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Saturday, February 10, 2018

On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court in the Pakistani city of Haripur sentenced one man to death, and five others to life imprisonment, for killing 23-year-old Mashal Khan in a mob violence incident last year. 57 out of 61 verdicts were announced, which took place behind closed doors for security reasons, and about 250 police officials and commandos were deployed.

Imran Sultan Mohammad, who had confessed about shooting Mashal Khan, was sentenced to death by judge Fazal-e-Subhan. Khan was a journalism student in Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University, who was accused of blasphemy, an offense punishable by death in Pakistan, and was killed in mob violence on April 13. Later in June, police investigation revealed it was a false accusation as they found no evidence of blasphemy. Khan was stripped, beaten by dozens of people in the boys hostel, thrown from the second floor and shot dead — which was videographed and posted on social media.

Defense lawyer Saad Abbasi said 25 accused were sentenced to three-year prison, and 26 accused were released free from charges. Mashal Khan’s brother Aimal Khan said, “Our demand was that all of the suspects should have been convicted […] We ask the police to arrest the remaining suspects who are still at large and to bring them to trial.” Police had arrested one suspect recently, who is yet to face the trial.

Last year after the death of Mashal Khan, speaking to BBC Urdu, his father Iqbal Khan said, “This issue is not just about my son. The issue is the mob came to the university, and challenged the government. So the government should question themselves, or do justice.” He had also said, “In this country, freedom of speech, those who speak the truth, is restricted. They cut people’s tongue. So I say they killed [my son], and then accused him [for such a serious crime].” ^{((hin))Hindustani language: ??? ????? ??? ??????-?-??? ??, ?? ??? ???? ???? ??, ?? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ??????}

According to police findings, the false accusation of blasphemy was started by a student group after Mashal Khan had criticised the university for hiking the fees, asserting corruption in the university. Some students had complained about Khan’s alleged secular views to the university authorities.

Reportedly around a hundred relatives of accused waited outside the premises, for the verdict. “A day will come that the judge will answer the God. The verdict he has announced is unjust”, said a guardian whose son was sentenced to three years’ jail.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the lynching last year and said, “Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands. No father should have to send his child off to be educated, with the fear of having him return in a coffin.”

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Monday, December 17, 2012

Recently, Wikinews spent time with with Australian Paralympic skier Jonty O’Clallaghan who was in Copper Mountain, Colorado for the IPC Nor-Am Cup.

((Wikinews)) I’m interviewing Jonty O’Callaghan, one of the Australian skiers with the IPC [International Paralympic Committee] Nor-Am Cup, and you’re a fifteen-year-old?

Jonty O’Callaghan: Yup. Yeah, I’ve been skiing since I was about ten and I really enjoy racing.

((WN)) I talked to your father, he said you’re kind of thinking Sochi?

Jonty O’Callaghan: It’s the matter of if I qualify by getting enough good races and points.

((WN)) How do you balance skiing with doing school?

Jonty O’Callaghan: Over the past few years in Australia I’ve been doing full time in tenth grade in the Australian winter, which means the school at the mountain brings up my work from my home school in Melbourne to do up at the mountain when I’m not skiing.

((WN)) Since you’re not on the development team, do you get enough support or your parents are supporting this?

Jonty O’Callaghan: Yeah, my parents support me all the way. I’ve never doubted their support always though the journeys and I [thank them] for their support throughout and continuing through my journeys.

((WN)) What classification are you?

Jonty O’Callaghan: I am LW9-1.

((WN)) What does that mean for people who know nothing about classification?

Jonty O’Callaghan: I basically have a disability on the right side of my body.

((WN)) Yep.

Jonty O’Callaghan: which weakens two of my limbs and which means I favor my left side a lot more.

((WN)) Did you have that from birth?

Jonty O’Callaghan: Yeah, it was caused by premature birth.

((WN)) Do you do any other sports anything other than skiing or are you one of those Australian ski bunnies?

Jonty O’Callaghan: I’ve done a lot of sports doing my journey, I’ve always played cricket, Australian football, played a little tennis, and I like golf too as a hobby.

((WN)) Are you going to and be one of those dual Paralympians for Winter and Summer?

Jonty O’Callaghan: No, because I don’t think any other sports I like are in the Summer Olympics. I think I’ll pursue them after I finished my skiing career, because cricket you can do when you’re much older.

((WN)) Is there anything else people should know about you?

Jonty O’Callaghan: Yeah, I’m just looking forward to the future and hoping for the best and maybe some medals.

((WN)) Okay cool, thank you very much.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Toyota announced on Friday that it will recall around 17,000 Lexus vehicles in response to risks of the fuel tank in the cars leaking after a collision.

The Lexus HS 250h model was subjected to the recall following a US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation. Despite previously passing Toyota safety inspections, the conclusions of an NHTSA sub-contracted investigator were that; when the vehicles in question collided with an object at more than fifty-miles-per hour, more than 142 grams of fuel, the maximum allowed by US law, leaked from the crashed car.

According to Toyota, further tests did not show any additional failure of the fuel tank.

In response to the findings, Toyota issued a recall of all affected vehicles, since the company had no solution immediately available. The recall includes 13,000 cars already sold, as well as another 4,000 still at dealerships.

Toyota says it plans to conduct further tests to determine the cause of the leak. A Toyota spokesman, Brian Lyons, said that the company was “still working to determine what the root cause of the condition is.” It’s still unclear when exactly the recall will take place, or when dealerships will be allowed to sell this model again. Lyons said that Toyota is “working feverishly to get this resolved as soon as possible.”

Toyota isn’t aware of any accidents stemming from the leaking fuel tank in the affected vehicles, first introduced in the summer of 2009.

Monday, April 25, 2005

With two space walks, 78 million miles and six months on board the International Space Station under their belts, Commander-Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, the station’s 10th crew, landed in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz spacecraft at 6:08 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Also returning was European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy, who launched to the Station with the Expedition 11 crew and spent eight days doing experiments. He was aboard under a contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The re-entry of the ISS Soyuz 9 spacecraft was perfect, returning the astronauts to Earth 53 miles northeast of the town of Arkalyk after 192 days, 19 hours and 2 minutes in space for the Expedition 10 crew. The recovery team reached the capsule in minutes.

They launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last Oct. 13 at 11:06 p.m. EDT. During their increment they performed two spacewalks, continued station maintenance and did scientific experiments.

Notable accomplishments included replacing critical hardware in the Joint Quest Airlock; repairing U.S. spacesuits; and submitting a scientific research paper on ultrasound use in space. Chiao was also the first astronaut to vote in the U.S. Presidential election from space. The crew completed two spacewalks, including experiment installation and tasks to prepare the Station for the arrival of the new European Automated Transfer Vehicle next year.

Aboard the Station, Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer and NASA Station Science Officer John Phillips, the Expedition 11 crew, are beginning a six-month mission. It will include the resumption of Space Shuttle flights and two spacewalks from the Station. Expedition 11 is scheduled to return to Earth on October 7, 2005. The two latest occupants of the station launched with Vittori from Baikonur April 14.

Krikalev and Phillips will have light duty for the next two days, as they rest after completing a busy handover period. For the past week, they have been learning about Station operations from the two men who called the ship home since October. Chiao and Sharipov briefed Krikalev and Phillips on day-to-day operations and gave them hands-on opportunities at Station maintenance. Chiao and Phillips restored the Quest airlock to working order for future spacewalks and practiced operating the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Friday, March 11, 2005Many infertile American women would choose the sex of their next child if given the option.

A survey of 561 women being treated for infertility has found that 41% would use sex selection if it were offered at no cost.

Contradicting fears that such sex selection would cause gender imbalance, the survey found that women with no children would choose baby girls and boys in approximately equal numbers.

Furthermore, women with only daughters wanted to select a male child while women with only sons wanted to select a female child.

“Sex selection is a topic that’s almost taboo for physicians to talk about,” says study lead author Tarun Jain of the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Prior to this study, there has been no data to indicate what the demand might be.”

Of 561 survey respondents, 229 would want to select the sex of their future child.

Among these, 45% had no children and 48% had children of all the same sex.

Half would choose to select the sex of their next child even if they had to bear the cost.

About 55% would choose sperm separation, 41% would choose preimplantation genetic diagnosis and 4% would choose neither.

Sex selection is controversial. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes it for nonmedical reasons and so does the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine supports it for nonmedical reasons for family gender balancing provided methods used are safe and effective.

“As the techniques gain more popularity, physicians will have to decide if they will offer the procedure to patients with and without children,” says Jain.

The research is reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes.

Currently, fillers don’t stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage.

Yamagishi and colleagues have tested their paste on a lower premolar tooth that showed early signs of decay. They found that the synthetic enamel merged with the natural enamel. The synthetic enamel also appears to make teeth stronger which will improve resistance to future decay. As with drilling, however, there is still the potential for pain: The paste is strongly acidic to encourage crystal growth and causes inflammation if it touches the gums.

The paste is reported in the journal Nature.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger Wednesday jokingly named Bill Clinton to a professorship.

In opening remarks at the Kraft Program Series, “Challenges of New Democracies,” he said that “the last time he was here I said that ‘one more lecture,’ and he’d be up for tenure. So, this is it. Today we welcome professor Bill Clinton.”

Mr. Clinton and former Czech President Václav Havel were guest lecturers at the Morningside Heights campus. Havel is midway through a seven week writing residency at Columbia.

Both nations former leaders spoke about the challenges they faced during their times in office in order to bring the former Warsaw Pact countries into the West.

Havel mentioned that no one anticipated the rise of criminal mafias in the post-communist period, and that he and other dissidents imaged a swift transition from communism to democracy. He cited Czechoslovakia‘s 1948 destruction of civil society as a significant delay.

Clinton urged the United States to use its international economic power to improve the world.

Citing an even distribution of “intelligence and ability… throughout the world,” with India and China’s enormous population, he said that it’s only a matter of time when “other people get their act together” and “have more people than we do” when, “as a nation, we won’t be dominant.”

Acknowledging increasing American reliance upon Chinese economic growth, Clinton said the Chinese government will shortly have “a trillion dollars in cash reserves” while the United States has “a combined annual budget and trade deficit of a trillion dollars.”

Mentioning the Bush administration’s tax cut given to him and others in his income tax class, he said that the United States “had to borrow money from (the Chinese government) to pay for my tax cut.”

He also suggested that increasing American foreign aid to 0.7% of the U.S.’s $11 trillion Gross Domestic Product aid through cuts in the Department of Defense budget would “create a world with more partners and fewer adversaries.”

Mr. Bollinger also mentioned the war in Iraq.

Criticizing a “dubious construction of a very vaguely identified threat of WMDs in Iraq,” Mr. Havel questioned why planners failed to anticipate civil instability after initial combat operations.

Mr. Clinton declined comment citing his recent testimony before the Baker-Hamilton Commission and his wife Hillary’s position as New York senator. He added, however, that “whatever she says, I’m for.”

He acknowledged that it is an international best interest policy if Iraq “held together rather than falling apart, we would be better off if it had some measure of security and couldn’t become a base for terrorist operations.”

Thursday, April 14, 2005

An exhausted Charles Kennedy returned to the election campaign to launch a twenty page Liberal Democrat manifesto targeted at disaffected Labour voters, promising a fairer tax system and withdrawal from Iraq.

Entitled The Real Alternative the manifesto pledges to reduce the lowest rate of income tax, but increase the rate on those earning over £100,000 to 50%. The party would also scrap the unpopular local council tax in favour of a new local income tax. The manifesto also promises to remove hidden “stealth taxes”.

Under this system the party claims the poorest 15 million (25%) of people in Britain would be better off, and the middle 50% would be paying no extra tax.

The manifesto promised to scrap the controversial university tuition fees, increase services for pensioners and add £100 a month to the state pension, and train 21,000 new primary school teachers and 10,000 new police. A Lib Dem government would make eye and dental checks free, and reduce the cost of prescription medicine.

The Liberal Democrats were the only one of the three largest parliamentary parties to have consistently voted against the Iraq war, and the manifesto has promised an exit strategy with a phased withdrawal of Britain’s 8,000 troops still in the country.

“We reject a foreign policy based on ‘my ally right or wrong’,” Kennedy said. “And we say that war should always be a last resort.”

Kennedy, who became a father on Tuesday, admitted he’d had little sleep before the manifesto launch, and stumbled while answering questions on the proposed tax system.