Saturday 21 September 2013

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Ten militants killed in Upper Dir clash

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UPPER DIR (Dunya News) – According to sources, 10 to 20 militants entered Upper Dir from neighbouring Afghanistan and attacked a security forces mobile team in the border area.The security forces returned militants fire and the encounter continued for more than 20 minutes. Two security officials were wounded in the attack while 10 militants were killed.The wounded security officials were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

39 killed, 150 wounded in Kenya shopping mall attack

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NAIROBI (AP) - Terrified shoppers huddled in back hallways and prayed they would not be found by the Islamic extremist gunmen lobbing grenades and firing assault rifles inside Nairobis top mall Saturday. When the coast was thought to be clear, crying mothers clutching small children and blood-splattered men sprinted out of the four-story mall.At least 39 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in the assault, Kenyas president announced on national TV, while disclosing that his close family members were among the dead.Foreigners were among the casualties. Frances president said that two French women were killed, and there were reports of American citizens injured, but the U.S. State Department said it had no further details.Early Sunday morning, 12 hours after the attack began, gunmen remained holed up inside the mall with an unknown number of hostages. President Uhuru Kenyatta called the security operation under way delicate and said a top priority was to safeguard hostages.As the attack unfolded shortly after noon Saturday, the al-Qaida-linked gunmen asked the victims they had cornered if they were Muslim: If the answer was yes, several witnesses said, those people were free to go. The non-Muslims were not.Somalias Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility and said the attack was retribution for Kenyan forces 2011 push into Somalia. The rebels threatened more attacks.Al-Shabab said on its Twitter feed that Kenyan security officials were trying to open negotiations. There will be no negotiations whatsoever, al-Shabab tweeted.As night fell in Kenyas capital, two contingents of army special forces troops moved inside the mall.Police and military surrounded the huge shopping complex as helicopters buzzed overhead. An Associated Press reporter said he saw a wounded Kenyan soldier put into an ambulance at nightfall, an indication, perhaps, of a continuing shoot-out inside.Witnesses said at least five gunmen including at least one woman first attacked an outdoor cafe at Nairobis Westgate Mall, a shiny, new shopping center that hosts Nike, Adidas and Bose stores. The malls ownership is Israeli, and security experts have long said the structure made an attractive terrorist target.The attack began shortly after noon with bursts of gunfire and grenades. Shoppers expatriates and rich Kenyans fled in any direction that might be safe: into back corners of stores, back service hallways and bank vaults. Over the next several hours, pockets of people poured out of the mall as undercover police moved in. Some of the wounded were moved out in shopping carts.We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot, said Patrick Kuria, an employee at Artcaffe, the restaurant with shady outdoor seating.Frank Mugungu, an off-duty army sergeant major, said he saw four male attackers and one female attacker. One was Somali, he said, but the others were black, suggesting that they could have been Kenyan or another nationality.Al-Shabab, on its Twitter feed, said that it has many times warned Kenyas government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences. The group claimed that its gunmen had killed 100 people, but its assertions are often exaggerated.The attack at WestgateMall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders, al-Shabab said. Another tweet said: For long we have waged war against the Kenyans in our land, now its time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land Westgate.Al-Shabab threatened in late 2011 to unleash a large-scale attack in Nairobi. Kenya has seen a regular spate of grenade attacks since then but never such a large terrorist assault.Nairobis mortuary superintendent, Sammy Nyongesa Jacob, said Africans, Asians and Caucasians were among the bodies brought to the mortuary.The U.S. State Department condemned this senseless act of violence that has resulted in death and injury for many innocent men, women, and children.The U.S. embassy said it was in contact with local authorities and offered assistance. Some British security personnel assisted in the response.The gunmen told hostages that non-Muslims would be targeted, said Elijah Kamau, who was at the mall at the time of the midday attack.The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted, he said.Jay Patel, who sought cover on an upper floor in the mall when shooting began, said that when he looked out of a window onto the upper parking deck of the mall he saw the gunmen with a group of people. Patel said that as the attackers were talking, some of the people stood up and left and the others were shot.The attack was carried out by terrorists, said police chief Benson Kibue. He did not specify a group. He said it was likely that no more than 10 attackers were involved.Somalias president the leader of a country familiar with terrorist attacks said his country knows only too well the human costs of violence like this as he extended prayers to those in Kenya.These heartless acts against defenseless civilians, including innocent children, are beyond the pale and cannot be tolerated. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Kenya in its time of grief for these lives lost and the many injured, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.The gunmen carried AK-47s and wore vests with hand grenades on them, said Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for two hours.They just came in and threw a grenade. We were running and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing, he said after marching out of the mall in a line of 15 people who all held their hands in the air.A local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of wounded being brought in hours after the attack, so they had to divert them to a second facility.Dozens of people were wounded. Officials said Kenyans turned out in droves to donate blood.The United Nations secretary-generals office said that Ban Ki-moon has spoken with President Uhuru Kenyatta and expressed his concern. British Prime Minister David Cameron also called Kenyatta and offered assistance.Kenyan authorities said they have thwarted other large-scale attacks targeting public spaces. Kenyan police said in September 2012 they disrupted a major terrorist attack in its final stages of planning, arresting two people with explosive devices and a cache of weapons and ammunition.Anti-terror Police Unit boss Boniface Mwaniki said vests found were similar to those used in attacks that killed 76 people in Uganda who gathered to watch the soccer World Cup finals on TV in July 2010. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for those bombings, saying the attack was in retaliation for Ugandas participation in the African Unions peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Assault on Iraq funeral, other attacks kill 96

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BAGHDAD (AP) - Two suicide bombers, one in an explosives-laden car and the other on foot, struck a cluster of funeral tents packed with mourning families in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, the deadliest in a string of attacks around Iraq that killed at least 96 people on Saturday.The assaults, the latest in a months-long surge of violence, are a chilling reminder of insurgents determination to re-ignite sectarian conflict more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.Thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violent attacks in recent months a level of bloodshed not seen since Iraq pulled back from the brink of civil war in 2008 despite appeals for restraint from Shiite and Sunni political leaders.The attack on the funeral was one of the largest single terrorist assaults on civilians in Iraq in recent years. It happened shortly before sunset in the densely populated Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad.Police said at least 72 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in that attack. One bomber was able to drive up near the tent before detonating his deadly payload, and another on foot blew himself up nearby, police said.The explosions set the tents and several nearby cars on fire, sending a towering plume of thick black smoke over the city.I saw several charred bodies on the ground and tents on fire and also burning cars. Wounded people were screaming in pain, said Sheik Sattar al-Fartousi, one of the mourners. The scene was horrible. The funeral turned into an inferno.He said the first blast went off as dinner was being served in one of several tents set up for the funeral of a member of the al-Fartousi tribe. He estimated that more than 500 people were attending the event.Civilian pickup trucks loaded with casualties and ambulances with sirens blaring were seen racing from the scene.Hussein Abdul-Khaliq, a government employee who lives near the bomb site, said the tents were packed with mourners when the blasts went off.He described seeing several lifeless bodies on the ground, and wounded women and children. The clothes of several victims were soaked with blood, and firefighters had to leave the scene to refill tanker trucks with water as they struggled to contain an immense blaze, he said.This funeral was not a military post or a ministry building, yet it was still targeted, Abdul-Khaliq said. This shows that no place and no one is safe in Iraq.Less than two hours after the funeral attack, another car bomb blast struck a commercial street in the nearby Ur neighborhood, killing nine people and wounding 14, according to police.Gunmen later shot up a shop that has been discretely selling liquor in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing four people, police said.Earlier in the day, insurgents launched a suicide attack on a police commando headquarters in the city of Beiji, an oil refining center 250 kilometers (115 miles) north of Baghdad. Guards managed to kill one suicide bomber, but the three others were able to set off their explosive belts inside the compound, killing seven policemen and wounding 21 others, police said.In other violence, gunmen shot and killed two prison guards after storming their houses in a village near the restive city of Mosul early Saturday. Two soldiers were killed and four others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy in Mosul, which is 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of the Iraqi capital.Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the days attacks. Al-Qaidas local franchise in Iraq frequently targets Shiite civilians and security forces in an attempt to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.Saturdays violence came as voters in the northern Kurdish autonomous region cast ballots in local elections for the Kurdistan RegionalGovernments 111-seat legislature. Iraqi Kurds are looking to bolster their autonomy while insulating their increasingly prosperous enclave from the growing violence roiling the rest of the country.The pace of violent attacks in parts of Iraq outside the three-province Kurdish region has spiked sharply since security forces carried out a deadly crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq in April. Iraqs minority Sunni Arabs have been protesting against the Shiite-led government since late last year, alleging discrimination and criticizing the application of tough anti-terrorism measures against their sect.Sunni extremists have been trying to capitalize on those Sunni-Shiite tensions, which are being inflamed by the sectarian divisions reflected in the civil war in neighboring Syria.The Iraqi branch of al-Qaida is fighting among the largely Sunni rebels in Syria even as it steps up attacks inside Iraq. It earlier this year changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant a name evoking its aim of creating a new Islamic caliphate that ignores regional borders drawn by Western powers.

NKorea postpones reunions of war-divided families

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Saturday indefinitely postponed reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War scheduled to start Wednesday, an apparent setback after weeks of improving ties following springtime threats of war.North Korea said the six days of reunions, which last happened three years ago, could not be held because of South Korean conservatives reckless and vicious confrontation racket against Pyongyang, a claim that North Korea routinely makes. It also vowed, in similarly familiar rhetoric, to take strong and decisive counteractions against the South Korean puppet regimes ever-escalating war provocations.The development, which an analyst called a North Korean attempt to gain an advantage in negotiations with Seoul, is a twist in what had been gradually easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang tempering its threats and pursuing talks meant to restart various inter-Korean cooperation projects.The biggest highlight is the recent return of North and South Koreans to a jointly run factory park just across the border in North Korea after a five-month shutdown.Pyongyangs announcement was likely linked to its frustration over delayed talks with Seoul to resume lucrative, jointly run tours to a North Korean mountain resort, and to a perception that Seoul wasnt supporting the Norths push to restart stalled international aid-for-nuclear-disarmament negotiations, said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul.The family reunion is something that South Korea wants. It is not surprising that Pyongyang is now using this as a bargaining chip, Yoo said.An unidentified spokesman for the Norths Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that the family reunions will be postponed until a normal atmosphere for dialogue returns.The statement expressed anger over U.S.-South Korean military drills and what it called Seouls crackdown on liberals and an arms build-up with its American master. Similar military drills as well as U.N. sanctions over Pyongyangs February nuclear test were also cited by Pyongyang in March and April for its weekslong barrage of threats, which included vows of nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul.The North also bristled against the view in South Korea that Pyongyang is desperate for the cash that would come from the resumption of the Diamond Mountain resort tours, which were stopped in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot and killed a South Korean tourist. It said it would not hold talks on the tours.South Koreas Ministry of Unification, which is responsible for ties with the North, denounced the decision to postpone the reunions for political reasons as inhumane and unacceptable. A South Korean delegation responsible for preparing for the reunions is currently in the North, the ministry said. It wasnt immediately clear when it would return.The reunions and the other improvements in the rivals relations had been greeted with relief in Seoul. Many South Koreans have had little or no word about their loved ones for decades.But there has also been wariness because of what analysts call a North Korean tendency to follow provocations with outreach and diplomacy meant to win much-needed aid.The Korean War separated millions of families, and huge numbers of refugees moved both north and south. Past reunions provided scenes of intense emotion, bringing together weeping family members desperate for details and news. They were separated again a few days later.

Tsonga, Simon reach Open de Moselle final

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METZ (AP) - Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will go for his third straight Open de Moselle title when he plays Gilles Simon in an all-French final on Sunday with both players chasing their 11th career title.Tsonga rallied to beat eighth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals Saturday after the second-seeded Simon had defeated French countryman Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 7-6 (2) to stay on course for his first title of the year.This is Tsongas first tournament since a knee injury forced him to drop out of his second-round match at Wimbledon and his first final since winning the Open 13 in Marseille in February for his 10th career title.Just like in Fridays quarterfinals, Tsonga took time to find his range and dropped the first set. He looked leg-weary and was broken in his first service game, then struggled to hold his next as Mayer pinned him to the back of the court with his looped returns.Its thanks to the fans that I managed to hang in there and also because Florian Mayer has a little bit of a weakness in terms of endurance, Tsonga said. It will be a different matter against Gilles. I noticed that he is playing very well.Tsonga leads Simon 5-2 overall. All of Tsongas titles have been on hard courts, half of Simons on clay.Tsonga started the second set aggressively and Mayer had to save two break points early on. In the fifth game, Tsonga paused before serving and then squatted down as if to test the flexibility of his knees.He drew Mayer to the net on the next point and then lobbed him to force another break point, which Mayer saved with a forehand pass.Mayer saved another chance on his serve but Tsonga finally broke him when he returned a weak second serve with a thumping forehand. He held to love, including an ace and a crosscourt winner from the back of the court, to move 5-2 ahead.Tsonga did not face a break point in the third set and in the other semifinal Simon did not face a single break point for the second consecutive match.I broke him early and was solid from the baseline, Simon said. Ive been practicing for a month before coming here. I needed to do that and I think that today was a pretty solid match.Simon, who lost the Eastbourne final in June, broke Mahut in the fifth game and took the first set against serve when Mahut planted a weak shot into the net.

Southampton ends Liverpool's unbeaten start

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LIVERPOOL (AP) - Southampton ended Liverpools unbeaten start to the English Premier League, with Dejan Lovren clinching a 1-0 victory at Anfield on Saturday.The Croatia defender headed in the winner from Adam Lallanas corner in the 54th minute to end Liverpools 12-match unbeaten league run spanning this season and last.Over 90 minutes we were superior to them and were able to capitalize on the chances we created, Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino said.(Goalkeeper Artur) Boruc was outstanding but the rest of the squad were outstanding. It is not easy to come here and win, so to do that makes us really pleased.This was Liverpools final match before striker Luis Suarez returns after a 10-game ban for biting an opponent.The Uruguay international is in line to return on Wednesday in the League Cup against Manchester United.Sometimes players like him can make the difference so it is going to be great to have him back and a real boost to have him back from Wednesday onwards, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. I think he is in good condition. He has been playing games behind closed doors and doing a lot of specific work with the conditioning team.He is not going to be 100 percent but he is a worker and a fighter and his condition is good. He just needs to get games to bring him up to speed.Rodgers was unhappy with a lackluster performance against Southampton, which led to the top spot being surrendered provisionally to Chelsea after the London club beat Fulham 2-0.This is our first defeat since March, funnily enough against Southampton, Rodgers said. Weve had two poor performances against them and its cost us.We are very disappointed. We never got going from the off, it was a bit lethargic, and technically we were short.Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard tested Boruc with a first-half free kick and Daniel Sturridge should have had a penalty when caught by Lovren.But the Reds did not create nearly enough to trouble the visitors.Rodgers put out a back four consisting of four central defenders but he justified the decision by claiming he had little option although it provided little help when it came to the goal.We have to keep an eye on Jose Enriques knee and avoid an overload or it can put him out long term, Rodgers said. It was what we had available.Kolo (Toure) and Mamadou (Sakho) have played at full-back: You lose a bit of that offensive threat but I think they coped as well as they possibly could.We conceded possession poorly (for the goal) and then we ended up conceding the corner, and to lose a goal like that with so many defensive-minded players was criminal really.

Barcelona beat Rayo 4-0 to stay perfect through 5

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BARCELONA (AP) - Pedro Rodriguez scored three goals and Victor Valdes saved another penalty in Barcelonas 4-0 win at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, keeping the defending Spanish league champions perfect through five rounds.Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League.The Spain forward has five goals this season, making him the leagues second-leading scorer behind Messi with six.Cesc Fabregas capped the rout in the 80th with Rayo searching for a consolation goal.We knew the difficulties Vallecas Stadium presents, its a tough ground to win at, Pedro said after his first career hat trick for Barcelona. They have a competitive team, but we were able to find the spaces we needed to score.Atletico Madrid also got its fifth win in as many rounds to lie level on points with Barcelona after a no-nonsense 2-0 win at Valladolid.Atleticos defense limited Valladolid to one shot on goal while midfielder Raul Garcia and forward Diego Costa both scored goals set up by Jorge Koke Resurreccion in the second half.Moments after goalkeeper Diego Marino saved his header, Garcia scored in the 56th with a no-look header from Kokes cross that Marino could only watch float over him and into the net.Koke then lobbed a delicate through ball down the middle of pitch for Diego Costa to seal the result in the 72nd.Barcelonas and Atleticos victories gave them an overnight five-point advantage over Real Madrid before it hosts Getafe on Sunday. Atletico visits Madrid next round in their first meeting since Atletico beat Madrid in the Copa del Rey final last season.Encouraged by its raucous fans, Rayo set a brutal pace from the start, and Valdes was called into action in the third minute to turn back Alberto Pereas header.Valdes is having an exceptional run, said Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino. Hes among the three best goalkeepers in Spain. Its my turn to enjoy having him as my player, even though you dont always want to see your goalkeeper having to make three or four decisive saves.Barcelona matched Rayos intense pressure and a ball stolen by Alex Song led to Barcelonas opener. Messi took the ball, drew in the hosts defense, and laid off for Pedro arriving down the right side to drive a low shot into the net.It was then Valdes turn to shine again this season, his last with the Catalan club which he seems determined to make his best.Rayo was poised to level in the 35th when Barcelona defender Adriano fouled midfielder Roberto Trashorras in the area, but Valdes stood firm and had little trouble parrying Trashorras spot kick.In the first half our team was able to cause Barcelona problems, said Trashorras. If I had scored that penalty, they would have had even more trouble. Having studied him I thought that Valdes was going to dive to one side, and I tried to shoot down the middle since he had gone to one side the other day. But he did well to wait.Pedro scored his second goal when he raced in to stab Fabregas cross home after the former Arsenal midfielder forced Rayo into losing the ball deep in its own half.Barcelonas Neymar provided constant danger throughout the match and came close to his first goal in league play with a shot off the post in the 66th.The Brazil striker has already made his mark by giving defenses fits and leads the league in fouls received.As Rayos players tired while its fans continued to urge them forward, Neymar started and extended a flowing move by squaring for Pedro to tap in his third goal before Fabregas took the fourth.

Vettel takes pole position for Singapore GP

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SINGAPORE (AP) - Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, besting his fading championship rivals Saturday despite gambling on skipping the last flying lap of qualifying.Already boasting a big lead in the Formula One drivers championship standings, Vettel sat out the last section of qualifying under the lights at Marina Bay in order to save a set of the super soft tires for the race.The decision looked questionable as Mercedes Nico Rosberg, Red Bull teammate Mark Webber and Lotus Romain Grosjean all began strongly on their final laps and threatened to tip Vettel out of top spot.Vettel was chewing his fingernails watching on the monitors in the garage and pumped his fist when he saw his time had stood up, as Rosberg finished a tenth of a second behind him in second.Grosjean, Webber and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton were third through fifth respectively, all within half a second of Vettel, who notched his fifth pole position of the season.I knew we had a cushion, that is why we decided not to run, Vettel said. The thing you dont know is how much the track improves. It was very close and its not the best feeling when you are standing there and watching.Im very happy with the result, the car has been phenomenal all weekend.Rosberg described second place as a great result, but said the thin margin between his time and that of Vettel was a bit misleading.They (Red Bull) gambled a bit and I am sure they are a bit quicker than that last time, if Sebastian used another set of tires, Rosberg said.Grosjeans third place matched his best qualifying performance of the season, made all the more impressive by the fact that his more accomplished teammate Kimi Raikkonen was a lowly 13th.With Raikkonen moving on to Ferrari next season, Grosjean is auditioning for a team leader role, but is also aware he is not guaranteed a seat with Lotus next year.I dont really care (about beating Raikkonen), Grosjean said. My relationship with Kimi has always been not very speaky. I am just focused on what I have to do and we will see.Ferrari pair Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso qualified in sixth and seventh place respectively, with McLarens Jenson Button eighth, Toro Rossos Daniel Ricciardo ninth and Saubers Esteban Gutierrez a career-best 10th, bettering his previous high of 14th.Vettel, who is on track for a fourth straight world championship, is aiming for his third straight victory at Marina Bay, where pole sitters have a marked advantage on the tight and twisty race circuit.Its tricky to pass on this track but because its such a long race, there are plenty of opportunities for all of us, and usually we get a safecty car this race, Vettel said.

Stenson takes 4-shot lead into Sunday at East Lake

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ATLANTA (AP) - Henrik Stenson was so flawless that he built a nine-shot lead at the turn in the Tour Championship on Saturday.Four bogeys in the rain on the back nine at East Lake put him right back where he started the day and injected some hope for the rest of the field.Stenson made two bogeys on the last three holes he made a 12-foot par putt on the other and had to settle for a 1-under 69. That gave the Swede a four-shot lead over Dustin Johnson going into the final day of the U.S. PGA Tour season.This is far from over not only the Tour Championship, but the FedEx Cup.Stenson appeared to have both wrapped up when he got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 ninth for a tap-in birdie to reach 14 under, nine shots clear of Johnson. Everything changed as it began to rain.Stenson pulled his approach into a corporate hospitality area to the left of the 10th green. He hooked a tee shot on the 14th that ran across a cart path and under a bush, and he had to make a 12-foot putt for bogey. He made bogey from the bunker on the 16th. What really stung was a three-putt bogey on the par-3 18th.I think Ill choose to look at it from the bright side, even though the weather is not that bright at the moment, Stenson said after setting down a rain-soaked umbrella. Started the day with a four-shot lead and I still got it. So thats all that matters really.Stenson was at 11-under 199, and only Johnson (7-under 203) and Steve Stricker (5-under 205) were within six shots of him.Johnson made two late birdies and two solid pars, getting up-and-down after a close call with the water on the 17th, and then making a 30-foot par save on the last hole for a 67 that put him in the last group and gave him a chance to see who he was chasing.Johnson was the last man into the 30-man field at East Lake, and he left Chicago on Monday not sure whether he would get in. Now he at least has a shot to start and end the season with a victory.If I keep driving it straight, then Im going to give him a run tomorrow.Stenson is still in great shape to go home with a lot of money $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup, $1.44 million for winning the Tour Championship. Even if he were to finish third, he still would be in good shape to win the FedEx Cup.Tiger Woods, the No. 1 seed, didnt make a birdie until he chipped in on the 14th hole. He rallied for a 69, the first time he has broken par all week.Woods was at 3-over 213, 14 shots behind in a tie for 26th.Stenson felt bad for Adam Scott, whom he led by four shots at the start of the day.Scott felt so miserable overnight and early Saturday that he had IV fluids administered at East Lake and only showed up on the range about 25 minutes before his tee times. He was sick and it showed with a 40 on the front nine. Scott wound up with a 74 to fall nine shots behind, and was thankful to doctors for getting him ready to play.Pretty disappointed, because I felt like I could have made a run today, Scott said. When youre body is feeling so lethargic and heavy, the club feels like it weighs 60 pounds. And it was just hard work to get anything moving.That might have ended his bid for tour player of the year. A win would have given the Masters champion three wins (including a major) and the FedEx Cup, which might have been enough to trump Woods and his five wins (no majors).

Egyptian arrested for naming donkey after general

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CAIRO (AP) - A farmer in southern Egypt was arrested Saturday after putting the military chief's name and an army-style cap on his donkey, and eight people were detained elsewhere in the country for spraying anti-military graffiti.The arrests point to a long-standing taboo in Egypt against criticizing the country's powerful military, an offense magnified amid the ongoing crackdown on supporters of the country's ousted President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.The farmer, Omar Abul-Magd, was arrested late Friday in Qena province for allegedly insulting Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi when he rode the donkey through town, reported the state MENA news agency.El-Sissi led the military's popularly-backed ouster of Morsi in July and has been hailed by millions of Egyptians as an icon. His detractors, however, have called him a traitor and a murderer for overseeing the coup and the subsequent attacks on Morsi's mostly Islamist supporters, including an August raid on two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo that killed hundreds.At least one of the eight people arrested on Saturday for spraying graffiti against el-Sissi was detained in Cairo, said security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.Earlier this week, a military court ordered five pro-Morsi protesters to serve from two to three years in prison for chanting against the army. Three of them were tried in absentia.The court said the defendants spread hate speech and false rumors against the military through loud speakers.Rights advocates fear Egypt's interim, military-backed authorities are using a state of emergency that grants police broad powers of arrest to silence critics.For decades, any critical mention of the country's army or its top generals was unthinkable in Egypt.After the popular uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, criticism of the military grew as Egypt's powerful generals took over. Activists began lashing out at the ruling generals for trying civilians in military courts and using violence against protesters.In one case, former lawmaker and rights advocate Ziad el-Oleimi came under fire for referencing an Egyptian proverb and insulting then-military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. El-Oleimi, who was beaten by military police during a protest after he was elected to parliament, referred to Tantawi as a donkey during a rally.

3 sisters reunited in NY after 73-year separation

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PEMBROKE, N.Y. (AP) - Three sisters have been reunited in western New York some 73 years after their mother abandoned the older two and disappeared with the youngest sister.The Daily News of Batavia reported Saturday that the sisters 80-year-old Joan Billings, 78-year-old Shirley Mortellaro and 77-year-old Mary Kidwell were reunited this month after decades of searching for each other.The sisters' story begins in 1940 in Toronto, where their father was in the Canadian Air Force.The sisters told the newspaper that when their father was away, their mother would put them in the bedroom and tell them to stay there while she went partying.One day, the sisters said, they caught their mother with a boyfriend and told their father. A fight ensued and the mother packed quickly and left with her youngest daughter.The two older sisters settled in western New York Billings in Albion and Mortellaro in Pembroke while Kidwell ended up in Columbus, Ohio.Billings and Mortellaro both married, Billings twice. Billings has six surviving children, having lost a daughter at age 33. Mortellaro and her husband Tony have three daughters; Kidwell, who is widowed, has four children.The two older sisters spent years looking for Mary, and she looked for them as well.That search ended about three weeks ago when Mortellaro got a call from her grandson's girlfriend's mother in Florida, who had taken up the search.The woman had connected online with a friend of Kidwell's who was also helping with the search.She said, 'I've found her,' Mortellaro said.Kidwell arrived in Batavia by bus on Sept. 10. The sisters had no trouble recognizing each other.We've lost a lot of years and we can't get them back, Kidwell said, as she sat in with her sisters in Mortellaro's living room. We've got a lot of catching up to do.

Arctic ice melt slows down: NASA

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Arctic sea ice melted less this summer and continued to cover a greater expanse than last years record minimum, NASA data shows.Following unusually cold summer temperatures in the northernmost latitudes, the US space agency said Friday that the sea ice extent shrunk to 1.97 million square miles (5.10 million square kilometers).The analysis was based on September 13 data by NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder.On September 16, 2012, Arctic sea ice shrunk to its smallest surface ever recorded by satellite at 1.32 million square miles, about half the size of the average minimum in the previous two decades.Over the long term, Arctic sea ice surface has dropped 12 percent per decade since the end of the 1970s, a decline that accelerated after 2007, according to the NSIDC.I was expecting that this year would be higher than last year, said Walt Meier, a glaciologist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.There is always a tendency to have an uptick after an extreme low; in our satellite data, the Arctic sea ice has never set record low minimums in consecutive years.But the remaining Arctic sea ice cover is much thinner overall compared to the previous decades by as much as 50 percent. Scientists say thinner seasonal ice is replacing older, thicker ice as it melts away.Thinner ice melts completely at a faster rate than thicker ice does, so if the average thickness of Arctic sea ice goes down, its more likely that the extent of the summer ice will go down as well, said Goddard senior scientist Joey Comiso.At the rate were observing this decline, its very likely that the Arctics summer sea ice will completely disappear within this century.

Nottinghamshire win English county 40-over final

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LONDON (AFP) - Nottinghamshire beat Glamorgan by 87 runs to win the English county 40-over final at Lords on Saturday.The eventual champions slumped to 90 for four before a fifth-wicket stand of 99 between Australias David Hussey (42) and Nottinghamshire captain Chris Read (53), as well as Graeme Swanns 29 not out helped take the Midlands county to 244 for eight in their 40 overs.Former England fast bowler Simon Jones, in his final match before becoming a Twenty20 specialist, led Welsh county Glamorgans attack with two for 36 in his maximum permitted eight overs.Glamorgan made a steady start to their pursuit of 245 but England left-arm spinner Samit Patel sparked a middle-order collapse from which they never recovered with a spell of three wickets for four runs in nine balls.England fast bowler Stuart Broad took the last three wickets in six balls as Glamorgan were dismissed for 157 with seven overs remaining in their innings.

Pakistan busts Facebook kidnap gang

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GUJRANWALA (AFP) - Pakistani authorities on Saturday busted a gang using a female member to lure youngsters through Facebook and telephone calls and then kidnapping them for ransom, police said.The gang, which included a lawyer, his wife, the son of a policeman and four others, was active in Gujranwala and was traced by tracking phone calls.This gang of friends was using their female member to trap youngsters on Facebook and through phone calls, Shoaib Khurram, a senior police official, told AFP.The girl was assigned to trap targeted young boys in fake love on Facebook and phone and then invite them for dates, he said, adding that the other members would kidnap the boys when they came to meet her.So far, we have got verification about two boys who were trapped in fake love of this lady and were then kidnapped by this gang. Their families later paid ransom amounts worth millions of rupees to get them free, he said.Pakistan earlier this month cracked down on immoral love chat services offered by mobile phone companies, stifling hopes of illicit romance in the conservative Muslim country, where dating is frowned upon.In 2010, Pakistan shut down Facebook for nearly two weeks over blasphemy and continues to restrict hundreds of online links.

Brain pacemaker electrodes introduced to treat depression

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BERLIN (Web Desk) - Researchers have successfully implanted pacemaker electrodes into the brains of patients suffering from major depression, with symptoms of six out of seven of them improving considerably and rapidly.Dr Volker Arnd Coenen, neurosurgeon at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Bonn University Hospital in Germany, implanted electrodes into the medial fore-brain bundles in the brains of subjects suffering from major depression with the electrodes being connected to a brain pacemaker.The nerve cells were then stimulated by means of a weak electrical current, a method called Deep Brain Stimulation. In a matter of days, in six out of seven patients, symptoms such as anxiety, despondence, listlessness and joylessness had improved considerably.Such sensational success both in terms of the strength of the effects, as well as the speed of the response has so far not been achieved with any other method, said Dr Thomas E Schlapfer from the Bonn University Hospital Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.The medial fore-brain bundle is a bundle of nerve fibres running from the deep-seated limbic system to the prefrontal cortex. In a certain place, the bundle is particularly narrow because the individual nerve fibres lie close together.This is exactly the location in which we can have maximum effect using a minimum of current, Coenen said.The medial fore-brain bundle is a central part of a euphoria circuit belonging to the brains reward system. What kind of effect stimulation exactly has on nerve cells is not yet known. But it obviously changes metabolic activity in the different brain centers.The researchers have already shown in several studies that deep brain stimulation shows an amazing and - given the severity of the symptoms - unexpected degree of amelioration of symptoms in major depression.In those studies, however, the physicians had not implanted the electrodes into the medial fore-brain bundle but instead into the nucleus accumbens, another part of the brains reward system. This had resulted in clear and sustainable improvements in about 50 per cent of subjects.But in this new study, our results were even much better, said Schlapfer in a statement.A clear improvement in complaints was found in 85 per cent of patients, instead of the earlier 50 per cent. In addition, stimulation was performed with lower current levels, and the effects showed within a few days, instead of after weeks.
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