Monday 12 January 2015

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

One dead after Washington subway fills with smoke

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A woman died after thick smoke filled a subway tunnel in the US capital Monday during the evening rush, officials said. A spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) confirmed the incident, which caused rush-hour mayhem in the nations second-busiest mass transit system after New York.The Washington Post reported that several people were taken to hospital, including two with critical injuries.Smoke filled the LEnfant Plaza subway station in the center of the city, forcing the evacuation of startled passengers and forcing afternoon rush-hour commuters to find other ways to get home.Emergency workers escorted smoke inhalation victims to medical aid buses to receive oxygen.WMATA said on its website that the source of the smoke has not been determined and that the National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation. Photos posted on social media showed passengers crammed into smoke-filled trains covering their mouths and eyes, while the subway tunnel was engulfed with thick gray fog. The station was temporarily closed. Service on two of the main city lines was partially suspended. WMATA said emergency crews were deployed and that the station was being aired out. Metro Transit Police and fire department personnel are on scene at LEnfant Plaza for smoke in the station, the metro system said on its website.Metro has activated tunnel fans to ventilate the area. The station is near several government buildings, office complexes and restaurants. Washingtons Metro system serves five million people in a 1,500-square-mile (3,885-square,kilometer) area, which includes transport to neighboring Virginia and Maryland states.The trains and buses provide about 2.3 million trips per year, according to WMATA.

Iran calls for greater Russian role in nuclear talks

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TEHRAN (AFP) - Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that a more active role for Russia could speed up talks aimed at sealing a comprehensive deal on Tehrans disputed nuclear programme.With meetings between Iran and world powers to resume in Geneva on Wednesday, Russias deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was visiting Tehran, with both sides seeking a breakthrough.A more active Russian role is an important element in accelerating the final settlement of questions for a global nuclear agreement, Zarif was quoted as saying on state media.With a final deal at stake by a June 30 deadline, the talks have stalled on key issues.Ryabkov, who heads up the Russian negotiating team under the P51 talks, said good ties between Tehran and Moscow can still help a rapid settlement of nuclear relations relating to Iran.Since an interim accord struck in November 2013, two deadlines for a final deal between Iran and the P51 powers (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) have been missed.Under the interim deal, Irans stock of fissile material has been diluted from 20 percent enriched uranium to five percent in exchange for Tehran receiving limited sanctions relief.Experts say such technical steps push back the breakout capacity to make an atomic weapon, while Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb.Irans atomic agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi, however, said Sunday that Tehran was insistent on increased uranium enrichment, saying that in eight years it would need to produce 12 times more than at present.Iran says it needs more enrichment to create fuel for peaceful nuclear energy production, but the issue has been a stumbling block in talks with world powers, who say a lower capability would suffice.In Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Zarif on Wednesday, with lower-level P51 meetings on January 18.The other main obstacle to a final deal is the timeline for lifting sanctions imposed on Iran for pursuing its nuclear programme in the face of international pressure.Although Iran is led in the talks by Zarif and a team of negotiators, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the Islamic republics supreme leader, has the final say on any decision.

Qaeda in Maghreb warns France of more attacks

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NICOSIA (AFP) - Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb warned France on Monday to expect new attacks over its hostility to Islam, and praised jihadists behind last weeks Paris killings.France is paying today the price of its aggression against Muslims and its hostile policy towards Islam, AQIM said in a statement posted on jihadist websites.As long as its soldiers occupy countries such as Mali and Central Africa and bombard our people in Syria and Iraq, and as long as its stupid media continues to undermine our prophet (Mohammed), France will expose itself to the worst, it added.The jihadist group also paid tribute to the three gunmen behind the killing of 17 people in a three-day massacre last week in Paris that began with an attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.The statement described them as the soldiers of Islam and heros of the battle of Paris.

14 dead, dozens ill from alcohol poisoning in India

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LUCKNOW (AFP) - At least 14 people died and dozens of others were seriously ill after consuming toxic liquor in northern India Monday, officials said, in the latest incident of alcohol poisoning in the country.The victims were rushed to various hospitals after the incident was reported in Kharta village near the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.The number of people who have now lost their lives due to alcohol poisoning has increased to 14 and around two dozen are being treated in the trauma centre of King Georges Medical University, a local police spokesman told AFP. Local media reports gave a much higher number of victims in serious condition. At present 117 persons are admitted at the medical university and six are undergoing treatment at Balrampur hospital, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted the states chief medical officer S.N.S Yadav as saying.The state government said it was taking a serious view of the incident. The CM has... ordered a (statewide) drive against illegal liquor, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs office said on Twitter.His spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary told AFP that the government had suspended a dozen officials from different local departments over negligence. The guilty will not be spared, he said.Mass deaths from consuming adulterated alcohol are common in India, where people often imbibe cheap country liquor.Police arrested 12 people in October 2013 after more than three dozen villagers died from toxic home-brewed liquor in Uttar Pradesh.Nearly 170 people died in 2011 in the eastern state of West Bengal from consuming moonshine.

Seven convicted terrorists executed

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – As many as seven convicted terrorists Bahram Khan, Shahid Hanif, Talha, Khalil, Zulfiqar, Nawazish Ali and Mushtaq Ahmed were executed on Tuesday morning in Karachi, Sukkur, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad jails respectively, Dunya News reported.Zulfiqar convicted of attacking US Consulate was also executed in Rawalpindi. Two Rangers personnel were killed in that attack.Bahram Khan who has been executed in Karachi was convicted of murdering a lawyer in a packed courtroom and was sentenced to death in 2003.Terrorists Shahid Hanif, Talha and Khalil executed in Sukkur central jail belonged to a banned outfit. Families of all three were allowed to meet the convicts for the last time.Two terrorists convicted of attempt to murder of former president Pervez Musharraf has also been executed in Faisalabad District Jail.Two fresh clemency pleas to stay the execution were rejected.

Snooker: Robertson into Masters last eight

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LONDON (AFP) - Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire moved into the Masters quarter-finals after 6-4 victories in their opening matches at Londons Alexandra Palace on Monday.Maguire saw off Judd Trump in the afternoon session and will take on Shaun Murphy in the last eight.In the evening, Australias Robertson produced a strong finish to defeat Robert Milkins and now awaits the winner of Tuesdays clash between Barry Hawkins and Ali Carter.After losing the first frame, world number one Robertson won two in a row to take the lead, but Milkins cleared from the final red to take the next and go into the interval at 2-2.A 69 break was enough to win Milkins the fifth frame but Robertson finally clicked into gear with 77 in the next.The Australian was on top in the next after a 51 break but again it went down to the wire, Milkins with a good frame-winning clearance from brown to black.Robertson, though, found another gear with 95 to level before breaks of 117 and 76 saw him across the winning line.

Rallying: Barreda's Dakar bid up in smoke as Quintanilla claims stage

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IQUIQUE (AFP) - Pablo Quintanilla won Mondays attritional eighth motorbike stage in the Dakar Rally as overnight leader Joan Barredas title bid evaporated in the spectacular sand dunes on Chiles Pacific coast.The gruelling 784 kilometre (416km timed) trek from Bolivias salt flats in Uyuni to Iquique led to a host of high profile contenders for the 2015 title limping out, including last years runner-up Jordi Viladoms.While Hondas Spanish rider Barreda, who led the standings by over six minutes overnight, is still riding his chance of glory went up in smoke as he lost almost one and a half hours.The riders classification is now led by last years winner, Marc Coma, who was placed second going into Mondays ride.The Spanish four-time Dakar winner riding a KTM finished ninth behind Quintanilla to lead overall by over nine minutes from Paulo Goncalves.Three other high profile contenders whose race ended prematurely on Monday were Michael Metge, Alessandro Botturi and Daniel Gouet.KTMs Chilean rider Quintanilla was celebrating his first ever stage win, made all the sweeter as it came on home turf. He moved up a place into third overall, almost half an hour behind Coma.He only took the stage by a mere 11sec from Juan Pedrero Garcia, with Slovakias Stefan Svitko another second away in third.Monday was a rest day for the car category which Qatari veteran Nasser Al-Attiyah leads.Tuesdays ninth stage is a 450km run from Iquique to Calama.

Petrol shortage disrupts routine activities in Lahore

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – The unavailability of petrol on various petrol pumps in Lahore has caused disruption to the routine activities along with inconvenience to the customers, Dunya News reported.According to the details, the petrol supply is disrupted from Monday noon and has caused serious inconvenience to the customers.The signs of ‘No Petrol Available’ placed at various stations have angered the citizens who said they are unable to get petrol from anywhere.

Quaid-e-Azam's statue to grace Lincoln's Inn

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LONDON (Dunya News) – Pakistan’s founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s statue will soon grace Britain’s Lincoln’s Inn, one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where Jinnah was called and trained as barrister.According to the details, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will unveil the statue at the Lincoln’s Inn in June this year.This announcement was made by Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Syed Ibn Abbas in a ceremony. He said the permission to place the statue will be granted within a week.Abbas said that the Pakistani community will donate for the funds for the statue and that no funds will be taken from the government of Pakistan for this.

Sindh govt unmoved by target killing of MQM workers: Altaf Hussain

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on early Tuesday said that MQM workers are being handpicked and killed and the Sindh government is completely unmoved, Dunya News reported.In a statement, MQM chief said that banned organizations openly make anyone they desire the target of their barbarism in spite of the ongoing operation against terrorists and criminals in Karachi.Expressing condolences at the murder of MQM’s Sector Town Ali Garh worker Raes Alam, Altaf Hussain said that the Sindh government is completely unmoved by what is going on with the MQM workers.

6 convicted terrorists to be hanged today

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – As many as six convicted terrorists will be executed by hanging today (Tuesday) in various districts, Dunya News reported.Two more convicts of attempt to murder of former president Pervez Musharraf will be executed in Faisalabad District Jail, three terrorists belonging to a banned outfit will be hanged in Sukkur Central Jail while the murderer of a lawyer in Karachi will also be executed.According to the details, the medical examinations of the death-row inmates have been completed.Terrorists convicted in Musharraf attempted murder case, Nawazish Ali and Mushtaq Ahmed are to be executed in District Jail Faisalabad. The arrangements in this regard have been completed and two fresh pleas to stay the execution of the death penalty have also been rejected.In Sukkur prison, terrorists belonging to a banned outfit, Shahid Hanif, Talha and Halil will also be hanged today. Families of all three were allowed to meet the convicts for the last time.In Karachi central jail, Bahram Khan who is convicted on terrorism charge for killing a lawyer will also be hanged today. The arrangements in this regard have been completed and the security of the prison has been heightened.Meanwhile, a special anti-terrorism court in Karachi has issued death warrants to execute death sentence of convicted terrorist for attacking the US consulate Karachi.

Imran Khan follows Reham Khan on Twitter

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has started following spouse and anchorperson Reham Khan on social site Twitter, Dunya News reported early Tuesday.According to the reports, Khan’s Twitter account is arguably the most followed account from Pakistan and has 1.96 million followers whereas he only follows some 19 people on Twitter, the most recent one of whom is his spouse Reham Khan.Interestingly, the first person Khan followed on Twitter was his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith. Other notable people Khan is following include PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistani educationist of British origin Geoffrey D Langlands, Andleeb Abbas and Asad Umar.Reham Khan is also following Imran Khan on Twitter already.

Pro-ISIS hackers takeover US Centcom social media accounts

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A group declaring support for Islamic State jihadists hacked US Central Commands social media accounts on Monday, forcing the military to take down the commands Twitter feed.In an embarrassing propaganda setback for the US military, a black-and-white banner with the words CyberCaliphate and I love you ISIS replaced Central Commands usual logo on Twitter and YouTube before the pages were suspended.But the military downplayed the effect of the hacking, saying no sensitive computer networks were penetrated and no state secrets were revealed.Our initial assessment is that no classified information was posted and that none of the information posted came from CENTCOMs server or social media sites, the command said in a statement.The command has notified law enforcement agencies about the potential release of personally identifiable information and will take appropriate steps to ensure any individuals potentially affected are notified as quickly as possible, it said.The hacked Twitter feed posted what appeared to be an office phone directory of officers that was slightly out of date.The Pentagon, which devotes a great deal of effort to its social media accounts, said the incident amounted to mere digital vandalism.Centcom didnt get hacked. Twitter got hacked, Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.Its important to keep this whole thing in perspective. This is little more than a cyber prank. Its an annoyance, he said. It in no way compromises our operations.Before the Twitter feed was suspended, the hackers wrote on the seized account that the self-styled CyberCaliphate is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base.Another post said: American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back.Central Command, based in Tampa, Florida, oversees the US-led air war against the group in Iraq and Syria, as well as other American operations in the Middle East and Horn of Africa.No major data breachIn another embarrassing twist, the hack came as President Barack Obama was delivering a speech on cyber security.The White House said there was no sign that sensitive data had been exposed.Its a pretty significant difference between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.Were examining and investigating the extent of this incident.The hacked Twitter feed posted various documents, but officials said much of the information was openly available online.The hackers appeared to have used screen shots on defense-related topics from other websites, giving the impression that they had stolen secret documents, officials said.Some of the documents were labeled FOU, or for office use only, which refers to Defense Department documents that are not top secret or classified but usually treated as confidential.Some PowerPoint slides related to North Korea and China were also posted, but there was no sign of classified information there.One image showing North Koreas nuclear facilities had appeared previously on the website of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington-based non-profit organization dedicated to preventing nuclear war.A similar digital disruption of social media accounts from local media outlets in the United States took place last week, The Washington Post reported.Similar black-and-white images replaced the banners for the Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico and the WBOC television station in Maryland, it said.US commanders and senior officials have previously said the IS group has shown a great acumen for propaganda and for promoting itself to potential jihadist recruits.The US government has been preoccupied with another, more serious cyber attack on the Hollywood studio Sony Pictures, which suffered a massive data breach in late November.Hackers stole and posted online information from Sony employees, unreleased films and a trove of emails between top company executives -- some of them with embarrassing comments.A group calling itself Guardians of Peace claimed credit for the attack and issued threats against Sony over the planned release of the comedy film The Interview, which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Koreas leader.After an investigation, the FBI blamed North Korea for the attack and Washington has imposed fresh sanctions on Pyongyang over the intrusion.

Obama: With tech advances come privacy risks for US

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Monday proposed strengthening laws against identity theft by requiring notification when consumer information is hacked, providing more free access to credit scores and protecting students private data.Obama said identity theft is a growing problem that costs billions of dollars and can ruin your life. He said the age of technology and digital innovation has created enormous vulnerabilities for the U.S. and cited the recent hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment as an example.This is a direct threat to the economic security of American families and we need to stop it, Obama said in a speech at the Federal Trade Commission. If we are going to be connected, we need to be protected.Just as Obama finished speaking, the Twitter and YouTube accounts for U.S. Central Command were taken over by hackers who claimed to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants.Obama, previewing a push he plans to make in the State of the Union address next week, wants Congress to pass legislation called the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, which would require companies to inform customers within 30 days if their data has been hacked.Recent hackings at retailers including Target, Home Depot and Neiman Marcus have exposed the lack of uniform practices for alerting customers in the event of a breach. The White House has blamed last months hacking at Sony Pictures Entertainment on North Korea and responded with new sanctions against the isolated nation.Obama says every state currently has its own policy on when companies must notify consumers of a breach and that there should be a single standard across the country and baseline protections across industries. The legislation would also make it a crime to sell customers identities overseas.Obama said the United States was founded in a spirit of privacy that should not be breeched.Obama also called for more free access to all consumer credit rating services. While customers can get annual credit reports free once a year, FICO credit scores typically cost money to obtain, although some banks have been offering them free to customers.He also wants to prevent companies from selling student data to third parties and from using information collected in school to engage in targeted advertising.The Student Digital Privacy Act would prohibit companies from selling student data to third parties, a move spurred by the increased use of technology in schools that can scoop up personal information.A White House official said the proposed bill is based on a California statute pushed by Common Sense Media, a group that promotes privacy. The organization said the proliferation of online platforms, mobile applications, cloud computing and other technology allows businesses to collect sensitive data about students including contact information, academic records, and even what students eat for lunch or whether they ride the bus to school.Its unclear whether the new Republican-led Congress will take up Obamas legislative proposals.

Brent ends below $50 per barrel for first time since 2009

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Europes oil benchmark Monday closed below $50 a barrel for the first time in six years after a leading investment bank predicted the commodity would sink even lower in coming months. Brent crude for February delivery lost $2.68 to finish at $47.43 a barrel in London, its first close below $50 since April 2009. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February also hit a new multi-year low, shedding $2.29 to $46.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since March 2009.At this point, its really just panic selling out of fear of how low oil prices could go, said market analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK.The drop came as Goldman Sachs sharply cut its forecast for 2015 oil prices, projecting the US commodity would hit $41 a barrel in three months and $39 a barrel in six months, down from the $70 and $75 previously.Goldman also cut its forecast for Brent oil.The investment banking firm predicted the oil market would continue to experience oversupply for several months. As a result, oil prices need to stay lower for longer, it said.The short-cycle nature of capital investments in shale requires that such pressure remain in place long enough to keep capital sidelined while the market rebalances.Mondays fall came on the heels of a six-month crash in the market that has slashed crude prices by more than 50 percent amid concerns of oversupply and weak global growth.Other factors cited by analysts for the price drop included the downgrade to Russias credit rating last week and continued inaction from OPEC.
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