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US relies on Central Asia after Pakistan blocks route
Nawaz: Time to play 10-over match with Imran
Chinese hockey team reach Karachi
Gujranwala: Fine imposed on six CNG stations
Unregistered madaris to be considered illegal after Jan 1
Afghanistan appeals for help with reconciliation talks
Philippines storm toll passes 900 as cities prepare burials
Syria signs Arab League deal to allow observers in
Iraq issues arrest warrant for VP
US urges Iran to free arrested citizen
Deadly Cairo clashes stretch into fourth day
Nawaz arrival in Karachi: PML-N workers manhandle journalists
Oil prices up slightly in light trading
Euro falls on ECB president comments
Golf: Els, Goosen yet to qualify for Masters

US relies on Central Asia after Pakistan blocks route

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The United States is increasingly relying on three transit routes snaking through Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus, to ship non-military supplies and fuel into Afghanistan as the deteriorating relationship between Washington and Pakistan closes off border crossings, according to a Senate report. Use of the Northern Distribution Network to supply US and coalition forces has been crucial in the ongoing war against terrorism. The study found that just three years ago, about 90 percent of non-military supplies to Afghanistan went through Karachi, Pakistan. Today, close to 75 percent of cargo is shipped through the northern network. Some 40 percent of cargo goes through the ground network, 31 percent is shipped by air and 29 percent heads through Pakistan, the study said, citing figures from the military s US Transportation Command. A supply route other than through Pakistan has become an imperative for the US Pakistan closed its two Afghan crossings in Chaman and Torkham, in the northwest Khyber tribal area, almost immediately after NATO aircraft attacked two army posts along the border on Nov. 26. The strikes killed 24 Pakistani troops. "Everybody s hopeful we can get something back on track with Pakistan," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a Democrat, said in an interview with with a foreign news agency. "Pakistanis make money off that route. ...That may interest them at some point ... but on the other hand, we can t be prisoners of one relationship with something as vital to our national security interests." The 25-page report by the Democratic staff of the committee was to be released Monday. It follows a field visit by congressional aides to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in October. While the United States has increased its reliance on the Northern Distribution Network, the report said it "is not a perfect substitute for the current supply routes in Pakistan. For example, the NDN only allows for one-way transit of goods to Afghanistan, though discussions are reportedly under way to expand the NDN to support two-way transit of cargo leaving Afghanistan via the northern routes." The network is also costly an additional $10,000 per 20-foot container to ship through the network compared to going through Pakistan. Separate from the network, the United States relies on the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan to transport American and coalition forces. Manas also serves as an air refueling site for aircraft heading to Afghanistan. "Afghanistan s neighbors fear the 2014 security transition and withdrawal of coalition forces could mean abandonment," the report said. It said government officials told the Senate aides in meetings that they fear the transition will increase drug trafficking and create a security vacuum that extremist groups, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Islamic Jihad Union, would fill. "Transitioning security and governance to the Afghans does not mean America s departure, and I want Pakistan to hear that loud and clear," said Kerry, who has made several trips to Pakistan. "And I want Afghans and the neighbors to hear that loud and clear. America is not retreating from its interests. We re really trying to be more effective about the way in which we re going to support them."

Nawaz: Time to play 10-over match with Imran

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Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader was talking to media in Karachi after attending a dinner hosted by traders of Karachi in his honour. Speaking about Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, he said that it is time to play a 10-over match with PTI chief. Speaking about President Asif Ali Zardari, the PML-N leader prayed for him to recover from his illness.

Chinese hockey team reach Karachi

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Talking to media at the Karachi Airport, captain of China Li Gao Chao said that his made its mark in the hockey arena in a very short time. He was of the view that the spectators will witness quality hockey during the series. Also speaking on the occasion, former Pakistan captain Ahmad Alam said that the tour of Chinese team will open the doors of international hockey matches in Pakistan. First two matches of the Pak-China series will be played in Karachi on December 21 and December 22 respectively. Third match of the series will be played in Faisalabad on December 24 while the lasy match will be played on December 25 in Lahore.

Gujranwala: Fine imposed on six CNG stations

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Supply to six CNG stations in Gujranwala will remain suspended for seven days after a raiding team of Sui Gas found them guilty of selling gas on the first day of three-day gas loadshedding announced under load management plan  in the region. According to Sui Gas load management plan gas supply to 350 SNG stations in the Gujranwala division remain shut from Monday to Wednesday but these CNG stations were selling gas on the said day. The Sui Gas raiding team also suspended supply to a dying factory for violation the gas load management plan.

Unregistered madaris to be considered illegal after Jan 1

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The Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday said the madaris which are not registered with Wafaqul/Tanzeemul Madaris would be considered illegal after January 1,2012. Talking to mediapersons after holding a meeting with Ulema here, he said those madaris which do not have any affiliation with Wafaq/Tanzeem Madaris should register themselves as early as possible, otherwise legal action would be taken against them. The minister said “We all condemn the Sohrab Goth incident in Karachi when police rescued around 50 students of a madrissa found chained in the basement during a raid,” and added Inspector General Sindh has presented a report in the meeting about the incident.

Afghanistan appeals for help with reconciliation talks

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The Afghan government on Monday appealed for international help to boost talks with the Taliban and other armed opposition groups. At a UN Security Council debate on the war-torn country, Afghanistan s deputy foreign minister Jawed Ludin stressed the government s determination to pursue reconciliation efforts despite Taliban attacks and assassinations. "We believe the process may benefit from the establishment of an office, within or outside Afghanistan, whereby formal talks between relevant Afghan authorities and representatives of arm opposition, including the Taliban, could be facilitated," Ludin told the council. The Taliban recently opened an office in Qatar, which western diplomats said could help moves toward reconciliation talks. The minister stressed the cooperation needed from Pakistan and other neighboring countries to overcome armed opposition groups. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said meanwhile that the UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, will remain in the country long after the international military withdrawal scheduled for 2014. Civil groups in Afghanistan and the international community have called for a "strengthened" UN presence in the country. Ladsous said there had been a "relative" decline in security incidents in recent months though over the year so far there has been a 21 percent increase in incidents compared to 2010. The number of attacks in September, October and November is down on last year, Ladsous said, without giving detailed figures. It was hailed as "good news" but Ladsous added: "We mustn t deceive ourselves. We have witnessed large-scale attacks over the recent weeks. We must continue to exercise great caution and vigilance." He said there had been nearly 800 civilians deaths in Afghanistan over the past three months. A Security Council statement released at the end of the meeting welcomed plans for a decade of transformation for Afghanistan that a recent international conference in Bonn said would be launched after the military withdrawal in 2014.

Philippines storm toll passes 900 as cities prepare burials

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Authorities in the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, on the island of Mindanao, where sleeping families were swept to sea from coastal slums, said unclaimed corpses piling up in mortuaries were posing health risks and had to be interred. The head of the government disaster monitoring council said 927 people were now known to have been killed by tropical storm Washi, which brought heavy rains, flash floods and overflowing rivers to Mindanao. The death toll is expected to rise even further as more floating bodies are recovered after sunrise, said Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Ramos s latest toll was a sharp increase from the council s previous figures of 662 dead and 82 missing issued just hours earlier. The Philippine Red Cross, which is doing its own tally, reported 713 dead and 563 missing. "They (the dead bodies) were washed out to sea. They were underwater for the first three days but now, in their state of decomposition, they are bloated and floating to the surface," Ramos told AFP. "The death toll will rise again (in the morning) when more bodies surface." The huge death toll came as government relief workers recovered more bodies from Mindanao, particularly Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which have borne most of the deaths from Washi.

Syria signs Arab League deal to allow observers in

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Syria signed an Arab League initiative Monday that will allow Arab observers into the country, on a day when activists said more than 100 people were killed, making it one of the bloodiest days in the nine-month uprising. Activists reported up to 70 army defectors were killed by security forces who fired at them as they were deserting their military posts near the Turkish border. At least 30 other people died in other incidents across the country, the activists said. Syria has placed severe restrictions on journalists, and the reports by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Revolution General Commission activist group could not be independently confirmed. The signing at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo followed increasing world pressure on Syria alongside a wave of armed clashes between Syria s military and defectors from the army, raising fears of an imminent civil war. The regime s acceptance of observers after weeks of delays came after a warning from Arab leaders that they would turn to the UN Security Council for action to try to end President Bashar Assad s crackdown that the U.N. says has killed at least 5,000 people. The UN General Assembly on Monday condemned human rights violations by Assad s government, calling for an immediate end to violence and implementation of the Arab League plan "without further delay." The vote on the nonbinding resolution was 133-11 with 43 abstentions. By signing, the Syrian regime stands to gain more time and to avert for now at least the possibility of wider international involvement in the crisis. But critics were skeptic the regime would actually allow the observers full, unrestricted access to trouble spots and said it was likely a delaying tactic.

Iraq issues arrest warrant for VP

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Iraq s Shiite-led government has issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country s highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges. Interior Ministry spokesman Adil Daham told reporters about the warrant on Monday, the day after the final U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq and ended a nearly nine-year war. The move signaled a sharp new escalation in sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago. State-run television aired what it characterized as confessions by alleged terrorists linked to al-Hashemi.

US urges Iran to free arrested citizen

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The United States on Monday urged Iran to free "without delay" a US citizen of Iranian descent after state television showed him confessing to what he said was an intelligence mission. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the United States has sought access to Amir Mirzai Hekmati through the embassy of Switzerland, which handles US affairs in Tehran in the absence of diplomatic relations. "We call on the Iranian government to grant the Swiss protecting power immediate access to him and release (him) without delay," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. She said that Hekmati s family first reported his detention in September and that the State Department was offering the relatives consular assistance. Iranian state television on Sunday showed a clean-shaven man in his 20s who said that he was sent to Iran to infiltrate the intelligence ministry by offering information from US forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The channel said that Hekmati, who spoke both in English and Farsi, was born in the US state of Arizona and had a decade of intelligence training. The United States has had unfriendly relations with Iran s government since the 1979 Islamic revolution which overthrew the pro-Western shah. A series of detentions of Americans in Iran have further heightened tensions.

Deadly Cairo clashes stretch into fourth day

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Egyptian security forces clashed for a fourth straight day on Monday with protesters demanding an end to military rule as the death toll rose to 12, despite strong international criticism of the use of force. Two people were killed in dawn fighting in Cairo s administrative heart as security forces swooped to remove the protesters, health ministry sources said. The clashes quickly subsided before several hundred people turned out in Tahrir Square -- the epicentre of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak -- for the funeral of a protester killed in the violence. But the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that took power in February denied it had given orders to use force against protesters and said a plot had been uncovered to burn down parliament. SCAF member General Adel Emara, interrupting a live news conference, said he had "received a call now to say that a plot was uncovered today to burn parliament and there are now large crowds in Tahrir Square ready to implement the plan." An eye-witness in Tahrir said there were no signs of tension there or on the square s outskirts, where a historic building containing national archives was destroyed and protesters were trying to save any surviving documents. Emara said the army "does not use force against protesters" but qualified those in Tahrir as "people seeking to destroy the state... not the honourable people of the January 25 revolution." Presidential hopeful and former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said such statements showed "a deranged and criminal state of mind." The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounced Kato s comments, saying they "incite hatred and justify violence against citizens." Footage on social media networks of military police beating protesters, sometimes leaving them motionless on the ground, has caused nationwide outrage.

Nawaz arrival in Karachi: PML-N workers manhandle journalists

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The Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and security officials manhandled the journalists who were present at the Karachi Airport to cover Nawaz Sharif’s arrival in the city on Monday. Cameras of some journalists were also damaged. The media staged strong protest against the manhandling by PML-N workers but their grievances went unheard. Even Nawaz Sharif left the airport for hotel without speaking to newsmen. The PML-N workers also fought with each other outside the hotel. Police barred the workers from entering the hotel.

Oil prices up slightly in light trading

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Oil prices rose slightly Monday following a sharp, 7 percent drop last week and an encouraging report about U.S. housing that pointed to stronger oil demand. Benchmark crude on Monday rose 35 cents to end at $93.88 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oil that s imported by U.S. refineries, rose 29 cents to finish at $103.64 per barrel in London. A private index showed that builders are less worried about the housing market this month. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index was a rare upbeat sign for the beleaguered industry. It suggested slightly less pessimism for the housing market. That could mean an uptick in home construction and increased use of diesel-burning equipment. The volume of oil trading slowed on Monday with only two, holiday-shortened weeks left in the year. Many oil traders continue to sell their remaining investments for 2011 in an end-of-the-year purge that helped push oil prices nearly 7 percent lower last week. Speculators "aren t going to wait until Dec. 31," independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. "They re always going to try to beat other people out the door." Most of the traders left in oil markets are either working for refineries or some other commercial business that still needs to buy oil before the end of the year, Ritterbusch said. In other energy trading, heating oil fell 2 cents to end at $2.78 per gallon, and gasoline futures were virtually unchanged at $2.4891 per gallon. Natural gas fell 3 cents to finish at $3.096 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Euro falls on ECB president comments

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The euro fell against the dollar Monday after the president of the European Central Bank gave cautious statements about the Europe s growing debt crisis. News that North Korea ruler Kim Jong Il had died initially pushed the yen lower against the dollar, but it has since recovered. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that the central bank was preparing the eurozone s bailout fund for a possible downgrade of France s AAA-credit rating. Draghi said that if France s rating is downgraded, other countries could receive downgrades too. He also said in an interview with the Financial Times that large-scale government bond purchases were outside the central bank s responsibility. Earlier in the month, rating agency Standard & Poor s put 15 of the 17 countries that use the euro on watch for a downgrade. On Friday, ratings agency Fitch warned that it could downgrade Italy, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus. Downgrades could complicate Europe s work to solve the debt crisis because it will cost more for the countries to borrow money. The euro fell to $1.3009 in afternoon trading Monday from 1.3024 late Friday. Fears that European leaders aren t doing enough to end the region s debt crisis pushed the euro to an 11-month low of $1.2943 Wednesday, but it has hovered above $1.30 since then. The dollar rose to 77.92 Japanese yen in midday trading. Earlier it jumped to a nearly three-week high of 78.165 yen on news that North Korea s ruler died. The dollar was worth 77.87 yen late Friday. Traders are concerned that the transition of power in North Korea might not go smoothly. Fears of political unrest in the region also pushed the South Korean won lower against the dollar Monday. In other trading, the British pound rose to $1.5519 from $1.5499 late Friday. The dollar fell to 0.9365 Swiss franc from 0.9372 Swiss franc and to 1.0356 Canadian dollar from 1.0384 Canadian dollar.

Golf: Els, Goosen yet to qualify for Masters

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The field for the Masters took shape Monday after the final official week of golf tournaments around the world. Among the criteria for an invitation is to be among the top 50 in the world ranking at the end of the season. Els, a three-time major champion who has suffered plenty of heartaches at Augusta National, fell to No. 56 in the final ranking. Els has been eligible for the Masters every year since his debut in 1994. Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open champion, is at No. 53. Jim Furyk narrowly claimed a spot in the Masters, to be played April 5-8, when he finished at No. 50.

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Cricket - Sports

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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