Babalfaqeer

Remember that U.S. drone that went down in Iran last year? Iran’s military does, and they’re not done with it yet. On Sunday, officials in Tehran claimed that they had recovered enough information from the craft to build their own. The RQ-170 Sentinel went down in December in eastern Iran (Iranian officials say they forced the drone down; American officials insist it was a malfunction) and was almost immediately paraded on state television, to no small amount of consternation in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh provided examples of the information on state television.  The drone in question, he said, had been involved in surveillance of Osama bin Laden’s compound in northwest Pakistan, just two weeks before the al Qaeda leader’s death — a detail that proves “how far we’ve penetrated the aircraft.” “If we had not achieved access to software and hardware of this aircraft, we would be unable to get these details. Our experts are fully dom...

Earth Day is a day early each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day. Earth Day is planned for April 22 in all years at least through 2015. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. Earth Day was first observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations where it is observed each year. About the same time a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While...

history The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart, reprinted in 1992 with revisions. It is a ranking of the 100 people who, according to Hart, most influenced human history. The first person on Hart's list is the Prophet of Islam Muhammad. Hart asserted that Muhammad was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also believed that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam was far more influential than Jesus' collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes the development of Christianity to St. Paul, who played a pivotal role in its dissemination." The 1992 revisions included the demotion of figures associated with Communism, such as Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev. Hart took sides in the Shakespearean authorship issue and substituted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for William Shakespeare. Hart also substituted N...

Two Pakistanis Make ‘Influential’ ListTime magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2012 includes Pakistan’s chief justice and a Pakistani filmmaker.Newsweek Pakistan | Posted on April 18, 2012. Time magazine unveiled its list today of 100 people it considers “influential.” Two Pakistanis made the cut: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. They are featured on the unranked list alongside Taliban chief Mullah Omar, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Syrian strongman Bashar Assad among others. The magazine’s list for 2011 included Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, the recently retired director-general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Its list for 2012 consists of “people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us, and change our world,” according to the newsweekly. In his note, the magazine’s editor, Rick Stengel, notes that thanks to social media “influence was never easier—or more ephemeral.” The magazine made its cho...

TEHRAN . An Iranian Foreign Ministry official has said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Iranian island of Abu Musa, as part of a recent tour of the southern province of Hormozgan, is an “internal Iranian affair.” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is the deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, made the remarks on Thursday in response to UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan who said on Wednesday that Ahmadinejad’s visit “is a flagrant violation of the United Arab Emirates’ sovereignty over its territory and a transgression of efforts to find a peaceful settlement to end Iranian occupation of the three UAE islands.” The Iranian official also highlighted the importance of bilateral talks meant to resolve the issue and said that the Islamic Republic is determined to expand ties with the UAE. According to Reuters, the UAE has recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultations after Ahmadinejad’s visit to the i...

Abu Musa is a 12-km² island in the eastern Persian Gulf, part of a six-island archipelago near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. The island is administered by Iran as part of the Iranian province of Hormozgan, but is also claimed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Abu Musa's inhabitants call it "Gap-sabzu"  which means "the great green place." On old maps, the island is called Bumuf or Bum-i Musa, Persian for "the land of Musa/Moses." As of 2010 the island had some 2,038 inhabitants making it Iran's smallest county. The city of Abu Musa had a population of 1,868 as of 2010. The ownership of Abu Musa is disputed between Iran and the UAE. The UK administered the island along with the other British-controlled islands in the Persian Gulf, including what is today the UAE. In the late 1960s, Britain transferred administration of the island to the British-appointed Sharjah, one of the seven sheikdoms that would later form the UAE. After Britain a...