Belgium Cancels New Year Fireworks Over Terrorism Fears

New Year’s fireworks and other public celebrations have been canceled in Belgium’s capital city Brussels due to a suspected terrorist threat, authorities said Wednesday.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the national and local governments made the decision to belay festivities “given information we have received,” the BBC reported.

The cancellation comes days after two men were detained for allegedly planning attacks on “symbolic targets” across Brussels on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Another two were arrested on Wednesday in Turkey over suspected links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and plans to carry out suicide attacks during New Year celebrations in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Belgium has been on high alert since last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed nearly 130 people, with alleged mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud and several other suspects having resided in the small European nation.

INSIDE THE BELGIAN TOWN AT THE CENTER OF THE PARIS ATTACKS INVESTIGATION

                         

A policewomen searching for evidence in Molenbeek, a heavily immigrant district in Brussels, Belgium. Feb. 2011

-time

Huge fire engulfs Dubai skyscraper on New Year's Eve

Nearly all of the 63-story Address Hotel caught fire with hundreds of bystanders fleeing smoke and falling debris.

A fire consumes the Address Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on New Year's Eve [Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters]

Dubai, UAE - A huge fire engulfed a Dubai skyscraper on Thursday just hours before New Year's celebrations with a number of explosions heard in and around the building.

The massive blaze quickly shot up the 63-story Address Hotel in the downtown area of the Gulf metropolis, covering nearly the entire structure and sending hundreds of people fleeing for safety.

"The left side of the hotel is completely gone," Al Jazeera's Diana al-Rifai reported from the scene. "There was a minor stampede - panic set in and people ran away."

The government of Dubai's media office said on Twitter that 14 people had been injured, including a person who suffered a heart attack while trying to run away. One news report said that person had died, but there was no official confirmation.

By 21.00 GMT, authorities said the fire had largely been brought under control. 

The blaze started on the 20th floor of the building and only affected the outside of the structure, Dubai's media office said.

Rifai said big pieces of the building fell from the sky and thick black smoke blanketed the entire city. Helicopters hovered around the blaze, she said.

"Apparently the fire has been put out at the top of the hotel, but lower levels are still burning. I've never seen anything like this in my life," said Rifai.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, which ran up dozens of stories of the building near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper at 828 metres.

Despite the massive fire, the New Year's Eve fireworks show nearby at the Burj went ahead as planned.

People run away as a fire engulfs the nearby Address Hotel in Dubai on New Year's Eve [Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters]

aljazeera

Solar Storm Expected to Light Up the Sky on New Year's Eve

The magnetic solar storm arranged a colorful show of aurora borealis in the night skies of Hyvinka in Southern Finland early morning on October 31, 2003. (Photo credit Pekka Sakki/AFP/Getty Images)

Typically, the new year is met with fireworks lighting up the sky, but this year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center said a powerful solar storm, set to hit earth today, will make for "stunning views of the Northern Lights just before New Year's Eve," ABC News reports.

On a scale from one to five, the NOAA is classifying the solar storm as a G3 event — powerful enough for the Northern Lights to dip as far south as Oregon and Illinois.

According to ABC News, the projected storm is the product of a coronal mass ejection — a flare of charged protons and electrons — that burst from the sun earlier this week. As the particles from the sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field, the NOAA says that the result is a beautifully lit sky with stunning colors.

Despite its beauty, the ABC News reports that the strong storm could "cause fluctuations in some power grids, intermittent radio blackouts in higher latitudes and possible GPS issues." - AFP

BBC says website knocked down due to apparent attack

LONDON (AP) — BBC says its main news website and other sites were knocked offline due to an attack.

Service was out for more than three hours Thursday. Users received an error message and the broadcaster said on Twitter the outage was due to technical problems.

BBC later apologized for the outage. A news story posted on the website said it had been due to a “distributed denial of service” attack in which a website is swamped with more traffic than it can handle.

This is a relatively common way to target a website and temporarily make it inaccessible.

The reported attack hit a wide range of BBC websites and also affected the iPlayer and iPlayer Radio services.

The corporation’s televised news service and live radio services remained on the air.

The six tech trends that will rule in 2016

In July, Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg predicted that humans would one day be able to talk with their minds and get Internet access from orbital lasers beaming power down to Earth.

While we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath for those technologies just yet, 2016 will be filled with incremental tech developments that will serve as a foundation for a much smarter future.

Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and smart cars will move to the main stage in 2016 as hardware is commercialized and cloud technologies make way for multi-functional computing.

At CES, the world’s largest annual tech convention to be held in Las Vegas Jan 6-9, there will be more square-footage and vendors dedicated to cars, wearables, robots and drones than ever before — a whopping three-and-a-half football fields’ worth of space for smart-car technologies alone.

This will set the stage for a 2016 of technology companies expanding into new niche markets, such as healthcare and auto, as their software products and services become increasingly ubiquitous.

Virtual and augmented reality

In 2016, virtual reality will finally get its chance to shine on a consumer level, while augmented reality will continue to prove itself in the workplace. There will be 46 gaming and virtual reality exhibitors at CES this year, up 68% from last year.

In what Juniper Research predicts will be a “watershed year for VR,” 2016 will see the launch of Facebook Inc.’s FB, +1.64%  Oculus Rift, the first consumer-level virtual-reality headset that doesn’t require a smartphone like Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, +1.85%  Cardboard and Samsung Electronics’ 005930, -0.95%  Gear VR.

HTC Corp. 2498, +0.63%  and Valve’s Vive VR headset will also hit the market next year, after the launch was postponed in December when developers experienced a “very, very big technological breakthrough” that made the initial version obsolete, according to Engadget.

In addition to the new hardware, 2016 will also see an increased focus on VR content in gaming and entertainment, as well as the development of consumer-level 360-degree cameras for amateur virtual-reality shooting from the likes of GoPro Inc. GPRO, +1.67%  

Meanwhile, augmented reality, which became a larger topic of discussion this year after Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.47%   showed off its not-yet-released Hololens headset at a product event, will push its way into the workplace.

At CES, vendors are expected to showcase real-world applications for these augmented-reality headsets, such as enhancing a person’s task on the job by interposing digital images like a map or instructions on top of objects in their surrounding environment.

Wearables

Apple Inc. AAPL, +2.13%  helped make people comfortable with the idea of wearing tiny data-collecting computer screens on their bodies with the April 2015 launch of Apple Watch. In 2016, expect more players to hop on this trend, and expect newer devices to be more capable.

At CES, there will be 33 exhibitors showing off wearable technology, nearly triple the 12 in 2015. These devices are expected to be outfitted with sensors and showcased in ways that prove their applications in health, fitness and the enterprise market.

Soon, these devices will be able to connect directly to the Internet, without needing to tether to a third-party mobile device. This will help set the stage for embeddable wearables, such as Chaotic Moon’s biometric tattoo, or tech tats, which attach to the skin much like a temporary tattoo.

Smart cars

At 200,000 square feet, up 25% from 150,000 last year, automotive technology will take up a record three-and-a-half football fields’ worth of space at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

While it still may be a few years until we see fully autonomous vehicles, there has been recent movement from both a technological and regulatory standpoint that might help make 2016 a stand-out year for smart-car tech.

In December, reports suggested Google and Ford Motor Co. F, +0.53%  could join forces to create a joint venture that will develop self-driving vehicles with Google’s technology, while in California, regulators unveiled a proposal that would require licensed drivers to be present to operate an autonomous vehicle.

Driverless driving is “almost ready for prime time,” said mobile app developer Appetizer Mobile’s CEO Jordan Edelson.

It will take a few more years for cars to become fully autonomous, but 2016 will likely be a year of partnerships between tech companies and auto manufacturers as they work toward the development of fully-autonomous vehicles, Edelson said.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence, similar to the tech that powers Windows’ Cortana and iOS’s Siri, and machine learning technology, which powers Google’s search engine, will continue to be incorporated into technology products, services and software in 2016 as mobility remains front and center.

But AI will continue to find its way into robots as well.

At CES, there will be 23 robotics exhibitors spanning 10,000 square feet, an increase of 71% from last year. Their robots will span everything from at-home cleaners and companions to retail assistants similar to SoftBank Group Corp’s 9984, -0.03%   Pepper robot, which rolled out across stores in Japan earlier this year.

French company Blue Frog Robotics is expected to begin selling a social robot called Buddy in 2016 that it claims will interact with “each member of your family,” though Edelson suspects it will take another few years until robots begin filling personal roles, such as child care or nannying.

“People will start to slowly accept robots once they see their usefulness,” he said.

In addition to robots, 3D printers will be in force at CES this year. There will be 58 exhibitors across 24,050 square feet, an increase of 31% from last year.

Drones

Drones will cover 25,500 square feet and have 29 exhibitors at CES, more than quadruple the number of vendors as last year. Drone exhibitors are expected to showcase smarter drones, such as drones with tracking technologies, or those with additional sensors to more accurately read their environment.

This comes as drones continue to move into the consumer market, with the Federal Aviation Administration predicting that more than a million of the devices could be sold in the 2015 holiday season.

“The market is exploding,” Edelson said.

The FAA is expected to introduce final rules for commercial drone flight in 2016. In 2015, it moved to enact rules that require operators to register drones of certain sizes. It also approved drone research flights for a number of commercial customers, notably Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +2.87%  , which plans to launch a drone delivery service called Prime Air over the next few years.

Edelson predicts that more recreational use cases, such as gaming, will come online for drones in the coming year as well.

Self-charging phones

New technologies – some of which will be showcased at CES – are enabling phones to charge through wavelengths. At CES, Ossia Inc. and Japanese telecom company KDDI Corp. 9433, +0.29%   will showcase a product, called Cota, that will automatically recharge mobile phones at a distance, similar to how WiFi transmitters deliver data from routers to devices.

Cota serves as a central hub, sort of like a wireless router, that pushes out targeted energy through wavelengths to charge devices without having to plug them in or place them on a pad.

This follows existing technologies that take advantage of smartphones’ wireless charging standard, known as Qi. The company Qi Wireless, for example, produces pads that charge phones when placed on them. Earlier this year, the home furnishing giant Ikea began selling tables that wirelessly charge phones when the mobile device is placed on the table top.

Other companies, such as Israeli startup StoreDot, are looking to introduce instant charging and longer-lasting batteries. The company is pledging to introduce a battery next year that would charge a smartphone in 60 seconds or less.

“These batteries are due for a major overhaul,” Edelson said. - marketwatch

Zuckerberg Makes Personal Appeal for Free (Facebook-Centric) Internet in India

Critics Call Plan 'Just a Way of Locking in Users Into the Facebook Ecosystem'

Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, left, and Mark Zuckerberg, chairman-CEO of Facebook, embrace at the conclusion of a town hall meeting at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., in September. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg made a personal appeal in one of India's leading newspapers for the country to allow a free internet service that has stirred controversy and invited questions from regulators.

Facebook's proposed Free Basics plan allows customers to access the social network and other services such as education, health care, and employment listings from their phones without a data plan. Yet activists say the program threatens the principles of net neutrality and could change pricing in India for access to different websites.

The backlash in India centers on net neutrality, the principle that all websites should be equally accessible. Critics accused the world's largest social networking company of favoring a limited swath of the internet and excluding rival services. And Facebook's broader Internet.org initiative, including Free Basics, is seen as an effective way to draw more users onto a social network already used by over a billion people.

"We haven't got a problem with free internet as long as it's open to all. Free Basics is just a way of locking in users into the Facebook ecosystem. There's no Google, no YouTube," said Mahesh Murthy, a venture capitalist who co-founded Seedfund and marketing startup Pinstorm. "It can't be that the rich get access to the entire internet and the poor get access only to Facebook."

Mr. Zuckerberg's Facebook is spending billions of dollars on Internet.org, including projects to deliver the web to under- served areas via drones, satellites and lasers. The billionaire co-founder has said Facebook or its partners will not make money off this initiative and that the goal is to bring internet access to the developing world and alleviate poverty.

"This isn't about Facebook's commercial interests -- there aren't even any ads in the version of Facebook in Free Basics," Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in an opinion piece in the Times of India. "If people lose access to free basic services they will simply lose access to the opportunities offered by the Internet today."

This month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India asked in a "consultation paper" whether telecommunications service providers should be allowed to charge different pricing for data usage on websites, applications and platforms. The initial comment period for the Indian consultation paper ends Dec. 30.

Activists have argued that Free Basics is a "land grab on government property" and that with data rates in India already being low, eventually "everybody will be on the full and open Internet."

Campaigning

With two days to go before the deadline on comments, Facebook is scrambling to drum up support for Free Basics, a program already offered in 37 countries from Bangladesh to Zambia.

Beyond Mr. Zuckerberg's op-ed, his company has taken out full-page advertisements to make its case. One features a smiling Indian farmer and his family who the ads say used new techniques to double his crop yield.

It's started a "Save Free Basics In India" campaign, asking Indian users to support "digital equality" by filling out a form that shoots an e-mail to regulators. That also has the effect of sending notifications to user's friends unless they opt out.

"There's just a tremendous opportunity in India," Mr. Zuckerberg told students at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi in October. "If there are a billion people who are not connected, then this is one of the biggest opportunities I think to help develop the economy here and to help obviate poverty and really lift up a lot of folks." -- Bloomberg News

TAJ MAHAL: one of the seven wonders of the world

Commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his cherished wife, the Taj Mahal stands on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India. The famed mausoleum complex, built over more than 20 years, is one of the most outstanding examples of Mughal architecture, which combined Indian, Persian and Islamic influences. At its center is the Taj Mahal itself, built of shimmering white marble that seems to change color depending on the sunlight or moonlight hitting its surface. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, it remains one of the world’s most celebrated structures and a stunning symbol of India’s rich history.

Under Aurangzeb’s long rule (1658-1707), the Mughal empire reached the height of its strength. However, his militant Muslim policies, including the destruction of many Hindu temples and shrines, undermined the enduring strength of the empire and led to its demise by the mid-18th century. Even as Mughal power crumbled, the Taj Mahal suffered from neglect and disrepair in the two centuries after Shah Jahan’s death. Near the turn of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, then British viceroy of India, ordered a major restoration of the mausoleum complex as part of a colonial effort to preserve India’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Today, some 3 million people a year (or around 45,000 a day during peak tourist season) visit the Taj Mahal.

Earthquake hits northeast Afghanistan, tremors felt in north India

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook parts of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan late on Friday, witnesses and seismologists said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Tremors were felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Seismological monitors in the United States said the location was 81 km (50 miles) southeast of the Afghan city of Feyzabad.

Mild tremors were felt across north India.

First full moon on Christmas since 1977

This month, the December full moon falls on Friday, December 25, 2015. For Earth’s Western Hemisphere, it’s the first full moon on Christmas Day since 1977.

We won’t have another full moon on a Christmas Day until 2034.

A 19-year cycle of the moon is the reason. Amazingly, the moon’s phases recur on (or near) the same calendar dates every 19 years. This cycle – known as the Metonic cycle – happens because 235 returns to full moon almost exactly equal 19 years.

So, in other words, the phases of the moon realign (or nearly realign) with the same calendar dates every 19 years. We just missed a full moon on Christmas 19 years ago; instead, the full moon fell on Christmas Eve. It was December 24, 1996 at 20:41 Universal Time, or UT.

But two Metonic cycles ago – 38 years (or 2 X 19 years) – the full moon fell on Christmas Day. That full moon happened on December 25, 1977 at 12:49 UT.

Astronomically speaking, the moon is only full for an instant – at the moment that it’s 180o opposite the sun in ecliptic longitude.

This month, that happens on December 25, 2015 at 11:11 UT. At United States time zones, that translates to 6:11 a.m. EST, 5:11 a.m. CST, 4:11 a.m. MST or 3:11 a.m. PST.  However, if you sleep through it, don't fret.

So if you love Christmas, and you love the moon, this is your moment!

To some, gazing at the moon may seem mundane, but the biggest and brightest object in our night sky continues to surprise scientists.

Just this week, researchers using data collected by China’s Chang’e 3 rover revealed evidence of a new type of basaltic rock in one of the dark basins on the moon. The finding suggests the lunar surface is more diverse than the one that emerged from studies following the Apollo and Luna missions.

In 2014, a different group of scientists found that volcanoes may have erupted on the moon during the time dinosaurs roamed the Earth -- practically last week by geological time scales. 

And consider this: Even after more than a few hundred thousand years of staring up at the moon, we humans are still not 100% sure how it was created.

"It's worth remembering that the moon is more than just a celestial neighbor," John Keller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said in a statement. "The geologic history of the moon and Earth are intimately tied together such that the Earth would be a dramatically different planet without the moon."

And finally, we're leaving you lunar fans with a little holiday present from NASA. The space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this composite image of the Earth in all its watery glory, as seen against the dark, undulating surface of the moon.

Day and night sides of Earth at the instant of December 2015 full moon (2015 December 25 at 11:11 Universal Time). The shadow line running south of North America and north of South America indicates sunrise December 25. The shadow line running to the east (right) of India depicts sunset December 25.

Moon cycles are not commensurate with the calendar, which is based upon the seasons – not the lunar cycle. Therefore, one year from now, the December 2016 full moon will not fall on December 25.

In any year, the phases of the moon take place about 11 days earlier than in the previous year. For instance, the December 2016 full moon will happen on December 14, 2016, and the December 2017 full moon will fall on December 3, 2017.

The moon will look plenty full tonight as it lights up the nighttime from dusk till dawn. Look for the full-looking moon to rise opposite of the setting sun at early evening. The moon will shine highest up for the night around midnight and then will sink low into the western sky as dawn colors the sky.

 For most of the world’s Eastern Hemisphere (Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand), the last Christmas full moon happened in 1996. In 1996, the full moon occurred on December 24 at 20:41 Universal Time … December 25 in those places.

Bottom line: The December 25, 2015 full moon is the Western Hemisphere’s first full moon on Christmas Day since 1977. We won’t have another full moon on a Christmas Day until 2034. A 19-year cycle of the moon – called the Metonic Cycle – is the reason. Explanation here.

Happy holidays and happy sky watching! 

You could be owed a refund from Verizon and Sprint, but you'll have to act fast

Verizon and Sprint customers have a week to claim their refunds for unauthorized charges on their bills.

The two wireless carriers settled with the FTC after allowing third-party companies to charge customers for "premium" text messages without their prior consent -- and allegedly burying them in bills. The activity has come to be known as "cramming."

As a result of the settlements, both companies are now required to get customer approval before charging for third-party messages.

Current and former subscribers who had paid for unauthorized texts since July 1, 2010 can file a request no later than December 31, 2015 to get a refund. Verizon and Sprint both have online claim forms.

The work may not be worth the effort, which is one of the problems with these kinds of settlements.

Verizon (VZA) says refund amounts may be lower than expected depending on the total number of claims filed. The company also says it may not send out refunds if the total amount due is $3.00 or less.

Sprint (S) said that current and former prepaid customers (Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Sprint Prepaid, and Assurance Wireless) are eligible for a one-time refund of $7.00.

All four major nationwide carriers have gotten in trouble for cramming hidden fees into bills.

In 2014, the FTC filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile alleging the company had charged customers hundreds of millions of dollars for third-party text message subscriptions for things like flirting tips, horoscopes and celebrity gossip.

That same year, AT&T agreed to pay $105 million to settle similar cramming accusations. -  CNNMoney (New York) 

HTC One X9 with 13-megapixel OIS camera launched in China: Specifications and features

Yesterday, HTC teased the launch of One X9 on Weibo, and true to its words, the company has launched the smartphone in China. The One X9 is a mid-range smartphone that packs decent set of specifications and features.

The smartphone boasts a metal unibody design and dual front-facing BoomSound speakers with Dolby audio. It’s slim with thickness of just 7.99mm and carries a similar design language as the recently launched One A9. The One X9 will be available in Silver and Gunmetal Gray color options.

HTC One X9 specifications and features: The One X9 flaunts a 5.5-inch full HD (1080p) IPS display. Under the hood is MediaTek’s Helio X10 (MT6795T) octa-core SoC clocked at 2.2GHz. It is paired with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot with support up to 2TB.

On the camera front, it sports a 13-megapixel rear snapper with OIS (optical image stabilization), support for 4K video recording and dual-tone LED flash. Up front, there is an ultrapixel selfie camera of aperture f/2.0 with support for 1080p video recording.

With 3,000mAh non-removable battery, connectivity options include dual-SIM card support, 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and GPS. The smartphone runs on Android OS with Sense UI running atop. However, details about the Android version are scarce at the moment. Considering that One A9 was launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box, the One X9 is likely to run on the same OS version.

In China, the HTC One X9 is priced at 2399 Yuan, which roughly translates to Rs 24,500. As of now, HTC hasn’t announced as to when it plans to launch the smartphone in India. We will keep you posted as and when we have more information about India launch of the One X9.

Obama targets Trump, says he’s exploiting fears of working class

In response to a question about criticism of his presidency, Obama said some of that is legitimate and expected but there is some of it that has to do with his “background”. (NYT)

HONOLULU — President Barack Obama, in a broadside against the leading Republican presidential candidate, says billionaire Donald Trump is “exploiting” the fears that working-class men in particular have about the economy and stagnant wages.

The president also said some of the criticism he gets is because he is African American and some people haven’t yet reconciled with the idea of him in the White House.

Obama sat for the interview last Thursday after returning from the National Counterterrorism Center, where he received a pre-holiday briefing on potential threats to the homeland. He said publicly after the briefing that his national security advisers had no specific, credible information suggesting a potential attack against the homeland. Obama left Washington on Friday for two weeks of vacation in his native Hawaii.

Obama told NPR News that criticism of his strategy to combat the Islamic State group was warranted and that the administration’s failure to keep the public informed about his strategy for countering the IS group has contributed to the public’s fears that not enough is being done to protect them.

“I think that there is a legitimate criticism of what I’ve been doing and our administration has been doing in the sense that we haven’t, you know, on a regular basis I think described all the work that we’ve been doing for more than a year now to defeat ISIL,” Obama said, using an acronym for IS.

The group claimed responsibility for an attack in mid-November that killed 130 people in Paris.

U.S. authorities blamed the shooting deaths of 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California, earlier this month on a radicalized married couple who pledged allegiance to an IS leader in a Facebook post after they had opened fire.

Both attacks heightened fears of terrorism in the U.S. and led to widespread criticism of Obama’s response to them.

If people don’t know about the thousands of airstrikes that have been launched against IS targets since August 2014, or aren’t aware that towns in Iraq once controlled by the group have been retaken, “then they might feel as if there’s not enough of a response,” Obama said.

“I think somebody like Mr. Trump is taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign.”

Trump’s rise among Republican voters — he has led the field in national polls for months now — has been widely attributed to him tapping into that anger pointed out by Obama.

Trump has called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminal and has called for banning non-American muslims from entering the country, using rhetoric that could have ended another campaign.

Trump has not only survived, but flourished.

In response to a question about criticism of his presidency, Obama said some of that is legitimate and expected but there is some of it that has to do with his “background”.

“If you are referring to specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, etc. — which unfortunately is pretty far out there, and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials — what I’d say there is that that’s probably pretty specific to me, and who I am and my background.… In some ways, I may represent change that worries them.”

“But they can hurt us, and they can hurt our people and our families. And so I understand why people are worried,” he said. “The most damage they can do, though, is if they start changing how we live and what our values are, and part of my message over the next 14 months or 13 months that I remain in office is to just make sure that we remember who we are and make sure that our resilience, our values, our unity are maintained.” - AP

Air India offloads 19 US-bound students

Air India's move comes amid reports that 14 Indian students who travelled to the US last week were deported allegedly after being kept in jail in San Francisco.

Air India today barred 19 US-bound students from boarding a flight saying the universities in which they had taken admission were under scrutiny.

  

The students were travelling from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad to San Francisco on Sunday night. An official of the national carrier said that two San Francisco-based universities were currently under the scanner of the US government.

"In the past, we have witnessed that students who secured admission in those institutions have been deported to India as soon as they land there. To avoid embarrassment to them and save their money, we prevented them from boarding the flight," an official said.

Air India's move comes amid reports that 14 Indian students who travelled to the US last week were deported allegedly after being kept in jail in San Francisco. The students claimed they were also quizzed by the FBI during their detention.

"So far, 14 students who travelled on Air India flights to San Francisco have been deported. Students travel on a one-way ticket to the US and, in the event of deportation, incur huge expenditure to buy a ticket back to India on first available service. Further, seats are often not available on any airlines to travel back," a statement released by Air India said.

Meanwhile, one of the universities, which was said to be under US government's probe, called the reports of being blacklisted "absolutely false" on their school website. - indiatoday

27 missing as massive landslide hits China's Shenzhen

Firefighters search for survivors among the debris of collapsed buildings after a landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, China, on Sunday.

Beijing:  December 20, 2015, At least 27 people including six women and three children were missing today when hundreds of tonnes of mud from a crumbling mountain crushed 22 buildings in an industrial park in Shenzhen, one of China's most developed cities. 

Regarded as one of China's worst urban disasters, 14 people were pulled out of the mountain of mud that engulfed vast area of the new industrial park in south China that borders Hong Kong. 

More than 1,500 people including firemen, police and health workers are involved in the rescue operations, searching the debris for any trapped victims. 

The missing included a family of grand father and three children, the youngest nine-years-old and the oldest three years, state-run CCTV reported. 

Videos on China's social media showed vast amounts of red mud pouring into the city with huge noise around 11 am engulfing building after building. 

The mud slide slowed down as it approached the main area of the estate providing time for many people to escape bringing down the casualties.  By 5 pm local time, rescuers have evacuated more than 900 residents from the site. 

An area of 20,000 square metres was covered with soil, according to the Ministry of Public Security's firefighting bureau.  It rained in Shenzhen today and roads at the scene were muddy, the city'sDaily Sunshine reported.

The 22 buildings buried in the landslide included two workers' dormitories. A residential area was also situated beside the industrial park. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have ordered immediate rescue efforts saying that no efforts should be spared to save lives. 

Xi ordered Guangdong and Shenzhen authorities to do everything possible to minimise casualties, treat the injured and comfort the family members of the victims, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. 

He also said scientific rescue efforts are needed to prevent further damages. 

Ren Jiguang, deputy chief of Shenzhen's public security bureau, told the TV station that most people were moved to safety before the disaster hit, but that they could not be sure no one had been buried in the landslide. 

The Beijing Youth Daily, citing a local resident, reported that the loose soil in the landslide had been dug up in construction work over the past two years and piled up against a 100-metre-high hill. 

State media carried photos of partially collapsed buildings which, rescuers said, were housing 15 companies. 

Last month, a landslide triggered by flooding in China killed 38 people in the eastern province of Zhejiang. An avalanche of mud and rock caused by torrential rains engulfed 27 homes. Earlier the same month, at least five persons were killed in a landslide on a mountain caused by explosion in the northeast. - PTI

Suspect bomb on Air France flight to Paris is examined

Authorities in Kenya are examining a suspect package that forced an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris to make an emergency landing in Kenya. 

Air France flight 463 from Mauritius to Paris was forced to land in Mombasa after a device suspected to be a bomb was found in the lavatory. Photograph: EPA

Passengers questioned after aircraft makes emergency landing in Kenya

Kenyan authorities are investigating the nature of a suspect device found in a toilet aboard an Air France flight from Mauritius that made an emergency landing at Kenya’s port city of Mombasa, its interior minister said on Sunday.

Joseph Nkaisserry told reporters at Mombasa’s Moi International Airport that Kenyan authorities were working with their French and Mauritian counterparts to determine the nature of the device.

The plane was carrying 459 passengers and 14 crew members and had left Mauritius at 01:00 GMT, Mr Owino said.

It had been due to fly directly to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

One of those on board, Benoit Lucchini, said passengers were calm and were told by the crew that the plane was being diverted because of a technical problem.

"The plane just went down, slowly, slowly, slowly, so we just realised probably, something was wrong," he said.

"But the personnel of Air France were just great, just wonderful. So they keep everybody calm and really quiet."

“We are in touch with Mauritius to know how security screening of passengers was done. A few passengers are being interrogated,” he said.

“Bomb experts from the Navy and DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigations) have retrieved the device and are determining whether the components contained explosives,” Insp Boinnet said.

Air France said in a statement that as a precaution, all passengers were evacuated from the aircraft by its emergency slides.  The airline said it was working to re-route is passengers and was sending another plane to Mombasa to fly them to Paris.

“This Mombasa - Paris flight is scheduled to leave in the late afternoon of Sunday, December 20th,” it said.

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said on its Twitter account that flights from Mombasa airport were disrupted due to the emergency landing. 

France is still on high alert following bomb attacks and shootings in Paris last month that killed 130 people.  So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attacks in response to France's military action in Syria. - Reuters

9 Home Remedies That Treat Hypertension

If you're above the age of 35, chances are you may have already been warned about the dangers of hypertension or high blood pressure. Hypertension is a condition that occurs when the force of the blood on the arteries' walls is too strong, which eventually creates health problems, especially those connected to heart disease.

Our blood pressure is mainly dependent on our blood vessels. When they narrow, the blood pressure level rises (just like a garden hose being squeezed sends water more powerfully). Normal blood pressure should be 120/80. 

Symptoms of hypertension

Unfortunately, many people won't show signs of hypertension, and it will only become evident when they either go through a test or have a health-related problem. 

Common symptoms include: Mild headaches, Dizziness, nosebleeds, shortness of breath and vision problems.

Common causes of high blood pressure

- Kidney problems

- Age

- Obesity

- Stress

- Lack of exercise

- Use of certain drugs (cocaine for example, alcohol for another)

- Certain medication (cold remedies, birth control pills, pain relievers etc.)

- Sleep apnea

However, there are a great many cases of hypertension with unknown underlying reasons, perhaps genetic, and they can be controlled effectively with certain home remedies and lifestyle changes.

Home Remedies that will lower your blood pressure:

1. Lemon Water

Lemon softens your blood vessels, and this will lower your blood pressure. In addition, the vitamin B in it will help keep your heart healthy.

Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a glass of hot water, drink it on an empty stomach. Try to drink 5-6 glasses of fresh lemon water every day. It would be best to drink lemon juice without any sugar or salt, you can always add a little honey if the taste is a bit too bitter.

2. Ginger Juice with Cumin

Mix a teaspoon of cumin powder with a honey and ginger juice mixture to create a blood pressure remedy. Add 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger juice to a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of cumin powder and mix well. Consume this twice a day to lower your blood pressure.

3. Garlic

Garlic is a very common home remedy that reduces the cholesterol levels in our body, one of the main causes of high blood pressure. Garlic contains hydrogen sulfide, a compound that is essential to good blood flow.

To effectively lower your blood pressure, eat 5-6 cloves of fresh garlic every day, on an empty stomach. You can also extract the juice of the garlic by crushing about 10 cloves of it. Add 5-6 drops of garlic juice to four teaspoons of water and drink twice a day.

4. Watermelon seeds

Watermelon seeds contain a substance called cucurbocitrin. This material helps widen the blood capillaries in your body and reduces hypertension levels. It also helps fight off arthritis and kidney diseases.

Start by taking two tablespoons of dried seeds and crushing them gently. Then add them to a cup of boiling water. Leave it in the cup for about an hour and slightly stir it so it mixes with the water all the way. Strain it and drink 4 tablespoons of this water every hour of the day for quick results. 

5. Curry Leaves

Curry leaves contain many medicinal properties and were found to be effective in treating high blood pressure.

Boil 25-30 leaves in a cup of water. Let it simmer down to room temperature and strain away the leaves. Drink this concoction early in the morning on an empty stomach.

6. Celery Leaves

A substance called 3-N-butylphthalide (try saying that 3 times fast) is found in high amounts in celery leaves and is a compound that can really help drastically lower your blood pressure, as well as reduce the stress hormones that are causing the blood vessels to constrict in the first place.

Add one or more stalks of celery (or celery leaves) and make a daily vegetable salad that will help you really reduce that blood pressure. When consuming the celery, also add a glass of water for better results.

7. Onion Juice

A recent study has found that giving people suffering from hypertension onion juice, reduced their condition considerably, compared to a placebo group. Researchers think a compound named quercetin may be responsible for this.

Try to eat at least one raw onion a day. Extract the juice of the onion and add a teaspoon of it to a teaspoon of honey. Drink this twice a day, every day to lower your blood pressure.

8. Fenugreek Seeds

Make a paste out of fenugreek seeds that are said to be very useful in the battle against high blood pressure.

Take 1-2 teaspoons of seeds and boil them in water for about 3-4 minutes. Strain the seeds and crush them (or use a blender) to make a smooth paste. Consume this amount twice every day: morning and evening, and always on an empty stomach. Your hypertension should begin to lower in 2-3 months time.

Note: Please check with your doctor regarding the regular use of Fenugreek seeds, as an overuse of the substance may cause problems with circulation and heart rhythm.

9. Bananas

Bananas have zero cholesterol and are low in sodium. Try to eat at least 2 of them a day or add them to your meals. Other foods that are good for high blood pressure: Orange juice, spinach, baked sweet potatoes and raisins. - ba-bamail

Thyroid, kidney cancers rise slightly in kids; overall childhood cancer rate is stable: Study

CHICAGO - Children's kidney and thyroid cancers have increased in recent years, and though the diseases are rare, experts wonder if the rising rates could be related to obesity.

The rate for all childhood cancers combined, 171 cases per million children, remained stable from 2001 to 2009 although slight increases were seen in blacks and adolescents, according to a report from researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During the years studied, there were about 120,000 new cancer diagnoses among infants and children aged 1 through 19.

Mostly stable rates of leukemia and brain tumors, among the more common types of childhood cancer, contributed to the overall trend.

For thyroid cancer, the diagnosis total was almost 5,000 cases, and the rate climbed from nearly six cases per million children to eight per million children in 2009.

For kidney cancer, the total was 426 and the rate climbed from 0.5 cases per million to 0.7 cases per million.

Studies showing increases in both kinds of cancer in adults have suggested causes might include rising obesity rates. Childhood obesity also has increased in recent years and whether that has contributed to the rising cancer rates needs to be determined, the authors of the new study said.

Study co-author Dr. David Siegel emphasized that the increases were relatively small and that children's overall risks for developing cancer are low. Siegel worked on the study while at the CDC but has since moved to Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

He said the researchers used data through 2009 because more recent data contained inconsistencies.

The report was published  in Pediatrics. - calgaryherald

Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi: Muslims to celebrate Prophet's birthday on 24 December for second time in 2015

Muslims around the world will observe the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, on 24 December, which will be the second such celebration in the year 2015. 

The Prophet's birthday was also marked on 3 January this year based on the Hijri calendar, which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. 

The shorter Islamic year has resulted in the festival of Eid-e-Milad falling twice in the Gregorian year of 2015. 

While there is no confirmed date of birth of the Prophet, his birth anniversary is usually marked on the 12th day of the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar, according to Gulf News. 

The moon sighting committees in several Islamic nations such as the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan declared 24 December as the day of the Prophet's birth anniversary, after the moon for the month of Rabiul Awwal was sighted last week. 

In Egypt, Eid-e-Milad will be observed on 23 December, according to Ahram Online. 

Muslims in India will mark the day on 24 December. 

In Muslim countries, Eid-e-Milad is observed as a public holiday, with programmes arranged to highlight the teachings of the Prophet. - ibtimes.

The Most Dangerous Countries for Drug Addicts

Scattered throughout the globe are many countries struggling with drug use, abuse and addiction. For several of these said countries, drug trafficking has become a central part of their local economy—and not without high cost. Unsurprisingly, countries whose populations struggle with drug addictions are among some of the most dangerous in the world, from having high rates of crime, to high drug-related accidents, to just poor general health. Below are listed a few of these countries and the impact drug abuse has had on their societies.

Russia

In Russia, becoming a drug addict can be rather deadly. The country struggles with high degree of intravenous use; as a result, certain areas are suffering from a significantly high number of HIV/AIDS cases. According to the World Wide Health organization, Russia is currently enduring on of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in all of Europe. Heroin is the drug of choice for a good portion of Russia’s youth and sharing needles, always a risky venture, is not uncommon. Officials say that nearly one quarter of the world’s heroin is imported to Russia, which is one of the worst drug addiction statistics of any country.

Afghanistan

According to surveys, 90 percent of all heroin in Europe originates in Afghanistan; the country is the top producer of opium (the drug used to make heroin) in the entire world. Heroin usage within the country is a growing problem as well and one which shows little sign of stopping. According to a 2009 survey conducted by the United Nations, one in every 12 people in Afghanistan abuses heroin— that is double the number found in the previous survey four years earlier. The drug is relatively cheap, costing less than one dollar a day and few rehabilitation facilities exist to combat the expanding problem. High rates of unemployment, neglected children and social upheaval are gripping the country, as a result.

United States

The United States may not be known for the manufacture of its own drugs, but it is widely recognized as a country with one of the most serious drug-related problems worldwide. Even though resources like http://www.drugrehab.net/ are available to combat the rise of substance abuse, the United States still has one of the world’s highest drug-related death rates and is among the world’s top consumers of both cocaine and crystal meth. These drugs present grave issues concerning violence and crime; an addict sent to jail in the U.S. has little hope of recovering from their addiction. United States prisons are often circulating any number of drugs, some arranged through prisoner networking, some brought in by visitors and others still from corrupt officers. Prisoners in American jails can be more likely to have access to certain drugs within jail than they would at home, in fact.

Also troubling is the reality that most U.S. jails are limited by strict budgets and simply do not have the funding to institute the rehabilitation programs that addicts often so desperately need. Without proper treatment, it is statistically certain that many of these addicts, after their release, will return to jail. Some people wonder:  is it too dangerous to enter drug rehab in the U.S.? And the answer for that seems to be, possibly not as dangerous as it is to be a drug addict in the prison system.

Australia

Unlike many of the other countries on this list, Australia’s population suffers from problems related to a legal drug: alcohol. Overall, Australians drink large quantities of alcohol—and they drink in frequently. According to research conducted in 2007, almost 10 percent of the population over the age of 14 was drinking at a level considered risky, that is, five or more drinks a day for females or seven or more drinks a day for males. Drinking is a large part of Australian culture. It’s socially acceptable, even encouraged. As a result, Australia is currently facing high rates of alcohol-related deaths, such as liver cirrhosis, strokes and suicide; about one in ten Australians is dying each day as a result of this legal drug. - beforeitsnews