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ARY NEWS

AFP

  • US teen jailed more than 11 years for Islamic State conviction

    Ali Shukri Amin, 17, from the small town of Manassas an hour’s drive from Washington DC, will be subject to a lifetime of supervised release and monitoring of his Internet activities.

    He is thought to be the first minor convicted in the United States of providing material aid to the extremist group, which has declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

    The prolific Twitter user, who sent more than 7,000 messages on the site in support of Islamic State, pleaded guilty in June.

    Under the Twitter handle @Amreekiwitness, he provided IS supporters with instructions on using the virtual currency Bitcoin to conceal financial donations to the radical Islamist group and the best way to encrypt their online exchanges.

    He also offered guidance to sympathizers seeking to travel to Syria to fight with IS, including another Virginia teen, Reza Niknejad, who traveled to Syria to join IS in January.

    Niknejad, 18, was charged in June with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to provide material support to IS and conspiring to kill and injure people abroad.

    US prosecutors welcomed the sentence.

    Assistant attorney general John Carlin said “more and more” IS propaganda is seeping into American communities “reaching those who are most vulnerable.

    “The Department of Justice will continue to use all tools to disrupt the threats that ISIL poses,” he said, using an alternative acronym for the group.

    Those who use social media to support IS would be “prosecuted with no less vigilance” than those who take up arms for the group, said US attorney Dana Boente.

    Amin’s lawyer, Joseph Flood, had described his client as a stellar student from a good family who was outraged by rights abuses under Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

    When Amin pleaded guilty, Flood said he was the first minor convicted in the United States of providing material aid to IS.

    In Florida, a 27-year-old Kenyan was sentenced to 15 years for conspiring to support Al-Qaeda, and its affiliates in Syria and Somalia, Al-Nusra Front and the Shebab, prosecutors said Friday.

    Mohamed Hussain Said, who pleaded guilty in May, received wire transfers from a co-conspirator destined for Shebab and recruited experienced Shebab fighters to fight in Syria.

    US prosecutors said he also tried to recruit others for attacks inside the United States.

    On Thursday, another man was arrested in Arizona and charged with providing material support to IS for allegedly helping a New York college student travel to Syria to train for jihad.

    The head of the FBI, James Comey, told lawmakers last month that upwards of 200 Americans have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria to join IS.

  • Facebook celebrates one billion users in single day

    “We just passed an important milestone,” chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg declared in a post on his Facebook page.

    “On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family.”

    “When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different,” Zuckerberg added.

    “This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it’s just the beginning of connecting the whole world.”

    Zuckerberg also posted a video dedicated to the achievement.

    In its earnings update last month, Facebook said monthly active users surged 13 percent from a year ago to 1.49 billion. The number of mobile active users rose to 1.31 billion.

    Facebook on Thursday also said it is building new technology that video creators can use to guard against their works being copied at the social network without permission.

    “This technology is tailored to our platform and will allow these creators to identify matches of their videos on Facebook across pages, profiles, groups, and geographies,” a blog post said.

    “Our matching tool will evaluate millions of video uploads quickly and accurately, and when matches are surfaced, publishers will be able to report them to us for removal.”

    Facebook planned to soon begin testing the new matching technology with a select group of partners, including media companies.

    The California-based social network said that it has got word from some publishers that videos are sometimes uploaded to Facebook without permission in a practice referred to as “freebooting.”

    Facebook is already using an Audible Magic system that uses audio “fingerprinting” to identify and block copyrighted videos from making it onto the social network without proper authorization.

    “We want creators to get credit for the videos that they own,” Facebook said.

    “To address this, we have been exploring ways to enhance our rights management tools to better empower creators to control how their videos are shared on Facebook.”

  • Russia launches Proton rocket with British satellite

    A Proton-M rocket carrying an Inmarsat-5 F3 communications satellite launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1144 GMT as scheduled, Russia’s space agency said.

    “The launch went as planned,” spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos Igor Burenkov told AFP.

    “All the systems operated remarkably well.”

    The launch is crucial for Inmarsat, Britain’s biggest satellite operator, which said that together with two other satellites, it will create “the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider.”

    A similar rocket carrying a Mexican satellite fell back to earth on May 16 after suffering an engine malfunction in one of a series of embarrassing failures for Russia’s troubled space programme.

    The state-run Khrunichev Centre spacecraft manufacturer said the failure was due to a construction flaw in one of the engines.

  • Facebook to meet German government on Internet hate-mongering

    In a letter to Facebook’s European subsidiaries, Justice Minister Heiko Maas suggested a meeting with company executives on September 14 to talk about “improving the effectiveness and transparency of your community standards”.

    Facebook’s German unit agreed to meet Maas, saying in an email sent to AFP it “takes his concerns very seriously”.

    “We are very interested in an exchange of views with Minister Maas about what society, companies and politicians can do together against xenophobia spreading in Germany,” the email said.

    The Internet giant “works hard every day to protect people on Facebook against abuse, hate speech and bullying”, the company spokesman said.

    “Racism has no place on Facebook.”

    As Germany faces a record influx of refugees and a backlash from the far right, social media like Facebook have seen an upsurge of hateful, xenophobic commentary.

    Many users say that when they complain to the company about offensive posts, Facebook often responds that after a review the post does not violate its community standards, Maas said, even in “obvious cases”.

    And users also accuse the company of double standards for cracking down swifter and harder on nudity and sexual content than on hate-mongering.

    Maas said Facebook was required to delete posts in violation of German laws against incitement of racial hatred.

    Facebook users in Berlin and the southern state of Bavaria have been slapped with large fines this year for hate speech.

    Last month Germany’s most popular film star, Til Schweiger, blasted fans who left dozens of anti-immigrant comments on his Facebook page after he appealed for donations for a refugee charity.

    And a German TV journalist’s impassioned appeal this month for an “uprising of decent people” against racism and attacks on asylum-seekers was viewed more than five million times via Facebook alone within 48 hours, drawing an outpouring of both support and scorn.

    Facebook said in April it would not allow the social network to be used to promote hate speech or terrorism as it unveiled a wide-ranging update of its global community standards. – AFP

  • Two US journalists killed in Virginia firing during live TV broadcast

    WDBJ journalist Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot at close range while conducting an on-air interview. The gunman was still at large.

    “We do not know the motive. We do not know who the suspect or the killer is,” said WDBJ general manager Jeffrey Marks as he confirmed the deaths to viewers.

    WDBJ is located in the southern Virginia city of Roanoke.

     


    Firing at news men during live coverage in… by arynews
     

    Marks said Parker and Ward were “both in love with other members of the team” at WDBJ.

    The woman that Parker was interviewing on a balcony at the lakeside Bridgewater Resort in the town of Moneta, near Roanoke, was reportedly wounded.

    Parker was talking to the woman about tourism development for WDBJ’s early-morning newscast when the gunman seemingly closed in from behind.

    Several shots were heard, as well as screams, as Ward’s camera fell to the floor, capturing a fuzzy image of the gunman, dressed in dark clothing.

    The station then cut away to a startled anchorwoman back in the studio.

    On her Facebook page, Parker — whose birthday was just a week ago — described herself as the “mornin’ reporter” at WDBJ with an interest in ballroom dancing.

    WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst tweeted that he and Parker were “very much in love,” adding: “I am numb.”

    “She worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee,” Hurst said.

    Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said on Twitter that he was “heartbroken over (the) senseless murders.”

    Virginia state police were working with local authorities to capture the gunman, he said.

  • Pakistan’s economic growth hamstrung by low tax collection, says report

    Pakistan’s economy grew at 4.24 percent during the 2014-2015 fiscal year with per capita income rising a significant 9.25 percent, markers that come as investor confidence in the long-underperfoming South Asian giant have also increased.

    But according to the report by non-profit organisation Raftar, funded by Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), Pakistan’s economy continues to rely heavily on “commercial loans, concessionary donor loans and aid”.

    The country’s tax-to-GDP ratio of 9.4 percent is among the lowest in the world, leading to a public debt of 17 trillion rupees ($163 billion). This an almost three-fold increase since 2008 for the $232 billion economy, with 44 percent of tax revenue going toward interest payments.

    The report blamed the lack of a “tax culture” on non-revenue sources of funds the country has historically enjoyed in the form of foreign aid and loans.

    It said 68 percent of tax revenue was being generated through indirect taxes on fuel, food and electricity, which unfairly penalizes the poor.

     

    The lack of revenue collection also negatively affects infrastructure development including power generation, with the country facing a massive shortfall of up to 4000 MW in the summer that shaves about $15 billion off the country’s GDP.

    Pakistan is currently in a $6.6 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund, which was granted on condition that Islamabad carried out extensive economic reforms, particularly in the energy and taxation sectors.

  • Twitter blocks website saving politicians’ deleted posts

    The Open State Foundation started Politwoops in the Netherlands in 2010, and its collection of deleted tweets proved a frequent source of embarrassment for politicians, as well as a useful tool for journalists.

    But the foundation said it was informed on Friday night by Twitter that access was being shut off to Politwoops in the 30 countries in which it operates, following the blocking of Politwoops’ US operation in May.

    It said Twitter was also blocking Diplotwoops, which screens deleted messages by diplomats and embassies worldwide.

    The Open State Foundation said it was told that Twitter had decided to suspend access “following thoughtful internal deliberation and close consideration of a number of factors that doesn’t distinguish between users”.

    “No one user is more deserving of that ability (to delete tweets) than another. Indeed, deleting a tweet is an expression of the user’s voice,” Twitter told the foundation.

    Since being formed at a so-called hackathon five years ago, Politwoops spread to 30 countries from Egypt to the Vatican, as well as the European Parliament.

    It started operating in the US in 2012 thanks to the Sunlight Foundation, which fights for transparency in politics.

    In a statement to AFP, Twitter said that “the ability to delete one’s tweets — for whatever reason — has been a long-standing feature of Twitter for all users”.

    Twitter policy says that those who have access to its APIs (application programme interfaces), as Politwoops did, must delete content “that Twitter reports as deleted or expired”.

    “From time to time, we come upon apps or solutions that violate that policy. Recently we identified several services that used the feature we built to allow for the deletion of tweets to instead archive and highlight them,” Twitter said.

    “We subsequently informed these services of their noncompliance and suspended their access to our APIs.”

    Open State Foundation director Arjan El Fassed insisted comments made by politicians on Twitter should remain in the public domain.

    “What elected politicians publicly say is a matter of public record. Even when tweets are deleted, it’s part of parliamentary history,” he said.

    “What politicians say in public should be available to anyone,” El Fassed added.

    “This is not about typos but it is a unique insight on how messages from elected politicians can change without notice.”

    A check on the Politwoops website on Monday showed no activity for the past two days.

  • Sangakkara offered diplomatic post

    Several thousand cheering fans, many of them schoolchildren waving Sri Lankan flags along with VIPs, turned out to salute Sangakkara at the end of the second Test against India in Colombo.

    “You have been a great honour to Sri Lanka,” President Maithripala Sirisena said in a televised ceremony at the P. Sara Oval for the formidable cricketer after the match.

    Sangakkara, who turns out for Surrey in English county cricket, did not directly address Sirisena’s announcement about the diplomatic post, later telling reporters he had been unprepared for the gesture.

    “It was a surprise, I have to go and think about it and discuss with his excellency (the president)” Sangakkara said.

    During the formal sendoff, the 37-year-old broke down as he thanked his parents for standing by him during his 15 years of cricket.

    “All the support and love they showed over the years, whether I played cricket or not, whether I did well or not, the only place I could go and feel safe was home. So thank you ‘amma’ (mother) and ‘apachchi’ (father),” Sangakkara said, fighting back tears as fans cheered and clapped.

    He also praised Indian captain Virat Kohli and his team for their tough opposition during his farewell match which Sri Lanka lost by 278 runs on Monday, allowing the tourists to level the series 1-1.

    “Thank you for not giving any quarter,” he told the Indian team.

    “And thank you for really making it a privilege of mine to play against you,” he said.

    Hours after the emotional send-off, Sangakkara said he was looking forward to a “new innings” with his family.

    “Thank you for the wonderful farewell,” he said on Twitter. “I will miss the cricket. But my amazing wife (Yehali) and children await my innings with them. Time for family.”

    Thousands turned out on Sunday to see Sangakkara’s final international innings. But he was denied a dream end to his career when he was caught tapping a full toss to the short mid-wicket fielder for 18.

    Sangakkara, the fifth highest run-getter in Test history, finished his Test career with 12,400 runs from 134 Tests at an average of 57.40. He scored 38 centuries, including a best of 319 against Bangladesh in Chittagong last year.

    He follows Sachin Tendulkar of India, Ricky Ponting of Australia, Jacques Kallis of South Africa and Rahul Dravid of India in the all-time list of leading Test scorers.

    ICC chief executive David Richardson paid tribute to Sangakkara as “one of cricket’s greatest ever players and ambassadors”.

    “By scoring a total of 28,016 runs across all three formats, he puts himself in the higher echelons of players to ever grace the game.

    “Sangakkara will rightly go down as one of cricket’s greatest-ever players and ambassadors,” Richardson said in an ICC statement.

  • Qatar in talks to host Pakistan Twenty20 League

    The head of the Qatar Cricket Association, Gul Khan told AFP there was a “70 percent” chance Doha would host the tournament, to be played in February 2016, following three days of talks with the senior members of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over the weekend.

    PCB officials are expected to return to Qatar in early September when a final decision will be taken.

    “We want some big international tournaments here,” Khan told AFP. “This is a good experience for everybody. It’s good for Qatar, it’s good for cricket.”

    He added that “big players, big names” would take part in the tournament.

    The PCB is looking for a venue after its first choice of the United Arab Emirates gave priority to a separate tournament involving former players.

    Details of the Super League tournament have yet to be finalised, said Khan, but there will be at least five teams.

    Most of the players are expected to be from Pakistan but Khan added they would be looking to bring in players from other major cricket nations including India, Australia and England.

    Media reports from Pakistan earlier this month claimed the PCB would in September begin the bidding process for selling team franchises, as well as broadcasting and merchandising rights.

    The tournament would be played at Doha’s Asian Town Cricket Stadium, which has a 14,000 seat capacity, and it is likely all games would be day/night matches.

    The event should prove popular among Qatar’s huge Asian community.

    There are around 90,000 people from Pakistan living in Qatar, a number which is expected to rise in the near future with the influx of more workers needed for the huge number of infrastructure projects taking place in the super rich Gulf state.

    In addition, there are large numbers of people from other strong Asian cricketing nations including more than half a million residents from India, 150,000 from Bangladesh and 100,000 from Sri Lanka.

    Khan said it was hoped that the super league could attract spectators from nearby UAE.

    The tournament could also pave the way for Qatar to host Pakistan test matches, said Khan.

    Currently Pakistan plays its test matches outside the country because of security concerns.

    Pakistan will play Ashes winners England in a three-match test series in the UAE in October and November.

    If the negotiations secure the tournament in Qatar, it will reinforce the Gulf state’s position as a major sporting hub.

    As well as the 2022 football World Cup, Qatar is set to host the World Athletics Championships in 2019, and last year hosted the short-course World Swimming Championships.

    Officials will announce within the next month if Qatar will bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

     

  • White House admits Biden mulling 2016 run

    Biden, President Obama’s deputy for nearly seven years, has previously said he would make a decision on entering the 2016 race by the end of the summer.

    “I would assume that that means he’s got a another month or so to think about this and announce a decision,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

    Obama has so far been careful not to pick among the Democratic candidates.

    But several close aides have jumped from the White House to Clinton’s campaign in recent months.

    Her struggles to explain why she used a private email server to conduct state business has raised questions about her status as presumptive nominee.

    Democrats have long been concerned about the prospect of a half-hearted primary race leading to Clinton’s nomination.

    Biden would provide Clinton with stiff competition, but his path back to the White House is not entirely clear.

    He has been a presidential candidate twice and twice lost badly.

    Earnest did not rule out the possibility that Obama would ultimately chose between his vice president and his former secretary of state.

    “I wouldn’t rule out an endorsement,” he said.

    Speculation about Biden’s plans were fueled by reports over the weekend that he had met privately with Senator Elizabeth Warren, an influential voice in the Democratic Party’s left wing.