Monday, January 19, 2015
Muslim ‘angels’ ease American’s prison days
It was 3:30 in the morning when Robert Alan Black was escorted into Khalifa jail.
Paper photographs dead singer
A Chinese newspaper has come under fire for taking photos of the body of Yao Beina, a popular singer, at a hospital morgue after her death from breast cancer.
Chehlum of APS victims: K-P to observe public holiday today
PESHAWAR:
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has announced a public holiday across the province today (Tuesday) to observe the Chehlum of Army Public School (APS) victims – including 134 children – who were massacred by terrorists on December 16.
“The provincial government has decided to observe Chehlum of the APS martyrs today,” said the K-P Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani while talking to Express News. “All the public sector organisations, including educational institutions and other offices across the province will remain closed on the occasion,” he added. He said the main Chehlum ceremony will be held at the K-P Chief Minister House, where parents of all the APS victims will be present. “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan will also participate in the ceremony,” he said.
Ghani said the Quran recitations and condolence references will also be held district-wise across the province for the departed souls.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
High-tech gloves make anyone a musician
Experimental gloves are translating simple gestures in to mind-bending music.
Beautiful windmills turn back the clock
In a traditional village in the Netherlands, colorful working windmills preserve the bucolic life of years past.
Russian tanks in Ukraine, PM says
Russian military forces and equipment have entered Ukraine, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says, according to a report from Ukraine's state-run media on Monday.
Fuel crisis cripples Pakistan
A delay on fuel imports has lead to a fuel crisis in Pakistan. Officials say they only have 3 days worth of fuel reserves left. Michelle Stockman reports.
Prosecutor in Jewish center bombing found dead
Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, has been found dead in his apartment, Argentina's Ministry of Security said Monday.
DNA could lead to more terrorists
Several terror attacks. Deadly counterterrorism raids. And a wave of suspected jihadist arrests from France to Greece to Belgium.
Countering terrorism: Expert for multi-layered response
Terrorism continues to inflict pain and suffering on innocent people around the globe and nations need multi-layered responses to counter the scourge.
This was said by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) Section for Asia and Europe Officer In charge Dolgor Solongo on Monday at the opening ceremony of a week-long “National Training of Trainers Workshop for Judges, Prosecutors and Investigators on the Global Legal Framework against Terrorism and Relevant Criminal Measures” at the Federal Judicial Academy FJA) Islamabad, said a press release.
“The capacity of terrorists to do harm, whether they are in Syria, Yemen or elsewhere, must never be underestimated. Countering this scourge is in the interest of all of humanity and the issue has been on the agenda of the United Nations for decades.
Thus, there are several universal instruments against international terrorism which elaborate the framework of the United Nations system relating to specific terrorist activities,” she said.
Solongo said that member states, through the UN General Assembly, have been increasingly coordinating their counterterrorism efforts and continuing their legal norm-setting work. The UN Security Council has also been active in countering terrorism through resolutions and by establishing several subsidiary bodies. At the same time a number of programmes, offices and agencies of the United Nations have been engaged in specific activities against terrorism, further assisting member states in their counter-terrorism efforts.
While speaking about the aims and objects of the workshop, she said, “Since this workshop is devoted to international cooperation and integrated policies, it will provide a forum for all three major players in Pakistan’s criminal justice system to share experiences and broaden knowledge in becoming party to and implementing universal legal instruments against terrorism.
“We have to explore the potential of the existing legal framework against terrorism and other forms of organised crime. We have to discuss anti-terrorism laws in Pakistan, how domestic legislation can be improved, how effective cooperation can be enhanced and upgraded for better results, and above all, to produce trainer of trainers in this very crucial field who can impart training to others players of Criminal Justice System in Pakistan and also in the SAARC region countries, when necessary.”
FJA Director-General Dr Faqir Hussain spoke about the scope and importance of the workshop, international legal instruments to combat various forms of terrorism, difficulties in tracing the crime of terrorism, investigation and trial, the absolute principle of fair hearing and legislative and judicial response from Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
How to be sure your kids don’t grow up racist
It was one of a thousand little conversations that fill each day in a third-grade classroom.
Indonesia executes 6 for drug offenses
Indonesia has executed six people -- including five foreign nationals -- for drug offenses, setting off a diplomatic storm.
Chomsky: Hypocrisy of West’s outrage
The Charlie Hebdo massacre was a terror attack -- but so were many attacks by Western forces.
European Muslims enticed by ISIS propaganda
At least 250 individuals are believed to have left Belgium to wage jihad in Iraq and Syria -- and now they are returning.
Selma, the movie and the message
"Selma," the new feature film about the civil rights struggle, is igniting a struggle of its own over who deserves credit -- or blame -- in the events of 50 years ago that are depicted in the movie.
Brazile: 50 years later, MLK’s work is not done
Today, as we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I know there are those who will ask, "How long will it take?" How long until the dream is fulfilled? How long until our destination is reached?
Industrialisation, WWI helped fuel TB spread: study
PARIS: A virulent group of TB germs spread from East Asia in waves propelled by industrialisation, World War I and Soviet collapse to yield some of the drug-resistant strains plaguing the world today, a study said Monday.
Researchers’ massive trawl through nearly 5,000 TB samples from 99 countries pinpointed changes in the DNA code to draw a partial family tree of the germ Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
A branch of that tree known as the “Beijing lineage” begins in a region around northeast China, Korea and Japan some 6,600 years ago, said a study published in the journal Nature Genetics.
It evolved into several sub-lineages and strains, spreading eastward to Micronesia and Polynesia and westward to central Asia, Russia and eastern Europe.
The migration waves have become more pronounced over the past two centuries, spurred by industrialisation and urbanisation, as well as episodes of widespread deprivation like World War I that brought infected and vulnerable people close together.
Among the toughest modern-day versions — two multi-drug resistant (MDR) clones, started spreading through eastern Europe and Asia on an epidemic scale about 20-30 years ago, “coinciding with the collapse of the public health system of the former Soviet Union,” study co-author Thierry Wirth of France’s National History Museum told AFP.
There was a single decrease visible on a chart plotting the global spread of the “Beijing lineage” from the year 1500 to 2000. It coincided with a rise in antibiotic use in the 1960s and ended with the HIV epidemic from the 1980s.
TB itself is theorised to be about 40,000 years old.
Unravelling the disease’s genetic history may offer pointers for tackling its spread.
MDR strains, which do not respond to frontline antibiotics, are a major concern as they are much more costly and difficult to treat.
In 2013, there were nine million new cases of TB and 1.5 million deaths worldwide, including 360,000 people who were also infected with HIV, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest TB report.
In a separate paper published in the same journal, scientists said they had identified a genetic mechanism by which the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, develops resistance to the main drug artemisinin.
An analysis of 1,612 samples from 15 locations in southeast Asia and Africa found 20 mutation in a gene called kelch13, they reported.
These appeared to work in concert with mutations in four other genes to support the development of artemisinin resistance in the parasite transferred by mosquitoes.
Monitoring for such mutations can serve as an early warning system to identify areas at risk for artemisinin resistance — a fast-growing problem in southeast Asia, said the study authors.
The team found that kelch13 mutations were rare in Africa, and not linked to artemisinin resistance.
“At present, artemisinin resistance appears to be largely confined to southeast Asia, but the situation might change as the parasite population continues to evolve,” said study co-author Dominic Kwiatkowski, a genomics professor at Oxford University.
There were nearly 200 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2013 and some 584,000 deaths, according to the WHO. Ninety percent of malaria deaths occur in Africa.
To the rescue: LPG appears as saviour of fuel-starved Pakistan
LAHORE:
The on-going energy crisis, coupled with petrol shortages especially in Punjab, is paving the way for a higher consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as an alternative source of fuel for commuters.
The recent developments in the wake of oil shortages and low gas pressure at compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations have almost doubled the demand for LPG in the country.
“LPG consumption has increased 100% and is likely to become an alternative fuel for vehicles due to its easy availability and better mileage,” said Irfan Khokhar, Chairman of the LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan (LPGDAP), while talking to The Express Tribune.
However, the demand for LPG fluctuates depending on the season. In November and December 2014, sales touched 40,000 tons per day. On average, according to the association, the demand is around 30,000 tons per day and current sales are touching 35,000 tons.
Other than transport vehicles, LPG is widely used in commercial, domestic and industrial sectors. Though during peak demand, the LPG price fluctuates widely and is sold for more than Rs220 per kg, it is currently available between Rs120 and Rs130 per kg.
The wild price movements are due to deregulation of the LPG industry by the government back in 2000 to encourage the private sector to pour investments.
Khokhar said 25% of vehicles have already converted to LPG, though a large chunk constitutes public transport vehicles, mainly auto rickshaws. But trends suggest even CNG users are now switching to LPG.
“Since the emergence of the petrol crisis, we have noticed that around 5,000 vehicles have switched to LPG,” he added.
LPG is almost 50% cheaper than petrol. According to Khokhar, 1kg of LPG gives mileage equal to 1.75 litres of petrol and private vehicle owners claim even more mileage.
“The decision of converting to LPG from CNG proves to be correct, especially in the current situation where no petrol or CNG is available,” said Ahsan Saddiq, a citizen of Lahore. “I can fill 25kg of LPG in the car’s cylinder, which lasts more than 15 days.”
Pakistan is currently producing around 15,000 tons of LPG per day, the rest is being imported. In January 2007, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority linked LPG prices with the international market.
Khokhar said LPG price per ton in 2007 was around Rs5,000. Currently, the international price stands at $ 452 per ton, which is cheaper than local production ($ 595). But transportation costs equal to $ 150 to $ 200 per ton, almost equalling the price difference, added Khokhar.
Industry experts say the LPG demand is likely to increase at a rapid pace in coming years. According to the LPG distributors association, the demand is likely to touch 50,000 tons per day, with a major share being consumed by public and private vehicles.
Khokhar and others demand facilitation measures in the wake of the LPG producing companies – 63% of them being state-owned – handling the price mechanism and creating a monopoly.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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Appetite for wonder
Ten years ago, Jomo Kenyatta University, a public-sector institution on the outskirts of Nairobi, was a different place. It was a typical university in a developing country, struggling to justify its existence, or the vision with which it was created at the time of independence.
The Kenyatta University of today does not resemble anything of its past. A statement comparing the past with the present about universities in a developing country typically means that the glory days were of yesteryear. But not so at Kenyatta. The sprawling, beautiful campus boasts modern facilities that are rare to see in public-sector institutions of the developing world. More striking than the beautiful campus and infrastructure was the palpable excitement among students and the faculty. There was a sense of wonder, a visible excitement about better things to come that was contagious. The collaboration between disparate units on campus, that often fight for control of fiefdoms, showed real promise.
The vision, created and championed largely by the vice-chancellor, Olive Mugenda, is shared and amplified many times over by the deans, department heads and even the young undergraduate students from far-flung villages of Kenya. The university is thinking beyond just education; it is focusing on research and the public-service sector, a model that is new to post-colonial Africa. The university, for example, is the first public-sector university in East Africa and among the very few public universities in the developing world that will own, operate and set the vision of teaching and referral hospitals. Academic models that are shaped by vision and impact, and not by colonial history and a stifling status quo, are being implemented. In the streets of Nairobi, among the bureaucracy and among the youth, there is now a buzz that something special, something exciting is going on at Kenyatta and even if they are not a part of it, they are absolutely proud of it.
There are two questions for us in Pakistan to ponder. First, why does such progress in Kenya matter to us and second, what is the special sauce here? Regarding the first question, it is time for some introspection, both personal and professional. We in Pakistan have somehow written off Africa largely due to our own ignorance and ingrained racism. Places like Kenyatta are a reminder that there is not only great promise there but also an active effort to bring that promise to reality. This should shake the foundations of our own prejudices. Second, if Kenya, with a GDP lower than that of Pakistan, can mobilise resources at a purely public sector university, then why can’t we?
Now, on to how are they doing it. The difference lies squarely in trust. There is trust among the university board and its overseers that they can give the reins of the institution to a dedicated faculty member who rose through the ranks. The vice-chancellor does not need to be imported from a foreign institution, or another domestic institution known for its discipline or be someone who has retired from the civil or military service. Trust, that a dynamic female leader, with the right credentials and vision, is as suited to run the institution as her male counterparts. How comfortable are we putting a female faculty, from within the system, as the head of our top institutions? Would we say that she is not strong enough to bring discipline? Or would we come up with another misogynistic excuse? VC Mugenda has not only made Kenyatta an exciting place to study, she has also made it easier for faculty, both men and women, who have young children, to engage with the university. The daycare centre, something of an anomaly in the developing world, allows young parents, whether they are students or staff, an opportunity to seek and share knowledge. And finally, there is trust that a university is a place capable of doing great things for the nation.
As I drove back to the Nairobi city centre, I asked myself, where are we, in Pakistan, putting our trust? Who will bring the big changes we need for a better tomorrow? I could not come up with an answer. In losing trust in our institutions, have we even lost our appetite to wonder?
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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Economics is not ‘rocket science’
Here, everybody is an economist! Everyone carries their shopping list of what needs to be done. I often get long lectures from opinionated people who obviously use the same ideas at dinner parties and official meetings (why are they called to official meetings and allowed to hold forth?). In loud voices and with full conviction they argue, “It is not rocket science! All we need is to get the basics right.” As if these are arguments. But no matter the audience (especially arrogant officialdom), everyone buys their line. My question regarding what exactly these basics are is often drowned out. We all know what the basics are without actually talking about them. This is how economics is done in Pakistan.
After much effort, I find out what the basics are in the minds of these philosophers. I learn that what they call basics are mere wishes for an increase in revenues, exports and growth. Makes it easy, does it not? We wish for all sorts of good things and call it economics.
For 60 years, plan after plan was made wishing for these good things: increase production, increase growth, increase exports. It is just so sad that the economy will not listen to these ‘economists’ and deliver all good things like production, growth and exports. And not to forget that all this must happen with low inflation. Of course, we must keep asking for more revenues and every discussion must note well-worn examples of the rich not paying taxes. Okay, so let us have a new tax and collection must improve. There you go. Now see, it is not rocket science! What is it about rocket science that these guys like? Every three minutes, someone mutters, ‘it is not rocket science!’ and all nod in agreement. Discussion killed! Time for the next anecdote! This is how we do our thinking. Is it worth telling these guys that economics is more complicated than rocket science? Rockets are inert and do as they are told. Charting their course is easy. They listen to signals and then follow them. Self-willed humans, on the other hand, do as they like. They resist and react to one another and to government policy. If policy is made without taking into account how self-willed individuals in their millions act, the results will be very different from those that were anticipated. So next time someone tells you economics is easier than rocket science and their pocket list of wishes is all we need, remind them that rocket science is easy, economics is much more difficult.
One important way of looking at the economy is that it is an aggregation of all transactions in the economy. Transactions are basically the exchange of goods and services or contracts to exchange goods and services at points in time. Value is created at the point of exchange. Production happens for the purposes of exchange. Successful economies have configured themselves to maximise the number of transactions in the economy. Most of us who have transacted in Pakistan know how difficult it is to transact in most markets. Buying land outside DHA can be a nightmare; contracts can easily be dishonoured; holding shares in a company is no guarantee of receiving a dividend; consumer goods come without warranty or assurance of quality and so on. Basically, we have an economy where transactions are difficult and often insecure.
Looking at it from a transaction viewpoint, I can come up with another list of ‘getting the basics right’ list, which would begin with improving law and order, securing property rights, strengthening contracting, redesigning and reframing markets for efficiency, removing incentives for rent-seeking and putting in place incentives for entrepreneurship. This is what governments are supposed to do and this is what forms the basics of governance. Hard work and thinking are required to make these things happen. And yes, all this is more complicated than rocket science.
If our friends would be more inquiring, they would find that the development experience of the last 60 years has shown the primacy of these basics over their usual wish lists. Without better governance, all the good things that our ‘rocket scientists turned economists’ want, cannot happen. Perhaps, saying ‘it is not rocket science’ stops these people from thinking. All of us need to come out of our comfort zones and encourage discussion and debate on real reform, i.e., better governments for better markets.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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APS, ISIS, and losing our anger
With each new name, the zombie movement in the Middle East grows creepier — AQI, ISIL, ISIS, and now Da’ish are carving up countries (if ones the British had already carved up in the ’40s). Having let the press decide for us, we’re stuck with the least appropriate title of all: ‘the Islamic State’ — for a criminal enterprise.
That lends them dignity. ‘Da’ish’, on the other hand, is similar to the Arabic word for ‘trample’, and ISIS lashes anyone caught saying it. But to call the rivers of gore in Mesopotamia a ‘state’ of any kind (let alone of the Islamic persuasion), is a crime.
The Taliban disagree. Also in disagreement is Lal Masjid’s women’s wing, vowing support for their brothers in Iraq and Syria, besides asking they “cut off the hands that (the infidels) extend towards our modest sisters”. They may want to reconsider whose hands require chopping.
Because while the ladies of Lal Masjid bow to ISIS, ISIS has put out a pamphlet on how it treat its ladies. A recent press release instructs its fighters how to enslave the women it captures, given their ‘unbelief’.
And as the circular makes clear, it is permissible to buy them, sell them, beat them and rape them. Prohibitions include torture, beating for pleasure, and selling the girl if she’s pregnant.
But ISIS has gone far beyond perversions on paper. Stories trickling out of Iraq include captured women strangling one another to escape rape. According to the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry, Da’ish has already executed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah, for refusing to marry their men.
Imagine, for a second, the same in Pakistan. A Pakistan worse than it already is for women — hard may it seem — with the kind of values Lal Masjid’s ladies wish to assign their fellow citizens. The kind that allowed ISIS to crucify ‘apostates’ last year. The kind that allowed Boko Haram to murder thousands in Baga. And the kind that allowed the Taliban to butcher our children in Peshawar.
The nature of the beast is the nature of cancer, blacking our bloodstream. It’s already eaten Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, each in various hues of civil war. We’ve teetered on the edge since 1979, and only began pushing back in 2004 (or, for some, since last July). To think ‘that could be us’ is irrelevant: we’re already there.
The tragedy is we never tried to stop it. The ’90s Nawaz Sharif sort of tried: he sort of cracked down on sectarian thugs, when they began bombing his motorcade. For the most part though, it was business as usual, Shariat Bills in tow. The cancer went undiagnosed, let alone cured.
General Musharraf sort of tried too: he banned sectarian outfits. He turned up his nose at the Taliban next door. He preached to his people the joys of moderation. But that didn’t last either: banned groups showed up with new names, the MMA was propped up in K-P, and ‘counter-terror’ meant selling our citizens to Dick Cheney’s black sites.
Mr Zardari, to his credit, never tried at all.
Then December 16th happened. Only after Peshawar’s parents paid a price too terrible to talk about, did this become Pakistan’s war. But how to win it?
Thus far, the prime minister has made container jokes, rehashed 20 points of nothing, and bowed to the army on military courts in five minutes flat (Air Vice-Marshal Shahzad Chaudhry sahib very graciously disagreed over our need for said courts last week, and a gentleman of vastly greater wisdom, one who served his country, can be disagreed with, but not rebutted). Roshan Pakistan is losing interest in becoming post-terror Pakistan.
But so is Naya Pakistan. Imran Khan’s party seemed to have forgotten about APS for weeks on end. And in a truly terrible showing, when Mr Khan did show up, his party men called bereaved, broken APS parents “plants” and “ANP workers”.
This exposed Mr Khan to something he’s been unfamiliar with since his October wave in 2011: blistering criticism from all sides. The chairman changed track, said the parents’ protests were justified, and thought to refocus on developing K-P. But the PTI also requires refocusing on APS, and the wider issue of terror it’s been hazy on for too long.
The military leadership meanwhile wishes to turn the page, and is showing the kind of commitment to counter-terror one could only have dreamed of in previous dispensations — good, bad and ugly Taliban included.
But armies, as Garcia Marquez put it, are trained in the science of death. Hammering away at the Taliban won’t make Fata a better place, it won’t reform our curriculum, and it won’t protect our minorities from ourselves. For that we need the state.
To motivate the state, we need our anger.
Already, those who want we forget our anger are among us: the religious parties that pout in a corner, the sectarian outfits that suddenly sprout angel wings, the policemen who refuse to cooperate with Jibran Nasir and Islamabad’s marchers, the cowards who heckle the APS parents.
But after Aitzaz and Safwat and Bilal Omer and Tahira Qazi and entire Hazara families, we cannot forget. Having lost the best of Pakistan to this war, Pakistan has nothing left to lose anymore. We’ll push the state ourselves.
Even a state like this one, with our gas gone, and petrol drying up. Mr Sharif has outsourced national security to the military, the centre to civil servants, Punjab to his blood relations, and street support to sectarian crazies.
And in case we think of losing our anger for the slightest second, consider the past week. As the APS reopened, and our children treaded the halls where their fellows had fallen, Mr Sharif picked the most breathtaking of places to be instead.
The House of Saud, days after it lopped off another Pakistani’s head for drug trafficking. But the PM wasn’t the only ex-protege paying a visit: the second was ISIS, killing three guards along the border, and vowing to take down Riyadh. The same gents the Saudis funded in Syria are now coming to silence them via Iraq.
One would imagine, for a fleeting moment, Mr Sharif understood the irony.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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Chehlum of Peshawar attack: K-P announces public holiday across the province on Tuesday
PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has announced a public holiday across the province on Tuesday to observe the chehlum of Peshawar attack victims.
While talking to Express News, K-P Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said the provincial government had decided to observe chehlum of APS martyrs officially on Tuesday, adding that all the public sector organisations, including educational institutes will remain closed on the occasion.
He said the main ceremony to mark Chehlum will be held at the K-P Chief Minister House in Peshawar, where parents of the APS victims will also be present.
Ghani further said that PTI chief Imran Khan is also expected to attend the ceremony.
Prayers, recitation of Quran and condolence references will also be held across the province for the departed souls, added the minister.
England, India vie for spot in the final
KARACHI: England will take on India at Brisbane as both sides look to bounce back from defeats in their opening matches against Australia, with a spot in the final potentially at stake as the hosts are already nine points clear of the two.
Eion Morgan and his men will be doubly motivated after conceding a bonus point to Australia, who chased down the 235-run target within 40 overs. Morgan will be hoping his batsmen can perform better this time around as the skipper, who made 121, was the only batsman to make more than 30, especially considering the batting strength of their opponents.
The defending champions, meanwhile, fared little better as Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, who made 138 and 51 respectively, were the only two to make more than 20 as Mitchell Starc was at it again with figures of 6-43.
There is more to play for than just the points though as the inevitable fireworks between the trio of bitter rivals — the big three — began in the series’ second match between Australia and India, with Australian opener David Warner’s comments landing him in hot water.
Warner fined
Warner defended a heated on-field exchange with Indian batsman Rohit Sharma in which he asked the Indian cricketer to ‘speak English’.
Warner added the remarks earned him a fine of 50 per cent of his match fee from the International Cricket Council.
The Australian fielders had taken offence when the Indians went for a single off an overthrow which they wrongly believed was in breach of cricket etiquette.
“When I went over to say something to him, he sort of said something in their language and I said ‘speak English’ because, if you’re going to say something for me to understand, theoretically I cannot speak Hindi,” Warner told Sky Sports Radio. “So I did the polite thing and asked him to speak English, therefore he did and I can’t repeat what he said.”
Asked whether there was anything wrong in the manner in which he asked the question, Warner said, “I thought I was OK by asking him to speak English and I am going to say it a couple of times if he keeps saying it in Hindi”.
Warner admitted he should not have confronted Sharma but said the pair had been engaging in ‘friendly banter’ during the match, which Australia won with six balls to spare despite a century by Sharma, and didn’t feel the need to apologise.
“No, because we were actually going at each other anyway during the game,” he said.
During the summer’s Test series against India, which saw tense sledging, Warner said he would not be toning down his ‘banter’ and he repeated that stance yesterday.
“If people get on the wrong side of me, I’m not going to back down,” he said. “We’re always there to play hard aggressive cricket, but you know what comes with that; that’s what happens, sometimes you are going to get fined. We’ve got to keep trying not to cross that line, and we’ve got to work hard at that, and that’s what we’re all about — playing cricket the right way.”
Warner was backed up by coach Darren Lehmann, who said Australia would play “hard and fair”.
“If the ICC decides we cross the line, then they’ll come down on us; we all know that,” said Lehmann. “We’re always going to teeter pretty close to it — that’s the way that we play — we’ve just got to make sure that we don’t cross it.”
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Storm over photos of dead singer
A Chinese newspaper has come under fire for taking photos of the body of Yao Beina, a popular singer, at a hospital morgue after her death from breast cancer.
Beauties and the beast of belligerence
A photograph featuring a smiling Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel at the Miss Universe contest has created a stir in Lebanon, with some saying their country’s contestant should be stripped of her title for consorting with ‘the enemy’, reported Reuters.
Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25. Griege defended herself on the photo-sharing service Instagram on Saturday, in the wake of demands from Lebanese netizens that she lose her title for contacts with a member of the enemy state.
“Since the first day of my arrival to participate in Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel, who tried several times to take a photo with me,” Greige said. “I was having a photo with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia, and suddenly, Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie, and uploaded it on her social media,” she added.
Matalon responded to the controversy herself on Sunday, saying it made her ‘sad’, reported AFP. “It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you cannot put the hostility out of the game,” she wrote in English and Hebrew.
Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000, but the two countries are still technically at war and their armies occasionally skirmish along the UN-designated withdrawal line. Israel fought a bloody war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The Lebanese risk prison time if they call or travel to Israel, while all Israeli products are banned in Lebanon.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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