Dunya TV

Youm-e-Ashur being observed today
Key US senators urge review of aid to Pakistan
Syria 'accepts' observers as 34 bodies dumped
Islamists look to extend gains in Egypt
Thousands protest against Putin in Moscow
Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan civilians
15 die in Cameroon bus crash, official says
Olympic 2012 security budget doubled
Wladimir Klitschko-Mormeck fight canceled
Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi nominated for top FIFA award
IOC confirms Havelange resigns Olympic membership
Pathan replaces Yadav in India squad for 2 ODIs
Eating fish boosts heart health in young women
NASA confirms 'super Earth' that could hold life
Microsoft, Hitachi announce joint venture

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Ashura Muharram is being observed today (Tuesday) with sanctity and religious fervor all over the country including Lahore amid tight security. Taziya, Alam and Zuljinnah processions have been taken out in all cities and towns across the country. In Lahore, the main Zuljinnah procession is on its way after emerging from Nisar Haveli in the Walled City on Monday night. The procession will culminate at the Karbala Gamay Shah on Tuesday evening. Tight security arrangements have been made to guard any untoward incident. In Karachi, The main Youm-e-Ashur procession will emerge from Nishtar Park at 9:00am. Many small processions will join the main procession on its route to Imam Bargah Hussainia Iraniyan Kharadar where it will culminate in the evening. The main procession in Quetta will be taken out from Punjabi Imam Bargah, Rehmat Ullah Chowk Alamdar Road which will culminate at the same point in the evening after passing through different road in the city.

Key US senators urge review of aid to Pakistan

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The United States must "fully review" ties to Pakistan and weigh possible cuts or new restrictions to military and economic aid, Republican US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham urged Monday. "The United States has been incredibly patient with Pakistan. And we have been so despite certain undeniable and deeply disturbing facts," they said in a joint statement on sorely tested relations between Washington and Islamabad. They cited alleged support from Pakistani army and intelligence officials for the Haqqani network "and other terrorist groups" blamed for attacks on US targets in Afghanistan "that are killing US troops." "The time has come for the United States to fully review its relations with Pakistan. We must assess the nature and levels of our support for Pakistan," said the senators. "In particular, all options regarding US security and economic assistance to Pakistan must be on the table, including substantial reductions and stricter standards for performance," they said. McCain serves as the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, while Graham is a member of that panel and is the top Republican on the committee that allocates US foreign aid. "US policy toward Pakistan must proceed from the realistic understanding that certain actions of Pakistan s military are contributing to the death and injury of our men and women in the military and jeopardizing our national security interests," said the senators. Ties between Washington and Islamabad took a turn for the worse after a US special operations raid killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the sleepy Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May. Relations slid to a new low last month when NATO air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border, prompting Pakistan to boycott the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan s future. McCain and Graham offered their "deep condolences" over those killed in that "unfortunate and unintentional" strike and predicted that a NATO-US military investigation would "clarify the circumstances of this terrible tragedy." "The Pakistani government s response to these events, however, has been deeply troubling and has added to the continued deterioration of our relationship," they said. They pointed to Pakistan preventing NATO supplies from reaching Afghanistan, ordering US intelligence officers to leave the country, and boycotting the Bonn conference, and reports that Islamabad may have decided to suspend all bilateral counter-terrorism agreements as part of a review of overall military relations. "Such steps by the Pakistani government would mark a new low for our relationship," they warned. McCain and Graham called for the United States and its allies to "develop contingency plans" for supplying US forces in Afghanistan.

Syria 'accepts' observers as 34 bodies dumped

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Syria said on Monday it conditionally accepts observers as part of an Arab plan, as a rights group reported militiamen loyal to the regime killed 34 civilians and dumped their bodies in a city square. The Arab League, which has threatened to impose new sanctions on Damascus if it fails to comply with the plan for monitors, said it was considering the Syrian offer to allow them into the troubled country. French oil company Total, meanwhile, said it was suspending its operations in Syria in line with EU sanctions, which indirectly target its local partner. Syria had initially refused to sign an Arab proposal to send in observers to monitor its forces accused of rights violations by the UN, which says that more than 4,000 people have been killed since March in a protest crackdown. But in a letter sent to the Cairo-based Arab League late on Sunday as a League deadline was set to expire, President Bashar al-Assad s regime said it will accept monitors if its conditions are met. "The Syrian government responded positively to the signing of the protocol" on sending observers "based on the Syrian understanding of this cooperation," Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi told reporters. While confirming the receipt of a Syrian government letter outlining the about-face, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said it contained "new demands." "We ve contacted Arab foreign ministers and they have been apprised of the Syrian letter," Arabi said, adding that consultations were under way. Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one activist reported seeing "the bodies of 34 civilians, in a square in the pro-regime neighbourhood of Al-Zahra, who had been abducted by the shabiha on Monday." The civilians, it said, had been seized from several "anti-regime neighbourhoods" in Homs, which has been targeted by a brutal crackdown on almost nine months of anti-regime dissent. The Observatory also reported the so-called "shabiha" militiamen on Monday abducted a bus driver and his 13 passengers in Homs province.

Islamists look to extend gains in Egypt

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Islamist candidates on Monday looked to extend their crushing victory in Egypt s first parliamentary elections since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, as voters turned out for run-off polls. Last week, residents in a third of the country s districts including Cairo and second city Alexandria cast ballots at the start of the multi-stage polls, choosing a party and two candidates for a new 498-seat lower parliament. In the party returns, Islamists picked up at least 65 percent of votes, with the more moderate Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in first place with 36.6 percent and the hardline Salafist party Al-Nur second with 24.4 percent. In the individual contests, all but four of the 56 seats up for grabs went into a run-off vote being held on Monday, with about 20 of them being contested between FJP and Al-Nur candidates. "Whatever happens, the important thing is that an Islamist wins," said a woman dressed in black and wearing a veil revealing only her eyes as she handed out pamphlets for Al-Nur on Monday in the port city of Alexandria. The surge in Salafist groups, which advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia, has raised fears among increasingly marginalised liberals about civil liberties and religious freedom. Voter turnout for the run-offs was far below the level seen last Monday and Tuesday -- revised down from 62 percent to 52 percent on Monday -- when queues had formed early in the morning outside polling stations. The head of the election committee, Abdel Moez Ibrahim, said results from several polling stations would be withheld after court rulings cancelling votes in them after complaints of violations. He said voting would continue in these stations, "but we are not going to declare the results until the higher administrative court rules." Voting last Monday and Tuesday was only the opening phase of an election that will see the remaining two-thirds of districts go to the polls later this month and in January. Final results are due on January 13.

Thousands protest against Putin in Moscow

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Several thousand people protested Monday night against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his party, which won the largest share of a parliamentary election that observers said was rigged. It was perhaps the largest opposition rally in years and ended with police detaining some of the activists. A group of several hundred marched toward the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses. The total number of those detained was not immediately available. Estimates of the number of protesters at the rally ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. They chanted "Russia without Putin" and accused his United Russia party of stealing votes. United Russia took about 50 percent of Sunday s vote, a result that opposition politicians and election monitors said was inflated because of ballot stuffing and other vote fraud. It was a significant drop from the last election, when the party took 64 percent. Pragmatically, the loss of seats in parliament appears to mean little; two of the three other parties winning seats have been reliable supporters of government legislation. But, it is a substantial symbolic blow to a party that had become virtually indistinguishable from the state itself. The result came just three months before Russia votes for a new president. Putin, who became prime minister in 2008 because of presidential term limits, will run for a third term in March and some opposition leaders saw the parliamentary election as a game-changer for what had been presumed to be Putin s easy stroll back to the Kremlin. Also Monday, more than 400 Communist supporters gathered to express their indignation over the election, which some called the dirtiest in modern Russian history. The Communist Party finished second with about 20 percent of the vote. "Even compared to the 2007 elections, violations by the authorities and the government bodies that actually control the work of all election organizations at all levels, from local to central, were so obvious and so brazen," said Yevgeny Dorovin, a member of the party s central committee.

Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan civilians

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A minibus full of Afghan civilians struck a roadside bomb while driving down a road in southern Afghanistan on Monday, setting off an explosion that killed five passengers. One woman and four children died and another six passengers were wounded, said Fareed Ayal, a spokesman for the Uruzgan provincial police. Ayal said the vehicle had just left the main market area in Chor district when it hit the buried explosive. He said two brothers and their families were traveling in the minibus. Civilians are regularly victims of bombs laid by insurgents to target Afghan or international forces. The U.N. said in a recent report that 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in the crossfire between Taliban insurgents and Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces during the first half of this year up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier. The U.N. report attributed 80 percent of the civilian deaths to insurgents and others fighting against the Afghan government. International troops and other pro-government forces were to blame for 14 percent of the deaths; 6 percent were not attributed to any side.

15 die in Cameroon bus crash, official says

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A government official says that 15 people were killed and 40 were seriously injured in a bus crash in Cameroon s northwest. West Regional Governor Samuel Diboa says that the bus was heading to Yaounde when it crashed into a trailer truck parked on the side of the road and carrying a bulldozer early Monday. He said the bus burst into flames. Diboa said that the 40 injured people were rushed to hospitals. At least 1,200 people died from road accidents in 2010, according to data from the West African nation s ministry of transport. The ministry says recklessness, high speed drunk driving and the poor state of most of the vehicles has led to a high death rate from road accidents in Cameroon.

Olympic 2012 security budget doubled

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The security budget for the 2012 London Olympics has doubled, a government report out Monday showed, with plans to recruit almost 14,000 extra personnel. The operation to provide security at more than 100 venues has swollen after the decision was taken to boost staff numbers, the December 2011 Olympic Quarterly Economic Report showed. The report stressed that the increase was not in response to a specific security threat. The overall budget for the Games remains at 9.3 billion pound ($14.5 billion, 10.8 billion euros), with 528 million pound so far unspent. The security cost has risen to 553 million pound, the figures from July to September showed, up 282 million pound on the 2010 spending review baseline. Instead of the 10,000 security officers initially planned for, there will now be 23,700, with the majority coming from a private firm. The military and volunteers will make up the rest. The government and Games organisers have gone through a detailed analysis of the number of security staff needed, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson explained. "As a result, to ensure a safe and secure Games, they have revised the numbers of trained staff required," he said. "We are therefore investing additional funds in providing nearly 24,000 venue security personnel plus specialist security equipment." Meanwhile the security budget for the opening and closing ceremonies has also effectively been doubled by an injection of 41 million pound from the public purse. "London s opening and closing ceremonies are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the very best of our country to four billion people around the world," Robertson said.

Wladimir Klitschko-Mormeck fight canceled

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WBO, IBF and WBA heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko pulled out of his fight against French challenger Jean-Marc Mormeck on Monday after undergoing two operations in two days to remove a kidney stone. The fight had been scheduled for Saturday in Duesseldorf. Klitschko s promoter, Bernd Boente, said Monday that March 3 was a possible new date for the fight. The IBF would have to approve it because nominally Klitschko would be requested to fight a mandatory challenger on that date. "We hope to know in two or three days. Mormeck is also ready to accept it," Boente said, adding that Klitschko was "deeply disappointed" by having to call off the fight. Klitschko had abdominal pain at his training camp in Austria on Friday. The 35-year-old Ukrainian was taken to Innsbruck for initial treatment before being transferred to a Duesseldorf hospital. The stone was removed Saturday but Klitschko returned to the hospital Sunday before a scheduled television appearance. His older brother Vitali, the WBC champion, appeared on the live programme and said Wladimir was taken ill shortly before the show and returned to the Duesseldorf hospital. Dr. Peter Albers, the chief urologist at the Duesseldorf University Hospital, said Klitschko was doing well and did not have pain any longer. "But he is very week after two surgeries and it makes no sense to have a fight now," Albers said. The 39-year-old Mormeck is a former WBC and WBA unified cruiserweight champion. He has won all his fights since moving to the heavyweight division in 2009. He has a career record of 36 wins (22 KOs) and four defeats.

Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi nominated for top FIFA award

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Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez will be up against Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo for the FIFA world player of the year award, mirroring the intense rivalry between the Spanish giants. The three Ballon d Or finalists were named Monday from 23 nominees. Messi beat Barcelona teammates Andres Iniesta and Xavi to win last year. Messi also won the award two years ago when France Football magazine chose the best player in Europe. The Ballon d Or is now merged with FIFA s player of the year award to create one trophy. Messi and Ronaldo have already scored 17 league goals this season. They face each other in the Spanish league on Saturday. "It s great to be again nominated as one of the FIFA Ballon d Or final 3 contenders," Ronaldo said on his Twitter account. Ronaldo won the Golden Ball award in 2008, and his quest to overtake Messi as the world s top player has seen the Portuguese star playing probably the best football of his career over the past year. He broke the Spanish league scoring record with 40 goals last season, including 11 in his last four games. Messi scored fewer 31 league goals but set up more than Ronaldo. He also walked away with the Champions League and Spanish league titles, while Ronaldo only won the Copa del Rey, or Spanish Cup, scoring with a bullet header in the final against Barcelona. The winner will be announced on Jan. 9 in Zurich, Switzerland. If Messi wins the award for the third time, he will join former France midfielder Michel Platini, and former Netherlands greats Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten as three-time Golden Ball winners. The 24-year-old Messi scored in the 3-1 win over Manchester United in last season s Champions League final.

IOC confirms Havelange resigns Olympic membership

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After nearly half a century in the Olympic movement, former FIFA President Joao Havelange has left the IOC under a cloud of corruption allegations. The 95-year-old Brazilian s resignation from the IOC was confirmed by the Olympic body and FIFA on Monday, three days before he faced possible suspension for allegedly taking kickbacks as president of FIFA. Havelange led the football body from 1974-98. "The IOC confirms that it has received the resignation letter from Mr. Joao Havelange," the IOC said of its longest-standing member, who joined the organization in 1963. The IOC s executive board was preparing to rule Thursday on claims that Havelange took a $1 million kickback from World Cup marketing deals while president of FIFA. Earlier Monday, FIFA said Havelange had resigned and that the IOC s ethics case against him had been closed. "FIFA has taken note of Joao Havelange s resignation as IOC Member and the fact that the IOC has closed the case accordingly," FIFA said in a statement. Havelange s decision to leave the IOC prompted speculation he could resign or lose his status as FIFA s honorary president. However, FIFA said authority over his ceremonial position belonged to football s 208 nations and Havelange himself. "It is important to note that Joao Havelange was appointed honorary president by the FIFA Congress on June 8, 1998," the governing body said. "FIFA cannot speculate on any decisions made by Mr. Havelange." Havelange has been under investigation by its ethics commission for allegedly receiving a $1 million payment from former FIFA marketing partner ISL. A two-year suspension, or even possible expulsion, for Havelange was expected to be considered at Thursday s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Pathan replaces Yadav in India squad for 2 ODIs

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Allrounder Irfan Pathan has been called up to India s 15-man squad for the remaining two one-day games against West Indies so Umesh Yadav can acclimatize in Australia for an upcoming test series. The Indian cricket board made the announcement in a statement after West Indies won by 16 runs on Monday to trail 2-1 in the five-match series. Pathan last represented India during the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June 2009. Six other players will leave on Thursday for Australia for a four-test series that starts in Melbourne on Dec. 26. They are Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha and Wriddhiman Saha. Selectors also announced that Abhimanyu Mithun will replace injured swing bowler Praveen Kumar on the Australian tour. India ODI squad: Parthiv Patel, Virender Sehwag (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun.

Eating fish boosts heart health in young women

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Women of childbearing age can reduce their risk of heart problems by regularly eating fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids, said a Danish study out Monday. The study is the first to examine younger women, age 15-49, and determine whether fish in their diet has a real impact on their current likelihood of heart problems, instead of their longevity. For instance, "those who rarely or never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems over eight years than those who ate fish regularly," the research said. Women who rarely or never ate fish faced a 90 percent higher risk of heart problems than those who ate fish weekly. When researchers looked at hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in three different assessments over a 30 week period, they found it was three times higher among women who did not eat fish. The findings, published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, are based on a Danish study of 49,000 women with a median age of 30 that spanned eight years. Women were interviewed by phone about their family history, lifestyle and fish consumption, and were tracked over the next eight years. "We saw a strong association with cardiovascular disease in the women who were still in their late 30s," said Marin Strom, lead researcher and post doctoral fellow at the Centre for Fetal Programming at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. "The biggest challenge in getting health messages like this across to younger populations is that usually the benefits may not be evident for 30 or 40 years, but our study shows this is not the case." Women most commonly reported eating cod, salmon, herring, and mackerel, all of which are high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, believed to protect against heart and vascular disease. The study focused exclusively on dietary intake of fish, not supplements with fish oil. "Women who eat fish should find the results encouraging, but it is important to emphasize that to obtain the greatest benefit from fish and fish oils, women should follow the dietary recommendations to eat fish as a main meal at least twice a week," said Strom.

NASA confirms 'super Earth' that could hold life

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In another step toward finding Earth-like planets that may hold life, NASA said Monday the Kepler space telescope has confirmed its first-ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system. French astronomers earlier this year confirmed the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life. But Kepler-22b, initially glimpsed in 2009, is the first the US space agency has been able to confirm. Confirmation means that astronomers have seen it crossing in front of its star three times. But it doesn t mean that astronomers know whether life actually exists there, simply that the conditions are right. Such planets have the right distance from their star to support water, plus a suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life. "We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler-22b," said Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center. "We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface, it ought to have a nice temperature," he told reporters. Spinning around its star some 600 light years away, Kepler-22b is 2.4 times the size of the Earth, putting it in class known as "super-Earths," and orbits its Sun-like star every 290 days. Its near-surface temperature is presumed to be about 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius). Scientists do not know, however, whether the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid. The planet s first "transit," or star crossover, was captured shortly after NASA launched its Kepler spacecraft in March 2009. NASA also announced that Kepler has uncovered 1,094 more potential planets, twice the number it previously had been tracking, according to research being presented at a conference in California this week. Kepler is NASA s first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours, and cost the US space agency about $600 million. It is equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space -- a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices -- and is expected to continue sending information back to Earth until at least November 2012. Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet. The latest confirmed exoplanet that could support life brings to three the total number confirmed by global astronomers. In addition to French astronomers  confirmed finding of Gliese 581d in May, Swiss astronomers reported in August that another planet, HD 85512 b, about 36 light years away seemed to be in the habitable zone of its star. However, those two planets are "orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our Sun," NASA said in a statement, noting that Kepler-22b "is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our Sun."

Microsoft, Hitachi announce joint venture

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Microsoft Corp. is joining forces with Hitachi Consulting to help develop new software for Microsoft s business group in Fargo. The agreement announced Monday would establish a technical development center in Fargo. Plans call for the business to start out at the Microsoft campus and eventually move into a new facility. Hitachi Consulting spokesman Mike Gillis expects the new venture to employ about 20 people in the first six months, but says it has potential to hire more than 1,500 people. Hitachi Consulting is a global management consulting and technology services company with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. About 1,700 people work for Microsoft s Fargo operation.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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