Dunya TV

Palestinian envoy to UN for action against Israel
Tokyo stocks hit two-week low
Five-storey building collapses in India
Mexican president says G20 to push for IMF funds
PTI firm to hold rally at Quaid-e-Azam Mausoleum
Karachi: 60 suspected miscreants held
Lahore: Manhole takes minor girls life
S Africa seek step up against S Lanka
Leon Panetta to meet Karzai today
Oil spill in Colombian river cuts off supplies of drinking water
Scientists find signs of Higgs boson
Memo scandal: COAS, ISI chief likely to submit replies to SC
No cut in $700m aid to Pakistan: US State Department
US wants relationship with Pakistan to win Afghan war
KSE 100-share Index slides by 199 points

Palestinian envoy to UN for action against Israel

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Speaking to journalists inside the U.N. headquarters in New York, Riyad Mansour said he has met with the Security Council president for December, Russia s ambassador Vitaly Churkin. Mansour also said he plans to meet with other Security Council members including the United States and Portugal. Mansour said he is seeking action on Israel s continued settlement building in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem. "What I will be raising with my colleagues, the members of the council today and in the next few days as I meet with them and consult with them, is that we want the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility with regard to all these violations, especially the violation of the continuation of the illegal activities of Israel in the settlement front. And we will see what will be the result of this consultation to collectively decide what is possible. Our desire is obvious. We want the most most effective reaction from the Security Council. But that is our desire. The reality is something different because we know the balance of forces and how the Security Council is composed of countries that have, some of them, certain positions with regard to this issue," he said. Israel and its main ally the United States insist that only a peace treaty can establish a universally recognized Palestinian state. But the Palestinians say they have been patient through 20 years of futile talks. Israel has pressed ahead with new settlements. The Palestinians have refused repeated Israeli calls to renew peace talks unless Israel stops building settlements on land they want for a state. "So therefore you know, the fact that we do not succeed sometimes in adopting a resolutions in the Security Council in connection with settlements does not stop us from coming again and again back to the Security Council demanding from it to shoulder its responsibility and to act in accordance with international law because there is an agreement among all member states at the United Nations that settlements are illegal, obstacle to peace, and need to be stopped completely to allow for the two sides to negotiate in an atmosphere that is conducive to increasing the possibility of success," said Mansour. He added, "Therefore, when we come again and again to the Security Council for an action to stop these illegal settlement activities, we are in line with the international law and the Israelis are not and we keep demanding from the Security Council to elevate itself to a level to muster a political will to find a practical way by resorting to measures to bring Israel into compliance. And I believe it should be our collective decision in the international community to succeed in that endeavor if we truly want to open doors for negotiations between us and the Israeli side." The Palestinians have also applied for full U.N. membership and for the recognition of the state of Palestine. The request is now being considered by the Security Council, but the United States has already pledged to veto it in the 15-nation body if it is brought to a vote.

Tokyo stocks hit two-week low

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The stocks touched two-week lows following an overnight fall on Wall Street as European debt problems troubled investors. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened down 39.04 points, or 0.46 percent, at 8,513.77. The benchmark index expanded the loss to 0.70 percent in the following few minutes, briefly falling below the 8,500 mark for the first time since November 30. Sentiment is bearish with the euro s weakness against the yen and caution over potential downgrades to European debt, Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equity division at SMBC Nikko Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires. US stocks gave up early gains in late trade Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund warned Greece s economy was facing deep risks and the Federal Reserve refrained from providing any new spark for the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.55 percent to 11,954.94. The euro traded at $1.3035 and 101.62 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.3033 and 101.66 in New York late Tuesday. It was the first time since early January that the single currency shared by 17 nations has fallen below $1.31. The dollar held firm against the yen, trading at 77.94 yen against 78.00 yen in New York.

Five-storey building collapses in India

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The building in Surat’s Mahidhar Pura locality had developed cracks due to ongoing construction work at an adjacent plot. Following which all the residents of building had been asked to vacate the building in the morning itself. The building was residential cum commercial. Some other buildings in the Hira Bazaar area were also vacated. However, there was no causality in the building collapse.

Mexican president says G20 to push for IMF funds

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The Group of 20 of the world s heavyweight economies will push to increase resources for the International Monetary Fund, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Tuesday as Mexico assumes the G20 leadership. "Also, it is key that the G20 contribute to designing mechanisms to increase the Fund s resources in the short term so that it can attend to the most pressing needs of the current crisis," Calderon said in a speech to kick off Mexico s G20 role. Calderon said separately that Europe must take strong steps to put its public finances in order. "It s crucial that developed economies - particularly Europe, but also the United States - assume their responsibilities, that they take clear and strong decisions to balance their public finances," Calderon said. One of Mexico s first tasks will likely be to broker a deal for increased IMF resources so it can be better positioned to provide more support to Europe. European policymakers agreed on Friday to lend up to 200 billion euros to the IMF. Brazil and other major emerging economies have also said they are willing to boost their contributions. Details on how the mechanism would work, the funding split between lenders and any conditions to be demanded in return have yet to be thrashed out.

PTI firm to hold rally at Quaid-e-Azam Mausoleum

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PTI chief Imran Khan said that he would hold a rally at the mausoleum to convey a message of peace, adding that no other venue would be acceptable for the rally. On the other hand, Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan has said that no one will be allowed to hold rally at Quaid-e-Azam Mausoleum on Dec 25. However, he suggested the PTI to hold rally at Nishtar Park.

Karachi: 60 suspected miscreants held

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During a search operation in different areas of the metropolis, police held more than 60 criminals and recovered weapons and drugs from their possession.

Lahore: Manhole takes minor girls life

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A girl, daughter of Jamil Baig, fell into a manhole while coming back from school. She was rescued in unconscious condition, but she lost battle of life in Jinnah Hospital. Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has sought a report within 24 hours. WASA MD has suspended XCN, SDO and sub engineer Johar Town for rendering negligence towards their duties. PML-N MPA Saif-ul-Malook announced Rs 200,000 compensation money for the deceased family.  On the other hand, police have registered a case against the XCN, SDO and sub engineer.

S Africa seek step up against S Lanka

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South Africa will seek to end a sequence of disappointing results in home series when they take on Sri Lanka in the first of three Tests at SuperSport Park on Thursday. South Africa have lost one and shared three of four most recent home series, with a loss against Australia in 2008/09 followed by drawn series against England, India and Australia. Sri Lanka, though, should not provide too stiff a challenge for the home side. The tourists have had more than a year of poor results and appear to be particularly vulnerable in bowling since the retirement of world record-breaking off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, whose last Test match, against India in Galle in July 2010, marked Sri Lanka s most recent win. Since then Sri Lanka have lost four and drawn 10 of 14 Tests. The large number of drawn games is an indication that Sri Lanka s batting is stronger than their bowling - but they will be up against a strong South African bowling attack in conditions expected to favour pacemen. "The main thing we need to adapt to is the bounce and the pace," Sri Lanka vice-captain Angelo Mathews said. He admitted the team had not played well recently but said there was a confident mood in the side. "The team is in a good mood but we need to show it out there on the field." Much would appear to depend on the form of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who have been Sri Lanka s leading batsmen for the past decade - and who shared a world-record third-wicket stand of 624 when the sides last met five years ago in Sri Lanka. Sangakkara suffered a hand injury in his team s only warm-up match at the weekend but is expected to play. South African fast bowler Dale Steyn refused to go as far as to say it was "payback time" for the bowlers, including himself, who had struggled in steamy Colombo five years ago, but he said the South Africans had made a close study of the Sri Lankan batsmen on video. Steyn said he had been building up his pace during the season after a long break and was feeling no twinges from a troublesome right elbow. "In the last two domestic games I bowled the quickest I have this season. The elbow is fine and my rhythm is good." Steyn said his new ball combination with the steady Vernon Philander was working well. "Then you have Morne Morkel bowling thunderbolts from about 10 feet high and Jacques Kallis is bowling well too." Rain restricted Sri Lanka s only warm-up match, against a South African Invitation XI, to less than two days. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath was the only bowler to impress, with unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis taking only two wickets and conceding 142 runs in 31 overs. But Mathews said he was not concerned about Mendis  form. "He was coming back from two or three months of injury. We all know what a good spinner he is. He can turn a match around." Sri Lanka s pace bowling resources have been hit hard by injuries, with four players ruled out before the tour and Nuwan Pradeep suffering a tour-ending injury in the warm-up game. They do not have the fast bowling firepower of the hosts but Proteas batsman Hashim Amla warned that in South African conditions no seam bowlers could be taken lightly. "We haven t seen them before so that makes them dangerous and our task a bit more challenging."

Leon Panetta to meet Karzai today

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Panetta s two-day visit to Afghanistan comes as Washington starts to withdraw combat troops and hand over security to Afghan forces, who are due to take full control by the end of 2014. It also comes after America s fragile alliance with Pakistan plunged into further crisis when NATO air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border on November 26. Arriving in Kabul on Tuesday Panetta said he believed 2011 would mark a "turning point" in Afghanistan where "troops have been able to reduce the levels of violence". A senior US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity said the meeting with Wardak would focus on the increasing role of Afghan security forces as transition moves forward and they begin to take the lead. Panetta met General John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, on Tuesday who said US troops would increasingly turn to a more advisory role as security is handed over. "We are going to probably see the introduction, timely yet to be determined, of some advisory forces to support ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) formations from inside," Allen said. The United States has announced the withdrawal of 10,000 of its roughly 100,000 troops by the end of the year, while 23,000 others will leave the country by the end of September 2012 after the summer "fighting season". The number corresponds to the 33,000 "surge" troops ordered in by President Barack Obama in late 2009 in a bid to reverse the Taliban insurgency, defeat Al-Qaeda and quicken an end to the war. Panetta said it was important to reach out to Pakistan, where US officials want Islamabad to dismantle Afghan militant havens.

Oil spill in Colombian river cuts off supplies of drinking water

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Vast quantities of oil collected in a north Colombian river on Tuesday, after landslides caused by heavy rainfall damaged pipes. Thousands of residents living around the city of Cucuta, 568km (353 miles) north-east of Bogota, had their drinking water supplies cut off as workers desperately tried to stop contamination spreading. The spill occurred in the Iscala tributary, which leads to the Pamplonita River, where reservoirs contain the city s vital stores of fresh water. Alemar Garcia, director of the Disaster Prevention Office, explained that authorities had decided to close nearby aqueducts. "At 10:35 in the morning the Caño-Limón Coveñas oil pipeline suffered a rupture and its contents spilt into the Iscala River, which connects to the Pamplonita River. As a preventive measure, we ordered the closing of the inlets of the aqueducts in Los Patios and Cucuta," said Garcia. Governor for North Santander province, William Villamizar, said local authorities may look to their Venezuelan neighbours for help. "If it necessary we will ask for the help of Venezuelan populations, like San Antonio de Ureñas and San Cristobel in Táchira state, who can help us in this critical moment," said Villamizar. It is believed that bad weather provoked a landslide, which crashed into the pipes that belong to state oil company Ecopetrol. Fresh water is currently being delivered to the area and its surrounding area in tanks. Priority is being given to hospitals and health centres.

Scientists find signs of Higgs boson

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The elementary sub-atomic particle is believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe after the Big Bang. The Higgs boson is thought to have emerged from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago and have brought much of the rest of the flying debris together to form galaxies, stars and planets. But until now, in the four decades since it was first posited, no one has convincingly claimed to have glimpsed the Higgs Boson. Some leading scientists, including Stephen Hawking, doubt that the tiny piece of matter that would be visible only as a trace on a computer screen is out there at all. But most scientists involved in sifting through vast amounts of data produced in multi-trillions of particle impacts in CERN s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) over the past 20 months seem sure that it is, in one form or another. Researchers at the CERN physics research centre near Geneva revealed their findings to a packed seminar. They have tried to find traces of the elusive boson by smashing particles together at near light-speed at the centre s Large Hadron Collider. The experiments generated such excitement by independently reaching very similar conclusions. But the scientists were quick to warn that their results have not yet reached the level of certainty that would let them claim a discovery. The results are based on the analysis of data, sufficient to make significant progress in the search, but not enough to make any conclusive statement on the existence or non-existence of the elusive Higgs.

Memo scandal: COAS, ISI chief likely to submit replies to SC

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According to sources, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha will submit their replies to the Supreme Court through Attorney General Office. While President Asif Ali Zardari may request for more time to submit his reply, the sources added. While addressing on the eve of 3rd anniversary of Dunya News, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had said that he was a representative of the federation and head of all institutions. The PM also said that Mansoor Ijaz was not a responsible person and had written against Pakistani institutions in past. Mansoor Ejaz had claimed that the memorandum-containing message from the Pakistan Government was handed over to him by the then Pakistan Ambassador Hussain Haqqani, stressing that both Mike Mullen and James John had confirmed the contents of the memorandum.

No cut in $700m aid to Pakistan: US State Department

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Struggling hard to restore its ties with Pakistan in the aftermath of NATO air strike last month, the Obama administration today said that it has not cut any civilian aid to Pakistan, noting that this is an on-going move in the Congress right now. "Well, first of all, just to clarify what has and hasn t happened here in our understanding. We have not cut $700 million in aid to Pakistan," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference. "What we have is something on the defense authorization bill, which is currently moving in the Congress, which would require the Department of Defense to continue providing a strategy on how we will use certain military assistance and measure its progress, in particular on progress that we are making with Pakistan on the IED issue," Nuland said in response to a question. Leaders of a US House-Senate negotiating panel had agreed to freeze $700 million in aid to Islamabad. In a statement issued late last night, negotiating panel of the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously agreed to freeze the $700 million aid to Pakistan pending Pentagon s delivery of a strategy for improving the effectiveness of such assistance and assurances that Pakistan is countering Improvised Explosive Devices networks in their country that are targeting collation forces. "If this legislation becomes law, we ll work with the government of Pakistan on how we can fulfill the requirements. But this requires us to maintain a strategic perspective and to be clear with our Congress about the strategy," she said. "As you know, this is a subject that the US and Pakistan have been working on for some time together, both through DOD programmes and through State Department programmes," Nuland said. The spokesperson did not comment in detail when asked about the conference of the diplomatic corps in Pakistan chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. "I don t have a comment specifically on the outcome of the conference. I don t have full information from our embassy after the conference. I think you know our view that while this relationship is sometimes difficult, it s very important for the US and Pakistan to continue to work together, particularly on threats that face both of us," she said. "Our dialogue with them continues on how we can do that together," Nuland said.

US wants relationship with Pakistan to win Afghan war

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This was stated by the US Assistant Secretary of Defense, Doug Wilson while briefing the media at Pentagon Tuesday. "It has been a difficult time in relationship with Pakistan, but all parts of our government are making every effort to normalise it", he said adding that "the US wants to make sure that we can enjoy positive relationship on a variety of front with a key partner like Pakistan". He said that General John Allen, commander of NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan, had spoken to Gen. Kayani recently but "there is no tangible information as to when the Pakistani troops will return to the border coordination posts or when the NATO supply routes are likely to be re-opened". "We are hoping that supply routes would be re-opened as soon as possible", he opined. Doug Wilson assured that "US will ensure in the meanwhile that our troops get the supplies what they need". "It is, howeverm easier to do this through the land routes in Pakistan", he observed and also expressed ignorance about the new taxes supposed to be levied on trucks carrying the NATO supplies through the Pakistani territory. "I am not aware of any new taxes to be levied on NATO trucks after the re-opening of supply routes. Discussions continue to go on between American officials and their Pakistani counter-parts, but I am not in a position to confirm the substance of these conversations at the moment", he pointed out. The US Assistant Secretary of Defence alos declined to offer any specific update on Pakistani demand to change the rules of engagement with US military, but retiterated the "commitment to working with the partners in Pakistan". "We will try to get the relationship with Pakistan back on a better level", he stressed. On another question about the ongoing investigation into NATO airstrike on November 26 that resulted in the death of 26 Pakistani solders, he said "Pakistanis were invited to participate in the NATO airstrike investigation, but they have decided not be part of it till date". "I don t have anything different to tell you about it", he stated. Regarding the controversy over the US drone that was shot-down by IRan and is now being demanded back, he said that he was unaware of the "specifics or channels being used for getting the drone back from Iran, through Secretary Panetta has made clear that we are not optimistic about a positive answer". While refusing to comment on any intelligence or classified information regarding the data in the said drone, he also suggested that the US had not offered any apology to Iran during the communication asking for damaged drone s return. He also offered "no comment" on the reports of a US drone crashing over Seychells, moments after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta s departure from there. "We have read the reports but are not in a position to confirm at present", he answered. - Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC

KSE 100-share Index slides by 199 points

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The market turnover was recorded at 41.08 million shares. "Selling was witnessed in stocks across the board at KSE after reports that leaders of U.S. Senate agreed to freeze $700min U.S. aid to Pakistan," said a stock dealer at KSE. (Reuters)

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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