More than half-million Syrian refugees in region: UN

GENEVA: The number of Syrian refugees registered in neighbouring countries and North Africa has passed half a million, the UN's refugee body said Tuesday, adding that many more have not come forward to seek help.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it had either registered or was in the process of registering 509,550 Syrians in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and North Africa "And these numbers are currently climbing by more than 3,000 a day," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.
She described how close to 1,000 Syrian refugees had crossed into Jordan alone in the past two nights, arriving "with soaked clothing and mud-covered shoes due to heavy rainfall." More elderly and small children were also arriving in Jordan, including 22 newborn infants who entered the country on the night of December 9 alone. As of Monday, there were 154,387 Syrian refugees registered or in the process of being registered in Lebanon, 142,664 in Jordan, 136,319 in Turkey, 64,449 in Iraq and 11,740 in North Africa, according to the UNHCR.
"In addition to those already registered or awaiting registration, most of these neighbouring countries and North Africa also have large numbers of Syrians who have yet to come forward and seek help," Fleming said. Jordan, she pointed out, estimates there are some 100,000 Syrians in the country who are not registered, while Turkey says more than 70,000 Syrians are living outside its 14 camps. "The numbers of those struggling to live on the local economy and who eventually come forward to register are expected to increase as. . . resources are depleted and host communities and families can no longer support them," she said.
While all the registered Syrian refugees in Turkey were living in camps, Fleming pointed out that across the region around 60 percent of refugees were not in camps. Most of them were instead living in rental housing, with host families or in various types of collective centres, she said, pointing out that there were no camps in Lebanon and North Africa. Having the refugees so spread out was "a challenge," she said, stressing that in Lebanon for instance registered refugees were living in some 500 different municipalities.
Since the violence erupted in March 2011, more than 42,000 people have been killed in Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

China sentences three hijackers to death

BEIJING: A court in China's restive Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang sentenced three men to death on Tuesday after they were found guilty of trying to hijack an aircraft and detonate explosives, state media said.
The men, along with a fourth who received a life prison term, were among a group of six that tried to seize the aircraft after it had taken off from Hotan in the northwestern region and were thwarted by passengers and crew, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a court statement.
The other two gang members died in the struggle, which also resulted in injuries to 24 crew members and passengers, the statement said.
They were confronted after they tried to "detonate explosive devices", the statement from the Intermediate People's Court in Hotan Prefecture said, adding that "converted metal crutches and explosives" were used in the hijacking.
The men attempted to commandeer the Tianjin Airlines flight 1,400km away from its destination, the regional capital city of Urumqi.
They were influenced by religious extremists and "loudly shouted religious extremist cries" on board the aircraft, the Xinhua report said, citing court testimonies.
"They decided to blow up the aircraft and die along with all the other passengers," it added.
Ringleaders Musa Yvsup and Arxidikali Yimin, along with Eyumer Yimin, who played a major part in the attempted hijack, were sentenced to death.
Alem Musa received a life sentence as he played a minor role in the incident and showed "a good attitude" after being arrested, according to the statement.
"All the defendants confessed the above crimes at the court," the report added.
However, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, disputed the official version of events, claiming that a fight over seating broke out on board the aircraft between a group of Uighurs and Han Chinese, the country's majority ethnic group.
"The men who were sentenced were not allowed their own lawyers, only those that were given to them by the government," he said.
"The Xinjiang people believe this has been arranged for the Chinese authorities' political purposes. They could use this to step up suppression of the Uighur people. We believe the whole thing has no transparency."
Xinjiang is home to around nine million Uighurs, many of whom complain of religious and cultural repression by Chinese authorities -- a claim the government denies.
The vast resource-rich region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been under heavy security since July 2009, when bloody ethnic riots in Urumqi killed 197 people and injured around 1,700.
Rights groups say the violence in the region stems from long-held grievances among Uighurs, who complain that an influx of Han is eroding their culture.
Beijing says it has provided much-needed development in the region, and blames much of the violence there on what it calls the three "evil forces" of religious extremism, separatism and terrorism.
The attempted hijack resulted in an 'economic loss' of 28.58 million yuan (4.58 million U.S. dollars), the court statement said.
Such incidents on Chinese planes are rare, although in October a man was arrested for allegedly making a hoax threat that forced a plane into an emergency landing, state media said.
The China Southern Airlines flight had originally taken off from Istanbul in Turkey and landed in Urumqi. It was en route for Beijing when the alert happened.
Last year a plane bound for Urumqi was forced into an emergency landing after a passenger claimed there was a bomb on board.
Police detained the 27-year-old woman passenger after she threatened to detonate explosives during the China United Airlines flight from Beijing to Urumqi.

Rupee down in the dumps against US dollar

KARACHI: The rupee Tuesday weakened to 97.15/97.25 against the dollar, compared to Monday's 96.91/96.95.
The local currency may fall further due to high dollar demand from importers, a dealer said.
Overnight rates in the money market remained flat at 9 percent. (Reuters)

IDPs should be allowed to vote in camps: PDMA

PESHAWAR: Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to allow IDPs to vote in camps. According to official sources, the PDMA has also requested that NADRA arrange mobile vans to issue ID cards to those individuals at camps who have reached the age of 18. Data provided by the PDMA states there are 17,082 displaced families at the Jalozai Camp in Nowshera and 68,113 outside. Meanwhile there are 2.000 displaced families at a camp in Hangu.

Trade can help alleviate poverty in South Asia: Qamar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Syed Naveed Qamar Tuesday underlined that trade among the South Asian countries could help alleviate poverty in the region for which people-to-people contact was vital, Geo News reported.
"We need to look into deeper integration in the region whereby not just the merchandise but our people particularly youth and communities can interact with each," he said while speaking at a conference here at a local hotel.
The moot “Sustainable Development in South Asia: Shaping the Future” was organized by Sustainable Development Policy
Institution (SDPI).
“This is the way it used to be some three centuries back and it is time now that we should learn from our histories where mutual respect and honor allowed us to co-exist and prosper”, said the defence minister.
The minister said that today South Asia was the least connected
region in the world and it connectivity indicators were even poorer
than Sub-Saharan Africa.
"If we continue to be as distant as we are today, our children may never be able to interact, talk, meet and play with their children in the neighborhoods. Such a lost opportunity will be synonymous to a youth stolen in the name of history's baggage," he added.
He said Pakistan was undertaking a foreign policy in the new emerging realities in the best interest of the people of Pakistan and the development and prosperity in the region.
"We value our relationship with the powers in Asia. Pakistan has played an active role in SAARC for the formalization of the processes towards setting up food bank and supporting other regional arrangements including South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)."
He also added that Pakistan’s terms with India were on the mend and improving fast.

Robbery gang busted in Karachi

KARACHI: A nine member robbery gang consisting of four women was busted in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the city.
The women in the gang would seek employment in homes and would steal jewelry, mobile phones and other expensive items.
According to SSP Gulshan-e-Iqbal the group was involved in committing several robberies and three household employees have been identified. Two TT pistols, jewelry and other stolen items have been recovered from their possession.
Some of those arrested had admitted to their crime, while others have passed the blame. Police have registered a case against the gang under section 395.

Talks between OGRA, CNG association fail

ISLAMABAD: Talks between the CNG association and OGRA have failed as both sides failed to reach an agreement over pricing.
Representatives from the All Pakistan CNG Association, Petrol Pumps Owner Association and Petroleum Dealers Association met with officials from OGRA. During the meeting, the CNG association recommended that the CNG price should be audited and prices should be assessed in light of the Supreme Court’s directives.
Chairman of the CNG association supreme council, Ghayas Paracha told Geo News that he was also saddened by the long lines at stations.
The next round of talks are scheduled for December 13.

Karachi: ECP’s scheduled meeting postponed

KARACHI: The meeting of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), scheduled for Friday (tomorrow), has been postponed due to some unknown reasons, Geo News reported.
The ECP was set to meet on Friday to discuss delimitations, voters’ lists and issues arising out of the recent by-polls in Sindh and Punjab besides dual nationality.
The sources said they could not say anything about the new date of the meeting.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had earlier issued directions to complete voters’ verification in Karachi. Separately, the apex court, during its proceedings on the implementation of its suo moto notice on targeted killings in Karachi, directed the Election Commission to conduct delimitations in the metropolis to avoid what it called political polarization.

Nepal woman aged 105 finally granted citizenship

KATHMANDU: A pensioner has been granted Nepalese citizenship more than a century after she was born in a remote village of the Himalayan nation, an official said Wednesday.

Krishna Kumari Gharti, a 105-year-old widow who lives in Pakhapani village in the mountainous district of Parbat, one day's walk from the nearest road, was among a group of residents to be given identity cards for the first time.

"Our officials travelled to the village after hearing complaints that many were deprived of citizenship," Tek Bahadur KC, district administrative officer told AFP by telephone.

"Her name was registered in our list of elderly who were receiving the monthly allowance. So we granted her the citizenship card. She was very happy," he said.

"Most of these people living in the villages generally don't venture out of the place. They are also hardly involved in any businesses. That's why they spend their lives without citizenship."

When Gharti was born, Nepal was largely closed to the outside world and maintained a subsistence economy under the autocratic Rana dynasty of hereditary prime ministers.

Although it modernised over the 20th century, Nepal's rugged topography and lack of roads mean it is still difficult for villagers in isolated districts to visit local government offices to obtain citizenship cards.

According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, 800,000 people in Nepal are "stateless persons" without the rights and benefits of Nepalese citizens, although the government disputes this figure. 

NASA to send new rover to Mars in 2020

CHICAGO: NASA plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet, the US space agency said Tuesday.
The announcement came a day after NASA released the results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover, which found traces of some of the compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life.
President Barack Obama's administration "is committed to a robust Mars exploration program," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
"With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s."
NASA was forced to pull out of some joint missions with the European Space Agency after its budget was slashed earlier this year.
It hopes to save money on the next rover -- currently estimated to cost $1.5 billion -- by using spare parts leftover from Curiosity and sticking to the same successful design.
The new rover brings the number of NASA missions currently operating or being planned for Mars to seven.
The Opportunity rover has been exploring the Martian surface since 2004. The much more sophisticated Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater on August 6. Two other spacecraft are currently orbiting Mars to study the planet from above and help relay signals from the rovers.
A new craft -- the Maven -- is set to launch next year to study the Martian upper atmosphere.
NASA also plans to send a craft dubbed InSight to dig the planet's depths in 2016 to determine whether the planet's core is solid or liquid like Earth's.
"The challenge to restructure the Mars Exploration Program has turned from the seven minutes of terror for the Curiosity landing to the start of seven years of innovation," said astronaut John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science.
"This mission concept fits within the current and projected Mars exploration budget, builds on the exciting discoveries of Curiosity, and takes advantage of a favorable launch opportunity."
While the rover's name and actual mission must still be worked out, Grunsfeld said he hoped it improve on Curiosity with the addition of a 3D camera.
"I'm a huge fan of vicarious exploration," he told a press conference.
Grunsfeld also hopes it will have the ability to collect samples to bring back to Earth instead of discarding them after they've been tested.
As for finally once again openly looking for signs of life? Say tough microbes able to withstand the harsh Martian environment?
"It would be very exciting to send a new mission to a place where there could be current extant life," Grunsfeld said.
"All of those things are on the table."
The first spacecraft reached Mars in 1965. Mariner 4 sent back 22 close-up photos of the planet's cratered surface and won the United States the honor of the first successful mission to Mars.
The Soviet Union was the first to successfully land on Mars in 1971, but the Mars 2 failed after relaying 20 seconds of video to an orbiter.
Five years later, the United States managed to land the Viking 1 and 2 crafts, which sent back thousands of images and reams of data before they were deactivated.
Most missions to Mars have failed, although there have been a handful of successful projects, including the Pathfinder, which landed in 1997 and the Spirit, which landed in 2004 and roamed the surface for six years before contact was lost.
The $2.5 billion nuclear-powered Curiosity is designed to hunt for soil-based signatures of life on the Earth's nearest neighbor and send back data to prepare for a future human mission.
It is the biggest robot ever built for planetary exploration -- weighing in at a ton, about the size of a small car -- and carries a complex chemistry kit to zap rocks, drill soil and test for radiation.
Scientists do not expect Curiosity to find aliens or living creatures but they hope to use it to analyze soil and rocks for signs the building blocks of life are present and may have supported life in the past.

Smartphones to light up Sydney's New Year show

SYDNEY: Sydney's world-famous New Year's Eve fireworks will go interactive with a smartphone-powered light show, officials announced Thursday, with ambassador Kylie Minogue calling on the city to embrace.

The light show, described by City of Sydney officials as a "world-first", will run through an app on iPhone and Android smartphones that will illuminate the screens with colour at scheduled intervals leading up to midnight.

The city is hoping to attract more than one million people to the harbour foreshore to witness the fireworks, and organisers want the crowds to hold their phones aloft to form a synchronised wave of colour.

"In a city of great diversity we come together at New Year's Eve to embrace the future and celebrate all that we are and the potential that tomorrow holds," Minogue, the event's creative ambassador, said in a video message for Thursday's official launch.

Minogue said the theme for the 2012 celebrations, Embrace, was about "acceptance, tolerance, fun and above all love".

"This year I want everyone to embrace during the 9pm family fireworks and the midnight fireworks," she said.

"Whether it's embracing new ideas, change and opportunities, or just giving a big hug to your family and friends, it's something everyone can get involved in."

App users will also be able to submit a word to be projected onto the pylons of the Harbour Bridge, which is typically the centrepiece of an evening's pyrotechnics.

The Sydney fireworks kick off global New Year's celebrations and are seen by billions of people worldwide. 

Japan woman arrested over 160 dogs living in own waste

TOKYO: A woman who kept 160 starving dogs in her house among tons of their own waste has been arrested by Japanese police, an official said Wednesday.

Ten tons of animal waste and other rubbish were removed from Noriko Ishii's house after the dogs were taken away, he said.

One Bernese Mountain Dog kept by Ishii, 43, weighed just seven kilograms (15 pounds) -- a sixth of what it should have, said the official in Osaka, adding all the animals were "very scrawny".

Jobless Ishii could face a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($6,000) if convicted under Japan's animal protection laws.

Moon's battered crust reveals tumultuous past

WASHINGTON: New images of the Moon's battered crust point to a violent past in which it was battered by comets and asteroids during its first billion years, US scientists say.
The new findings come from the GRAIL mission, a pair of spacecraft named Ebb and Flow that are orbiting the Moon and measuring its gravitational field.
"It was known that planets were battered by impacts, but nobody had envisioned that the (Moon's) crust was so beaten up," said Maria Zuber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientist leading the mission.
"This is a really big surprise, and is going to cause a lot of people to think about what this means for planetary evolution," she said in a statement about the findings, to be published this week in the journal Science.
Unlike the Earth's crust, which is repeatedly recycled through the process of plate tectonics, the Moon's hard crust dates back billions of years, offering clues to the formation of the solar system, including Earth.
The GRAIL mission has allowed scientists to stitch together a high-resolution map of the Moon's gravity, reflecting surface structures like mountains and craters as well as subterranean features.
The images suggest the Moon's crust is 21-27 miles (34-43 kilometers) thick, considerably thinner than was previously thought, according to Mark Wieczorek, another GRAIL scientist.
"This supports models where the moon is derived from Earth materials that were ejected during a giant impact event early in solar system history," he said.
Around 98 percent of the crust is deeply fragmented, porous material, the result, scientists say, of very early, massive impacts.
"This is interesting for the Moon," Zuber said. "But what it also means is that every other planet was being bombarded like this.

CNG stations reopen in Sindh after 48 hours

KARACHI: Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) pumps resumed supply of commodity after 48-hour closure in Sindh including commercial hub Karachi, Geo News reported.
Long queues of vehicles were witnessed at the pumps before reopening at 12:00 AM Thursday.
CNG stations were closed for 48 hours under load management plan.

Beijing to allow visa-free transit trips

BEIJING: China will allow transit passengers from 45 countries including the US, Canada and all members of the EU to spend up to 72 hours in Beijing without a visa from next month, city authorities said.
The move would "strongly spur the development of the tourism industry, speed up building of an international city (and) expand contacts with the rest of the world," the Beijing Tourism Administration said on its website.
The policy only applies to travellers in transit to a third country, and not for return flights to the capital, whose attractions include the vast Forbidden City.
Eligible nationalities include the United States, Canada, European Union countries, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
The city will "starting on January 1, 2013, implement a policy allowing foreigners from 45 countries with visas and plane tickets to a third country to transit through Beijing for 72 hours without a visa", the tourism body said.
But travellers would "face punishment" if they left the capital and lawbreakers would be banned for life, Gao Huada, deputy director of the city's exit-entry bureau, was quoted in the China Daily as saying on Thursday.
China's financial hub Shanghai already allows some foreigners in transit to visit the city for 48 hours, its government says on its website, including those from the US, some European countries, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Other travellers passing through the country are required to remain in the airport.
Beijing's airport is the second busiest in the world, having handled 47 million passengers in the first seven months of this year, according to the industry body Airports Council International.
Shanghai airport ranks 20th busiest with 26 million travellers during the same period.

Freak tornado kills 3, causes havoc in New Zealand

AUCKLAND: A freak tornado hit Auckland Thursday killing three people and causing "utter devastation" as wild weather ripped apart homes and caused flash flooding in New Zealand's largest city.
The storm, packing gusts of more than 110 kilometres (70 miles) per hour, struck suburban Hobsonville in the afternoon, toppling trees, ripping roofs from houses and sending debris flying.
Civil Defence said three people died and seven were hospitalised, with two of the fatalities believed to have been caused by a concrete slab that landed on the cabin of a truck and the other by a falling tree.
About 150 homes were badly damaged, many rendered uninhabitable, forcing residents into temporary accommodation at a nearby air force base.
Resident Suzanne McFadden said the storm roared through in "five minutes of utter devastation".
Police urged people to stay indoors as flash floods blocked roads and falling trees brought down power lines, blacking out about 1,300 homes.
The Metservice weather agency said the tornado was created by a series of intense thunderstorms that lashed the city through the day, largely dissipating by early evening, although there were fears the winds could pick up overnight.
Prime Minister John Key expressed condolences to the families of the dead and praised the efforts of emergency services, who swiftly sealed off an area of about one square kilometre (0.4 square miles) that was worst affected by the tornado.

McAfee arrested in Guatemala for illegal entry

GUATEMALA CITY: US Internet security guru John McAfee, on the run from authorities in Belize over a murder probe, was arrested by Guatemalan police Wednesday for illegally entering the country, officials said.
"National police agents have taken Mr John David McAfee before immigration authorities... He has entered our country illegally," police spokesman Pablo Castillo told.
The former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, now a weathered 67-year-old, had been in hiding for more than three weeks until he crossed the border into Guatemala on Monday with his girlfriend Sam Vanegas, 20, after devising elaborate ruses to confuse police.
Belizean authorities are seeking to question McAfee as a person of interest over the killing of his neighbor, fellow American Gregory Faull, on November 11.
Castillo hinted that the software pioneer could be deported within hours to Belize or repatriated to the United States.
"We understand that he has permanent residency in Belize, where he could be deported in the next few hours," the spokesman said.
"His status is illegal and he is being made available to immigration authorities so they can decide whether to deport him to his country of origin."
The arrest came just hours after McAfee formally requested political asylum from Guatemala, with his attorney Telesforo Guerra claiming his client was a "victim of persecution and harassment" from Belizean authorities.
McAfee says he fears authorities in the Central American country would kill him if he returned there for questioning, a claim Belizean officials have denied.

475 dead, many homeless in Philippines typhoon

NEW BATAAN: Nearly 200,000 people were homeless and 475 confirmed dead after the Philippines' worst typhoon this year, officials said Thursday, as the government appealed for international help.
Typhoon Bopha ploughed across Mindanao island on Tuesday, flattening whole towns in its path as hurricane-force winds brought torrential rain that triggered a deadly combination of floods and landslides.
Erinea Cantilla and her family of six walked barefoot for two days in a vain search of food and shelter through a muddy wasteland near the mountainous town of New Bataan after the deluge destroyed their house and banana and cocoa farm.
"Everything we had is gone. The only ones left are dead people," Cantilla told as her husband, three children and a granddaughter reached the outskirts of the town, which itself had been nearly totally obliterated.
The army said it was looking for at least 377 missing people while seeking help for more than 179,000 others who sheltered in schools, gyms and other buildings after losing everything.
Officials said many victims were poor migrants who flocked to landslide-prone sites like New Bataan and the nearby town of Monkayo to farm the lower slopes of mountains or work at unregulated mines in the gold rush area.
Of the dead, 258 were found on the east coast of Mindanao while 191 were recovered in and around New Bataan and Monkayo, said Major-General Ariel Bernardo, head of an army division involved in the search.
The civil defence office in Manila said 17 people were killed elsewhere in Mindanao along with nine in the central Visayan islands.
"We still have more than 377 missing and our challenge now is really to try to get to them," he told.
Shell-shocked survivors scrabbled through the rubble of their homes to find anything that could be recovered, as relatives searched for missing family members among mud-caked bodies laid out in rows on tarpaulins.
Civil defence chief Benito Ramos refused to give up hope for the missing.

Hughes gets another Test chance for Australia

SYDNEY: Phil Hughes was Thursday handed another chance to resurrect his Australian career after being recalled as a replacement for Ricky Ponting in next week's first Test against Sri Lanka.

Hughes, who has played for his country 17 times as an opener but not since against New Zealand in December 2011, was preferred ahead of Rob Quiney and Usman Khawaja to fill the void left by the retired Ponting.

Ponting, the second-highest Test run-scorer of all-time behind India's Sachin Tendulkar, played his final and record-equalling 168th Test for Australia against South Africa in Perth, which finished on Monday.

Hughes, 24, has satisfied selectors that he has overcome technical issues which made him vulnerable to the rising ball and which led to his axing in the past.

"It is actually really special this time," Hughes told reporters ahead of the first Test in Hobart starting on December 14

"The sacrifices that I have made in the last 12 months have been quite big. I knew I had to do them ... so to me, I can go in there with a fresh mind."

Skipper Michael Clarke has still to decide on his batting order against Sri Lanka, but the opening pair of David Warner and Ed Cowan are expected to remain leaving Hughes seen as coming in at number three.

Chief selector John Inverarity revealed that the panel opted against throwing Hughes in against the strong South African pace attack and gave Quiney his chance in the first two Tests before he was dropped for a lack of runs.

Hughes said he would bat anywhere, believing in his technical changes honed in a year of personal sacrifice which involved a stint in English county cricket with Worcestershire and a move from New South Wales to South Australia.

"I had to change a couple of things but I feel comfortable ... I have had chances before but I'm grateful for this one and I just hope I can really get in there and cement my spot," he said.

Selectors also recalled pace bowlers Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus for the December 14-18 Hobart Test for injured quicks John Hastings (back) and Josh Hazlewood (foot) from the side that lost to the Proteas by 309 runs in Perth.

W-Indies beat Bangladesh by 4 wickets

DHAKA: West Indies won the third One day international against Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing 227, the W-Indies (WI) reached the target in the 47th over for the loss of six wickets.

Highlight of the WI chase was a brilliant 126 of 149 balls by MN Samuels. He not only held the innings together but also kept the score board moving to keep a check on the required run rate despite loosing partners regularly at the other end. His brilliant knock was laced with 17 fours and a brace of sixes.

For Bangladesh Mashrafe Mortaza and Abdur Razzak took 2 wickets a piece but in the end the defending total was a few runs short of what they would have liked.

Earlier the WI won the toss and elected to field restricting the Bangladeshi team to 227. This was the third ODI of the 5-match series which Bangladesh leads 2-1.

MN Samuels was declared player of the match for his match winning effort.

Hockey Champions Trophy: Pakistan beats Germany in quarter-final

MELBOURNE: Pakistan has beaten Germany in the first quarter-final of the 34th Hockey Champions Trophy here at the State Netball Hockey Centre on Thursday, Geo News reported.

Pakistan humbled Germany by 2-1 where Shakeel Abbasi scored both the goals.

In the backdrop of three goals in as many outings and almost a dozen misses, Pakistan coaches worked all morning Tuesday to make players realise their mistakes.

In the 27 matches both countries have played so far in the Champions Trophy, Germany have won 12 times against 10 victories achieved by Pakistan. Five matches ended in draw.

Germany had a new look team with five players who helped them win the Olympic gold in London either dropped or rested.

Germany came from behind on Monday to upset India in the last pool A match.

German coach Markus Weise was all praise for the Pakistan team when he talked to the reporters here at the State Netball Centre

The Champions Trophy Hockey is witnessing the quarter-final stage for the very first time. The format has been changed to keep teams’ interest alive.

Besides a place in the semis, the victory over Germany has included Pakistan directly into next year’s Champions Trophy.

In another quarter-final on Thursday, Australia will be looking to beat England to keep themselves on the road for the record thirteenth Champions Trophy title.

However, to achieve that, Australia will need to find the back of the net more often. They scored just once during the last two games, a weakness that makes them less impressive this time. In the other quarter-finals, the Netherlands play New Zealand and India face Belgium.

Israel, Hamas agree to Gaza truce

CAIRO:Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr announced that a truce had been agreed between Israel and Hamas over the Gaza conflict and said a ceasefire would come into effect at 1900 GMT.
Egypt has been leading international efforts to reach a week of violence in and around Gaza and "these efforts have reached an agreement for a ceasefire."
Earlier, A senior Hamas official told AFP that a deal to end a deadly week-long conflict between Hamas and Israel in and around the Gaza Strip was agreed.
"The deal has been agreed. There will be an announcement in half an hour," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Reuters news agency reported that Israel has agreed to a truce in the Gaza Strip, but will not lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, Israeli sources said, declining to give further details of any deal.
Shortly before, a Palestinian official with knowledge of Egyptian mediation between the two sides told Reuters that there was a ceasefire agreement to end eight days of fighting in Gaza that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.

World hails Israel-Hamas ceasefire, thanks Egypt

WASHINGTON: The US, the EU and the UN on Wednesday welcomed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and Washington thanked Egypt's new government for its successful first turn on the diplomatic stage.
World powers were relieved by the deal, which may offer at least temporary respite from bloodshed in Gaza and southern Israel, but puts them in the debt of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi, who sprang from the Muslim Brotherhood.
US President Barack Obama, re-elected this month after a first term in which the Middle East peace process moved not one pace further down its supposed "road map", led a chorus of approval for Morsi's mediation work.
Morsi, a leading member of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected in June this year in Egypt's first election since a popular revolt brought down secular strongman Hosni Mubarak.
He resigned from his Brotherhood-led party, the FJP, and vowed to represent all Egyptians, but his elevation raised concerns about Cairo's peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Hamas, part of the Brotherhood movement.
In the first big crisis of his tenure, however, Morsi was hailed as a peace broker, working with US officials to arrange a truce.
"The president thanked President Morsi for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a ceasefire proposal," the White House said in a statement.
Obama also reaffirmed the "close partnership" between Washington and Cairo, the White House said, adding that the two leaders "agreed on the importance of working toward a more durable solution to the situation in Gaza."
The US leader also praised a more natural Washington ally, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but again stressed Egypt's role in securing the deal that it is hoped will end Hamas' rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes.
"The president expressed his appreciation for the prime minister's efforts to work with the new Egyptian government to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and a more durable solution to this problem," a White House statement said.
"The president commended the prime minister for agreeing to the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, which the president recommended the prime minister do, while reiterating that Israel maintains the right to defend itself," it said.
Canada also praised Egypt, while criticizing Palestinian militants.
"Canada welcomes this ceasefire and hopes terrorist cells based in Gaza will abide by the terms," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said. "The Egyptian government showed leadership and responsibility as a major regional state."
European Union leaders, Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, also welcomed the ceasefire, while cautiously stressing that the parties must "ensure its implementation and to prevent the restart of violence."
Pledging EU support for the peace process, their statement added that the events of the last days "stress the urgent need to move towards a two-state solution allowing both sides to live side-by-side in peace and security".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appeared not quite ready to believe that a truce had been possible, after a week of bloodshed that killed more than 150 people, the majority of them Palestinians caught in Israel's onslaught.
"We are encouraged and relieved that they have reached this ceasefire," Ban told reporters. "There are still many details to be solidified for a durable ceasefire. I hope they will finalize these details as soon possible.
"Our focus now must be on ensuring that the ceasefire holds," he said. "They must keep their promises. I urge them to exercise maximum restraint, patience with a sense of mutual understanding, this is very important."
Global oil prices had been rising before the ceasefire, with chaos in the Middle East boosting supply concerns, but they fell back to finish the day steady after news of the ceasefire broke. 

UN Security Council urges Israel, Hamas to uphold ceasefire

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. Security Council called on Israel and Hamas to uphold a ceasefire agreement on Wednesday and commended the efforts of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and others for brokering the truce.
The 15-member council said in a statement it "deplored the loss of civilian lives resulting from this situation and reiterated the need to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians and their protection in according with international humanitarian law."
Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement agreed earlier on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt the eight-day conflict around the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 162 Palestinians and five Israelis.
"The members of the council called on the parties to uphold the agreement and to act seriously to implement its provisions in good faith," it said. "The members of the council strongly commend the efforts of Egyptian President Mursi and others to achieve the ceasefire."
It also praised the efforts of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who visited the region this week, and called on the international community to provide emergency aid, including food and medical supplies, for Palestinians in Gaza.
"We have to put an end to the options of war and to open the gate for the option of peace, ending the occupation and (bringing) independence for our state," Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, told reporters.
He said President Mahmoud Abbas would visit New York next week as the Palestinians seek an upgrade of its observer status at the United Nations from that of an "entity" to a "non-member state," implicitly recognizing Palestinian statehood.
U.N. diplomats said a vote on the Palestinian request was tentatively scheduled for Nov. 29. A senior Western diplomat said the Palestinians would easily secure 120 to 130 votes in the 193-nation General Assembly, which would ensure the success of their upgraded status at the United Nations.
Israel and the United States have made clear they would oppose the upgrade, which would give the Palestinians the right to join bodies like the International Criminal Court, where it could file legal complaints against Israel.
"The idea of going to the United Nations and avoiding bilateral negotiations with Israel is wrong," Israel's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Haim Waxman said of the Palestinian bid.
"The entire international community ... should look at what has happened in the last week and think again because we have seen a Palestinian authority in Gaza," he told reporters.
Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but maintained control over its borders. The United Nations says it remains an occupied territory, along with the West Bank.
Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from the Western-backed Abbas in 2007 in a brief but bloody war with his Fatah movement. The Palestine Liberation Organisation, led by Abbas, wants the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem for an independent state. (Reuters)

Gaza truce in effect after week of bloodshed

GAZA CITY: A ceasefire took hold Thursday in and around Gaza after a week of cross-border violence that killed at least 160 people.
Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr of Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire after marathon talks, announced the cessation of hostilities at a joint news conference in Cairo with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday.
The UN Security Council urged Israel and Hamas to uphold the ceasefire while joining with US President Barack Obama in praising Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi for mediating an end to the violence.
The accord, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, calls on Israel to "stop all hostilities... in the land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals" and urges the Palestinian factions to end "rocket attacks and all attacks along the border".
Israel would be obliged to ease restrictions on Gaza residents under the accord which specified that "procedures of implementation shall be dealt with" 24 hours after the ceasefire went into effect on opening Gaza's border crossings and allowing the free movement of people and goods.
"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said. "In the days ahead, the United States will work with partners in the region to consolidate this progress."
Gaza City's streets were dark and deserted in the minutes after the truce took effect at 1900 GMT Wednesday, but soon afterwards people poured out of their homes to hail the "victory" as the ceasefire appeared to hold.
Heavy celebratory gunfire could be heard throughout the Gaza Strip and fireworks were released into the sky, where Israeli drones still buzzed overhead.
"The resistance has triumphed," some shouted, alongside chants of "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)."
After urging the two sides to uphold the accord, the 15-member UN Security Council also called in a statement for an international effort to get "emergency aid" into Gaza.
There had to be "expeditious and unimpeded delivery of such humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment," said the statement.
-- Chorus of approval --
Meanwhile Obama, re-elected this month, led a chorus of approval for Morsi's mediation work.
"The president thanked President Morsi for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a ceasefire proposal," the White House said.
European Union leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy also welcomed the ceasefire while stressing that the parties must "ensure its implementation and to prevent the restart of violence."
The exiled chief of Hamas, which rules Gaza, said Israel had "failed in all its goals" and thanked Iran for supporting his movement during the conflict.
"After eight days, God stayed their hand from the people of Gaza, and they were compelled to submit to the conditions of the resistance," Khaled Meshaal said in Cairo.

Karachi: Bomb found near Imambargah in Orangi Town

KARACHI: A bomb has been found near an Imambargah in Orangi Town Thursday, 
According to initial reports, the bomb was buried in a ground near an Imambargah in Orangi Town. The bomb disposal squad is currently working to diffuse the bomb.

Iraqis locked in rival sectarian narratives

In 2003, US-led forces invaded Iraq, dismantled the state, and brought an end to Baathist rule.

Chaos followed, giving rise to civil war and laying the foundations of a new order.

Sectarianism is one of the pillars of that order. Until the invasion of Iraq, it was mostly associated with Lebanon, where Christians and Muslims shared power in peacetime, and fought over it during successive civil wars.

But after the invasion, Iraq lapsed into Sunni-Shia civil war, and almost a decade later, sectarianism has been wired into the Iraqi system.It began with defeat. Abu Muhannad, a former colonel in Saddam Hussein's army who lives in Fallujah, recalls with bitterness the end of his service in 2003, after the army was disbanded.

"A whole segment of Iraqis who served and built Iraq have been forgotten - thrown to the wind overnight," he says.

It was not only army officers. Professors who had no choice but to join the Baath Party lost their jobs in a campaign of "De-Baathification".

"When you're hurt, you don't forget your wound," said Abu Muhannad. "It is a very difficult psychological situation we're in."

As that feeling spread, the Sunni community sank into collective alienation.

EU budget summit offers hours of hard bargaining

EU leaders are to begin talks on the bloc's seven-year budget, with many of them calling for cuts in line with the savings they are making nationally.

Countries that rely heavily on EU funding, including Poland and its ex-communist neighbours, want current spending levels maintained or raised.

The UK and some other net contributors say cuts have to be made. At stake are 973bn euros (£782.5bn; $1,245bn).

The bargaining in Brussels will continue on Friday, or even longer.

The draft budget - officially called the 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) - was drawn up by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who made cuts to the European Commission's original plan.

France objects to the proposed cuts in agriculture, while countries in Central and Eastern Europe oppose cuts to cohesion spending - that is, EU money that helps to improve infrastructure in poorer regions.

They are the biggest budget items. The Van Rompuy plan envisages 309.5bn euros for cohesion (32% of total spending) and 364.5bn euros for agriculture (37.5%).

The EU budget is a small fraction of what the 27 member states' governments spend in total.

Many hurdles

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says another summit may be necessary early next year if no deal can be reached in Brussels now.

In a speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, the EU Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, complained, "No one is discussing the quality of investments, it's all cut, cut, cut."

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that he may use his veto if other EU countries call for any rise in EU spending. The Netherlands and Sweden back his call for a freeze in spending, allowing for inflation.

Any of the 27 countries can veto a deal, and the European Parliament will also have to vote on the MFF even if a deal is reached.

Failure to agree would mean rolling over the 2013 budget into 2014 on a month-by-month basis, putting some long-term projects at risk.

If that were to happen it could leave Mr Cameron in a worse position, because the 2013 budget is bigger than the preceding years of the 2007-2013 MFF. So the UK government could end up with an EU budget higher than what it will accept now.

The European Commission says that the EU budget accounts for less than 2% of public spending EU-wide and that for every euro spent by the EU the national governments collectively spend 50 euro.

BOMB FOUND

Bomb found in karachi near orangi town

Shahbaz Sharif accuses govt of plundering, corruption

LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif met with Khawaja Noor Mohammad Sahoo (Sajada Nasheen Sheikh Fazil Sharif Burewala) in Lahore where the latter along with his fellows announced to join Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Geo News reported Thursday.

At the occasion, Shahbaz Sharif said that PML-N will be successful in the upcoming elections under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

He accused the government of plundering, corruption and said that it has pushed the country into darkness.

Shahbaz also predicted the current government’s downfall in the near future.

SC should have observed official holiday: AG

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir has said that it was holiday today and the Supreme Court should have also observed the same.
Talking to media in Islamabad, the attorney general said that it is against the narrative that the apex court is working despite the official holiday in Islamabad.
Qadir said that he has come to the court after watching news reports.
Replying to a query, the attorney general said that the question regarding the issuance of notification for the appointment of judges in Islamabad High Court should be asked from the president not him.

MOHORAM

 mohoram start in pakistan

Whale worship a way of life for Vietnam fishermen

LY SON ISLAND: At a colourful temple next to the turquoise sea off Ly Son Island, weather-beaten Vietnamese fishermen offer up their prayers to an unusual god -- "Ca Ong" or Mr Whale.

Before setting sail on a month-long voyage, Nguyen Hoang Loi makes a pilgrimage to the ornately decorated Tan Temple, which houses the remains of two sacred giant whales.

"Praying to the whale will help us if we encounter trouble at sea," the 45-year-old said as he and his crew prepared to depart from Ly Son, an island of 21,500 people off the coast of central Vietnam.

Up and down Vietnam's 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) of coastline, fishing communities worship giant whales, which they view as their guardian angels -- a religious phenomenon of a type that experts say is unique to the country.

"If fishermen encounter a sudden storm when fishing and don't know where to shelter, then they pray to Mr Whale to help," Ly Son Island's whale priest Tran Ngo Xuong told.

"The whale will appear beside their boat, helping them through the dangerous moments," said Xuong, a 79-year-old retired fisherman who now acts as a custodian at Tan Temple.

After an elaborate prayer ceremony to appease the whale spirits, Xuong unseals two dimly lit rooms behind Tan Temple's ornate altar piece, where the bones of two giant whales are stored.

The whales -- which weighed between 50 and 70 tons when alive and were both more than 20 metres long -- beached in separate incidents on Ly Son's shores over 100 years ago, Xuong said.

The creatures were so big that hundreds of people would normally have struggled to haul them in, but after many prayers and rituals, just a few dozen islanders managed to drag them ashore with the help of a favourable tide, he said.

Beached whales are given traditional Vietnamese funerals -- they are buried for between five and 10 years, and then their bones are excavated and kept above ground.

Whale oil is separated off and stored in huge ceramic containers to be used during ritual cleaning of the whale bones on their death anniversary.