Monday 27 October 2014

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Karachi: ASI killed in firing on police mobile

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – According to details, some unidentified gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire at a police mobile in North Karachi on Monday, killing a police official and injuring another.The deceased police official was identified as ASI Rahim while constable Nadeem sustained bullet wounds. Police said that attackers used SMGs in the attack.On the other hand, police launched search operation in New Karachi and Godhra areas and detained 40 suspects. The arrested persons were shifted to some undisclosed location.

Qadri off to US, Canada visit

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri left Pakistan for London on early Tuesday morning from where he will leave for US. PAT chief would travel to Canada on 13 November and return to Pakistan on 16 November. Speaking to media before his departure in Lahore, Dr Tahirul Qadri said that he is going abroad to organize PATs set-up. Tahirul Qadri said that his sit-in helped Pakistanis to realize their rights and the corruption and administrative failures of the subsequent governments of Pakistan. He said that it was his struggle due to which Pakistanis are looking for reforms now. PAT chief said that Islamabad sit-ins have waken Pakistan up.Dr Tahirul Qadri categorically denied reports that he had struck a deal with the government to end his sit-in. He further said that he would pay Rs 50 million to one who proved that any such deal existed.Giving details of his present visit abroad, PAT chief said that he will fly to the US tonight and then move to Canada on 13 November and return to Pakistan on 16 November.

US modifies Ebola guidelines after quarantine uproar

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Washington (AFP) - US health authorities on Monday issued new guidelines for health workers returning from Ebola-hit nations after a firestorm of criticism over state quarantine restrictions, including from the UN chief.The enforced quarantine in New Jersey of a US nurse who had come home after treating patients in Sierra Leone sparked controversy -- and accusations from the woman that her rights had been violated.The nurse was discharged on Monday, one day after New York eased strict new quarantine rules under pressure from President Barack Obamas administration.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday urged active monitoring of those at risk following stints in the countries hardest hit by the epidemic -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.Active direct monitoring means high-risk people must be checked for fever daily for 21 days, and must restrict their travel and public activities for the duration of the viruss incubation period, the CDC said, in an update of previous guidelines.Those at high risk include those who experienced needle sticks, handled bodily fluids of Ebola patients without protective gear or who handled the corpse of a victim, among others.That, we think, is good sound public health policy, CDC chief Tom Frieden told reporters.We are concerned about some policies that we have seen in various places that might have the effect of increasing stigma or creating false impressions. You dont catch Ebola from someone who is not sick.- Supported, not stigmatized -The new guidelines -- which the CDC does not have the power to enforce on a national level -- stop short of a strict quarantine.That is the standard New Jersey and New York states had adopted, following the first confirmed case of the disease in New York -- a doctor who had treated patients in Guinea.Those measures drew criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and in Washington.Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity, Ban said.They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science. Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatized.We depend on them to fight this battle, Ban said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which is home to the African Union headquarters.West Africa is the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 5,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.Several countries have imposed tough migration restrictions on visitors coming from affected nations.The European Unions new Ebola czar, Christos Stylianides, said tens of thousands of health care workers are needed to combat the deadly virus, including both volunteers in affected countries and foreign experts.The White House also weighed in Monday, saying health workers like the New Jersey nurse, Kaci Hickox, should be praised.Her service and commitment to this cause is something that should be honored and respected, and I dont think we do that by making her live in a tent for two or three days, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.On Friday, Hickox was isolated in a tent outside the main hospital building at Newark International Airport in New Jersey with no shower or flush toilet and made to wear paper scrubs.I feel like my basic human rights have been violated, Hickox said Sunday, insisting she had shown no symptoms and tested negative for the disease.She was discharged on Monday and was to taken to her home state of Maine by private -- not public -- transport.- We all need to do more -African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who toured Ebola-hit nations last week and met Ban on Monday, called for efforts to be boosted to tackle the virus.Our strength is solidarity, and we must therefore continue to work together, she told reporters. We all need to do more.More than 10,000 people have contracted the virus in west Africa, according to the latest WHO figures.Another country in the region, Mali, is scrambling to prevent a wider outbreak after a two-year-old girl died from the virus following a 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) bus ride from Guinea.She was Malis first recorded case of the disease.In the town where the girl lives, Kayes, panic has set in, with some fleeing their homes Monday amid rumors of two new infections.Im going to wait a few more days before sending my kids back to school, said Oumar Fofana, a banker who worried about the large movement of people in and out of the region.Ebola is spread though close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. No widely available medicine or vaccine exists.US troops returning from west Africa were quarantined at a base in Italy as a preventative measure out of an abundance of caution, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.There are now 700 US troops in west Africa -- including nearly 600 in Liberia and 100 in Senegal -- with the force due to grow to at least 3,200 troops in coming weeks.

Austin powers QPR to crucial victory

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London (AFP) - Charlie Austin eased the pressure on Harry Redknapp as the QPR forward struck twice to lift his side off the bottom of the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday.Redknapps side secured just their second victory of the season, and their first since August, thanks to the predatory finishing of Austin, who netted in either half to see off lacklustre Villa at Loftus Road.Austins heroics ended QPRs three-match losing run and helped the west London club move above Austins former club Burnley into 19th place, within two points of the teams directly above the relegation zone as they try to scramble to safety following a disastrous start to their first season back in the top-flight.It was a crucial result for Redknapp, who had endured reports that QPR owner Tony Fernandes was considering sacking him after his teams dismal run.It was an excellent performance, we did ever so well, Redknapp told Sky Sports.Villa dominated possession in the second half, but once we put an extra man into midfield we started seeing more of the ball and hit the post before scoring a second.Theres no reason why Charlie Austin cant score a lot of goals this season. Im pleased for the lad.While Redknapp earned at least a momentary reprieve, the pressure is mounting on Villa manager Paul Lambert.Despite a positive opening to the campaign, Villa have slumped down the table in recent weeks and are now only three points above QPR after suffering a fifth successive defeat without scoring a goal.Facing a Villa team in the midst of one of the worst runs in their history eventually proved a welcome tonic for QPR, who had suffered an agonising loss with virtually the last kick of the game against Liverpool last weekend.Yet it was the visitors who started the brighter as Ashley Westwood and Carlos Sanchez both tested QPR goalkeeper Robert Green in the early stages.Redknapps men broke the deadlock from the next attack following a simple long ball forward in the 17th minuteFormer Villa stalwart Richard Dunnes angled pass out of defence was chested down by Bobby Zamora perfectly into the path of his strike partner Austin, whose long-range drive flashed past Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.Villa should have equalised on 55 minutes when Ciaran Clark could only poke wide from close range after being picked out by Christian Bentekes downward header from Westwoods deep free-kick.But Redknapp sent on Junior Hoilett from the bench and the Canadian winger almost made an immediate impact but saw a clever shot hit the far post.With the momentum back in QPRs favour, it wasnt long until Austin killed off Villa in the 69th minute with a clinical finish at the near post after he beat Ron Vlaar to Eduardo Vargas low cross.

Twitter hammered on growth fears

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San Francisco (AFP) - Twitter saw its shares hammered after reporting quarterly results that largely met expectations but failed to allay concerns about sluggish growth of the messaging platform.The San Francisco-based firm service posted a net loss of $175.5 million on $361.3 million in revenue in the three months that ended on September 30.Meanwhile, the number of monthly users grew 23 percent from a year earlier to 284 million, matching expectations of analysts.We had another very strong financial quarter, Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said in a release.Im confident in our ability to build the largest daily audience in the world, over time, by strengthening the core, reducing barriers to consumption and building new apps and services.Twitter shares fell more than 10 percent in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures, along with a lackluster fourth-quarter outlook.Investors had evidently hoped to hear the ranks of users were growing faster at Twitter.Their user growth is mildly encouraging, but I want to see better, said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott.Users is their key metric; they need to get people using the site every day.- Lagging Facebook -The analyst lamented that the Twitter service has changed little since it launched in 2006, while social network Facebook has thrived by perpetually innovating.Facebook is constantly giving people new reasons to come back to the site, Twitter needs to do more of that, Elliott said.Twitter earlier this month said it would start reconfiguring users timelines with relevant messages from people they havent bothered to follow at the service.Based on a positive response from its tests, the service is inching toward the Facebook model of using software to curate what users see based on their interests or activities, Twitter said in a blog post.Twitter said the plan, which has drawn resistance from some users, remained a timeline experiment and might not make it to 100 percent of users.The company said testing showed that many people enjoy seeing tweets from accounts they dont follow, provided the messages are deemed worthwhile based on signals such as popularity, level of interaction, and how much interest is shown by accounts one does follow.The notion of curating Twitter timelines that have long been loved for real-time blasts of information is seen as anathema by some fans of the service.Facebook continually refines its algorithm for determining which posts should be given priority in timelines presented at the leading social network.Twitter will always be a real-time network, Twitter chief financial officer Anthony Noto promised in an earnings call with analysts.He left open the door for Twitter to tinker with timelines in the spirit of surfacing tweets users may have missed earlier or which may be strongly relevent to their interests.Twitter will host an analysts day in November to lay out its strategy for taking advantage of opportunity it sees ahead for the business, according to Costolo.I feel good about the strategy we have in place, Costolo said during the earnings call.It is critical that we increase the pace of execution, he added, saying that innovations need to move faster from theory to reality at the service.Twitter last week set out to weave itself into mobile applications with a free Fabric platform to help developers build better programs and make more money.Fabric consists of software tools to tackle challenges such as stability and distribution of applications as well as streamlining user log ins and placing ads.The move could build Twitter functions directly into new mobile apps, which could greatly expand the reach of the messaging platform.

US air war on IS costing $8.3 million a day: Pentagon

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon has revised its estimate of the cost of the US air war in Iraq and Syria, saying the price tag for the campaign against the Islamic State group comes to about $8.3 million a day.Since air strikes began on August 8, the campaign -- which has involved about 6,600 sorties by US and allied aircraft -- has cost $580 million, said Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban.The Defense Department had previously put the average daily cost of the military operation at more than $7 million a day.The higher figure reflected the increased pace of air strikes and related flights, a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. But independent analysts say the Defense Department is underestimating the genuine cost of the war effort, which began in mid-June with the deployment of hundreds of US troops to secure the American embassy in Baghdad and to advise the Iraqi army. Some former budget officials and outside experts estimate the cost of the war has already exceeded a billion dollars, and that it could rise to several billion dollars in a years time.Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments projected the war could cost $2.4 to $3.8 billion a year, in an analysis issued on September 29.If the intensity of the bombing raids is expanded, the air war could cost as much as $4.2 to $6.8 billion per year, according to Harrisons report.One of the biggest drains on the budget for the air war are the large number of surveillance and reconnaissance flights that bombing raids require, analysts say.The campaign, dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve, has seen thousands of spy flights and aerial refueling runs. The cost of flying the spy planes range from about $1,000 an hour for Predator and Reaper drones to $7,000 an hour for high-altitude Global Hawk drones, or as much as $22,000 per hour for E-8 J-STAR (Joint Surveillance Target Radar Attack System) aircraft.Funds for the air war are coming out of the Pentagons de facto war budget, the Overseas Contingency Operations fund.Separate from the regular defense base budget, the OCO fund is often portrayed as a credit card to cover the costs of wars.Congress increased the OCO budget to about $85 billion for last fiscal year, ending September 30. The proposed fund for the new fiscal year 2015 is due to drop to $54 billion.

Joe Biden to visit Ukraine, Turkey next month

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden next month visits Ukraine as well as Turkey, where fighting across the border in the Syrian town of Kobane has sparked tensions with Washington.During the week of November 17, Biden is set to meet President Petro Poroshenko, after pro-Western parties scored big wins in Ukrainian elections, the White House said Monday.The US vice president will then travel on to Morocco and Turkey, where hell meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.US airdrops of weapons and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters in Kobane, under siege by Islamic State jihadists, have prompted tensions with Ankara.Turkey last week said it would let Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq cross its territory to join the battle in Kobane, but this has yet to happen.According to the Turkish press, Erdogan has accused Syrias main Kurdish party of not wanting Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq to help it fight.Erdogan has reportedly said the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has been leading the defense of Kobane, fears losing its influence in northern Syria when the peshmerga arrive.

EU wants massive increase in staff to fight Ebola

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BRUSSELS (AP) The European Unions newly appointed Ebola coordinator on Monday said fresh EU funds should be used to finance a vast increase in health staff and hospital beds to treat patients in West Africa.The EUs Ebola Czar Christos Stylianides insisted that the number of overall beds in the region needed to increase from 1,000 at present to 5,000 as soon as possible while some 40,000 staffers needed to be mobilized to set up and keep field hospitals working.Stylianides said that overall so far 244 health workers had died from a pool of 443 that had been infected by the disease as they sought to treat patients. He said that health workers deserve all our respect and support. Their ranks need to be strengthened and protected.The numbers he called for were largely in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.Lacking an Ebola vaccine, separating the sick from the healthy is the only way to stop transmission. But that job has been made difficult because there arent enough beds in treatment centers or knowledgeable staff to treat everyone.The outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people, the vast majority of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and is still running amok. Stylianides acknowledged the response was too late.We must be ready to admit possible mistakes, he said. All of us underestimated the danger and the extent of the threat, he said.The EU and its 28 member nations have committed about 1 billion euros ($1.26 billion) to fight the crisis, with about half of the pledges coming over the past week.In Madrid, 10 people who had contact with a Spanish nursing assistant who survived Ebola have been released from a Madrid hospital, among them the womans husband.

UN chief criticizes restrictions on Ebola health workers

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Addis Ababa (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday praised the selfless efforts of health workers in Ebola-hit countries Monday, and criticised quarantine restrictions put on those returning home.Bans comments came after an American nurse was placed in quarantine in New Jersey after returning from treating patients in Sierra Leone and complained she was made to feel like a criminal.Returning health workers who have managed to avoid infection are exceptional people who are giving to humanity, Ban said.They should not be subjected to restrictions that have no scientific basis. They should not be stigmatised for their selfless service.On Friday, US nurse Kaci Hickox was isolated in a tent outside the main hospital building at Newark International Airport in New Jersey and made to wear paper scrubs.I feel like my basic human rights have been violated, Hickox said Saturday, insisting she had shown no symptoms and tested negative for the disease.Officials said she was to be discharged Monday.Ban, speaking in the Ethiopian capital and home to the African Union headquarters, said the workers should be supported, not locked away.We depend on them to fight this battle, Ban said.Please do not quarantine them because they have volunteered to serve in the affected countries.West Africa is the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak that has claimed the lives of nearly 5,000 people.- We all need to do more -African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who toured Ebola-hit nations last week and met Ban on Monday, called for efforts to be boosted to tackle the virus.Our strength is solidarity and we must therefore continue to work together, she told reporters.We all need to do more.More than 10,000 people have contracted the virus in west Africa, according to the latest World Health Organization figures.On Sunday, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who is visiting the worst-affected nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, warned that the response to Ebola needs to be taken to a wholly different scale than it is right now.Several countries have imposed tough migration restrictions on visitors coming from affected nations.But Ban called for the responses to reflect scientific advice.It is also clear that we need to isolate cases –- not countries, Ban added.Ebola is a global problem that demands a massive and immediate global response.Another country in west Africa, Mali, is scrambling to prevent a wider outbreak after a two-year-old girl died from an Ebola infection following a 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) bus ride from Guinea. She was Malis first recorded case of the disease.Ebola can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. In many cases it shuts down organs and causes unstoppable bleeding.The tropical virus is spread though close contact with the sweat, vomit, blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person. No widely-available medicine or vaccine exists.Meanwhile, US troops returning from west Africa were being placed under isolation at a base in Italy as a preventative measure.There are now 700 US troops in west Africa -- including nearly 600 in Liberia and 100 in Senegal -- with the force due to grow to at least 3,200 troops in coming weeks.

Football: Real to fight federation over Zidane punishment

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MADRID (AFP) - Former France playing legend Zinedine Zidane and his club European champions Real Madrid were embroiled in an embarrassing dispute on Monday with the Spanish Football Federation who according to influential Madrid-based sports paper Marca handed him a three month coaching ban.The 42-year-old -- who inspired France to the 1998 World Cup trophy and was also a member of the Euro 2000 title winning side -- has been coaching Reals reserve side Castilla but the federation claims he does not possess the required coaching qualifications.Real have said they will appeal against the punishment by all legal avenues open to them.The reserve teams assistant coach Santiago Sanchez was also punished.Real issued a statement declaring their total disagreement with the decision taken against one of their former iconic players, who scored a wonder goal for the meringues when they beat Bayer Leverkusen to win the 2002 Champions League trophy.They pointed out that Zidane has been authorised by the French Football Federation to work as a head coach in the category Real Madrid Castilla currently find themselves in.Zidane -- who was linked with the head coach post at another of his former clubs Bordeaux in the close season -- was elevated to reserve team coach at the beginning of this season following a single campaign as Carlo Ancelottis assistant which saw Real win a 10th European Cup in May.Spanish coaching school, the Cenafe, has submitted a complaint to the Spanish Federation against Real, claiming they are using assistant Sanchezs name on the teamsheet to bypass the regulations.The case has sparked controversy in Spain with national team coach Vicente del Bosque telling Cope radio station that everyone should have a coaching badge.Rayo Vallecano coach Paco Jemez used tougher language, describing Reals actions as shameful.However, both Ancelotti and Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff have spoken out in support of Zidane.

Oil lower as Goldman slices crude price outlook

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices headed lower on Monday as Goldman Sachs sliced its price forecast for crude amid mounting stockpiles around the globe.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December lost 30 cents to stand at $85.83 in London trade. In New York, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for December gave up one cent at $81.00 a barrel.Analysts at Goldman delivered a highly bearish forecast for prices, saying it expects WTI to sink to $70 a barrel by the second quarter of next year before rising back to $80 in 2016. That was $15 a barrel lower than the previous forecast.The banks outlook for Brent is the same, falling to as low as $80 by the second quarter, and remaining weak through 2015 before returning to the $90 level in 2016.Goldman pointed to the increasing impact of non-OPEC production growth outside North America, of strong US output, and the inability of OPEC to act any longer as the swing producer which could tighten global supplies and prices.US shale oil output will be called upon to fill this role, Goldman said in a client note. Given the rising glut on the global market, US production growth needs to slow.Analysts at Barclays underscored the rise in stockpiles of crude and products not only in the United States but elsewhere.This year, global commercial oil stocks have surpassed the 5.0 billion barrel mark, growing at a rate of 1.16 million barrels per day on average over the first three quarters of this year, the British bank said.Such is the surplus in the market that is weighing on prices.The absence of an official policy statement, especially from Saudi Arabia in response to the fall in oil prices, has left a void in guidance, it added.

Dollar weakens slightly ahead of Fed meet

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NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar eased slightly Monday ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting expected to wind up its historic six-year-old quantitative easing asset-purchase operations.The moves in the market though were narrow, with no big surprises expected from the meeting beginning Tuesday, but some anticipation that the Fed could further shape its message on raising interest rates sometime next year.The Fed has repeatedly said that the first rate change since the fed funds rate was cut to the zero level at the end of 2008 would come a considerable time after QE ends.Now that QE is ending, eyes will be on how the central bank changes that language, if at all.The euro meanwhile was helped by a better-than-expected result in eurozone bank stress tests.The euro was a touch firmer after the European Central Bank reported over the weekend that the vast majority (90 percent) of area banks had passed stress test exams on their overall health, said forex market analyst Joe Manimbo at Western Union Business Solutions.But upside for the euro looked limited after a key survey of German business confidence fell for the sixth time in as many months, he said.The Ifo business climate index for Germany fell to 103.2 points in October from 104.7 points in September, the lowest level since December 2012.

Ukraine's pro-West parties negotiate coalition

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Kiev (AFP) - The pro-Western winners of Ukraines parliamentary poll entered coalition talks Monday, but attacks by pro-Russian insurgents in the east highlighted the obstacles to their ambitious promises of peace and deepening ties with the European Union.The day after pro-West and moderate nationalist forces backing President Petro Poroshenko scored a big win in Sundays election, the hard work of forming a ruling coalition began.With 67 percent of precincts reporting, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuks Peoples Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc were neck and neck, getting about 22 percent of the votes each.Expectations were that the two would work together, with Yatsenyuk retaining the premiers post.Russia welcomed the outcome of the election as backing for a peaceful resolution of the separatist war, while the head of the EU executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, said the election was a victory of democracy and European reforms.US President Barack Obama called the vote -- declared mostly fair by a European observer team on Monday -- an important milestone in Ukraines democratic development.- Rebel rockets -But in a fiery reminder of the hurdles Poroshenko faces, an election-period lull in the rebel-held east ended early Monday in a barrage of artillery fire.Dozens of rockets fired by pro-Russian insurgents could be heard blasting from the city of Donetsk towards a nearby Ukrainian military base, AFP correspondents said.More shelling was reported near the government-held coastal city of Mariupol, while military authorities reported the deaths of two soldiers in a rebel attack on Sunday near Lugansk.Kiev and its Western backers see the six-month uprising, and the March annexation by Russian troops of Crimea, as an attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cripple Ukraine.But Moscow says it is simply coming to the aid of Russian speakers who feel threatened by Ukraines lurch toward the West.In response, the United States and European Union have imposed damaging economic sanctions on Moscow, fuelling the kind of East-West tensions last seen in the Cold War.Sundays election was meant to finalise a revolution that began in February, when huge street protests ousted Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych after he abruptly rejected a landmark EU pact.Communists and other Yanukovych allies were routed Sunday, although a party made up of his former associates won a small share of seats through proportional representation.Radicals who rejected Poroshenkos peace deal with the insurgents did poorly, as did corruption-tainted politicians who had steered Ukraine through two decades of stuttering reforms.- Tough challenges -However, the pro-West regime now faces giant challenges: restoring relations with Russia, ending the insurgency, eradicating corruption, tackling massive debt, and resolving a near permanent crisis over Russian gas supplies.Poroshenko and his government will have a difficult time resolving the task of moving into Europe, Yuriy Romanenko at the Stratagema think-tank told AFP.The war will also go on for a long time. The standoff there could continue for several years.Moscow gave a guarded thumbs up to the new Poroshenko-Yatsenyuk era.Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin said the results showed that parties which support a peaceful resolution of the internal Ukrainian crisis received a majority.He also said that the election, in spite of a rather harsh and dirty campaign, is valid.Western governments welcomed the vote, with France saying the results confirmed the peoples fundamental choice.Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told Ukraine that it had guarantees of support from the European Union and the United States. Everybody wants to help Ukraine in its economic reforms.However, he also urged Ukraine to resolve its relations with Russia.- Peace talks or breakup? -Poroshenko says there can be no military victory against the separatists and that he is ready to negotiate autonomy, though not independence, for pro-Russian regions.A Moscow-backed truce agreement signed by Kiev and the separatists on September 5 calmed the worst fighting, despite frequent violations, especially around the disputed Donetsk airport.But after so much bloodshed it remains unclear whether either side is ready for tough compromise, with some analysts expecting the fighting to intensify now that the election is over.Despite the rise of relatively moderate parties, radical nationalists, including large formations of volunteer fighters, remain an important force in Ukraine.On Sunday, voters living in Crimea and the separatist areas of the east -- about five million people in all -- were excluded from the election. Twenty-seven seats in the 450-seat parliament will remain empty.That, plus the separatists plan to hold their own leadership polls next Sunday, risked adding another layer of formality to what already appears to be the de facto breakup of Ukraine.

Brazil market slides after Rousseff re-elected

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Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian markets delivered a harsh verdict Monday after left-wing President Dilma Rousseff narrowly won re-election, despite her pledge to unite a divided nation and reboot a stagnant economy.The Sao Paulo stock market plunged six percent in opening trade and the currency, the real, fell four percent against the dollar after Rousseff -- the first woman to lead the worlds seventh-largest economy -- defeated business world favorite Aecio Neves in a run-off.Stocks had recovered slightly by mid-day but were still down 4.7 percent, with the real off more than two percent.State-owned oil giant Petrobras, which was thrust into the campaign spotlight by a multi-billion-dollar kickback scandal implicating politicians linked to Rousseff, was down 15 percent.After a vitriolic campaign that largely split the country between the poor north and the wealthier south, Rousseff won 51.6 percent of the vote to 48.4 percent for Neves, the closest margin of victory since 1945.The 66-year-old incumbent crucially picked up enough middle-class votes in the industrialized southeast to cement a fourth straight win for her Workers Party (PT).She will start her second four-year term on January 1 facing a laundry list of challenges: governing a polarized country, winning back the confidence of the private sector, reviving an economy in recession and tackling corruption.Rousseff will have her work cut out, politically and on the economy, said David Fleischer, a political analyst at the University of Brasilia.She must reach out to industry and the private sector. Investments are way down -- she must restore confidence.Tackling the economy will be all the more difficult given a market implacably opposed to her.There is polarization -- and that is a negative. But there is pressure within her party for Rousseff to change course, said Lia Valls, an economist with the Getulio Vargas Foundation.Rousseff has promised to replace Finance Minister Guido Mantega, and markets are watching closely to see who she names.- Reach out to industry -Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla jailed and tortured for fighting Brazils 1964-1985 dictatorship, called for unity in her victory speech and promised to listen to voters demands for change after a record 26.1 percent of voters abstained.Voting is compulsory in Brazil -- but a no-show just brings a small fine.This president is open to dialogue. This is the top priority of my second term, she told supporters in the capital Brasilia alongside two-term predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who media predict will have a key role in reshaping her new team.After four years of low growth culminating in recession this year, Rousseff admitted she must do better.I want to be a much better president than I have been to date, she said, issuing a call for peace and unity after a bitter campaign of low blows and mutual recriminations.Lula, who remains broadly popular, recognized the countrys deep division Monday in remarks published in local newspapers.Coexisting will now be increasingly difficult, he said.Rather than complain, we have to think about constructing a functioning government in the country.- Call for unity -Neves, a 54-year-old senator and former governor, congratulated Rousseff but told her the priority should be to unite Brazil.Rousseff won after persuading enough voters from a growing middle class to pin their hopes on further social gains that have lifted tens of millions out of poverty.Under the PT, wages have increased and unemployment has fallen to a record-low 4.9 percent.But economic growth -- which hit 7.5 percent in 2010, the year Rousseff first won election -- has since stagnated.Besides an economic revival, voters are demanding an overhaul of shoddy public services and an end to corruption.Rousseff roundly denied eve-of-poll allegations that she knew of the massive embezzlement scheme implicating dozens of politicians -- mainly her allies -- at Petrobras.Rousseff fought a hard-hitting campaign throughout a dramatic race in which the lead changed hands several times, fending off both Neves and, in the October 5 first-round vote, popular environmentalist Marina Silva.US President Barack Obama sent his congratulations, calling Brazil an important partner.His relationship with Rousseff has been strained since revelations emerged that the US spied on her communications, part of the National Security Agency (NSA) leaks by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.Numerous Latin American leftist leaders also sent congratulations, including Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

Prosecutors to appeal Pistorius judgement

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Pretoria (AFP) - South African prosecutors said on Monday they would appeal the verdict and five-year jail term handed down to fallen track star Oscar Pistorius for killing his girlfriend last year.The decision to appeal both the conviction and sentence has been taken, said National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube.Pistorius began a five-year prison stretch on October 21 after being found guilty of culpable homicide, a charge equivalent to manslaughter.Trial judge Thokozile Masipa found in September that there was not enough evidence to convict the 27-year-old Paralympic and Olympic athlete of premeditated murder.Her verdict angered the state prosecution, which had sought to prove that Pistorius deliberately shot dead 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day last year.Steenkamp was shot four times through a locked toilet door at Pistoriuss upmarket Pretoria home in the early hours of February 14, 2013.Details of the appeal have not yet released, but Mncube said the appeal on conviction is based on the question of law.South African criminal lawyers had expressed shock that Masipa ruled Pistorius could not have foreseen that someone would die when he fired the shots that killed Steenkamp.They complained that the ruling could open the door to systematic abuse of the legal system, or to people believing it would be okay to shoot in an irresponsible manner.The double-amputee athlete alternatively told his lengthy trial in a Pretoria court that he believed there was an intruder and that he did not consciously fire his pistol.The merits and the demerits of the NPAs argument in this regard will become evident when we file papers for leave to appeal, said Mncube.The prosecutors are now preparing the necessary papers in order to be able to file within the next few days.- Question of intent -Lawyers said they were not shocked by the states decision.Its not a surprise, said Wits University law professor Stephen Tuson, pointing to the question of intent or dolus eventualis.It seems to me that there were questions that could be asked of the judgement in respect of the courts interpretation of dolus eventualis.South Africans had also criticised Masipas five-year sentence as too lenient after it emerged Pistorius may be eligible for parole in less than a year.Reevas mother June Steenkamp said in an interview with a British newspaper published on Sunday that she believed her daughter was about to leave Pistorius when he shot her dead.It was Reevas bad luck that she met him, because sooner or later he would have killed someone, she added.The state prosecution appeal sets the stage for another instalment of a legal battle that has gripped millions around the world.Originally Pistoriuss trial, which began in March, had been set to run for three weeks.Almost eight months and a dedicated South African television channel later, Masipa handed down her verdict.But the appeal is unlikely to see the same courtroom drama, with the proceedings instead being carried out by correspondence and without Pistorius being in attendance.The case could be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal in the central city of Bloemfontein or by a bench of three High Court judges.Pistorius, the first double amputee Paralympian to compete against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, is currently being held at the Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria.
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