Kashmir.Watch

Category: World

  • Japan researchers testing tiny ear computer

    Tokyo:  A tiny personal computer that is worn on the ear and can be controlled with the blink of an eye or the click of a tongue is being tested in Japan.
    The 17-gram (0.59-ounce) wireless device has bluetooth capability and is equipped with a GPS, compass, gyro-sensor, battery, barometer, speaker and microphone. 
    Wearable computing is thought by many commentators to be the next big thing in technology, with products such as Google Glass at the forefront.

    The device, known at the moment as the “Earclip-type Wearable PC” has a microchip and data storage, enabling users to load software, said engineer Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Hiroshima City University.

    Its designs are based on traditional “ikebana” flower arrangements.

    “We have made this with the basic idea that people will wear it in the same way they wear earrings,” Taniguchi told AFP in a recent interview as he showcased a black prototype.

    The system, which developers are hoping to have ready for Christmas 2015, can be connected to an iPod or other gadget and would allow the user to navigate through software programmes using facial expressions, such as a raised eyebrow, a stuck-out tongue, a wiggle of the nose or by clenching teeth.

    The device uses infrared sensors that monitor tiny movements inside the ear, which differ depending on how the eyes and mouth move.

    Because the user does not have to move either hand, its developers say it can serve as “a third hand” for everyone from caregivers to rock-climbers, motorbike riders to astronauts, as well as people with disabilities.

    “Supposing I climb a mountain, look at the sky at night and see a bright star up there, it could tell me what it is,” Taniguchi said.

    “As it knows what altitude I’m at, which direction I’m looking and at what angle, it could tell me, ‘The bright star you are seeing now is Sirius’.”

    Using a smartphone to connect to the Internet would mean you could be automatically put in touch with people in faraway places who are doing the same thing as you.

    “This could connect you with a person who is looking at the same star at a remote place at the same time,” enabling the people to swap impressions, Taniguchi said.

    A second version of the device might be pressed into use to help relatives keep an eye on elderly family in greying Japan.

    The earpiece, which could also function as a hearing aid, could monitor the wearer’s health, including their pulse and body temperature, while logging how often they eat and sneeze, offering early warning of the onset of illness.

    An onboard accelerometer could tell when the user falls and instruct the smartphone to pass information to relatives, or call an ambulance based on GPS data.

    Tests are being carried out in Hiroshima, with the aim of commercialising the device from April 2016.

  • Pakistani Taliban announces month-long truce

    Armed group says it will halt attacks during ceasefire period to allow resumption of failed peace talks with government.
    Pakistani Taliban has announced a month-long ceasefire in an attempt to allow the resumption of stalled peace talks with the government, a spokesperson of the armed group said in an emailed statement to Al Jazeera.
    “So on the appeal of dignitaries, respect for the Taliban negotiation committee, and bearing in mind the wider interest of Islam and the country – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announces a month-long ceasefire,” Shahidullah Shahid said on Saturday.
    “To fix the breakdown and for lasting ceasefire, the government committee has responded positively to our suggestions. And we’ve been assured that actions will be taken to implement those suggestions,” he said.
    The group said that “it had instructed all its regional groups not to carry out attacks” during the period.
    One of the regional groups, TTP Mohmand chapter, says it will abide by the ceasefire announcement.
    A statement from Omar Khurasani of the group, that is against peace talks, said he was not happy with the way government agencies were killing Taliban captives, but respected the central TTP leadership decision.
    Last month Islamabad began peace talks with the Taliban on how to end a seven-year armed rebellion which has cost thousands of lives.

    Government welcomes
    Irfan Sadiqui, the leader of the government’s negotiating team, praised the ceasefire announcement while speaking on local Geo Television, saying the government will review any written document from the Taliban about it, according to AP news agency.
    “Today, we are seeing a big breakthrough,” Sadiqui said.
    The announcement comes as Pakistan jets and helicopters struck fighter hideouts in the northwest in recent weeks after previous efforts at negotiations broke down when a rebel faction announced it had killed 23 Pakistani troops.
    Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said that the (Taliban’s) policy changed after the government said it would go after the headquarters of the group if it came under attack.
    Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif long has promoted negotiations over military operations as a way to end the ongoing crisis. His efforts gained speed this year when both sides announced negotiating teams held initial meetings.

  • Saudi preacher who raped and tortured his daughter released after paying blood money

    A ‘celebrity’ Saudi preacher accused of raping, torturing and killing his five-year-old daughter has reportedly been released from custody after agreeing to pay ‘blood money’
    Fayhan al-Ghamdi had been accused of killing his daughter Lama, who suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken back, broken ribs, a broken left arm and extensive bruising and burns. Social workers say she had also been repeatedly raped and burnt.
    Fayhan al-Ghamdi admitted using a cane and cables to inflict the injuries after doubting his five-year-old daughter’s virginity and taking her to a doctor, according to the campaign group Women to Drive.
    Rather than getting the death penalty or receiving a long prison sentence for the crime, Fayhan al-Ghamdi served only a few months in jail before a judge ruled the prosecution could only seek ‘blood money’.
    Albawaba News reported the judge as saying: “Blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama’s death suffices as punishment.”
    Fayhan al-Ghamdi, who regularly appears on television in Saudi Arabia, is said to have agreed to pay £31,000 to Lama’s mother.
    The money is considered compensation under Islamic law, although it is only half the amount that would have been paid had Lama been a boy.
    Despite Saudi Arabia’s famously strict legal system, Women to Drive say fathers cannot be executed for murdering their children in the country. Equally, husbands cannot be executed for murdering their wives.
    Formal objections to the ruling have been raised by three Saudi activists, and the twitter hashtag #AnaLama (which translates as I Am Lama) has been set up.
    Local reports say public anger over the settlement is growing across Saudi Arabia, with authorities planning to set up a 24-hour hotline to take calls about child abuse.

  • Lebanon’s Hezbollah vows to respond to Israeli attack

    The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has confirmed that Israel targeted one of its bases in a recent airstrike, vowing to retaliate against the attack.
    Hezbollah on Wednesday condemned the act of violence, saying it would respond to the Israeli airstrike near the village of Janta, which hit a base on the Lebanon-Syria border on February 24.
    The Lebanese group said Tel Aviv had violated its country’s sovereignty and that the group would retaliate  at the appropriate time and place.
    “We will retaliate for this Israeli aggression, and the resistance will choose the appropriate time and place as well as appropriate means to respond,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
    They also denied reports suggesting the airstrike had hit a missile base.

    The resistance movement said that although the attack had caused no casualties, some material damage had been done.

    Although some Israeli officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tel Aviv had carried out the attack on Monday, the Israeli military has not released any comments on the airstrike.

    Beirut has filed several complaints to the United Nations over the violation of the country’s airspace by Israeli military aircraft.

    Tel Aviv violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.

    Earlier reports said that the airstrike on Monday had hit an area inside Syrian territory.

  • Obama seeks plans for a total troop pull-out from Afghanistan

    US plans full troop pullout from Afghanistan
    Washington: US President Barack Obama has told the Pentagon to prepare for the possibility that the United States will not leave behind any troops in Afghanistan after its troop drawdown at the end of this year, the White House said on Tuesday.
    Obama conveyed the message in a phone call to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who has been balking at signing a bilateral security agreement that the United States insists it must have before agreeing to leave a contingent of troops behind for counter-terrorism operations and training.
    “Specifically, President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014,” the White House said.
    The statement came as defense secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Brussels for a NATO defense ministers meeting at which Afghanistan is to be discussed.

  • Chief of Pakistani Taliban Asmatullah Shaheen Shot dead in Waziristan

    MIRANSHAH: A top commander of the Pakistani Taliban was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Monday in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, security sources and family members in the tribal region told Reuters. 

    Asmatullah Shaheen was on the Pakistan army’s list of twenty most wanted Taliban commanders, and had had a $120,000 bounty placed on his head since 2009. 

    He was appointed as interim chief of the Pakistan Taliban following the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader, in a US drone strike on November 1. 

    Shaheen’s killers ambushed his car as it passed through Dargah Mandi, a village 5km (3 miles) northwest of Miranshah, the regional capital of North Waziristan. 

    “Unidentified gunmen in another car shot and killed Shaheen as well as the driver and guards,” a family member told Reuters. 

    Security sources also confirmed the deaths. 

    The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s democratically elected government and impose Sharia law in the nuclear-armed nation. 

    Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May, promising a negotiated end to violence. His stance unnerved global powers already worried that withdrawal of most US-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014 would leave a security vaccuum. 

    Peace talks between the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents began on February 6 but broke down last week after insurgents said they executed 23 men from a government paramilitary force in revenge for the killing of their fighters by army forces. 

    Shaheen was considered one of the proponents of peace talks, according to sources close to the Taliban. 

    The failure to reach a negotiated settlement has raised the spectre of a major military offensive in North Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where al-Qaida-linked militants are based. 

    On Sunday, Pakistani fighter jets attacked suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas on the Afghan border. The army said they killed at least 38 insurgents in the third air strike in recent days. 

    On Saturday, at least nine people were killed in similar strikes in Hangu district. On February 20, 15 suspected militants were killed when army jets bombed the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.

  • Taliban kills 20 Afghan soldiers, kidnaps seven: Official

    ASADABAD: The Taliban stormed an Afghan army outpost in the eastern Kunar province bordering Pakistan early Sunday, killing 20 soldiers and kidnapping seven, an official said.

    The volatile border area is dominated by militants who often use improvised explosive devices to target soldiers, but Sunday’s attack saw the highest casualty count in a single incident in recent months.

    The attack occurred in the Ghaziabad district of Kunar province, provincial governor Shuja-Ul Mulk Jalala told AFP. The Taliban later issued a statement claiming responsibility.

    The governor said “some” of the soldiers in the post were thought to have aided the attackers, though this could not be verified by an independent source and the Taliban did not mention insider help in their statement.

    A hunt was underway to release the kidnapped troopers, a defence ministry official in Kabul said.

    Casualties among Afghan soldiers and police have increased in recent years as they take more responsibility in the fight against insurgents before their Western allies, the US and Nato troops, leave under a US plan by the end of the year.

  • Saudi man gets 2,400 lashes in public for beating mother

    Mnama: A man in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to five years in jail and 2,400 lashes in public by a court for beating up his mother.
    According to Gulf News, the man physically assaulted his mother and broke her front tooth while she was riding with him in a car.
    Judge Turki Al Qarni said that the man will also have the same tooth broken as his mother’s as a part of his punishments. The judge has ordered the lashing to be carried out in 60 parts, 40 every 10 days in public near a market. The man was taken into custody after his bruised mother alerted the police at a local checkpoint. The accused has reportedly agreed to the accusations laid on him by his mother. The Judge issued the sentence after getting the accused medically examined for his mental faculties and whether he had taken any drugs. (ANI)

  • Tahir ul Qadri Met with Many Scholars in Iran

    Pakistani elite stresses Islamic unity to confront colonial powers 

    Tehran-Abna: Sheikh Mohammad Tahir al Ghaderi, head of Menhaj al Qur’an institute in Pakistan, met with Islamic proximity figures of Iran among them grand Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, Secretary General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani and grand Ayatollah Hussein Noori Hamedani, top Iranian jurisprudents.

    Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani in this meeting praised the books by Sunni cleric on Ahlul Bayt (AS), household of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and said,” We are happy that there are Sunni intellectuals who know Shia sanctities better than Shia Muslims.”

    Iranian cleric expressed happiness that the books published by Pakistani institute of Menhaj al Qur’an proves the status of Ahlul Bayt (AS) based on Qur’anic verses.

    Pakistani thinker also met with grand Ayatollah Hussein Noori Hamedani when the Iranian scholar stressed importance for preventing influence of enemies in Islamic territories.

    Ayatollah Noori Hamedani slammed the US for being traced in the criminal attacks in Pakistan and called Muslims to maintain their unity and foil the plots by enemies.

    He expressed regret that Pakistan has turned into a safe sanctuary for terrorists and stressed,” Muslims have to unite and know that it is the day of Jihad and confrontation with colonialism.”

    The cleric also reiterated the role of Muslim scholars in leading the people for boosting Islamic unity and said,” Clerics have to hold joint meetings to discuss the elements behind dispersion of Muslims and warn the people against them.”

    Ayatollah Noori Hamedani said enemies are quite sensitive towards Islamic Awakening movement and spared no effort to deviate the movement; therefore, we have to do whatever within our power to know and confront our true enemies.”

  • Facebook to buy messaging network WhatsApp

    Deal worth $16bn will give social-networking firm access to 450 million people who use the cross-platform mobile app.

    Facebook, the world’s biggest social-networking company, says it is buying the mobile messaging service WhatsApp in a deal worth $16bn.

    The purchase, announced on Wednesday, will leave WhatsApp with its own independent board.

    WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay telecom charges.

    It is Facebook’s biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg’s firm raised $16bn in the richest technology-sector public stock offering.

    The purchase includes $12bn in Facebook shares and $4bn cash.

    It calls for an additional $3bn in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp founders and employees that will vest over four years.

    “The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core Internet services efficiently and affordably,” Facebook said in a statement.

    The WhasApp deal translates to roughly nine percent of Facebook’s market value and is bigger than any acquisition made by Google, Apple or Microsoft.

    Google’s biggest deal, Motorola Mobility, stood at $12.5bn, while Microsoft’s largest was Skype – which allows users to make voice and video calls over the internet – at $8.5bn. Apple, meanwhile, has not done a deal above $1bn.

    Separate service

    Facebook, which has more than 1.2 billion members, said it will keep WhatsApp as a separate service, just as it did with Instagram, which it bought for about $715.3m.

    WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly active users. In comparison, Twitter had 241 million users at the end of 2013.

    “WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable,” Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, said.

    “I’ve known [WhatsApp founder] Jan [Koum] for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.”

    Koum, who joins Facebook’s board under the deal, said “WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide.”

    In a blog post, Koum said, “Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody. Nothing else mattered to us.”

    The tie-up gives WhatsApp “the flexibility to grow and expand, while giving me, [co-founder] Brian [Acton], and the rest of our team more time to focus on building a communications service that’s as fast, affordable and personal as possible,” Koum said.

    Facebook reportedly sought to acquire another messaging firm, Snapchat, for $3bn last year.