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THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ISSUE - 748, 5 - 11 DECEMBER., 2017 PH: (905) 671 - 4761

US Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Donald Trump’s latest travel ban The court has allowed the Donald Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.

Washington The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly

Muslim countries.

This is not a final ruling on the travel ban: Challenges to the policy are winding through the federal courts, and the justices themselves ultimately are

expected to rule on its legality.

But the action indicates that the high court might eventually approve the latest version of the ban, announced by President Donald Trump in September.

Lower courts have continued to find problems with the policy.

Opponents of this and previous versions of the ban say they show a bias against Muslims. They say that was reinforced most recently by Trump’s retweets of anti-Muslim videos.

“President Trump’s anti-Muslim prejudice is no secret. He has repeatedly confirmed it, including just last week on Twitter. It’s unfortunate that the full ban can move forward for now, but this order does not address the merits of our claims,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. The ACLU is representing some opponents of the ban.

Just two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, noted their disagreement with court orders allowing the latest policy to take full effect. The new

policy is not expected to cause the chaos that ensued at airports when Trump rolled out his first ban without warning in January.

The ban applies to travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Lower courts had said people from those nations with a claim of a “bona fide” relationship with someone in the United States could not be kept out of the country. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were among those courts said could not be excluded.

The courts were borrowing language the Supreme Court itself came up with last summer to allow partial enforcement of an earlier version of the ban. Now, those relationships will no longer provide a blanket exemption from the ban, although visa officials can make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The justices offered no explanation for their Continued on Page 4

IRCC pledges to have most PR Indian-origin man sentenced for seeking sex with minor girl applications from Live-in Caregiver Program completed in 2018

Arizona A 57-year-old Indian-origin man from Canada was sentenced by a federal court in Arizona to 46 months of imprisonment on charges of travelling to the US to have sex with a minor girl.

Dilbagh Singh, from Ontario, Canada, had pleaded guilty to the charges.

According to the court documents, in January 2017, Singh began an online relationship with an individual he believed to be a 15-year old

girl. Over the course of nearly four months, Singh told the girl that he wanted to engage in various sex acts with her.

In May 2017, Singh travelled from Canada to Flagstaff, Arizona, to meet the girl and to have sex with her.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

By Stephen Smith Toronto: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it will have the backlog of permanent residence applications through the old Livein Caregiver Program (LCP) largely cleared by the end of 2018.

In an announcement on Dec. 3, IRCC said its goal is to finalize 80 per cent of applications for permanent residence submitted on or before Oct. 1, 2017, by caregivers and their family members through the LCP. “The commitments the government has made today will mean that many Live-in Caregiver Program applicants who have faced long delays and family separation may soon reach their goal of permanent residence,” Canada’s Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, said in a news release.

“After diligently providing care for

Canadians, they may soon be in the company of their own loved ones, together in Canada.”

caregivers who were working in Canada were given an extended opportunity to apply for

The program provided foreign nationals with at least two years of full-time, live-in employment as a caregiver in Canada with a direct pathway to permanent residence. The program was closed in 2014 but thousands of

permanent residence.

As many as 6,000 more applications for permanent residence under the LCP could still be submitted, IRCC says.

In its announcement, IRCC also committed to Continued on Page 4

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Plain sailing for India as Iran opens Chabahar

THE FIRST phase of the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman was inaugurated on Sunday by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan, and reflecting growing convergence of interests among the three countries. The port in the SistanBalochistan province on the energy-rich nation’s southern coast is easily accessible from India’s western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, which is being developed with Chinese investment and is located at distance of around 80km from Chabahar. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Minister of State for Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan represented India at the inauguration ceremony of the Phase 1 of the Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar — which was also attended by ambassadors and senior

officials. An India-Iran-Afghanistan ministerial-level trilateral meeting on Chabahar also took place on Sunday on the sidelines of the event where the three countries resolved to work towards integrated development of connectivity infrastructure including ports, road and rail networks to open up greater opportunities for regional market access and integration of their economies. The Chabahar port is being considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade

by India, Iran and Afghanistan with central Asian countries besides ramping up trade among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi. “The routes of the region should be connected on land, sea and air,” Rouhani said at the inauguration ceremony. India has been closely working with Afghanistan and Iran to create alternative, reliable access routes for trade. Under the agreement signed between India and Iran in May last year,

Montreal explorers discover Ice Age-era cave under the city Explorers have uncovered a new section of caves below a park in Montreal that is believed to be more than 15,000 years old.

Explorers in Montreal have made the underground discovery of a lifetime: a giant cave that weaves under one of the city’s public parks.

A cave below Parc PieXII in Saint-Leonard, a neighbourhood in Montreal, was already available for people to walk through. But Luc Le Blanc, one of the people credited with the most recent discovery, says the new section was uncovered just behind the old cave.

The newly-discovered cavern is 10 times bigger than the existing caves and dates back 15,000 years, according to experts in the field.

The newfound caves in Montreal are said

to be 10 times larger than the ones already open to the public.

“It’s a dream,” Le Blanc told CTV Montreal.

“It only happens to you a couple of times in a lifetime and less frequent here in

northern latitudes.”

While most caves are formed through water erosion, these ones are glaciotectonic, meaning they formed through glacial pressure during the Ice Age. To find the caves, Le Blanc and his colleague used dowsing in the area, a technique typically used to find water, where they discovered a void beyond the known cave. A year later, they came back

and with camera to see what lay beyond the cave walls.

Getting to the new area proved a bigger challenge as it required digging through limestone. The crew had all but given up, but in October they caught a break with some softer rock and were able to make a hole.

Eventually, the pair had a tunnel big enough to squeeze through and were able to explore the other side. They traversed the newfound cave on foot at first and then, when they reached water, using an inflatable boat.

High water levels have stopped the explorers from checking out the full size of the cave, but once the water recedes, they plan to see what other discoveries they can make.

It remains to be seen if this new section will be open to the public, but at least one city councillor is optimistic about the cave’s potential tourist impact.

“Normally people that go and visit a cavern it’s far away and so on,” said Dominic Perri, councillor for Saint-Leonard West.

“This is in an urban setting, so I think there’s a big potential.”

India is to equip and operate two berths in Chabahar Port Phase-I with capital investment of USD 85.21 million (`549.76 crore) and annual revenue expenditure of USD 22.95 million (`148 crore) on a 10year lease. The MEA, in a statement, said: “Radhakrishnan also represented India in the second India-Iran-Afghanistan ministerial-level trilateral meeting on Chabahar port in Chabahar today. Iran was represented by its Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi and Afghanistan by its Trade and Commerce Minister Humayoon Rasaw.” In the meeting, the three countries assessed the progress in the development of the port and reiterated their commitment to complete and operationalise it at the earliest, which they felt would provide alternative access to landlocked Afghanistan to regional and global markets. A joint statement issued after the meeting said the ministers also deliberated on trilateral pact relating to the mega connectivity project and expressed satisfaction on the completion of the ratification procedures by Afghanistan and India. They welcomed the steps taken by Iran to complete the ratification process. In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan had inked a pact which entailed establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs for sea transportation in Iran, besides multi- modal transport of goods and passengers across the three nations. The ministers discussed the next steps for full implementation of the agreement and moving towards its operationalisation. Towards this endeavour, it was decided to finalise protocols related to transport and transit, ports, customs procedures and consular affairs.

German spy warns return of ISIS women & children THE head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned of the ‘massive danger’ posed by returning ‘brainwashed’ ISIS women and children.

“There are children who have undergone brainwashing in ISIS areas and are radicalised,” said Hans-Georg Maassen. Maassen, head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, added: “We are already observing the return of some women and adolescents. This is a problem for us because these children and adolescents in particular can be a danger.” “We also know that there are women one can rightfully call jihadists after living for years in ISIS areas where they identified strongly with ISIS ideology.” He said not all were returning home intent in perpetrating terror but insisted: “We must keep an eye on these women.” Germany lost around 1,000 of its citizens to the ISIS cause in Iraq and Syria. Europe as a whole is estimated to have lost 10,000 to 15,000 people. The return exodus comes as ISIS strongholds in both countries fall. So far, however, there has been little sign in Germany of surviving male fighters returning.

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Kim the boaster N Korea’s Hwasong-15 missile intended to reach ‘whole US mainland’ broke as it re-entered earth’s atmosphere

A NEWLY-CONSTRUCTED missile North Korean officials said could reach the ‘whole US mainland’ failed during testing this week. The presumed powerful Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) broke apart in the air Wednesday as it re-entered into the earth’s atmosphere, a US official told Fox News. Eugene Lee, a South Korean spokesperson of the ministry of unification, who deals with North Korean affairs, said the Seoul government believes the “North hasn’t crossed the ‘red line’ in weapons development yet because it hasn’t perfected its ICBMs”, according to the report.

Back in July, North Korea also launched its Hwasong-14, which successfully flew 580 miles before it crashed into the Sea of Japan.

Officials confirmed the Hwasong15 missile was ‘significantly more’ powerful than the Hwasong-14.

South Korea’s military said the latest missile flew 950 kilometers (600 miles) before splashing down

in waters near Japan. It is potentially capable of striking targets as far as 13,000 kilometers (8,100 miles), which would put Washington within reach. Despite the break, the launch of the new ICBM was celebrated Friday with a massive public rally and fireworks in capital Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also thanked workers during a visit to a factory that built the tires for a huge vehicle used to transport the ICBM. Kim complimented workers for manufacturing the largesize tires for the 9-axle missile truck without relying on imported equipment. The leader called for efforts to raise production to ‘satisfy the daily-increasing needs in developing the country’s economy and beefing up national defense capabilities’, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday. Kim in September tasked the Amnokgang Tire Factory to make the tires for the ‘great event in November’, the agency reported.

Cathay Pacific told to look out for missiles NORTH KOREA’S latest missile test was witnessed by crew on a passenger plane

travelling from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Staff on the Cathay Pacific flight witnessed the

suspected reentry of last week’s missile test while flying over Japan, the BBC reports. The airline has since warned staff travelling across the North Pacific to keep an eye out when flying in the area.

The November 29 nuclear rocket test proved to have been North Korea’s most powerful so far, an ICBM that may be able to target the eastern seaboard of the US. The missile did not travel far in terms of distance and landed off the coast of Japan, but officials said it reached an altitude of more than 1, 740miles. It was reportedly spotted by crew on the Cathay Pacific flight as well as two Korean Air planes flying a similar route. Pilots on two separate Korean Air flights heading to Seoul reported seeing a flash of light crossing the Sea of Japan. Cathay Pacific’s general manager of operations Mark Hoey later told staff, “On Monday, the crew of CX893 reported, ‘Be advised, we witnessed the DPRK missile blow up and fall apart near our current location’,” the BBC reports.

Dictator blasts US & S Korea before military drill NORTH KOREA on Monday branded the US and South Korea ‘warmongers’ on the eve of their largest-ever joint military exercise which could ‘lead to a nuclear war’. The comments come as White House national security advisor H.R McMaster warned of the ‘increasing’ possibility of war with the nucleararmed North. The five-day Vigilant Ace drill — involving some 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters — began on Monday. It will be just five days after the North test-fired an

intercontinental ballistic missile believed capable of hitting the US mainland in a fresh challenge to Donald Trump. The North’s ruling party newspaper Rodong slammed the drill and said: “It is an open, all-out provocation against the DPRK, which may lead to a nuclear war any moment. “The US and South Korean puppet warmongers would be well advised to bear in mind that their DPRK-targeted military drill will be as foolish as an act precipitating their selfdestruction.” The commentary

was published a day after Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of ‘begging for nuclear war’ by staging what it called the reckless air drills.

McMaster said the possibility of war with the North was ‘increasing every day’. He said: “I think it’s increasing every day, which means that we are in a race to be able to solve this problem.

There are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict, and there’s not much time left.” be tipped with a ‘super-large but it is a race because he’s The North says the Hwasong-15 heavy warhead’ capable of (Kim) getting closer and closer, missile fired on Wednesday can striking the whole US mainland.

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World’s first text message sent 25 years ago from a computer to Vodafone network in 1992 London The man who sent the first ever text

message 25 years ago has told British broadcaster Sky News that he is proud of his achievement. British engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS (Short

Message Service) from a computer to a mobile phone belonging to the then-director

of Vodafone Richard Jarvis, he told Sky News. The message read simply: “Merry Christmas.” Papworth said that Jarvis was unable to reply, because at that time it was

not possible to send text messages from mobile phones, only to receive them.

According to Sky, in 2007 the U.K. was sending 66 billion text messages per year and by 2012 that had increased to 151 billion for SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

“Texting isn’t as popular as it once was,” said CBC’s Dominic Valitis, reporting from London. “The peak for messaging in the U.K. was 2012 ... but we’ve seen a steady decline since then.”

Some experts believe, however, that although text messages are an extremely quick and popular form of communication, they are no match for speaking with someone in person. “When you send someone a text message you often lose a lot of the context that you might get when you are speaking face to face,” social media expert Toby Beresford told Sky News.

“And that’s a real challenge for us in the new era.”

Indian-American Congress woman figures in Politico Power List THE CONTACT STAFF: EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sunny Bains Lt. Hon. President : Dr. (Prof.) Darshan Singh Executive Editor: Kanwaljit Kaur Bains EDITOR Vinny Bains Foreign Editor: Syed Asif Shahkar (Sweden) Sr. Assistant Editor: Prempal Bajwa Marketing Executive Vinny Bains Special Correspondents: Balkar Chatha France Financial Advisor : Sarabjit Singh Sagoo Photographer: Sandeep Brar 647 294 4948 Head Office: 2-7015 TRANMERE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA ONTARIO CANADA L5S 1T7 For Advertisement : Call Kanwaljit 416-899-2548 Tel: 905-671-4761 TOLL FREE: 1-888-371-2548 FAX: 1888-982-2818 EMAIL: INFO@AJITWEEKLY.COM

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Jayapal, 52, ranked fifth on 18, is the only IndianAmerican to figure in the Politico’s power list.

Washington Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has figured in the Politico’s Power List for the year 2018, for having assumed the mantle of a House “leader of resistance”.

Jayapal, 52, ranked fifth on 18, is the only Indian-American to figure in the Politico’s power list. “18 to watch in 2018 highlights politicians, activists and operatives across the country who are poised to have a big year in 2018,” the magazine said.

“Jayapal, a fast-rising democratic star and determined critic of President Donald Trump, has assumed the mantle of a House “leader of the resistance.” From her spot as first vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she has worked as “a relentless advocate of civil rights and immigration reform on Capitol Hill,” said her friend and fellow freshman House member Republican Ro Khanna,” Politico said.

Among her most recent drives include, a legislative pushback against Trump threats to end Temporary Protected Status for thousands of Haitians and Salvadorans by allowing them to apply

for permanent residency if they can prove they would face extreme hardship if they return to their home countries.

“She is a groundbreaker,” says Democracy for America’s Robert Cruickshank, who is also one of Jayapal’s

constituents. “She’s really positioned herself to be an essential player in the future of the Democratic Caucus in the House. With determination, steely drive and some well-placed tweets, Jayapal has “taken a deliberate approach to get there,” he said. Jayapal — the first IndianAmerican woman to serve in the US House of Representatives — has rarely backed down from a challenge, Politico said.

US Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Donald Trump’s latest travel ban continued from page 1 order, but the administration had said that blocking the full ban was causing “irreparable harm” because the policy is based on legitimate national security and foreign policy concerns.

In lawsuits filed in Hawaii and Maryland, federal courts said the updated travel ban violated federal immigration law. The travel policy also applies to travelers from North Korea and to some Venezuelan government officials and their families, but the lawsuits did not challenge those restrictions. Also unaffected are refugees.

A temporary ban on refugees expired in October.

All the rulings so far have been on a preliminary basis. The San Franciscobased 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

in Richmond, Virginia, will be holding arguments on the legality of the ban this week. David Levine, a University of California Hastings law school professor, said that by allowing the ban to take effect just days before the appeals court arguments, the justices were signaling their view. “I think it’s tipping the hand of the Supreme Court,” Levine said. “It suggests that from their understanding, the government is more likely to prevail on the merits than we might have thought.” Both appeals courts are dealing with the issue on an accelerated basis, and the Supreme Court noted it expects those courts to reach decisions “with appropriate dispatch.” Quick resolution by appellate courts would allow the Supreme Court to hear and decide the issue this term, by the end of June.

MSNBC host apologizes for LGBT comments: ‘I am disappointed in myself’

MSNBC host Joy Reid has apologized for old blog posts in which she made homophobic comments about Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.).

Reid previously mocked Crist, who was governor at the time, as a closeted gay man, calling him “Miss Charlie,” and suggesting Republican leaders were “wooing” him once he married a woman, Mediaite reported Saturday.

“At no time have I intentionally sought to demean or harm the LGBT community, which includes people whom I deeply love.

My goal, in my ham-handed way, was to call out potential hypocrisy,” Reid said Sunday in a statement to Mediaite.

The initial comments came in 2007, when Reid was working as a talk radio host and blogger writing about Florida politics. She said Crist’s sexual orientation was the subject of significant scrutiny at the time.

“But it was my own attempt at challenging Crist on my blog that has now raised the issue of not just my choice of words, but what was and is in my heart,” Reid said in her statement. “In addition to friends and coworkers and viewers, I deeply apologize to Congressman Crist, who was the target of my thoughtlessness,” she added.

Crist filed for divorce earlier this year from his wife of nine years. He had previously married in 1979, but divorced his first wife within a year. Crist waged an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2010 as a Republican and an independent, followed by a failed gubernatorial campaign as a Democrat in 2014.

IRCC pledges to have most PR applications from Live-in Caregiver Program completed in 2018 continued from page 1 processing 80 per cent of new, complete LCP applications submitted on or after Oct. 1, 2017, within 12 months.

As of Oct. 1, 2017, IRCC said the number of caregivers and their family members waiting for their applications to be finalized had been reduced by 63 per cent. This reduction was due in part to additional resources that IRCC dedicated to processing the backlog of applications.

IRCC says this push has it on track to finalize 5,000 more cases than it had originally forecast for 2017. In total, 20,000 new permanent residents will be welcomed to Canada this year in the caregiver category.

IRCC also said that developments could soon be announced regarding a proposal to eliminate the $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee for Canadian families looking to hire a foreign worker to care for a person with high medical needs. The fee would also be eliminated for Canadian families with an income of less than $150,000, who are looking to hire a foreign worker to provide childcare.

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‘Teachers lured kid with chocolate and sexually abused her’ POLICE have arrested two physical education teachers of a top Kolkata school on Friday after they were accused of sexually abusing a four-yearold kindergarten student. The girl’s parents said she was hospitalised following the assault inside a washroom of the GD Birla Centre for Education on Thursday afternoon. The incident emerged on a day the National Crime Records Bureau released a report that showed a steady rise in incidents of offences against children in the country. A total of 1,06,958 crimes against kids were recorded in 2016. The two accused, Abhishek Roy and Md Mofizuddin, were employed as physical training teachers at the school. They have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The institution, primarily a girls’ school, also runs a senior section for boys in classes XI and XII under the ICSE board. The girl reportedly came out of the school crying. The parents took her to a paediatrician, noticing bloodstains on her clothes. After initial tests, doctors concluded that the child might have been abused. Later on Thursday night, the child finally narrated the ordeal to her parents following which they lodged a police complaint against the school and the two teachers. “I had spent so much money to get my daughter admitted in this school and could never imagine she would have to face such abuse. I don’t think any

child is safe in that school,” the father said. “The doctors have told us that she had injuries and it is a case of sexual abuse. The child has identified two teachers after the police showed her pictures of the accused. The accused had taken her to the toilet after luring her with a chocolate,” said Priyanka Tibrewal, the victim’s lawyer. The girl, who is now recuperating at the state-run SSKM Hospital. “A team of paediatricians and gynaecologists has checked the child and she is now in stable condition. Medical tests have been conducted as per legal guidelines,” informed hospital director Dr Ajay Kumar Ray. Parents of other students protested outside the school on Friday morning, demanding action against the institute administration following which security was intensified. The demonstrators gheraoed the teachers, alleg ing that their repeated pleas to boost security at the school after a similar incident three years ago had fallen on deaf ears. Not just lack of CCTV surveillance, parents also alleged that male and female students in some classes were made to use common toilets. Under pressure, principal Sharmila Nath met a delegation of agitating parents and assured that surveillance cameras will be installed during the winter vacation. “A police investigation is underway, give us some

time. I’m assuring all the parents that security is a top concern for us,” she told the media. The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights too has decided to slap a notice against the school. “The accused teachers

have not been suspended and the school has not taken any action yet. They have no answers as to why CCTV had not been installed despite records of a previous incident three years back. “We shall submit a report to the government and issue

them a notice,” said WBCPCR chairperson Ananya Chakraborti after meeting the school principal. The state government has formed a committee under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to probe the incident. “We want the strictest possible punishment for the perpetrators. We shall ensure such persons find no place in our education setup. We shall provide every assistance to the parents,” state education minister Partha Chatterjee said.

Ivanka Trump accused of Barcelona star Messi’s fashion diplomacy in India brother wanted by cops IVANKA Trump’s fashion choices were slammed by an Indian news outlet who called her attire a ‘superficial assimilation’ of their culture. The First Daughter and businesswoman was enrobed in an ivy green and yellow Orientalstyle dress at a entrepreneurship summit during her trip to the country this week. Along with the pricey $3,500 Erdem Geneva floral print gown, Trump also wore a $3,498 blue and gold Tory Burch ensemble with similar patterns.

The Daily O lambasted the Burch number and described it to be ‘the ‘me-too’ of a Kashmiri pheran for the prime minister’s banquet at the Taj Falaknuma Palace.’ While speaking at an event in Hyderabad, a city long known for pearl trading, the President’s advisor displayed a black and pearl embroidered

Tory Burch ‘Sylvia’ jacket. “It referenced India with the embroidery, but in reality looked like a cheap brand ripping off designer Rahul Mishra,” the website said of the jacket. Also in Hyderabad, Trump wore a printed Saloni Lodha red and black ensemble with frilly sleeves. “In her defense, Ivanka’s outfit changes have been kept in character with her previous wardrobe choices.

Being totally tone-deaf to the nuances of public appearance (to be fair, she only has her father as her role model),” the report said. The Indian news outlet further pointed out the fashion designer’s choice of dress during a recent visit to Japan.

“While she had the choice of picking the most amazing designers, she selected a cherry blossom print, kimonoinspired dress made by the Colombian designer Johanna Ortiz.”

BARCELONA star Lionel Messi’s brother is facing a new court probe after police discovered a gun and blood all over a boat he claimed to have had an accident in. Matias Messi, 35, told a security guard when he reached a private fishing club near his home in Argentina on Thursday that he had cut his face after colliding with a sandbank. But after prosecutors discovered a handgun in the blood-spattered vessel, they ordered police to track him down so he could be formally questioned. He is now said to be facing arrest after officers failed to locate him.

Argentinian news publications published pictures of the bloodcovered motor boat, which was left at a fishing club in the town of Fighiera, a 20-minute drive from Matias’s home on a private estate in General Lagos.

Prosecutor Jose Luis Caterina applied for an arrest warrant for Matias after a second attempt to locate him failed, following the discovery of the .380 handgun.

Matias, who cheated death in a

car crash three months ago, is his belt. And in April 2011 he said to have driven himself to a survived an assassination attempt. He dived for cover as a gunman on a bike sprayed bullets at his house where police later found four handgun rounds lodged in the building. In August this year, he escaped with minor injuries after his Audi was left badly damaged in a collision with health centre for treatment. This a lorry during bad weather. is not the first time he has been Matias is one of Lionel’s two older in trouble with the law. Last year brothers. he caught with a gun in his car.

He was ordered to stay off drugs and drink and pay a fine. Local reports at the time of his arrest said Matias refused to identify himself to officers when he was stopped in the port city of Rosario in October 2015. Two officers were reportedly left slightly injured and Matias suffered a cut to an eyebrow during a struggle. He was held at a police station for several hours before being allowed to return home. Matias was also arrested in October 2008 for allegedly having a loaded gun in

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Not satisfied with Pak’s response to terror, yet to see it rein in Taliban: US Washington The US is not satisfied with Pakistan’s co-operation in the war against terror as part of its South Asia strategy and yet to see Islamabad taking steps to “rein in” the Taliban and the Haqqani network, a senior Trump administration official has said.

He also termed the release of Mumbai-terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed as “a step backward” in that direction.

The official said that the release of the Coleman family, held captive for five years by the Haqqani network, from inside Pakistan was “not an indication” of Islamabad’s co- operation with the US in the war against terrorism.“Our diplomatic pressure, as well as our own intelligence agencies diligent work led to the release of the Coleman family. So, I am not sure if that qualifies as step

forward (by Pakistan as part of the South Asia Strategy announced by President Donald Trump in August),” the official told PTI.“We are happy

on this front,” he said.

The US, the official said, has now a different approach to Pakistan.

“We expect, Pakistan to take steps against terror

to take,” he said.

The Trump Administration has been very specific with Pakistan on the steps that it needs to take, we have laid out very specific steps

that the Colemans are free and that they have been released. But we are still waiting to see Pakistan take steps to rein in the Taliban and the Haqqani network. We are not satisfied that they have done anything significant

sanctuary on its territory”.

Acknowledging that Pakistan has not taken steps it promised after the announcement of the South Asia Strategy, the senior administration official said that the White House is still hopeful that Pakistan sees that it is in its interest to co-operate on the US strategy in Afghanistan.

“But we have not yet seen any significant changes.

We still remain hopeful.

And we recognise that some of these changes take a bit of time and wouldn’t necessarily occur overnight.

“But we will expect to see these changes within a certain time-frame. Our patience is not unlimited when it comes to the steps that we expect them

that they need to take to degrade these groups activities and to facilitate a genuine dialogue, the official said.

“But, I don’t think we have seen any significant steps in that direction. So, we are still waiting and watching and monitoring (Pakistan) very closely.

And we’re still hopeful that we will see Pakistan take some of those steps to crack down on the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and ensure that there are no safe havens, for these groups to continue operating inside Pakistan,” he added.

The US, the official said, would be looking for very specific action from Pakistan within coming weeks and months.

He said that by spring, the

Pope Francis uses word ‘Rohingya’ in public for first time on Asia trip Dhaka Pope Francis on Friday used the word “Rohingya”

for the first time during his current trip to Asia to refer to refugees who have fled in large numbers from violence in Myanmar.

“The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” he said in an improvised remark after meeting 16 refugees brought to the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from their camps in Cox’s Bazar near the border with Myanmar.

“In the name of all of those who have persecuted you, hurt you, I ask forgiveness.

I appeal to your large hearts to give us the forgiveness that we are asking,” Francis added.

More than 625,000 Rohingya Muslims have run away to Bangladesh since late August following a crackdown by the Myanmar military in response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya militants. Most Rohingya are stateless and seen as illegal immigrants by Buddhist majority Myanmar.

The pope looked sombre as each member of the group, which included 12

men and four women, including two young girls, told him their stories through interpreters at the end of the gathering.

On the first leg of his current trip, in Myanmar, he did not use the word Rohingya to describe the refugees. The term “Rohingya” is disputed by the Yangon government and military.

Trump Administration would hope to see some real efforts on “genuine” peace process, as it is not interested in talks for talks sake.

“We would like to see a genuine peace dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban. We know that the Taliban has made gains for the last several years.

So until they are convinced that they are not going to have sanctuary in Pakistan, we don’t believe they’ll be ready for talks.

“They will continue to believe that they can advance on the battlefield rather than on the negotiating table,” he said, adding “so, we need to see Pakistan ensures that they don’t have a sanctuary within Pakistan. And only at that time we assess that they’ll really be ready for genuine negotiations with the Afghan government”.

The the White House official, however, refused to give any time line for actions on Pakistan, saying he thinks that it would not be helpful.

“But I just want to assure you that we are thinking in terms of timelines and we are monitoring the progress and we do expect meaningful actions in a certain time-frame and we are prepared to implement new policies and take different steps if we don’t see some progress,” he said.

Lawyer Who Said Girls Wearing Ripped Jeans Should be Raped, Arrested Cairo An Egyptian lawyer who said girls wearing ripped jeans should be raped was arrested and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. He was also fined 20,000 Egyptian pounds for making the remarks after a public outcry.Identified as Nabih al-Wahsh, a prominent conservative, he made the remarks on a TV panel in October during a debate on a draft law on prostitution.

He also said that women who wore revealing clothes were ‘inviting men to harass them’ and talked about the importance of protecting morals over borders.

“Are you happy when you see a girl walking down the street with half of her behind showing?” he said, BBC quoted. He further added saying that when a girl walks about ‘like that, it is a patriotic duty to sexually harass her and a national duty to rape her.’

Following mass outcry against the derogatory and sexist remarks, the prosecutor brought charges against Wahsh.

The National Council for Women’s Rights also condemned his remarks and said they were a “flagrant call” for rape. They also stated the remarks were in violation of “everything in the Egyptian constitution”, reports claimed. The Council also reportedly filed a complaint about the statement to the Supreme Council for Media Regulation about the broadcast which was aired in October.

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5 - 11 Dec., 2017

Victoria first Australia state to legalise euthanasia MELBOURNE An Australian state Wednesday became the first in the country tolegalise assisted dying, or euthanasia , with lawmakers voting to allow terminally ill patients the right to request a lethal drug to end their lives.

The legislation, which takes effect from June 2019, was passed in Victoria after 100 hours of often fiery debate, making it the only place in Australia where the practice will be legal. State Premier Daniel Andrews, who supported the bill after the death of his father last year and allowed a conscience vote in parliament, said people should have the right to “choose to be in control of the last part of their journey”. “For too long, we have denied, to too many, the compassion, the control, the power that should be theirs in those final moments of their life,” he said.“I’m proud today that we have put compassion right at the centre of our parliamentary and our political process. That is politics at its best.” Jen Barnes, who has a tumour on her brain that is growing and inoperable, welcomed the decision as giving people like her a choice.

“I just want to know that it’s there, the option is there,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.“It’s unlikely that I

would see it come through for me because I’m not likely to be here in 18 months’ time. But for the future, I think it’s the right way to go.”The 18-month delay before the bill takes effect was

to finalise details, including deciding which drug, or cocktail of drugs, would be best.The scheme will be accessible only to terminally ill patients over 18 living inVictoria for at least a year and with less than six months to live, down from an originally proposed 12 months.There will, however, be exemptions for sufferers of conditions such as motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis who have a life expectancy of one year. Those applying must be determined by multiple doctors to be suffering intolerable pain and be of sound mind.They will then be given a lethal drug within 10 days of asking to die, which they administer themselves. If they are not capable, a doctor can

help.“I hope the implementation of this bill really does start to give people some hope and some compassion that a good death will in fact be possible for people who are enduring difficult end of lives,” said state Health Minister Jill Hennessy.Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula said robust debate on the issue had ensured there were ample safeguards.“We have ensured we have compassionate legislation while still giving Victorians the protections and safeguards they need - making this the most conservative and safest scheme in the world,” he said.Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world and until now had been banned in Australia , although it was legal for a time in the Northern Territory before the law was overturned in the 1990s.

When legal there, prominent Australian right-to-die campaigner Philip Nitschke became the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, voluntary, lethal injection to end a life.He went on to do the same for three other people.

Other states in Australia have debated assisted dying in the past, but the proposals have always been defeated, mostly recently in New South Wales in September.

Two mass graves containing women, children found in Yazidi district of Iraq

Baghdad Iraqi paramilitary forces have uncovered two more mass graves containing the bodies of 140 civilians, including women and children, in an area home to the Yazidi religious minority, they said Saturday.

In 2014, IS killed thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar and kidnapped thousands of women and girls from the community to abuse them as sex slaves.

The Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance said it had found “a mass grave with the bodies of 20 women and about 40 children in the village of Kabusi, south of Sinjar.”

Elsewhere, “in the Jazira residential complex, also south of Sinjar, 80 other bodies, mostly Yazidis, were discovered,” it said.

Kurdish fighters backed by the US-led coalition against IS captured Sinjar from the jihadists in November 2015 before Iraqi security forces took control of the

region in October.

As government troops have advanced across Iraq they have uncovered dozens of mass graves holding hundreds of bodies in areas that fell under the jihadists’ brutal rule.

Iraqi officials said on 22 November they had found a mass grave in Sinjar containing the bodies of dozens of members of the minority killed by the Islamic State group.

Sinjar mayor Mahma Khalil said that since 2015, around 40 mass graves have been discovered in the region and that “all the victims were Yazidis”.

The Yazidis are Kurdishspeaking but follow their own non-Muslim faith that earned them the hatred of the Sunni Muslim extremists of IS. Yazidis believe in one God who created the world and entrusted it to seven Holy Beings, the most important of which is Melek Taus, or the Peacock Angel.

BEIJING A Chinese court has handed a death sentence to a “master” tomb raider from northern China who made a 30-year career out of robbing historical burial sites.

A native of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 55-year-old Yao Yuzhong was found guilty of “digging ancient cultural sites and ancient graves” and “reselling cultural relics”, his lawyer, Bi Baosheng, told AFP. He was given a suspendeddeath penalty with a two-year period in which to appeal the sentence or have it decreased through good behaviour. The Paper, a Chinese news website, noted that Yao was considered the “kingpin” of a gang of 225 grave-robbing suspects rounded up by authorities in 2015. Though Yao had only an elementary school education, he was an avid reader and picked up the tradition of trawling tombs from his father, according to local media in

northeast Liaoning province, where Yao was tried.

The practice is a timeworn one in China , a country whose long history and elaborate burial customs have made it ripe territory for coffin-crashers. Yao reportedly got his start combing graves dating back to the Neolithic Hongshan culture.

Such graves are shallow and rely more on the raider’s ability to perceive excavation sites than on his digging skills, The Paper said.

He steadily built a reputation as a “master” tomb-raider - “the best in all of China’s northeast”, the news outlet said.

China has seen an upsurge in grave-robbing incidents coinciding with rising demand for Chinese antiquities.

According to the country’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage, there were 103 cases of tomb-raiding and cultural relic theft in 2016.

Chinese boys travelled China’s ‘master’ tomb 80km in bus undercarriage raider gets death penalty

BEIJING Pictures of two Chinese boys who travelled 80km (50 miles) in the undercarriage of a bus have sparked an online outcry about the welfare of the country’s “left-

behind” children. The two, who have not been named by state media, are from a poor village in southern Guangxi, and had been trying to reach their parents, who work in neighbouring Guangdong province. They were reported missing on 23 November by their teacher, and found on the same day in theundercarriage of a vehicle at a bus station. Pictures and video show the two boyscaked with mud and clinging to the bottom of the bus . According to the Southern Morning Post (Nanguo Zaobao), the boys were “around eight or nine years old” and were found by security workers when the vehicle stopped at a station en

route. They had travelled for about 5km of their journey along “steep slopes” and staff spoke of their “surprise” to find that they were unharmed.

“These children’s bodies were

really thin, so the undercarriage was a good hiding space,” one worker told the paper.

Staff said the boys were reluctant to speak when questioned. But one staff member told Southern Morning Post: “We finally came to understand that these two boys had been missing their mum and dad.

“They had hidden under the vehicle because they wanted, in vain, to find their parents.”

Reports say that their relatives were informed and the children were picked up the same evening.

The incident has left China’s online community shocked, and has been a talking point for

thousands on the popular microblog Sina Weibo.

The pictures have been widely shared, and described by many users as “heartbreaking”.

One says: “There are way too many young children in China now who are separated from their parents from a young age. Who is caring for them, and finding a solution to their problems?”

Another online user said it was a “tragedy in society”, while a third called for more “attention to left-behind children”.

These are children from rural areas whose parents have moved to cities to work - there are tens of millions across China.

Many live with their grandparents, or in extreme cases, by themselves. The twoboys in this case had been boarding at their school.

The incident has led to many online users mocking the idea of the “China Dream”: a Communist Party concept popularised by President Xi Jinping in 2013 which sets out a set of personal and national ideals.

One of these is for national poverty to be wiped out by 2020.

One user says: “The rise of China relies heavily on migrant workers being exploited for their labour,” receiving over 200 likes.

Another says that it is a “China Dream gone bitter” for these two “stupid children”.

“Isn’t the China Dream meant to be in the interest of these children?” they add.

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Hafiz Saeed’s JuD to contest 2018 Pakistan general election

Lahore Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed has confirmed that his banned outfit Jammat-ud-Dawah will foray into Pakistan’s political scene by contesting the 2018 general elections under the banner of Milli Muslim League, which is yet to be registered with the country’s election commission.

Saeed, who was under house arrest since January this year, walked free on November 24 after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

“The Milli Muslim League (MML) is planning to contest next year’s general elections. I also dedicate 2018 for Kashmiris who are struggling for freedom,” Saeed said while meeting a group of columnists at the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) headquarters in Chauburji.

The JuD, a front for the Lashkare-Taiba militant group that carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 and injured over 200 people, formed MML at the time when Saeed was detained in Lahore.

The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba also vowed to continue supporting Kashmiris.

“I want to tell India that I will continue to support Kashmiris no matter what kind of difficulties are there. India wants us to stop raising voice for the Kashmiris. It is building pressure on the Pakistani government. I want to tell Pakistan that back channel diplomacy only caused harm to the Kashmir cause,” he alleged.

Saeed, who is accused of having masterminded the November 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, was

placed on the terrorism black list by the United Nations under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. The US, too, has designated him as a global terrorist and has announced a reward of $10 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Saeed also claimed that his detention in Pakistan and Hurriyat leaders in India was part of an international agenda.

“This had been done to harm the Kashmir cause. India is angry over my release from the house detention. I warn India if it does not stop atrocities against Kashmiris then this struggle will rise further and it will face the music,” he alleged.

Last September when Saeed was under house arrest in Lahore, the JuD entered in the political arena and contested the by-poll from Lahore’s NA120.

The National Assembly seat had fallen vacant after the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. His wife Kulsoom Nawaz had won that seat.

Sheikh Yaqoob, a JuD-backed

Artificial muscles give ‘superpower’ to robots MIAMI Inspired by the folding technique of origami, US researchers said other day they have crafted cheap, artificial muscles for robots that give them the power to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight. The advance offers a leap forward in the field of soft robotics, which is fast replacing an older generation of robots that

were jerky and rigid in their movements, researchers say.

“It’s like giving these robots superpowers,” said senior author Daniela Rus, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The muscles , known as actuators, are built on a framework of metal coils or plastic sheets, and each muscle costs around $1 to make, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal. Their origami inspiration derives from a zig-zag structure that some of the muscles employ, allowing them to contract and expand as commanded, using vacuumpowered air or water pressure.

“The skeleton can be a spring, an origami-like folded structure, or any solid structure with

hinged or elastic voids,” said the report. Possible uses include expandable space habitats on Mars, miniature surgical devices, wearable robotic exoskeletons, deep-sea exploration devices or even transformable architecture.

“Artificial muscle-like actuators are one of the most important grand challenges in all of engineering,” said co-author Rob Wood, professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard University.“Now that we have created actuators with

properties similar to natural muscle, we can imagine building almost any robot for almost any task.” Researchers built dozens of muscles , using metal springs, packing foam or plastic in a range of shapes and sizes. They created “muscles that can contract down to 10 percent of their original size, lift a delicate flower off the ground, and twist into a coil, all simply by sucking the air out of them,” said the report.

The artificial muscles ”can generate about six times more force per unit area than mammalian skeletal muscle can, and are also incredibly lightweight,” it added.

A .09 ounce (2.6 gram) muscle can lift an object weighing 6.6 pounds (three kilograms) “which is the equivalent of a mallard duck lifting a car.”

According to co-author Daniel Vogt, research engineer at the Wyss Institute, the vacuumbased muscles ”have a lower risk of rupture, failure, and damage, and they don’t expand when they’re operating, so you can integrate them into closer-fitting robots on the human body.”

The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

candidate who secured 6,000 votes, had announced that the JuD which has the blessing of Saeed would contest the 2018 elections. Yaqoob was placed on a US Treasury sanctions list of those designated as leaders of terrorist organisations in 2012. Saeed and his four aides – Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain – were placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30 under anti- terrorism act.

The JuD has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

India had expressed outrage over the judicial board’s decision to release Saeed, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to non-state actors.Saeed has now filed the petition to de-list him from the UN list of designated terrorists.

He was put under house arrest after the Mumbai attack, but he was freed by a court in 2009.

Nine of the Mumbai attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and executed after a trial.

Thirty women rescued from sex trafficking in Mexico Mexico City: Thirty women trafficked for sex, most from Colombia and Venezuela, were rescued in two raids in Mexico, police have said.The biggest operation took place in Toluca, capital of Mexico state, the most populous and one of the most dangerous states in the nation.

In that raid, authorities freed 24 women between 21 and 39 years old. Federal police yesterday said 14 of the women said they were originally from Colombia and 10 from Venezuela.

The victims were detained and the man and woman in charge of their activities were arrested. After being promised jobs, in Mexico they were stripped of their documents and forced to prostitute themselves, under the threat that their families would be harmed.

In another operation carried out in several homes in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, a popular holiday destination in the center of the country, authorities freed another six trafficking victims, five Venezuelans and a Mexican.

Facebook trains artificial intelligence to spot suicidal signs

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook has said stepping up the use of artificial intelligenceto identify members of the leading social network who may be thinking of suicide.

Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help, according to the social network.

“This approach uses pattern recognition technology to help identify posts and live streams as likely to be expressing thoughts of suicide,” Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post.

Signs watched for were said to include texts by people or comments to them, such as someone asking if they are troubled. Facebook already has tools in place for people to report concerns about friend’s who may

be considering self-harm, but the software can speed the process and even detect signs people may overlook. “There have been terribly tragic events - like suicides, some live-streamed that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner,” Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said early this year in a post at the social network focused on building global community.

“Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach.”

Facebook is rolling out the artificial intelligence tool outside the US and planned to make it eventually available everywhere except the European Union, where data usage is restricted by privacy regulations. Facebook has been collaborating with mental health organizations for about a decade on ways to spot signs users may be suicidal and get them help.

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Punjabi Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born and raised, clean-shaven son, 1983 born, 6-1" tall, Handsome, Doctor, MD, working as a specialist in GTA.The girl should be resident Doctor, MD or physician, born or raised in Canada & from ontario, beautiful, 5’-5" tall, with family values.

Please send your recent pictures and bio-data to : sm9058@hotmail.com or call :416-617-1901 ***748*** Ravidasia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their dauthter, Canadian citzen, 36 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, well educated working as a registered nurse.

The boy should be professionally educated and employed, well settled, non-smoker, non-drinker & clean-shaven, Canadian citizen, 35-38 yrs. in age, preferably from GTA. Please respond with latest pictures and bio-data to : san1622002@yahoo.com or call :-647-293-6596 ***748*** Well established Jat Sikh family of professionals, business owners in the USA for over 50 years seeking match for our beautiful daughter, 27yrs old, 5'11" tall. Very athletic, with down to earth values, currently in her last year of a Pediatric Dental Residency.

Seeking professional respondents only from USA/Canada/Europe.

Please send full bio and recent photo to: jcsingh82@gmail.com ***748*** Jatt Sikh family seeking a suitable match for their son, 36 yrs. old, 6'-2" tall, born and raised in Canada, university educated, MBA, working as a manager, vegetarian. The girl should be educated, family oriented.

Please send your recent picture and bio-data to : tormgr13@gmail.com or call :647-391-0478 ***748*** Jatt Sikh family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, Canadian born & raised, beautiful, family oriented, gentle natured, good mix or eastwest cultures, business diploma, working in good govt job. The boy should be born or raised in Canada clean shaven, educated, settled in good job or business, belong to a good family. Please call or text with full bio-data & picture :-1-604-671-0002 ***748*** Jatt Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 36 yrs. old, 5’-9" tall, well-educated, Canadian born, Professionally employed, never married, nonsmoker, non-drinker looking for Jatt Sikh girl in Metro Vancouver area. please send your bio-data & recent picture to:hmahal81@gmail.com orcall: 1- 778-839-0167 (after 3pm.) ***748*** Jatt Sikh family looking for a suitable match for their daughter, 34 yrs. old, 5'-7" tall, Canadian citizen, physiotherapist. The boy

5 - 11 Dec., 2017

should be proffessionally qualified, non-smoker. Please send your recent picture and biodata to: kaur626@gmail.com or call :-437-925-8104 ***748*** Hindu Panjabi Khtri parents seek a suitable match for their son, 45 yrs. old, 5'-9" tall, American citizen, selfemployed, well settled, divorced without kids. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : jagdeesh35@gmail.com or call :-1-516-366-9466 or 1-516-3669485 ***748*** Very respected family looking for a suitable match for their son, 42 yrs. old, handsome, 6'-1" tall, clean shaven, born and raised in Canada and residing in Toronto, family oriented, doctor and successful business person by profession, never been married or engaged. The girl should be genuine, family oriented, successful, sikh, professional, 5'-6" or taller. Caste no bar. All responses will be kept confidential. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : singhdr2017@gmail.com or call :-416-902-5333 ***748*** Jatt Sikh Brar family seek a suitable match for their only son, 27 yrs. old, 5'-7" tall, well settled, Canadian raised, Mechanical Engineering from Canada, Doing good job. Non drinker & smoker. The girl should be beautiful, equally educated, well versed in both caltures , having good family values. perants have there own bussiness Please email recent pictures and bio-data to :gbgbgb39@yahoo.ca or call :1-250-859-1591 ***748*** Rajput (Goldsmith) family seek a suitable match for their son, 28 yrs., 5'-10", Canadian PR, well settled,Masters of Technology (M.Tech) and currently working as Manager in IT, Software Engineer in Top MNC of Canada, Earning a decent salary. The girl should be beautiful, simple and family oriented Doctor, Engineer or professional from USA or Canada. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: karansadiora88@gmail.com or call: 416-799-6476 ***748*** Jatt Sikh family looking for a suitable match for their daughter, 26 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, Canadian born, graduate from University of Toronto, working in Health care field. The boy should be welleducated, Canadian born or came & Canada at young age.

Please send your bio-data and recent picture to: m.j.deol4@gmail.com ***748*** Ramgarhia Sikh parents invite matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 31 yrs. old, 5' tall, B.Sc. nursing degree from India, living in India, beautiful, fair, from good family background. The boy should be Canadian/

American immigrant or citizen, educated, having good family values. Please send your biodata & recent picture to: piarausa@hotmail.com or call :647-829-5872 ***748*** Punjabi Sarswat Parents are looking for suitable match for their son born in 1987, Height 6'0" tall, educated, and Canadian PR, non drinker and smoker boy. All family is in Canada. The girl should be family oriented and Canadian PR ( Students will be considered). Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: jsece2017@gmail.com or call: 647-929-4871 or 647-785-9222 ***748*** Jat Sikh family seek asuitable match for their son, 33 yrs. old, 5'-8" tall,USA green card holder, B.Tech, working in Auto industry, belongs to Well educated , well settled family in USA. Please send your biodata &recent picture to: psb3858@yahoo.com or call: 011-91-8437717561(Whats App) ***748*** Tonk-Kshatriya Punjabi Sikh parents seek a suitable match for their Canadian Permanent resident daughter 31 Yrs. old, 5’2" tall, BS in Bio-Medical.Caste no bar. The boy should be professionally educated. The boy on visitors/students visa, or work-permit status in US or Canada can be considered.

Caste no bar. Please send your bio-data & recent pictureto:harprabhsidhu@yahoo.com or call:1-916-419-4239 ***748*** Well-settled family living in the GTA looking for a suitable match for their Canadian-born daughter, 28, 5’4, masters in IT and currently working in project management. Boy should be equally educated and wellsettled. Please send your biodata & recent picture t o : m a t r i m o n i a l 111 7 @gmail.com or call:647-4073478 ***748*** Punjabi family seek a suitable match for their daughter, 29 yrs. old, 5'-4" tall, Canadian immigrant, M.Com , LLB, working as a Lawyer with a reputed Law firm, family oriented, beautiful, having good family values, well versed, in both cultures. The boy should be Canadian, professionally educated & employed, having good family values. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : amy.hayher@gmail.com or call :-416-540-8840 or 905-487-5226 ***748*** Punjabi Brahmin family looking for a suitable match for their 28 yrs. old, 5'-7" tall, beautiful daughter, Canadian citizen, family oriented, well-versed in both eastern & wsetern cultures, professionally employed. The boy should be from Canada, educated, wellsettled. BC preferred or willing to settled in BC. Please send

your bio-data and recent picture to : vancouversharma67@gmail.com or call :-1-604-628-7778 ***748*** Jatt Sikh parents settled in California seek a suitable match for their US citizen, clean-shaven son, 1989 born, 5'-8" tall, B.Sc, woring as software engineer. The girl should be educated and beautiful with good family values.

Please send your bio-data and recent pictures to : dhaliwal2347@gmail.com or call :-1-916-233-6928 ***748*** Jatt Sikh family seek a suitable match for their Canadian born daughter, 28 yrs. old, 5'-5" tall, B.Sc, Biology (UVC), B.S.N (R.N) degree, working in a hospital. The boy should be Canadian well educated, professionally qualified & employed, belongs to educated Jatt Sikh family, non-smoker, non-drinker. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to : rsinghsurrey@gmail.com ***748*** Punjabi Sikh parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born and raised, clean-shaven son, 1983 born, 6'-1" tall, handsome, Doctor, MD, working as a specialist in GTA. The girl should be resident Doctor, MD or physician, born or raised in Canada & from Ontario, beautiful, with family values.

Please send your recent pictures and bio-data to : sm9058@hotmail.com or call :416-617-1901 ***748*** Ramgariha Sikh family seek a suitable match for their son, 31 yrs. old, 6'-1" tall, Canadian citizen, Diploma in Auto Motive technology, working in his own field. The girl should be from Canada, professionally qualifed, employed, beautiful, family oriented. Please send your biodata & recent picture to : rpsinghsidhu56@gmail.com or call: 416-616-5605 ***748*** Jatt Sikh family seeking a suitable match for their son, 29 yrs. old, 5'-8" tall, born in Canada, B.Sc Nursing from Rayerson University Toronto, working in hospital as RN for last 6 yrs, earning $ 80,000 annually, clean-shaven, non-drinker, nonsmoker, owns a house in Brampton, family is well settled in Toronto and owns some rental properties. The girl should be well educated, beautiful and family oriented.

Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : randhawa71@hotmail.com or call :-416-997-0560 ***748*** Saini Sikh parents invites matrimonial alliance for their daughter, 35 yrs, 5'-6" tall, beautiful, family oriented, Bachelor ’s of Arts (Hons) double major from reputed Canadian university, works in finance and economatrics in Down Town Toronto. The boy

should be in Canada professionally educated and employed from well educated, reputable and urban family background, GTA prefered.

Please email recent pictures and bio-data to :sainirsvp@gmail.com or call :647-297-1925 ***748*** Well settled reputed Jat Sikh Bains family in USA, seeking a suitable match for their US citizen son, 27 yrs. old, 6'-1" tall, clean shaven, family oriented, MBA degree in finance, running his successful business in hotels and motels.

The girl should be USA/ Canadian born, well qualified with balance of Indian and western values. Please email recent pictures and bio-data to : jeetbains248@gmail.com or cal :-1-775-722-1131 ***748*** Jatt Sikh Canadian immigrant male, well educated, 60 yrs. old, 5'-10" tall, retired, getting handsome pension, widower, owns good property in India.

Two daughters happily married and settled in Canada. Looking for a suitable, sincere and educated life partner. Caste no bar. Please call :-647-821-7170 ***748*** Tonk Kshatriya parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian citizen daughter, 30 yrs. old, 5'-3" tall, B.Com, CGA/CPA working with federal government. The boy should be clean-shaven, well educated, professionally settled and with family values.

Boy on work permit may also be considered. Please email recent picture and bio-data to : jagsingh513@gmail.com or call :1-416-722-9771 ***748*** Deaf lady, canadian/American citizen, 50-60yrs. old, without children match wanted for skilled, Deaf, Sikh Gentle man, Non drinker, Well settled Plumber & Gas Fitter, 59yrs. of age, 6”-2inch tall. Caste no bar. contact father (Hardev Singh) @ 1-604-302-1933 or 1604-226-1955. ***748*** Suitable match for sikhTonkkashtriya boy, 1989 Born, 5'-11” tall,Canadian immigrant. Boy’s parents Retdgovt lecturer& Well settled in India. Thegirl should be Canadian immigrant/citizen, family oriented.Girl’s on student visa will also be considered. Call:011-91 7889252309 or 011-91-94637-46905 ***748*** Seeking suitable match in Canada for very beautiful jat sikh girl in India - 27 years, 5-3 1/2 “ , M.Sc. ( Physics ) B. Ed., working as a teacher. Girl’s nanka family is settled in Toronto, will fully support in settling the boy. Please send your bio-data & recent picture to: Viksum@gmail.com or call: 647-204-5062 ***748***

Issue 748 (11)

5 - 11 Dec., 2017

Indian-American journalist Vandana Jhingan to run for US Congress Washington An Indian Amercian woman has announced that she will run for the next year’s election to the seat of US House of Representative from a Chicago suburb.Vandana Jhingan, who is

a journalist, will challenge Democrat Indian American Raja Krishnamoorthi, 44, who was elected to the US Congress for the first time in the last year’s Congressional elections.

She is the second Indian American from the Republican party to challenge

Krishnamoorthi. Last month Jitender “JD” Diganvker had announced to enter the race from the party.

Pledging to bring jobs, fiscal responsibility, family values and firm foreign policy, Jhingan

announced to run from 8th Congressional District of Illinois.

Both Diganvker and Jhingan would have to win the Republican primary scheduled for March 8 for the 8th Congressional District, which has a significant Indian American population.

The seat is traditionally

considered to be a Democratic stronghold.

In a statement, Jhingan said it is her years of community service and experience working with business and government has motivated her to take on challenges facing the residents of the 8th district of Illinois. She has been Midwest bureau chief of TV ASIA for more than 15 years.“I have demonstrated my commitment by serving the community for more than 20 years. I immigrated to United States and got an opportunity to live the ‘American Dream’ — now I am looking to fight for you to bring back the same,” she said.

In addition to Krishnamoorthi, the House of Representative currently has three other Indian Americans — the three-term Dr Ami Bera and Ro Khanna from California, and Pramila Jayapal from Washington State.

Kamala Harris, whose parents are from India and Jamaica, was the first Indian American to be elected to the US Senate.

US-Pak relations: Could Hafiz Saeed’s release be the last straw for the Trump admin?

Washington It’s been a week since the United States called for the “immediate re-arrest” of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, threatening Pakistan with “repercussions”, but the terrorist mastermind remains free and has launched an improbable bid to have himself struck off UN list of terrorists.

Gen John Nicholson — the top US general in Afghanistan — on Tuesday noted that more than 100 days have passed since President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy put Pakistan on notice and demanded it stop sheltering terrorists, but “we haven’t seen those changes yet”.

Frustration with Pakistan has been rising, and the “repercussions” threatened by the White House was the most explicit expression of it yet.

Speculation about options for the threatened repercussion, which the White House has not explained, has ranged from stripping Pakistan of its status as a major non-NATO ally — bestowed in 2004 in exchange for support in Afghanistan — to declaring it a state sponsor of terrorism.

Pakistan’s continued obduracy despite public appeals and threats from the US hasn’t gone unnoticed. “There is very little patience in this White House and the administration for Pakistan and it must be careful not to waste it,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the timeline given to Pakistan for re-arresting Saeed, a spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House told Hindustan Times: “We will be discussing (this issue) with the Pakistanis

Elderly US woman made toxic substance, tested it on residents at retirement home

Washington A 70-year-old woman living in a Vermont retirement home passed her time experimenting with homemade ricin, even testing it on fellow residents, the Justice Department said Friday.

No one had apparently been killed by Betty Miller’s activities at the bucolic Wake Robin retirement home in Shelburne, Vermont, which advertises a population of “vibrant, engaged people and a community in which you can be yourself.”

But Miller was arrested by FBI agents Thursday amid fears she had stockpiled a weapon of mass destruction.

The FBI was alerted to a dangerous substance at the home earlier this week, and discovered a bottle labelled “ricin” in her residence. Tests confirmed it contained the deadly substance.

“Miller stated that she had an interest in plant-based poisons and had conducted internet research on how to make them,”

the FBI said in a statement.

“She stated that she manufactured ricin in the kitchen of her Wake Robin residence and, to test its potency, placed the ricin in the food or beverages of other residents.”

An FBI WMD team returned for a search of her apartment and found more ricin, and components from plants, including apple, yew, cherry, castor and foxglove, which all can be used to produce poisonous substances.

Officials “stressed that any threat posed by the substances in Miller’s apartment has been neutralized,” they said.

Wake Robin called the case “an isolated incident.”

“The toxic substance was contained; no residents were evacuated,” the retirement home said in a statement.

“The resident of the apartment in question is now involved with the criminal justice system and will not be returning to Wake Robin.”

First birth from a uterus transplant takes place in US in private”.

There is speculation that defence secretary James Mattis might be the one to carry out this “private” discussion when he visits Pakistan, likely to take place next week.

“He might as a former military man and a general have a heart to heart with Pakistani generals and impress upon the need to step up their counter-terrorism measures,” said a South Asian diplomat.

Two months after Trump’s South Asia strategy was announced, Mattis had told lawmakers that the US would “try one more time to make this strategy work with them, by, with and through the Pakistanis, and if our best efforts fail, the president is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary”.

And asked if withdrawing Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally could be among the options being considered to deal with Pakistan, he had said, “I am sure it will be”.

Gen Nicholson’s remarks from earlier in the week capture well the latest thinking on Pakistan in the American leadership.

Asked if Pakistan’s behaviour has changed since the unveiling

o the South Asia strategy, Nicholson, said, “In terms of changes thus far this year, again, policy was announced (on) August 21, it’s now a hundred days later. So, no, we haven’t seen those changes yet.

“We’ve had a lot of senior-level engagement — secretary of state (Rex Tillerson), Gen (Joseph) Votel (who heads the US central command, which deals with Pakistan). We’ve had senior delegations from the state department and national security council travel over there as well.

They’ve all met with the Pakistani leadership.

“Pakistani leadership has come to Kabul and met with President (Ashraf) Ghani. They identified certain steps that they were going to take. We’ve not yet seen those steps play out.”

To a question about where he believes the Taliban leadership is based, he said the tactical-level leadership is in the field in Afghanistan, but added: “There’s a reason that the two leadership centres of the Taliban are called the Quetta Shura and the Peshawar Shura. Those are cities in Pakistan. So I’d say the senior leadership still resides in Pakistan.”

Houston The first birth as a result of a womb transplant in the United States has occurred in Texas, a milestone for the US but one achieved several years ago in Sweden.A woman who had been born without a uterus gave birth to the baby at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Hospital spokesman Craig Civale confirmed Friday that the birth had taken place, but said no other details are available. The hospital did not identify the woman, citing her privacy.

Baylor has had a study underway for several years to enrol up to 10 women for uterus transplants.

In October 2016, the hospital said four women had received transplants but that three of the wombs had to be removed because of poor blood flow.

The hospital would give no further

information on how many transplants have been performed since then. But Time magazine, which first reported the US baby’s birth, says eight have been done in all, and that another woman is currently pregnant as a result.

A news conference was scheduled Monday to discuss the Dallas baby’s birth.

A doctor in Sweden, Mats Brannstrom, is the first in the world to deliver a baby as a result of a uterus transplant. As of last year, he had delivered five babies from women with donated wombs.There have been at least 16 uterus transplants worldwide, including one in Cleveland from a deceased donor that had to be removed because of complications. Last month, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia announced that it also would start offering womb transplants.

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In US, 57pc of kids on track for obesity by MIAMI More than 57 percent of children in the United States will be obese by age 35 if current trends in

weight gain and poor eating habits continue, researchers warned Wednesday. The risk of obesity is high even among children whose present weight is normal, said the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.“Only those children with a current healthy weight have less than a 50 percent chance of becoming obese by the age of 35 years,” said the study, led by researchers at Harvard University. Some 36.5 percent of the US adult population is now considered obese, a condition federal health officials define as having a body

mass index of 30 or higher.

The annual medical costs of obesity in the United States are more than $147 billion per year,

according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Adult obesity is linked with increased risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer,” said lead author Zachary Ward, an analyst at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Our findings highlight the importance of prevention efforts for all children as they grow up, and of providing early interventions for children with obesity to minimize their risk of serious illness in the future.”The study was based on a simulation model that predicted future trends based on height and

weight data from five nationally representative studies of more than 41,000 children and adults.

“Obesity will be a significant problem for most children in the US as they grow older,” it said.

“Of the children predicted to have obesity as adults, half will develop it as children.” Weight gain in a child’s early years is particularly hard to reverse in adulthood. Researchers found that among obese toddlers aged two, three out of four will also be obese as adults. Children with severe obesity - which affects 4.5 million children in the United States - face only a one in five chance of being normal weight adults. Racial and ethnic disparities in weight are already apparent by age two, with black and Hispanics more likely to have obesity than whites - yet another trend that persists into adulthood.“It is critically important to implement policies and programs to prevent excess weight gain, starting at an early age,” said senior author Steven Gortmaker, professor of the practice of health sociology at Harvard. “Plenty of cost-effective strategies have been identified that promote healthy foods, beverages, and physical activity within school and community settings.”

White House infested with cockroaches, mice and ants Washington The White House is plagued with cockroaches, mice and ants, building maintenance files have revealed.

According to hundreds of White House work orders obtained by NBC 4 Washington, cockroach

infestations were found in at least four parts of President Donald Trump’s official residence. There was also a complaint about ants in Chief of Staff John Kelly’s office.

Mice were also discovered to be living in the Situation Room -- the US President’s crisis management centre -- and the White House Navy mess food service area. White House officials submitted hundreds of requests in 2017 for repairs, equipment and pest control to building administrators with the US General Services Administration (GSA), which helps manage maintenance needs in the West Wing and East Wing of the White House, according to the documents.

The requests included the redecorating of National Security

Adviser H.R. McMaster’s office and a new toilet seat for the Oval Office bathroom.Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had also asked for new furniture and pictures to be hung in his office shortly after Trump’s inauguration, according to the

records.The work orders submitted in 2017 were similar in number to those made in 2016 during the final year of the Obama administration, NBC reported.

The GSA’s Public Building Service manages building

maintenance and repairs for about 9,000 federal government facilities, including at least 31 in the District of Columbia.

The portfolio of buildings includes federal courthouses, headquarters for federal agencies and high-profile sections of the White House, including the Oval Office, Brady Press Briefing Room and East Wing.Former GSA inspector General Brian Miller told NBC that maintaining the White House was an “enormous job”.

The GSA receives its White House maintenance requests through an online database system shared by other federal agencies, including NASA and the US Department of Education.

Agency records state that the GSA spends as much as $100,000 a year in maintenance costs for White House repairs, based on an estimate of $2.13 per square foot in annual maintenance costs for GSA buildings in Washington DC.

China seizes 12 tonnes of pangolin scales BEIJING: Nearly 12 tonnes of smuggled pangolin scales have been confiscated by Chinese officials - the country’s largestever seizure of the endangered mammal’s prized parts as it seeks to curb illegal trafficking. The pangolin, whose brown scales have earned it the nickname “scaly anteater”, is the most hunted animal in the world, with one million estimated to have been plucked from Asian and African forests over the past decade. The latest stockpile of scales was seized at a port in the southern city of Shenzhen this July and likely taken from between 20,000 to 30,000 slaughtered pangolins, state media reported Wednesday.

United States Urges China to Cut off Crude Oil Supply to North Korea, Isolate Kim Jong-un

Washington The United States on Wednesday requested China to cut off crude oil supply to North Korea. It also asked all the countries to isolate Kim Jong-un by cutting off all the diplomatic ties with the country. The development came a day after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) leaving if Washington DC could be within Kin Jong’s reach.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley called a meeting with the UN Security Council and observed that North Korea’s latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile “demands that countries further isolate the Kim regime.”Trump called his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and urged him to cut off crude oil shipments to North Korea, Haley said. The Security Council had met at the request of United States, Japan, and South Korea to discuss North Korea and its

threats. Trump told Jinping that “we have come to the point that China must cut off the oil from North Korea,” Haley said. ”That would be a pivotal step in the world’s effort to stop this international pariah,” she added.

The US Ambassador also asked “all nations to cut off all ties with North Korea” and also urged the Security Council to strip North Korea of its rights to vote at the United Nations.

“The dictator of North Korea made a choice yesterday that brings the world closer to war, not farther from it. If war comes, make no mistake: The North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed,” she said.

North Korea on Wednesday tested its third ICBM and claimed it is capable of striking anywhere in the United States. The missile was launched a week after US President Donald Trump named North Korea in the list of countries that support terrorism.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Sister Randi Zuckerberg Sexually Harassed by co-passenger on US flight New Delhi Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has alleged that she was sexually harassed by male passenger while travelling from Los Angeles to Mazatlán, Mexico on Alaska Airlines flight. She took to social media and shared the letter which she had written to the Seattle-based airline.In a letter to executives of the airline, Randi Zuckerberg narrated the entire incident and said that she was extremely uncomfortable with a man sitting near her, explaining he constantly made sexually explicit and lewd comments to her and others in the firstclass section while being served multiple alcoholic drinks. She said the man talked about touching himself, asked if she fantasized about the colleague she was travelling with, and commented on the bodies of female passengers as they boarded the plane.“When I brought it to the flight attendants’ attention, there response was that this guy was a frequent Alaska Airlines traveler and they

had to talk to him about his behavior in the past but oh well, dont take it personally, this guy just doesn’t have a filter. After I told them that I was extremely

uncomfortable, they suggested to me that they could re-seat me in a middle seat at the very back of the plane, Which I almost did until I realised why should I have to move? I am the one that is being harassed!” She claimed in the letter.Following Zuckerberg’s complaints, two executives of Alaska Airlines contacted her and informed her that they are conducting an investigation.

“We have temporarily suspended this passenger’s travel privileges.

We want our guests to feel safe.

As a company, we have zero tolerance for any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members,” the airline reportedly said.

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Pope seeks forgiveness from Rohingya Muslim refugees His decision to not directly refer to their plight during Myanmar trip sparked row POPE Francis ended a diplomatically tricky trip to Asia on Saturday by seeking the forgiveness of Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh after his controversial decision to not directly refer to their plight when he visited their homeland, Myanmar. On the last day of his three-day visit to Bangladesh, which came after meetings in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, the pope went to a home in Dhaka founded by Mother Teresa for orphans, unwed mothers and destitute elderly. Later in a speech to an audience of around 7,000 young Catholics, Muslims and followers of other religions, the pope spoke about welcoming and accepting those who “act and think differently than ourselves.” “When a people, a religion or a society turns into a little world, they lose the best that they have and plunge into a self-righteous mentality of ‘I am good and you are bad’,” Francis said at the Notre Dame College, founded by Catholic priests. He also asked his young listeners to ‘not spend the whole day playing with your phone and ignoring the world around you!’

Francis said he was very pleased by an inter-religious meeting on Friday night, where he had an emotional meeting with refugees from Myanmar and then used the word Rohingya for

DeepLens cam eases developing intelligence DEVELOPING artificial intelligence systems just got a lot easier, thanks to DeepLens camera. The $250 (‘16,141.25) gadget can recognise objects, faces and automatically label what actions people are taking, which programmers can use to develop their own machine learning apps and hardware.

DeepLens was developed by Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of the Seattle firm that provides an on-demand cloud computing platform to businesses and consumers. It comes packed with a suite of AI tools that will let developers with little experience of machine learning design and test out their own creations. The device does so without needing to connect to AWS’s servers, speeding up the process of testing. DeepLens is already available to via Amazon’s US site, although it is not known when it will be released globally.

Jeff Barr, chief evangelist, AWS, said: “DeepLens can be used to build cool apps while getting hands-on experience with AI, IoT, and serverless computing.”

the first time on his current trip, saying they had God within them and should be respected. He also sought their forgiveness in the name of all who persecuted them. Previously, in Myanmar, he followed the advice of Myanmar Church officials who said his use of the word could prompt a backlash against Christians and hurt that country’s fragile path to democracy That had disappointed rights groups such as Amnesty International, which has said Myanmar’s ‘security forces were carrying out a systematic, organized and ruthless campaign of violence against the Rohingya population.’ Myanmar’s military has denied the allegations. The

country does not recognise the stateless Rohingya as an ethnic group with its own identity and considers them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The Pope had faced criticism from some rights activists and refugees for failing to address the issue publicly. He did not visit the refugee camps, where only

a handful were aware that one of the world’s most high-profile leaders was championing their cause just 300 miles away. One refugee expressed gratitude that the pope had finally uttered the word Rohingya, and said he believed the meeting would have a big impact. “It is the first time that a great world leader has listened to us,” 29-year-old Rohingya teacher Mohammad Zubair said. ‘This meeting will send a clear message to global leaders.’ But Yangon-based analyst David Mathieson said the tour would “do nothing dramatically to alter the

humanitarian disaster of Rakhine”, where the violence against the Rohingya has unfolded. Meanwhile, Pope’s remarks sparked a flurry of online anger in Myanmar, a country locked off from modern communications for five decades but which now has an active social media. “He is like a lizard whose colour has changed because of weather,” said Facebook user Aung Soe Lin. “He should be a salesman or broker for using different words even though he is a religious leader,” said another Facebook user called Soe Soe.

N Korea may deal ‘fatal blow’ to Winter Games North Korea could deal a ‘fatal blow’ to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea if it launches a missile before the event, a minister for the host country has warned. Unification Minister Cho MyoungGyon made the remarks as reports said annual South Korea-US military exercises might be postponed to avoid coinciding with the winter games and Paralympics in South Korea’s Pyeongchang. “If the North provokes again at a time when the Olympic Games are imminent, it may deal a fatal blow to the Olympics,” he said at a forum in Seoul. “Therefore, it is important to stage the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in a stable atmosphere”, he added.

The world’s largest winter sports festival takes place from February 9 to 25 next year. The Paralympics are scheduled to begin on March 9. Both will be held in the mountainous resort town of Pyeongchang, 50 miles south of the border with North

Korea. The annual military exercises, codenamed Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, usually start late February or early March and

joint US-South Korea exercises to avoid overlapping with the Olympics. But the presidential Blue House said it has not

run until the end of April. Tensions tend to rise during the drills, which are condemned by the North as rehearsals for invasion. North Korean dictator has invariably reacted angrily to the exercises, conducting own military drills, including missile launches.

Yonhap news agency, quoting defence sources, said Seoul may request the postponement of the

discussed this or made any decisions on the matter. North Korea on Wednesday launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile which it says will bring the entire US territory within range. The Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile was launched eastward from Pyongsong in North Korea’s South Pyongan Province.

It flew for around 50 minutes,

reaching an unprecedented altitude of 2,800 miles, before splashing down in the Sea of Japan around 620 miles away. It marked the first missile launched since one was fired across Japan and into the Pacific Ocean on September 15. Donald Trump took a rhetorical shot at Jong-Un on Wednesday, calling him ‘a sick puppy’ for blasting an intercontinental ballistic missile in Japan’s direction. The US also warned the North’s leadership will be ‘utterly destroyed’ if war breaks out and called on countries to cut all diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea — including Chinese oil supplies. On Wednesday, North Korea abruptly ended a 10-week pause in its weapons testing by launching what the Pentagon said was an intercontinental ballistic missile, possibly its longest-range test yet. South Korea, a key US ally separated from the North by a militarised border, responded with shorter-range missile tests of its own.

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No change in law for H-1B visa, system remains the same: US Kolkata Amid the H1B visa row in India, the US government on Friday said there has been no change in law regarding the H1B regime and the system continued to be as before.

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for State for South Asia Thomas Vajda said

past,” Vajda told reporters after an interactive session with members of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Following Trump’s election as US president on a protectionist platform, the US has

no legislation has been passed so far on the particular category of visa. “(There is) no change in the law today for H1B (visa) regime or system in the United States... President (Donald) Trump asked for review of the H1B system...but no steps have been taken. Many changes in law, so many cases, require changes of legislation. But so far no legislation has been passed on H1B. For the moment, the system remains as it has in the

announced stricter norms for issuing the H1B and L1 visas.India’s Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said in October that the issue of H1B and L1 visas, which have facilitated the entry of Indian IT professionals, has been raised strongly with Washington.Responding to a query regarding reducing pet coke imports from the US, Vajda said the US sees energy as the most potential area for increasing economic activities.

“The US is committed to increase energy export and support for India’s economic development,” he said.

Vajda said both the governments of India and the US have been hopeful and supportive for completion of contract between the Westinghouse Electric Company and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to build six nuclear reactors in India.

On the Rohingya refugee crisis, he said the US has been providing financial support for humanitarian purposes to the Bangladesh government through international organisations to help out over 600,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar since August.

“We also continue to urge the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to have conversations and discussions that will facilitate the safe, voluntary and dignified return of Rohingyas to Myanmar,” he added.

Japan protests San Francisco’s decision on ‘sex slave’ statue

Tokyo Japan expressed strong regret Friday over San Francisco’s decision to give city property status to a statue commemorating Asian women who worked in military brothels for Japanese troops during World War II, with Osaka declaring it will terminate its 60-year sister-city ties.

The signing of legislation making the memorial public property ‘destroyed trust,’ Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said.

“We will scrap our sistercity relationship with San Francisco.” He said Osaka will no longer contribute public money to privately organized cultural exchanges between the two cities.

The statue was erected by California’s Korean,

Chinese and Filipino communities.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said San Francisco’s decision challenges Japan’s position and was ‘extremely regrettable.’ He said similar statues that have been built in various countries interfere with a 2015 agreement between Japan and South Korea to resolve the historical dispute.

Historians say tens of thousands of women around Asia were sent to work in Japanese military brothels, often through coercion and deception.

Japan apologized in 1993 but the issue has remained an open rift with its neighbors, particularly South Korea which has strong memories of

Japan’s brutal colonization from 1910 to 1945.

After a gradual pullback from the apology, Japan’s government now denies that the women, called ‘comfort women’ in Japanese, were forced into sexual slavery, citing a lack of official documentary proof, and says the statue wrongfully blames Japan.

In the 2015 deal, Japan and South Korea agreed that Tokyo would pay 1 billion yen ($9 million) to support the surviving South Korean victims, and both sides pledged to avoid actions that would antagonize the other.

Suga also criticized the South Korean parliament’s passage on Friday of legislation designating August 14 as a day to commemorate the suffering of the Korean ‘comfort women,’ saying it violated the spirit of the 2015 agreement and that Japan has lodged a protest. The date is when a victim, the late Kim Haksoon, became the first to publicly speak out about her ordeal in 1991. She was followed by hundreds of others.

The agreement calls for efforts by both sides to build a ‘future-oriented’ relationship.

US Senate passes tax reform in major win for Donald Trump Washington The US Senate passed a drastic overhaul of the country’s tax code that cuts taxes for multinational corporations, small and medium businesses and the wealthy but was a mixed bag for the middle class.

The contentious $1.5 trillion bill was cleared on Saturday morning in a 5149 vote, bringing the Republicans, who control both chambers of congress and the White House, their first real shot at a legislative victory.

It included several 11th hours changes that the Republican leadership carried out, including extensive handwritten modifications, to win over wavering senators.

Democrats protested, asking for more time to study the changes and unsuccessfully tried to postpone the vote to Monday.

But Republicans pushed ahead. “We have an opportunity now to make America more competitive, to keep jobs from being shipped offshore and to provide substantial relief to the middle class,” said Mitch

McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate.

The bill proposes to cut corporate tax from 35% to 20% starting 2019, cut tax rates for individuals and

reconciled with one passed earlier by the House of Representatives to hammer out a version acceptable to both chambers before it is

families but will withdraw a number of tax benefits. A non-partisan congressional body estimates that only 44% of taxpayers will see their burden go down by $500 or more, and high wage-earners will benefit more than the poor.

“The Republicans have managed to take a bad bill and make it worse,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor of the House. “Under the cover of darkness and with the aid of haste, a flurry of last-minute changes will stuff even more money into the pockets of the wealthy and the biggest corporations.”

The bill will now be

despatched to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature.

Trump will be waiting.

“Biggest Tax Bill and Tax Cuts in history just passed in the Senate. Now these great Republicans will be going for final passage.

Thank you to House and Senate Republicans for your hard work and commitment!” he tweeted after the bill was passed.

Enactment of this bill will be Trump’s most consequential legislative achievement yet, having repeatedly failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, which Republicans have ran against since it became law in 2010.

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FALLS FLAT Vinayak Chakravorty By

Firangi Cast: Kapil Sharma, Ishita Dutta, Monica Gill, Kumud Mishra, Rajesh Sharma Direction: Rajiev Dhingra KAPIL Sharma’s career needs a firm kick in the rear right now, which is what Firangi tries doing. The film is billed as a comedy drama with essential masala, melodrama, naachgaana slapstick and stunts. In short, the film tries selling Kapil as an all-round star. Life, though, can be tough if you are a comedian in India, trying to switch gear and become a Bollywood star. The shadow of stereotype looms large and janta won’t take you seriously.

Understandably, Kapil’s debut film as a hero, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, had stuck to selling an all-out comic formula. Firangi tries being more assorted as a commercial vehicle. The idea this time is to underline the fact that Kapil can be a complete package — to prove that he can do more than just make you laugh.

It would have worked with better writing and direction. Firangi after all even tries to lightly hinge on a satirical edge — something Hindi mainstream rarely does.

It fails, because the execution is all wrong. The exercise would call for assured treatment, to craft a hearty entertainer out of this effort.

Instead, the jokes fall flat as Kapil and company settle upon loud and unimaginative filmmaking style. An interesting idea is wasted as actorproducer Kapil and writerdirector Rajiev Dhingra churn out outdated melodrama. The plot takes us back to the 1920s, in the wake of the Jallianwaala Bagh massacre.

As the nation fights for Independence, a laidback rustic bum, Manga (Kapil), prefers to believe the British are not all that bad. To impress Sargi (Ishita Dutta), the girl he loves, Manga lands a job with

the British. But working for the Brits brings a new unforeseen problems.

Most of the characters reveal a lack of imagination in the way they have been conceived, and none of the cast manages to rise above the average. Firangi falls flat, running on a thin quota of laughs and loud treatment. The film is hardly the kickstart Kapil’s career needed at this stage.

Lives up to its title Wonder Cast: Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Noah Jupe Direction: Stephen Chbosky

WONDER would seem a ‘safe project’.

It sets up a feel-good play of emotions through the story of a little boy’s big fight with a rare medical condition. The film is based on an NYT bestseller (RJ Palacio’s novel of the same name). It top-bills Julia Roberts, although she is strictly playing out what hardcore fans would grudgingly call an extended cameo. Those, though, are not the defining factors of this film. Stephen Chbosky’s feature works for the

sincerity with which it explores the world of a very special boy, rather than use his deformity to create corny melodrama. The boy August Pullman, or Auggie, is a fifth grader born with facial disorder, played to perfection by Jacob Tremblay (you have an idea how good the young actor can be if you’ve seen 2015’s Oscar-nominated Room). The film follows Auggie’s first year in a mainstream school as he tries blending in, and ends up standing out among

peers. The plot could seem predictable but intelligent screenwriting (Chbosky, Jack Thorne and Steve Conrad) raises bar. The film entertains without being preachy about child psychology. Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson as Auggie’s parents are suitably cast but the scene stealer is Tremblay. The 11-year-old actor reveals screen presence beyond his age.

— Vinayak Chakravorty

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Tiger Shroff: I Know I Would Never Be Able To Match Up To Hrithik Roshan Actor Tiger Shroff says working with his “idol” Hrithik Roshan is a dream-come-true

moment for him and he will put in all the hard work needed to match up to the superstar.

Backed by Yash Raj Films, the upcoming untitled movie featuring the duo will be helmed

by Siddharth Anand, who has worked with

Hrithik in “Bang Bang”.

“I am most excited about working with him (Hrithik).

I am so thankful that I got such an offer so early in my life. He is my idol. Whatever I am today it is because of what I saw of him while growing up,” Tiger told reporters here. He was speaking on the sidelines of Star Screen Awards here last night.

The action film, also starring Vaani Kapoor, is slated to be released on December 25, 2019.

Tiger said he will have to pull up his socks for the film. “I will have to prepare a lot. He (Hrithik) is a very hard-working actor. So if he gives 100 per cent, I will have to give my 200-300 per cent to match up to him. But I know I would never be able to match up to him,” he said. Tiger will also be seen in “Student of the Year 2”, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.

There were reports that Chunkey Pandey’s daughter, Ananya, would be making her Bollywood debut with the film. When asked about it, Tiger said, “I have no idea about any of the cast members yet. The best persons (to ask) would be Karan Johar and Punit Malhotra, they should make the announcement officially... We will be starting the shooting in January-February.”

Here’s Why Alia Bhatt Is Not Scared Of Failure Anymore Alia Bhatt was heartbroken after the Shaandaar debacle.

But she says she is now more prepared to face failure. The daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt talked about the ups and downs in her career with superstar Shah Rukh Khan in an episode of “Lux Golden Divas- Baatein with the Badshah”, read a statement.

“Touch wood, 90 per cent of my films fared well at the box office. But there have been one failure, and because of that failure, I am more calm...

Some strange reason.

‘Shaandaar’ didn’t work at the box office. I was heartbroken.

I could not believe it,” Alia said.

“I turned to my father. He was the only person I was speaking to and then I went on a holiday solo to mourn the loss.” The “Udta Punjab” star added: “I felt terrible, but after that I felt ‘ho gaya’ (it’s done). The bandage has been ripped. I have faced my first failure, and I will be

ready for whatever comes. Getting up after the failure is very different.

My father sent me this poster with Frank Sinatra’s quote ‘The best revenge is massive

success’.” Alia has delivered laudable performances in films like “Highway”, “2 States”, “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania” and “Kapoor and Sons”. Only “Shaandaar” turned out to be a damp squib at the box office. At present, she is busy with Meghna Gulzar’s “Raazi”, scheduled to release on May 11, 2018.

Richa Chadha Slams ‘Enthu-Fans’ For Following Her On Bikes

Actress Richa Chadha on Sunday reprimanded some enthusiastic fans for following her on bikes here. “Got followed by some over enthu-fans on bikes in Bandra. You are a hazard to the safety of pedestrians and other vehicles on the road. Certainly no way to ask for pictures. Sudhar jaiye (Please improve),” Richa tweeted. Celebrities often get chased by fans for autographs

and selfies, irrespective of where they are. Just last month, the Mumbai Police issued a challan to actor Varun Dhawan for obliging a fan by taking a selfie from his car. He was photographed partly out of his car’s window and taking a selfie with a female fan who was seen travelling in an auto rickshaw. But Varun later apologised for his behaviour, and said: “Next time I’ll keep safety in mind and won’t encourage this.”

Never Cancelled A Shoot In My 25-Year-Long Career: Kajol Actors avoid missing out on film’s shooting despite ill health as not appearing on the set leads to a loss, says Kajol. The actor, best known for her commercial potboilers such as “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”, says she never cancelled a shoot in her 25-year-long career as she respects commitment. In an interview with PTI, Kajol says, “You are working in an industry where if you fall sick or cancel a shoot, lakhs of rupees go out of somebody else’s pocket. So that’s a huge responsibility on your head.

“In my 25 years, I don’t think I have ever cancelled a day’s shoot. With (utmost) honesty I can say that, I have not missed a flight or cancelled a shoot till date.” Kajol says health is always an issue in an actors life as even after having erratic working hours, irregular food and sleeping habits, there is a

pressure to look good all the time. The 43-year-old actor remembers taking a day off from work only when her daughter Nysa was unwell.

“One day my daughter was not well, she had 104 degree temperature, that’s the only time I remember telling the producers that I can’t come. But for my own illness, I have shot even when I

had high fever.” Kajol, who is the brand ambassador of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL’s) health soap brand Lifebuoy, recently announced a new initiative to empower young girls to make a difference in their communities through a partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).

Sunny Leone Is India’s Most Searched Tamannaah Bhatia To Star Female Celebrity In 2017 In Yet Another Remake

Her recent outing may not have made a mark at the box office, but that hardly seems to deter the audience’s interest in Sunny Leone. She has topped Yahoo’s list of India’s most searched female celebrity in 2017 for the sixth year in a row. While desigirl-turned-global-sensation Priyanka Chopra comes second, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone round off the top five. Understandably, Leone is ecstatic to retain the top position. “I feel blessed this came my way. I have to kee p moving forward. I’m thankful to my fans for this,” she says. The year has been largely forgettable for the actor, who appeared

in several item numbers including that of Raees, Baadshaho and Bhoomi. For now though, what holds her attention is the Telugu period drama that marks her Tollywood debut.

Directed by VC Vadivudaiyan, the yetuntitled film sees her as a warrior. “My character is that of a strong, independent woman. Some are claiming that this will change my image, I do not believe in it. I believe everything is a stepping stone towards something greater.” While she is yet to strike gold at the box office, Leone is pursuing interests beyond acting too - be it introducing her line of cosmetics or looking into the nitty-gritty of her production house. “I am doing a TV show too [FitStop] and am looking forward to turning producer along with Daniel [Weber, husband] soon.

Tamannaah Bhatia will join Sanjay Dutt and Farhan Akhtar in Ajay Devgn’s next production, the remake of the National Award-winning 2014 Tamil black comedy, Jigarthanda. She is slated to start working on the film after wrapping up the Telugu remake of Queen (2014).

Nishikanth Kamath’s directorial venture, we hear, will differ from the original to suit Bollywood films. The original was set in Madurai, but the remake will be based in a village in Maharashtra.

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Is This The Reason Why Jennifer Lawrence Angelina Jolie Wants People And Darren Aronofsky Broke Up? To Visit Cambodia

Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence has hinted that bad reviews of “mother!”, her film with Darren Aronofsky may have wrecked her relationship with the director. The actor said she wanted to stop reading the negative reviews of the film as

she found it to be an unhealthy habit. “Normally, I promote a movie, you put the work in to promoting it, ask people to go see it, and then it’s just kind of out of your hands. I normally just kind of let it go.

Dating the director was different,”

Scarlett Johansson: Avengers 4 Feels ‘Bittersweet’ Scarlett Johansson has said she feels bittersweet about not starring in a Marvel movie after the Avengers 4. The 33-year-old actor plays the role of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is scheduled to appear in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers 4”. “It’s bittersweet to imagine not having these films to come back to. I’ve been living this story with these people for 10 years through ups and downs. We’ve built a great family,” Johansson told Vanity Fair. “Personally, it feels like a loss. There¿s again that comes with that for each one of us. We have Brie Larson on this film.

She¿s here before shooting the stand-alone Captain Marvel movie so we get to watch her get her feet wet for real,” she added. Johansson said she is excited for the new generation

and optimistic about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It’s very surreal for me

to watch these new cast members come in and get their feet wet and breath new life into these characters who are so iconic. I feel a lot of joy for the next generation. “It’s a bittersweet feeling but overall it’s a positive one. I feel good about the work we’ve done and the work I’ve done,” she said.

she told Adam Sandler for Variety’s “Actors on Actors”.

Lawrence said she could not disassociate with the film as she and the director were doing the press tour for it together.

“We’d be on the tour together.

I’d come back to the hotel, and the last thing I want to talk about or think about is a movie,” she says.

“He comes back from the tour, and that’s all he wants to talk about and I get it. It’s his baby.

He wrote it. He conceived it. He directed it. I was doing double duty trying to be a supportive partner while also being like, ‘Can I please, for the love of God, not think about mother! for one second?’” The movie was panned by the critics though Lawrence’s performance received praise.

Actor-filmmaker Angelina Jolie hopes that her new film, First They Killed My Father, will encourage people to go to Cambodia. The 42-year-old has directed the film based on author Lung Ung’s account of the Khmer Rouge 1975-79 regime in Cambodia. It depicts a difficult period in history, but she wants viewers to see past that and embrace the “beautiful” land and its people.

“I love the country so much and I hope that when people see the film, they don’t just see the war and the suffering, but get to know this Cambodian family,” Jolie says, adding, “My wish is

that they see the beautiful culture, language and talented

artistes. I hope people will bring work and travel to Cambodia,” she added.

Chloe Grace Moretz Gets Legal Protection From Stalker Actress Chloe Grace Moretz has sought a restraining order against a man she believes to be mentally ill and stalking her online and in person. Mortez requested for and was granted a restraining order against Terry Daniel Quick, reports tmz.com.

In the document, she says he showed up at her house in November to confront her. On another occasion, also in the same month, she says he followed her and her boyfriend, Brooklyn Beckham, to a concert and a club. She says it is particularly frightening because Quick is bragging on social media about trailing her all over town. He also posted several tweets, one of which included a picture of real blood, she claims.

On some of his social media pages he refers to Mortez as his

wife and the “love of his life”. In the document, the actress says that on November 29, Quick followed her from Los Angeles airport to her home and tried to gain access. She says he

actually rang her doorbell and her brother answered asking her to leave immediately. Thats’s when she called 911. Police responded and arrested Quick, who told them he was engaged to Mortez.

Meghan Markle’s James Franco To Star And Purse Range Sold Out Produce An X-Men Spin-Off James Franco has confirmed that he is attached to an X-Men property, both as an actor and a producer.

Rumours are rife that Fox Studios has been working on a Marvel Comics movie based on Multiple Man, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Without revealing much, Franco said, “I do have a superhero that I am developing. I don’t know how much I can say. But I will say I am producing and performing in it. “It’s early stages. I think probably what I can say is, like anything, there’s a need to develop more.” The actor, who has started a production company with actor brother Dave Franco, said he is impressed the way the “X-Men” franchise has churned out spin-offs such as “Logan” and “Deadpool”.

“Our bottom line MO is, how can we push this into new ground? A little bit, but still make it entertaining?

(But) what I love about what Simon Kinberg and Fox and the X-Men people have done with ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’ - it took a while to get there, maybe 10 years but they are going to go hard. “And we’re going to take this superhero thing and really just push it into a new genre. So we’re working with Simon Kinberg on an ‘XMen’ property,” he said.

All the pieces of the burgundy bag flaunted by Meghan Markle were sold out hours after she was spotted with it. It was a bag from Strathberry.

A spokesperson for the brand that was launched in 2013 by Leeanne Hundleby said, “It’s

amazing for us, it really is the greatest.” At the time Hundleby decided to send Markle a selection of purses, it had not yet been announced that she was engaged to Prince Harry.

“We’re suddenly incredibly busy,” the spokesperson said.

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Revealed: Dera’s new ploy to win back lost loyalists THE controversial religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda has been deserted by its followers after the conviction of its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in two rape cases. Ram Rahim’s arrest has resulted in a huge financial loss to the dera units, including factories, restaurants, film theatres besides the agricultural produce. There are no buyers for a piece of ‘1,000 tomato, one brinjal worth ‘3,000 and a single papaya worth ‘5,000. Ram Rahim used to sell its biscuits in the name of a prasada to his followers .Now, there are no buyers as the followers had left the controversial religious sect headquarters between August 25 and 28. Resorts, shops ,restaurant and other business establishments have been shut .The whole Dera complex appears to have been jinxed. Revenues of Dera establishments have come down to a grinding halt .This has left the jailed baba, his closest aide Honeypreet, his family members besides Dera management committee chairperson Vipassana Insan. Dera’s bank accounts have been freezed and there is no money to run these institutions. The

factories owned by Ram Rahim have been shut down following the payment of pending power bills worth ‘70 crore. The resource crunch recently forced Ram Rahim’s family and Vipassana Insan to seek the advice of jailed baba in Sunata jail last month where Ram Rahim is believed to have told them to find out ways and means to bring back the Dera followers. Sources close to Dera Sacha Sauda said Ram Rahim has advised Vipassana and his family members to organise the death and birth anniversary of his religious spiritual leader Shah Satnam as the followers no more trust him as a spiritual leader. Sources say Ram Rahim family members with the help of Vipassana Insan are now planning to celebrate the death anniversary on December 13 and birth anniversary on January 25 in Sirsa .However, former Dera Sacha Sauda followers Gurdas Singh Toor and Khatta Singh have accused Ram Rahim and his gang to amass money in the name of these anniversaries from the gullible followers. Even the family members of Shah Satnam have raised

objections to the dirty plans to exploit and betray the followers.

They said conspiracy is being hatched to misuse the name of Shah Satnam at a time when Ram Rahim’s wrongdoing have given a major setback to its follows. It is worth mentioning here that Shah Satnam’s family has already moved Punjab and Haryana High Court to

disassociate 17 deras established

by Shah Satnam. “Followers of Shah Satnam have nothing to do with Gurmeet Ram Rahim . By organising his death and birth anniversary Dera wants to misuse his name to Betray the followers ,” Shah Satnam’s family advocate Mahendra Singh Joshi said. In fact Dera Sacha Sauda by organising

these two events wants to convey to the followers that Dera Sacha Sauda has not been closed and is open for the followers. However the critics feel that these events are being organised just to bring back the followers who lost a connect with the Dera Sacha Sauda after the convection of Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

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Pak students slaughtered by burqa-clad Islamists Taliban shot dead 12 at agri college as country celebrates Prophet’s birthday TWELVE people have been killed and dozens injured after Taliban terrorists stormed an agricultural college wearing burqas. Police said four burkaclad terrorists opened fire on the gates of the Agriculture Training Institute, in Peshawar, injuring the guard before making their way inside. The attack occurred as Pakistan marks the birthday of Muhammad, who Muslims around the world consider the central prophet of their faith. Peshawar police chief Muhammad Tahir Khan said three gunmen had been killed and that security forces were carrying out a clearance operation inside the building to track down any remaining militants. “The clearance operation is under way,” he said. Spokeswomen for two hospitals in the city said they had seen a total of 12 bodies and were treating some 38 injured people, including several in critical condition. A spokesman for the Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan, Muhammad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Our mujahids have attacked the building because it was used as office for ISI, God willing our fighters will fight till the last drop of blood,” he said,

referring to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency.

Noor Wali, a 19-year-old student at the institute, described a terrifying ordeal that began when he was woken by gunshots. “I rushed to the door and saw a fountain of blood

pumping out of the shoulder of my roommate who was standing outside the room,” he said. He and another student rushed to his aid, and hid from the gunmen for almost an hour before they were rescued by security forces. “The other student was pressing the wound with his hands to stop the blood and I had to put my hand on his mouth so that he cannot scream,” he said. “We took shelter inside the bedroom

and were begging the injured student not to make any sound as the terrorists might hear it and kill us.” The area where the incident occurred is a hub for educational institutions in the city including the University of Peshawar. An interior ministry official said that cellular networks had been suspended in various cities across the country for security reasons.

Aerial surveillance of the operation was carried out by

Taliban defectors expand ISIS Afghan conquest WHEN a Taliban commander defected to Islamic State in northern Afghanistan a few months ago, his men and the foreign fighters he invited in started to enslave local women and set up a bomb-making school for 300 children, officials and residents said. The minicaliphate established six months ago in two districts of Jawzjan province marks a new inroad in Afghanistan by ISIS, which is claiming more attacks even as its fighters suffer heavy losses in Iraq and Syria. Qari Hekmat, a prominent Taliban leader in Jawzjan, switched

allegiance around six months ago, according to local people who have since fled, raising the movement’s black flag over the local mosque and forcing

residents to swear fealty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“They started killing a lot of people and warned others to cooperate,” said Baz Mohammad, who fled Darz Aab district after his 19-year-old son was recruited into ISIS at the local mosque. ISIS in Jawzjan has now attracted the attention of

U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which will launch an offensive in the north in the next few days, U.S. Army General John Nicholson said on Tuesday. U.S. air strikes and special forces have been pounding the main Afghan foothold of IS fighters in the eastern province of Nangarhar, but that has not prevented the movement from stepping up attacks. ISIS has claimed at least 15 bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan this year, including two in Kabul last month, killing at least 188 people. The number of attacks is up from just a couple nationwide last year. It is unclear whether the all the attacks claimed by ISIS were carried out by the group, or linked to its central leadership in the Middle East.

the army aviation division whereas armoured vehicles of security forces were also called on site. He said three terrorists were killed by security forces after a gunfight which lasted for an hour. A huge cache of arms, including three unexploded suicide vests, 20 hand grenades, Klashnikovs have been recovered from the possession of terrorists. The incident comes amid tight security across Pakistan as it

celebrates the birthday of Mohammed. The country is tense after weeks-long antiblasphemy protests in Islamabad that saw seven killed and hundreds wounded in clashes with police. Violence erupted over the weekend after police and paramilitary forces launched a bungled attempt to clear the sit-in, igniting fresh demonstrations in cities across the country, including in Lahore and Karachi.

Meet the fish that suffers from sea phobia A FISH that’s so frightened of water it hides away in a miniature cave has been filmed for the first time. The leaping blenny shelters three feet above the tide in Guam, Micronesia, fleeing for higher ground when the smallest of waves threatens to approach. The poor swimmer, which resorts to rolling its body in puddles to stay wet, was captured on film by the BBC’s Blue Planet II for its latest episode, Coasts. Introducing the Pacific fish, narrator Sir David Attenborough reveals the creature’s sea-fearing habits.

‘One marine creature has virtually abandoned the sea

altogether,’ he says. ‘On a few remote Pacific islands lives the most terrestrial fish on the planet. ‘These Pacific Leaping Blenny seem afraid of the waves. They are poor swimmers and would be easy prey in the sea.’ The fish can leap much farther than its three-inch body length in order to avoid being swept into the sea and feeds on algae growing on the cliff face. It flashes an orange patch on its dorsal fin to attract females to its home in the rock crevice, where the mate lays her eggs. Series producer Mark Brownlow said: ‘In the last of our habitat-based episodes we visit our coasts.

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By Vinayak Chakravorty BOLLYWOOD often deemed him the odd one out in his generation. In the commercial Hindi cinema of sixties and seventies, where all-out hamming was regarded as ‘great acting’, Shashi Kapoor could project anger without raising his voice. In today’s context, the skill would fashionably be termed with the oxymoronic label of ‘realistic acting’. The trait, however, was not the only way in which Kapoor was a trailblazer. Quietly, without ever gunning for top spot, he did redefine a few rules of the B-Town game. Back in the psychedelic seventies, when loud and flashy were hallmarks of everything that made an impact on screen, Kapoor knew how to set up the swagger with understated style. He was the nice guy to the staple angry young man in sundry multistarrers, often essayed by Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra or Shatrughan Sinha with aplomb. That trademark screen image lives on in the mind, whether you loved Shashi Kapoor for his mainstream contribution, his impressive body of arthouse work that went side by side, or the defining forays to the West that he kept making, notably with those unforgettable Merchant-Ivory films. Kapoor’s understated and charming personality in films cutting across genres is so unique it cannot be replicated. It is the trait that will stay with us forever, long after Kapoor passed away. For the record, he passed away on Monday aged 79 after prolonged illness in Kokilaben Hospital, Mumbai, after suffering from various ailments for the past few years. He will live on through his art.

Few actors have balanced stardom with critical honours as Kapoor. He was honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2015 for his contribution to the art of cinema. The trophy was a reiteration of what his Padma Bhushan win in 2011 had already established: Shashi Kapoor was a rare Indian actorfilmmaker who had mastered the art of balancing the Indian mainstream penchant at larger-thanlife celebration of life with the finer aesthetics of world cinema. Through the seventies and eighties, Kapoor became a mandatory part of several multistarrer superhit — the definitive box-office genre of the day—even as he continued carving his niche in the arthouse gems of Shyam Benegal such as Kalyug and Junoon. A S a producer he crafted some of the finest arthouse films of his time, notably Utsav, 36 Chowringhee Lane and Junoon. His odd foray as a Bollywood director, however, was the fantasy adventure Ajooba, which flopped despite starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor. Kapoor’s refined sense of cinema was perhaps shaped by his love for theatre. Beyond films, he ceaselessly worked at promoting the world of stage with Prithvi Theatre, which he set up in November 1978 along with wife Jennifer. Theatre, in fact, played an important role in their romance. They met during the years when both were active with theatre work. While

Kapoor blazed the Bollywood box-office in his time, working with the top producers and heroines, his career graph was taking a very different complexion in the West. In many of

above as actor.

Kapoor had been ailing for quite some time now and had

his English films, particularly the ones directed by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, Shashi and Jennifer relished enacting an authentic play of emotions and relishing rare chemistry. Some of Kapoor ’s most unforgettable performances have also come in Merchant-Ivory films. These include The Householder, Shakespeare Wallah, Heat And Dust, Bombay Talkie and In Custody.

In Merchant and Ivory’s exalted yet understated storytelling, Kapoor’s restrained acting style seemed to find a perfect platform. The quaint milieu that the filmmaker duo so succinctly set up was just the backdrop Kapoor was looking for, to underline why he will always remain a cut

been on dialysis for several years. He had also undergone bypass surgery and was hospitalised with a chest infection a few years back. Kapoor leaves behind his bereaved daughter Sanjana, and sons Kunal and Karan. Plus, of course, a legacy of rich cinematic content and that charming smile that will forever live on with us.

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Issue 748 (22) DONALD Trump has fired back at Theresa May by saying she should concentrate on “Radical Islamic Terrorism taking place in the UK” and not his Twitter activity. The British PM slammed the president on Wednesday after he retweeted antiMuslim videos posted by the leader of the far-right group, Britain First.

The first clip he shared depicted a “Muslim migrant” beating up a “Dutch boy on crutches”. But Trump overlooked her criticism, and hinted that she should be focusing on potential security threats and radicalisation and her doorstep instead. He wrote: “Theresa @theresamay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!” Twitter users were also quick to point out that the president had tagged the wrong Theresa in his message.

He posted the same message a few moments later with the correct Twitter handle. The firestorm over Trump’s move on social media came during a fierce debate in Britain as to whether he should be invited on a state visit. Tory communities secretary Sajid Javid was the first member of Theresa May’s cabinet to respond to Trump’s retweeting of the Britain First videos. Javid claimed on Twitter that Trump “has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing”. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been a target of Trump on Twitter in the past wrote: “Britain First is a vile, hate-fuelled organisation whose views should be condemned, not amplified.” Furious MPs insisted Trump was “not welcome here” following the Twitter posts but No 10 said his invite to come to Britain on a state visit still stands. The storm over the posts — first shared by Britain First’s deputy leader —

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deepened as the widow of murdered MP Jo Cox accused him of “spreading hatred”. The furious backlash came after the 71- year-old president retweeted content posted by Britain First’s Jayda Fransen.

Labour politician Cox was stabbed and shot outside her constituency office in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June 2016 by a man who shouted “Britain First”. The first video retweeted

by Trump was claimed to show

a “Muslim migrant” beating up a Dutch boy on crutches. But Dutch media this afternoon said the video was “fake news”.

The video features a born and raised Dutch man and no reports have detailed the suspect’s religion. Trump also retweeted a video of a Muslim man “destroy(ing) a statue of Virgin Mary”, and another where Fransen wrote: “Islamist mob pushed teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”

Brit volunteer in Syria to fight ISIS dies trying to clear mines AN untrained British volunteer, who joined joined Kurdish armed groups in their fights against ISIS, has been killed in Syria. Oliver Hall, 24, from Portsmouth, died while trying to clear mines in Raqqa. He left Britain to the war-torn country in August to fight for the YPG group, with no previous military training. Kurdish sources in London said he was killed in the incident on Saturday. Hall becomes the seventh British man to be killed by the Kurdishled group. A statement from Mark Campbell, co-chairman of the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign, said: “It is with deep regret and sorrow that I can confirm via Kurdish sources in Syria that Ollie Hall, a UK national who travelled to Syria

in August to help in the liberation of the Isis city of Raqqa with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fell on 25 November from an explosion of ordnance left by Daesh after the liberation of the city. Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Ollie at this time.” Kevin Benton, an ex-soldier and British volunteer who met him in Syria, said: “He was so willing to learn, always asking questions and taking everything in. He wanted to stop ISIS.” Hall travelled to Syria, via Iraq, and took part in a training academy with YPG armed units, according to his friends. After two weeks of military training he joined the international wing of the group, mainly made up of British and American volunteers.

The provenance of the footage is unknown. The row casts fresh doubt on the prospects for Trump’s state visit, which has been repeatedly pushed back since May extended the invite in January.

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Revealed: Files of Assad’s war crimes THE room looks harmless enough, with dull grey shelves and stacks of cardboard boxes packed to overflowing with maps of the Middle East and documents filled with Arabic script. Yet, the location of this repository in the centre of Europe is a closely guarded secret. To reach the office you climb several flights of stairs in a building deliberately chosen to avoid the prying eyes of those desperate to destroy the evidence of unspeakable horrors recorded in meticulous files housed within its bare walls.

This reporter is ushered towards a locked door which is opened so he can make way inside and open one of the thousands of brown boxes that fill the room.

The first contains military maps covered in fluorescent markings that detail troop movements, weapons installments and a battle plan. Beneath this are scores of documents filled with Arabic writing. Some have official-looking government stamps. Others are pockmarked with holes from bullets. There is a safe containing seized computers and some phones in

bags. Their contents offer clues to the most hideous tales of death and depravity, of barbaric torture, and hospitals turned into charnel houses, often written in the banal language of bureaucrats covering their backs. In one document, a Syrian army officer tries to dodge blame for the death of a young man in his custody after beatings to his stomach and genitals.

Another makes reference to a fridge that is ‘full of unidentified corpses that have disintegrated’. For this innocuous room contains 800,000 pages of potential evidence to build a case that may lead to the most significant war crimes trial since Nuremberg, one that could match The Hague’s current International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and make last week’s suicide in its dock by a former Bosnian-Croat general seem like a bizarre footnote in history. One room houses the case against Syrian president Bashar Assad and his genocidal cronies. Indeed, some of the documents here are even signed by the dictator himself.

Yet, more papers could assist prosecutions against ISIS leaders and are being used to help European governments vet returning jihadi recruits. Each document, each map, each phone, each computer was sneaked out of Syria or Iraq at huge personal risk. At least one brave smuggler has been killed and others have been locked up as they sought to help expose

murderous activities and systemic abuse by the chief perpetrators of Syria’s civil war.

This treasure trove was stashed away in homes and warehouses, sometimes even buried in fields, then ferried out in boxes, suitcases and lorries.

The aim is simple: to build a case to prove guilt for state

Mugabe’s daughter was building lavish home on state land

ROBERT Mugabe’s daughter hired Chinese builders to construct a new home for herself on state land earmarked for a school. Bona Mugabe, 27, the former Zimbabwean leader’s eldest child, was planning to add to her family’s property empire

with a hillside sprawling mansion on Umwinsidale Road on the outskirts of Harare. Construction has already started there, but when the dictator was ousted from his throne, the contractors downed tools and removed their bulldozers and equipment. But damage to the hillside has already been done with a huge slice of land cut out of the land. Police are still guarding the area, which is littered with concrete

foundations, scaffolding and pipes, and told the Sunday Telegraph the Chinese builders had left the site. Neighbours said Bona and her 40-year-old husband first turned up in June and the first piece of foundation was laid down in October. But when Mugabe’s reign looked to be under threat, the work stopped and the cranes and personnel vanished.

It would have been another addition to the family’s enormous empire, which will go untouched due to Mugabe’s resignation deal.

Bona’s mother Grace Mugabe has several properties dotted around the country and beyond worth more that a million dollars. Rusty Markham, councillor for Movement for Democratic Change Party, said: “This was City of Harare land.

Planning years ago was that a school would have been built on this site. It’s a mystery how this couple landed up with this property.”

atrocities. But there is a twist — this is the first such war crimes probe run by a private, non-profit body.

“The symbolism is important,” said Bill Wiley, the veteran war crimes investigator heading the bold project. “We want to prove there is not impunity for anyone. Assad is the worst

criminal in the region and he should not be above the law.”

Last month former BosnianSerb commander Ratko Mladic — the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ — was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted of crimes against humanity more than two decades after orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre. This marked the conclusion of the United Nations-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. After 24 years of dogged work, the body secured 83 convictions, including major war criminals such as Slobodan Praljik, who drank poison last week in court as a judge rejected his appeal against a 20-year sentence.

Belgium prince cries foul at 15% pay cut A SCANDAL-prone Belgian prince has said that the government’s proposal to cut his £264,000 (‘2.2 crore) allowance is a ‘violation of human rights’ that he may appeal to the highest European court. Prince Laurent, the younger brother of King Philippe of Belgium, caused a diplomatic incident when he visited a celebration honouring the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army on July 19 at the Chinese Embassy in Brussels. It caused a scandal in Belgian royalty and governmental circles as nobody authorised the prince to visit the celebration on behalf of Belgium. His various gaffes and scandals have led to the former military helicopter pilot being nicknamed The Cursed Prince (Le Prince Maudit). One of the preconditions of 54- yearold Prince Laurent’s state

income of £264,634 (‘2.3 crore) is that the scandal-prone prince is not allowed to have contact with foreign dignitaries without authorisation. Even though reports first stated that Prince Laurent might lose his entire stipend, it was eventually proposed by Belgian PM Charles Michel and King Philippe that a partial retraction of Laurent’s stipend might be more suitable. The proposal, which advocates to cut Prince Laurent’s stipend by up to 15 per cent a year, will be decided upon by the Belgian government next week. Now Prince Laurent has fired back at losing part of his stipend as according to local media his lawyer sent a seven-page letter to Michel. According to the lawyer, the law on which the Belgian government is using to cut the stipend contradicts the country’s constitution and violates human rights.

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Elaborate maneuvers to bring different kinds of business, key people and projects together are crowned with success this week. Your management skills and gift of communication earn you the support of associates, friends and family. Your social circle widens and keeps you busy this week. It’s best to face difficult people and situations squarely rather than trying to avoid them. Personal relationships are loving and caring. Beware of exhaustion, mental stress and depression as you are sensitive. A positive approach gets you past most hurdles. You work well with others to create a harmonious environment.

You may find yourself blocked and unable to express true feelings and creative ideas in a prestigious project as some competitive associates are pushy and vying for attention this week. You have a lot of energy and sensitivity in personal relationships but find it hard to say what you want as you are unsure of reciprocation. It is time to breakthrough old restrictive and negative patterns in personal and professional relationships and make a new beginning with a balanced, positive and receptive attitude. Before making judgments, be sensitive, listen to the other and feel the energy that comes through.

You are likely to go through an experience that transforms you this week. The tremendous energy you draw from life enables you to start professional ventures and take on new assignments. Personal relationships become stronger as you go through a touching and revealing experience with your partner. Inner transformation is likely to begin at this point and take you towards growth, understanding and outer changes. You can no longer play roles and be restricted by them. Your persistence takes you towards completion of projects. This is a good time to attempt difficult tasks and encounter tough people.

Major happenings and changes at work and at home can throw you to begin with but prove to be gainful. This week there is likely to be destruction in long standing situations and relationships for them to change and evolve. It’s best to look at new directions and be open to fresh opportunities as you restructure plans and ideas.

You modernize and streamline old systems and machinery for better production and quality. Face opposition and competition rather than escape, as you are strong and forthright in any controversial aspect. Endings and beginnings should be taken in your stride this week!

You may be disappointed in relationships and disillusioned in work situations, as expectations are not fulfilled. It is best to move forward with selfesteem and confidence to avoid further disappointment as you prove to be right in your approach and achieve success independently. There can be a temporary delay in receiving finances or contracts but don’t allow that to dull your enthusiasm and spontaneity.

You are rewarded with success and new opportunities soon. You have great energy and drive to achieve business goals and targets. Do not allow emotions to influence professional decisions.

Love and happiness are reflected in personal relationships this week! True feelings are reciprocated and you are emotionally fulfilled in a lasting relationship. You gain professional credibility through creative and productive work in a special field of activity.

Children, family and loved ones gather around you to celebrate life. Friends may become partners and partners may become friends as the tide turns and attitudes change. Spending time in happy activity with someone special can be rejuvenating.

Business collaborations and personal partnerships are stimulating. Trust your intuition this week!

Things happen very quickly at work and at home this week!

It’s important to keep your wits about you as you may need to make snap decisions and take up professional opportunities and challenges! You fall in love with a new person or idea, which changes your priorities and perspective for a while. Visitors and communications from overseas are cheering.

Surprises related with family and friends are on the cards! Your social life picks up momentum again after you come out of your proverbial shell, and start meeting more people. This is a time of change on many levels and it promises adventure and growth.

IIt’s a good time to make breakthroughs at work and changes at home since good fortune is with you. You can turn situations around towards a positive direction.

A pleasant surprise is on the cards! An unexpected opportunity or development in business proves to be gainful for your career. Love and romance brighten your week. You get past health problems quickly and get ready for a happy journey outside the country. A gamble pays off at this point so don’t be afraid to take a quantum leap into the future. Remain centered within to watch the wheel of life spinning around you.

You have the courage and forbearance to face personal difficulties and take up professional challenges this week. All your hard work makes victory possible.

Relationships could be strained this week if you are not clear about intentions. Health can be regained by avoiding mental tension and taking things in your stride. Don’t allow others to take advantage of your good nature and drag you in their personal conflicts and problems. You carry on doing what you must, regardless of low energy and tension. You are quite admirable in your efforts to stand up for justice and fairplay. A Leo person is supportive.

A time of endings and beginnings can be exciting and rejuvenating this week! You are likely to meet a wonderful person who fascinates you. You are able to kick old habits and adopt a healthier lifestyle with more time for meditating and relaxing. Redecorating office space, spring cleaning and moving things around at home changes ambiance and energy. A need for change in routines leads you to reassess situations, targets and responsibilities. A fresh approach to the same old problem resolves an important issue.

Keep priorities in mind as you meet new people; make fresh business connections.

You are skillful and industrious to achieve goals and targets this week.

However, you need to avoid, ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ attitudes at work. You can gain much from intelligent handling of resources.

Adhering to your priorities would be gainful in every way. Personal relationships are full of deep feelings but you need to wait patiently for the right time to expose them. Just as large leaves protect the delicate blossoms, you need to hold your love and plans for the future inside you till the right time. Working behind the scenes is more important than being out there, for now.

You are individualistic and brilliant in professional aspects this week. You make a difference with original and daring concepts in creative ventures. You infuse love and romance in personal relationships. Youthful energy allows you to indulge in busy schedules.

Beware of depleting energy in social obligations and meaningless relationships. You are strong and masterful while handling family situations and conflicts at work. New developments in the professional area bring opportunities for expansion and change. Be careful when making financial commitments and long term undertakings.

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Technology Data-friendly Twitter Lite now available in 24 countries San Francisco After a successful trial in the Philippines, Twitter has rolled out its data-friendly “Lite” Android version in 24 countries across

Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

Available in Google Play Store, Twitter “Lite” (under 3MB size) loads quickly on 2G and 3G networks and offers offline support in case users temporarily lose connection.

Twitter Lite will be available in Google Play Store in 24 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America, specifically: Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Serbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Tanzania, and Venezuela.

Twitter ‘Lite‘ is yet to come to India.

Just like Facebook ‘Lite,‘ it offers a data saver mode to download only the images or videos users want to see.

“In April, we launched Twitter `Lite`, a new mobile web experience that minimises data usage, loads quicker on slower connections, and is more resilient on unreliable mobile networks,” wrote Jesar Shah, Product Manager at Twitter, in a blog post on Friday.

“Since then we`ve seen an increase in engagement — for example, tweets sent from Twitter Lite have increased more than 50 per cent,” she added.

In September, Twitter made it available in the Google Play Store in the Philippines.

“Through on-the-ground user research and Play Store reviews, we received a lot of valuable feedback. Based on these positive results, we have decided to bring it to more people around the world,” Shah said.

The company has 330 million monthly active users, 80 percent of whom are outside the US.

Study claims excessive smartphone use may increase suicide risk in teens New Delhi While technology has certainly made life convenient, it is also a major contributor of numerous health issues, especially among the youngsters.

According to a study, teenagers who spend more time on smartphones and other electronic screens may be at the risk of developing depression and suicidal tendencies.

While excessive smartphone use has previously been linked to sleep deprivation in teenagers, some studies have also highlighted their impact on teens’ mental health.

A recent study also said that spending more time on cellphones, tablets or playing computer games increases the risk of depressive disorders or induces suicidal tendencies in teenagers.

The new study, conducted by researchers from the Florida State University in the US, said screen time should be considered a modern-day risk factor for depression and suicide. “There is a concerning relationship between excessive screen time and risk for death by suicide, depression, suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts,”

Google detects spy app stealing info from social media, phones New Delhi Google has detected an app ‘Tizi’, which has been stealing information from call records and also from social media apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and

also take pictures from mobile phones without even displaying them on screen of the device.

“Tizi is a fully featured backdoor that installs spyware to steal sensitive data from popular social media applications. The Google Play Protect security team discovered this family in September 2017 when device scans found an app with rooting capabilities that exploited old vulnerabilities,” a post on Google security blog said.The company has removed the app from Play Store, notified all known affected devices and suspended account of the app developer, the post dated November 27 said. The post said that earlier variant of Tizi did not had rooting capabilities but it developed later on and thereafter started stealing sensitive information from devices.

“The rooting capabilities give an app full control of the device. It can bypass all restriction posed on it by Android security system. An app with rooting is like a user using the device. Presence of such app on Google Play Store raises concerns around secure apps on the app store,” cyber security expert Jiten Jain said.

The post said that after gaining rooting capability, Tizi steals sensitive data “from popular social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, LinkedIn, and Telegram.”

The backdoor capability of Tizi were common to commercial spyware, such as recording calls from WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype, sending and receiving SMS messages, and accessing calendar events, call log, contacts, photos, Wi-Fi encryption keys, and a list of all installed apps “Tizi apps can also record ambient audio and take pictures without displaying the image on the device’s screen,” the post said.

The post said that in and after April 2016 vulnerabilities in devices which could have been affected by Tizi were fixed with new software codes. “If a Tizi app is unable to take control of a device because the vulnerabilities it tries to use are are all patched, it will still attempt to perform some actions through the high level of permissions it asks the user to grant to it, mainly around reading and sending SMS messages and monitoring, redirecting, and preventing outgoing phone calls,” the post said.

said Thomas Joiner, from the Florida State University.

“All of those mental health issues are very serious. I think it’s something parents should ponder,” he said.

The researchers discovered that 48 percent of teenagers who spent five or more hours per day on electronic devices reported a suicide-related behaviour. That compared to 28 percent of adolescents who spent less than an hour using electronic devices.

The results, published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, clearly showed that teens who spent more time on the devices were more likely to be unhappy. Those who focused more on non-screen activities

like sports and exercise, talking to friends face to face, doing homework and going to church were more likely to be happy.

Depression and suicide rates for teens between the ages of 13 and 18 increased dramatically since 2010, especially among girls, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study identified excessive use of electronic devices as a likely culprit.

According to CDC statistics, the suicide rate increased 31 percent among teenagers from 2010 to 2015, while a national survey shows that the number of adolescents reporting symptoms of severe depression rose 33 percent.

Google Datally app: Know how to stay under limits of pricey mobile data packages New Delhi Google has introduced an app to help Android smartphone users stay under the limits of pricey mobile data packages.

This app, called Datally, allows users to track their data usage in real time, and get personalised recommendations on saving data along with notifications of public Wi-Fi spots available nearby.

The app is now globally available on the Google Play Store for all phones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher.

Datally is an initiative of Google‘s Next Billion Users division that aims to make Internet services more accessible even in countries with limited technology infrastructure.

Datally helps you to control, save more and do more with your data, Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion

Users, Google, said in a blogpost.

Sengupta has also elaborately explained how Datally helps you save on data.

Understand your data: See your usage on a hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis and get personalized recommendations for how you can save more.

Control your data: Turn on the Data Saver bubble to block background data usage and track real-time data usage while using each of your apps—it’s like a speedometer for your data. You can also block data with one tap if an app’s data usage gets out of control.

Save your data: Sometimes you just need a little more than what you’ve got on your data plan. Datally will tell you if you’re near public Wi-Fi and help you connect. Once you’re done, don’t forget to rate the network quality to help other users.

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Mummified iceman set to be the world’s oldest movie star A film will detail the life of the 5,300-year-old Neolithic hunter

A MUMMIFIED Neolithic male whose corpse was discovered in a glacier 26 years ago will be the focus of a film giving a fictional account of his life. Ötzi’s body was found by German couple Erika and Helmut Simon, who stumbled across the remains, complete with tools and clothing, in the Ötztal Alps of southern Tyrol, Italy. Its skin — covered in 60 tattoos — and other organs were intact and the hikers initially believed the corpse to be new, until forensic scientists found it was the world’s oldest-known human mummy at about 5,300 years old. Nicknamed after the Alpine valley, in which he was found, the Stone Age hunter became the subject of stomach content analysis as thousands of specialists clambered to determine his cause of death. The investigation found he was felled

by an arrow that pierced his left shoulder, leading him to fall, hit his head on a stone and bleed to death. Now, the corpse draws about a quarter of a million visitors annually to the northern Italian mountain town of Bolzano, where he is displayed in a specially designed cold chamber. His popularity over the past two decades means the museum, which can only house 300 people, is soon moving to a new site to accommodate visitor demand.

Breakthroughs establishing facts about how Ötzi lived have allowed German filmmaker Felix Randau to create a feature film about his struggle for survival. Der Mann aus dem Eis (Iceman) is out this month and was shot in the rugged mountains of Bavaria, South Tyrol and Carinthia in Austria.

Randau says his film questions whether humans have

progressed in the millennia leading to the present day and his biopic speculates as to why Ötzi was killed after archaeologists and scientists have failed to offer a concrete

tongue. The pre-Roman and Roman era language was spoken in the eastern Alps and no translation is offered in the film.

Kelab is depicted as a hunter living with goats and pigs,

conclusion. “The figure of Ötzi, with his mythical grandeur, allowed us to look into the past to see what it tells us about the present,” he said. “It raises the question as to whether humans have really changed at all and developed over 5,000 years.”

Jürgen Vogel plays Ötzi, who is called Kelab in the film, speaking an early version of the Rhaetic

wearing animal furs for warmth and trekking through the treacherous, snowy landscape in an attempt to shield himself and his family from human enemies and the elements. Rituals define his life in the film, which has been praised for its “spectacular locations and pure story telling,” in Screen Daily. Der Spiegel magazine said the film underlines

the universal fascination for Ötzi, who it calls “our bridge to the beginning of humanity” and central to “the search for the origins of our own species”. But science magazine Spektrum der Wissenschaft says Randau missed a chance to celebrate “the cultural achievements that science has discovered”, such as how Ötzi crafted weapons, gathered his food and made his clothes. The South Tyrol archaeological museum, whose experts advised the filmmakers, is bracing itself for a new wave of tourists following the film’s release in three countries while Bolzano’s souvenir shops have stocked up on Ötzi memorabilia. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology director Angelika Fleckinger said: “People are fascinated by the man from the ice – they cannot get enough of him.” The scientists who have kept Ötzi’s remains pristine since the discovery say he is in serious danger of disintegrating due to over-exposure to researchers and public.

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Jonathan, St Helena’s ancient tortoise, awaits visitors JAMESTOWN He is a tourist attraction worth travelling a long way to see Jonathan the giant tortoise is

perhaps the world’s oldest land animal, living in pampered luxury on the remote British island of St. Helena .Aged at least 185 though no one knows for certain - Jonathan should prepare himself for an influx of visitors now that an airport has opened on the small island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean.

The island’s most famous resident, Jonathan slowly roams the lush gardens of the governor’s house, eating carrots, lettuce, cucumber, apples and pears prepared in the governor’s

kitchen.

He appears on the island’s fivepence coin, on immigration stamps, and in old black-and-

white photographs alongside Boer War prisoners in the early 20th century.

“He is an institution, my V.I.P. Very Important Patient,” said his vet Catherine Man, during her weekly check-up of Jonathan , who stretched out his long, wrinkled neck to eat some chopped carrot. “He knows our voices and is very gentle, but it can be a bit dangerous for my fingers when I feed him.

“He has a very set routine, he goes to the same places in the paddock at the same time each

US Congressman John Conyers steps down amid sexual harassment probe WASHINGTON DC United States Democratic congressman John Conyers has stepped down as ranking member of House Judiciary Committee while sexual

harassment and workplace abuse allegations are investigated.

“After careful consideration and in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me, I have notified the Democratic Leader of my request to step aside as Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation of these matters,” CNN reported, citing Conyers as saying in a statement. However, Conyers has

denied the accusations.

“I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger,” the statement added.

A staff member alleges she was fired for refusing to “succumb to sexual advances” from the Michigan Democrat.

As a result of these allegations, the-88-year-old faces a House Ethics Committee probe.Reports say that he had paid 27,000 dollars (20,000 pounds) in 2015 in exchange for the confidentiality of a former staff member who alleged she was fired for rejecting sexual advances.

He was also accused of repeatedly making sexual advances and inappropriately touching other female employees, according to signed legal documents seen by Buzzfeed. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reacted to Conyers`s stepping down.

“Zero tolerance means consequences,” Pelosi said. “I have asked for an ethics investigation, and as that investigation continues, Congressman Conyers has agreed to step aside as Ranking Member. No matter how great an individual`s legacy, it is not a license for harassment.”

day.”

Jonathan originates from the Seychelles but the circumstances of his arrival on St.Helena remain a mystery and the exact year is much disputed.

Some unconfirmed reports suggest 1882 - a few decades after Napoleon died in exile on the island on 1821.

When younger and more agile, he was known for disrupting croquet matches on the governor’s lawn, and for going under tables at tea parties and upsetting the china.

Man, the only vet among the island’s 4,500 population, says he is now blind, has no sense of smell and is already far beyond his life expectancy of 150 years - but otherwise he is in good health with good hearing.

“Reptiles have a slow metabolism, they breathe slowly, they eat slowly, and live a long time,” she said.

“But perhaps his stress-free lifestyle here, and the clean air help explain his longevity.”

St. Helena , located 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometres) from the African mainland, is one of the most remote places on Earth.

Until now, the island’s only link to the outside world was by ship, but the new airport brings tourists on a weekly commercial flight from Johannesburg.

They will be able to visit Jonathan , viewing him and his three younger companions Emma, David, Frederica - from a designated “corridor” to ensure the tortoises are left largely undisturbed.

Canadian charged in Yahoo hacking case to plead guilty in US

Boston A Canadian accused by the United States of helping Russian intelligence agents break into email accounts as part of a massive 2014 breach of Yahoo accounts is expected to plead guilty next week, according to court records.

Karim Baratov, who earlier this year waived his right to fight a US request for his extradition from Canada, is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday for the plea hearing, according to a court calendar seen on Friday.

Baratov, a 22-year-old Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan, was arrested in Canada in March at the request of US prosecutors. He later waived his right to fight a request for his extradition to the United States.

Andrew Mancilla, Baratov’s lawyer, declined to comment. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco did not respond to a request for comment.

The US Justice Department announced charges in March against Baratov and three other men, including two officers in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), for their roles in the 2014 theft of 500 million

Yahoo accounts.

Verizon Communications Inc, the largest US wireless operator, acquired most of Yahoo Inc’s assets in June.

Prosecutors said that the FSB officers, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, directed and paid hackers to obtain information and used Alexsey Belan, who is among the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most-wanted cyber criminals, to breach Yahoo.

When the FSB officers learned that a target had a non-Yahoo webmail account, including through information obtained from the Yahoo hack, they worked with Baratov, who was who paid to break into at least 80 email accounts, prosecutors said.

The individuals associated with the accounts they sought to access included Russian officials, the chief executive of a metals company and a prominent banker, according to the indictment.

At least 50 of the accounts Baratov targeted were hosted by Google, the indictment said.

Tuesday’s proceedings before US District Judge Vince Chhabria are scheduled as a “change of plea” hearing.

Jeff Bezos’ fortune breaks through $100b mark

WASHINGTON Jeff Bezos broke the $100 billion mark for the first time on Friday - one month after he officially became the richest man in the world.Bezos, 53, had flirted with the top spot earlier in the year but inconsistent shares meant he didn’t push past Bill Gates to claim the crown properly until October, when he reached $90 billion.Now he’s topped even that, making $100.3 billion off the back of pre-Black Friday excitement over Amazon’s discounts, Bloomberg reported.

In total, Bezos’ worth shot up $2.4 billion, continuing a phenomenally successful year for the digital mogul, who started

the year at around $65 billion.

The total had dipped slightly to $97.9 billion as of 3pm, but it remains a notable day for the Amazon founder, who has never before broken through the $100 billion threshold.

He also remains well ahead of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who is on $88.9 billion, and third-place financial whiz Warren Buffett, who is worth $78.9 billion.

Amazon shares climbed 5 per cent just this week, as the tech giant continues to expand its footprint in the US to accommodate the public’s growing reliance in online shopping.The National Retail Federation announced recently

that, for the first time, more people are shopping online than in stores this year.

And the amount of money expected to be spent is around $1,000 per person - a record high, and an increase of 3.4 per cent on last year’s figures.

That’s certainly helping Amazon, and its founder.

Of course, with Bezos’ continued rise, questions are being asked about what he plans to do with his extraordinary wealth.

Bezos has given away considerably less than Buffett and Gates - the latter of whom, Bloomberg noted, would be worth $150 billion if he’d kept his fortune to himself.

Instead, he has given away more than 700 million Microsoft shares and $2.9 billion in cash. Bezos, meanwhile, has given away around $500 million in Amazon shares since 2002. He sells $1 billion of Amazon stock every year to fund Blue Origin, his space business.

However, he has shown an interest in spreading his money further, and in June he asked Twitter followers for suggestions on how he could donate his wealth.

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Trump’s chief of staff has clipped his son-in-law Kushner’s wings:Reports Washington Jared Kushner had come to be called the Secretary of Everything as President Donald Trump dumped everything from the West Asia peace process to fixing the government on his table. He was the all-powerful, trusted son-in-law and senior

adviser to the president. But his influence and role has shrunk lately.So has his wife Ivanka Trump’s, according to The New York Times, which said in a report that the power couple is in the cross-hairs of Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly, a retired marine corps general who has sought to bring discipline and order to a free-wheeling, chaotic White House.White House watchers around the world, and specially in India that hosts Ivanka Trump later this week at the Global Entrepreneurial Summit in Hyderabad, will take note as they struggle to understand an administration that has seemed unpredictable with shifting power centres.

Kelly has denied he wants to oust Kushner and Ivanka Trump but, according to aides cited in multiple news reports, he wants them, at least Kushner, to find a place in the chain of command in the White House, and report to him. That was the condition he had put forward for accepting

the job, said the reports.

Kushner is seen and heard a lot less, which his allies have said, according to The Washington Post, is in line with his natural inclination to stay in the background and not seek the limelight. And that the order instilled by Kelly has, in fact, been liberating for Kushner, letting him focus on his work.

“The order allows this place to function,” Kushner said about his changing role in a rare interview to The Washington Post. “My number one priority is a highfunctioning White House because I believe in the president’s agenda, and I think it should get executed.”

And he still has the backing of

Chinese police detain woman suspected of abusing children Beijing: Authorities in China say they have detained a woman suspected of abusing children at a Beijing kindergarten run by a US-listed company in a case that has caused nationwide anger.

Police said on an official microblog account Saturday that an investigation into a kindergarten run by Beijing-based RYB Education has led to the criminal detention of a 22-year-old female teacher on suspicion of abusing children.The statement did not provide further details.The scandal in Beijing erupted after the influential newsmagazine Caixin and other Chinese media quoted some parents as saying their children were forced to strip as punishment and were found with unexplained apparent needle marks on their bodies.The claims could not be independently verified.

Ahmadi mosques get airport-style security in Britain London The Ahmadiyya community in the UK is introducing airport-style security at its many mosques and centres across the country after receiving death threats from other Muslim groups.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK (AMC), which represents an estimated 30,000 Ahmadis, launched walk-through metal detectors, identity checks and bag searches to screen visitors and worshippers for knives and firearms recently at the Baitul Futuh mosque in south London.The minority Islamic sect, which is disowned by some Muslims, has also sought Scotland Yard’s intervention over the death threats to its leader Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, The Sunday Times reports.

Farooq Aftab, a spokesperson for the AMC, said while it was common for Ahmadis to be persecuted in countries such as Pakistan, similar violent and divisive behaviour should not be tolerated in Britain.

“People who don’t think we are Muslims are entitled to their own point of view, but a line must be drawn because violence cannot be justified. We can disagree, but we have a right to freedom of religion,” said Aftab. “Our community is under attack by extremists but our commitment to peace and love is unshakeable,” he added.

Ahmadis, who make up 1 per cent of the UK’s 3 million followers of Islam, are persecuted in some countries because of their religious beliefs.

the president, who told the Times, “Jared has been very effective since the earliest days of the campaign and the same is true today. He understood the movement then and has been helpful implementing the agenda the American people voted for since.”

For a time in the early days of the Trump presidency, Kushner’s expanding role in the administration as he was assigned the West Asia pease process that has defied a resolution for decades now, the office of innovation, Canada, Mexico and China had earned him the snarky sobriquet “Secretary of Everything”.

Also, as someone close to Trump, he was instrumental in decoding the unpredictable and mercurial president for aides, and, in later months, took on the White House group led by the then chief strategist Steve Bannon that was pushing the president towards hardline isolationist policies.But his role has also come under scrutiny in relation to the ongoing Russia investigations. Though he has not been interviewed by the FBI probe being conducted by the special counsel, which has handed out three indictments so far, Kushner has been questioned in congressional hearings.But he is not going anywhere, for now. He told the Washington Post that when he and his wife reassessed their situation past July, they reached a decision: “We’re here to stay”.

He added: “My wife asked me the other day if we should be looking at new houses, so that’s a good sign.”

Allegations of sexual assault by 4 women

New York In fresh trouble for former US president Bill Clinton, four women have made fresh allegations of sexual assault against him.

According to Daily Mail, the former president allegedly assaulted the women in early 2000s.

The women, who have made the allegations, were at the time of incident employed at the organisation of Ron Burkle, playboy billionaire investor.

However, reports also say that the incidents took place after Clinton was out of the White House.The Telegraph reported that the incidents might have occurred when Clinton helped Burkle in his business and flew around in his private luxurious jets with flock of young women.

Though the complainants remain anonymous, but they are reportedly planning to file four separate lawsuits against the former US president.

Clinton has faced many cases of sexual assault and harassment. The most famous case against him is concerning her affair with Monica Lewinsky, who was an intern at the White House. The scandal came to light

in 1998.

Years later, addressing Forbes’ Under-30 Summit, Lewinsky had narrated how she was the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet as overnight she went from being a “completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one”.

A “tell-all” book released in 2014 had also claimed that Clinton’s steamy phone sex with Lewinsky was used for blackmail

by Israel.Author Daniel Halper had also claimed that the former US president included British actress Elizabeth Hurley on a “hit list” of women he wanted and that UK, Israeli and Russian spies monitored the X-rated calls, the Mirror reported.

The book `Clinton, Inc.` claims while Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu used the tapes to try to get Clinton to free Jonathan Pollard, an American jailed for spying for the Middle East country.In the run up to the US presidential elections 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton, the wife of Bill Clinton, had said that she had “moved on”. Clinton had said she was unwilling to talk about the scandal that nearly ended her husband’s presidency.

South Africa launches campaign against gender-based violence Cape Town South Africa has launched the ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’, amid rising incidents of violence against women and children.

Susan Shabangu, Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Women, represented President Jacob Zuma at the launch ceremony on Saturday in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Violence against women and children continues every day in South Africa, Shabangu said, adding: “We cannot allow ourselves to be defeated by this scourge.” She pointed to “the worst and most shocking incidents of violence against women and children” this year, particularly at schools, which are meant to be safe havens for children.

South Africa is among the countries that have the highest rate of violence against women and children. According to the South African Medical Research Council, a woman is killed by an

intimate partner every eight hours in South Africa.

The South African government has declared violence against women and children a strategic crime-prevention and policing priority.

To curb rising violence against women and children, South

institutional arrangements to respond to violence against women and children.

Shabangu said the success of the 16 Days of Activism campaign rests on every South African citizen and collective actions to safeguard their society against this cycle of

Africa has reinstated specialized Sexual Offences Courts to speedily handle cases of this kind, Shabangu said.

The government has also put in place several progressive and comprehensive laws, policies, support systems and

abuse.As a worldwide campaign initiated in 1991, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is held from November 25 to December 10 every year, with the participation of more than 3,700 organisations from about 164 countries.

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Nabha jailbreak: Year on, two still at large Patiala A year after six prisoners escaped from the Maximum Security Jail, Nabha, two of them are yet to be re-arrested — gangster Harjinder Bhullar alias Vicky Gounder and militant

Kashmir Singh Galwadi.

Fourteen armed gangsters, many of them dressed as cops, had attacked the jail on November 27 (Sunday) last year.

Firing shots, they had taken just a few minutes to execute their plan, even as the jail officials had failed to retaliate.

The escapees included Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh alias Mintoo, Gurpreet Singh

Sekhon alias Sonu Mudki, Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol and Amandeep Dhotian (they were later nabbed).

An inspector, a sub-inspector and a DSP, all posted in Nabha, were issued showcause notices

for allegedly helping jailbreak conspirator Ramanjit Singh alias Romi flee India by returning the passport confiscated from him at the time of his arrest.

Almost a year after the probe was ordered, no action has been taken. The police had arrested then Assistant Jail Superintendent Bhim Singh, head warder Jagmeet Singh and Tejinder Sharma, who runs Shagun Sweet Shop in Nabha,

on the charges of conniving with the escapees and facilitating the jailbreak.

Documents accessed by The Tribune reveal that the Punjab Police top brass and the Prisons Department “ignored an internal security review and suggestions that clearly indicated a desperate attempt to flee Khalistani terrorists”. The report was sent to the police headquarters a month after the 2015 attack on the Dinanagar police station. It had flagged many shortcomings in prison security and proposed “urgent steps”, many of which were taken only recently.

The report said, “Jail employees perform their duties with outdated 3x3 rifles. Kindly replace these weapons with modern and efficient AK47s, SLRs and LMGs on a permanent basis from the Central Armoury, Bahadurgarh.

The jail authorities’ demand for four SLRs and four carbines with sufficient ammunition has been fulfilled, but this arrangement is temporary.”

The Prisons Department still suffers from shortage of manpower and sophisticated weapons. In the past one year, the department has seen three DGP-level officials taking over, only to be shunted out later.

Woman raises more than $60,000 for homeless man who helped her

PHILADELPHIA A New Jersey woman who was helped by a homeless man after she ran out of gas on an interstate inPhiladelphia has raised more than $60,000 for the good Samaritan.

Kate McClure, 27, started the Gofundme.com campaign earlier this month after she said she ran out of gas on Interstate 95 and a homeless man,Johnny Bobbitt Jr., walked a few blocks and bought her some with his last $20.

McClure said she didn’t have any money to repay him at the time but returned to the road several times to give him cash, clothes

and food.After a few visits, she started the fundraiser with the hopes of using the money toward housing and other expenses for the 34-year-old Bobbitt.

“I wish that I could do more for this selfless man, who went out of his way just to help me that day,” she wrote on the fundraising page. “Truly believe that all Johnny needs is one little break. Hopefully with your help I can be the one to give it to him.”

Donations have poured in, and the fundraiser has shattered its goal of raising $10,000 for Bobbitt. About 2,000 people had given to the campaign by Wednesday evening.

Oklahoma School Teacher Was Waiting to Have Sex With Her Student In Candle-Lit Room, Arrested Oklahoma: A 22-year-old Oklahoma teacher has been arrested for having sex with a high school student after the boy’s parents reported nude photographs and text messages on their son’s phone to the Sherrif.

The accused identified as Hunter Day, a chemistry teacher working at the Yukon High School in Oklahoma was arrested on Wednesday after school authorities said they checked the boy’s phone to confirm a meeting and found that Day was sitting on her living room floor with the lights off and candles lit.

Family thought he was settled in Italy, but Punjab youth was making his bones as gangster Shera Fatehgarh Sahib Sorrow sits still in the courtyard of a two-room home in the fields of Majri Kishnewali village near Amloh in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district. It is the abode of Balvinder Singh, 43, a retrenched worker from Saudi Arabia because of a chronic heart problem and his wife Surinder Kaur, 41.

The two seem shocked into resignation that their son, just 21 years old, who they thought was ‘set’ (Punjabi usage for settled) in Italy, has been arrested for seven high-profile killings since 2016.

“We did not even know that he was here. We have not seen him since last year but on video calls,” says Balvinder. “His name was Hardeep Singh and this ‘Shera’ (is something) we are just hearing of now,” says Surinder, almost unable to relate the two faces of her son.

Police sources say Hardeep took on the name Shera after Khuban Shera, a gangster of Khuban village in Fazilka, who was allegedly killed in an encounter with the Punjab police in Bathinda in 2012. Hardeep even had a lion tattooed on his chest, which, besides his bushy eyebrows, was what helped the police in tracing him.

No one in the village wishes to talk about Hardeep, even if it was merely to enquire the route to his home. Brusquely, villagers either point to areas beyond into the

holding here,” says Singh.

Hardeep’s story of moving away from his biological parents begins when he was barely nine or 10, when his father’s elder

worked with his uncle. A few years ago, they had a falling-out over differences between the uncle and the father over a small piece of land. Hardeep just left.

fields, or simply, “No Hardeep Singh or his family have ever lived in this village.”

Fall of fortune: However, Baba Jeet Singh, an old village preacher, opens up to tell of the woes that befell the family and how they lost their land. Singh now owns the other half of the divided home that is more posh with sloping, tiled roof and a swan-shaped water tank. This portion belonged to Daljit Singh, the elder brother of Balvinder, until he sold it off to build a home in Amloh town.

“The fields surrounding the two homes were sold off though their grandfather had a large land-

brother Daljit Singh took him while going to Italy. “Our fortunes were completely fallen and we were left with a small land holding. My brother decided to move to Italy and I twice went to Saudi Arabia,” says Balvinder.

He says he worked there for eight years the first time and went back to work for two more years before he was relieved by the company after suffering a heart attack. “He was told to undergo operation but we did not have the money so he is just taking medicine,” says Surinder.

Fitness freak Their son, fluent in Italian, dropped out of school and

“Two years ago, he told us that he was going to work on his own.

He also said that he was cutting off his hair as he was not getting a job with his turban,” the mother says. When asked what he did in Italy, she hesitates and adds: “He told us that he was working as an electrician.”

Did he take to addiction of alcohol or something else? To this question her answer is firm, “Not at all. He would fight with anyone who took a drink, even his own father. When visiting us, he would mostly stay at home

and only in the evenings would he go to the gym. He was always fond of running and exercising.”When asked if they have a picture of him, the mother says softly: “There were seven pictures of him in one fancy frame in the living room but the police took them,” she says, and then adds as though she is asking herself, “Why did they take all of them?” However, the two add that they have not been troubled by the police in any way.The father shares some pictures of him sent on his phone that shows him posing with fitness machines and a board in the background has ‘Hawai Gym’ written on it.

The mother’s last plea to us is not to take her husband’s or her picture as they already felt humiliated enough.

At the Bajwa Gym in Fatehgarh Sahib, opposite the Banda Bahadur College where the police claim to have arrested him, he was known for his prowess at working out with the 100kg bench press and said to have been living in a rented room.

The owner is not there but a notice in the state-of-the-art gym says no one will be allowed to work out without registering their identity cards.

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Saudi crown prince calls Iran’s supreme leader ‘new Hitler’ Riyadh Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has called Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the “new Hitler of the Middle East”

amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

In an interview to the New York Times, Salman said Iran could not be allowed to spread its influence and that it was important to avoid a repeat “of what happened in Europe in the Middle East”.

“We learnt from Europe that appeasement doesn’t work. We don’t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East,” the paper quoted him as saying.

He said Saudi Arabia was slowly

Chinese man tries to feed banknotes to tiger, loses two fingers BEIJING Feeding banknotes to a caged circus tiger proved costly for an elderly man in China as the big cat bit off two of his fingers.

The tiger was part of a circus being staged at Jingziguan in Henan province on Wednesday.

Bai, 65, approached a caged lion and the tiger, trying to feed them banknotes.A video posted online showed that the lion picked up the money and started chewing, but the tiger bit his right hand and would not let it go.Circus staff rushed to his rescue, hitting the tiger with iron bars until it let go of his hand.“He fainted with a bleeding hand. Two fingers were missing,” Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted local media reports as saying.He was rushed to a hospital and is now out of danger.

His middle finger had been entirely bitten off and he lost half of his ring finger, Bai’s granddaughter said.

building a coalition with its allies to “stand up to Iran”.

Saudi Arabia -- a Sunni Muslimmajority country -- and Shia Muslim-led Iran are at loggerheads across the Middle

East and increasingly accuse each other of fuelling instability across the region.

There was no official Iranian reaction to the latest remarks.

Salman has taken a hard line towards Iran since coming to prominence in the past two years.Earlier this month, he accused Iran of what he said was “tantamount to an act of war”, blaming it for a missile attack aimed at the Saudi capital by rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

Iran denied its involvement.

The crown prince also dismissed

claims in the interview that the anti-corruption drive in his country that led to the arrest of several prominent royals was a “power grab”, saying such comments were “ludicrous”, the New York Times reported on Thursday.He said that many of those being held in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton had pledged allegiance to him and the proposed reforms. Adding that he also had the support of most key royals, he said, “Our country has suffered a lot from corruption from the 1980s until today.”

He said that when his father, King Salman came to power, they decided it was time to put an end to the problems tarnishing the country’s reputation.

The crown prince said each of the billionaires and princes accused of corruption was arrested, presented with the evidence and given the choice to come clean. He said about 95 percent agreed to settle, signing over cash or shares in their businesses to the Saudi State Treasury. Mohammed bin Salman also praised US President Donald Trump and described him as the “the right person at the right time”.

Bangladesh arrests militant suspect in US blogger murder

DHAKA Bangladesh police said on Saturday they had arrested an Islamist militant wanted in connection with the 2015 killing of a US blogger critical of religious extremism.

Deputy police commissioner Masudur Rahman said the man, identified as Arafat Rahman, 24, a member of al Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansar Ullah Bangla Team, was suspected of taking part in the killing of writer Avijit Roy.Roy, a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death by machete-wielding assailants in February 2015 while returning home with his wife from a Dhaka book fair. Roy`s widow, Rafida Ahmed, was seriously injured.

Rahman said Hossain, who was identified after analysing CCTV

Pistorius’ sentence doubled to 13 years Johannesburg A South African appeals court increased paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius’ sentence for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to 13 years and five months today.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein more than doubled his original sentence of six years after the state argued that it was unduly lenient.Pistorius, 31, was not in court for the hearing.

Prosecutors argued earlier this month that Oscar Pistorius failed to show genuine remorse after killing his girlfriend.

“One of the essential ingredients of a balanced sentence is that it must reflect the seriousness of the offence,” Andrea Johnson, of the National Prosecution Authority, had told the court.

Pistorius’ lawyer Barry Roux

Man who survived Las Vegas shooting massacre killed in hit-and-run

mounted a strong defence of the judge who handed down the sixyear sentence, saying she took into account his claim that he believed he was shooting an intruder.

The Paralympic athlete shot dead Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013

Cops bust online sex racket; 3 held, Uzbek woman rescued Hyderabad Rachakonda Police busted an online sex racket on Sunday and nabbed three persons on charges of human trafficking.A woman, an Uzbek national who was overstaying in India after her visa expired, was rescued during the operation, the police added.Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said the police, acting on a tip-off, conducted a decoy operation at a hotel and apprehended the alleged racket kingpin Jogeshwar Rao and his associates L Gopal and K Gopi.“Rao had brought the Uzbek woman, in her mid 20s, to Hyderabad from Delhi

footage, was arrested on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, on Friday night.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh of 160 million people has had a string of deadly attacks targeting bloggers, foreigners and religious minorities.

The most serious recent attack came in July 2016, when gunmen stormed a cafe in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka and killed 22 people, most of them foreigners.

Police say the Ansar Ullah Bangla Team militant group is behind the murders of more than a dozen secular bloggers and gay rights activists. They believe a sacked army major, who is still at large, was the leader of the group and masterminded the killings.Al Qaeda and Islamic State have also claimed responsibility for a series of killings over the past few years, including that of Roy.The government has denied the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead. But security experts say the scale and sophistication of the cafe attack suggested links to a wider network.

about a week ago and pushed her into prostitution. The woman has told us she came to Delhi about nine months ago on a six-month tourist visa. Her visa had expired and she was overstaying in India,” Bhagwat said.The officer said Rao was engaging models and women of foreign nationalities in flesh trade as part of his online racket.

The three men were booked for human trafficking, the police said.

On November 23, the Hyderabad Police had arrested a 63 -year-old man and a woman on charge of running a brothel at a flat here. The police had then rescued a 27-year-old woman, who also belonged to Uzbekistan.

when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.

He pleaded not guilty at his trial in 2014 and has always denied that he killed Steenkamp in a rage, saying he mistook her for a burglar.

In 2015, Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given less than half of the minimum 15 years in jail for that crime.

Pistorius was originally convicted of culpable homicide — the equivalent of manslaughter — but the appeal court upgraded his conviction.

Nazreen Shaik Peremanov, a constitutional law expert at the University of South Africa’s law school, said Pistorius could now appeal the latest sentence at the country’s highest court — the Constitutional Court.

But National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said he was pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Las Vegas A man who survived the October 1 mass shooting that killed 58 concert-goers and injured hundreds in Las Vegas has been killed in a hit-and-run in southern Nevada.

Roy McClellan of Las Vegas was killed November 17 while hitchhiking on State Route 160 in Pahrump, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Las Vegas.

His widow, Denise McClellan, told KSNV-TV she can’t understand why her 52-year-old husband survived the shooting, only to die in a hit-and-run. She says the mass shooting “was messing with his head” and that he was undergoing therapy.

The Nevada Highway Patrol says it is seeking the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro with front-end damage. Stephen Paddock unleashed gunfire at an outdoor music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotelcasino before killing himself.

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Uber Paid $100,000 to Hackers to Delete Stolen Data of Millions of Customers

New Delhi The personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber Technologies Inc. has been stolen by hackers and the company reportedly concealed the massive breach for over one year. The cab service provider, this week, fired its chief security officer and one of his deputies for allegedly being involved in hiding the hack. The company even paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep quiet.

The data included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders around the world. Speaking to Bloomberg, Uber told that personal information of about 7 million drivers was also accessed by the hackers however, it claimed that no Social Security numbers, credit card information, trip location

details or other data were taken.

“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,” Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over as chief executive officer in September, said in an emailed statement. “We are changing the way we do business.”

After Uber’s disclosure Tuesday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation into the hack.

The company, speaking about the hack, informed how two hackers gained access to proprietary information stored on GitHub where they stole Uber’s credentials for a separate cloudservices provider and were able to download driver and rider data.

Notably, the data breach comes as Uber looks to improve its image following the tenure of Uber’s founder Travis Kalanick.

UK drone users will have to undergo safety tests under new law London People flying a drone in the UK will have to register and undergo safety awareness tests as part of a planned new legislation on their usage amidst growing reports of near-misses with civilian aircraft.Police will also be given new powers to crackdown on illegal use of the unmanned aerial vehicles, the BBC reported on Sunday. The government hopes to harness new drone technology that could see them used on oil rigs, in construction, for organ transport and parcel deliveries.The bill has been welcomed by the pilots’ union, which has warned of near misses involving drones and aircraft. UK Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said the government wanted to strike the right balance between harnessing drone potential and ensuring they are not misused.

“Drones have great potential and we want to do everything possible to harness the benefits of this technology as it develops,” she said.

“But if we are to realise the full potential of this incredibly exciting technology, we have to take steps to stop illegal use of these devices and address safety and privacy concerns,” she said. This legislation is to ensure that drones can be used safely, while also addressing some of the safety and privacy

Guarantee Safety of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s Wife And Mother, India Tells Pakistan New Delhi India has sought “sovereign guarantee” from Pakistan to ensure safety and security of wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav,

who has been sentenced to death, said Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday. The government also said the wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav along with an Indian envoy would like to meet him in Pakistan.“There was a longstanding request from the mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav to visit Pakistan and meet her son.

Although this request was pending, India has still responded positively to the offer by Pakistan to arrange a meeting of Kulbhushan Jadhav with his wife,” ANI quoted Raveesh Kumar as saying. Pakistan offered a meeting between Jadhav and his wife on “humanitarian grounds.”

“In our response, we have conveyed that the wife of Kulbhushan Jadhav would like to

travel with her mother-in-law for the meeting. We also sought sovereign guarantee from the government of Pakistan to ensure safety, security of both. Also,

during their stay in Pakistan, they should not be questioned or harassed,” the MEA official said.

“We have further asked that a diplomat from our High Commission in Pakistan, shall be allowed to accompany them at all times, including during the meeting,” he added.On November 18, Pakistan said it has received India’s reply to its offer to allow the wife of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife. ”India’s reply to Pakistan’s

humanitarian offer for Commander Jadhav received and is being considered,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

Earlier this year, Jadhav’s mother had filed a visa application with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.Pakistan claims Jadhav is a serving Commander of the Indian Navy and was working for India’s premier intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Islamabad says he was apprehended by law enforcement agencies on March 3, 2016 in Balochistan after he illegally crossed over into Pakistan. India has said Jadhav is a former navy officer and denied he was working for RAW.Jadhav was sentenced to death earlier this year by a Pakistani military court. However, the International Court of Justice ordered a stay in his execution.

New Delhi has repeatedly sought consular access to Jadhav, but Islamabad has denied permission on the ground that such access in cases related to spies was not applicable.

Slice of Princess Diana’s wedding cake up for auction London: A 36-year-old slice cut from the multi-tiered wedding cake served at the royal wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981 is up for auction in the US.The piece of fruitcake, housed in a special box marked on the cover, “CD, Buckingham Palace, 29th July 1981,” is expected to fetch USD 800.It includes the original presentation card, “With best wishes from, Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince & Princess of Wales.” Accompanied by the original mailing package, with label issued to “Mrs J L Faulkner.”

concerns that people have, she said. The British Airline Pilots’ Association said there had been

European public policy at drone maker DJI, warned that some of the proposals may be “difficult to

81 incidents so far this year in the country – up from 71 in 2016 and 29 in 2015. The union’s general secretary, Brian Strutton, said, “These proposals are a step towards the safe integration of drones, but until the new rules are in place the threat of a serious collision remains.” In July, a drone flew directly over the wing of a large passenger jet as it came into land at London’s Gatwick Airport, which a report said had put 130 lives at risk. The proposed bill – to be published in spring 2018 – would ensure that owners of drones weighing more than 250 grams would need to register and sit a test, the report said. Owners would be banned from flying them near airports or at heights above 400 feet.Police could also get new powers to ground and seize drones if they suspect they had been used in criminal activity.

Christian Struwe, head of

police” – for example the height restriction. But he told BBC: “The good thing is that as an industry we are already working on it. We can limit how high they can fly.”

Struwe pointed out currently there is no “hard limit” on how close drones can fly to airports. “The current wording is that you should stay well clear,” he said.

He welcomed the proposals to limit the “bad use” of drones, adding that it was important people are aware there is regulation they need to follow.

Aside from the Civil Aviation Authority’s Drone Code, he said drone users should respect their neighbours’ right to privacy and steer clear of sensitive areas, such as government buildings.

The government is also working with drone manufacturers on technology which produces virtual barriers, to stop the machines operating in restricted areas, the report said.

Meet World’s First Artificial Intelligence Politician ‘Sam’ Wellington Bored with conventional political leaders, a New Zealand based entrepreneur Nick Gerritsen has developed world’s first artificial intelligence politician ‘Sam’. The robot is not only answering people’s questions on policies around housing, education and immigration but wishes to run as a candidate in next general elections in the country too.

Miffed by biased politics, Gerritsen said Sam may still help bridge the growing political and cultural divide in many countries.”There is a lot of bias in the ‘analogue’ practice of politics right now,” said Gerritsen. “There seems to be so much existing bias that countries around the world seem unable to address fundamental

and multiple complex issues like climate change and equality,” he said.

The AI politician is constantly learning to respond to people through Facebook Messenger as well as a survey on its homepage.Gerritsen acknowledges that humans biases can creep into algorithms but he does not view bias as just a challenge to technology solutions.

By late 2020, when New Zealand has its next general election, Gerritsen believes SAM will be advanced enough to run as a candidate.However, it is not legal for AI to contest elections. “SAM is an enabler and we plan to operate within existing legal boundaries,” Gerritsen said.

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5 relationship mistakes you should definitely avoid “Relationships need work!” We hear this a lot. Often we confuse this to be work that has to do be done together and we forget that there are two individuals involved here. But, what really makes for a lasting and happy relationship is the work that we have to do on ourselves. This is commonly called the “space in the relationship”.

Khalil Gibran put it beautifully when he wrote, “And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart.” So here are the common relationship mistakes to avoid:

Lose your identity It’s easy to get carried away when you’re first starting out. Your whole life revolves around this person, and you can’t imagine your life without them. You start dressing in the way your partner likes, listen to the kind of music he or she likes most of the time you’re together, you become a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian to bring in the feeling of togetherness.These might seem like benign adjustments that you are making to bond, but they really become the foundation of your relationship. Where even the bigger decisions become more about how your partner wants to do things and you begin to question your identity.

Everything should be done together One of the best parts of being in a relationship is learning things about each other and doing things together. But, there’s no need to drag him to your girls night out, and there’s no need to make her sit through a cricket match. It’s great to carve out a little time for yourself, it will definitely work wonders for your relationship. It not only gives you time to grow as an individual but it also brings in a fresh breathe in your relationship. And, the fact that it allows you both to miss each other, only tells you how much you both are into each other.

Feel compelled to do things you don’t want to We often fall into this trap to avoid conflict and confrontation. Your partner does not like you hanging out with friends of the opposite sex. A few of them might be your closest pals, yet, you take the decision to cut them out of your life. Your job is too demanding, you need to cut down your responsibilities or worse, quit.

There will be many occasions when you will need to find the middle ground but it should be clearly stated that some things will be sacrosanct, and you both need to figure out how to work around your own insecurities to make it a relationship of trust, respect, and equality.

Thinking that your friends are also his/her friends as well Your friends are an integral part of your life, and that’s great. But, assuming that your friends will become his/her friends is a big mistake. They have their own friends, and they’re definitely interested in meeting and hanging out with yours, but to expect to have a similar level of friendship is an ask that actually just does not make sense. In fact, you should not even ask questions like “do you like my friends?” or “why don’t you like my friends?” Always know that this relationship is between two people and there is no room for a third, even if you have children.

Punjab-origin man gets over 5 years in jail for human trafficking in UK London Harbans Lal Doll, who tried to smuggle 16 illegal migrants – mostly Iraqi nationals – into the United Kingdom in his van across the channel from France earlier this year, has been jailed this week for more than five years.Slough-based Doll tried to smuggle the group of 16 people, comprising 14 Iraqi nationals (three families) and two women from Albania, the Home Office said, adding the group was later passed on to the French Police Aux Frontières.Britain’s Border

Force officers posted at the UK inward tourist controls at the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, France, stopped the hired van on February 12. They questioned the driver, Doll, 61, who was at the wheel. He said he had left the UK the previous day to go to Calais to collect some furniture and had stayed overnight before collecting the furniture that morning.When officers asked to examine the load, they found the van three quarters full of beanbags and chairs with a double mattress stood upright

part way inside the van. Hiding behind the mattress, the officers found the 16 people, including five minors.

Dave Smith of Border Force said: “Doll was arrested and the investigation passed to Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) officers. He was subsequently charged with assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.”Doll pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial at Canterbury Crown Court and was sentenced immediately to a jail

term of five-and-a-half years.

David Fairclough of CFI said: “Though Doll offered no explanation for his behaviour, the judge considered in his sentencing that the motivation

was financial. Offences like this, where individuals take advantage of the desperation of others for personal gain, are among the worst that we deal with at CFI.”

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Docs rule twins dead but family finds one alive THE first motherhood experience of Varsha Bidawat, 21, turned into a nightmare at one of the top private hospitals in the city when doctors declared her premature twins dead right after delivery. But one of them turned out to be alive while on the way to the funeral ground in northwest Delhi. This tragic incident of medical negligence was reported at Delhi’s Max Healthcare in Shalimar Bagh on Thursday, where Varsha was admitted on November 28 after labour pain. While family members alleged medical negligence on part of the doctors, Aashish Kumar, victim’s husband, said: “The doctor informed me that Varsha was in critical stage of labour pain and be admitted in ICU immediately.”

She delivered a boy and a girl on November 30 at 7.42 am. The weights of both the infants were very light. “The doctors declared female infant dead soon after she was born, while male infant was in critical condition. My baby boy was about 75 grams and so, he was advised for three months treatment in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which was costed at `50, 000 per day,” Kumar said.

“Doctors informed us around 1.30 pm that male infant also

died on ventilator. They packed the bodies of both infants in packets and handed over to us,”

he said. Family noticed a slight movement in one of the packets when they were heading towards burial ground. “Both packets of dead infants were carried by my father-in-law and he noticed some movement. We immediately stopped the car and saw that the male infant was breathing,” Aashish said. The family members then rushed to nearby Agarwal Nursing Home at Pitampura and admitted the baby boy who was found alive. According to the

doctors, the baby contacted some infections as he was in plastic bag and therefore was critical. “We have lodged an FIR against Max Hospital at Shalimar Bagh Police Station for medical fault and high medical bills,” said Deepak Kumar, uncle of the infants. Condemning the incident, union health minister J P Nadda ordered an immediate inquiry. “The details of the case need to be verified” and he asked Delhi government to take necessary action. The Centre has asked for a comprehensive report from the state government and hospital within two weeks. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kerjiwal tweeted:

“Enquiry ordered. Strongest action wud be taken if found

Arthur road jail to be Vijay Mallya’s home: India to tell UK court New Delhi Arthur road jail in Mumbai will be the home of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya if he is extradited to India to face the law in

connection with the Rs 9,000 crore loan default cases.

This will be conveyed to a British court next week by India through the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is arguing the extradition case against Mallya on behalf of the Indian government, a home ministry official said.The Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London will be told that it is the duty of the state to ensure security of prisoners and Mallya’s apprehension about threat to his life is “misleading”.The court will be told that the prisons in India are as good as in any other country in the world and prisoners’ rights are fully

protected in Indian jails, the official, who is privy to the responses prepared by the government, told PTI.The move came after Mallya’s lawyers said

that the fugitive businessman’s life may be in danger if he is extradited to India and there were alleged incidents of human rights violations in Indian jails.

The Westminster Magistrates’ Court will start hearing the extradition proceedings from December 4.The London court will be told that there will be no threat to Mallya’s life if he is lodged in Arthur road jail, which is highly secure as per the international standard, rejecting Mallya’s reported apprehension that he will not be safe in Indian jails if sent back home to face trial in the Rs 9,000 crore Kingfisher Airlines loan default cases, another official said, on condition of anonymity.

Adequate medical facilities are available to treat the prisoners in Arthur road jail, where Mallya will get full security cover as an undertrial prisoner, the court will

be told.By making such allegations, Mallya is trying to save himself from getting extradited to India to face the trial in cases of cheating of a consortium of banks, the official said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba last week had a long meeting with representatives of various authorities, including the Ministry of External Affairs, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate and discussed responses to be filed in the UK court.

The central government has already conducted an assessment of security cover given to prisoners in the Arthur road jail so that its findings could be conveyed to the UK court.

Mallya, 61, has been in the UK since March 2016 and was arrested by the Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant on April 18.However, he was soon granted bail by the court.

If the judge rules in favour of extradition at the end of the trial, the UK home secretary must order Mallya’s extradition within two months of the appropriate day.However, the case can go through a series of appeals before arriving at a conclusion.

India and the UK have an extradition treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement.Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was sent to India last October to face trial in connection with his alleged involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.

guilty (sic).” Aslam Khan, DCP of north west district, said: “In case of medical negligence, police generally consults Medical Council of India for its opinion. They constitute a committee of expert government doctors to probe the case.

Further action will be taken accordingly on the basis of report”. Meanwhile, the hospital administration admitted their mistake. “It has been brought to our attention that a pre-mature (22 weeks), new born baby who is reported to be on life support at a nursing home was unfortunately handed over

without any sign of life by Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh. This baby was one of the twins delivered on November 30 morning. The other baby was still-born. We are shaken and concerned at this rare incident.

We have initiated a detailed enquiry, pending which, the concerned doctor has been asked to proceed on leave immediately.

We are in constant touch with the parents and are providing all the needed support,” the statement said. The Delhi Medical Council has taken suo moto cognisance of the case, said Dr Girish Tyagi, registrar, DMC.

Australian ambulance crew takes the dying patient to beach to fulfil her last wish, gets praised on social media Queensland Sometimes, empathy is the most potent medicine for pain.

An Australian ambulance crew understood that when it decided recently to took a quick detour to a beach in order to fulfil the last wish of a dying patient they were carrying.

Queensland Ambulance Service Facebook page posted a note congratulating the crew of Hervey Bay, a city in Queensland, for their act of compassion.

“A crew were transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local Hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again. (sic),’ the department wrote on its Facebook page.

“Tears were shed” and the patient “felt very happy”, according to Helen Donaldson, the officer in-charge of Hervey

Bay, who shared this story with the members of Queensland Ambulance Service.The story melted hearts on Facebook as people congratulated the team and shared similar stories of empathy. “Many years ago a very close friend was getting married (and) on the day of her wedding her mother collapsed as she had terminal cancer. The ambulance was called. Instead of the ambulance taking her to hospital, they went to the church and wheeled her into the church on a stretcher. She watched her daughter get married, she died a few days later. It was a beautiful thought from the ambos there wasn’t a dry eye in the church. The ambos do such a great job in all states of Australia. Thankyou all,” one of users commented.

As many as 61,000 people liked the post and over 19,000 shared it.

Man banned from Nobel Literature banquet amid sex claims

Copenhagen The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Literature Prize, has banned the director of a Stockholm cultural center from attending a Nobel banquet after several women made sexual misconduct allegations against the man.Earlier this week, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter published allegations from 18 women claiming to have been assaulted or raped by the man, who has not been named. He has

denied wrongdoing to the paper.

The cultural centre where the man works has been financially supported by the Academy and its members often attend Academy events.

The allegations prompted the Academy Thursday to strike the man’s name from the guest list for the Dec. 10 Nobel Prize banquet, which follows the award ceremony earlier the same day.

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro got this year’s literature prize.

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No-show at Trump event US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump kicked off the holiday season in the nation’s capital in front of a sparse crowd at Thursday’s lighting of the National Christmas tree. The couple took the stage for the the special event that also included the Pageant of Peace ceremony and was joined by hosts Dean Cain and Kathie Lee Gifford on the White House Ellipse. Among those in attendance were Donald Trump

Jr. and his family, Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump. The president’s oldest daughter, who was sporting an Altuzarra’s AW17 collection Bellasio collarless doublebreasted white wool coat, brought along her young children — Arabella, Joseph and Theodore — and husband Jared Kushner. The president shared on Twitter that he was ‘looking very much forward’ to lighting the tree ‘all year long’, and probably expected a huge turn out for the ceremony. But a photo shared to Twitter by Washington DC’s long-time journalist Steve Rudin captured dozens of empty seats while the event was underway.

In his tweet, Rudin noted that the ceremony was ‘beautiful’, but it was ‘hard not to notice the empty

seats’. Soon enough, the photo went viral with many on social media comparing the empty seats to the lackluster crowd at Trump’s inauguration in January.

The program kicked off with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke introducing the president while speaking from the podium.

‘Merry Christmas, America,’ he said, referring to the glowing tree behind him as ‘another iconic image of this blessed holiday,’ along with nativity scenes, presents, and cookies for Santa. He called Trump ‘a man who loves our parks, loves our military, and loves our country. The man who brought ‘Merry Christmas’ back to our nation’s capital, and you did, sir.’ Trump then spoke for five minutes, and discussed the ‘incredible national Christmas tree’ while noting that the tradition goes back nearly a century. ‘The weather we have is the best it’s been in 25 years. In fact, I said is it always like this. The secretary said it hasn’t been like this for a very long time, so we’re very lucky.’ He noted that President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation marking Christmas as a national holiday.

‘For Christians this is a holy season, the celebration of the birth of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ,’ the president said.

‘There’s hardly an aspect of our lives today that his life has not touched art, music, culture, law and our respect for the sacred dignity of every person, everywhere in the world. ….

Each one of us is a child of God,” Trump added.

How refusing to apologise could make us feel better than saying sorry While we are often told of the benefits of 'coming clean', refusing to apologise can actually make people feel better than those who say sorry, according to a new study.

Scientists have found that the feelings of empowerment that come with refusing to make amends for a mistake can outweigh feelings of relief experienced when saying sorry.Researchers Tyler G. Okimoto, Michael Wenzel and Kyli Hedrick, from the University of Queensland, surveyed 228 Americans and asked them to remember a time they had done something wrong. While most people remembered relatively trivial offenses, some remembered serious offences, including crimes such as theft, NPR reports. The team then asked the subjects whether they had said sorry, or made a

decision not to apologise even though they knew they were in the wrong. They also split the group at random - instructing some to write an email where they apologised for their actions, or compose an email refusing to say sorry.

In both cases, Okimoto said, refusing to apologise provided psychological benefits.

The same thing also happened when people were asked to imagine doing something wrong, and then imagine apologising or refusing to apologise.The research group said it could give an explanation as to why people are so often reluctant to say sorry. Okimoto said when we refuse to apologise, it actually makes us feel more empowered. He said: 'That power and control seems to translate into greater feelings of self-worth.'

Couples caught having sex before marriage could be sent to prison for FIVE YEARS Unmarried singles who have sex in Indonesia could be jailed for up to five years under new laws tabled by the government, it was revealed today.Even couples who live together out of wedlock will not escape the harsh new rules and could be imprisoned for one year if caught in amorous congress.The unusual sex embargo was proposed as part of a raft of new edicts which also includes a ban on witchcraft and black magic which - if proved to have caused 'someone's illness, death, mental or physical suffering' - will carry a five-year prison term.The strict regulations were revealed by the country's Justice and Human Rights Ministry director general for legislation Wahiduddin Adams.'[Singles engaging in premarital sex] is liable for up to five years in jail,' he said, adding: 'Our society is not like in the old penal code that allows this.'

While Indonesia has long followed a moderate version of Islam, an emphasis on Muslim practices and identity with Islamic traditions has gathered pace in recent years.

Beliefs in witchcraft and mysticism are widespread,

Under new Muslim law in Indonesia especially on the main island of Java. Many Indonesians are generally relaxed about homosexuality.The plans are part of efforts to revise sections of the criminal code still largely based on laws of the former colonial ruler, the Netherlands, and have apparently gained the support of other members of the country's parliament.'I think, it would be good if this is regulated,' People's Conscience Party MP Syarifuddin Sudding said.

Parliamentary speaker Marzuki Alle caused international outrage last year when he proposed a ban on the miniskirt, targetting female politicians who chose to wear skirts above the knee.

Mr Alle said he was preparing draft rules banning female politicians and staff members from wearing mini-skirts because 'there have been a lot of rape cases and other immoral acts recently and this is because women aren't wearing appropriate clothes'.

He added: 'You know what men are like - provocative clothing will make them do things.'But Indonesia is not the only nation

with strict laws governing sex.

In November last year, Brit Rebecca Blake was sentenced to three months in a Dubai jail for having drunken sex in the back of a taxi.

The £100,000-a-year recruitment consultant was accused of stripping naked

and writhing on top of Irishman Conor McRedmond, 28, in a Dubai cab.

McRedmond was handed the same sentence for his part in the tryst.

Their taxi driver alerted police after spotting Blake in his rearview mirror with her top off, straddling McRedmond and 'making the sounds of a woman having sex'.They were the latest expats to fall foul of the United Arab Emirates' strict laws preventing drunkenness in public and sex outside marriage. In 2008, Vince Acors, 38, and Michelle Palmer, 40, were

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Let Rahul & Rahane find form in Ranji WATCHING Team India captain Virat Kohli essay his 20th Test ton at Kotla, his home ground, and cross the 5,000 run mark, was a delight. Here is a man who has been complaining about too much cricket to play and incommensurate pay. With the pay issue being sorted out, rightly so, it’s time for the entire team to focus on cricket. On Saturday, at the “newlook” Kotla, where stands and gates have been named after former legends from the Capital, Kohli had to come in earlier than he would have wished. The man is in sublime form and whatever be cricket’s format plus colour of the ball and clothes, he is churning out magic.

Only maestros can come up with such knocks, though the quality of bowling from the Sri Lankans has been pedestrian. It looks good to see the Indian side do well and the bowling department functioning efficiently. There has been talk from captain Kohli about preparing for the big challenge, competing hard against South Africa in the away series, starting end-December.

Kohli has opted out of the ODI series against the Sri Lankans and the Indian

board has handed over reins to Rohit Sharma. Frankly speaking, the men who look after the health of Indian cricket have a few worries to deal with. Kohli has to come in and bat earlier because there are problems with the opening batsmen, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan. Even more worrying is how Ajinkya Rahane has been falling to low scores. Looking at the use of the openers in the three Tests, it’s clear the selectors and the think-tank have given the openers two Tests each.

Murali Vijay has batted beautifully, in true Test manner. Team India will hope he can produce the same quality of play in South Africa where the hostile fast bowlers are expected to play a big role. There is no doubting Rahul’s technique. If he had to be dropped at the Kotla, it’s not without reason. He has found the going tough and would need to do a lot of introspection. Quite often, it’s not a major glitch in batting technique but how a batsman has to deal with inner demons and perhaps spend time in the one format he is best at. India is playing plenty of international cricket across three formats. And it’s here, perhaps, someone like Rahul needs to be treated as Test commodity and not made to travel around with the teams. Test cricket is pure. Test cricket can be testing abroad and there is nothing wrong in wearing a specialist opener’s tag. Ideally, Rahul should be playing more domestic cricket now so that he can regain his touch and

confidence. With Karnataka making it the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, he should be playing in it as that would be better preparation for the South Africa series.

The other worry is Shikhar Dhawan. He

started well on Saturday and then could not build on it. As an aggressive opener who scores at a fast clip, whatever be the format, a batsman like Dhawan cannot be kept away. Yes, India needs him to fire in South Africa where you cannot let the fast bowlers get on top.

Dhawan has a large heart and would perhaps do well to prepare for the South African tour by representing Delhi in the Ranji Trophy knockout. There is simply no point competing in an average ODI series against Sri Lanka. There are

Bumrah in Test squad, Virat rested for T20 vs SL FAST bowler Jasprit Bumrah got his maiden call up to India’s Test squad on Monday. He was named in the 17-member squad picked by selectors for the threeTest series against South Africa, which starts from January 5 in Cape Town. The other two places where India will play are Centurion (Jan 13) and Johannesburg (Jan 24). Keeping in view the fast and bouncy nature of the track, Indian selectors have chosen five specialist fast bowlers while also keeping all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the mix.

The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have all been selected. Bumrah is already a frontline bowler for India in ODIs and T20s. He had a good season with 35 wickets in One-dayers.

Pandya makes a return to the squad after being rested for the Sri Lanka Tests to minimise injury risk. In the batting department, all the three openers Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawn and KL Rahul, who has not been in good form, have made the cut. Cheteshwar Pujara, skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane complete the batting lineup.

While other batsmen have been among runs, Rahane has struggled to score in the current series against Sri Lanka. Rahane, who is

reliable batsman in overseas condition, will continue to be the vice captain of the team. Parthiv Patel has been named as the second wicket-keeper as cover for Wriddhiman Saha.

The selectors, who met in the Capital, also announced the team for the threematch T20 series. Captain Virat Kohli has been rested from the series and Rohit Sharma will lead the side. There are three new faces in the T20 squad — Tamil Nadu allrounder Washington Sundar , Baroda batsman Deepak Hooda and Kerala medium pacer Basil Thampi. Saurashtra seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who last played international match in June 2016, also got a call up.

Team India for three-match Test series against SA: Virat Kohli (Captain), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh, Bumrah.

Team for three-match T20 against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul, Shreyas Sharma, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, M Jasprit Bumrah Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.

enough youngsters who can be given a chance against the Sri Lankans. This is the kind of planning perhaps which skipper Kohli should envisage for the away tour where India do not have a good record against strong teams.

So, what does one make of vice captain Rahane’s rotten run? He is certainly a very dependable bat and what trauma he is going through while falling to poor scores is inexplicable. Batting coach Sanjay Bangar spoke on Saturday evening and suggested Rahane can soon come out of this rut. We would all like him to do that at the earliest.

But then, there’s a case for Rahane to also focus more on Test cricket as he is such an important part of the plans. Playing poor shots and losing his wicket to average spinners makes for bad viewing. Perhaps, he, too, can miss this ODI series against Sri Lanka and iron out the flaws. As one who defines correctness in technique and what a solid approach is to batting, Rahane would do well to spend time away from irrelevant ODIs. The record he holds while batting abroad is so impressive, India would want him in good form in South Africa.

To be sure, blaming cricketers for loss in form does no good. Players who are vital to the Test side and need to be nursed will look up to the strategists who handle Indian cricket. Maybe, coach Ravi Shastri needs to spell it out to the selectors.

Yuvraj Singh not ready to give up on Indian cricket team comeback till 2019 Yuvraj Singh has no qualms in conceding that he has been “failing” but the out-offavour Indian cricketer says he won’t give up on his career at least till 2019.

The 36-year-old all-rounder, who played a pivotal role in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, has been struggling to keep a place in the side for some time now.

“I would like to tell that I am failing. I still fail. I failed the last three fitness tests but yesterday I passed my fitness test.

After 17 years I am still failing,” Yuvraj said. Speaking at an interactive session organised by UNICEF here as part of ‘The Power of Sports to Shape the Future of Adolescents’ campaign, the veteran said his career decisions will be solely decided by him.

“I am not afraid of failure. I have gone through ups and downs. I have seen defeat and that’s what’s the pillar of success. “To be a successful man, to be a successful person in your life, you need failure and you’ve got to be defeated.

That will make you a stronger person and it will take you to the next level,” he explained. Yuvraj said he is not quite sure how many people believe in him given his recent slump but he hasn’t stopped believing in himself.

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Rehab owner rapes minor in city hotel

EVEN a rehab centre isn’t safe for girls in the city. A 17-year-old found this to her horror when she was allegedly raped by the owner of a clinic where she took her alcoholic father for a deaddiction treatment. Astha (name changed), a resident of west Delhi and Class 12 student, had for long been battling the alcohol problem of her father, who had a transport business.

The 42-year-old had repeatedly failed to get over the addiction despite being sent to rehab centres time and again. Worse, his presence in one rehab centre after another would make him more aggressive and violent. But Asha’s worst nightmare began

when she took her father to a rehab centre named Happy Homes in Ghaziabad in July 2016. “I found the contact details of Happy Homes through an online directory portal and found it to be under my budget. They promised to treat my father within six months,” she told this paper. “Being the eldest one in the house, and having a working mother and an alcoholic father, I had to take the responsibility of my younger brother and the house.” Astha’s father was admitted in the rehab, but she was unaware that this would be used as a bait to sexually exploit her. “Two days after my father was admitted, I got a call

from the rehab’s owner who said that my father was psychologically disturbed and wanted to have a word about it. I told him that my mother wasn’t at home and it was impossible for me to visit the rehab centre by myself.” Astha was allegedly offered a pickup. “He (rehab owner) told me that I would not have to come that far, as he would get the father’s psychologist to meet me at a hotel in Mahipalpur.” According to the complaint to the police she went along with him to the hotel and while having a word with the psychologist about the case, she drank a cold drink that was allegedly laced with

Town in Germany seeks money for letting in migrants

THE Christmas market selling Santa chocolates, Advent wreaths and spiced wine is in full swing. In a German town with an unrivalled record of welcoming migrants and making them feel at home, excited children wave from carousel rides as shoppers chattering in German and Arabic mingle. On the face of it, it’s a relaxed scene of which Angela Merkel, the German leader, would surely approve. Except that here in Salzgitter, things are abruptly changing. It’s pro-refugee Mayor has declared a moratorium on any more foreigners coming to join the 5,800 who have already arrived. He admitted a few weeks ago: “Right now, we are overwhelmed. We have received too many in too short a time. The

locals are having fears for the future.” Even the migrants living in Salzgitter, which sits on a lake in Lower Saxony, north-west Germany, agree there is a crisis.

“Not everyone can come or there will be nowhere to sleep and no free chairs in the schools,” says Khaled Rasti, a 32- year-old Syrian from Damascus, who with his wife Slivi, 30, is wheeling twoyear-old Jodi — one of their three children — in a pushchair near the Christmas market. “We have worries,” he says. “I am still learning German. I do not have a job. There are many like me.”

This town’s decision to refuse any more migrants is a slap in the face for Mrs Merkel, who relentlessly lectured her nation that “We can do it’ when she

unilaterally welcomed 1.5 million migrants, many of them Muslim, from the war-shattered Middle East and impoverished African states in 2015. Today, increasing numbers of ordinary Germans feel the influx has been too large and too fast for the incomers to integrate properly. Already, six per cent of the German population is Muslim. And this week an international think tank warned the numbers will only increase, and predicted Europe’s Muslim population could double by 2050, due to migration and high birth rates among those who have already reached the continent.

The Pew Research Centre forecast that if both regular migration and the heavy flows of refugees were to continue, this deeply Christian country will have the highest number of Muslims in the EU, amounting to 17.49 million people or 20 per cent of the population. This uncontrolled immigration is seen as a key factor in the reversal of Angela Merkel’s fortunes. It is directly responsible for the rise of a new anti-migrant party, the radical Right-wing Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), which in September’s national election gained 13 per cent of the vote and its first ever parliamentary seats.

sedatives. Astha told police the next day she found herself on bed without clothes, with the rehab owner sleeping next to her.

“When I confronted him, he said he would get my father killed if I speak a word against him. He even threatened to leak my naked photos and video of the act if I do not obey him.” She claimed that the accused continued to rape her on the pretext of keeping her father alive. Unfortunately, her father passed away in January 2017 during the treatment. “After his death we had to face several financial difficulties. The accused, who had grown familiar with my family, offered to help

us in running the father’s business. He took our trucks but later betrayed when my mother went to him asking for the payment.” Astha broke her silence when she got to know the accused had not only raped her but even financially exploited her family. She claimed that she had to even drop out of the school as the incident left her mentally disturbed. “I kept quiet thinking about my father’s wellbeing. After he was gone, I could not take it further. Knowing that he took the advantage of our loss made me report the crime.”

Police lodged an FIR and booked the accused for sedating, rape and criminal intimidation. They also booked him under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). According to sources, the accused has not been arrested yet. this paper tried to contact the rehab centre as well as the accused, but the numbers provided in the complaint and on online portals were not functioning. The Delhi HC in 2016 was informed by the Delhi Legal Aid Service that an analysis of POCSO judgments of six courts in the Capital — Saket, Dwarka, Rohini, Patiala House, Tis Hazari and Karkardooma — in the last six months found conviction rate was below 20%

Girl forced to kneel for watching porn A SCHOOL in China, which claims to train women to be “virtuous ladies”, has sparked an outcry with its controversial ideology. In the so-called “woman’s morality class” in Fushun, which appeared to be popular, female students are taught that they should be submissive, house bound and

living without any personal pursuits but their husband’s and family’s. Women, who have in the past watched porn, skipped housework and had more than one boyfriend would be condemned by the school which was founded by a man, as video reports on Chinese media show. In addition, the teachers also scold women who use heavy make-up, have career ambitions and have the desire to divorce because “they should live at the bottom of the society”. The school in question, the Fushun Traditional Culture and Education School, is a government certified institute which opened in 2011. In one

video, a young woman was punished for watching porn.

She was told to kneel on a stage and bowing to the camera. The guilt-ridden student apologised to her parents before kowtowing: “Father, mother, I am wrong.”

When a teacher asked her in a soft tone, “Will you watch pornographic videos again?”, the student replied in tears “no”. The teacher, who was wearing a traditional Chinese top and skirt, then said: “Let’s delete all of them when you go home, okay?” The student agreed. It is understood that the incident took place in the school. It was filmed and then played to other students in class. Another audio clip shows a teacher condemning women who order takeaways to avoid washing up dishes as it is a sign of the “loss of female morality”. In a third class, a male teacher can be heard telling women they shouldn’t sleep with more than one man. The man claimed that sperm from three different men could be extremely poisonous and it was the punishment for unfaithful women.

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Health ‘Drastic’ HIV decrease prompted by How unhealthy weight gain cancer drug in lung cancer patient could lead to dementia New Delhi Doctors in France have found the first evidence that a drug normally used to treat lung, kidney or skin cancer may be able to eradicate HIV-infected cells in people with the AIDS virus.

In a case described as potentially exciting by scientists who also advised caution, doctors said

a 51-year old man given nivolumab - sold as Opdivo

by Bristol-Myers Squibb - saw a “drastic and persistent decrease” in the reservoirs of cells where HIV normally hides away and evades standard treatments.

The case, at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital APHP in Paris, was detailed in a report in the Annals of Oncology journal, where the same doctors also gave a case study of another patient treated with Opdivo who did not show any HIV benefit.

“We must remain careful, especially because this is only one case,” said Jean-Philippe Spano, a professor and head of the medical oncology department at the Paris hospital. “This is the first case of such a drastic decrease of the HIV reservoir (but) we have...another case where there was no decrease.”

Some 37 million people worldwide have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. Scientists have for years been trying to find a way of clearing HIV reservoirs with a view to being able to eradicate the virus completely

and cure AIDS. These reservoirs of HIV-infected cells are found in the immune system in places like the brain, bone marrow and genital tract. They lie hidden and dormant, and can’t be reached with standard anti-retroviral therapy HIV treatments.

If standard treatment is stopped or interrupted, the reservoirs seize the chance and the virus starts to replicate and infect more cells, rendering the patient’s immune system too weak to fight back.

“Increasingly, researchers have been looking into the use of certain drugs that appear to re-activate the latent HIV-infected cells,” Spano said. “This could have the effect of making them visible to the immune system, which could then attack them.”

Opdivo, or nivolumab is a PD-1 inhibitor, designed to help the body’s own immune system fend off cancer by blocking a protein called PD-1. It is one of several cancer immunotherapy drugs made by drugmakers including Merck, Roche and AstraZeneca that work in similar way.

In this case, the 51-year-old man had received 31 injections of nivolumab every 14 days since December 2016. He was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1995 and diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in May 2015.

After his first injection, the man’s HIV infection load, which had been low, increased progressively up until day 45, then fell back again. At the same time, the doctors explained - the activity of his immune system increased.

By day 120, the treatment had “resulted in the drastic decrease in the HIV reservoir...leading to a sustained reduction of the HIV reservoirs,” Spano said. Andrew Freedman, an infectious diseases expert at Britain’s Cardiff University, said the case was “potentially exciting”. But like others, he advised caution.

Women more vulnerable to asthma than men – Here’s why New Delhi The absence of testosterone – the male sex hormone – makes women more vulnerable to asthma than men, a study has found.

This is because testosterone prevents lungs from inhaling harmful pollen. The findings showed that testosterone acts on immune cells that act as first line of defenders of the body against invading viruses. These immune cells are linked to asthma symptoms, such as inflammation and mucus production in the lungs, which causes airways to narrow during an asthma attack.

“Initially we thought that ovarian hormones would increase inflammation, more so than testosterone making it better,” said Dawn Newcomb, from the Vanderbilt University in

Tennessee, the US. “I was surprised to see that testosterone was more important in reducing inflammation,” Newcomb said.

Prior studies have showed that

before puberty boys have approximately 1.5 times higher rate of asthma than girls. That trend reverses after puberty, when women are twice likely to have asthma as men.

This pattern continues until women hit menopause, and then the asthma rates in women start to decline, the researchers said.

London In a recent research, a group of scientists have found that being overweight increases the risk of dementia by as much as a third.

According to Express.co.uk, being overweight reduces blood flow to the brain, starving it of

oxygen and impairing mental function. People with a high Body Mass Index in their fifties are far more likely to develop the condition in their seventies, a study of more than 1.3 million people found.

The research shows each fivepoint increase in BMI raises the risk of dementia by between 16 percent and 33 percent.

Experts hailed the research as a wake-up call on the “lifethreatening” health dangers of being fat. Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said, “Linking dementia to obesity may not remotely cross the mind of a chubby 30 or 40-year-

old but, as this paper demonstrates, it certainly should. Ignorance is not bliss.

In old age it can often be lifethreatening.”

Professor Mika Kivimaki, of University College London who led the research, said that in 2015 the number of people with dementia across the world reached almost 45 million, twice as many as in 1990. The study suggests that maintaining a healthy weight could prevent, or at least delay, the onset of the condition.

Professor Kivimaki, of UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology & Health, said this was because patients who had been overweight 20 years earlier often lost weight before their symptoms became apparent.

Kivimaki noted, “In this collaborative study of over 1.3 million adults from Europe, the US and Asia, higher BMI was associated with increased dementia risk when weight was measured 20 years or more before dementia diagnosis. But this association was reversed when BMI was assessed 10 years before dementia diagnosis.”

Daily consumption of cheese linked to reduction in heart attack, stroke risk New Delhi Used as a main ingredient in many dishes and as a taste enhancer in some, cheese is a gourmet lover’s delight.

However, cheese is often on the list of things to avoid for those who want to lead a healthy life. But, cheese lovers now have a reason to rejoice!

According to a new research, eating a daily portion of cheese could reduce the risk of fatal heart attacks and stroke.

This comes just months after a previous study found that cheese could hold the keys to a longer life. According to the research, a daily portion of the size of a small matchbox reduces the chances by 14 percent. All cheese is rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins which help protect against cardiovascular disease.

Cheese also contains high levels of calcium, which means that although it is high in fat, less of that fat is absorbed by the body.

Participants eating around one-

and-a-half ounces (40g) a day saw the greatest reduction in risk to their health.

The scientists said the research also showed cheese boosted levels of so-called “good” cholesterol while reducing levels of “bad” cholesterol.

Reacting to the latest study, Ian Givens, Professor of Food Chain Nutrition at Reading University, said calcium from dairy products

such as cheese played a vital role in reducing fat in the body.

He said, “They do seem to be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and particularly with yoghurt Type 2 diabetes, which is an area of research we are trying to develop because there are 700 new cases every day. The biggest element in cheese appears to be the close association between calcium and fat.”

Adding, “There is a link between the fat and calcium which makes the fat less digestible.”

Sophie Clarke, of the British Cheese Board, said, “Far from having a negative effect, a number of large studies have shown dairy products to have a protective effect on factors relating to heart health.

Looking specifically at cheese, a number of studies show no association between eating cheese and heart disease.”

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Scientists identify new new drug that may stop migraines before they start

New Delhi Headaches are a huge nuisance.

They occur at the most inappropriate times, reduce concentration and happen due to various reasons.

However, there is one headache disorder that surpasses most of them and that is migraine.

Migraines are super intense and give you a splitting headache that takes hours to subside and the associated dizziness and sensitivity to light don’t exactly help matters. The disease can be debilitating and although a number of interventions exist, many only work for a certain time before they fail to prevent or relieve pain. But, here’s some good news for those who suffer from chronic migraines – researchers have identified a medication that can prevent the severe headaches before they start. An antibody therapy against a key inflammatory molecule involved in migraines reduces the number of headaches that chronic migraine patients experience per month in a phase III trial.

“This therapeutic approach offers new hope for people whose migraines cannot be treated with existing medicine,” said Stephen D Silberstein, from the Thomas Jefferson University in the US. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 127 and 300 million people around the world experience chronic migraine, defined as 15 or more headaches per month for at least three months.

The drug called Fremanezumab is a biological agent that binds to and blocks the action of a migraine-associated protein called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Mounting evidence of its importance in migraines has made CGRP a focal point of research and drug development.

The peptide is released at high levels during migraine in response to inflammation, and triggers a cascade effect that stimulates more CGRP release.

This results in increasing sensitivity of the brain to pain.

By blocking this peptide, doctors hope to break the cycle

of increasing inflammation and increased pain sensitivity that contributes to migraine headaches.

For the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers enrolled 1,130 patients and divided them in three groups. The first group received quarterly treatments, the second group received one treatment per month and the third group received placebo injections.

The trial lasted for 16 weeks, with a 12-week treatment window.

The findings showed that treatment with fremanezumab reduced the number of days patients experience headache by an average of 4.3 days with quarterly treatment and 4.6 days with monthly treatment.

“We saw some patients with 100% reduction in migraine, others with 75% reduction,” said Silberstein. The level of response varied between patients. The researchers also looked at how well the therapy worked relative to each patient’s headache burden.

They calculated the percentage of patients who had more than a 50% reduction in the number of days they experienced either a severe or moderate headache per month. Using this measure, the researchers saw that 37.6% of patients on the monthly regimen and 40.8% on the quarterly regimen had at least a 50% reduction in the number of moderate headaches per month, compared to 18.1% in the placebo group.

Improve relationship with your doctor by writing own medical records: Research

New Delhi Do you write down your own medical records? It could help improve your relationship with your doctor, a research has suggested.

According to researchers, maintaining a self-written medical record may help patients feel more involved with their care and improve relationships with their doctors.

As per doctors from the University Of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the patients can benefit if they are invited to co-produce medical notes, called “OurNotes,” with their doctors, rather than merely reading them.

‘OurNotes’ has a potential to improve relationships with doctors, and cut documentation demands on clinicians.

This initiative allows doctors to share visit notes with patients, who may then

contribute to their own medical records via OurNotes – adding material such as symptoms or medical issues they experienced since their last visit, along with goals for upcoming visits.

Lead author Dr John Mafi from the UCLA said if executed thoughtfully, OurNotes has the potential to reduce documentation demands on clinicians, while having both the patient and clinician focussing on what’s most important to the patient.

“Piloting OurNotes will start at four centers in 2018,” he added.

The team conducted in-depth telephone interviews with 29 health care experts.

There were 11 primary care physicians, two specialist physicians, three nurse practitioners, four health information technology professionals, eight patient advocates and one policy expert.

Baldness, premature greying may Mental illness may pass from one up heart disease risk in men generation to another, says study

New Delhi A study says that men under 40 years of age who are greying prematurely and going bald may be at five-fold risk of developing heart disease.

The findings show that both male-pattern baldness and

premature greying were stronger risk factors than obesity, which was associated with a four-fold risk of early heart disease.

While diabetes mellitus, hypertension, family history of premature coronary artery disease, central obesity, higher body mass index, dyslipidaemia and smoking were predictors of coronary artery disease it was to a lesser extent than male-pattern baldness, premature greying, and obesity, the researchers said. The young men with coronary artery

disease were found with a higher prevalence of premature greying (50 per cent versus 30 per cent) and male-pattern baldness (49 per cent versus 27 per cent) compared to people without the condition.

“Premature greying and androgenic alopecia (male-pattern baldness) correlate well with vascular age irrespective of chronological age and are plausible risk factors for coronary artery disease,” said Sachin Patil, from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Gujarat.

For the study, presented at the 69th Annual Conference of the Cardiological Society of India (CSI) in Kolkata, the team included 790 men aged less than 40 years with coronary artery disease and 1,270 age-matched healthy men who acted as a control group.

After adjusting for age and other cardiovascular risk factors, malepattern baldness was associated with a 5.6 times greater risk of coronary artery disease and premature greying was associated with a 5.3 times greater risk.

New Delhi Mental illnes may be transfered from one generation to another, says a new study.

According to a study of adults whose parents evacuated Finland as children during World War II, it was found that daughters of female evacuees had the same high risk for mental health disorders as their mothers, even though they did not experience the same adversity.

The study by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden and Helsinki University in Finland could not determine why the higher risk for mental illness persisted across generations.

Possible explanations include changes in the evacuees’ parenting behaviour stemming from their childhood experience or epigenetic changes chemical alterations in gene expression, without any changes to underlying DNA. “Many studies have shown that traumatic exposures during pregnancy can have negative effects on offspring,” said

Stephen Gilman, from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the US. “Here, we found evidence that a mother’s childhood traumatic

exposure - in this case separation from family members during war - may have longlasting health consequences for her daughters,” said Gilman, author of the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

From 1941 to 1945, roughly 49,000 Finish children were evacuated from their homes to protect them from bombings, malnutrition and other hazards during the country’s wars with the Soviet Union, researchers said.

The children, many of them only preschoolers, were placed with foster families in Sweden. In addition to separation from their families, the children faced the stresses of adapting to their foster families, and in many cases, learning a new language.

Upon their return, many children experienced the additional stress of readjusting to Finnish society.

The researchers compared the risk of being hospitalised for a psychiatric (mental health) disorder among offspring of the evacuees to the risks of psychiatric hospitalisation among the offspring of the siblings who remained with their parents.

Studying the two groups - cousins to each other - allowed the researchers to compensate for family-based factors that can contribute to mental health problems and to focus instead on the evacuees’ wartime experience.

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Texas BBQ Chicken

Ingredients: 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground paprika

1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 cups tomato-vegetable juice cocktail, 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup water 2 cloves garlic, minced Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar, paprika, salt, dry mustard, chili powder, vinegar, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce, vegetable juice cocktail, ketchup, water and garlic. Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken breasts.

Bake uncovered, for 35 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove chicken breasts, shred with a fork, and return to the sauce.

Bake in the oven for an additional 10 minutes so the chicken can soak up more flavor. Serve on a bed of rice with freshly ground black pepper.

Chicken and Turkey Marinade Ingredients: 1 cup olive oil 1/2 cup soy sauce 4 lemons, juiced 1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard 1/4 cup minced fresh chives 1/2 cup minced fresh sage 1/2 cup minced fresh oregano 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/4 cup minced fresh thyme 2 teaspoons minced garlic, or to taste 1 tablespoon paprika 3 tablespoons salt-free herb seasoning blend Directions: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, and mustard. Stir in chives, sage, oregano, parsley, thyme, garlic, paprika, and herb seasoning. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend before marinating your favorite meat. Place turkey or chicken in a 30 gallon plastic kitchen bag. Pour marinade over the bird. Grasp the bag a few inches above the poultry, and press air from the bag.

Seal with a twist tie. Rotate bag to coat turkey

Zesty Southern Pasta and Bean Salad

Ingredients: 2 cups small seashell pasta 1/3 cup Italian-style salad dressing salt to taste 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained, 3 tomatoes, chopped 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin 1/2 tablespoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)

salt and pepper to taste Directions: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse pasta in cold water. Place in a large mixing bowl and add dressing and salt; mix well.

Combine pinto beans and black beans in a colander; rinse with cold water and add to pasta. Add corn, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, dried red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste; toss lightly. Chill salad in refrigerator until ready to serve.

White Chili

with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator 24 hours, repositioning the bag every 4 hours, or so.

Remove poultry from bag before roasting, and transfer marinade to a saucepan. Boil marinade for a few minutes, then use to baste the turkey every 30 minutes, or so, while roasting. Discard any remaining marinade when turkey is done.

Pasta with Broccoli and Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked linguini pasta 6 cups fresh broccoli florets 6 slices bacon 1 cup chopped onion 3 large cloves garlic, minced 1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Directions: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place linguini in the pot,

and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the broccoli. Continue cooking 3 to 5 minutes, until linguini is al dente and broccoli is tender; drain. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and return to skillet. Mix the onion and garlic into the skillet, and cook until onions are tender. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, and cook until heated through.

Serve over the cooked pasta and broccoli, and top with Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cubed coarsely ground black pepper to taste 1 large onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, minced 3 green chile peppers, seeded and minced, 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 (8 ounce) package mushrooms, sliced, 3 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans 4 green onions, chopped 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped 2 cup white wine 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

2 cubes chicken bouillon 1 teaspoon dried rosemary 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin 2 bay leaves Directions: In a large pot over mediumhigh heat, cook chicken in olive oil with black pepper until brown. Stir in onion, garlic and chiles and cook until onion begins to soften. Stir in bell peppers, mushrooms, beans, green onions and parsley.

Pour in wine and chicken broth. Season with bouillon, rosemary, thyme, oregano and cumin. Place bay leaves in pot, cover, reduce heat and simmer 90 minutes.

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ISIS video shows Syrian Hafiz Saeed to contest elections in Pak under new outfit pilot being burnt alive ISIS TERRORISTS have released a horrific footage showing a Syrian pilot being burned to death, some

18 months after he was first captured. Azzam Eid was seized in April last year after the regime shot down his Syrian Arab Air Force MiG 23 and he parachuted clear. Graphic footage, filmed at an unknown date, has been released by ISIS commanders showing Eid being burned alive. The video shows Eid with his head clean shaven, wearing an orange boiler suit and with a chain around his neck that is held fight by a fighter. He is then secured to a tree and his clothing set ablaze. The man can reportedly be heard screaming in pain while the fire consumes him. It was not clear when the killing occurred and IS did not give further details in the video. The film included old footage of IS fighters in Syria and Iraq. It is the second time they have used the method to kill a pilot and ISIS chiefs say that using fire is in revenge for the destruction that a plane’s bombs wreak on the ground. The terror

group shot down the Russian-built aircraft after it took off from the Al Dumayr military airbase east of Damascus in April 2016. The Amaq news agency, which is affiliated to ISIS, said at the time that the captured pilot was from Hama. Poorquality video footage showed the remains of a burning aircraft. The aircraft is believed to have come down near Bir AlQassab. In December 2014, ISIS shot down a warplane from the US-led coalition striking the group in Syria and captured the Jordanian pilot alive. The terrorists later burned pilot Maaz alKassasbeh alive in a cage and posted video footage of his death online. ISIS also made a chilling new threat to British Christmas shoppers on Monday with a poster depicting an armed terrorist in London’s Oxford Street. This is the terror group’s latest threat to a major European city, following a series of deadly attacks it has claimed responsibility for in countries including the UK and Spain. Oxford Street, in central London, is frequently filled with pedestrians, and is said to attract more half a million workers and visitors every day. The poster threatening a Christmas time attack was published by a pro-ISIS propaganda channel, the Wafa Media Foundation, which has created a number of menacing images in the run-up to the holidays over the years. Graphic posters have previously threatened Christmastime attacks against cities including Paris and New York. One depicts an ISIS executioner preparing to behead Santa Claus on Regent Street in central London, while another shows a terrorist with a bloody knife at a Christmas market near Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

IN A move bound to raise several eyebrows in the United States and India, Hafiz Saeed, the Lahorebased cleric accused of masterminding the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has announced that he will fight elections for Pakistan’s lower House of Parliament in 2018. “I have decided to contest elections for the National Assembly in the next general elections,” Saeed said on Saturday.

Saeed will be contesting elections on the platform of newly registered political party ‘Milli Muslim League’, which has been founded by his hardline religious organisation Jamaatud-Dawa (JuD), and vows to implement the ideology of Pakistan in accordance with the 1973 Constitution and the vision of Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal.

Saeed walked free on November 23, 2017 on the orders of a local court just four days before the ninth anniversary of the deadly 26/11 attack in Mumbai that left 166 people dead. Saeed was detained in January this year following a government order. His announcement to contest in the next general elections to be held in May next year is bound to be met with scepticism by the USA, India and European nations. In 2012, the US had announced a

$10 million (`64.50 crore) reward for information leading to Saeed’s arrest and conviction.

Interestingly, the representatives of the MML and JuD, a group which has been kept on a government list of organisations for their suspected militant activities, announced to enter Pakistan’s mainstream politics earlier this year which had

surprised both the civilian government and civil society.

When contacted , a close aide of Saeed told this correspondent that the party has already launched a drive to organise their units across the country, and is preparing to contest the 2018 general elections. He did not rule out the possibility of making alliances with what he called like-minded ideological parties.

Aamir Ghauri, editor designate of Pakistan’s The News told this paper that the state and its institutions have repeatedly and increasingly exhibited their inability to intelligently circumvent complex situations.