Babbar Khalsa terrorist arrested in Punjab

AMRITSAR: (IANS) A Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist with a reward of Rs.10 lakh on his head has been arrested in Punjab, police said Wednesday.

Narain Singh Chaura was arrested Tuesday evening in Jalalabad village of the border district of Tarn Taran, some 300 km from Chandigarh.

Chaura was booked under the provisions of the Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Amritsar in May 2010 and since then he had been untraced and on the run, a Punjab Police spokesperson said.

Following revelations by Chaura, police have recovered an AK-56 assault rifle with 20 rounds, a .30 pistol with 50 rounds, five hand grenades and other ammunition from Kurali village in Mohali district near Chandigarh, the spokesperson added.

Two of his accomplices -- Sukhwant Singh and Sukhdev Singh -- were also arrested following leads provided by him during interrogation.

Chaura was being tracked by police as he was trying to revive militancy in Punjab, a senior police officer said in Chandigarh.

He was also involved in Chandigarh's Burail Jail break by Babbar Khalsa terrorists Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Bheura. The trio escaped from the high-security jail through a 108-foot-long tunnel on the intervening night of Jan 21-22, 2004.

The police spokesperson said that Chura, who used different names, had been actively associated with militant activities in Punjab since early 1980s.

"In 1984, he crossed over to Pakistan and was instrumental in smuggling in a huge consignment of weapons and explosives during the initial stages of militancy in Punjab. While in Pakistan, he authored a book on guerrilla warfare and other seditious literature," the spokesperson said.

"He returned to India in 1986, went underground and later again crossed over to Pakistan. In 1989, he came back to operate in India under the assumed names of Chamkaur Singh and Kapoor Singh Jamraudh. He founded the Akal Federation and later the Khalistan Liberation Army outfits," the spokesperson added.

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A History of Balloon Crashes

A hot-air balloon exploded in Egypt yesterday as it carried 19 people over ancient ruins near Luxor. The cause is believed to be a torn gas hose. In Egypt as in many other countries, balloon rides are a popular way to sightsee. (Read about unmanned flight in National Geographic magazine.)

The sport of hot-air ballooning dates to 1783, when a French balloon took to the skies with a sheep, a rooster, and a duck. Apparently, they landed safely. But throughout the history of the sport, there have been tragedies like the one in Egypt. (See pictures of personal-flight technology.)

1785: Pioneering balloonist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and pilot Pierre Romain died when their balloon caught fire, possibly from a stray spark, and crashed during an attempt to cross the English Channel. They were the first to die in a balloon crash.

1923: Five balloonists participating in the Gordon Bennett Cup, a multi-day race that dates to 1906, were killed when lightning struck their balloons.

1924: Meteorologist C. LeRoy Meisinger and U.S. Army balloonist James T. Neely died after a lightning strike. They had set off from Scott Field in Illinois during a storm to study air pressure. Popular Mechanics dubbed them "martyrs of science."

1995: Tragedy strikes the Gordon Bennett Cup again. Belarusian forces shot down one of three balloons that drifted into their airspace from Poland. The two Americans on board died. The other balloonists were detained and fined for entering Belarus without a visa. (Read about modern explorers who take to the skies.)

1989: Two hot air balloons collided during a sightseeing trip near Alice Springs, Australia. One balloon crashed to the ground killing all 13 people on board. The pilot of the other balloon was sentenced to a two-year prison term for "committing a dangerous act." Until today, this was considered the most deadly balloon accident.

2012: A balloon hit a power line and caught fire in New Zealand, killing all 11 on board. Investigators later determined that the pilot was not licensed to fly and had not taken  proper safety measures during the crash, like triggering the balloon's parachute and deflation system.

2012: A sightseeing balloon carrying 32 people crashed and caught fire during a thunderstorm in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia. Six died; many other passengers were injured.

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Pope Thanks Crowd in Final Address

On his final full day as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI thanked a huge crowd for respecting his historic decision to step down and told them that God will continue to guide the church.

"The decision I have made, after much prayer, is the fruit of a serene trust in God's will and a deep love of Christ's Church," Benedict said to cheers in his last public words as pope.

Benedict, 85, is the first pope to resign in 600 years. He told the crowd today that he was "deeply grateful for the understanding, support and prayers of so many of you, not only here in Rome, but also throughout the world."

Pope Benedict's Last Sunday Prayer Service

Under sunny skies on this late February day, hundreds of thousands of people, some waving flags, some banners, flocked to Vatican City to see Benedict make a final lap around St. Peter's Square. Throughout his eight-year papacy, Benedict has conducted a weekly audience from St. Peter's. Before delivering his last papal address today, Benedict waved to the festive group of supporters as he toured the square in his glass-encased popemobile.

The city of Rome planned for more than 200,000 people to head to the Vatican for today's event. Streets around St. Peter's were blocked off to cars as pedestrians from around the world headed to the square.

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The conclave to elect Benedict's replacement will start next month at a date yet to be determined. Benedict issued a decree known as a "motu poprio" that will allow cardinals to convene the conclave sooner than the March 15 date that would have been mandated under the old rules.

Benedict today asked the faithful to pray for him and for the new pope.

"My heart is filled with thanksgiving to God who ever watches over his church," Benedict said.

The German-born Benedict, who had appeared frail at times in recent months, seemed more energized in his remarks today. He has said he will devote more time to prayer and meditation after he leaves the papacy.

Benedict will meet Thursday with his cardinals in the morning and then flies by helicopter at 5 p.m. to Castel Gandolfo, the papal residence south of Rome. Benedict will greet parishioners there from the palazzo's balcony, his final public act as pope.

Then, at 8 p.m., the exact time at which his retirement becomes official, the Swiss Guards standing outside the doors of the palazzo at Castel Gandolfo will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church finished.

In retirement, Benedict will continue to wear white and will be called "Pope Emeritus," or the "Supreme Roman Pontiff Emeritus" or "Your Holiness," the Vatican announced Tuesday. Benedict will ditch his trademark red shoes, opting for a pair of brown shoes given to him on a trip to Mexico. But he will still reside on Vatican grounds in a former nunnery.

Benedict's final days as pope have been marked by controversy. For nearly a week now Italian newspapers speculated that Benedict really resigned because of a dossier he was given detailing a sex and blackmail scandal in the Catholic Church. The Italian media news reports do not state any attribution.

It turns out a dossier does exist. The Vatican spokesman Monday underscored that the contents of the dossier are known only to the pope and his investigators, three elderly prelates whom the Italian papers have nicknamed "the 007 cardinals."

But the dossier itself will remain "For the Pope's Eyes Only."

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Mobile makers set sights on grandparents

BARCELONA: As smartphone giants Apple and Samsung battle for the wallets of tech-savvy youngsters, a growing number of manufacturers is trying to lure a fast-growing new market: their grandparents.

Handset makers at the world's biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain, showed off a slew of new devices aimed at the hundreds of millions of older people put off by the complexity of the latest iPhones and Android-powered smartphones.

One of the leaders of the segment in Europe, Austrian firm Emporia, launched a new handset, the Emporia Connect, at the February 24-28 Mobile World Congress.

The sleek-looking black and silver flip phone is designed not to be "stigmatising" yet easy enough for older buyers to use, said Emporia's general manager for France, Christophe Yerolymos.

It has a keypad with larger numbers and an emergency button that will send an SOS along with data pinpointing the location of the phone.

The phone features a system called Emporia Me, with an array of remote control features for the owner's family, allowing a child or grandchild to check the device's location, battery status, or ensure the volume is up.

While it is not a smartphone and has no mapping service, it does have an orientation feature that lets a user push a single button to get turn-by-turn audible instructions for returning to a car while on a shopping trip, for example.

"Emporia is a company in growth, strong growth, even in the heart of the economic crisis we're in at the moment in Europe," said Yerolymos.

Japan's Fujitsu rolled out a European version of a smart phone for seniors, the Stylistic S01, which first launched in mid-2012 in Japan where it lured buyers from a wider age range than the group anticipated, from 45 years upwards.

It is an Android-based smartphone with large, simplified icons, and a "family alert" button that will send a message along with geo-localisation data.

But it also has an unusual touch-screen that will only respond when the user presses a bit harder so as to avoid launching applications by mistake, said Fujitsu Europe-Middle East-Africa product marketing director James Maynard.

"You can actually pre-touch and then when you know which button you want to press, you can exert a little bit more pressure," he said.

"It's made to grow with you so as you become more confident you naturally will exert more pressure on to the device. It's a stepping stone from a feature phone to a smartphone and using a touch panel for the first time."

Kapsys, a French firm, showed off its SmartConnect handset aimed at seniors.

The firm is in discussions with operators including Orange and is hoping to launch the device for about 400 euros (US$520) in Europe in June and then in the United States by the end of 2013, said chief executive Aram Hekimian.

The SmartConnect boasts familiar features for the market: large icons, text in large characters, remote access for family members and also an SOS button with geo-localisation.

But it also incorporates a digital magnifier, enabling the user to roll the phone over text to facilitate reading, for example. The phone is rich in voice command functions, too, allowing the user to avoid fiddly buttons.

"Seniors today are used to having access to technology. As they get older they will want access to the same functions, the same technologies," Hekimian said.

Kapsys estimated the potential market for the telephone at 600 million people, he said. "Our goal is to capture one percent of that market by 2015."

-AFP/fl

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Islamic scholars condemn killing of Shia Muslims in Pakistan

MUMBAI: A group of Islamic scholars today called upon international bodies like United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International and governments across the world to devise ways to put an end to killing of Shia Muslims in Pakistan.

"It is extremely shameful," Islamic scholar Maulana Sayed Ahmedalo Abidi, Imam-e-Juma Khoja Jama Masjid Dongri and Principal of Houza Ilmiya Najifi House, told reporters here.

"Shias are being attacked, shot and bombed. This is extremely serious," he said, urging the Indian government to take up the issue in international forums.

He also appealed to the government of Pakistan to ensure that Shias were protected from violence unleashed by militants.

The Islamic scholars said the Army must be made directly responsible and accountable for the law and order situation and safety of all people, including Shias in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

"The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan must look into the issue," said Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizvi, General Secretary All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board.

Pakistan has been besieged by militant attacks in recent years, many of them carried out by Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the government.

Radical Sunni militant groups have also increasingly targeted the country's Shias because they do not view them as real Muslims, Rizvi said in a statement.

Many of these sectarian attacks have occurred in southwest Balochistan province, which has the largest concentration of Shias in Pakistan, he said.

The Islamic scholars also condemned the twin blasts at Hyderabad recently.

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Sharks Warn Off Predators By Wielding Light Sabers

Diminutive deep-sea sharks illuminate spines on their backs like light sabers to warn potential predators that they could get a sharp mouthful, a new study suggests.

Paradoxically, the sharks seem to produce light both to hide and to be conspicuous—a first in the world of glowing sharks. (See photos of other sea creatures that glow.)

"Three years ago we showed that velvet belly lanternsharks [(Etmopterus spinax)] are using counter-illumination," said lead study author Julien Claes, a biologist from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain, by email.

In counter-illumination, the lanternsharks, like many deep-sea animals, light up their undersides in order to disguise their silhouette when seen from below. Brighter bellies blend in with the light filtering down from the surface. (Related: "Glowing Pygmy Shark Lights Up to Fade Away.")

Fishing the 2-foot-long (60-centimeter-long) lanternsharks up from Norwegian fjords and placing them in darkened aquarium tanks, the researchers noticed that not only do the sharks' bellies glow, but they also had glowing regions on their backs.

The sharks have two rows of light-emitting cells, called photophores, on either side of a fearsome spine on the front edges of their two dorsal fins.

Study co-author Jérôme Mallefet explained how handling the sharks and encountering their aggressive behavior hinted at the role these radiant spines play.

"Sometimes they flip around and try to hit you with their spines," said Mallefet, also from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain. "So we thought maybe they are showing their weapon in the dark depths."

To investigate this idea, the authors analyzed the structure of the lanternshark spines and found that they were more translucent than other shark spines.

This allowed the spines to transmit around 10 percent of the light from the glowing photophores, the study said.

For Predators' Eyes Only

Based on the eyesight of various deep-sea animals, the researchers estimated that the sharks' glowing spines were visible from several meters away to predators that include harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and blackmouth catsharks (Galeus melastomus).

"The spine-associated bioluminescence has all the characteristics to play the right role as a warning sign," said Mallefet.

"It's a magnificent way to say 'hello, here I am, but beware I have spines,'" he added.

But these luminous warning signals wouldn't impede the sharks' pursuit of their favorite prey, Mueller's bristle-mouth fish (Maurolicus muelleri), the study suggested. These fish have poorer vision than the sharks' predators and may only spot the sharks' dorsal illuminations at much closer range.

For now, it remains a mystery how the sharks create and control the lights on their backs. The glowing dorsal fins could respond to the same hormones that control the belly lights, suggested Mallefet, but other factors may also be involved.

"MacGyver" of Bioluminescence

Several other species use bioluminescence as a warning signal, including marine snails (Hinea brasiliana), glowworms (Lampyris noctiluca) and millipedes (Motyxia spp.).

Edith Widder, a marinebiologist from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association who was not involved in the current study, previously discovered a jellyfish whose bioluminescence rubs off on attackers that get too close.

"It's like paint packages in money bags at banks," she explained.

"Any animal that was foolish enough to go after it," she added "gets smeared all over with glowing particles that make it easy prey for its predators."

Widder also points out that glowing deep-sea animals often put their abilities to diverse uses. (Watch: "Why Deep-Sea Creatures Glow.")

"There are many examples of animals using bioluminescence for a whole range of different functions," she said.

Mallefet agrees, joking that these sharks are the "MacGyver of bioluminescence."

"Just give light to this shark species and it will use it in any possible way."

And while Widder doesn't discount the warning signal theory, "another possibility would be that it could be to attract a mate."

Lead author Julien Claes added by email, "I also discovered during my PhD thesis that velvet belly lanternsharks have glowing organs on their sexual parts."

And that, he admits, "makes it very easy, even for a human, to distinguish male and female of this species in the dark!"

The glowing shark study appeared online in the February 21 edition of Scientific Reports.

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First Lady Sees 'Movement' in Childhood Obesity

As she celebrates the third anniversary of her Let's Move! initiative, first lady Michelle Obama told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts that the country is seeing real "movement" on the issue of childhood obesity.

"We've really changed the conversation in this country. When we started, there were a lot of people in this country who would have never thought that childhood obesity was a health crisis. But now we're starting to see some movement on this issue," the first lady told Roberts. "Our kids are eating better at school. They're moving more. And we're starting…to see a change in the trends. We're starting to see rates of obesity coming down like never before."

"What we're seeing is that there's hope, and when a nation comes together, and everyone is thinking about this issue and trying to figure out what role they can play, then we can see changes," she said.

Mrs. Obama is set to embark on a star studded national tour this week to promote and celebrate her Let's Move! initiative. Her first stop will be in Clinton, Miss. on Wednesday when she appears at an event highlighting healthy school lunches with Rachael Ray.

"I'm going back to Mississippi because when I first went there, Mississippi was considered one of the most unhealthy states in the nation," Mrs. Obama said.

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"If we could fry water in Mississippi, we would, we would do that," Roberts, who grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, said. "Food is a culture."

"But the good news in Mississippi is that they've seen a decline in childhood obesity of 13 percent, so we're gonna go celebrate and highlight what has been going on there. There's still work to do," the first lady said.

On Thursday, the first lady will travel to her hometown of Chicago, where she will be joined by Olympic gymnasts and tennis star Serena Williams to promote more physical activity in schools. Later in the day, Mrs. Obama will discuss healthy food choices at a Wal-Mart store in Springfield, Mo.

Mrs. Obama said she will announce a new initiative called the "My Plate Recipe Partnership," which will provide families with online access to healthy recipes that meet the My Plate guidelines, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's replacement of the food pyramid.

"More and more chefs, more and more food companies are understanding that they have to find ways to help families do this in a way that's gonna taste good, that kids are gonna like it," she said.

The first lady, Roberts and Chef Marcus Robert Samuelsson, who owns Red Rooster Harlem in New York City, cooked a healthy meal of beef stir fry and broccolini together on the "Good Morning America" set. Mrs. Obama admitted "it's been a while" since she's cooked for her family, but said she looks forward to the day she can whip up meals for her husband and daughters.

"I walk in the kitchen every day, every day," she joked.

But cooking for her family isn't the only thing Mrs. Obama said she misses since becoming first lady.

"Going to Target for me is like a dream, you know? That one time I went, you noticed it created a stir. I'm gonna do it again, doggone it. Next four years, I'm going out. I'm breaking out. I'm gonna disguise Bo. I'm gonna put on a coat. I'm gonna take a walk, and my agents won't know a thing. Don't tell 'em," she joked.

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Syria opposition threat clouds first Kerry overseas tour

LONDON: New US Secretary of State John Kerry met British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday at the start of a get-acquainted tour of Europe and the Middle East, but the Syrian conflict threatened to taint the trip.

US officials were trying to persuade the Syrian opposition to reconsider its threat to boycott an international meeting in Rome on Thursday, which was to be the centrepiece of Kerry's first overseas tour since he took over from Hillary Clinton.

The Syrian National Council has said it will pull out of the 11-nation Friends of Syria talks in protest at the international community's inability to halt the bloodshed.

Kerry is due to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Berlin on Tuesday and is expected to push Moscow to put pressure on the Syrian regime to allow a "political transition".

Lavrov held talks in Moscow on Monday with President Bashar al-Assad's foreign minister, who said the Syrian regime was ready for talks with the rebels and anyone who favours dialogue, in the first such offer by a top Syrian official.

Russia is one of the few major powers who still maintain ties with Assad's regime.

A senior US official said on Sunday: "We feel that Russia can play a key role in convincing the (Syrian) regime that there is need for political transition."

Kerry, a former US presidential candidate, made a gentle start to his marathon tour of close US allies by enjoying a traditional English breakfast with Cameron at Downing Street on Monday.

The two men discussed Syria and also talked of how to achieve a trade deal between the United States and the European Union.

They agreed that the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June "will be an important moment to inject further momentum into this", according to a statement from Cameron's office.

Kerry then went into talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague which will be followed by a joint news conference later before Kerry heads to the German capital.

The trip will also include stops in France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Kerry is also expected to address issues including Iran, Mali and North Korea during the two-week tour.

US officials were privately optimistic that they could persuade the Syrian opposition to attend the talks on Thursday.

Publicly, a State Department official said: "We are stressing... that they (the opposition) have an opportunity in Rome, to see the countries that have been their greatest supporters and to present to all of us how they see the situation on the ground in security, humanitarian, political and economic terms.

"This meeting is also an opportunity for them to meet our new secretary of state and to speak directly to him," he added.

Syria will also dominate Kerry's talks in Ankara and Cairo, where he is due to meet with the Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi.

The Kerry-Lavrov meeting on Tuesday will take place at the same time as talks in Kazakhstan between the so-called 5+1 world powers -- US, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany -- and Iran over the issue of Tehran's nuclear policy.

A US official said strengthened sanctions were having a "real effect" in Iran and welcomed the "common" position among the group.

The trip sees Kerry, the son of a diplomat, back on familiar ground. He spent part of his childhood in Berlin and has family in France.

-AFP/fl

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Ishrat case: Police officers' custody extended till Feb 28

AHMEDABAD: A local court today extended the custody of two police officers, Tarun Barot and Bharat Patel, arrested on Saturday by CBI in connection with alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, for three more days.

Additional chief judicial magistrate H S Khutwad said "The accused police officers have been remanded to police custody till February 28 for further interrogation."

The agency had earlier argued that the duo, during their one-day police custody granted by the court yesterday, were adopting evasive tactics and not cooperating during interrogation.

"The encounter case is an old one and the accused police officers are adopting various tactics to hide crucial evidence during interrogation," CBI lawyer Abhishek Arora said.

The CBI argued that "the accused police officers, knowing fully well that the police custody granted to them was only for 24 hours, did not at all cooperate during interrogation and gave evasive replies."

Opposing the remand application, counsel Brijrajsinh Jhala, who argued for Patel, said that despite being given 24 hours for interrogation, they were probed only for one and a half hours.

He also said that "false evidence is being created in the name of interrogation", adding that CBI has mentioned that some Call Detail Record (CDR) of police officials involved in nakabandi and encounter was available while earlier the agency had said that CDR was permanently lost.

CBI counsel, however, pointed out that in the initial FIR filed by the Crime Branch, it was mentioned that CDR was permanently lost but the FIR filed by CBI stated that for commercial purposes (billing), telecom companies could make CDR available for seven years.

The CBI had arrested Special Operation Group (SOG), Gandhinagar police inspector Bharat Patel and suspended Mehsana Dy SP Tarun Barot late on Saturday evening.

Patel was police sub-inspector with Crime Branch, Ahmedabad in 2004.

The Gujarat police had alleged that 19-year-old Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were a part of the conspiracy to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. They were killed in an encounter on June 15, 2004 on a stretch of road between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Earlier, CBI had arrested Girish Singhal, Superintendent of Police with State Crime Records Bureau, and J G Parmar, retired DSP and the court, after rejecting their remand, had sent them in judicial custody.

After Ishrat's mother complained about the alleged fake encounter, Gujarat High Court constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which concluded that the encounter was fake. The high court handed over the case to CBI on December 1, 2011, and monitoring the investigations.

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Picture Archive: Dorothy Lamour and Jiggs, Circa 1938

Dorothy Lamour, most famous for her Road to ... series of movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, never won an Oscar. In her 50-plus-year career as an actress, she never even got nominated.

Neither did Jiggs the chimpanzee, pictured here with Lamour on the set of Her Jungle Love in a photo published in the 1938 National Geographic story "Monkey Folk."

No animal has ever been nominated for an Oscar. According to Academy Award rules, only actors and actresses are eligible.

Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier from last year's best picture winner, The Artist, didn't rate a nod. The equines that portrayed Seabiscuit and War Horse, movies that were best picture contenders in their respective years, were also snubbed.

Even the seven piglets that played Babe, the eponymous star of the best picture nominee in 1998, didn't rate. And the outlook seems to be worsening for the animal kingdom's odds of ever getting its paws on that golden statuette.

This year, two movies nominated in the best picture category had creatures that were storyline drivers with significant on-screen time. Neither Beasts of the Southern Wild (which featured extinct aurochs) or Life of Pi (which featured a CGI Bengal tiger named Richard Parker) used real animals.

An Oscar's not the only way for animals to get ahead, though. Two years after this photo was published, the American Humane Association's Los Angeles Film & TV Unit was established to monitor and protect animals working on show business sets. The group's creation was spurred by the death of a horse during the filming of 1939's Jessie James.

Today, it's still the only organization that stamps "No Animals Were Harmed" onto a movie's closing credits.

Editor's note: This is part of a series of pieces that looks at the news through the lens of the National Geographic photo archives.

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