US to claim disputed dinosaur skeleton

NEW YORK: US authorities said they expect this week to seize a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton that was discovered in Mongolia more 65 years ago and now is stored in New York and at the center of an international legal dispute.
A federal judge in New York has signed a warrant that allows the US Department of Homeland Security to seize the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar - an Asian cousin of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex - from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

"We should have it by the end of the week," said Luis Martinez, a spokesman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The seizure will be a "major step forward" for the government of Mongolia, which is claiming sovereign ownership and seeking the skeleton's return, said Robert Painter, a Houston attorney who represents Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia.

The skeleton - 8 feet (2.4m) tall and 24 feet (7.3m) long - has been stored in crates in New York City since Heritage sold it at auction to an unidentified buyer for more than $1 million on May 20.

At the request of the Mongolian government, a US District judge in Dallas issued a restraining order preventing the skeleton from being moved or the ownership transferred while the dispute is pending.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara filed a lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of the nearly intact skeleton and its return to the Mongolian government.

In New York, US District Judge Kevin Castel later issued an order to seize the fossil, ruling there was probable cause it was subject to forfeiture under federal laws.

"From a legal standpoint, the US government's lawsuit shifts the burden of proof from Mongolia to Heritage and others who might make a claim to its ownership," Painter said.

Heritage officials have said they will continue to cooperate with authorities. They say the skeleton was legally obtained and brought to auction by a reputable consignor.

"We believe our consignor purchased fossils in good faith, then spent a year of his life and considerable expense identifying, restoring, mounting and preparing what had previously been a much less valuable matrix of unassembled, underlying bones and bone fragments," Jim Halperin, co-chairman of Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. "We sincerely hope there is a just and fair outcome for all parties."

Federal officials said smugglers made false statements about the skeleton when it was imported into the United States from Britain in 2010. The skeleton did not originate in Britain nor was its value only $15,000 as claimed, they said.

The skeleton was discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia's Omnogovi Province, Bharara said. Mongolia has had laws in place since 1924 prohibiting the export of dinosaur fossils that are considered national treasures and government property.

Heritage Auctions and the Mongolian government agreed in May to jointly investigate the ownership of the skeleton. Several paleontologists examined the skeleton several weeks ago and determined it was removed from the western Gobi Desert in Mongolia between 1995 and 2005. (Reuters)

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf elected PM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party's Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has been elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. During the election for the prime minister in the National Assembly Ashraf secured 211 votes, whereas PML-N candidate Mehtab Abbasi received 89.

"Raja Pervez Ashraf is declared to be elected as prime minister of the Islamic republic of Pakistan," speaker Fehmida Mirza announced after the counting.

A total of 300 votes were cast in the election. 10 MNAs did not cast their votes.

Ashraf will take oath as the 25th prime minister of Pakistan later tonight (Friday) and was congratulated by President Asif Ali Zardari who said that Ashraf’s victory is an indication of the nation’s confidence in democracy.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is the fourth prime minister from the PPP succeeding Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani who was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Friday, Ashraf met with leaders of the PPP's coalition partners and secured their support for the election. Speaking to the media alongside PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervazi Elahi, Ashraf said that his main priority, if elected, would be to deal with and overcome the energy crisis.

As the National Assembly session began, JUI-F chief and PM candidate Maulana Fazlur Rehman appealed to the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings due to the demise of MNAs Fauzia Wahab and Zayed Khan. PPP leader Naveed Qamar rejected the suggestion saying this was not an ordinary session.
The Speaker, then decided to continue with the session.

Following this exchange, Fazlur Rehman announced to withdraw from the election adding that his party shall abstain from the process.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Profile
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, born on December 26, 1950 in Sanghar is serving as Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian’s Secretary General. Ashraf is an agriculturist and businessman by profession. He obtained his undergraduate degree from University of Sindh and did his diploma from United Kingdom in Industrial Management.

Right after his graduation, Ashraf continued his profession in the agricultural sector until he joined center-left PPP. After being affiliated with largest political party of the country, Ashraf made Gujar Khan his new home. He has being elected twice as member of National Assembly from his Gujjar Khan. Furthermore, Ashraf served as the chairman of Social Action Program from 1994 to 1996.

Ashraf started his political drive in 1988 and participated in 1989 bye-elections. Ashraf made his appearance in the elections of 1990, 1993 and 1997. In national elections of 2002, Ashraf defeated PML (N)’s candidate Chaudhary Zaman by a huge margin. In 2008 elections, Ashraf defeated PML (Q)’s candidate Qasim Javed.

After PPP’s victory in 2008 elections, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took the office as Minister of Water and Power. However, Ashraf was found accused in rental power corruption scam, on which he was reshuffled to the Ministry of Information and Technology. Court’s proceedings regarding the case are still in progress.

26 die in Kabul hotel attack

QARGHA LAKE: At least 15 civilians were killed when seven Taliban militants shot their way into a popular lakeside resort here and took scores of hostages, Afghan officials said on Friday. The seven attackers, a police officer and three private guards also died as Afghan security forces fought their way into the compound to end the siege.

The onslaught lasted nearly 11 hours as Afghan security forces tried to rescue hostages and the hotel’s other customers.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Afghans drank alcohol there and that there was prostitution and dancing. “These acts are illegal and strictly prohibited in Islam,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman. He added that: “Women dancers were sexually misused there.”

Police officials described the sprawling resort at Qargha lake and the Spozhmai hotel, where the drama unfolded, as a daunting place to mount a rescue operation because it is wooded and easy for attackers to hide. In addition to the main hotel, there is at least one other hotel and numerous small cottages.

“The Afghan security forces managed to evacuate 250 to 300 customers at the hotel in the initial hours of the attack and in the morning we resumed our operation and so far we’ve managed to rescue 40 more hostages including women and children,” said General Ayoub Salangi, the Kabul police chief.

“We also rescued four men who were stuck in the water,” he said, referring to guests at the hotel who in the initial moments of the attack jumped into the lake. Because they could not swim, they had to cling to the stone sea wall, immersed in the chilly mountain waters until they were fished out by police in the morning.

This is not the first time the Taliban have attacked civilians. They stormed a branch of Kabul Bank in Jalalabad in early 2011, executing customers, and nearly a year ago they stormed the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, killing at least eight people.

At least two of the attackers appear to have died when they detonated suicide vests they were wearing.

Beginning at dawn there was gunfire, and Afghan police officers were fighting with the attackers but trying to stage their counterattack, said Gen. Mohammed Zahir, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Division.

“The Spozhmai Hotel is not a military facility, it’s a civilian hotel,” General Zahir said. “We still do not know why the Taliban targeted the Spozhmai Hotel.”

General Zahir said that the attack began at 11:30 p.m. when the Taliban entered the hotel and “started shooting indiscriminately and injured a lot of civilians who were having a late dinner.”

“Some of the civilians managed to escape and some were taken hostage,” he said. By early morning, American helicopters were shooting flares and the area was swarming with Afghan National Police and army troops. More NATO forces were on the way, according to Afghan officials at the scene, and NATO officials confirmed that it was a joint operation.

The picturesque hotel is the centerpiece of the resort, which was once the property of Afghanistan’s royal family and is now owned by the government. About 10 miles from the capital, it is one of the few places in Kabul Province where people can go for a break from the crowded city streets. There are boats for rent and cottages for families, and the resort is popular with families on the weekly Friday holiday.

The lake is also a favorite spot for young Kabul residents who buy illegal alcohol and drink it in the picnic area

Play your tune as it's World Music Day

 

ISLAMABAD: Music lovers and those associated with music as a profession are celebrating World Music Day across the globe including Pakistan on Thursday to show respect for all forms of music.

Instrumentalists‚ singers‚ composers‚ ensembles‚ individual musicians‚ musicologists and others related to the field of music are marking the day with concerts‚ community events and other programs to highlight the value of music as part of life.

The 21st June has been designated as World Music Day‚ a day when world will celebrate the magical gift of music. To celebrate this day‚ local and amateur musicians are allowed and encouraged to perform their music in public spaces without any restriction in most parts of the world. The music lovers consider it as a fabulous day to celebrate the spirit of music in all its forms.

World Music Day began in France in 1982 and has since spread to Belgium‚ Britain‚ Luxembourg‚ Germany‚ Switzerland‚ Costa Rica‚ Israel‚ China‚ India‚ Lebanon‚ Malaysia‚ Morocco‚ Pakistan‚ Philippines‚ Romania‚ Colombia and other countries. (PPI)

Twitter sets off jitters due to ‘bug’

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter said a "cascading bug" caused outages Thursday affecting millions of users of the wildly popular site, and dismissed claims of a hacker attack.

The outage led to a barrage of complaints and comments, some serious and other ironic, which the company said underscored "how critical Twitter has become."

The on-again-off-again service led to a range of speculation and one claim of a denial of service attack, but Twitter said this was unfounded.

In a blog post, Twitter vice president of engineering Mazen Rawashdeh said the company learned around 1600 GMT "that Twitter was inaccessible for all Web users, and mobile clients were not showing new tweets."

He said an investigation "found that there was a cascading bug in one of our infrastructure components. This wasn't due to a hack or our new office or Euro 2012 or GIF avatars (animation which is banned by Twitter), as some have speculated today."

Rawashdeh said a cascading bug "isn't confined to a particular software element, but rather its effect 'cascades' into other elements as well. One of the characteristics of such a bug is that it can have a significant impact on all users, worldwide, which was the case today.

"As soon as we discovered it, we took corrective actions, which included rolling back to a previous stable version of Twitter."

He said a "full recovery" was made after about two hours and that a "comprehensive review" was underway.

But the outage nonetheless provoked users to vent on other social media sites, and to tweet about it when Twitter came back up.

"Twitters broke, my life has no meaning anymore," one user wrote on the social media website Tumblr during the outage.

Another wrote, "OMG TWITTER BROKE. I feel so alone right now."

The outage caused many users to tweet about the experience when the site became accessible.

"My boss shut down Twitter because he wanted me to get back to work. Feel free to kill him if you want," one tweet said.

Another said: "Twitter went down, I looked up & was like, who are these people in my house? Turns out I have a wife & a daughter."

And still another tweeted: "Unlike my ex-wife, Twitter came crawling back."

On Facebook, a member wrote: "Be honest. Did you spend most of Twitter being down desperately trying to tweet about Twitter being down?"

When word of the bug surfaced, one Twitter member said, "Oh great. Now I have to ask my exterminator whether he has a poison for 'cascaded bugs.'"

Twitter put a positive spin on this by boasting about how important the site has become in getting news and updates out quickly.

"We know how critical Twitter has become for you -- for many of us," said Rawashdeh.

"Every day, we bring people closer to their heroes, causes, political movements, and much more."

He reposted a tweet from user Arghya Roychowdhury which said, "OMG..twitter was down....closest thing to living without oxygen for most of us...."

"It's imperative that we remain available around the world, and today we stumbled. For that we offer our most sincere apologies and hope you'll be able to breathe easier now," Rawashdeh said.

Just after the outage, one tweet claimed credit for a so-called denial of service attack. (AFP)

Danish Kaneria to appeal lifetime ban

LONDON: Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria said Friday he will appeal the lifetime ban handed down to him by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for his role in a spot-fixing scandal.

"I will definitely be doing an appeal. The people trust me. I'm an honest man. I've been playing cricket with passion and love. I have done nothing wrong," the 31-year-old told Sky Sports News.

Kaneria was given a life ban from English cricket on Friday for his involvement in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case.

Westfield was jailed for four months in February, but served two before being released in April, after admitting he accepted #6,000 ($9,346) to under-perform during a Pro40 match between Essex and Durham in 2009.

The now 24-year-old Westfield named Kaneria -- arrested with him in 2010 but released without charge -- as the link between bookmakers and players.

And an ECB panel disciplinary panel agreed Friday, saying: "We are left in no reasonable doubt that Danish Kaneria knowingly induced or encouraged Mervyn Westfield not to perform on his merits in the Durham match."

The panel said: "We regard Danish Kaneria as a grave danger to the game of cricket...Accordingly, we are unanimously of the view that the only appropriate sanction in relation to both charges is one of suspension for life and that is the sanction we impose."

In a damning indictment of 31-year-old Kaneria, the panel added his evidence "simply does not stand up to scrutiny and is plainly lies".

However, Kaneria, who has always maintained his innocence, said: "I'm very upset about this decision. For what reason they have convicted me I do not know.

"It is a very, very unfair decision against me. I've come all the way from Pakistan to say the truth.

"They (the ECB) don't have any proof against me. I don't know why they are saying this," he added after he, along with Westfield, was punished by a three-man panel chaired by lawyer Gerard Elias and featuring retired former England one-day international cricketer Jamie Dalrymple.

Westfield was given a five-year ban for bringing cricket into disrepute, a charge the seamer accepted, although he will be able to play club cricket in the final two years of his suspension. (AFP

26 die in Kabul hotel attack

QARGHA LAKE: At least 15 civilians were killed when seven Taliban militants shot their way into a popular lakeside resort here and took scores of hostages, Afghan officials said on Friday. The seven attackers, a police officer and three private guards also died as Afghan security forces fought their way into the compound to end the siege.

The onslaught lasted nearly 11 hours as Afghan security forces tried to rescue hostages and the hotel’s other customers.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Afghans drank alcohol there and that there was prostitution and dancing. “These acts are illegal and strictly prohibited in Islam,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman. He added that: “Women dancers were sexually misused there.”

Police officials described the sprawling resort at Qargha lake and the Spozhmai hotel, where the drama unfolded, as a daunting place to mount a rescue operation because it is wooded and easy for attackers to hide. In addition to the main hotel, there is at least one other hotel and numerous small cottages.

“The Afghan security forces managed to evacuate 250 to 300 customers at the hotel in the initial hours of the attack and in the morning we resumed our operation and so far we’ve managed to rescue 40 more hostages including women and children,” said General Ayoub Salangi, the Kabul police chief.

“We also rescued four men who were stuck in the water,” he said, referring to guests at the hotel who in the initial moments of the attack jumped into the lake. Because they could not swim, they had to cling to the stone sea wall, immersed in the chilly mountain waters until they were fished out by police in the morning.

This is not the first time the Taliban have attacked civilians. They stormed a branch of Kabul Bank in Jalalabad in early 2011, executing customers, and nearly a year ago they stormed the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, killing at least eight people.

At least two of the attackers appear to have died when they detonated suicide vests they were wearing.

Beginning at dawn there was gunfire, and Afghan police officers were fighting with the attackers but trying to stage their counterattack, said Gen. Mohammed Zahir, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Division.

“The Spozhmai Hotel is not a military facility, it’s a civilian hotel,” General Zahir said. “We still do not know why the Taliban targeted the Spozhmai Hotel.”

General Zahir said that the attack began at 11:30 p.m. when the Taliban entered the hotel and “started shooting indiscriminately and injured a lot of civilians who were having a late dinner.”

“Some of the civilians managed to escape and some were taken hostage,” he said. By early morning, American helicopters were shooting flares and the area was swarming with Afghan National Police and army troops. More NATO forces were on the way, according to Afghan officials at the scene, and NATO officials confirmed that it was a joint operation.

The picturesque hotel is the centerpiece of the resort, which was once the property of Afghanistan’s royal family and is now owned by the government. About 10 miles from the capital, it is one of the few places in Kabul Province where people can go for a break from the crowded city streets. There are boats for rent and cottages for families, and the resort is popular with families on the weekly Friday holiday.

The lake is also a favorite spot for young Kabul residents who buy illegal alcohol and drink it in the picnic area