The problem with owning large media corporations
When talking about journalists, some may describe a journalist as always having news in his/her blood. However, when describing a media mogul like Rupert Murdoch, one may say owning news was always in his blood. Inheriting a media company from his father, Murdoch went one step further and sought to build himself an empire quickly. Buying the News of the World, The Sun, The Times, etc, Murdoch then decided to create News Corporation, News Corp, which is the second largest media corporation in the world today, located in New York. News Corp was established as a holding company - a company that does not have a direct ...
Read Full PostIran, laughing in the face of nuclear disaster
Iran has launched a four day military exercise to show its strength in the wake of rising tensions with the international community and possible military action against them. Getting into gear, their Revolutionary Guards as well as their ground troops and air defenses, Iran is ready for anything. Coinciding with the show of strength is a two day UN inspectors’ visit to Iran, the second visit this month. Led by Herman Nackaerts, the team hopes to achieve access to Parchin military base, as well as talk to question Iran’s nuclear scientist. The inspectors, however, will not be visiting any nuclear ...
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A summer of change for Manchester United
The summer of 2011 promises to be one of major changes for Manchester United. Having finally displaced Liverpool as the most successful side in English League history, United are now set to begin the new season with a different and somewhat inexperienced squad to the one that recently lifted a record-breaking 19th league title in May 2011. Long-serving defenders John O’ Shea and Wes Brown have both joined Sunderland while the retirements of Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar in addition to the retirement of Gary Neville in February has left the English champions short of experienced players to ...
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Protect Pakistan from Hizb ut-Tahrir
This past week I’ve seen all sorts of groups offering advice to Pakistan. After the events of June 22, when the Pakistani army stated that they would be investigating four majors because of certain accusations, the Hizb ut-Tahrir decided to put their two cents in. They suggested Pakistanis take to the streets for Islamic rule. I suppose it was their finest moment when they were linked to the Pakistan Army, as the Hizb is being given some of the international spot light it has always craved and needed to validate its existence. As a Pakistani who has lived in Britain and ...
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Easy education: How to spot a fake school
It is not so hard to to attain a student visa for the United Kingdom nowadays and go there for higher education with a dream of becoming rich. Indeed the process has now become very easy – even students who have just completed 12 years of education get admissions in universities in the UK. The UK earns nearly $1.8 billion annually from international students, most of these are from Asia. A pertinent question here is: does every university in the UK provide quality education and are all properly accredited? No. According to research conducted by a UK based background screening company in 2011, ...
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Royal wedding: Everyone’s invited
With headlines such as “Shahbaz Sharif calls for Karachi province” and “Twin attacks on Navy buses” doing the usual rounds on the front page of just about every major local newspaper, one can’t help but use all the media spotlight surrounding the royal wedding as an escape. After all, it is a fairy-tale of an event and something that allows those who watch it to think about things that are decidedly better than the humdrum of their daily lives. Prince William, second in line to the British throne and elder son of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles and ...
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Are babies worth much in Pakistan?
The news of Pakistan topping the world league of still births creates a sense of indignation. It is yet another sad testament of the country’s health sector. Here in the UK, stillbirths are the highest amongst most developed countries. Although one can apportion some of these causes to placental problems, infections or congenital abnormalities, but there is still a significant number which cannot be explained. Sadly, the UK and Pakistan will address this problem quite differently – perhaps somewhat predictably. In the UK, major investment in research will often follow to investigate the causes of such high mortality rates. This follows its ...
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Young guns in UK unite for Pakistan
It’s going to be an exciting weekend in Pakistan. Future leaders from all over the country will gather in Islamabad for the Pakistan Young Leader’s Conference until 27th February. The aim of the conference is to help solve some of the crucial problems and issues currently facing Pakistan. The whole conference is solution oriented. Earlier this week the PYLC was also held in UK. The event took place at the prestigious Oxford University over the weekend of February 11-13. I had the opportunity to participate in the event, not only as a delegate for the Women Empowerment Committee but also as ...
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Pakistani ‘sex gangs’ who don’t prey on British girls
Allegations that Pakistani men acquire sexual perversions as a result of their sexually oppressive cultures, by many commentators, including David Aaronovitch, former Labour MP Ann Cryer, and now Jack Straw—and coverage of these views by more-than-delighted right wing publications like the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Sun—is fast becoming an accepted universal truth. The increasingly frenzy follows a half-baked investigation by British newspaper The Times, which ostensibly concludes that Asian British men are specifically targeting white girls between the ages of 12 to 16 for “street grooming” and sexual exploitation. Following this, prominent Labour politician Jack Straw warned that British Pakistani men regard white ...
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Your university next door
A rare and happy confluence, the seeker and the sought in mutual hot pursuit. While the growing body of students is chasing higher degrees and diplomas, education itself, as it were, is hunting for talents to groom. Man closes one door, God opens another. Choosy public schools and colleges have now few applicants begging for entrance as newspapers are full of new institutions with an open arms policy for anyone who has the resources for bettering his or her future. Bernard Shaw, who said “what we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit ...
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