LPG price drops by Rs22 in two days

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ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distribution Association, Irfan Khokher Saturday said that the LPG prices have reduced by Rs22/kilogram in the last two days, Geo News reported

He said, "Distributors have decreased the LPG prices by Rs22 per kilogram
throughout the country owing to a bearish trend in the international markets."

The new price has been set at Rs110/kilogram taking effect from April 3, 2012.

On the other hand, according to chairman of FPCCI Standing Committee on LPG and Pattern in Chief of All Pakistan LPG Distributors Association (APLDA) Abdul Hadi Khan, the international price has plunged by $ 202 to $ 993 per ton for April 2012, slashing its import price by Rs 18,400 to Rs 122,000 per ton.

He said Saudi Armco Contract Price (CP) has dropped due to fall in prices of butane by $ 185 per ton while propane is up by $ 240 per
ton.

Hadi pointed out that due to fall in international price, the domestic price of LPG will be decreased by Rs 18 per kilo, 11.8 kilo cylinder by Rs 212 and 45.4 kg cylinder by Rs 835.

He stressed upon local producers to reduce their price in the country on April 3, 2012, in accordance with the drop in international prices so that the falling sales of LPG are stabilized.

Hadi said that LPG prices have declined after a long time and this decrease should be passed on to local consumers who have abandoned the use of LPG due to extraordinary high prices.

He underlined the need for an increase in local production, which has shrank to 900 to 1100 ton per day in the last one year. Local oil refineries should also reduce their shut downs to meet local demand
for LPG, he noted.

He observed that LPG use in automotive sector has been slashed by 60 percent due to uncontrolled price jacks by local producers.

Similarly, more than 1000 LPG outlets have been closed down due to
price hike.

Hadi argued that local LPG production is de-linked with international price, yet local producers are increasing prices in accordance with Aramco prices. He noted that LPG business is rendered unattractive in the country due to very high prices.

India crowns its beauty queens for 2012

MUMBAI: Vanya Mishra, a 19-year-old student from Chandigarh, Prachi Mishra, a 24-year-old investment advisor from Allahabad and 23-year-old TV anchor Rochelle Maria Rao from Chennai won the top honours at the Pantaloons Femina Miss India beauty pageant.

Vanya Mishra was crowned Miss India-World while Prachi will represent the Miss Earth competition and Rochelle Maria Rao will be India's girl at Miss International.

The event held in Mumbai featured prominent Bollywood stars including Sonam Kapoor [ Images ], Riteish Deshmukh [ Images ], Tusshar Kapoor [ Images ], Sonu Nigam [ Images ] and Ekta Kapoor [ Images ] among others.

Also performing on stage were Akshay Kumar [ Images ], Ali Zafar [ Images ] and Nargis [ Images ] Fakhri even as Tusshar and Riteish promoted their film even as they ribbed the judges including Tusshar's sister Ekta.

When time came to select the top winner, the choice was made easy by Vanya Mishra when she was asked to pick between providing 1000 permanent jobs and feeding 1000 underprivileged kids. Mishra picked the latter and walked home with the crown.

Space the latest frontier for Earth Hour

SYDNEY: Millions of people are expected to switch off their lights for Earth Hour Saturday in a global effort to raise awareness about climate change that will even be monitored from space.

From Egypt's Tahrir Square to New York's Empire State Building, thousands of cities will turn off lights for 60 minutes from 8:30 pm local time, with switches flicked in around 150 countries and territories.

Newcomers to the Sydney-led initiative, now in its sixth year, include Libya, Iraq and the International Space Station, which will watch over the event as it rolls across the globe.

"There is no better way to raise awareness for the future of the most beautiful planet in the universe," said Andre Kuipers, an astronaut who will share photos and live commentary as he views Earth Hour from space.

Since it began in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to become what environmental group WWF organisers say is the world's largest demonstration of support for action on carbon pollution.

A total of 5,251 cities took part in 2011, as the movement reached 1.8 billion people in 135 countries, they say.

"Earth Hour 2012 is a celebration of people power -- the world's largest mass environmental event in support of the planet," said chief executive of WWF-Australia Dermot O'Gorman.

"And we're seeing hundreds of millions of people in different countries around the world take actions to go beyond the hour in support of positive actions for climate change and the planet."

Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge will be among the first landmarks to plunge into darkness from 0930 GMT, and will be followed by the likes of Tokyo Tower, Taipei 101 and the Great Wall of China.

In Singapore, 32 malls -- many located in the glittering Orchard Road shopping belt -- and more than 370 companies including luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Armani will turn off non-essential lighting.

In the Philippines, more than 1,780 police stations and training centres will turn off all non-essential lights and electrical equipment.

"We will turn off the lights in the offices but not the lights in the perimeter because our detainees might escape," said national police spokesman Superintendent Agrimero Cruz.

The movement then spreads across the planet, with buildings such as The Burj Khalifa, the Eiffel Tower and Louvre in Paris, the cupola of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and Buckingham Palace in London dimming their lights.

O'Gorman said about 40 percent of Australians participate in Earth Hour, which encourages people to switch off their lights for 60 minutes and think about energy usage, but the idea had also taken off globally.

Earth Hour co-founder Todd Sampson, chief executive of advertising firm Leo Burnett Sydney, said the event began as an initiative to get Sydneysiders to switch off the lights on the harbour foreshore.

"We never would have predicted that it would be as big as it is now. And it is even bigger overseas than it is locally," he said.

The movement has met with some criticism, but Sampson said this was a healthy part of the debate.

"It's not designed, and it would be foolhardy to believe, that switching a light switch is going to save the planet," he told reporters near the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Saturday.

"It was originally done to raise awareness, to get people to think about it and then take action in many different ways.

"I think scepticism is part of the debate. It moves everything forward." (AFP)

Petrol price hiked by Rs8, CNG up to 12

ISLAMABAD: Government has once again increased the price of petrol by a staggering Rs8.02 and diesel Rs4.70 per litre while CNG has been made expensive by up to Rs11.98 per kilo, Geo News reported Saturday.

According to the notification, the revised price of petrol has jumped to Rs105.68 a litre and that of diesel to Rs108.16.

The price of light diesel goes up by Rs5.45 to Rs99.69 per litre; HOBC by Rs8.94 to Rs135.81 and the rate of kerosene oil jacked up by Rs5.29 to Rs101.69 a litre.

The revised rates of petroleum products have become effective from 12 AM, Sunday (April 1).

The price of CNG has been raised by Rs Rs9.93 to Rs80.97 per kilogram in Sindh and central Punjab while its rate in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also in Islamabad and Rawalpindi by Rs11.98 to Rs89.10 per kg.

US wants results from Iran nuclear talks

RIYADH: The United States wants concrete results at talks between Iran and world powers on April 13 in Istanbul on Tehran's nuclear programme, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday, warning that Iran's window for a peaceful resolution will "not remain open for ever."

"Our policy is one of prevention, not containment," Clinton told a news conference in the Saudi capital after talks with her Gulf Arab counterparts, confirming that the venue would be Istanbul as preferred by Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced the date last Wednesday.

He said at the time that Iran considered Istanbul -- the location of the previous round of talks, which collapsed in January 2011 -- the "best place" but that options were still being discussed.

"It is incumbent upon Iran to demonstrate by its actions that it is a willing partner and to participate in these negotiations with an effort to obtain concrete results," Clinton said.

US President Barack Obama has made clear that there is still time for diplomacy to work "provided Iran comes to the talks prepared for serious negotiations," she said.

Israel has brandished the threat of possible military action against Iran's nuclear sites, while the United States has put its energies into sanctions and diplomacy but has not ruled out the military option.

The last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 comprising the United States, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany, held in Istanbul last year, ended in failure.

The United States and its Western allies believe Iran is working towards a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran denies that, saying its atomic programme is exclusively peaceful.

"I want to underscore... there is not an open-ended opportunity for Iran" over its nuclear programme, said Clinton.

"It soon will be clear whether Iran's leaders are prepared to have a serious, credible discussion about their nuclear programme, whether they are ready to start building the basis of a resolution to this very serious problem," she said.

"It's up to Iran's leaders to make the right choice.

"We will see whether they will intend to do so starting with the P5 plus-1 negotiations in Istanbul April 13 and 14," she said.

"What is certain, however, is that Iran's window to seek and obtain a peaceful resolution will not remain open for ever."

Clinton later travelled to Istanbul for a conference on Syria and was due to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently returned from a visit to Tehran focusing on Iran's nuclear programme and bilateral ties.

It was likely the two would discuss the Iranian nuclear issue. (AFP)

Google plans low-price tablet computer

SAN FRANCISCO: Google is teaming with Asia-based hardware makers on a low-priced, 7-inch tablet computer to challenge offerings by Amazon.com and Apple, reports said Thursday.

Android software backed by the California Internet giant will power hardware built by partners including Samsung and Asustek to compete with iPad and Kindle devices, according to Digitimes and the Wall Street Journal.

An Asustek tablet could be released as early as May with a price of $199 to make it an option for shoppers considering the Kindle Fire made by Amazon.com, said Digitimes.

Google putting its weight behind an economical tablet would likely put pressure on other gadget makers to lower prices. Google did not respond immediately to an AFP request for comment.

Obama moves to choke Iran oil exports

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for robust sanctions against Iran's energy sector Friday, judging there is enough oil on world markets to ensure the move will not hammer US consumers.

With just hours to go before a deadline to decide, Obama determined the United States could punish banks and other financial institutions for buying oil from Iran, without causing a global oil shock.

The step could have major implications for Tehran and its customers, forcing firms and countries to choose between trade with the United States and Iranian oil.

China, South Korea, India, Japan and the European Union are major buyers of crude from Tehran.

The measures call on countries to "significantly reduce" oil imports from Iran -- although not stop them all together -- or face being frozen out of the US financial system.

Many countries have spent months scrambling to reduce dependence on Iranian oil before the sanctions go into effect in June.

Senior US officials said Japan and the European Union had done enough to dodge sanctions, but exemptions for India, South Korea, China and nine other nations were still being weighed.

"We have been very transparent with countries around the world about the steps they can take to pursue that type of exception," one official said.

Japan earlier vowed to reduce its Iran oil imports "considerably," while the EU is set to introduce its own partial embargo on Iranian oil this summer.

Shortly before Obama's announcement, Turkey's national oil company Tupras said it had cut purchases of Iranian oil by 20 percent.

But China has yet to show its hand publicly and India, despite friendly relations with the United States, has so far defied pressure to shut off oil from Iran.

The sanctions are part of a broad effort by Western governments to push Iran toward mothballing controversial bits of its nuclear program, to stop support for proscribed groups and to end human rights abuses.

If Iran is unable to find other buyers, the sanctions could hit the country where it hurts.

Washington and Brussels believe the sanctions are beginning to take a toll on the Iranian economy, reducing revenues, pushing down the value of Iran's currency and making imports more costly. (AFP)

Fifty imported bogies added to PR fleet

KARACHI: A total of 50 bogies imported from China for Karakoram Express were added to the fleet of Pakistan Railways which is set to improve the performance of the train on Friday.

Federal Railways Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour inaugurated the ceremony held at Karachi Cantonment Station platform number seven while Consul General of the Peoples Republic of China in Karachi, Zhang Jianxin, was also present. They boarded the train and inspected the new bogies.

On this occasion, the Federal Minister said that they would continue working for the betterment of PR, adding that the condition of trains would be improved further. He said that the passengers would be provided all possible facilities.

Divisional Transportation Officer Kashif Rasheed while talking to PPI said that the development would provide better facilities to the passengers as the delays in arrival and departure of trains would
reduce. He said that the bogies were brand new; therefore, the train would run smoothly while the overall performance of the train was expected to get better.

Chairman Railway Workers Union Manzoor Ahmed Razi welcomed the development but said that more bogies were needed for other trains as well which would significantly improve the overall performance of the department.

He said that the pace of repairing of locomotives must be increased in order to cut the time of delays in arrival and departure of trains while more engines and power vans needed to be imported. He said that out-of-order power vans must also be repaired which would reduce the breakdown of locomotives midway through their journey.

He further said that the increase in fares must be revisited as PR was the only travelling medium for the poor while raising it would cause loss in terms profit as the people would start preferring other transportation modes. (APP)

Famed comedian Liaqat Soldier remembered

ISLAMABAD: Famed comedian Liaqat Soldier was remembered on his first death anniversary on Friday.

Liaquat Ali better known by his stage name Liaquat Soldier was a stage and television comedy actor, writer, and director.

He was born in 1952 and started his acting career in 1973. He featured in over 250 plays and co-starred with many famous theatre personalities, including Moin Akhtar, Furqan Haider, Umer Sharif, Hanif Raja and Shahzad Raza.

He came from a modest, low-income family of Marwari background in Karachi. Soldier's unusual last name was given to him by his friend Nazar Hussain, a stage artist.

Overseas, he worked in the United States, Dubai and South Africa.

Soldier died of a heart attack at the age of 58 on 30 March 2011.

Before his immediate death, he was reportedly participating in a live TV show during a special transmission of the semi-final between India and Pakistan of the 2011 Cricket World Cup and had died by the time he was transported to the hospital.

His death was called "a big loss to the world of comedy dramas", while, a friend described him as not only a good actor but a "humble,
good person." (APP)

SK looks to ease name pain for Olympics

SEOUL: South Korea is planning to unify the spelling of athletes names in English at this year's London Olympics to ease confusion among foreign journalists and fans, local media reported on Friday.

The initiative will lead to a universal enforcement of the system revised in 2000, in which Koreans are required to use their family name before their given names, in accordance with the National Institute of the Korean Language.

Several South Korean athletes, however, continue to use the initials of their given name before their family names in international competition, something they will no longer be able to do at the July 27-August 12 Games.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, baseball player Kim Hyun-soo wore "H S Kim" on his uniform, while swimmer Park Tae-hwan opted for Park T.H." on the back of his tracksuit.

In London, Olympic champion Park will be required to spell his name either "Park Taehwan" or "Park Tae-hwan", which can be shortened to "Park T." in case of initialization.

Anglicized South Korean names have baffled overseas fans, officials and journalists for years, with the discrepancy between what is written on team sheets and shirts triggering panic for journalists at deadline time. (Reuters)

Profit rates on savings schemes increase

ISLAMABAD: The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has revised the profit rates on National Savings Schemes effective from April 1.

According to a notification, the profit rate on Special Savings Certificates (Registered) Accounts has been increased from 11.67% to 11.87% per annum. Similarly the profit rate on Regular Income Certificates has been enhanced from 11.76 % to 12.12% p.a.

Likewise, the profit rate on Bahbood Savings Certificates has been raised from 13.86% to 14.28% p.a.

The profit rate on Pensioner Benefit Account has been increased from 13.86% to 14.28% p.a., on Defence Savings Certificates from 11.90% to 12.33% and on Savings Accounts from 8.25% to 8.40% p.a.

Meanwhile, Zafar M.Shaikh, Director General of National Savings, chaired a meeting at the Directorate of Inspection and Accounts here on Friday to monitor the progress in respect of outstanding recoveries,
pending audit position, annotated replies to audit reports and random surprise visits of National Savings Centers by the officers posted at DIA, Zonal Heads as well as through Inspecting Officers.

The meeting attended among others by Muhammad Anwar, Director (Admn), Raja Khan, Director (DIA),Talib Hussain Awan, Joint Director and Nadir Zaman Khan, Assistant Director. Raja Khan, Director, DIA given detail briefing to worthy Director General.

The Director General stressed that the outstanding recoveries should be made on war footing basis and all types of audit observations may be settled on priority.

In this context the Director General and the Deputy Director will personally visit all the regions to settle the issue on the spot. (APP)

Katrina game for action-packed Dhoom 3

MUMBAI: After dabbling in action in the yet-to-release Ek Tha Tiger with Salman Khan, actress Katrina Kaif will prepare for another action innings, and this time it would be for Dhoom 3.

Not an easy task, but Katrina is game for it. The pretty girl will be seen in a role of a gymnast in the film, and to go by the reports, her action scenes in the film are almost at par with that of her co-star Aamir Khan. Being a stickler for perfection, Katrina Kaif is hell-bent to get it right and thus has hired an international fitness instructor to help her train for Dhoom 3.

Currently the trainer is with her in London, where she is shooting for her film with Shahrukh Khan. She reportedly trains for two hours every day to strengthen her core muscles and increase stamina and agility. She will be training for four months, post which Dhoom 3 goes on the floors.

However, when Katrina returns to Mumbai she has more task cut out for her. Kat’s personal trainer Yasmin Karachiwala has planned a new regime for her. She tells a daily, “Kat needs to get flexible and lean, so when she returns from London, we will change her workout routine…She doesn’t need to look thin, but lean.”

For her last few films Katrina Kaif has gone for immense training and workouts, be it flaunting a flab-less belly in Sheila Ki Jawani, or biking in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Kat achieves what she aspires for.

In Dhoom 3 she will be seen in a fatal action avatar for the first time that too opposite Aamir Khan. What else could excite her fans more?

Human billboards to pay off debts

LONDON: In their scruffy jeans and trainers, Ross Harper and Ed Moyse look just like any other British 22-year-olds -- except for the words "Buy My Face" and "Sold" emblazoned brightly on their faces.

Standing in the middle of London's shopping mecca Oxford Circus, the two Cambridge University graduates attract more than a few curious glances from the hoards of passers-by.

"How much?" a young man calls out from a gaggle of Spanish tourists, to which Harper, a former neuroscience student, replies that it's #100 ($160, 120 euros) to hire the two faces as advertising space for the day.

"A hundred pounds?" The tourists throw up their hands in mock outrage before bursting into laughter.

There may be no customers here, but others are queuing to hire the two human billboards.

Harper and Moyse have made over #30,000 since setting up Buy My Face in October in a bid to pay off their student debts.

The enterprising duo plan to launch the business, which works by directing online traffic to advertisers' websites through their own entertaining site, on the international market in May.

"We've had interest from places like Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, the United States, and all over Europe," Harper said.

With record youth unemployment of 22 percent in Britain, and even graduates from prestigious universities such as Cambridge struggling to find work as the economy stalls, theirs is an unusual success story.

"We were coming up with ideas for what we wanted to do after we left university," said economics graduate Moyse. "And we thought, 'The job market's really tough at the moment. Why don't we try a creative project for a year?'"

The pair, who each borrowed #25,000 from the government to fund their studies, came up with Buy My Face over a pot of instant noodles last year while brainstorming business ideas that required only minimal investment.

"We're #50,000 in debt -- we didn't want to invest thousands more into a business," said Moyse, adding that they spent just #100 on face-paint.

Since October 1, he and Harper have managed to "sell" their faces every single day -- to large companies such as Irish bookmaker Paddy Power and accountants Ernst & Young, as well as smaller firms.

"On the very first day we sold them for #1," Moyse recalled, turning to Harper and adding: "Not a very good graduate wage, was it?" (AFP)

India's long journey for one-off clash

JOHANNESBURG: India and South Africa meet in a one-off Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium Friday with India coach Duncan Fletcher insisting the long round trip will be worthwhile.

India arrived in Johannesburg Wednesday with a near full strength T20 squad, with batsman Virender Sehwag and pace bowler Zaheer Khan the only key players being rested.

Superstar Sachin Tendulkar, reportedly receiving medical treatment in London, is not a regular T20 international player.

South Africa, by contrast, have picked only eight of the squad which won a T20 series in New Zealand last month, resting all their Test players with the exception of Jacques Kallis, who will be the recipient of a special tribute at the match.

The South African Test squad arrived back just over 48 hours ahead of the Wanderers game.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) will contribute to the Jacques Kallis Foundation, which provides scholarships for talented cricketers from under-privileged areas to attend leading cricket schools.

Kallis said he would, in turn, assist the Yuvraj Singh Foundation. India player Singh is being treated for cancer. Kallis' father died of cancer in 2003.

The South African squad includes three uncapped players and will be captained by off-spinner Johan Botha in the absence of the regular captain AB de Villiers and vice-captain Hashim Amla, who both played in the Test series in New Zealand.

India, though, will be led as usual by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Fletcher said the Indian team contained a significant number of young players.

"We've been trying to develop a young one-day squad and Twenty20 squad," he said. "These blokes have played well on the subcontinent and any game they play out of it must be very good from an experience point of view."

The announcement of the match was made as recently as March 5. It was one of the last acts of Gerald Majola before he was suspended as CSA chief executive following a judicial report on undeclared bonuses paid to him.

The game comes at the end of a long international season for both teams and only five days before the start of the Indian Premier League, which will feature most of the players involved this Friday.

South Africa: Johan Botha (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Richard Levi, Albie Morkel, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk), Dane Vilas (wk)

India: MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Rahul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa. (AFP)

Gunmen seize Saudi diplomat in Yemen

ADEN: Unknown gunmen seized Saudi Arabia's deputy consul outside his home in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Wednesday, a police official told AFP.

The kingdom's foreign ministry confirmed the kidnapping in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

"Abdullah al-Khalidi was kidnapped while leaving his home in the Mansoura neighbourhood of Aden," said the Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said police launched an investigation and were actively searching for the diplomat.

"He was taken to an unknown location and we are searching for him," the official added.

Insecurity has plagued Yemen's mostly lawless southern region in the past year, with Al-Qaeda-linked militants overrunning several towns in Aden's neighbouring Abyan province in May, and the abduction of foreigners is common.

The Saudi foreign ministry warned the kidnappers that they will be "held responsible for his (captive) safety" and demanded his immediate release.

It said the kidnappers will "achieve and get nothing out of this act," adding that the kingdom would "take all necessary measures to protect its diplomats and employees."

Another Yemeni police official told AFP that Khalidi's kidnapping was not politically motivated.

"He has some personal conflicts with people in Aden," the official said, adding that in recent months, the deputy consul had been threatened and unknown assailants had even "thrown a grenade at his home in Aden."

He did not give further details.

Late last year, unknown gunmen stopped the diplomat while he was driving in Aden, pulled him from his car and then stole it. He was unharmed.

Khalidi is the third Saudi national to be kidnapped in Yemen in as many years. In April 2011, tribesmen kidnapped a Saudi diplomat in the capital Sanaa in an apparent bid to settle a trade dispute involving a Saudi businessman.

Saeed al-Maliki, a second secretary at the Saudi embassy, was released nine days later.

In November 2010, gunmen kidnapped a Saudi doctor in north Yemen and demanded the release of nine jailed members of Al-Qaeda.

Dhafer al-Shihri, acting head of Al-Salam Hospital in Saada city, was released the same day after tribal mediation.

Saudi Arabia has played a crucial role in the power-transition deal that forced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office after a year-long uprising against his rule.

The kingdom is also a key donor to the impoverished country. On Tuesday, King Abdullah ordered the donation of petroleum products to Yemen, enough to cover the country's needs for two months.

The kingdom is also expected to host a donor conference in May to organise the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Militants with ties to Al-Qaeda have exploited the weakening central government to strengthen their presence in Yemen, launching deadly attacks against security forces, especially across the restive south and southeast.

Aden itself is also a separatist stronghold, with local militants disrupting the referendum-like presidential election last month, saying the vote failed to meet their aspirations of autonomy or outright independence for the south.

More than 200 people have been abducted in Yemen over the past 15 years, many of them by members of the country's powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips with the authorities.

Almost all of those kidnapped were later freed unharmed. (AFP)

NRO implementation verdict on April 16

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) resumed hearing of NRO implementation case today, Geo News reported.

A seven-judge bench comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Athar Saeed, heard the suo motu case regarding progress on NRO related cases.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan remarked that the court's orders should be implemented and another contempt notice would be issued against the prime minister if he does not follow.

The court said verdict in NRO implementation case would be released on 16 April.

On the last hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan Molvi Anwarul Haq appeared and apprised the bench that he had received instructions from the high authority and complied reports which would be submitted with the Registrar's office.

Accepting his request, the bench re-listed the case for March 29.

On March 8, the bench had issued direction to the Chief Executive to submit reports over implementation of its directives contained in Dr Mobashar Hassan versus Federation case (NRO).

While in another NRO case pertaining to illegal appointment of Ahmed Riaz Shaikh and Adnan A. Khawaja, the bench told their counsel Dr Abdul Basit that their cases had already been decided by the bench and he was not required to appear.

Dr Basit contended that the bench should not supervise functioning of the NAB, besides, seeking progress reports from NAB.

He said that he reserved the right to move appeals in case his clients felt aggrieved.

Justice retired Shaiq Osmani, counsel for chairman NAB, appeared and stated that on Court's previous direction for completion of their task within a month which would end on April 7, the NAB would submit a comprehensive report within the given time.

Oracle, Google on track for trial

SAN FRANCISCO: Google and Oracle continued legal wrangling on Wednesday in a dimming effort to reach a deal to avoid facing off before jurors in a patent case trial.

The trial remained set to start next month in a San Francisco federal court after Oracle spurned a proposal that Google pay about $3 million in damages and potentially cut the company in for less than a percent of Android revenue.

Northern California-based business software titan Oracle rejected the offer as too low.

"Oracle cannot agree to Google's proposal that Oracle waive its constitutional right to a jury trial," Oracle lawyers said in a formal response filed Tuesday to US District Court Judge William Alsup.

"Although there are issues for the Court to decide, there are substantial questions for the jury as well."

Oracle is accusing Google's Android software of infringing on Java computer programming language patents held by Oracle stemming from its recent purchase of Java inventor Sun Microsystems.

Google has denied the patent infringement claims and said it believes mobile phone makers and other users of its open-source Android operating system are entitled to use the Java technology in dispute.

Google has maintained that Sun, before it was acquired by Oracle, had declared that Java would be open-source, allowing any software developer to use it, and released some of its source code in 2006 and 2007.

Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun, a one-time Silicon Valley star, in January of 2010 and subsequently filed suit against Google.

Google-backed Android software is used in an array of devices that have been gaining ground in the hotly competitive global smartphone and tablet markets. (AFP)

Karachi limps back to normalcy

KARACHI: Life in Karachi limped back to normalcy on Wednesday after a day of mourning that was observed by MQM on Tuesday against the killing of its party worker and his brother in the PIB Colony area of the metropolis.

All educational institutes and markets remained open on Wednesday.

Rangers on late Tuesday detained six suspects from various areas of Karachi and shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation.

A clash between two groups took place in C-1 area of Liaquatabad, triggering tension in the region. Rangers after reaching the site took control of the area and launched search operation. Sources said that three suspects have been apprehended during the operation.

Exchange of firing between the two groups was also reported in Angara Goth area of Liaquatabad.

Meanwhile, Rangers also detained three activists of a political party from Abul Hassan Ispahani Road area of Gulshan e Iqbal. Sources said that weapons were also recovered from their possession.

Earlier on Tuesday, MQM sector member Mansoor Mukhtar, his brother Masood Mukhtar and his sister in-law were targeted when attackers entered their house and opened fire. Mansoor and Masood succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.

The post mortem of Mansoor was conducting at the Abbasi Shaheed hospital and according to doctors he was shot four times.

Over three dozen vehicles including a police mobile were torched in different areas including Malir Halt, Central Jail, Teen Hatti, Kala Board, Abul Hassan Isphani Road and Shah Faisal Colony.

Yemen urges Pak to free Osama's widow

SANAA: Yemen urged Pakistan on Tuesday to free one of Osama bin Laden's injured widows, saying Yemen-born Amal Al-Sadeh and her four children were not guilty of any crime.

Pakistan's interior minister said earlier this month that bin Laden's three widows, including Sadeh, would be put on trial for entering and living in the country illegally.

"The Pakistani authorities retracted from their initial position to surrender Amal to the Yemeni government," Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Reuters.

"We continue to call on the Pakistani authorities to transfer her to her home country. We are also concerned about the well being of her young children. The children should not be punished for the mistakes of their father." (Reuters)

‘Polls cannot dictate Afghan war plans’

OTTAWA: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday a poll showing a big drop in public support for the war in Afghanistan would not alter Washington's strategy, or efforts to battle Al-Qaeda.

"We cannot fight wars by polls -- if we do that, we're in deep trouble. We have to operate based on what we believe is the best strategy to achieve the mission that we have embarked on," Panetta told reporters.

He said the objective of the United States and NATO was "to safeguard a country by ensuring that the Taliban and Al Qaeda never again find a safe haven in Afghanistan," he explained, recalling the attacks of September 11, 2001.

"We've been through 10 years of war in the United States and there's no question that the American people are tired of war, just as the Afghans are tired of war, and yet I think the American people understand why we're engaged in Afghanistan," he added.

A New York Times/CBS poll published Monday showed support for the war in Afghanistan had dropped sharply among Americans: 69 percent of those polled thought that the United States should not be at war in Afghanistan, from 53 percent four months ago.

Recent setbacks include violence set off by the burning last month of Korans by American troops and the alleged killing of 17 Afghan civilians by a US soldier, as well as killings of American troops by their Afghan partners.

Those incidents perhaps fueled the opinions of 68 percent of respondents who thought the fighting was going "somewhat badly" or "very badly," compared to 42 percent who said they had that impression in November.

Panetta spoke in Ottawa after meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts on strengthening security ties, including anti-drug efforts, disaster relief and humanitarian aid. (AFP)

Japan 'ghost ship' reaches Canada

VANCOUVER: A fishing boat lost in the massive Japanese tsunami a year ago has turned up off Canada's west coast, authorities said Saturday.

An aerial inspection suggested that there was no one on board, Transport Canada spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu told AFP.

The 65-meter (210-foot) vessel was spotted Tuesday by a Canadian Forces aircraft on a routine surveillance patrol, and its Japanese owner has been notified, said Transport Canada.

A military photo shows the ship, streaked with rust but intact, floating 278 kilometers (150 nautical miles) off the southern coast of Haida Gwaii islands, some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) north of Vancouver.

"The vessel is considered an obstruction to navigation," Transport Canada said in a statement, adding that it was being monitored for pollution.

The ship is the first, and largest, item confirmed to have crossed the Pacific Ocean to North America from Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

Near Midway Atoll in the deep Pacific, a Russian ship spotted an intact 20-foot Japanese boat from Fukushima last fall, along with debris such as a television and other household appliances, the University of Hawaii said.

Ocean researchers based in Hawaii are monitoring the debris from the tsunami, which they earlier predicted would reach western North America early next year.

There have been reports of Japanese bottles and other items washing ashore, but it's not clear if they were from the tsunami.

Earlier this month, Canada's western province of British Columbia and the western US states of Washington, Oregon and California signed an agreement to coordinate management of the tsunami debris when it reaches shore, and to return items of sentimental value to Japan.

The Japanese fishing boat that was found this week is not expected to reach landfall for another 50 days, said a media statement by Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, who has a special interest in marine issues. (AFP)

Pakistani student wins world math competition

KARACHI: A Pakistani student Mousa Feroz, 15, has Sunday won a gold medal in an Online World Mathematics Competition held in Australia, Geo News reported. Over one point five million children from one hundred counties around the world took part in the competition took place on the sixth and seventh of March.

Nuclear summit opens today

SEOUL: US President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders will begin a summit Monday on curbing the threat of nuclear terrorism, but North Korea's atomic plans will be in focus on the sidelines.
The two-day meeting in South Korea is a follow-up to an inaugural summit in Washington in 2010 hosted by Obama, which kick-started efforts to lock up fissile material around the globe that could make thousands of bombs.

Obama announced on the eve of the Seoul event, which will gather leaders or top officials from 53 nations, that Ukraine had fulfilled a pledge made two years ago to remove all highly enriched uranium from its territory.

"I believe it is a preview of the kind of progress we are going to see over the next two days in confronting one of the most urgent challenges to global security -- the security of the world's nuclear weapons and preventing nuclear terrorism," Obama said.

While North Korea's nuclear programme is not officially on the agenda in Seoul, it is expected to be intensely discussed on the sidelines as world leaders take advantage of the opportunity of face-to-face meetings.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks after North Korea announced it would launch a long-range rocket in April.

The nuclear-armed North says its rocket will merely put a peaceful satellite into orbit. But the United States and many other countries believe the launch is intended to test a long-range missile that could one day deliver an atomic warhead.

Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak presented a united front against North Korea during a press conference on Sunday, warning it again against the rocket launch and further "provocative" actions.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or by provocations," Obama said.

Lee added: "President Obama and I have agreed to respond sternly to any provocations and threats by the North and to continually enhance the firm South Korea-US defence readiness."

Obama also sought to step up pressure on China, North Korea's chief international ally, which has declined to speak out strongly against Pyongyang in relation to the planned rocket launch.

"My suggestion to China is that how they communicate their concerns to North Korea should probably reflect the fact that the approach they have taken over the last several decades has not led to a fundamental shift in North Korea's behaviour," Obama said.

Obama is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday, and separately with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The United States, China and Russia, along with Japan and South Korea, are involved in long-running and currently stalled negotiations with the North aimed at convincing it to give up its atomic ambitions.

Iran's nuclear ambitions are similarly not on the agenda in Seoul but the leaders of the world powers may take the opportunity of their face-to-face meetings to discuss US-led efforts to curtail Tehran's programme.

Experts have acknowledged major progress on the fissile material front since the Washington summit.

They point to former Soviet republic Kazakhstan securing over 13 tonnes of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium since then, while Chile eliminated its entire HEU stockpile.

The United States and Russia also signed a protocol under which each will dispose of 34 tonnes of plutonium -- enough for 17,000 nuclear weapons.

But experts say much more must be done to end an apocalyptic threat. (AFP)

Lahore Lions outclass Karachi Zebras

RAWALPINDI: Lahore Lions defeated Karachi Zebras by six wickets with 13 balls to spare in the second match of the Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cricket Cup here at the Rawalpindi Stadium on Sunday.
The Zebras captain Hasan Raza won the toss and elected to bat but the Lions restricted the opponents to 135 for five in the allotted 20 overs.

Their prominent scorers were Rameez Aziz (37), Hasan Raza (33 not out) and Khurram Manzoor (31).

In reply, the Lions completed the chase in 17.5 overs for the loss of four wickets, thanks to a brilliant batting display by Ahmed Shahzad who remained unbeaten on 61 and Umar Akmal hit 43. Both added 83 runs for the third wicket partnership after the Lions were reeling on 15 for two

Zardari calls for end to drone strikes

DUSHANBE: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the Parliamentary review process of Pak-US relations, that was long overdue, was a manifestation of democracy taking roots in Pakistan and the elected representatives taking ownership of one of Pakistan's most important bilateral relationships.

He said that the effort had to be to work within the parameters set by the Parliament and not to bypass it.

He said this during meeting with Marc Grossman, Special US Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan in Dushanbe on Sunday where the President Zardari earlier participated in the quadrilateral talks with heads of states of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan.

Spokesperson to the President, Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted the President as saying that the government wanted to revive the relationship with the US on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest and in the light of parliamentary review.

Pakistan wanted to re-engage with the US at all levels in the light of the Parliamentary review which, the President said, would be completed soon.

Farhatullah Babar said that the President also drew attention to the need for greater transparency in the relationship.

During the talks the President also called for exploring options for increased market access through preferential tariff for Pakistan exports to US markets.

The Spokesperson said that President Zardari also raised the issue of drug trade that was providing financial sustainability to the militants and called for concerned international efforts to curb the menace. He said that large quantities of opiates entered Pakistan from across the border and called for the US and NATO forces to interdict the movement of drugs which he said was critical for drying up the financial sources of militants.

About the drone attacks, the President said that these violated Pakistan's sovereignty, were counterproductive and because of the civilian casualties it even fueled militancy and called for an end to drone strikes.

The President said that Pakistan believed that peace and stability in Pakistan depended on peace and stability in Afghanistan and that Pakistan would continue to fight the militants till the logical end.

Farhatullah Babar said that during meeting with Grossman, President Zardari also drew attention to the energy crisis in Pakistan and said that Iran Pakistan gas pipeline line project concluded years ago should be seen as vital to solving Pakistan's energy problem and its economic development.

US representative Marc Grossman thanked the President for meeting him and said that the United States respected the Parliamentary process of overview of relationship and expressed the hope that the process would be completed soon and the Pak-US relations would soon be back to normal.

Those who attended the meeting included from the US side Ambassador Munter and other senior US officials.

The Pakistan side included Interior Minister Rehamn Malik, spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilnai, Pakistan's Ambassador in Afghanistan and senior officials of the Foreign Office. (PPI)

Protests after prolonged loadshedding

LAHORE: Prolonged loadshedding in the country's most populous province the Punjab has forced people to come out on streets and protest, Geo News reported.

The electricity shortfall has increased to 6500MW leading to unscheduled and long-drawn-out power shutdowns in many cities.

Residents of Lahore burnt tyres on the road during a demonstration against electricity loadshedding while defiant traders blocked main Mall Road.

Gujranwala residents after losing their temper came out onto the streets burnt tyres and disrupted traffic on main GT Road. Police resorted to aerial firing and hurled teargas shells to disperse them while the agitators tried to keep riot police at bay by hurling stones.

The people of Faisalabad protested in a unique style while dancing to the sounds of a drum as they burnt tyres and blocked the traffic.

Yahoo! board gets new members, defies hedge fund

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo! on Sunday announced the appointment of three independent board members as the struggling Internet firm moved to shake up its team and fend off a challenge from an activist hedge fund. Named to the board effective April 5 were John Hayes, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of American Express; Peter Liguori, former chief operating officer of Discovery Communications and former chairman and president of entertainment of Fox Broadcasting Network; and Thomas McInerney, the outgoing chief financial officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp. "Each of these individuals impressed the search committee with their demonstrable records of significant accomplishment at the highest levels of media, advertising and marketing, finance, including corporate finance and restructuring, and further insight into customers' perspectives," said Patti Hart, chairman of the nominating committee. "Together, they bring a powerful mix of exactly the right ingredients to fuel Yahoo!'s forward momentum." Yahoo! named Scott Thompson as its new chief executive in January and promised urgent action to turn the company around after a year of falling income and profits. Thompson, named Yahoo! CEO only on January 4, said the web giant needed to move quickly to exploit its huge bank of user data to regain market share, especially in display ads where it has lost ground. But the nominating committee rejected a push for a slate of nominees from hedge fund Third Point, which has taken a large stake in Yahoo, saying it chose the "best qualified" candidates. A Yahoo! statement said the company had proposed accepting one of the Third Point candidates along with another candidate mutually acceptable to the board and the hedge fund. But the statement said Third Point founder and chief executive Daniel Loeb "rejected this proposal and declined to end Third Point's solicitation with respect to its own four candidates unless he personally was appointed to the board." The Yahoo! board said it "remains open to hearing Third Point's ideas and to working constructively with Third Point, but believes that appointing Mr. Loeb to the board is not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders." After Thompson was recruited, Yahoo! co-founder and former chief executive Jerry Yang resigned from the board of directors. A few weeks later the chairman and three other directors said they would step down, opening the way for Thompson's agenda. (AFP)

Committing suicide over insensitivity of rulers: Fakhra

ROME: Funeral prayer of acid attack victim Fakhra Younus was offered in the hospital ground and the body has been sent for Pakistan, Geo News reported. Following the funeral prayer, Pakistani embassy in Rome has dispatched the body of acid attack victim for Pakistan. In her last message before committing suicide, Fakhra had written that she was committing suicide over silence of law on the atrocities and insensitivity of Pakistani rulers. Fakhra committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of the flat. She was attacked with acid 12 years ago

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Police van attacked in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A police van has been attacked by a remote control bomb in Peshawar's Matni area, Geo News reported.

Faysal Bank T20 Cup begins today

RAWALPINDI: Twenty20’s massive popularity and status as the most exciting format of cricket has given birth to T20 league in Pakistan. The Super Eight T20 Tournament was introduced last year in Pakistan.
Since the tremendous success of Super eight T20 tournament, it has not only become the most popular and widely watched cricket events in Pakistan but the tournament is also scheduled twice in the PCB yearly event calendar.

The Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 is a unique platform wherein the national cricket stars from various cities of Pakistan will join forces with the world class Pakistani players in a thrilling one week event.

The Faysal Bank Super-8 National Twenty20 Cricket Cup will commence from today March 25 till April 1st. at Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Eight teams drawn in two groups will featuring in the tournament: Faisalabad Wolves, Karachi Dolphins, Karachi Zebras, Lahore Eagles, Lahore Lions, Peshawar Panthars, Rawalpindi Rams, Sialkot Stallions.

The winning team will receive Rs.2.5 million as prize money and the runners-up Rs.1 million.

Geo film 'BOL' achieves best film award

LONDON: Geo film " BOL" has achieved the best film award at 14th Asian Film Festival in Britain.

Humaima Malick, heroine of 'BOL' got best actress award.

Borat anthem played by mistake at event

KUWAIT: Kazakhstan's shooting team demanded an apology after a spoof national anthem from the comedy film Borat was played instead of the real one at a medal ceremony in Kuwait, the BBC reported on Friday.

The team's coach told Kazakh media the organizers of the Kuwait tournament had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake and had also got the Serbian national anthem wrong.

Footage of Thursday's original ceremony shows gold medalist Maria Dmitrienko listening solemnly to the anthem before smiling. The ceremony was later rerun.

The spoof anthem, from the movie featuring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region. (Reuters)

US says 'no' action on Salala raid

WASHINGTON: The US military has decided that no service members will face disciplinary charges for a Nato airstrike in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, The New York Times reported late Saturday.

A Pentagon investigation found late last year that both US and Pakistani troops were responsible for the exchange of fire.

But it noted that the Pakistanis had fired first from two border posts not on coalition maps, and that they kept firing even after the Americans tried to warn them that they were shooting at allied troops.

Pakistan rejected these conclusions.

The US military launched a second inquiry to determine whether any American military personnel should be punished.

This recently completed review had come up with a negative conclusion, the Times reported, citing three unnamed military officials.

Officials said the Americans fired in self-defense, the report said, and any other mistakes had been the result of battlefield confusion.

"We found nothing criminally negligent on the part of any individual in our investigations of the incident," The Times quoted one senior US military official as saying.

Pakistani-US relations plummeted after the killing of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in a military operation carried out inside Pakistan but without Islamabad's knowledge.

It was seen as a humiliation for the nation's rulers.

Relations suffered further after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the November clash. (AFP)

Apple's devoted shareholders get rich

NEW YORK: When Anton Marinovich turned 18, his grandmother gave him $1,000 with strict instructions to invest in the stock market. He chose Apple Inc.

Seventeen years later, his investment is worth more than $240,000 and will bring him over $1,000 a quarter through the company's new dividend plan.

"It's pretty bananas," Marinovich said. "I always hear about all these people here in Silicon Valley falling into huge luck, but I never thought it would happen to me," said Marinovich, who is the director of sales at Equilar, a Redwood City, California-based executive compensation consultant.

Watching Apple shares soar more than 77 percent over the past 12 months has been a wild ride for people like Marinovich, who are firmly planted in the cult of Apple. Between him and his fiancee they own two iPhones, two MacBooks, an iPad and 400 shares of Apple.

Many loyalists bought stock years ago when shares languished at double-digit prices. The held on to it out of a love for the company and its products. Now, they are being richly rewarded by a share price of around $600 and a rich dividend payout from Apple's cash pile of nearly $100 billion.

Nearly two dozen individual Apple shareholders interviewed by Reuters say they are not going on crazy spending sprees or vacations to Fiji, despite the huge windfall they could get by cashing out. Practically none of them said they plan to sell, a loyalty that gives some of their financial planners heartburn.

That's not to say they aren't treating themselves - or breathing a little easier.

Marinovich said the comfort of his Apple investment cushion means more freedom in his spending habits. He recently bought himself a $2,000 Omega watch and is shopping for a new Audi to replace his Volkswagen Jetta.

Retiree Pat Harshbarger, 79, has seen her $13,800 investment in Apple rise to $46,000. That paper wealth has made the former nurse comfortable enough to consider taking a few more trips to Maine to visit family and one to Las Vegas, where she and her husband want to try their hand at the slot machines, she said.

Seventy-one years old Stan Merkin, a retired Dell and IBM programmer whose portfolio has gained about $100,000 just by buying Apple since late last year, said he will buy another 50 shares if the stock hits $650.

"What I have made in Apple gives me comfort about how I can live in retirement," he said.

Many loyal Apple shareholders see the stock as a "safety net" for their futures, one they believe only goes up.

"I am a firm believer in the company," said Marinovich's 31-year-old brother Erik Marinovich, who also bought 50 shares of Apple with money from his grandmother. The investment is now worth $60,000 more than he paid. "I am going to stay in this until retirement."

EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT

For Apple lovers in their 30s and 40s - those who bore the brunt of both the dot-com crash and financial meltdown - holding Apple feels a responsible move.

Nate Landau, 38, lived at the edge of the dot-com boom and bust. He has worked at eight different companies, mostly in the technology sector, since 1996. He still remembers the night his father brought home Apple's first computer, when he was 10 years old.

"I just remember using Mac Paint and really being blown away," said Landau, who once insisted a new employer provide him with a Mac even though the rest of the company had PCs.

"I see Apple as my rainy day fund," said Landau, who is now managing director of Internet publisher Food Republic. His investment of $15,000 in Apple stock 12 years ago is now worth $60,000 even though he sold 200 of his 300 shares.

Kristi Faulkner recalls a similar experience when she saw her first Mac Classic in a high school art classroom in Grand Prairie, Texas.

"It had this little, tiny four by six screen and it was the coolest art tool I had ever seen," said Faulkner, who with her two daughters currently own two Mac desktops, three MacBooks, two iPhones and countless iPods, iTouches and nanos.

Faulkner, now 44, is president of Womenkind, a marketing agency that targets women. She still feels a strong connection to Apple - one that extends to her stock.

"Apple made computers accessible to me as a girl and as an artist," she said. "If it dives tomorrow, I am not selling."

That kind of emotional attachment makes financial advisers more than a little nervous.

When Faulkner signed up with a financial adviser a year ago, all of her savings was invested in Apple and Internet search giant Google.

"She told me to sell it and I said, 'are you kidding'," Faulkner said. She did trim back from 250 to 155 shares in Apple, but still made more than $82,500 off Apple since 2005.

Financial advisers regularly warn Apple groupies to get out of owning so much Apple - before they regret it.

"My broker is constantly calling me to tell me to sell it," said Jeff Gonzalez, a 31-year-old advertising director whose portfolio has gained more than $16,500 from the 31 shares of Apple he bought in 2005. "Every week I call him up and say 'Look you are wrong, it's gone up again'."

"Nothing is going to make me sell," Gonzalez said.

Even Apple lovers who are in the financial business have a hard time staying objective.

Matt Reiner, a 25-year-old financial adviser whose investment in 40 shares of Apple has gained about $11,000, knows he should get out while the going is good.

"I know there is so much euphoria around Apple, but it's very hard to sell a stock which seemingly has its products in everyone's hands," he said. (Reuters)

Homs pounded, Syrian tanks in north town

BEIRUT: Syrian forces pounded the already battered city of Homs with tank and mortar fire and troops raided a rebellious northern town on Saturday, leaving 10 civilians and four soldiers dead, opposition activists said.
With the year-long bloodshed showing no signs of abating, the U.N.-Arab League peace envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, flew to Moscow in an effort to secure strong Russian support for his efforts to bring about a ceasefire and open political dialogue.

While Western and Arab states are calling for President Bashar al-Assad to stand down first, Russia is putting the onus on the armed rebels and their foreign supporters to halt their year-long uprising, saying its long-time ally Syria was ready for talks.

"Russia sees an immediate end of violence in Syria is a priority," the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday, a day ahead of Annan's meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.

"... the key task is to convince the Syrian opposition to sit down at the negotiation table with the authorities and reach a peaceful resolution of the crisis," it added.

On the ground, the idea of a negotiated peace seemed more remote than ever, with clashes reported in numerous locations.

Four died in Homs, the epicenter of the anti-Assad revolt, as the central city suffered another day of what activists said was indiscriminate gunfire and shelling on residential areas.

"The shelling started like it does every morning, for no reason. They are using mortar and tank fire on many neighborhoods of old Homs," an activist in Homs's Bab Sbaa district told Reuters by Skype.

He said most residents in the area had fled to safer districts and many were trying to escape the city altogether.

Syrian troops have repeatedly targeted Homs, Syria's third largest city, and said last month they had regained the one-time rebel bastion. However, a sharp upswing in violence this past week suggests they are struggling to maintain control.

REBELS UNDER FIRE

However, the Homs activist, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, suggested the opposition Free Syrian Army was also incapable of re-establishing their authority.

"The Free Syrian Army had been in Bab Sbaa when the army started shelling the area four days ago and they weren't able to block the army raids because they were getting hit by mortars at the same time that armored vehicles were coming in," he said.

"We only have a few rebels here left, there is nothing they can do," he added.

Independent verification of the reports is impossible because the Syrian authorities have barred access to foreign journalists and human rights workers.

Further to the north, security forces killed at least one person and wounded dozens more in raids on Saraqib, in Idlib province bordering Turkey, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has a network of contacts in Syria.

"There are dozens of tanks and armored vehicles storming Saraqib now and there is heavy artillery fire," an activist called Manhal said via Skype.

"A portion of the rebels have made a strategic retreat, but there are rebel forces still inside, and about a third of residents have fled the town," he added. SOHR later said around 60 percent had left Saraqib.

Mortars and heavy artillery fire hit also the city of Qusair, in Homs province, reportedly killing three civilians.

In the southern province of Deraa, birthplace of the revolt, SOHR said a man was shot dead at a checkpoint in an area where a soldier had been gunned down. Three other soldiers were killed in an attack in the northeastern province of Hasaka, it said.

RUSSIAN COMPLAINTS

Activists in the city of Douma, just north of the capital Damascus, reported hearing explosions from heavy fighting overnight as ambulances raced through the streets. By late morning they said the fighting had eased and reported seeing armored vehicles and snipers deployed.

Army forces were also bombarding the town of Qalaat al-Madyaq, close to Hama, in central Syria. SOHR said government troops had have been trying to storm the city for two weeks, but have met stubborn resistance.

More than 8,000 people have died in the uprising, according to U.N. figures, with Western and Arab states accusing the Syrian army of committing widespread brutal abuses.

The Syrian government says rebels have killed some 3,000 security forces and blames the violence on "terrorist" gangs.

Annan is leading international efforts to bring peace and has drawn up a six-point plan, including demands for a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of heavy armor from residential areas and access for humanitarian assistance.

Attempts to halt the conflict have been stymied by divisions between world powers, with Russia and China having so far vetoed two U.N. resolutions highly critical of Damascus.

However, the pair did support a Security Council resolution earlier this week endorsing Annan's mission and the former U.N. chief is due to fly to Beijing after his Russia talks.

Moscow has accused the West of being too one-sided in the conflict, arguing that outside support for rebels is fuelling the fighting in Syria, which hosts a Russian naval base.

"We intend to outline at the forthcoming meeting our essential approach to ensure ceasefire and end of violence in Syria, which would be difficult to enforce until external armed and political support of the opposition is terminated," the Kremlin statement said on Saturday. (Reuters)

Angry Afridi knocks out fan at airport

KARACHI: To the utter disappointment of the whole nation, the great “Boom Boom Shahid Afridi” Friday night punched a fan in the face who was only begging him for an autograph, Geo News reported.
Reportedly, Afridi, who was coming out of the airport after arriving here from Bangladesh, flew off the handle, after cohorts thronged him for autographs.

It seemed he was not happy with this fan following and was seen almost running out of the airport with a swarm of his admirers in tow.

After repeated gestures of annoyance, which failed to deter the crowd, he swung a mighty right hand at one of the buffs knocking him out then and there, which proved he could be a “Bang Bang Boxer Afridi” as well.

Later talking to Geo News, Shahid Afridi's brother said that Afridi lost temper when the crowd almost trampled his (Afridi's) daughter.

He said that the reckless fans did not ever care about the three-year old girl, who could have been seriously injured in this stampede like situation.

Whitney drowned with cocaine in system

LOS ANGELES: Pop star Whitney Houston died of accidental drowning due to the effects of cocaine use and heart disease, a Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman said on Thursday.

The 48-year-old singer, who spent years battling addiction to drugs including cocaine, was found submerged in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room on February 12, the eve of the Grammy Awards.

An autopsy into Houston's death found that the cause of death was accidental drowning with atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors, Los Angeles County Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said.

Harvey said toxicology tests also turned up marijuana, an anti-anxiety medication, a muscle relaxant and an anti-histamine in Houston's system.

Those drugs were not found to have contributed to her death, and no trauma or foul play were suspected, the coroner's office said. A final report was expected to be made public within two weeks.

"We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," Patricia Houston, the pop superstar's manager and sister-in-law said in a statement on Thursday.

Houston soared to the top of the pop charts in the 1980s, best known for a string of hit songs including "I Will Always Love You." But her career declined as she battled personal issues that included drug addiction.

Patricia Houston told Oprah Winfrey in an interview this month that she had believed the pop star's worst days of drug abuse were behind her.

Members of the family told Winfrey that Houston was found face down and naked in the bathtub, and that attempts by her staff to revive her proved fruitless.

Houston was last in rehab in May 2011. But celebrity media reported that she was seen drinking heavily and behaving erratically in the three or four days before her death.

Sales and downloads of Houston's best-known songs, including "Saving All My Love for You" and "My Love is Your Love" soared around the world after her death.(Reuters)

Want killer design for phones: Samsung

SEOUL: When Samsung Electronics rushed its first smartphone to market in a panicky response to the smash-hit debut of the Apple iPhone, some customers burned the product on the streets or hammered it to bits in public displays of disaffection.
Complaints ranged from dropped calls and a clunky touchscreen to frequent auto rebooting and a dearth of applications.

"It was just awful," said Kim Sang-uk, 27, who bought the Omnia in late-2009 just before starting his first job. "I just wanted to throw it away, but couldn't because I was on a 2-year contract. It was the kind of phone where you'd say 'no', even if someone gave it to you for free."

Samsung Mobile President JK Shin admitted it was a tough time. The company had seen a 1 trillion won ($885 million) profit in its telecom sector in the first quarter of 2010 halved in the following quarter after Apple Inc's latest iPhone took the market by storm.

"We were facing a really serious crisis," Shin said later.

SOAP VS PERFUME

Yet on the 9th floor of Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul housing the mobile division's design center, Lee Minhyouk said he was not feeling the heat. Samsung Mobile's vice president for design and his team were already working on its next smartphone, the Galaxy, and this would be truly a worthy opponent to the iPhone.

Samsung has sold 44 million Galaxy units since its launch in June 2010 on its way to displacing Apple last year as the world's top-selling smartphone maker. Its success evolved from the Omnia, said Lee, who at 40 is the company's youngest senior executive.

"Without Omnia and Samsung's previous models, there would have been no Galaxys. There's a design link among these products," he said in an interview at his office. "They shouldn't be viewed as fragmental design. They share our deep deliberation on technology, color and design language."

Samsung's checkered entry into the smartphone market is emblematic of the South Korean conglomerate's strengths and weaknesses.

Its strategy has always been to be the "fast executioner", the first in the market with a copycat product when a new opportunity is presented. But it is not known as a great innovator or a company like Apple that can literally create a new market with an iconic product.

To become a truly innovative company, Samsung needs to explore the art, as well as the science, of what it does, critics say.

"Samsung is like a fantastic soap maker," said Christian Lindholm, chief innovation officer of service design consultancy Fjord based in Finland. "Their products get you clean, lathers well. However, they do not know how to make perfumes, an industry where margins are significantly higher. Perfume is an experience. Perfume is meant to seduce, make you attractive and feel good. You love your perfume, but you like your soap."

Designing something people can love is an art, which requires risk taking and is based more on experience than data. "Samsung needs to learn to lead more. They analyze all creativity to death, they lack self confidence," Lindholm said.

"Korea has to leap into the experience industry," he added. "I think they have only five years before they are the new Japan, outmaneuvered by the Chinese who are quickly learning the soap business."

EVOLUTION VS CREATION

Lee's office atmosphere and his comments seem to reinforce an image of a company whose culture leans more to evolution than big-bang creationism.

His design sanctum looks much like any other Samsung department, a Dilbert sprawl of desks and cubicles with framed aphorisms from the founding family on the walls: "Be with Customers" and "Create Products that Contribute to Humanity" and also this one: "Challenge the World, Create the Future".

The office may lack the exotic art, exercise balls and creative toys of Silicon Valley decor, but Lee and his team are borrowing some start-up techniques for tapping the design muses.

Lee, who has acquired the moniker of "Midas" for his golden touch with the Galaxy series, has travelled to Brazil's Iguazu Falls and the ancient city of Cuzco in Peru for inspiration. Samsung sends the design team on such trips across the world to stoke their imaginary fires.

Images or emotions they pick up on these trips can be "naturally expressed in design languages or lines and colors", said Lee, who started out designing cars for Samsung's failed auto joint venture with Renault in the 1990s.

The design process can also be more mundane, he adds.

"Designing is just part of your life. You study, do some research on future trends and experience stuff you haven't done before. All this stuff interacts to create a new design."

If money was the answer to innovation then Samsung Electronics would certainly rank among the best in the world. Samsung spent 10 trillion won ($9 billion) on research and development in 2011.

Indeed, the annual Bloomberg BusinessWeek survey of most innovative companies ranks Samsung 11th on its list of top-50 most innovative companies, though it trails local rival LG Electronics in 7th and Sony in 10th.

Part of Samsung's design philosophy is to leverage the conglomerate's ability to manufacture inhouse the components in its products, including microchips and flat screens - an advantage over Apple for instance, which has to outsource most of that.

Samsung readily acknowledges it has yet to attain Apple's innovative spark. And Lee concedes he is no match - yet - for Jonathan Ive, the genius designer behind the distinctive look and feel of Apple's range of phones, tablets and other must-have consumer gadgets.

By most accounts, Ive's success at Apple stemmed from his close personal relationship with Steve Jobs - a classic marriage between gizmo-maker and entrepreneur.

Lee, who said he has never met Ive, has a more corporate relationship with top managers at Samsung. He believes, however, that paradigmatic breakthroughs are a matter of the right product coming at the right time.

"I might not be at (Ive's) level yet, but I believe Samsung will produce such iconic products one day. It's not just effort that makes it possible for a new product to be a massive hit. It also has to be timely, and technology should be ready to make a certain design a reality."

APPLE APTITUDE

That Samsung might eventually wind up with some Apple aptitude has to worry company executives at its Cupertino, California headquarters.

Samsung and Apple are locked in an escalating global patent battle, as they jostle for top position in the booming smartphone and tablet markets. Apple fired the first salvo in April last year, arguing Samsung had "slavishly" copied its iPad and iPhone. Since then both have taken legal action against each other in several countries claiming patent infringements.

Lee takes personal affront at the copycat charge.

"I've made thousands of sketches and hundreds of prototype products (for the Galaxy). Does that mean I was putting on a mock show for so long, pretending to be designing?"

"As a designer, there's an issue of dignity. (The Galaxy) is original from the beginning, and I'm the one who made it. It's a totally different product with a different design language and different technology infused."

And a different marketing approach. While Apple has a simple product line-up for the iPhone and iPad, Samsung has bombarded the market with varieties of the Galaxy, the Wave phone, which uses Samsung's own 'bada' platform, and most recently with a phone-tablet.

Lee sees no harm in this tweaking-rather-than-innovating approach, saying it plays to the company's corporate strengths.

Samsung's vertically integrated structure allows it to use prototype components and new technology developed elsewhere in the company in the design lab. The company has overseas design labs to help uncover consumer trends in the various global markets in which it competes.

Designers have to be integrators, researching user behavior, discovering what's happening in the market, as well as searching for a unique aesthetic, Lee says.

"As a designer, my job is to blend new functions and technology with aesthetic beauty, as far as possible."

"There are different teams studying new technology trends, working on future design trends and Samsung's own design identity, and they're all regularly exchanging ideas with designers."

FAB-LET?

Lee's latest project - a follow-up to the Galaxy model called the Note - is a mini-tablet and phone, with a throwback stylus. Although it looks huge compared with a standard phone, its pinpoint apps and high definition screen should please those using it for video and gaming.

The phone-tablet - or phablet - has sold more than 2 million units since its October launch, and was a crowd pleaser at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

Lee said the design risk with the note was "breaking a taboo" about keeping handsets small enough to fit easily in your hand.

"But smartphones are more about entertainment. The Note was created by simply breaking that taboo and focusing more on the new functions that smartphones require."

Handsets are now Samsung's biggest earner - bringing in 8.3 trillion won ($7.4 billion) in operating profit last year - and the group's confidence has grown in tandem with its fattening patent book - it registered over 5,000 patents last year alone.

"We were told so many times until the early part of last year that Samsung is not good at software. We're not hearing that as often any more," Samsung Chief Executive Choi Gee-sung said at the CES event in Las Vegas. Late last month, Choi went further and told reporters at the world's biggest annual mobile show in Barcelona that Samsung would not unveil its new Galaxy model at the Mobile World Congress for fear of rivals copying it.

Yet there's not one software engineer or designer among the 17 Samsung Fellows, Samsung Group's inhouse equivalent of the Nobel prize winners to reward those making a significant contribution to its success. Lee hopes his time will come.

"I'm confident that one day Samsung will make a product that defines our time, and I hope it's one of mine." (Reuters)