SoManyThingz

Until the Muslim riots in the Paris suburbs in 2005, few people outside of France had been aware of the large Muslim population living in almost exclusively Muslim townships just outside of Paris. These banlieues had become mini-North African villages, that had high unemployment and, quite often, almost no contact with the larger French culture.
In 2012, the banlieues were in the French news again when 14 Muslim men were accused of repeatedly gang raping 2 teenage girls over a 2-year-period (from 1999 through 2001) in one of these suburbs. In her complaint, the women, known only as Nina, alleged that it had started when she was 16 and was grabbed off the streets, and subjected to scores of rapes by local boys. Nina alleged that there were always as many as 25 boys present and, despite her screaming, crying, and vomiting, they would stand in lines of as many as 50 boys to take their turn with her.

In 2012, in Germany, two Muslim Turkish teens gang-raped a 16-year-old girl in a parking lot. It was an attack of almost unthinkable savagery. When they finished raping the girl, they then assaulted her with a bottle. Even when the bottle broke, they continued her attack, eventually severing her intestine and her uterus. The girl survived, but her rectum was so destroyed by the attack that physicians had to create an artificial one for her. She was also rendered sterile by the attack.
German privacy laws meant that the attack went entirely unreported in the German press.

In Stockholm, Sweden, as many as 20 Muslim men gang-raped an 11-year-old girl. A mother was hosting a birthday party at a public bath/swim center for a group of 11 and 12 year old children. Up to 20 Muslim men who lived at a nearby refugee center arrived at the public bath. They immediately began to assault the children, ripping their swimsuits off and beating the boys when they tried to stop the assault. Eventually, the men cornered one of the little girls in a grotto in the bathhouse and gang raped her. The police refused to make any arrests.

Just a few kilometres beyond the Badarpur border, it's a different world. Roads are dug up and public transport gives way to shared autos, rickety Haryana Roadways buses and an army of private vehicles. Welcome to Faridabad, designed on the Nehruvian vision of a `City of Hope' but seemingly stuck in a rut. All that is set to change by the end of this month.

Metro's Violet line (ITO to Badarpur) is ready to connect a large part of Faridabad. A Metro spokesman said, "Trial runs have been successful and we hope to commission the line as soon as we get the safety clearance." Metro will soon place a request for the line's safety audit with the commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).

For Faridabad, the Metro is more than a fast link to Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad. It's the first public transit system for a town dependent on shared autos, roadways buses and local trains.

Geeta Batheja, a resident of Sector 5 who works as mall manager at The Crown Plaza, said, "In Faridabad, people of a certain class either travel by private vehicle or stay at home. I've never used public transport." Kusum Joshi, a resident of Sector 49, said people use cars and bikes not because they are snobs but because shared autos don't ply on inner roads.

Ritika Bhonsle, a resident of Sector 37 and a school teacher, said her friends in Delhi go shopping by the Metro but "in Faridabad, you have to plan everything in advance". She said the Metro will bring Delhi closer to Faridabad and also make travelling within the town easy . "We don't have city buses like DTC, so private vehicles are necessary . With the Metro, we will be able to go out at will."

Kanchan Dass, a Pitampura resident, spends five hours commuting to and from her office in Faridabad. The Metro takes two hours till Badarpur and she spends another and she spends another half hour to reach her office in Sarai by rickshaw. "I pay Rs 80 for the rickshaw ride, more than I pay for the Metro," said Dass, an IT worker. Soon, she will be able to travel by Metro till Sarai and save half an hour both ways.

Dass's company is hiring, and she said they are getting better talent now. "Earlier, many candidates refused because of the long commute," she said.

Manoj Sharma, a Sector 14 resident, said Faridabad is finally getting its due with the Metro and other infrastructure projects like the FNG Expressway .

Batheja expects the Metro to transform people also. "Look at Delhi ... people have learnt to stand in queues." Bhonsle added, "Faridabad is not a happening city, but once people and businesses come because of the Metro, it will see development."

PRIMED FOR PROSPERITY

Founded in 1607 AD as a Mughal outpost on the road to Agra (now NH-2), Faridabad predates Ghaziabad by more than a century while Noida is relatively an infant town.Until Independence, it was a centre of milk and vegetable trade, but grew rapidly after it was used to settle refugees from Pakistan. Many polluting industries and central government offices were also located there to decongest and cleanup Delhi. The town had its golden phase in the 1950s and again witnessed a realty boom before the Meltdown in 2008.However, it couldn't ride the IT and ITES wave like Gurgaon and Noida The city is again primed to grow with large-scale investment in infrastructure.

Many flyovers and roads , are being built and the Metro line is ready for operations. The town's draft master plan for 2031 proposes many arterial roads and the development of Greater Faridabad or `Neharpar'

FARIDABAD: Two girls, including a minor, were reported missing from Faridabad, with the father of one of them alleging that they might have been lured by two youths from Rajasthan on the pretext of marriage.
According to a complaint filed by the father of a 20-year -old girl, a resident of Ballabgarh, his daughter went missing on September 19, along with a girl aged 15 years.
The complainant alleged that the girls might have been kidnapped by Zakir and Jamshed -- both residents of Bharatpur district in Rajasthan -- on the pretext of marriage.
The families searched for the girls but failed to trace them, after which a complaint was filed with the police.
A case was registered at Ballabgarh city police station in Faridabad under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366A (procuration of minor girl) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Since one of the girls was a minor, provisions of the POCSO Act was also slapped against the accused, said ASI Balbir Singh, who is the investigating officer in the case.
Efforts were on to trace the girls and nab the accused, the officer added.

The world's 10 best cities to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit global “liveability” study, which looks at how “tolerable” it is to live in a particular place given its crime levels, threat of conflict, quality of medical care, levels of censorship, temperature, schools and transport links.
10. Auckland, New Zealand, which scores an overall rating of 95.7 out of 100
 9. Perth, Australia (95.9)
8. Owing to an administrative error, the reader's insurance renewal payment was incorrectly collected from a bank account in Finland
 7. Sydney, Australia (96.1)
 6. Adelaide, Australia (96.6)
 5. Calgary, Canada (96.6)
4.One iShares ETF trades on the Toronto market
 3. Vancouver, Canada (97.3)
 2. Vienna, Austria (97.4)
1. Melbourne, Australia (the city scores an overall rating of 97.5 out of 100)