Monday, February 9, 2015
Mexico’s ‘Queen of the Pacific’ released from prison
In Mexico's male-dominated drug trade, her life story became a legend. Now she's free after more than seven years behind bars.
Merkel meets Obama as arming Ukraine debated
As the deadly violence in Ukraine ramps up, so does the international scramble to find a solution.
Islamic State commander killed in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Senior militant commander Mullah Abdul Rauf, alias Khadim, was killed in a US drone strike in southern Afghanistan on Monday weeks after he joined the ultra-orthodox militant group, Islamic State (IS), or Daish, as its deputy chief for the region.
“Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim was killed along with four of his colleagues in Helmand province Monday morning,” a Taliban leader told The Express Tribune requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. “A US pilot-less aircraft targeted a vehicle carrying Mullah Khadim in the Azan area of Kajaki district at 10am.”
The deadly strike came after a Taliban delegation failed to convince Mullah Khadim to rejoin the militia, he added. Another Taliban leader added that negotiations with the estranged commander were ongoing and the US drone targeted him when he was heading for another round of talks.
Afghan security officials also confirmed Mullah Khadim’s death which is seen as a serious setback for IS as he was the key figure behind efforts to recruit volunteers for the group in the region.
Mullah Khadim, 48, had served as the deputy head of the Taliban military commission and as corps commander of Kabul and Herat, Taliban sources said. Mullah Khadim, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, was appointed deputy of IS last month for Khorasan region that includes Afghanistan and Pakistan – a development that had annoyed the Taliban. IS has appointed Hafiz Saeed Khan, another former Taliban leader, as its head for the region. The slain leader was influential among the Taliban fighters, especially in the Pashtun-dominated southern Afghanistan and that is why his defection was a source of concern for the Taliban leadership. He had developed serious differences with the Taliban leadership a few months ago and subsequently declared allegiance to IS, said the Taliban leaders familiar with him.
The Taliban leadership later removed him from his position and confined him to his home as he was suspected of promoting Salafi ideology, a Taliban leader said. Mullah Khadim was impressed by the Salafi school of thought during his detention at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, where he used to meet Arab inmates.
Another Taliban leader said Pakistani authorities had raided his residence in Quetta some time ago but he had escaped to Helmand.
Mullah Khadim was freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2009 after seven years of detention and was shifted to Kabul under an arrangement with the government of then president Hamid Karzai. He had been under observation at a house in Kabul like other senior Taliban leaders, including Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef and Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil.
He, however, escaped from Kabul and rejoined the Taliban. Later the Taliban leadership appointed him as deputy of the Taliban military commission and in-charge of the military commission for southern parts of Afghanistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
‘Nisman is here': Argentine prosecutor laid to rest
As Prosecutor Alberto Nisman is laid to rest, many in Argentina continue to demand justice after his mysterious death. CNN's Shasta Darlington reports.
North Korea flaunts ‘cutting-edge’ missiles
Ahead of U.S.-South Korea war games, the reclusive nation tests a new anti-ship missile it says was developed in-country.
‘Drone in a cage’ bounces away from crashes
Flyability are traveling home from Dubai $ 1 million richer after winning the "Drones for Good" competition.
New Magna Carta find may be worth millions
Just days after four Magna Cartas were united for the first time in 800 years at the British Library in London, another ancient version of the document has been discovered by chance in a medieval coastal town in England.
Formed under duress: Military courts challenged in SC
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Monday challenged the newly-formed military courts in the apex court, claiming that the 21st Constitutional Amendment was passed by parliament under army’s pressure.
The PBC as well as the SCBA have filed two different constitutional petitions under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, making federal and provincial governments as respondents.
Abdul Latif Afridi and Abrar Hassan will appear on behalf of the PBC and Asma Jahangir is representing the SCBA. However, drafting of both petitions is the same.
The superior bars have requested the SC to interpret the 21st Constitutional Amendment as being inconsistent with Article 175(1), 203 and 4 as well as fundamental rights, the principle of separation of powers and the independence of judiciary.
They have pleaded to declare Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 2015 as ultra-vises of the Constitution as they claim it offends Article 203 of the Constitution of Pakistan and violates a number of Fundamental Rights, whose guarantee is extended to individuals and citizens of Pakistan.
“21st Constitutional Amendment was passed by Parliament under pressure from the military high command, which was very obvious from press reports, where parliamentarians are on record having denounced extending jurisdiction of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 to civilians, who may not be involved with crimes against the military or its security set-up,” the petitions say.
The petitions say that the public tweets by Inter-Services Public Relations, urging, indirectly, parliamentarians not to ‘waste’ time is also a form of political intimidation. “And as such under the influence of the Executive the Parliament passed the 21st Amendment and will pay, in due course, a political price for it,” they add.
They say the intrusion of the executive into the affairs of the legislature and the judiciary is ominous and a clear pronouncement by the court is critical on the usurpation of political space by the armed forces, therefore, the court may review its judgment delivered in the Zafar Ali Shah case in 2000.
“This has created legal uncertainty and will be used selectively. The objective of making the criminal legal system efficient will only be defeated by overlapping of jurisdictions and introduction of different legal systems,” they state.
The top court will resume hearing of a plea against the establishment of military courts on February 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
Merkel in middle of U.S.-Russia standoff
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has positioned herself as the diplomatic envoy between the West and Russia but there is currently no clear path towards ending the escalating Ukraine violence.
Happy homecoming: ‘Held’ girl goes home
ISLAMABAD:
Even though the civil society’s campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz has yet to meet its logical end, it bore fruit in a way on Monday when it reunited a family with their ‘lost’ daughter.
Uzma Qayyum — a 26-year-old former student of Jamia Hafsa — finally consented before a judge that she was willing to rejoin her parents.
The court directed that the girl be sent home from a women’s shelter in Islamabad where she had been staying for 10 days on the court’s orders for psychological counseling.
Some eight months ago, Uzma had moved to the women’s seminary associated with Lal Masjid without informing her parents and later refused to come back, saying that the atmosphere at home was not in accordance with Islamic Law.
Her father, Abdul Qayyum, had filed an application with the Supreme Court against the seminary administration alleging they had brainwashed his daughter and were keeping her in custody.
The apex court then sought a report from Islamabad Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmad Gajana over the issue, which after six hearings that included sending the girl to two different shelters, announced a decision.
On his daughter’s request, Qayyum also submitted an undertaking with the court that primarily contains assurances that Uzma would be provided an atmosphere of her choice and be allowed to occasionally visit Jamia Hafsa, albeit accompanied by family members.
The undertaking also assures Uzma of having no restrictions in continuing her studies in a place of her choosing and that she would not be forced to marry someone chosen by her parents.
Umme Hassan — Aziz’s wife and the head of Jamia Hafsa — also appeared before the court and said she had no objection over the girl’s going home. Earlier, Uzma had said she would not go home until asked to do so by Hassan.
In her address to the court, Hassan clarified her position and that of the seminary saying she never influenced the girl – ‘as was alleged by the girl’s father and the media’ – but only provided shelter to her.
Hearing that, the judge remarked that when Uzma had come to the seminary, Hassan should have played the role of a mediator between her and the family to amicably resolve the issue.
Qayyum’s lawyer Imtiaz Haider said Uzma changed her mind after she was kept away from the influence of Jamia Hafsa for more than two weeks. “Necessary counseling and meetings with family members helped her improve mentally. Earlier she had even refused to talk to her family,” said Haider.
Qayyum, while talking to The Express Tribune, said he could not describe how happy the family was. He said he would leave no stone unturned to fulfill his daughter’s demands, adding that he was thankful to the civil society and judiciary for helping bring his daughter home.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
Hunting games
It is hunting season. Foreign ‘dignitaries’ (primarily Arab princes or heads of state) descend upon our land with pomp in their private jets to partake in the quintessential Arab sport of falconry. They are escorted to designated camps, from where they carry onwards to hunt a favourite and rare quarry — the Asian Houbara Bustard, a migratory bird that finds its way down to Balochistan from the Central Asian steppe. Federal ministers, provincial representatives and bureaucrats stand in waiting to receive princely state guests travelling on such expeditions from the Arabian Gulf.
A manifestation of soft diplomacy in response to the petro-dollars, development projects and international backing lent by old and reliable friends, you may conjecture. But then you pause and wonder: isn’t the Houbara Bustard listed as a “vulnerable species” of bird by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN)? Isn’t hunting and trade in the bird prohibited under international conventions to which Pakistan is signatory, domestic legislation, and pronouncements of the superior courts of the country? Pakistan is signatory to the Bonn Convention of 1979 and as such is obligated to undertake all measures to prevent a migratory species from becoming endangered.
The Balochistan legislature appears cognisant of the gravity of danger confronting the Houbara. The Balochistan (Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act of 2014 promulgated last year by the provincial legislature declared the Houbara Bustard a “protected animal”, which shall not be “hunted, killed, trapped, captured, traded, possessed or kept as [a] pet”. In obvious contradiction of such declaration, the Act authorises the Balochistan government the allotment of hunting licences in “exceptional cases” at a grand fee of Rs10 million per dignitary. A problematic loophole then exists in the law, highlighting the half-hearted commitment of the provincial government to conservationist concerns.
Interestingly, however, the 29 permits issued for Houbara hunting in Balochistan in 2014 were granted by the Foreign Office. The Balochistan High Court, in November last year, unequivocally declared the allotment of these licences by the federal government as without jurisdiction, illegal and of no binding effect. In view of the provisions of the Bonn Convention and the Act, the issuance of these licences was equivalent to a “deviation from law” and a “compromise on the sovereignty” of Pakistan. It also amounted to an encroachment upon what is now the legislative domain of the province. Following the promulgation of the Eighteenth Amendment, environment and ecology (including wildlife) are now a provincial subject and wild animals found within the territorial jurisdiction of Balochistan are, pursuant to the 2014 Act, deemed to be the property of the provincial government.
In complete disregard of the court verdict, the Foreign Office continues to facilitate the hunting of the Houbara in Balochistan, going so far as sending members of the federal cabinet to the Dalbandin airport last week to receive the hunting party of Prince Fahad of Saudi Arabia. Punjab presents a similar tale of state indifference to the law. Despite the suspension of Houbara hunting licences by the Lahore High Court earlier last year, the federal government has recently issued fresh permits for the sport in Punjab for 2014-15. The federal government’s indulgence is often justified as an exceptional practice to oblige Arab dignitaries who graciously participate in welfare and development projects in the allotted hunting areas. Their logic is simple: there is no such thing as a free meal. We have to pay for the goodies coming in from the Arab Gulf. Questions of legality and ethics remain irrelevant to this cost-benefit equation.
The grand hunting event underway in Balochistan, sanctioned by the Foreign Office, is then not a benign game of diplomatic reciprocity. It, instead, represents a grave and swift surrender of the sovereign commitments made by Pakistan, a blatant violation of our laws and a complete disregard of our ecological heritage. It is the price we pay for our economic desperation and moral ambivalence.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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The petrol crisis & ministerial responsibility
Business at gas stations in Punjab is back to normal after one of the more dreadful runs — as far as petrol availability is concerned — in the history of the country. This happened at a time when world oil prices were tumbling, which provided the opportunity for a country like Pakistan to build up petrol stocks as more financial space opened up. What actually happened was the other way round. Was this an operational failure or a policy failure? Or both? This is a point we seriously need to ponder.
Causes for this crisis have been listed, with one interlinked with the other. With falling oil prices, an increase in demand, as claimed, was neither foreseen nor built into the calculus. In addition, there was the failure of cash-strapped PSO to recover its receivables to manage the supply line, the refusal of banks to sustain the credit line in view of the defaults, the delay in the timely arrival of PNSC vessels at the Karachi port, the failure of the regulator to ensure that the mandatory stock requirement was adhered to, and the dithering of the finance division on the written requests made by the petroleum ministry to manage cash flows on an emergent basis.
Regarding the unaccounted rise in the demand of oil, even an average student of economics will know that the falling price effect entailed the substitution effect as well, more so when the supply of CNG was closed at gas stations. The petroleum minister made a statement on record that he would tender his resignation if found guilty of being involved in the petrol shortage crisis. Since he was never found guilty, he remains very much in the saddle. The finance minister came out clean too, claiming that the finance division had no role in the crisis and that this was all a conspiracy against the government. The minister, however, overlooked the fact that as chairman of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), he had a more wide-ranging and onerous responsibility than just defending his turf. The main point is this: what was the ECC doing during December when the crisis had just begun to rear its head? It is probable that while the petroleum ministry was knocking at the door of the finance division, the latter had been jealously guarding the magic sum of $ 15 billion in foreign reserves in order to stay on the IMF’s right side.
A two-member probe committee has come up with a catalogue of factors while holding the ministry officials and the regulator responsible, without of course, touching on ministerial responsibility. Reasons listed out by the probe committee are mere symptoms of a deeper malaise of inter-ministerial disconnect — the stakeholders could not see beyond their narrow domains. Anyone familiar with the business processes at the federal level will know that the inter-ministerial consultative process has been lacking in sense of timing. Under the rules of business, the minister in charge has the primary responsibility to keep the prime minister informed of all important matters. On matters involving more than one division, the minister in charge is to consult and obtain views of all divisions. In case of disagreement, the minister in charge can submit a proposal to the prime minister. If, for example, the finance ministry does not take a decision on a certain matter and drags its feet, nothing can stop the minister in charge to seek a direct recourse from the prime minister. Most such matters are invariably resolved in the ECC, a useful forum created in the mid-1960s. On several occasions, the ECC was chaired by the chief executive of the federation and on occasions, by the finance minister. Former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, all through his tenure, chaired this forum. Despite his low-key arrogance, he was known for his consummate skills and had a keen eye on consumer prices and stock positions of vital inputs like oil, fertiliser etc.
If there is a lesson to be learnt from the crisis, it is the fact that existing institutional arrangements did not work. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to chaperone the three connected ministries for a couple of days to diffuse the crisis at his level. It was the instant cash flow that made the difference. Why wasn’t the decision regarding the cash flow not made when the crisis was building up in December? When it came to the rolling of heads, the petroleum secretary and senior officials of PSO were suspended. These moves do not play to the gallery anymore as now we have a very discerning public. The inquiry committee report holds the secretary responsible, an officer, who throughout his career, has otherwise been known for his diligence and circumspection. The report does not touch on the responsibilities of ministers. Such suspensions are mere knee-jerk reactions and do not send good signals to the beleaguered bureaucracy as political accountability is nowhere in sight. The bureaucracy, reportedly, is already low on confidence in the aftermath of the avoidable tragedy that was the Model Town Lahore incident.
One continues to hear the oft-repeated ‘Pakistan halat-e-jang main hai’ phrase. This state of war is now spiraling over from the national security area to the domain of economic security. These two paradigms need to be treated as an indivisible whole. While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in the driving seat as far as the National Action Plan is concerned, he should also formally take over direct responsibility of important economic issues. The government has set up the energy committee, chaired by the prime minister. This executive fiat needs a quasi-legal cover through amendments in the rules of business with well-laid terms of reference. Decision-making needs to be far more structured than what it is at present.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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Hope
Economists call it the perverse incentive. Others call it the cobra effect.
Back when the Raj was around, our ex-masters saw danger ahead: Delhi’s cobras were getting out of hand. Excusing themselves from their elephant polo, the colonisers went in for population control — the natives were offered a reward for each dead cobra, and the snakeskin began piling up.
But it wasn’t long before the locals caught on. Rather than killing said snakes, the natives began breeding them for the bounty money instead. The Raj’s mission to civilise fell flat, and it scrapped the whole idea. Worse was to come — cheated of their reward, the snake-catchers released the cobras in revenge, and all Delhi was flooded with venom. Or so the story goes.
Welcome to the perverse incentive: unintended, unwelcome consequences that flow from man’s best-laid plans. And while our National Action Plan is hardly well laid, it’s a swell incentive for our madmen to go about their business as usual. Because if this is the be-all and end-all of counterterror — chasing tailors and chairing committees — the state looks spent. There’s ‘zero progress’ in madrassa reform, according to Punjab’s home minister, and about as much in terms of disarming militias, fighting sectarianism, countering hate speech, and cutting off funding. Senator Farhatullah Babar called the state’s efforts either unserious or clueless. But we didn’t need ministers and senators to tell us that; the Shikarpur blast was loud enough. And yet no act of evil can shock this administration awake. Which is shocking in itself, so soon after December. The Taliban butchered our children, and the country stood changed forever. This time it was different, they said. This time, we had to go after all of them.
God knows we’d waited long enough. Consider the laundry list: Uighur militants menacing Xinjiang. IMU thugs running rampage in Waziristan. Jundullah tunnelling into Iran. Mumbai’s unconvicted, unpunished attackers coming in and out of our courts. Two-way terror in Afghanistan. For brevity’s sake, that’s an awful lot of snakes.
And those are just the multinationals. For local concerns, we have sectarian charities in southern Punjab. We have IS fan clubs in Islamabad. We have both sectarian and ethnic cleansers in Quetta. We have a bonanza of armed wings in Karachi. Yes, the state is up to its neck in felons. Which is why it saw fit to arrest Jibran Nasir instead.
And that’s where we find the Pakistan that’s different from the Pakistan pre-APS, that’s been changing slowly but surely: in the hypocrisy of the state, and in the bravery of its citizens. For context: when bombs ripped through Quetta’s Hazara community in 2013, Chief Minister Aslam Raisani said he’d send a truckload of tissues “to wipe away their tears”. A year later, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Mastung was attacked, President Mamnoon directed the authorities “to ensure quality medical assistance”.
The state wasn’t much for fighting ethnic cleansing, either with trucks of tissues or better bandages. But when Mastung’s injured were shifted to Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi’s citizens showed up in droves. And between Balochistan’s survivors and the Karachiites who embraced them, we were finally shown the Pakistan at stake. Twelve-year-old Ibtihaj was hugging fellow patients and caring for them. Zakir, who lost his leg in the blast, said, “We became friends on the bus, and now we are here together.” And Jibran Nasir, among the visitors, told us what our priorities should have been, “When these kids find out about the deaths in their family, they would need to find comfort in knowing that they have gained thousands of family members all over Pakistan.”
Because Ibtihaj, whose name means happiness in Arabic, and Zakir, who wishes to walk again, represent the very best of this country. Mr Nasir and his fellow activists understand that. What we are seeing — in a movement that’s run from the dozens to the hundreds — is civil society’s loudest response since this long war began. It laid a human fence around churches in the wake of the All-Saints Church bombing. It was sickened by Abdul Aziz condoning the mass murder of children, and did something about it. It came out on college campuses and public squares across the world, marking a month since Pakistan’s darkest day. It refused to forget All-Saints. It refused to forget APS. And it refused to forget Shikarpur.
Faced with a sit-in outside the CM House — a museum with all manner of fossils inside — the Sindh government was presented a choice: they could either bring the ASWJ to task, in a country reeling from sectarian attack to sectarian attack. Or they could arrest the protestors for “breaching CM House security”.
For Qaim Ali Shah, an easy choice — that the CM grants the same sanctity to Shias that he does to his mansion would be unreasonable. And yet the people’s expectations are nothing less than reasonable: they don’t demand courage from the leadership — but they do demand leadership itself. Just not the kind informed by Senate elections and civil servants.
Yet while even the Queen of Jordan marched against the IS, the prime minister was visiting a vegetable market. Which is what makes the disconnect so obvious: in a span of three months, Mr Nasir and his fellow activists have stood up to more banned outfits than Islamabad has in three years. They bring up names the state wills itself to forget: Fizzah Malik, Irfan Ali, Perween Rehman, Ibtihaj’s sister Rida. But they also bring up names the state fears saying: Aurangzeb Farooqi, Abdul Aziz, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. They stand against them peacefully and lawfully.
And they give the rest of us hope. Because in the end, this war is for the country’s young; the 139 students at APS showed us that. Aitzaz showed us that. Ibtihaj continues to show us that. And the movement — that began via human chain around our churches, that told us to reclaim our mosques — is fighting for it.
We are told, long after the cobras overran Delhi, that wild hogs have overrun Islamabad — literally. In a land that deeply values symbolism, the seat of the state has been taken over by pigs. But we’ve seen the signs. It’s time to take the country back.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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Chris Kyle had 160 confirmed kills
A generation of soldiers has served grueling tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq since the 9/11 attacks, but few soldiers have gripped the country's conscience in the way Chris Kyle has.
Windies coach hopeful despite warm-up drubbing
SYDNEY: Team manager Richie Richardson said the West Indies were wary of peaking too soon at the World Cup but there looked precious little chance of that on the evidence of their heavy defeat to England in their first warm-up on Monday.
England dismissed the twice world champions for 122 before reaching their target with more than 27 overs to spare for a thumping nine-wicket victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“Not a very good start but it’s not about the start, it’s about the finish,” Richardson told reporters. “We are obviously disappointed with our performance but we will review it and come back. Our plan is to ease into the World Cup; we don’t want to peak too early.
“Tonight is no reflection of how we have been training or anything to do with the mood in the camp. It was just very strange that England got the better of us in that particular way.”
West Indies arrived at the World Cup in some turmoil and without former captain Dwayne Bravo after rows over player contracts led to the abandonment of a tour of India last October.
Richardson, however, said the abject manner of Monday’s defeat had come as a complete shock to him. “I have no explanation for it because I didn’t expect it,” he said. “People might be wondering what is going on. But I can safely say we have been playing well, the guys have been in very good spirits, it was just one of those things.
“Hopefully, you won’t see a performance like this from us again.”
The West Indies never really recovered from losing Darren Bravo and Chris Gayle for ducks in the opening over on Monday and Richardson said it would be wrong to read anything into the fact that the latter had not fielded.
“Chris Gayle has been training well, he hasn’t really complained about any injuries, he played football with the guys this morning,” the former West Indies captain added. “He’s in good shape, we just want preserve him as much as possible and then hopefully as the tournament goes on he will go from strength to strength.”
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UNICEF ‘7’ fund is ‘number one priority’ for Beckham
He's a football star, a fashion mogul and a prospective sport team owner, but David Beckham is in no doubt as to his most pressing concern.
UNICEF ‘7’ fund is ‘number one priority’ for Beckham
He's a football star, a fashion mogul and a prospective sport team owner, but David Beckham is in no doubt as to his most pressing concern.
Chili peppers can battle obesity
WASHINGTON: There is good news for those who find it hard to resist fatty foods. An ingredient found in chili peppers could help you prevent weight gain after eating a high-fat diet, a study involving an Indian-origin researcher has found.
Capsaicin, being the chief ingredient in chili peppers stimulates energy burning — a dietary supplement could be developed to do away with restriction in calorie intake, the study findings suggest.
“Our group’s laboratory data revealed that dietary capsaicin suppresses high-fat-diet-induced obesity,” explained Vivek Krishnan, a graduate student from the University of Wyoming in the US.
“In our bodies, white fat cells store energy and brown fat cells serve as thermogenic (heat produced by burning fat) machinery to burn stored fat. Eating calorie-rich foods and a lack of physical activity cause an imbalance in metabolism that lead to obesity,” Krishnan explained. The researchers found that 0.01 per cent of capsaicin in a total high-fat diet prevented high-fat-diet-induced weight gain in trials with wild type mice.
Dietary capsaicin may induce browning of white adipose tissue and stimulates thermogenesis to counteract obesity, the researchers noted.
Developing a natural dietary supplement as a strategy to combat obesity can be easily advanced to human clinical trials.
“We envision a nanoparticle-based sustained-release formulation of capsaicin, which is currently under development in our laboratory,” the researchers added.
“In turn, this will advance a novel dietary supplement-based approach to prevent and treat one of the life-threatening diseases, obesity and its associated complications in humans,” they noted.
The findings were presented at Biophysical Society’s 59th annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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Ali Haider to release new album on V-Day
KARACHI: Singer-actor Ali Haider is set to release his album Koi Aisi Baat on Valentine’s Day, reported Roznama Express. The title song of the album has been posted on Ali’s Facebook fan page. The album’s soundtrack also features a World Cup anthem, which is dedicated to the Pakistani cricket team.
Ali shared that Koi Aisi Baat is a 10-track album, which will be an interesting addition to the current music scene in Pakistan. Prior to this, he had released a Sufi album in Mumbai, which featured the works of Bulleh Shah, Habib Jalib and Josh Malihabadi.
Haider is among the few musicians from the 1990s, who garnered a massive fan-following not only in Pakistan but also in India. Several of his songs, such as Purani Jeans, Chand Sa Mukhra and Zaalim Nazaron Se, have become classics in the realm of pop music.
Ali was recently in the news for being offered an integral part in a Hollywood film. He said he has gone through the script but has yet to sign the project. If Haider commits to the project, this would not be the first time he would be appearing on the screen, as he has previously acted in movies, such as Chalo Ishq Larain and television drama Chand Sa Mukhra. He has acted opposite actors such as Meera and Zara Sheikh.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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‘I Am Malala’ bags Grammy Award
The audio version of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai’s book, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World, was honoured with the ‘Best Children’s Album’ Award at the 57th annual Grammy Awards, reported IANS.
The book has been narrated by Neela Vaswani under the label Hachette Audio. “I had no idea it was even possible for a children’s book to be nominated,” said Vaswani, a professor of creative writing, literature and cultural studies, Forbes reported.
I Am Malala is the memoir of a teenage girl, who risked her life for the right to go to school. Raised in Pakistan by an enlightened father and a mother from a political family, she was taught to stand up for what she believed in.
The story relates Malala’s bravery and determination in the face of extremism, detailing the daily challenges of growing up in a world transformed by terror. “I hope Malala is happy,” added Vaswani. “I’m thrilled to be a part of spreading her message further.”
Critically-acclaimed author Patricia McCormick served as contributor to the tale. The audio version was up against Appetite For Construction by The Pop Ups, Just Say Hi! by Brady Rymer And The Little Band That Could, The Perfect Quirk by Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, and Through The Woods by The Okee Dokee Brothers.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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‘Better Call Saul’ than be sorry
Breaking Bad’s prequel-sequel Better Call Saul premiered on February 8. The show, which is a spin-off to the commercially and critically-acclaimed TV series, tells the story of lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) six years before he meets Walter White (Brian Cranston), reported rollingstone.com. The pilot episode for the show has been written and directed by Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.
According to the wrap.com, the show, which is being televised on AMC, was green-lit in July 2013 during the final season of Breaking Bad. Better Call Saul explores the life of Goodman, a con artist, formerly known as Jimmy McGill, before the events of Breaking Bad and how he ends up working behind the counter of a shopping mall Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska.
Several cast members of the Breaking Bad series would appear in the series, including Jonathan Banks, who played the role of Mike Ehrmantraut in the series. Titled Uno, the first episode of the show has received critical acclaim so far. It has included multiple elements of the earlier show, such as its signature time jumps.
Gilligan stated that, despite the show being a Breaking Bad spin-off, the team doesn’t want that to be the show’s selling point, reported nydailynews.com. “We really want this to stand on its own,” said the show’s co-creator Peter Gould. “Walter White and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) do not appear in season one.” However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of the characters returning later on in the show, saying, “Everything else is on the table.”
Show creator Vince Gilligan spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about his excitement surrounding the series’ premiere and said that he is more nervous about the show’s premiere, although Breaking Bad’s final run in 2013 had been quite nerve-racking. “I’m nervous as hell and my anxiety grows day by day,” said Gilligan, reasoning that the expectations were lower when Breaking Bad had premiered seven years ago in 2008. The second episode of the show, Mijo, will air on February 9.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
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David Beckham launches new UN children’s fund
LONDON: Football legend and male model David Beckham on Monday launched a new fund for the UN children’s organisation UNICEF named “7″ — the number on the jersey he wore when he played for Manchester United.
“My fame, my success that I had on the field, opens doors for exactly things like this – the protection of children, the protection of women,” the 39-year-old told reporters at a presentation in London.
“My life has never been just about the football,” said Beckham, who has been a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF for the past 10 years and has four children with his wife Victoria, a former pop star and fashion designer.
Paloma Escudero, a UNICEF official, said that the former Manchester and Real Madrid star “has raised awareness of major dangers facing children — including malnutrition, Ebola and AIDS”.
The fund is aimed at children living in warzones.
UNICEF estimates that one in 10 children in the world — around 230 million — live in such states.
Beckham said his children were “excited” about the project, which uses the website 7.org.
“They know exactly what I’m announcing today and what needs to be done,” he said.
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