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Archives for February 2016

Taiwan quake: Survivors pulled alive as time runs out

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More than 100 people are still thought to be trapped inside collapsed building after Saturday’s quake in Tainan.

More than 100 people were missing after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan, authorities said [EPA]

More than 100 people were missing after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan, authorities said [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

An eight-year-old girl has been pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Tainan, the fourth to be rescued on Monday, more than 60 hours after a powerful quake struck southern Taiwan.

Rescuers also saved the girl’s aunt as they raced against time to find more than 100 residents buried deep in the ruins of the toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building.

Earlier on Monday, two more people – a man and a woman – were pulled from the rubble, as the official death toll rose to 38..

Local legislator Wang Ting-yu told reporters that the rescued woman, Tsao Wei-ling, was found shielded under the body of her dead husband. Their two-year-old son, who was also killed, was found lying nearby.

Rescuers also confirmed that the other survivor – a man called Li Tsung-tian – had been pulled out of the rubble.

Rescue efforts are focused on the wreckage of the 17-storey building, where 117 people are listed as missing.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from outside the collapsed building, said the rescue effort had reached a critical point.

“It has been three days, and it’s understood that those stuck under the rubble and still alive won’t be able to last longer without food and water.

“Lots of questions are being asked about how this building was constructed. There are a lot of stories floating around about the builder. You could almost say he is the most wanted man in Taiwan right now. Everyone is trying to find him,” he said.

William Lai, the Tainan mayor, said Tsao and Li were the only signs of life at present, although rescuers were continuing to look for others.

“We have not given up on even the tiniest of possibilities,” he told reporters.

Rescuers continued to scramble over the twisted wreckage of the building as numbed family members stood around, waiting for news of missing relatives.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who won the election last month, said there needed to be a “general sorting out” for old buildings to make sure they were able to cope with disasters such as earthquakes.

“There needs to be a continued strengthening of their ability to deal with disasters,” she said during a visit in Tainan.

Outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou is also scheduled to visit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed condolences to the victims, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Sunday, and repeated Beijing’s offer to provide help.

Irfan Pathan marries 21-year-old Safa Baig in low-key affair

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pathan-baig

New Delhi: Calling it as ‘probably the best phase of life’ in a tweet, Cricketer Irfan Pathan on Thursday tied the knot with Safa Baig at Haram Shareef in the holy city of Mecca.

Reports have confirmed that the couple had been dating for the past two years before they decided to take their relationship to the next level.

Speaking to media sources, a friend of the couple said, “Irfan and Safa met in Dubai about two years ago and later came close. Safa even visited Vadodara to meet Irfan’s family. The duo got engaged about three months ago following which the wedding date was fixed,”

Safa works for a PR firm in Jeddah.

There were no grand celebrations as the Pathan family conducted a low-key affair.

There were no high-profile guests at the function with only family members of the couple present during the ‘nikaah’.

A dinner party was held by the Pathan family at a luxury hotel at Al-Hindaweeyah on Thursday night.

(Agencies)

TRAI rules in favour of Net Neutrality

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Facebook

New Delhi: “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” says TRAI.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday issued the ‘Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016’ that bars service providers from offerring or charging discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.

A service provider may reduce tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, the body ruled. TRAI may review these regulations after a period of two years.

TRAI will also levy a penalty of Rs. 50,000 a day for discriminatory tariffs charged by service providers.

This comes amid an ongoing debate over net neutrality in the country.

Earlier, the regulatory body had issued two consulation papers – one in December 2016 aboutdifferential data pricing and the one in early 2015 about over-the-top (OTT) services.

The consultation paper on differential data pricing had raised concern over zero-rating tariff models — a practice wherein service providers offer free data to users for select applications and websites — and the paper had become key to the debate on Net neutrality.

According to Internet activists, this model violates the principle of Net neutrality as it restricts access to free, open Internet. Facebook’s Free Basic initiative has come under severe criticism in India as it is based on a zero-rating model.

TRAI has also asked Reliance Communication, Facebook’s partner in India for Free Basics, to put the service on hold till the authority considers all the details and terms and conditions of the service.

(Agencies)

Headley bares two failed attempts before 26/11

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Headley

Mumbai: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) made two unsuccessful attempts before wreaking havoc in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, in a terror attack that killed 166 persons, terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headly told a Special TADA court here on Monday.

In the first attempt to strike Mumbai in September 2008, the terrorist’s boat hit some rocks in the Arabian Sea, resulting in loss of weapons and ammunition, but those on board survived, Headley told TADA Court Judge G.A. Sanap via video-conferencing from a US jail.

The second attempt was made the following month, in October, with the same persons involved as in the first one, but that also failed for unknown reasons, before the third and successful attack was executed on November 26 that year, (in which 166 persons were killed and hundreds more were injured), he said.

Headley also identified in a picture his main contact in the LeT terror group Sajid Mir and LeT founder Hafez Sayeed and said he was inspired by Sayeed’s fiery speeches to join the group in 2002.

Represented by criminal lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani at the TADA court, Headley said he underwent his first training with LeT in 2002 at a camp in Muzaffarabad, which is in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

About the motive behind the crime, he said the terror attack was carried out to assist the Kashmiris fighting against the Indian Army in the border state.

Earlier, Headley, 56, said he was born on June 30, 1960, in the US and shifted to Pakistan later where his name was Daood Sayeed Gilani.

Flanked by three persons at an undisclosed location in the US — his attorney John, US attorney Sarah and a person identified merely as Bob — Headley was administered the oath at 7.30 a.m. and Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam started firing questions at him.

Headley provided details of his passport and spoke of his seven to eight trips to Mumbai and one to New Delhi between 2006-2008 before the 26/11 attacks. The trips included seven via Pakistan and one via the UAE. He also made yet another trip to Mumbai in July 2009, after the terror attack was executed.

To a pointed question by Nikam, who is leading the prosecution case, Headley named one person named Raymaond Sanders as a visa consultant who helped him procure the Indian visa.

Headley said most of the information on his visa application was false — except his birth date and place, mother’s name and nationality and the passport number — so that he would not blow his cover.

“This is the first time that a terrorist is deposing and tendering evidence live in a foreign country. He will divulge the larger aspects of the 26/11 terror conspiracy, the people behind it and related aspects,” Nikam said on the eve of Headley’s trial.

“The evidence coming out today could be very significant,” Jethmalani commented briefly on the proceedings before the special court.

Headley’s ongoing evidence on Monday could help the prosecution nail the alleged co-conspirators in the attacks Zakiur Rehman Lakhi, the terrorists’ handlers, the role and involvement of other state and non-state actors, and the role of arrested LeT activist Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, currently in a Mumbai jail.

At the previous hearing on December 10 last year, the special TADA court judge had pardoned Headley and made him an approver in the case, subject to certain conditions.

Headley had already confessed to his role in the offences in the US for which he is serving a 35-year sentence.

The five-hour court proceedings were held here amidst tight security.

(IANS)

Hashim Amla denies he asked female TV host to ‘dress appropriately’

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hashim-amla

Johannesburg: South Africa batsman Hashim Amla on Saturday categorically rejected claims that he had asked a female TV host to dress appropriately before he eventually agreed to give her an interview during their tour of India.

‘As a South African I have the greatest respect for people of all faiths and cultures. I will never impose my beliefs on anybody else. #peace,’ the 32-year-old batsman added.

Reports began to circulate on Friday suggesting that Amla, who is a strict believer and follower of Islam, was not comfortable that the TV host was wearing a skirt and a low-neck top, Sport24 reported. Amla then agreed to be interviewed after the woman quickly changed her dress.

South Africa won the preceding T20 and ODI series against India before losing the four-match Test series 3-0 under Amla’s captaincy.

(Agencies)

Make in India and hate in India cannot go together: Tharoor

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shashi tharoor

Boston: Taking a jibe at the Modi government, former minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said policies like ‘Make in India’ and hatred cannot go together as he asserted that “outrageous” statements against minorities by ruling party members only undermine the country’s soft power.

To attract foreign direct investment, which is key to the construction and modernisation of the infrastructure sector and manufacturing, the Congress MP stressed on the need to maintain the pluralistic character of the country.

Before India tries to leverage its soft power to increase its standing in the world, Tharoor said first there is need to fix the problem at the domestic front.

“For us to be credible as a nation that enjoys and wields soft power, we have to fix our domestic problems first. The truth is that we have to do enough to keep our people, healthy, well and secure not just from jihadi terrorism. Progress is being made but not enough to reach everyone,” Tharoor said in his keynote address to the Harvard University’s annual Indian convention 2016.

“If on one hand, we go around saying Make in India, Startup India and Digital India and want to attract foreign investors, we can’t do so if we are condoning hatred in India at the same time,” Tharoor said in reference to the flagship schemes launched by the Narendra Modi-led government.

“It is not good when people in the ruling party make outrageous statements against minorities. These are not good because they undermine the soft power of India,” Tharoor told the students in the packed Harvard Business School auditorium.

Tharoor asserted that in order to maintain India’s soft power, the larger idea of India needs to be sustained.

“An India that celebrates the common space of every identity, it would be a secure to be a Muslim, secure to be a kayastha… whatever you define yourself. Because all of those identities are made secure under the Indian identity,” he said.

Tharoor said if India wants to remain a source of attraction for the world, it must preserve the “precious pluralism like a civilizational asset”

“It is not so good when women are assaulted on the streets of Delhi. It is not good when some people begin to fear that it is safer to be a cow than to be a Muslim in India today,” Tharoor said.

He also told the Indian students that one of his investor friends decided against investing in India because of acts of intolerance in the country.

Responding to a question, Tharoor said the Congress party has a “deep bench of talent”.
“Political parties live by electoral success. We have taken quite a beating in the last couple of years. Fortunes always change in politics. It (Congress) is certainly not as has been caricatured as the most corrupt party of India,” he said.

The Congress party happened to be in power when a number of corruption scandals took place, Tharoor said.

“Whoever had been in power would have been tarnished in the same way that happened to us,” he said.

(PTI)

Twitter freezes 125,000 accounts for ‘terror content’

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Move comes after governments urge social networks to eliminate activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.

Most of the suspended Twitter accounts were linked to ISIL [Bethany Clarke/Getty Images]

Most of the suspended Twitter accounts were linked to ISIL [Bethany Clarke/Getty Images]

by Al Jazeera

Twitter has suspended more than 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, as part of a stepped-up effort to eradicate “terrorist content” on the popular messaging platform.

The social network has said the accounts were frozen since mid-2015 “for threatening or promoting terrorist acts”.

“Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups,” Twitter said on its policy blog on Friday.

“We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service.”

The announcement comes after the US and other governments urged social networks to take more aggressive steps to root out activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.

Twitter said it already has rules to discourage this activity but that it was driving up enforcement by boosting staff and using technology to filter violence-promoting content. But it warned there was no easy technological solution.

“As many experts and other companies have noted, there is no ‘magic algorithm’ for identifying terrorist content on the internet, so global online platforms are forced to make challenging judgement calls based on very limited information and guidance,” Twitter said.

“In spite of these challenges we will continue to aggressively enforce our rules in this area and engage with authorities and other relevant organisations to find viable solutions to eradicate terrorist content from the internet and promote powerful counter-speech narratives.”

Last March, Facebook updated its “community standards”, saying this would curb the use of the social network giant for promoting “terrorism” or hate speech.

The update said Facebook will not allow a presence from groups advocating “terrorist activity, organised criminal activity or promoting hate”.

The move came after videos of gruesome executions appeared on Facebook and other social media as part of ISIL propaganda efforts.

Congo to probe alleged sex abuse by peacekeeers in CAR

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Republic of Congo launches investigation after UN sends troops home following new allegations of sex abuse in CAR.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Republic of Congo has launched an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse involving its troops serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR).

“Under a memorandum of understanding between the Congolese government and the office of the UN secretary general it has been decided that an administrative inquiry will be carried out,” Communications Minister Thierry Moungalla said on Friday.

The defence ministry will lead the investigation and “verify the veracity of the allegations”, after Human Rights Watch (HRW) brought the cases to the attention of MINUSCA, the UN’s stabilisation mission in CAR.

MINUSCA said it had “identified seven new possible victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in Bambari”, in the centre of the country, involving soldiers from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A UN probe “found sufficient initial evidence that five of the victims were minors and had been sexually abused and that one adult had been sexually exploited”, MINUSCA said in a statement.

Following the claims, the UN said it would repatriate 120 peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo, a month after asking DRC to send home its contingent.

On Thursday, HRW released a statement documenting eight new allegations of rape or sexual exploitation by UN troops in the same region of Bambari.

All eight survivors said that they believed the peacekeepers responsible were from the Republic of Congo or the DRC, according to HRW, which alleged the abuse took place between October and December 2015.

MINUSCA said one of the allegations passed on by HRW had been previously reported and is currently under investigation.

“Among the survivors are a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman who said peacekeepers gang-raped them near Bambari airport in the center of the country,” HRW said.

CAR is struggling to recover from a cycle of violence that began after a 2013 coup, pitting mainly Muslim rebels against Christian militias, but international peacekeeping efforts have been undermined by a string of sex abuse claims.

Moungalla said Brazzaville had a “zero tolerance” policy on rights abuses and would “roundly condemn” the abuse if proven by the investigation.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR.

While most of the cases concern UN peacekeepers, France’s Sangaris force and the EU’s EUFOR mission have also been accused of similar crimes.

Movie Review: ‘Ghayal Once Again’ offers an entertaining recipe of action unlimited

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Ghayal Once Again

Producer: Dharmendra
Director: Sunny Deol
Star Cast: Sunny Deol, Soha Ali Khan, Shivam Patil, Aanchal Munjal, Abhilash Kumar, Diana Khan, Rishabh Arora, etc

Full marks to Sunny Deol for his excellent directorial treatment in Ghayal Once Again, which was earlier named as Ghayal Returns. In fact Sunny Deol has surpassed his own self with his earlier debut directorial movie Dillagi.
The scripted scenario of Ghayal Once Again starts off from where Ghayal had left off albeit in flashbacks. Once Ajay Mehra (Ajay Mehra) is out of jail after serving his 14 years of imprisonment he is seen under the care of his doctor Rhea (Soha Ali Khan) who helps him to fight the past demons of his life. Once cured Ajay starts his life afresh by forming his own team to help the victims of cruelty & injustice. In Ghayal Ajay Mehra was up against Balwant Rai (the late Amrish Puri) in Ghayal Once Again Ajay Mehra is up against Raj Bansal (Narendra Jha) when his son Kabir Bansal (Abhilaash Kumar) murders ACP Joe D’Souza (Om Puri) and the proof of this murder lands up in the hands of the 4 kids Rohan (Shivam Patil), Varun (Rishabh Arora), Anusha (Aanchal Munjal) & Zoya (Diana Khan) and from there on begins an action packed drama which culminates in a chilling climax.

A real treat for lovers of action genre of films with Sunny’s deft directorial treatment. He even excels as an actor in the predictable role of Ajay Mehra. Another noteworthy act comes from debutant actors Shivam Patil, Rishab Arora, Aanchal Munjal & Zoya Khan not to forget other seasoned actors including Abhilash kumar in supporting roles.

Ghayal Once Again is devoid of any commercial trappings like romance, music et al barring its unlimited action.

So Ghayal Once Again is a well narrated albeit predictable story with lots of twists & turns which will be enjoyed both by the single theatre as well as the multiplex audiences.

Movie Review: ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’ is a heart wrenching emotional saga

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sanam_teri_kasam

Producer: Deepak Mukut
Directors: Radhika Rao & Vinay Sapru
Star Cast: Harshavardhan Rane, Mawra Hocane, Anurag Sinha, Manish Chaudhari, Murli Sharma, Vijay Raaz, Sudesh Berry, Pyumori Mehta, Divyetta Singh etc

It’s time for the dabangg director Jodi of Radhika Rao & Vinay Sapru to add one more emotion packed directorial feather to their illustrious directorial cap with an emotion packed film like Sanam Teri Kasam, which really pulls at your heartstrings.

Saraswati (débutante Pakistani Actress Mowra Hocane) is not so good looking South Indian girl and to top it she is rejected by many suitors while her stern father is worried that his younger daughter may also remain unmarried. Inder (debutante actor Harshvardhan Rane) is a lawyer who has his own demons to fight with. The duo meet under intriguing circumstances and keep falling in & out of love according to their own whims & fancies and then they are en route to one more tragedy that befalls them soon enough.

Radhika Rao & Vinay Sapru have succeeded in extracting fine performances from Pakistani actress Mowra Hocane & South Indian actor Harshavardhan Rane apart from a few supporting actors like another débutante Anurag Sinha. Another good thing about the film is its soul stirring music by Himesh Reshamiya.

The film lacks conviction in parts with the same cancer melodrama served like an old wine in a new bottle, albeit well packaged & well presented by the director duo Radhika Rao & Vinay Sapru.

Sanam Teri Kasam is no doubt a critic’s delight but will hardly prove to be the so called entertainment craving audience’s cup of tea.

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