Results tagged “pakistan”

Reports surfaced yesterday about a new terrorist plan to attack the New York City transit system using suicide bombers. The FBI called the plot "uncorroborated, but plausible" that was allegedly triggered by information obtained from a Pakistani citizen arrested overseas last week. Despite the unsubstantiated nature of the threat, it drew extra attention due to its involvement of top aides to Osama Bin Laden.

U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf said he would resign today. Musharraf has been under pressure to leave office, due to the ruling party's attempt to impeach him, and told the country, "I don't want the people of Pakistan to slide deeper and deeper into uncertainty....I am not asking for anything. I will let the people of Pakistan decide my future." Musharraf rose to power in a "bloodless coup" in 1999, but, per CNN, "his power had eroded since parties opposed to his rule swept to victory in February's parliamentary elections." His resignation will likely to accepted by the parliament and he has reportedly been granted "safe passage" out of the country.

A U.S. District Court Judge sentenced one-time Credit Suisse investment banker Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem to ten years in prison for insider trading, stating that some Wall Street professionals were not getting the picture of the seriousness of the crime. While working at Credit Suisse's Global Energy Group in Manhattan, Naseem fed insider information to a partner in Pakistan, who used the tips to illegally amass almost $8 million in profits.

The Pentagon has charged six men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks and will seek the death penalty (the Pentagon's terse press release was titled "Defense Department Seeks Death Penalty for Six Guantanamo Bay Detainees"). These would be "the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system."

3. Brooklyn Bar Lures Drunks With Prizes: What will happen with Pacific Standard's Frequent Drinker Card Program?

This ad for Pakistan Airlines is real. And in the history of advertising, it really takes the creepy cake. Even worse than babies endorsing cigarettes! Seriously, if Nostradamus ran an ad firm to warn the world about blowback, this would have been in his portfolio.

As violence continues in Pakistan in the wake of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, New York City's Pakistani population was shocked by the news, watching news coverage and holding vigils. One woman said to the Daily News, "For us, this is like losing [President John] Kennedy. She wanted peace. She wanted democracy. And she lost her life for these things." And a man told the NY Times, “I think there will be a lot of violence after this, and chances are pretty slim for democracy."

Earlier today, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed during a rally. The Western-educated (Harvard, Oxford) Bhutto had been living in Dubai and London for eight years, but returned in October to prepare for Pakistan's national elections (to be held next month) with hopes of returning to power. However, her return parade was bombed, killing 134 people and injuring more than 400. [Her obituary in the NY Times.]

Prestige filmmakers take note: If you want the Times critics to really love you, what you need to do is put the fear in them. At least it worked for Tim Burton; his adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd gave reviewer A.O. Scott nightmares. And for that, Scott deems the film “close to a masterpiece, a work of extreme – I am tempted to say evil – genius.” (Current Rotten Tomato rating: 88% fresh.) One big question was whether the non-singing actors cast in the film would be able to pull it off; according to Burton the film is almost 90 sung. Well, it worked for Scott:

Johnny Depp’s voice is harsh and thin, but amazingly forceful. He brings the unpolished urgency of rock ’n’ roll to an idiom accustomed to more refinement., and in doing so awakens the violence of Mr. Sondheim’s lyrics and melodies.

SPA: FreeNYC tells us that "in honor of their 20th Anniversary, Nina's European Day Spa is offering up some free and discounted treatments!" Get there before 7pm and you'll get a free eyebrow threading or waxing, free mini microdermabrasion, and free hand treatments. Free: it's a beautiful price.

Volatile Dutch actor Youssef Sjoerd Idilbi did two things that are almost unheard of during a Sunday performance of the play Is.Man at St. Ann’s Warehouse. The first warms our heart: He stopped his performance to confront an audience member about a ringing cell phone. His second move brazenly defied the theatrical tradition of ‘the show must go on’. Technical problems with the sound board had caused the cancellation of the previous night's performance; when those glitches resurfaced 20 minutes into the Sunday show, Idilbi tore off his microphone and stormed out of the theater. Awkward!

EVENTS: Both Open House NY and The New Yorker Festival are upon us. You can check out more of OHNY's event here, and The New Yorker Festival here. Some picks:

A jury felt a father went too far in trying to find out where his daughter was. Fifty-three-year-old Javed Khalid and three other Pakistani natives were found guilty yesterday in a Brooklyn courtroom of charges that Khalid led the torture the uncle of his daughter's new husband.

IFC Center and Asia Society

Ladies looking to ho it up this summer may want to pay heed to a City Health Department warning about certain brands of eye makeup which contain harmful levels of lead. The kohl, kajal, and surma types of makeup have large amounts of the element and have been linked to at least five cases of lead poisoning in pregnant women and children who've inadvertently ingested the sfuff. Children are at particular risk because, well, they stick their hands in their mouth after doing pretty much everything, including touching mommy's face or the items on her dresser. A recent test by the Health Department found that the following brands had lead levels in excess of the recommended federal limit of 10 parts per million:

Surprise, surprise. It turns out the number of American taxi drivers in New York City may be larger than you think. In records obtained from the Taxi & Limousine Commission, The Sun finds that the United States is the 5th most common country of origin for cab drivers. The most common country of origin is Bangladesh, followed by Pakistan, India, and Haiti. All told, there are about 2,300 American drivers, more than 1,300 of which reported they were native New Yorkers. That said, you're more than two times as likely to hail a Bangladeshi driver as there are more than 5,200 of them.

Yesterday, Shahawar Matin Siraj, who had been convicted of plotting to bomb the West 34th Street subway station at Herald Square, was sentenced to 30 years in jail. Siraj, in jail since his arrest in August 2004, had claimed he was entrapped by authorities, since a police informer had secretly taped their conversations where Siraj discussed his plans. After receiving his sentence, the 24 year old he said, "Your honor I want to apologize about whatever I said in the tapes — I wish I could take those words back but it already happened, I already said those things. I’m taking responsibility for 34th Street, but I was manipulated by this person.” He also said, "I told [the informer], 'I don't want to do it.' I told him I wanted to ask my mother's permission."

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:

Some of Gothamist's favorite stories in the city were about the animals of New York City. Here's how animals ruled the Big Apple in 2006:

People, I think, are actually seeking unification in one form or another. You can look to the success of sites like Friendster and MySpace as evidence. Of course we differ from those virtual clubs, because we’re very real and very tactile—like corduroy, actually. We’re trying to emulate and reference old, secretive social clubs, like The Masons or The Knights of Columbus. I love those old clubs. Corduroy is able to unify because everyone knows what it is, it’s not rare or difficult, everyone can get it and everyone has some kind of association or reaction to corduroy. Our slogan is “All Wales Welcome,” so anyone, provided they exhibit appreciation of corduroy can be in the club.

Hoorah! Leo, the snow leopard found abandoned in Pakistan, is now officially in the public eye at the Bronx Zoo. Last month, the State Department touted a very special arrangement with the Pakistani government, which allowed the 14 month old snow leopard to be sent to the Bronx Zoo temporarily, because Pakistan does not have snow leopard facilities. (Leo could not be relased into the wild because he never learned survival skills - he was found as a baby by a goat herder!) In return, the Bronx Zoo will work with Pakistan to develop a snow leopard program, which Leo would return to.

The U.S. doesn't like the Hezbollah, and U.S. Attorneys certainly don't like Hezbollah TV, as they charged Staten Island TV salesman Javed Iqbal with providing customers with a Hezbollah TV station in a satellite TV package. The U.S. Treasury called Al Manar a terror organization earlier this year, leading to the feds to bust Iqbal. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Mark Dubowitz tipped the feds about Iqbal's transmissions, and then here's the Post's explanation of how he was found out:

In June, a "wired" FBI informant walked into Iqbal's Brooklyn office, asking to be hooked up to the "DISH network."

Continue reading "NYC Man Charged with Offering Hezbollah TV"

But not in someone's apartment - to the Bronx Zoo! An endangered snow leopard cub that was found in Pakistan will join the Bronx Zoo's snow leopard habitat this year. From the State Department:

Originally from the Naltar Valley high in the Karakorum Mountains of northern Pakistan, the snow leopard cub, now approximately 13 months old and 60 pounds, was turned over to Government of Pakistan authorities in July 2005 by the local goat herder who rescued it. The herder and his family had provided shelter for the cub in their home and later in their grain shed. As the cub grew, the herder approached World Wildlife Fund consultants working in the region for help and they temporarily took over the cub’s care. The cub was relocated south to Gilgit, where the Pakistani government assumed responsibility for its care.

Continue reading "In a Wave of Diplomacy, Orphaned Snow Leopard Heads to the Bronx"

, were on hand last night for a post-screening discussion about conditions inside the Cuban base sponsored by the ACLU. Hosted by the IFC Center as a part of their ongoing Q&A series, the panel led by ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero brought home the responsibility of all people who care about human rights to speak out against the conditions and unlawful status of Guantanamo.

The co-owner of a fried chicken restaurant was killed in a gruesome fashion: Lye was doused over his face as he was getting ready to open the store. Rehmatullah Azezollah died shortly after the attack, and his partner in a Lincoln Fried Chicken, Abdul Krin, described, "His eye all burned, his eye white, his mouth dry, his skin black" - his face basically melted, along with his clothes. Krin also said that Azezollah did not see his attacker. Azezollah's son, Humayun, has been questioned though not charged with a crime; Humayun had been charged with attacking his father and stealing from the restaurant. There had been other family tensions, as Azezollah wanted to marry a woman from Pakistan without divorcing his wife, Jila (who lived in their Queens home while her husband lived with friends) and Azezollah thought his family was becoming too Americanized. Krin says there were arguments about child support and his friends said that Azezollah was worried about being in danger.

Well try moving to Oslo, baby, and see how that grabs you! You'll be wishing for one of those overpriced $6 beers in Williamsburg when you are paying $9.40 for some Carlsburg lager at a bar swathed in the perpetual darkness of a Norwegian winter! Check out this CNN Money article for the full list of the world's most expensive cities-- New York doesn't even make the top ten (we're 27th!) We used their data to calculate the highly unscientific list of prices below (yes, yes, yes-- we understand that some goods are more expensive than others, and that exchange rates do play into it-- but bear with us):

Many people think the tape was a way to show people he was still alive after bombings in Pakistan. He has released 35 tapes, and only one seems to have preceded an incident outside of the Middle Eat (a truce with European countries expired and seemed to lead to the London subway bombings).

Did you know that New York has one of the top floorball teams in the world? Okay, maybe not-- let's start with an easier question: did you know that floorball exists? It does-- as this very informative website for NYC Floorball explains:

In this heartily American week some of the most appealing things to see are foreign, at least in part. For a more delicate food-related experience than Thanksgiving usually turns turn out to be, consider Lao She’s Teahouse, set in a Beijing establishment over the course of some fifty years that encompass three important moments in modern Chinese history, beginning in 1898. Sixty-plus characters that embody the vast changes in China come to life via the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, in NYC for the first time. Performances are in Mandarin, but there will be both subtitles and simultaneous translation with headphones in case you’re feeling a bit rusty on the language.