Thursday 24 April 2014

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Dera Murad Jamali: Attack on police vehicle leaves four dead

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DERA MURAD JAMALI (Dunya News) – At least four policemen including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) were killed in attack on a police vehicle on Thursday.According to details, some unknown persons targeted a police vehicle near Dargah Shehnsha in Chatar Tehsil killing ASI Karim Bakhsh Bhangar, Head Constable Sadoora Khan Pahor, Constable Rawat Khan Domki and Constable Wahid Bakash.The accused used rocket launchers and heavy weapons while police vehicle completely damaged in the attack while the accused succeeded to flee from the scene.A heavy contingent of police rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area while dead bodies of the victims were shifted to Civil Hospital Dera Murad Jamali.It is pertinent to mention here that DSP Chatar Abdul Ghaffar Selachi and two other police officials were injured three in a blast on Tuesday.

ADB approves $400 million loan for Pakistan energy sector

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ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - The Asian Development Bank has approved a $400 million loan as part of its five-year $1.2 billion programme for energy sector reforms.However, the remaining amount has been linked with the government’s ability to withdraw power subsidies and ensure accountability in the power sector.The bank is expected to disburse the entire amount next week, following a signing ceremony between both sides, scheduled for Monday.In a statement, Director General for the Central and West Asia Department of the Bank Klaus Gerhaeusser said the loan is part of an assistance programme, which will underwrite reforms needed to make the energy sector affordable, reliable, sustainable, and secure.ADB said the energy sector reform programme will support the overhaul of existing tariffs and subsidies as Pakistan government moves to eliminate subsidies by 2016, except for low-income customers.In September the ADB had approved a $2.1 billion Accelerating Economic Transformation Programme. However, the programme was suspended after disbursing two tranches – the last one came in 2010 due to the previous government’s inability to meet conditions attached with the loan package.

China approves jail for rare wild animal eaters

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BEIJING (AFP) - China's legislature voted on Thursday to approve a legal measure that will jail people caught eating rare wild animals, state media reported.The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) approved a new interpretation of China's Criminal Law at a bimonthly session, the official Xinhua news agency reported.The NPC, China's top legislature, met in full session in March. However the NPC Standing committee has the authority to pass legislation and make legal changes on its own.The report said that China's government deems 420 species of wild animals as rare or endangered. The animals include giant pandas, golden monkeys, Asian black bears and pangolins, the report said.Under the legal interpretation passed Thursday, people who eat animals on the list or purchase them for other purposes will be considered in violation of the Criminal Law.Depending on the crime, violators could face more than 10 years in jail, the report added.The killing of endangered animals and the use of their body parts -- such as rhino horns and shark fins -- in traditional medicine and as food delicacies has been identified as a global menace.Demand from increasingly wealthy Asian consumers has been blamed for helping to fuel the trade.In February, the global environmental watchdog International Union for Conservation of Nature, based in Switzerland, identified more than 11,000 threatened animal species, many of which are increasingly the object of global trafficking.The new interpretation of China's law clarifies the role of people who purchase illegally hunted animals, the report added.It regulates that knowingly buying any wild animals that are prey of illegal hunting... will face a maximum three-year imprisonment, Xinhua said.The report said that up to now, many people who bought such wild animals had avoided any punishment.In fact, buyers are a major motivator of large-scale illegal hunting, Lang Sheng, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, told reporters, according to Xinhua.Xinhua said the interpretation of the Criminal Law by the NPC was the 10th since taking effect in 1997. It said the law has been amended nine times.

Bitcoin exchange MtGox to start liquidation process

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TOKYO (AFP) - Failed Bitcoin exchange MtGox, whose spectacular collapse hammered the digital currency's reputation, is to be liquidated after a Japanese court on Thursday ordered the start of bankruptcy proceedings, said a lawyer appointed to carry out the process.The global virtual currency community was shaken by the shuttering of MtGox, which froze withdrawals in early February because of what the firm said was a bug in the software underpinning Bitcoin that allowed hackers to pilfer them.The exchange filed for bankruptcy protection soon after, admitting it had lost 850,000 coins which were worth nearly $500 million at the time. It made a similar filing in the United States in early March.The ruling by the Tokyo District Court on Thursday all but spells the end for a company that at one time processed around 80 percent of global transactions in the virtual currency.(I) will implement the bankruptcy proceedings, in which the assets of the bankrupt entity will be managed and converted into cash, said a statement attributed to bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi posted on the exchange's website.If funds for a distribution are secured, the liquidating distribution will be made.He added that a creditors' meeting will be held on July 23, but warned that there were no guarantees about how much money -- if any -- investors would get back.The actual amount and value of Bitcoins and cash of the company will be investigated by the bankruptcy trustee with the cooperation of certain experts, the statement said.Bitcoins are generated by complex chains of interactions among a huge network of computers around the planet and are not backed by any government or central bank.On Thursday, the statement from MtGox's bankruptcy trustee said it would investigate the lost coins to the extent possible through (the firm's) asset administration.- Lingering questions -The company has consulted with the police authority, and the bankruptcy trustee will also proactively cooperate with it when such cooperation is requested, the trustee added.The liability of MtGox's under-fire chief executive Mark Karpeles would also be investigated as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, it said.Last week, the court named Kobayashi as provisional administrator, which meant Karpeles ceded control of the company to him.The France-born Karpeles has reportedly refused to travel to the United States, where he was being asked to appear for questioning in connection with MtGox's collapse.Amid calls for a criminal investigation, the company said last month it had handed over documents to the Tokyo police, after it found 200,000 of the lost coins in a cold wallet -- a storage device, such as a memory stick, that is not connected to other computers.After trading for cents per Bitcoin for the first two years of its existence, the digital unit began a frenzied climb in 2011 that took it to $40 a coin in late 2012 and to $1,100 last year. It is currently trading at around $505.The unit's relative anonymity and lack of regulation has been attacked by critics who fear it could be used to finance organised crime or terrorism.Last month, the Japanese government said Bitcoin was not a currency but transactions involving it should be subject to taxation.Tokyo also said that banks could not broker Bitcoin transactions or open accounts holding the virtual unit.But as regulators around the world grapple with how to handle the virtual currency, Japan did not specify if Tokyo would immediately begin cracking down on it, or how it would do so, given the unit's opaque nature.US Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen has said the central bank had no powers over a currency that only exists virtually with no central authority behind it.Several countries, including Russia and China, have heavily restricted how Bitcoin can be used.

European stocks rebound on upbeat earnings

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LONDON (AFP) - European stock markets rebounded on Thursday as traders reacted to a string of earnings updates, data pointing to further easing of euro zone economic strains, and fresh takeover speculation.Indices won a boost in particular from well-received profits news from Apple and Facebook on Wednesday following the close of trading on Wall Street, analysts said.The euro gained against the dollar, aided by upbeat German business confidence.London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.64 percent to stand at 6,717.71 points in late morning deals.Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 0.76 percent to 9,616.75 points, with data revealing that German business confidence rebounded this month, after a slight fall in March in Europe's biggest economy when companies worried about the Crimea crisis.The CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.91 percent to 4,491.48 points compared with Wednesday's closing level.And in Madrid, the IBEX 35 gained 0.78 percent to 10,505.6 points after Spain's central bank said the country's economy grew at the fastest pace for six years in the first quarter of 2014.European stock markets had closed lower on Wednesday, shrugging off strong euro zone data as concerns about the Chinese economy prompted traders to take profits after a three-day winning streak.European markets are moving to the upside on the back of better than expected corporate data out of the US late yesterday evening, Markus Huber, senior analyst at broker Peregrine & Black, said on Thursday.Tech heavyweights Facebook and Apple both posted better-than-expected results and consequently instilled new optimism into the markets.- AstraZeneca, Alstom shares surge -The share price of British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca jumped 5.13 percent to 4,250 pence in Thursday trading as the company's turnaround program appeared on track despite profits halving in the first quarter.Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever meanwhile dropped 1.55 percent to 30.21 euro’s after the multi-national posted a first-quarter drop in sales.In Paris, shares in French engineering group Alstom, which builds power-generating equipment and high-speed trains, shot up nearly 14.0 percent to 27.74 euro’s on rumors that US General Electric may make a takeover bid.Alstom issued a statement to say that it had no knowledge of any such offer -- after financial news agency Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that GE was in advanced talks to buy Alstom for more than $13.0 billion (9.4 billion euro’s).The Paris market was marked by several results statements. Shares in engineering group Schneider Electric jumped 5.65 percent to 68.77 euro’s after the company reported unexpectedly strong first-quarter sales.Shares in leading tire maker Michelin fell by 3.76 percent to 89.26 euro’s on a fall in quarterly sales which the company blamed on the strength of the euro.Shares in Technip, which has recently won big contracts for engineering on oil and gas projects, jumped 7.08 percent to 81.93 euro’s after the firm held to its targets even though net quarterly profit fell by 42.2 percent to 67.2 million euro’s.Spirits group Pernod Ricard, number two in the world in its sector, reported a 7.0-percent fall in sales in its third quarter, blaming exchange-rate factors and a downturn of sales in China, the latest the latest luxury products group to suffer from a Chinese campaign against ostentatious entertainment. Nine-month sales were down 7.0 percent, and the shares slipped 0.18 percent to 85 52 euro’s.Water and waste management giant Suez Environment reported a 2.1-percent fall in quarterly sales and underlying profit, which amounted to 552 million euro’s, and its shares fell 1.23 percent to 14.46 euro’s.In foreign exchange deals on Thursday, the euro rose to $1.3828 from $1.3816 late in New York on Wednesday.The European single currency edged up to 82.33 British pence from 82.32 pence, while the pound grew to $1.6794 from $1.6781 on Wednesday.On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dipped to $1,283.50 an ounce from $1,285.25 on Wednesday.

Oil prices rise on renewed Ukraine concerns

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LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices rebounded on Thursday as heightened tensions in Ukraine overshadowed data showing US commercial crude inventories reaching an all-time high, analysts said.New York's West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June rose 24 cents to $101.68 a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for June climbed seven cents to stand at $109.18 a barrel around midday in London.Both contracts had tumbled on Wednesday on the US stockpiles data, which indicated softer demand at a time of robust production in the world's biggest oil consuming nation.Stocks rose 3.5 million barrels to 397.7 million for the week ended April 18, official figures showed, larger than the 2.4 million expected by analysts.Sanjeev Gupta, senior analyst at financial services group EY, said on Thursday that oil markets will continue to be influenced by geopolitical events.In Eastern Europe an agreement between Ukraine, Russia and Western powers in Geneva last week to pull the country from the brink of civil war appeared shaky.Russia has since hinted that it will strike back if its legitimate interests in the former Soviet state are attacked after Kiev sent in forces to dislodge militants who have occupied government buildings there.Moscow wants Ukraine's pro-Western government to withdraw its forces.Ukraine, a major conduit for Russian natural gas to Western Europe, is monitored closely by investors who are concerned that a full-scale armed conflict will disrupt supplies, causing a potential spike to prices.

Turkey holds rates steady despite government pressure

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ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey's central bank refused to bow to government pressure and kept its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday.In a statement on its website, the bank said the overnight lending rate was being held at 12.0 percent, while the borrowing and one-week repo rates were left at 8.0 percent and 10.0 percent.The announcement came after the bank's monetary policy committee meeting, which agreed that the tight monetary policy would be maintained until an improvement in the inflation outlook was secured.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said early this month after his Islamic-rooted party scored a sweeping victory in March 30 local polls that the bank should cut interest rates in order to stimulate the economy.Erdogan, a strong candidate for the presidency in August, has made a turnaround in Turkey's economic fortunes a keystone of his 11-year rule, pushing the central bank, which is officially independent, for lower rates to boost credit for consumers and businesses.The bank aggressively raised key rates in January in a bid to halt a steep drop in the Turkish lira.The January hike came amid an escalating crisis for Erdogan sparked by a vast corruption investigation implicating himself and his inner circle, months after mass anti-government protests.The central bank should hold an extraordinary meeting to cut (rates) ... just as they met previously to raise them, Erdogan said on April 4.Investors in Turkey will be eager once interest rates are lowered. More investments will be made, he added.- Bank decision 'no surprise' -The Turkish lira rallied to 2.1302 against the US dollar and 2.9461 against euro after the bank rate decision.Analyst William Jackson at the London-based Capital Economics said the decision should ease concerns that it might bow to government pressure to loosen monetary policy following Erdogan's comments.Jackson suggested that the central bank had withstood government pressure but only for now.It is perhaps reassuring that the CBRT (central bank) didn't take further steps to ease policy today, he said.But given the pressure from the government to lower rates, there still seems to be a fairly high chance that the CBRT could do so over the coming months. In this event, the lira would become more vulnerable to a fresh sell-off.Ali Cakiroglu, senior investment strategist at HSBC in Turkey, said the bank decision was no surprise.He said the bank did not give any hints about future interest rates but he predicted they would remain at current levels by June at least until the inflation reached its peak.Turkey's economy grew by 4.0 percent last year, down from nearly 9.0 percent in 2010, and analysts warn of a slowdown after months of turmoil and ahead of presidential elections in August.Emerging economy currencies including the lira have also taken a beating due in part to the US Federal Reserve's decision to reduce stimulus measures.Ratings agency Fitch this month affirmed Turkey's credit rating at BBB- with a stable outlook but cut its economic growth forecast to 2.5 percent for this year and 3.2 percent for 2015.It also cited political risk in the country despite the ruling party's election triumph.

Israel mulls reprisals for Palestinian unity deal

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JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's security cabinet met Thursday to weigh its retaliation to a unity deal struck between the Palestinian leadership and the Hamas rulers of Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Wednesday's agreement between the rival factions accusing Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of choosing Hamas, not peace.Public radio said ministers were likely to announce fresh retaliatory measures on top of a raft of financial sanctions unveiled this month when the Palestinians applied to join 15 international treaties.They were not expected to order a complete halt to US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, however, despite the announcement by a Netanyahu aide of the cancellation of a scheduled meeting on Wednesday evening, the broadcaster said.Netanyahu's office described the deal between Abbas and Hamas, which opposes all peace talks with Israel, as very serious.But it said it was for ministers to decide whether to announce any new measures after Thursday's meeting.By tying itself to Hamas, the Palestinian leadership is turning its back on peace, a Netanyahu aide said.A close aide of Netanyahu, MP Tzahi Hanegbi, said Israel was unlikely to halt the US-brokered peace talks launched in July.- Peace deal 'impossible' -But Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that in his opinion an agreement was impossible while there is an alliance involving Hamas.Israel already announced on April 10 that it was freezing the transfer of some 80 million euros ($111 million) in taxes it collects on behalf of Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which account for some two-thirds of its revenues.The deal between the Palestinian leadership and Hamas came as the US-led peace talks teetered on the brink of collapse just days before their scheduled April 29 conclusion.US envoy Martin Indyk has held repeated meetings with the two sides in a last-ditch bid to salvage the negotiations.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denied any three-way meeting has been planned for Wednesday but acknowledged Abbas would meet Indyk on Thursday without the Israelis.US Secretary of State John Kerry was also set to speak with the Palestinian president on the phone Thursday afternoon, a day after Washington disappointed over the Palestinian deal.In Ramallah, Abbas was set to begin consultations on the formation of a national consensus government he would head, comprised of independent members.Abbas says he will not extend the negotiations unless Israel agrees to a freeze on all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, and frees a group of Arab prisoners who had been earmarked for release this month.He has also demanded the two sides launch straight into negotiations on the future borders of the Palestinians' promised state.Israel has dismissed all three conditions as unacceptable.Jibril Rajub, a Fatah leader, told AFP that the next national consensus government will proclaim loud and clear that it accepts the Quartet's conditions.The Middle East Quartet demands that Hamas recognise Israel and existing agreements between it and the PLO, and renounce armed struggle.- US warning -Washington warned Wednesday that the deal between the Palestinian leadership and Hamas threatened to scupper any chance of rescuing the talks.It's hard to see how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a government that does not believe in its right to exist, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.Abbas's writ has effectively been confined to autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas evicted his loyalists from Gaza in 2007.Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the formation of a joint administration under his leadership within five weeks.Similar agreements have been reached in the past, but the latest deal sparked celebration on the streets of Gaza.On Thursday, the PLO delegation to Gaza briefed Palestinian factions on the reconciliation agreement.And Hamas premier Ismail Haniyeh called Qatari, Tunisian and Turkish leaders to fill them in on the unity deal, said the Al-Rai news agency, run by the territory's Islamist rulers.When Hamas swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, the European Union and the United States said they would deal with a government in which it participated only if it renounced violence and recognised Israel and past peace deals.Washington reaffirmed that position on Wednesday.

Air strikes hit militants' hideouts, kill 35 in Khyber Agency

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PESHAWAR (Web Desk) - The Pakistani military attacked Taliban hideouts in the lawless tribal northwest with fighter jets and ground forces on Thursday and killed at least 35 suspected militants, officials said.It was the first time the military is known to have used air strikes against militants since the Pakistani Taliban announced a ceasefire on March 1 to help peace talks.The Taliban said last week it was ending the ceasefire, complaining of little progress in negotiations with the government. A series of militant attacks since then have killed seven people in the northwest.The airstrikes hit mountainous areas of the Khyber tribal district, where the Taliban and the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam are active.First jet fighters were used early in the morning and then ground troops were sent to the area, a senior security official in Peshawar told AFP on condition of anonymity.They are conducting a search and cordon operation and up to now at least 35 militants have been killed.Lashkar-e-Islam, led by warlord Mangal Bagh, is feared for kidnappings and extortion in Khyber, one of seven tribal districts along the Afghan border.Another security official said the strikes targeted militants involved in bomb attacks in the northwestern town of Charsadda and on a fruit and vegetable market in Islamabad which killed 24 people.Officials said ground troops also used heavy weapons to pound militant targets.Independent verification of the death toll was not possible, as journalists are not allowed to enter the area.Pakistan began talks with the Taliban in February to try to end their seven-year insurgency, which has cost thousands of lives.Government and Taliban negotiators met in Islamabad on Tuesday to plan a fresh round of talks and to try to persuade the militants to begin another ceasefire, a Taliban negotiator said.Since the Taliban began their campaign of violence in 2007, more than 6,800 people have been killed in bomb and gun attacks around Pakistan, according to an AFP tally.

Clashes in Kashmir as India heads back to the polls

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ANANTNAG (AFP) - Tens of millions voted Thursday in different regions of India in the latest stage of a massive five-week election, but militant threats kept many Kashmiris away from polling stations while others clashed with police.Constituents in the teeming financial capital Mumbai, the home of Bollywood and sprawling slums, were among the 180 million eligible voters Thursday, as were residents of the electorally crucial southern state of Tamil Nadu.The parliamentary election has been staggered in a bid to ensure the safety of the 814-million-strong electorate, with results due on May 16 when the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is forecast to take power.The Muslim-majority and volatile Kashmir valley, where a separatist movement against Indian rule is centered, posed a heightened challenge for security forces on the first of three days of polling there.Police faced stone-throwing protesters in 20 different locations in Anantnag constituency, forcing them to use tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds, one senior officer told AFP. Several journalists received minor injuries.Voting was light at the heavily guarded polling stations after a campaign of intimidation by local militant groups, who killed three people this week and warned locals not to take part.I voted because if we send the right person to the Indian parliament he will raise our voice for azadi (freedom), said defiant resident Umair, reflecting widespread separatist sentiment in the area.Turnout was a mere 23.5 percent at 5:00pm, the Election Commission said.Very few in the picturesque Himalayan valley, surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains, would be expected to support national election frontrunner Narendra Modi, a hardline Hindu nationalist who is leading campaigning for the BJP.Modi, the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, remains a divisive figure due to his association with anti-Muslim riots in 2002 shortly after he came to power. The unrest cost at least 1,000 lives.The 63-year-old appeared before hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters on Thursday as he filed his nomination papers to contest a seat from the holy Hindu city of Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.Dressed all in white, he was flanked by his controversial aide Amit Shah, who was briefly banned from campaigning for inflammatory comments he made this month in an area hit by anti-Muslim riots last year.This wave (in support of Modi) has been turned into a tsunami, Shah told reporters as Modi waved and bowed to the crowd, saying he felt overwhelmed by the love of the people.The streets were a sea of saffron, the BJP's colour which is associated with Hinduism, with the mainly male crowd decked out in BJP caps or carrying the party's lotus emblem flags.Modi, elected three times in Gujarat, has steered clear of advancing his party's Hindu nationalist agenda on the campaign trail, presenting himself as a centrist economic reformer capable of delivering a clean government.All polls show him as vastly more popular than his rival Rahul Gandhi from the scandal-racked ruling Congress party, which has been in power for 10 years but faces its heaviest ever defeat.- Bollywood and business -Millions of voters, from Bollywood stars and business leaders to slum dwellers, turned out in the western megacity of Mumbai, standing in queues in a rare show of social mixing.The city's favourite son, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, voted early and urged others to follow suit.A wonderful start to my birthday, as a responsible citizen of our great nation, the 41-year-old wrote on Twitter accompanied by a selfie of his inked finger.At a school in the suburb of Juhu, the media jostled to get pictures of actors such as Dharmendra, Sonam Kapoor and Bobby Deol.The Bollywood movie industry turned unusually political last week after more than 50 filmmakers, actors and writers, many of them Muslim, signed an appeal urging Indians not to vote for Modi and instead choose a secular party.Also going to the polls on Thursday were voters in Tamil Nadu state, where Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram is hoping to win enough support to play a pivotal role in shaping India's next government.The former film star, known as Mother to her followers, is one of the country's powerful regional leaders who could play a kingmaker role if Modi fails to win a majority and needs coalition partners.In all, constituencies in 12 states voted on Thursday including Assam, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Russia orders new military exercises on Ukraine border

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MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Thursday ordered new military exercises in Russian regions bordering Ukraine in response to Kiev's operation against militants in the east.We are compelled to react to such a situation, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies at a meeting of the defence ministry.From today, military exercises have started in regions bordering Ukraine involving battalions of tactical forces of the southern and western military districts, he said.He said that the exercises were a forced measure in response to fatalities during Ukraine's military operation against separatists who have occupied eastern cities close to the Russian border.The situation in Ukraine provokes serious concern. From April 22 the new Ukrainian leadership has begun the so-called active phase of an operation in the southeastern borders of Ukraine. There are already people killed, Shoigu said.A start has already been made in using weapons against peaceful citizens of their own country. If this war machine is not stopped today, then it will lead to a large number of dead and wounded.Shoigu said Ukraine was deploying a large number of civilian volunteers and special forces close to the Russian border and that the forces are clearly not equal.Ukraine has sent over two army brigades, including a tank brigade, from western Ukraine and special forces from its security service and the interior ministry to the eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, Shoigu listed.According to our information, the group of forces deployed (by Ukraine) counts more than 11,000 people, fully armed with machine guns. The operation is using around 160 tanks, more than 230 armed vehicles and armoured personnel carriers as well as a large amount of aviation, Shoigu said.Units of the National Guard and also battalions of extremists from the Right Sector are acting against peaceful civilians, he said, adding that more than 2,000 self-defence volunteers were deployed with around 100 machineguns, some raided from police stations.Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that the deployment of military forces in east Ukraine by the Kiev authorities was a crime against its own people that will have consequences.

Spacewalkers to replace failed computer outside space station

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CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) - Two U.S. astronauts floated outside the International Space Station to replace a failed computer that serves as a backup to critical control systems, including the outposts solar panel wings.Flight engineers Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson left the stations Quest airlock just after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) for what was expected to be a 2-1/2-hour spacewalk. They carried with them a spare computer to be installed in the central section of the stations exterior power truss.It looks like a great day to take a walk in space, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed to the crew from NASAs Mission Control in Houston.NASA scheduled the abbreviated outing - most U.S. spacewalks last more than six hours - after the computer failed on April 11.The device, which is about the size of a small microwave oven, is one of two that control several critical systems outside the station, including rotating the solar panel wings to track the sun and positioning a mobile base for the stations robotic crane.Replacing the computer is pretty straightforward, astronaut and former space station crewmember Chris Cassidy said in an interview last week on NASA Television.We anticipate it to go quickly, but as with anything in space operations ... you never know whats going to be thrown at you, Cassidy said.Except for emergency repairs, such as the computer replacement, NASA spacewalks remain suspended while engineers continue to assess the spacesuit failure last year that caused the helmet worn by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano to fill with water, nearly drowning him.The leak was later traced to a blocked filter. NASA flew new parts to the station for astronauts to make spacesuit repairs. Before two emergency spacewalks in December to fix the stations cooling system, astronauts also outfitted their helmets with absorbent pads and snorkels for breathing if the leak reoccurred.Those spacewalks were completed with no problems. Mastracchio, who is making his ninth spacewalk, and Swanson, on his fifth, also included the snorkels and pads in their helmets for Wednesdays outing.A new spacesuit was among the cargo aboard the Space Exploration Technologies Dragon capsule that reached the station on Sunday.NASA expects to resume routine spacewalks for maintenance and less-pressing repairs in July.The station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, is a permanently staffed research laboratory that flies about 260 miles above Earth.

Nisar, Dobbins discuss overall regional situation

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ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins met Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan here on Thursday.Overall regional situation and Pak-US relations came under discussion during the meeting.Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan emphasized the need for openness and transparency in relationship and demanded a genuine and honest appraisal and appreciation of Pakistan’s role without which the relationship can never be substantive or proactive.James Dobbins said his country views Pakistan as a reliable partner in the pursuit of peace and is committed to a multi-faceted and long-term relationship with Pakistan.He said Pakistan’s importance is going to multiply in the aftermath of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.It was agreed to maintain close interaction both at policy level and in term of areas of close cooperation.US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard G Olson was also present during the meeting.

Scientists reverse memory loss in mice with Alzheimer's

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MADRID (AFP) - Spanish scientists have for the first time used gene therapy to reverse memory loss in mice with Alzheimers, an advance that could lead to new drugs to treat the disease, they said.The Autonomous University of Barcelona team injected a gene which causes the production of a protein that is blocked in patients with Alzheimers into the hippocampus -- a region of the brian essential to memory processing -- in mice that were in the initial stages of the disease.The protein that was reinstated by the gene therapy triggers the signals needed to activate the genes involved in long-term memory consolidation, the university said in a statement.Gene therapy involves transplanting genes into a patients cells to correct an otherwise incurable disease caused by a failure of one or another gene.The finding was published in The Journal of Neuroscience and it follows four years of research.The hope is that this study could lead to the development of pharmaceutical drugs that can activate these genes in humans and allow for the recovery of memory, the head of the research team, Carlos Saura, told AFP.Alzheimers, caused by toxic proteins that destroy brain cells, is the most common form of dementia.Worldwide, 35.6 million people suffer from the fatal degenerative disease, which is currently incurable, and there are 7.7 million new cases every year, according to a 2012 report from the World Health Organisation.In 2010 the total global societal cost of dementia was estimated to be $604 billion, according to Alzheimers Disease International, a federation of Alzheimer associations around the world.

Aspirin halves colon cancer risk-- if you have certain gene

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Aspirin can reduce the risk of colon cancer by half, but only in people who carry high levels of a specific type of gene, a study released Wednesday found.Researchers previously were aware that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin could reduce colorectal cancer risks, but they did not understand why some saw a benefit and others did not, according to the study in Science Translational Medicine.Scientists studied tissues from people who developed colon cancer while on an aspirin regimen then set out to understand why people with a particular gene appeared to get a protective benefit from aspirin and others did not.They examined tissues of 270 colon cancer patients from 127,865 participants followed for over three decades.They found that patients who lacked a genetic profile which yields high levels of the enzyme 15-PGDH got almost no protective benefit for colon cancer from aspirin.If you looked at the folks from the study who had high 15-PGDH levels and took aspirin, they cut their risk of colon cancer by half, said senior author Sanford Markowitz of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.Yet if you looked at the folks from the study that were low for 15-PGDH, they did not benefit at all from taking aspirin. These findings represent a clean yes-no about who would benefit from aspirin, he explained.Identifying who can benefit from the colon cancer-reducing potential of aspirin is an important step because in some patients aspirin causes an increased risk of stomach ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding, researchers said.They are hoping to develop a test that would make it easy to identify who is and is not likely to get the positive effects of aspirin.According to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer struck 137,000 Americans in 2014 and 50,000 will die of it. It is the second deadliest cancer after lung cancer.But colon cancer deaths have been decreasing steadily over the past two decades as more and more people have sought testing, particularly colonoscopies.
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