Ahmed Shameel

Claims have been rife about Prince Harry and William mishandling donated funds after the latter parted ways with the Royal Foundation. These allegations have now been refuted by a representative of the Duke of Sussex after the two brothers were reported to a charity watchdog organization. As per a report by  Newsweek , the two were accused by an anti-monarchy group called Republic, of "putting their relationship above the interests of Sussex Royal and The Royal Foundation." After the split of the Royal Foundation’s funds, some of which was transferred to the Sussex’s defunct Sussex Royal foundation, Republic is criticizing Harry for having a sum of more than $350,000 transferred for his eco-travel venture, Travalyst. The claims however, have been rubbished by the duke’s representative stating the eco-travel venture by Harry should be considered an organization that works for the same mission as the Sussex Royal foundation as it promoted sustainability. “Grants ma...

Coronavirus has cancelled Hajj for millions The annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca has been drastically downsized this year. Saudi Arabia has announced that only pilgrims within the country can perform the Hajj, in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus. With a restricted Hajj comes frustration for Muslims who plan for years to fulfil a religious duty, and worry over how the loss in revenue will affect the local economy. In this episode: Jamal Elshayyal , Al Jazeera journalist; Sajjad Ahmad, founder of  The Fifth Pillar . For more: Hajj 2020: What you need to know about this year's pilgrimage Ramadan stories under quarantine The team: Dina Kesbeh produced this episode with Priyanka Tilve, Abigail Ony Nwaohuocha, Alexandra Locke, Ney Alvarez, Amy Walters and Malika Bilal. Natalia Aldana is our team's engagement producer. Alex Roldan is our sound engineer. Stacey Samuel is The Take's Executive Producer, and Graelyn Brashear is Al Jazeera's Hea...

Uber has been accused by a UK-based drivers union of displaying favouritism in the way in which it allocates jobs. The App Drivers & Couriers Union has launched a legal challenge in a bid to understand how the firm's algorithms pair drivers with ride requests. The union wants Uber to be more transparent about how the data it collects impacts drivers, and whether it leads to favouritism. Uber has always said that it does not manage its self-employed drivers. However the union alleges that Uber is monitoring drivers' performance, and claims that the firm is noting incidents of late arrivals, cancelled jobs and customer complaints about attitude or inappropriate behaviour against driver profiles. “This is about the distribution of power,” Anton Ekker, the privacy lawyer leading the case,  told the Guardian . “It’s about Uber exerting control through data and automated decision-making, and how it is blocking access to that.” 'We're key workers but no-o...

Privacy campaigners say England's test and trace programme has broken a key data protection law. The Department of Health has conceded the initiative to trace contacts of people infected with Covid-19 was launched without carrying out an assessment of its impact on privacy. The Open Rights Group (ORG) says the admission means the initiative has been unlawful since it began on 28 May. The government said there is no evidence of data being used unlawfully. The test and trace system involves people being asked to share sensitive personal information. This can include: their name, date of birth and postcode who they live with places they recently visited names and contact details of people they have recently been in close contact with, including sexual partners. "In no way has [there] been a breach of any of the data that has been stored," said Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. He told BBC Breakfast: "I think your viewers will understand that if ...

IT Minister Aminul Haque said on Sunday that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority doesn’t fall under his ministry. He was responding to Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s comments regarding a ban on  PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) . The popular online multiplayer game played by millions in the Pakistan has been temporarily  banned  in the country. Multiple petitions have been filed against the ban. Chaudhry had said on Twitter that he was against all kinds of general bans. “Such attitude is killing the tech industry, we cannot afford such bans.” He expressed hope that IT Minister Haque would take note of it and the PTA would be instructed not to encourage such bans as they hinder technological growth in the long run. In response, Haque said the IT Ministry does not have control over the PTA. The authority is overseen by the Cabinet Division, he said. “Only the Cabinet Division could comment regarding the ban on PUBG,” the IT minis...

Pakistan’s pacer Muhammad Amir is available for the T20I squad after the early birth of his daughter, ESPNcricinfo has reported. The left-armer had ruled himself out of the tour due to the expected birth of his second child but can now be called up to the squad if head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq opts to do so. Amir will, however, have to first test negative twice before he can be allowed to leave for England, where the rest of the squad is currently taking part in an intra-squad clash. #AhmedShameel #AhmedShameelNews 

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have begun making arrangements for hotels and chartered flights after media reports suggested that the IPL 2020 would be staged in the UAE amid the coronavirus pandemic, Indo-Asian News Service agency reported. Unofficial reports suggested that the league will be staged in its entirety in the UAE from September 26 to November 7 as India continue to grapple with the pandemic. A franchise official stated that some teams have begun planning for the money spinning T20 tournament in a bid to minimise logistical complications as it is unclear when the desert nation will open up its air space. "I think most teams, if not all, are already looking at hiring chartered planes. You never know if we will have regular flights operating by the end of August and most teams would wish to be in the UAE by the last week of August or at max the first week of September," the official said. "So, in such a scenario, the best way is to hire char...