BERLIN : Chief Executive of the German Solar Energy Society, Dr. Uwe Hartmann called on the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Muhammad Barjees Tahir here on Saturday. He briefed the Minister about various activities of the society being undertaken by it to promote new sustainable energy conversion techniques and energy-saving technologies as well as environmental and climate protections. He said that the major aspect of Society’s work was education and spreading information about renewable energies. Federal Minister said that Pakistan had been facing acute shortage of electricity and it had hampered the economic development badly. The Federal Government is striving hard to overcome this energy crisis on one hand as well trying to maintain a balanced energy mix to keep the average price of electricity per unit as low as possible on the other hand, he added. The Minister informed him of various alternative energy projects including wind and solar, which were being installed in the country. It was agreed in the meeting that the German Solar Energy Society will consider the possibility of setting up a Solar School in Pakistan to impart training in developing, planning, dimensioning, installing, and commissioning solar systems as well disseminate technical know how about the alternative sources of energy. As a first step forward, the experts of the Society will train the trainers in the fields of photovoltaic, solar thermal applications and energy efficiency.
Karachi: Indian actress Kareena Kapoor wants good relation between Pakistan and India. Kareena Kapoor has become the brand ambassador of Pakistani fashion house. Fashion designer Faraz Manan has taken the photo shoot of Kareena in the palace of Hyderabad Deccan, India. Kareena Kapoor was wearing those dresses which were designed by Faraz Manan.
Kareena Kapoor has said that she knows that she has a lot of fans in Pakistan. Actress has said that her ancestors belong to Pakistan. Having seen the love of Pakistani People for her, she is feeling quite happy Kareena expressed.
Actress Kareena has said that her grandfather Raj Kapoor was born in Peshawar and he is excited for his birth place.
Her father Randhir Kapoor and paternal Uncle Rishi Kapoor often tells about their visit of Pakistan. Kareena wants to see the birth place of her grandfather as well. We have to make good relation between Pakistan and India actress expressed.
Fashion designer Faraz Manan has said that we have selected Kareena for the ambassador of his brand in order to show the Pakistani dresses in all over the country. Pakistani models are worried to see the interest of Indian actress for working for Pakistani brands.
From his hoody and his team selection right through his inability to stir City into life from the bench, this was as lethargic as things have been for City under the Chilean
COMMENT By Peter Staunton at Etihad Stadium
To my right ahead of kick-off, a City fan said it. His friend expected the win, 3-0. His fellow supporter wasn't having it, however. "The Uwe Rosler story," he reasoned. The FA Cup does have the knack of throwing up compelling narrative.
The former striker, on his first trip back to the club where he was a folk hero, was the romantic tale at the weekend. The City fan knew there would be a sting in it for his team. However, this was not the fates conspiring against City; one of those inexpicable matches in which all reason and sense are discarded.
This was a result forged, initially, in the approach of the two managers and then in the tasks executed by their players. Night and day in that respect. Resplendent in his match-day suit, Rosler shouted himself hoarse, bending, squatting, patrolling the touchline, up and down, up and down, like a tiger in a cage, ensuring that his players followed his instructions to the letter. At one stage in the first half, he was telling them what passes to play.
"Our worst half of the year," instead, was Pellegrini's assessment. "We didn't have the pace to play against a team in a very good moment." With his shaggy mane and hooded tracksuit, the Chilean cut an apathetic figure.
"Maybe we thought it was not so difficult [before the game]," he said. And maybe, in the end, it wasn't as difficult as Uwe Rosler thought. Pellegrini was impassive after the first Wigan goal. He altered nothing as time and again, in possession, Wigan picked the right pass and starved City of the ball in meaningful places.
When the changes came, they came desperately. He rolled three dice hoping to see two sixes among them. While the introduction of James Milner drew a better display from the right-back Micah Richards, Edin Dzeko and David Silva were less effective. The Bosnian hit the post with one header and saw another, for a potential equaliser, flash wide. City did not deserve it. The scarcely deserved the one they did score, opined Rosler. Joleon Lescott "clearly offside" and interfering with play.
Silva put the ball under his foot and tried to pass it well when he came in but the frenetic nature of City's late strategy also featured Lescott and, latterly, Costel Pantilimon up front, illustrating a muddled approach.
Questions will have to be answered about the calibre of replacements for Vincent Kompany. It made sense to rest the Belgian with Barcelona on the horizon and an international match behind him. Nonetheless, City cannot defend in his absence. Richards was posted missing as Marc-Antonie Fortune ghosted down the right flank in the first half and Martin Demichelis was turned inside out before conceding the penalty.
For the second goal, Richards had his hands behind his back in the box as James McArthur crossed along the ground for James Perch's tap in while Lescott let the ball go past.
Even that goal showed the contrast in hunger between the sides. Gael Clichy was favourite for the ball but the former Newcastle United man simply showed more desire to get there. At the other end, Emmerson Boyce, as loyal a servant as they come, somehow diverted the ball over the bar from right in front of the goalline as Dzeko lurked. Even on replays, it defies logic that he kept it out. But keep it out the Wigan captain did and in the cup he kept his side. "You need matchwinners at both ends," said Rosler, whose side have now endured 52 matches this season. "That tackle has shown desire and willpower. I can only take my hat off to my players."
Boyce's opposite number, Yaya Toure, flounced down the tunnel after being substituted. He was lucky not to be sent off for two petulant fouls. His body language was all wrong throughout. It was symptomatic of City's display on the day. He threw his arms around in frustration that Wigan seemed to want it more than they did. How dare they come to the Etihad and try this hard. Don't they know the script?
All season long Pellegrini has parried enquiries about a potential quadruple. His side have the Capital One Cup in the bag but that is very much the bottle of champagne handed out when you win the National Lottery. No one really cares.
Since the start of 2014 he has watched his side surrender their grip on the Premier League trophy to Chelsea, their Champions League credentials to Barcelona and now their FA Cup dreams to Wigan.
The Latics now edge towards unlikely successive FA Cup wins. That's six consecutive wins for the Latics now since defeat at Huddersfield in February and five of those have been away from home. This isn't the stuff of dreams. This was what they came for.
Both teams believed they could do it; only one followed through.
The Frenchman's stunning form means Carlo Ancelotti's side are increasingly unlikely to spend big on a new frontman in the summer - as long as he agrees a new contract
SPECIAL REPORT By Chris Myson & Alberto Pinero
Karim Benzema's career has undergone an amazing transformation in the space of just a few months.
Having scored six goals in as many matches and an impressive 11 since the start of 2014, the striker's stock at Real Madrid has arguably never been higher.
As recently as October 26, it looked as if Benzema’s days at Madrid were numbered. Dropped for theClasico against Barcelona, he had scored in just one of his side’s previous 10 games.
He was being consistently booed by the club’s supporters; a spell of jeering that peaked when, after missing a glorious opportunity to score, he was substituted in a Champions League tie against Juventus.
Around the same time, Benzema was enduring ridicule back in his homeland for a disastrous run of form with France. Astonishingly, he failed to score in 17 consecutive international matches.
He has since turned that drought around too, netting four goals in five caps for the national team and playing a key role in helping les Bleus past Ukraine to qualify for the World Cup.
After ending the run in October, the striker admitted he had suffered with his poor form for club and country, saying: "This has been the most difficult period of my career. It has been tough for me, but I never stopped believing in myself.”
It has been an up-and-down journey for the 26-year-old forward since he arrived at the Bernabeu in the summer of 2009 in a deal eventually worth over €40 million. It is only now that Madrid are ready to fully commit to Benzema as their main man in the No.9 position.
At most clubs, a striker who has played over 200 games and scored over 100 goals would have already secured iconic status, but Benzema’s four-and-a-half seasons have been unconventional.
KEEPING KARIM
BENZEMA'S STATS THIS SEASON
TOTAL APPEARANCES STARTS GOALS AV. GOALS PER GAME
36 33 21 0.58
BENZEMA'S OVERALL MADRID RECORD
TOTAL APPEARANCES STARTS GOALS AV. GOALS PER GAME
219 155 108 0.49
He has drifted in and out of favour with both the fans and his coaches, but in Carlo Ancelotti and, significantly, assistant Zinedine Zidane, he has now found two avid supporters.
Even when being booed and criticised earlier in the season, the former Paris Saint-Germain coach gave him full public backing. The coaching team resisted repeated calls to replace him with Alvaro Morata.
That faith has been rewarded with Benzema’s upturn in form, which has intensified since the turn of the year. A number of his strikes have come in crucial games – two against Villarreal, one against Atletico Madrid and another double in Europe against Schalke.
He also netted the vital first goal against Celta, Osasuna and Espanyol, playing a key role as los Blancos move into an impressive position. They remain in the running to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
Ancelotti said ahead of the game with Levante on Sunday: "Benzema is comfortable in the side and with our style of play. He is concentrating hard on his work and that is paying off."
For the first time, Benzema is in favour with the club’s support, the coach and the board. For most of the last four years, at least one of those groups – and often more – have been against him.
Benzema finds it harder than most to win support from the terraces. His deliberate movements on the pitch and introverted personality can make him appear to lack passion. He is not a pure goalscorer either, unlike many of those who have historically played in his position for Madrid.
Those factors can make him an easy target compared to established stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos or enthusiastic youngsters like Jese and Morata. He receives less patience than most team-mates are afforded when hit by a spell of bad form.
His current exploits are gaining widespread recognition, but he has impressed in the white of Madrid before. He did score 32 goals in all competitions in 2011-12, although that was overshadowed by Ronaldo netting a sensational 60 and Jose Mourinho ending Barcelona’s run of three-straight Liga titles.
Gonzalo Higuain was a constant rival for selection in his first four years. With only one place up for grabs at centre-forward, his high-profile colleague was always waiting to pounce. It was rare for either to see out a full 90 minutes and a poor performance from one would mean the other quickly came into favour.
A man in form | Benzema's goals against Villarreal were two of many in 2014
Last summer, Madrid sold the popular Higuain, who had become disillusioned in the Spanish capital, to Napoli. It was a show of faith in Benzema when the club resisted temptation to sign another striker and instead spent €100m on Gareth Bale. That trust made his early-season struggles harder for some to take.
But the club are now convinced by his performances and his role as the starting forward is set to continue beyond this season. Ancelotti’s support is a crucial factor, as is the belief that the Frenchman’s playing style perfectly complements the team’s two most marketable and expensive stars: Bale and Ronaldo.
The rise of Benzema comes at the perfect time in terms of his contractual situation. The six-year deal he signed after joining the club expires in the summer of 2015 and negotiations are already under way to extend that, with the club hoping to have things tied up before the World Cup.
Providing he agrees to sign, there are no proposals for a big-money attacking arrival in the summer. Of course, you can never say never with Florentino Perez - but plans for the future of the striker spot are currently centred around Benzema. With every goal he scores, that position is strengthened.
As much as the club admire prolific Premier League duo Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero, both are likely to command a huge transfer fee, which is not appealing when Benzema is performing so well.
Radamel Falcao is an often-touted option who represents a slightly different style to those targets and Benzema - that of a ‘true No.9’ - but the ex-Olympique Lyonnais star is the man in possession of the shirt.
The club are aware of the problems caused by two high-profile central forwards competing in the same squad and believe it is a counter-productive policy having had the France international and Higuain at the same time.
This summer, Madrid want to sort out the goalkeeping position if one of Casillas or Diego Lopez leaves, sign two full-backs and potentially replace Angel Di Maria. A new striker is not one of the priorities.
All Benzema has to do to keep it that way is sign a new contract and, of course, keep the goals flying in as the big trophies are decided.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, centre, in a scene from 12 Years a Slave. Photograph: Jaap Buitendijk/AP
Heads of state of 15 Caribbean nations will gather in St Vincent on Monday to unveil a plan demanding reparations from Europe for the enduring suffering inflicted by the Atlantic slave trade.
In an interview with the Guardian, Sir Hilary Beckles, who chairs the reparations task force charged with framing the 10 demands, said the plan would set out areas of dialogue with former slave-trading nations including the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He dismissed claims that the Caribbean nations were attempting to extract vast sums from European taxpayers, insisting that money was not the main objective.
“The British media has been obsessed with suggesting that we expect billions of dollars to be extracted from European states,” he said. “Contrary to the British media, we are not exclusively concerned with financial transactions, we are concerned more with justice for the people who continue to suffer harm at so many levels of social life.”
Beckles also tried to assuage fears that “this is opening up a can of worms leading to litigation”. “That is not our aim at all,” he said. “Our aim is to open up a dialogue with European states.”
The 10-point plan will be unveiled on Monday at the heads of government meeting of Caricom, the regional political and economic body. Given the head of steam behind the reparations movement in the Caribbean, the blueprint is expected to be approved. It will then go forward for discussion with European governments.
The claims are being channeled through the United Nations convention on the elimination of racial discrimination, and processed with the help of the London law firm Leigh Day.
Among the demands made on European former slave trade nations are that they:
• provide diplomatic help to persuade countries such as Ghana and Ethiopia to offer citizenship to the children of people from the Caribbean who “return” to Africa. Some 30,000 have made such a journey to Africa and have been offered generous settlement packages, but lack of citizenship rights for their children is causing difficulties;
• devise a development strategy to help improve the lives of poor communities in the Caribbean still devastated by the after-effects of slavery;
• support cultural exchanges between the Caribbean and west Africa to help Caribbean people of African descent rebuild their sense of history and identity;
• back literacy drives designed to improve education levels that are still dire in many Caribbean communities;
• provide medical assistance to the region that is struggling from high levels of chronic diseases such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes that the Caricom reparations commission links to the fallout from slavery.
One of the most important, and most contentious, demands will be for European countries to issue an unqualified apology for what they did in shipping millions of men, women and children from Africa to the Caribbean and America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Beckles was scathing of European leaders who have issued statements of regret about slavery, including Tony Blair who in 2007, as UK prime minister, said the slave trade was a matter of “deep sorrow and regret” .
“It was disgraceful to speak of regret rather than to apologise,” Beckles said. “That was a disrespectful act on Blair’s part as it implied that nothing can be done about it – ‘Take our expression of regret and go away’.”
The most positive response from any of the relevant European governments has come so far from Sweden, which said it has “respect for the process” on reparations emerging from the Caribbean. But the UK government has expressed scepticism, with the Foreign Office telling the Guardian last month that “we do not see reparations as the answer. Instead, we should concentrate on identifying ways forward.”
For Beckles, a historian who is pro-vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies in Barbados, the reparations issue is personal. His great-great-grandparents were slaves on the Barbadian plantation owned by ancestors of the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
Benedict Cumberbatch, left, with Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave. Photograph: Jaap Buitendijk/AP
Beckles’s great-great-grandmother was herself a Cumberbatch.
Cumberbatch, who plays a plantation owner in the Oscar-winning film 12 Years A Slave, has said he took on a previous role as the abolitionist William Pitt the Younger as a “sort of apology” for his family’s involvement in the trade.
Beckles said that 12 Years A Slave, which was directed by Steve McQueen, a Briton of Grenadian descent, and starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, a Briton of Nigerian descent, had made a “very important step in the right direction” in its unstinting portrayal of the brutality of slavery. He said he would like to see a similar treatment of the subject from the perspective of Britain rather than America.
“America has made efforts to reflect on their own history, but Britain has made no such effort to do so. If the British public were shown slavery in their own society seen through the eyes of the enslaved, they would get a much better understanding,” he said.
Last year a £1.5bn black hole was revealed in the finances of the Co-op's banking division. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The embattled Co-operative Group, still reeling from a banking scandal and preparing to lay off up to 5,000 employees, faces a new storm over plans to pay its chief executive more than £3.5m in his first year in the job, while massively boosting the salaries and bonuses of other senior staff.
The proposals will see the issue of executive pay dragged once again into the spotlight, after two leading banks last week confirmed that they were to pay hundreds of staff a million pounds or more. They also threaten to plunge the Co-op into further controversy after a disastrous recent period.
Those revelations tarnished the Co-op brand and raised questions about how and why the previous board had appointed Flowers to such an important role.
Documents marked "Private & Confidential", seen by the Observer and prepared for the group remuneration and appointments committee, refer to the significant problems the Co-op's new executive team has inherited. They suggest that the salary packages for chief executive Euan Sutherland and his fellow directors are necessary because "the [Co-op's] executive agenda is possibly the most complex one facing a large business in the country today".
Salary consultants brought in by the Co-op based the proposed remuneration packages on comparisons with FTSE 30 and FTSE 100-listed companies of a similar size to the mutualised group that is owned by its 8 million members. But the huge salary increases are likely to be seen by some as at odds with the history of the co-operative movement and its traditionally egalitarian ethos.
Under the proposals, Sutherland will be paid a base salary of £1.5m this year, plus a £1.5m retention payment. With pension contributions and other extras, such as compensation for buying him out of his previous contract, Sutherland will receive £3.66m this year. His predecessor, Peter Marks, received just over £1.3m last year.
Richard Pennycook, the chief operating officer, will receive a £900,000 salary and a retention payment of £900,000. Six other executives will be paid salaries between £500,000 and £650,000 – and the same amount in retention. In the past, senior executives of the Co-op received between £200,000 and £400,000.
It has also emerged that Rebecca Skitt, the Co-op's chief human resources officer, who joined in February 2013, left last month with a proposed pay-off totalling more than £2m.
A person familiar with the proposals said they represented a "high noon" for the Co-op. It is believed that not all of the board back the proposals, which are likely to play badly with some of the hundreds of elected members who sit on the Co-op's national and regional boards. "Many are likely to be appalled," suggested one person familiar with their thinking.
Sutherland, who became chief executive last May, has admitted that the group's full-year 2013 figures, due later this month and expected to reveal losses of £2bn, will be "pretty ugly". To sort out its finances, the Co-op is looking to sell its pharmacies and farms and make cost savings that could see between 4,000 and 5,000 staff made redundant.
Sutherland has expressed fears that the Co-op has "lost touch with its customers and members and with the communities in which it operates – we haven't been listening". He has questioned continued donations of up to £1m a year to the Labour party and a number of its MPs.
His efforts at modernising the Co-op have been treated with suspicion by some members who believe he is keen on demutualisation, a claim he strenuously denies. His supporters argue that his efforts, and those of his fellow executives, saved the bank from going under, something that would have triggered a taxpayer-funded bailout costing potentially billions of pounds.
"Last year, the Co-operative Group faced the biggest crisis in its 150-year history with the need to recapitalise its bank," said Ursula Lidbetter, chair of the Co-operative Group. "We saved the bank, without recourse to the taxpayer, and we are now embarking on the long journey to revitalise the wider group. That means reducing debt, improving performance and streamlining a business that had become grossly inefficient. It is against that backdrop that we recruited Euan Sutherland and a team with the skills and experience needed at this crucial stage in our history.
"The remuneration packages of our executives are in the middle of a range of comparable companies. This represents an increase on the pay of their predecessors to reflect the greater commercial, management and turnaround experience they are bringing to bear. Euan and his team have already made a significant contribution to the group and we are confident that they will continue to do so."
Critics question the "bomb-proof" nature of the remuneration packages, which will be paid out regardless of any turnaround in the Co-op's fortunes this year."We all want the Co-op to be strong and successful again," said Lord Oakeshott, the former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman and a Co-operative Bank customer. "But gigantic golden hellos for the new bosses send the wrong message to millions of loyal members, customers and staff. Of course, managers should be well rewarded – when they've turned the business around sustainably over the next five years."
Last week there was anger when it emerged that almost 500 Barclays and 75 Lloyds Banking Group staff were being paid more than £1m, sparking claims a bonus bonanza had returned to the City
Julian Assange, here pictured in December 2013, told SXSW ‘all of us have to do something’ about government surveillance. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Saturday told an audience in Texas that people power is the key to rolling back the power of the National Security Agency and other surveillance agencies.
“We have to do something about it. All of us have to do something about it,” he said, in an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin. “How can individuals do something about it? Well, we’ve got no choice.”
Assange was speaking in a “virtual” conversation conducted by video from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been confinedsince June 2012. The NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald will appear in similar sessions over the coming days.
Interviewed by Benjamin Palmer of the marketing agency the Barbarian Group, Assange discussed issues including government surveillance, online democracy and the future of the internet.
On life within the embassy, he said: “It is a bit like prison. Arguably prison is far worse in relation to restrictions on visitors, for example, and the level of bureaucracy involved.” Noting that at any given point there are about a dozen police officers stationed outside, he said: “The UK government has admitted to spending $8m so far just on the police surveillance of the embassy.”
Asked for his views on what governments should be doing, after the NSA revelations, about the way surveillance agencies interact with people, Assange said: “The NSA has grown to be a rogue agency. It has grown to be unfettered … the ability to surveil everyone on the planet is almost there, and arguably will be there within a few years. And that’s led to a huge transfer of power from the people who are surveilled upon, to those who control the surveillance complex.”
Assange talked about a historical “PR campaign based on not existing” for the NSA, which he said had been swept away by the revelations prompted by Snowden’s leaking of thousands of documents to media outlets including the Guardian.
“That let everyone see that somehow this was an important element of power, and it had been developed unnoticed to people,” he said. “How had it come to this? How is it that the internet that everyone looked upon as perhaps the greatest tool of human emancipation there had ever been, had been co-opted and was now involved in the most aggressive form of state surveillance ever seen?”
Assange said the NSA’s traditional practice of not responding to press reports – “to give no oxygen” – would have to be replaced, although he suggested the Pentagon rather than the NSA would guide any new strategy.
“The internet four years ago was a politically apathetic space,” he said, noting that exceptions included the Anonymous group, albeit on an “amateur” basis. Assange suggested that publicity around some of his own organisation’s bigger revelations had opened the eyes of more internet users.
“Many people developed a sense that this space that they had enjoyed, the place where people communicated ideas [was] where all their friends were; [it was] their community’s interface with the regular power community of what we might call the geriatric quo: the old men with guns who control all the money.
“That spread out in different places in different ways, not just because of our [Wikileaks’] efforts, but through others as well. Through the Arab Spring, though Occupy … and the internet became a political space.”
Asked about the motivation behind Wikileaks, Assange talked about the importance of revealing information that had hitherto been kept secret.
“It became clear to me that one of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice. And you can be simplistic about it, which some people are. It’s not that when you expose something automatically there is justice,” he said. Instead, he said: “There’s always a really decent chance that they’re not going to get away with it, and the people affected can take some kind of action. And there’s no confidence in the power being deployed. No confidence in the injustice.”
Assange was asked about whether, thanks to the NSA revelations, the web was under threat. He pointed to comments made this week by a US military figure about a bill being put to Congress to try to “stop publication of material about the National Security Agency”, backed by new cyberterrorism legislation.
“There is a really serious attempt to try and stop these revelations and others, and introduce a new international regime of censorship,” he said, pointing to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as a particular threat.
“Now that the internet has merged with human society … the laws that apply to the internet apply to human society. This penetration of the internet by the NSA and [British spy agency] GCHQ is the penetration of our human society. It means there has been a militarisation of our civilian space. A military occupation of our civilian space … is a very serious matter.”
Assange attacked what he sees as the powerlessness of even the most theoretically powerful politicians, and asked what would happen if President Barack Obama said tomorrow he was immediately disbanding the NSA, or even the CIA. “On paper he has that power, but we all know that this is simply impossible,” he said. “People would come up with lots of dirt attacking him in some manner … the National Security Agency has dirt on everyone.
Julian Assange beamed in remotely for his SXSW interview. Photograph: Stuart Dredge/The Guardian
“We have to do something about it. All of us have to do something about it … How can individuals do something about it? Well, we’ve got no choice. It’s not the case any more that you can hide from the state, and keep your head down, and hope that by sucking up or by being innocuous you can be spared.
“We are now all involved in this. We are all involved in what we traditionally called the state, whether we like it or not. So we have no choice but to try to manage the behaviour of the state that we have been forced to be part of.”
Assange also described what he sees as an “unprecedented theft of wealth from the majority of the population to those people who already have a lot of power … doing that in part by stealing information from all of us. Knowledge is power, and as a result they’re getting more power.”
He portrayed Wikileaks’ mission as “going after” organisations that accumulate knowledge and “putting it back into our common intellectual record, our common history … and that empowers us”.
Assange also suggested that 20-year-olds now are “much more worldly” than 20-year-olds were 10 years ago, as a result of this transfer of knowledge, which he thinks Wikileaks takes some of the credit for. He talked about future plans for Wikileaks, saying that it is preparing an “important” new release of material, but warned that he prefers not to give “the alleged perpetrator the heads up before the alleged victims … they simply prepare to counterspin”.
Assange was asked about The Intercept, the new online publicationfounded by Greenwald and funded by billionaire tech investor Pierre Omidyar.
“Pierre Omidyar has seen that there is not even liberty for people who have $8bn any more,” he said. “Omidyar is a symptom of a new elite in the United States that feels it is genuinely threatened by what is going on with the National Security Agency, and that is important.”
Assange also talked about his future targets, suggesting that there is a need for many more “grand disclosures”, both from Wikileaks and other sources.
“We are actually living in a world that we don’t understand,” he said. “Before all this material came out, CableGate or what we did with the Iraq war, or Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA, we were going about our business in what we thought was the world. But we weren’t living in the world: we were living in some fictitious representation of what we thought was the world. And we are still living in this fictitious representation.
“We are walking around constantly in this fog where we can’t even see the ground. We think we can see the ground, but we’re wrong. And every so often a clearing in the fog happens when there is one of these grand disclosures. And we see the ground, and we are surprised.
Her father Randhir Kapoor and paternal Uncle Rishi Kapoor often tells about their visit of Pakistan. Kareena wants to see the birth place of her grandfather as well. We have to make good relation between Pakistan and India actress expressed.
