London: Officials in UK are investigating unregulated schools set up by Islamists, including several established by a former teacher at the centre of the so-called Trojan Horse scandal. The schools, some of which allegedly “subvert British values”, are based around the country. Many of their pupils, including some from Somali, Bengali and Pakistani families, have been taken out of mainstream schools to be taught at home. Their education is supplemented in unregulated schools, where much of the teaching is around the Islamic faith. Officials fear children may be at risk of being radicalised in such tutorial centres. A Whitehall official said the DfE had launched a series of investigations into the growing number of unregulated schools amid concern about the numbers of children travelling to Syria to join jihadists. The official said some of the unregulated schools are run by people who are opposed to “democracy, equality, and tolerance” because they are seen to conflict with their religious beliefs.
Radical Islamist group fosters links with al-Qaeda in Syria
London: A radical Islamist group with big support base in Britain has fostered links with an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, a report said. Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) is launching attacks on civil activists in the northern city of Aleppo, aided by fighters from the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria.
About 100 HT members attacked secular activists during an anti-regime demonstration in Bustan al-Qasr, an opposition-controlled neighbourhood in the east of the city. A well-known anti-regime activist was arrested and severely beaten by the group the day after the demonstration. A photograph taken during the protest shows HT members confronting activists, while fighters from the Nusra Front stand guard.
Blair planning to create cadre of former leaders
London: Former British prime minister Tony Blair is planning to create a “cadre” of former leaders, as he revealed plans to remain in public life for the next three decades. Blair said it was odd that accomplished statesmen were expected to retire and play golf. He joked that he would “take to drink” if he was forced to give up the many high profile roles he holds.
Chinese hackers snooping on India
Singapore: A suspected Chinese government sponsored group is understood to have snooped on inaccessible government computer networks in India for over a decade, a cyber security group claimed. The Singapore-based `APT30', touted to be the longest-running advanced threat group, possibly tapped classified government networks and others inaccessible from a standard connection, cyber security provider FireEye has claimed. Indian researchers also discovered APT30 suspicious activity at Indian organizations besides FireEye identifying alerts from APT30 malware at the computer network of its Indian customers, which include an Indian aerospace and defence company and an Indian telecommunications firm, it claimed.
3 PIOs in the list of biggest givers of 2015
Washington: Three Indian-Americans are among 50 biggest philanthropists of 2015, that includes top business honchos like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The list compiled by American lifestyle “Town and Country Magazine” figures New York-based Adarsh Alphons, Reshma Saujani and Shaila Ittycheria, all under 40 years of age. “These are the men and women whose serious dollars, bold ideas, and old-fashioned hard work have made them the year's most noteworthy and inspiring givers,” the magazine wrote in its “T&C 50: The Biggest Philanthropists of 2015” list. It also includes Mark Zuckerberg's wife Priscilla Chan.
Asteroid named after Malala
Islamabad: The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her, media reported. Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, named Asteroid 316201 after Malala, Dawn online said. He said, “It is a great honour to be able to name an asteroid after Malala. My postdoctoral fellow Dr Carrie Nugent brought to my attention the fact that although many asteroids have been named, very few have been named to honour the contributions of women (and particularly women of color).” Mainzer discovered the asteroid in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter which gives her the right to name it. It orbits the Sun every 5.5 years
Bangladesh hangs top Jamaat leader
Dhaka: Top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Quamaruzzaman was hanged last week for committing war crimes and mass killing during Bangladesh's 1971 independence war against Pakistan, days after he lost his final bid to overturn his death sentence. He was hanged, jail officials were quoted by local media reports as saying. Quamaruzzaman, 63, is the second Jamaat leader after Quader Mollah to be executed for 1971 war crimes. He had decided not to seek presidential clemency after the review of his conviction was rejected on April 6 by a four-member supreme court bench headed by chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.
Gunmen kill 20 sleeping labourers in Pakistan
Quetta (Pakistan): Gunmen in Pakistan killed 20 labourers while they were sleeping, a government official said, in what appeared to be the latest violence by separatist rebels battling for control of resources rich Baluchistan province. Rebels have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency in the province for decades, demanding an end to what they see as the exploitation of their resources by people from other parts of Pakistan. The workers killed at a construction site were mostly from outside Baluchistan which suggested the Baluch rebels were responsible, said provincial interior minister Akbar Hussain Durrani.
Indian restaurant in Doha offers free meal to poor
Doha: An Indian restaurant in Doha has been offering free meal to the migrant labourers. "If you are hungry and have no money, eat for free,” says a board outside the restaurant. About three weeks ago the Indian brothers who own Zaiqa restaurant decided to put up a small makeshift sign offering free food to customers who cannot afford to pay. "When I saw the board I had tears in my eyes," said one of the owners, Shadab Khan, 47, originally from New Delhi, who has lived in Qatar for 13 years. "Even now when I talk about it, I get a lump in my throat." He said the idea came from his younger brother, Nishab.
Indian-origin author in SA admitted to mental hospital
Johannesberg: An Indian-origin author in South Africa, who was brutally assaulted after she allegedly praised controversial writer Salman Rushdie and was subjected to harassment, has been admitted to a mental hospital in Johannesburg. Zainub Priya Dala was hit in the face with a brick and a knife put to her throat last month after she praised Rushdie's writing at a literary event in a school in Durban. Initially, Dala told media she was recovering at home from the incident, but now PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel, who was visiting South Africa and had contact with Dala, has claimed that the continued harassment has led to the writer being admitted to a mental institution. "Regrettably, some members of the local Muslim community in Durban have ostracised Dala, putting her under extreme pressure to renounce her statement about Rushdie's work, to repent for her "sins," and to make a public vow of religious loyalty to Islam," Nossel said.
PIO teen cracks all 8 Ivy League schools, plus 6
Washington: Pooja Chandrashekhar, the daughter of Indian parents, has gained admission in 8 Ivy League schools, in addition to six other elite universities, for a unique 1414 record. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania are the eight Ivy Leagues that will be happy to accept the Virginia-born 17-year old, the only daughter of two engineers who emigrated from Bangalore. Also in the running for her are Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, Duke, Georgia Tech, the University of Virginia, and the University of Michigan.
UNSC slaps sanctions on Pak Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah
United Nations: The UN Security Council has slapped sanctions on Pakistan Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, mastermind of the Peshawar school massacre, for perpetrating and financing terror acts.
Fazlullah, 40, was added to the UN Security Council Al-Qaeda Sanctions list and will now be subject to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan commander, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah", was seriously injured in air strikes in Pakistan's restive Khyber tribal area late last month. There were unconfirmed reports of his death in the air strike. The US had in January designated Fazlullah as a global terrorist and had slapped sanctions against him. The Security Council Committee approved Fazlullah's entry to its Al-Qaeda Sanctions List of individuals and entities for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan."
Russia plans alternative to McDonald’s
Kremlin: Russia is planning to develop a home grown alternative to McDonald’s, which has fallen out of favour because of Western sanctions against Moscow. Two Russian filmmakers are to receive a substantial injection of Kremlin money to develop the alternative. Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrei Konchalovsky, brothers from an aristocratic family whose father composed the words to the Soviet national anthem, wrote to President Putin last month asking for a billion roubles towards the proposed Yedim Doma (Let’s Eat at Home) fast-food chain. Under the terms of the deal agreed by the Kremlin, 70 per cent of the funds would come as a state-guaranteed loan, with private investors raising the rest.
China 'elbow aside' smaller neighbours: Obama
Washington: US President Barack Obama expressed fears that China was using its rising military and economic might to “elbow aside” smaller neighbours as it repeatedly exerts its influence in the South China Sea. A frenzy of Chinese land reclamation - dubbed the “great wall of sand” by Western military leaders - has transformed a series of tiny tropical islands into potential military outposts. The expansion of the artificial islands, which defence analysts argue has accelerated significantly over the past few months, has triggered terse rhetoric from the US.
