Newsaholic

  The world’s second richest person, Elon Musk, has been adopting big “cost cutting" measures at his new office, Twitter. Reportedly, Twitter employees have begun bringing their own toilet paper to the office as Musk fired janitors. According to a report in the New York Times (NYT), Twitter has cut back on janitorial services. The lack of janitors has left the office dirty and smelly. Some employees said that "leftover takeout food and body odour" has affected the office. Musk also adopted other major cost-cutting measures. Musk reportedly also shut down one of Twitter's data centres in Sacramento, California, despite employees saying that the decision would harm Twitter's performance in the market. Reportedly, that centre kept the social networking site up and running for the long run. Musk also asked some Twitter employees to work from home in order to avoid paying rent to the Seattle building. Cleaners and security guards were also laid off at the New Y...

   A new wave of fighting erupted between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi rebel militia in various areas of war-ravaged Yemen within the past 24 hours, a military official told Xinhua. "Scores of Houthi rebel gunmen carried out a large-scale attack and made an attempt to penetrate into the positions of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) troops in the northwestern areas of the country's southern province of Dhalea," the local military source said on condition of anonymity. The military official based in Dhalea said the STC's troops, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, thwarted the Houthis' attack following several hours of ferocious battles. "The battles are still going on but intermittently and seven soldiers, as well as 13 Houthi rebel gunmen, were confirmed to have been killed so far," the source added. During the past several hours, the Aden-based STC, a powerful faction of the Yemeni government, dispatched elite military units to jo...

  Iranian lawyer Saeed Sheikh has been sentenced to three years in prison as the government continues to crack down on lawyers while suppressing nationwide protests that began three months ago. The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran found Sheikh guilty of "gathering and colluding against the country's security" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran." Two years of the three-year sentence are for the first charge and one year is for the second, the activist HRANA news agency reported on December 29.   Sheikh was arrested on October 12 at a rally in front of the Iran Central Bar Association in the Iranian capital. The rally was held to protest against the violation of protesters' rights and turned violent with the intervention of the security forces. At least three lawyers, including Sheikh, were arrested. Two other stiff sentences have been issued to at least two other Iranian lawyers. Among them is Sina Yousefi, the vice chairman of the Law...

 The 28 countries of the European Union [EU] are home to about 25 million Muslims. Their presence is currently the basis of controvesy . debate, fear and in some parts of Europe, outright hatred. Never before has the European continent witnessed this level of mutual suspicion between mainstream European societies and the Muslims.  There is increasing fear and opposition to European Muslims, who are perceived as a threat to national identity,  domestic security and the main-stream social fabric. Mainstream society in Europe can be loosely defined as that section of the population which believes in Christianity and its value system.  Historically, Islamic globalisation began as early as the late Middle Ages (500 to 1400–1500 AD), the Muslims’ presence in Europe was only of the fringes of the continent, starting at the Iberian Peninsula  (Spain and Portugal) and spreading along the Mediterranean shores to other parts of Southern Europe.  Parts of the Ottoman ...

  Uber, a ride-hailing company, has collaborated with WhatsApp Inc to help users book a ride on this platform. This feature is available in the Indian states of Delhi-NCR and Lucknow. According to Meta-owned WhatsApp, people in Delhi-NCR and Lucknow regions can book a uber ride through WhatsApp without even downloading the app. This feature is available in English and Hindi languages. This feature was started in August 2022 to address users’ problems associated with downloading the Uber application and switching between different apps on smartphones. It allows users to manage their rides and receive receipts on WhatsApp. How to book an Uber ride on WhatsApp 1.       Save the official Uber number +91 7292000002 on your smartphone 2.       Now, open WhatsApp on your device 3.       Search Uber on WhatsApp 4.       Start a chat with the Uber chatbot 5.   ...

  A group of four countries led by Canada has requested that Iran submit to arbitration to settle a dispute over its shooting down of a Ukrainian jet. Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was hit by two missiles after taking off from Tehran on 8 January 2020. All 176 people on board died. Three days later, Iran admitted mistakenly shooting down the plane. The group, made up of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK, said it was taking "concrete action" against Iran. The four nations have been seeking reparations on behalf of the families of the victims - many of whom were citizens or residents of those countries. They accuse Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of having "unlawfully and intentionally" launched two surface-to-air missiles at the jet. Iran, for its part, said its air defences had been on high alert at the time of the incident after it fired ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting US forces amid heightened tensions with the U...

  The Islamic Republic’s state media have started bragging about developing missiles and drones and distributing them among its allies throughout the Middle East. In articles in media affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards on Sunday, the regime boasted about its “integrated missile network” and how it has armed the axis of “resistance” in the Middle East, a term which refers to a network of pro-Iranian proxies and Tehran-backed militias across the region, particularly Hezbollah, the Palestinians and Yemen.  The articles also paid a tribute to Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, an IRGC general who was one of Iran’s earliest missile architects. He was killed when a huge explosion rocked a missile facility 30 miles from Tehran on November 12, 2011. Moghaddam was among 17 top IRGC officers killed that day, in what many believed was an operation by Israeli intelligence. He was important for the Islamic Republic because he was one of the main experts who shifted the focus of country’s air...

  With Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the horror of nuclear war has returned to the forefront of public discourse after being absent for decades, underscoring the breakdown of the Cold War-era system of international security. The military impasse has stoked concerns that Moscow may turn to its nuclear arsenal in an effort to break the deadlock and forward its attack. The five recognised nuclear weapon states and permanent members of the UN Security Council are Britain, China, France, and Russia. According to Camille Grand, a former NATO deputy secretary-general, "it's the first time a nuclear power has used its standing to wage a conventional war beneath the shadow cast by nuclear weapons." Asserting that the use of the weapons is still "improbable," he told AFP, "One could have assumed that rogue states would take such an attitude, but suddenly it's one of the two big nuclear powers, a member of the UN Security Council." The moral a...

   At least 100 Iranians arrested over more than 100 days of nationwide protests face charges punishable by death, Oslo-based group   Iran   Human Rights (IHR) has said. Protests have gripped Iran since September after an Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in custody following her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women. Earlier this month,  Iran executed two men in connection with the protests , an escalation in the authorities’ crackdown that activists say is meant to instil public fear.  In a report released on Tuesday, IHR identified 100 detainees facing potential capital punishment, including at least 11 already sentenced to death. Five detainees on the IHR list are women.  The report said many of them had limited access to legal representation. “By issuing death sentences and executing some of them, [the authorities] want to make people go home,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. “It has...

  The Muslim Brotherhood is once again in the focus following the killing of Umesh Kolhe, a Hindu pharmacist from Amaravati, Maharashtra.    The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood relies on violence can be seen in its two offshoots, the Popular Front of India (PFI) and National Women's Front. The PFI was recently banned by India. The Muslim Brotherhood has been problematic for India for long. Groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) have consistently run an anti-India campaign. They have openly rewarded journalists who write anti-India articles. The IAMC has tried to hurt India's image on several occasions. On June 23, it had praised Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar for introducing a resolution in the US House of Representatives which condemned India for the so-called human rights violations of the minorities, the Muslims in particular. Omar to be sure has always openly sided with Pakistan. France. As expected the campaign was supported b...

  Iranian football legend Ali Daei says an international flight has been rerouted to prevent his wife and daughter from leaving the country. The 53-year-old, who has voiced support for anti-government protests, said his family had tried to fly from Tehran to Dubai to join him on holiday on Monday. But the flight was made to land on an Iranian island in the Gulf and they were removed. No reason was given and the pair are returning to Tehran, Ali Daei added. The latest protests were triggered by the death in custody of Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, in September. She had been held for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. More than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed, while thousands of others have been arrested, human rights activists say. Dozens of Iranian security personnel are also reported to have been killed.  Iran's state-run news agency Irna said Mr Daei's wife, Mona Farrokhazari, had pledged to inform officials before leaving the country, follo...

  Two Yemeni government soldiers were killed on Monday in a roadside bomb blast in the country's southern province of Abyan, a military official told Xinhua. "The roadside bomb explosion targeted a vehicle of the government's anti-terror troops while they were conducting an operation in the district of Al Mahfid in Abyan," the local military official said on condition of anonymity. The explosion destroyed the military vehicle and killed two soldiers at the scene and injured five others, according to the official. "The government forces cancelled the anti-terror operation after the explosion and retreated to their previous site in Al Mahfid," he said. In November, the Aden-based Southern Transitional Council announced that its military units had launched "a qualitative anti-terror operation" and "succeeded in raiding a key hideout of al-Qaida in Abyan." Al-Qaida militants hiding out in rocky and mountainous areas of Abyan and other neighb...

   A hundred days after they began, the longest running anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution have shaken the regime, but at a heavy cost to the people. More than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed, according to the Human Rights Activists' News Agency (HRANA). Two protesters have been executed and at least 26 others face the same fate, after what Amnesty International calls "sham trials". Although nationwide demonstrations have swept Iran before - once in 2017 lasting until early 2018, and another in November 2019 - the current protests are unique, as they involve people from across society and women are taking a lead role under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom". Some Iranian celebrities have taken irrevocable steps to support protests, leading to their arrest or exile. Taraneh Alidoosti, a well-known Iranian actress, is being held in the notorious Evin prison after she condemned the execution of a young protest...