Friday 13 December 2013

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Karachi: Two injured in cracker attack

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – According to details, some unidentified persons hurled a cracker in Kamaila Stop due to which two people were wounded.On the other hand, firing between two rival groups in Kallary area of Lyari spread panic in the locality.Meanwhile, police launched a targeted operation in Islamia Colony in the jurisdiction of Pirabad Police Station and arrested nine accused. However, no arms and drugs were recovered from the arrested persons.

Sindh LG Ord (3rd Amend) promulgated

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - Acting governor of Sindh Aga Siraj Durrani on Friday has promulgated the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (3rd Amendment).According to information, the ordinance shall come into force from September 16.The ordinance also empowers the concerned authority to declare a rural area as an urban one if needed.According to newly promulgated ordinance, the penalty for the violation of rules and regulations is disqualification for three years.

Two injured, suspected gunman dead at Colorado school

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LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Two students were injured in a shooting incident at a school in the US state of Colorado on Friday, before the suspected gunman apparently killed himself, the local sheriff said.The suspect was a student at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, outside Denver, just a few miles from the sites of last year's Aurora movie theater shooting and the 1999 Columbine massacre.The suspect has been found inside the school and he has deceased as a result of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson told reporters.He said the student had apparently targeted a teacher at the school.The student identified a specific teacher at the high school that he was interested in confronting, and that teacher was informed of the situation and exited the school quickly, he said.Live television pictures showed orderly groups of students filing out with hands above their heads, to gather on an athletics track on the the edge of a snow-covered field next to the school.The school has over 2,200 students and 70 classrooms. It is part of the Littleton school district, to which Columbine High School -- scene of the 1999 shooting by two students which killed 13 -- also belongs.The incident comes a day ahead of the first anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting in which a deranged gunman killed 26 people at an elementary school, including 20 young children.That shooting briefly re-ignited America's perennial debate over gun control, which is triggered every time there is a major shooting, but attempts to pass tougher laws made little headway in Congress.

Iraq violence kills 37 as 'terrorism' suspects escape

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BAQUBA (AFP) - Violence in Iraq including an attack by gunmen on workers on a gas pipeline from Iran killed 37 people Friday, while terrorism suspects escaped a Baghdad detention facility, officials said.Unrest has reached a level this year not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings, and the surge has raised fears the country is falling back into all-out conflict.Gunmen in three vehicles attacked the gas pipeline workers near Baladruz, northeast of Baghdad, killing 15 Iranians and three Iraqis, police officers said.The attack also wounded five Iranians and three Iraqis, the added.South of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in Madain, killing at least six people and wounding at least 13, while another car bomb near a fish market in Nahrawan killed four people and wounded at least 12.In Baghdad itself, at least 22 terrorism suspects escaped a detention facility in Kadhimiyah, the latest in a long line of prisons breaks in Iraq.A police colonel said detainees had seized weapons from guards early on Friday, killing two, after which 26 people arrested for issues related to terrorism escaped.Security forces killed one escaped detainee and captured 14, the colonel said, and a medical official confirmed two guards and a detainee had been killed.The interior ministry said 22 suspects had escaped, but one was killed and all but three others captured.In July, militants launched coordinated assaults on two prisons near Baghdad, sparking clashes with security forces that lasted for hours.More than 500 prisoners, including senior Al-Qaeda leaders, escaped. The clashes also killed 20 members of the security forces and 21 prisoners, officials said.In the Ghazaliyah area of west Baghdad, gunmen shot dead two people on Friday, one of them a trade ministry employee, while gunmen killed a woman in her home near the capital.And a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near a group of security forces members in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing a civilian and two soldiers and wounding four policemen and three soldiers.More people died in the first eight days of this month than in the whole of last December, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.Officials have blamed the violence on Al-Qaeda-linked militants emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, but analysts and diplomats also say the government has not done enough to address underlying domestic grievances fuelling the violence.Members of the country's Sunni minority, who complain of discrimination at the hands of the Shiite-led government, have held demonstrations for almost a year.Unrest spiked after security forces stormed a Sunni Arab protest camp north of Baghdad in April, sparking clashes that killed dozens of people.The government has made some concessions aimed at placating Sunni Arabs, including freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of anti-Al-Qaeda fighters. It has also trumpeted security operations against militants.But the daily attacks have shown no sign of abating, and violence has killed more than 6,400 people since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures.

Iran halts expert-level talks over US sanctions

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TEHRAN (AP) - Iran pulled out of expert-level talks with six world powers Friday to protest the expansion of U.S. sanctions, saying the blacklisting of more entities violates the spirit of a groundbreaking agreement over Tehran's atomic program.In the first major hurdle to the interim deal reached last month in Geneva, the United States targeted more than a dozen companies and people on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran.It was an effort by the Obama administration to show it will enforce existing law even as it presses Congress to hold off on additional measures while world powers pursue a comprehensive nuclear deal with Tehran.But the Iranians called the move them unconstructive and against good intentions, and accused the U.S. of sending mixed signals.This is a game of double standards it is not in accord with the talks we have had and it is against the spirit of the Geneva agreement, senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi told the official news agency IRNA. On the one hand they tried to halt sanctions in Congress, and on the other hand they made a new move and the Treasury added new companies to the list.The White House said the expansion did not violate the agreement and represented actions based on existing sanctions. Spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama is committed to refraining from any new nuclear-related sanctions.Araghchi, who is also deputy foreign minister, said the Iranians were assessing the situation to determine the proper response.IRNA also quoted an unnamed official as saying an Iranian team of experts had halted technical talks with the six world powers in Vienna because of the U.S. sanctions on new Iranian entities.Iran has ended the talks because of the addition of more individuals and companies to the sanctions list. It was against the path of agreements, the official was quoted as saying.The talks in Vienna are on the expert level, bringing representatives from the six powers and Iran together to discuss implementing parts of the Geneva deal. They started on Monday and were originally set for two days.A diplomat in Vienna who is familiar with the talks confirmed that the Iranian delegation left for Tehran for consultations but said the Iranians had not directly linked Friday's departure to the U.S. moves. He demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the closed consultations.Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters that the Vienna talks were making progress but I think we're at a point in those talks where folks feel a need to consult and take a moment.He said there was every expectation that the talks would resume in a few days.The West suspects Iran's nuclear program has military dimension. Iran denies the charge saying its nuclear activities have peaceful purposes like power generation and medical treatment.As part of the deal, the U.S. agreed to no new nuclear-related financial penalties against Tehran for six months in return for a freeze on part of the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment activities. Still, many Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for even tougher measures to raise the pressure further on the Islamic republic, despite the administration's pleas for patience.Thursday's action freezes the U.S. assets of firms in Panama, Singapore, Ukraine and elsewhere for maintaining covert business with Iran's national tanker company. Other companies involved directly in the proliferation of material useful for weapons of mass destruction also were blacklisted from the U.S. market. American citizens are banned from any transactions with the listed individuals and firms.Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said the U.S. move was an obvious violation of the interim deal and shows the Americans are not trustworthy.He also was quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency as calling the decision to halt the Vienna talks right and revolutionary.

Kerry 'hopeful' can strike final Mideast peace deal

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JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday he hoped to help achieve a peace agreement encompassing Israeli security needs and Palestinian sovereignty, as he wrapped up his regional visit.But Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas dampened hopes by rejecting US proposals for Israel to keep a military presence in a future Palestinian state.We are working on an approach that both guarantees Israel's security and fully respects Palestinian sovereignty, Kerry told reporters in Tel Aviv before boarding a plane to Vietnam.Kerry insisted the goal remained for the sides to reach a final status agreement - not an interim agreement, and said Israel will release as planned a new group of Palestinian prisoners on December 29.Both parties remain committed to fulfilling their obligations to stay at the table and negotiate hard during the nine-month period that we set for that when talks were launched at the end of July, said Kerry.On Friday morning, Kerry met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what the Israeli premier described as a discussion on how to advance our goals of peace and security.Kerry, who completed his second visit to the region within a week, said that US military expert General John Allen outlined in talks with Abbas a security plan for the West Bank and Israel, which could be implemented following a peace accord.But Abbas rejected US proposals for Israel to keep a military presence in a future Palestinian state along its strategic border with Jordan, a source close to the Palestinian president told AFP.President Abbas has rejected the ideas presented by the secretary of state, the Palestinian source said earlier Friday, a day after Kerry met Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Gunmen kill 15 Iranian pipeline workers in Iraq

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BAGHDAD (AP) - Gunmen in Iraq killed 15 Iranian pipeline workers and two Iraqi guards northeast of Baghdad on Friday, officials said. Separate attacks across the country killed 23 other people.A senior security official said the nighttime attack on the pipeline workers took place in the al-Nida area, where gunmen opened fire on the men working on the gas pipeline planned to connect Iraqs gas network to supplies from neighboring Iran.Al-Nida is about 145 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Four people, including two Iranians were wounded also in the attack.Earlier Friday, twenty-two Iraqi suspects facing terrorism charges escaped from a prison in northern Baghdad after killing a security guard, but most were rearrested later in the day, officials said.The stunning jailbreak from al-Adela prison triggered a police manhunt backed by helicopters that ended with one of the escaped prisoners dead and 13 rearrested. Eight remain at large.The prisoners had lured a guard into their cell while his comrades were sleeping, claiming an inmate there was critically ill. They then stabbed him to death, two senior security officials said.Jailbreaks are frequent in Iraq and, as with other security breaches, they have cast doubts on the ability of the authorities to secure the country, mired in sectarian tensions.Also Friday, a car bomb went off near a security checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, killing five policemen and wounding seven others, said police officials.In a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad, gunmen shot and killed two government employees in their car. And police said a bomb exploded near an out-door market in Madain area, just south of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding four.A car bomb exploded inside a fish market in Baghdads southeastern Shiite-majority suburb of Nahrwan, killing four and wounding 14, police said.In the western city if Ramadi, a car bomb went off near a security checkpoint, killing five policemen and wounding seven others, said police officials.At night, six people were killed and 18 others were wounded in a car bomb explosion in a commercial street in a town, just south of Baghdad.Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures for all the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.Deadly insurgent attacks have been on the rise since a security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in a northern town last April.

Brazil to issue World Cup commemorative coins

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BRASILIA (AFP) - Brazil's Central Bank on Friday announced plans to issue a set of nine commemorative coins for the 2014 World Cup.The set, to be released on January 24, will comprise one gold coin, two in silver and six in an alloy of copper and nickel.The gold coin weighing 4.4. grams (0.155 ounce) will have a nominal value of 10 reais ($4.3) but will be sold for 1180 reais ($504). It will represent the Cup trophy and a player scoring a goal. Some 5,000 will be minted, the bank said.Those in silver will have a value of five reais ($2.2) and a weight of 27 grams. One will represent Fuleco, the 2014 World Cup mascot, and the other the 12 host cities. They will be sold for 190 reais ($81) apiece and 20,000 of each will be sold.The six cupronickel versions, each with a value of 2 reais ($0.86) and a weight of 10.17 grams, will cost 30 reais ($12.8). They will represent a dribble, a header or a penalty kick and 20,000 copies of each will be minted.

Messi loses to Del Potro in Argentina

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BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi may have been crowned world footballer of the year four times, but in his native Argentina it's tennis giant Juan Martin del Potro who is top dog.World number five Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, edged out Messi to claim Argentina's Sportsman of the Year award at the Sporto Argentino Festival.I am very happy to have received the Gold Prize of Clarin, del Potro wrote on his Facebook page. It was a great year, much better than I expected. I was there, fighting in the first place. The main thing is I feel very close to the top of the world again. I'm already looking at next season.Del Potro won four titles in 2013 and was runner-up at the Indian Wells and Shanghai Masters. He also made the semi-finals at Wimbledon, losing a five-set epic to Novak Djokovic in the longest men's last-four clash in the history of the tournament.

'Unfair' if Ronaldo denied Ballon d'Or: Real

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MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said Friday it would be unfair if star striker Cristiano Ronaldo failed to win the Ballon d'Or for World Footballer of the Year in 2013.I am convinced he will win because it would be an injustice if he didn't when everyone knows he's the best player in the world, the Real president told reporters during annual Christmas drinks with the media.Ronaldo has been shortlisted alongside Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich's French winger Franck Ribery for the Ballon d'Or, which is to be presented in Zurich on January 13. The Portuguese won the award in 2008 but he has had to watch it being handed over to Argentine archrival Messi in every year since.This year, the injury-hit Messi seems to be less of a favourite while Ronaldo has been dazzling on the pitch. On Tuesday, he became the first player to score nine goals in the group stages of the Champions League as Real won 2-0 away at FC Copenhagen.Nevertheless, the 28-year-old striker was clearly upset by recent comments by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who described Ronaldo as a commander and mocked his demeanour on the field. Blatter also said he personally preferred Messi as a player.Questioned by reporters, Ronaldo later refused even to confirm he would attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony this year.But Real's chief was confident the player would turn up. Until now he has always gone to the awards, Perez said.The club president said he hoped Real would win their longed-for 10th Champions League trophy. It would be a gift for all our fans, especially for our members, he said.Perez added he and coach Carlo Ancelotti are hoping Xabi Alonso will extend his contract, which expires next summer. He knows we would be delighted if he carries on with us next season, said Perez.The Real chief said he had not heard anything from club officials of a possible departure by Argentine international Angel Di Maria, who has lost his starting place in the team.I asked and they told me no-one had approached the club, Perez said.

Badminton: Lee fears no one in Superseries Finals

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KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - World number one Lee Chong Wei put on a less than stellar performance to beat Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen to top Group A at the BWF World Superseries Final on Friday.The Malaysian, who is chasing a record fourth Superseries title, but his first since 2010, edged the fighting Dane 23-21, 24-22 in 50 minutes before declaring: I'm ready to meet anyone in the semi-finals.I didn't go all out today as I wanted to conserve some energy for tomorrow's semi-finals, said Lee who has not dropped a set all tournament.Both of us already qualified for the semis and it didn't matter who won. Obviously, I hate to lose on my home ground, so I did try little harder when it mattered, he added.Lee, who has taken six Superseries titles this year, controlled the first game against Jorgensen and led 11-6 at the interval. He moved his opponent round the court and won numerous points with delicate drop shots, some of which clipped the net before falling in.Jorgensen trailed all the way before finally taking the lead at 21-20. But he failed to capitalise on the advantage as Chong Wei won the next three points.The second game was a different story as Jorgensen, now playing with a slight draft to his back, fought back to lead 11-8 at the interval.He moved further ahead to 15-11, before Lee shifted into fifth gear to level at 16.They then traded points and once again Jorgensen threw away game point at 22-21 to lose 24-22.In Group B, Kenichi Tago of Japan and Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto were gifted their tickets to the semi-finals when another Indonesian, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, pulled out after aggravating an old leg injury while coming down from the team bus.Meanwhile, three-time champions Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen scraped into the semi-finals of the men's doubles when Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa lost 21-13, 21-17 to South Korea's Ko Sung-Hyun and Lee Yong-Dae.All three pairs finished with a win and a defeat. They were also level on games won and lost (2-2) but Ko-Lee took top spot by as they won 77 points and conceded 72 while the Danes finished on 75-77 and the Japanese on 72-75.The $500,000 season-ender brings together the top eight performers in each of the five categories based on points earned from the 12 Superseries tournaments.

Golf: Brooks leads, Campillo, Nel card 59s at Mandela event

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DURBAN (AFP) - England's Daniel Brooks remained in charge at the rain-ravaged Nelson Mandela Championship on Friday while Jorge Campillo and Colin Nel carded 59s.Spain's Campillo and South African Nel both broke the 60 barrier although they will not enter the record books as preferred lies were allowed on Mount Edgecombe's saturated fairways.Following lengthy delays on both Wednesday and Thursday, organisers were forced to reduce the tournament to 54 holes after another three-hour delay on Friday.Campillo had two eagles and seven birdies to reach 11 under par for the tournament, while first round leader Brooks was 12 under with seven holes of his second round remaining when darkness brought play to a halt.England's Matthew Baldwin shot a 62 to share the clubhouse lead with Campillo, with home favourites Branden Grace, Oliver Bekker and Dawie van der Walt on ten under.We play other par 70s on Tour, but you still have to shoot 59 and I'm pretty happy with the way I finished, said 27-year-old Campillo.I was never close to 59 before, but in the Dutch Open I was eight under with three holes to go on a par 70. Finishing with three birdies would have put me on 59 but I finished par-par-bogey. That helped me a lot today, because finishing well was important and I did it.Despite his 59, Nel was back on four under for the tournament after an opening 77.

Oil prices mixed ahead of Libya's return to market

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices traded mixed Friday as Libya was expected to begin exporting more crude into a market already flush with supply.On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell 90 cents to $96.60 a barrel.In London, Brent North Sea crude for January finished 16 cents higher at $108.83.Traders were waiting to see if a Libyan tribe leader's pledge to open up its crude terminals on December 15 would hold up, after his followers kept a blockade on the installations for months.The protests and blockades of fuel deliveries by the Berber minority slashed Libya's output to about 250,000 barrels per day, from normal levels of nearly 1.5 million barrels per day.Libya's light crude is valued in European refineries.Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates said the US hitting its highest level of production in 25 years, with more gains predicted for next year, was also keeping downward pressure on prices.The US Energy Information Administration said that American crude output had reached 8.075 million barrels per day, and would rise to an average of 8.5 million barrels per day next year.

Dollar-euro rate stable ahead of Fed meeting

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Key forex market rates were almost unchanged Friday as traders looked ahead to next weeks critical policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve, and whether it will cut back its stimulus.The dollar edged a little higher against the euro, after a day trading in a narrow range.Around 2300 GMT, the euro was at $1.3738, down from $1.3752 late Thursday.The dollar bought 103.23 yen, down from 103.36, while the euro was at 141.81 yen, down from 142.15.Analysts were split on whether the Fed would begin cutting its $85 billion a month bond-buying program at its meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.Some say the decision, supported by improving economic data, could be put off until late January.It will likely be small at first, whatever the case, many said.Taper or not, the Fed will likely introduce a modification or addition to the forward guidance, said Shushanik Papanyan at BBVA Research.The choices laid out by the FOMC are introduction of an inflation floor of 1.5 percent or reduction of the threshold of the unemployment rate.The British pound slipped to $1.6298 from $1.6350. The dollar was little changed at 0.8895 Swiss franc.

NASA mulls spacewalks to fix space station

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A series of spacewalks might be necessary to fix a breakdown in the equipment cooling system aboard the International Space Station, NASA said Friday.A US space agency spokesman told AFP that NASA will decide by Monday on the appropriate measures to fix the breakdown, which has posed no danger to the six-man crew.Station program managers will have further discussions on potential contingency spacewalk planning that could result in multiple spacewalks to replace the pump module beginning as early as late next week, said a NASA statement.NASA is also expected to decide by Monday on whether Orbital Sciences maiden launch of its Cygnus unmanned cargo craft can go ahead as scheduled on December 18.The cooling problem occurred Wednesday in a flow valve that controls the temperature of the equipment aboard the station.Engineers on the ground have been trying to fix the issue, but a spacewalk might be necessary to get a closer look at the external thermal control loops -- of which two exist on the station -- and the defective valve.The astronauts have the necessary equipment on board the ISS if a replacement of the pump is needed, NASA has said.A temporary fix is in place in the meantime, in which some equipment has been shut down to save power.A similar equipment failure in 2010 required three spacewalks to fix.If spacewalks are called for this time, they would mark the first time astronauts have ventured outside the orbiting lab since a helmet leak brought an early end to a European astronauts outing in July.Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was wearing a US-made spacesuit when a water leak flooded his helmet and risked drowning him.NASA has not yet announced the results of an investigation into what went wrong with his spacesuit.There is a planned spacewalk by two Russians on board the station for December 27.Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy are slated for an outing to install cameras and other equipment on a platform outside the Russian segment of the station.
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