family, raised in Canada, well educated, tall, beautiful and family oriented.

Malwa area prefered. Please recent picture and bio-data to :msbrar100@gmail.com Or Call : 416-970-7028 ***652*** Jat Sikh parents looking for a suitable match for their daughter, D.O.B. Dec. 1985, 5’-5”, tall, Canadian Citizen, beautiful family oriented, Diploma in buisness administration and accounting, licenced optician and working as optician. The boy should be Canadian Immigrant/Citizen well educated, well employed from good family background. Please recent picture and bio-data to : bsingh2557@gmail.com Or Call : 416-879-2595 ***652*** Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 1986 born, 5’6” tall, Medical healthcare professional, well versied in both cultures. Boy should be Canadian, well educated and professionally employed. GTA preferred. Please send you biodata and recent poicture to :jotg1738@gmail.com Or Call : 416-564-0617 ***652*** Parents looking for educated turbaned Khatri Sikh match for their highly educated Canadian Citizen daughter, 29 yrs. old, 5’-

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

3” tall, employed in one of the pretigeous hospital of Ontorio.

Please send you bio-data and recent poicture to : jpsphull@gmail.com Or Call : 905671-3411 Or 647-719-3411 ***652*** Ramdasia Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 24 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, born & raised in U.S.A., well versed in both cultures, bachelor’s in Accountancy. The boy should be from U.S.A., 5’-11” or taller, educated & family oriented.Please send your biodata & recent picture to : kainthsingh@yahoo.com Or Call : 1-916-717-8949 ***652*** Ramgarhia parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 29 yrs. old, 5’-11” tall, University graduate, employed, ready to move on to next step towards marriage. For information Please Call : 289-684-3919 Or Email :julyshadi@gmail.com ***652*** Canadian born Jat Sikh girl, 36 yrs. old, 5’-7” tall, University graduate and professionally employed, Requires a compatible, professionally quallified match from Canada/ U.S. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: rkaurcanada@gmail.com Or Call: 1-519-636-3237 ***652*** Canada PR Julaha Sikh Boy, MA English, 29 yrs. old, 5'-9" tall, looking for an educated and beautiful girl.Please contact only those who could get a match of Canada PR girl for his india living real brother, 33 yrs. old, 5'-11" tall, Double M.A., B.Ed . No cast barriers. Marriage soon. Boy is already in India. Please Call: 01191- 98725-94211 *** 652*** Well Respected Jat Sikh family of business owners and doctors, financially independent, living in the USA for the past 50 yrs. seeking future daughters-in-law for their two sons.

Elder 27 yrs., 6'-2" with MD/MBA from Harvard University, working in Health Care Consulting.

Younger brother 26 yrs., 6'-3", currently doing his residency with plans of taking over a large multispecialty practice in 2 yrs. Both US born and raised with down to earth values and well aware of Punjabi and English Cultures.

Interested in Jat Sikh prospects for the most part born and raised in the west only and no dowry.

Contact: balkar76@gmail.com. *** 652*** Jatt/Saini parents seek an eligible alliance for their intelligent, downto-earth and beautiful daughter, born Jan. 1984, 5'-4" tall, M.Sc. from University of Toronto and professionally employed. The boy must be clean-shaven, university graduate and professionally employed. Serious enquiries only. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: rc.match.784@gmail.com or call: 905-792-0981 *** 652***

Jat Sikh parents seek a suitable alliance for their only son, divorced issue less, professionally employed as Net developer with a reputed financial group,32 yrs. old, handsome, clean shaven,6’-1" tall, non smoker, non drinker, living in GTA., well versed in both cultures.The girl should be tall, beautiful, educated and family oriented .GTA preferred.Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: angels5jabi@gmail.com *** 652*** Saini Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, USA born and raised, 26 yrs. old, 5'- 3" tall, working as a business analyst and pursuing M.B.A (Graduation Summer 2016). New York based family. The boy should be well educated & from USA only.Please send your bio-data and recent pictures to: PTX3210@gmail.com *** 652*** Sikh Tonk Kashtria parents seeking a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, born and raised in Canada, 26 Yrs. old, 5’ – 4", well versed in both cultures, family orientated, graduated from University of Toronto, completed MBA with high distinction, Currently holding a well-respected job in the education field. The boy should be Canadian, welleducated and professionally employed. Caste no bar. GTA preferred. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: rajinder.kareer01@gmail.com or call: 647-407-3478 *** 652*** Jat Sikh family seeks a suitable match for their beautiful daughter, 28 yrs old, 5'-2" tall, US Citizen, Currently 4th year doctorate student (Chemical Engineering).

The boy should be professional, Jat Sikh with advanced degree and US resident. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: LKaurCali@gmail.com *** 652*** Seeking professional, beautiful and family oriented girl for Canadian Citizen Kamboj Sikh, 28 yrs., 6’-1” tall, handsome and decent boy, reputed University graduate, designated CPA (CA/ CMA) and professionally well placed in a finance management position with the reputed company of Toronto. Highly qualified and well settled family in Canada. Farming background family of Amritsar having rural and urban properties in India. Caste No Bar. Please email recent picture & bio-data to : beantbir@hotmail.com Or Call : 416-303-7711 ***652*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 30 yrs. old, 5’-6” tall, post gaduate degree in Clinical Psychology, professionally employed, well versed in both cultures. The boy should be well educated, professionally settled, between 28-34 yrs. of age. Mainland area prefered. Please Call: 1-604-3177576 ***652***

Lubana Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 27 yrs. old, 5’-10” tall, Canadian Citizen, degree in informatic security from Canada, running his own successful businees, belongs to a very good family.

The girl should be suitable educated, beautiful, family oriented from Canada/America.

Please email recent picture to and bio-data to : kuldipsinghshah@gmail.com Or Call : 647-721-2632 ***652*** Seeking a suitable match for a Canadian born punjabi tonk kshatriya girl, 31 yrs. old, 5'-3'’ tall, diploma in accounting & professionally employed. The boy should be indian born Hindu punjabi, age between 32 to 36, tall between 5'-10" to 5'-11" , attractive, athletic build, fair complexion, bachelor or master degree. Looking for a match in Punjab India or in Canada.

Vegetarian preferred. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: canadian.alliance@yahoo.ca *** 652*** Jat Sikh family Seek a suitable match for their son, 27yrs. old, 5'-10" tall, slim, clean shaven, born and raised in Canada, Doctor, Currently in a residency program, family oriented, well versed in both cultures. Family is well settled in Toronto. The girl should be born and raised in Canada, beautiful, slim, professionally compatible, similar values. Preferably family in the GTA. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: gtamatch86@gmail.com *** 652*** Jat Sikh parents matrimonial alliance for their beautiful daughter, 25 yrs. old, working as RN in Seattle (USA) completing Master’s in Nursing from University of Washigton, born in Canada. The boy should be born in Canada/America, well educated, professional (Doctor/ Dentist) employed with moderate family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: hk_leen@yahoo.com ***652*** Jat Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their daughter, 29 year old, 5’ tall, Canadian Immigrant, B.Tech in electronics and communication and MBA in human resources, working in a leading telecommunication company in Canada. The boy should be educated, professionally employed, belongs to a good family. The boy on student visa/work permit may also be considered. Please send your recent picture & biodata to : micarana19@gmail.com Or Call : 1-587-434-0817 ***652*** Well established Sikh Jatt parents seeking suitable match for beautiful 26 yrs. old daughter who is a doctor and U.S. Citizen.

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respectable Jatt Family, living in USA. Please send your bio-data and Photo to: jskaur555@gmail.com ***652*** Ramgariha Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 1984 born, 5’-11” tall, well educated, currently living in Malaysia. The Girl should be Canadian/ American Immigrant or Citizen, educated, family oriented.

Family is well settled in India, Sister is in Austrailia +2 Uncles are well settled in Canada.

Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: sophiarayat9577@ hotmail.com or Call: 011-61-412541390 ***652*** Jat Sikh Sidhu parents invite matrimonial alliance for their son, 26 yrs. old, 6’ tall, Electrical Engineering from Canadian University, working in a reputed company, non-drinker. The girl should be professionally qualified, Canadian Immigrant/ Citizen/student, beautiful with good family background. Family is well settled in Canada. Please email recent picture and biodata to : sidhutoronto@hotmail.com Or Call : 905-497-3860 ***652*** Jat Sikh Gill parents looking for a suitable match for their Canadian born daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5’-2” tall, well edssucated, working in her field. The boy should be Canadian, professionally quaified, clean shaven from Jat Sikh family.

Please Call: 1-604-522-4470 ***652*** Jat Sikh parents seeking a match for their Canadian born son, 34 yrs. old, 6’-2” tall, University educated, professionally employed, well paid manager.

The girl should be University educated, beautiful with family values. Please email recent picture and bio-data to: tormgr13@gmail.com Or Call: 416-708-1392 ***652*** Jat Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, born and raised in Canada, 29 yrs. old, 5’-5” tall, working as a teacher in Peel Region Board, beautiful, pretty, well versed in both cultures. The boy should be University graduate, handsome and well settled. GTA prefered. Please email recent picture and biodata to: sw84asr@hotmail.com ***652*** Well settled Jat Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 25 yrs. old, 5’-11” tall, Canadian Citizen, doing Mechanical Engineering & helping in his family business. The Girl should be from Canada, beautiful, educated & family oriented.

Ludhiana Distt. preferred. The Girls on Student Visa/Work Permit/Visitor Visa can be considered. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: mangat289@yahoo.ca Or Call: 647-278-0003 ***652***

Issue - 652 (11)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

US will counter ISIS terror plotters in any country says Obama The US will continue to counter terror plotters of Islamic State militant group in any country where necessary, President Barack Obama has said while directing his national security team to intensify its ongoing counter-terrorism campaign to destroy the terror outfit.

In a meeting with his National Security Council, Obama discussed intensification of US campaign to degrade and destroy Islamic State (ISIS).

“The President emphasised that the US will continue to counter ISIL (another name of ISIS) terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary,” the White House said.

Noting that ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) affiliates and other violent extremists attempt to find safe haven in areas with limited or poor governance, he directed his national security team to

continue efforts to strengthen governance and support ongoing

diplomatic efforts on all possible fronts, including working with

3 ISIS sympathisers arrested

by NIA after deported from UAE

counter-terrorism efforts in Libya and other countries where ISIL has sought to establish a presence.

“Degrading and destroying ISIL will continue to require coordination and cooperation among a wide range of global partners, and the US is strongly committed to continuing to lead the shared efforts of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL,” the White House said.

Obama was briefed on ways the US and its partners in the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL continue to accelerate and integrate the military campaign and

international partners to counter ISIL’s stated goal of expansion beyond Iraq and Syria, the White House added.

Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidates continued to slam Obama administration for its ISIS policies. “We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, and as a result has put together a strategy that doesn’t take care of what the reality is, which is ISIS has established a caliphate,” Rick Santorum, a Republican

New Delhi Three Indian sympathisers of ISIS, who were deported from UAE for allegedly being on a mission to carry out terror attack in India and some other countries, were arrested by NIA tonight. Adnan Hussain, who hails from Karnataka, Mohammad Farhan, from

Maharashtra, and Sheikh Azhar Al Islam, from Jammu and Kashmir, were arrested

by NIA after registering a case here, official sources said. The trio were deported from UAE and they were detained by the NIA upon their arrival in the IGI airport last night.

presidential candidate said during the undercard debate.

Another presidential aspirant Carly Fiorina described ISIS as the main threat to the US. “Let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs Clinton -- climate change

is not our most pressing national security threat.

Actually it is ISIS, followed closely by Iran,” she said.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called for a comprehensive ISIS policy.

Young and online? Terror groups are watching your activities

Even simple online activities likes and comments on extremists’ religious posts circulated on social networking websites make youths vulnerable to terror operatives. The terror groups observe online activities of youths and target those who continuously like, comment or share extremists’ posts.This trend was revealed after the arrest of several ISIS modules from different parts of the state and the country recently. ISIS suspect, Mohd Aleem,23, who was arrested from Indira Nagar area in Lucknow on Friday, had landed in the terror net through the same process, according to a UP Anti Terror Squad (ATS) official.

“The terror groups intentionally circulate jihadi

videos, pictures and text content online to stimulate people’s sentiments. They observe their online responses and approach them online to carry out their nefarious activities,” he said while explaining the terror outfits’ modus operandi for recruiting youths. The ATS official said that Aleem too become proactive on social networking sites after he purchased a smartphone about eight months ago.

“He continuously liked and shared several extremists’ posts online and subsequently landed in the terror network,” the official said, adding, “Mostly youths in the age group of 15 to 30 years, who could be easily stimulated over religious beliefs, are the prime targets of terror operatives.”According to the

official, terror operatives first approached Aleem on Facebook and then asked him to create a separate account with the fake name ‘Charlie Boy’ to remain in touch with them.

“As per the recent inputs, several youths in UP and other parts of the country are continuously being approached by terror groups one or the other way by circulating religious posts,” he said.Multiplatform messaging applications and social networking platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are the favourite hunting grounds of terror operatives.The official said that the trend was alarming and parents should be made aware of this fact so that they could keep a tab on the online activities of their children.

Thailand ‘angel doll’ vendors raided in tax bust A craze in Thailand for pampering lifelike dolls to bring good fortune doesn’t seem to have done the trick for some vendors, who on Tuesday were raided by police on charges of tax avoidance.

Known in Thai as “luuk thep” (child angels), the pricey dolls, which can cost up to $600, were first popularised by celebrities who claimed dressing up and feeding the dolls had brought them professional success. Dollmania has since taken off across deeply superstitious Thailand, with adults bringing the figures to Buddhist ceremonies, restaurants and even on planes, where they have reportedly been issued seats and served mid-flight refreshments.

But after Thailand’s police chief warned this week the fad was going too far, officers on Tuesday confiscated more than 100 dolls and arrested three vendors in Bangkok for allegedly failing to pay import taxes. “Mostly they imported [the dolls] from China,” Colonel Kriangsak Kanrayaw-attanajaroen, deputy commander of the Economic Crime Suppression Division, told AFP.

Issue - 652 (12)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Main ISIS handler sent Rs 6 lakh to India chief through hawala Shafi Ar mar alias Yusuf the prime handler from Bhatkal responsible for inducting Indians into ISIS had allegedly sent Rs 6 lakh to Mudabbir Sheikh to carry out terror attacks in India.

Investigations have revealed that Mudabbir the amir (chief) of ISIS’s wing in India allegedly received the money through illegal hawala channels at

Pydhonie. This has once again shifted focus on the intricate network of hawala operations that Indian Mujahideen (IM) has been using.While this hawala operator has been

identified and his statement has been recorded, investigators are trying to locate the individual, who accepted the money in a foreign country before it was transferred to Mumbai.This has also led investigators to believe that Shafi was in touch with his IM counterparts operating out of the Middle-East, especially those holed up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi

Arabia.Police sources said Mudabbir had distributed the money among the other ISIS operatives to ensure they could fund their requirements to execute a terror plot.

J-K youth detained for being IS sympathiser, family denies allegations

A 23-year-old Kashmiri youth, from Preng village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, was amongst three alleged IS sympathisers who were deported from UAE on Saturday for purportedly being on a mission to carry out terror attacks in India and some other countries.

On their arrival from UAE, the trio, Sheikh Azhar Ul Islam from Jammu and Kashmir, Adnan Hussain from Karnataka and Mohammad Farhan from Maharashtra were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

They have been placed in NIA custody till February 9.

Speaking to the media, Islam’s family denied allegations and said their son was working as a waiter in UAE since 2015 in a bid to relieve his family of debt. His father told a local news portal, Kashmir Dispatch, that his son was a graduate pursuing a bachelors in education. “I am a poor man and have debt on me. He went abroad to relieve us of the debt. We are poor

people,” he was quoted as saying.

Family sources said their son was arrested after some activity on social media. “Check our family history; no one amongst us has ever taken the path of violence in life. People who know him in our neighbourhood will vouch for him,” he said.

According to sources, during incamera proceedings, the NIA sought custodial interrogation by saying they needed to invesitgate the matter to unearth the conspiracy. Sources said district judge, Amar Nath, allowed NIA’s plea and remanded them to their custody for 10 days.

The three suspects, along with other unknown associates, were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian citizens, located in India and abroad. This was being done to plan and execute terror attacks in India and other countries, the sources claimed.

On September 15 last year, the UAE had deported four Indians suspected to have links with ISIS.

“He kept about Rs1.5 lakh for future operations and used to take care of himself from the savings he had accumulated while he was employed,” said a police officer, who did not wish to be named.

Sources said with little being done to keep a check on the numerous hawala operators across the country, Shafi has been able to distribute money to lure people into the ISIS fold.

With Shafi creating various identities on social networking sites, it has become tough for investigating agencies to narrow down on the number of people he has either recruited, been in touch with or has been funding, the police officer said.

Shafi’s role was ascertained when five youths, associated with the ISIS, were arrested in Madhya Pradesh in April 2015.

They will be produced in a court tomorrow.

The three suspects along with other unknown associates were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian citizens located both in India and other countries for planning and executing terrorist attacks in India and in other friendly

countries, sources said.

The youths believed to be

members of the Abu Dhabi module of the ISIS. On September 15, 2015, the UAE had deported four Indians suspected to have links with ISIS. The UAE had also sent back last year a 37-year-old woman Afsha Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph who was allegedly involving in recruiting youths for ISIS. In January 2015, Salman Mohiuddin of Hyderabad was arrested when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai on way to Syria via Turkey.

According to Indian intelligence agencies, a total of 23 Indians have so far joined the ISIS of whom six were reportedly killed

in different incidents in IraqSyria.

Among the 23 are two absconding members of the banned Indian Mujahideen who had gone from their hideouts in Pakistan.

The dead were identified as Athif Vaseem Mohammad (Adilabad, Telangana), Mohammad Umar Subhan (Bengaluru), Maulana Abdul Kadir Sultan Armar (Bhatkal, Karnataka), Saheem Farooque Tanki (Thane), Faiz Masood (Bengaluru) and Mohammad Sajid alias Bada Sajid (Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh).

Around 150 Indians are under surveillance for their alleged online links with ISIS. As many as 30 other Indians, who were radicalised by ISIS elements, were prevented from travelling to the conflict zone in the Middle-East.

Among those who are currently fighting for ISIS include two youths from Kalyan in the outskirts of Mumbai, an Australia-based Kashmiri, one youth from Telangana, one from Karnataka, one Oman-based Indian and another Singaporebased Indian.

First British woman found guilty of joining ISIS says Tareena Shakil A British Muslim woman who took her 14-month-old baby to Syria was Friday found guilty of being a member of Islamic State (ISIS), becoming the first UK woman to be convicted after returning from the strife-torn country.Tareena Shakil, 26, had told the court that she was not aware of the evil associated with ISIS and simply wanted to live under Sharia law.But at the end of a two-week trial in Birmingham Crown Court, the jury concluded that she was guilty of terrorism related activity.

“ISIS is a dangerous organisation and, at the moment, she should be treated as a dangerous individual,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.

The jury was shown her tweets, messages and photographs, including images of the black flag of ISIS and passages calling on people to “take up arms”.

Shakil dressed up her toddler

son for pictures wearing an ISISbranded balaclava after secretly running away to Syria in October

She described in detail her days in Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS in Syria in court.

2014.She told her family she was going on a package holiday to Turkey and instead travelled to Syria, where she remained for several months.

Her defence team claimed she had been “groomed” by ISIS recruiters who had preyed on her vulnerability following the collapse of her marriage.

She claims to have become disillusioned and frightened and on January 6 this year she left with her child and bribed a taxi driver USD 50 to take her to the border.

Shakil flew back into the UK and was arrested by British police at Heathrow airport in early February.

ISIS a ‘fearless’ drug cartel

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is making millions of dollars by selling a banned drug, that makes fighters feel ‘fearless’, to different parts of the Middle East, according to the United Nations.

The amphetamine, known as Captagon, has been available since the 1960s and was used to treat attention deficit disorder.

The drug masks feelings of pain, fear and hunger, while keeping fatigue at bay. The Paris attackers were thought to have taken Captagon before savagely killing 130 people in November.

It was put on a list of controlled substances by the World Health Organization in 1986.

The UN office on drugs and crime said former

fighters have given evidence to suggest Captagon is used by all sides of the Syrian conflict.

Countries bordering Syria have seized millions of Captagon pills, worth hundreds of millions of pounds in 2015 alone.

Issue - 652 (13)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Australia bushfires raze ancient world heritage-listed forests

Smoking among Australian youth hits record low SYDNEY Cigarette smoking among Australian youth has hit a record low, researchers said Thursday as they hailed a possible “smoke-free generation” thanks to an aggressive public health drive deterring people from lighting up. The decline was applauded as a success story, with plain cigarette-packaging laws and higher prices credited as factors, according to a report published in the Public Health Research and Practice journal.

The research found smoking rates among young people aged 12-17 had fallen to record lows, with only 3.4 percent lighting up daily. The report did not provide data to compare smoking rates in previous years. “I think that these data are giving us hope that within our lifetime, we could actually see smoking push close to one or two percent amongst young people and we’ve never seen smoking this low amongst adolescents,” the paper’s lead author Anita Dessaix told AFP. “It is potentially the start of a smoke-free generation for us, which is very exciting.” The researchers found that reported smoking rates were continually declining among 12- and 17-year-olds. Smoking

rates in the most populous state, New South Wales, among youths had plunged from 23.5 percent two decades ago to 6.7 percent in 2014, the paper noted.

“Similar trends are being mirrored across Australia amongst secondary school students. At an adult population level we’ve also got smoking at record lows, sitting at about 15 percent,” Dessaix, the cancerprevention manager at the state government-funded Cancer Institute NSW, added.

“So all of these are very encouraging signs that the different policy and programme measures that are in place in tobacco control are contributing to these declines.” The researchers, who also came from NSW’s health ministry, found that factors supporting the reduced smoking levels included higher prices for cigarettes, smoke-free zones, plain-packaging laws, restricted tobacco advertising and public education campaigns. But Dessaix said despite the “true public health success story”, authorities could not be complacent as tobacco was being marketed through new avenues such as video games.

SYDNEY World Heritage-listed forests whose origins pre-date the age of the dinosaurs are being destroyed by raging Australian bushfires, with conservationists increasingly fearful they could be lost forever. Firefighters in Tasmania - a state south of the mainland known for its cooler temperatures - have been battling bushfires for 18 days, with 95,000 hectares (234,750 acres) of land burnt so far, authorities said Friday. While no properties have been destroyed and no one hurt in the infernos - which are so numerous that firefighters from across Australia and New Zealand have been flown in to help - parts of western Tasmania’s famed wilderness have been destroyed by the flames. ‘The fires in western Tasmania are occurring in basically an ecosystem which is a remnant from the geological past, so they are of immense significance scientifically,’ David Bowman, professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania, told AFP.‘These systems were once more widespread and indeed grew on Antarctica billions of years ago, so they are living fossils they go back to well before the age of the dinosaurs, they are a tangible connection to Gondwana.’

Gondwana was a land mass that included present-day Africa, South America and Australia and formed the southern part of an ancient supercontinent called Pangaea.One of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, the Tasmanian Wilderness was entered into the World Heritage

Australian PM Malcom Turnbull says will legalise gay marriage if majority votes for it Sydney Australia’s prime minister gave a personal assurance on Friday that his government would legalize gay marriage if a majority of Australians choose marriage equality in a popular vote.The center-right government has promised to hold a plebiscite on the gay marriage question if the government is re-elected in a vote due this year.But a number of the government’s most conservative lawmakers have recently announced that they might vote down gay marriage against the wishes of a majority of Australians.Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull, who supports gay marriage, said his government would “absolutely” follow the result of the plebiscite.

“If the majority of people voting in the plebiscite vote in favor of it, then same-sex marriage will be legalized,” Turnbull told Melbourne Radio 3AW on

Friday.The center-left opposition Labor Party supports gay marriage. But the ruling coalition

is bitterly divided on the issue.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a former Roman Catholic trainee priest who opposes gay marriage, had proposed last year that a plebiscite be held after the next election as a way to end the political in-fighting by effectively taking the decision out

list for its significant natural and cultural values in 1982 and covers nearly 20 percent of the island, or 1.4 million hectares. It includes the Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park and the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, home to popular bushwalking tracks.

With the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) battling more than 70 blazes and access to remote areas difficult, a spokesman said the

more blazes, the TFS told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Lightning strikes were ‘insignificant sources of ignition’ just a few decades ago, Bowman said. But three years ago, a major bushfire that destroyed more than 100 homes was also in part sparked by lightning.Bowman said that from his assessment, the recent blazes in Tasmania,

agency was not able to gauge how much forest had been burnt, although most of the fires are in the west and encompass vast swathes of protected land.

Species under threat include the southern beech forests, also known as nothofagus, the pencil pine - a distant relative of American redwoods - and the king billy pine, Bowman said.

Some species are only found in Tasmania, leading to concerns that if the ancient, slow-growing trees are obliterated by the blazes, they could take many years to regrow, if at all. Bowman warned that despite the firefighting efforts, only soaking rain could end the emergency as the soil of western Tasmania was drying and turning into so-called ‘brown coals’ that burn tree roots.

Light rain now falling on the island has failed to douse the flames, with lightning strikes sparking

along with a trend of rising temperatures in Australia and across the world, reflected an increase in extreme fire situations that pointed to climate change. But all may not be lost. James Wood, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens’ seed bank manager, said last year the organisation had been able to collect thousands of montane conifer seeds.‘In these sort of circumstances, the seed bank’s take is that we may lose the ecology but we don’t necessarily have to lose the species so we can preserve them.’ But he warned that while it might be possible to overcome sporadic events, long-term environmental changes - such as those that appeared to be caused by climate change - were harder to protect against.

Norway holds phone app competition for Syrian children

of lawmakers’ hands. Opponents argue the plebiscite would cost about 160 million Australian

dollars ($113 million), and carry no legal weight so the question would still be left to Parliament to decide. Turnbull had wanted parliament to decide the issue, but after replacing Abbott as prime minister in September he decided to leave that part of government policy unchanged.

OSLO Norway on Friday launched a competition to develop a smartphone app to help Syrian children who are unable to attend school because of the war build basic Arabic literacy skills, the foreign minister said. ‘We know that Syrian parents are extremely concerned about their children’s learning and wellbeing. That’s why we want to

develop this game-based learning tool, which can be used wherever the children are,’ the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs Borge Brende said. ‘We also know that almost all Syrian households tend to own smartphones and the smartphone is a crucial tool for staying in touch with friends and family and for accessing important news and information,’ he said in a statement.

Issue - 652 (14)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

More than 3,000 Syrians fled to Turkey in Restored Japanese Zero three days as pro-Assad forces advance fighter takes to the skies More than 3,000 Turkmens and Arabs fleeing advances by pro-government Syrian forces in the north of Latakia province have crossed into Turkey over the past three days, Turkish disaster agency AFAD said on Monday.

A Turkmen official said several thousand more migrants were expected as a camp mostly sheltering Turkmens in the Syrian village of Yamadi was being evacuated after the pro-government forces backed by Russian air strikes advanced.

“After the attacks have spilled over to Yamadi camp, the first group of 731 migrants, mostly babies, children, women and the elderly, have entered our country,” AFAD said in a statement.

A total of 3,120 people have already crossed through Pulluyazi, a village near the border town of

Yayladagi in Turkey’s southern Hatay province.

The influx has accelerated since Jan. 24, when Rabiya, a rebel-held town in Latakia province, was captured by pro-government forces. The displacement occurred as U.N.-

backed peace talks, the first for two years, struggled to get off the ground in Geneva.

Representatives of the Saudi-backed High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of

President Bashar alAssad, are seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades.

Russian air strikes have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its

aerial campaign in support of Assad nearly four months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Saturday. An opposition delegate said bombings intensified before the peace talks.

Zika virus outbreak worse than believed, says Brazil’s health minister Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Castro said on Monday that the Zika epi-

interview with Reuters, Castro said Brazil will start mandatory reporting of

demic in his country is worse than believed because in 80 percent of the cases the infected people have no symptoms. In an

cases by local governments next week when most states will have labs equipped to test for Zika, the mosquito-borne virus

that has quickly spread through Latin America.

Castro said Brazilian researchers are convinced that Zika is the cause of the 3,700 confirmed and suspected cases of newborns with brain defects in Brazil. He said the virus cannot be transmitted from person to person, only by mosquito. Brazil will follow the U.S. decision last week to prohibit blood donations from people who have been infected with Zika, he said. The disease, detected for the first time in the Americas in Brazil last year, has no vaccine and no known cure.

Bihar student receives call from Pakistan to join ISI A college student has allegedly received a phone call from Pakistan asking him to join ISI, police said on Saturday.Mukesh Kumar filed a written complaint with Bhabua police station of Kaimur district about receiving a call from Pakistan over his mobile phone luring him to join Pakistan’s intelligence agency - ISI yesterday, superintendent of police Harpreet Kaur told PTI.Kumar, who studies in Intermediate (Class 12th) and also works as a part time salesman in a cloth shop, said in his complaint that initially he did not respond to the call.When

the call came for the second time he responded to the caller who offered him handsome cash if he joined the ISI, Kumar said in his complaint filed soon after the call.He told police that he had refused the

offer to the caller.The Kaimur SP said she had informed the state police headquarter at Patna about the incident for further action with Intelligence Bureau and other agencies.

“There was an attack by Russians over the weekend on the camp,” a Turkmen official at Yayladagi said. “Thankfully it did not fall right at the heart of the camp, but still 40 people were wounded,” he said.

“A lot of towns, villages in the north of Latakia have already been emptied. But there’s still another 3,0004,000 civilians there who haven’t left,” he said.

AFAD said more than 150 migrants have been placed at a new camp in Guvecci, on the Turkish side of the border, while others have been sent to refugee camps in the border provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.

Some found refugee with relatives. The Turkmens are ethnic kin of the Turks and Turkey has been particularly angered by what it says is Russian targeting of them in Syria. It has said that Russia’s actions in Syria risk exacerbating a refugee crisis soon after it struck a deal with the EU to stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

More than 70 years after striking fear into the hearts of Allied pilots, a restored Zero fighter took to the skies in southern Japan on Wednesday. Japan’s most famous World War II fighter aircraft was developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and was noted for its technological advancement.

The legendary planes took part in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while “kamikaze” suicide pilots crashed them into US ships in the later stages of the war.

The restored plane took off from a Japanese military base on the island of Kyushu for two short flights, the Nikkan Sports newspaper reported. The aircraft, painted dark

green with round bright red “circle of the sun” symbols on its body and wings, was airborne for six minutes and 16 minutes, respectively, the report said.

The plane was found in 1970 in Papua New Guinea - the scene of fierce fighting during World War II - and restored, ending up in the United States before being brought to Japan in parts in 2014, the report said. Other restored fighters have been flown over the country, but the Chunichi Shimbun daily reported that the flight Wednesday marked the first time since the end of the war that a Japaneseowned Zero took to the skies in Japan.

Issue 652 (15)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Neither an engrossing sports drama nor an inspiring story of an underdog Direction: Sudha Kongara Prasad Cast: R Madhavan, Ritika Singh, Mumtaz Sorcar, Nassar, Zaakir Hussain Ratings: 2 Stars Adi (R Madhavan) is a bear-shaped, shaggy man who we are to believe is one of the best boxing coaches for women in India. He is brutally honest and a temperamental sort, reminding

new posting until he spots Madhi (newcomer Ritika Singh), a feisty fisherwoman with a devilmay-care attitude. In one of the film’s few lovely moments, we discover that Madhi hearts the actor, Dhanush, as much as she idolises Muhammad Ali. Adi is convinced that she is a natural born champion even as Madhi’s sister Laxmi (Mumtaz Sorcar) is

us a lot of Nikolay Karpol, the former coach of Russian women’s volleyball coach who would scream at his players from the sidelines. Having assaulted his arch rival (Zakir Hussain), who happens to head the women’s boxing association no less, Adi is transferred from Hissar in Haryana to Chennai. He is none too pleased with his

the one who has trained in the sport for years. Adi pays Madhi Rs 500 daily to train, though we never quite know how he manages to get so much money given the poor salaries of sport coaches.

Saala Khadoos works when it explores the dynamics and tensions in the relationship between a coach and a player. Adi pushes Madhi to her limits, giving instruc-

tions that make effective use of her fists of fury. Given his personality he is surprisingly tolerant of her rowdy behaviour. Tired with his rigorous training regimen, she wants to quit and thereby give her elder sister’s career a push. There’s also the burden of expectations.

In Madhi’s success, Adi sees his own unrealised potential and unfulfilled dream of winning a medal at the biggest competition.

The latter is an aspect that Kongara could have addressed.Instead she sticks to staid tropes.

Kongara highlights how corruption mars the sport and how few coaches sexually exploit their students. After presenting this scenario, Saala Khadoos goes on to show its young protagonist fall for her older coach. This sudden change from an illtempered student-teacher relationship to a one-sided romance makes the film an uncomfortable viewing.

With little known about Adi, Kongara it appears has invested most of her energies on her two young female actors: Singh, a mixed

martial arts fighter, and Mumtaz Sorcar, who has also trained in boxing.

Most of the film rides on rookie Ritika Singh’s inexperienced shoulders and she relies on her uncontrolled enthusiasm to carry it. It appeals only in bits.

When Kongara’s script

turns Madhi into a young woman crazy in love and eager to please, Saala Khadoos disappoints further. Madhi’s meteoric rise is too sudden and never quite convincing. As Kongara prolongs the predictable by throwing in more mawkish hurdles,

Saala Khadoos loses its punch furthermore. It doesn’t help that none of the staged fights are memorable including the decisive fight against a Russian pugilist. This isn’t an engrossing sports drama neither is it an inspiring story of an underdog.

cent animals interacting with idiotic humans. But there is nothing amusing about Suresh Menon hamming it. His job here is to molest Sunny aka Tusshar, perform some of the most outrageous gags of the film, walk without a t-shirt on and say lines such as “I just want to have fun with a man’s gun”. No animals may have been harmed during the shooting of the film but they -

donkey, horse - sure were insulted and taken advantage of. A physically-handicapped army officer, who is Lily’s, is also thrown into this mess for supposed laughs.

Some of the oldest jokes are used here and they barely succeed in getting a giggle let alone a big, hearty laugh. The filthy word play (character names include Titli Boobna, Son Das) and

dirty talk is all there but even Zaveri and Sheikh seem to have run out of ideas given this is their second sex comedy of the year. As one bawdy gag after another arrives, the patience deteriorates.

There are images that will haunt viewers in their nightmares for a while including seeing the septuagenarian Asrani dress up in leafy underwear and get drenched.

The Sunny Leone-starrer has no masti. It’s just intolerable cruelty Director: Milap Zaveri Cast: Sunny Leone, Vir Das, Tusshar, Asrani, Shaad Randhawa Rating: 1 Star Here we go again. Milap Zaveri and Mushtaq Sheikh - the writers of Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 - are back with another story set in Thailand. They have got Riteish Deshmukh to a cameo for them too. They have even got some cast members of Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 to drop by the sets and show some skin (Bruna Abdullah and Gizele Thakral). Lawman Jeans has given some money to this sex comedy too. If Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 was a low point, Mastizaade is the rock bottom. At least KKHH 3 had a nifty premise; Mastizaade doesn’t even deliver on that. Zaveri, also the film’s director, has

managed to sink to indecent depths of offensive humour. Mastizaade has no masti whatsoever. This is intolerable cruelty, a vicious attack on the senses.

In case you missed the countless Sunny interviews talking about Mastizaade, viewers get a double dose of her. She plays Laila and Lily Lele, sisters who run a sex addiction rehabilitation centre. The former is the sexy one as evident by the tiny size of her clothes, the latter the geeky one because she wears spectacles, stammers and owns a few saris. It does look though that Lily borrows her sister’s nightwear. In what seems like Zaveri and Sheikh cracking and enjoying an in-joke, they name one of the heroes

Sunny Kele (Tusshar). (It results in scenes in which Sunny Leone’s Laila makes many moves on Sunny with lines such as “Main Sunny Ke Bina Nahi Jee Sakti”.) The other desperado is Aditya Chotya (Vir Das). The two friends run an advertising agency, XXX, which here is an excuse to make sex-themed commercials for Lawman and Manforce condoms.

Sunny and Aditya hunt rehab clinics to get lucky with women, until one day their “chicks ray” doesn’t work.

The object of their marital dreams is Laila and Lily.

If the writers are taking Sunny Leone to Pattaya, then you know what their intent is: put her in a bikini in every second scene. No Zaveri adult comedy is complete without a gay as a man predator and inno-

Issue 652 (16)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Nargis Fakhri swears by fitness in 2016

With New Year come resolutions of various kinds, and the most common among girls is to lose weight. Even Bollywood actress Nargis Fakhri has vowed to get fitter in 2016 and will include Tai Chi or Qigong in her daily routine.

Tai Chi is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defence training and for health benefits, while Qigong is an ancient Chinese healthcare system that integrates physical postures, breathing techniques and focused intention. Taking fitness to the next level, Nargis, who is regular with combat training, is determined to practice new forms of work-

outs this year. “The new ways to work out have caught on in popularity because they are different from your regular gym routine, which makes it a lot of fun,” Nargis said. “In today’s day and age, there is a wide array of options to choose from -- be it Masala Bhangra, Aqua Yoga, CrossFit, Spinning, etc., and activities that are aimed to be fun and engaging, while still offering the benefits of fitness,” the actress, who is also the Reebok Brand ambassador, said in a statement.

Yoga is another form of exercise that is favoured by the “Main Tera Hero” actress. It helps her to relax

Salman’s Haryanvi vibe for ‘Sultan’ is rocking says Preity Zinta

Actress Preity Zinta has praised her actor-friend Salman Khan for brilliantly getting into the skin of a Haryana-based wrestler in upcoming sports drama ‘Sultan’. Preity, 41, who met the superstar at the Celebrity Cricket League 2016, said she almost failed to recognise her ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ co-star. “Almost didn’t recognise Salman when I saw him. His Haryanvi vibe is pretty rocking... I promise all the ladies...,” she posted on

Twitter. Salman and Preity worked together in a series of films including ‘Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa’, ‘Jaan-EMann’ and ‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ besides making guest appearances in each other’s films. The ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ star is currently going through a rigorous shooting schedule of “Sultan”, which stars Anushka Sharma opposite him. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ fame, the film is expected to hit theatres this Eid.

her mind as well as her body, and this year, Nargis plans to roll out her Yoga mat more often and further her experience to tone every inch of her body. During training, Nargis plans to work on muscle strengthening and do 25 push-ups and at least 100 sit ups a day.

Being fit is not just about working out and looking good, it’s also about having a positive attitude, making the right fitness choices and participating in activities one enjoys.

Fitness is something that disciplines both the mind and the soul and not just the body,” said the actress.

Along with planning her

new fitness regime, Nargis has another resolution of being “Fashionably-fit”.

“Wearing the right apparel and shoes while working out in itself is rewarding and gives you that Â’feelgoodÂ’ factor along with boosting your confidence.

Moreover, wearing technologically advanced gear that helps you breathe and keeps your body cool is essential for a great calorie-burning session,” she said. As Nargis is all set to make fitness her ball and chain in 2016, she also exhorts fitness lovers to take a pledge with her by sharing fitness resolution on Twitter and Reebok India.

Disheartening to read stories about personal life says Katrina Kaif

Amid speculations of her break-up with rumoured boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor, actress Katrina Kaif says she is disheartened to read stuff about her personal life and feels that until one is not married, the person is single.

Ranbir and Katrina never came on record about their relationship. They were earlier seen together at each other’s family functions, besides attending events and screenings.

“It disheartening to read stories on personal life.

You would rather like to read a breaking news that...we all have come to an agreement that Katrina Kaif is one the top five actresses in the world. I

would want this to be the story,” Katrina said in an interview here.

“I am like every woman, when you are working you want to be spoken about your career...your work.

Every actor knows that their personal life will be spoken about, it comes along that way,” she said.

The “Bang Bang” actress has neither confirmed nor denied reports of her break-up.

“I have said this earlier and I say it again...I believe until you are not married you are single. I am not married yet...I am not engaged as well,” Katrina said.

The actress will be seen next in Abhishek Kapoor’s “Fitoor”.

This is what Sidharth Malhotra has to say on his relationship with Alia Bhatt Amid rumours of his romance with Alia Bhatt, actor Sidharth Malhotra insists they are great friends. “We are great friends and colleagues, and soon we have a film coming up called Kapoor and Sons,”

Sidharth told PTI. “We (Alia and I) have a great working relationship. I know her since my first film, so there is an emotional connect. We have always been there for each other’s films. We knew each other before we did films so that

bond never changes,” the 31-year-old actor said. On various occasions, from film screenings to parties and events, Sidharth and Alia have been often seen together. Initially, media reports used to affect Sidharth’s family, but now the actor says they are getting used to it.

“We all are professionals and we know how to work for the film or a scene.

Initially it used to affect my family, they are in Delhi...They were not aware about all this...How and what is written.

They used to question. We are getting trained and used to it,” the actor said.

Sidharth and Alia made their acting debut with Karan Johar’s Student of the Year. Now they have teamed up again for Johar’s romantic drama ‘Kapoor and Sons’, directed by Shakun Batra.

Issue 652 (17)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Lindsay Lohan is ‘done’ with her mother. And she is letting the world know Lindsay Lohan blasted her mother Dina Lohan on Instagram for not being there for her and suggested she no longer wants anything to do with her. In a now-deleted post on the photosharing site, the 29year-old actor up-

Nicole Kidman strips off for steamy bath scene Actress Nicole Kidman has flashed her breast in a steamy bath scene for ‘Queen of the Desert’.

is just one of the erotic scenes Kidman shot for the historical epic in which she plays Gertrude Bell, the

The Oscar-winning actress wears just a nightshirt as she submerges herself in a bathtub in the middle of the desert during the sensual scene, reports mirror.co.uk.

The raunchy moment

historian, novelist and member of the British secret service who was instrumental to setting the course for the new political order in the Middle East around 1920.

Director Werner Herzog

admitted that the actress didn’t shy away from putting her body on display.

He said: “We had a folded canvas bathtub that we had in our equipment in the caravan, and Nicole said to me, ‘Werner, I have to take a bath, I want to take a bath. And I said, ‘Let me write it into the screenplay.’

Explaining why she asked for the scene to be included, Kidman insisted it wasn’t just a bit of added titilation.

“I thought that was such a great addition because it really shows this woman’s love of the world,” the star said.

“I think a woman of that era who goes to live like that is an unusual, extraordinary person and I’m so glad that I got the chance to explore her for a portion of her life.”

loaded a Bitmoji (personal emoji) cartoon of herself dropping her phone on the floor next to the words “We’re done”.

She captioned the photograph: “@dinalohan... Sometimes it sucks when your mom isn’t there for you.(sic)” Lindsay had reportedly cut all ties with her father Michael Lohan.

Whereas last year, Lindsay threatened to call the

police on her 53-yearold mother for selling her belongings.

According to reports, Dina sold possessions of her daughter including clothing, furniture and artwork on the internet, without seeking Lindsay’s permission.

Lindsay moved the items - which she claims are worth millions - into her mother’s garage while filming her documentary series for Oprah Winfrey. Lindsay said that Dina believed that

as Lindsay’s things were at Dina’s home, they belonged to her and she could sell them. The Machete actress was said to have desperately contacted friends in Los Angeles to pick up the rest of her belongings before they were sold, but threatened to call law enforcement if that didn’t work.

Lindsay Lohan has been in and out of rehab facility after drug and alcohol addiction.

Making ‘By The Sea’ with Brad Pitt was dangerous says Angelina Jolie Actressfilmmaker Angelina Jolie admits she and Brad Pitt deliberately “tested” their relationship by making “By the Sea” together, even though it was perhaps a big risk for them as a couple.

The 40-year-old star directed and starred in the drama with her husband, in which they played a rowing married couple, just weeks after they tied the knot in 2014.

Jolie said the couple always like putting themselves to such challenges, reported Female First.

“It was our way of testing ourselves. We knew that if we could get through this, we’d come out even stronger and happier.

And we did. We’ve always liked putting ourselves through challenges, even though it was maybe a little more dangerous for us as a couple.

“I don’t think we want to go through it again though.” Jolie, who

raises kids Maddox, 14, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, nine, and sevenyear-old twins Knox and Vivienne with her husband, found the first week of filming particularly difficult, until she and Brad had a frank conversation.

“The first week was the hardest because Brad knew I was worried and impatient. You don’t want to drag your own personal issues into the process, but we had a talk and decided we were going to be completely honest with each other.”

Issue 652 (18)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

3 scientists on list to appear on new Scottish banknote LONDON Royal Bank of Scotland has named three Scottish scientists - two men and one woman - on the shortlist of candidates to appear on its first plastic

or people who had made a major contribution to Scotland in science and innovation.

Maxwell (1831-1879), a hero of Albert Einstein, discovered the unified theory

10 pound ($14) note.

The three are physicist James Clerk Maxwell, Mary Somerville, the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society, and civil engineer Thomas Telford, known as the “Colossus of Roads”. More than 400 people took part in the selection of the 128 nominees, who had to be Scottish historical figures

of electricity and magnetism. Somerville (17801872) was a pioneer as a female scientist when women’s participation was discouraged. Her writings ultimately led to the discovery of the planet Neptune. Telford (1757-1843) built more than 1,000 miles of roads in his lifetime and in Scotland designed harbours, tunnels and the

Caledonian Canal. People can vote for one of the three to appear on the note, which will be issued in 2017. The decision on who to put on new banknotes can be controversial. The Bank of England was criticised in 2013 for the removal of the only female figure on its notes, social reformer Elizabeth Fry. Novelist Jane Austen was subsequently chosen to appear on new 10 pound notes. RBS has been issuing banknotes since 1727 and has an average of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.13 billion) of notes in circulation on a single day. Unlike England and Wales, where banknotes are issued by the Bank of England, Scotland has notes in circulation issued by local banks, guaranteed by deposits at the Bank of England. There will also be a new Scottish five pound note issued in the second half of 2016. The design for this note is due to be unveiled this year and will feature an historical literary figure.

Iran sets up its first brain bank Tehran Iran has established its first brain bank at Iran University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, to promote research on diseases pertaining to the neurological system including Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis, said Dr M o h a m m a d - Ta q i Joghataei, who is in charge of the bank, according to The Iran Daily, IRNA reported.

“In certain countries, brain banks have been in operation for the past 20 years. Such banks are of great importance since they provide scientists the opportunity to conduct research on human brains rather than lab animals to come up with the causes of Parkinson’s, autism and movement disorders.

The specialist said that Iran’s brain bank was designed based on Eu-

ropean models.

“Brain of those declared brain-dead - who also suffered from a type of neurological disease -

should be done with the full consent of family members.

“The brain of those declared brain-dead must

can feed the brain bank.

Also, sections of the brain tissue in patients suffering from brain tumor are removed and can be donated to the bank for research,” he said.

Joghataei, who doubles as secretary of Stem Cell Headquarters for Neurological Sciences, said that brain donation

be donated within six hours.

The organ must be stored in -80?,” he said.

Joghataei named the United Kingdom, France, Qatar, Kuwait, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina as countries having established their brain banks.

Issue 652 (19)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Excluding Sikh Regiment from R-Day parade regrettable says Badal to PM Modi Chandigarh The controversy over the exclusion of the Sikh Regiment from the Republic Day parade in Delhi refuses to settle down, with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday describing the episode as “sad and regrettable” in a letter to Prime Minister

Badal said in the letter.

According to reports, the Sikh Regiment, which had participated in the parade earlier, was excluded this time.

The Sikh community has been at loggerheads with the French government due to the latter`s ban on students wearing turbans in schools in

Narendra Modi and saying that the community was “hurt”.

In his letter, Badal said “the absence of the Sikh regiment from the Republic Day parade was sad and regrettable”.

Badal urged the central government to issue necessary instructions and guidelines “to ensure that the Sikh Regiment is never kept out of Republic Day parade in future”.

“A widespread feeling of hurt and resentment (has been) caused by the non-inclusion of the Sikh Regiment in the Republic Day parade where French President Francois Hollande was the chief guest,”

France as it was seen as a religious symbol.

“The Republic Day parade is always regarded as a great occasion to showcase India`s multi-cultural and multi-religious identity, highlighting its secular ethos.

“As a vibrant and fiercely patriotic minority community in the country, the Sikhs are always seen as the most powerful symbol of this multi-dimensional identity and secular character of the country,” Badal said.

“The exclusion of the Sikh Regiment from the parade would be regrettable at any

time but it was doubly so this year because of the presence of the French president as a special guest at the event.

“The Sikhs have been facing several practices in France which amount to the denial of freedom to observe the fundamental religious practices to the community, including a ban on the wearing of turbans one of the five symbols of their religion,” Badal said.

Incidentally, the French president started his India tour on January 24 from Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana which was designed by French architect Le Corbusier. Hollande was received at the Chandigarh airport by Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, who is also the acting Punjab governor, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher. However, Punjab Chief Minister Badal was admitted to a hospital a day earlier and could not meet Hollande. But his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal did not step in to receive the French president.

PM Modi, breaking protocol, specially flew to Chandigarh to welcome the French president at the famous Rock Garden.

Suspected Pakistani spy, employee of Pokhran post office, nabbed Jaipur An alleged Pakistani spy, working as a postal employee, has been arrested by the police on Monday.

According to India Today, the person has been identified as

Rajasthan Intelligence Bureau along with the Military Intelligence officers are interrogating the suspect at Pokhran Police Station.

Since morning the investigating officials were searching the

Narendra Singh. He has been detained for spying for Pakistan’s intelligence service Intel-Services Intelligence (ISI).

As per initial reports,

said post office in Pokharan and a short while ago the officials declared that they have nabbed Singh who was allegedly spying for Pakistan, the report said. Singh is also get-

ting financial assistance from Pakistan in lieu of the spying activity, the report added.

In December 2015, Rajasthan’s Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested a former Army man for allegedly leaking confidential information pertaining to the Indian Army to Pakistan’s ISI. The accused, identified as Patwari Gordhan Singh, was first detained in Pokharan area of Jaisalmer by a joint team of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh ATS. He was arrested after interrogation by ATS and Rajasthan intelligence agency, as per PTI. Last year, in November, the Delhi Police arrested a BSF soldier and a retired Indian Army havildar for allegedly leaking information pertaining to India’s national security to ISI. Both were arrested in Jammu & Kashmir.

Surgery for BD’s ‘Tree Man’ to remove warts DHAKA A Bangladeshi father dubbed “Tree Man” for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet will finally have surgery to remove the growths that first began appearing 10 years ago, a hospital said Sunday.

Abul Bajandar, from the southern district of Khulna, was undergoing preparations for the surgery to cut out the growths weighing at least five kilogrammes (11 pounds) that have smothered his hands and feet. “Initially, I thought that they’re harmless,” the 26-yearold told AFP at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

“But slowly I lost all my ability to work. There are now dozens of two to three inch roots in both my hands. And there are some small ones in my legs,” said Bajandar who was forced to quit working as a bicycle puller.

A team of doctors has been formed to perform the operation at DMCH, Bangladesh’s largest state-run hospital, which has decided to waive costs of the treatment.

Tests are underway to ensure Bajandar’s root-like warts can be removed surgically without damaging major nerves or causing any other health problems. The massive warts, which first started appearing when he was a teenager but began spreading rapidly four years ago, have been diagnosed as epidermodysplasia verruciformis, an extremely rare genetic skin disease that makes the person susceptible to skin growths.

“Popularly it is known as tree-man

disease,” DMCH director Samanta Lal Sen told AFP. “As far as we know there are three such cases in the world including Abul Bajandar. It is the first time we have found such a rare case in Bangladesh,” he said. An Indonesian villager with massive warts all

over his body underwent a string of operations in 2008 to remove them.

Bajandar’s elder sister, Adhuri Bibi, said hundreds of people have visited their home in Khulna over the years to see the “Tree Man”.

“Even here at the hospital, hundreds have already gathered,” she told AFP. Bajandar, a father of one, said he tried cutting the warts when they first appeared, but it was extremely painful.

“After that I went to a village homeopath and herbal specialist.

But those medicines only worsened my condition.” He also consulted doctors in neighbouring India, but he and his family could not afford the cost of the operation there.

Issue 650 (20)

K’taka city’s transformation into secret location for

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By Aravind Gowda Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal was once spotted here; activists of the Deendar Channabasaveshwara Siddique Anjuman, which bombed churches in Karnataka, met here often; the bomb that exploded near Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru was assembled here, and now a terror suspect was arrested from this small city.

The gradual transformation of Tumakuru, a well-known educational hub in Karnataka into a secret location for planning and executing terror plots, has left not only the security agencies worried, but also the local politicians and educationists.

Tumakuru is aptly called an educational hub, with more than 50 institutes offering courses from basic sciences and arts to professional education, including medical and engineering, operating from the district.

Though the arrest of terror suspect Syed Mujahid by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the city has caused panic among the student community, those running the educational institutes are confident that their wards are insulated from such radicalisation.

However, as former minister and ex-MLA Sogadu Shivanna puts it, “Tumakuru is on the threshold of something big... This arrest doesn’t surprise me at all... There are more such people here and the security agencies have a serious task in identifying them. For long, Tumakuru has lent such silent support to terror elements. It is only now that they are getting exposed.”

Incidentally, Shivanna was invited for several of the meetings organised by the Deendar Channabasaveshwara Siddique Anjuman in Tumakuru about 15 years ago. “I was bit cautious about their profile and fortunately avoided them. I have passed on inputs about radicals meeting in the Devarayanadurga forests and the Maidenahalli forests. We have worked hard to restore peace and normalcy in Tumakuru. We don’t want this terror tag for this region,” Shivanna lamented.

Two decades ago, Tumakuru was one of the most communally sensitive areas in Karnataka with communal clashes reported

every year. Security agencies are of the view that the communal disturbances in the district cannot be attributed to the transformation of the city into a hub for planning terror activities.

“Today, the police monitoring and surveillance on terror suspects have increased in other districts, such as Kodagu, Mysuru, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga in view of the recent developments.

These terror elements have become smart...

Syed Mujahid’s 83year-old father, Syed Hussain (left), with human rights activist Tajuddin Sharif

They have started regrouping elsewhere and meeting in places where police surveillance is not high, like in Tumakuru. Nevertheless, we have been active here too and that’s how we managed to provide inputs to the NIA,” a senior police officer pointed out. Sources in the police pointed out that Syed Mujahid organised meetings of Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi with other terror suspects in the city. The Maulana also visited a local madrasa where he allegedly delivered antinational speeches.

Tumakuru MLA Rafeeq Ahmed pointed out

that he is working within the community to eliminate any possibility of radicalisation of youth. “We have over 70,000 Muslims here and they are scared after this arrest. We do not want any such radical element amongst us. As an educational hub, the focus of our youth should be on joining the mainstream society,” he said.

“We are consistently providing feedback to the NIA on the basis of the information provided by them to us. Our role ends when NIA takes over these terror suspects,” police sources added.

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19 Jan. - 25 Jan. 2016

r terror planning keeps intel agencies on their toes

Terror suspect Syed Mujahid

Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi allegedly delivered anti-national speeches at Nimrah mosque in Tumakaru. Police claim that Syed Mujahid arranged meetings of Maulana and other terror suspects in the city

By Aravind Gowda Terror suspect Syed Mujahid’s 83-year-old father Syed Hussein is a retired deputy tahsildar and his mother a retired headmistress. His grandfather was a police constable in Tumakuru.

‘Tell me…with this kind of a background and government service, would I expose my son to radicals or be influenced by terrorism?’ said his father.

‘The claims made by the police have not only tarnished my family’s image within the community, but has brought us on the streets,’ Hussein lamented.

The octogenarian alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with the local police, violated all laws on the night of his son’s arrest, on January 22.

‘Around 3.15am we were woken up by a knock at our door. As my son opened the door, a few people grabbed him from his shoulder.

‘They declared that they were policemen and barged into the house. They ransacked everything…Didn’t even spare my grandchildren who were sleeping,’ Hussein recounted in a shaky voice.

‘They did not have any search warrant, body warrant or even a note explaining their actions.

‘Until now the police haven’t clarified to us as to on what

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The NIA staff just declared that he is a terror suspect.

‘Syed is my only son. I recently had a knee surgery and am not in a position to visit the local police station. How can I reach my son in New Delhi?’ Hussein asked.

Following Syed Mujahid’s arrest, the local police declared that he had six different passports under his name and illegal cash of Rs 2.83 lakh.

‘Those are six different passports that belong to Syed, his wife and four children, who wanted to go on Haj last year but did not qualify.

‘Now, the police have returned five passports and retained Syed’s one. The cash in his possession was the advance amount returned by his landlord where Syed operated a petty shop. My son has been declared a terrorist even before a proper investigation,’ Hussein alleged.

With the sole earning member of the family in jail, Hussein and his wife have to depend on the paltry government pension for their livelihood.

On the police’s claim that Syed hosted alleged radical Islamic scholar Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi, Hussein said that it was true.

‘Whenever a senior Maulana came to Tumakuru my son made basic arrangements for them.

That doesn’t make him a terror suspect. I am told that my son was arrested just because he was seen in the company of Maulana Qasmi. I am totally lost here and only think of God for help.’ Local human rights organisations, including the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), are standing by Hussein. ‘We are not questioning whether he is a terror suspect or not. We are shocked with the manner in which Syed was arrested.

$W OHDVW SHRSOH NLOOHG LQ DWWDFN E\ %RNR +DUDP LQ 1LJHULD At least 65 people were killed during an attack

by Islamist militant group Boko Haram near Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, a Reuters reporter said after counting bodies at a hospital morgue.

The remains of a dozen victims were burnt beyond recognition in Saturday’s attack when militants opened fire on residents, set fire to houses and targeted a crowd with suicide bombers, security and medical officials said. A Nigerian military spokesman, Colonel Mustapha Ankas, said that Boko Haram militants attacked the community of Dalori, about 5 km (3 miles) east of Maiduguri in Borno state.

It was the third attack this week suspected to have been carried out by the insurgent group - and the most deadly. Since it started losing control of territory, Boko Haram has reverted to hit-and-run attacks on villages as well as sui-

cide bombings on places of worship or markets. In neighbouring Adamawa state, a suicide bomber believed to be a Boko Haram militant killed about 10 people on Friday and at

least 12 were killed on Wednesday in an attack on the Borno state village of Chibok, from where over 200 schoolgirls were abducted in 2014.

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2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Whiskey bottles, milk cartons, cashew nuts & more Air India crew member caught stealing ‘sarkari maal’

If the escapades of an Air India cabin crew member are any indication of the state of affairs in the national carrier, then turning the ‘Maharaja’ profitable may end up being just wishful thinking.

The customs and vigilance officials in Chennai were shocked recently when they checked the baggage of a lady cabin crew member who had flown in on an international flight from Colombo.

Acting on a tip-off her baggage was screened only to reveal that the air hostess had carried off all that she could lay her hands on during the flight.

The seized items included in-flight meals,

coffee boxes, milk cartons, whiskey bottles, cashew nuts, juice packets and much more, the Hindustan Times reported.

The cabin crew in question had operated the Chennai-Colombo-Delhi sector with a night halt in Delhi and then the Delhi-Colombo-Chennai sector.

The cabin crew carried out the shameful act despite Air India’s new chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani warning of strict action against those caught pilfering.

The newspaper quoted an airline spokesperson as saying that she has been taken off the roster, pending an inquiry.

Chennai schoolboy attempts selfie on railway track, gets run over by train Taking selfies in front of the mirror or in a park are one thing, but taking a selfie in front of an oncoming train is a very bad idea. Chennai schoolboy, Dinesh Kumar, died while doing just that on Sunday evening.

Dinesh Kumar, 16, a student from Poonthamalli, Chennai, was returning home from Vandalur Zoological Park with his friends around 5 pm. Near

the Vandalur Railway Station Dinesh noticed the Chennai BeachChengalpattu electric train speeding by and decided to take a selfie with the train in the background.

Tragically, he misjudged his distance from the train and was run over by the speeding train.

The Tambaram Railway Police reached the spot soon after they were in-

formed of the incident.

Dinesh’s body has been

sent for autopsy and an investigation is on.

Sunanda death case: Shashi Tharoor may undergo lie-detector test Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s domestic help Narayan Singh and driver Bajrangi have been questioned by Delhi Police again in connection with Sunanda Pushkar’s death case.

Highly placed sources have told India Today Television that Sunanda’s husband Shashi Tharoor is soon going to be called in for questioning and may have to undergo the lie-detector test.

Police are also questioning a few chemists in Lodhi Colony on information pro-

vided by the suspects to find the source of the Alprax tablets found in her room.

In January last year, Delhi

Police had registered a case of murder in connection with the death of Sunanda. An AIIMS medical board had found poison-

ing as reason for her death following which the police had sent her viscera samples to an FBI lab in US. The FBI had sent its report to Delhi Police two months ago. The report said the radiation levels in Sunanda’s viscera samples were “within the standard safety norms” besides mentioning other details.

Sunanda, who married Tharoor in 2010, was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside a room at the Leela Palace Hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014.

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Coffee diet woos Americans with ‘Bulletproof’ pledge LOS ANGELES A new coffee diet claiming to help lose weight and improve IQ is gaining a major following in the United States - and raising eyebrows among doctors skeptical of its benefits.

Dave Asprey, the founder and CEO of the “Bulletproof Diet,” pulls no punches when making claims for his radical health recipe, cup of coffee in hand. “You become a better employee, better parent, better friend, better person,” said the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur now living in Canada. “My energy changes, my brain changes. I can pay attention, I can follow through.”

The cornerstone of Asprey’s diet is a drink called Bulletproof Coffee, a modified version of the caffeinated beverage which uses beans stripped of mycotoxins - essentially mold that forms during the

fermentation process. Add to that butter from grassfed cows and mediumchain triglycerides (MCT) oil.

The ingredients are blended together to produce a creamy, naturally sweet beverage a bit like a milkshake, taken at breakfast in lieu of a meal. “So you drink a couple of these and all of a sudden you don’t care about food for a very long time,” said Asprey. “Your brain has energy that doesn’t come from sugar, you didn’t want sugar in your coffee and you lose the craving and you sort of have freedom.”

Asprey used to weigh 300 pounds, and spent much of his life battling to lose weight. The coffee diet idea came to him during a trip to Tibet in 2004. He was weak with altitude sickness while traveling in the mountainous region - until he drank yak butter tea.

Asprey was so impressed by the energetic effect of the drink that he tried to reproduce it at home.

After years of trying all kinds of ingredients and combinations, he unveiled

United States, where a third of the population of some 320 million is obese.

And his modified coffee has become the first link in an empire that includes the New York Times best-

a patented formula in 2009 through his blog and on social media, claiming the coffee and an associated health regimen helped him attain a “bodybuilder” physique.

Asprey’s diet is now one of the most popular in the

selling book “The Bulletproof Diet.” In addition to people looking to lose weight, it attracts athletes and supporters of “biohacking,” a movement that combines biology and food technology to improve physical and mental ca-

pacity.

“Me and my wife are in the fitness industry, so we are trying to do things that better our body,” said Justin Lovato, a burly personal trainer. Past the hit of morning coffee, the method advocates a diet free of gluten and sugar that draws around half of its calories from “healthy fats” such as MCT oil, 20 percent from protein - preferably grass-fed meat and dairy or wild caught seafood - and the rest from organic fruit and vegetables.

Other foods are classified as “bulletproof”, “suspect” or “kryptonite” according to how they fit into the diet’s categories and meals are taken on a set schedule.

A young athlete who gave his name as Ray said drinking the coffee every morning “increases your energy levels for sure.”

“You don’t feel sleepy any-

more, you don’t have the crash I would say after 20 minutes. Its effects are longer” than any of the products he has tested before, Ray added.

Asprey also advocates brief bursts of high-intensity exercise, with a focus on allowing the body to recuperate with food and sleep. Several celebrities have publicly lauded the benefits of the “miracle drink,” like actress Shailene Woodley - protagonist of “The Divergent Series” saga - and comedian Jimmy Fallon.

But experts have raised the alarm over the diet’s nutritional value. The British Dietetic Association listed the “Bulletproof” method among its top 10 celebrity diets to avoid for 2016 along with such questionable fads as the “all kale and chewing gum diet.”

“Un-bull-ieveable!” was its verdict.

Donald Trump’s unorthodox Hand of God? Pictures of heavenly campaign faces first test in Iowa cloud formation go viral Pictures of a cloud that social media users say looks like the “hand of God” have gone viral after being posted online.

Locals living on the Por-

morning sky. “For me, the cloud looks like an outstretched hand with a fireball,” Pacheco told the Weather Channel. “Others have compared it to a flam-

tuguese island of Madeira were greeted with the unusual cloud formation this week with weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco taking a few snaps of the impressive

ing comet.” After posting the picture to his blog and Facebook page, the picture quickly spread on social media, with many users saying they believed it looked like “the hand of

God.” A type of lenticular cloud, it was the way in which sunlight reflected on the cloud that gave it such an appearance in what experts say is known as “light scattering”. “At sunrise and sunset, light from the sun has to pass through a greater distance across earth’s atmosphere, where the light is scattered,” meteorologist Quincy Vagel said. “The result is that vibrant colors, such as reds and oranges, are more dominant.” Earlier this month, dark clouds gathered above Sydney in Australia after the city was hit by a thunderstorm, resulting in scenes reminiscent of the film Independence Day.

Strong magnitude 7 quake strikes eastern Russia, no casualties A strong magnitude 7 earthquake struck eastern Russia on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, while local Russian Emergencies Ministry said the tremor had not caused any casualties or damage.

The quake struck 109 km (67 miles) north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, USGS said. It struck at a relatively deep 153 km.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry in PetropavlovskKamchatskiy said there were no casualties and no threat of tsunami.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump puts his precedent-shattering campaign to the test on Monday when Iowa voters begin the nationwide process of choosing a new US president, as polls show a tight battle with Ted Cruz that could hinge on turnout and a large bloc of undecided voters.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton also faces a stiff challenge in Iowa from insurgent Bernie Sanders in the first contest in the stateby-state battle to pick candidates for the Nov. 8 election to succeed President Barack Obama.

Late polls showed Trump, a bluntspoken billionaire businessman who has never before sought public office, with a small lead on Cruz, a conservative US senator from Texas, while Clinton had a slight edge on Sanders, a US senator from Vermont.

But uncertainty remained about who would turn up at the caucuses, and how successful Trump and Sanders would be at getting their supporters, many new to the process and disenchanted with politics as usual, to participate.

Adding to the unpredictability in Iowa was a large bloc of undecided or persuadable voters in both parties in a state where voters accus-

tomed to a long courtship from candidates are traditionally in no rush to make a commitment.

The Des Moines Register/ Bloomberg Iowa poll released on Saturday night showed three in 10 likely Democratic caucus-goers

For the winners in Iowa, the prize will be valuable momentum in nominating battles that could stretch for months, while many of the losers on the Republican side quickly could begin dropping by the wayside.

and 45 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers were still uncertain and could be persuaded to switch to another candidate.

The vast array of choices along with the ability to see the candidates up close over the course of the past year gives many Iowa voters little incentive to rush into a firm choice.

“I’m still checking them out. The field is large and it requires some thought,” said Paul Albritton of Carlisle, Iowa, a training coordinator at Iowa State University, as he waited to see U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida last week.

“I’m thinking about who can win in November.”

Iowans will attend caucuses at schools, libraries and other public locations beginning at 7 p.m. CST (0100 GMT on Tuesday), with results expected within a few hours.

Dave Burggren of Asbury, Iowa, a precinct leader for his local Republican caucus, has been to seven or eight candidate events, checking out Trump, Rubio, former business executive Carly Fiorina, and even Sanders, but said he still did not have “any idea” which candidate he would support.

“My philosophy is this: Which piece of candy do I want today?” Burggren said at a Trump event in Dubuque on Saturday.

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Moods may come and go, especially early in the week, making it hard to get a grip on the tasks and chores that lie ahead. If you’re bogged down with the demands of family members, you’ll need to carve out time for your own plans and projects or the coming days could rush by with you achieving little. Your dreams could be significant and worth exploring.

Though it’s tempting to issue ultimatums and get angered by someone’s demands, you’d be better off listening to the advice of a friend who can help you see things from a more compassionate perspective. Either that or keep quiet and go with the flow until a solution presents itself. It really isn’t worth making waves. Starting midweek you’ll find it easier to connect with your instincts.

If you feel a stab of panic concerning money or another matter, it’s likely because your security seems threatened in some way.

The thing to not do is act irrationally on the spur of the moment. Do what needs to be done and then go in search of advice just make sure it’s reliable and trustworthy.

At times it may seem as though you're trying to navigate through fog.

Is someone getting to you?

Even if they’re just sharing a few words of advice, chances are you’ll see it as threat. An edgy link could leave you feeling worried about what someone has planned. You can’t be sure of anything with Neptune in the picture! Bearing this in mind, it would be best to switch to spiritual mode and practice mindfulness.

Hidden forces seem to be at work, so you may feel your best efforts are being undermined and wonder how to tackle the problem. The best way to handle it is to relax and do the best you can, knowing that things should be a lot easier within a few days. The cosmos continues to shower you with interesting opportunities so long as you remain willing to move outside your comfort zone.

Love troubles could be why you’re on edge early in the week, as feelings come to a head regarding a certain person. It’s best not to do or say anything spontaneously that you might later regret. Listen to the suggestion of someone who has some wise words to share. No matter what’s happening, things may not be as they seem.

Don’t let family members or close friends prevent you from doing what feels best to you. If you have a goal, stick with it and don’t let others influence you. Your social focus continues to look bright, with plenty of reasons to enjoy some delightful evenings out. This is certainly a good time to expand your social reach and connect with people.

A new direction beckons, yet despite wanting to find out more, you may be reluctant to do so. Perhaps a desire to stick with the tried and trusted is keeping you from exploring new options. Let your imagination take you to new vistas and it might be enough to spur you on. When it comes to romance, a current love affair could deepen and become more fascinating.

You might need to snap to where financial matters are concerned, especially if a decision needs to be made. If you’re thinking of investing in property or anything else, do your homework first to avoid disappointment or bad deals. Alone time might be appreciated, too, particularly if you’ve been busy lately. Avoid impulsive spending over the weekend!

Relationships could be somewhat edgy early on, which might put a bit of distance between you and another.

You might feel better about things if you can have a heart-to-heart talk.

Mercury heading into Cancer can be a good time to clear the air, though in certain cases it might take some courage to do so.

Health and wellness issues come to the fore, as do work and lifestyle affairs. If you're feeling overwhelmed, perhaps you should consider pacing yourself and even taking some time out to recharge your batteries. From midweek you may feel more motivated to research your options and find ways to make life easier overall.

Passionate feelings seem to be playing out in the arena of romance. Perhaps there are a few games being played, too, in the hope of getting greater leverage in a love tryst.

Trust your instincts. If something feels off, it might be best to move on to greener pastures. You’re very sympathetic to other people’s problems in general.

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Technology Apple developing wireless charging that works metre away Apple is developing a radical wireless charging system for the iPhone, it has been claimed.

The system would not require users to place the handset on a ‘mat’, but instead would be able to work over longer distances.

According to Bloomberg, the system could be implemented in 2017.

‘Apple is exploring cuttingedge technologies that would allow iPhones and iPads to be powered from further away than the charging mats used with current smartphones, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private,’ it claims.

‘The iPhone maker is looking to overcome technical barriers including loss of power over distance with a decision on implementing the technology still being assessed, they said.’

Apple has previously made a patent application for a system to use an iMac personal computer as a hub for wirelessly recharging at a distance of about 1 meter using a technique called near-field magnetic resonance.

Apple currently uses a similar technique, called induction, to charge its Watch.

The wireless charging is

just one of several radical new technologies Apple is expected to introduce.

Apple is working with its longtime audio chip partner Cirrus Logic to adapt the audio chipset in the iPhone to work with the Lightning port, according to our source,’ Fast Company says.

Apple is also believed to be developing a more expensive pair of noise-canceling, Lightning-connected, earphones or headphones, possibly under its Beats brand, the site claims.

Apple is expected to include an adapter with the handset to use older regular 3.5mm headphones.

It is the latest in long

claims have emerged that Apple is set to kill off the headphone socket. In order to shrink the thickness of a future handset, Apple is rumoured to be looking at ways to get rid of the standard 3.5mm headphone port.

Now, more reports suggest the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 7 will feature a single, multipurpose lightning port that will double up as a headphone port as well as charger. There are rumoured plans to do away with the headphone jack,

Internet addiction among students leading to family conflicts College students who are addicted to the internet are reporting positive as well as negative effects on their family relationships, reveals a study adding that the blame also goes to

parents who do not set limits for either themselves or for kids when it comes to internet use.

The study offers a first step toward the designing of effective interventions to address Problematic Internet

Use (PIU) among the college-age population.

College students may be especially vulnerable to developing PIU for reasons that include free Internet access, large blocks of free

time, courses that require its use and the sudden freedom from parental control and monitoring.

“We wanted to better understand students with Problematic Internet Use,” said Susan Snyder from

Georgia State University in the US adding “specifically, we wanted to understand how the internet affects students’ family relationships positively and negatively”.

PIU is considered a behavioral addiction with characteristics similar to substance abuse disorders, the researchers said.

PIU has been linked with negative mental health consequences such as depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, hostility, social phobia, and alcohol abuse, self-injuries and sleep difficulties, they added.

Estimates of PIU across the US population run as high as 15 percent, revealed the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE.

but now, developments for the iPhone 7 could be taking an even bigger leap – Li-Fi. A Twitter user has revealed an image to show that the company may be testing Li-Fi technology for the iPhone 7, which would mean data transmission runs on visible light waves, instead of radio. Li-Fi is reportedly 100 times faster than Wi-Fi, and would be significantly more secure.

In an image accompanying the tweet, the developer highlights where the code says, ‘LiFi Capability,’ indicating that this suggests Li-Fi testing plans for the next wave of iPhones. Scientists have taken to the streets in recent years to test the capabilities of LiFi, and it’s recently undergone testing in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn, Estonia.

This new wireless system hit speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab, and has the potential to revolutionize internet usage.

Internet may soon carry traffic at speed of light

In a first, a research has found a solution to make the internet infrastructure open and programmable while carrying its traffic at the speed of light by introducing new concepts of open source optical internet.

The research addresses the problem of current internet infrastructure’s inability to support independent development and innovation at physical and network layer functionalities and supporting the increasing bandwidth demands of changing and diverse applications simultaneously.

“Hardware and software technologies reported in this paper can potentially revolutionise optical net-

work infrastructure the same way that Google Android and Apple iOS did for mobile phones,” said researcher Reza Nejabati.

He is reader in optical networks of the high performance networks (HPN) group in the University of Bristol’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

“These technologies will hide complexity of optical networks and open them up for traditional programmers and application developers to create new type of internet applications taking advantages of speed of light,” Nejabati added.

The study was published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

According to him, social media certainly help to slow down the natural rate of decay in relationship quality that would set in once we cannot readily meet friends face-to-face.

Seeing the white of their eyes from time to time seems to be crucial to the way we maintain friendships,” he added.

Offline, research has given rise to what’s called the

“But no amount of social media will prevent a friend eventually becoming ‘just another acquaintance’ if you don’t meet face-to-face from time to time,” Dunbar explained in a paper published in Royal Society Open Science journal.

“There is something paramount about face-to-face interactions that is crucial for maintaining friendships.

Social Brain Hypothesis.

This says that our brain’s ability to process multiple relationships creates a natural group size of 100200 people for humans.

This size is also constrained by the time required to maintain relationships - we only have so much time to devote to meeting or talking to people.

Beat this! You just can’t have more than 200 friends on Facebook

If someone claims that he or she has over 1,000 friends on Facebook, he or she is probably lying.

According to an interesting research, the average number of real close friends people have on the social networking site is less than 200, and here too women triumph with more genuine friends than men.

According to psychologist professor Robin Dunbar from the University of Oxford who conducted two surveys, among regular social media users, the average number of friends they had on Facebook was 155 in the first survey and 183 in the second.

Women had more friends than men (in the first sample, women averaged 166 and men just 145 friends; in the second, it was 196 vs 157) while perhaps unsurprisingly older generations had fewer friends than younger ones, Dunbar found.

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Pathankot attack probe hits dead end as Pak wants more proof from India With no headway made in the probe into the Pathankot terror attack, Pakistan plans to seek more evidence from India, a media report said today, days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the outcome of the investigation into the assault would be made public soon.

A Pakistani government team investigating the Pathankot airbase attack will ask the foreign ministry to seek more evidence from India.

“The team has almost completed its investigation into five cellphone numbers (allegedly used for making calls from Pakistan to India) provided by the Indian government.

No further leads were found from these numbers because they were unregistered and had fake identities,” Dawn newspaper quoted a source as saying.

“The probe is not heading further. The team needs more evidence. Therefore, it has written to the government to speak to India and

apprise it of the situation and demand more evidence to move forward in investigation here,” he said.

Answering a question about the people, including banned Jaish-eMohammad (JeM) chief

Maulana Masood Azhar, detained in connection with the Pathankot incident, the source said, “Let first more evidence come from India.”

Sharif had formed the sixmember investigation team headed by the Additional Inspector General of Punjabs Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the second week of Janu-

ary to look into Indias allegations that the JeM was behind the January 2 attack.

The team headed by AIG Counter Terror Department, Punjab Rai Tahir has so far held two meetings.

The prime minister told reporters in Lahore on Saturday that the investigation was underway and its findings would be made public.

“Whatever facts come out we will bring them forth before everyone,” he said, adding that Pakistan would go to “any length” to uncover the alleged use of its soil in the Pathankot at-

tack.

“It is our responsibility to uncover if our soil was used in the attack. We will do this and the ongoing investigation will be completed soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have not produced before court any of the suspects arrested in connection with the attack over the past two weeks since their detention.

The government has not disclosed the number of suspects detained. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah only confirmed that Maulana Masood Azhar had been taken into “protective custody”, along with some of his “accomplices”.

“He (Masood) is not arrested,” the minister clarified.

India says Masood Azhar was the mastermind of the attack. It alleges that his brother Rauf and five others were also involved in the attack which killed all six terrorists and seven Indian soldiers.

10 killed, 20 wounded in a suicide attack in Kabul

Ten people were killed and 20 wounded, most of them civilians in Monday’s suicide bomb attack outside a police station in a busy area of western Kabul, Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Ayub Salangi said in a Twitter post. The attack was the latest in a series to hit the Afghan capital this year as the Kabul government has pushed to revive a stalled peace process with the Taliban that broke down last year. The city was hit by a series of suicide attacks last month, including one that

killed seven journalists from a private television station as the Taliban stepped up their campaign against the Westernbacked government.

The attacks coincided with renewed efforts to revive a peace process with the Islamist insurgent movement that stalled last year.

The Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) was set up as a gendarmerie-style unit to control riots and urban disorder but have also been used in counterinsurgency roles against the Taliban.

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Doomsday clock remains at 3 mins to midnight WASHINGTON Nuclear threats and climate change pose strong threats to the planet and a symbolic

doomsday clock will stay at three minutes to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said Tuesday.The clock serves as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the planet, and was most recently moved closer to midnight in 2015. “It remains the closest it

has been over the past 20 years,” said Rachel Bronson, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, during a

press conference in the US capital.

Global warming, terrorism, nuclear tensions between the United States and Russia, concerns over North Korean weapons, tensions between Pakistan and India, and cyber threats remain destabilizing

New Yorker builds $200-a-night ‘boutique’ igloo

NEW YORK An enterprising New Yorker sought to turn a walloping snowfall into a money spinner by building an igloo in his backyard and advertising it as a boutique getaway for two on Airbnb for $200 a night.

But freelance art director Patrick Horton said his icy listing lasted on the property-sharing website just six hours before he was informed that it was being removed for not meeting occupancy standards. Horton said he and two roommates spent six hours building Brooklyn’s answer to a traditional Arctic home. He then advertised the “Boutique Winter Igloo for 2” on Airbnb in hip neighborhood Greenpoint.

Despite Airbnb giving him the cold shoulder Horton says he got five enquiries while the listing was live. “Interestingly enough, Airbnb actually allows igloos to be rented,” he told AFP. “There are igloos on their site but for some reason ours did not meet

the qualifications.” Airbnb did not immediately respond to an AFP request to comment. Horton says he is thinking about advertising it on Craigslist, despite a second day of warmer temperatures and sunny weather that has seen some of New York’s enormous snowfall melt.

“As long as it’s cold enough we’re going to keep it up and find another site to take it and try to rent it from there,” he said.

The storm slammed the eastern United States at the weekend, forcing New York to shut down on Saturday under a sweeping travel ban.

New York’s Central Park recorded 26.8 inches (68 centimeters) of snow, the second-highest accumulation in the city since records began in 1869, beaten only by 0.1 inch more in February 2006.

Williamsburg, which neighbors Greenpoint in Brooklyn, recorded 29 inches, the National Weather Service said.

influences, said Lawrence Krauss, a cosmologist and professor at Arizona State University.

The decision not to change the clock since 2015 is “not good news,” he told reporters. Despite some positive news last year, including the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate talks, experts expressed concern that global nuclear arsenals are growing and antipollution pledges lack teeth.

“The fight against climate change has barely begun, and it is unclear if the nations of the world are ready to make the many hard choices that will be necessary to stabilize the climate and avert possible environmental disasters,” said Krauss.

The decision to move the clock or not is led by the a group of scientists and intellectuals, including 16 Nobel Laureates.

The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947. It has changed 18 times since then, ranging from two minutes to midnight in 1953 to 17 minutes before midnight in 1991. The last time it was three minutes to midnight was in 1983, when the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was at its peak.

Fiat used by Pope during US visit sold for $82K

WASHINGTON A Fiat 500L used by Pope Francis during his visit last year to the US city of Philadelphia sold at auction Friday for $82,000, with the proceeds going to various Catholic charities.

Church officials in the northeastern US city said the auction was the highlight of a gala black-tie event kicking off this year’s Philadelphia Auto Show.

Some 19 bidders from across the United States vied for the vehicle, but no details were immediately released about the winning bidder for the Fiat, a sporty, diminutive five-door wagon.‘What a magnificent spirit of generosity we witnessed this evening,’ John McIntyre, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said

after the sale. ‘To be able to auction the papal Fiat in such a spirited environment while knowing that this incredible outcome allows us to spread Pope Francis’ message of love and care in a concrete way by supporting the charitable works of the Archdiocese is most gratifying,’ Bishop McIntyre said.

Profits from the sale benefited the Catholic Charities Appeal, Mercy Hospice, Casa Del Carmen, and the Archdiocesan Schools of Special Education, according to a statement issued by the organizers of the auction.

Church officials said that there were actually two Fiat 500Ls used by the pontiff during the Philadelphia visit, just one of which was auctioned Friday.

Yoga guru Bikram asked to pay nearly $1 million in sexual abuse case WASHINGTON Prominent Indian-American Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury has been asked to pay USD 924,500 as compensatory damages to his former lawyer by a US court over allegations that he sexually harassed her and fired her for probing claims of abuse made by other women against him.

Attorney Minakshi Jafa-Bodden in her lawsuit claimed that she suffered gender discrimination, wrongful termination and sexual harassment while working for 69-year-old Choudhury, the founder of Bikram Yoga.

Los Angeles jury on Monday deliberated for about a day, before returning with a unanimous verdict in favour of Minakshi.

During testimony, Choudhury strongly denied allegations of sexual assault against him.

Choudhury described accusations of mistreatment and abuse of employees as “lies” and “big lies.” “I don’t do that,” he testified. “I don’t have to.” Choudhury said Minakshi was let go in 2013 because she did not have a license to practice law in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported. The jury found that Choudhury acted with malice, oppression and fraud — findings that allow Minakshi to seek punitive damages, the daily said. Minakshi claimed

that Choudhury persuaded her to leave her native India to work for him as his general counsel in 2011.

During her employment, she alleged, Choudhury repeatedly sexually harassed her and

“This verdict sends an important message, that speaking out when you see signs of sexual abuse is the right thing to do,” Quigley said.

Choudhury’s lawyer, Robert Tafoya, declined to comment

subjected her to obscene comments.

The lawyer alleged that she was fired in 2013 after she attempted to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Choudhury, including allegations of rape by one of his female students.

Mark Quigley, who along with attorney Carla Minnard represented Minakshi, after the jury’s decision said, “She faced retaliation and intimidation when she refused to stay silent about witnessing illegal behaviour.”

after the verdict.

Minakshi’s lawsuit is one of multiple cases of alleged sexual assault filed against Choudhury, who built a yoga empire in the US after moving to California in 1971.

Choudhury gained millions of followers through his style of Yoga, which consists of a series of 26 poses, done over 90 minutes in a room heated to 104 degrees. Six other women in recent years have sued Choudhury, alleging that he sexually assaulted or harassed them.

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Facebook blocks unlicensed gun sales SAN FRANCISCO Facebook has banned people using the social network for unlicensed gun sales after pressure from anti-gun violence groups alarmed over the ease

with which firearms are sold online in the United States.

Although Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing service do not participate in outright gun sales, the sites have been a forum for negotiations. The California-based social network on Friday updated its policy for managing regulated goods to prohibit people who aren’t gun dealers from using Facebook to offer guns for sale or negotiate private sales of firearms.‘Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another,’ Facebook head of product policy Monika Bickert said in an email response to AFP. The policy change, however, will not affect licensed gun dealers who tout their wares on the social

network, which is used by 1.59 billion people monthly. Facebook has similar restrictions on regulated goods such as prescription and illegal drugs.

Facebook and Instagram in 2014

restricted posts about buying or selling guns to users 18 years of age or older. The social network has been under political pressure in the United States to prevent posts that could result in people sidestepping gunbuying laws or background checks.Gun control groups some of which have been pressuring Facebook for years to tighten firearms sales on the site - were jubilant about the policy change. ‘A big thumbs up to Facebook for taking this important step!,’ said Dan Gross, president of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a statement issued after the announcement. ‘The Brady Campaign urged Facebook to bar unlicensed gun sales in 2014 and we are happy to see that Facebook has finally

Rover snaps stunning selfie on Mars

Washington Nasa’s Curiosity Mars rover just loves a good selfie. The carsized explorer took time out from its busy sand scooping and sieving schedule to snap yet another self-portrait on Mars.

The spectacular image - perhaps the ultimate humble brag - is a composite of 57 photographs it took of itself by the Red Planet’s Namib Dune on Jan. 19. Nasa scientists used its Mars Hand Lens Imagers camera at the end of its arm to snap the shot. As the image is a composite, only part of the arm is visible.

The selfie, which NASA released on Friday, is at least the third that Curiosity has beamed back to Earth since first landing on the planet on Aug. 6, 2012. In August 2015, it sent back a 92-image composite selfie after drilling a rock nicknamed ‘Buckskin’ in the Marias Pass area.Meanwhile, in June 2014, it snapped a self-

portrait to celebrate being on Mars for exactly one full Martian year - the equivalent of 687 Earth days. The explorer’s initial mission was to ‘determine whether Mars once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.’

For the last two months, it’s investigated active sand dunes and how the wind moves on the Bagnold Dune Field lining the northwestern flank of the planet’s Mount Sharp. ‘The mission’s examination of active sand dunes - the first ever studied up close other than on Earth - is providing information about active dune processes in conditions with much less atmosphere and less gravity than on Earth,’ NASA revealed in a statement.

‘Researchers are evaluating possible sites for the next use of Curiosity’s drill to collect rockpowder samples of the bedrock in the area,’ the space agency added.

adopted our policy,’ he said, adding that the move ‘will help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.’An anti-gun group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said it was the fruition of two years of concerted pressure on Facebook by it and other groups. Those efforts, said ‘Moms’ founder Shannon Watts, led to ‘new policies to curb children’s exposure to guns and to clarify state laws around selling and buying guns online.’ ‘Our continued relationship with Facebook resulted in today’s even stronger stance, which will prevent dangerous people from getting guns and save American lives,’ Watts said. An affiliated organization fighting for stiffer gun control in the United States, Everytown for Gun Safety, said it had launched an undercover investigation which showed that criminals often flock to the Internet when making illicit firearms purchases.‘We’re thankful that Facebook has listened to our call and shut down a key avenue that criminals have used to avoid background checks and buy guns with no questions asked,’ said the group’s president John Feinblatt, who urged other social network sites to follow suit. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama announced a series of executive orders to tighten regulations on firearm sales including those conducted online. Obama’s measures would strengthen the existing background check system, and allow health care providers to report names of mentally ill patients into the database.

I’m ashamed: US doctor Anjali apologises for attacking Uber driver

Washington A 30-year-old US doctor, who made headlines last week after attacking an Uber driver under the influence of alcohol, apologised on live television for her behaviour.

Dr Anjali Ramkissoon, a fourthyear neurology resident employed by Jackson Health System, appeared on Good Morning America on Wednesday and apologised for her actions saying it was “the worst night of my life”.

“I see a person that is not me, I am ashamed, I can’t see that video myself again,” she said during the show.

A video which captured the assault went viral last week garnering more than 55 lakh views after it was uploaded on YouTube by a person who witnessed the altercation.

Ramkissoon tried to explain in the show what led to the meltdown on that day.

“My dad was placed in the

hospital and just minutes prior to that altercation my boyfriend for past two years had broken up and I was there by myself. I knew that I had a few drinks and wanted to get home soon,” she said.

Ramkissoon was suspended from clinical duties by the teaching hospital and Uber suspended her rider account. But she escaped arrest as the Uber driver did not press charges.

“There is absolutely no excuse for my actions, I’m ashamed, I have hurt so many people with this... My family, my friends, my job, the Uber driver, nobody deserves to be treated that way and that’s not me. I apologised to the driver and settled in cash for the damages. I’m really grateful that he did not press charges.”

Since the attack, her employer Jackson Health System’s Facebook timeline was bombarded by social media users who asked the hospital to take strict action.

to help people get a higher education, and in the process, committed federal crimes,” he said.

In addition to the prison and home confinement sentences,

Education (IHE), both of which offered vocational, language, and other classes to domestic students whose tuition was partially covered by Department of Education, and foreign

the three were ordered to forfeit $7,440,000 to the US from the proceeds of their student visa fraud, and pay $1 million in restitution to Department of Education for losses from their student financial aid fraud.

According to court documents, the three were associated with the Micropower Career Institute (MCI), or the Institute for Health

students who were allowed to stay in the US on student visas.

Hiranandaney was MCI’s president; his brother-in-law Lalit was MCI’s chief executive officer and IHE’s president; and Anita, the sister of Hiranandaney and wife of Lalit, was MCI’s vice president and the director of MCI’s Mineola Campus in Mineola, New York.

3 Indian-Americans sentenced for student visa fraud NEW YORK Three Indian-Americans have been sentenced by a US court to terms ranging from six months of home confinement to to an year in jail for involvement in a USD 7-million student visa fraud scheme.

The Manhattan court sentenced Suresh Hiranandaney, Lalit Chabria and Anita Chabria all relatives in the over $7.4-million fraud.

US district judge Paul Oetken sentenced Hiranandaney and Chabria to one year and a day in prison, while Anita was sentenced to six months of home confinement.The three were also found guilty of having roles in a student financial-aid fraud scheme in which they defrauded the Department of Education of $1 million in grant funds.

“Suresh Hiranandaney, Lalit Chabria, and Anita Chabria exploited our nation’s financial aid and foreign student visa programs, engaging in a longrunning fraud scheme that generated millions of dollars,” US attorney Preet Bharara said.

“The defendants greedily took advantage of programmes meant

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Seven email chains sent from Clinton’s private server withheld The US State Department has withheld release of “seven email chains” sent from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private server, admitting for the first time that her home server contained closely guarded

government secrets.The State Department will be denying in full seven email chains found in 22 documents, representing 37 pages.“These documents were not marked classified at the time that they were sent,” the State Department Spokesman John Kirby said.He added that the department was now investigating whether the information in them was classified at the time it passed through her private email account run on a server in her home.“The documents are being upgraded

at the request of the Intelligence Community because they contain a category of top secret information,” Kirby said.

“We have worked closely with our inter-agency partners on this matter, and this dialogue with the

inter-agency is exactly how the process is supposed to work,” he said.Further, Kirby said another 18 emails which comprised of eight distinct email chains between Clinton and US President Barack Obama, are also being withheld in full from the State Department’s release of documents.“The decision to withhold presidential correspondence from State’s Freedom of Information Act production of former Secretary Clinton’s emails was widely covered months ago,” he said.

5 planets to align in rare ‘dance’ China charges Canadian with spying, stealing state secrets A Canadian citizen detained

by China since 2014 has been indicted on charges of spying and stealing state secrets, the Xinhua state news agency reported on Thursday.

Kevin Garratt was detained in August 2014 near China’s sensitive border with North Korea where he operated a coffee house with his wife, who was also detained for months before being released last year.The case inflamed tensions between Ottawa and Beijing, but Canada has not been able to secure Garratt’s release despite expressing concern about the arrest, which happened less than a week after Canada accused Chinese hackers of breaking into a key computer network.Xinhua said Garratt was indicted in Dandong, a city in China’s northeast where the Garratts, longtime residents of China, had operated a cafe since 2008.“During the investigation, Chinese authorities also found evidence which implicates

Garratt in accepting tasks from Canadian espionage agencies to gather intelligence in China,” Xinhua reported.The Canadian government did not immediately comment.The indictment was announced the day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior cabinet ministers attended a lavish party in Ottawa hosted by China to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.The prime minister at the time was Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father, a man still held in high regard in Beijing.

Shortly after Trudeau’s Liberals won power last October, China invited him for a state visit.Garratt’s son, Simeon Garratt, a Vancouver resident, said he was waiting for an update from his family’s legal team in China.“We don’t really have any more word on it other than that. We haven’t had access to anything to this point. It’s a waiting game to be honest,” Garratt said in an interview.

“They are entirely separate and distinct from the emails in Saturday’s release that were upgraded to top secret, secret, or confidential, and I’m not going to speak again to the content of that email traffic,” Kirby said.

The announcement came three days before the Iowa caucuses, when the first votes are cast for the presidential nominations.

The Clinton campaign demanded that all of her emails be released by the State Department.

“We firmly oppose the complete blocking of the release of these emails. Since first providing her emails to the State Department more than one year ago, Hillary Clinton has urged that they be made available to the public. We feel no differently today,” said Brian Fallon, secretary of Hillary for America National Press.

“This flies in the face of the fact that these emails were unmarked at the time they were sent, and have been called ‘innocuous’ by certain intelligence officials,” Fallon said.The Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said, “with even more emails on her secret server found to contain ‘Top Secret’ information, Hillary Clinton has removed all doubt that she cannot be trusted with the presidency.”

Differently-abled woman flyer alleges Air India made her ‘crawl’

A differently-abled woman flyer has alleged she had to “crawl” to the passenger coach after deboarding an Air India plane as the carrier failed to arrange a wheel chair for her due to “security” reasons, a charge denied by the airline.

The government-run airline claimed a wheel chair was provided to the passenger at aircraft doorstep itself.

The incident took place on Friday when Anita Ghai, a Delhi University associate professor, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here

by Alliance Air (Air India’s regional arm) from Dehradun and requested for a wheel chair.

“I boarded this flight with four of my colleagues. Despite my repeated request, the (air) hostess did not cognize my requirement for a wheel chair after reaching. The flight reached at 7:30 PM. I waited patiently

with one of my friends,” she said.

“At 8:15 PM, we realise that there was no chance of (getting) a wheel chair. The (passenger) coach came at 8.30 PM after repeated requests from the flight commander. Since security reasons are critical they made me crawl to go to the coach,” she alleged.

“We strongly deny the statement...We at Air India give utmost importance to passenger’s safety and comfort,” an Air India statement said.

The flight which operated on ATR aircraft landed in Delhi from Dehradun. Since it was parked at a distant bay it took some time to bring the wheel chair, the airline said.“Since passengers were getting down from the aircraft, our support staff actively helped the passenger to come out of the plane and the wheelchair was provided at the doorstep,” Air India said.

US can’t strengthen leadership by allowing politicians to insult Muslims, says Obama In an apparent criticism of controversial Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, President Barack Obama has said the US cannot build progress with a “bunch of phony tough talk” or strengthen its global leadership by allowing politicians to insult Muslims.

“We’re not going to strengthen our leadership around the world by allowing politicians to insult Muslims or pit groups of Americans against each other.

That’s not who we are. That’s not keeping America safe,” Obama said.His remarks were seen by many as a criticism of Trump, the leading contender to become the Republican party’s nominee for US presidential candidate.

Trump has called for a “total and complete shutdown” of American borders to Muslims in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in which 14 people were killed.

Obama said during election season there is a lot of talk about America in decline. “I don’t believe in it and the acts don’t show it. We’re doing a lot better than seven years ago.”

“We are on the right side of those debate and we are not cynical”, he said.In an address to the House Democratic Issues Conference in

Baltimore yesterday, Obama outlined what he called the top national security priority for

work, they were going to cheat,” he said.

“And yet, a few months later,

Democrats protection of the American people and keeping them safe from terrorist attacks.

For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to hunt down and destroy the Islamic State group, including with nearly 10,000 airstrikes, Obama said.“We’re not going to build progress with a bunch of phony tough talk, and bluster, and over-the-top claims that just play into ISIL’s hands,” he said, using an acronym for the terrorist group.

Obama said keeping the US safe and strong and respected requires using every element of the American power.

“That’s how we worked to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. And, again, you will recall that the other side was claiming this would never

we now have certified that massive amounts of existing nuclear stockpiles and their infrastructure have been dismantled or shipped out,” he added.Obama also said that the Democrats believe in innovation and the country was making good progress in generating clean energy.

“We’ve cut our oil imports by nearly 60 per cent, and we’ve cut our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth. That’s what we’ve done,” he said.Obama said at times he gets frustrated that “they don’t run back the tape to what the Republicans said back then”.“Because at each juncture, every single one of the steps we took, they said the opposite.

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Tsunami of money from Saudi Arabia Female chauffeurs sue Saudi prince who wanted male drivers, win case funding 24-k Pak madrassas About 24,000 ‘madrassas’ in Pakistan are funded by Saudi Arabia which has unleashed a “tsunami of money” to “export intolerance”, an American senator has said, adding that the

US needs to end its effective acquiescence to the Saudi sponsorship of radical Islamism.

Senator Chris Murphy said Pakistan is the best example of Saudi Arabia funding religious schools that nurture hatred and terrorism.“In 1956, there were 244 madrassas in Pakistan.

Today, there are 24,000. These schools are multiplying all over the globe. These schools, by and large, don’t teach violence.

They aren’t the minor leagues for al Qaeda or IS. But they do teach a version of Islam that leads very nicely into an antiShia, anti-Western militancy.”

“Those 24,000 religious schools in Pakistan -- thousands of them are funded with money that originates in Saudi Arabia,” Murphy said in an address to the Council on Foreign

Relations, a top American thinktank, on Friday.According to some estimates, since the 1960s, the Saudis have funnelled over $100 billion into funding schools and mosques all over the world with the mission of spreading puritanical Wahhabi Islam.

As a point of comparison, researchers estimate that the former Soviet Union spent about $7 billion exporting its communist ideology from 19201991.“Less-well-funded governments and other strains of Islam can hardly keep up with the tsunami of money behind

Kohli’s Pakistani fan had stitched the Indian flag by himself

this export of intolerance,” Murphy said.“The uncomfortable truth is for all the positive aspects of our alliance with Saudi Arabia, there is another side to Saudi Arabia that we can no longer afford to ignore as our fight against Islamic extremism becomes more focused and more complicated,” he said.“The United States should suspend supporting Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen, at the very least until we get assurances that this campaign does not distract from the fight against IS and al Qaeda, and until we make some progress on the Saudi export of Wahhabism,” he said.Murphy demanded that Congress should not sign off on any more US military sales to Saudi Arabia until similar assurances are granted.

He said that the political alliance between the House of Saud - Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family - and orthodox Wahhabi clerics is as old as the nation, resulting in billions funnelled to and through the Wahhabi movement.

The vicious terrorist groups that Americans know by name are Sunni in derivation, and greatly influenced by Wahhabi and Salafist teachings, Murphy said, adding that leaders of both Democratic and Republican parties should avoid the extremes of this debate, and enter into a real conversation about how US can help the moderate voices within Islam win out over those who sow seeds of extremism.

A federal judge has awarded damages to three Minnesota women who sued after they were dismissed from their chauffeur jobs because a Saudi prince wanted only male drivers.

US district judge Joan Ericksen on Thursday awarded $130,000 each to Gretchen Cooper, Barbara Herold and Lisa Boutelle. In November, Ericksen ruled in favour of the three women, who filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in 2012 in Minneapolis.

The women received $100,000 each for mental anguish and suffering under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Star Tribune reported. Erickson doubled the $15,000 that each woman sought for wage loss, to $30,000, but did not grant punitive damages, saying that while the defendants may have acted unlawfully, the women bringing the lawsuit had not shown they acted with “deliberate disregard or malice.”

The women were among 40 drivers hired in October 2010 to chauffeur Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdul-Aziz, his family and friends while the prince was

treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The lawsuit alleged that the prince and his entourage told the limousine companies they wanted male chauffeurs.

Women in Saudi Arabia are prohibited from driving.

Two of the three companies involved have settled with the women.

Crown Prince Limousine remained a defendant. Online court records did not list an attorney to comment on behalf of Mohamed Ali Elbashir, who does business in Minnesota as Crown Prince Limousine, or the prince. The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC, was closed Saturday.

The women were represented by Gender Justice, a legal advocacy organization based in St. Paul. Lisa Stratton, one of the women’s attorneys, praised the judge’s order. “The key issue for us is people know now that it is not legal in the state of Minnesota or the United States to discriminate because your customer asks you to,” Stratton said. “When you do business in the United States, the law of the United States applies.”

Pakistani publisher of NYT censors photo of gay couple kissing A Pakistani fan of cricketer Virat Kohli is facing up to 10 years in jail after being arrested for hoisting the Indian flag on his home despite being rebuked by his neighbours.Umar Daraz, arrested on Tuesday and charged with committing an offence against the state, was known to residents of his village in Okara district of Punjab province as an ardent fan of Kohli.Kohli’s performance in the recent series in Australia excited Daraz so much that he pasted Kohli’s pictures and hoisted an Indian flag at his home. After his arrest, a magistrate remanded 22-yearold Daraz in judicial custody.

District police chief Faisal Rana said Daraz, a tailor, had stitched the Indian flag at his shop, the Dawn newspaper reported.Rana Rashid, a neighbour of Daraz, said people had rebuked him after spotting the Indian flag on his house and advised him to remove it.Daraz paid no attention to people and kept on working in his small shop. Someone alerted police, who raided his house and removed Kohli’s pictures and the

flag.Rashid said Daraz’s father Liaquat works at a bus stand in the village. Daraz was known as a quiet person who would stay holed up in his shop the whole day, watching cricket matches and sewing clothes, the Dawn reported.Rashid also said he felt sorry for Daraz as he would have no access to TV in the Okara jail to watch Kohli batting in upcoming T20 matches.Police arrested Daraz under section 123-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which deals with actions that damage the sovereignty of Pakistan, and the Maintenance of Public Order law.

The maximum punishment under Section 123-A of the PPC is 10 years in jail or a fine or both.Officials said police will seek authority from the government under section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code for the trial of Daraz.Okara shot to the limelight in 2008 after it emerged that Ajmal Kasab, the lone attacker captured alive during the terror attacks on Mumbai, was a resident of Faridkot village in the district.

The Pakistani publisher of The New York Times removed a picture of a gay man in China kissing his boyfriend from the front page of the newspaper last week, the latest in a series of instances of the daily being censored in the country.

The photograph featured two men - Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang – who sued the civil affairs bureau in the Chinese city of Changsha after they were not allowed to register to marry.

“This picture was removed by our publishing alliance in Pakistan.

The International New York Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal,” said a caption below the large blank space on the page in the January 29 edition of the daily.

The New York Times is distributed in Pakistan along with The Express Tribune, which also publishes the daily. Homosexuality is a crime in Pakistan though prosecutions for offences are rare.

Last month, The Express Tribune censored a New York Times article about attacks on secular and progressive bloggers in Bangladesh. New York Times

public editor Margaret Sullivan said the Pakistani publisher had decided that readers could have found some comments in the article about the Quran and Prophet Mohammed “blasphemous”.

website of the New York Times.

“Nevertheless, the censorship is troubling. Even in the digital age, blank newspaper pages are a disturbing symbol of the lack of free expression in many parts of the world,” Sullivan

It is not unusual for readers of The New York Times in Pakistan to find huge blank spaces after the censorship of articles and photographs. In March 2014, a New York Times story about what Pakistani officials knew about Osama bin Laden’s presence in the country was censored from the front page.

However, most of the censored content can easily be accessed by Pakistanis on the

wrote in a piece titled “Pakistani censorship ‘runs counter’ to Times values” that was posted on the New York Times website.

Kamal Siddiqi, editor of The Express Tribune, told The Washington Post, his newspaper has an agreement with The New York Times that it can refuse to publish articles or photographs that “may cause problems locally”.

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White cop to sue estate of black teen he killed in US Chicago A white police officer plans to sue the estate of a black teenager he shot dead because he was traumatised by the fact that he accidentally killed the teen’s neighbour in the incident, his lawyer said Saturday.“The damage is my client feels horrible that Bettie Davis is dead because of the actions he was forced to take,” attorney Joe Brodsky told AFP. “It’s affected him greatly. It’s a burden he’s going to have to carry for the rest of his life.”

The December 26 shooting came as the US city was reeling from a series of incidents in which police were accused of being too ready to pull the trigger on their service weapons.The family of LeGrier, 19, has repeatedly said there was no reason why police should have opened fire when responding to a domestic disturbance at their home.

They have sued both the city and the officer who shot him:

Robert Rialmo, 27.City officials apologised for the death of Davis, a 55-year old mother of five, but have said LeGrier’s shooting was justified.The city has released few details about the incident except to say that LeGrier was brandishing a baseball bat when he was shot after his father called for help in the wee hours of the morning.LeGrier, an engineering student who was struggling with mental health problems, had called 911 for help several times earlier that evening but the dispatcher did not send an officer to the house until his father called.Brodsky said that makes the incident a “double tragedy because if my client had advance knowledge he was dealing with a mentally ill person he may have handled this in a different way.”

‘Winning the lottery’ Police tactics and racism have been the subject of a national debate since protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, in mid-2014 over the shooting death of a black

teenager, 18-year-old Michael Brown.The US Justice Department is investigating how Chicago police use force after the death of another black teenager, Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times as he was walking away from officers.

Brodsky insists this case is nothing like that of McDonald, an incident caught on camera which sparked mass protest and led embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fire Chicago’s police chief and reform the department.

“He didn’t kill him like he murdered him -- he shot to save his own life,” Brodsky said in a telephone interview.

“Somebody is swinging a baseball bat and they’re two feet above you, you’re a pumpkin.”

Brodsky insists that the outrage which the incident provoked would be muted if people knew the facts of the case.

Rialmo, a former marine who has only been on the force for three years, backed away as LeGrier approached and repeatedly

ordered him to drop the bat before opening fire, Brodsky said.

“The round that tragically killed Bettie Jones was a through-andthrough,” which passed through LeGrier’s body before striking Jones, Brodsky said.

“It’s not like he shot a spray of bullets. He couldn’t see through LeGrier... he didn’t know she was there.”

Rialmo also showed restraint by only firing six rounds from a gun which has 16 bullets, Brodsky said.Brodsky said it was also important to note that the lawsuit

is in fact a countersuit.

“Something that bothers Officer Rialmo and myself about the way this is going is the family filed the lawsuit before the funeral,” Brodsky said.“It seems like people believe now that if you have a family member killed by a police officer it’s the functional equivalent of winning the lottery... ever since the City of Chicago paid $5 million to the McDonald family that seems to be the attitude and it’s just crazy.”

Afghan boy becomes Internet star after shirt goes viral

Thousands in France protest emergency imposed since Paris attacks Paris Thousands of people marched in the Paris rain on Saturday to denounce plans to renew France’s state of emergency and revoke the French citizenship of dual nationals convicted of terrorism.

Human rights groups, politicians and unions joined the march in the French capital, and in other demonstrations around France. The protests came just days before the Cabinet plans to review a measure on Wednesday to prolong the state of emergency, first imposed after the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

The state of emergency gives more power to police and administrative authorities, allowing for searches without warrants, house arrests and other measures.

“My France of liberties, where are you?” read one banner.

The parliament is expected to approve the prolongation of the exceptional measures in voting later this month. The current state of emergency expires February 26.

Jean-Baptiste Eyrault, of the Right to Housing movement, said: “Democracy is moving backwards ... at the expense of judges and the rule of law, freedom to demonstrate and (freedom) of expression.”

Last week, a French high court upheld the measure, saying the danger “has not disappeared.”

Opponents of another plan to revoke citizenship for dual nationals convicted of terrorism claim the move would feed racism, creating a two-tier system of citizens.

Many dual nationals are Muslims, and some feel they are blamed for attacks by Islamist extremists.

Green party lawmaker Noel Mamere, taking part in the march, said the state of emergency lays the foundations for “a society under surveillance.”

Christiane Taubira resigned suddenly last week as France’s justice minister over her opposition to the plan, and as it became evident her views were on a collision course with those of President Francois Hollande.

JAGHORI A five-year-old Afghan boy has become an Internet star after pictures went viral of him wearing an Argentina football shirt made out of a plastic bag, complete with his hero Lionel Messi’s name. Murtaza Ahmadi has never met his idol and lives in a Taliban-controlled area of Afghanistan but footage and photos of him wearing the improvised shirt, with Messi’s named scrawled in marker pen, went round the world. Murtaza’s elder brother Homayoun, 15, made him the shirt and first posted the photos of Murtaza wearing it on Facebook two weeks ago. After creating waves on social media there were claims Argentina and Barcelona star Messi wanted to find his young fan and give him a proper jersey. Murtaza, whose father admitted he could not afford to buy him a replica jersey, said he had only a punctured ball to

play with in his village in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.

But he told AFP he idolised

when I grow up.’

Internet users had quickly tried to identify the boy shown in the

Messi. ‘I love Messi, he plays well, the shirt was made by my brother and I liked it very much,’ Murtaza Ahamdi said. ‘We do not have a football playground near our house, and the only ball I have is punctured.’ But he added: ‘I want to be like Messi,

pictures and it was initially claimed he was an Iraqi Kurd before Murtaza’s uncle Azim Ahamdi, who lives in Australia, posted pictures of his nephew and said he was the unwitting star of the story.

The family, who live in a remote rural area, only learned about Murtaza’s newfound fame from relatives when Murtaza’s father ’s visited the Afghan capital Kabul.

He told AFP he had high hopes for his son. ‘He asked me to buy him a Messi jersey but I am a farmer and could not afford it,’ Mohammad Arif Ahamdi, a father of six, said. ‘Murtaza wants to meet Lionel Messi in person one day,’ he added. ‘I want my son to become a good football player in the future and become the Messi of Afghanistan.’

Sport was rarely played under Taliban rule, and the football stadium in Kabul was a notorious venue for executions, stonings and mutilations.

Football and cricket are the two most popular sports in war-torn Afghanistan.

Turkey police recover stolen Picasso ANKARA Turkish police have recovered an original painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in an undercover operation in Istanbul, state-run Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday. The operation targeted alleged art thieves attempting to sell the painting ‘Woman Dressing Her Hair’ which was stolen from a collector in New York, Anatolia said.

Turkish police, posing as potential buyers, met the prospective sellers at a hotel and then at a yacht in an Istanbul marina, the report revealed. The suspects are alleged to have initially demanded 8 million dollars for the painting but later settled on 7 million.The officers then arranged a meeting Friday

at a cafe, where they arrested two people, Anatolia said, citing police sources. The woman who

appears in the 1940 painting is Dora Maar - Picasso’s lover and longtime muse, who is depicted in grotesque fashion, with sunken ribcage, swollen stomach and enormous feet. The painting was sent to Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University for examination, Anatolia said.

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Beyond chess: Computer beats human in ancient Chinese game

A computer program has beaten a human champion at the ancient Chinese board game Go, marking a significant advance for development of artificial intelligence.

The program had taught itself how to win, and its developers say its learning strategy may someday let computers help solve real-world problems like making medical diagnoses and pursuing scientific research.

The program and its victory are described in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature.Computers previously have surpassed humans for other games, including chess, checkers and backgammon. But among classic games, Go has long been viewed as the most challenging for artificial intelligence to master.

Go, which originated in China more than 2,500 years ago, involves two players who take turns putting markers on a checkerboard-like grid. The object is to surround more area

on the board with the markers than one’s opponent, as well as capturing the opponent’s pieces by surrounding them.

While the rules are simple, playing it well is not. It’s “probably the most complex game ever devised by humans,” Dennis Hassabis of Google DeepMind in London, one of the study authors, told reporters Tuesday.

The new program, AlphaGo, defeated the European champion in all five games of a match in October, the Nature paper reports.

In March, AlphaGo will face legendary player Lee Sedol in Seoul, South Korea, for a $1 million prize, Hassabis said.

Martin Mueller, a computing science professor at the University of Alberta in Canada who has worked on Go programs for 30 years but didn’t participate in AlphaGo, said the new program “is really a big step up from everything else we’ve seen.... It’s a very, very impressive piece of work.”

Email is MS’ secret weapon for growth

In reporting better-thanexpected fourth quarter earnings Thursday, Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella touted his company’s success in the cloud.

‘Businesses everywhere are using the Microsoft Cloud as their digital platform to drive their ambitious transformation agendas,’ he said. What he didn’t mention was the role that one of the company’s much older products played in the success of this new technology: Microsoft Exchange Server, which many of the world’s largest companies rely on for email services.

When companies begin moving data to the cloud, typically a network of servers managed by an outside company, a common first step is to move email, often with other office software tools but sometimes on its own. For companies already relying on Microsoft Exchange and Outlook for sending and receiving email, information technology managers say, turning to the same company to handle that data in the cloud seems like a logical move.That’s what happened at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The school was looking to streamline its technology by moving to the cloud, starting with email, because it is ‘a pain to operate,’ said Bob Plankers, a virtualization architect at the university.’Aside from email servers, you need to worry about spam and virus scanning,’ he added. For the transition, Plankers said he chose

Indian-Americans form committee to support Donald Trump Hailing Donald Trump as US’ “best hope”, a group of IndianAmericans has formed a political action committee to campaign for the Republican presidential front-runner and asserted that the community would benefit the

most from his policies.‘IndianAmericans for Trump 2016’, which was registered as a political action committee (PAC) on January 21 with the federal election commission, is aimed at garnering support of IndianAmericans to have Trump become the next US President.

“On realising that the agenda of Donald J Trump for President

2016 is focused on reviving the American economy, rightly bringing America on the world stage, defeating terrorism and establishing peace through strength; many IndianAmericans believe that he is the

best hope for America and the right candidate to be the next president of the United States,” the PAC said in a statement.“The officers of the Indian-Americans for Trump 2016 urge all Americans to join in the effort and support Donald Trump in his endeavour to make America great again by electing him the next President of the

USA,” it said.The PAC said A D Amar, a business professor with Seton Hall University in New Jersey has been elected as its president while New York-based attorney Anand Ahuja will be its vice president.

The Trump Campaign, which so far has been vocal against PAC culture in the country and has said that he is self-funding the election, did not comment immediately on the formation of the ‘Indian-Americans for Donald Trump 2016’.

“This is only the first step. We are on the side of Trump for this election,” Amar said after the announcement. “We believe that Trump would be the nominee of the Republican party and he would be the president on the United States,” he said.

Amar said at this moment Trump is the best for the United States and Indian-Americans.

He cited Trump’s policies on illegal immigration and economy in particular as the main reasons for the Indian Americans to support him.

“Indian-Americans would benefit the most from his policies,” Amar said.

Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 product because the university already used Outlook.

‘It’s just a really natural thing,’ said Matt McIllwain, an investor at Madrona Venture Group, about companies starting their

to engage with customers.’

Investor McIllwain called that strategy smart, because customers who move their Outlook email to Microsoft’s cloud typically use a Microsoft directory service that controls

cloud transition with email and other widely used office software from Microsoft. ‘It’s easier and can be more cost effective to run it on the cloud, and let Microsoft worry about your Exchange servers.’Such thinking helps explain how Microsoft has become the second largest provider of cloud infrastructure, services and software, well ahead of Salesforce, Oracle and Google, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. The company announced Thursday that it was on track to generate $9.4 billion in annual cloud-based revenue, up from $5.5 billion a year ago.

Microsoft remains far behind market leader Amazon, but it has become the fastest-growing major cloud provider. Its key Azure business has more than doubled year on year, well above the 65 percent growth rate of market leader Amazon, according to Goldman.

Microsoft has worked hard to exploit the advantage its mail software provides. ‘Maybe one of the first steps is you want to move your email. That’s fine,’ says Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president for cloud and enterprise marketing.

‘That gets us more opportunity

access to that email. It then becomes simple to use that same directory to provide designated employees access to other data and services that are later moved to Microsoft’s cloud.The strategy isn’t foolproof, however. Over seven months last year, Clif Bar, an Oakland, Calif.-based snack provider, moved all its Outlook email, along with other applications like document management and workflow, to Azure.The company nevertheless moved its enterprise resource management to the cloud services of another longtime partner: Oracle. As cloud services rapidly expand, Microsoft will have to demonstrate that its products are equal to, or better than, those of its competitors in both quality and price.

Currently, many companies favor Microsoft because it offers more flexibility in terms of moving software around, say from a company’s own data center to the one it has outsourced to Azure, said Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research. But Amazon’s AWS offers more types of tools, and has a longer track record selling cloud services, he said.

Santa Claus arrested for drunk driving in US state of Idaho!

Santa Claus was arrested in the US state of Idaho recently for drunk driving!

However, the person in question was not the world famous red and white clad Santa riding a sledge but a 67-year-old man whose legal name is Santa Claus.He hit headlines for his famous name while for the other Santa Claus it is off season after the busy Christmas time.

Court documents stated that police officers in Post Falls, Idaho, arrested the Washington man named Santa Claus after he was spotted driving the wrong way. Claus ended with a driving under the influence (DUI) arrest,

KREM-TV reported.

The charge was reduced last Friday to misdemeanour reckless driving when Claus appeared in court. He pleaded guilty and paid a $700 fine.

Claus stated he was not from the area and was unfamiliar with the streets. Court records showed Claus admitted to having three or four beers.

Officers at the scene conducted a field evaluation of Claus and said he had difficulty maintaining his balance. He later agreed to submit to a breath test. Police arrested Santa Claus for DUI but noted he was “cooperative throughout”.

Issue - 652 (33)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

American woman attends her ‘Facebook Prime Mumbai plot given to son’s’ wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur Hema Malini for just Rs 70,000 At a time when the globe is brimming with stories about the bad world of the Internet, a 60-

year-old American woman has done almost the ‘unthinkable’ by attending her ‘Facebook son’s’ wedding in Gorakhpur.It was four years ago that 28-year-old Krishna Mohan Tripathi was browsing through profiles on Facebook when he stumbled upon Deb Miller’s. Gradually, they started interacting and he began sharing his feelings with her. Krishna’s mother had died when he was a teenager.

Deb, a native of California in the

United States of America, began emotionally supporting him and to his surprise, also accepted his

wedding invitation. “I was surprised to receive a call from her on January 20. She informed me that she had reached Delhi and was enquiring about details of trains to reach Gorakhpur,” Krishna said.Expressing their gratitude to Deb for her kind gesture, Krishna’s relatives and neighbours went to Gorakhpur railway station to receive her.

Upon her arrival in the Uttar Pradesh city, Deb said: “I do not have children and when I

interacted with Krishna, I felt god had fulfilled my wishes. He is a very nice person and I pray to god that all his wishes come true.”Krishna is currently pursuing MSc from Awadh University in Faizabad and aspires to become a lawyer.

After his marriage to one Neha on Saturday, he said: “Mom (Deb) has invited us to America and soon we will go there.”

Deb’s arrival proved to be only the first surprise for guests at the wedding. Little did they know they were in for another one.

They were left astounded when Deb gave Krishna jewellery worth Rs 25 lakh and a 125-year-old ring, which she had purchased from an auction house in Britain, as wedding gifts.The American, dressed in a golden Banarsi saree, said she had fallen in love with India.“I used to see Indian women (wearing saree) on TV and always wondered how they carried it. However, it is a very nice and suave dress. I am taking back two dozen sarees as return gifts. I will come back to India and visit the Taj Mahal with my son,” she said.

eating”. “It is unfortunate that some political parties are using beef-eating as an excuse to divide the people of this country,” Mohammad Afzal of the MRM told Hindustan Times.

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its political arm the Bharatiya Janaya Party (BJP), which rules the centre and

more than ten states, oppose the consumption of beef since Hindus regard the cow as a holy animal.Besides t h e ‘ m i l k parties’, the MRM has also decided to organise a special prayer ceremonies for peace in the country.

“From February 18 to 25, the Ayat-e-Karima will be recited at venues across the country to pray for peace in the country. We want tolerance and secularism in this country and not bloodshed on account of terrorism, therefore, prayers will be recited 1.25 lakh times as part of the Ayat-e-Karima for wish fulfilment,” Afzal said.

Also on the agenda of the MRM is arranging meetings between Hindu and Muslim groups to broker an agreement on the issue of constructing a Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Afzal said between February and March, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch leaders will fan out across the states to build consensus on the Ram Temple issue.

RSS’ Muslim wing to hold ‘milk parties’ across India

The Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), the Muslim arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) will start organising ‘milk parties’ across the country from March in an attempt to strengthen the Sangh and the BJP-led government’s campaign against the consumption of beef.

The plan comes days after the All-India Majlis-e- Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Assaduddin Owaisi told voters in Hyderabad to vote for his party if they wanted to continue eating beef.

Beef festivals were organised in several parts of the country, particularly university campuses, to protest after the death of a Muslim man in Western Uttar Pradesh who was lynched over a rumour that he ate beef.

The MRM said its campaign will counter what it describes as attempts to “politicise beef

A month after the BJP-led government in Maharashtra announced allotment of a prime piece of land here to actress and MP Hema Malini for a dance academy, an RTI activist has claimed the plot valued in crores is being given to her for a mere Rs 70,000.

This is the second instance when the BJP MP from Mathura has been alloted a plot in the financial capital and she remains in possession of the earlier one, activist Anil Galgali claimed today.Phone calls made to the actress-politician went unanswered.Galgali claimed that according to the documents obtained by him, the actress has been allotted the land, measuring 2,000 sq mt and located in suburban Oshiwara, at rate of Rs 35 per square metre (total Rs 70,000) by the Mumbai Suburban District Collectorate.

“I have written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and pointed out how his government was being so kind to give a plot at a throw-away price which is

against the policy of his own government,” Galgali said.

The plot was originally reserved for a garden, but “conveniently it was handed over to a BJP MP for her dance academy”, he alleged.“File notings received under the RTI also show this is the second time she has been allotted a prime plot in Mumbai,” Galgali alleged.

“In 1997, Shiv Gena-BJP government had given Hema Malini a plot of land, but she could not develop it due to CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) issues but did not bother to return the land to the government,” he claimed.The Government should charge her the rate (for the current land) as per the ready reckoner and ask her to return the earlier plot, he said.

The ready reckoner rate is an annual statement of property rates based on which the government collects stamp duty from buyers. It is the basis for calculation of market value of flats for stamp duty and registration charges.

In a first, six Indian-manufactured Metro rail coaches have been exported to Australia, the government said on Friday.

Built in Baroda, a total of 450 coaches will be exported to Australia over the next two-and-ahalf years.

“Mumbai Port holds supremacy in handling of over-sized precious cargo,” the shipping ministry said.

The coaches are 75 feet long and weigh 46 tonnes each, requiring a superior and highly specialised loading operation with a high

degree of precision.The Mumbai Port has also taken up the task of construction of a passenger

In a first, desi rail coaches exported to Australia

jetty at Kanhoji Angre Island, which will be developed as one of the tourist destinations with a lighthouse, constructed by the erstwhile Government of Bombay at Rs 1.22 lakh in 1867.

Pathankot terror attack disturbed India-Pakistan talks, says Nawaz Sharif Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said the terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab’s Pathankot town disturbed the peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad, a media report said.

Sharif, who admitted that matters between the two countries were moving in the right direction, regretted that the January 2 terror strike disturbed the negotiation process, Radio

Pakistan reported.Following the attacks, Indian and Pakistani governments postponed scheduled diplomatic talks till the end of January.

Six terrorists of the nowoutlawed Jaish-eMuhammed (JeM) group stormed the airbase in Pathankot and killed seven security personnel. They too were killed by Indian security forces.India sought prompt

action against the perpetrators of the attack, sharing

“actionable” evidence against Jaish chief Masood Azhar with the Pakistan government. There were reports that Azhar was detained by the security forces. Sharif then held a high level meeting with security agencies and said a thorough probe be carried out, assuring India that Islamabad was seriously investigating the case and will not hesitate to act if anyone was found guilty.

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2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Afghan version of ‘Be Like Bill’ makes online splash An Afghan iteration of the popular ‘Be Like Bill’ Internet meme has gone viral online, with its Facebook posts extolling good Samaritan deeds resonating widely with the wartorn country’s youth. ‘Be Like Qodos’ has attracted more than 66,000 likes on its Dari Facebook page in over two weeks, a sizeable number in a country where few have access to the Internet. Qodos, a fictional name for a model Afghan citizen, takes a self-righteous stand on a variety of social ills - from corruption to street harassment of women. ‘Qodos sees a woman driving. Qodos does his own work and does not stare at the woman,’ reads one post.

‘Qodos is a nice person, be like Qodos,’ it adds, highlighting the endemic sexual harassment of women. In another post, it takes a swipe at rampant graft, arguably the single biggest

challenge confronting the troubled country rebuilding itself after decades of war. ‘Qodos does not pay or receive bribe.

He respects the law. Qodos is smart. Be like Qodos,’ it says.

‘Be like Qodos’ touches on other controversial issues such as the growing wave of Afghan migrants undertaking dangerous voyages to Europe in the face of worsening security and

in his country. Qodos is smart.

Be like Qodos,’ said a post that received thousands of likes. The messages, though simple, are drawing widespread praise. ‘If we had 10 people like Qodos in the

Corruption permeates nearly every public institution in Afghanistan, hobbling development despite billions of dollars of foreign aid, and fuelling insecurity as alienated Afghans veer towards the Taliban.

unemployment. Afghans were the second largest group of migrants arriving in Europe last year - and official pleas have so far failed to stop the exodus.

‘Qodos is not considering going to Europe. Qodos is happy living

government, Afghanistan would be a prosperous country,’ wrote one Facebook user.

Another urged President Ashraf Ghani and other officials in his widely unpopular government to emulate Qodos.

The

administrator of the Facebook page, who identified himself as a ‘young male student’, told AFP he was overwhelmed by the response.

‘I have seen this society suffer immensely because of corruption and other social ills,’ he said.

‘This society needs role models like Qodos.’ But he said he feared making his identity public in case his posts draw any negative repercussions.

Afghanistan’s spy agency last year rounded up journalists suspected of running ‘Kabul Taxi’, a satirical Facebook page that lampooned high-profile politicians, warlords and bureaucrats. The crackdown raised concerns over free speech in Afghanistan, which ranks as low as 122 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only person convicted for the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing, has been released from a Canadian prison under tough conditions, including one that he will have to live at a halfway house until August 2018 when his perjury sentence will expire.

Halfway houses are meant for reintegration of persons who have been recently released from jail.

Reyat was found guilty of perjury in 2010 after he lied during the trial of two men accused of the bombing that killed all 329 passengers on the plane, in Canada’s worst terror attack.

He was sentenced to a record nine years in prison, or seven years and seven months after accounting for time served.

Reyat previously served more than 15 years in prison for making the bombs that were stuffed into two suitcases and planted on planes leaving

Vancouver. The bombing of Air India 182 occurred at the same time as the Narita airport bombing in Japan.

Investigators believe that the two plots were linked.

Under Canadian law, offenders

possessing any extremist propaganda or any components used to build an explosive device.

He is also not allowed to contact the victims’ families or anyone who is believed to hold

must be granted statutory release after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.

However, Parole Board of Canada spokesman Patrick Storey said Reyat must abide by several conditions as part of his release, including not

extremist views. He will be monitored by a parole officer and must complete counselling, The Canadian Press reported.

Reyat is set to serve the rest of his sentence, which ends in August 2018, at a halfway house. Storey said he could not disclose the location of the residence due to privacy legislation.

The parole board ruling for Reyat’s release said a psychologist’s assessment in 2013 found the man’s risk was “relatively high” for future groupbased violence and that he lacked remorse for the bombings.

“The loss of life had a profound and long-lasting impact on the families who lost their relatives in these incidents, and had farreaching impact on people around the world,” the decision said.“Until recently, you took limited responsibility for your role in this catastrophic disaster, you lied in court and protected others involved.”

If Reyat breaches any of the conditions, he can be sent back to prison, Storey said.

Sweden to expel 80,000 refugees Sweden has said it expects to expel up to 80,000 migrants whose asylum requests will likely be rejected, as another 24 people including children drowned off Greece Thursday in a desperate bid to reach Europe.

As the continent grapples with efforts to stem a record flow of migrants, Swedish interior minister Anders Ygeman said the mass expulsions of people who arrived in the Scandinavian country last year would require the use of specially chartered aircraft and be staggered over several years.

“We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000,” he told the Swedish media, adding that police and migration authorities had been tasked with organising the scheme.

Of the 58,800 asylum requests handled by Swedish migration authorities last year, 55% were accepted. Many of those requests were however submitted

in 2014, before the large migrant flow began.

Sweden, a country of 9.8 million, is among the European Union states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.

More than one million people travelled to Europe last year the majority of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War 2.

Most cross by boat from Turkey to Greece and the United Nations says more than 46,000 people have turned up on the EU member’s beaches so far this year, while 170 people died making the dangerous journey.On Thursday, the bodies of 24 migrants, including nine children, were discovered off the Greek island of Samos after their boat capsized and 17 others were still missing, the Greek coastguard said, a day after seven other bodies were found near the island of Kos.

Freed, Reyat to stay in a reintegration house till Aug 2018

Miner Rinehart loses billions and richest Australian crown Mining mogul Gina Rinehart has lost her crown as Australia’s wealthiest person to a “reclusive” American heiress with her net worth plummeting US$3.

2 billion, an annual rich list reported Thursday.

After five years at the top, longtime Australian resident Blair Parry-Okeden took the title from Rinehart with a fortune estimated at $8.8 billion, Forbes Asia said.

Rinehart dropped to the second spot after losing a legal battle that impacted her shareholding in mining company Hancock Prospecting, which has also taken a hit due to a plunge in iron ore prices.A 16 percent drop in the Australian dollar against the greenback over the last year has also hurt the size of her

fortune if measured in the US currency.She now comes in at $8.5 billion after a court ordered her to relinquish control of a

multi-billion dollar trust to her eldest daughter following a bitter family feud.Parry-Okeden, who debuts at number one, confirmed

to Forbes she has Australian citizenship.

The 65-year-old grew up in Hawaii and moved to her former husband Simon’s native Australia decades ago.“After her mother’s death in 2007, she inherited a quarter of American media conglomerate Cox Enterprises,” Forbes said.Property tycoon Harry Triguboff came in at number three with $6.9 billion.His value climbed $1.3 billion on the back of a booming rental and apartment market.Another iron ore magnate, Andrew Forrest, dropped 12 spots to 22 with a net worth of $1.24 billion, down 41 percent from last year, making him the biggest loser in percentage terms.

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2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

India now has the basic structure in place Kohli overtakes Finch to top Over the next few weeks, India will fine-tune its preparations for the World T20, confident that a basic

structure is now in place.

A weakened Australian squad or not, the 3-0 sweep of the KFC T20 Series shows that India and M.S. Dhoni more or less know what their best side is.

Such confidence is derived from the performance of the bowlers in the T20s after

the disappointment of the ODI Series.

“I’m always worried about the bowling, especially

when we go out of India, but now that we are playing only T20s for a consistent period of time, the bowling is looking settled,” Dhoni said.

“I don’t have to worry about the bowling line-up. There might be one or two changes here or there: we might pick another spinner

or maybe get a mediumfast bowler, but overall it has been a good set-up.”

The turnaround was partly

because of personnel changes Jasprit Bumrah for one but also because of the change in format.

“In this T20 format, they get that extra fielder outside,” Dhoni said. “And they know that the batsmen are looking to go after them so they can use variations right from the start. The

Sania determined to extend winning streak Having claimed three consecutive Grand Slam titles, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is determined to ex-

three mixed doubles crowns.

“It’s an unreal feeling. We haven’t lost a match in a

tend her winning streak with Swiss veteran Martina Hingis.

The Indo-Swiss combination have won 12 titles so far, including the Wimbledon, the US Open, WTA Tour Finals and the recently concluded Australian Open. It was the first Australian Open women’s doubles title for Sania and her sixth Grand Slam triumph overall, including

long time but also to win three grand slams in a row...it’s what really dreams are made of and I am really excited. It was a perfect way to start the year. We feel really happy.

Three slams in a row - who would have thought! I am taking a couple of days off before going to Fed Cup in Thailand,” Sania told reporters here on Monday.

“I will leave for Delhi and

then for Thailand for Fed Cup and then go to St. Petersburg,” she added.

Sania and Martina have also registered the second longest winning streak in recent tennis history.

They defeated the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets in the Australian Open final for their 36th win in a row. Sania asserted that the star duo will strive to maintain their winning run and will try and enjoy it as long as it lasts.

“Nothing is certain. We still have to go out there and give our best and try and play the best that we can. Fortunately we have been able to do this for so many months and the whole year has been incredible. But the last six months especially,” she said.

ODI format is different because the batsman chooses when he wants to attack the bowler, what type of shot he is looking for.”

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this bowling display was the emergence of Bumrah. The young Gujarat bowler hit the 140kmph mark often, hurried Australia’s batsmen a result of his action and sent down excellent yorkers at the death. To Dhoni, this must have been a relief after the waywardness of his quicks in the one-dayers. “The find for me was Bumrah,” he said.

Commendable All this was underpinned by a remarkable batting effort, something India forgot to worry about.

Virat Kohli scored a halfcentury in each of the three games he now averages over 50 in T20Is while Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan too were in red hot form. Australia’s bowlers may have been largely inexperienced, but it still takes enormous skill to bat in the manner Kohli and Rohit did.

“It feels really good because a lot of times I have been asked why the top order is not scoring runs,” Dhoni said, breaking into a smile.

ICC T20I batsmen rankings after Australia series

Virat Kohli was on Monday rewarded for his stupendous performance in India’s clean sweep against Australia in the T20 internationals as he replaced Aaron Finch as the top-ranked batsman in the ICC list for the shortest format. According to the latest list released by the ICC, Kohli who had scores of 90 not out, 59 not out and 50 in the three-match series, gained 47 ratings points to move ahead of Finch with 892 ranking points to his credit. Finch gained 14 points himself thanks to scores of 44 and 74 in Adelaide and Melbourne, but his hamstring injury in game two ruled him out of

the final match of the series at the SCG on Sunday.

India’s Suresh Raina moved up three places to 13th after his impressive series, while opener Rohit Sharma also moved up four places to be placed 16th in the list. David Warner, who scored 17 in the opening match before heading to New Zealand for the oneday international series against the Black Caps, dropped six spots to 18th.

West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, who is currently banned by the ICC due to an illegal bowling action, retained top spot in the bowling rankings ahead of fellow Windies slow bowler Samuel Badree.

establishing a strong team and bring out the best in all the players. I am sure that Sehwag will prove to be a great mentor and his

Kings XI Punjab. Given the relationship and camaraderie I share with the squad, management and promoters, it feels like I am

presence will be extremely appreciated by the squad.”

Sehwag, on his part, said he is looking forward to his new role with the franchise.

“I am extremely happy to continue my journey with

with my extended family.

Being a part of KXIP has always been a special experience and I am looking forward to the upcoming season in my new role,” said Sehwag.

Virender Sehwag appointed KXIP mentor

Former India opener Virender Sehwag was appointed mentor of the Kings XI Punjab team for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL).

In his new role, Sehwag will work closely with head coach Sanjay Bangar and would be responsible for guiding and motivating the squad, a statement from the Kings XI franchise stated.

“Virender Sehwag has been an integral part of the KXIP squad over the last two seasons and understands the dynamics of the team very well. With him stepping in as the mentor, the team will immensely benefit from his guidance and advice,” Kings XI’s head coach Bangar said.

“His knowledge of the game will certainly help in

Issue 652 (36)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

ISIS warns UK of attack that will turn children’s hair white The Islamic State terror group has warned Britain of an attack more severe than the Paris assaults, saying the country will receive the “lion’s share” of the slaughter for its “declaration of war against Muslims”.

In the latest edition of its Arabic newspaper ‘al-Naba’ (The News), ISIS warns that the UK should be prepared for an attack more severe than in Paris last November which claimed 130 lives.

According to ‘The Sunday Times’, the article eulogises Mohammed Emwazi, the British murderer dubbed Jihadi John who was killed by a US drone strike.

It said “his words will never die” and that his message of slaughter did not end “with the blood of the soldiers of the caliphate who sent it to France in their own special way”.

Britain will receive the “lion’s share” of the slaughter “in response to its declaration of war

against the Muslims”, the group said in reference to last month’s UK Parliament vote on airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

An attack on Britain will be so severe, it claims, “that it will turn children’s hair to white”. The warning refers to a Quranic verse outlining the horrors of the Judgement Day.

ISIS had released a video last week that featured nine of the Paris attackers, including ringleader

Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

By examining the montage frame by frame, ‘The Sunday Times’ has identified a string of potential targets, including Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery in central London.

A palace spokesperson said, “We never comment on security matters.”

The National Gallery in

Trafalgar Square is visited by more than 6 million people a year.

The fact that ISIS may have the gallery in its sights is reinforced by a new Europol report that says the terrorist group prefers “soft targets with a potential to cause mass casualties”.

“We routinely monitor and review our security procedures,” the gallery said.

Scotland Yard said, “We want the public to be alert, not alarmed. The current threat level across the UK from international terrorism remains at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.”

“UK police and security and intelligence services are working tirelessly to confront this terrorist threat and keep the public safe,” it said.

Iraq needs $1.56 Bn to finance humanitarian crisis caused by war on IS

Iraq needs $1.56 billion this year to finance its emergency response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war against Islamic State, according to a government report released on Sunday.

Baghdad, strapped for cash amid a plunge in oil prices and higher military expenditure associated with the fight against the Sunni jihadist group, will manage to fund less than 43 per cent of those needs from its budget, the report said.

“The international community is necessary for bridging the deficit or financing gap,” it added.

The conflict has displaced more than 3.3 million people since 2014.

The Iraqi government allocated around $850 million last year for efforts to shelter such families and help them return to recaptured areas, but it ended up funding less than 60 per cent of that, the report showed.

Islamic State seized about a third of Iraq’s territory in the north and west in 2014, but has slowly been pushed back by Iraqi forces, Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga fighters - backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes.

Issue 652 (37)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Health Daily meditation can slow ageing too For those who do meditation regularly, here is another good news. Researchers report that apart from reducing blood pressure and heart disease risk, Transcendental Meditation technique and lifestyle changes can slow cellular death too.

The new study examined what was happening at the level of DNA, showing that the Transcendental Meditation technique increases telomerase gene expression which may contribute to the cardiovascular and aging benefits.

Specifically, this was found

to activate two genes that code for telomerase -which adds molecules to the ends of chromosomes or telomeres -- protecting them from deteriorating.

“The finding that telomerase gene expression is increased with a reduction in blood pressure in a high-risk population suggests that this may be a mechanism by which stress reduction improves cardiovascular health,” said Robert Schneider, from Iowa-based Maharishi University of Management (MUM).

Earlier research on the

Transcendental Meditation technique found lower rates of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and early death.

For this trial, the participants included 48 men and women with high blood pressure who were recruited and studied at Howard University Medical Center.

Half were assigned to a group that learned the Transcendental Meditation technique and received a basic health education course.

The other half were assigned to a group that fo-

Keep a check! Five signs that you may have ulcer

People suffering from ulcers can have a really tough time dealing with it. It is an open sore on an external or internal surface of the body, causing immense pain.

It is caused by a break in the skin or mucous mem-

brane that fails to heal.

1. Stomach ulcers generate a burning, gnawing pain in the upper middle part of the abdomen and can be relieved only by eating or taking an antacid.

2. Eating can trigger pain

caused by an ulcer depending on where it is located.

In gastric ulcer, belly pain increases shortly after eating while for duodenal ulcer, belly pain increases 2-3 hours after a meal.

3. Belly pain that improves immediately after eating than it can also be a sign of an ulcer.

4. If you are having a problem of frequent burping or bloating than you are suffering from ulcers.

5. Nausea, or that queasy feeling that comes before vomiting are symptoms that you are suffering from ulcers.

Walk your Way to a fitter, slimmer you!

Want to get rid of those extra flabs on your body but, not getting enough time to exercise? If that’s

the case, then here’s a brilliant suggestion for you to help you get leaner and fitter – walking!Walking

helps you lose weight as it reduces excess body fat. It is said that walking at 2mph for just 30 minutes every day can help burn around 75 calories.

Other health benefits of walking include – it reduces your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers.

Walking is a great way to improve as well as maintain your overall health.

cused on achieving significant lifestyle modifications such as weight reduction, reducing salt intake, engaging in regular physical activity and moderating alcohol.

After 16 weeks, both groups showed significant increases in telomerase gene expression and re-

ductions in blood pressure.

“These findings are very encouraging for prevention.

They show that both the Transcendental Meditation technique and active lifestyle modification can contribute to heart health,” said Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at

MUM. “The result is valuable new information, relevant both to cardiovascular disease and to the molecular mechanisms involved in Transcendental Meditation,” noted John Fagan, professor of molecular biology in a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Ladies, you may want to start getting a good night’s sleep as a new study suggests that the worse you sleep, the higher is your type 2 diabetes risk.

Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health’s research shows that in women, sleeping problems, like having difficulty sleeping, frequent snoring, sleeping less than six hours a night and sleep apnoea, are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with the increased risk ranging from 47 percent for one sleep disorder to more than 4 times the risk for four different sleeping

problems combined.

The study analysed data from 133,353 women without diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer at the start of two studies. They all took part in two major epidemiological studies, the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS, 2000-2010) and the NHSII (2001-2011).

Sleeping difficulty was assessed as having difficulty falling or staying asleep “all of the time” or “most of the time” at the start of the studies.

Researcher Yanping Li and colleagues say that sleeping difficulty was significantly associated with

type 2 diabetes. This association was partially explained by associations with hypertension, BMI and depression symptoms, and was particularly strong when combined with other sleep disorders.

They added that the findings highlight the importance of good sleeping patterns and having enough sleep for preventing type 2 diabetes and also provide evidence to clinical physicians and public health researchers for future diabetes prevention among a high risk population with multiple sleep disorders.

Sleepless nights put women at diabetes risk

Issue 652 (38)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Lose fat, gain muscles with diet and exercise Canadian researchers have found new dietary regimen for losing fat while gaining muscle, an oft-debated problem for those trying to manage their weight, control calories and balance protein consumption.

The study has established that it is possible to achieve both -- muscles and lose fat quickly and at the same time, the researchers, from the McMaster University in

Ontatrio, Canada, said.

For the study, 40 young men underwent a month of hard exercise while cutting dietary energy they would normally require by 40 percent of what they would normally require. “These guys were in rough shape, but that was part of the plan. We wanted to see how quickly we could get them into shape: Lose some fat, but still retain their muscle and improve

their strength and fitness,” said Stuart Phillips, a professor at McMaster.

Exercise, particularly lifting weights, provides a signal for muscle to be retained even when you’re in a big calorie deficit, the research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed.

However, the researchers cautioned that this regimen is not for everyone.

The researchers divided

their subjects into two groups. Both groups went on a low calorie diet, one with higher levels of protein than the other. The higherprotein group experienced

muscle gains -- about 2.5 pounds -- despite consuming insufficient energy, while the lower protein group did not add muscle.

The high-protein group also

lost more body fat.

The results showed that the high-protein group lost about 10.5 pounds and the low protein group only eight pounds.

Passive smoking increases obesity in children and amplifies the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, researchers have found.

The team headed by Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at Georgia-based Augusta University, looked at passive smoke exposure in 220 overweight or obese boys and girls in the US. The team found smoke exposure associated with nearly all measures of adiposity in the children, including bigger bellies and overall fat.

“The take-home message is that for these children, smoke exposure was connected to two major adverse health outcomes, one above the neck and

one below the neck,” Davis said. “And every single one of our cognitive measures was poorer in the smokeexposed children.”

Percentages of body fat in smoke-exposed children

have shown a relationship between overweight and reduced cognitive function, this research found passive smoke had an impact on cognition too that was independent of fat or socio-

were substantially higher than in their also heavy peers, further amplifying their risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more, Davis said in a paper published in the journal Childhood Obesity.

While previous studies

economic status.

The findings suggest that at young age, passive smoke may have more effect on the amount of body fat rather than the metabolic dysfunction such as diabetes that fat may eventually cause.

Vaping ‘cherry’ e-cigarettes Passive smoking can make kids obese riskier than other flavours

Electronic cigarettes come in enticing flavours like “cherry crush” and “vivid vanilla,” but now a team of researchers has shed some light on whether or

the laboratory study.

The doses inhaled with 30 puffs were often higher than those breathed in from a conventional cigarette, the findings show.

not those ingredients are safe enough for the lungs.

Cherry flavoured e-cigarettes may expose vapers to significantly higher levels of the respiratory irritant benzaldehyde than other flavours, suggests

Benzaldehyde is routinely used in foodstuffs and cosmetics and is a key ingredient in ‘natural’ fruit flavourings, but it has been shown to irritate the airways in animal and workplace exposure stud-

Top five superfoods to lower lung cancer risk!

Lung cancer has been significantly increasing among young people.

Each year many nonsmoking women die from the deadly disease. But eating a healthy diet can lower the risk of developing cancer in the lungs.

Here are some foods that may lower the risk of lung cancer: Apple Regular intake of apple helps in lowering the risk of lung cancer as it contains rich amount of flavonoids.

Garlic Garlic contains diallyl sulphide compound which helps in reducing the risk of lung cancer. Eating the

garlic raw helps you to get full benefits.

Broccoli Broccoli is considered the best green vegetable as it reduces the risk of lung cancer because of its sulforaphane level. It also helps in increasing the production of enzymes to reduce carcinogens from human cells.

Red bell peppers Red peppers and red chilli peppers helps reduce the risk of lung cancer because of the phytochemical found in it.

Spinach Spinach contains rich amount of folate, a vitamin and lutein which helps in lowering the risk of lung cancer.

ies.

The 145 e-cigarettes were grouped according to their labelling: berry/tropical fruit (40); tobacco (37); alcohol (15); chocolate/sweet (11); coffee/tea (11); mint/menthol (10); cherry (10); and ‘other’ (11).

Benzaldehyde was detected in 108 out of 145 ecigarettes, with the highest levels detected in the cherry flavoured products.

Yields of the chemical were around 43 times higher than in these products.

The researchers wrote that although e-cigarettes may be a promising harm reduction tool for smokers, the findings indicate that using these products could result in repeated inhalation of benzaldehyde, with long term users risking regular exposure to the substance.

Why exercise alone won’t get those extra kilos off Gym bunnies, you may be wasting your time as a new study has revealed that exercise by itself isn’t always enough to shed those extra kilos.

According to the City University of New York study, exercise alone will not help because our bodies adapt to higher activity levels, so that people don’t necessarily burn extra calories even if they exercise more.

Researcher Herman Pontzer said that there is tons of evidence that exercise is important for keeping our bodies and minds healthy and this work does nothing to change that message. “What our work adds is that we also need to focus on diet, particularly when it comes to managing our weight and preventing or reversing unhealthy weight gain.”

People who start exercise

programs to lose weight often see a decline in weight loss (or even a reversal) after a few months.

Large comparative studies

Pontzer says this really hit home for him when he was working among the Hadza, a population of traditional hunter-gatherers in north-

The researchers say it’s time to stop assuming that more physical activity always means more calories. There might be a

have also shown that people with very active lifestyles have similar daily energy expenditure to people in more sedentary populations.

ern Tanzania who are incredibly active, walking long distances each day and doing a lot of hard physical work as part of their everyday life.

“sweet spot” for physical activity too little and we’re unhealthy, but too much and the body makes big adjustments in order to adapt.

Issue 652 (39)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016

Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks

Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction

Ingredients: 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring 1 pinch cayenne pepper 2 (1/2 pound) rib-eye steaks Directions: In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, honey, olive oil, ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, salt, liquid smoke, and cayenne pepper. Place steaks in a shal-

Ingredients: 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme salt and pepper to taste 4 lamb chops (3/4 inch thick) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup minced shallots 1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar 3/4 cup chicken broth 1 tablespoon butter Directions: In a small bowl or cup, mix together the rosemary, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture onto the lamb chops on both sides. Place them on a plate, cover and set aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

low glass dish with the marinade, and turn to coat. For optimum flavor, rub the liquid into the meat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. Preheat grill for medium-high to high heat.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill steaks 7 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Discard leftover marinade.

Easy Broccoli Quiche

penne With ChiCken and asparagus Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) package dried penne pasta, 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into cubes salt and pepper to taste garlic powder to taste 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth 1 bunch slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces, 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese Directions: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside. Warm 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over mediumhigh heat. Stir in chicken, and season

Place lamb chops in the skillet, and cook for about 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare, or continue to cook to your desired doneness. Remove from the skillet, and keep warm on a serving platter. Add shallots to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes, just until browned. Stir in vinegar, scraping any bits of lamb from the bottom of the skillet, then stir in the chicken broth.

Continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has reduced by half. If you don't, the sauce will be runny and not good. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter. Pour over the lamb chops, and serve.

with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook until chicken is cooked through and browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken to paper towels. Pour chicken broth into the skillet. Then stir in asparagus, garlic, and a pinch more garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cover, and steam until the asparagus is just tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, and warm through. Stir chicken mixture into pasta, and mix well. Let sit about 5 minutes. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, stir again, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

simple BBQ riBs Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons salt 1 cup barbeque sauce Directions: Place ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt. Bring water to a boil, and cook ribs until tender.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Remove ribs from pot, and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Pour barbeque sauce over ribs. Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, has reached 160 degrees F (70 deor until internal temperature of pork grees C).

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter 1 onion, minced 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 cups chopped fresh broccoli 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 4 eggs, well beaten 1 1/2 cups milk 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon butter, melted Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Over medium-low heat melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions, garlic and broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Spoon vegetables into crust and sprinkle with cheese. Combine eggs and milk. Season with salt and

pepper. Stir in melted butter. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 50 minutes, or until center has set.

Chicken Enchiladas V Ingredients: 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon margarine 1 onion, chopped 1 teaspoon chili powder 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast, 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained 8 (8 inch) flour tortillas 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a small bowl mix the soup and sour cream; set aside. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and chili powder, and

saute until tender. Stir in the chicken, chile peppers, and 2 tablespoons of the soup mixture. Cook and stir until heated through. Spread 1/2 cup of the soup mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, and place, seam-side-down, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture on top, and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Issue 652 (40)

2 Feb. - 8 Feb. 2016