ISLAMABAD (TIP): Pakistani Taliban on December 11 criticized Nobel laureate Malala Yoususzai, saying the teenage activist has entered into an agreement with “satanic forces” to promote western culture and destroy Pakistan. In its first reaction after the 17-year-old peace activist was awarded the peace Nobel on Wednesday, Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said in a statement that the award was given to her to “promote western culture and not education.” He also criticized Malala’s father, Ziauddin, for working against Islam and said he was using his daughter against the religion and Islamic Society.
Khurasani said both the father and the daughter have entered into an agreement with the “western satanic forces” to destroy Pakistan and Pushtun society. The TTP spokesman lashed at the democratic system and termed it “worse than worst systems ever witnessed by the world.” He said democracy was responsible for all the worries and anxieties faced by the world. Malala survived a Taliban attack on 2012 for standing up for the right of education to girls in Pakistan. Malala along with India’s Kailash Satyarthi was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in Oslo for their work promoting girl education and child rights
Month: December 2014
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Pakistan Taliban criticizes Malala after Nobel award
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Sri Lankan military plane crash kills four
COLOMBO (TIP): A Sri Lankan military transport aircraft crashed near the capital Colombo on Decmeber 12 killing four people on board and injuring another crew member, police said. The Antonov AN-32 aircraft slammed into a rubber plantation in the suburb of Athurugiriya in bad weather and burst into flames, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said. “Four people onboard have been killed and the fifth crew member survived with severe burns,” Rohana told AFP. Airforce sources said the plane had taken off from the main international airport outside Colombo and headed to a nearby domestic air base when pilots reported poor visibility. There were no casualties on the ground, but at least one house lost part of its roof as the aircraft crashed. Civil aviation chief HM Nimalasiri said it was too early to establish the cause of the incident, but investigators were heading to the crash site. The Sri Lankan airforce has lost four other Antonov AN-32 type aircraft since 1995. During the height of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, the military lost at least 35 aircraft in action and another 18 parked at an airbase during a rebel ground attack.
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17 killed in Nepal bus accident
KATMANDU, Nepal: Police say an overcrowded bus has plunged off a mountain road in Nepal, killing at least 17 people and injuring 50 more. Police official Kesh Bahadur Shahi said Monday that the bus veered off the road near Pokharakada village Sunday night and rolled 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) down a slope. Rescuers pulled out 14 bodies while three more died at a hospital. There were 67 people on the bus, which had 38 seats. The bus was driving on a narrow mountain road during the night when the accident happened about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of the capital, Katmandu.
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Indian American abortionist doctor jailed for fraud
WARR ACRES, OK (TIP): An Indian American Dr. Nareshkumar G. Patel, 62, was arrested Tuesday, December 9, at his Warr Acres clinic. The arrest was the result of an undercover operation involving three female investigators who posed as patients. The Oklahoma physician was arrested on charges of fraud, telling women they were pregnant when they were not, and then giving them abortion-inducing drugs.
The arrest, made at Patel’s Warr Acres clinic, was the result of an undercover operation involving three female investigators who posed as patients. “This type of fraudulent activity and blatant disregard for the health and well-being of Oklahoma women will not be tolerated,” Attorney General Scott Pruitt said after Patel’s arrest. “Oklahoma women should be able to trust that the advice they receive from their physicians is truthful, accurate and does not jeopardize their health.” An Oklahoma County judge on Dec. 8 authorized Patel’s arrest. Prosecutors said he will be charged with three counts of obtaining money under a false pretense. If convicted of all three counts, he could be sentenced up to three years in jail.
The undercover operation began June 4 when an investigator from the state medical licensure board went to the clinic, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. An Oklahoma City police detective visited the clinic Oct. 16 and an Oklahoma attorney general agent visited the clinic Oct. 22, newsOK.com reported. All three women were not pregnant. Each time, Patel gave the woman an ultrasound, told her she was pregnant and gave her five RU-486 pills to induce an abortion, according to the affidavit.
Each paid $620 for the unnecessary procedure, according to the affidavit. Each time, the investigator secretly recorded Patel inside the clinic, according to the affidavit. The complaint that led to the investigation came from a sister of a former patient who paid $520 for a medical abortion procedure in August 2011. The former patient, Pamela Michelle King, died four months later of complications from cervical cancer. The doctor who cared for her at the time of her death reported she had not been pregnant within the past year. Patel has been the center of controversy repeatedly since getting his medical license in Oklahoma in May 1984. In 1992, he allegedly burned 55 aborted fetuses in a field east of Shawnee. He was investigated over the incident but never charged.
He admitted burning aborted fetuses in 1992, saying he had run out of storage space after a hospital stopped letting him use an incinerator. Patel told the state medical licensure board he and his office manager took the fetuses to an abandoned recreational vehicle park he owned near Shawnee and he set fire to them on a gravel road. Patel was arrested the following year when a patient accused him of sexually assaulting her. He denied her accusation. He was acquitted of two felony counts at a jury trial in 1994, newsOK.com reported. Patel went to medical school in India before moving to the United States in 1978. He had further medical training at a New Jersey hospital before moving to Oklahoma in 1984. -
Senate confirms Verma as envoy to India
WASHINGTON (TIP): U.S. Senate on Wednesday, December 10, unanimously confirmed Richard Rahul Verma as the next US ambassador to India. Verma becomes the first-ever Indian-American to hold the post. Verma’s nomination was approved by the Senate by a voice vote, reflecting a sense of bi-partisan support to the Indo-US ties and his popularity among senators across the aisle. The Senate raced through his nomination process ahead of more than 50 ambassadorial nominations to make sure that he is in New Delhi when US President Barack Obama travels to India for the Republic Day.
Verma had played an important role in the Congressional passage of civil nuclear deal with India and had advocated for strong Indo-US ties when in the administration and recently started “India 2020” project at Centre for American Progress – a top American think tank. He will replace Nancy Powell, who resigned in March after a damaging row over the treatment of diplomat Devyani Khobragade over visa fraud charges. The US embassy in New Delhi is currently headed by charge d’affaires Kathleen Stephens. Verma is currently a senior counselor at Steptoe & Johnson law firm and the Albright Stonebridge Group – a business advisory company led by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. Verma’s association with Obama goes back to 2008 when he worked on presidential debate preparations for the then Illinois senator. -
CIA chief challenges Senate torture report
WASHINGTON (TIP): CIA director John Brennan threaded a rhetorical needle in an unprecedented televised news conference at CIA headquarters on December 11 acknowledging that agency officers did “abhorrent” things to detainees but defending the overall post-9/11 interrogation program for stopping attacks and saving lives. At the heart of Brennan’s case is a finely tuned argument: that while today’s CIA takes no position on whether the brutal interrogation tactics themselves led detainees to cooperate, there is no doubt that detainees subjected to the treatment offered “useful and valuable” information afterward.
Speaking to reporters and on live television— something no one on the CIA public affairs staff could remember ever happening on the secretive agency’s Virginia campus —Brennan said it was “unknown and unknowable” whether the harsh treatment yielded crucial intelligence that could have been gained in any other way. He declined to define the techniques as torture, as President Barack Obama and the Senate intelligence committee have done, refraining from even using the word in his 40 minutes of remarks and answers.
Obama banned torture when he took office. He also appeared to draw a distinction between interrogation methods, such as water boarding, that were approved by the Justice Department at the time, and those that were not, including “rectal feeding,” death threats and beatings. He did not discuss the techniques by name. “I certainly agree that there were times when CIA officers exceeded the policy guidance that was given and the authorized techniques that were approved and determined to be lawful,” he said. “They went outside of the bounds. … I will leave to others to how they might want to label those activities.
But for me, it was something that is certainly regrettable.” But Brennan defended the overall detention of 119 detainees as having produced valuable intelligence that, among other things, helped the CIA find and kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. A 500-page Senate intelligence committee report released Tuesday exhaustively cites CIA records to dispute that contention. The report points out that the CIA justified the torture — what the report called an extraordinary departure from American practices and values — as necessary to produce unique and otherwise unobtainable intelligence.
Those are not terms Brennan used Thursday to describe the intelligence derived from the program. The report makes clear that agency officials for years told the White House, the Justice Department and Congress that the techniques themselves had elicited crucial information that thwarted dangerous plots. Yet the report argues that torture failed to produce intelligence that the CIA couldn’t have obtained, or didn’t already have, elsewhere. Although the harshest interrogations were carried out in 2002 and 2003, the program continued until December 2007, Brennan acknowledged. All told, 39 detainees were subject to very harsh measures.
Former president George HW Bush, CIA director in 1976-77, supported the agency. “I felt compelled to reiterate my confidence in the agency today, and to thank those throughout its ranks for their ongoing and vitally important work to keep America safe and secure,” Bush said in a statement. -
Indian American gets 48-months in Prison for distributing Controlled Substance
MOBILE, AL (TIP): An Indian American, who has admitted to being involved in the distribution of spice, was sentenced Dec. 8 to 48 months in prison. Harshadbhai Patel of Mobile was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. Patel pleaded guilty in May to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a scheduled 1 controlled substance.
Mobile County deputies and Homeland Security investigators seized $95,000 and 7,000 packets of spice during an investigation into a business owner who was charged on Oct. 23, 2013, with trafficking the substance. (Photos/ courtesy Mobile County Sheriff’s Office)
According to court orders, the 39- year-old Patel has been also ordered to forfeit a 2014 Porsche Cayenne and more than $338,000 to the federal government, AOL News reported. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office arrested Patel during a traffic stop on Oct. 22, 2013. Fifty bags of spice and $95,543 were found in Patel’s Porsche. After Patel’s arrest, officers searched Patel’s Mobile apartment and his convenience store and apartment in Pensacola, Fla. The search included the confiscation of 3,805 packets of spice, according to the records, the report said. The sport utility vehicle and the money were seized during the investigation. The forfeited money includes the $95,543 that was found in Patel’s sport utility vehicle, a $5,000 casino chip and $237,699.53 from Patel’s bank account. -
Major storm knocks out power, disrupts flights in California
SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): A major storm pummeled California and the Pacific northwest on december 11 with heavy rain and high winds, killing one man, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes, disrupting flights and prompting schools to close. Some 240 departing and incoming commercial flights were canceled at San Francisco International Airport and others were delayed for more than two hours, airport managers said. San Francisco’s famed cable car system was replaced by shuttle buses and a subway station was shut down through the morning rush hour because of a power outage and flooding, and the city’s electrified bus system was halted in many areas, transit officials said.
The Embarcadero, the city’s popular waterfront walkway, was closed due to flooding and some ferries were also canceled, stranding commuters. Some streets and major intersections were flooded in the San Francisco area, including the westbound lanes of Interstate 280 in the East Bay suburb of El Cerrito, according to the California Highway Patrol. Winds howled through Sacramento, the state capital, rattling buildings and whipping through trees before dawn, followed by heavy downpours.
The launch of an Atlas V rocket was scrubbed from Vandenberg Air Force Base. In southern Oregon, a homeless man camping with his 18-year-old son along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Ashland area was killed early on Thursday morning when a tree toppled onto their tent, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said. Portland general Electric Co and Pacific Power reported nearly 90,000 customers were without power as a storm system packing wind-gusts of 80 mph (129 kph) was moving through Oregon. To the north, in Washington state, a commuter train that runs between Seattle and Everett was canceled for two days beginning on Thursday after a mudslide on Wednesday, local transit officials said. “In certain parts of the West Coast this could be the most significant storm in 10 years,” National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt said.
The Weather Service issued flashflood, heavy-surf and high-wind advisories, warning that torrential rains could lead to mudslides in foothill areas of California scarred by wildfires earlier this year. The storm was expected to provide only a small measure of relief from California’s record, multi-year drought that has forced water managers to sharply reduce irrigation supplies to farmers and prompted drastic conservation measures statewide, weather officials said. -
US House passes $1.1 trillion government funding bill
WASHINGTON (TIP): The US House of Representatives passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill late on December 11 to fund most federal agencies through September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. By a vote of 219-206, the House approved the bill, which would fund the Department of Homeland Security only through February to give Republicans a chance early next year to try to stop President Barack Obama’s immigration reforms that are largely carried out by DHS. The legislation still must be passed by the Senate before it can be sent to Obama for signing into law. A separate bill to fund the government for two days is likely to be passed by the House, according to a Republican leadership aide. The measure is needed to give the Senate time to pass the $1.1 trillion bill and also avoid a government shutdown at midnight on Thursday when current funding expires.
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Emails of Sony bosses about actors leaked
LOS ANGELES (TIP): The tense email exchanges between Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin and Sony cochairman Amy Pascal have been leaked on internet by the hackers. In the exchange, Rudin and Pascal discuss Angelina Jolie, who seems to have objected to director David Fincher working on Sony’s Steve Jobs biopic, rather than overseeing the actress in her forthcoming Cleopatra film, reported E! News. In another email, Pascal accused the producer of making threats. Academy award winner Rudin also attacked Megan Ellison, the film producer daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison. Leaked emails also revealed that Sony attempted to convince actor Leonardo DiCaprio to not walk out of its Steve Jobs biopic.
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Letterman’s ‘Late Show’ Scheduled to End in May
WASHINGTON (TIP): Closing out a TV career that has spanned more than three decades and influenced a generation of comedians, David Letterman will end his record-setting run as a late-night star on May 20, CBS announced December 10. Mr. Letterman, host of “Late Show With David Letterman,” has had a 32-year run, including a previous show on NBC, the longest tenure of any late-night host in television history. He announced last April that he would finish his CBS show at the end of his current contract, which concludes at the end of July. His exact departure date was left unsettled, and CBS let him decide when he would perform on “Late Show” for the last time.
But the timing does affect the network’s plans for its succession to the new host, Stephen Colbert. No date has yet been set for Mr. Colbert’s premiere on CBS, though he will leave his current show, “The Colbert Report,” on Comedy Central, next week. Several executives involved in the transition have predicted that Mr. Colbert would start on “Late Show” next September. That would leave more than three months between Mr. Letterman’s departure and Mr. Colbert’s debut.
So far, CBS had not said how it will fill that hour in the interim. Chris Ender, a CBS entertainment spokesman, said Wednesday that the network had nothing to announce yet, though it has “discussed a variety of options” to fill the time period. CBS faced a similar situation with its 12:35 a.m. show. Craig Ferguson, who has starred on “The Late Late Show” since 2005, is finishing his run Dec. 19. His replacement, James Corden, will start in March. CBS has announced a roster of guest hosts in the interim. -
RSS body seeks donations to fund Christmas ‘conversions’ in Aligarh
ALIGARH (TIP): Dharam Jagran Samiti, an RSS offshoot, has distributed pamphlets in Aligarh seeking donations for converting Christians and Muslims to Hinduism. The pamphlet says it costs Rs 2 lakh to convert a Christian and Rs 5 lakh to convert a Muslim. It has set December 25 as the date for a major conversion ceremony and put down an annual target of 2 lakh conversions — 1 lakh Muslims and 1 lakh Christians. The pamphlets, carrying the letter head of the Dharam Jagran Samiti, pashchim chhetra (western UP, Braj prant, Meerut and Uttarakhand), have found their way to many houses in Aligarh.
It proposes a fund for a grand “ghar vapsi” (homecoming) of Christians and Muslims, who are a “samasya” (problem) in the country. The letter addresses recipients as “bandhuvar” (friends) and says: “Lots of money will be required in the ‘ghar vapsi’ because the work of conversion is increasing — more workers and more people to be covered. Please contribute money so that all arrangements are in place.” Asked why are Muslims and Christians a “samasya”, Kanshinath Bansal, a key member of the Samiti, said, “Because Christianity is a samasya. Muslim (sic) is also a samasya.
One worker needs that much money to work on a samasya every year.” This came even as Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand BJP MP from Gorakhpur, confirmed his visit on December 25 to Aligarh for an event that aims to convert 5,000 Muslims and 1,000 Christians at the local Maheshwari College. Adityanath said: “The administration and media have given it an exaggerated look. People are willingly converting themselves in ‘ghar vapsi’. The event will happen as scheduled and I will be there.” He added, “When Hindus convert to Islam or to Christianity, nobody comes in for a check.
Why is this being done when they want to convert back to Hinduism? There are many other issues that the administration and media should concentrate on rather than this. Muslims in Agra had also written a letter asking for a mandir. The situation went out of control because of the interference of media, administration and sundry religious leaders.” The district administration, already anxious, said it is not taking any chances. J Ravinder Goud, SSP Aligarh, said, “There is no question of giving permission for the ‘ghar vapsi’ that is being planned in Maheshwari College. The issue has already flared up.
We are not allowing it and if in case there is a violation, we will deal with the situation accordingly.” Not long ago, the Hindu outfit had taken over a small church on the outskirts of Aligarh, replacing the cross with a Shiva picture. Then, too, it had conducted a ‘ghar vapsi’ for 72 Valmikis, all of them Christians. Christian and Muslim groups reacted with anger and caution. Community leader Vincent Joel said, “Ever since the church incident in Asroi, Christians have been praying for the dawn of achche din, where the country is not divided on the basis of religion or caste. We are praying to the Lord to grant the perpetrators of such mischief some wisdom.” Muslim organizations Millat Bedari Muhim Committee and Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis condemned the “open and public call for conversion”.
Professor Razaullah Khan, president of both the outfits, said, “It is very disturbing to see how publicly they call for ghar vapsi. (UP) elections are slated for 2017 and now this gathering is being done to polarize society and divide votes. We should not let it happen.” -
Walkout in LS over ‘conversion’
NEW DELHI (TIP): A heated debate in the Lok Sabha on the alleged conversion of 200 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra saw a united opposition accusing the government of engineering “religious polarisation” for political gains. However, the government outrightly rejected any hand in the RSS affiliated bodies’ campaign for “homecoming” of those converted to other religions. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu went a step ahead and tried to utilise the opportunity to appeal to all parties for reaching a consensus on bringing a national anti-conversion law, saying religious conversion was an “old national challenge” and that it was also opposed by Mahatma Gandhi.
Angered by the government’s response and Naidu’s assertion that he was “proud” of his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the entire Opposition staged a walkout even before the Union minister concluded his reply. “I appeal to all parties to seriously introspect on this. Let there be anticonversion laws in all the states and at the Centre. Let us all seriously work towards the progress and preserve our culture,” Naidu told the members.
He said the government remained committed to maintain communal harmony in the country. Earlier, initia-t-ing the debate, Congress’s -Jyotiraditya Scindia claimed that Muslims were promised ration cards to convert to Hinduism, wondering if these were the “achchhe din (good days)” the BJP had promised. “I am also proud of being Hindu. But my religion does not teach me narrow mindedness and bitterness,” Scindia said while demanding a clarification from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Saugata Roy said the BJP with engineering “religious polarisation”. “I thought the BJP is for Ram. I got to know that it is for Nathuram,” he said taking a dig at a BJP MP’s comment that Nathuram Godse was a patriot like Mahatma Gandhi, whom he had killed. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who staged a walkout along with other opposition members, however, termed the debate “unnecessary”, saying that it had no impact in Agra.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM )leader Assaduddin Owaisi evoked sharp reactions from the treasury benches when he said the BJP had an “umbilical cord” attached to the RSS. “The Muslims are not scared of RSS and Bajrang Dal members. We will continue to follow our religion,” he said. Attacking the government, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar said India was witnessing “Taliban-style” decrees on issues like religion and clothes. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) member Mohammed Salim also hit out at the government and said a person does not become a ‘swami’ by wearing a saffron headgear. His remark evoked an angry reaction from BJP members. -
EXECUTIVE FROM BENGALURU OPERATES ISIS TWITTER HANDLE
BENGALURU (TIP): Central intelligence agencies are in town after a British news channel tracked down, the operator of one of ISIS’s most successful twitter account, Shammi Wintness, to Bengaluru. The man they identified as Medhi, works with multinational advertisement firm in the city and lives with his family here. This particular twitter handle went on air last year and since then has been posting photos and videos of ISIS aggression. He even posted ISIS updates from the front lines. “If I had a chance, I would have left everything and joined them. But my family needs me here,” he said to to channel. He also said he is in contact with British Jihadhies and announced he believes in beheading. City police said they are coordinating with central agencies but believes he must have left the city already.
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PM Modi hails UN decision on Yoga
NEW DELHI (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 11 expressed joy over the UN general assembly adopting an India-led resolution declaring June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’ and thanked all the 177 nations of the global body. “Elated! Have no words to describe my joy on the @UN declaring 21st June as ‘International Day of Yoga’. I fully welcome the decision,” Modi tweeted soon after the resolution was adopted in New York. “I profusely thank all 177 nations across the world who co-sponsored the resolution to declare 21st June as ‘International Day of Yoga’,” he added.
Noting that countless people across the world have made Yoga an integral part of their lives, he said, “Congrats to them! This will inspire many more people towards Yoga. “Yoga has the power to bring the entire humankind together! It beautifully combines Gyan (knowledge), Karm (work) and Bhakti (devotion).” He also put on his twitter account a link of his speech last year where he talked about yoga and its benefits. The resolution on ‘International Day of Yoga’ was introduced by India’s Ambassador to UN Asoke Mukerji and had 177 (rpt 177) nations joining as co-sponsors, the highest number ever for any General Assembly resolution. -
FIR?against Kerala minister in graft case
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (TIP): The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Thursday registered a case against Finance Minister K M Mani on charges of accepting Rs 50 lakh as bribe from bar owners to ensure favourable decisions from the state government. The FIR on the case, submitted at a special vigilance court, comes after a Quick Verification initiated by the VACB following the request for a probe made by Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan. Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotel Owners Association, had alleged that Mani accepted Rs 1 crore as bribe to ensure favourable decisions on issuance of bar licences in the state. Mani is also chief of Kerala Congress (M), a powerful ally of the Congress party in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
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More rape survivors speak up against Uber driver
RAMNAGAR (TIP): She is 46 now and Shiv Kumar Yadav, the man accused of raping a finance executive in an Uber cab in Delhi, used to call her ‘chachi’ (aunt). But that didn’t stop him from dragging her one cold December night a couple of years ago to an empty house in their native Ramnagar village to sexually assault her. “It was in the same lane that he used to live,” the woman said, looking for words to articulate her trauma. “Woh mujhe chachi bulata tha. (He used to call me aunt).
My husband asked me to remain quiet about the rape as it would bring shame to the family. He stopped me from going out of my house.” She wasn’t the only one, it seems, who kept quiet. Yadav had raped one more woman, who left Ramnagar unable to deal with the social stigma. That had happened in 2003 and the woman had even filed a case against Yadav. So far, Yadav has been accused of rape by six women, including a Gurgaon bar dancer in 2011 for which he spent seven months in jail before a settlement was reached.
“I am happy that he has been booked, but people in my neighbourhood for long called me characterless,” the 46- year-old woman recounted, surrounded by villagers in her house. “And it has gotten worse after I told my story to the media.” Even as she said this, her husband appeared out of nowhere and slapped her into silence. “Tu kitni naak katayegi? Moonh band nai rakh sakti? (How much shame will you bring us, can’t you keep quiet)” he screamed, pushing her into the small shop they run from the house, selling soaps, namkeen and paan masala to earn a livelihood. Chandramukhi (name changed) said though she didn’t run away, she didn’t speak up either.
“But now I will,” she said, covering her face with her ghoonghat. From Nagla Taar village, close to Ramnagar, she said, “It was in August 2013 that I was raped at gunpoint by Shiv Kumar Yadav. Police took the matter casually and refused to lodge an FIR, but my husband supported me and we managed to report the case.” Talking about the horror of that night, Chandramukhi, now 32 and married 17 years ago in Nagla Taar, said, “I had gone to the dumping ground nearby to throw garbage. He confronted me there and choked me so hard that I could not cry for help. He then took out his gun and threatened to kill me if I didn’t remain quiet.
He raped me, took away my earrings and pendants, pulling them hard, which left me injured. He said, ‘Don’t you dare tell anyone’.” The third woman in the village to speak up was a 23-year-old, whose story perhaps is the most heart wrenching. She was 18 and in the first year of college when she was raped. She soon discontinued her studies and her father got her married in another village. “It feels like you don’t have any rights at all, like you just have to float through everything that is heaped upon you,” she said, sobbing.
Hyderabad Becomes the Second Indian City To Ban Uber
The southern Indian city of Hyderabad banned Uber on December 10, two days after the municipal government of New Delhi executed a similar ban. Hyderabad’s joint transport commissioner T. Raghunath said that Uber’s services in the city, much like in Delhi, were illegal. “Uber has not obtained permission from the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to operate or facilitate taxi or cab services in the city,” he said. New Delhi, meanwhile, has cracked down on all web-based taxi services for flouting transport regulations, and local authorities are urging the rest of the country to follow suit. The Delhi ban followed, but was not related to, an accusation of rape made by a passenger against one of the ride-sharing company’s drivers. The Indian capital’s police have now reportedly summoned Uber’s Asia-Pacific head, Eric Alexander, for questioning about those allegations. -
Cabinet clears 49% FDI in insurance
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Cabinet on Thursday approved 49% foreign investment in insurance companies through the FIPB route ensuring management control in the hands of Indian promoters. “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved raising of FDI cap in insurance sector to 49% from 26%,” sources said after a meeting of the CCEA, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the Cabinet approving the amendments to the long pending Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, it will now be taken up by Parliament.
In his budget speech, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that the insurance sector is investment starved and there is a need to increase the composite cap in the sector to 49%, with full Indian management and control, through the FIPB route. The move would help insurance firms to get much needed capital from overseas partners. The proposal to raise FDI cap has been pending since 2008 when the previous UPA government introduced the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill to hike foreign holding in insurance joint ventures to 49% from the existing 26%. However, the bill could not be taken up in the Rajya Sabha because of opposition from several political parties, including the BJP.
The insurance sector was opened up for private sector in 2000 after the enactment of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDA Act, 1999). This Act permitted foreign shareholding in insurance companies to the extent of 26% with an aim to provide better insurance coverage and to augment the flow of long term resources for financing infrastructure.The industry has been demanding for long to increase the FDI limit for adequate funds for expansion of the sector. -
ARMY SPELLS OUT NEW RULES FOR PERSONNEL USING SOCIAL MEDIA
NEW DELHI (TIP): After finding itself at the receiving end of several malicious campaigns in the social media, the Army on Thursday spelt out the dos and don’ts for its personnel who use these platforms.
Though the policy was made sometime ago, the Army brought it in the public domain on Thursday asserting that being on the social media is purely a personal choice and under no circumstances the personnel will disclose details like rank, unit, formation, appointment, place of duty and movement on social networking sites. Operational and administrative matters, including issues that affect the image of not only the Army but also the armed forces, Defence Ministry and the government should not be discussed.Photos in uniform or background depicting Army installations and equipment must be avoided, the policy posted on the Army’s Facebook page stated. Online participation in polling, campaigns related to the armed forces or government are prohibited.
Furthermore, the policy says Army personnel must not create or be a member of groups depicting religious sects, political groups, foreign military networks and hate groups. They are also barred from circulating chain mails, messages and posts on the armed forces. With several false WhatsApp messages on Army activities doing the rounds, the policy cautions the serving officers as well as veterans to verify the facts mentioned in those messages before accepting the content as truth. They are also expected to behave more responsibly while forwarding mails affecting the image of the Army. -
Cabinet clears Rs 5 lakh compensation to 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims
NEW DELHI (TIP): A proposal to give Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, triggered after assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has been approved by the government on December 10 night. The decision has been taken by the Union Cabinet at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The compensation to the families of the riot victims will be given in addition to what they have so far received from the government and other agencies, official sources said. Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while rest of the victims were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
The Narendra Modi government had received several petitions from various Sikh organisations in the last three months. The fresh compensation, which will cost the exchequer Rs 166 crore, sources said. The anti-Sikhs riots were triggered following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. In 2006, the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced a package of Rs 717 crore which included monetary compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh to the kin of each killed in the riots besides financial assistance to the injured and those who had lost their property.
Out of this only, Rs 517 crore had been spent and the remaining Rs 200 crore could not be distributed because of dispute over claimants. The most affected regions were the Sikh neighbourhoods in Delhi. Some of the anti-Sikh riot cases are still continuing in courts and many Sikh organisations have alleged that the key conspirators of the violence were at large and victims have not yet got justice. In 2005, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had apologised for the 1984 anti-Sikh violence saying Gandhi’s assassination was a “great national tragedy” and what happened subsequently was “equally shameful”. “I have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community. I apologise not only to the Sikh community, but to the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution,” he had said. -
‘We’ll be back’: Hong Kong protesters chant as camp site dismantled
HONG KONG (TIP): Hong Kong police arrested pro-democracy activists and cleared most of the main protest site on december 11, marking an end to more than two months of street demonstrations in the Chinese-controlled city, but many chanted: “We will be back”. Most activists chose to leave the Admiralty site, next to the Central business area, peacefully, despite their demands for a free vote not being met. But the overall mood remained defiant.
Hong Kong Federation of Students leader Alex Chow said: “You might have the clearance today but people will come back on to the streets another day.” Groups of up to four police arrested holdout protesters one by one, hours after workers used wire cutters to remove barricades and dismantle bamboo scaffolding. Martin Lee, one of the founders of the main opposition Democratic Party, student leader Nathan Law, media mogul Jimmy Lai and legislators were among those arrested. Lai said 75 days of protests would never have been enough to see the demands met. “We are not so naive,” he told CNN before he was arrested. “We know there will be many battles before we win the war.”
The mainly peaceful protests have represented one of the most serious challenges to China’s authority since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations and bloody crackdown in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Protest leaders have said they will consider other forms of civil disobedience, given Beijing’s continued refusal to grant any concessions. “Blocking government may be even more powerful than blocking roads,” Benny Tai, one of the leaders of the movement, has said. “Refusal to pay taxes, delaying rent payments … and filibustering in the Legislative Council, along with other acts of non-cooperation, could make governing more inconvenient.” At the protest site, authorities used around 20 trucks with cranes to remove mountains of rubbish.
By late evening, traffic had resumed along two lanes of the previously blocked highway. Hundreds of police swept through other parts of Admiralty, checking tents before dragging them away along with metal barriers, plastic sheets and umbrellas, which activists had used during clashes to guard against pepper spray and baton blows. A decapitated cardboard cutout of Chinese President Xi Jinping stood in front of a police line. “The movement has been surreal. No one knew it could last more than two months … in a place where time and money are most important,” said protester Javis Luk, 27.
Expensive real estate
There was little resistance as protesters packed up pillows, blankets and other belongings from inside tents pitched on some of the world’s most expensive real estate and left the site. Protesters mocked police warnings, shouting their own aimed at Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Leung Chun-ying. “This is the last warning for CY Leung! Show your face, CY Leung,” they shouted. All of the hundreds of tents that had dotted the eight-lane highway that connects some of the former British colony’s most important financial and commercial districts had been removed by the evening and just a few dozen protesters remained.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gives the city more autonomy and freedom than the mainland and a goal of universal suffrage. The protesters are demanding open nominations in the city’s next election for chief executive in 2017. Beijing has said it will allow a 2017 vote but only between pre-screened candidates. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States still hoped to a see a competitive process and noted that a new round of public consulations was due in coming weeks.
“We encourage Hong Kong authorities and the people of Hong Kong to work together to ensure there’s a competitive process for the selection of the chief executive through universal suffrage,” she told a regular news briefing. Despite the clearance, the Occupy movement has been a social watershed, with people pushing back against increasing control and standing up to Beijing to preserve democracy and freedoms largely denied on the mainland. For many, it was a tearful farewell to the site where thousands had gathered in recent weeks and many have called home during the occupation. -
MISSOURI MAN KILLS LOCAL FAVORITE ALBINO DEER, DONATES MEAT
KANSAS CITY (MISSOURI) (TIP): A Missouri man, criticized after he killed an albino deer that had been a community favorite, said on December 11 he would have the aging animal stuffed and would give away the meat to a needy family. Jerry Kinnaman, 40, said he had seen the deer around Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for years and refrained from shooting it because a neighbor enjoyed watching it. He killed it on Tuesday with a bow and arrow, he said. “He really hadn’t been on my property enough for me to actually hunt him,” Kinnaman said in a telephone interview. “This year he started showing up again periodically. I knew I had a chance.” The 10-point buck was about 7-1/2 years old, thin and probably near the end of its life expectancy, he said. Kinnaman said he could understand the outcry generated after he posted his kill of the locally famous deer on Facebook, and an article ran in the Southeast Missourian newspaper
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Ebola vaccine trial halted for checks after joint pains
GENEVA (TIP): A clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine developed by Merck and NewLink has been halted temporarily as a precautionary measure after four patients complained of joint pains, the University of Geneva Hospital said on December 11. “They are all fine and being monitored regularly by the medical team leading the study,” it said in a statement. The human safety trials, which began in Geneva on Nov. 10, are due to resume on Jan. 5 in up to 15 volunteers after checks to ensure that joint pain symptoms in hands and feet were “benign and temporary”, the hospital said.
Fifty nine volunteers have been vaccinated so far. The Geneva researchers reported on Dec. 2 that the first people vaccinated with the experimental Ebola shot had seen no serious side effects so far, but a few experienced mild fever. On Thursday, it said that four patients had reported joint pains in the second week that had lasted a few days. This first phase of the trial had been due to continue for another week. “The Geneva team has decided to allow time to understand what is happening. This precaution of momentarily suspending the trial is habitual and classic in all clinical trials,” the researchers said.
The team was in close contact with researchers in the United States, Germany, Canada and Gabon who are carrying out the same trial with the Merck and NewLink vaccine, it said. “These centres have not observed symptoms of inflammation in their volunteers to date,” it added. Marie-Paule Kieny, vaccine expert at the World Health Organisation (WHO), told a news briefing that the delay would allow time to see how widespread the problems are. But it was expected that after the delay the trial will be able to continue as originally planned, she said. “It’s not a setback, not at all,” Kieny said in Geneva. -
Belgium seeks to have potato fries declared cultural heritage
BELGIUM (TIP): There are few things people agree on in linguistically divided Belgium, but an effort to get Belgian potato fries recognized as global cultural heritage and put it on a par with Peking opera and the Argentinian tango may get unequivocal support. Belgian fries are traditionally sold, in a paper cone, in a “fritkot”, generally a shack or trailer. There are some 5,000 of these in Belgium, making them 10 times more common, per capita, than McDonald’s restaurants in the United States.
To become recognized by the United Nations’ cultural arm Unesco, they need to be endorsed by a minister of culture, and Belgium has three of them. The government of the Dutch speaking region of Flanders recognized Belgian fries as an integral part of national culture this year, and the French- and Germanspeaking communities are expected to debate the issue next year. UNAFRI, the national association of fritkot owners, which started the drive, says the unpolished establishments are uniquely Belgian, combining the country’s embrace of chaos with a dislike of corporate uniformity. “A cone of potato chips is Belgium in miniature.
What’s astounding is that this way of thinking is the same, notwithstanding the different communities and regions,” said spokesman Bernard Lefevre. Many tourists join the locals in the long queues at popular Brussels fritkots such as Frit Flagey and Maison Antoine. “Before I came here, one of the only things I knew about Belgium was that they liked their fries, so I think they are pretty much there already,” said Rachael Webb, a visitor from Ottawa, Canada, holding a cone of fries -
BIPASHA: ALONE IS GOING TO BE MY BOLDEST FILM EVER
Actress Bipasha Basu may have done bold scenes in her previous releases, but she feels her forthcoming movie “Alone” is her boldest movie so far. In “Alone”, directed by Bhushan Patel, the Bengali beauty has shed all her inhibitions to shoot some passionate and steamy scenes with her co-star Karan Singh Grover. “It is going to be my boldest film that I have ever done till now,” Bipasha, who has shown her bold side in films like “Jism”, “Raaz”, “Raaz 3D” among others, said. “It’s a passionate love story. It is definitely a horror genre and will scare you, but it revolves around a love story… a love story between a man, a woman and a ghost,” she added. Further, Bipasha said that the audience would love the film as “they will see lots of passion, lots of love in it.”
