| Khursheed Shah boycotts PPP parliamentary board meeting Posted: KARACHI (Dunya News) – The meeting of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary board was held in Karachi on Friday during which Khursheed Shah expressed reservation over awarding of party tickets to some candidates for the upcoming general elections.The sources said that PPP senior leader Khursheed Shah wanted to contest election from PS-4 but he was denied the party ticket from that constituency while party ticket for PS-1 was awarded to Agha Mohsin instead of Dr Nasrullah. Khursheed Shah got annoyed on these decisions and boycotted the party meeting in protest.  |
| N Korea says to enter state of war against South Korea Posted: SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea announced Saturday that it had entered a state of war with South Korea and would deal with every inter-Korean issue accordingly.As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol, the North said in a joint statement attributed to all government bodies and institutions.The long-standing situation of the Korean peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over, said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).The two Koreas have always technically remained at war because the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.The North had announced earlier this month that it was ripping up the armistice and other bilateral peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest against South Korea-US joint military exercises.Voiding the ceasefire theoretically opened the way to a resumption of hostilities, although observers noted it was far from the first time that North Korea had announced the demise of the armistice.The armistice was approved by the UN General Assembly, and both the United Nations and South Korea have repudiated the Norths unilateral withdrawal.Saturdays statement also warned that any military provocation near the North-South land or sea border would result in a full-scale conflict and a nuclear war.  |
| Gas blast in China coal mine kills 28 Posted: BEIJING (AFP) - A gas blast in a northeast China coal mine killed 28 people, authorities said Saturday, according to state media, the latest incident to damage the industrys notoriously poor safety record.Thirteen others were rescued after the accident Friday at Babao Coal Mine in the city of Baishan in Jilin province, the official Xinhua news agency cited a spokesman with the provincial work safety and supervision bureau as saying.Rescue work has finished at the mine and the cause of the accident is under investigation, said the spokesman.The mine is a state-owned colliery under the Tonghua Mining (Group) Co., Ltd, the Xinhua report said.The accident occurred on the same day that a huge landslide came crashing down a mountainside in Tibet, burying 83 workers in a gold mining area, state media said.China is the worlds biggest consumer of coal, relying on the fossil fuel for 70 percent of its growing energy needs.But its mines are among the deadliest in the world because of lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency. Accidents are common because safety is often neglected by bosses seeking quick profits.According to official figures, 1,973 people died in coal mining accidents in China in 2011, a 19 percent fall on the previous year.But labour rights groups say the actual death toll is likely to be much higher, partly due to under-reporting of accidents as mine bosses seek to limit their economic losses and avoid punishment.  |
| Syria rebels seize town on key highway to south: NGO Posted: BEIRUT (AFP) - Syrian rebels have seized a key town on a main highway between Damascus and the south in their latest advance in Daraa province on the border with Jordan, a watchdog said on Friday.Rebels seized control of Dael after destroying the three army checkpoints at the entrances to the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The town is located on a main road linking Daraa to Damascus.The Britain-based watchdog said that a child was among 10 civilians killed in the fighting for the town over the past 24 hours.At least 15 rebels and a media activist working with them were also killed, as were 12 loyalist troops, it added.Large swathes of Daraa (province) are now under rebel control. Their advance in the south is escalating, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.The rebels are inching closer to the provincial capital, and several towns and villages are now out of army hands. Daraa city is cut off almost completely from Damascus, he added.The capture of Dael came a day after a loyalist MP from Daraa province raised the alarm in parliament.Walid al-Zohbi said rebels were advancing in all towns and villages in Daraa province, which is torn from east to west after the army withdrew from many positions.They may have pulled out for tactical reasons, we dont know. But at any rate, terrorists from Al-Nusra Front have taken their place, he added of a jihadist group with roots in Iraq which is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organisation.On Sunday, the Observatory reported that the rebels had seized a swathe of land stretching 25 kilometres (15 miles) east to west along the Jordanian border to the sensitive ceasefire line between Syria and Israel.Elsewhere fighting raged in the northern city of Aleppo and clashes erupted on the outskirts of Damascus, mostly in the districts of Qaboon and Yarmuk, the Observatory said.At least 14 pro-regime fighters were killed in Aleppo where shelling left eight people dead, including two children, and wounded 60, it said.Farther west of the city a missile slammed into the village of Hreitan killing at least nine civilians, including two children and four women, the watchdog added.At least 113 people -- 43 civilians, 44 soldiers and 26 rebels -- were killed in violence nationwide on Friday, the Observatory said.In all, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, the United Nations says.  |
| Bangladesh clashes leave 5 dead: reports Posted: DHAKA (AFP) - Clashes in Bangladesh between police and supporters of the countrys biggest Islamic party left five dead on Friday during protests linked to ongoing war crimes trials, police and media said.Jamaat-e-Islami activists have been staging countrywide strikes and rallies for months to protest against the trials which have placed nearly their entire party leadership in the dock, in cases dating back to the 1971 independence war.Fridays first incident occurred when lawmakers entered a village in northwestern Chapainawabganj district to arrest party activists accused of torching a power plant in such a protest last month.About 6,000 villagers gathered to try and prevent the arrests, leading police to open fire.We at first used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the mob, but they attacked us with hand bombs, sticks and bricks, forcing us to open fire, deputy district police chief Motiur Rahman told AFP.We have heard the news of three men killed, but we have not seen any dead bodies, he said.Local media reports quoted villagers saying three Jamaat supporters were killed, two on the spot and one on the way to hospital.In a separate but similar wave of protests in northwestern Sirajganj district, two Jamaat supporters died after being hit with bullets, local police chief Shamsul Huq told AFP.Police officers went to arrest an activist also accused of violence last month while protesting against the war crimes trial, but they too faced defiance from several thousand villagers.They hurled handmade bombs and fired at us. We also retaliated with gun fire, Huq said.With the latest deaths, 94 people have now been killed in clashes linked to the trials since the war crimes court handed down the first of its verdicts in January over atrocities during Bangladeshs independence struggle from Pakistan.Two Jamaat leaders have already been convicted by the tribunal, which critics accuse of trumping up charges in a bid by the government to settle political scores, rather than deliver justice.The government says the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the 1971 war in which it says three million people were killed and 200,000 women raped. Independent estimates put the death toll between 300,000 and 500,000.  |
| Ferrer advances to Sony Open final by beating Haas Posted: KEY BISCAYNE (AP) - David Ferrer reached the final at the Sony Open, rallying from a break down in the third set Friday to beat Tommy Haas 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.The No. 3-seeded Ferrer, who won the final five games, improved to 25-4 this year and leads the tour in victories.Hes trying to become the first Spaniard to win the Key Biscayne mens championship. Rafael Nadal is a three-time runner-up, and Spaniards are 0-5 in the final.Ferrers opponent Sunday will be the winner of the semifinal Friday night between 2009 champion Andy Murray and No. 8-seeded Richard Gasquet. The path to the title was made easier because Nadal and Roger Federer skipped the tournament, and Novak Djokovic was upset by Haas in the fourth round.Ferrer had lost in his two previous appearances in the semifinals in 2005 and 06.The 34-year-old Haas, the oldest man in the top 50, took a 3-1 lead in final set but appeared to tire and was undone by a flurry of errors down the stretch. The 5-foot-9 Ferrer doggedly chased down shots as usual, winning the majority of the long rallies and taking advantage of a poor serving day by Haas.The No. 18-ranked Haas put only 43 percent of his first serves in play and was broken six times.Ferrer served out the last game at love. He charged forward as Haas final shot landed short of the net, then collapsed to his knees and looked to the sky while raising his fists.Haas, who is projected to crack the top 15 next week for the first time in five years, raced to a 5-2 lead but after that looked nothing like the player who upset Djokovic on Tuesday. He shanked half a dozen backhands and blew several easy volleys, which left him cursing and waving his arms in frustration.Ferrer showed little emotion until the final game. When he took a 30-love lead, he threw an uppercut, and after the final point he fought back tears.Ferrer seeks his second Masters 1000 title. His first came at Paris in November.  |
| Israel, Turkey start raid compensation talks on April 12 Posted: ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish and Israeli officials will meet on April 12 for breakthrough talks over compensation for a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, for which the Jewish state apologised last week, the Turkish prime minister said Friday.Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc had initially said the negotiations for compensation of the victims families would start next week, in remarks carried by the private NTV broadcaster.After the apology, we have the compensation (issue) ahead of us. A delegation (from Israel) will travel to Turkey on April 12 for talks on this, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdodan said in an interview with the CNN-Turk television.Ties between Israel and its closest Muslim ally Turkey plummeted in May 2010 when Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on a six-ship flotilla to the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turkish nationals.The assault triggered an international outcry and severely damaged relations between regional allies Turkey and Israel, with Ankara demanding a formal apology and compensation for the families of the victims.Arinc declined to say how much compensation would be paid out by Israel, adding the exact amount would be clarified after talks with the lawyers of victims families.Until last week, Israel had refused to apologise for the raid and had instead expressed regret for the deaths.But last Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologised to Turkey, ending a near three-year diplomatic rift -- a breakthrough brokered by US President Barack Obama during his visit to Israel.Erdogan accepted the apology in the name of the Turkish people but said the countrys future relationship with Israel would depend on the Jewish state.Israel now expects Turkey to drop legal proceedings over the case -- in particular the high-profile trial in absentia of four Israeli ex-military chiefs by an Istanbul court that opened in November.Prosecutors are seeking life sentences for the four over the night-time assault in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.Its out of the question for the government to cancel the trial at the Istanbul court, Ramazan Ariturk -- one of the lawyers acting on behalf of the nine Turkish victims -- told AFP.There is no return from the case which has to be concluded under the existing Turkish laws, he said.The defendants are former military chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy.They did not appear in the dock, after Israel ruled that those who took part in the raid did nothing wrong.A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: Well examine all cases one by one.  |
| Injured Berdych to miss Davis Cup quarters Posted: PRAGUE (AP) - Tomas Berdych has a shoulder injury and will miss the defending champion Czech Republics Davis Cup quarterfinal against Kazakhstan next month.The sixth-ranked Berdych says on the Czech teams Facebook page that he felt pain Friday morning, a day after he lost 6-3, 6-3 to Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals of the Sony Open in Key Biscayne.He said it was clear to me that I wont be able to play at Kazakhstan.Another key player for the Czechs, Radek Stepanek, has recovered from neck surgery but is expected to play only doubles.The Czechs have three players available for the singles Jan Hajek, Ivo Minar and Lukas Rosol in the April 5-7 matchup on an indoor clay court in Astana.  |
| Siem maintains 3-shot lead in Morocco Posted: AGADIR (AP) - Marcel Siem of Germany shot a 4-under 68 Friday to move to maintain his three-shot lead after the second round of the Hassan II Trophy.The French Open champion made seven birdies mixed with three bogeys on the Golf du Palais Royal course to move to a 12-under total of 132.Mikko Ilonen of Finland and Englishman David Horsey, the 2011 champion, were tied for second. Ilonen carded a 66, while Horsey shot a 67.The 72nd-ranked Siem needs to enter the top 50 by Sunday to earn his first invitation to the Masters from April 11-14.Pablo Larrazabal moved into contention with a 64 to sit four shots behind Siem.Alvaro Velasco of Spain was second overnight but dropped down the leaderboard after an erratic 74, to sit nine shots back.  |
| Formula One: Webber stopped in his tracks by a koala Posted: BERLIN, March 29, 2013 (AFP) - Days after his bid for victory in Malaysia was thwarted by gung-ho team-mate Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber has found himself halted again, but this time by a koala.Stopped in my tracks. Hes on a mission the little fella, Webber posted on his official twitter feed, alongside a photo he took himself of the marsupial crossing the road in front of him.The message provoked some ironic responses from Webbers fans - still smarting after last Sundays incident at the Malaysian Grand Prix when Vettel blatantly defied team orders and overtook his teammate to snatch a controversial win.Good man, Vettel would have hit the other pedal (by mistake of course), wrote one Webber supporter. Another commented: At least he didnt pass youWebber has returned to his native Australia to cool off after the Sepang storm with Vettel ahead of next months Chinese Grand Prix.  |
| Athletics: Rome Golden Gala dedicated to Mennea: IAAF Posted: MILAN (AFP) - World athletics chiefs will dedicate the Golden Gala meet in Rome this June, when sprint star Usain Bolt will compete, to Italian great Pietro Mennea, according to the IAAF on Thursday.Mennea, the gold medal winner in the 200m at the 1980 Moscow Olympics who held the world record in the event for 17 years, died in a Rome hospital last week at the age of 60 from an as yet unnamed incurable disease.Mennea won the 200m ahead of Jamaicas Don Quarrie when he competed in the first edition of the Golden Gala, a meeting designed to unite East and West in the wake of the American boycott of the 1980 Olympics, in 1980.The International Athletics Federation (IAAF) said Friday the 2013 edition of the Golden Gala -- the fifth leg of the 2013 IAAF Diamond League -- will be dedicated to the memory of Italian sprint legend Pietro Mennea.With six-time Olympic champion Bolt competing in Rome for the third consecutive year, the IAAF said the presence of the Jamaican legend will be the perfect way to remember Mennea.A 14-time outdoor Italian champion in his preferred events of the 100m and 200m, Mennea was perhaps best known for setting a world record of 19.72sec in Mexico City in 1979 which stood for nearly two decades.It beat the previous record set by American Tommie Smith, and stood until it was bettered by another US sprint great, Michael Johnson, in 1996.Affectionately known as the Arrow of the South Mennea announced his retirement in 1983 but soon returned to win a 200m bronze at the inaugural world athletics championships in Helsinki that same year.A year later he became the first person to appear in a fourth consecutive 200m Olympic final, at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.He failed to make the medals and, after yet another retirement, returned to competition in time for the Seoul Games of 1988 where he failed to make the final in his fifth Olympics.Mennea later admitted to using human growth hormone (HgH) - a product that was not then on the banned list - to aid his performances.  |
| US OKs first-of-a-kind diabetes drug Posted: WASHINGTON (AP) - The US Food and Drug Administration says it has approved a first-of-a-kind diabetes drug from Johnson & Johnson that uses a new method to lower blood sugar.The agency cleared J&Js Invokana tablets for adults with Type 2 diabetes.The drug is a once-a-day medicine designed to lower blood sugar levels in patients by eliminating more sugar in their urine.The drug works by blocking the reabsorption of sugar by the kidneys, which occurs at higher levels in patients with diabetes.J&J has touted the drug as the first in a new class of medications to help address the growing U.S. diabetes epidemic. The drug differs from older drugs that work by decreasing the amount of sugar absorbed from food and stored in the liver.  |
| Judge rejects divorce for transgender pregnant man Posted: PHOENIX (AP) - A judge on Friday refused to grant a divorce for a transgender man who gave birth to three children after beginning to change his sex from female.Maricopa County Family Court Judge Douglas Gerlach ruled that Arizonas ban on same-sex marriages prevents Thomas Beaties 9-year union from being recognized as valid.Thomas Beatie was born a woman and later underwent a double-mastectomy, and began testosterone hormone therapy and psychological treatment to become a man, but he retained female reproductive organs and gave birth to three children.Gerlach said he had no jurisdiction to approve a divorce because theres insufficient evidence that Beatie was a man when he married Nancy Beatie in Hawaii. He said the Beaties never provided records to fully explain what Thomas Beatie actually had done and not done to become a man.The decision here is not based on the conclusion that this case involves a same-sex marriage merely because one of the parties is a transsexual male, but instead, the decision is compelled by the fact that the parties failed to prove that (Thomas Beatie) was a transsexual male when they were issued their marriage license, he wrote in Fridays ruling.A spokesman for Beatie, Ryan Gordon, said the judges comments came as a shock and that Beatie plans to appeal the ruling. He said Beatie legally was married as a man and never was required to disclose that he retained female reproductive organs when applying for and being granted a new birth certificate in Hawaii as a man. He said Beatie halted testosterone treatments so that he could give birth to his children.Its unfortunate that the judge out here doesnt recognize marriage in another state, Gordon said.Beatie is eager to end his marriage, but the couples divorce plans stalled last summer when Gerlach said he was unable to find legal authority defining a man as someone who can give birth.Gerlachs ruling didnt address whether Arizona law allows a person who was born female to marry another female after undergoing a sex change operation.A separate ruling issued Friday by Gerlach sets guidelines on how the Beaties will co-parent their three children and grants them joint authority in making legal decisions. Thomas Beatie is required to pay nearly $240 a month to Nancy Beatie for child support, but she wont get alimony because the marriage was declared invalid.Nancy Beaties attorney, David Higgins, praised Gerlach for the thoroughness of the decision on the marriage, although it wasnt the one she had hoped for.He still sees a same-sex marriage, but he gave us all the rulings that were asking for as far as the children, Higgins said.The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which isnt involved in the Beatie divorce case, has said courts have declared marriages involving a transgender person invalid in a handful of cases across the country, but that those cases had different factual and legal issues than those in the Beatie case.  |
| Bosnia: Man sentenced to 45 years for war crimes Posted: SARAJEVO (AP) - A court in Bosnia on Friday convicted a Montenegrin man of multiple counts of murder, torture, rape and looting during Bosnias 1992-95 war, and sentenced him to 45 years in prison the highest sentence ever issued in the country.Judge Zoran Bozic said that Veselin Vlahovic, killed 31 people, raped a number of Bosniak and Croat women and tortured and robbed non-Serb residents of a Sarajevo suburb while fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. Among other crimes, the judge described how Vlahovic cut the throats of two brothers in front of their mother, then killed her and raped the mens wives.We are happy with the maximum sentence, said Boris Grubisic, the spokesman for the Prosecutors office.He said that during the trial some of the 112 witnesses described the rape of women late in their pregnancies and mothers being raped in front of their children. Grubisic said that Vlahovic committed the crimes over several months.Although he received the maximum sentence, the prosecution still plans to appeal because he was acquitted on six counts.Vlahovics layer Radivoje Lazarevic said he also will appeal the sentence because he believes that some of the 60 counts on which Vlahovic was convicted were not proven.In 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to Sarajevo, they mistreated non-Serb residents of the areas that they controlled. Vlahovic was the commander of a paramilitary unit that went from house to house looking for Muslims and Catholics, then looted their homes, tortured and often killed entire families.Vlahovic, 43, appeared occasionally bored as the judge spent two hours reading horrific details from the verdict.He said that in most cases, Vlahovic and his gang entered peoples apartments, asked for money and gold, promising not to kill in return a promise they often didnt keep.After the robbery, women were raped and men beaten and tortured. Some were killed on the spot or driven off in a car after, never to be seen again.In some cases Vlahovic asked victims to kiss the hand that was beating them. He took one man to a house and ordered him to have sex with the body of a woman whose throat had been cut, the judge said.Everything was followed by extremely arrogant and brutal behavior, which led the witnesses to remember him as the Monster of Grbavica, judge Bozic said.Vlahovic showed no reaction when the judge pronounced the verdict.Bakira Hasecic, the head of an association of victims of wartime rape, said the sentence was the best satisfaction that has so far come out of Bosnias war crimes court, but added that Vlahovic was such a monster that even the maximum sentence was not enough for him.Vlahovic fled to neighboring Serbia and Montenegro after the war. He was jailed in Montenegro for armed robbery but escaped from prison. Spanish police then found him in 2010 living in the town of Altea. He was extradited to Bosnia the same year although he is also wanted in Spain for robbery and assault with a firearm.The war crimes department of the Bosnian State Court was established in 2005 to take some of the burden from the overcrowded U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague.Foreign and domestic judges and prosecutors have processed about 100 cases of war crimes, including genocide, in accordance with international standards and under the monitoring of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  |
| Names of 54 fake degree holder former MPs sent to EC Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The names of fake degree holders forwarded by Higher Education Commission to the Election Commission of Pakistan included Nasir Ali Shah, Mir Badshah Qaisrani, Seemal Kamran, Shumaila Rana, Akhwandzada Chattan, Samina Khawar Hayat, Ghulam Dastgir Rajar, Waseem Afzal Gondal, Asrarullah Zehri, Umar Goreg, Qasim Zia and Imtiaz Safdar Warraich.The HEC also wrote to the ECP that former MPs Faisal Saleh Hayat, Afrasayab Khattak, Javed Hashmi and Samsam Bukhari did not submit their complete degrees.The HEC has also sent to ECP names of 189 MPs who did not submit their Matriculation and Intermediate certificates.Meanwhile, the Election Commission has listed at its website the names of dual nationality holder former MP and of those who did not submit their affidavits about dual nationality.The former MPs who were disqualified due to dual nationality included five former MNAs, five former MPAs from Punjab and two former MPAs from Sindh.Those who were disqualified due to dual nationality included Farah Naz Isfahani, Shehnaz Sheikh, Zahid Iqbal, Jameel Malik, Farhat Khan and those who did not submit affidavits about dual nationality included Dr Asim Hussain, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Doniya Aziz and Nadeem AEhsan.  |
