SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - We don’t publish many year-end lists, as corporate blogs are perfectly good at doing it themselves. Plus, lots of companies seem to rely more on random editorial judgment than actual numbers to declare what was popular. But here’s one that’s quirky and interesting, and based on unedited data: The most-viewed articles on Wikipedia in 2012. Wikipedia itself doesn’t actually make its own popularity stats public anymore, but outside researchers can analyze its log files,…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- There are stories that have enormous consequences on the lives of Americans but are regularly under-reported or misrepresented by the mainstream media.  Project Censored, the US media watchdog group, has released their annual report examining the shortcomings of reporting in 2012.   Amongst the key topics: the rising police state and the erosion of civil liberties, climate change and the destruction of oceans, and the rising disparity between the one percent and the 99…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - Authorities in the U.S. are already using the Internet and Social Media to fight gangs and crimes. Now, Mexico is doing the same, using what technology has to offer to help fight Mexican drug cartels and narco violence. Harvard University researcher Viridiana Rios is one if them. Rios uses Google to track down criminal activity. And when she does, she informs the Mexican authorities about the cartel data she uncovered. “Our criminals are noisy.…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- If you have a penchant for keeping tabs on the news from your smartphone, or latest movie releases for that matter, 2012 saw a slew of handy apps that could help you in your endeavors. Indeed, The Next Web covered thousands of apps throughout this year, from nifty new browser extensions, to the latest game-changing Android and iOS apps, so we sifted through the archives and pulled out some of best news and media apps…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - The coldest ever December has rolled through Russia causing the evacuation of hundreds of people in Siberia, where temperature hit below -50C, and plunging Moscow into its coldest night in the season. Will Christmas lift the frosty spell? The cold weather that has Russia in its icy embrace has been causing all kinds of havoc. Flights and buses delayed and cancelled, many schools have been closed, and there have been power outages just when power…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - The association aims to get over two lakhs signatures in support of their campaign. “We will hand over the signatures and memorandum to the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Shia clerics have also extended their support to our movement,” said Ehtisham Haider, an office bearer of the association. Shia groups claim that Free Masonic Temple at Ram Tirath Marg in Hazratganj area was originally a Waqf property and is mausoleum, Karbala Moatmuddaula. Earlier on 12 September…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - Western officials and analysts say U.S. and U.N. pressure is failing to persuade Pakistan to cut its ties to a terrorist network whose attacks coalition forces fear could complicate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network, based in Pakistan’s northwest region, receives financial and logistical support from Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Western officials say. “The support operation [in Pakistan] for the Haqqanis’ war-fighting is intact,” said a former Western official who spoke on background, citing security…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - Kuwait, fearing another surge of violent protests, has renewed its crackdown on the Islamist opposition. Officials said the government was taking measures to prevent another upsurge of violent unrest in wake of parliamentary elections on Dec. 1, boycotted by the opposition. They said the Interior Ministry was taking a harder line on protests as the Information Ministry closed down opposition media outlets. Such practices won’t safeguard the homeland, won’t bolster the security and stability, won’t turn what is wrong to become…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - A 26-year-old Lebanese dentist was killed in a Kuwait shopping center Friday at the hands of a stateless man, Kuwait-based AlQabas reported Sunday. Jaber Youssef was stabbed three times at The Avenues Mall by a bidoon man, the newspaper said. The bidoon are residents of Kuwait who lack citizenship. The perpetrator, a 22-year-old who wielded a sword, stabbed Youssef in the neck, chest and heart, according to the autopsy report obtained by the daily. Police used the…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- THERE are a lot of good questions to consider about the internet and language. There are equally many good questions to be asked about the future of English now that a majority of its speakers are non-natives.  But last week's BBC Magazine piece on the future of English online is a dog's breakfast of confused concepts, true but misleading facts, and otherwise misguided attempts to make sense of many related, but distinct, trends in English.…