PRINT ALERT: Express Tribune Fired Editorial Staff Across the Country

Image Courtesy: Media Bites

Tazeen Hasan

Media Bites Editorial

According to a news story by Journalismpakistan.com, Express Tribune has fired 30 of its editorial staff members from Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi offices. The reason is apparently low circulation. The group is said to focus on digital media in future.

The startling move coincided with two other changes, one the rearrival of Bol TV after its owner Shoaib Shaikh has been granted bail and two the replacement of Kamal Siddique (who resigned from Tribune to take on a new role as IBA Director of Excellence in Journalism) by Fahad Hussain as the new Editor. 

he fired employees have been promised three months of salaries as compensation. Notably, the left over reporters of the Tribune are also distressed and uncertain about their future.

It is hard to comment who and what is behind the abrupt decision in the absence of any official statement from the group owners. If it is really low circulation or the management is scared of the rearrival of their rivals BOL TV which is totally focused on electronic media.

It should be noted that when BOL TV was sacked last May after a story was published in NewYork Times against the Axact owned by the same group, Bol TV accused Express Media group directly.

“It is clarified that NYT in Pakistan is partnered with Express Media Group to publish International NYT in Pakistan and receive earnings from the group… Hence Express Media Group to counter the success of BOL and to circumvent the court order has got this story published via its partner NYT in collaboration with some reporter called Declan Walsh,”  said the Axact Textual response to NewYork Times.

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

President Obama awards Pakistani-born Biomedical Engineer with US’s highest award for technology achievement

Dr. Mark Salman Humayun, M.D., Ph.D. is an ophthalmologist, engineer, scientist and inventor– the only ophthalmologist ever to be elected a member of both U.S. National Academies of Medicine and Engineering. He is the Grandson of  Dr. Ilahi Buksh, personal physician of Muhammad Ali Jinnah the founder of Pakistan.

Dr. Humayun was named a recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2015 and received the award from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016.^[4] The award recognizes "those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life and helped strengthen the Nation’s technological workforce.




Read the News at techjuicepak.com

Google & YouTube in Hot Waters: European Union targets tech-giants in copyright reforms

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

European Union is determined to end Google’s free riding with its new copy right initiative on digital contents. The tech giants who are making huge profits out of nowhere will be obliged to share profits now with content producers.

European Union laid out a copy right plan for digital media this Wednesday September 14, and the US tech giant Google which was long been blamed for the demise of newspaper business has been targeted along with other digital platforms.

This means that Google could have to pay to publishers for hosting stories, or even snippets – headlines, accompanying pictures, quotes and introductory sentences – in future.

Publishers’ groups have welcomed the news as they claim to contribute to the success of digital platforms by providing high quality contents. Yet, they maintain that google and other  platforms do not share their profits fairly.

Similar to publishers,  the artist community blamed the YouTube and said more people are listening to music than ever, but this is not reflected in performers’ income.

The current EU proposal would make it mandatory for video platforms to scan users’ content for protected material.

Such material is today removed only after individual complaints, and, in many cases, is reposted under a different username almost immediately afterward.

Furthermore the EU also wants to increase transparency by forcing platforms to provide profit figures to make it clear how much money they are making on artists and reporters’ content.

It should be noted that the same copy right initiative had failed in Germany and Spain in the past as some websites saw traffic drop by up to 80 percent as a consequence and eventually 90 percent of the news websites had to  waive their rights to Google.

Google  voiced criticism over the way the commission wanted to support content producers. ”Paying to display snippets is not a viable option for anyone”, Google’s Caroline Atkinson wrote.

The European Parliament’s rapporteur on copyright, Julia Reda also criticised the plan calling it a ”disaster for the Internet”.

EU is trying it's best to maintain a balance between content producers and platforms but  in last two decades digital oligarchy have become the most powerful reality of this world.  They are not states or superanatural powers like European Union but still they have achieved a dictatorship status who have full authority over their netizens.

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

Alarmingly Low Birthrates Threatening The Survival of Japanese Race

Tazeen Hasan

While most of the industrial world is facing demographic challenge, the researchers have found a direct relationship between population decline and economic stagnation. Tazeen Hasan highlights the catalyst factors behind  the crumbling population which is leading the developed world towards extinction. 

Contrary to the third world where sex before marriage is considered a taboo, extra-marital sex is legal and culturally acceptable and even highly appreciable in the developed world. As a consequence, the industrialized world is facing a terrible demographic challenge in the form of birthrate shrinkage which is threatening their national survival in near future. 

As a leading industrialized country with one of the highest GDPs in the world, Japan is no exception. I do not want to use rash words, but the Japanese nation is also enjoying the fruits of extra-marital sex i.e population collapse. For the last 25 years, the country has witnessed declining birthrates, along with widespread aging. And although they are not as threatening as Germany which has one of the lowest birthrates in the world, Japanese think tanks are alarming the nation that if this trend does not reverse, Japanese race will be extinct. Japanese women are having so few children that the country’s population could drop by half in 24 years.  To alarm the nation about this population crises Tohoku University in Tokyo has installed a doomsday clock which is constantly updating the nation about the estimated extinction date, a date Japan’s population will dwindle to one.

Akin to European and North American societies, the overwhelming majority of Japanese citizenry do not believe in marital bounds. According to a survey by Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, about 48.6 percent of men and 39.5 percent of women are found to be unmarried. 

The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed the desire to raise the nation’s fertility rate from 1.4 to 1.8 by 2025. The government is offering better child-care services and tax incentives for married couples, though such programs have yet to bear statistical fruit.

As a caveat, another obstacle to the growth in fertility rate is the society’s increased pressure on women to join the labor market. No doubt, when it come to professional obligations outside the home, a woman’s performance is no less than her male counterpart. Yet, whether it is an industrialized society like Germany or Japan or a conservative society like Pakistan or India, most of the burden of home-building and child rearing  has to be borne by her. As a consequence, a working woman in industrialized society simply avoids childbirth. Even if she chooses to balance between work and family, she is called evil mother in Japanese culture. Same is her fate in Germany.

Things become worse when the dwindling population is found to be directly linked to economic decline. There has been scarcely any nominal GDP growth over the past 20 years in the Japanese economy,” according to the recent data and the most commonly cited catalyst for this economic stagnation is decaying population.

A family is a basic building block of a nation.  Yet, it demands huge  sacrifices from both partners and the marriage is a glue that keeps a man and woman together to carry out the responsibilities of rearing a child. Nonetheless, despite  billion of dollars spent on demographic research, the industrialized world is unable to  find the answer to a simple question;  why would unmarried couples be interested in childbirth when sex is freely available without the complex set of liabilities and obligations as a result of wedlock and childbirth?  

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

I am a staunch believer of marriage, says Imran

During an interview with Hindustan Times, Imran Khan had stated that it is not in his blood to give up and the idea of marrying for the third time is ‘more open than before’.

When the Indian journalist asked: “Would you contemplate marriage a third time?” 

Khan replied: “Of course. It’s not in my blood to give up. But it takes a lot. There’s nothing worse than divorce, I tell you. It’s one of the worst things that can happen to a human being. It doesn’t matter who initiates it, it’s a terrible experience. So I would be a bit more careful.”

"But marrying at 60 is not like marrying at 30. The great thing about life is that it’s unpredictable; you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he said.

When asked how he saw the institution of marriage, Imran Khan replied that married life is a very civilised way of life.

“I am 63 years old and have been married for only 10 years, but I am more of a staunch believer of marriage now [after two divorces] than I ever was,” he said.

On his first divorce with ex-wife Jemima, he said, “It was a very painful ending because it wasn’t a natural ending. But that’s life”. However, he said he did not have any regrets as he had tried his best and so had Jemima, with whom he still shares a “very friendly” relationship.

“We have a great relationship, which is so good for our children and, Masha Allah, they have turned out to be the biggest blessings and the greatest happiness in our lives,” he added.

Imran Khan and Jemima Goldsmith were married for nine years and split in 2004. He has two sons from that relationship who live with their mother in the UK.

Imran Khan had lived alone for 11 years following his divorce and married 42-year-old Reham Khan, a former BBC weather host and a divorced mother of three, in January last year in a simple ceremony at his Islamabad home.

Both parted ways just ten months after their marriage.

On his second divorce, Khan said that it was even more difficult for him to part ways with Reham Khan.

Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf, is the strongest opponent of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government. 

“I don’t like the movies that I made with Steven Spielberg” Shia LaBeouf

Shortly after his appearance in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), the leading actor Shia LaBeouf  felt he “dropped the ball on Jones’ Legacy.” Since then LaBeouf is trying not to drop the ball again and he appears to be pretty successful. Yet he often courts controversies.

In a recent interview for Variety magazine, LaBeouf publicly criticized Academy Award Winner Director Steven Spielberg saying,” I don’t like the movies that I made with Spielberg..The only movie that I liked that we made together was ‘Transformers’  One.”

Emmy award winner, actor and director insisted that the reality of working with the prolific director was much different than he had imagined. “Spielberg’s sets are very different. You get there, and you realize you’re not meeting the Spielberg you dream of.. You’re meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He’s less a director than he is a f—ing company,” he blasted in fury.

LaBeouf ostensibly forgot altogether in the limelight of success that his performance in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made the Hollywood pundits wonder what Spielberg saw in the young actor that inspired him to cast LaBeouf?

He worked with the famous filmmaker on several films in different capacities, including  Disturbia, Transformers, and  Eagle Eye, as well as  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

LaBeouf also claimed that Spielberg told him not to read his own press, whether itwas good or bad but for LaBeouf, it means, “to not take part in society.” 

It should be noted that in a prolific career spanning four decades –one more than LaBouf’s age– Spielberg has addressed many themes and genres from adventure to science fiction and from Holocaust to the transatlantic slave trade. He is known for his long-standing associations in the film industry. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century.

Spielberg simply declined to comment on the 30-year-old’s bragging. He must be asking himself what exactly did he see in Lebeouf 8 years back?

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

Breaking: Explosion in New York injured 29

At least 29 people are injured in an explosion in the Chelsea district of New York City around 21:00 (01:00 GMT on Sunday)Mayor Bill de Blasio says it was an "intentional" act but there is no terror linkSecond device found a few blocks away and has been removedNone of the injuries is life-threatening but one is said to be serious.

Read the full story at BBC site.

Thousands march in London during pro-refugee demonstration

Thousands of people, including MPs and celebrities, have joined a march in London to urge the government to take more action on the refugee crisis.

Why won’t the world tackle the refugee crisis?

 

Read more

Organised by Solidarity with Refugees, groups such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Refugee Council and Stop the War Coalition joined forces for the Refugees Welcome demonstration.

Read the full News at Guardian website.

BBC: The British ambassador to Saudi Arabia has performed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca after converting to Islam.

Read the news at BBC World Website.

Simon Collis made the holy trip - which it is a duty for all able-bodied Muslims to make at least once in their life - with his wife Huda Mujarkech.

The 60-year-old is the first UK ambassador to perform Hajj.

Mr Collins has been pictured wearing the white robes traditionally worn for the pilgrimage which re-enacts the actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

The photograph was posted on the twitter account of Saudi Arabian writer and female activist Fawziah Albakr, who wrote in Arabic: "First British ambassador to the Kingdom undertakes the Hajj following his conversion to Islam. Simon Collis with his wife Huda in Mecca. Praise be to God."

If Conservative Iran Can Support Sex-Change Operations. Why Not Pakistan?

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

The transgender community is one of the most persecuted communities in the world. While in the western world they are victims of brutal violence by transphobic people and are still being murdered at a historic rate, in South Asia they are derogated and ridiculed by the blanket term Hijra.

This marginalized community has a long and interesting history in the Indian sub-continent. The Bollywood movie, Shabnam Mausi, starring Ashutosh Rana based on the life of Shabnam Bano, the first transgender member of Indian Parliament, portrays the appalling realities and hardships faced by the community in a subtle and nuanced way.

Although transgender women are an undeniable component of our culture, they are treated as though they do not belong to us. Separated from their families in their childhood, they live in their own communities led by a leader called “guru” because it relatively protects them from sexual assaults and other ways of persecution by ignorant masses. Usually, they survive working as professional dancers, beggars, and even sex workers.

There is no awareness about them in Pakistani culture and education system. They are said to appear at childbirths and weddings and claim to possess the power to bless and curse but are treated and abhorred like beggars.

In a historic move in 2012, Supreme court of Pakistan declared them, ‘the third gender.’ This should ensure them protection, but in practice, they are sexually abused, assaulted and even murdered according to trans-community activists and human rights organizations. Are they really murdered in Pakistan? It is hard to comment in the absence of any verifiable data set. The subject requires thorough university level study to provide feedback to the policy makers.

The western world has confused the transgenders rights under the umbrella term of LGBTQE but transgender activism in the Muslim world has an entirely different perspective. While in Pakistan the outcast community is struggling for their legitimate rights, Irani revolutionary leader Ayatullah Khomeini, recognized the transsexual community and allowed sex change surgeries through a fatwa, immediately after his arrival in Iran in 1979. Since then, Irani government supports transsexual individuals financially to have sex change operations rather than adopting a hidden sex life. As of 2008, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except Thailand.

Pakistan should follow the same example and allow and support sex change operations for transsexual community They should be provided with standard education and equal job opportunities. This is the ultimate solution which can save them from beggary and sex slavery and provide them a decent marital life.

How did the Mongolian Empire collapse?

Picture Courtesy: Dimitris Almyrantis

Dimitris Almyrantis

A very interesting historical perspective which claims that Mongols Empire did not collapse in 14th Century as some western historians believe but transformed into various Muslim transformed into  various Muslim empires from Central Asia to  Subcontinent and actually collapsed in  20th Century. The author claims to Love stories the world has forgotten.

The Mongol empire was not one “state” which could fail or collapse. To understand its structure, consider a cross between the Roman Tetrarchy and modern multilateral alliances. The Mongol domains where an entire world system, whose members shared a common sense of universal civilization, and were united in being in a class of their own - both in fiscal and military terms - compared to any other power of their time. Much like the post-19th-century Western global empire(s), the Mongols were a juggernaut that established the way the world would work for the next “era” of history. And like the modern world system, the Mongol took its inevitable toll in blood.

Read the full article at Quora.com

Dimitris further answered my curious questions on Quora.com.

Yes. The overwhelming majority of the Mongol empire become Moslem from very early on. The only Mongols who did not adopt Islam where those living in the relatively minor states in Mongolia and Tibet (and a few of these later migrated to Russian Kalmykia). The other Mongols called these “those who where left behind”, on the one hand mentioning their being “left behind” in paganism and on the other their being “left behind” in the old homelands. The Golden Horde (the Steppe), the Il-khanate (Mongol Persia), the Chagatai (Inner Asia), the Timurids and Mughals (Tamerlane’s successors) were all Moslem.

The Moslem rulers of India and Central Asia you mention where both descendants of the Mongols. However, they where not “just assimilated”; they had been Moslem since the 13th-14th centuries. To give an overview of the Mongol religious shift, I’ll list each of their initial empires along with its date of founding and (a) the first Moslem ruler and (b) the first Moslem ruler who permanently established Islam as the state religion.

Pakistani Air Force Pilot Saved the Life of an Indian Airforce Pilot Nachiketa in Kargil

"I was just an enemy pilot who had fired on their locations from the air. And on-ground, I was firing at them. Fortunately, the officer [Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail, the head of the Pakistan Airforce Operation] who came was very mature. He realised the situation, that I am now a captive and now I need not be handled that way," says the Indian Pilot gratefully.

It is a big slap on the proponents of Geneva Convention who brutally mistreated war prisoners from Afghanistan in Guantanamo Bay without any trial . Many of the inmates in Guantanamo and Bagram jail  later found to be ordinary civilians who had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

On the other side of the border, this only happens in BollyWood movies.


Read the full Story in Indian Times

Obama praises Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the the national anthem

 Kyle Nishioka - http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmarv/5098599543, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

President Barack Obama said during the G20 Summit in China that he supports the 49ers quarterback’s right to free speech.

“My understanding, at least, is he is exercising his constitutional right to make a statement, I think there is a long history of sports figures doing so,” said Obama, when asked about professional footballer Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the national anthem to protest the oppression of black people in the Unites States.

on August 26, 2016, American  professional footballer Kaepernick sat down, as opposed to the tradition of standing, during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. During a post-game interview, he explained his position stating, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder referencing a series of events that led to the "Black Lives Matter."

Kaepernick further said, " movement ...  It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem."

Stop #WhiteGenocide hashtag outperforms ISIS in every matrix, indicates a George Washington State Research

Tazeen Hasan

While I was noticing various apparently Muslim Facebook groups mocking Islam and manipulating unaware Pakistani followers against Pakistan and its founders, I came across this George Washington University's research that indicates that similar manipulating movements are proselyting White population too on social platforms. This report confirms that the promotion of clash of civilization is something that has become a cause on social media.

Scan the full report by George Washington University.

A study from George Washington University   has found that Stop White Genocide activism on Twitter has increased a MASSIVE 600% in the last 4 years. Or in other words, for every 1,000 activists in 2012, there were 6,000 more in 2016.

"The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has distinguished itself as a pioneer in the use of social media for recruitment. But, while ISIS continues to be one of the most influential terrorist groups in the material world, other extremists are closing the gap in the virtual realm," says the report titled "Nazis vs. ISIS on Twitter: A Comparative Study of White Nationalist and ISIS Online Social Media Networks," says the report.

This study examines and compares the use of Twitter by white nationalists, Nazi sympathizers, and ISIS supporters respectively, providing some preliminary comparisons of how each movement uses the platform.

Major findings include:

1. Major American white nationalist movements on Twitter added about 22,000 followers since 2012, an increase of about 600%. The increase was driven in part by organized social media activism, organic growth in the adoption of social media by people interested in white nationalism, and, to some extent, the rise of organized trolling communities seeking to flood social media platforms with negative content, regardless of participants’ actual beliefs.

2. The most popular theme among white nationalists on Twitter was the concept of “white genocide,” the notion that the “white race” is directly endangered by the increasing diversity of society. Social media activists tweeted hundreds of times per day using repetitive hashtags and slogans associated with this trope.

3. Followers of white nationalists on Twitter were heavily invested in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. White nationalist users referenced Trump more than almost any other topic, and Trump-related hashtags outperformed every white nationalist hashtag except for #whitegenocide within the sets of users examined.

4. White nationalism is highly factionalized, and includes a number of competing movements. On Twitter, accounts focused on Nazi sympathies were more prevalent than any other white nationalist movement, and pro-Nazi propaganda was tweeted more often than any other content.

5. Within the broader community of white nationalists, organized recruitment, proselytization, and social media activism were primarily carried out by a highly interconnected network of users drawing on common themes Activity with a Nazi slant was more organic and less organized. Recruitment focused on the theme of white genocide and used terminology drawn from popular entertainment.

6. The white nationalist datasets examined outperformed ISIS in most current metrics and many historical metrics. White nationalists and Nazis had substantially higher follower counts than ISIS supporters, and tweeted more often. ISIS supporters had better discipline regarding consistent use of the movement’s hashtags, but trailed in virtually every other respect. The clear advantage enjoyed by white nationalists was attributable in part to the effects of aggressive suspensions of accounts associated with ISIS networks.

7. Small groups of users tweeting in concert at high volumes can amplify their effect, causing hashtags and content to trend in numbers significant enough to prompt mainstream media coverage.
Media coverage can lead to increased curiosity about extremist groups, feeding their social media success.

8. In general, these findings suggest that the battle against ISIS on social media is only the first of many challenges to mainstream, normative values, some of which are ongoing, but most of which lie ahead.

“Today, the White Genocide movement outperform ISIS in nearly every social metric, from follower counts to tweets per day and ..... has substantially higher follower counts than ISIS supporters, and tweeted more often.” the university report said.

According to the study, the most popular accounts on Twitter added “about 22,000 followers since 2012, an increase of about 600%. and #whitegenocide was the most used hashtag.

"Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us", Former MP and actress Ramya faces sedition charges for saying

Bengaluru --According to a NDTV report, actor-politician Ramya, accused of "sedition" over her comments praising Pakistan after a recent visit, says she will not apologise and feels it is important "not to succumb" to her critics.

The 33-year-old Kannada film star, a former lawmaker of Karnataka's ruling Congress, has been attacked on social media and has also been taken to court by a lawyer who has filed a "sedition case" in Kodagu in southern Karnataka, around 250 km from state capital Bengaluru.

Ramya, after visiting Islamabad as part of a SAARC delegation of young lawmakers, had said: "Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us. They treated us very well."

The outspoken actor, whose real name is Divya Spandana, had referenced Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's comment last week that "going to Pakistan is like going to hell".

"I will not apologise as I have done nothing wrong. I am entitled to my views and that is what democracy is about," Ramya told NDTV, alleging that sedition laws are misused against "anybody and everybody".

Read full news at NDTV Website.

Breaking News: Cow Urine Now Available on Amazon For Pharmaceutical Purposes

Tazeen Hasan
Media Bites Editorial

As a prolific Indian diplomat, writer and member of parliament Shashi Tharoor fires boldly,”it is safer to be a cow than a Muslim in India.” Radical developments in the Indian political scenario  have prompted events like the lynching of Muhammad Akhlaq, a farmer, and father of an Air Force Engineer, by an angry mob over beef eating rumors. This followed the flogging of some Dalits (low cast community in India) over skinning of a dead cow which stirred violence across India.

Soaked in rising extremism, Gow Raksha (Cow protection) has become a central political issue after the Prime Minister Modi’s right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has assumed power. Indian Hindus have always abhorred cow meat consumption, yet they are seeking nourishment through cow urine. Never in history, cow urine has been processed commercially for therapeutic purposes and more so under the patronage of government as it is today. So it should be a very good news for Ayurvedic medicine lovers that cow urine is now available on Amazon under its Sanskrit name gomutra ark.

There are boiled, condensed, sweetened and herb supplemented editions of the original liquid extracted from the cow. Gomutra is typically traded for as much as $25 per gallon as compared to cow milk which is sold at only 25 Cents per gallon.

While Allopathic doctors deny commenting on the curing capacity of  gomutra, some BJP leaders advocate ingestion of cow urine as a cure for all kinds of illnesses including cancer, epilepsy, fever, diabetes, stomach diseases, infections, ulcers, tumors, tuberculosis, liver diseases and even obesity. No wonder cow urine has become a popular form of therapy in superstitious India.

And the business is booming under the patronage of the political elite. Last month, one of India’s biggest cow shelters began producing 10,000 liters of cow urine a day at a production facility inaugurated by the health minister. Similar production plants are springing up all over the country.

Cow protectors  claim that cow urine has been used for therapeutic purposes since pre-Vedic times and the  Vedas themselves refer to it as a purifying substance, but it was only in 2001 that some Hindu radicals promoted cow’s urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer. Traditionally used in combination with other mixtures, it is widely used in Ayurvedic medicines. Urine of a pregnant cow is considered special and it is claimed that it contains special hormones and minerals.

Cow Urine is also used in purification rituals. In 2007, according to a Reuters report, Hindu teachers sprinkled cow urine over the faces and answer sheets of low caste school students to purify them during their exams saying they will perform better after purification.

While the political elite seem to be driving this craze , the academic community is not far behind. According to a recent study  by Dr. BA Golakia,  head of the Biotechnology Department, Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU)  discovered Gold in the urine of Gir breed of Cow ranging from 3 to 10 mg per liter of urine. 

Contrary to Golakia research, a 2001 study found prions, –a transmittable infectious agent that may affect the brain in the urine of cows– Similarly, a 1975 study on mice found that cow urine causes death in high doses. A similar 1976 study on dogs indicated that repeated administration of a cow urine concoction as used in Nigerian folk medicine, resulted in hypo tension and tachypnea, and even death. 

While international scientific research does not support the healing properties of gomutra, a State run hospital in Rajhistan has already begun to use Gaunyle -a cleaning mixture containing cow urine and Neem plant leaves and pine fragrance– instead of common phenyl. Surprisingly the idea was proposed by Maneka Gandhi,  minister for women and child development and an animal rights activist.

In a country like India,  even harnessing and marketing of cow urine as an economic activity can certainly go a long way in beating recession, but in the absence of any authentic research study to back it up, in marketing gomutra as a potent medicine the Indian political elite is doing no less than exploiting the ignorance and religious sentiments of its ill-educated masses.  

Media Bites Editorial – Tazeen Hasan

Daghestani (Russian) Resident Suspected Of Fighting With IS In Syria

Read the full news at RFERL.ORG

Police in the Republic of Daghestan in the North Caucasus in Russsia are investigating a 27-year-old manon suspicion that he fought alongside the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, according to local media reports.

He allegedly traveled to Syria in 2013, where he underwent training and "preparation for terrorist activities," the reports quoted police investigators as saying. The reports did not elaborate on what sort of "terrorist activities" the suspect allegedly trained for.

The police investigators also said that the suspect had taken part in fighting against Syrian government forces, alongside the Islamic State group.

The suspect is being investigated under two paragraphs of Russia's Penal Code: training in order to carry out terrorist activities and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization.

The Russian Federation's Supreme Court ruled at the end of December to designate the Islamic State group as well as Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra as terrorist organizations, a move that allows law enforcement authorities to open criminal investigations against those suspected of participating in either group.

Read the full news at RFERL.ORG

Khaled Al-Qazzaz and his Mississauga family are home, ending three-year ordeal in Egypt

Khaled Al-Qazzaz, his wife Sarah Attia and their four children have returned to Mississauga after being stranded in Egypt for more than a year together. Prior to that, Al-Qazzaz was jailed without charge by Egyptian authorities for 18 months. Here, the family poses when they reunited in Egypt last year after Al-Qazzaz's release.

Read the full news at Missisauga.com

14 new caves were discovered in Al-Qara Cave Complex of Al-Ahsa Oasis, in Eastern Saudi Arabia

According to an Arab News report, AL-AHSA: About 14 new caves were discovered in Al-Qara Mountain of Al-Ahsa Oasis by enthusiastic mountaineers who undertook a long journey, during which they faced stray dogs, scary bats and landslides, to see what the mountain had to offer.


Watch Qara Caves on Youtube

Former Congress MP and actress facing sedition charges for saying, "Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us"

Bengaluru --According to a NDTV report, actor-politician Ramya, accused of "sedition" over her comments praising Pakistan after a recent visit, says she will not apologise and feels it is important "not to succumb" to her critics.

The 33-year-old Kannada film star, a former lawmaker of Karnataka's ruling Congress, has been attacked on social media and has also been taken to court by a lawyer who has filed a "sedition case" in Kodagu in southern Karnataka, around 250 km from state capital Bengaluru.

Ramya, after visiting Islamabad as part of a SAARC delegation of young lawmakers, had said: "Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us. They treated us very well."

The outspoken actor, whose real name is Divya Spandana, had referenced Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's comment last week that "going to Pakistan is like going to hell".

"I will not apologise as I have done nothing wrong. I am entitled to my views and that is what democracy is about," Ramya told NDTV, alleging that sedition laws are misused against "anybody and everybody".

Read full news at NDTV Website.

DIVIDED WE FALL , the story of Balbir Singh Sodhi, first person killed in a hate crime after 9/11

I received this invitation letter by mail from a Sikh lady Valarie Kaur today to commiserate 9/11 a with our Sikh friends by watching this video about the astounding rise of hatred against Muslims and Sikh Americans. She stressed on initiating a dialogue on hate crimes against Muslims and Sikhs after 9/11 by screening this movie.

Watch Film for Free

Join us! Host a film screening & dialogue this fall! 

DIVIDED WE FALL tells the heart-wrenching story of Balbir Singh Sodhi. He was the first person killed in a hate crime after 9/11, shot for wearing a turban as part of his Sikh faith. I knew him as an uncle - his murder turned me into an activist.

For years, this film has inspired brave new dialogue in classrooms and communities on racism, hate, and healing. Our nation needs this dialogue now more than ever.

Dear Friend,

The way that America commemorates the 15 year anniversary of 9/11 will shape our nation's future. Will we honor the dead by recommitting our nation to love? Or will we allow 9/11 to be used to incite hate and violence this election season?

As a Sikh mother, the question is a matter of life or death.

Because on every 9/11 anniversary, we see an astounding rise in hate against Muslim and Sikh Americans - profiling, bullying, beatings, and killings.

That's why, for the first time ever, we are releasing our award-winning film DIVIDED WE FALL for free. And we invite you to bring the film to your campus or community this fall.

Watch the film for free and sign up to share the film with your community - anytime between now and Election Day!

At 20 years old, I set out across the country in the aftermath of 9/11 to chronicle stories of hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans that were not making the evening news. From the still-shocked streets of New York City to the desert plains of the American midwest, I finally found the heart of America halfway around the world, in the words of a widow who returns us to love.

That's why the Revolutionary Love Project and our long-time partner The Sikh Coalition have joined forces to put the film and dialogue tools in your hands for free.

Let's start this conversation. Let's combat hate with love. Sign up to host a screening this fall.

Our goal is to hold 100 screenings between now and Election Day. You can host a screening and conversation in your classroom, house of worship, local public library, or community center - or even your living room.

We will provide you with a dialogue guide to help your congregation, classroom, family and friends engage in a national conversation on revolutionary love. We also have lesson plans designed for teachers and professors. You can show the film anytime between now and the election to be part of the campaign.

Plus, if you sign up, you have the option of joining a special Q&A with the Sodhi family and the filmmakers.

So how do you get started? It's simple!

You can watch the film and SIGN UP here and we will send you everything you need.

If you can't host a dialogue, you can still make a difference! Forward this email to the educators in your life - your old high school teachers, college professors, colleagues, and faith leaders.

Watch your social media feeds for pictures and updates on events across the country with the hashtag #revolutionarylove.

If you are able to travel to Mesa, AZ (near Phoenix) on Sept. 15, please join us with the Sodhi family to commemorate the life of Balbir Singh Sodhi and all who have been killed in hate crimes since 9/11. Reply to this email and we will send details.

Together, we can shape how America remembers 9/11 - and win the fight for the soul of our nation.

Yours in #revolutionarylove,
Valarie and Team

About DIVIDED WE FALL

"A film that is bringing vicious intolerance aimed at innocent people out in the open."
- CNN

"A starting point for the new dialogue on race and religion that is essential for America's future."
- Diana L. Eck, Professor, Harvard University

"An illuminating meditation on what it has meant to be 'one of us' in the days since September 11."
- Harold Koh, Former Dean, Yale Law School

"Inspires us to become who we believe we are."
- Lawrence Lessig, Professor, Harvard Law School

"Stunning. Could not have arrived at a more significant time in our nation's history."
- Philip Zimbardo, Author, The Lucifer Effect

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