Pak News Wire

Fans call to #BoycottHershey after import ban

Fans call to #BoycottHershey after import ban

Gruesome football banner shocks

Gruesome football banner shocks

Fans of Belgian football side Standard Liege have been widely condemned after unfurling a banner depicting the decapitation of a former play...

Marvel Comics Muslim superhero fights racist bus ads in San Francisco

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/828407/marvel-comics-muslim-superhero-fights-racist-bus-ads-in-san-francisco/"> 				<img alt="" height="120" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/828407-kamala-1422364921-679-160x120.jpg" width="160" /> 			</a> 			Kamala Khan, Marvel Comics’ first Muslim character, has found a real-life enemy to fight. Images of the comic book character, who first made an appearance in the Captain Marvel comic series in 2013, were plastered over anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish advertisements on buses in San Francisco recently. While the bigoted ads are not new, this novel way of countering the narrative has created a stir in the online community with the writer of the Ms Marvel comic series also tweeting about it. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" width="500">Some amazing person has been painting over the anti-Muslim bus ads in SF with Ms. Marvel graffiti. Spread love. <a href="https://t.co/U8W2g01O2T">https://t.co/U8W2g01O2T</a> — G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) <a href="https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/559548463373774848">January 26, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Bay Area Art Queers Unleashing Power (BAAQUP), a blog that appears to represent the group behind the initiative, describes the group as “a loose collective of arts activists with a long history of liberating public spaces and creating images to challenge the control of our lives by corporations, government and the assumptions promoted by mass media.” BAAQUP also posted pictures of their campaign in a <a href="https://baqup.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/saying-no-to-hatred-with-superheroes/" target="_blank">blog post</a> titled “Saying No To Hatred – With Superheroes!” on January 26. Meanwhile, another group, Street Cred, posted the same pictures on their Facebook page. “BAAQUP and Street Cred commend Marvel for taking a different road than Charlie Hebdo, using the power of comics for good,” the January 26 blog post said. <img alt="" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/0-kamala-1422365248.jpg" /> PHOTO: BAAQUP “Kamala won’t let racism go unchallenged in our town, and neither will we!” the blog post added, referring to the Ms Marvel character. The post also mentions one Pam Geller, founder of American Freedom Defense Initiative, the organization behind the original racist ads. “The day after the attack at Charlie Hebdo and the murders at the kosher grocery store in Paris, one of us texted another – ‘Get ready, Pam Geller’s going to come to town.’”

Marvel Comics Muslim superhero fights racist bus ads in San Francisco

Kamala Khan, Marvel Comics’ first Muslim character, has found a real-life enemy to fight. Images of the comic book cha...

Military stops search and recovery for remains

Military stops search and recovery for remains

The Indonesian military said that it was stopping its efforts to try to find and recover the remains of Flight QZ8501.

Teachers get gun training after Peshawar massacre

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/828388/pakistani-teachers-get-gun-training-after-peshawar-massacre/"> 				<img alt="" height="120" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/828388-peshawarguntraining-1422362078-100-160x120.jpg" width="160" /> 			</a> 			PESHAWAR: Teachers in Pakistan are being given firearms training and will be allowed to take guns into the classroom in a bid to strengthen security following a Taliban massacre at a school last month. Heavily armed militants killed 150 people, 132 of them children, in a bloody December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. “Carrying firearms for every teacher is not obligatory, but all those who want to carry firearms to schools willingly will be provided with permits,” Atif Khan, provincial education minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP on Tuesday. Provincial Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani confirmed the decision, adding that the province was unable to provide police guards for all of its government-run education institutions. “The number of police in the province is not enough to guard 35,000 schools, colleges and universities — that’s why we have allowed teachers to carry firearms,” Ghani told AFP. Authorities began training teachers in how to use guns last week and the latest batch of female trainees started learning the ropes on Tuesday. “It’s a two-day course. We are training them on gun handling and also on (the) procedure of using it,” said Mohammad Latif, a trainer at police headquarters in Peshawar. Security has already been strengthened for schools across the country, including by building elevated boundary walls with steel wire fencing and increasing the number of police. Private schools have been ordered to deploy extra security guards. Malik Khalid Khan, the president of the Private Schools Teachers Association, opposed the move to arm teachers. “How is it possible to teach students in a class… holding a gun in one hand and a pen in another?” Khan told AFP. “It’s not our job, our job is to teach them books. A teacher holding a gun in the class will have very negative affect on his students,” Khan said, adding that the government should hire more police if they are short of numbers. The government and military promised a tough response to the Peshawar massacre, in which heavily armed militants scaled the school walls before going room-to-room mowing down helpless students and staff. A six-year moratorium on the death penalty was ended for terror cases after the attack, and parliament voted to set up military courts to try terror offences.

Teachers get gun training after Peshawar massacre

PESHAWAR: Teachers in Pakistan are being given firearms training and will be allowed to take guns into the classroom ...

Cumberbatch sorry for ‘colored’ remark

Cumberbatch sorry for ‘colored’ remark

Oscar-nominated star Benedict Cumberbatch has apologized for referring to black actors as "colored" on a U.S. talk show.

BREAKING: Rangers raid CPLC chief’s house in Karachi

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/828393/breaking-rangers-raid-cplc-chiefs-house-in-karachi/"> 				<img alt="" height="120" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/828393-chinoy-1422359197-498-160x120.jpg" width="160" /> 			</a> 			KARACHI: In a shocking development, Rangers have raided the house of Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) chief Ahmed Chinoy, where they have reportedly recovered a kidnapped boy along with Rs1.5 million, allegedly being given to Chinoy by the boy’s mother for his release.   However, The Express Tribune could not independently verify the reports of the boy’s recovery. According to initial reports, the raid was carried out on a tip-off by the victim’s father. As per the father, his wife was visiting the CPLC chief’s residence in Defence Housing Authority to pay Chinoy the ransom money to get their son released. The Rangers has alleged that Chinoy has links with groups extorting money for ransom, Express News reported. Police has taken Chinoy into custody. However, addressing the media, the CPLC chief said the accusations leveled against him are baseless. “I will address a press conference later in the evening today to prove these allegations false,” Chinoy added.

BREAKING: Rangers raid CPLC chief’s house in Karachi

KARACHI: In a shocking development, Rangers have raided the house of Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) chief A...

How Russian spies hid in New York

How Russian spies hid in New York

The men would sometimes say they needed to meet to exchange tickets, but they never seemed to end up actually attending or discussing a spor...

Why milk, bread and toilet paper when it snows?

Why milk, bread and toilet paper when it snows?

Seriously people, is there something about snow storms that makes us want to eat French toast and sit on the toilet?

Nadal stunned at Aussie Open

Nadal stunned at Aussie Open

This time there was no escape for Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.

Nadal crushed as Sharapova slaps down Bouchard

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/828356/nadal-crushed-as-sharapova-slaps-down-bouchard/"> 				<img alt="" height="120" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/828356-nadal-1422349566-105-160x120.jpg" width="160" /> 			</a> 			MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open dream lay in tatters Tuesday with the third seed crushed by Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals, but Maria Sharapova showed who’s boss by slapping down Eugenie Bouchard. The out-of-sorts Spaniard, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, was never in contention against a player he had beaten the last 17 times they met stretching back to 2006. The Czech seventh seed insisted ahead of the match that the imposing statistic meant little and he came out of the blocks firing, winning 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) despite a mini Nadal revival in the third set. “I was definitely ready for it and set up my plan pretty well and I stuck with that through those three sets,” said Berdych, who also made the semis last year, losing to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. His upset win means he will face either Andy Murray or Nick Krygios for a place in the final. Nadal had no excuses, admitting he played “a very bad” match. “I am not very happy because I didn’t compete the way I wanted to compete in the first two sets and that’s something that I don’t like,” he said. “The season is long, beginnings are tough. I need to be ready to accept all the situations that happen and try to be strong.” In contrast to his lacklustre performance, the experienced Sharapova dominated young Canadian pretender Bouchard to set up an all-Russian semi-final with dark horse Ekaterina Makarova. The world number two, who could claim the top ranking from arch-rival Serena Williams if she wins the title, showed her intent by breaking the seventh seed in the first game of the match and never looked back. Billed as a Glam Slam showdown between two of the game’s most marketable women, an intense Sharapova was all business in the crushing 6-3, 6-2 win on a cool, overcast Melbourne day. “She’s been playing so well at Slams, so confident and so aggressive,” said the Russian, gunning for a sixth Grand Slam crown and her first in Australia since 2008. “I just really tried to take that away from her a little bit. I did a great job of that today.” She now faces Makarova, who raced through her match against third seed Simona Halep, thrashing the more-fancied Romanian 6-4, 6-0. In the other women’s quarter-finals, to be played Wednesday, top seed Serena Williams meets last year’s finalist Dominika Cibulkova while her sister Venus takes on teenage American Madison Keys. If the Williams sisters both win, they will face each other across the net at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2009 Wimbledon final, which Serena won. British sixth seed Murray will have the home crowd against him when he takes on mercurial 19-year-old local Nick Kyrgios in the final last eight clash on Tuesday evening. Sharapova, who also dumped Bouchard out of the French Open semi-finals last year, gave no quarter on Rod Laver Arena, hitting 18 winners and forcing 30 unforced errors from the 20-year-old. “The first two or three balls are so aggressive from her side,” Sharapova said. “I just tried to keep my ground, I knew she was going to go at it and be aggressive.” Makarova, her right thigh heavily strapped, said she was trying to stay grounded and not let the pressure get to her with Sharapova looming. “I need to believe in myself. I’m trying not to really think that it’s semis, that I’m one step from the final, but that it’s just a normal match like always,” she said. “Just go out there and enjoy my game.” Halep came into the match as favourite but her trademark fighting qualities deserted her, with the talented 23-year-old saying she felt stressed by the occasion. “I practised very well in the morning, but I was a little bit too stressed before I started the match,” she said. “It was not really pressure, just a little bit stressed. I don’t know why,” she said.   Like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EtribuneSports">Sports on Facebook</a>, follow <a href="https://twitter.com/ETribuneSports">@ETribuneSports</a> on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

Nadal crushed as Sharapova slaps down Bouchard

MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open dream lay in tatters Tuesday with the third seed crushed by Tomas Berdych i...

Fans’ gruesome banner

Fans’ gruesome banner

Defense seeks to have charges tossed against Guantanamo prisoner

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/828338/defense-seeks-to-have-charges-tossed-against-guantanamo-prisoner/"> 				<img alt="" height="120" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/828338-guantanamo-1422344116-319-160x120.jpg" width="160" /> 			</a> 			FORT MEADE/MARYLAND: A defense attorney on Monday sought the dismissal of charges against a suspected Iraqi al Qaeda commander, accused of plots to assassinate then-president Pervez Musharraf, saying the United States was violating international law and the Constitution by prosecuting him for war crimes. The trial for Abd al Hadi al Iraqi at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is an international tribunal but prosecutors are using domestic laws to try him, said defense attorney Air Force Major Ben Stirk. “That’s not the international law of war,” Stirk said in a pre-trial hearing. Hadi al Iraqi is charged with being an al Qaeda commander who led attacks against US and coalition troops in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2004. The Pentagon also accuses him of plots to assassinate Pakistan’s then-president, Pervez Musharraf. His attorneys say charges that Hadi al Iraqi conspired to commit murder were based on US law rather than the international law of war that could protect combatants from criminal liability. Arguing against the defense motion, Assistant US Attorney Mikeal Clayton said a broad definition of the law of war could help militants “mask or shield themselves from liability.” The US Military Commissions Act preserves the defendants’ rights to counsel, to avoid self-incrimination and to be convicted only if there is proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Clayton said. He also said accusations that Hadi al Iraqi, who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay since 2007, conspired to commit acts of terrorism meet international standards for criminal prosecution. Military commission Judge Navy Captain J Kirk Waits did not rule on the motion. Waits touched on a complaint filed against him and a second military judge at Guantanamo Bay by female US military guards who accuse him of sex discrimination. Waits issued a ban in November against female guards touching prisoners. The ban came after Hadi al Iraqi and other detainees complained that being touched by women to whom they are not married violates Islamic religious doctrine. The complaint filed last week said Waits’ order violated federal rules that prohibit gender-based and other discrimination in employment. Waits said he should not need to excuse himself from the case. “My impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned,” he said. Waits is scheduled to hear arguments on the guards issue on Wednesday. The hearing was monitored by closed-circuit television at a media center at Fort Meade, outside Washington.

Defense seeks to have charges tossed against Guantanamo prisoner

FORT MEADE/MARYLAND: A defense attorney on Monday sought the dismissal of charges against a suspected Iraqi al Qaeda ...

Facebook, Instagram goes down; Twitter freaks out

Facebook, Instagram goes down; Twitter freaks out

Japan mulls ISIS hostage strategy

Japan mulls ISIS hostage strategy

Protestors outside Shinzo Abe's residence demand he save ISIS hostage Kenji Goto's life, but the Japanese Prime Minister is also fac...