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Life and property of citizen to be protected: Zardari
Rafael Nadal pulls out of London Olympics
Valverde wins 17th stage of Tour de France
Golf: Great Scott grabs lead at British Open
Malik to submit nomination papers for Senate seat today
Oath-taking ceremony of CEC postponed
Zardari congratulates former PM on his sons victory
Ruet-e-Hilal committee to meet today
Ramazan moon sighted in Saudi Arabia, UAE
Olympics: German Judoka aims to defend title in London
Traditionalists send pope mixed message
No letup in US drought
Rebels take control of Iraq-Syria border crossings
Dr Afridi had no link with polio campaign: WHO
5 crew dead as US Navy copter crashes in Oman

Life and property of citizen to be protected: Zardari

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Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan and IG Sindh Fayyaz Laghari called on resident Asif Ali Zardari at the Bilawal House on Thursday. The Governor briefed the President about his recent visit to the United Kingdom and also discussed present political situation in the country. IG Sindh Fayyaz Laghari briefed the president about law and order situation in the province including Karachi. President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed concen over the law and order situation in Karachi. He said that life and property of the citizens should be protected at all cost. He also directed stern action against target killers and extortionists.

Rafael Nadal pulls out of London Olympics

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Defending Olympic champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the London Games with an undisclosed fitness problem Thursday, ending his chances of winning a second straight gold medal. "I am not in condition to compete in the London Olympics and therefore will not travel as planned with the Spanish delegation to take part in the games," the third-ranked Spaniard said in a statement. Nadal did not mention any specific injury, but he canceled a charity match in Madrid on July 4 because of tendon problems in his left knee.  He has had recurring knee problems in the past. He has not played since he was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol, one of the most surprising results in the tournament s history. "I have to think about my companions, I can t be selfish and I have to think of what s best for Spanish sport, especially tennis and Spanish players and give fellow sportsmen with better preparation the chance to compete," he said. "I tried to hurry my preparations and training to the very last minute, but it was not to be," he added. Nadal, who won the singles tournament at the 2008 Beijing Games, was set to be the flag bearer for Spain during the opening ceremony. He said that the decision "is one of the saddest days of my career as one of my biggest ambitions, that of being Spain s flag bearer in the opening ceremony of the games in London, cannot be. You can imagine how difficult it was to take this decision."

Valverde wins 17th stage of Tour de France

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Alejandro Valverde of Spain won the 17th stage of the Tour de France and Bradley Wiggins mastered a last big test in the mountains to retain the yellow jersey on Thursday. After ascending the last big climb, the Briton said he sensed "that it was pretty much over" with just three racing days left. The 143.5-kilometer ride from Bagneres-de-Luchon to the ski station of Peyragudes featured three hard climbs and an uphill finish. Valverde, the Movistar leader who returned from a two-year doping ban this year, won his third Tour stage in a breakaway. Christopher Froome of Britain was second, and his Sky team leader Wiggins was third, both 19 seconds back. Wiggins faces one last test to become the first Briton to win cycling s biggest race: Saturday s individual time trial, his specialty. Flat stages await on Friday and in Sunday s ride to the finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and aren t expected to alter the standings. Overall, Wiggins leads Froome in second by 2 minutes, 5 seconds, and Italy s Vincenzo Nibali trails in third, 2:41 back, after losing 18 seconds to them in the final ascent. Valverde, with tears in his eyes in the winner s circle, had a rough start to the Tour with at least three crashes. He also sensed Wiggins and Froome closing on him at the end of the stage. "I went all out," said Valverde, who also won stages in the Tour Down Under and the Paris-Nice races this year. "When I saw there were only 700 meters left, I was really really happy". Of his victory he said, "It erases all of the past." One of Sky s dilemmas was exposed on Thursday: Froome entered the day clinging to an 18-second lead over Nibali and he was looking for any chance to gain time on the Italian. On the final ascent, up the Peyragudes, Froome tried to gain time on Nibali, but also repeatedly spoke with Wiggins and even gestured to him to come along. "Chris encouraged me, saying  Come on, come on, " Wiggins said. "He s really strong ... he can win the Tour one day." Friday s 18th stage takes riders on a 222.5 kilometers from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde in central France.

Golf: Great Scott grabs lead at British Open

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Australia s Adam Scott flirted with golfing history at the British Open at Royal Lytham on Thursday before settling for a six-under par 64 and the first-round lead. The 31-year-old from Adelaide, seen as one of the best players currently not to have won a major title, came to the last needing a birdie to become the first player in the long history of the majors to record a 62. Instead, a wayward drive into thick Lancashire rough resulted in a closing bogey and meant that Scott was even deprived the satisfaction of joining the 25 golfers who have recorded 63s in major golf. It was enough, however, to place him atop the leaderboard with the lowest first round ever fired in 11 Opens at Lytham and it matched the course record in Open play, the third-round 64 by Tom Lehman on his way to victory in 1996. Scott finished the day alone in the lead, but he had a slew of major winners nipping at his heels. One back on 65 were Scotland s 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie and American 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, with rising Belgian star Nicolas Colsaerts joining them late in the day. Brandt Snedeker of the United States was alone on 66, while locked in a four-way tie on 67 for most of the day were 14-times major winner Tiger Woods, 2002 Open champion Ernie Els, 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell and reigning Masters champion Bubba Watson. They were joined late on by 2010 US Open champion Rory McIlroy, Japan s Toshinori Muto, Steve Stricker of the United States and Peter Hanson of Sweden. World No. 2 McIlroy birdied the par-four 16th, where he drove the green, and 18th, after taking a double-bogey six at the 15th where his drive smacked a spectator on the head and bounced out of bounds.

Malik to submit nomination papers for Senate seat today

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The election commission has announced election schedule for the Senate seat which fell vacant on the resignation of Rehman Malik. The last day for filing nomination papers for this technocrat seat from Sindh is today. Voting will be held on August 8 in Sindh Assembly. Rehman Malik had resigned from Senate on July 10 after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court and his dual nationality dispute.

Oath-taking ceremony of CEC postponed

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The oath-taking ceremony was scheduled for today but it was postponed on the request of newly-appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim. Talking to Dunya News, Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim said that he wishes to take oath after verdict of the case registered in the Supreme Court against his appointment. He said that it is up to Chief Justice to decide when he will hear the case. The newly-appointed CEC ruled out any conspiracy against his appointment.

Zardari congratulates former PM on his sons victory

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President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the electoral victory of Abdul Qadir Gilani in the sandy land of the saints will reverberate in the annals of time as a stark reminder to everyone that it is the people and people alone who pronounce the final verdict and are not afraid of overturning all other judgments. This he said in his felicitation message to former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on his son’s Abdul Qadir Gilani victory in the bye-election in NA 151 Multan.

Ruet-e-Hilal committee to meet today

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The smeeting of the central Ruet-e-Hilal committee will be held in Karachi whereas the provincial and zonal committee meetings will take place on set venues. According to the met office, there is a high possibility of sighting the moon on Friday therefore the first fast is most likely to fall on July 21.

Ramazan moon sighted in Saudi Arabia, UAE

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Muslims in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will begin fasting today (Friday) as moon was sighted there on Thursday evening, reports said. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has formed a committee of religious scholars to mull over starting of the holy month on the same date with rest of the country. Some Afghan refugees in Haripur, Peshawar, Bara, and Khyber Agency announced to start fasting from Friday (today). However, Maulana Marajuddin has announced that moon wasn’t sighted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, therefore, they would start fastening from Saturday. However, Muslim community in UK and USA is divided in many sections. Some people start fastening from Friday while others will have first fast from Saturday.

Olympics: German Judoka aims to defend title in London

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Reigning Olympic -81kg judo champion Ole Bischof, said he will be going into the London Games this summer with cautious optimism.  Four years ago, Bischof, from southern Germany, won the gold medal in Beijing but said his success back then does not automatically make him favourite this time round. "I am the reigning Olympic champion, if you can say it like that. And therefore a lot of people are watching me. But four years are a long time in fighting sports. I had to work hard to be back again. I wasn t nominated purely because of my Olympic victory. I worked hard by winning in Paris and in Duesseldorf. I managed to win a European medal in the last two years. I m on a good path," Bischof told Reuters TV at a training session outside the German capital. So far in 2012 Bischof has been able to hold his own against the world s judo elite, winning the Grand Prix in Duesseldorf. In 2011 he came third in the European Championships in Istanbul. But he said he knows which competitors to watch out for, including South Korean Kim Jae-Bum who defeated in the 2008 Olympic final. "The Korean Kim Jae-Bum is now a double world champion that means that he won in Tokyo and in Paris in 2011. For me he is the big favourite. I feel like a hunter again," he said. Bischoff, however, is not the only medal hopeful in the 11-man German judo team. If everything runs to plan, the five female members of the team will also have chances of winning. One of these ladies is Claudia Malzahn. "The field of participants in at the Olympic Games is very very strong. That is obvious. On the day I just want to show my best judo and call on all my strength. And then we will see what happens," she said. And then there is team mate Andreas Toelzer who is second in the world in the over-100kg division. "Of course I won t travel to the Olympic Games and say that participating is everything, but I actually want to win a medal. And the shinier the medal the better for me," he said. Toelzer also competed in Beijing but did o t make it to the top eight then. But he has since worked hard on his body, packing on 13 kilograms and at 145 kilograms, is now a real heavyweight. Until the day the team leaves for London, they will continue training together at their camp outside Berlin. "I am very optimistic. We have a really great group which has come together really well," said the trainer of the women s team, Michael Bazynski.

Traditionalists send pope mixed message

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The Swiss-based Society of St. Pius X said it had approved the technical, legal way it could eventually reconcile with the Holy See. But at the same time, it said it is still waiting for an "open and serious debate" to begin with the Vatican to bring church authorities around to its view of the "errors" of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969 out of opposition to Vatican II s introduction of Mass in the vernacular and outreach to Jews and people of other faiths, among other issues. In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and four of his bishops after he consecrated them without papal consent. Benedict has spent nearly his entire seven-year pontificate seeking to accommodate the society and end the only formal schism created since Vatican II. He has restored the use of the old Latin Mass favored by the society s members, removed the bishops  excommunications and allowed them two years of theological dialogue with the Vatican. Aside from being sympathetic to the society s point of view, Benedict fears the growth of a parallel, pre-Vatican II church that is even more conservative than his own. But the society, which boasts 550 priests and 200-plus seminarians, has so far refused to sign off on a core set of doctrinal points required by the Vatican to come back into the fold, and has said more talks are necessary. Last month, the Vatican formally proposed a way to bring it back in, saying the society could exist within the church as a "personal prelature" . essentially a diocese without borders, which would enable it to most easily maintain its identity and liturgical traditions. In a statement Thursday, the society said its recent general meeting had "determined and approved the necessary conditions for an eventual canonical normalization" in relations with the Vatican. The conditions maintain that the society s leadership would take a vote about reconciling, if it gets to that stage. But at the same time, the society repeated many of the issues that have prevented reconciliation to date, suggesting that the documentation issued from Vatican II didn t form part of the church s core "magisterium," or definitive teachings. Rather, the society said it used as its guide the constant tradition of the church "while waiting for the day when an open and serious debate will be possible which may allow the return to tradition of the ecclesial authorities." The Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, who follows developments in the society s discussions with Rome on his blog, said the society s statement wasn t negative but offered some clarity. "They keep the door open for continuing discussion," he said in an email. He noted that this was a public document, and must be read in that context. "Over the years the SSPX has used some strong rhetoric for the consumption of their supporters, even while edging closer to (having a) closer dialogue with the Holy See." The Vatican said Thursday it still awaited an official word from the society about the outcome of its general meeting and that the statement by no means constituted a "formal response." In an indication that discussions are expected to drag on further and that Benedict would tolerate further delay the pope recently named a trusted aide, Monsignor Augustine Di Noia, to take charge of negotiations with the society, which are handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Di Noia appointment was announced a few days before Benedict named Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller of Regensburg, Germany, as the head of the congregation. Mueller has publicly lashed out at the society, saying in a 2009 interview with the Catholic agency Zenit that he wanted its seminary in his diocese shut down and the four bishops to resign to live as simple priests "as part of the reparation for the damage that the schism has caused."

No letup in US drought

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More high temperatures and dry weather anticipated over the next few months, forecasters said Thursday. The United States is not alone in experiencing severe weather. Global land temperatures in June were the highest ever since records began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Overall the world s land surface was 1.93 degrees Fahrenheit (1.07 Celsius) above average, said the monthly report, called NOAA s State of the Climate Global Analysis. When land and sea temperatures were averaged together, it was the fourth warmest June on record. In another worrying indicator, a measure of Arctic sea ice cover showed the second smallest amount since records began in 1979. A massive amount of sea ice four times the size of Texas was lost last month -- 1.1 million square miles (2.86 million square kilometers), an all-time high for June. Strong storms worthy of being named for their potential to become hurricanes were also abnormally high in the North Atlantic, marking the first time on record there have been four such events before July 1 in a single year. Tropical storms Alberto and Beryl, Hurricane Chris and Tropical Storm Debby combined to cause unusually high rainfall in the southeastern United States, NOAA analysts said. Elsewhere in the world, conditions were wetter than normal, such as in Britain, which experienced the most rain ever in June since records began in 1910. The forecast was grim for the US drought, which officials have said would likely drive up food prices since 78 percent of US corn and 11 percent of soybean crops have been hit in the United States, the world s biggest producer of those crops. "There is a possibility this could get worse," said Jake Crouch, a climatologist at NOAA s National Climatic Data Center. NOAA forecasts for August showed above-average temperatures for most of the United States, a trend that is typically accompanied by less precipitation than normal. That double punch of high temperatures and low rainfall is expected to continue through October and possibly through the end of the year. While no forecast is definitive, trends indicate a "greater chance that there is no relief possible or in sight," said Dan Collins, monthly forecaster at NOAA s Climate Prediction Center. The current drought has been compared to a 1988 event that cut production by 20 percent and cost the economy tens of billions of dollars. About 61 percent of the country is now affected by the drought. An international report released earlier this month found that climate change is boosting the odds of some extreme weather events, and likely played a role in last year s Texas drought that endured for six months.

Rebels take control of Iraq-Syria border crossings

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"All the border points between Iraq and Syria are under the control of the Free Syrian Army," Adnan al-Assadi told AFP by telephone. "The border points and all the outposts are under the control of the Free Syrian Army. "The Syrian army are focusing on Damascus." Assadi also said there was fighting under way between the Syrian army and rebels across the border from the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar. The top official said Iraqi border guards had witnessed the Free Syrian Army take control of a border outpost, detain a Syrian army lieutenant colonel, and then cut off his arms and legs. "Then they executed 22 Syrian soldiers in front of the eyes of Iraqi soldiers." The account of the killings could not be independently verified. Assadi added: "If this situation continues, we are going to close the entire border with Syria."

Dr Afridi had no link with polio campaign: WHO

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The World Health Organization in a statement issued on Thursday said that Dr Afridi had absolutely no links with any polio vaccination campaign. The baseless information have damaged the on-going vaccination campaigns in Pakistan that lead to the refusal of tribal people to give polio drops to children in FATA. Allegedly Dr Afridi was inoculating hepatitis vaccine with syringes and was collecting blood samples in the neighborhood for genetical investigations. WHO would like to clarify that not only Dr Afridi was not part of the Polio eradication programme but also that Polio vaccine is currently administrated with only 2 drops in the mouth of every children below 5 years and thereofore does not allow collection of blood samples for any use. The misinformation spread by this wrong news in has unfortunately raised doubts on real objectives of the polio eradication campaigns hampering the efforts of a dedicated Polio staff. The government health departments along with WHO, UNICEF and rotary international are trying their level best to clear the misconceptions and make people understanding that polio vaccination is crucial for their children well being. In several articles appeared in the local and international press concerning difficulties encountered in polio eradication in Pakista, it is wrongly indicated that Dr Shakeel Afridi used polio vaccination to track down Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Situation is gradually improving with the help of religious leaders and cleric who are playing an instrumental role in clearing the misconceptions about the polio vaccine and its impact on children s health.

5 crew dead as US Navy copter crashes in Oman

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Lt. Greg Raelson, a spokesman for the Navy s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, gave no immediate word on the fate of the crew Thursday. But an Omani air force official says three of them have been found so far and are being treated in a hospital. The official was not authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity No hostile activity is suspected. Raelson says an investigation is under way into crash of the MH-35E Sea Dragon. He says the helicopter was assigned to a mine countermeasure squadron and was involved in heavy lift operations when it crashed 58 miles (93 kilometers) southwest of the capital Muscat.

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Cricket - Sports

Friday, July 20, 2012

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