Dead not forgotten on Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook lets people leave their marks online after they have shuffled off their mortal coils, with profiles of the dead remaining as tributes in the global social networking community.
‘When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network,’ Facebook director of security Max Kelly said in a blog post Monday.
‘To reflect that reality, we created the idea of ‘memorialized’ profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed.’
Profiles of dead people do not turn up in friend recommendations or general searches at Facebook, according to Kelly. Privacy settings on memorialized accounts only let confirmed friends or family members see them.
No one is allowed to log into memorialized accounts, preventing alteration of profile content, but friends can still post remembrance messages that are displayed on ‘walls’ for visitors to see.
Contact information and status updates are removed from memorialized profile pages.
Only friends or relatives of deceased Facebook members can request profiles be memorialized, and information submitted must include a copy of an obituary, news article or other proof of death.
‘If you have a friend or a family member whose profile should be memorialized, please contact us, so their memory can properly live on among their friends on Facebook,’ Kelly said.
The service is not new to Facebook, but it reminded members of it this week. —AFP

Wasim Akram's wife passes away

CHENNAI: Huma Wasim, wife of former Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram, died at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India Sunday morning after being in criticial condition for the past five days. According to hospital officials, Huma breathed her last around 9.45 a.m.

Huma was suffering from sepsis (an inflammation of several tissues, including blood leading to kidney failure) and was admitted to Apollo Hospital Tuesday after developing complications mid-air while on her way to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore from Pakistan.

At Apollo Hospital, she was in the intensive care unit (ICU) since then and died Sunday without regaining consciousness.

Akram was married to Huma for 14 years and the couple have two sons, Taimur and Akbar.
A trained medical practitioner herself, Huma had a stint with some of the leading hospitals in Pakistan as a psychologist and a hypnotherapist.
Arrangements are being made to take her body back to Pakistan, sources said. -Agencies

Thirty-five illegal foreigners arrested

Police said they have arrested 20 Afghan nationals including seven women who were traveling from Islamabad to Quetta, according to a DawnNews report.
Earlier on Sunday morning, 15 more foreign nationals including one woman were arrested by Rangers from the same area. The men have been shifted to sub-jail Kashmore while the women have been taken to the Larkana women police station.
In the past one week more than 160 foreigners have been arrested by Rangers and police along the Sindh-Punjab-Balochistan border.