Thursday 12 June 2014

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Kalabagh: Old enmity claims 3 lives

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KALABAGH (Dunya News) – According to details, seven members of the same family were going from Shakardara to Sargodha when their rivals, Fahim and Naeem opened indiscriminate fire at their vehical, killing Qaisar Hussain, Abid Hussain and Bibi Fatima on the spot.Four members of the ill-fated family, Kosar Parveen, 3-month-old Farishta, 7-year-old Sadis and 3-year-old Shahzeb were critically injured in firing.Police reached the spot and shifted the dead and injured to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.

Met office predicts hot, dry weather

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LAHORE (Dunya News) - According to Pakistan Meteorological Department, the prevailing intense pre-monsoon heat would continue for another few days in most parts of the country Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country. However, dust-thunderstorm rain is expected at few places of Multan, Faisalabad, Hazara divisions, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

Afghan candidate Abdullah seeks Pakistan cooperation

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah said Thursday he wanted good neighborly relations with Pakistan, taking a conciliatory tone after accusations that Islamabad's spy service tried to kill him.Outgoing President Hamid Karzai's National Security Council said that foreign intelligence services-- a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan -- were behind two blasts last week aimed at Abdullah in which 12 people were killed.But Abdullah, speaking to a Washington think tank via Skype two days before the run-off election, said he would seek cooperation with Pakistan -- which he noted has also experienced a series of deadly attacks.Today one harsh reality is that both countries are faced with the same challenges and it is in the interest of both countries to deal with it in a genuine spirit of good neighborly relations, Abdullah told the Atlantic Council.Pakistan was the chief supporter of the Taliban regime which imposed an austere form of Islam on Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Pakistan switched sides after the September 11, 2001 attacks but has frequently faced accusations that elements in its Inter-Services Intelligence remain in cahoots with extremist groups.Abdullah said he also sought to work with Afghanistan's other neighbors including India, whose warm relationship with Karzai has alarmed rival Pakistan.Abdullah, an ophthalmologist turned foreign minister who lost a contested 2009 election to Karzai, placed first in the initial round of the latest election.The candidate reiterated that he would sign an agreement with the United States that would allow Obama to maintain nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of most combat forces this year. Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, saying it may allow US troops to enter Afghan homes.Separately, Abdullah voiced hope that five Taliban who were released in a swap for captive US soldier Bowe Bergdahl would not return to the insurgency.Our main concern... about those who have been released is that they do not join the battlefield because those are amongst those criminals who have committed crime in a massive way against the Afghan people, Abdullah said.Abdullah said that previous Taliban militants released in goodwill gestures have returned to the fighting.But he stopped short of criticizing President Barack Obama's decision to free the five men in the exchange, which has come under intense fire from Republican lawmakers.

US 'looking at all options' in Iraq: Obama

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Washington is ramping up support to Iraq with all options on the table, barring troops on the ground, as the Obama administration Thursday was accused of being caught napping by a swift jihadist offensive.Militants are closing fast on the capital Baghdad after sweeping up a huge swath of predominantly Sunni Arab territory in northern and north-central Iraq since launching their offensive in the second city Mosul late on Monday.Iraq is going to need more help from us and it's going to need more help from the international community, President Barack Obama said after talks in Washington with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Our national security team is looking at all the options... I don't rule out anything, Obama said, stressing we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in Iraq or Syria.But he added that while there will be some short-term immediate things that need to be done militarily, the offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) should also be a wake-up call for the Iraqi government.US officials refused to say publicly what military options were being considered, except to rule out sending troops back into the country invaded by the US in 2003.American forces withdrew abruptly in December 2011 after Washington and Baghdad failed to reach a deal to allow their continued presence.Iraqi leaders have now asked the US to provide drone strikes to target militants moving in on the capital after seizing the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki -- who has been accused of failing to work towards unity and reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Muslims -- and pledged to intensify and accelerate security support and cooperation with Iraq, the White House said.Secretary of State John Kerry said Obama was prepared to make key decisions in short order... options are on the table right now, amid reports that a top policy meeting was held in the White House on Wednesday.Our team is working overtime on a range of options. That does not, include, to be clear, boots on the ground, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Some half a million people are said to have fled in the face of the ISIL assaults, joining more than another 1.4 million already displaced by the conflict. The US on Thursday unveiled a further $12.8 million to help refugees inside Iraq.The United States is concerned that the deteriorating security situation is deepening the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, Psaki told reporters.Obama and his national security team came under fire from lawmakers who denounced what they called a failed policy in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, where many ISIL members have been trained and armed in the three-year civil war.Hawkish Republican Senator John McCain called for drastic measures to reverse the militant sweep and said Obama should sack his national security team for its failed policies in the Middle East.Get a new national security team in place. You have been ill-served, he told Obama in an angry speech on the Senate floor.House Speaker John Boehner snapped that the Obama administration has seen the pressure on Iraq's government building for over a year but did little to help the authorities counter the insurgents.Now they've taken control of Mosul, they're 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Baghdad, Boehner told reporters. And what's the president doing? Taking a nap.Since the Iraqi government refused to sign the Status of Forces Agreement in 2011, the Obama administration has portrayed the situation in Iraq as a problem to be tackled by the Baghdad government with military assistance from the US.Obama again chided Iraq's Shiite-led government.Frankly, over the last several years, we have not seen the kind of trust and cooperation develop between moderate Sunni and Shiite leaders inside of Iraq, he reiterated Thursday.

UN Security Council calls for urgent dialogue in Iraq

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Thursday demanded urgent inclusive dialogue in Iraq and condemned terrorist activities, but stopped short of mulling action against militants advancing on Baghdad.The Council met for two hours behind closed doors as Kurds captured the contested oil city of Kirkuk and the United States contemplated air strikes to bolster Iraq's collapsing army.The 15 members expressed unanimous support for the government and people of Iraq in their fight against terrorism and called for broad-based dialogue, said rotating president Russia.This is a great opportunity for a fresh start in having an all-inclusive political dialogue and also in resolving the multitude of issues, Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.There must be a strong and intensified effort to start this dialogue, he added, after Iraqi MPs failed to show up to authorize the prime minister's request for a state of emergency.Security Council members urged the Iraqi government and the international community to support the UN mission on the ground, especially in response to the humanitarian crisis, Churkin said.He said members condemned all terrorist and extremist activities but warned that Iraq had to address much deeper and more complex political, sectarian, social and oil disputes.The more immediate thing is to reach some kind of accommodation between the main political forces to make it easier for them all to fight the terrorists, he added.French ambassador Gerard Araud agreed, saying on Twitter: Iraqi crisis has an essential political dimension. Need for Bagdad (sic) to respond to the concerns of the Sunnis and to outreach to the Kurds.Although jihadists have swept south from the northern city of Mosul to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, Churkin said the UN envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, did not see an immediate danger of the violence spreading to Baghdad.Diplomats said Mladenov briefed by video link that the UN mission had only a very limited ability to respond to the humanitarian needs of more than 500,000 displaced from Mosul.He described the crisis as the biggest threat to Iraqi sovereignty for some time, they added.But it is unclear what the Security Council can actually do.Asked whether it was contemplating action or measures against blacklisted terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Churkin said no suggestions to that effect had been made.US President Barack Obama said Thursday that Washington was looking at all the options, but Churkin refused to comment on any future potential actions by specific countries.So far the UN mission in Iraq, headed by the former Bulgarian foreign minister Mladenov, has focused on helping the government with political reconciliation efforts and elections.Churkin said the Council may look closer to the time as whether it needs to adjust the mandate of the mission when it comes up for renewal at the end of July.Russia has blamed the 2003 US-led invasion and inadequate equipping, training and restructuring of the Iraqi army and the status apparatus before US troops left in 2011 as the root cause.Clearly, the war on terrorism is not over, Churkin told reporters.Russia has called for the United Nations to look closely at the broader terrorist problem in the Middle East, he said.As far as we're concerned, we believe that the mission was not accomplished, he said.Mladenov has previously emphasized the impact of the civil war in Syria on deteriorating security in Iraq, and the spillover of extremists groups across the border into Iraq.

NATO chief says alliance has no role in Iraq

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MADRID (AFP) - NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday he saw no role for the alliance in Iraq where Islamic militants are closing in on Baghdad after capturing swathes of territory in the country.The NATO secretary general demanded the immediate release of Turkish citizens, snatched by Islamic militants who have overrun the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.Let me stress that I do not see a role for NATO in Iraq but of course we follow the situation closely and we urge all parties involved to stop the violence, Rasmussen told a news conference in Madrid alongside Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo.We urge the hostage takers to release the hostages immediately, he said, a day after militants seized 49 Turkish citizens from the consulate in Mosul. Nothing can justify this criminal act.Militants are approaching Baghdad after overrunning Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in a spectacular military operation.Turkey says the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has taken control of swathes of Iraq, kidnapped 49 of its citizens at the Mosul consulate and took them to another part of the city. Another 31 Turkish truck drivers kidnapped by ISIL fighters on Tuesday were being held at a power station in Mosul, the foreign ministry told AFP.I strongly condemn the violence we have seen in Iraq. I strongly condemn the hostage taking, said the head of the 28-nation NATO. Our thoughts are with the hostages and their families and loved ones.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called for the hostages' release, saying those responsible for terrorist acts must be held to account.Turkey has pledged to retaliate if any of its citizens are harmed.

Car bomb kills 7 in Syria's Homs: state media

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DAMASCUS (AFP) - At least seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the central Syrian city of Homs Thursday, Syrian state media reported.Seven killed and others injured according to a first toll in a terrorist car bomb explosion in Wadi Dahab in Homs, state television said.The blast was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, which said the neighbourhood is majority Alawite -- the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.In May, Syrian government forces retook control of almost all of Homs, once dubbed the capital of the revolution, after a deal allowing the withdrawal of rebel fighters trapped under siege.Alawite districts and areas under regime control in Homs have come under attack, including with car bombs, in recent weeks.On May 25, 12 people were killed in a twin car bomb attack in the city's Zahra neighbourhood, just days after a similar attack there killed 100 people.Those attacks were claimed by Al-Nusra Front, the official affiliate of Al-Qaeda in Syria.Meanwhile north of Homs, the Observatory said at least 18 rebels, including fighters from Al-Nusra, were killed battling regime forces near the village of Umm Sharshuh.On Thursday, regime warplanes carried out air raids on the village, which rebels captured a day earlier.

Football: Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in World Cup opener

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SAO PAULO (AFP) - Neymar hit two goals including a bitterly contested penalty to guide Brazil to a 3-1 victory over Croatia in the opening match of the World Cup on Thursday.Violent protests in Sao Paulo were quickly pushed to one side as drama switched to the football pitch.Croatia took a shock lead when Marcelo scored an own goal in the 11th minute.Neymar pulled Brazil level after 30 minutes, but Croatia were left in fury when Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot in the second half after Fred backed into Croatian defender Dejean Lovren and fell.Barcelona golden boy Neymar, who was also booked, converted the penalty to put Brazil ahead and Chelsea midfielder Oscar scored a brilliant individual goal to seal the crucial victory in Group A.The five-time winners start the tournament as overwhelming favourites, seeking to heal decades of hurt after the humiliation of losing the final to Uruguay on home soil in 1950. But they made a nervous start in the Corinthians Arena.The European side, who narrowly lost to the feted Selecao in the opening stages of the 2006 World, threatened to tear up the script.The edgy home side, who had won their previous nine matches, struggled to find their rhythm after a rousing crowd rendition of the national anthem in the new stadium.Mateo Kovacic went close for Croatia, missing the suspended Bayern Munich player Mario Mandzukic, with a right-footed strike and Ivica Olic headed just wide of Julio Cesars right post.But the 18th-ranked side took the lead their early pressure deserved after 11 minutes as Olic, enjoying the space on the left, hit an inviting cross into the box.Nikica Jelavic made contact and Brazilian defender Marcelo could not adjust his feet in time, watching in agony as the ball rolled into the net.Undaunted, the crowd urged the home side on and Oscar went close with a left-footed strike from outside the box.Neymar, tipped by many to cement his place as one of the games global superstars on home soil, pulled his side level with a strike from outside the area just before the half-hour, sending the crowd into raptures.The No. 10 ran received the ball from Oscar before driving forward and shooting across Stipe Pletikosa with his left foot, the ball nestling just inside the post.Brazil dominated possession for the remainder of the half but failed to create many clear-cut openings to add to their lead.The second half began in scrappy fashion, with both sides struggling to establish a rhythm.On the hour mark Croatian coach Niko Kovac brought on midfielder Marcelo Brozovic for Kovacic as they continued to frustrate their illustrious opponents, drawing whistles from the impatient crowd.Minutes later coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002, pulled off Paulinho to make way for Hernanes.Scolari, who cranked up the pressure by declaring on the eve of the tournament This is our World Cup, then brought on Bernard to replace Hulk and seconds later Fred won the penalty that devastated Croatia. It was a harsh punishment for Lovren.Pletikosa got a hand to Neymars shot but could not keep it out as watching President Dilma Rousseff cheered from the stands.The crowd then vented its anger against the leader, battling to reverse widespread discontent over Brazils faltering economy and the record $11 billion it spent on the World Cup.With time running out Brazil had to survive a few nervous moments and Cesar pulled off a save seconds before Oscar put the icing on the cake to send the crowd home happy.

Tennis: Nadal knocked out in Halle as Federer advances

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HALLE WESTFALEN (AFP) - Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal suffered a shock second round defeat at the hands of German world number 85 Dustin Brown on the grasscourts of Halle on Thursday. The left-handed Mallorca native, fresh from his ninth French Open title last Sunday, crashed 6-4, 6-1 at the hands of the lanky Brown who is still looking for his first ATP singles' title. Difficult to talk about the match, I don't know what to say. I didn't play, said a downcast Nadal following his defeat. It can happen on this surface against such a opponent. This match has no value preparing for Wimbledon but the match was negative in all ways. Now, I'll leave to Majorca but not sure I will play because I need to rest and then want to fly to Wimbledon Wednesday early morning, he continued.The 1.96m (6ft 5in) Brown, who has won two doubles titles, picked up the biggest win of his career on the back of 11 aces and a winning first service percentage of 83 per cent.Nadal, meanwhile, forced just one break point against his opponent, which he failed to convert, while Brown broke three times on his way to victory in just under an hour. Awaiting Brown in the quarter-finals is compatriot and 2011 Halle champion Philipp Kohlschreiber.Earlier, Roger Federer got his Wimbledon preparations fully underway, but he looked out of sorts before finally edging Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-7 (8/10), 6-4, 6-2 in a second round tie.Playing for the first time since losing to Ernests Gulbis in the last 16 of the French Open, the six-time former winner of the German tournament started brightly but was soon on the backfoot against the improving Sousa.There were no breaks of serve in the first set and it was Sousa who dominated the tie-break clinching it on his fourth set point.Federer looked frustrated at times, but the match turned on the seventh game of the second set when Sousa's level suddenly dipped allowing the Swiss great to pounce and secure his first break.From then on it was all Federer with a break of serve in the first game of the deciding set sending him safely on his way into the last eight.I struggled a bit on return during a set and half, said Federer. Afterwards, it was better, more variation on second serve.It was slightly frustrating, but important to stay calm. Maybe I got more confidence winning this way than 6-4, 6-4.When I came here (Saturday) to start practice it was so-so, but now it's better. For me, it doesn't take a lot of time to get used to the grass.Third seed Milos Raonic of Canada lost on Wednesday 6-4, 6-4 to German wildcard Peter Gojowczyk.Federer's opponent in the quarter-finals will be Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan, who defeated big-serving Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3).I'll try to climb the mountain. Everybody thinks he's favorite. I will try my best and enjoy, Lu said of his chances.If I'm 150% and he's 100% I think I'd still lose. Maybe if he is in a bad day. Nothing worse than a 6-0, 6-0I have a lot of respect for Federer, he's an overall tennis player, won everything. We learn from him watching his games.

Tennis: Murray stunned by Stepanek at Queen's

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LONDON (AFP) - Andy Murray's reign as Queen's Club champion ended in stunning fashion on Thursday as Czech veteran Radek Stepanek clinched a shock 7-6 (12/10), 6-2 win over the world number five.Murray's tame third round exit at the hands of the unheralded world number 42 is a major blow to his grass-court preparations less than two weeks before the start of Wimbledon, where he will defend the title he won so memorably last year.It was also the 27-year-old's first loss since his surprise decision to hire Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach last Sunday.Since losing to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray had been unstoppable on grass, but his 19-match winning run, which brought him Olympic gold, a first Wimbledon crown and a third Queen's title, came to a shattering halt in the west London sunshine.Murray conceded he had no excuses after failing to take any of the eight set points he earned in the first set.I have only got myself to blame that I lost the first set. I don't know how many set points I had, but quite a lot of them were on my serve, he said.On this surface especially you shouldn't really be losing sets like that. That's what's disappointing about the match.Then unfortunately I got broke in the first game of the second set and I couldn't quite get it back.Murray had revealed earlier on Thursday how his attempt to hire Mauresmo began with a nervous overnight wait to see if she would respond to his initial contact in a text message.But on the evidence of this underwhelming display, their partnership, which has been the talk of the sport for the last week, might not last much longer than an initial trial period during the grass-court campaign.In fairness to Mauresmo, Murray's malaise has lasted since he beat Novak Djokovic to end Britain's 77-year wait for a male winner of the Wimbledon singles title.Since then, hampered by back surgery and his split with previous coach Ivan Lendl, Murray has failed to reach a single ATP Tour or Grand Slam final.The British number one had hoped getting back on grass following his run to the French Open semi-finals would signal a further up-turn in his fortunes.But this defeat suggests there is much to work on with Mauresmo if he is to repeat last year's Wimbledon heroics.I played well on the grass over the last few years, so I would have hoped to have done a bit better, Murray added.But like I said, it's more about how I get myself ready for Wimbledon now and how I use the next 10 days of preparation on the grass. Hopefully I can do a good job of that.Stepanek's reward for just his second career win over Murray is a quarter-final clash with South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson, who defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).I am sorry to beat Andy in front of his home crowd, the 35-year-old said with a grin.Former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych has never won the Queen's title, but the big serving Czech has the perfect game for grass and he booked his quarter-final berth with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over France's Adrian Mannarino.Berdych, the world number six, next plays Spanish 10th seed Feliciano Lopez, a 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) winner over Kenny De Schepper.Top seed Stan Wawrinka, the reigning Australian Open champion, routed former Queen's winner Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 in only 50 minutes.Wawrinka's last eight opponent will be out-spoken Australian Marinko Matosevic, who shocked French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-4 three days after his criticism of Murray's decision to hire Mauresmo.Bulgarian fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 and will face Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, who advanced when Jarkko Nieminen retired in the second set.

Golf: Kaymer surges to US Open lead with fiery finish

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PINEHURST (AFP) - Germany's Martin Kaymer birdied three of the last five holes Thursday to fire a five-under par 65 and seize a three-stroke lead after the first round of the US Open.The 2011 PGA Championship winner, coming off a victory in last month's Players championship that ended a drought of nearly three years, fired the lowest US Open round ever at Pinehurst to seize command.It's nice if you have just won before, Kaymer said. I needed a win. I needed it for my confidence, for all the work I put in the last couple years, to show it was all worth it.I see things very positively right now.Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, American Fran Quinn and South Korean-bornAmerican Kevin Na shared second on 68 with a huge pack another stroke adrift.Kaymer opened with a birdie, made another at the par-5 fifth, took his lone bogey at seventh but opened the back nine with another birdie.Then came a birdie binge that began at 14 and continued with a 12-footer at 16 and an eight-footer at 17. At 18, he rolled an approach eight feet past the cup but sank the putt coming back to complete a stunning round.I made a few putts at the end. I made a lot of good shots and finally I made some good putts, Kaymer said. I didn't make many mistakes. It was nice to finish with a par on 18. It was an awkward up and down.The 29-year-old from Dusseldorf was shocked the turtle-backed greens were receptive to shots after being hard and fast in practice rounds.I was surprised the course played very soft, he said. They must have put more water on the greens. I was able to stop the ball.Overall I just hit very good shots. I could avoid bogeys. If you stay around level par, you aren't going to be too far from winning the golf tournament.De Jonge opened with three-putt bogeys at 10 and 11 then battled back with birdies on three of the last five holes on the back nine and another at the fifth.It was nice to get it back after that start, he said. I just told myself everybody is going to make some bogeys at here.Anything under par is very pleasing.McDowell, the 2010 US Open winner, and Na, who only made the field by cracking the world rankings top 60 four days ago, each eagled the par-5 fifth.I clipped it just perfect, right in the center, Na said after chipping in for his eagle.McDowell sank a 12-foot putt, also aided by the receptive greens.That was an unexpected opportunity, McDowell said. I wasn't expecting it to be quite that receptive. Certainly got fortunate.Others were not so lucky.

Thousands dine on Paris bridges for 'Dinner in White'

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PARIS (AFP) - Thousands of people dressed all in white dined under the night sky on bridges around Paris on Thursday evening in an unusually chic take on the flash mob.Organisers said around 12,000 smartly-dressed diners participated in the 26th Dinner in White, which raises money for cancer research, after learning at the last minute where they were to meet.The event is held at a different location every year -- last year, nearly 11,000 dined in the outdoor courtyard of the Louvre and at the Trocadero, while in 2012 the event took place at Place des Vosges and in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.This year they gathered at six bridges across the city, including the Passerelle Debilly at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and Pont de lAlma, for a civilised French dining experience.The only rules were that diners should come dressed in white, bring their own tables and chairs, and disappear before midnight taking all rubbish with them.Only wine and champagne were allowed -- beers and spirits were strictly prohibited.

Malnutrition kills over 3 million toddlers a year: UN

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ROME (AFP) - More than three million children under the age of five die annually of malnutrition, the UN food agency and World Health Organisation said on Thursday, urging governments to tackle the problem.Malnutrition is responsible for about half of all child deaths under five years of age, causing over three million deaths every year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.Some 162 million children are left stunted by chronic malnutrition and 99 million children are underweight across the world, it added.Since the first international conference on nutrition in 1992, important advances in the fight against hunger and malnutrition have been made, but this progress has been insufficient and uneven, FAO head Jose Graziano da Silva said.There has only been a 17 percent reduction in undernourishment since the early 1990s, leaving over 840 million people still chronically undernourished.The FAO and WHO urged governments to make stronger commitments... to ensure healthier diets for all at an international conference on nutrition to be held in Rome in November.They warned that various forms of malnutrition often overlap and can coexist within the same country and even within the same household.Around 160 million children under five are stunted or chronically malnourished, while over two billion people suffer one or more micronutrient deficiencies, they said in a statement.At the same time, another half billion are obese.WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the aim of the upcoming conference was to get governments to ask themselves why is it that severe undernutrition and obesity can exist side by side in the same country and in the same community?She also called for more research into the health and environmental implications of the rapid rise in the demand for meat and other animal products that coincides with rising income levels.Efforts to improve food and nutrition security continue to be hampered by low political commitment and weak institutional arrangements, the agencies said.

Oil prices rally to 9-month highs on Iraq violence

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices leaped to their highest level in nearly nine months Thursday on rising concerns that turmoil in Iraq will disrupt Middle East supplies.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July jumped $2.13 compared with Wednesday's close to $106.53 a barrel, the highest level since September 18, 2013. European benchmark Brent crude for July delivery rallied $3.07 to $113.02 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange. Jihadists pushed toward Baghdad on Thursday after capturing a town to the north, as US President Barack Obama said his national security team is looking at all the options.With the militants approaching the capital, forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region took control of disputed northern oil hub of Kirkuk to protect it from jihadist attack, officials said.Obviously the market is concerned that there could a potential for shutoff of production, said Andy Lebow, trader and braker at Jefferies Bache. Lebow said the oil market is already dealing with a major outage to production in Libya.No question that should we lose any Iraqi production, that would be serious, he said.Iraq is the second-largest crude producer in the OPEC cartel after Saudi Arabia, pumping an average of about 3.5 million barrels a day. It boasts the fifth-largest proven crude oil reserves in the world.On Wednesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meeting in Vienna, maintained its crude output ceiling where it has been since late 2011. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi expressed satisfaction with a relatively stable oil market.A note by Eurasia Group said in spite of Iraq's upheaval, risks in the oil market are primarily to the downside, given weak Chinese demand for oil products and signs of a political realignment under way in Libya which could allow the North African country to return to substantial volumes of crude exports.The chance the Iraqi strife could significantly undermine operations within the relatively small geographic footprint where the bulk of Iraq's current oil production takes place in southern Iraq is minimal, Eurasia Group said.

Dollar dips after weak US data

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NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar fell against the euro and other major currencies Thursday after weak US economic data highlighted expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain its near-zero interest rate policy.The latest Labor Department data on unemployment insurance claims was worse than expected. New claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, rose by 4,000 to 317,000 in the week ending June 7, above the 315,000 estimate.US retail sales rose just 0.3 percent in May, the Commerce Department reported, well below analysts' consensus expectation of a 0.7 percent rise. Excluding autos, sales edged up only 0.1 percent, when a 0.4 percent increase was expected.If you want an explanation for why the Federal Reserve refuses to put a time frame on tightening, look no further than today's retail sales report, said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.Lackluster demand is one of the main reasons why the Federal Reserve has been reluctant to talk about raising rates but aside from this report, jobless claims also increased and import price growth slowed. These disappointing numbers drove the greenback lower.
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