McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski revealed on Thursday that a number of markets in the Middle East, and some beyond, were undergoing a “meaningful business impact” following the Israel-Hamas escalation and “associated misinformation” with regards to the brand.
Since October 7, when Israel intensified its ground and air raids in Gaza and killed more than 22,000 people, several fast-food chains, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, have been boycotted by consumers due to their “pro-Israeli stance and alleged financial ties to Israel”.
Kempczinski deems the “misinformation” regarding the brands “disheartening and ill-founded.”
“In every country where we operate, including in Muslim countries, McDonald’s is proudly represented by local owner operators who work tirelessly to serve and support their communities while employing thousands of their fellow citizens,” Kempczinski said in a LinkedIn post.
In October, following the escalation, McDonald’s Israel posted on social media that it gave thousands of free meals to Israel Defense Forces members.
This move was repudiated by McDonald’s franchises in some Islamic states.
Since then, many brands have felt the impact of boycotts in Egypt and Jordan as well as non-Arab countries like Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Reuters reports that as of fiscal 2022, the company franchised and operated about 40,275 McDonald’s restaurants across more than 100 countries. The fast-food chain reported total annual revenue of $23.18 billion in the year.
Shares of the company were down marginally in afternoon trading.
Pakistani-British rail worker Rizwan Javed, who has saved 29 people from taking their own lives since 2015, has been appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Geo’s Murtaza Ali Shah reported.
Rizwan Javed, from Leyton in East London, works for the MTR Elizabeth line at Ealing Broadway and Paddington stations. He joined the railway around 10 years ago and at the start of his career, he attended the Samaritans training course.
Talking to the Geo News, Rizwan said, “I am thankful to Allah for this honour. It’s all due to the prayers of my parents that I have been recognised in the King’s New Year’s Honours List. It’s a huge honour for me that my work in the mental health area has been recognised this way.”
He has been instrumental in saving several lives at the platform during the course of his work by being alert and approaching vulnerable individuals in weak moments.
He gave credit to his training at Samaritans, “With the Samaritans, I learned how to identify vulnerable people, what sort of conversations to have with them, how to engage them, how to look out, and how to take them to the point of safety.”
Within the first week after starting his railway job, Javed helped stop someone from taking their own life.
Recalling an incident Rizwan shared that in one instance he talked to a girl in her mid-20s after identifying that she needed help. “A few days later, she came running to me at the station and gave me a big hug. She said she wouldn’t be alive today if I had not talked to her that night and if I had not convinced her that life was worth living. That was very emotional and rewarding.”
He said people are not educated about mental health issues and these things create an impact.
He told Geo News that he believes that Allah will always reward him for helping others and being there for those who have no one else to talk to them or undergoing. He credited his Pakistani parents for teaching him from a young age the importance of being helpful and charitable.
He said: “My parents always taught me how to be a good and useful citizen, how to make a positive difference.”
Javed and his parents were thrilled when they received the government letter telling him he was being appointed MBE for his services.
MBE is the third highest ranking Order of the British Empire level (excluding a knighthood/damehood), behind Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and then Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE).
A Pittsburgh couple’s dog Cecil ate through 4,000 dollars in cash, leading his owners to embark on a difficult recovery mission.
The couple, Clayton and Carrie Law were in shock when their dog ate the huge sum they had just withdrawn from the bank. Clayton had set the money on the kitchen table and within 30 minutes their usually restrained dog just decided to hop onto it. The dog ingested about half the money and ripped up the other half, Clayton said.
After searching online, the couple found that damaged currency can be mailed or dropped off at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s office along with a letter stating the estimated amount and the reason for damage.
However, this is expected to take six months to three years. Instead of waiting, Carrie said the couple called their bank to see if they could deposit damaged currency. They learned this happens often, and the bank advised them to wait until Cecil expelled the cash – one way or another. That same night, the dog vomited almost 100 dollars, the couple told USA Today in an interview.
During the next three days, Cecil excreted a couple of 50 and 100-dollar bills. The couple had a system in place: Clayton would pick up the feces and stand at their sink, sorting what came out. Meanwhile, Carrie would try to match the serial numbers on the scraps of bills and tape them together. The Laws were able to recover around $3,500 of the original $4,000 Cecil ripped up and ate. They still have the recovered money in their home and they are planning to see if the bank will accept it.
When Carrie posted a video of what happened on Instagram, she initially thought only a few friends would see it and engage with it. Since it was posted on Dec. 14, the video has received nearly 11.6 million views on Instagram.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has provided COVID-19 testing kits to the Border Health Services Department in Islamabad, reports Geo.
According to the officials of the Federal Ministry of Health, 40,000 rapid diagnostic kits have been given to the Border Health Services Department. The authorities told Geo that COVID testing of those coming from abroad has started at many airports including Islamabad. Two percent of the passengers coming from abroad will be subjected to mandatory Covid testing.
Officials said that genome sequencing of a few detected Covid cases is also being carried out.
Testing kits have not yet arrived at Multan and Faisalabad International Airports.
Meanwhile, a new sub-variant of the Omicron strain of coronavirus named JN.1 has health experts on alert, as it has been classified as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organisation (WHO) due to its fast-growing spread. A staggering fifty percent increase in COVID-19 infections has been observed worldwide.
A total of 261 startups graduated under the National Expansion Plan (NEP) of the National Incubation Centres (NICs) Programme, a collaborative effort of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), from January 2023 to December 2023, reports the Express Tribune.
The meeting was presided over by PITB Chairman Faisal Yousaf who informed the participants that 87 of the successful startups from Punjab, 64 from Sindh, 39 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 31 from Balochistan and 20 each from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The PITB chairman said the objective of the plan was to democratise entrepreneurship, boost business activity across the country, grow the IT industry and promote economic growth. “The incubation programme is tailored to the needs of early-stage startups and runs on a zero-equity model,” he added.
In partnership with public sector universities, 13 tech incubation centres have been set up across the country, where startups are provided free of charge workspace, mentorship, networking opportunities and stipend.
Spanish police said Thursday they had opened an investigation into the suspected poisoning of nearly 50 street cats that could see the perpetrators serving several years’ jail time under a new animal welfare law.
The incident occurred in La Carlota village just outside the southern city of Cordoba, with local residents discovering the bodies of at least 10 cats on December 31 at the local dump where the colony was based.
They alerted the animal rights party PACMA which on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Guardia Civil police over “the mass poisoning of a 47-strong feline colony”.
“Some of the animals were found inside nearby containers while others were lying in the street with only one survivor, a young male cat which is in very poor state,” said the complaint, a copy of which was seen by AFP.
The rest of the cats had disappeared, with a PACMA spokeswoman saying they were believed to have died in the nearby woods after the poison took hold.
In response, officers from the Guardia Civil’s nature protection service Seprona were dispatched to the scene on Wednesday to investigate, a spokesman for the force said.
“They are looking into whether the deaths were due to poisoning or from other causes. And if there was a crime, to identify the culprits,” he added.
Under terms of a new law that came into force in September, anyone found guilty of cruelty leading to an animal’s death could face up to three years behind bars, up from a previous penalty of 18 months.
In a separate operation, police said Thursday they had smashed a ring which allegedly imported puppies from Hungary and Slovakia and then sold them in Spain with forged documents.
Officers arrested eight people and rescued over 100 animals during four searches they carried out as part of the operation, a police statement said.
The first black woman president of America’s Harvard University, Claudine Gay, has finally resigned in the face of pressure by the university administration over accusations of plagiarism and her refusal to stop pro-Palestine protests on campus.
Her resignation marks the end of the presidency of the first Black president and second woman in Harvard’s nearly 400-year history.
Claudine, under intense pressure to resign since the Israeli attacks on Gaza, said in her resignation that it was in the best interest of Harvard University because of her commitment to combating hate speech and upholding academic standards. Gay did not say when she plans to formally step down but she described the decision as “difficult beyond words.”
It is important to note that in December 2023, Harvard University decided to retain Dr. Claudine in her position after the American University Board ruled in favor of the head of the institution on the issue of not taking action against pro-Palestinian students.
After Harvard’s president was accused of not taking a strong stance on what was being called anti-Semitism but was anti-Zionism, in an appearance before the Congress Committee, Harvard University was under pressure to demand the resignation.
Many at Twitter are attributing the exit of Dr. Claudine to the outrageous questioning in the Congressional hearing where she was brutally cornered leading to the withdrawal of donors and adding pressure to the administration to ask the president to resign.
Thank you to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (Rep-NY) on her line of questioning that led to the outrage that caused the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay, as well as her obsessive plagiarism pic.twitter.com/qlfksBWFKN
Her resignation has divided the internet largely into three debates. One group sees it as another manifestation of racism in America. The other is celebrating her exit for believing her to be a plagiarist and anti-semitic. The last viewpoint is seeing the whole scenario as a depiction of how America treats voices that are not aligned with the state’s pro-zionist and fake-liberal policy using anti-semitism and plagiarism as an excuse.
.@normfinkelstein calls the (forced) resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay “end of academic freedom… if billionaire criminal class can determine the president, they can determine every facet of university life.” Calls for her & reinstatement. https://t.co/q3xsEBbhgapic.twitter.com/76EWE9s4sU
— Katie Halper is a Jew For #CeasefireNow (@kthalps) January 3, 2024
Unbelievable, this woman never mentions the fact that Claudine Gay was forced out of Harvard for her “it depends on the context” comment. Of course, it’s not about that, it’s about racism against a black woman. pic.twitter.com/eWpwPiIaNv
Editor and Analyst Mara Gay called the move blatant racism, “This is really an attack on academic freedom … This is an attack on diversity. This is an attack on multiculturalism, & … I don’t have to say that they’re racist, because you can hear and see the racism in the attacks.”
NYT’s @MaraGay on Claudine Gay resigning: “This is really an attack on academic freedom … This is an attack on diversity. This is an attack on multiculturalism, & … I don’t have to say that they’re racist, because you can hear and see the racism in the attacks” pic.twitter.com/vLFQqtesqG
Fox News anchor CJ Pearson asserted that “Claudine Gay wasn’t fired for being black. She was fired for being an anti-Semitism-enabling plagiarist. I’m so tired of the black community using the color of our skin to shield people from accountability.”
Claudine Gay wasn’t fired for being black. She was fired for being an anti-Semitism enabling plagiarist.
I’m so tired of the black community using the color of our skin to shield people from accountability.
Mo Torres called out the duplicity in the resignation of Dr Caludine by saying, Gay should not have been forced to resign but it’s unfortunate to see that she still misses an obvious point: students on her campus never called for genocide against Jewish people. “Liberals seem strangely addicted to assuming good faith from their detractors on the right.”
Gay should not have been forced to resign but it’s unfortunate to see that she still misses an obvious point: students on her campus never called for genocide against Jewish people. Liberals seem strangely addicted to assuming good faith from their detractors on the right. pic.twitter.com/yLdfCTz9pj
Professor of sociology Heba Gowayed, commented, “Do not cower just to be beaten away”. She added, “And with that Claudine Gay ends her tenure disliked on both the right and the left. Whew.”
And with that Claudine Gay ends her tenure disliked on both the right and the left. Whew.
Pro-zionist voice Ben Shapiro outrightly called her a grifter, “Claudine Gay’s defenders are calling her a martyr for one reason and one reason only: if they admit she’s an unqualified grifter who became powerful thanks to DEI, their own grift is endangered.”
Claudine Gay’s defenders are calling her a martyr for one reason and one reason only: if they admit she’s an unqualified grifter who became powerful thanks to DEI, their own grift is endangered.
Journalist Mehdi Hassan shared the Guardian’s article about how the hedge-fun manager, Zionist and billionaire Bill Ackman is behind the forced exit of Professor Gay.
‘A bully’: the billionaire who led calls for Claudine Gay’s Harvard exit | Harvard University | The Guardian https://t.co/B0w3Tpyvy6
A New York judge on Wednesday began to unseal the identities of people linked in court documents to Jeffrey Epstein, the US financier who killed himself in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.
Notably included in the unsealed documents, which include almost 1,000 pages of depositions and statements, were former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, who have not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
The list of around 150 people includes a host of Epstein associates previously identified as John or Jane Does in a lawsuit brought against Epstein’s former mistress, Ghislaine Maxwell. It carries no allegation of complicity in Epstein’s crimes.
The disclosure is part of a defamation proceeding between Maxwell, sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison, and a plaintiff against the duo, Virginia Giuffre.
Last month a judge listed in a 50-page document some 180 cases — under pseudonyms — ordering that their identities be made public within 14 days of the order.
Some individuals have objected to the disclosure of their identities in the case.
Lawyers for one individual, “Doe 107”, wrote to the judge in the case arguing they could face victimization in their home country, and requested time to submit grounds for their name to remain sealed.
Accomplices in sex crimes
According to British media, Giuffre’s defamation claim against Maxwell, 62, dates back to 2016 and was settled the following year. But the Miami Herald then took legal action to access the file and investigate the Epstein network.
A number of documents in the case were made public in 2019, days before Epstein hanged himself in prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell and Epstein were a couple in the early 1990s before becoming professional collaborators and accomplices in sex crimes for almost three decades.
Epstein, a financier with a powerful network in the United States and abroad, was himself accused of raping young girls, but his suicide by hanging in a New York prison in August 2019 halted his prosecution.
Fabricated lists and doctored photos of Epstein have circulated in conspiratorial internet circles for years, fueling speculation about the financier’s potential associates.
The anticipated release of names from court documents reignited that frenzy.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel threatened Aaron Rodgers with legal action after the American football star suggested the late night host could be on the list.
It was a baseless allegation echoed across platforms such as X, where numerous posts also drew actor Tom Hanks into the fold.
It took firefighters more than eight hours to extinguish the fire that engulfed a Japan Airlines jet after it struck another plane on landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Tuesday. It took 12 crew members just minutes to usher hundreds of people on board to safety.
All but one of the six people on the smaller aircraft were killed, but all 379 Japan Airlines passengers and crew escaped down emergency slides minutes before the Airbus was engulfed in flames late Tuesday.
The blackened husk of the airliner, still sitting on the tarmac Wednesday, bore witness to just how dangerous their escape had been. Several hundred metres (yards) away lay the remains of the coast guard’s DHC-8 aircraft.
The captain of the coast guard plane — which had been bound for the New Year’s Day earthquake zone in central Japan — was its lone survivor but suffered serious injuries.
Footage on Tuesday showed a ball of fire erupting from underneath the airliner shortly after landing and coming to a halt on its nose after its front landing gear failed.
“It was getting hot inside the plane, and I thought, to be honest, I would not survive,” one female passenger told broadcaster NHK.
“I thought we landed normally. But then I realised I was smelling smoke,” a woman with a small child told NHK.
“I needed to protect my daughter. That was the only thing in my mind,” she added.
Another passenger described surviving the crash as a “miracle”.
“I bounced off my seat from the impact when we landed,” the 28-year-old man told Nikkei Asia.
“We made it just in the nick of time. It’s a miracle we survived.”
Takuya Fujiwara from the Japan Transport Safety Board told reporters that the flight recorder and the voice recorder from the coast guard plane had been found, but those of the passenger jet were still being sought.
“We are surveying the situation. Various parts are scattered on the runway,” Fujiwara said, adding that the authority planned to interview several people involved.
Asked at a briefing whether the Japan Airlines flight had landing permission, officials at the major carrier said: “Our understanding is that it was given.”
Widely shared video footage shows flight attendants at the front of a darkened cabin gesturing for passengers to remain seated and thanking them for their cooperation. At one point, the camera pans across to show a window frame filled with orange light.
“Please get me out of here,” one woman shouts in the video. A child is heard asking: “Why don’t you just open the doors?”
The actions of crew and passengers have been credited with averting tragedy. Incredibly, none received serious injuries.
none appeared to have paused to retrieve hand luggage from overhead lockers, ensuring a clear route to the emergency exits. Less than two hours earlier, the passengers had watched a JAL safety video urging them to do exactly that. In the video, a flight attendant warns: “Leave your baggage when you evacuate!”, extending her open palms for emphasis. An animated sequence then shows the damage that bags and high-heeled shoes can cause to the inflatable evacuation slides.
Aviation experts said the unshakeable composure displayed by the flight attendants combined with the high level of cooperation among passengers probably prevented a deeply unsettling experience from becoming a major disaster.
“I can’t speculate on what happened here but human error will probably be found as a contributing cause,” Doug Drury, aviation expert at Central Queensland University, told AFP.
“Airlines are required to be able to empty an airplane of all passengers and crew within 90 seconds. The flight crews train for events quite frequently in simulation and it is a complicated process that as we saw was completed without fail,” he said.
Jail inmates have raped and killed a fellow prisoner in Adiala Jail, Public TV has reported.
https://youtu.be/nT9KVGGU3J4?si=5SyxdaBRUK0mjANM
The victim, Sabil, was first raped and then hanged to death by his fellow prisoners. He was locked in the mill of Adiala Jail Cell 2 where the harrowing incident took place.
The jail administration has registered a complaint against four suspects who have been detained.
According to the FIR, the victim was raped by Waqas, Asif, Naqash, and Bilal by tying his hands and feet and then killed him by putting a cloth noose around his neck.
The Jailer has said that Waqas pressed down on Sabil’s throat and chest with his foot, quoted PNP.
On the morning of January 1, the deceased was found lying unconscious in cell 2. His death was confirmed upon being transferred to the prison hospital. There were marks on the neck of the deceased which made the cause of death suspicious.
Police say that the body of the deceased prisoner has been handed over to his family after an autopsy.
