Dunya TV

US considering Saleh visit request: official
Coup foiled in Guinea-Bissau, navy chief held
Syria opposition urges UN, Arab intervention
Zardari hits out at 'conspiracies'
Political parties start preparation for election
People of Swat waged war of Pakistans survival: Hoti
MPA Shahid Mahmood Khan resigns
Saudi outlines trimmed 2012 budget
Afghanistan clears oil deal with China' CNPC
Snakes on plane averted as Argentina nabs trafficker
Twin probes to circle moon to study gravity field
Study: San Francisco Bay oil spill damaged herring
Man United routs Wigan but City top despite draw
Olympics: Coe insists 2012 stadium will leave legacy
Nadal looks to recover extra spark in 2012

US considering Saleh visit request: official

Posted:

The United States is considering Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh s request to visit, but would only grant him entry for "legitimate" medical treatment, a senior US official said Monday. Officials also said President Barack Obama s top anti-terror advisor John Brennan called Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi on Sunday to urge "maximum restraint" after forces backing Saleh killed 13 demonstrators. Saleh, set to stand down after a presidential election in February, said on Saturday he wanted to visit the United States, though was not seeking treatment for wounds sustained in an attack on his palace in June. But a senior US official said Monday that Saleh s office had contacted the US embassy in Sanaa and said the president did want to go to the United States to seek "specialized medical treatment." "The request for approval for President Saleh to travel to the United States is currently under consideration," the official said on condition of anonymity. "The only reason that travel to the United States by President Saleh would be approved would be for legitimate medical treatment." UN envoy Jamal Benomar said last week that Saleh, treated in Saudi Arabia after June 3 explosion at his palace, needed "important" medical treatment abroad. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had previously said that Saleh would visit New York for medical treatment.

Coup foiled in Guinea-Bissau, navy chief held

Posted:

Guinea-Bissau s army on Monday said it foiled a coup attempt in the impoverished west African country and arrested the navy chief, accusing him of being the "mastermind" of the attack. Army chief of staff General Antonio Indjai said loyal troops had defeated the assault by renegade soldiers on army headquarters, which came while President Malam Bacai Sanha is undergoing medical treatment in France. "A small group of soldiers" tried to "topple the top brass of the army and the government" but failed, General Indjai said. "The situation is under the control of the army and the government." Navy chief of staff Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was "considered the mastermind of this uprising," army spokesman Captain Samuel Fernandes said by telephone. The attack on army headquarters and on two military units on the southern outskirts of the capital had been "contained", said Fernandes, an advisor to Indjai and a former army chief of staff. He added that Rear Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto was detained and "other officers were also apprehended," naming a General Watna Na Lai. A military source confirmed the arrest of Bubo Na Tchuto, and indicated he was being taken to Mansoa, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of the capital Bissau, where a military garrison is located.

Syria opposition urges UN, Arab intervention

Posted:

Syria s opposition on Monday urged United Nations and Arab League intervention as gunfire from security forces killed 23 people in the besieged central city of Homs. Syrian National Council (SNC) head Burhan Ghaliun told reporters at a Paris news conference that some of the observers were in the besieged city "but they are saying they cannot go where the authorities do not want them to go." He sought UN and Arab League intervention "to put an end to this tragedy," and urged the UN Security Council to "adopt the Arab League s plan and ensure that it is applied." "It is better if the UN Security Council takes this (Arab League) plan, adopts and provides the means for its application," Ghaliun said. "That would give it more force." The Arab "plan to defuse the crisis is a good plan, but I do not believe the Arab League really has the means" to enforce it. The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. Since signing the agreement, Assad s regime has been accused of intensifying its crackdown. An initial group of 50 observers was to have landed in Syria on Monday to oversee the deal aimed at ending a bloody crackdown on anti-regime dissent, which has showed no signs of abating since it erupted in March. Earlier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "rocket fire and heavy machineguns in the Baba Amro quarter killed 15 people and wounded dozens." Seven civilians died in other parts of the central Syrian city and its suburbs, and a woman was killed at Talbisseh near Homs. Another three people, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot dead by security forces at a demonstration in Khattab in neighbouring Hama province, and a youth was shot dead in Saraqeb in the northwestern province of Idlib. In other developments, four army deserters died in clashes with loyalist troops near the Turkish border village of Al-Yunsieh, and explosions were heard amid fighting between deserters and soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

Zardari hits out at 'conspiracies'

Posted:

Pakistan s President Asif Ali Zardari said Tuesday the best way to pay tribute to slain premier Benazir Bhutto on the fourth anniversary of her death was to foil anti-democracy "conspiracies". Tensions between the army and government appear to have soared in recent days over a secret memo that allegedly sought US intervention to prevent a feared coup. "Today we pay tributes to her. The best way to do it is to defend and protect democracy and democratic institutions in the country and foil all conspiracies against it," the beleaguered Zardari said in a statement. Bhutto, twice-elected prime minister and wife of Zardari, was killed in a gun and suicide attack on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi after addressing an election rally. "Let us on this day re-dedicate ourselves to the democratic mission of Shaheed (martyr) Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto whose life was dedicated to fighting dictatorship and those seeking to defame and dismantle democratic institutions," the president said. "I therefore urge all the democratic forces and the patriotic Pakistanis to foil all conspiracies against democracy and democratic institutions," he said. Pakistan is rife with conspiracy theories and Zardari also termed the assassination of Bhutto a conspiracy. "Her assassination was a conspiracy to rid the world of its best weapon to combat international violent extremism. It was a conspiracy to rob Pakistan of its best hope to establish a fully functional democracy," he said.

Political parties start preparation for election

Posted:

According to sources, three major alliances are in the offing as political parties have started preparation for unscheduled elections. Religious parties may form an alliance for the elections while Jamaat-e-Islami may enter a seat adjustment plan with either Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party is bound on formula to adjust its allies. Political activities have been increased in urban and rural areas.

People of Swat waged war of Pakistans survival: Hoti

Posted:

The Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amir haider Hoti has said that peace in Pakistan cannot be restored unless there is peace in Afghanistan. He was addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of historic seminaries in Sawat which were destroyed by militants. He said that if there is peace in Pakistan today it is because of sacrifices of the people of Swat who fought the war of Pakistan’s survival.

MPA Shahid Mahmood Khan resigns

Posted:

Talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly building, Shahid said that he decided to quit Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) due to wrong policies and behavior of party’s leadership. He further said that he won this seat from the platform of PML-N and decided to resign from Punjab Assembly membership after joining Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).

Saudi outlines trimmed 2012 budget

Posted:

It still allows the world s largest oil producer to come away with a surplus forecast roughly at $3 billion. Under the budget announced by the Finance Ministry, revenues are forecast at 702 billion riyals ($187 billion), while expenditures are projected at 690 billion riyals, or 16.5 percent below spending in 2011. The surplus realized in 2011 came in at 306 billion riyals ($69.7 billion). Earlier in the year, as a wave of popular unrest ripped through the Arab world, King Abdullah announced a roughly $130 billion public spending plan that largely benefited the kingdom s lower income population. The funds were aimed at building hundreds of thousands of housing units, as well as creating jobs, raising salaries and offering unemployment benefits. The move came as popular pressure mounted against autocratic Arab leaders, with the people complaining about soaring living costs, a lack of opportunities for youth and a shortage of affordable housing. Saudi Arabia has managed to avoid the protests that led to the ouster of the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt and the toppling of Libya s longtime strongman. Other Gulf Arab countries have also faced their share of tensions most notably Bahrain but none of the protests have so far succeeded in shaking the foundations of the region s monarchies. For 2011, Saudi public revenues came in at 1.1 trillion riyals while expenditures totaled 804 billion riyals, or 224 billion more than had initially been forecast, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on its website. Economic growth is forecast at 6.8 percent, the ministry said, adding that 250 billion riyals had been set aside from 2011 s budget to fund the construction of 500,000 new homes.

Afghanistan clears oil deal with China' CNPC

Posted:

Afghanistan has agreed to sign a deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for oil exploration and extraction, the president s office said in a statement Monday. The state-owned Chinese oil giant will develop three oil fields, along with Afghan company Watan Group, located in the Amu river zone in Sar-e Pol and Faryab provinces in northern Afghanistan, the statement said. "This is the first big contract for exploration and extraction of oil in Afghanistan," the statement said. "There are 87 million barrels of oil in the area." Six oil deposits have been discovered in Afghanistan, including in Herat, in the west, Helmand in the south and Paktia in the southeast. Afghanistan s natural resources could theoretically generate billions of dollars in tax revenue. But exploitation of these resources faces massive hurdles due to ongoing instability, woeful infrastructure and endemic corruption. Chinese companies have been pushing into oil-rich areas as the energy-hungry Asian giant seeks to secure resources needed to fuel the world s second largest economy.

Snakes on plane averted as Argentina nabs trafficker

Posted:

A Czech national was nabbed in Argentina for trying to board a transatlantic flight with 247 live animals including poisonous snakes and endangered reptiles packed in a bulging suitcase, reports said Monday. The man identified as Karel Abelovsky, 51, was caught while trying to board a flight for Madrid when shocked baggage X-ray technicians and staff at the Iberia Airlines desk at Ezeiza Airport in greater Buenos Aires noticed "organic substances moving inside," local media reported. When they opened the bag, they found more than 200 reptiles and mollusks, among them nine species of poisonous snakes including South American pitvipers, packed in clear plastic containers. There were also 15 venomous vipers, including two yararas -- which can measure up to 1.50 meters (five feet) -- and several young boas. Some of the animals were reported to be extremely rare and protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Two of the animals were found dead and most of the others could have suffered the same fate due to a lack of oxygen if the suitcase had been placed in the plane s cargo area. The discovery was made on December 7 but only recently came to light. A judge has charged Abelovsky with attempted smuggling, and he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Researchers suspect that an exotic species smuggling ring was behind the trafficking attempt.

Twin probes to circle moon to study gravity field

Posted:

The moon has come a long way since Galileo first peered at it through a telescope. Unmanned probes have circled around it and landed on its surface. Twelve American astronauts have walked on it. And lunar rocks and soil have been hauled back from it. Despite being well studied, Earth s closest neighbour remains an enigma. Over the New Year s weekend, a pair of spacecraft the size of washing machines are set to enter orbit around it in the latest lunar mission. Their job is to measure the uneven gravity field and determine what lies beneath straight down to the core. Since rocketing from the Florida coast in September, the near-identical Grail spacecraft have been independently traveling to their destination and will arrive 24 hours apart. Their paths are right on target that engineers recently decided not to tweak their positions. "Both spacecraft have performed essentially flawlessly since launch, but one can never take anything for granted in this business," said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The nail-biting part is yet to come. On New Year s Eve, one of the Grail probes short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory will fire its engine to slow down so that it could be captured into orbit. This move will be repeated by the other the following day. Engineers said the chances of the probes overshooting are slim since their trajectories have been precise. Getting struck by a cosmic ray may prevent the completion of the engine burn and they won t get boosted into the right orbit. "I know I m going to be nervous. I m definitely a worrywart," said project manager David Lehman of NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $496 million, three-month mission. Once in orbit, the spacecraft will spend the next two months flying in formation and chasing one another around the moon until they are about 35 miles (56 kilometres) above the surface with an average separation of 124 miles (200 kilometres). Data collection won t begin until March. Previous missions have attempted to measure lunar gravity with mixed success. Grail is the first mission dedicated to this goal. As the probes circle the moon, regional changes in the lunar gravity field will cause them to speed up or slow down. This in turn will change the distance between them. Radio signals transmitted by the spacecraft will measure the slight distance gaps, allowing researchers to map the underlying gravity field. Using the gravity information, scientists can deduce what s below or at the lunar surface such as mountains and craters and may help explain why the far side of the moon is more rugged than the side that faces Earth. The probes are officially known as Grail-A and Grail-B. Several months ago, NASA hosted a contest inviting schools and students to submit new names. The probes will be christened with the winning names after the second orbit insertion, Zuber said. Besides the one instrument on board, each spacecraft also carries a camera for educational purposes. Run by a company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, middle school students from participating schools can choose their own lunar targets to image during the mission.

Study: San Francisco Bay oil spill damaged herring

Posted:

A new study says the 2007 cargo ship accident that dumped tens of thousands of gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay has caused lasting damage to the region s herring population. The study released Monday found that Pacific herring embryos collected from shorelines left coated in oil after the Cosco Busan spill suffered unusually high death rates. They also experienced ailments and deformities associated with exposure to the chemicals in crude oil. By 2010, death rates had returned to normal, but the embryos still showed heart defects. The bay s Pacific herring are the largest coastal population in the continental U.S. They are the only fish species fished commercially in the bay. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study appeared online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Man United routs Wigan but City top despite draw

Posted:

Manchester United flourished as Manchester City floundered on Monday to wipe out its neighbour s lead in the Premier League title race. City s was left clinging to top spot on goal difference after its expensively assembled attacking unit failed to score in the league for the first time this season in a 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion. Injury-hit United took full advantage, with Dimitar Berbatov s hat trick powering the champions to a second 5-0 rout in a week against Wigan. Combined with Wednesday s 5-0 thrashing of Fulham, United seems to have shaken off its early Champions League exit earlier this month. "It was a wake-up call because maybe everyone looked at themselves in the mirror and said,  We can do much better, " United defender Patrice Evra said. "What the fans expect of every player, we are doing now." City and United are 10 points ahead of third-place Tottenham, which plays the first of two games in hand at Norwich on Tuesday. Chelsea is a point further back in fourth and has all but given on up on its title hopes after Fulham condemned its west London rival to a third consecutive 1-1 draw. Liverpool, three points behind Chelsea in sixth, failed to seize on Chelsea s slip-up, drawing 1-1 at home to bottom-place Blackburn. Almost halfway through the season, the title race looks more and more like a two-horse race, although City is starting to show signs of weaknesses after setting a record for the best start ever to a Premier League campaign.

Olympics: Coe insists 2012 stadium will leave legacy

Posted:

London 2012 Olympics supremo Sebastian Coe insisted on Monday that the 2012 Olympic Stadium will leave a legacy to benefit elite competition and community users alike. English Championship outfit West Ham were originally slated to take over as tenants after the Games but that deal collapsed in October amid legal challenges from Tottenham and Leyton Orient. West Ham now hope to become tenants even though the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) will accept a ground-share by a football and a rugby team. Coe told BBC Radio: "My early hopes for that stadium going back 20 years were a Stade de France-type model but I do think given what we now have...track and field will have it for 20-odd days a year which will be for community use and elite level competition. "And with other tenants in there and possibly a football club - I think this is something that can work and will work with community use at the heart." Coe insisted the idea of leaving a long-term legacy was key. "What you have is a stadium designed with legacy in mind so you could have had a 25,000-seater track and field facility. "What we now have is a home for national track and field which we ve never had and the first major legacy of that is having won the right to stage the 2017 World Athletics Championships."

Nadal looks to recover extra spark in 2012

Posted:

Rafael Nadal says his game this year has been too predictable and he has sometimes lacked drive on court -- weaknesses he plans to overcome for Wimbledon and the 2012 Olympics. "With the years, you lose a bit of intensity. Intensity in your self-belief, concentration, being positive, believing things will go well -- those are in the mind. With the years you lose that a bit," he told the Spanish daily El Pais in an interview published Monday. The 25-year-old world number two led Spain to a fifth Davis Cup title in December and won the French Open this year. But he lost in the Wimbledon and US Open finals to Novak Djokovic and surrendered his number one spot to the Serb as a result. "My mind was good in the first half of the year, not perfect because I  needed a bit more in the games against Djokovic. But it was fine," he told the paper. "I have started to work, fight again.. but clearly I lacked a bit in my level of tennis. When you have it, your mind responds better. I have needed to be less predictable playing. I have been too predictable many times during the season," Nadal said. "Those are things that I have to recover for 2012." Nadal said he had to play more inside the court to overwhelm his opponents and take control instead of letting them dictate matches. "In 2011 there have been moments where I have lacked an extra something," he said." The Spaniard said he had a good 2011 overall but felt he was "bad" towards the end of the year and "very bad" when he crashed out of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

PoliticusUSA

Cricket - Sports

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

0 comments:

Reuters News Agency

World EYE