My Queen

When Zafar Achakzai, a journalist in the restive Pakistani province of Balochistan, heard a loud, insistent knocking on his door just before sunrise on June 25, he did not quite know what to expect. When he answered, he was met by about a dozen armed men, some in Pakistani paramilitary uniforms. "They ordered me to come with them," the 21-year-old reporter told Al Jazeera by telephone. "When we were some distance from my home, they blindfolded me, and then I was held at some unknown place." For hours, he remained in the dark. Eventually, men came to ask him questions, to confirm his identity and take down details about his work. It was then that he asked them why he had been taken. "I was told that I use Facebook quite a lot. That is all that they said." Achakzai was held without charge and interrogated repeatedly over the next three days. His interrogators, who refused to identify themselves, only said that they were concerned about several Fa...

A  Bloomberg  interview has revealed Old Mutual Gold & Silver Fund has set aside roughly 11 million USD from its holdings since spring of this year to purchase the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin. It’s another feather in the decentralized currency’s cap, even as debate rages as to whether it will ever supplant gold’s tradition of being a hedge against tough economic times.    http://wabbo.org   Bitcoin Paving Way for Reintroduction of Gold as Global Money Ranjeetha Pakiam reports: “The Old Mutual Gold & Silver Fund, which manages $220 million of mostly precious metal equities, is jumping on the bitcoin wagon.” Fund manager Ned Naylor-Leyland explained to Ms. Pakiam how they’ve been gobbling up bitcoin since April “with a mandate to allocate as much as 5 percent to cryptocurrencies,” Ms. Pakiam writes. A response back in 2015 from the fund manager, to an individual who viewed bitcoin as too volatile. “Bitcoin is paving the way for the reintroduction of ...

South Punjab comes on top in agricultural economy as it has 96% share in cotton production in Punjab and 80% in the entire country as well as pays more taxes than the industrial hub of Faisalabad, emphasized Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan, President of the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was giving a briefing to the visiting probationary officers of grade-18 of the 24th Mid-career Management Course of the National Institute of Management, Karachi. Awan pointed out that south Punjab offered great opportunities for investment in the areas of agriculture, dairy products, livestock, fruit and vegetable processing and packaging. He cited the surveys conducted by the World Bank and its financing arm International Finance Corporation that ranked south Punjab second in the country for making investment. However, the region lags far behind upper Punjab in terms of development, which necessitates the need for providing health care facilities and potable water to the people.  ...

During China’s 19th Party Congress in October, President Xi Jinping placed innovation at the center of China’s national strategy. His remarks called for building China into a “science and technology superpower,” particularly as an “aerospace superpower” and “cyber superpower.” He highlighted notable achievements, including Mozi, the world’s first quantum satellite, and China’s space lab, Tiangong. His remarks underscored that, under his leadership, China has pursued a strategy of innovation-driven development and sought to leverage the potential of the internet, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). If successful, China’s emergence as a leading power in innovation could shift the strategic balance.  http://spinstheworld.com Xi Jinping has recognized that innovation is a critical determinant of national power and competitiveness. This techno-nationalism is not new, but rather there is a long history of China’s pursuit of indigenous innovation. The “Two Bombs, One Satellite” ...

A federal grand jury has indicted the man accused of driving a truck along a pedestrian path in Lower Manhattan, killing 8 people and injuring 12 on Halloween, on charges of terrorism and murder. A grand jury handed down a 22-count indictment against Sayfullo Saipov, 29, of Paterson, New Jersey, who police say was inspired by ISIS videos to plan an attack in the United States. The goal: to “kill as many people as he could.” The charges in Tuesday’s indictment include: Eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering.  Maximum sentence of life imprisonment or death on each count. Eleven counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering.  Maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment on each count. One count of providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death.  Maximum sentence of life imprisonment. One count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles resulting in death.  Maximum sentenc...

1. Pollution:  Pollution of air, water and soil require millions of years to recoup. Industry and motor vehicle exhaust are the number one pollutants. Heavy metals, nitrates and plastic are toxins responsible for pollution. While water pollution is caused by oil spill, acid rain, urban runoff; air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins released by industries and factories and combustion of fossil fuels; soil pollution is majorly caused by industrial waste that deprives soil from essential nutrients. 2. Global Warming:  Climate changes like global warming is the result of human practices like emission of Greenhouse gases. Global warming leads to rising temperatures of the oceans and the earth’ surface causing melting of polar ice caps, rise in sea levels and also unnatural patterns of precipitation such as flash floods, excessive snow or desertification.  http://notquitehippie.co 3. Overpopulation:  The population of the planet is reaching unsustainable levels as it face...

AN ENDLESS stream of new discoveries makes science thrilling. But, as any seasoned researcher knows, such novelties are worthless unless they can be replicated. Often, though, replication does not get done as thoroughly as it should be—or even at all. For, as any seasoned researcher also knows, replication is rarely the stuff careers are built on; studies conducted with that goal may even struggle to get published in peer-reviewed journals. In this context, a recent attempted replication is important, for it actually was published last week in a journal called  Psychological Science . Its author was Michael Dufner of the University of Leipzig, in Germany. In it, he said that he was unable to replicate a fascinating previous finding which had suggested that people who smile more intensely tend to live longer than those who did not.  http://newssum.net The original study, published in 2010 by Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger, then of Wayne State University, in Detroit, seemed so...

What are Trump’s plans? Trump has already been treated by Xi inping to a personal tour of the Forbidden City and a night at the opera complete with cheering schoolchildren on the first day of his “state visit-plus”. That lofty designation meant China’s nominally communist rulers welcomed the world’s most famous capitalist with a show-stopping display of pomp and circumstance designed to flatter his ego and win, if not his heart then at least his acquiescence. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the red-carpet welcome was payback for the “considerate” reception offered to Xi Jinping earlier this year at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago estate: “We Chinese people believe that courtesy calls for reciprocity.”  http://livefromsilvercity.com 'Extraordinary elevation': Trump kowtows to kingpin Xi “You can believe it will be to the tenth power,” Orville Schell, a veteran China watcher who is chronicling Trump’s Asian journeys for Vanity Fair, s...