3 dead in rocket attack on UN base in Mali

BAMAKO - Two UN peacekeepers and a civilian contractor were killed in a rocket attack Saturday on a UN base in northeast Mali, a week after a deadly siege at a Bamako hotel claimed by jihadists.“Our camp in Kidal was attacked early this morning by terrorists using rockets,” said an official from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), adding that two Guinean peacekeepers and a contractor working for the United Nations were killed. A local official confirmed the report.“The terrorists fired shots and then fled,” another UN source said.MINUSMA later confirmed the death toll in a statement and said afurther 20 people were injured in the pre-dawn attack, four seriously.No group had yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which came eight days after a siege at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako, in which 20 people died including 14 foreigners.Armed men held around 170 guests and staff hostage in the November 20 attack that lasted about nine hours before Malian, French and US forces stormed the hotel to free the captives, killing two assailants.Two separate jihadist groups claimed responsibility for that assault: the Al-Murabitoun group, an Al-Qaeda affiliate led by notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and the Macina Liberation Front (LWF) from central Mali.Four days later, a UN employee was killed in anattack on a peacekeepingconvoy near the historic desert town of Timbuktu.MINUSMA chief Mongi Hamdi said in a statement the attacks “would not dent the determination of the UN to support the Malian people and the peace process, including assisting in the implementation of the Agreement on Peace andReconciliation in Mali”.Mali has been plagued byunrest since the north of the vast west African state fell under the control of Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.The Islamists soon sidelined the Tuareg to take sole control of Timbuktu, Kidal and othernorthern towns but lost most of the ground they had captured in a French-led military intervention in January 2013.Nearly three years later, large swathes of Mali stillremain lawless despite a June peace deal betweenthe government and Tuareg rebels seen as crucial to ending decades of instability in the north that left it vulnerable to extremism.Some splinter groups had opposed the agreement, including the Tuareg head of the AnsarDine jihadist group, Iyad Ag Ghaly, who called in an October recording for further attacks, including against France.The Macina Liberation Front, one of the two groups that claimed the Radisson attack, said it had carried out the assault “in collaboration with Ansar Dine”.France has more than 1,000 troops in Mali, a former colony and a key battleground of its Barkhane counter-terror mission spanning five countries in Africa’s restive Sahel region.The UN mission comprises around 10,200 peacekeepers, who have come under frequent attack.With over 50 deaths MINUSMA has been the costliest UN mission in terms of lives lost since the 1993-95 UNOSOM II mission in Somalia.This year has seen the violence spread to the centre and south of the country, which had previously been largely spared by the extremists.In August, five UN workers and four soldierswere killed in a hostage-taking in the central townof Sevare.In a late-night development, the jihadistgroup Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith) told AFP it was responsible for Saturday’s attack on a United Nations base in Mali that killed two UN peacekeepers and a civilian contractor.The attack was “in response to the violation of our lands by the enemies of Islam,” one ofthe group’s senior figures, Hamadou Ag Khallini, told AFP by phone.

Suspect spoke of 'baby parts' after Planned Parenthood

Suspected Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear mentioned "baby parts" to investigators and in later interviews expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN.Law enforcement officials caution it's too early to determine a motive in the case until all evidence is gathered and examined. That process is still ongoing. Though the state is taking the lead, the FBI is conducting its own investigation to determine whether federal charges would be filed.The official told CNN that propane tanks were found in the area of Dear's car in the parking lot, and that authorities believe he was trying to shoot them to cause an explosion.The siege ended Friday when the suspect dropped his gun and surrendered in a hallway once the SWAT team brought in a BearCat armored vehicle and Dear was cornered.'Crime against women' Attorney General Loretta Lynch has called the shooting, which killed three people and wounded nine more, a "crime against women;" Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has said it's "a tragedy that is beyond speech."Among the victims was Garrett Swasey, a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs police officer who rushed to the clinic to offer his assistance."There was no wayany of us could have kept him here," UCCS Police Chief Brian McPike said of Swasey during a Saturday evening vigil. "He was always willing to go...he had an enthusiasm that was hard to ado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said that the identities of the other two victims likely will not be released until Monday, after autopsies have been performed.In addition to the three killed, five officers and four civilians were hospitalized for wounds sustained in the shooting. Lt. Catherine Buckley said Friday night all were in good condition. By late Saturday afternoon, officials said five patients remained in two hospitals.One of those is Colorado Springs SWAT team officer Dan Carter, according to his parents, who told CNN that their son was recovering from a gunshot wound.Opposition to abortion eyed as motive"I'm not going to say the perpetrator's name," a sullen Hicken looper said Saturday, referring to Dear, the man authorities suspect was the shooter.Dear, 57, is being held without bail in a Colorado Springs jail, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. authorities said that a motive had not yet been established, Mayor John Suthers said "inferences (could be made) from where it took place,"

This smart phone app pays you for walking

Don't feel motivated enough to exercise?
Here’s a smart phone app that pays you for walking!
The Go! App counts and verifies users’steps, with walkers earning approximately one ‘Bitwalking dollar’ — a new digital crypto-currency — for about 10,000 steps or about 8 km.The application will initially be offered in countries such as the U.K., Japan, Malawi and Kenya.Users can spend what they earn in an online store, or trade their BW dollars for cash, the BBC News reported.The app uses the phone’s Global Positioning System (GPS) and Wi-Fi connections to calculate the distance travelled.The founders of the project have attracted more than $10 million of initial funding to help launch the currency and create a bank that verifies steps and any transfers.

NJ mayor rips Trump over claim American Muslims celebrated 9/11 attacks

The mayor of a New Jersey city slammed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Sunday after the real estate mogul repeatedly claimed that he saw people cheering the Sept.11, 2001 attacks across the Hudson River from where the Twin Towers fell.Trump first told the story Saturday at a rally in Birmingham, Ala., as he pressed the need for greater surveillance, including monitoring certain mosques, in the wake of the Paris attacks."I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering," Trump said.Trump repeated the claim Sunday in an interview on ABC's "This Week" after host George Stephanopoulos explained that police had refuted any such rumors at the time."It did happen. I saw it," said Trump."It was on television. I saw it.""There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down," he said."I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it," he added, "but there were people cheering as that building came down, as those buildings came down. And that tells you something."A spokeswoman did not respond to are quest for clarification Saturday about Trump's comments.In a statement, Jersey City Mayor Fulop criticized Trump for his statements."Trump is plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue," said Fulop. "No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th. We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan."Footage of Muslims in Middle Eastern countries cheering news of the attacks were broadcast often on television, but there is no evidence in news archives of mass celebrations by Muslims in Jersey City, which sits right across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan, with clear views of the World Trade Center site.While rumors have circulated on the internet for years that American Muslims celebrated the attacks in Paterson, New Jersey, police officials and religious leaders denied it at the time."Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign," said Fulop. "Clearly, Trump has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party."

Kerry to meet Saudi, UAE officials on unifying Syrian opposition

Abu Dhabi: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was set to hold talks with senior Emirati and Saudi officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday to find ways to bring Syrian opposition groups together at a conference that will be hosted by Saudi Arabia next month.The hastily-arranged meetings in the UAE capital between Kerry, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir will discuss how to unify opponents of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, a senior State Department official said.Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - met earlier this month in Vienna, where they agreed plans to launch formal talks between Assad's government and its opponents by Jan. 1.Divisions among Syrian opposition factions, some backed by the West and others by Gulf Arab states, are often cited as one of many obstacles facing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states have long been major backers of the insurgency against Assad, whom they say must leave power.The opposition includes the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, a political body, and a wide array of rebel groups that are not united in a single military structure and do not answer to any of the political factions.The Syrian conflict began in 2011 with protests against four decades of Assad family rule. About a quarter of a million people have been killed and 11 million -half the total population - have been driven from their homes.Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Europe in the past few months, which have led to increased efforts by Washington and others to find a political solution to end the war.

David Beckham achieves title of People’s “Sexiest Man Alive”

David Beckham - after gaining the status of universal superstar, devoted husband and down-to-earth dad of four, now is this year's Sexiest Man Alive.Beckham tells PEOPLE, “It's a huge honor and I'm very pleased to accept.”Although he's been a sex symbol for nearly two decades, the self-effacing soccer icon isn't sure he's even deserving of the mantle. "I never feel that I'm an attractive, sexy person," he says in this week's cover story."I mean I like to wear nice clothes and nice suits and look and feel good, but I don't ever think of myself that way."Still, when Beckham shared the news with his wife, fashion mogul Victoria Beckham, 41, she was totally on-board.Beckham said with a shy smile, “I would hope that she feels this way about me all the time anyway! But she said, Congratulations! We kind of laughed about it with the boys and the boys kind of laughed at me and said, 'Really?! Sexiest man alive? Really?”

Team Pakistan picks 3 Gold, 1 Silver at technology awards in Colombo

COLOMBO -The Team Pakistan displayed stunning technological performance at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2015 and won three Gold and one Silver at the award ceremony held in Colombo, last evening.The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES delegation comprised of 50 members with 22 technology products, competing for the prestigious APICTA Awards against 197 products from 17 countries of the region.Sri Lankan Minister for Telecom and Digital Infrastructure Harin Fernando was the chief guest at the awards ceremony, which was also graced by the High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka Major General (retired) Syed Shakeel Hussain. Leading the way with the Gold were the teams from Eyedeus Labs for their new product “Ingrain”, Evamp & Sanga fortheir product Mobile Audio Streaming Service and students from the NUST College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering for their research project  Active and Intelligent Powered Ankle Foot Prosthesis for Trans-tibial Amputees.The Silver Award was taken by a very young team from The Nest Technology Incubator in Karachi for their project Teddict. The winners from the Asia Pacific compete in this three-day regional event were judged by industry professionals, technology veterans and thought leaders from the APAC region.International APICTA Judges from 17countries who evaluated the categories in which Pakistan participated spoke about the consistently high standard of technology products presented by Pakistan, year after year. This year Team Pakistan performed superbly, with young people once again taking the lead. With the support of Samsung and Google for Entrepreneurs, P@SHA was able to take to Colombo, a number of young teams of Pakistani IT professionals under the banner of Team Pakistan.The objective was to bring them face-to-face with the best technology companies, professionals and students in the Asia Pacific, to provide an opportunity to meet and form potential partnerships with each other and to attract business and possible investment.Dressed in their green Team Pakistan t-shirts, the team from Pakistan created impact by putting up a great show. The international judges commended the members of team Pakistan for displaying high caliber of work which truly represented Pakistan’s booming tech sector. They were absolutely blown away by the younger members that took part in the Tertiary Student Category and the Secondary School Project category.While speaking on the occasion, P@SHA President Jehan Ara said, “The P@SHA ICT Awards – a P@SHA signature event for the past 12 years,has provided a platform to show the world what technology companies and young people in Pakistan are capable of. This year we have once again proven that our products can be benchmarked against the best in the region.”P@SHA’s main objective is to promote and develop the software and services industry in Pakistan and to protect the rights of its members. P@SHA has been an active industry advocacy platform and has been projecting the potential of the Pakistan IT and ITES community internationally, especiallyin the region such as South Asia, Middle East and Asia Pacific. P@SHA and its member companies are playing an active role in making their presence felt, both nationally and internationally.

Cameron says offered France use of British airbase in Cyprus

PARIS -British Prime Minister David Cameron said after talks with French President Francois Hollande on Monday that he had offered France the use of a British airbase in Cyprus for air strikes on Islamic State militant group targets.“Today I’ve offered President Hollande the use of RAF Akrotiri for French aircraft engaged in counter-Islamic State operations and additional assistance with air-to-air refuelling,” Cameron said in a statement to journalists alongside Hollande.

David Beckham is very romantic:Victoria Beckham

Wife of famous former football player David Beckham, Victoria Beckham says her husband David Beckham is"very romantic" and his commitment to family is what drew her to him in the first place.She said, “David is very romantic and we regularly do lovely things to surprise each other," Victoria told people.com. She added, “The first time I met David, nearly 20 years ago, we were at a football match. After the game all the other players were having a drink with their friends and David was standing with his mum and dad and his younger sister Joanne. Family is important to him.”She further said that family played a big part in his proposal as David asked Victoria's father for permission to get down on one knee.She shared, “When he proposed he asked my dad first, which is such a respectful thing to do”. Victoria, 41, has sons Brooklyn, 16, Romeo, 13, Cruz, 10 and daughter Harper, 4.

Saudi agrees on 2.5% annual tax for undeveloped land

The Saudi ministerial council in a meeting chaired by King Salman on Monday agreed on 2.5 percent annual tax for its undeveloped land in urban areas, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.The decision will be active after six months, the council agreed, adding that the fees will be deposited in an account for the kingdom’s central bank, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA),to funnel other housing projects.The money charged will be extracted from the value of the land after evaluation, it added, reflecting the recommendation of the kingdom's advisory Shura Council on Nov. 17.Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, the body that advises the government on legislation, endorsed a taxon undeveloped land aimed at encouraging development and solving a housing crisis.

Exclusive: Mullah Omar confidante reveals insights on late Taliban leader

Al Arabiya’s correspondent Mohammed al-Warwari recently managed an exclusive interview with Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, former foreign minister in the Taliban government inAfghanistan and former director of late Taliban leader Mullah Mohmmed Omar's office, who revealed insight to the latter's life.Muttawakil told Al Arabiya that Mullah Omar died two years ago, adding that the news was kept secret so the Taliban movement does not split from within.Muttawakil also provided Al-Arabiya with a photo of Mullah Omar and said that the photo which previously circulated of the late leader, in which he's lost his right eye, was not real and was allegedly a disguise by Taliban for security reasons in order to hide Mullah Omar's facial features.When Al-Arabiya showed Muttawakil a video in which Mullah Omar reportedly appears in as he carries an RPG on his shoulder, Muttawakil refused to confirm whether it's Mullah Omar or not and just smiled.Mullah Omar had governed the country within iron fist from 1996 until his government was overthrown by the U.S. military invasion of Oct. 2001 following his refusal to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to face justice over the 9/11 attacks.He was so elusive during his last few years he had not been seen in public since fleeing when the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 after US.-led invasion.Adding to the mystery surrounding Omar and his whereabouts was the Taliban’s failure to broadcast his messages for propaganda purposes, despite predictably and consistently claiming responsibility for nearly every terrorist attack on NATO troops or Afghan government institutions.

Ranbir Kapoor cannot get married till I allow him: Deepika Padukone

Famous actress of Indian film industry Deepika Padukone jolted media when she revealed that RanbirKapoor will not marry without her permission.She said, “Ranbir Kapoor cannot get married till I allow it.”She also clarified that “It’s a very big question about my life. I completely believe in the institution of marriage. When I will get married, I will let the whole world know about it.”Indian filmmaker Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha is Ranbir and Deepika’s third film together after Bachna Ae Haseeno and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani.The co-stars took a train ride from Mumbai to Delhi to promote their upcoming film, which is slated to hit the screens this Friday.

Poet Jameeluddin Aali passes away at 90

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD - Notable scholar and Urdu poet Dr Jamiluddin Aali passed away on Monday in Karachi, a private TV channel reported.Aali had been ill for past several years and was being treated at a private hospital in Karachi. The 90-year-old was suffering from diabetes and respiratory related illness. He has left behind his wife, three sons and two daughters.The poet - whose family migrated from India to Pakistan in 1947 - was awarded a number of awards for his achievements in the Urdu literature. He was awarded Pride of Performance award in 1991 and Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 2004.Aali also remained chairman of the Urdu Dictionary Board for a period of three years. His most notable national songs are Aye Watan Ke Sajelay Jawanoo, Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan and Mera Paigham Pakistan, which have been sung by Noor Jehan, Shahnaz Begum and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan respectively.In a separate development, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed deep grief on the demise of the Urdu literary figure. He prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and lauded the literary services of Aali forthe country.Nawaz said Jamiluddin Aali's death had left a big vacuum in the literary history of the country that would be very hard to fill in the times ahead.

9/11 attack partially funded from India, says former New Delhi police

Kumar said "it's only an attempt to share my story, my experiences and some of my cases which have no bearing on national security.

NEW DELHI: A former police commissioner of New Delhi, Neeraj Kumar, has claimed in his book that part of the funding for 9/11 attacks in the United States (US) had emerged from India, according to report published on The Times of India website.The former police officer, who served in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and retired as a Delhi Police commissioner two years ago, has based his claim on the"revelation" made by a terrorist. Kumar, who currently heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) anti-corruption wing, said the finance for the 9/11 attack was raised from a kidnapping and the earnings were handed over to the chief of the 9/11 attackers, Mohammad Atta by Omar Sheikh.

Two die in police raid on group planning new Paris attack

SAINT DENIS, France - A woman suicide bomber blew herself up and another militant died on Wednesday in a police raid that sources said had foiled a jihadi plan to hit Paris's business district, La Defense, days after attacks that killed 129 across the French capital.Police raided an apartment in the Paris suburb of St. Denis in a hunt for Abdel bhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamist militant accused of masterminding the bombings and shootings, but more than 12 hours later it was still unclear if they had found him.A source close to the investigation said the dead woman might have been Abaaoud's cousin. The interior ministry said forensic experts were looking to see whether a third person had died during the pre-dawn raid, indicating the rare violence of the confrontation that shredded the third floor apartment.Seven people were arrested in the operation, including three who were pulled from the residence in the heart of St. Denis, which had its windows blown out and its facade scarred by bullets and rocket blasts."It is impossible to tell you who was arrested. We are in the process of verifying that," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said at the end of the seven-hour police raid.

Paris Retaliation Gets Vladimir Putin as Ally in Fighting Islamic

Paris: The fight against Islamic State promised to broaden after Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate against terrorists who blew up a Russian airliner last month and Secretary of State John Kerry floated the possibility of a cease-fire in the Syrian civil war. The Russian president for the first time blamed a bomb for bringing down a Metro jet flight to St. Petersburg from Egypton Oct. 31, killing 224 people, and said officials would now focus on "finding and punishing the perpetrators." His comments were broadcast as Kerry met French President Francois Hollande, who is urging a U.S.-Russian alliance to destroy Islamic State, which he blames for assaults that killed 129 in Paris last week."We need to step up our efforts to hit them at the core when they're planning these things," Kerry told reporters at the Elysee Palace. He later held out the prospect that a Syrian cease-fire could come within weeks, permitting a stepped-up campaign against Islamic State, the Associated Press reported.The diplomacy, including Putin's huddle with President Barack Obama on Sunday at a global summit, suggest narrowing international differences on how to end the four-year Syrian conflict. Both Russia and western countries are conducting independent bombing campaigns against militant groups in the ravaged nation. Russia's main focus has been protecting the regime of President Bashar Assad rather than stopping the advance of Islamic State, which has declared a"caliphate" in parts of Syria and Iraq.Islamic State and affiliated groups have escalated their violence in recent weeks. At least 44 people were killed in a Nov. 12 suicide bombing in a Beirut suburb for which the organization claimed responsibility, its first attack in the Lebanese capital. A militant group in the Sinai region that supports Islamic State also said it was responsible for downing the Metrojet flight.Rapprochement with Russia is becoming a central strand of the global response to Islamic State's growing ability to cause mayhem. In a rare speech to both houses of parliament on Monday, Hollande suggested the United States and Russia need to end their dispute sparked by Putin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and make common cause against the group.Agence France-Presse, citing a U.S. official, said Russian planes bombed Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa in recent hours. French jets bombed Islamic State targets there for a second day, destroying a command center and a training site.Putin is reaching out to the West as Russia's economy stagnates under sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine crisis. After the 90-minute meeting with Obama, he announced Monday he's willing to help restructure Ukrainian debt, settling a dispute that has dogged Ukraine's efforts to rebuild its fragile finances.Still, any alliance between NATO powers and Russia faces major obstacles. In his speech, Hollande said Assad "can't be partof the solution" in Syria, a position similar to that of the U.S. Russia, by contrast, views Assad as a key Middle Eastern ally and has provided him with weapons throughout the Syrian conflict.Coordination with Russia will be hamperedby "Moscow's unchanged long-term goal of sustaining" the Assad government, Carsten Nickel, an analyst at political-risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said in an email. Moreover, the risk remains of flare-ups in Ukraine that could "help to re-ignite the conflict as soon as Moscow and the West seem to re-align their interests on Syria," Nickel said.As France began its second workday after Friday night shootings and suicide bombings in seven locations -- including five in the city center -- the atmosphere remains tense. The main entrance of the Opera metro hub was closed and surrounded by armed soldiers at the height of the morning rush hour because of a suspicious package. Though police soon gave the all-clear, it was the latest in a series of false alarms in the capital that have put citizens on edge and prompted companies to cancel events.French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Hollande will meet next week with both Putin in Moscow and Obama in Washington to discuss next moves. While French officials have said they're certain Islamic State directed the Paris attacks,"we don't yet have the whole reality" of what occurred, Valls said, including the total number of individuals involved. A manhunt is continuing for at least one suspect, Belgian-born Abdeslam Salah, 26.Police in France conducted 128 raids overnight, continuing a crackdown on suspected extremists throughout the country that began on Sunday. In Belgium, home to the suspected planner of the attacks, Abdel hamid Abaaoud, authorities raised the national terror-alert level and canceled a Belgium-Spain soccer match, citing security concerns.And officers in the German town of Alsdorf arrested two women and a man suspected of being connected with the terror attacks in Paris. Special forces apprehended the trio at about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, police spokesman Werner Schneider said.

France warns won’t meet EU deficit targets as steps up security spending

PARIS- France warned on Tuesday that it would not meet its EU deficit obligations as it steps up spending on security in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the government was planning to hire an additional 8,500 law enforcement officers and France’s EU-agreed spending limits might be exceeded as these resources won’t be taken from other budgets. “We have to do this and Europe should understand this,” Valls said.“It is also time that the European Union (EU) and the European Commission understand today that this battle concerns France and also Europe,” he said.France had already stepped up strikes on Islamic State, which claimed the Paris attacks - bombing the group’s strongholds in Raqa in northern Syria - and asked for more military support from its EU partners.EU defence officials quickly backed the request for military assistance and commission officials signaled leniency on budget rules. “The rules of the stability pact do not stop member states from defining their priorities. We understand that the priority is security,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said during his news conference.The EU’s stability pact obliges member states to keep their public deficits under 3.0 percent of gross domestic product. The Eurozone states with excessive deficits are subject to fines if they are not making substantial efforts to bring them back down.

Many killed in Flood in India: Troops deployed

CHENNAI -India has deployed the army and air force to rescue flood-hit residents in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where at least 71 people have died in around a week of torrential rains. Media reports said that military helicopters were being used to drop food and drinking water to the worst-hit areas, while schools and businesses in state capital Chennai had been forced to close. 12 children and 10 adults were airlifted to safety on Monday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoted an official as saying.PTI said at least 71 people had died since the rains started last week, with the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also affected. Television footage showed families in Chennai using canoes to get through waist-deep waters. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram said the government was working day and night to bring relief to victims of the floods, caused by a cyclonic depression formed in the Bay of Bengal.She announced a relief fund of five billion rupees ($75 million), according to PTI. India suffers severe flooding every year during the annual monsoon rains, which cover the subcontinent from June to September. Dozens died this year in flooding in the northeastern state of Assam. The Indian Meteorological Department warned on Tuesday of further heavy rain in the north of the state.Fishermen were advised not to put to sea along the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, it said in a bulletin.

President Putin vowed to increase Syria airstrikes after blowing Russian airline

MOSCOW- President Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner over Egypt and intensify air strikes against ISIS militants in Syria - after the Kremlin concluded a bomb had destroyed the plane last month -killing 224 people.“The combat work of our aviation in Syria must not only be continued. It must be intensified so that the criminals understand that vengeance is inevitable,” Putin said.Russia’s security chief told President Putin that a plane carrying 224 people over Egypt’s Sinai was downed due to a “terror attack,” the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Until now, Russia had played down assertions from Western countries that the October 31 crash was the work of terrorists, saying it was important to let the official investigation run its course. But four days after ISIS gunmen and bombers killed at least 129 people in Paris, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB, told a late night meeting that traces of foreign-made explosive had been found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers’ personal belongings.Egyptian authorities have detained two employees of Sharm al-Sheikh Airport for questioning in connection with the downing of the Russian jet, two security officials said on Tuesday.Russia on Tuesday staged a significant number of air strikes on the Islamic State group stronghold ofRaqa in the north of Syria. The attacks may have included sea-launched cruise missiles and long range bombers and gave the United States advanced warning of the attacks, a US security official saidon Tuesday.

President Obama heads to Asia

US President Barack Obama arrives in the Philippines Tuesday with his much-vaunted"pivot to Asia" again overshadowed by events in Europe, the Middle East and politics at home.Obama will touch down in Manila with the world's focus on the murderous attacks in Paris claimed by the Islamic State group and soul searching about how to counter it in Syria and Iraq.The long planned Asia trip had been designed to underscore America's role as a "Pacific power" and timed to coincide with high-profile regional summits, which Obama has made a point of attending."When we're not at the table, we're on the menu," said senior foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes half-jokingly,explaining the administration's policy.Before the Paris attacks, National Security Advisor Susan Rice previewed Obama's trip as an opportunity to herald a vast trans-Pacific trade deal and efforts to promote a "rules-based order" amid tensions in the South China Sea. But Obama has spent the last few days talking about Syria, Iraq and the Islamic State, and will likely do so again with Asian leaders. That focus may actually sit well with some Asian nations, according to Ernest Bower of Washington think-tank CSIS."Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have real and immediate concerns about citizens who have left to fight in Syria and Iraq and will be returning," said Bower."After Paris, most Asian countries will be looking to the US for leadership in the counter-ISIS (Islamic State) fight. This will underline the US global security role."For his part, Obama may point to majority Muslim nations in Southeast Asia as examples of how economic development can put a lid on radicalism. Still, another sidetracked trip to the region is a far cry from early in Obama's term when the Hawaii-born commander-in-chief confidently declared himself"America's first Pacific president".Throughout his administration, key aides have been frustrated at events in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere perennially dominating presidential agendas and security briefings.In their view, populous and fast-growing Asia has, as a result, not always received the attention it deserves.

UN Chief to visit North Korea

SEOUL –United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit NorthKorea, the first head of the world body to set foot in the isolated state for more than 20 years, Yonhap reported. Citing an unidentified high-level UN source, the South Korean news agency said that Ban would visit in his official capacity later this week, though no precise dates were given. The UN spokesman’s office in New York declined to comment on the report.

What is going to happen to EU refugees policy after Paris Attacks

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker firmly defended on Sunday the EU’s hotly-contested plan to redistribute refugees across Europe despite calls by Poland to scrap the scheme after the deadly attacks in Paris. The EU’s eastern-most members have been furious over the redistribution plan agreed in October,calling instead for a stronger EU outer-border, but Juncker warned against using the tragedy in Paris as means to roll it back. “I would like to invite those in Europe who are trying to change the migration agenda we have adopted to be serious about this and not to give in to these basic reactions. I don’t like it,” Juncker told journalists on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ meeting in Antalya, Turkey. The fresh criticism of the plan emerged after officials in Greece saida Syrian passport found at the scene of the mass shooting in a Paris concert hall belonged to an asylum seeker who registered on a Greek island in October. Greek police did not rule out that the passport had changed hands before the attacks. Poland’s incoming European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski led the charge against the EU saying that Warsaw no longer considered the plan as a political possibility in the light of the Paris attacks. But Juncker said that “those who organised, who perpetrated the attacks are the very same people who the refugees are fleeing and not the opposite”. “And so there is no need for an overall review of the European policy on refugees,” Juncker said.

Paris attacks were planned in Syria: PM Manuel Valls

Friday's attacks by Islamist militants in Paris were planned and organised from Syria, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said. He added that the authorities believed new terror attacks were being planned in France and other European countries. Mr Valls also said 150 raids on suspected militants had been carried out across France early on Monday. A total of 129people died in the attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the Stade de France. A huge manhunt is under way for surviving members and accomplices of the Islamist group that carried out the attack. Police have named Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, 26, as a key suspect. He was reportedly stopped by officers in the wake of the attacks - but then let go. Meanwhile, French aircraft have attacked Raqqa, the stronghold in Syria of the Islamic State group, which has said it carried out the attacks. Mr Valls said that France was dealing with a"terrorist army", rather than a single terrorist group."We know that operations were being prepared and are still being prepared, not only against France but other European countries too," he said, quoted by AFP news agency. The prime minister said more than 150 raids on militant targets in different areas of France early on Monday. Police sources told news agencies that properties in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, as well as the cities of Grenoble, Toulouse and Lyon, had been targeted.Seven attackers died in the assault on the French capital, most of them after detonating suicide belts

G20 Summit united global efforts to combact terrorism

ANTALYA: Paris attacks took the centrestage at the G20 Summit on Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a united global effort to combat terrorism as world leaders joined a clarion call to eliminate ISIS network."Today, we meet in the tragic shadow of dreadful acts of terrorism. Combating it must be major priority for G20," Modi said here at the G20 Summit of leaders from the world's top-20 economies. As the two-day Summit began in this, Turkish coastal resort town, the US President Barack Obama vowed to stand with France in hunting down the perpetrators of Paris attacks and said, "The killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not just on France, not just on Turkey but it is an attack on the civilised world."Live: Full coverage of G20 summit. He also vowed to "redouble" efforts to "eliminate" the ISIS jihadist network, as the gruesome Paris attacks and the war in Syria overshadowed the Summit. The G20 Summit, which was expected to mainly discuss inclusive economic growth and climate change, was set to adopt a resolution at the end of the two-day meeting tomorrow calling for better coordination and exchange of information to cut off funding and a more comprehensive approach on"addressing the conditions conducive to terrorism."Modi also participated in a meeting of BRICS leaders on sidelines of G20 Summit and condemned the dreadful acts of terrorism in Paris."The entire humanity must stand together as one against terrorism. The need for a united global effort to combat terrorism has never been more urgent. This must also be a priority for BRICS nations," he said.The declaration on terror, separate from the main Summit declaration, may seek quicker implementation of the Financial Action Task Force, which involves stopping individuals sending money to groups like Islamic State and tackling the black market for oil that's key to its funding.

Paris attacks: Weapons found in 'getaway car'

Several Kalashnikovs have been found in an abandoned car believed to have been used by some of the Paris attackers, French judicial sources say.The black Seat car was found in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil on Sunday and suggests some of the attackers gotaway. Earlier, the first of the seven dead attackers was named as Ismail Mostefai. Six people close to him are in custody. France is in three days of mourning for the 129 people killed in the attacks. A special service for the families of the victims, the 350 people who were wounded, and the other survivors will be held at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral later on Sunday. What we know Friday's attacks, claimed by Islamic State (IS) militants,hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars in the French capital. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said France will continue with air strikes against IS in Syria, and described the group as a very well-organised enemy. President Francois Hollande has cancelled his plans to attend the G20 in Turkey and is holding meetings with various political leaders to discuss the crisis.
Belgian link?
The black Seat car, found in Montreuil, is believed to have been used by gunmen who opened fire at people in restaurants on Friday night, police say. Several AK47 rifles were found in the car, French media quotes judicial sources as saying.
It appears to confirm the theory that some of the gunmen managed to flee from the scene after the attacks, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris. These men may then have driven north in another car to Belgium, he adds. Three men were arrested in Belgium on Saturday in connection with the attacks. Another car, a Volkswagen Polo, with Belgian number plates was found near the Bataclan concert venue, where in early 90 people were killed. Paris chief prosecutor Francois Molins said that car had been rented by a French national living in Belgium."We can say at this stage of the investigation there were probably three co-ordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act,"Mr Molins said."We have to find out where they came from... and how they were financed."A Syrian passport, found near the body of one of the attackers at the Stade de France, had been used to travel through the Greek island of Leros last month, Greek officials have confirmed. Serbia says the holder of that passport had also crossed its border from Macedonia and sought asylum at one of its registration centres. No direct link has yet been made with the holder of the passport and the attackers. History of petty crime Mostefai was reportedly identified after investigators found a severed finger at the scene of the worst atrocity, the Bataclan concert hall where more than 80 people died. He came from the town of Courcouronnes, 25km (15 miles) south of Paris. He lived in the city of Chartres 100km south-west of Paris until 2012, according to the local MP and deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Gorges. He is said to have regularly attended the mosque in Luce, close to Chartres.
Attack sites:
La Belle Equipe, 92 rue de Charonne, 11th district - 19 dead in gun attacks
Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant at rue Alibert, 10th district - 15 dead in gun attacks
La Casa Nostra restaurant, 92 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 11th district - five dead in gun attacks
Stade de France,St Denis, just north of Paris- explosions heard outside venue, three attackers and bystander dead Bataclan concert venue,
50 Boulevard Voltaire, 11thdistrict - 89 dead when stormed by gunmen Mostefai had a history of petty crime but was never jailed. The security services deemed him to have been radicalised in 2010 but he was never implicated in a counter-terrorism investigation. Police are said to be trying to find out whether he travelled to Syria in 2014.His father, brother and sister-in-law are among six people close to Mostefai who have reportedly been taken into police custody."It's crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was," Mostefai's older brother told AFP before being detained after voluntarily attending a police station on Saturday. Mostefai's brother said he had not had contact with him for several years following family disputes, but said he was surprised to hear he had been radicalised. He was one of six children in the family and had travelled to Algeria with his family and young daughter, the brother said. French President Francois Hollande has imposed a state of emergency after the worst peace time attack in France since World War Two. It is also the deadliest in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings. Islamic State said it carried out the attacks on"carefully chosen targets" and were a response to France's involvement in the air strikes on IS militants in Syria and Iraq. President Hollande said France had been"attacked in a cowardly shameful and violent way" and vowed to be"merciless" in its response to IS militants.

Just for Laughs Gags

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Entertainment Dolphin Fish

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Well in an interview  Pakistani Star SHAHID AFRIDI said who is his best friend so check the video and find out yourself

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Academic Susan Carland, wife of Waleed Aly, donating $1 to charity for each hate tweet

Academic Susan Carland, one half of Australia's Muslim power couple, is donating a single dollar to charity for each hate tweet she gets. Since making the pledge a little over two weeks ago, she's already been forced to donate more than $1000.

People who are happy and secure just don't do this sort of thing – they don't send out machine guns of hate. 

The former Muslim Australian of the Year and wife of Fairfax columnist and host of The Project Waleed Aly believes Twitter is toxic for women and Muslims.

Susan Carland with her husband, Fairfax columnist and host of The Project Waleed Aly. Photo: Instagram/susancarland

"I'm worried that it's going to slowly send me broke," she says. By drawing attention to it, she knows this article is only going to make things worse.

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"I thought, what's a good thing I can do? What is the complete antithesis of what these people are doing? They are putting so much ugly into the world. I thought what something is good I can put into the world."
Dr Carland, an academic at Monash University, has used a number of forums - including her Twitter account - as an outlet for her views on religion, immigration and society.

Susan Carland is fighting Twitter trolls by donating $1 to UNICEF for each hateful message she receives. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer

But the trolls that plague her account and those of her friends don't seem to care too much about the topics. They are out for the cheap thrill of inflicted pain.
Fairfax Media has chosen not to give them air, but suffice to say their insults are usually personal.
"Any Muslim certainly seems to attract a lot of hate online. And then being a Muslim woman - and when you're an unapologetic Muslim woman - you get a lot of hate," Dr Carland said.

"They just send out a lot of hate to a lot of people. They are at their core very unhappy people": Susan Carland. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer

Most of her trolls are men. Most, as far as she can understand them, want attention.
"They just send out a lot of hate to a lot of people. They are at their core very unhappy people. People who are happy and secure just don't do this sort of thing – they don't send out machine guns of hate."

Up until now, Dr Carland has been fighting the trolls in the usual way: through the mute button.
"Some trolls see being blocked as a badge of honour. The good thing about the mute button is it's like putting trolls behind a glass wall, and they don't know, they are just screaming away. Sometimes I engage them – I write back 'someone needs a hug'".
This novel approach does not seem to be doing much to detract from trolling so far, she says. It's only made them more vile, more attention-seeking.
She chose the charity the money is going towards, UNICEF, because she thought no one could have too many complaints about a charity that supports children.
"Of course, trolls started picking on that," she laughs.

Top Gear producer sues Clarkson and BBC for racial discrimination

Top Gear's former host Jeremy Clarkson is being sued by Irish producer Oisin Tymon for racial discrimination. 

Lawyers for the 55-year-old presenter and the BBC had a closed-door hearing with Tymon's representatives at a London employment tribunal yesterday, according to sources.
Clarkson, who was later fired by the BBC, reportedly called Tymon a "lazy, Irish c***" during a confrontation at a hotel in north Yorkshire.
Tymon's law firm Slater and Gordon said it would not comment on the case.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "We will be responding to this claim but will not be commenting further at this time."
Clarkson was suspended after the "fracas" over catering on March 10, and was sacked by the BBC on March 25, following an internal inquiry.
The inquiry, led by the director of BBC Scotland Ken MacQuarrie, said Tymon "was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip" during the "unprovoked physical and verbal attack".
MacQuarrie added: "The verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period, both at the time of the physical attack and subsequently."
Since his departure from Top Gear, Clarkson has signed a new deal with Amazon Prime to present a motoring show, which will air in 2016.
He will be joined by his co-presenters from the BBC show, Richard Hammond and James May, as well as producer Andy Wilman.

Suicide bombing at Shia service in Baghdad kills 21

 

A suicide bomber struck a Baghdad memorial service for a Shia militia fighter killed in battle against the Islamic State group, killing 21 people on Friday.

The bomber detonated his explosives’ vest at the service in the Iraqi capital’s southwestern suburb of Hay al-Amal, a police official said. At least 46 people were wounded in the explosion.

The militia fighter was killed in battle against the militant group in Iraq’s western Anbar province, police said.

IS hand suspected

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State militant group has frequently targeted large Shia gatherings. The radical Sunni group believes that Shias are apostates who have strayed from Islam.

Following its blitz last year, the Islamic State group which splintered off from Iraq’s al-Qaeda branch now holds about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.

Since the emergence of IS extremists, Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks, with roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations targeting Iraqi forces and government officials, with significant casualties among the civilian population.

The violence has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands of Iraqis.

Shia militia fighters answered a call to arms last year after the country’s highest Shia religious authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sisani, called on Iraqi men to defend the country.

The attack came a day after 44 people were killed in south Beirut in a twin bombing claimed by the Islamic State group, the bloodiest such attack in years. — AP

Attack comes a day after

IS suicide blasts claimed

44 lives in south Beirut

Myanmar's Opposition Party Clinches Landslide Election Victory

Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party has won a majority in Myanmar's historic polls.

YANGON, BURMA:  During the 27 years that Nyan Win fought for democracy beside Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the low point came when he was arrested by the ruling military junta and locked in a bare army barracks for three years. The fight was not easy, he says, but his leader never seemed to be discouraged.

"She's very strong," Nyan Win said with a broad smile.

Friday marked a historic moment for the 72-year-old lawyer and other pro-democracy activists in Burma, also known as Myanmar, as Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy clinched a victory in last Sunday's general elections with enough seats in parliament to form a government and elect a president. Votes are still being tallied in the country's first competitive national elections in more than 25 years.

The milestone came on a hot Rangoon day at noon, but there was no celebrating, no fireworks, no dancing in the streets as there had been earlier in the week. The NLD headquarters was quiet, with the newly elected candidates stopping by to do their paperwork. Only the T-shirt seller on the sidewalk was doing brisk business in Suu Kyi memorabilia - remarkable, considering that her photo was still banned from public display just five years ago.

Suu Kyi, 70, the revered leader known here simply as "the Lady," had come earlier in the week to give a short speech to her supporters, asking them not to gloat over their landslide victory. Five years after the country's generals launched a process of democratic reform, the joy of victory is tinged with fear.

"Everything in our country is still under the generals' control," said Aung Thein, 82, an NLD member and the party's internal auditor. "Will they let her form a government or not? That is the question."

- - -

The generals have gone back on their word before. In 1990, two years after a student uprising and brutal military crackdown launched Suu Kyi into politics, her pro-democracy party won 80 percent of the seats in parliament. The military, in power since a 1962 coup, simply ignored the results.

Nyan Win was in prison at the time of the 1990 elections, and Suu Kyi, who would win the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, was under house arrest. She would spend 15 out of 21 years confined to her lakeside house with the leaky roof on University Avenue - the lady by the lake.

In some ways, Suu Kyi was the daughter of Burma. Her father, Aung San, helped secure the country's independence from Britain and was assassinated in 1947, when she was 2 years old.

She was an Oxford-educated mother of two and the wife of a British academic when she returned home in 1988 after her mother had a stroke. She quickly became swept up in the pro-democracy uprising taking place at the time. The movement was eventually crushed by the military, with hundreds of protesters shot in the streets and its leaders imprisoned.

She gave her first major speech in August 1988, before a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the city's golden Shwedagon Pagoda, the ancient heart of Rangoon, and electrified the crowd with her call for unity and democracy.

"At that time she was too young to become a great leader," Aung Thein said. "We loved her and believed in her because she is the daughter of Aung San. We didn't know anything about her knowledge and her ability."

A platform had been built for the speakers at the event, he recalled: "Somebody had to pick her up and put her on stage. She was too young and too thin."

Over time, Suu Kyi would become one of the world's most famous dissidents, heaped with accolades and awards in absentia. But there was private pain, too, that played out in public. She was separated for years from her husband, Michael Aris, and two sons, who remained in Britain.

In January 1999, Suu Kyi learned Aris had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, according biographer Peter Popham. The generals said that she could travel to be with him, but she feared that she would never be let back into the country. They never saw each other again; Aris died that March.

"As a mother . . . the greater sacrifice was giving up my sons," she once said. "I was always aware of the fact that others had sacrificed more than me."

Suu Kyi also became the darling of Burma's supporters in Washington, who launched a push for re-engagement with the country in 2011 after the generals ostensibly gave way to a quasi-civilian government. And she remained so even as Washington grew more skeptical about the generals' commitments to reform and more concerned about their human rights abuses.

Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama would eventually travel to meet Suu Kyi, and she met with Obama in the Oval Office in 2012. The two sides have their differences - analysts say Suu Kyi does not want to be thought of as a puppet of the West, and she exasperates U.S. officials with her occasionally imperious manner. But she continues to command respect.

"If she can manage to hold together a democratic movement . . . with everything falling around her, and her people being imprisoned and held on house arrest for 15 years - that's a remarkable achievement," said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y). "People would be foolish to underestimate her."

- - -

For most of her long detention, Suu Kyi wrote in her book "Letters from Burma," she kept to a strict schedule. She rose at 4:15 a.m. and meditated, worked on her French and Japanese skills, and played Bach on the piano. She had little contact with the outside world. When she was finally released from custody in 2010, she was surprised to see so many people on mobile phones. Her country had moved on without her.

A day after Sunday's historic vote, she met at her house with her longtime advisers, many of whom had been with her since 1988. They told her that returns were showing a landslide NLD win and that they were waiting to hear from the government, according to Nyan Win.

No, she told them sharply - we are the winners, so we must make the first move.

She quickly wrote notes to the country's president, top general and speaker of the parliament asking them to meet to discuss the transfer of power and the process of "national reconciliation." It had been 27 years. There was not one more moment to waste.

"There is so much that is beautiful and so much that is wrong in my country," she once wrote. "How simple it would be if a mere turn of light could make everything that was ugly beautiful."

Justin Bieber answers questions, performs songs for fans

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Justin Bieber is proving to fans that he has a new "Purpose" in life.
On the day of his latest album release, the beleaguered pop star fielded questions and performed tunes from "Purpose" in a series of sold-out fan events held Friday at Staples Center.
Bieber made his way to the rotating stage on a skateboard for the first of three engagements before taking requests from the crowd of mostly young female fans. The queries ranged from "Will you marry?" to "Are you happy?" Bieber answered affirmatively to both questions.

"I'm happy overall," said Bieber. "I'm a little stressed out, but I'm happy. I'm just being honest."
However, Bieber did appear perturbed when some overzealous attendees lobbed objects onto the stage, including a smartphone. He cautioned the crowd against it before returning the iPhone. One fan told Bieber she skipped school to attend the event and asked him for a photo.
"I would say school is important, but this is probably a little more important," joked Bieber. "Stay in school, kids."
Several fans asked Bieber about overcoming troubles. His redemption was a recurring topic during the 90-minute event. Earlier this month, Bieber received a favorable probation report after completing his sentence in a vandalism case filed after he damaged a neighbor's house with eggs.
"I just felt like I lost my place for a while," said Bieber. "I lost my purpose, and I wanted to just be light and let people know that whether you don't feel like you have a purpose, whether you're just trying to figure it out, there's a light at the end of the tunnel."
After the Q&A session, Bieber was joined by an acoustic guitarist and performed five songs, including new tunes "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?"
In his first arena performance since releasing his fourth studio album, the 21-year-old singing sensation was admittedly a bit rusty. He lamented that a speaker delay was affecting his vocal ability. At one point, he forgot the words to "Love Yourself."
Bieber quickly rebounded and crooned a couple of songs while simultaneously skateboarding on the stage. He sent the crowd into a frenzy when he plucked a fan from the audience and serenaded her with "One Less Lonely Girl." Following the performance, Bieber debuted a 45-minute dance video featuring several of his new tunes — but not much Biebs.
"Keep being the best versions of yourselves," Bieber told the crowd as he left the stage. "I'm gonna try to do the same."
The tickets for "An Evening with Justin Bieber" were $18 or $22 with a copy of "Purpose." Bieber devotee Samantha Kwan said the price of admission was worth it.
"I mean, it was only five songs, but I got to see him in person for $18, and he's totally hot," she said. "I wish I could come back for the other shows."
Bieber posted on Twitter after the first scheduled event that the other engagements, as well as a live stream, would go on as planned following the shootings and explosions in Paris.

Salman Khan: Interesting statements by the actor

1/17

Salman Khan: Agenda should be to watch 'Prem Ratan...' with entire family

Salman Khan's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has created history at the box-office with the film's opening day collections being around Rs 40 crore, which is the highest for any Bollywood film till date. In an interaction with Hindustan Times, Salman was asked to comment on the fact that viewers had made it an agenda to watch the film with their entire family, to which he said that that should be the agenda for everyone and that there was nothing better than a family film. Salman revealed that his mother Sushila Charak, stepmother Helen and sisters Alvira and Arpita also watched the film on Thursday.

At a Paris Concert, Sudden Gunfire

‘I heard a lot of screaming. They were shooting randomly.’

 Concertgoers are evacuated outside the Bataclan theater in Paris

PARIS—It was a clear Friday evening in one of Paris’s liveliest nightlife districts, and the rock music was blaring. Then, at least two gunmen burst into a packed music venue and opened fire.
“I heard a lot of screaming. They were shooting randomly,” said Frederic Nowak, 49 years old, still wearing a bloodstained T-shirt after escaping the 1,500-capacity Bataclan club via the roof. “I saw them shoot people who were lying on the floor.”
The assault was a chilling crescendo to a series of attacks that took at least 100 lives in six locations across the French capital. The attacks targeted mainly venues frequented by young people in hip neighborhoods on the eastern half of the city that house hundreds of bars, clubs and restaurants.
Less than a mile away Damien Jalet, 39, a choreographer from Brussels was walking along the trendy Rue de Charonne, dotted with restaurants, when he saw a bearded man in a suit exit a car, lifting up and firing a Kalashnikov rifle. He said he saw at least two gunmen, and possibly a third.
“I was so close, maybe two meters from him. He was in a suit, and with the gun, he looked like a gangster. His face wasn’t covered. They didn’t say anything. They were calm, relaxed,” he said. “It was so surreal. There were no shouts, no yelling from anyone. Everyone was just in shock.”
Mr. Jalet then ran in the opposite direction, toward the apartment he was staying in a few blocks away. “I’m traumatized. I just cried and cried. It’s an indescribable violence.”
The most distant attack hit the outskirts of the city, where at least two blasts were heard just outside the Stade de France stadium during a soccer match attended by French President François Hollande.
“We heard two explosions during the game,” said Agnes Ndedi, 35, who attended the game with a group of children from a local football club.
Screams could be heard from the stadium, but the game continued in play until the end, she added.
At the end of the game, as crowds exited the stadium, some came back running toward the entrance.
“We hid in the washroom for a while,” said Christophe Beaupuis, 38, who was attending the game with his two children.
Mr. Beaupuis, along with a group of a dozen people were waiting outside the stadium late Friday night, to be able to get back to their car. “We just want to get home, we don’t feel safe here,” said Mr. Beaupuis, who drove up from the South of France for the game.
The Bataclan nightclub appeared to be the scene of the worst carnage. Witnesses said gunmen executed concertgoers on the floor, and survivors attempted to escape by walking over dead bodies to get to safety.
A 25-year-old woman who was inside the club said the gunmen had been methodical, spraying the room, then pausing to reload their weapons. “I could see people injured and blood on the ground,” said the woman, whose shoes were stained with blood.
“They shot at us for 10 to 15 minutes, said Julien Pearce, an eyewitness speaking on CNN. “They were just standing in the back of the concert room and shooting at us as if we were birds.”
Early Saturday, dozens of ambulances still clustered around the 19th-century pagoda-style concert hall, where police estimated at least 80 and perhaps more than 100 were killed.
Sirens of departing and incoming vehicles could be heard on the boulevard Voltaire, where the concert hall is located not far from Paris’s Place de La Republique.
First conceived in 1864, the Bataclan has lived through multiple iterations, first as a theater hosting ballets and Vaudeville comedians, and later as a cinema, the venue’s website says.
Bataclan has hosted acts including Lou Reed and Prince. More recently, the hall says Snoop Dogg and Robbie Williams have played.
When Friday’s attack occurred, California rock outfit Eagles of Death Metal, known for their bluesy rock and playful, irreverent sense of humor, was playing the venue.
The group in October released their fourth full-length album, “Zipper Down,” which they were promoting in Europe.
“Band members are safe,” said the group’s manager, Marc Pollack. “We are not making any comments and no one is speaking to press. We will issue a statement in the near future.”