Monday 2 December 2013

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Woman among 6 killed in Karachi violence

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - According to details, firing outside a clinic in Federal B Area claimed life of two people. The deceased were identified as Dr Tahir and Mufti Ahmad. According to police, Mufti Ahmad was the prime target of the attackers who came to clinic for treatment of his wife.The death of Mufti Ahmad sparked protests in the area and angry residents blocked the road going from Liaquatabad to Hassan Square.Some unidentified gunmen shot dead an activist of a political party, Amir, in Landhi Khurramabad.In Gulshan Maymar, gunmen shot dead a former office-bearer of ANP, Dim Muhammad Wazir while two of his aides, Munir and Tariq, received bullet wounds. Two of the attackers were also wounded in return fire.Some unidentified gunmen shot dead 40-year-old Abdullah in MPR Colony in Orangi Town while 27-year-old Darwaish Bibi was killed over a domestic dispute in Baldia Town.

Altaf convenes party meeting today

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has convened his party meeting in Karachi today.The meeting will be held at Lal Qilla Ground in Azizabad at 4:00pm today. Deputy conveners of MQM’s coordinating committee, MNAs, MPAs and other party workers will attend the meeting. Altaf Hussain will address the meeting through a telephonic link from London.

Mullah Fazalullah reaches North Waziristan

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WAZIRISTAN (Dunya News) - The newly appointed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief, Mullah Fazalullah along with his 15 aides has reached North Waziristan. He was appointed as TTP chief after the death of Hakeemullah Mehsud in US drone strike.According to sources, Fazalullah will preside over a meeting of TTP Shura today (Tuseday). Mullah Fazalullah had escaped to Afghanistan during Swat operation.

Syria rebels capture Christian town of Maalula: NGO

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BEIRUT (AFP) - Syrian rebels, including jihadist groups, captured the historic Christian town of Maalula north of Damascus on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Rebels assaulted the town by rolling explosive-filled tyres down the hills onto regime forces and were able to reach the city centre after three days of intense fighting, with clashes still raging in the surrounding areas.The picturesque town is considered a symbol of the ancient Christian presence in Syria, and its 5,000 pre-war residents are among the few in the world who still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.The fighting came as the regime has been battling to gain control of a string of nearby towns and villages along the strategic Damascus-Homs highway north of the capital.The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on activists and other sources on the ground, said several groups, including Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, had taken part in the capture of the town.The rebels abducted 12 Syrian and Lebanese Orthodox nuns from their convent after moving into the town, Vatican Radio reported, citing Mario Zenari, the nuncio (ambassador) of the Holy See in Syria.Syrian state news agency SANA had earlier said the rebels had entered the Orthodox Mar Takla convent, in the middle of the city, which had previously been controlled by the army.The convent is home to some 40 nuns and orphans, some of the few residents of the town who remained after rebels first entered in September, prompting fierce fighting with the army.

15 dead in wave of Iraq attacks

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BAGHDAD (AFP) - Attacks near Baghdad and northern and western Iraq killed 15 people Monday, the latest deadly violence to rock the country amid fears it is slipping back into all-out sectarian war.Iraqs worst bloodshed since 2008, with more than 6,000 people killed already this year, has forced the authorities to appeal for international help in combatting militancy ahead of general elections due to be held in April.Officials have blamed a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, but the government has been criticised for not doing more to address grievances in the Sunni Arab community which analysts say fuels the violence.On Monday, shootings and bombings struck around Baghdad, as well as in and around the northern cities of Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu, killed 15 people, while a rare double bombing in the Kurdish north left two senior security officers wounded.In the deadliest violence, a family of six -- two men, two women and two children -- were found dead after having been gunned down in their homes in Al-Nibaie, which lies just north of the capital.It is the latest in a troubling series of attacks where large groups of people have been shot dead and left for authorities to find, scenes eerily reminiscent of the worst of Iraqs gruesome communal war.At the peak of sectarian fighting in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion, Sunni and Shiite militias regularly carried out tit-for-tat kidnappings and assassinations and left scores of corpses littering the streets.Elsewhere, attacks in Abu Ghraib, Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu left nine others dead.Two officers in the Kurdish peshmerga forces, meanwhile, were wounded by rare bombings against their respective cars in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah.The twin magnetic sticky bombs attached to the vehicles of a brigadier general and a colonel in the peshmerga went off minutes apart at about 7:30 am (0430 GMT) in the same neighbourhood of Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistans second-biggest city.It follows a massive Al-Qaeda attack on a security headquarters in the Kurdish capital Arbil on September 29 involving suicide bombers, car bombs and gunfire, killing seven people overall and leaving more than 60 wounded.Unlike the rest of the country, which has seen brutal violence in the years following the 2003 US-led invasion, religiously and ethnically homogenous Kurdistan was largely spared the violence.It operates largely autonomously of Baghdad, with its own security forces and has its own parliament and visa regime.The authorities have made some concessions aimed at placating the protesters and Sunnis in general, including freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of anti-Al-Qaeda Sahwa fighters.At the same time, the security forces have trumpeted operations targeting militants.But daily attacks have shown no sign of abating.Diplomats, analysts and rights groups say the government is not doing enough to address Sunni disquiet over what they see as mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities.

US prepares ship to destroy Syria's chemical weapons

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military has begun outfitting a ship with special equipment that will be used to destroy part of Syrias chemical arsenal, the Pentagon said Monday.A hydrolysis unit is being installed on the MV Cape Ray, a 650-foot (200 meters) cargo ship, which would be employed to neutralize some of Syrias lethal chemical agents, a spokesman said.We are preparing the Cape Ray to be part of the destruction process if were tasked with that mission, Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.The ship, part of a reserve fleet used to help transport military hardware at short notice, is currently undergoing modifications at the naval port of Norfolk in Virginia, he said.The US military had yet to receive formal orders to carry out the job but is conducting prudent planning, he added.The Pentagon acknowledged the preparations after the worlds chemical watchdog agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said Saturday that an American ship would help destroy the most dangerous of Syrias chemical agents.US naval ships and aircraft would likely help provide security during the destruction effort at sea, according to two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Under an international agreement brokered to avoid US military strikes on Damascus, Syrias most dangerous chemical weapons have to be out of the country by a December 31 deadline.Officials said the US ship would be equipped with a Field Deployable Hydrolysis System, a new mobile unit developed by the Pentagon earlier this year.Hydrolysis involves breaking down a lethal chemical agent such as mustard gas with hot water and other compounds, which results in a sludge equivalent to industrial toxic waste.Sigrid Kaag, the top UN official from the joint UN-OPCW mission, on Saturday confirmed the role of a US ship to dilute the chemical agents and said the resulting byproducts would be destroyed by private firms.The chemical effluents, what is left when destroyed, will be treated in countries through a number of companies, she told reporters in Damascus.The US vessel will not be in Syrian territorial waters, she added.The OPCW has turned to the US military for assistance after no country volunteered to destroy the chemical weapons on its soil, despite an international consensus that the weapons be neutralized outside of Syria.Destroying the chemical agents at sea offers political and practical advantages, as no government has to face domestic criticism for allowing the hazardous work inside its borders, experts said.The ship-based option can be done relatively quickly, more quickly than doing this on land, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US-based Arms Control Association.The equipment exists, the personnel can be relatively easily assembled, he told AFP.The mobile hydrolysis unit can be operational within 10 days after being deployed, according to the Pentagon.

NATO chief: US deal with Afghanistan crucial

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BRUSSELS (AP) - NATO wont be able to deploy its noncombat training and advisory mission in Afghanistan after next year unless President Hamid Karzai agrees to a bilateral security agreement with the U.S., the alliances secretary-general said Monday.Mounting new pressure on the Afghan leader a day before NATO foreign ministers start a two-day meeting in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he hopes Karzai will sign the agreement needed for NATO to reach its legal framework for plans to assist Afghan forces after combat troops leave at the end of 2014 which looms as a turning point for the Atlantic alliance as it phases down its largest-ever military mission.Let me be very clear: It is a prerequisite for our presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 that an appropriate legal framework is in place, Rasmussen told reporters at NATO headquarters after meeting with new Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Without it, it will not be possible to deploy a train, advise (and) assist mission to Afghanistan after 2014.Karzai has refused to sign a bilateral security agreement with the Obama administration despite strong support from a key Afghan national assembly, deferring a decision to his successor after elections in April. Alliance military chiefs and diplomats say they need time to plan, and the U.S. has threatened to make plans for a complete pullout if a bilateral deal isnt signed by the end of December.U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute told reporters Monday that the deal is an important first link in the chain that could ultimately bring more than $8 billion for Afghan security forces and development assistance.The ministers meeting is shaping up as an opportunity for alliance members to play up successes in Afghanistan in the face of continued instability there and low public support in the U.S. and Europe about the nearly 12-year NATO mission.Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. led an international intervention that toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and has taken the lions share of responsibility in NATOs multi-nation International Security Assistance Force since then.

UN to launch drone mission in DR Congo

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations will start using surveillance drones for the first time in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday in a landmark intelligence-gathering advance for the world body, officials said.The drones will be used to monitor the volatile border between DR Congo and Rwanda and movements by militias and armed groups in the east of the country, which has been stricken by conflict for the past three decades.The United Nations has a huge peackeeping mission in DR Congo, and other missions are eagerly watching the first machines in the hope that their use will be extended.UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is in Goma, the major city in eastern DR Congo, to preside over the launch of unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.The drones would be an important tool to assist the mission in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians, Nesirky added.The mission will start with two of the drones, built by Italian firm Selex ES, a subsidiary of the Italian giant Finmeccanica, UN officials said.Up to five could be in operation after trials are completed, they added. General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, military commander of the UN mission, MONUSCO, said last month that by March or April there would be a 24 hour drone surveillance operation in eastern DR Congo.The vast mineral-rich region is at the heart of a zone where millions have died in conflict over the past decades.In recent months UN troops have supported DR Congo forces who beat M23 rebels. UN experts said the rebels were supplied and backed by neighboring Rwanda. The Kigali government denies the charge but has given only reluctant support to the use of the drones.The Congo government and UN officials say that the next target in the region is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which is made up of ethnic Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in Rwandas 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis.The Ivory Coast government has already said it would like the UN to use the surveillance drones to monitor its borders. The commanders of other peacekeeping missions, such as in South Sudan, have also said they would like to see the drones used there.

Boxing: Khan will be at Alexander fight, but not in the ring

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NEW YORK (AFP) - British boxer Amir Khan will be in the arena when Devon Alexander defends his world welterweight title Saturday, just not in the ring as the US champion had originally intended.Khan will serve as a ringside commentator for Showtime for the telecast of the card at Brooklyns Barclays Center, replacing Paulie Malignaggi, the regular commentator who will instead be in the ring against Zab Judah in a main-event showdown of hometown heroes.With a deal almost set, Khan decided against fighting US southpaw Alexander for the International Boxing Federation welterweight crown amid speculation that the Briton will be the next opponent for unbeaten Floyd Mayweather next May.While the Khan and Mayweather camps have said no such deal is in place, neither fighter has announced his next opponent.They felt I was a big risk, that I was too much for him right now, Alexander, who faces unbeaten American Shawn Porter instead, says of Khans backers. I was ready to fight him. He pulled out so it didnt happen that way.In the meantime, former world light-welterweight champion Khan will handle guest analyst duties in the fight, as well as for Judah-Malignaggi, a subject he knows well having beaten Malignaggi in 2010 and Judah in 2011.The main event between Paulie and Zab will be a Brooklyn blockbuster with two of boxings most skilled fighters. Having shared the ring with both men I know together they will bring speed, power, ring craft and heart to the table, said Khan.Khan, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics at age 17, turns 27 on Sunday. He is 28-3 with 19 knockouts.

Jesse Owens' Olympic medal up for auction

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LAGUNA NIGUEL (AP) - One of the four Olympic gold medals won by track and field star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games is up for sale in an online auction that runs through Dec. 7The medal being auctioned online recalls both the Nazi propaganda myths that Owens busted with his world record-setting 100-yard dash, and the American segregation that he came home to when he returned to the U.S. after the Games, which Adolf Hitler orchestrated to showcase his ideas of Aryan supremacism.Almost singlehandedly, Owens obliterated Hitlers plans, SCP Auctions partner Dan Imler said. Youve got an African American, son of a sharecropper, grandson of slaves who overcame these incredible circumstances and delivered a performance for the ages.The auction began Nov. 20 and closes Saturday. As of Monday, it had received 15 bids, with the highest at nearly $209,000, Imler said in an email.We expect a lot of bidding activity on the final day of the auction, which is typical, he said.Owens won gold in the 100- and 200-meters, the 400 relay and the long jump. But when he returned from the Berlin Games, he struggled to provide for his family.His job options were limited by segregation and because he decided to return home instead of going on tour with the U.S. Olympic Team, he was stripped of his amateur athletic status.When they came back, the U.S. was just as it was when he left segregated. Even though he came back an Olympic hero, he wasnt offered opportunities that Olympic heroes of today are offered, said his daughter, Marlene Owens Rankin, 74, of Chicago. We lived well, a middle class life.We didnt want for much. But like many black men of that era, he struggled to provide for his family.Owens gave one of his four Olympic gold medals to dancer and movie star Bill Bojangles Robinson, another supremely talented African-American whose career was hemmed in by limited roles for black men, Imler said. Robinson befriended Owens after the athlete return from the Olympics.They formed a friendship and also a professional relationship. Bojangles helped Owens get work in the entertainment field, Imler said. Owens gave him this medal out of gratitude and as a token of their friendship.Owens worked for a short time as a band leader but eventually returned to his hometown of Cleveland where he worked for the parks department and eventually found his way into public speaking, his daughter said.The black community revered him for what he had accomplished, she said. Had it been an even playing field, my father and Bojangles would have been super-stars.The medal comes from the estate of Robinsons widow. The Robinson family declined to comment but Imler said they plan to use the proceeds to pay college tuition and contribute to charity.SCP Auctions confirmed that the medal is genuine. The whereabouts of the other three original gold medals are unknown.We just hope that its purchased by an institution where the public could have access to it, a museum or something like that, his daughter said.

Yaya Toure wins 2013 BBC Footballer of the Year Award

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LONDON (AFP) - Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure was named the BBCs African Footballer of the Year for 2013 on Monday.It was the fifth straight year the Manchester City star had made the shortlist but the first time hed taken the award.Thank you to all the fans around the world who continue to support me and who love me a lot, said Toure in a BBC statement. Im very proud, Im very happy, this award is amazing.Its the fifth time in a row (being nominated) and this time is very special.Toure, who has scored 13 goals for club and country this year, was the choice of the BBCs global audience.He held off competition from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and Borussia Dortmund), Victor Moses (Nigeria and Liverpool, on loan from Chelsea), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria and Chelsea), and Jonathan Pitroipa (Burkina Faso and Rennes).Toure was presented with the award at Manchester Citys Carrington training ground on Monday.We are pleased for Yaya Toure that he has finally won the BBC African Footballer of the Year on his fifth nomination for the award, said BBC Africas current affairs editor Vera Kwakofi.This shows the high esteem in which he is held by lovers of African football and the respect the fans have for his exploits for club and country.Toure now has the chance to complete an awards double having been selected among a 25-man shortlist for the African Football Confederation (CAF) African Footballer of the Year for 2013.In contrast to the BBC award, Toure has won the CAF equivalent in each of the last two years and winning it for a third consecutive year would see him match the achievement of Cameroon striker Samuel Etoo, winner in 2003, 2004 and 2005.The winner of the latest edition is due to be announced at a ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 9.

Football: Messi and Ronaldo share player spoils

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MADRID (AFP) - Ahead of Januarys Ballon DOr award the worlds two best players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shared the spoils in the Spanish Leagues season awards on Monday.Messi was named best player for 2012/13 while Ronaldo won the MVP or player of the season award.Both players are on the FIFA Ballon DOr shortlist for the best player of 2013.

Pele to make appearance at World Cup draw

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COSTA DO SAUIPE (AP) - Organizers of the 2014 World Cup say football great Pele will make an appearance at Fridays draw in Brazil.It hadnt been clear whether Pele would be participating in the event that will determine the schedule for next years tournament, but organizers confirmed Monday he will be part of the show broadcast to about 250 million viewers in more than 190 countries.Head of FIFA Films David Ausseil said Pele will come to the stage at some point but his role in the ceremony wont be revealed in advance.Luiz Gleiser, the events artistic manager, said Pele will be the wow moment of the show.Pele will not be drawing the balls that determine the group placings, a task handed to past world champions including Cafu and Zinedine Zidane.

Hong Kong reports first human case of H7N9 bird flu: report

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HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong on Tuesday confirmed its first human case of the deadly H7N9 bird flu, according to a report, in the latest sign of the virus spreading beyond mainland China.A 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper with a history of travelling to the mainland city of Shenzhen and coming into contact with live poultry has been infected and is in critical condition, Health Secretary Ko Wing-man said, according to the broadcaster RTHK.The patient was admitted to hospital last month after developing a cough and was transferred to intensive care at the citys Queen Mary Hospital last Friday, the report added.137 human cases of H7N9 have been reported in mainland China since February with 45 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.In April Taiwan reported its first case, a 53-year-old man who had been working in eastern China.The man was eventually discharged but the case prompted the islands authorities to begin research into a vaccine they hope to roll out by late 2014.Secretary Ko said Hong Kong had suspended the import of live poultry from Shenzhen and escalated the grade of its flu contingency plan to serious, according to the RTHK report.People who had come into close contact with the patient recently have also been admitted to another hospital for isolation and testing.In August, Chinese scientists reported the first likely case of direct person-to-person transmission of H7N9, but stressed that the virus, believed to jump from birds to people, was still inadept at spreading among humans.The infection comes 10 years after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak which swept through Hong Kong, killing 299 people and infecting around 1,800.Avian flu viruses have been around for a very long time in wild birds but do not generally cause disease in humans, though in rare cases they mutate and jump species.

Oil rises on manufacturing numbers from US, China

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NEW YORK (AP) - The price of oil rose more than 1 percent Monday on encouraging manufacturing data from the U.S. and China.Benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery rose $1.10, or 1.2 percent, at $93.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.U.S. manufacturing grew in November at the fastest pace in 2½ years as factories ramped up production, stepped up hiring and received orders at a healthy clip. Chinese manufacturing continued to grow slightly last month, a survey showed, in evidence that growth in the world's No. 2 economy was continuing, albeit at a modest pace.China's leaders are counting on a continuing recovery to avoid the need for further stimulus. China's economic growth rose to 7.8 percent in the third quarter after slumping to a two-decade low of 7.5 percent in the previous three months.In the U.S., manufacturing activity has now expanded for six straight months after hitting a rough patch in the spring. The steady gains suggest that growth is remaining solid in the current October-December quarter.Traders are also looking ahead as delegates from some of the world's key oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria, meet Wednesday at OPEC headquarters in Vienna.An estimate from analysts at JBC Energy in Vienna showed OPEC's crude output fell to 29.44 million barrels a day in November, the lowest since May 2011 and the third straight month with output below 30 million. Most of the difference was attributed to production and export snags in Libya, where political volatility and the effects of the 2011 civil war continue to affect the oil industry.Meanwhile, Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, jumped $1.76 to $111.45 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
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