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ARY NEWS

Reuters

  • Truck bomb in Kabul kills eight, wounds hundreds

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which shook the center of the capital and ripped through homes and shops. A Taliban spokesman said it was looking into the incident, while government officials said an investigation was under way.

    “A truck bomb detonated close to an army compound,” said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi, adding that at least eight bodies had been found.

    The health ministry said around 400 people, many wounded by debris and flying glass shattering in buildings damaged by the blast, had been taken to hospital.

    The explosion, in a heavily populated area, left hole in the ground more than 10 meters deep, reduced nearby buildings to rubble and damaged cars at least a hundred meters away, a Reuters witness said.

    Police expect the number of dead to rise, as buildings had collapsed and bodies were feared buried in the wreckage.

    The blast was unusually powerful in a city that is frequently targeted by the Taliban and other militants seeking to destabilize the Afghan government.

    Smaller magnet bombs or suicide attacks have become a weekly occurrence in the heavily fortified capital, but large truck bombs have rarely penetrated the city’s outskirts.

    A Western security source said the target was probably a compound used by Afghan intelligence officials and that as many as 15 people had been killed.

    An official at the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said the facility had been flooded with almost a hundred patients, including many women and children.

    The Afghan war between the foreign-backed government and the Taliban has intensified since the NATO combat mission ended last year and most foreign troops were withdrawn.

    Afghan security forces are battling the Taliban with only limited support from coalition forces this year and have sustained heavy losses.

    Around 4,000 army and police are lost each month to casualties and desertions, the U.S. general in command said this week.

    Dozens of clashes are reported every day and civilians are frequently caught in the crossfire. The truck bomb was the second huge explosion to target security forces in 24 hours.

    On Thursday, a truck bomb targeting an Afghan special forces base exploded in eastern Logar province, killing at least three soldiers and wounding dozens.

  • Facebook launches feature to allow businesses to privately message users

    Businesses can now include a “send message” button in ads that appear in Newsfeed that allow Facebook users to click a button and send messages, which are private. If users post a comment on a business’ Facebook page, then the business can privately message that person

    The features are part of Facebook’s efforts to convince more small and medium-sized businesses – especially those in emerging markets, such as India, Brazil and Indonesia – to advertise on its platform.

    By giving them direct access to customers, the world’s largest social network hopes to show that advertising on Facebook directly leads to increased sales.

    To encourage quick responses, Facebook will award “very responsive to messages” badges on business pages that respond to 90 percent of messages and respond on average within five minutes. People will, however, still be able to block private messages from businesses.

    The features will be especially valuable in southeast Asia, Facebook wrote in a blog post. About twice as many Thai and Singaporean users use Facebook messages to communicate with businesses each month and most Southeast Asia users follow some company pages.

    Facebook hosts more than 40 million active small and medium business pages, it said, with more than 1 billion page visits each month.

  • Anjem Choudary, Britain’s most high-profile Islamic cleric, charged with IS support

    Choudary, 48, was accused of using lectures which were published online for encouraging support for the banned organisation, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

    “Following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, we have today authorised charges against Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman,” said Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service.

    “It is alleged that Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman invited support for (IS) in individual lectures which were subsequently published online.”

  • Latham hits ton as rampant New Zealand level series

    Latham (110 not out) scored his maiden ODI ton and was virtually matched by Guptill (116 not out) as the tourists easily chased down their victory target of 236 to level the three-match series at 1-1.

    Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, but despite an eye-catching unbeaten century from Sikandar Raza, their 235 for nine off 50 overs never looked enough.

    New Zealand raced past the hosts’ total without losing a wicket and with 46 balls to spare.

    The opening stand is New Zealand’s second-highest in ODI matches and is the second time that the Black Caps have beaten Zimbabwe by the maximum 10-wicket margin – Guptill also helping them home at the World Cup in India four years ago.

    Sikandar Raza (100 not out off 95 balls) provided the lone resistance in the home innings as he reached his third ODI ton and took the record for the highest score from a Zimbabwe player batting at number seven or lower in 50-over international cricket.

    He also featured in a Zimbabwe record ninth-wicket stand of 89 with Tinashe Panyangara before the latter was run out for a career-best 33.

    New Zealand leg-break bowler Ish Sodhi, who made his ODI debut in the first game of the series on Sunday, returned the best figures for the tourists with three for 38 from his 10 overs.

  • Indian govt withdraws order to block pornography sites

    The government last week asked operators to block access to 857 adult websites on grounds of morality and decency, resulting in an angry backlash on Twitter and a debate about censorship in the world’s largest democracy.

    Service operators will now need to unblock most of those sites but will still disable those that promote child pornography, a spokesman for India’s department of telecoms said on Wednesday.

    The revised order is drawing the ire of service providers, who have been effectively asked to check and decide which sites need to be blocked.

    “This whole thing is very ambiguous. How are we supposed to check if the sites have child porn?” said an official at one of India’s main telecom operators.

    “Is this what we are supposed to do now?” the exasperated executive said, referring to having to check sites for child pornography.

    Censorship of Internet content is common in India but the order to block the 857 adult sites was the first big crackdown on Internet pornography.

    In 2011, India urged social network companies to screen content and remove offensive material. A year later, the government faced criticism for ordering dozens of Twitter accounts to be blocked for spreading rumours.

    Use of social media and smartphones is rising rapidly in the country and pornography is in demand: One of the top adult websites, last year said India ranked fifth for daily visitors.

  • Will Smith takes to Facebook to deny divorce report

    Smith’s marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith has been a subject of tabloid rumour for several years.

    But on Monday, entertainment news website Radar Online reported that the couple had decided to split and would make a divorce announcement at the end of the summer.

    Smith, 46, said in statement on his Facebook page that “under normal circumstances, I don’t usually respond to foolishness. (Because it’s contagious).

    “But, so many people have extended me their ‘deepest condolences’ that I figured – ‘What the hell… I can be foolish, too!’ So, in the interest of redundant, repetitious, over & over-again-ness… Jada and I are…NOT GETTING A DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

    Under normal circumstances, I don't usually respond to foolishness. (Because it's contagious) But, so many people have... Posted by Will Smith on Monday, August 3, 2015
    Smith added that if he ever decided to divorce "I SWEAR I'll tell you myself!" Pinkett Smith, 43, who recently appeared in the movie "Magic Mike XXL" and in the TV crime show "Gotham," married Smith in 1997. They are parents to teen actor Jaden Smith and 14-year-old singer Willow Smith.

  • Man says he beheaded wife ‘to get the evil out’: police

    Kenneth Dale Wakefield, 43, also told police that he had smoked marijuana and the designer drug Spice about an hour before the gruesome killings in a Phoenix apartment on the morning of July 25, the documents showed.

    Wakefield, a transient with a history of mental illness who also maimed himself in the incident, was booked into a Maricopa County jail Aug. 1 on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of animal cruelty after being released from a local hospital. He is being held on $2 million bond.

    In court papers, police said Wakefield told them during an interview that he stabbed his 49-year-old wife, Trina Heisch, multiple times before decapitating her, and killed the dogs by cutting their heads off.

    “He said he was trying to get the evil out of Trina,” police said in a probable cause statement filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

    Police said the Phoenix man then severed his left arm at the elbow and gouged out one of his eyes before being discovered.

    The blood-splattered scene was found by a neighbor who told police he was checking on the couple he knew had mental illness issues.

    The neighbor said he saw Wakefield naked, with part of his arm cut off and his right eye missing, when he opened the door to the apartment. The neighbor then called police.

    Officers said they entered the home and found the headless Heisch in a bedroom closet along with the two dogs.

    Large amounts of blood was spread across the floors, cabinets and walls of the apartment, police said. Several bloody knives were recovered.

    Investigators said both Wakefield and his wife had histories of mental illness, domestic violence and drug abuse.

    In a video also released on Monday, Wakefield can be seen during his initial court appearance on Saturday lowering his head, then putting his right hand to his mouth and emitting a wail as the prosecutor spoke.

    He is expected to appear in court for a status conference on Aug. 7.

    Wakefield was arrested in 2003 for attempting to kill a family member. Heisch was arrested in March for domestic violence assault, when it was alleged she tried to stab Wakefield, police said.

    Family members told police that the two married after meeting in a mental health facility.

  • Accused Taliban leader said he was doing ‘God’s work’: testimony

    Hamidullin, a former Soviet tank commander who converted to Islam and was allegedly fighting for the Taliban, is the first Afghan War military combatant to be tried in U.S. federal court.

    Believed to be in his 50s, Hamidullin was charged last year with 15 criminal counts ranging from supporting terrorists to firearms offenses stemming from an assault on an Afgan Border Police base in November of 2009

    “He raised his hands and said [in English], ‘Don’t kill me, I’m a Russian citizen'” said Todd Marcum, who shot and wounded Hamidullin as he and other soldiers pursued insurgents who had attacked Camp Leyza in Khost Province. “He said he was just doing ‘God’s work.'”

    No Americans or Afghan troops were killed in the attack, and Hamidullin was the sole survivor among about 30 insurgents.

    Marcum, now a 31-year-old fishing guide in Huntington, West Virginia, said Hamidullin threw down his weapon as he surrendered.

    A bloody photo flashed on a courtroom screen showed a gaping wound where Marcum’s shot had entered Hamidullin’s hip, exiting through his buttocks.

    Hamidullin was arrested and was held by the Pentagon in unnamed Afghan facility for five years before being brought to the United States to face charges.

    After the attack failed, Hamidullin opened fire on Afghan and U.S. forces with a machine gun, prosecutors say. He faces life in prison if convicted on all counts.

    The court was repeatedly shown videos made from U.S. helicopters and fixed-wing helicopters depicting rockets, bombs and heavy machine guns decimating the group of insurgents that Hamidullin is alleged to have led.

    Later, Marcum could only shake his head as he thought about what might have been going through Hamidullin’s mind as he watched his former brothers in arms being killed.

    Besides Marcum, prosecutors called six other witnesses on Monday, including the American helicopter pilots and gunners who attacked the group of insurgents, as well an American commander who visited Hamidullin in the hospital shortly after he was taken prisoner.

    The trial, which began last Thursday, is expected to last a week.

  • Russian airforce helicopter crashes, killing one

    The Mi-28N attack helicopter was participating in the show as part of a competition organised by the Russian defence ministry, Russian media reported from the event.

    “One pilot has died, the condition of the other is satisfactory,” the ministry said in a statement published by Russian news agencies.

    The Russian airforce proceeded to ground all Mi-28 flights after it was revealed that the crash could have been caused by equipment failure.

    The air show Aviadarts, where airforce plane and helicopter crews compete to carry out timed tasks, was suspended for the day.

    Television footage showed rescue workers attending to the smouldering helicopter lying on its side in the airfield after it crashed and burst into flames.

    The defence ministry said the accident was apparently caused by a hydraulic system failure, which was reported by the surviving pilot who ejected from the chopper.

    “According to the second pilot, the catastrophe happened due to aviation equipment failure,” said commander of Russian airforce Viktor Bondarev. “I have stopped all flights on Mi-28” until an investigation is complete.

    The Soviet-designed Mi-28 has been used by the Russian airforce since the mid-2000s and is also exported to a number of countries including Iraq.

    There have been at least six incidents over the past few weeks involving Russian military planes and helicopters.

  • Ervine maiden ton helps Zimbabwe beat New Zealand

    Ervine scored 130 not out off 108 balls as Zimbabwe made 304 for three, reaching their target with five balls to spare.

    Ervine struck five sixes and 11 fours in a cavalier innings to secure a rare Zimbabwe victory which gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

    New Zealand, playing without several regulars who led them to the World Cup final this year, scored 115 runs in the last 10 overs to push their score to 303 for four off 50 overs.

    Ross Taylor made 112 not out and stand-in captain Kane Williamson, deputising for Brendon McCullum, was bowled for 97.

    Grant Elliott added a cameo 43 off 32 balls to remind the Kiwis of his exploits at the World Cup in March.

    Zimbabwe replied with a solid foundation of 87 for the first wicket but looked to be facing the possibility of another late meltdown when Hamilton Masakadza was the second wicket to fall at 194 with 15 overs left.

    Masakadza scored 84 before being caught behind off a thin outside edge.

    But Ervine proved steady amid the tension of the chase and, with support from skipper Elton Chigumbura (36), took his country to only their third ODI win in 15 games this year.

    The winning run came off a wide from Nathan McCullum at the start of the last over with Zimbabwe having tied the scores at the end of the 49th over.