Monday 23 February 2009

Bollywood triumph: ‘Slumdog’ claims 8 Oscars


LOS ANGELES – Hollywood has met Bollywood at the Academy Awards, and the makers of Oscar champ “Slumdog Millionaire” hope it’s a sign of future melding between the U.S. dream factory with its counterparts in India and elsewhere in the world.

A tale of hope amid adversity and squalor in Mumbai, “Slumdog Millionaire” came away with eight Oscars, including best picture and director for Danny Boyle.

The low-budget production was a merger of India’s brisk Bollywood movie industry, which provided most of the cast and crew, and the global marketing reach of Hollywood, which turned the film into a commercial smash, said British director Boyle.

“We’re Brits, really, trapped in the middle, but it’s a lovely trapped thing,” Boyle said backstage. “You can see it’s going to happen more and more. There’s all sorts of people going to work there. The world’s shrinking a little bit.”

It was a theme Oscar voters embraced through the evening with other key awards honoring films fostering broader understanding and compassion.

Sean Penn won his second best-actor Oscar, this one for playing slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk in “Milk,” while Kate Winslet took best actress for “The Reader,” in which she plays a former concentration camp guard coming to terms with the ignorance that let her heedlessly participate in Nazi atrocities.

Penn had harsh words for protesters outside the Oscars holding anti-gay signs.

“I’d tell them to turn in their hate card and find their better self,” Penn said. “I think that these are largely taught limitations and ignorances, this kind of thing. It’s really sad in a way, because it’s a demonstration of such cowardice, emotional cowardice, to be so afraid of extending the same rights to your fellow man as you’d want for yourself.”

As expected, Heath Ledger became just the second performer to win an Oscar posthumously, receiving the supporting-actor award for the menace and mayhem he wreaks as Batman villain the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Penelope Cruz was the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar with her supporting prize as a volatile artist in a three-way romance in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

Ledger’s award was accepted by his parents and sister on behalf of the 3-year-old daughter he had with actress Michelle Williams. The win came 13 months after Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year.

His sister, Kate Ledger, said backstage that her brother sensed he was creating something special with “The Dark Knight.”

“When he came home Christmas a year ago, he had been sending me shots and bits and pieces of the film,” Kate Ledger said. “He hadn’t seen it, but he knew. I said, `I have a feeling, this is it for you,’ and I said, `You’re going to get a nomination from the academy.’ He just looked at me and smiled. He knew.”

“I think he would have been quietly pleased, because I think he enjoyed the performance he did,” said Ledger’s mother, Sally Bell. “He was very proud of what he did. Heath was never one to be over the top with anything. He would be quietly pleased it was being recognized by his peers in the industry.”

Slumdog Millionaire” started as an unlikely candidate for the sort of industry and audience recognition it has garnered, presenting a cast of unknowns and a Dickensian tale of an Indian orphan rising above his street-urchin roots.

Though set in a foreign land, the film tells a universal story of optimism that has been eagerly embraced by U.S. audiences.

“This country has changed, from the moment we started making the film to the moment it was released,” “Slumdog” producer Christian Colson said. “I think America is cool again, for the first time in my lifetime. … I think this is a symptom of how it’s beginning to embrace a more-globalized view of the world.”

Boyle earned the directing prize with his first Oscar nomination in a career of hip movies that include the drug romp “Trainspotting” and the zombie horror tale “28 Days Later.”

“Slumdog Millionaire” has all the trademark elements of Boyle: raw and relentless energy, rich visual whimsy, a sense of childlike yearning, and a seamless mix of the harrowing and hilarious.

The film follows the travails and triumphs of Jamal, who artfully dodges a criminal gang that mutilates children to make them more pitiable beggars. Jamal witnesses his mother’s violent death, endures police torture and struggles with betrayal by his brother, while single-mindedly hoping to reunite with the lost love of his childhood.

Fate rewards Jamal, whose story unfolds through flashbacks as he recalls how he came to know the answers that made him a champion on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

“Slumdog” writer Simon Beaufoy, who won the adapted-screenplay Oscar, said the film clicked with audiences stung by the recession and the realization that “this money thing, it’s been shown to be a real false idol.”

“It’s come out at a time when the value of money, which has been raised to this extraordinary height, is suddenly being shown to be a kind of very shallow thing,” Beaufoy said. “The financial markets are crashing around the world, and a film comes out which is ostensibly about being a millionaire. Actually, what it’s about, it’s a film that says there’s more important things than money: love, faith and family. And that struck a chord with people.”

Oscar organizers shook things up a bit after last year’s show drew the lowest TV ratings ever. Song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman was host instead of the usual standup comedian, and he kept the show to three and a half hours, relatively brisk for a ceremony that has topped four hours some years.

The Oscars have been criticized in the past for devoting so much time to technical categories that average movie fans care little about. This time, the show abridged many of those awards, with Will Smith hammering through four such categories in quick succession, including sound mixing and film editing.

That allowed more time for the show to linger with celebrities. Each acting prize was presented by five past winners of the same awards, among them Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Kline, Sophia Loren, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine and Robert De Niro.

Winslet finally walked off with an Oscar after five previous losses. While Winslet said she had been practicing Oscar speeches since childhood, holding a shampoo bottle instead of a golden statuette, she still felt “like a little girl from Reading,” her hometown in England.

“Did you see my mum and dad? My mum won a pickled onion competition in their local pub just before Christmas, and that was a big deal,” Winslet told reporters backstage. “You just don’t think that these dreams that seem so silly and so impossible could ever really come true.”

___

On the Net:

Academy Awards: http://www.oscars.org

source : news.yahoo.com

Forecasters: Economy worse in ‘09, better in ‘10


WASHINGTON – Brace yourself: The recession is projected to worsen this year. The country stands to lose a sizable chunk of economic activity in 2009 as consumers at home and abroad retrench in the face of persistent economic troubles. And the U.S. unemployment rate — now at 7.6 percent, the highest in more than 16 years — is expected hit a peak of 9 percent this year.

That gloomy outlook came from leading forecasters in the latest survey by the National Association for Business Economics to be released Monday. The new estimates are roughly in line with other recent projections, including those released last week by the Federal Reserve.

“The steady drumbeat of weak economic and financial market data have made business economists decidedly more pessimistic on the economic outlook for the next several quarters,” said NABE president Chris Varvares, head of Macroeconomic Advisers.

All told, Varvares and his fellow forecasters now expect the economy to shrink by 1.9 percent this year, a much deeper contraction than the 0.2 percent dip projected in the fall.

If the new forecast is correct, it would mark the first time since 1991 the economy actually contracted over a full year and would be the worst showing since 1982, when the country had suffered through a severe recession.

Vanishing jobs, shrinking nest eggs, rising foreclosures and tanking home values have forced American consumers to cut back, which in turn has caused businesses to lay off workers and slash costs in other ways, feeding a vicious downward cycle for the economy.

The current recession, which started in December 2007, is posing a major challenge to Washington policymakers, including President Barack Obama and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. That’s because its root causes — a housing collapse, credit crunch and financial turmoil — are the worst since the 1930s and don’t lend themselves to easy or quick fixes.

“As the news on the economy has darkened, so too, have the forecasts,” said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. “We are suffering a period of maximum stress on the economy.”

The economy is expected to remain feeble this year — even with new efforts by the administration and Congress to provide relief.

Just over the past few weeks, a $787 billion recovery package of increased government spending and tax cuts was signed into law, the president unveiled a $75 billion plan to stem home foreclosures and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said as much as $2 trillion could be plowed into the financial system to jump-start lending.

In terms of lost economic activity in 2009, the biggest hit will come in the first six months, forecasters said.

NABE forecasters now expect the economy to slide backward at a staggering pace of 5 percent in the current January-March quarter. That’s a sharp downgrade from the 1.3 percent annualized drop projected in the old survey.

“Further pronounced weakness in housing and deteriorating labor markets underscore the risks for 2009,” Varvares said.

Many economists believe that the current quarter will be the worst of the recession in terms of the bite to gross domestic product, which is the value of all goods and services produced within the U.S. and is the broadest barometer of the country’s economic health.

The second quarter of this year also will be a lot weaker, with the forecasters now calling for the economy to contract at a 1.7 percent pace, compared with the prior projection of 0.5 percent growth.

In the second half of this year, the economy should expand, but still less than what economists thought just a few months ago. NABE forecasters believe home sales and housing construction should hit bottom by the middle of the year, which would help stabilize the economy. Home prices, however, are expected to keep falling, according to other experts.

NABE forecasters predicted that when all is said and done the recession will have caused GDP to decline 2.8 percent. That would be “slightly less than the 3.1 percent during the early ’70s,” according to the survey of 47 forecasters taken between Jan. 29 and Feb. 12.

Even in the best-case scenario, with the recession ending sometime in the second half of this year, employment conditions will be tough.

Some of the forecasters said the nation’s unemployment rate could rise as high as 9 percent for all of 2009 and hit 10 percent next year. In 2008, the jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent, the highest since 2003. The survey’s median forecast — or middle point — called for the unemployment rate to rise to 8.4 percent this year and 8.8 percent next year.

Companies touching every part of the economy have announced thousands of layoffs already this year and more cuts came last week. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said it will cut nearly 5,000 jobs, or almost 7 percent of its work force, this year, following the elimination of about 4,000 jobs in the second half of last year. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, which are asking the government for billions more in aid to remain viable, announced plans to cut 50,000 more jobs, 47,000 of which would be at GM.

The Fed said the unemployment rate could stay elevated into 2011. Some analysts think the jobless rate won’t drift down to a more normal range of around 5 percent until 2013 — at the earliest.

Companies won’t ramp up hiring until they feel confident that any recovery has staying power. That’s why employment is usually the last piece of the economy to reap the benefits of a recovery.

“A meaningful recovery is not expected to take hold until next year,” said Varvares.

NABE predicts GDP will rebound in 2010, averaging 2.4 percent over the course of the year. The Fed, too, is forecasting that the economy will grow again in 2010_ and will pick up momentum in 2011.

Even so, the Fed is still guarded about any turnaround.

Given all the negative forces weighing on consumers and businesses, the economic recovery “would be unusually gradual and prolonged,” the Fed said.

source : news.yahoo.com

Freddie Mac investigates self over lobby campaign


WASHINGTON – Lawyers hired by mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac are quietly investigating the firm’s own $2 million lobbying campaign, The Associated Press has learned. The lobbying effort helped quash proposed new regulations on the company before the housing market collapsed.

It was not immediately clear how much Freddie Mac is spending to investigate its own conduct or whether it is spending any federal bailout money on the internal probe. The firm was placed under U.S. government control due to its massive investment losses.

One of Washington’s leading law firms, Covington & Burling LLP, has spent more than a month interviewing current and former Freddie Mac employees and executives, according to three people familiar with the matter. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear reprisals if they were identified. The inquiry is led by former Justice Department prosecutor Stephen Anthony, who specializes in corporate internal investigations.

Freddie Mac board chairman John Koskinen confirmed for the AP that an inquiry is under way but declined to comment further. Anthony did not return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. Corinne Russell, spokeswoman for the federal office that regulates Freddie Mac, declined to comment.

The internal investigation is happening even as the Obama administration provides $200 billion more in government assistance to Freddie Mac and its larger sister company, Fannie Mae. The two government-sponsored enterprises are the largest providers of home mortgages in America. Freddie Mac’s activities fall under oversight of the new Federal Housing Finance Agency, which describes itself as “a world-class, empowered regulator with all of the authorities necessary to oversee vital components of our country’s secondary mortgage markets.”

The inquiry inside Freddie Mac follows stories by the AP about the company secretly hiring Republican consulting firm DCI Group of Washington to stop a proposal in the Senate in 2005 sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The legislation would have forced Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to sell hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets from their portfolios of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. At the time, the portfolios were highly lucrative but their value plunged when the housing market collapsed.

The DCI Group did not file lobbying reports describing the work it was performing. At the time, Freddie Mac executives who knew about the initiative referred to it among themselves as “the stealth lobbying campaign,” according to people familiar with the matter. DCI Group spokesman Geoffrey M. Basye says the firm practiced the highest ethical standards and coordinated with Freddie Mac’s lawyers to ensure uncompromising compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.

The people familiar with the internal inquiry told the AP that Anthony has interviewed current and former Freddie Mac employees about three issues raised by the AP stories:

_An accounting of the work done for the $2 million in payments to the DCI Group. It targeted 17 Republican senators in 13 states working to defeat Hagel’s regulatory legislation by convincing prominent constituents and financial contributors the bill would hurt the housing boom. The measure was never brought to a vote and died.

_An accounting of six-figure payments to 52 outside lobbying firms and political consultants in 2006, including details about what work, if any, the consultants performed for the money paid to their firms. The consultants included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Sen. Alfonse D’Amato. The payments to the 52 consultants amounted to $11.7 million. D’Amato’s firm, which was paid $240,000, declined to comment. Gingrich’s firm was paid $300,000 for strategic advice on a number of issues.

_An accounting of personal use by Freddie Mac executives of company-paid tickets and a company-leased skybox at the Verizon Center. Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin, who oversaw the $2 million campaign by DCI, was photographed by the AP in Freddie Mac’s leased skybox four months ago at the season home opener of the Washington Capitals hockey team.

Covington & Burling has represented Freddie Mac in other controversies, including its defense against charges it made illegal campaign contributions. Freddie Mac settled the matter by paying a record $3.8 million fine imposed by the Federal Election Commission in 2006. Separately, Covington & Burling represented Freddie Mac in roughly 20 lawsuits alleging the company fraudulently inflated the price of its stock from 1999-2002. All have been settled.

source : news.yahoo.com

Sunday 22 February 2009

8-year mystery of Chandra Levy’s slaying may end

WASHINGTON – A Salvadoran immigrant convicted of attacking two women in the park where Chandra Levy’s remains were found was expected to be arrested in the next few days in the former intern’s slaying, a person close to the investigation said.

An arrest would cap a revived investigation into the 2001 killing that had gone cold for years after destroying the career of former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit of California.

Investigators in 2002 questioned Ingmar Guandique, now 27, in the slaying after he was convicted of attacking two women joggers in Washington’s Rock Creek Park. They didn’t charge him, but statements he made to people while in prison helped lead investigators back to him, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday.

A law enforcement official who has spoken to investigators said the break came in part from DNA evidence that was either retested or collected, and it was connected to Guandique. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Levy investigation is ongoing.

Local prosecutors have convened a grand jury in the District of Columbia, and an arrest warrant is expected within the next few days, the officials said. Levy’s father, Robert Levy, said Washington, D.C., Police Chief Cathy Lanier called his home late Friday and said the same thing.

Chandra Levy was 24 and had just completed an internship with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared in May 2001 after leaving her Washington, D.C., apartment. The Modesto, Calif., woman was wearing jogging clothes when she vanished, and a man walking his dog found her skull and bones in the park a year later.

Authorities questioned Condit, her congressman, in the disappearance, but he was never a suspect in her death. Condit, a popular Democrat for a dozen years in his district, was reportedly having an affair with Levy, and the negative publicity from the case was cited as the main reason for his overwhelming primary loss in 2002.

Guandique was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attacking two women in the park. The federal Bureau of Prisons lists an inmate in California with the same sentence and age, but with the spelling Guandigue instead of Guandique. A message seeking comment was not returned.

One of his victims in the park attacks, Halle Shilling, told The Washington Post that new prosecutors and detectives apologized to her because prior investigators had never interviewed her in the Levy case.

“They said they were so sorry it took so long to talk to me,” Shilling said. “They really want to get to the bottom of this, and they are not going to sleep well until they get a conviction.”

Robert Levy said he and his wife, Susan, were not told who would be arrested, “but we all know who it is.” He would not elaborate but said they would favor a life sentence for the killer.

“If someone is executed, they really don’t suffer too much,” he said from his home in Modesto.

Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Condit, said the revelations clear the former congressman.

Condit did not return several messages left by The Associated Press but said in a statement to WJLA-TV in Washington that he is glad the Levy family is finally getting answers.

“I had always hoped to have the opportunity to tell my side of this story, but too many were not prepared to listen. Now I plan to do so, but I will have no further comments on this story at this time,” he said in the statement, posted on the station’s Web site.

After Condit lost, he sued several media outlets that had connected him to Levy’s disappearance and death. He reached an undisclosed settlement with three tabloid newspapers.

Lanier, the D.C. police chief, said Saturday that she could not comment out of respect for the Levy family and the investigators and prosecutors who have worked on the case.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo in Washington and Samantha Young in Modesto, Calif., contributed to this report.

source : news.yahoo.com

Pa. boy, 11, accused of killing dad’s girlfriend

WAMPUM, Pa. – Fifth-grader Jordan Brown boarded the bus and headed to school like he did most other mornings in this rural western Pennsylvania community.

But before he left home on Friday, authorities say, the 11-year-old boy had shot his father’s pregnant fiancee in the back of the head as she lay in bed. He then put his youth model 20-gauge shotgun back in his room before going out to catch his bus, police say.

Brown was charged Saturday as an adult in the death of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk, who was eight months pregnant, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said. Houk’s fetus died within minutes due to a lack of oxygen, Lawrence County Coroner Russell Noga said.

Houk’s family and friends, who gathered at her parents’ house Saturday night, told The Associated Press that there had been past problems with the boy.

“He actually told my son that he wanted to do that to her,” said Houk’s brother-in-law, Jason Kraner. “There was an issue with jealousy.”

Pennsylvania State Police found Houk’s body in the rented farmhouse after her 4-year-old daughter told tree cutters on the property she thought her mother was dead, Bongivengo said.

The boy told police there was a black truck on the property that morning — possibly the man who feeds the cows — sending investigators to follow a false lead for about five hours, Bongivengo said. Inconsistencies in Brown’s description of the truck led police to re-interview Houk’s 7-year-old daughter, who implicated the boy in the killing, Bongivengo said. State troopers went to get the boy at school.

“She didn’t actually eyewitness the shooting. She saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang,” Bongivengo said. The gun was found in a “location we believe to be in the defendant’s bedroom.”

Brown was arraigned and was being held in the Lawrence County Jail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday.

“An 11-year-old kid — what would give him the motive to shoot someone?” said Houk’s father, Jack Houk. “Maybe he was just jealous of my daughter and the baby and thought he would be overpowered.”

Defense attorney Dennis Elisco said he plans to ask Monday for the boy to be released on bail and for the case to moved to juvenile court. Elisco and police said they had no clear motive for the shooting.

Elisco said he is waiting to see physical evidence that ties his young client to the killing.

“I don’t think he knows what’s going on,” he said. “I walked out of there thinking he was innocent. I believe Jordan did not do this.”

The boy’s father, Christopher Brown, is “a mess” and had no indication his son had a problem with Houk, Elisco said.

“He’s in a state of actual shock and disbelief,” he said.

The shotgun used is designed for children and has a shorter arm and such weapons do not have to be registered, Bongivengo said. Jack Houk, 57, said the boy and his father used to practice shooting behind their farmhouse, and the two enjoyed going hunting together.

Wampum is about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

source : news.yahoo.com.pk

Official: Obama plans to slash deficit in half

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help revive the economy and is working on a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term.

Obama will touch on his efforts to restore fiscal discipline at a White House fiscal policy summit on Monday and in an address to Congress on Tuesday. On Thursday he plans to send at least a summary of his first budget request to Capitol Hill. The bottom line, said an administration official Saturday, is to halve the federal deficit to $533 billion by the time his first term ends in 2013. He inherited a deficit of about $1.3 trillion from former President George W. Bush.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the president has not yet released his budget for the fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, said the deficit will be shrunk by scaling back Iraq war spending, ending the temporary tax breaks enacted by the Bush administration for those making $250,000 or more a year, and streamlining government.

“We can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that seemed to preview his intentions. He said his budget will be “sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don’t, and restoring fiscal discipline.”

Republicans were not convinced. They said Obama’s plan would hurt small businesses, including many filing taxes as individuals and possibly facing higher taxes under his plan.

“I don’t think raising taxes is a great idea,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And when our good friends on the other side of the aisle say raising the taxes on the wealthy, what they’re really talking about is small business.”

Obama’s budget also is expected to take steps toward his campaign promises of establishing universal health care and lessening the country’s reliance on foreign oil.

Obama has pledged to make deficit reduction a priority both as a candidate and a president. But he also has said economic recovery must come first.

Last week, he signed into law the $787 billion stimulus measure that is meant to create jobs but certainly will add to the nation’s skyrocketing national debt. He also is implementing the $700 billion financial sector rescue passed on Bush’s watch; about $75 billion of which is being used toward Obama’s plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

source : news.yahoo.com

Saturday 21 February 2009

Hubei Governor meets President Zardari

WUHAN: Governor of Hubei Lihong Zhong met President Asif Ali Zardari here on Saturday and discussed avenues of cooperation in the field of agriculture and hydro electricity projects.

President Zardari said he has come to Hubei province specially to study the Chinese development and their institutions in these two fields and wants his country to benefit from their knowledge and technology.

He said Pakistan was facing energy and food shortage and China could help them in overcoming these challenges.

The Governor welcomed President Zardari and assured his fullest support to Pakistan in the fields of agriculture and power generation projects. He said a number of Chinese companies were already working in Pakistan in various sectors and was desirous of helping Pakistan in whatever way they could.

source : jang.com.pk

Saudi crown prince back in U.S. for medical checks

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz has arrived in New York for follow-up medical checks and treatment after convalescing in Morocco, the royal court said.

source : jang.com.pk

Author pardoned for insulting Thai monarchy

MELBOURNE: An Australian author who was jailed in Thailand for defaming the country’s monarchy in a novel that sold just seven copies returned home Saturday, after he was granted a royal pardon.

Harry Nicolaides, 41, exchanged a tearful greeting with his family at Melbourne’s airport, and thanked the Australian people for their support.

source : jang.com.pk

China shuts chemical plant after water polluted

BEIJING: Chinese authorities closed a chemical plant being investigated for contaminating water supplies to 1.5 million people in the country’s east, state media said Saturday.

Biaoxin Chemical Company caused “massive” tap water pollution in Yancheng, a city in east Jiangsu province, forcing the closure of two out of three tap water plants, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Water supplies were restored after a five-hour shutdown Friday, Xinhua said.

source : jang.com.pk

NKorea may be ready to test-fire missile

SEOUL: North Korea could be ready to test-fire a missile within days as satellite imagery has shown increased activity at a missile site over the past 48 hours, a defense weekly said.

A significant increase in launch preparations has occurred at the Musudan-ni missile site on the communist country’s northeastern coast, said Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a senior analyst at Jane’s Information Group who specializes in North Korean defense and intelligence matters.

“The latest satellite images indicate that North Korea is preparing to launch either a prototype Taepodong 2 intermediate range ballistic missile or a Paektusan 2 space launch vehicle within a matter of days,” Jane’s Defence Weekly said in a report issued Friday in London.

source : jang.com.pk

President wants Chinese model of agriculture in Pakistan

WUHAN: President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday said that Pakistan wants to benefit from Chinese experience and technology in the field of agriculture for enhanced production that will help his country in overcoming the grain shortage.

“I am very impressed with China’s development in Agri-sector and we want to emulate the same success in Pakistan,” President Zardari said here in his address to China Hubei-Pakistan Agriculture and Water Resources Cooperation Forum.

The president said that Pakistan and China have always enjoyed cordial relations and expressed the hope that his visit will further strengthen these ties particularly in the fields of agriculture and hydro electricity sectors.

He said the prime objective of his visit, the second in four months, was to learn from Chinese model of agriculture and development of hydro electricity projects.

source : jang.com.pk

Over 217 pc more sales tax recovered on petroleum products

KARACHI: Over 217 percent more sales taxes on petroleum products during the current fiscal year July-September were recovered as compared to the same period previous year.

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) released first quarterly report said that over 203 percent more sales taxes were recovered in July 2008 as compared to July, 2007, while in August 199 percent and in September over 246 percent more sales taxes were recovered.

During the period under review, 167 percent more revenues were recovered on account of sales tax on the use of electricity as against 24 percent in sales tax recovery on gas.

According to the data available, sales recovery on cigarettes remained up by 31 percent, telecommunication by 4.5 percent, cement by 3.3 percent, tin canned items over 63 percent, while sales tax on steel products dropped by 64 percent.

source : jang.com.pk

US soldier convicted in killing of four Iraqis

LONDON: A US soldier has been convicted of murder for his involvement in the killing four Iraqis who were shot and dumped in a Baghdad canal in 2007, a British news channel reported.

A military court at a US Army base in Vilseck, Germany, late Friday convicted Sgt. Michael Leahy following his confession that he shot an Iraqi in the back of the head from close range.

The victims were a group of Iraqis who were detained briefly and questioned over an attack on a Baghdad military base.

Leahy was one of a group of soldiers who took detainees away after it was decided there was not enough evidence to charge them. Blindfolded and gagged, the four were then shot and dumped in a canal, the report said.

The soldier faces a possible sentence of life without parole. The military court has not yet handed down a sentence.

Meanwhile, his lawyers argued that the stress of being in a conflict zone for so long meant he was unable to reason properly.

Last year, two other soldiers were sentenced to seven and eight months prison as accomplices in the murder of the four Iraqis.Two more suspects in the crime are still to be tried by the US military court.

source : jang.com.pk

The Bushes move into their new Dallas home

DALLAS: A month after leaving the White House, former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, have moved into their new Dallas home.

Bush’s motorcade drove past a security barricade last evening, bringing the former first couple to their new residence: a 1959 ranch-style brick home that sits at the top of a quiet dead end street in a wealthy Dallas neighbourhood. Bush waved to a jogger as he rode by, and the jogger waved back.

The couple’s new home has about 8,500 square feet, four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms and a wet bar. Local property records indicate the home on Daria Place is worth about $2.1 million.

The house has a wide front yard and dark shutters, with a gate at the top of the driveway that affords some privacy. The Dallas City Council last month approved installation of a security gate that will eventually block access to the street.

Dallas police and Secret Service agents have set up a barricade in recent days limiting access to the neighborhood.

source : jang.com.pk

Bid to bomb Karachi bank foiled

KARACHI: Security guards of a bank foiled a suicide attack in New Sabzi Mandi area of the city here, Geo news reported on Saturday.

The suicide bomber wanted to enter into the bank but the security guards gunned him down. According to DIG East Zafar Bokhari, the suspected bomber was killed in a police encounter.

source : jang.com.pk

Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s Justice Department sided with the former Bush administration on Friday, saying detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

In a two-sentence court filing, department lawyers said the Obama administration agreed that detainees at Bagram Air Base could not use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.

“The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we’d hoped,” said Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights attorney representing a detainee at the Bagram Air Base. “We all expected better.”

In midyear last year, the Supreme Court gave al-Qaida and Taliban suspects held at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the right to challenge their detention. With about 600 detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and thousands more held in Iraq courts are grappling with whether they, too, can sue to be released. Three months after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Guantanamo Bay, four Afghan citizens being detained at Bagram tried to challenge their detentions in U.S. District Court in Washington.

After Obama took office, a federal judge in Washington gave the new administration a month to decide whether it wanted to stand by Bush’s legal argument. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd says the filing speaks for itself. “They’ve now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law,” said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented several detainees. The Justice Department argues that Bagram is different from Guantanamo Bay because it is in an overseas war zone and the prisoners there are being held as part of a continuing military action. The government argues that releasing enemy combatants into the Afghan war zone, or even diverting U.S. personnel there to consider their legal cases, could threaten security.

source : jang.com.pk

‘Stop artillery attacks on civilians’, HRW asks Sri Lanka

NEW YORK: A leading international watchdog has asked the Sri Lankan government to “immediately cease” its indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians in the northern Vanni region and review its policy of detaining displaced persons in internment camps.

In a report released on Saturday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said since early January 2009, civilian casualties have skyrocketed in the fighting between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The 45-page report, HRW said, is based on a two-week fact-finding mission to Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka in February. The government has prohibited journalists and human rights monitors from going to the battle zone in the Vanni, making access to information difficult.

“This ‘war’ against civilians must stop,” said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. “Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there.”

Human Rights Watch also called on the LTTE to allow civilians to leave the war zone, stop shooting at those who try to flee to government-controlled territory, and cease deploying forces near populated areas.

Human Rights Watch said that both the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE were responsible for the dramatic increase in civilian casualties during the past month, approximately 2,000 killed and another 5,000 wounded, according to independent monitors on the ground.

source : jang.com.pk

Blast damages NATO oil tanker in Pakistan: official

PESHAWAR: One person was killed and two wounded in northwest Pakistan on Saturday when a bomb exploded near a fuel tanker destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan, an official said.

The remote-controlled bomb was planted on the main highway linking Peshawar city with the Torkham border crossing, local official Fazle Akbar told by telephone.

The blast partially damaged the oil tanker, but its driver escaped injuries, Akbar said, adding a passer-by was killed and two local men were injured. A security official also confirmed the incident but gave no casualty figure.

The explosion occurred in the troubled tribal district of Khyber, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have carried out a series of attacks on NATO vehicles and terminals outside the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The NATO and US-led forces in landlocked Afghanistan are hugely dependent on Pakistan for their supplies and equipment, around 80 percent of which are transported through the neighbouring country. Militants earlier this month blew up a key bridge on the main supply route for NATO forces and torched several trucks bringing goods from the southern port of Karachi for forces battling a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

source : jang.com.pk

US House Speaker Pelosi meets with Karzai in Kabul

KABUL: The speaker of the U.S. House met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Saturday where the two likely talked about the incoming surge of U.S. forces.

Nancy Pelosi arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to meet with Afghan officials and U.S. and NATO military leaders, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman. Pelosi, a California Democrat also met with U.S. troops during her two-day visit.

President Barack Obama announced this last week a surge of 17,000 additional forces to bolster the record 38,000 U.S. troops already in the country. Commanders say the troops are needed to fight a resurgent Taliban that has increased attacks the last three years. Militants now control wide swaths of rural countryside.

Pelosi’s visit comes about a week after a trip here by Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama has promised to increase the U.S. focus on Afghanistan while drawing down troops in Iraq. Democrats for years have said that former President George W. Bush neglected the Afghan conflict in favor of the Iraq war.

source : jang.com.pk

Rocket fired from Lebanon to Israel: radio

JERUSALEM: A woman was lightly injured on Saturday when a rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel, public radio reported.

Israel fires on Lebanon after rockets hit

BEIRUT: Israel fired three rockets on south Lebanon on Saturday, the army said, in a tit-for-tat exchange after a rocket landed on Israeli territory.

NWFP 7 senate general seats’ candidates elected unopposed

ISLAMABAD: North West Frontier Province (NWFP) seven candidates on senate general seats have been elected unopposed.

Sources said that Zahid Khan, Abdul Nabi Bangash, Haji Adeel of ANP, People’s Party’s Gulzar Ahmad Khan, Waqar Ahmad Khan and Sardar Ali Khan, while JUI’s Haji ghulam Ali were elected unopposed unofficially.

In all 18 candidates were in the field for NWFP’s 11 senate seats. Pakistan Muslim League-N’s three candidates yesterday had withdrawn their papers, which included ML-N Central Secretary General, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra from general seat and Saeeda Ilyas from women seat, while Abul Razzaque from technocrat seat.

source : jang.com.pk

Clinton says China still confident in US Treasuries

BEIJING: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said here on Saturday that China was still confident in US Treasury bonds, as she expressed her nation’s appreciation for the investments.

Peace Jirga leaves for talks with Maulana Sufi at Deolai

SWAT: Defunct outfit Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) and Swat Peace Jirga are holding talks today, as a delegation of national peace Jirga has left for Deolai.

Sources said that the defunct outfit TNSM and Swat Peace Jirga are holding talks today at Deolai area of Tehsil Kabal here, which would mainly focus on future strategy for the restoration of permanent peace in the district.

Later on, TNSM caravan will reach Landakai from Deolai en-route Shahderai and Shamozai and finally to the Mingora town.

TNSM spokesman, Amir Izzat Khan said that the peace march aims at wiping out the fears and panic from among the affected people. The peace caravan will stay put in Swat until peace restored in the entire district.

Swat education department said that government boys’ schools all across the district have been declared open, while the private schools in the area were already open.

source : jang.com.pk

Venus defeats Serena to reach Dubai Open tennis final

DUBAI: Venus Williams is through to the final of the Dubai Open after defeating younger sister Serena in a three-set thriller on Friday.

Venus took a 10-9 career lead over Serena after defeating her younger sibling in the Dubai Open semifinals. Sixth seed and Wimbledon champion Venus beat the world No.1 6-1 2-6 7-6 to take a 10-9 lead in competitive matches between the two siblings.

American Venus is now the hot favorite to beat Virginie Razzano in Saturday’s final after the Frenchwoman took just over an hour to beat 16th seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-1 6-2 in the other semifinal.

source : jang.com.pk

Three foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL: Three soldiers in the US-led coalition helping to fight a Taliban-led insurgency in southern Afghanistan have died after their patrol was hit by a bomb, the US military said late Friday.

The three were killed on Friday in the southern province of Uruzgan, it said in a statement. It did not give their nationalities. “Three coalition service members died of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat reconnaissance patrol in the Uruzgan province, Friday,” it said.

Many of the troops in Uruzgan — where Taliban have a strong presence — are Australian and Dutch nationals serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces.

The latest fatalities take to 39 the number of international troops to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks.

source : jang.com.pk

Final countdown to 81st Oscars Academy Awards underway

LOS ANGELES: The final countdown to the 81st Academy Awards were underway here Saturday, with feel-good movie “Slumdog Millionaire” poised to romp home with the coveted best picture Oscar.

Less than 48 hours before the entertainment industry’s most glamorous night of the year, workers were putting the finishing touches to their preparations at the Kodak Theater in the heart of Hollywood.

The build-up to this year’s ceremony has been dominated by India-set rags-to-riches fable “Slumdog”, which has dominated other awards shows and is considered the overwhelming favorite for the best picture statuette.

Although period drama “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” will start the night with the most nominations, 13, compared to 10 for “Slumdog,” experts say that British director Danny Boyle’s film looks unstoppable.

Pundits say “Slumdog” has delighted audiences with its rags-to-riches plot about a Mumbai tea boy who rises out of poverty and enters a television quiz show to win millions and be reunited with the love of his life.

The against-the-odds triumph of the film’s central character is mirrored by the movie’s improbable march towards Oscars glory. Made for only 15 million dollars, the film features a cast of unknown actors and is partially subtitled.

Other rivals in the best picture category are “Benjamin Button,” political drama “Frost/Nixon,” biopic “Milk” and Holocaust drama “The Reader.”

Sean Penn, who plays a trailblazing gay politician in “Milk”, and Kate Winslet, who plays a Nazi death camp guard in “The Reader” are the front-runners in the best actor and actress categories.

However Penn faces stiff competition from Mickey Rourke, who won last month’s Golden Globes for playing a washed up prizefighter in “The Wrestler.”

Winslet’s hopes of a first Academy Award after missing out on five previous occasions are threatened by two-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep, with Melissa Leo (”Frozen River”) tipped as a dark horse.

In the supporting categories, late Australian actor Heath Ledger is poised to become only the second performer in history to win a posthumous Oscar, a year after his death from a drug overdose in New York.

In the supporting actress category, Penelope Cruz is favorite the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar for her performance in Woody Allen comedy “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

The other element of surprise around Sunday’s show is the new-look format being promised by organizers as they seek to bounce back from 2008 television viewing figures that were the worst in Oscars history.

source : jang.com.pk

NASA delays space shuttle launch a fourth time

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA has delayed the launch of space shuttle Discovery for a fourth time amid valve concerns.

After a meeting on Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shuttle managers decided against launching in a week. The launch had been targeted for no sooner than February 27; it was not immediately known late Friday when it might be rescheduled.

NASA originally hoped to send Discovery to the international space station on February 12th.

source : jang.com.pk

One dies, four hurt in Karachi road mishaps

KARACHI: Reckless driving claimed life of young woman, while four others sustained injuries in different road incidents on Saturday.

A 20-year-old Rozina died when a dumper hit her in Orangi Town No 1 in the jurisdiction of Orangi Town Police Station. Police arrested driver, impounded the dumper and registered the case.

Separately, a 35- year-old motorcyclist Shahdab was hit by unknown taxi at Bilal Colony in North Karachi. The victim was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where his condition was termed precarious.

In third incident, one Abdul Shakoor, 35, Samia, 28 and Ameera, 10 were seriously hit by unknown car at Shahra-e-Faisal near Awami Markaz.

source : jang.com.pk

Friday 20 February 2009

Activists 'shocked' at Clinton stance on China rights

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Amnesty International and a pro-Tibet group voiced shock Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed not to let human rights concerns hinder cooperation with China.

Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.

"But our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.

T. Kumar of Amnesty International USA said the global rights lobby was "shocked and extremely disappointed" by Clinton's remarks.

"The United States is one of the only countries that can meaningfully stand up to China on human rights issues," he said.

"But by commenting that human rights will not interfere with other priorities, Secretary Clinton damages future US initiatives to protect those rights in China," he said.

Students for a Free Tibet said Clinton's remarks sent the wrong signal to China at a sensitive time.

"The US government cannot afford to let Beijing set the agenda," said Tenzin Dorjee, deputy director of the New York-based advocacy group.

China has been pouring troops into the Himalayan territory ahead of next month's 50th anniversary of the uprising that sent Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama into exile in India.

"Leaders really need to step up and pressure China. It's often easy to wonder whether pressure makes a difference. It may not make a difference in one day or one month, but it would be visible after some years," Dorjee said.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had sent a letter to Clinton before her maiden Asia visit urging her to raise human rights concerns with Chinese leaders.

Before she left, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said human rights would be "an important issue" for Clinton and that she would "raise the issue when appropriate."

China has greeted President Barack Obama's administration nervously, believing he would press Beijing harder on human rights and trade issues than former president George W. Bush.

source : news.yahoo.com


White House tries to end bank nationalization talk

WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday insisted it's not trying to take over two ailing financial institutions, even as stocks tumbled again. On Wall Street, talk of nationalization of Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp., prompted investors to continue to balk, worried that the government would have to take control and wipe out shareholders in the process.

Citigroup fell 20 percent, while Bank of America fell 12 percent in afternoon trading but also came off their lowest levels.

"This administration continues to strongly believe that a privately held banking system is the correct way to go, ensuring that they are regulated sufficiently by this government," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said when asked about nationalizing the banks.

"That's been our belief for quite some time, and we continue to have that," Gibbs said.

Investors have shown decreasing confidence that U.S. banks can right themselves. Citigroup and Bank of America have already received significant help from taxpayers as the government has rushed in to try to save the financial sector, which has been choked by bad assets and seen the flow of credit shrink.

The speculation about the two banks' future continued to take a direct toll on the market.

Gibbs was pressed for more details on his answer — specifically whether Obama would not nationalize banks. He said it was hard for him to be any clearer.

When a reporter suggested Gibbs could do that by saying point bank that Obama would never nationalize banks, Gibbs would not make that statement, but emphasized: "I think I was very clear about the system that this country has and will continue to have."

source : news.yahoo.com


Analysis: Obama plans eclipsing New Deal spending

WASHINGTON – In sheer size, the economic measures announced by President Barack ObamaNew Deal programs that Franklin D. Roosevelt famously created to battle the Great Depression. to address "a crisis unlike we've ever known" are remarkable, rivaling and in many cases dwarfing the

Winning approval was a political tour-de-force for the new administration.

Yet gloom and uncertainty persist about the plan's ability to deliver a cure for the economy's severe ailments.

Stocks plunged to six-year lows after the burst of bill signings, bailout announcements and presidential pledges.

And polls show Americans are increasingly worried about losing jobs and not having enough money to pay their bills.

Why the skepticism?

Maybe there's just been too long a run of bad news. Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Wachovia Securities, blames much of the negativity on "the fact that people are so down. They have no confidence in the future."

Republicans complain about wasted money. Some Democratic supporters say the plan won't help very much very quickly.

Former President Bill Clinton, who gives Obama high marks for straight talk in telling the nation the bad economic news, says his successor might try a more upbeat approach now. "I just want the American people to know that he's confident that we are going to get out of this and he feels good about the long run," Clinton said Friday on ABC News' "Good Morning America."

Patience, pleads the administration. Lawrence Summers, Obama's chief economics adviser, says the success of the plan will be measured "not by daily market reaction but what happens over time." Still, he says, "We are moving rapidly."

No matter how people feel about the plans, they are undoubtedly ambitious — and expensive. Tomorrow's taxpayers will still be paying for them long after Obama is out of office.

So far in his month-old presidency:

• Congress passed and Obama signed into law a record $787 billion mix of tax cuts, job-creating projects and aid to struggling states.

• The president pledged up to $275 billion in federal aid to help stem a tidal wave of home foreclosures.

• The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve announced financial-rescue steps that could send up to $2 trillion coursing through the economy.

In all, the plans would raise the federal portion of the U.S. economy to some 31 percent, more than twice the level after eight years of FDR's historic New Deal spending.

"All Americans have a stake in making this work," says Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

But you wouldn't know it from the reaction.

Rather than the bipartisan support Obama first sought, Republicans remain in near unanimous opposition. They contend that the stimulus package is tainted by wasteful spending and that the mortgage-foreclosure plan leaves out many struggling homeowners while rewarding lenders and borrowers who made bad decisions. Some Republican governors from the South even talk of spurning the new federal money.

Even while supporting the initiatives, some Democrats suggest the efforts won't deliver enough quick help to make a difference, despite the eye-popping price tags.

Joblessness keeps rising. Consumers and businesses are cutting back. Bank lending remains down. And auto demand keeps falling, with two Detroit automakers saying this week that they may need up to $21.6 billion more in U.S. loans beyond what they received in January.

Rutgers University political science professor Ross Baker said, "There is a degree of skepticism involved. Not surprisingly, people are wary of some very expensive proposals with no guarantee of success or even a high probability of how well they'll work."

Economists argue that many of the benefits from the Obama initiatives will take months, if not years, to arrive. The administration cites the complexities of trying to heal a downturn that has turned global.

"The president balances the challenges that we face with the understanding that we're going to get through tough times as we always have in this country," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday when asked about Clinton's comments.

As for the New Deal, it's hard to compare Obama's moves to FDR's initiatives. They were a series of programs spread over years, not all-encompassing packages like the new proposals.

Some of Roosevelt's signature programs dealt with revamping government structure rather than job creation, such as securities-market regulation, insuring bank deposits. His biggest idea, Social Security, didn't really have much impact until later.

The largest of Roosevelt's jobs programs, the Works Progress Administration, begun in 1935, did provide jobs across the nation building roads, bridges and other projects. Among his other job-creating programs were the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Civil Works Administration, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Historians and economists still debate whether FDR's New Deal fixed the crisis or prolonged the pain.

After taking office in 1933, he first tried to slash government jobs and spending. And his efforts to balance the budget in 1937 backfired and triggered a new recession within the broader Depression.

"Roosevelt came late to some of the ideas of big public spending to stimulate the economy," said John Halpin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

The 1930s began with federal outlays representing just 3.4 percent of the nation's economy as measured by the gross domestic product. Roosevelt's efforts to fight the Depression with government spending caused outlays to rise to 10.3 percent of GDP by 1939 and to 12 percent by 1941 on the eve of U.S. involvement in World War II.

By contrast, government spending was 21 percent of GDP last year. Obama's economic recovery policies are expected to bring it up to 30 percent or more.

"The New Deal by today's standards involved a minuscule amount of spending," said Allan J. Lichtman, a professor of political history at American University. He said Obama is more of a "big spender" than was Roosevelt.

Roosevelt had a bigger crisis on his hands. Unemployment was 25 percent when he took office.

Last month's jobless rate was 7.6 percent, up from 4.9 percent a year before but still shy of the postwar high of 10.8 percent reached in 1982 — and far from Great Depression levels.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, frequently reporting on the economy.

(This version CORRECTS date of Roosevelt taking office to 1933)

N Korea says prepare for war with S Korea

SEOUL: North Korea said Thursday it was “fully ready” for war with South Korea, stepping up its rhetoric just hours before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to arrive in Seoul.

“The Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors should never forget that the Korean People’s Army is fully ready for an all-out confrontation,” a spokesman for the army General Staff said.

The statement to the North’s official news agency was the latest in a series of increasingly strident threats against President Lee’s conservative government, which have raised cross-border tensions.

South Korean Defence Minister Lee Sang-Hee has said a limited naval clash may break out around the two countries’ disputed border in the Yellow Sea.

source : jang.com.pk

Maulana Sufi’s one-on-one peace talks with Maulana Fazlullah

SWAT: Defunct Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) and Tahrik Taliban leaders continued remaining engaged in third round of their talks.

Sources said that the defunct TNSM Chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and defunct Tahrik Taliban Amir, Maulana Fazlullah were presently holding one-on-one peace talks at some unknown place at Matta here, which mainly focused on the enforcement of the Sharia Regulations.

Sources further said that the pulling out of forces, release of the prisoners and general amnesty to Taliban was demanded from the Fazlullah side during negotiations.

source : jang.com.pk

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan approve US transit to Afghanistan

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have approved the transit via their territories of non-lethal US supplies for troops in Afghanistan, US Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek said Friday.

“Tajikistan has given its agreement to the use of its rail and automobile routes for the transit of non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan,” he was quoted as saying on a visit to Dushanbe by Tajik television.

He said that Uzbekistan had also “agreed” to the transit and Washington planned to send 50-200 containers weekly from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan and then by land into neighbouring Afghanistan.

Washington has been seeking new routes for supplies to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan’s shock announcement that it is to close a US air base that has served as a key transit point for supplies.

source : jang.com.pk

Asian stock markets fall after Wall Street tumbles

HONG KONG: Asian stocks market dropped Friday, with benchmarks in Japan and Hong Kong sliding about 2 percent or more, after gnawing economic fears sent Wall Street tumbling to its lowest close in more than six years.

Investors found few reasons to wade into the market after the Dow Jones breached the levels it touched in November when the financial crisis sent global equities into a tailspin. The Dow’s miserable finish _ its worst since Oct. 9, 2002, when the last bear market hit bottom _ spurred fears the markets’ downturn is far from over. It also provided a clear sign that investors don’t see a quick end to the worst global slowdown in decades despite the unprecedented economic measures taken by governments around the world.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 141.27 points, or 1.9 percent, to 7,416.38, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 324.59, or 2.5 percent, to 12,698.77. South Korea’s Kospi shed 3.7 percent to 1,065.80 as the country’s currency, the won, continued to lose ground against the dollar. In mainland China, Shanghai’s benchmark gained 1.5 percent after the government said it would aid light industry and petrochemical suppliers in its latest stimulus measures. That came as the governor of the central bank of Australia, its own economy heavily reliant on Chinese demand for commodities, said China’s economy has already bottomed.

Overnight in New York, investors unloaded financial heavy weights Bank of America and Citigroup amid concerns that banks will need even more capital to restore their health. The Dow lost 89.68, or 1.2 percent, to end at 7,465.95, with broader indices slipping as well. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended down 9.48, or 1.2 percent, to 778.94. The index finished above its Nov. 20 close of 752.44,which was its worst finish since April 1997. With U.S. futures lower, Wall Street was poised to drop further. Dow futures fell 58, or 0.8 percent, to 7,404 and S&P500 futures were down 7.3, or 0.9 percent, to 772.10.

source : jang.com.pk

US jobless claims hit record high

WASHINGTON - The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of Americans claiming jobless benefits for more than a week inched closer to the all-time high of 5 million, while new jobless claims stayed flat.

Almost 5 million in U.S. getting jobless benefits, which is all time high after 1967. The available data showed that US industrial and refinery companies’ products prices surged by 0.8 percent, which could further aggravate the situation.

It may be recalled that currently US unemployment rate has shot up all-time high at 7.6 percent.

source : jang.com.pk

Curfew imposed in D.I. Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Curfew has been imposed in Dera Ismail Khan after violent incidents broke out in the city after suicide attack.

According to DCO Mohsin Shah, angry mob started setting on fire property and carried out intense firing after which curfew has been imposed due to due to deteriorating law and order situation. The curfew would remain continued for two to three days more.

Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued to control the situation.

Twenty people were killed and several injured when a blast occurred in a funeral procession in Dera Ismail Khan on Friday.

source : jang.com.pk

Antigua Test ended at draw

ANTIGUA: An impressive batting display from the tail-enders helped West Indies claim a draw to deny England a series-levelling victory in Antigua.

The home side looked set for defeat at 322-8, but resilient batting from Daren Powell, assisted by Sulieman Benn and Fidel Edwards, rescued the match.

Stuart Broad (3-51) took the vital wickets of Ramnaresh Sarwan (106) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (55).

The pair put on 148 runs to give their side the chance to earn a famous draw.

With the light rapidly diminishing as evening set in over the Antigua Recreational Ground, Powell and Edwards gratefully accepted the umpires’ offer to go off with just four overs remaining in the match.

With men surrounding the bat in the final few overs, England’s bowlers could not penetrate the obdurate resistance of the tail-enders, who ensured the West Indies maintain a 1-0 series lead going into the fourth Test in Barbados, which begins next Thursday.

England had looked set for victory when Denesh Ramdin played on to his stumps off James Anderson in the 111th over with the score at 322-8.

However, Powell, who finished 22 not out from 55 time-sapping deliveries, combined brilliantly with Benn and Edwards as England pressed for the final two wickets.

England had spent long periods of the final day searching for a breakthrough attempting to dislodge Sarwan and Chanderpaul, who had seen the West Indies to 143-3 on day four chasing an improbable 503 for victory.

source : jang.com.pk

Japanese Cabinet rallies around unpopular leader

TOKYO: Key members of Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Cabinet rallied around their unpopular leader Friday, brushing off calls from the opposition that he step down and saying Japan must put politics aside and unite behind stimulus measures to bolster its teetering economy.

Aso has been battered by low public support ratings, a dogged opposition that has called him incompetent and the resignation this week of his finance minister amid allegations, he was intoxicated at a news conference following last week’s G-7 summit in Rome. The prime minister’s troubles have fueled demands he resign and hold elections for the lower house of parliament to prove his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party still has the mandate of the voters.

Recent polls indicate that if such elections were held now, Aso’s party would suffer major losses. In an attempt to quell the criticism, several of Aso’s top Cabinet members expressed their support for him on Friday and said political squabbling should not be allowed to derail important bills aimed at reviving Japan’s stagnating economy.

source : jang.com.pk

President, PM condemn D. I. Khan blast

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Friday strongly condemned the blast in D I Khan that killed and injured several people.

The President and the Prime Minister said the government would not bow down to the extremists, militants and terrorists and would take all necessary measures to establish the writ of the government.

President Zardari said such acts of violence; bomb blasts and terrorism were a serious threat to the country and directed local administrations to take strict measures so that no such incidents recur.

Prime Minister Gilani taking a strong note of the tragic incident sought a report from the provincial government. He said the government was committed to ensure law and order across the country.

He directed that law enforcing agencies to ensure strict security measures at all large gatherings and investigate the matter to bring the perpetrators to justice.

They also directed the provincial authorities to provide best possible medical care to the injured.

source : jang.com.pk

Curfew imposed in D.I Khan after violence

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Curfew has been imposed in Dera Ismail Khan after violence erupted in the city after suicide attack, police sources said.

20 killed in D.I Khan suicide attack

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The death toll of Dera Ismail Khan suicide attack has reached to 20.

Army took the control of the city due to deteriorating law and order situation. According to initial reports, a suicide blast occurred in funeral procession near imam baragah Kotli Imam Hussain killing 20 and injured several people. Police said the explosion happened near Shobra hotel.

The injured were shifted to district headquarter hospital and emergency has been imposed in the hospitals. All markets were closed after the blast as angry person set on fire a bus.

source : jang.com.pk

SKorea to hit NKorea missile bases, if attacked: minister

SEOUL: South Korea would target North Korean launch sites, if its ships come under missile attack in the Yellow Sea, Seoul’s defence minister warned Friday.

“We will take preventive measures, if a missile attack were launched by the enemy and the (North Korean) locations, where a missile originates must be attacked because of its obvious act of aggression,” Lee Sang-Hee told parliament.