MANILA: Asia welcomed the world's first symbolic "seven billionth" baby on Monday, but celebrations were tempered by worries over the strain that humanity's population explosion is putting on a fragile planet.
WASHINGTON: The United States said Monday it is stopping financial contributions to UNESCO after the Palestinians were admitted to the organization as a full member.Occupy protesters held in Texas, Oregon |
 PORTLAND, Ore: Dozens of anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested Sunday in Texas, where they clashed with police over food tables, and in Oregon, where officers dragged them out of a park in an affluent neighborhood.In New York and many other East Coast cities, it was a snowstorm that was making it difficult for demonstrators to stay camped out in public places. The "Occupy" movement, which began six weeks ago in lower Manhattan to decry corporate influence in government and wealth inequality, has spread to cities large and small across the country and around the world. Demonstrators have spent weeks camped out in parks, wearing at the patience of city officials — even those who have expressed some level of support for their cause. In Portland, Ore., police have allowed protesters to sleep in two parks surrounded by office buildings despite policies outlawing camping, but Mayor Sam Adams warned demonstrators last week that he would not allow them to take over any more parks. Late Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered in another park — Jamison Square in the wealthy Pearl District — and defied a midnight curfew. About 30 people who had decided to risk arrest sat on the ground as other protesters walked around them and chanted "Whose Park? Our Park!" and "Make No Arrests." When police moved in around 2 a.m., all but the sitting protesters backed off. An Associated Press photographer said most of those protesters went limp and were carried or dragged away by police. There was no violence during the arrests, which took about 90 minutes. The protesters — all appearing to be in their 20s and 30s with many wearing Halloween-style face paint — were handcuffed and taken away in police vans. "We are the 99 percent," one arrestee continued to chant. Police said the arrests were made on charges that included criminal trespassing, interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct. Some protesters said they wanted to camp in the Pearl District because they view its residents as part of the wealthy demographic they're protesting. Commissioner Randy Leonard had urged them to reconsider, saying in a letter that it would be inappropriate to expand the demonstration into a neighborhood park. "We — the entire city council — are your friends ... at present," Leonard wrote. "However, our friendship and support are now being unreasonably tested by the decision to occupy Jamison Square." Police in Austin, Texas, made 39 arrests early Sunday as they moved to enforce a new rule banning food tables in the City Hall plaza where protesters have camped out. Some protesters surrounded the tables with arms linked. Most were charged with criminal trespass, Police Chief Art Acevedo said. No injuries were reported. Protesters had been advised of the food table ban on Friday, Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald told the Austin American-Statesman. "We want to facilitate their activities," he said, "but we can't allow this to be a permanent campsite." Some protesters found the ban arbitrary. "On a night where there are hundreds of drunks driving around town, they have all these resources here to take down three food tables," protester Dave Cortez told the newspaper. Protesters in California, Georgia and Colorado also have been arrested over the last several days. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration sent state troopers to haul away Occupy Nashville protesters Thursday and Friday for violating a park curfew, but none were jailed. A local official, Night Court Magistrate Tom Nelson, refused to sign off on the arrest warrants, saying state officials have no authority to set the curfew. On Saturday night, protesters prepared for a third night of arrests but were greeted by only a single trooper on patrol who made no move against them. Safety Department spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals would not say whether the troopers plan to continue the arrests, saying only, "The curfew remains in effect and we urge the protesters to adhere to it." New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been similarly thwarted by local officials in Albany, where Occupy protesters have pitched tents in a city park across the street from the Capitol. Cuomo reportedly asked Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings last weekend to begin enforcing the park's 11 p.m. curfew. Jennings declined; he told the New York Post, "My counsel said we'd be opening ourselves up to civil liability if we forced them out." In Britain, clergymen and demonstrators held talks aimed at avoiding a violent confrontation over a protest camp outside London's iconic St. Paul's Cathedral. Both the church and the local authority, the City of London Corporation, have launched legal action in the hope of clearing scores of tents from a pedestrianized square and footpath outside the cathedral, which is close to the London Stock Exchange. The protest forced the cathedral to close for the first time since German planes bombed the city during World War II, but it reopened Friday after a week. Britain's High Court will decide whether to authorize authorities to forcibly clear the camp. Many expect the process to be lengthy and complex. In lower Manhattan, police have not attempted to evict people who have been camped out in Zuccotti Park since Sept. 17, but they recently took away the demonstrators' generators and fuel, saying they were a safety hazard. In a letter to the fire department, attorneys associated with the New York chapter of the National Lawyer Guild said the seizures were only a pretext for "freezing out" the activists. A nor'easter buried parts of the Northeast in up to 2 feet of snow Saturday. There was far less snow than that in New York, but it quickly turned to a miserably cold and wet slush. At least a few protesters left. Nick Thommen, a 6-foot-4 former Marine who served in Iraq and war-torn regions of Africa, gave fellow protesters lessons on how to endure the rough conditions. "I'm fine here — we trained for months in Norway," he said. But he said less experienced protesters could easily get hypothermia or frostbite. "I went around waking people up and telling them they have to move — do jumping jacks, or anything," he said. Though far from the nor'easter, Des Moines, Iowa, also was getting uncomfortable for protesters, with overnight temperatures dipping into the low 30s. Protesters in Stewart Square have bundled up in coats, hats and gloves, and some have surrounded their tents in layers of cardboard, hay bales and trash bags filled with leaves. "I'm equipped to be out here however cold it gets, whether it's 20 degrees above or 20 below," protester Bill Lewis said. |
LAHORE: After rocking Lahore with a mammoth throng of cohorts at Minar-e-Pakistan, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) protagonist Imran Khan has said that the country has undergone a big shift of opinion, Geo News reported.'The Adventures of Tintin' gets mixed reviews overseas | ||
 LOS ANGELES: "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," Steven Spielberg's 3-D take on Georges Remi's treasured comic books, is already a hit overseas with audiences. But what about the critics?Overseas opinionators vary wildly in their assessments, with some heaping on the praise and one British critic reacting violently against it. In Belgium, where the comic books originated, the newspaper Le Soir, takes a positive view of the film -- we think. According to the translation program we ran their review through, "The Adventures of Tintin" is "a popular and general public film, which alternates in a tasty way the exotic film of adventure, play of track Hitchcockian and the picaresque comedy." So ... it's eclectic? Alas, the film earned a huge thumbs-down from the Guardian's literary critic, Nicholas Lezard. A self-professed lifelong Tintin fan, Lezard likens the film to a sexual assault. "Coming out of the new Tintin film directed by Steven Spielberg, I found myself, for a few seconds, too stunned and sickened to speak; for I had been obliged to watch two hours of literally senseless violence being perpetrated on something I loved dearly," Lezard writes. "In fact, the sense of violation was so strong that it felt as though I had witnessed a rape." In France, Spielberg's interpretation of Tintin appears to be considered tres bien. L'Express lauds the filmmaker for crafting an adaptation that isn't afraid to break with Remi's vision, but remains lovingly faithful in its own way. Spielberg allows to reinvent certain sides of history, and to make some winks," the paper notes. Even so, the review adds, "One feels all the affection which it carries to its characters." France's Cinema Teaser praises the film's "sublime" opening-credits sequence, as well as the much-ballyhooed technology behind the film. It says that "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" proves "that the performance capture can definitively cause life when it is used by a large scenario writer." England's Empire Online also makes special note of the film's performance-capture technology, noting that it lends itself to "endless chase sequences." However, the review concludes that it's the heart beating underneath the bells and whistles that makes "The Adventures of Tintin" a captivating read. "You have a job keeping up, but never at the expense of the sheer goodwill," the review posits. "While luxuriating in its pre-existing universe, here is a film imploring you to join in. It would take a hard heart to resist." Overall, Empire concludes, "The Adventures of Tintin" is "action-packed, gorgeous, and faithfully whimsical." (Reuters) | ||
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Imran warns of civil disobedience if assets not declared | ||
 LAHORE: Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan addressing tens of thousands of supporters at Minar-e-Pakistan on Sunday warned that his party would spearhead a civil disobedience campaign and seize all the cities if the government failed to have politicians declare their assets.In his address to the cheering crowd that turned up in tens of thousands at ‘Pakistan Bachao’ call of TI Chief Imran Khan here at Minar-e-Pakistan, the cricketer turned politician also warned that he would go to the Supreme Court as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan if the politicians in the government and opposition failed to declare their assets as required under the Pakistan law. He said Tehreek-e-Insaf would set up a cell to investigate and identify politicians who declare assets and those who do not. Starting his speech following the National Anthem, Imran Khan gave his party’s programme in detail which, he said, aimed at making Pakistan a peaceful and independent country where investment would be attracted from across the world. “We will make Pakistan a place where people come from other countries to seek jobs.” Talking of change, he said: “ Today we are beginning a new Pakistan from Minar-e-Pakistan, the place from where founder of the Nation Quad-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah began his movement”. Spelling out his party’s manifesto in connection with Pakistan’s relations with the US, the Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief said ‘we will make friends with you (US) but not be your slave; we will help you (US) withdraw from Afghanistan but won’t launch any military operation (for you).’ He questioned that if US, being the super power, could not win the war through military means how could Pakistan? “We will strengthen ties with China,” he said, adding, he was leaving for China on its government’s invitation tonight. He said Pakistan was not a poor country; ‘it is very rich in natural resources’. Pakistan has 180 billion tonnes of coal reserves which means we can export electricity to the world, he added. Imran Khan said Pakistan never needed to beg before others. “Pakistan will never beg again; Imran Khan will die but won’t beg,” he vowed amid vociferous cheers of the charged crowd. Coming down hard on President Asif Ali Zardari, Imran Khan questioned how could Asif Zardari provide bread, cloth and shelter when under his rule 1600 people committed suicide. He also claimed that ‘Asif Zardari’ wrote a letter to the US requesting it to please save him from the army because he was not able to serve them well with army interefernce. He regretted that Mian (Nawaz Sharif) sahib should have done better than coming up with a show of ‘Patwaris’ the other day in Lahore. Imran Khan said Pakistan was suffering a loss of Rs3000 billions per year mainly due to rampant corruption. He said his party also aimed to bring about police reforms in the country to improve the working of this institution. “We will depoliticize police and then get the SHO elected like the way it is done in America,” he added. He said condition of the villages will be improved and pledged to bring an end to military operation and target killings in Balochistan, which, he termed as a province rich in natural resources.. “We will make Balochis our brothers,” he added. Criticising Pakistan Muslim League-N Nawaz Sharif, he said: “How can you fight with Zardari when you can’t even fight with mosquitoes?” Pointing to the crowd, he said, Asif Zardar and Nawaz Sharif cannot stop this flood now. “This is not just a flood it is a Tsunami and anyone who tries to stand before it will be washed away.” | ||
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Air pollution tied to lung cancer in non-smokers |
 NEW YORK: People who have never smoked, but who live in areas with higher air pollution levels, are roughly 20 percent more likely to die from lung cancer than people who live with cleaner air, researchers conclude in a new study."It's another argument for why the regulatory levels (for air pollutants) be as low as possible," said Francine Laden, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the research. Though smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, about one in 10 people who develop lung cancer have never smoked. "Lung cancer in 'never smokers' is an important cancer. It's the sixth leading cause of cancer in United States," said Michelle Turner, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at the University of Ottawa. Previous estimates of how many non-smokers get lung cancer range from 14 to 21 out of every 100,000 women and five to 14 out of every 100,000 men. The fine particles in air pollution, which can irritate the lungs and cause inflammation, are thought to be a risk factor for lung cancer, but researchers had not clearly teased apart their impact from that of smoking. In this study, Turner and her colleagues followed more than 180,000 non-smokers for 26 years. Throughout the study period, 1,100 people died from lung cancer. The participants lived in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico, and based on their zip codes, the researchers estimated how much air pollution they were exposed to -- measured in units of micrograms of particles per cubic meter of air. Pollution levels in different locations ranged from a low of about six units to a high of 38. The levels dropped over time, however, from an average of 21 units in 1979 - 1983, to 14 units in 1999 - 2000, producing an overall average pollution level of 17 units across the study period. After the team took into account other cancer risk factors, such as second-hand smoke and radon exposure, they found that for every 10 extra units of air pollution exposure, a person's risk of lung cancer rose by 15 to 27 percent. The increased risk for lung cancer associated with pollution is small in comparison to the 20-fold increased risk from smoking. And the study team didn't prove that the pollution caused the cancer cases, but "there's lots of evidence that exposure to fine particles increases cardiopulmonary mortality," Turner told Reuters Health. Fine particles in air pollution can injure the lungs through inflammation and damage to DNA, Turner's team writes in its report, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Previous research has suggested similar conclusions. A study of people in China, for example, found an increased risk of lung cancer attributed to indoor air pollution from burning coal and wood to heat homes (see Reuters story of December 7, 2009). And several European studies have linked levels of soot and vehicle exhaust to lung cancer in non-smokers. Laden noted that the pollution levels associated with the increased risk of cancer in the current study are not uncommon in the U.S. "These levels are within the (regulatory) standards," Laden told Reuters Health. "We're not talking about people who live in a really polluted place with no pollution control." (Reuters) |
Blast at Yemen base, nearby airport shut | ||
 SANAA/ADEN: A number of large explosions shook an air base outside the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday, prompting authorities to shut the city's nearby airport, residents and officials said.Residents said they believed at least one shell had hit the al-Daylami base which is adjacent to Sanaa International Airport. "The airport was closed as a precautionary measure," one government official told Reuters. Flights were diverted to Aden airport in the south of the Arabian Peninsula country. Yemen's capital has seen weeks of fighting between troops loyal to President Abdullah Saleh and tribesmen who back protesters demanding an end to of his 33-year rule. Tribesmen in areas outside the capital have complained of months of attacks by the air force against their towns. Tribal sources said earlier on Sunday that four people, including three children, were killed overnight when troops shelled the tribesmen's region north of the capital, hitting a petrol station. Thirteen others were wounded in the attack in the Arhab area, some 40 km (25 miles) from Sanaa. In the city of Taiz, south of Sanaa, a doctor said one civilian was shot dead and two were wounded by government forces who fired at a car. The incident occurred in a district where there have been clashes between government forces and pro-opposition tribesmen. Months of anti-government protests have divided impoverished Yemen, pushing the Arabian Peninsula country to the verge of civil war and a humanitarian crisis. Neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the international community fear growing lawlessness in Yemen is giving al Qaeda's regional wing scope to plan and potentially launch attacks in the region and beyond. The ruling party is likely to name Saleh's deputy as its presidential candidate if a transfer of power is carried out under a Gulf-brokered power transition plan, Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi said on Sunday. "The General People's Congress intends to announce Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as its candidate in the presidential election in the coming period," Janadi told reporters. The U.N. Security Council issued a resolution on Oct. 21 deploring the fighting and calling on Saleh to leave office in line with the transition plan. Saleh has dug his heels in, surviving an assassination attempt and three times agreeing to sign the Gulf plan only to back out at the last minute. Violence has showed no sign of easing. In the southern port city of Aden, one soldier was killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb targeting their patrol on Sunday, a security official said. Islamist militants had probably planted it, the official said. Soldiers, security officials and tribesmen fighting militants are frequently attacked in the country's south, where government control has been weakened by political upheaval. (Reuters) | ||
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Monkeys lured with potatoes in Japan | ||
 TOKYO: Monkey’s were treated to a feast in the Japanese city of Beppu in an effort to stop them from creating mischief. What was different about this feast was that instead of giving the monkey’s fruits and various vegetables, they were only fed potatoes. A cart full of potatoes was presented to more than 1000 monkeys who consumed it without any hesitation within minutes. | ||
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Polish transsexual makes history as lawmaker | ||
 WARSAW: Anna Grodzka sits with poise in her leafy suburban home, flicks her hair and gently shoos away her cat.The 57-year-old is still coming to terms with being elected Poland's first-ever transsexual lawmaker for an anti-clerical party that is locking horns with conservatives in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland. "I'm not a single-issue politician," said left-winger Grodzka, who only recently completed what she calls her identity correction. "Going into politics isn't just about representing transsexuals, but about social issues," the long-time left-winger told. Grodzka will take up her parliamentary seat on November 8, along with Poland's 459 other newly elected deputies. In the October 9 polls, the declared atheist was voted in with almost 20,000 votes in the southern city of Krakow, which has a conservative reputation but is also home to a large student and artist community. Grodzka will be the world's only openly transgender lawmaker -- a broader term than transsexual including those who have not had a sex-change but plan to, or simply opt to live under a different gender. The first recorded transsexual politician was New Zealander Georgina Beyer, elected as a mayor in 1995 before sitting in parliament from 1999-2007. Transgender Italian Vladimir Luxuria -- still legally male but living wholeheartedly as a woman -- followed in 2006-2008. "I could not be more proud of and pleased for Anna's success," Beyer told. Grodzka ran for parliament for the new opposition Palikot Movement, led by flamboyant tycoon-turned-politician Janusz Palikot. (AFP) | ||
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KABUL: At least 14 people, including foreign forces, were killed when a Taliban car bomber struck a US-run NATO convoy travelling through the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday.
HYDERABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) offices in Hyderabad, Jacobabad, and Kashmore were turned to ashes late Saturday night, Geo News reported.Cameron unveils scenes from 'Titanic' in 3D |
 LOS ANGELES: Filmmaker James Cameron on Friday unveiled the first scenes from his new 3D version of the mega-blockbuster hit "Titanic," the second biggest earner in film history, ahead of its April 2012 release.Cameron and producer Jon Landau showed 18 minutes of film in the huge screening room at Paramount Studios -- the only major motion picture studio left in old Hollywood. "Titanic" -- which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as star-crossed lovers aboard the ill-fated passenger steamship that struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in 1912 -- was first released in 1997. The film earned more than $1.8 billion worldwide and 11 Oscars including Best Picture and a Best Director statuette for Cameron. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time until Cameron's "Avatar" shattered the record with more than $2.8 billion in worldwide receipts. The 3D version of "Titanic" will hit theaters in North America on April 6, 2012, four days before the 100th anniversary of the ship's doomed maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. (AFP) |
ISLAMABAD: About 2240 members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) would cast their votes in the annual SCBA election today (Saturday), Geo News reported. The polling has started at 9 am and would continue till 5 pm." Rare early Smurf drawings on sale " |
 PARIS: Rare original drawings of the Smurfs, blue-skinned cartoon characters created by Belgian artist Peyo, are set to fetch up to 120,000 euros ($167,000) each on Saturday in the first auction of the late artist's work.The highlight of a sale of 33 full-page Peyo comic strips at the Artcurial auction house on the Champs-Elysees in Paris will be a black-and-white sketch -- "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute." It is the first time Peyo's family has sold original Smurf artwork, although some drawings given as gifts has been sold, and the sale is drawing interest from enthusiasts worldwide. "It was a stroke of genius on Peyo's part to have made the Smurfs blue because everyone -- whether they're Chinese or European -- can identify with them," said Eric Leroy, Artcurial's comic expert said. The Magic Flute drawing was the basis for the cover of Peyo's 1960 "Johan and Peewit" comic, a precursor of the Smurf series in which the diminutive figures, who sport white pants and pointy hats, first appeared before becoming stars in their own right. Smurfs -- or "Schtroumpfs," as they are called in French -- went on to achieve worldwide fame, appearing in widely syndicated television cartoons, advertising spots and movies. "The whole world knows the Smurfs from TV, and children think it's an animated show, but the original was a comic strip," said Leroy. The auction, and a recent exhibition of more than 200 original comic sheets and personal items belonging to Peyo, follows this year's successful release of the 3D movie "The Smurfs," which has grossed more than half a million dollars. Prices for the signed cartoon panels run from 5,000 euros up to 120,000 euros, not an unusually high price for comic art given that in 2008 Artcurial sold a Tintin comic for around $1 million. Some proceeds will go to UNICEF. Peyo -- whose real name was Pierre Culliford -- came up with the word "Schtroumpf" over a meal when he forgot the word for salt and asked a friend to pass him the "schtroumpf." The two started to use "schtroumpf" to replace other words in a playful form of conversation that was to become the basis for the cartoon Smurfs' language. Conceived for children, the Smurfs were all males, lived in mushroom-like houses in a cooperative community, rode storks for transport and derived names from their trades or personalities, such as Lazy Smurf, Jokey Smurf and Doctor Smurf. The cartoon prompted its share of controversy this year when French sociologist Antoine Bueno wrote a book alleging that the Smurfs' world represented a totalitarian Communist utopia and their gold-loving villain Gargamel was a caricature of a Jew. Peyo's son Thierry Culliford defended his father, saying that the late cartoonist was completely apolitical. Since Peyo's death at age 64 in 1992, Thierry Culliford has led Studio Peyo, which still produces comics under Peyo's name. (REUTERS) |
" C’ wealth heads of government meeting begins " |
 PERTH: Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani is representing Pakistan in the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) that kicked off Friday here in Western Australia.The meeting scheduled October 28 to 30 2011 is being attended by the heads of governments of the Commonwealth member countries, while the PM Gilani heading a delegation representing Pakistan in the meeting. Addressing inaugural meeting Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard stressed on bolstering cooperation among the member countries. She said that the common interests of all the countries should be respected. The theme of the meeting is 'Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience'. Every two years, Commonwealth leaders meet at CHOGM to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, and to agree on collective policies and initiatives. CHOGMs are organised by the host nation in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat. Issues discussed include international peace and security, democracy, good governance, sustainable development, debt management, education, environment, gender equality, health, human rights, information and communication technology, law, multilateral trade issues, small states and youth affairs. |
" Government resources used during PML-N rally: Awan " | ||
 ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Senator Babar Awan said Friday that government resources were used during the PML-N rally, Geo News reported. Referring to the Shahbaz Sharif’s speech, Awan said that the people of Lahore were treated to a “comedy show.” Awan added that life in Punjab was suspended due to this rally and shops and roads were forced to shut down. | ||
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" Zardari should resign: Shahbaz Sharif " | ||
 LAHORE: Punjab chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif addressing the PML-N rally protesting loadshedding and inflation called upon President Zardari to resign, Geo News reported. "Step down Zardari and hand over your money otherwise we will hang you and your cronies upside down here," cried Shahbaz Sharif while addressing the crowd. Sharif said Zardari was depositing the nation’s wealth in Swiss bank accounts and the time had come for him to be held accountable for his actions. Sharif sent a message to President Zardari that he “could not buy PML-N workers.” Sharif added that during the tenure of this government PIA and Pakistan Railways had been ruined and officials in the government were highly corrupt. “If we can defeat Dengue, Zardari we can defeat you” Sharif said adding that the president was not aware of the people’s problems and was only concerned about accumulating wealth. Sharif was addressing the participants of the PML-N rally gathered at Bhati Gate. The rally started from the historic Nasser Bagh earlier on Friday and was led by prominent PML-N leaders. | ||
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US hails Pakistan over Indian chopper episode | ||
 WASHINGTON: United States hailed the move of Pakistani authorities to return Indian helicopter which had violated Pakistani airspace, and termed it as a ‘very good step.’Replying to a question in a daily press briefing here, US State Department’s spokesman Victoria Nuland said that Pakistan and India have reestablished some hotlines and emergency procedures which was also a good move. She added that US hoped such moves to continue. | ||
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TTP commander arrested in Karachi |
 KARACHI: Police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) jointly carried out search operation in Orangi town area of Karachi, arresting an injured Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Usman Ghani, police official claimed.Talking to media, SP Site Shah Jehan Khan said that four suspects were arrested during the operation. He said the operation was launched in the area on the basis of intelligence that three most wanted suspects were present in Orangi town. Khan claimed that TTP commander Usman Ghani has been arrested in injured condition during the operation. Women police personnel also took part in the operation. Several suspects have also been apprehended. |
TTP commander arrested in Karachi |
| KARACHI: Police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) jointly carried out search operation in Orangi town area of Karachi, arresting an injured Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Usman Ghani, police official claimed. Talking to media, SP Site Shah Jehan Khan said that four suspects were arrested during the operation. He said the operation was launched in the area on the basis of intelligence that three most wanted suspects were present in Orangi town. Khan claimed that TTP commander Usman Ghani has been arrested in injured condition during the operation. Women police personnel also took part in the operation. Several suspects have also been apprehended. |
US hails Pakistan over Indian chopper episode | ||
| WASHINGTON: United States hailed the move of Pakistani authorities to return Indian helicopter which had violated Pakistani airspace, and termed it as a ‘very good step.’ Replying to a question in a daily press briefing here, US State Department’s spokesman Victoria Nuland said that Pakistan and India have reestablished some hotlines and emergency procedures which was also a good move. She added that US hoped such moves to continue. | ||
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" Arab League mediators talk to Syria's Assad " |
 DAMASCUS: An Arab League team held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the start of a bid to mediate with the opposition, as activists said at least 15 people were killed in violence on Wednesday.Headed by Qatar, the League's current chair, the delegation comprises the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan, in addition to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi. Faced with a tough mission, Arabi has said he hopes "the Syrian regime will agree to this initiative, and begin with genuine reforms," in comments to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. "It is my prerogative as secretary general of the Arab League to meet with any member of the peaceful opposition," said Arabi, referring to a "disagreement" with Damascus after he met members of the Syrian opposition. At an emergency session in Cairo on October 16, the 22-member League called for "national dialogue" between the government and opposition by the end of October to help end the violence and avoid "foreign intervention" in Syria. Syria's representative to the 22-member Arab League, Youssef Ahmad, slammed what he said was a "conspiracy" against Assad's regime at the Cairo meeting. But the initiative has also been opposed by the opposition. "Arabs, do not get more involved in the bloodshed against us," said the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a coalition representing some 40 opposition blocs. "We will not accept anything less than Bashar al-Assad's resignation and his trial," they said. In a show of support for the embattled president, tens of thousands of Assad supporters rallied in Damascus on Wednesday. The demonstrators, waving Syrian flags and brandishing pictures of Assad, swarmed to Omayyad square, chanting, "The people want Bashar al-Assad." Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people, including nine government soldiers, had been killed in the latest unrest between Assad loyalists and opponents. "Nine servicemen, including an officer of the Syrian regular army, were killed by a rocket, fired by armed men, probably deserters. The soldiers were on a vehicle in Al-Hamrat village, on the Hama-Salamiyah road," it said. Clashes between security forces and soldiers who have deserted and joined the opposition calling for the ouster of Assad, have become more frequent in recent weeks, particularly in the centre of the country. The Britain-based Observatory said that four civilians, including an 18-month-old baby, were killed and 17 wounded by security forces in the central Homs region, one of the bastions of the Syrian opposition. Another civilian was killed by shots coming from a military checkpoint at Saraqeb, in the northwestern province of Idlib, while a 63-year-old man was killed in the eastern region of Abu Kamal, it added. The Syrian opposition called a nationwide general strike in protest against the regime's crackdown on protest that has left at least 3,000 people dead since mid-March, according to UN figures. The leading opposition group, the Syrian National Council, urged "all categories of people to go on strike" on Wednesday ahead of the launch of massive campaign of civil disobedience. "The strike is an expression of the desire to pursue a peaceful campaign until victory," an NSC statement said, adding that a strike had been observed in Daraa, cradle of the protests, for the past six days. (AFP) |
Shahbaz Taseer’s abductors used three vehicles |
 LAHORE: Geo News has received CCTV video of the vehicles involved in the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer. Shahbaz who is the son of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was kidnapped from the Gulberg area of Lahore on August 26. Shahbaz Taseer on August 26 left his house and when he was near his office in Gulberg at 10:20AM he was kidnapped. The Kidnappers used three cars as shown in the CCTV video. In the video it is shown that the kidnapper’s motorcycle passes by the crime scene at 10:23:34 AM. Four seconds later a car and then a pick-up pass by the scene which are the same vehicles used in the kidnapping. This movement was also witnessed by a security guard in the area, but two months later the police are still searching for the vehicles. |
Railways pensions and salaries to be paid before November 5 |
 ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Railways (PR) employees and pensioners will be paid their dues before November 5, Geo News reported. This decision was taken during a meeting between the Railways and Finance Ministries. PR will be issued a fund of Rs 25 billion for the payment of salaries by the 25th of each month by the Finance Ministry. All employees will be paid their salaries by the first of every month. According to GM Railways, an agreement has been reached between PR and National Bank which will set up five separate counters in bank branches for the payment of salaries and pensions. |
Jolie's 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' trailer revealed |
 HOLLYWOOD: The trailer of Angelina Jolie's debut movie as director 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' has been released. The movie depicts a troubled relationship spanning the divide of the war in BosniaIt is set against the backdrop of the Bosnian war, caused outrage when the media reported that the plot revolved around a Bosnian rape victim falling in love with her Serbian attacker. According to the synopsis, the movie is a wartime love story between a Serb guard in a prison camp and his former girlfriend, a Bosnian Muslim detainee and does not contain any rape scenes. Jolie said that she was the victim of "unfair pressure based on wrong information" and eventually had her filming permissions restored. |
LAHORE: Police in an operation arrested sixteen persons including four Afghans at Nawakot here, Geo News reported.
" Afghan fuel truck blast kills 10, injures 25 " |
 KABUL: At least 10 people were killed and two dozen wounded Wednesday when a fuel truck targeted by a bomb erupted in flames in northern Afghanistan, a provincial official said.A magnet bomb stuck on the side of the tanker blasted a hole in the fuel truck. "When people gathered around it to collect the pooling fuel, a bigger explosion took place," said Parwan provincial spokeswoman Roshna Khalid. It was not clear what caused the second explosion. "Ten people are dead and 25 others injured," said Parwan governor Basir Salangi, giving no further details. But a Parwan hospital said it had received three dead and 35 injured, while Khalid earlier gave the toll at 50 dead or wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Although violence has increased in northern Afghanistan, the region has been spared the worst fighting in the 10-year war, with most Taliban attacks concentrated on NATO and Afghan troops in the southern and eastern regions. But there appears to have been a spike in attacks in the north since last month's assassination of government peace broker Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president and key leader in the ethnic Tajik and Uzbek Northern Alliance. On Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted Interior Minister Bismullah Khan as he travelled through Parwan. On October 15, four Taliban bombers blew themselves up at a US-run development base, killing two men in the first suicide attack to hit in the northern province of Panjshir. Khan is an ethnic Tajik former anti-Soviet commander who fought the Taliban alongside Afghanistan's northern hero Ahmad Shah Masood and was appointed to the interior ministry post in June last year. The Taliban, dominanted by ethnic Pashtuns, have so far shown little willingness to talk peace despite various overtures by Western and Afghan brokers, 10 years since the US-led invasion ousted them from power. International conferences due in Istanbul and Bonn, Germany, later this year are aimed at stepping up efforts to end the conflict as Western voters tire of the long war that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. (AFP) |
" Future planes could travel five times speed of sound " |
 LONDON: The passenger plane of the future could travel at five times the speed of sound, according to a report published in British newspaper.According to the British daily, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) in its report said state-of-the-art technology will allow airlines to travel in a V-shaped group formation similar to migrating geese by the end of the century. The report adds that, regardless of the aircraft type, passenger jets could save on fuel by flying in formation and following in each others' slipstream. A "blended wing" shape, where the wing and fuselage meld into one, will also make the planes more fuel-efficient and aerodynamic, the IME claims. |
Tank peace committee chief amid two shot dead |
 TANK: Some unknown killers shot dead two persons including chief of the peace committee, Shahabuddin here, Geo News reported.Police said that chief of the Tank peace committee, Shahabuddin Burki was seated in a ‘baithak’ (a place to sit) of a peace committee member here in civil line area, when some unidentified killers barged in and opened fire that killed Shahabuddin and a member of the peace committee on the spot, while the killers fled away. Police and security forces have cordoned off the area and hunting for the killers. |
Waiting PR pensioner dies without payment |
 LAHORE: A Pakistan Railways (PR) pensioner lost life while waiting outside a bank branch overnight for the payment, Geo News reported. The Railways failed to fulfill the claims made by its general manager Operations for payment of pension by October 25.The pensioners were waiting outside the bank for the payment since yesterday. The railways had assured all the employee unions that salaries and pensions would be paid by October 25 and the unions had called off the strike after the assurance. PR GM Saeed Akhtar had also categorically stated that after receiving Rs 1 billion by the federal government, the railways had no issue with the provision of salaries and pensions and that every single one of the current and ex-employees would be paid by the given date. The GM had also stated that the salaries and pensions of the next month would be given out before Eidul Azha. All these claims proved wrong when hundreds of pensioners protested in front of the PR headquarters in Lahore and the regional offices all over the country, including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta. They chanted slogans against the apathetic and callous attitude of the PR authorities. Many of them said that they totally depended on pensions. The pensioners questioned that why the salaries of the PR bureaucracy were not delayed though they were higher than any worker or pensioner's. They were of the view that PR admin had lied to the entire nation and the pensioners just to avoid the strike. The PR spokesperson while explaining the reason for the delay in the provision of salaries said that the department had transferred Rs77.73 million to 78 bank branches all over the country to ensure payment. He said the reason behind non-payment could be the unexpected bank holiday on Monday which might have delayed the transfer of funds through the banking system. He was hopeful that the matter would be resolved by Wednesday once the funds were transacted. |
" Japanese man eats 32 boiled eggs in a minute " |
 TOKYO: A Japanese man astonished the people by eating 32 boiled eggs in one minute.The 33-years old Takeru Kobayashi also holds the world record for hot dog eating for six years. |
" Vivid yellow 33-carat diamond sold for $6.5mn " |
 NEW YORK: A vivid yellow diamond weighing 32.77 carats which sold for $6.5 million to an anonymous bidder was the highlight of Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in New York on Wednesday.The sale raised $46,599,650, and was 83 percent sold by lot and 93 percent by value, the auctioneer said. "Despite recent volatility in the financial markets, the jewelry world continues to hold strong with active participation from top private collectors and members of the trade for superb gems and jewels," said Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry at Christie's New York. |
" Police arrest man who burned more than 100 cars " |
 BERLIN: A man who set fire to more than 100 cars in Berlin, a wave of attacks blamed by some on political extremists, was motivated by envy and frustration, police who arrested him said Sunday. The 27-year-old told police that being jobless and in debt led him to set 67 luxury cars alight in one three-month run. (Reuters) |
