Issue 261

22 05/07/2018 NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
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Former Malaysian PM Najib arrested on corruption charges
Kuala Lumpur : Former
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak was arrested on Tuesday
by anti-corruption authorities for
his alleged role in the 1MDB
scandal, described as the
"biggest one in Malaysian history",
involving billions of dollars
being embezzled from a government
fund and fraudulently spent
around the world.
Najib, who has long been
plagued by allegations of corruption,
has been accused of pocketing
$700 million from the
1Malaysia Development Berhad
fund, set up by him in 2009.
Billions of dollars are unaccounted
for from the fund, authorities
say. The Malaysian Anti-
Corruption Commission
(MACC) said that Najib, toppled
from power in May, was arrested
from his home in afternoon and
will be charged at the Kuala
Lumpur court on Wednesday,
Malaysian state media Bernama
reported. His arrest came after
the newly-elected government,
led by 92-year-old Mahathir
Mohamad, reopened the investigation
into 1MDB after coming
to power in May and pledged to
bring to justice all of those
responsible for the multi-billion
dollar fraud. Najib denies wrongdoing
and reiterated his innocence
in a interview last week,
saying: "If I knew there was
going to be misappropriation of funds, if that was my knowledge, I would have acted." Mahathir
1,500 Indian Mansarovar
pilgrims stranded in Nepal
said the Indian Embassy.
Weather conditions across Nepal
have worsened since Monday
due to perpetual downpour in
which at least a dozen people
were killed. The Embassy said it
has placed its representatives in
Nepalganj and Simikot to ensure
proper food and lodging facilities
for the pilgrims. The police
have been asked to take care of
those stranded, it added.
In Simikot, Indian officials
are providing medical help to the
elderly pilgrims. The Indian government
has also set up hotlines
for the stranded people to contact
their families. The Indian
Kathmandu : Over 1,500 ed in Hilsa, close to Nepal-Tibet situation was continuously being
Indian nationals returning after border, while some are stranded monitored and as soon as weather
got better, the pilgrims would tors in the region to try hold pil-
mission has asked all tour opera-
pilgrimage at the Kailash in Simikot," said Pranav Ganesh,
Mansarovar in Tibet are stranded First Secretary at the Indian be rescued through helicopters grims back in Tibet as far as possible
since the medical and civic
in Simikot in Nepal's Humla district
due to heavy rain and bad The Embassy said there were of July 3 morning, the weather facilities on Nepal side were
Embassy in Kathmandu. and brought to Nepalgunj. "As
weather. "Bad weather is hampering
the rescue operations. Simikot, 550 in Hilsa and anoth-
there is very little chance of trying to use Nepal Army heli-
525 pilgrims stranded in situation remains inclement and inadequate. The Embassy is also
Some of the pilgrims are strander
500 more in Tibet. It said the operating evacuation flights," copters for evacuation.
Have not seen a single
movie in 30 years :
Army Chief tells kids
New Delhi : Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on
Tuesday told school students from Chhattisgarh that he has not seen
a single movie in the past 30 years. Asked by Shriom Kashyap, a
class 8 student from the Delhi Public School, Raipur, about his
views on the patriotic Hindi film movies, he said: "I, in the past 30
years, never got time to watch a movie and to sit at a place for three
hours." During the interaction, he answered various questions of the
students related to the Army and situation in Jammu and Kashmir
and Chhattisgarh.
The army chief asked the students to never lose hope, "even if
you witness failure in class or in life". "Work hard, never lose hope.
You are the future of our country. Whenever failure comes, work
even harder. Only hard work is the key to success," he said. Rawat
also told the students to never look down on the people who fail. He
also said that he hopes most of the students will join the army.
The students, 17 boys and 3 girls, came from a week-long trip to
north India during which they will also go to the Indian Military
Academy, Dehradun. "Most of the students wants to join the Army
and the school wanted them to have a real exposure of army life. We
wanted them to know the real army life. The students are between
the age group of 13 to 17 years old and are from Class 7 to Class
12," their teacher Suman Bahidar told IANS.
said last week that authorities
had an almost "perfect case"
against the former Prime
Minister on charges including
bribery, theft of government
funds and embezzlement,
according to a report in the
Guardian. Najib was cleared of
all wrongdoing when he was the
Prime Minister but the investigation
was widely viewed as a
cover-up. According to figures in
the Finance Ministry, 1MDB's
losses totalled $10 billion.
Najib's stepson Riza Aziz was
also questioned by MACC over
allegedly misappropriating
1MDB money to fund the Martin
Scorsese film "The Wolf of Wall
Street". Aziz, who owns a film
production company, denies any
wrongdoing but in March it was
revealed that his company agreed
to pay the US government $60
million to settle a civil lawsuit
that sought to seize assets purchased
with money allegedly
stolen from 1MDB.
Najib and his wife, Rosmah
Mansor, have given statements to
the MACC over 1MDB. Last
week, police said they had seized
jewellery, handbags and watches
worth up to $273 million and $29
million in cash from six properties
linked to the former leader.
He has been banned from leaving
Malaysia. The couple maintain
the luxury goods were gifts and
that the cash was election funds.
Help NASA track mosquitoes,
reduce disease outbreaks
Washington : NASA has
invited citizen scientists to help
them track mosquitos known to
carry and spread diseases like
Zika, West Nile Virus and malaria
to create new forecast models
that can predict the spread of
these diseases. "We do not have
enough information on the geographic
distribution of mosquito
and time-variation in their populations.
If a lot of people participated
in this citizen science initiative
worldwide, it will help fill
in gaps and that would help our
work," Assaf Anyamba, a scientist
from Universities Space
Research Association at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a
statement. NASA scientists have
initiated the work with DEVEL-
OP team -- part of NASA's
Applied Sciences Programme,
which addresses environmental
and public policy
issues -- to create the
models.
The teams blended
the citizen science data
with NASA satellite
observations of land
surface temperatures,
humidity, soil moisture,
elevation, vegetation
and precipitation.
The data were then
used to create an interactive,
open-source
map on Google Earth
Engine to improve prediction
models for disease-carrying
mosquitoes. Early results
have showed that vegetation,
Pakistan condemns suicide
ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN
Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday condemned a terror attack in
Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city that killed 19 people, including Sikhs
and Hindus. Afghan public health officials said 20 people were
injured in the explosion that occurred outside the compound where
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was holding meetings on Sunday.
He was not harmed.
The slain Sikhs were scheduled to meet Ghani. “We are distressed
and grieved at the loss of precious human lives. We express
our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the families
and friends of those who have lost their lives and pray for early
recovery of the injured,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry said.
The attack came a day after Ghani ordered Afghan security
forces to resume offensive operations against the Taliban following
the expiration of the government’s 18-day ceasefire.
humidity and soil moisture made
it easier for mosquitoes to thrive
during the summer months.
During the winter, elevation
played a stronger role in creating
mosquito-friendly habitats.
The public can help track
mosquitoes by downloading an
app called GLOBE Observer,
and then collect data over the
summer using the Mosquito
Habitat Mapper tool in the app,
NASA said. The app guides
users through the process of
identifying and eliminating mosquito
breeding sites in order to
reduce mosquito populations in
their immediate surroundings.
More citizen science data from
more areas of the world could
help, the US space agency noted.
"Knowing the mosquito species
and their approximate populations
at a given time provides
useful information on the potential
of occurrence of a particular
pathogen, or disease transmission,"
Anyamba said.