An Australian got punched in the face for standing up and defending three Muslim women facing verbal abuse in the second such incident in a month.
It began with two men in orange tops verbally abusing three women wearing headscarves, in a train in Melbourne.
According to Australian The Age newspaper, one of the two abusive men pointed at one of the Muslim women who was sitting next to him and said “You shouldn’t be wearing that s*** in Australia.”
As the argument ensued, one of the elder women among the three spoke in Arabic in an apparent attempt to calm things.
But it only invited more abuse as the two men turned around and told her, “You shouldn’t be speaking that s*** in Australia.”
Perturbed by the situation, the women got off the train but the abuse followed them as one of the men shouted out a sexual threat towards her.
At this one man got up and tried to intervene.
“I said to the guy, Mate, they are women. The implication there was you don’t threaten people, particularly women,” said Jason Cias, 36, had stood up.
At this, one of the two abusive men came and punched Cias in the face followed by a brief scuffle. The incident was filmed by onlookers who later provided it to police officials as evidence.
Cias got a ‘pretty good black eye’ for his valour, and insisted that he would repeat his actions if he found himself in similar circumstances again. In fact, he said he wished he had intervened in the matter earlier.
A spokesperson for Victoria Police confirmed the incident and said that they were investigating matter which occurred on 3:30pm train that departed from Melbourne Central Station to reach Craigieburn on May 15.
On April 16, an Australian woman had stood up for a Muslim couple who was being verbally attacked based on their religion on a train in Sydney.
A passenger was hurling abuse and hurtful insults at a middle-aged man and his wife, when Stacy Eden, 23, decided to step in and defend them.
Internet.org is a global initiative by Facebook where selected websites are made available to users for free.
Facebook finally launched its free but limited internet facility “internet.org” in Pakistan in, making it the 11th country to have this service.
In a Facebook post on Thursday Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that “Internet.org is now live in Pakistan for people on the Telenor Pakistan network.”
“Now, people will be able to access valuable services for free, including resources for health, jobs, local news and communication.”
He also claimed that nearly 1 billion people around the world will be able to access basic internet facility through this internet programme.
Internet.org is a global initiative by Facebook where selected websites are made available to users for free. It has been developed with the basic aim at developing markets where devices and data rates are beyond the reach of commoners.
The social media giant, after partnering with different telecom companies and content providers, would make certain selected websites available free of cost to their consumers.
The internet.org programme, however, has been criticised by the internet activists for its partiality and violation of net neutrality as only certain sites, including Facebook, while charging for rest of the sites. They also claim that the programme is either intentionally or unintentionally “killing the rest of internet” as only selected content on the internet will be promoted, which can be dangerous in the long run since not everyone can become part of the program.
Though any publisher can apply to become part of internet.org program, but not everyone’s application is accepted as they have to follow certain rules/guidelines which might even mean compromising on the quality of their content.
According to a market research by GfK, there are over 30 million Internet users and 15 million smartphone users in Pakistan. The recent statistics showed a staggering growth in Internet use of over 550 per cent between September 2014 and April of this year, with the total number of 3G subscribers crossing 11 million. The research also predicted the Pakistan’s tech device market to grow by 15 per cent in 2015.
Zayn Malik quit One Direction because of burnout, according to one of the band’s main songwriters, reported IndiaToday.
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Jamie Scott denied rumours that the 22-year-old singer walked away from the group because of deteriorating relations with his fellow band-mates.
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The Sunday Mirror quoted Jamie as saying, “Zayn went because he’d had enough. Have you ever been on the road for four years? These guys aren’t at home.”
Speaking on behalf on Zayn, Jamie said, ”It was, ‘OK, I don’t want to be in this band any more.’ It was that simple, it was human instinct kicking in. People want it to be complicated and have secret reasons but that is what it was.”
PHOTO: THEGUARDIAN
A close friend of Zayn, Naughty Boy, claimed that there’s no “bad blood” between the band. He further said, “I don’t think there’s any real bad blood, especially from this side. I just want people to support him and prepare for his future. Along with respect his reasons for leaving.”
Naughty Boy also added, “Right now it’s down-time for Zayn but I think there is a journey for him ahead, I think for any kind of band there has to be a destiny for each of them. Nothing lasts forever.”
FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s bid for presidency received a major blow on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK: The US Justice Department announced conspiracy and corruption charges against nine FIFA officials and five business executives on Wednesday, after Swiss authorities arrested seven suspects based on the indictments.
The 14 officials and executives were charged with a bribery and kickback scheme that spanned a 24-year period.
The Justice Department revealed that four individuals and two companies have already pleaded guilty, in a case that has rocked football’s world governing body.
“It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks,” said US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
At the same time as the indictments were unsealed, authorities raided the Miami headquarters of the CONCACAF soccer association, which coordinates the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
According to the Justice Department, the defendants include FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb, executive committee member and CONCACAF president Eduardo Li, FIFA executive committee member-elect and CONCACAF executive committee member Julio Rocha, FIFA development officer Costas Takkas, attache to the CONCACAF president and former FIFA vice president and ex-CONCACAF president Jack Warner.
Others arrested are: current FIFA vice president and executive committee member Eugenio Figueredo, current CONMEBOL executive committee member Rafael Esquivel, current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympics Jose Maria Marin and former FIFA executive committee member Nicolas Leoz.
The sports marketing executives charged include: controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias Alejandro Burzaco, President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. Aaron Davidson and controlling principals of Full Play Group Hugo and Mariano Jinkis.
The four who have pleaded guilty are: former FIFA development officer and son of Jack Warner, Daryll Warner, the former CONCACAF president Daryan Warner, former CONCACAF general secretary Charles Blazer and former FIFA executive committee member and owner of the Brazilian sports marketing Traffic Group Jose Hawilla.
The seven arrested in Zurich are: Webb, Li, Rocha, Takkas, Figueredo, Esquivel and Marin.
I will teach Malia how to milk a cow, cook ugali and prepare mursik like any other Kalenjin woman, says Kiprono. PHOTO: REUTERS
NAIROBI: Felix Kiprono said he was willing to pay 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats in order to fulfill his dream of marrying the first daughter.
“I got interested in her in 2008,” Kiprono said, in an interview with The Nairobian newspaper.
At that time President Obama was running for office for the first time and Malia was a 10-year-old.
“As a matter of fact, I haven’t dated anyone since and promise to be faithful to her. I have shared this with my family and they are willing to help me raise the bride price,” he said.
Kiprono said he intended to put his offer of marriage to Obama and hopes the president will bring his daughter with him when he makes his first presidential visit to Kenya, the country where his father was born, in July.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, who is in her early 90s, still lives in Kogelo, in western Kenya, home to a number of the president’s relatives.
“I am currently drafting a letter to Obama asking him to please have Malia accompany him for this trip. I hope the embassy will pass the letter to him,” he said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Kiprono dismissed the notion he might be a gold-digger. “People might say I am after the family’s money, which is not the case. My love is real,” he insisted.
The young lawyer, whose age was not revealed, said he had already planned his proposal, which would be made on a hill near his rural village, and the wedding at which champagne would be shunned in favour of a traditional sour milk called “mursik”.
Kiprono said that as a couple he and the young Obama would lead “a simple life”.
“I will teach Malia how to milk a cow, cook ugali (maize porridge) and prepare mursik like any other Kalenjin woman,” he said.
Real Madrid sacked coach Carlo Ancelotti as the popular Italian paid for a disappointing season without a major trophy. PHOTO: AFP
MADRID: Some of Real Madrid’s key players have rallied around coach Carlo Ancelotti after the Italian was made the scapegoat for a season without major trophies and sacked on Monday.
Top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo had already offered his support for Ancelotti on Saturday, the Portugal forward saying he hoped to work with him again next season.
President Florentino Perez decided, however, that “a new impetus” was needed and fired Ancelotti two years into a three-year contract.
The decision, taken just a year after Ancelotti guided Real to their historic 10th European Cup triumph, prompted several important figures in the dressing room to show their appreciation for the coach on Twitter.
“Thanks for everything boss,” Real’s Brazil left back Marcelo wrote. “You are really great.”
Germany midfielder Toni Kroos added, “Thank you boss. It was a pleasure to work with you. I wish you all the best for the future.”
Colombian international James Rodriguez also thanked Ancelotti, saying he had “learned a great deal in a short time” from the 55-year-old, while France forward Karim Benzema expressed his gratitude for “two great years”.
Perez, who has worked his way through nine coaches in two six-year stints at the helm of the world’s richest club by income, said he did not mind the players advertising their affection for Ancelotti.
Going so obviously against the wishes of a majority of the squad may, however, make the job of whoever succeeds Ancelotti that much harder.
While Real’s two captains, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, have yet to comment in public following Ancelotti’s dismissal, the decision of some players to make their feelings known on social media is unusual at a club that obsessively controls the flow of information.
Perez said the club would unveil Real’s new coach next week, with local media reporting Napoli’s Spanish manager Rafa Benitez as the front runner.
Jennifer Lopez says she is still single and likes having "no one to answer to". PHOTO: PHOTO: LIVEJOURNAL
LOS ANGELES: Hollywood singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, who is caught amidst rumours that she has rekindled her relationship with former boyfriend Casper Smart, says she is still single and likes having “no one to answer to”.
PHOTO: FILE
PHOTO: CITIES GALLERY
“In my twenties, I was so focused on my career and on boyfriends, and now I realize it’s about focusing on feeling good about yourself. Being single is good. You have no one to answer to, so you can do whatever you want, but I don’t go wild or anything,” US Weekly magazine quoted the 45-year-old as saying.
PHOTO: PEOPLE
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Talking about her ideal man, Lopez said: “I like healthy men. If people don’t care about themselves, how can they care about anyone else?”
Soldiers of Special Services Group march past during a ceremony of Pakistan National Day. PHOTO: APP
Pakistan’s elite special forces unit, army’s Special Services Group (SSG) has been listed as the best special forces group, ahead of units such as the US Navy SEALs and the British Special Air Service group.
The list, by Business Insider Australia ranked Pakistani commandos as the best of the nine top elite forces from around the world.
Called the ‘Black Storks’, due to the unique headgear worn, soldiers in the unit have to complete a 36-mile march in just 12 hours and a five-mile run in 20 minutes in full gear.
For operational reference, it mentioned the 2009 operation that the SSG conducted to rescue the 39 people held hostage by suspected Taliban militants who had attacked the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The SSG have been deployed in a number of operations in Pakistan from prison takeovers, to fighting terrorists in North Waziristan.
COAS meets Commanding Officer SSG unit during a visit to Miranshah Bazar. PHOTO: ISPR
Other forces making the list
Coming in second on the list were Spain’s Naval Special Warfare Force, and was called as one of Europe’s best respected special forces.
Next in line was Russia’s Naval Special Warfare Force ‘Alpha Group’, serving as the nation’s elite anti-terrorism unit.
France’s fabled 200-strong National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), trained especially to respond to hostage situations, came in on four.
Israel’s Sayeret Matkal made it to the fifth spot. Its primary purpose is intelligence-gathering and operating deep behind enemy lines. Along with Mossad, it is suspected to have aided in carrying out a hit in Dubai using falsified passports.
The British Special Air Service (SAS), who have the famous motto ‘Who dares wins’, were listed on number six.
The UK equivalent of the Navy SEALs, Special Boat Service, came in on number seven. The unit specialises in intense training and interrogation.
The US Navy SEALS, a special unit of which carried out Operation Neptune Spear to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011 were listed on eight.
To join the SEALS, one has to prove they are the toughest warriors around and they are asked to prove this by completing a minimum of 42 push-ups in two minutes, 50 sit-ups in two minutes, and run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes before they even start training.
The last one on the list are the US Marines. It is an odd listing since they are not considered an elite unit.
They have a reputation of being pretty tough in their own right.
Marines undergo weeks of rigorous training exercises especially designed to overcome those who cannot hit their exacting standards.
When Australia introduced GST in 2000, health products such as condoms and sunscreen were exempt from the 10% charge. PHOTO COURTESY: SANO MAG
SYDNEY: Australia’s Treasurer Joe Hockey will reconsider what has been dubbed the “tampon tax” after a campaign by a university student rallied nearly 100,000 supporters in branding the levy sexist.
When Australia introduced a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2000, health products such as condoms and sunscreen were exempt from the 10 per cent charge, along with most foods.
But tampons and other women’s hygiene products were not, despite an outcry at the time.
Hockey admitted late on Monday that tampons “probably should” be considered essential health products and therefore GST-free, but said any decision would have to be backed by state and territory governments which receive revenues from the tax.
The United States pushes back against Chinese claims over a vast tract of water of enormous importance. It’s a classic win-or-lose confrontation.
At the moment, the war is just one of words. On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called a U.S. Navy reconnaissance flight over the hotly contested South China Sea "very irresponsible and dangerous and detrimental to regional peace and stability." The admonition came two days after the Chinese navy sent eight warnings to an American P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft, telling it not to approach Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Island chain.
Beijing and Washington in recent months have been making many declarations about—and trading accusations and warnings over—these 3.5 million square kilometers of water that are roughly bounded by Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where annual commerce totals $5.3 trillion. About half the world’s oil-tanker shipments transit its waters. Six of the world’s ten busiest ports dot its coasts.
“The South China Sea is the cockpit of geopolitics in East Asia,” wrote the International Crisis Group this month. Yet it may soon be more than just that. This body of water is where history’s next major armed conflict could very well start.
The U.S., if it is to defend freedom of navigation, will have to fly planes into what Beijing considers its sovereign airspace and drive warships through waters China claims as territorial.
Beijing claims as sovereign territory the largely uninhabited Spratly Islands and virtually all the other atolls, shoals, rocks, and reefs in the South China Sea. Official Chinese maps contain either nine or ten “dashes” forming “the cow’s tongue” of its self-declared boundary, covering some four-fifths of South China Sea water. The tongue hugs the coastlines of Taiwan and five other countries and extends about 1,800 kilometers from China’s closest shore.
China has not fully clarified the precise extent of its sovereignty claims to South China Sea waters, but it is nonetheless clear that those claims are inconsistent with its treaty obligations and international law. Accordingly, the issuance of the maps is seen as an attempt to exclude other nations from the area.
Taiwan formally maintains the same expansive claims as China but does not seek to enforce them, except on scattered islands. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia maintain competing claims to the islands and other features in the sea close to their shores.
Some countries have engaged in miscellaneous bits of dredging and construction on features they occupy, but none of them has come close to Beijing’s accelerated land “reclamation” program in the Spratlys, where there was once little more than a collection of coral reefs and, in fact, little land.
Since the middle of last year, China has, by dredging reefs and shoals, added approximately four square kilometers of land to the Spratlys, including Fiery Cross Reef, which is much closer to Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and oil-rich Brunei than it is to China. There are, at this time, no fewer than 100 Chinese dredgers at work in the Spratlys.
“The speed, scale, intensity, and remoteness of China’s ongoing manufacture of land and infrastructure within the South China Sea have few or no parallels in history outside of wartime,” writes Victor Robert Lee, a reporter blogging for the Diplomat website. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in March labeled China’s “unprecedented land reclamation” the “great wall of sand.”
Beijing has been cagey about its intended uses of the reclaimed land, but it is apparent the People’s Liberation Army will be a major part of its plans in the Spratlys. The runway on Fiery Cross Reef, for instance, is extremely long, about 3,000 meters.
Specifically, there are worries that China’s new facilities will be used to enforce a South China Sea air-defense identification zone. Such a zone, complementing its East China Sea zone declared in November 2013, would represent a large expansion of Beijing’s reach.
Wiki Commons
Even without a formal declaration of an air zone over the South China Sea, it appears Beijing already has imposed one. Last Wednesday, the radio warning from the Chinese navy to the American P-8A specifically referred to “our military alert zone.” After the incident, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, obliquely referred to the new zone. “The Chinese side is entitled to monitor the situation in relevant waters and airspace,” he said at a regular briefing.
Moreover, Beijing claims that the reclaimed features give rise to a 12-nautical-mile band of territorial water. The claim is inconsistent with international law and Beijing’s obligations under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which it has ratified.
The U.S. has no territorial claims in the South China Sea, and because of that Beijing has consistently taken the position that the United States has no legitimate interest there.
Washington disagrees. If there has been any constant in American foreign policy since the birth of the republic, it has been the defense of freedom of navigation. China’s new military alert zone and its claims to territorial waters around reclaimed features certainly infringe on that notion.
And so does China’s attempted jamming of America’s Global Hawk, the Air Force’s long-range drone, near the Spratly chain. The Free Beacon website reported that U.S. officials have mentioned there has been at least one incident of drone jamming.
China’s challenge to the United States in the South China Sea sets up the classic zero-sum confrontation. Beijing has declared that its South China Sea claims are a “core interest” that cannot be negotiated. Washington, which has plied the seas from its very first days as a nation, cannot compromise its defense of the global commons. Each side can make tactical retreats, but neither can abandon its position for long.
There are two competing visions of the world, and only one can prevail. So, going forward, relations between China and the United States will be fundamentally different due to their disagreement over the South China Sea.
No one thinks the Chinese will drop their outlandish claims around the reclaimed features, so all eyes will be on Washington. The U.S., if it is to defend freedom of navigation, will have to fly planes into what Beijing considers its sovereign airspace and drive warships through waters China claims as territorial. “That would be the next step,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Thursday.
Senior Col. Zhou Bo of China’s Ministry of National Defense says China does not want a confrontation, but his country keeps trying to close off international water and airspace to everyone else.
The resulting contest could just be the one that determines whose vision of the world—and which nation’s rules—govern this century
Tax hike likely to affect higher income individuals. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: In a bid to raise funds for the war against the Taliban, the government is likely to levy an income tax surcharge on individuals with high incomes in the budget for fiscal year 2016.
The proposal for a surcharge was discussed during a meeting of senior finance officials in the government, chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, according to officials at the finance ministry. They said the government was considering levying the tax on individuals who fall in higher income tax brackets. The officials said that the minister has given his consent and that the proposal would now be sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for approval.
The options considered by the government were either levying a new ‘super tax’ or else impose a surcharge on existing tax payments already owed by people in higher tax brackets. Given the government’s desire to be able to claim a ‘no new taxes’ budget, the ‘super tax’ proposal was ruled out. The surcharge being considered would likely be between 5% and 10% of the tax owed by individuals in higher tax brackets.
Once approved by the prime minister, the levy would be announced for higher income groups, though precisely which income tax brackets would be subject to the surcharge is still being determined by Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd (PRAL), the information technology subsidiary of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
For fiscal year 2016, the government has estimated a regular defence budget of Rs772 billion. In addition to the regular budget, the military has demanded roughly Rs45 billion for spending on Operation Zarb-e-Azb and raising nine battalions of the Pakistan Army for the protection of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects, bringing total military spending to Rs817 billion.
That Rs817 billion number does not include the cost of military development programmes, nor that of military pensions, which would substantially increase the total spending on defence, reducing the fiscal space for civilian spending. The government is trying to create the space for that spending by increasing taxes on more affluent Pakistanis.
However, there are fears that the proposed levy may be challenged in the courts, since a similar tax – the Income Support Levy – imposed by the government in fiscal 2014 was struck down by the courts. Government officials familiar with the deliberations said the modalities of the surcharge were yet to be finalised.
An independent Tax Reforms Commission constituted by the government has also given almost a similar proposal in its report that has been shared with the government. The TRC has proposed to collect a higher income contributor surcharge to support Zarb-e-Azb and fight against terrorism for a period of three years. It defines a higher income contributor as a person who earns over Rs:50 million annually.
The Pakistan Peoples Party government too had levied similar taxes. It had first levied a tax on the corporate sector alone, which was struck down by the courts. Then it levied a flood surcharge on all the salaried individuals.
While the government may have moral and legal grounds to levy the Operation Zarb-e-Azb Surcharge, its move is subject to criticism of overburdening existing taxpayers instead of broadening the base. The representatives of the industrialists and trade bodies have started publicly accusing the FBR of indulging in corrupt practices in the name of broadening the tax base.
Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh talks to media outside the Sindh High Court on Monday, May 25, 2016. PHOTO: ONLINE
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday rejected Axact Chief Executive Officer Shoaib Sheikh’s application plea seeking grant of a pre-arrest bail, terming it “meritless”.
Sheikh is going to the FIA office to file his written statement, lawyers told media. The Axact CEO appeared before a two-judge bench of the SHC today (May 25) and submitted the application to avoid any possibility of arrest.
His counsel said that there is an apprehension that FIA would arrest his client on the basis of the NYT report despite the fact that no case was registered in Pakistan.
The company, that has pledged to build a media empire, faced tough criticism after The New York Times said it was earning tens of millions of dollars by selling fake degrees.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had taken notice of the NYT report which claimed that Axact ran a fake education empire that involved paid actors promoting fictitious universities and even fake State Department authentication certifications bearing the signature of John Kerry.
The report, which quoted former employees and analysed more than 370 websites of fake universities, accreditation bodies and other purported institutions, sparked a wave of criticism on social media even as the company denied wrongdoing.
As the scandal surrounding Axact’s fake degree empire roiled the country, several senior journalists announced on Saturday that they were leaving the Bol Network, a sister concern of the controversial IT company.
Those who quit Bol included the network’s two top executives, Kamran Khan and Azhar Abbas.
“Charges against Axact are far from having been proved in court but my conscience is not letting me continue,” tweeted Bol’s president and editor-in-chief Kamran Khan, who had earlier called on the Supreme Court to form an independent panel of experts to look into the NYTclaims about Axact.
“I have decided to disassociate from Bol immediately,” he continued in his post on the microblogging website.
The government has decided to enlist the help of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol in investigating the multimillion-dollar fake degrees scam.
Speaking at a news conference, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said they have found ‘substantive evidence’ on the ‘illegal operations’ of Axact and that the government would soon contact FBI and Interpol. “In light of the developments that have come through in the FIA inquiry, we have decided to write to the FBI within the next two days to ask for legal assistance,” he added.
