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ARY NEWS

AFP

  • Hackers broadcast porn on TV screens at Brazil bus depot

    The footage ran for 15 minutes Friday evening at the Boqueirao station in the southern city of Curitiba. The depot was packed with travelers at the time.

    The police cyber crime unit has been notified and is trying to trace the hacker or hackers, the municipal transport company said.

    A Curitiba city hall official told AFP the company with the contract to operate the screens has also been notified and told it must improve its security.

    Social media lit up with screen grabs of the porn and jokes about the hack.

    With a population of around two million, Curitiba is the capital of Parana state and one of the largest cities in southern Brazil.

     

  • Woe for Walker as Manchester United make winning start

    The England right-back put through his own net in the 22nd minute, rushing back in an attempt to prevent Wayne Rooney taking aim from Ashley Young’s cross and succeeding only in scuffing the ball into his own net.

    United handed competitive debuts to Sergio Romero, Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay, while Bastian Schweinsteiger came on in the second half to become the club’s first German player.

    “The first time you play at Old Trafford is always difficult, but I liked the performance, especially of Darmian,” United manager Louis van Gaal, who was celebrating his 64th birthday, told BT Sport.

    On goalkeeper David de Gea, dropped amid interest from Real Madrid, Van Gaal added: “He is our best player for the past two seasons, chosen by the fans, so we can’t let him go so easily.”

    Spurs made a bright start in the Salford sunshine, Christian Eriksen volleying over from Harry Kane’s scooped pass, but they retreated into their shells following Walker’s moment of misfortune.

    United failed to take full advantage, however, with Young the only player to muster a shot on target, and Eriksen forced Romero — deputising for De Gea — to make two sharp saves in the latter stages.

    Chelsea launch their title defence at home to Swansea City later on Saturday.

    Leicester City found themselves on top of the table after Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez inspired them to a 4-2 home win over Sunderland at the King Power Stadium.

    After Marc Albrighton teed up Jamie Vardy for an 11th-minute header, Mahrez scored with a header from another Albrighton cross and then added a penalty to put Leicester 3-0 up with only 25 minutes gone.

    Cabaye strikes for Palace

    Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher found the net for Sunderland in the second half, but a smart strike by Albrighton kept Leicester in control.

    Watford fared the best of the three promoted clubs, drawing 2-2 with Everton at Goodison Park.

    But they twice squandered the lead, with goals from Miguel Layun and substitute Odion Ighalo cancelled out in turn by Ross Barkley and Arouna Kone.

    The first top-flight game in Bournemouth’s 116-year history ended in a 1-0 home defeat against Aston Villa, who prevailed courtesy of a 72nd-minute header from their new striker Rudy Gestede.

    “It was a really good performance from us. I can’t be too critical,” said Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, whose side won the Championship last season.

    “I’m disappointed with the defeat, but looking forward to the rest of the season.”

    Norwich City, promoted via the play-offs in May, lost 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace.

    Wilfried Zaha and Damien Delaney put the visitors in charge before substitute Nathan Redmond hit back for Norwich, but Palace’s star recruit Yohan Cabaye sealed victory in stoppage time.

    Arsenal host West Ham United and Liverpool travel to Stoke City on Sunday, with last season’s runners-up Manchester City opening their campaign at West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

  • Indian villagers kill five women for ‘witchcraft’: Police

    Police in eastern Jharkhand state said a group of assailants dragged the women out of their huts and beat them to death at around midnight Friday in their village Kanjiya Maraitoli, some 30 kilometres from state capital Ranchi.

    “A group (of villagers) dragged the women out and beat them to death with sticks, accusing them of practising witchcraft,” Ranchi deputy police chief Arun Kumar Singh told AFP by phone.

    Singh added that 24 villagers have been arrested over the killings of the women, who were mostly aged between 45 and 50.

    Killings in the name of witchcraft are common in Jharkhand, said a report published on Times of India. Over 1,000 women have been killed in the state in the last decade for allegedly practising witchcraft, according to an estimate.

    A villager said that in the last six months, four children died after prolonged illness. Locals believed that the women had allegedly practised witchcraft on the children and were responsible for their demise.

    The locals decided to eliminate the women together for the welfare of the village, the villager said.

    Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the latest killings in a statement on Saturday, urging society to “ponder over it”.

    “In the age of knowledge, this incident is sorrowful,” he said.

    Belief in witchcraft and the occult remains widespread in some impoverished areas of India.

    In some cases women are stripped naked as punishment, burnt alive or driven from their homes and killed. Some states including Jharkhand have introduced special laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft.

  • Fourth secular blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh

    Niloy Chakrabarti, who used the pen-name Niloy Neel, was killed after the gang forced its way into his apartment, according to the Bangladesh Blogger and Activist Network, which was alerted to the attack by a witness.

    “They entered his room in the fifth floor and shoved his friend aside and then hacked him to death. He was a listed target of the Islamist militants,” the network’s head, Imran H. Sarker, told AFP.

    Police confirmed Chakrabarti, 40, had been murdered by a group of half a dozen people at his home in the capital’s Goran neighbourhood who had pretended they were looking for somewhere to rent.

    “Two of them then took him to a room and then slaughtered him there,” deputy police commissioner Muntashirul Islam told AFP, adding that his wife had been “confined to another room” during the attack.

    Mahbubur Rahman, another deputy commissioner, told reporters Chakrabarti’s wife had been heard crying out “Save us! Save us!” but no one responded.

    The Bangladesh branch of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Ansar al-Islam, claimed the killing and warned of more to come, according to monitoring group SITE.

    “If your ‘freedom of speech’ maintains no limits, then widen your chests for ‘freedom of our machetes’,” the group, which also claimed to have murdered secular blogger Washiqur Rahman in March, said in posts on Twitter and Facebook.

    Chakrabarti is the fourth secular blogger to be killed in the Muslim-majority nation since February, when Bangladeshi-born US citizen Avijit Roy was hacked to death in Dhaka. Roy’s wife was also badly wounded in the attack.

    The other victims include 27-year-old Rahman who was killed in Dhaka four months ago and Ananta Bijoy Das, who was attacked in May by a group wielding machetes in the northeastern city of Sylhet.

    In a Facebook post on May 15, Chakrabarti said he had been followed by two young men after protesting over Das’s murder, but police refused to register the complaint and instead told him to leave the country.

  • At least 20 dead in Kabul police academy attack: officials

    “The attacker was wearing police uniform… when he detonated his explosives, 20 cadets were killed and 20 more were wounded,” a senior Afghan intelligence official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

    The bomber managed to place himself in a queue as police trainees were waiting to be searched before entering the academy, the official said.

    The Taliban were behind the suicide attack, the spokesman for the group, Zabihullah Mujahid, told AFP.

    Another police official confirmed that toll while a third senior security source told AFP that 25 cadets were killed in the attack.

    The incident, which comes as cadets were returning to the academy after their two-day weekend, marks a serious breach of security at a premier training institute for Afghan security forces.

    Heavily-armed security officials cordoned off the area and ambulances with wailing sirens were seen rushing to the scene.

    The academy in west Kabul is a premier training institution for police forces in Afghanistan, with between 2,000 and 3,000 cadets graduating every year.

    The suicide bombing comes less than 24 hours after a truck bomb tore through central Kabul, killing 15 civilians and wounding 240 others in the first major attack in the Afghan capital since the announcement of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s death.

  • England on brink of reclaiming Ashes

    Adam Voges was 48 not out and Mitchell Starc nought not out, with England eyeing a win that would give them a 3-1 lead in the five-match series and see them regain the Ashes.

    Pace-bowling all-rounder Ben Stokes had figures of five for 35 in 16 overs — his second five-wicket haul in his 15-match Test career after he took six for 99 against Australia at Sydney in January last year.

    Earlier, England captain Alastair Cook declared his side’s first innings on a total of 391 for nine.

    That left England with a mammoth first-innings lead of 331 after they had skittled out Australia for just 60 in 111 balls — the shortest-ever completed first innings of a Test match — on Thursday.

    Joe Root top-scored for England with 130 and Jonny Bairstow made 74 as the Yorkshire duo put on 173 for the fourth wicket.

    Stuart Broad, who had wrecked Australia’s first innings with a Test-best eight for 15, was 24 not out when Cook called a halt to England’s reply.

    Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc led Australia’s attack with Test-best figures of six for 111.

    Victory at Trent Bridge will see England regain the Ashes after they were whitewashed 5-0 in Australia in 2013/14.

  • UN adopts resolution setting up Syria chemical weapons probe

    Russia, Syria’s veto-wielding ally, endorsed the measure as did the rest of the 15-member council — a rare display of unity over how to address the conflict.

    Under discussion for months, the US-drafted resolution sets up a team of experts tasked with identifying the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attacks and paves the way for possible sanctions to punish them.

    The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, called the probe panel a “necessary step” toward “eventual accountability.”

    The United States, Britain and France have repeatedly accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of carrying out chlorine gas attacks with barrel bombs dropped from helicopters.

    The three countries argue that only the Syrian regime has helicopters. But Russia maintains there is no solid proof that Damascus is behind the attacks.

    The investigative panel will be given “full access” to all locations in Syria and allowed to interview witnesses and collect materials, according to the resolution passed Friday.

    It mandates the panel to “identify to the greatest extent feasible individuals, entities, groups or governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons” in Syria.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is tasked with assembling the team within 20 days, working with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is based in The Hague.

    The panel would present its first findings to the council 90 days after it begins its work, which would be for a duration of one year.

    Pressure has been mounting on the Security Council to take action in Syria, where the war, now in its fifth year, has claimed more than 240,000 lives. It tops the UN’s list of humanitarian crises.

  • Us satirist Jon Stewart trends in Pakistan, following his retirement from The Daily Show

     

    Cult American satirist Jon Stewart ended 16 years as host of “The Daily Show” with a standing ovation and was played out by rock legend Bruce Springsteen, bringing to close a unique era in US broadcasting.

    As the hash tag #JonVoyage trended on Twitter, an emotional Stewart made his last appearance on the Comedy Central show, thanking colleagues, fans and family and delivering a final monologue.

    The 52-year-old had turned the four-times a week show into a unique blend of politics, journalism and entertainment that skewered politicians, the world in general and sensationalist cable news coverage in particular.

    Loved by liberals as a voice of reason, distrusted by conservatives for his left-of-center perspective, the clever, biting and funny Stewart indicated that he would be back — if only in another guise.

    “Nothing ends. It’s just a continuation. It’s a pause in the conversation. So rather than saying goodbye or good night, I’m just going to say I’m gonna go get a drink,” he said.

    Since 1999 he has been a liberal conscience, from the end of the Clinton presidency and the arrival of George W. Bush, through the 9/11 attacks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the financial crisis.

    “Bullshit is everywhere. There’s very little that you’ll encounter in life that has not been infused in some way with bullshit,” said Stewart in his final monologue.

    “The best defense against bullshit is vigilance so if you can smell something, say something.”

    There were farewell video messages from US Secretary of State John Kerry and Republican Senator John McCain.

     

    – White House tribute –

    Trevor Noah, the South African comic who will replace Stewart in September, cheekily appeared to measure up the set and… Stewart’s crotch.

    But few fans believe Trevor can fill Stewart’s enormous shoes.

    Many were already missing Stewart’s wit as Thursday’s Republican debate ended moments after the final, pre-taped show went on air.

    “It just feels like this is going to be a tremendous void and it’s hard to see how it can be filled,” said Chris Reilly, a homemaker from Connecticut in the queue to attend the show for a fourth time.

    Besides taking politicians and TV networks to task — CNN and Fox News in particular — his show had a guest list second to none.

    President Barack Obama has shared the screen with Stewart seven times, most recently last month, when he joked he would ban Stewart from leaving.

    The White House blog paid tribute to “one of the most influential programs on television” that “changed the way we talk about the world around us.”

    Winning almost two dozen Emmy awards, Stewart also cultivated and nurtured new talent, helping to launch the careers of comedians who are now stars in their own right, such as Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.

     

    – Conservative, liberal divide –

    Stewart paid tribute to them in his final show.

    He offered viewers a behind-the-scenes tour of the show’s rather cramped premises in the Hell’s Kitchen district of Manhattan, and videoed introductions to seemingly all the backstage staff.

    But the highlight was the closing set from Springsteen, a fellow New Jersey native, who blasted out renditions of his hit tracks “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “Born to Run.”

    Watched by a modest TV audience of 1.3 million a day, “The Daily Show” reached several million more online, in particular younger viewers.

    But according to the Pew Research Center, less than one percent of conservatives said they trusted the show, while nearly half of liberals — 45 percent — do.

    It was in times of crisis that those Americans looked to Stewart as a rock.

    After the September 11, 2001 attacks, he was there fighting back tears.

    In June, after the racially motivated murders of black worshippers at a church in Charleston, he delivered a searing monologue about America’s “gaping racial wound that will not heal, yet we pretend doesn’t exist.”

    Comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld was one of those to pay their respects. “Wish you all best, dude,” he wrote on twitter. “Love you, man.”

  • 17 killed in bomb attack on Saudi mosque

    The explosion took place as worshippers were praying at a mosque used by Saudi special forces in Abha, the broadcaster said, describing it as a “terrorist” attack. It gave no further details.

    An interior ministry spokesman confirmed the attack but gave a slightly lower toll of “more than 13” dead.

    The victims were members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, the spokesman told AFP.

    “It’s confirmed there’s an explosion and there’s more than 13 (killed)… in a mosque,” the spokesman said.

    The explosion happened at the headquarters of the SWAT team, which is tasked with domestic security, he added.

    It was too early to say who may have carried out the attack, he added.

    Saudi Arabia has been on alert for attacks by the jihadist Islamic State group, who have been blamed for killing policemen and for slaughtering members of the minority Shiite community.

  • Add spice for a longer life?

    But they cautioned it was too early to draw a final conclusion on the potential benefits of fiery fare, and urged further research that may lead to “updated dietary recommendations”.

    The study, published in The BMJ journal, collected dietary data from nearly 490,000 people, aged 30 to 79, in China.

    They were enrolled between 2004 and 2008, and their health monitored for an average of seven years. Just over 20,000 participants died in the period.

    “Compared with participants who ate spicy foods less than once a week, those who consumed spicy foods one or two days a week were at a 10 percent reduced risk of death,” said a statement from The BMJ.

    And those who ate spicy foods almost every day, “had a relative 14 percent lower risk of death compared to those who consumed spicy foods less than once a week.”

    The association was similar in men and women, and stronger in those who did not consume alcohol.

    Fresh and dried chilli peppers were the most commonly used spices — and the association was higher with the fresh variety, according to the team led by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

    The answer may be found in an ingredient of spices — capsaicin, which has previously been suggested to posses anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer properties.

    The team urged “further prospective studies in other populations”, that may lead to dietary recommendations and “development of functional foods, such as herbal supplements.”

    In a comment, Kevin McConway of the Open University urged against jumping to conclusions.

    “If people who eat spicy food more often have lower death rates, that might indeed be caused by the chilli eating, or it might be caused by something different that is related to eating chillis and also, separately, happens to promote health.

    “Maybe this is something in the way spices are used in Chinese cooking, or related to other things people eat or drink with the spicy food. Maybe it has something to do with the sort of people, in China, who tend to eat more spicy food.”

    People who ate more chilli were, for example, more likely to live in rural areas.