Why Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott Just Might Be Ready for Marriage

 

Kylie Jenner is hardly the first person to claim that she marches to the beat of her own drum. Except when the beauty mogul subscribes to a new rhythm she's likely to convert several million fans along the way, her devotees suddenly claiming they never really liked that staid cadence everyone else was listening to anyway.
That is to say that things just work out for the 21-year-old multi-millionaire. Take the time she bumped into longtime family friend Travis Scott at 2017's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She had always assumed the Grammy-nominated rapper didn't really like her, she recently admitted to GQ, because they had never exchanged more than a few words in all the years he'd been a member of brother-in-law Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music family. But standing in the California dessert, there was just something there.
"So he said, 'I'm going back on tour—what do we want to do about this?' Because we obviously liked each other," she shared of their suddenly blazing spark. "And I was like, 'I guess I'm going with you." Next thing she knew, she was climbing aboard his tour bus, committing to a second date in Wallingford, Conn., a third in New York City, a fourth in Pittsburgh and so on. "We rode off into the sunset." n the year and a half since, the sun hasn't gone down on them. A relationship that began on a whim only strengthened as they criss-crossed the country in confined quarters. "We would just go to these random cities. We got to not be who we really were," she explained off taking their pairing off-grid. "Like, if we were in L.A., I feel like it would've been way different. Everything happened for a reason. We weren't going out as 'Kylie and Trav.' We would just be in Cleveland, walking the street for hours. We would go on walks, and no one would bother us."
That unfettered feeling didn't change even as they faced their first major relationship hurdle. Learning you're expecting mere weeks into dating tops the unwritten list of "challenges that can break a couple up," but Kylie seemingly just shrugged at the news. This was something she'd always wanted, so why shouldn't now be the perfect time? And if she was going to have a baby, she was doing it her way. "My family knows that I do whatever I'm going to do," she told GQ of her default M.O. "I've been that way my whole life."

Handling pregnancy Kylie-style meant tuning out the haters and dropping out of sight, letting her Instagram go idle even as rumors of her pregnancy lit up the Internet.
It wasn't until after Stormi Webster's February arrival that she acknowledged the news that, yes, she had a baby and yes, the hard-to-read Scott, 26, was a present father. What's more, the pregnancy had achieved the seemingly impossible: it had made the young, unseasoned couple, at one point based some 1,500 miles apart, stronger than ever. Today they call Scott's Houston pad, his L.A. mansion and Kylie's Calabasas spread home—"We never miss a night with each other," she told Vogue Australia—but they also have a new, joint property, a seven-bedroom Beverly Hills abode the Kylie Cosmetics founder negotiated down to $13.45 million, a mere fraction of her reported $900 million wealth.
A new relationship status could be next. An insider tells E! News that the pair, who have taken to publicly calling each other "wifey" and "hubby", could soon put a little weight behind those titles. "Kylie and Travis have definitely discussed getting married," reveals the insider. "They are not engaged right now, but have talked about it and it's only a matter of time." 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Prove They're Already Pros at Picking Baby Names

 

It's been only two weeks since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced her pregnancy, but the future parents have already proven they're pros at picking out baby names.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex showed off their skills on Wednesday during their visit to a kiwi-breeding program in New Zealand. During the trip to Rainbow Springs, the duo had the opportunity to name two of the newly hatched chicks. Harry reportedly chose "Tihei" for his little bird's name, which means "sneeze of life" in Māori, and Meghan chose "Koha," which means "gift."
This wasn't the first time the two haD discussed names for a newborn. Earlier in their tour, the couple rode a tram in Australia, where Meghan reportedly told a group of young passengers they've been given "a long list of names from everyone" for their future child.
"She said that she hadn't thought of one as it was still quite early," 12-year-old rider Ella Burns recalled at the time. 

Crashed Indonesian jet: What is known so far

 

An Indonesian Lion Air jet with 189 passengers and crew plunged into the sea on Monday in what could be the country's deadliest aviation accident since 234 people died when an Airbus A-300B4 operated by national carrier Garuda crashed in 1997.
Below are the details known so far about the Lion Air crash involving a brand new Boeing-made plane, and the investigation.

What happened?

Lion Air flight JT-610 took off from Jakarta en route to Pangkal Pinang city at 6:20am (2320 GMT) on Monday. It crashed into the sea some 12 minutes later.
Two minutes after takeoff, Indian-born Captain Bhavye Suneja reported a flight control problem and requested permission to rise to 5,000 feet from 1,700 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC).

Indonesian police and SAR personnel identify personal items of passengers of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610 at the Jakarta port on October 30. — AFP

The plane vanished from radar at 6:32am, after the captain asked for permission to return to the airport.
The Flightradar website tracked the plane and showed it looping south on take-off and then heading north before its flight path ended abruptly over the Java Sea, not far from the coast.
Witnesses said they did not hear an explosion but saw the Boeing 737 MAX plunge into the sea.

Who was in the cockpit?

Captain Suneja and his co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of combined flying time, and both had recent medical checkups and drug testing, Lion Air has said.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was built in 2018 and went into service just two months ago.
Lion Air said the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta.
A technical logbook detailed an "unreliable" airspeed reading instrument on the Bali-Jakarta flight on Sunday and different altitude readings on the captain and first officer's instruments, according to the BBC.
Copies of several Lion Air technical documents have been circulating on social media, but they could not be immediately confirmed as authentic and the carrier did not return calls seeking comment.
Boeing reportedly suspended release of the 737 MAX just days before its first commercial delivery last year due to an engine issue, according to airline safety and product review site airlineratings.com.
The engines were a product of a joint venture between US-based General Electric and France's Safran Aircraft Engines.
It is not clear what, if any, role the engine issue or the reported instrument problem played in the accident.

What will investigators focus on?

Distraught family of passengers gathered at Pangkal Pinang airport, where the plane had been headed. ─ AFP

As search teams collect body parts, personal effects and debris, dozens of divers are taking part in the recovery effort and a specialist team from Singapore is helping to look for the plane's black box.
The cockpit voice and flight data recorder could be key pieces of evidence.
"It is far too early to speculate what happened to the airplane," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aerospace consultancy Leeham Co.
"There is just too much we don't know, other than FlightTracker showed what appeared to be a rapid descent into the water."
Investigators will consider a range of factors, including crew proficiency, unusual cockpit activity that could point to a hijacking or pilot suicide, the role weather may have played and the jet's mechanical condition, Hamilton said.
Lion's safety record — including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport — will also be looked at, he added.

Fake News

A string of fake news stories have been circulating in the aftermath of the crash, including one that falsely claims to show a baby who survived the accident and a video purportedly showing panicked passengers just before the crash.
Indonesian disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho has knocked down both claims.

10 dead in Italy storms as wild weather sweeps Europe

 

ROME: The death toll from fierce storms battering Italy has risen to 10, civil protection authorities said on Tuesday, as wild weather swept parts of Europe, leaving motorists and tourists stranded.
Road were blocked and thousands of people were left without power in southern and central Europe, as rains and violent winds sparked flooding and tore trees from their roots.
Thick snow has also cloaked French and Italian mountain regions, trapping hundreds of drivers in their cars and tourists in hotels.
In Italy, where Venice was inundated by near-record flooding and ferocious storms drove high winds reaching up to 180 kilometres an hour, authorities announced a further five deaths, after confirming five people had died on Monday.
Luxury yachts lay smashed in the harbour of Rapallo near Genoa after a dam broke under pressure.
“It was like a tsunami,” one stunned port worker was quoted as saying by Italian media.
“We thought the danger would come from the mountains, we thought the problem would be landslides,” said Liguria head Giovanni Toti.
“Instead, we get a coastal storm surge the likes of which we’ve never seen,” he said.
Authorities on Tuesday reported a woman died when her home was engulfed by a mudslide in the northern region of Trentino, a man was killed in the northeastern Veneto region by a falling tree, and a firefighter died during relief operations in South Tyrol.

Pence stuns Jews with prayers by ‘Christian rabbi’ after massacre

 

WASHINGTON: Amer­ican Jews, in shock over the massacre of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, voiced outrage on Tuesday after Vice President Mike Pence hosted an election event with a so-called “Christian rabbi”.
Pence took part in a campaign rally for Lena Epstein, a Jewish Republican running for the House of Representatives, in suburban Detroit, Michigan, on Monday.
At the rally Loren Jacobs, who uses the title “rabbi” but espouses Christianity, was invited to speak on behalf of the area’s Jewish community.
Instead of opening up with prayers for the 11 Jews shot dead at the Tree of Life synagogue on Saturday, Jacobs praised Jesus Christ and then offered prayers for four Republican candidates.
“I pray that you will enable Vice President Pence to fulfill his many and important responsibilities with excellence,” he added.
At the end of the rally, Pence, a devout Christian and hero of evangelicals, invited Jacob back to say a prayer for the victims as “a leader of the Jewish community here in Michigan”.
Jacobs then offered words for the dead in the form of a prayer to Jesus Christ, without naming any of them.
Jews expressed outrage over social media, noting Jacobs’s appearance came just days after the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue by a man who later told police “I just want to kill Jews”.
The attack was believed to be the deadliest anti-Semitic act of violence in US history.

Seven killed in suicide attack near Kabul prison

 

A suicide bomber targeting a bus carrying employees of Afghanistan's biggest prison killed at least seven people on Wednesday, officials said, in the latest militant attack in the war-torn country.
Another eight were wounded in the blast at the entrance to the facility in Kabul, which police spokesman Basir Mujahid said had hit a vehicle that staff of Pul-e-Charkhi prison were travelling in.
Among the casualties were police officers guarding the main gate and prison staff.
The attacker was on foot, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
He struck as the bus was entering the jail in the east of the Afghan capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, but the Islamic State group (IS) has claimed most suicide attacks in Kabul in recent months.
The attack comes days after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the entrance of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounding six.
A wave of election-related violence has killed or wounded hundreds across the country in recent months as the Taliban and IS step up attacks on Afghan security forces and government workers.
Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary election, which was held over three days this month, was marred by chaos and deadly attacks.
Two days before voting began on October 20, a Taliban-claimed shooting killed a powerful police chief in the southern province of Kandahar.
General Abdul Raziq was among three people killed in the brazen insider attack on a high-level security meeting in the provincial capital that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) commander in Afghanistan.
Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in the shooting, which the Taliban said had targeted Miller and Raziq.
US officials and Nato's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan were adamant that Miller had not been a target.
Several days later another Taliban-claimed assault killed a Nato soldier and and wounded two others — all from the Czech Republic — in the western province of Herat.
The attacks came amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic activity to convince the Taliban, Afghanistan's largest militant group, to negotiate an end to the 17-year war.
Earlier this month, newly appointed US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives in Qatar.
Less than two weeks later a top Taliban commander held in Pakistani detention for more than eight years was freed.
A senior Taliban leader told AFP the group had requested the release of Abdul Ghani Baradar and several others at the meeting with Khalilzad.
The group confirmed on Wednesday it had appointed five former Guantanamo Bay detainees to its political office in Doha who have authority to "talk about peace".

India's top court seeks pricing of Rafale jet deal with France

 

India’s top court on Wednesday ordered the government to provide pricing details of 36 Rafale fighter jets it is buying from France.
The court said the government must bring details of the decision-making process of the deal into the public domain, except those that are confidential and have strategic importance. The court said those can be provided in a “sealed cover” within 10 days.
The deal has become a major political issue with the leader of the main opposition Indian National Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of buying the aircraft at nearly three times the price being negotiated when his party was in power before Modi became prime minister in 2014.
The government has refuted the claim, but says a secrecy clause governs the deal’s pricing. It hasn’t even informed Parliament about the cost of the 36 planes.
The court was hearing petitions by former ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha and some others who demanded a court-monitored probe by a federal investigating agency in the deal.
Gandhi also accused Modi’s government of favoring the company owned by industrialist Anil Ambani, Reliance Group, when choosing an Indian partner for Dassault.
India’s government has denied any wrongdoing.
Dassault Aviation recently said that it “has freely chosen to make a partnership with India’s Reliance Group.”
The French company said that it had committed to side deals in India worth 50 percent of the value of the jet purchases. In order to deliver those side deals, it had decided to create a joint venture with Reliance Group.
The controversy has intensified following comments last month by former French President Francois Hollande — who was in charge when the deal was signed in 2016 — suggesting France had no say in selecting the Indian company.

25 killed in Afghan army helicopter crash: officials

 

An Afghan army helicopter carrying 25 people crashed in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing all those on board, officials said.
The aircraft crashed due to "bad weather" in Anar Dara district, which borders Iran, Farah provincial governor spokesman Nasir Mehri said.
The Taliban claimed its militants brought it down.
Both pilots and 23 passengers were killed.
Among the dead were the deputy army corps commander for western Afghanistan and the head of the Farah provincial council, Mehri said.
Provincial council member Dadullah Qaneh said the helicopter hit a mountain peak in poor weather en route to neighbouring Herat province.
Senior government and military officials often travel by helicopter in regions where the Taliban has a large presence.
Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in the mountainous, war-torn country.
In September, an Afghan military helicopter carrying weapons and ammunition burst into flames during an "emergency landing" in Farah, killing at least four people.
Earlier that month at least 12 people were killed, including two Ukrainians, when a helicopter owned by a Moldovan company crashed in the northern province of Balkh.
The aircraft also was carrying munitions and exploded on impact, Afghan officials said.
Western forces have been rebuilding Afghanistan's air force, which was decimated by the civil war of the 1990s and the turbulent period of Taliban rule that ended in 2001.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (Nato) Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan has been training pilots and ground controllers across the country as part of a modernisation effort.
United States Forces' officials told AFP in February that Afghanistan's air force includes four C-130 transport aircraft, 24 C-208 supply planes, 24 Russian Mi-17 helicopters that will be replaced by 159 UH-60 Black Hawks, 12 A-29 Super Tacano attack planes, and 25 MD-530 attack helicopters.

US State Dept official tipped to replace Nikki Haley as UN envoy

 

NEW YORK: US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert is said to be one of the candidates US President Donald Trump is considering to replace his outgoing ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, Politico a daily news magazine reported on Wednesday.
Ambassador Haley made her mark on television by her strong support to the Trump administration and Israel.
The White House is looking for someone telegenic to replace her, according to the Politico news report.
Nauert, former Fox News host, is currently serving at the State Department’s spokesperson and acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. She is said to have grown closer to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo which makes her a front runner for the post.
“White House aides view her as a capable advocate for the Trump administration’s foreign policy. She is also a leading candidate to replace White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders when she leaves the White House,” the report said.
Haley will relinquish her charge by the end of the year, but it was the timing of her decision, which caught the media by surprise, coming just weeks before the crucial mid-term elections in November. The elections will decide as to which party will control the Congress.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018

Israel strikes Gaza after first rocket fire in weeks

 

GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the first rocket fire from the Palestinian territory in weeks hit an Israeli city, in a blow to efforts to avert a new war.

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas disavowed the rocket fire, saying they rejected “all irresponsible attempts” to undermine Egyptian efforts to broker a new long-term truce.

But Israel, which holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from the territory regardless of who launches it, struck 20 targets in Gaza, killing one Palestinian, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel also closed both its border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, further isolating the blockaded enclave where deteriorating living conditions have stoked violent protests along the border.

Gaza militants fired two rockets before dawn, one of which caused major damage to a family home in the southern city of Beersheba, 40 kilometres away, the Israeli army said.

“At 4 am (0100 GMT), Israelis in the city of Beersheba were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel,” the army tweeted.

The other rocket came down in the sea off Tel Aviv, 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Gaza, the army said.

Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad condemned the latest rocket fire as “irresponsible”.

But Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus rejected the disavowal, saying Hamas bore “full responsibility” as Gaza’s de facto ruler.

Retaliatory strikes had hit 20 targets, including a Hamas attack tunnel and an “advanced weapons manufacturing site”, he said.

The military released a video showing a man near the border preparing a rocket for launch before being hit by a missile strike.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded in the strikes, the Gaza health ministry said.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the closure of both of Israel’s border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, making the heavily restricted Rafah crossing with Egypt the enclave’s sole gateway to the outside world.

Lieberman also ordered the reduction of the permitted fishing zone off the Gaza coast to three nautical miles from six, his ministry said. Lieberman already suspended deliveries of fuel that had been trucked daily into Gaza under a deal brokered by the United Nations.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018

PIA’s operational losses stand at Rs2bn a month, Senate body told

 

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines is suffering operational losses to the tune of Rs2 billion per month due to the rupee’s depreciation and a jump in fuel prices, according to Aviation Secretary Mohammad Saqib Aziz.
These operational losses were in addition to liabilities of Rs400bn, including bank loans, he told the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation on Wednesday.
The secretary said the increase in fuel prices and depreciation of rupee against the dollar were the two major reasons for the airline’s losses. Another major factor for the financial crunch was overstaffing, Saqib Aziz added. Financial constraints caused by overstaffing had in turn led to non-payment of salaries this month, he said.
“The matter has been taken up with the finance division and we hope that it will be settled soon.”

Rupee depreciation against dollar and increase in fuel prices are main reasons for losses, says aviation secretary

The Senate committee met for a briefing on various issues concerning aviation, particularly PIA, complications in its new software which was causing errors during bookings, problems faced by parliamentarians and allegations of money laundering by PIA officers.
Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo inquired how long PIA would continue to suffer losses. The secretary explained that a business plan to turn around the national flag carrier had been shared with the previous government and it was still under process.
However, PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan, who chaired the Senate standing committee, intervened and attributed PIA’s massive losses to malpractices in purchase of spare parts for its fleet. “A lot of losses can be cut down if spares are purchased in a transparent manner,” he added.
PIA has 17,000 workers
The meeting was informed that the airline was overstaffed — it had 13,500 regular employees and some 3,500 daily wagers. The ratio of workers per aircraft works out to 450.
The aviation secretary said if non-core staff such as catering, engineering and ground handling crew were separated from the core employees, the ratio of workers against one aircraft would come down to 135 — the same as in India.
In the engineering section alone, PIA has more than 4,000 employees. Members were informed that the PIA employees had gone without salaries this month due to financial constraints.
The meeting was also informed that PIA spent roughly 18 per cent of the revenue on each staff member.
About the financial constraints, the secretary explained that all earnings went straight into banks, which deduct the loans taken by PIA before releasing the remaining amount.
The committee chairman drew the secretary’s attention to recent reports alleging that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) had declared PIA a defaulter. Mr Aziz said the PSE had issued a warning after PIA management failed to present details of audited accounts and failed to hold its annual general meeting. However, he added: “The trading of PIA shares has not been suspended.”
The meeting was told that five out of the 33 aircraft in PIA fleet had been grounded for maintenance.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018

'I say sorry to Pakistan': Danish Kaneria admits to involvement in spot-fixing scandal

 

Danish Kaneria has finally admitted his role in a fixing scandal that led to the imprisonment of former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield after six years of denials, Britain's Daily Mail reported late on Wednesday.
Kaneria, who was given a life ban by English cricket chiefs that effectively applied worldwide, said in an interview for an Al Jazeera television documentary quoted by the Mail: "My name is Danish Kaneria and I admit that I was guilty of the two charges brought against me by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2012."
Leg-spinner Kaneria, who insisted he was repentant as he called for his life ban to be overturned, added: "I want to apologise to Mervyn Westfield, my Essex team-mates, my Essex cricket club, my Essex cricket fans. I say sorry to Pakistan."
Westfield spent two months at Belmarsh prison in south-east London after pleading guilty to accepting 6,000 pounds ($7,862) from an illegal bookmaker, Anu Bhatt, to concede 12 runs in his first over of an English county 40-over game against Durham in 2009. He conceded only 10, but still took the money.
Kaneria was the "middle-man" in the scam, having introduced Westfield to Bhatt, but avoided criminal charges when English legal authorities decided they lacked the evidence for a conviction.
Now 37, Kaneria remains Pakistan's leading spinner with 261 Test wickets.

'Forgiveness'

He last played for Pakistan in the Trent Bridge Test of 2010, and has not appeared in any first-class game since March 2012, with all major boards upholding the ECB ban under International Cricket Council guidance.
"I want to ask people's forgiveness," said Kaneria. "Cricket has given me so much in my life and I want to give something back."
"If the ECB and ICC and other bodies would give me a second chance I can help to educate young people in cricket, teach them that if you do wrong you are finished like me."
Kaneria said the fear of embarrassing his father, who died in 2013 and had been suffering from cancer, explained part of the reason behind his repeated denials of wrongdoing.
"His health was getting worse and worse," he recalled. "I didn't have the courage to face him and tell him that I was wrong. He was a very, very proud guy. Very, very proud of me and what I did, representing Pakistan, representing my country."
"I want to apologise to my father, who has always been a role model for me."
Meanwhile Westfield told the Mail he accepted Kaneria's apology, saying: "This whole chapter of spot-fixing changed my life, but I have never blamed anyone for the terrible mistake I made.
"However, opening up about my wrongdoing and telling the truth allowed me to move on," added Westfield, now 30, who was banned from professional cricket for five years after being released from jail but has since played club and minor county matches.
"I hope that Danish finds peace and closure by doing this, and I wish him all the best for the future."

Hindu hardliners step up campaign to block Indian temple to women

 

Hindu hardliners blocked intersections, threatened drivers and ordered a 12-hour strike on Thursday as they stepped up their campaign to bar women from one of India's holiest temples.

The Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in the southern state of Kerala was meant to allow women from Wednesday following an order last month by India's highest court.

But hundreds of traditionalists, throwing stones at baton-wielding police, defied the order — surrounding and shouting at any woman attempting to make it to the hilltop site.

Angry young men also surrounded and smashed the car windows of female television reporters and threatened others, including an AFP reporter. Another female correspondent was kicked.

Overnight local Hindu groups declared a 12-hour shutdown of local businesses, telling drivers that their vehicles would be attacked if they took anyone towards the temple.

"Some men came to the parking lot early Thursday and warned taxi drivers against defying the shutdown call," taxi driver Praveen, in the town of Pathanamthitta, told AFP.

"They warned drivers at several nearby parking lots and hotels. Anyone who defies it will be risking damage to his vehicle," he added in an account corroborated by other drivers.

"No one will get to the temple today because all the drivers are scared for the safety of their cars," one hotel receptionist told AFP.

State authorities have insisted that they will ensure access to the temple, imposing restrictions on public gatherings that came into force from midnight.

Kerala police, who have drafted in hundreds of extra officers, many with helmets and body armour over their khaki uniforms, provided escorts to some buses.

Police also patrolled through the night and reinforced their presence at Nilackal, the base camp below the temple.

But groups of between 50 and 100 young men gathered at intersections on Thursday, preventing any vehicles from continuing towards the temple.

"Traditions that have existed since before courts cannot be tampered with," said Krishna Kumar, a tall muscular man in his twenties at one crossroads in the town of Kozhencherry.

##'Impure'

Last month India's Supreme Court overturned a ban on females of menstruating age — judged between 10 and 50 years — entering and praying at the hilltop temple, reached by a tough uphill trek.

Women are permitted to enter most Hindu temples but female devotees are still barred from some.

The entry of women at Sabarimala was long taboo but a ban was formalised by the Kerala High Court in 1991, a ruling overturned by India's Supreme Court last month.

The restriction reflected an old but still prevalent belief among many that menstruating women are impure and the fact that the deity Ayyappa was reputed to have been celibate.

The Supreme Court ruling enraged traditionalists, including supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Biju S. Pillai, a local man in his thirties, was one of those opposed to the court ruling, telling AFP that he returned from working in Dubai to "protect the sanctity of the temple".

"No one should be able to change the way this temple has functioned for centuries," he said. "If any change is made they will have to kill us and go over our bodies".

EP Jayarajan, a minister in the Kerala government, blamed the violence on "goons" from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a hardline Hindu group seen as close to Modi's BJP.

The head of the BJP in Kerala, P.S Sreedharan Pillai, told AFP on Wednesday that their party advocated "peaceful protest against the court verdict".

"The overwhelming majority of women oppose the Supreme Court ruling,” he added.

PTA extends deadline for blocking mobile phones by 2 months

 

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday agreed to extend its deadline for blocking unregistered mobile phones by two months after the Senate Standing Committee on information technology expressed reservations over the plan.

Earlier this week, PTA had announced that all unregistered mobile phones will become unusable after Oct 20 after its long-anticipated Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) becomes functional. The DIRBS is an indigenous solution aimed to combat the use of smuggled or counterfeit sets which either serve to reduce tax revenues for the state or pose health problems to unsuspecting consumers.

The committee, during a meeting today, asked PTA Chairman Mohammad Naveed and Director Talib Dogar — who had appeared before the members — if they had the forensic data of stolen mobile phones. PTA chairman told members that stolen mobile devices could be traced through the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. They assured the committee that PTA will only shut down non-compliant devices.

The committee responded that there were multiple devices that were registered on the same IMEI number and blocking all of them would affect many people. The PTA officials argued that unregistered mobile phones, including the ones with duplicate IMEIs, create problems for security agencies as it becomes harder for them to trace stolen devices.

They further said that initiating DIRBS will also increase import revenue till $200 billion.

The standing committee, however, expressed its reservations and pointed out that there was a lack of awareness among people that was creating panic. The members said that an awareness campaign should be held to educate the public about the move.

'A league of our own': T20 tournament adds glamour to Afghan cricket

 

Afghanistan defied decades of conflict to join cricket's elite club of Test nations, but now they have added a dash of glamour with their inaugural Twenty20 league in the United Arab Emirates.

Ten years after India's IPL changed the face of cricket with music, fireworks and cheerleaders, the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has joined the growing list of T20 tournaments worldwide.

The pyrotechnics weren't long coming, as 20-year-old Hazratullah Zazai's extraordinary six sixes in one over, part of a record-equalling 12-ball half-century, immediately drew attention from around the globe.

"It's a very proud moment for the entire nation to have a league of our own which gives our players chance to showcase their talent and rub the shoulders with some foreign stars," Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafiq Stanikzai told AFP.

Despite its turbulent history, with most players learning cricket in refugee camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan rose to become one of only 12 Test nations earlier this year.

Stanikzai knows the dangers of Afghan cricket more than most: his playing career was flourishing until it was cut short by a Taliban bullet in his right shoulder.

In September last year, a suicide attack outside Kabul's main cricket stadium left three people dead, while eight were killed and several injured in an attack at a cricket match in Jalalabad.

Such conditions made it impossible to hold the APL in Afghanistan, but Stanikzai said: "I am sure this league, like in other countries, will further lift standards of our players and our overall cricket".

He added: "There were challenges aplenty, they still exist but we have overcome those, received tremendous support from our government, the people of Afghanistan and from the International Cricket Council".

'Unity and love'

West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle and India's Yuvraj Singh are among the headliners, along with New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan.

But the APL also provides a stage for Afghanistan's own stars including Rashid Khan, teenage spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who all featured in this year's IPL.

Rashid, 20, is the world's top-ranked bowler for T20 internationals, and this year he became the fastest player to reach 100 ODI wickets, in 44 games.

"Now is the time for the youngsters from Afghanistan to come forward and show their ability, like players have done in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australia," said Rashid.

Rashid took 10 wickets at last month's Asia Cup in UAE, making him the joint most successful bowler as Afghanistan upset Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and tied a match with India, the tournament's eventual winners.

The performances suggest that Afghanistan could prove a handful at next year's One-day World Cup in England and Wales, after they made their debut in the competition in 2015.

"We don't believe in fragmentation," said Stanikzai.

"We want to send a message of unity and love and cricket has been a tool through which we send this message."

IHC orders ministries to submit reports on former spy chief Durrani

 

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the Defence Ministry to submit a report on an inquiry conducted into former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani by General Headquarters (GHQ) after the former spy chief sought removal of his name from the no-fly list.

Durrani's name was placed on the Exit Control List on May 29 upon the Pakistan Army's request after he visited GHQ on May 28 to clarify his stance in The Spy Chronicles, a book co-authored by him and Amarjit Singh Dulat, former chief of Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The former director general (DG) ISI had petitioned the IHC on Oct 2 seeking removal of his name from the ECL.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, who is hearing Durrani's petition, today also ordered the Interior Ministry to submit a reply explaining why Durrani's name had been placed on the ECL.

Defence Ministry Director Law Branch Falak Naz, who was representing the Defence Ministry in court today, said that Durrani had written a book along with the former chief of the Indian spy agency.

He said that Durrani had remained the DG Military Intelligence and the DG ISI and there was a pending inquiry against him in GHQ.

Naz said that he couldn't speculate about when the inquiry would be completed, and added that Durrani had also been a part of the 2012 Asghar Khan case regarding the distribution of money to politicians.

Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan had accused former army chief retired Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and Durrani of corrupting the democratic process with money. Nearly 16 years after the petition was filed, the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the 1990 general elections had been polluted by dishing out Rs140 million to a particular group of politicians only to deprive the people of being represented by their chosen representatives.

The apex court on June 2 this year sent notices to 21 army officials and politicians.

The former DG ISI's lawyer Omar Fakhar Adam said they were not sent any notice regarding an inquiry into Durrani after his book was released, adding that the former DG ISI was once called to the GHQ headquarters for tea, during which only chit chat took place.

Adam pointed out that in the Asghar Khan case, General Beg's name had not been placed on the ECL. He argued that his client had to go overseas for a conference on November 26 and 27, and and his name should be removed from the ECL.

Justice Kiyani said that until the GHQ inquiry report and Interior Ministry's reply were submitted, nothing could be done. The case was postponed until December 3.

Kajol believes viewers' interest have made female fronted films possible

 

Female-fronted films are finally doing well and Kajol wants to thank the audience for making it possible.
The actor, whose film Helicopter Eela is out in cinemas, spoke about the dynamic shift in cinema where more genres have entered Bollywood and it's no longer all about star power.
Speaking to PTI, Kajol said that producers initially wouldn't be keen on films with female protagonists as they worried about box office ratings.
"I think the talk about it right now is because it’s finally become financially viable and the numbers are coming in. I think that’s the main difference. Such films were always being made but they were not doing well as other films were or maybe the ratio was much less. The ratio and the numbers are adding up now," said the actor.
Kajol credits the viewers for this change.
"I thank our audiences for changing the mindset and deciding they want to watch every kind of film. Finally, it has become financially viable to even think of projects that don’t have big superstars in them."
Kajol believes that a good film can have a strong character irrespective of gender and that is where cinema is headed off to.
"If you look at the best directors, I’m not talking about movies but directors, all of them have had very strong characters, very strong female characters in their films. I think every character of theirs has been well rounded and so I think that’s the most important point that we need to take home with us."

Facebook launches 'war room' to combat manipulation

 

In Facebook's “War Room,” a nondescript space adorned with American and Brazilian flags, a team of 20 people monitors computer screens for signs of suspicious activity.
The freshly launched unit at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters in California is the nerve centre for the fight against misinformation and manipulation of the largest social network by foreign actors trying to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere.
Inside, the walls have clocks showing the time in various regions of the US and Brazil, maps and TV screens showing CNN, Fox News and Twitter, and other monitors showing graphs of Facebook activity in real time.
Facebook, which has been blamed for doing too little to prevent misinformation efforts by Russia and others in the 2016 US election, now wants the world to know it is taking aggressive steps with initiatives like the war room.
“Our job is to detect ... anyone trying to manipulate the public debate,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, a former White House cybersecurity policy director for the National Security Council who is now heading Facebook's cybersecurity policy.
“We work to find and remove these actors.”
Facebook has been racing to get measures in place and began operating this nerve centre — with a hastily taped “WAR ROOM” sign on the glass door — for the first round of the presidential vote in Brazil on October 7.
It didn't take long to find false information and rumours being spread which could have had an impact on voters in Brazil.
“On election day, we saw a spike in voter suppression (messages) saying the election was delayed due to protests. That was not a true story,” said Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook's head of civic engagement.
Chakrabarti said Facebook was able to remove these posts in a couple of hours before they went viral. “It could have taken days.”

Humans and machines

At the unveiling of the war room for a small group of journalists including AFP this week, a man in a gray pork pie hat kept his eyes glued to his screen where a Brazilian flag was attached.
He said nothing but his mission was obvious — watching for any hints of interference with the second round of voting in Brazil on October 28.
The war room, which will ramp up activity for the November 6 midterm US elections, is the most concrete sign of Facebook's efforts to weed out misinformation.
With experts in computer science, cybersecurity and legal specialists, the center is operating during peak times for the US and Brazil at present, with plans to eventually work 24/7.
The war room adds a human dimension to the artificial intelligence tools Facebook has already deployed to detect inauthentic or manipulative activity.
“Humans can adapt quickly to new threats,” Gleicher said of the latest effort.
Chakrabarti said the new center is an important part of coordinating activity — even for a company that has been built on remote communications among people in various parts of the world.
“There's no substitute to face to face interactions,” he said.
The war room was activated just weeks ahead of the US vote, amid persistent fears of manipulation by Russia and other state entities, or efforts to polarize or inflame tensions.
The war room is part of stepped up security announced by Facebook that will be adding some 20,000 employees.
“With elections we need people to detect and remove (false information) as quickly as possible,” Chakrabarti said.
The human and computerised efforts to weed out bad information complement each other, according to Chakrabarti.
“If an anomaly is detected in an automated way, then a data scientist will investigate, will see if there is really a problem,” he said.
The efforts are also coordinated with Facebook's fact-checking partners around the world including media organizations such as AFP and university experts.
Gleicher said the team will remain on high alert for any effort that could lead to false information going viral and potentially impacting the result of an election.
“We need to stay ahead of bad actors,” he said. “We keep shrinking the doorway. They keep trying to get in.”

PM Khan invites Malaysian counterpart to visit Pakistan

 

Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasised Pakistan's "close and cordial" relations with Malaysia in a phone call on Thursday with Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Matahir Mohammad, Radio Pakistan reported.

PM Khan, highlighting the "need of high-level bilateral exchanges" between the two countries, said that Pakistan and Malaysia should collaborate at an "operational level" so that they could benefit from each other's expertise.

According to Radio Pakistan, Dr Mohammad accepted PM Khan's invitation to visit Pakistan and also invited him to visit Malaysia.

The Pakistani prime minister congratulated his Malaysian counterpart for the Pakatan Harapan coalition's success in Malaysia's general election and "appreciated Prime Minister Mahathir’s vision for Malaysia’s steady economic progress".

PM Khan added that Pakistani government and people have "immense respect" for Matahir as a "statesman and global leader".

Reciprocating PM Khan's sentiment, the Malaysian prime minister congratulated him on PTI's victory in the country's election, Radio Pakistan reported.