London: An investigation into the land and property dealings have suggested that the famous 221B Baker Street building, which is synonymous to the literary detective Sherlock Holmes is linked to notorious Kazakh businessman Rakhat Aliyev and his family. The son in law of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev was found hanged in an Austrian jail cell, earlier this year, where he was held on murder charges. Chido Dunn, campaigner of Global Witness who carried out the investigations to find the link, said, “We have found numerous alarm bells and red flags linking these properties to Rakhat and the Kazakh 'ruling family', yet we still cannot say for certain who the real owner is.”
Booker opens doors for Indian regional writers
London: Indian regional language authors will now be able to be in contention for the most coveted literary prize, the Man Booker International Prize as new rules to come in effect from 2016 will help Indian novelists write both in English and in their mother tongues to win the award. Prize Administrator Fiammetta Rocco said, “The changed rules will certainly help Indian regional language writers, both of novels and of short stories, so long as these are published in Britain. More and more small publishers are bringing out fiction in translation here. We hope the prize will encourage publishers to be even bolder about what they bring out in translation. And if we succeed, I certainly Indian novelists, writing both in English and in their mother tongues, such as Kannada and Bengali. The future looks very bright for Indian fiction.”
Pak SC suspends first female execution
Lahore: Pakistan Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the death sentence of Christian woman accused of blasphemy. The case went global after the murder of two politicians who tried to intervene on her behalf. Asia Bibi, a farm worker and mother of four, became the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law in 2010. The Supreme Court will soon begin hearing an appeal against her conviction, said lawyer Saif-ul-Malook. “The execution of Asia Bibi has been suspended and will remain suspended until the decision of this appeal,” Malook said. governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2011 after he sought a presidential pardon for Bibi. The judge who later sentenced Taseer's killer had to flee the country.
Lenin statue to make a come back in Berlin
Berlin: The long forgotten giant head of political figure Lenin will be brought back to the German capital quarter of a century after the iconic fall of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet leader will gaze again on the people after the 3.5 ton piece is resurrected from its current grave. The goateed head of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, is to be unearthed, trucked across Berlin and displayed in a lineup of historical sculptures marking the end of an odyssey that started in the Cold War. “Lenin was always set to be part of the exhibition because it’s a special statue, given its size alone,” said Andrea Theissen, curator of the Citadel Spandau hosting the exhibition from September. It was designed by Nikolai Tomsky, then president of the Soviet Academy of Arts.
Bangladeshi surfer girl destroys religious taboos
Cox's Bazar: 18 year old Nasima Akter has become an unlikely hero amongst surfers as she found an unnatural talent for the sport. Akter dominates the competition boards of Bangladesh’s newest sport, consistently beating her male rivals. “She drew other girls that might have been afraid of what the community would say,” said Jaimal Yogis, an American journalist who met Akter four years ago. “She gave them the courage to go out there and do something that they loved, and that empowers them.” After he wrote a story on her for a travel magazine, next came a documentary to bring her story on the big screen. “She had a brightness but at the same time she had grit, and that’s why we ended up calling the film The Most Fearless,” said Yogis. “We just thought, what’s it like to have all these rumours spread about you just because you’re doing something you love?”
China to tackle demographic issues
Shanghai: Chinese couples will be allowed to have more than one kid, in six months, as issues of shrinking labour force and ageing population hovers the country. The decades old policy that restricted many Chinese families from bearing more than one child will soon be relaxed. A government official said the law could be implemented as soon as the end of the year if everything goes well. The One Child Policy was introduced in 1979 by Deng Xiao, owing to the rapid growth in population, and accounts for numerous forced abortions and mandatory sterilisations in the past three decades. Experts have called for further relaxation of the policy to address looming demographic concerns, including a rapid decline in the size of the labour force, a rising ageing populations and severe imbalances in the sex ratio.
Animals to get first class treatment in JFK
New York: The Big Apple's JFK airport will now let pets travel into and out, in style with their very own airport terminal. 'The Ark', which will open next year, is a $ 48 million project which will build a 178,000 square foot facility that will care for animals passing through the airport. From cats to dogs to horses, cows, pigs, sheep and even penguins. The aim is to make the quarantine period for the animals more comfortable. The terminal will offer a luxury facility, Paradise 4 Paws, which includes bone shaped pools, flat screen televisions, massage therapy, and more pampering services, and web cams for owners to monitor their pets.
Tigers in Bangladesh Sundarbans under threat
Dhaka: Recent census show only 100 tigers remain in Bangladesh’s famed Sundarbans forest, far fewer of the endangered animals than previously thought. The governmental tiger census carried out in 2004 with the pug mark method estimated 440 tigers in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans. “This is the first ever effort to quantify tiger abundance in Bangladesh Sundarbans based on a robust scientific protocol using camera traps and double sampling approach,” the report said. Tapan Kumar Dey, the government’s wildlife conservator, said analysis of camera footage from the year-long survey that ended in April found numbers ranged between 83 and 130, giving an average of 106. “So plus or minus we have around 106 tigers in our parts of the Sundarbans. It’s a more accurate figure,” Dey said.
Jihadi John flees the IS
London: Mohammed Emwazi popularly known as Jihadi John has reportedly fled the terror network and is on the run in Syria, fearing his own life. The Islamic State’s burly masked executioner who is behind some of the most horrific beheadings is believed to have left the terror group several weeks ago and is trying to head to North Africa. Emwazi, from London, is said to have been terrified by the publicity he received after he was identified as the murderer of British and American hostages and now fears being hunted down by British and U.S. special forces in Iraq and Syria, a report said.
Gunmen kill US embassy employee in Pakistan
Islamabad: Reports say attackers have gunned down a US local in Islamabad early in the morning at his home. The police has identified the deceased as Iqbal Baig, and said he worked for the US Drug Enforcement Agency. The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Pakistani officer Khalid Awan said US security officials visited the crime scene. Baig belonged to a minority Muslim Shia sect known as the Ismaili. The community largely live in peace in Sunni dominated Pakistan where Islamic extremists view Shiites as heretics. Gunmen recently shot and killed 50 Ismailis in the southern city of Karachi.
Cecil the Lion killed by American
Harare: The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has named the person responsible for the death of Zimbabqwe's beloved Cecil, the Lion, and identified him as tourist Walter Palmer from Minnesota , who shot the animal with a crossbow and rifle. Cecil was later skinned and beheaded, the ZCTF said. Two Zimbabwean men who were involved face poaching charges because the group did not have a hunting permit. The men, a professional hunter and a farm owner, face up to 15 years in prison in Zimbabwe if found guilty. It is unclear whether Mr Palmer has already returned to the US but police confirmed that he could also face poaching charges. “We arrested two people and now we are looking for Palmer in connection with the same case,” police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told the media.
