Dunya TV

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• Obama urges N Korea to end 'belligerent approach'
• Syria air force pounds Lebanon town: officials
• North Korea hints it will soon launch a missile
• Obama: Situation in Syria at a 'critical juncture'
• Iranian opposition group opens Washington office
• Chelsea lead quartet into Europa League semis
• Tennis: Anderson, Klizan reach quarters in Morocco
• Tennis: Ferrer out of Monte Carlo Masters
• Golf: Hole-in-one for Donaldson as Masters
• Leishman grabs Masters lead, Woods in the mix
• Oil falls below $94 a barrel on demand forecast
• Afridi wants to play at 2015 World Cup
• Hagel backs closing military prison at Guantanamo
• Imran seeks vote right for overseas Pakistanis
• NATO Container Case: FBR out to hoodwink SC

Obama urges N Korea to end 'belligerent approach' Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Thursday called on North Korea to end its belligerent approach, as the world waited for Pyongyang to carry out an expected missile launch.Obama, who spoke alongside UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after talks in the Oval Office, said nobody wants to see a conflict with the North, but that the United States is ready to take necessary measures to defend itself.We both agree that now is the time for North Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking, Obama said.It's important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe basic rules and norms.While the US president emphasized that Washington would continue to try to work to resolve some of those issues diplomatically, he made it clear that the United States would be ready to face any eventuality and defend its allies.The United States will take all necessary steps to protect its people and meet our obligations under our alliances in the region, Obama said.Earlier Thursday, Group of Eight foreign ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry strongly condemned Pyongyang over its nuclear program, warning it would face further sanctions in the event of a missile launch.North Korea has threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the United States and its allies in northeast Asia in retaliation over UN sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's December rocket launch and February nuclear test.

Syria air force pounds Lebanon town: officials Posted: BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria's air force pounded a rural area near the town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon for the second time in 24 hours on Thursday, officials said.I can confirm there was a raid, said Ahmad Fliti, deputy head of the council in the majority Sunni Muslim town in northeastern Lebanon.Several ambulances travelled immediately to the affected area to transfer the wounded to clinics and hospitals, Fliti told AFP, adding it was unclear how many people were hurt.A security official confirmed reports of the attack, and a Lebanese Red Cross said the organisation took four wounded away from the scene.The raid came a day after Syrian jets bombed Sarjal Ajram, the same area that was struck on Thursday.Residents of Arsal mostly support the uprising in neighbouring Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.In the past, many Syrians have entered into Lebanon via this area. Many were refugees and others were injured being transported into Lebanon. Smugglers also use this route to enter and exit Syria, said Fliti.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Red Cross official said five wounded Syrians were transported into Lebanon on Thursday, after fierce clashes near Shiite villages in Qusayr just inside Syria.The battles pitted Syrian regime troops and powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah against anti-Damascus rebels, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.After Wednesday's air strike, the office of Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman said there was no military target in the area and that there were no reasons or justifications for it.The statement also referred to cross-border shelling of northern Lebanon, without specifying when.Syrian warplanes bombarded northern Lebanon for the first time in the country's spiralling two-year conflict on March 18, a Lebanese army official and a US official said, although Damascus denied responsibility.Frequent cross-border shelling has also struck areas of northern and eastern Lebanon.Also on Thursday, five Shiites were abducted in eastern Lebanon, after a wave of tit-for-tat sectarian kidnappings broke out last month. Three Sunnis from Arsal were kidnapped in revenge.

North Korea hints it will soon launch a missile Posted: PYONGYANG (AP) - Hinting at a missile launch, North Korea delivered a fresh round of war rhetoric Thursday with claims it has powerful striking means on standby. Seoul and Washington speculated that it is preparing to test-fire a missile designed to be capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.On the streets of Pyongyang, North Koreans shifted into party mode as they celebrated the anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un's appointment to the country's top party post one in a slew of titles collected a year ago in the months after his father Kim Jong Il's death.But while there was calm in Pyongyang, there was condemnation in London, where foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations slammed North Korea for aggressive rhetoric that they warned would only further isolate the impoverished, tightly controlled nation.North Korea's provocations, including a long-range rocket launch in December and an underground nuclear test in February, seriously undermine regional stability, jeopardize the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and threaten international peace and security, the ministers said in a statement.In the capital of neighboring South Korea, the country's point person on relations with the North, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, urged Pyongyang to engage in dialogue and reverse its decision to pull workers from a joint industrial park just north of their shared border, a move that has brought factories there to a standstill.We strongly urge North Korea not to exacerbate the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, Ryoo said.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was headed to Seoul on Friday for talks with South Korean officials before heading on to China.If anyone has real leverage over the North Koreans, it is China, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress on Thursday. And the indications that we have are that China is itself rather frustrated with the behavior and the belligerent rhetoric of ... Kim Jong Un.In the latest threat from Pyongyang, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a nonmilitary agency that deals with relations with South Korea, said striking means have been put on standby for a launch and the coordinates of targets put into the warheads. It didn't clarify, but the language suggested a missile.The statement was the latest in a torrent of warlike threats seen outside Pyongyang as an effort to raise fears and pressure Seoul and Washington into changing their North Korea policies, and to show the North Korean people that their young leader is strong enough to stand up to powerful foes.Referring to Kim Jong Un, Clapper told Congress that I don't think ... he has much of an endgame other than to somehow elicit recognition, and to turn the nuclear threat into negotiation and to accommodation and presumably for aid.North Korea probably has advanced its nuclear knowhow to the point where it could arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead, but the weapon wouldn't be very reliable, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded. The DIA assessment was revealed Thursday at a public hearing in Washington.Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile designed to be capable of reaching Guam. Foreign experts have dubbed the missile the Musudan after the northeastern village where North Korea has a launchpad, saying it has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles).Such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity, and mark a major escalation in Pyongyang's standoff with neighboring nations and the United States. North Korea already has been punished by new U.N. sanctions for the rocket launch and nuclear test.

Obama: Situation in Syria at a 'critical juncture' Posted: WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says the situation in Syria has reached, in his words, a critical juncture.A civil war that has raged in Syria for more than two years has killed 70,000 people, according to United Nations estimates. No end appears to be in sight and Syrian President Bashar Assad had held on to power longer than the U.S. expected.Obama commented Thursday at the White House alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.Ban says Syria is a most troubling situation. He urged world leaders, including Obama, to do more to help stop the violence.

Iranian opposition group opens Washington office Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - The People's Mujahedeen, the Iranian opposition group listed by the United States as a terrorist organization until last year, opened an office in Washington Thursday for the first time in 15 years.Located about 100 meters (yards) from the White House, the office was officially opened with a ceremony attended by former national security adviser and retired general James Jones and John Bolton, a former arms control official in the Bush administration.Soona Samsami, the US representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a parliament in exile whose main member is the People's Mujahedeen, said the US policy of engagement with Iran had failed and urged regime change.It is now time to direct all efforts towards democratic change in Iran, she said in remarks at the opening. The United States must stand with the Iranian people as they stand for liberty.The People's Mujahedeen, also known as the MEK, had been listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization since 1997, but the administration of President Barack Obama lifted the designation in September.The group was founded in 1965 with the aim of overthrowing the Shah of Iran, but after the country's Islamic revolution in 1979 it took up arms against the Islamic regime, operating from bases in Iraq.More than 3,000 members of the group remain confined to two camps in Iraq.The MEK says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Tehran regime through peaceful means.Samsami said Tehran's leaders were focused on eliminating its organized opposition, thousands of whose members are in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty.It is fully aware that the MEK in general and the residents of Ashraf and Liberty in particular will play a decisive role in any development inside the country, she said.Jones called the MEK a very important movement, which will hopefully lead someday to the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, in the wonderful country of Iran, where the people deserve so much better than they're getting.Bolton said the MEK's delisting came at a critical time with nuclear proliferation threats from North Korea and Iran, and praised the opposition group for calling for a nuclear-free Iran.

Chelsea lead quartet into Europa League semis Posted: MANCHESTER (AP) - Chelsea stumbled into the semi-finals of the Europa League despite losing to Rubin Kazan on Thursday, while Basel beat Tottenham in a penalty shootout to also reach the last four.Fenerbahce and Benfica were the other teams to advance in Europe's second-tier competition after holding on for 1-1 draws at Lazio and Newcastle in their quarterfinal second legs.Chelsea, the reigning European champion, lost 3-2 in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium the scene of its defeat in the 2008 Champions League final but progressed 5-4 on aggregate.Tom Huddlestone and Emmanuel Adebayor failed with their spot kicks as Basel won the shootout 4-1, after a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes took the aggregate score to 4-4.Basel and Fenerbahce qualified for their first European semi-finals. The draw takes place Friday.

Tennis: Anderson, Klizan reach quarters in Morocco Posted: CASABLANCA (AP) - Kevin Anderson of South Africa reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II by defeating Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday.The second-seeded Anderson will next play Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, who beat Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen 7-6 (5), 6-1.Martin Klizan of Slovakia also advanced by dispatching Italian qualifier Filippo Volandri 6-4, 7-6 (5).The third-seeded Klizan will face Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who outlasted Kenny De Schepper of France 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3.Anderson won six straight games to capture the first set and lead 4-0 in the second. He lost just a point on serve in the first set.Carreno-Busta got some attention this year by winning seven futures titles and knocking out defending champion Pablo Andujar in the first round at Casablanca.He managed to break Anderson's serve in the fifth game of the second set but Anderson held on to convert his second match point with a forehand winner.In the other second-round matches, Zemlja saved four set points to force a tiebreaker, and took the first set with a backhand winner. The eighth-seeded Slovenian moved into a 5-0 lead in the second and clinched the victory with a forehand winner.Voted 'newcomer of the year' in 2012, Klizan struggled with his serve in the opening set, double-faulting five times and landing only 40 percent of his first serves. But the Slovakian broke serve three times to grab the first set.Klizan rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the next set. He then wasted two match points at 6-5 but held his nerve in the tie-breaker, winning the match with a drop shot.The seventh-seeded Haase broke De Schepper twice in the first set. But the Frenchman fought back by winning the first four points in the tie-breaker before slamming a smash to level at one set apiece.Haase capitalized on a double fault from De Schepper to lead 2-0 in the final set. The Dutchman then saved four break points to secure the victory.

Tennis: Ferrer out of Monte Carlo Masters Posted: PARIS (AFP) - World number four David Ferrer withdrew from next week's Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday, citing unspecified physical problems.The Spaniard said on his Twitter account that he hoped to return to action at the Barcelona claycourt tournament which starts on April 22.Unfortunately I cannot be in Monte Carlo for physical problems. I hope to be fit to play at Barcelona, said Ferrer.The Monte Carlo Masters, the first significant claycourt build-up tournament to the French Open, starts on Sunday.Rafael Nadal will be seeking a ninth straight title in the principality but faces tough competition from the world's top two players, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.World numbers three and four, Roger Federer and David Ferrer, are not playing in Monaco.

Golf: Hole-in-one for Donaldson as Masters Posted: AUGUSTA (AFP) - Welshman Jamie Donaldson bagged the first hole in one of the 77th Masters on Thursday when he aced the 180-yard sixth hole in his opening round.The Abu Dhabi Championship winner had opened his round with a bogey and followed with four straight pars before he holed his tee shot at six.

Leishman grabs Masters lead, Woods in the mix Posted: AUGUSTA (AP) - So much for local knowledge at the Masters.Australia's Marc Leishman had only played two whole rounds at Augusta National, but finished Day 1 at the top of the leaderboard.David Lynn had never played in the first major of the year. The Englishman was two shots back.With all eyes on Tiger Woods, two unheralded players claimed the top spots on the leaderboard Thursday.Leishman shot a 6-under 66 and surged to the front with four straight birdies on the back side starting at No. 13. Not bad, considering the Australian had missed the cut in his only other Masters appearance in 2010.He was hardly on a roll coming into Augusta, having missed the cut in his two previous PGA Tour events. But it all came together, for one day at least, amid the azaleas and towering Georgia pines.No Australian has ever won the Masters.Lynn showed that his runner-up finish in last year's PGA Championship was no fluke. Under gray skies with a growing chance of rain, he birdied four of five holes around the turn and rolled in a testy 15-foot putt at the final hole to save par.He hardly looked like a Masters rookie.Jamie Donaldson turned in the shot of the day, acing the 180-yard sixth for the 24th hole-in-one in Masters history. He is only the fifth player to make a 1 at the hole known as Juniper, with its towering tee box and a green at the bottom of the hill. Donaldson was the first to do it since Chris DiMarco in 2004.Sergio Garcia was making an afternoon charge, pushing his score to 5 under with back-to-back birdies at the ninth and 10th holes.The Spaniard, still seeking his first major title at age 33, has often struggled with Augusta's tricky greens. He has only two top 10 finishes in 14 previous Masters.Woods was the overwhelming favorite coming into the tournament, and that didn't change after he opened with a 70.Woods has already won three times this year and reclaimed his No. 1 spot in the world rankings. But he hasn't captured a major since 2008, and it's been eight long years since he claimed his fourth green jacket at Augusta. He is still four majors shy of tying Jack Nicklaus' record 18 championships a mark that becomes a little more daunting each time the 37-year-old Woods fails to win one of golf's biggest events.Maybe this will be the week he breaks the longest major-less drought of his career.Lynn is feeling good about the way things are going, too. In just the second major appearance of his largely overlooked career, he finished second behind Rory McIlroy at Kiawah Island.He moved from the European to the American tour this year, a change that seems to have rejuvenated his passion for the game.Guan Tianlang of China is just getting started. At age 14, he was the youngest player to ever qualify for the Masters.Guan got off to a shaky start, making bogey on the first hole, but he showed remarkable poise. When the ball dropped into the cup for a birdie at the third, he pumped his right fist. Another birdie at the 13th his third of the day left him with a respectable 1-over score.The kid was followed by his parents and several family friends, but inside the ropes Guan relied heavily on his playing partner, two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, chatting frequently and soaking up every bit of advice that he could.About three hours before Woods teed off, the tournament began with ceremonial shots from three of golf's greatest players 83-year-old Arnold Palmer, 77-year-old Gary Player and the 73-year-old Nicklaus.Palmer was clearly pleased with his effort, which settled right in the middle of the fairway. He pumped his right fist as the crowd roared.The only nerves are to make sure you make contact, Nicklaus quipped. It doesn't make a diddly-darn where it goes.Rickie Fowler matched Lynn's 68, Jim Furyk and Zach Johnson opened with 69s, while Woods was joined at 70 by a large group that included Lee Westwood, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose, K.J. Choi and Jason Day.If Woods is in contention heading to the weekend, he'll likely have plenty of competition.

Oil falls below $94 a barrel on demand forecast Posted: NEW YORK (AP) - Oil fell below $94 a barrel Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its forecast for global oil demand.Benchmark oil for May delivery dropped $1.13 to finish at $93.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had gained about $2 a barrel in the first three days of the week.The IEA, which represents some of the world's biggest oil-consuming nations, lowered its expectations for global oil demand in 2013 by 45,000 barrels, to 90.6 million barrels a day. That is still 795,000 barrels a day more than in 2012.A weak macroeconomic environment is expected to keep demand growth relatively subdued for the remainder of the year, the Paris-based agency said.Its predictions echoed those made earlier this week by OPEC, comprised of the world's key oil exporters, and the U.S. Energy Department.Brent crude, which sets the price of crude used by many U.S. refineries to make gasoline, fell $1.52 to end at $104.27 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.Brent has dropped about 12 percent in the past two months amid Europe's ongoing financial crisis, increased supplies and tepid forecasts for demand. That combined with a sharp drop in gasoline futures to push down pump prices in the U.S.Gasoline futures fell 3 cents to finish at $2.83 a gallon Thursday, and are close to a three-month low.Natural gas rose 5 cents to end at $4.14 per 1,000 cubic feet, the highest close since Aug. 2, 2011.The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that natural gas in storage shrank last week by 14 billion cubic feet to 1.673 trillion cubic feet. Overall supplies are now about 4 percent below the five-year average.

Afridi wants to play at 2015 World Cup Posted: ISLAMABAD (AP) - Enigmatic all-rounder Shahid Afridi wants his future Pakistan selections based on performance and to stay fit so he can keep playing cricket until the 2015 World Cup.The prospects for Afridi, who captained Pakistan to the 2011 World Cup semifinals, are in doubt after he failed to get a wicket and scored only 126 runs in the five-match ODI series against South Africa last month.I, myself, am realizing some weaknesses in my bowling, and whatever I know about my mistakes I am trying to overcome those, Afridi said in the southern port city of Karachi on Thursday.Although Afridi was named in a provisional list of 30 for the Champions Trophy in England and Wales in June, he is under public pressure to be dropped when the final squad is trimmed to 15.I will not play by force and neither would I like the selectors to select me without good performances, he said.Chief selector Iqbal Qasim said before the ODI series against South Africa that it will be the all-rounder's last chance to perform in international cricket.Afridi ranks third in Pakistan ODI history with 354 matches, with an average of 23 and a bowling average of 34 with his leg-spin. But his recent slump in form has raised questions about whether he can last until the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in two years when he will be 35. It would be his fourth World Cup.The 2015 World Cup is in my mind, but it depends on (my) fitness and performance, he said.Afridi quit tests for a second time in 2010 after he was named captain for the test series against Australia at a neutral venue in England, but retired from tests after losing the first at Lords by 150 runs.When I felt I was not up to the mark in test matches, I left the five-day format, but my fitness level is good (for ODIs and Twenty20s) and I want to continue play at the top level, he said.Meanwhile, former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt told media this week that coach Dav Whatmore should be removed because his association with Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez was putting pressure on ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq.But Afridi hit back at Butt, who removed him as ODI captain in 2011 after the World Cup in Sri Lanka.A lot happened in Butt's tenure, Afridi said. I was removed as one-day captain despite a semifinal finish and I had won the last ODI series against the West Indies.When he (Butt) was the chairman, the spot-fixing scandal happened and then international cricket also went away (from Pakistan), Afridi said.Our combination is good and everyone must support the team and the players.Misbah is leading the team well and our combination is very good, so I expect better results if we stick to our plans and play to our potential.

Hagel backs closing military prison at Guantanamo Posted: WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he backs President Barack Obamas call to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Obama announced within days of his inauguration in January 2009 that he wanted to shutter the facility that houses terror suspects, but Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have resisted.They have argued that the prison at the naval installation is the ideal location for military tribunals and have fought efforts to transfer prisoners to the United States.Hagel was asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday if he were in favor of closing Guantanamo. He said he backed the president.

Imran seeks vote right for overseas Pakistanis Posted: Islamabad (Online) - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Thursday, expressed grave concern over the refusal of right to vote to the overseas Pakistanis by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)He urged Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Fakharuddin G. Ebrahim to intervene and implement the direction made by Supreme Court of Pakistan in this regard.The PTI chief made this statement during his meeting with a 30-member delegation comprising eminent members of the overseas Pakistanis who called on him here to discuss the matter.The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday had reiterated its stance that it might be impossible to include overseas Pakistanis in the polling process with 30 days left in the general elections due to legal and other factors.The overseas Pakistanis are an asset for the country and denying them the right to vote is a grave injustice.It was PTI that had filed a petition in the Supreme Court for giving right of vote to overseas Pakistan and after the decision of the apex court every effort should have been made to ensure that this became possible.”The PTI chairman said unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles were being made as an excuse just to deny the overseas Pakistanis of their right and this was cause of grave concern for his party.Khan said that he could not comprehend as to why the options of Nadras e-voting software and postal ballot were being opposed to facilitate voting by the overseas Pakistanis.It is a fact that the Pakistanis living in other countries are our ambassadors.They are sending billions of dollars every year from abroad to Pakistan which was a major source of running our expenditure.But unfortunately, the government institutions have been denying them their basic right for which the overseas Pakistanis are feeling detached, he said and added the step-motherly treatment with the Pakistani Diaspora was counter-productive and uncalled for.Imran Khan urged the CEC and the chief justice of Pakistan to take cognizance of the matter and take measures o remove any hurdles in way of the right to vote to the Pakistanis living abroad.Our Pakistani brothers and sisters abroad need to be brought in the mainstream. The refusal of right to vote to them has made them second class citizens.The CEC must act to ensure right to vote for the overseas Pakistanis, Khan concluded.

NATO Container Case: FBR out to hoodwink SC Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – According to Dunya News sources, the higher officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have become active to suppress the NATO Container Case and save their skins.The report prepared by the former FBR chairman in this connection has been concealed by the department and will not be presented in the Supreme Court during hearing of the case on Friday.Dunya News uncovered the NATO containers scam in 2010 and revealed that some Afghanistan-bound NATO disappeared during the transportation.The recent transfers of some FBR officials are also a part of the plan to hide facts from the court.

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