IS releases song in Chinese
Beijing: The Islamic State (IS) has published a song in Mandarin calling China’s Muslims to take up arms, a media report said on Tuesday.
Analysts on Monday said the song, released on Sunday by the IS propaganda website “Jihadology”, attempted to strengthen its presence in China, the Global Times reported.
The four-minute song, titled ‘We are Mujahid’, contains lyrics such as “It’s our dream to die fighting on the battlefield”, “No power could stop us from moving forward”, “Pick up your weapons to revolt” and “The shameless enemy would panic”.
Jihadology describes itself as an “academic website that curates new primary source material from global jihadis” on its Twitter account.
“This is the first time that the IS has released a Chinese song to recruit members or inspire its followers,” Zhu Yongbiao, assistant director of the Institute of Central Asia Studies at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Monday.
“Some terrorists in the Xinjiang Uygur region have travelled via Turkey to Syria and Iraq to join the IS and some of them will return to launch terrorist activities in China,” an expert from the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said. (IANS)
Couple who kept man as slave for 24 years jailed in Britain
London: A British judge has sentenced a husband and wife, who kept a man as a slave for almost a quarter of a century, to six years each in prison. Emmanuel Edet, a doctor, and his wife Antan Erdet, a nurse, moved from Nigeria to Britain in 1989.
With them came 13-year-old Ofonime Sunday Inuk, whom, they told officials, was their son. Prosecutors say he worked as an unpaid “houseboy” for 24 years, cooking, cleaning, gardening and looking after the couple’s two sons.
Inuk eventually contacted a charity after the couple went to Nigeria for Christmas 2013 and they were arrested three months later. Sentencing the Edets on Monday at London’s Harrow Crown Court, Judge Graham Arran said their behavior robbed Inuk “of the opportunity of leading a normal life.” (AP)
China to establish full-coverage audit system
Beijing: China will establish a full-coverage audit system by 2020 that matches the country’s modern governing system and capacity, according to an official document released on Tuesday.
The audit system will have a full coverage of public fund, state assets, state-owned resources and economic responsibility of government officials, Xinhua cited the document released by the office of the Communist Party of China central committee. (IANS)
UK man tries to board plane with ‘toy bomb’, creates scare
Kuala Lumpur: A 48-year-old British man on Tuesday tried to carry a toy bomb on board a plane packed with tourists, creating a security scare at the popular Indonesian airport following which he was briefly detained. Davide Fogli tried to board a Doha-bound Qatar Airways flight from Bali carrying a toy bomb which he had bought for taking it to a New Year’s Eve party, airport officials was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
Fogli, who was accompanied by a friend, had initially declaring the toy – with a timer and imitation sticks of dynamite – at the security and had asked if he could take it on board. Airport officials refused to his request following which he left the toy bomb at the desk before proceeding to check-in with his woman friend.
The plane packed with tourists had apparently already taxied on to the runway and was preparing for take off when it was ordered to return to the terminal after authorities wanted to question Fogli further. The duo were escorted off and taken in for questioning – initially by airport security officials then by police in the provincial capital Depasar today. After declaring the toy, which featured a timer and imitation sticks of dynamite, at security he asked if he could take it on board the Qatar Airways flight. But police said officers at the airport in Bali refused and he left it at the desk before proceeding to check-in with his woman friend.
The packed flight, bound for Doha, had apparently already taxied on to the runway and was preparing for take off before officials at the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali entered the jet to remove the pair. After interrogating, police established the bomb, which featured a timer attacked to multiple sticks of dynamite, was a toy. The airport general manager, Trikora Harjo reportedly had the man pulled off the passenger jet.
“This was a very realistic toy and in the current climate, we wanted to know more about his plans,” Bali Airport said. The security officials cleared the man of any charges after being sent to a toy shop, where they found identical replicas for sale. “We have found no indication of suspicious reasons, he just bought a toy. But since airport authority filed a report, we had to do a follow up,” police chief Reinhard Habonaran Nainggolan said. (PTI)
Tibet world’s largest winter habitat for black-necked cranes
Beijing: Tibet has become the world’s largest winter habitat for a critically endangered crane, a media report said on Tuesday.
Tibet is currently temporary home to 7,000 to 8,000 black-necked cranes, around 70 percent of the world’s total, the Global Times reported.
“It has turned into a winter haven for this critically endangered species,” said Dawa Tsering, researcher with the Tibet Autonomous Regional Academy of Social Sciences.
Fewer than 3,000 black-necked cranes came to Tibet in 1995, Dawa Tsering added.
The birds are native to the plateau regions of China, India, Bhutan and Nepal. Attracted by warm climate and abundant food, such as barley and wheat, thousands of them migrate to Tibet’s river valleys from mid-October and spend winter there.
The black-necked crane is among more than 90 endangered species on China’s top protection list, along with the giant panda and golden monkey.
Tibet now has 47 nature reserves, covering 412,200 sq. km, or 34.35 percent of the region’s land area. (IANS)
Facebook shuts down its Creative Labs division
New York: Social networking giant Facebook has decided to call it a day for its experimental division Creative Labs.
Founded two years ago as a start-up within the company, it built a series of experimental social apps designed to test new interfaces and interaction patterns.
But the experiments have come to an end: Facebook said on Tuesday that the division has been closed. As a result, a number of apps developed by it are being discontinued, The Verge reported.
“Since their launches, we’ve incorporated elements of Slingshot, Riff and Rooms into the Facebook for iOS and Android apps,” a Facebook spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
“We haven’t updated these apps in some time and we’ve decided to officially end support by removing them from the App Store and Google Play,” she added.
However, Slingshot and Riff will continue to work for those who have already downloaded them.
Facebook said no one was laid off as part of the division’s shutdown. (IANS)
