Tuesday 9 February 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Ten dead as commuter trains collide in Germany

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BAD AIBLING (AFP) - German authorities were on Tuesday investigating how two commuter trains collided head-on, leaving at least ten dead and dozens injured, despite having been fitted with automatic braking systems to prevent accidents.Media reports said human error was to blame for the high-speed crash near the southern spa town of Bad Aibling, where one of the trains sliced into the other, ripping a hole in its side.Rescuers were still searching for one missing person in the mangled wreckage in a wooded area, although police said there was now little hope of finding the victim alive.Newspaper group RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschand (RND), citing sources close to the investigation, said a signalling station worker had manually disactivated the automatic signalling system to let the first train -- which was running late -- go past.The second train then forged ahead on the same track in the opposite direction, before the first was able to split off where the line divides into two.The Bild newspaper said manually disabling the signalling would have disactivated the automatic braking systems.Regional police refused to comment when contacted by AFP. Two of the trains black boxes have been recovered, while investigators are still looking for a third.Police said 10 people had lost their lives in the crash just after 7:00 am (0800 GMT), while 18 people were seriously hurt and 63 others suffered light injuries.The two drivers and two conductors were among those killed, local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was dismayed and saddened by the accident.My sympathy goes out especially to the families of the nine people who have lost their lives, she said in a statement.Completely torn apartBlue, yellow and silver metal debris was strewn around the crash site next to a river in the state of Bavaria.Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt had earlier said the rail track was fitted with an automatic braking system aimed at preventing such crashes, and that investigators were probing whether there had been a technical problem or human error.One train was jammed into the other and the carriage of the second train was completely torn apart, he said.The trains smashed into each other at high speed, and the drivers probably did not see each other until the last minute because the crash happened at a curve, said Dobrindt.Police chief for the Upper Bavaria region, Robert Kopp, said the trains were carrying about 150 passengers, fewer than on a regular work day as many people were off for the regions winter holidays.A passenger named as Patrick B. told local radio Rosenheim 24 that shortly after leaving the station of Kolbermoor, the train suddenly braked, there was a loud noise and the light went out.He said he heard people shouting for help everywhere and together with a young man, he opened the carriage door using the emergency system.Some 700 firefighters, emergency services workers and police officers were deployed in the rescue operation, which was complicated because the forest crash site was difficult to access. Helicopters hoisted up the injured on stretchers.Deeply shockedThe accident is an enormous shock for us, said Bernd Rosenbusch, who heads the Bavarian rail company BOB that operates trains on the route.We will do everything to help travellers, their relatives and our employees.Christian Schreyer, chief executive of parent company Transdev, said: We are deeply shocked and stunned that something like this could have happened. Our thoughts are with the victims and families of the victims.After German rail was liberalised at the end of the 1990s, BOB became one of the train operators competing with state-run Deutsche Bahn.Although it has lost its monopoly operating status, Deutsche Bahn still owns the rail network.The accident is believed to be Germanys first fatal train crash since April 2012, when three people were killed and 13 injured in a collision between two regional trains in the western city of Offenbach.The countrys deadliest post-war accident happened in 1998, when a high-speed ICE train linking Munich and Hamburg derailed in the northern town of Eschede, killing 101 people and injuring 88.

Detection of gravitational waves would open new window on universe

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The first-ever detection of gravitational waves, which scientists could announce Thursday, would open a new window on the universe and its most violent phenomena.Scientists will hold a press conference Thursday to discuss the latest in their hunt for these waves, whose existence Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity 100 years ago, according to a statement from the National Science Foundation, which has funded the research.Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) who have been working on the detection of these waves for years will participate.Press conferences are also simultaneously scheduled at Pariss National Center for Science Research (CNRS) and also in London.The announcement of a press conference revived rumors that have been circulating in the scientific community for months that the LIGO team may have indeed directly detected gravitational waves for the first time.These waves are produced by disturbances in the fabric of space and time when a massive object moves, like a black hole or a neutron star.Einstein theorized that they would appear like ripples in a pond that form when a stone is thrown in the water, or like a net that bows under the weight of an object placed within -- with the net serving as a metaphor for the bending of space-time.According to the rumors, the team may have observed the collision of two black holes and their fusion -- leading to the detection of gravitational waves.Science magazine cited Clifford Burgess, a physicist at McMaster University in Canada and also a member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, as saying he deemed the rumors credible, even though he had not yet seen any documentation from LIGO.New look at universeThe ability to observe these gravitational waves would offer astronomer and physicists a new look at the most mysterious workings of the universe, including the fusion of neutron stars and the behaviors of black holes, which are often found in the centers of galaxies.The driving force of the universe is gravity, said Tuck Stebbins, Gravitational Astrophysics Lab Chief at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.These waves are streaming to you all the time and if you could see them, you could see back to the first one trillionth of a second of the Big Bang, he told AFP.There is no other way for humanity to see the origin of the universe.Stebbins said he believes we stand at a threshold of a revolutionary period in our understanding, our view of the universe.The LIGO detectors -- one in Washington and one in Louisiana -- can measure changes of spacetime at the level of 1/1000 diameter of a proton, he added.Catherine Man, an astronomer at the Cote dAzur Observatory in France, said the detection of these waves -- if confirmed -- would allow astronomers to probe the interior of stars and perhaps resolve the mystery of gamma rays, which are among the most powerful explosions in the universe and whose cause remains poorly understood.Now we are no longer observing the universe with telescopes using ultraviolet light or visible light but we are listening to the noises produced by the effects of the gravitation of celestial bodies on the fabric of space-time, which could come from stars or black holes, she told AFP.And since the star or black hole does not stop these waves, which move at the speed of light, they come right to us and we can therefore make models... to distinguish and detect their signatures.Previously, two Princeton scientists won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1993 for discovering a new type of pulsar that offered indirect proof of the existence of gravitational waves.The LIGO team is collaborating with a French-Italian team on another detector, called VIRGO, that should become operational soon.

Another death row convict hanged in Multan

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MULTAN (Dunya News) - One death row convict was executed in the Central Jail Multan on early Wednesday morning, Dunya News reported. The dead body was handed over to legal heirs after completing medico-legal formalities.According to details, prisoner Altaf had killed two persons in 1995 to take revenge of killing of his brother. Altaf was awarded death sentence by Session Court Multan in 1995 which was upheld by the superior courts. Altaf’s mercy appeal was also rejected by the President upon which Session Court issued a death warrant and he was executed today at the Central Jail Multan.

Obama proposes allocating 8.6 billion USD for Pakistan in US budget

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WASHINGTON (Dunya News) – US President Barack Obama on Wednesday has proposed allocating 8.6 billion dollars for Pakistan in the upcoming US budget. According to the proposed allocation, the funds will be utilized for Pakistan’s war against terrorism, the country’s stability, energy development, economic gains and for improvement in social issues.According to the US State Department, Pakistan plays a central role in a number of key issues including US anti-terrorism campaign, peace process in Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation program.The State Department further stated that the aid has been proposed to be transferred through overseas contingency operation funds.US State Department has also stated that these funds will be used to further assure the protection of Pakistan’s nuclear installations and for the improvement of its relations with neighbouring India.

UN urges Turkey to open borders to fleeing Syrians

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BEIRUT (AFP) - The United Nations on Tuesday urged Turkey to open its borders to tens of thousands of Syrians who have overwhelmed nearby emergency camps after fleeing a major government offensive.The main border crossing north of Syrias second city Aleppo remained closed, forcing huge crowds including women and children to sleep in tents or in the open.There are no longer enough places for families to sleep, said Ahmad al-Mohammad, a field worker with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).Most of the families left with just the clothes they were in, he told AFP, adding that the cold and crowded conditions were causing health problems including diarrhoea.Two days ahead of a 17-nation contact group meeting in Munich aimed at getting peace talks back on track, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Russias aerial bombardment of Syrian opposition targets could derail such efforts.There is no question, and I have said this before publicly, that Russias activities in Aleppo and in the region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation, Kerry said in Washington.The United Nations says up to 31,000 people have fled Aleppo city and surrounding areas since last week, as government forces backed by Russian warplanes press an offensive that could encircle the rebel-held eastern part of the city.We are asking Turkey to open its border to all civilians from Syria who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection, said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler.EU president Donald Tusk said the Russian air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime were making an already very bad situation even worse.As a direct consequence of the Russian military campaign, the murderous Assad regime is gaining ground, the moderate Syrian opposition is losing ground and thousands more refugees are fleeing towards Turkey and Europe.Syrias nearly five-year-old conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population.On Tuesday, a suicide car bomb claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least nine people at a police club in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said that a worst case scenario could see up to 600,000 refugees arrive at the border.Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkeys borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there, Kurtulmus said.Turkey already hosts 2.5 million Syrian refugees, but has come under pressure to allow in more, as well as to prevent them from seeking to reach Europe.NATO said it would take any request to help with the refugee crisis very seriously, after Ankara and Germany said they would seek the alliances help combatting people smugglers.With Turkeys Oncupinar border crossing north of Aleppo city staying closed, with only medical emergencies allowed through.The UNs humanitarian aid agency OCHA said on Monday that eight informal camps on the Syrian side of the border were at full capacity.MSF said aid groups were distributing warm clothes and mattresses to those stranded on the Syrian side.The UN warned that 300,000 people in eastern Aleppo city could be cut off from humanitarian aid if government forces encircle the area.Government sieges have been employed to devastating effect against other former rebel bastions.A report from Washington-based The Syria Institute and PAX, a peace organisation based in the Netherlands, said Tuesday that more than one million Syrians are living under siege, a tactic also used by rebel forces.The UNs World Food Programme said it had begun food distributions to the displaced, despite the severing of access and supply routes.We are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, said WFP Syria country director Jakob Kern.Syrian government forces backed by allied militias and Russian air raids began a major operation in the northern province of Aleppo last week.They are now around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Turkish frontier.The regime advances came as peace talks in Geneva collapsed last week in part over rebel anger about the government offensive.More than 20 suspected Russian air strikes hit targets in several towns northwest of Aleppo city and in the northern countryside on Tuesday, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. Regime forces and their allies were also fighting rebels, including jihadists from Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo province.

Kerry: Russian bombs hurting Syria peace talks

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Tuesday that Russias aerial bombardment of Syrian opposition targets could derail efforts to re-start talks to end the countrys brutal civil war.Kerry and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due in Munich on Thursday to host a meeting of a 17-nation contact group designed to get the talks back on track.But US frustration with Russias bombing in support of Bashar al-Assads regime is growing, amid fears that the opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire.There is no question, and I have said this before publicly, that Russias activities in Aleppo and in the region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation, Kerry said.And we have called on Russia and we call on Russia again to join in the effort to bring about an immediate ceasefire and to bring about full humanitarian access, he said.That is what this meeting will be about and this meeting will tell a lot about the road ahead, he added, in remarks at the State Department ahead of talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.Later, Kerrys spokesman John Kirby said that the Munich talks would be a decision point on whether or not the international effort to find peace can succeed in mediating a ceasefire.On Monday, Russias ambassador to the United States had admitted to journalists that it would be hard to get the talks re-started -- but put the blame on the opposition terrorists fighting Assad.We have only one mission. Thats to deal with terrorists. That is not going to change, Sergey Kislyak said, arguing that defeating the rebels would create the conditions for a political settlement.Russia is a signatory to UN Security Council resolution 2254, passed in December, which orders all warring parties in Syria to respect an immediate ceasefire and allow humanitarian agencies to take food and relief supplies to besieged civilians.But, with UN-led peace talks in Geneva stalled, Russian jets have continued to bomb Assads enemies, most recently in an onslaught that has seen regime forces advance to all but encircle the city of Aleppo.Last week, UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura suspended talks amid opposition protests about the bombing, and Thursdays meeting of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group aims to pressure the sides to return to the table.

Nine dead in IS Damascus car bombing: monitor

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BEIRUT (AFP) - A suicide car bombing killed nine people Tuesday at a police officers club in the Syrian capital, a monitor said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 people were also wounded in the Damascus blast, adding that policemen were among the dead and injured.The monitor said the suicide bomber had been wearing a police uniform, a tactic used in the past by IS.The jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media.It said one its members had detonated an explosives-laden car at a club for criminal police officers, and claimed that the attack had killed nearly 20 people and wounded 40.Syrian state television initially reported the blast had hit a vegetable market in the Masaken Barzeh district in northern Damascus.But it subsequently cited a source in the interior ministry saying a car had tried to ram into the police officers club in the area, but was stopped by guards.A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries, the state broadcaster reported.Syrian state news agency SANA said three people were killed and 14 wounded in the attack.Car bombs have been used regularly in Syrias war, often to devastating effect.While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month.More than 260,000 people have died in Syrias conflict since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

PIA protest: JAC delegation reaches Lahore for negotiations with govt

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Delegation of Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Wednesday reached Lahore for negotiations with the government. The delegation is being led by JAC chairman Sohail Baloch.In a talk with the media at the airport, Baloch stated that the PIA employees were against privatization of the organization.JAC chairman stated that the government should give the staff a period of 1 year before implementing the privatization move.Baloch informed that the delegation would meet with Chief Minister (PM) Shahbaz Sharif and other government officials at 10 am today.He further added that a plan alternate to privatization will be presented to the government while the option to hand over PIA to Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique was still available.The Railways Minister has stated that a system of punishments and compensations will be implemented if he takes over the organization.PIAs JAC had earlier announced in a press conference to end the PIA employees strike.Baloch had informed that he will be going to Lahore to meet the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif. He said that PIA can progress with support and leadership.The PIA employees have been on strike for the past 8 days against privatisation. This strike has cost the nation a loss of at least 2.75 billion rupees. Due to the strike by employees, the flight operation of PIA was severely affected and passengers faced difficulties.

Football: Last-gasp Ogbonna stuns Liverpool in FA Cup

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LONDON (AFP) - Angelo Ogbonna headed home in stoppage time of extra time as West Ham United stunned a youthful Liverpool team 2-1 in Tuesdays FA Cup fourth-round replay at Upton Park.Philippe Coutinhos clever free-kick had cancelled out Michail Antonios volleyed opener for West Ham and the game was seconds from a penalty shootout when Dimitri Payet curled a free-kick into the visitors box from the right and Ogbonna rose at the back post to head in the winner.It was the Italian centre-backs first goal since signing from Juventus last year and it earned Slaven Bilics side a trip to Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round.I can explain my feelings, and I cant at the same time, said Bilic.It is great, for me a really great game of football. It was a classic FA Cup tie. It will go into the history of West Hams greatest games.The goal came as the cherry on the pie of his (Ogbonnas) game. He was magnificent as a centre-half.West Ham had never previously beaten Liverpool in the FA Cup, but they have now overcome them three times this season, having beaten them twice in the league prior to the 0-0 draw in their first FA Cup encounter.Back in the dug-out after having his appendix removed on Saturday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp watched his young charges push West Ham all the way until falling at the very last hurdle.Its hard, Klopp told BT Sport. We were the better team, created chances and played good football, but we didnt use them.Its not easy because we were only here to win. You dont have to show your best -- you just have to go to the next round.Despite Klopp making 10 changes and entrusting the midfield to 18-year-old Pedro Chirivella and the callow pair of Kevin Stewart and Joao Carlos Teixeira, Liverpool made an assured start.The first chance was theirs, Christian Bentekes volley scrambled behind by Darren Randolph from Coutinhos deep corner, but West Ham were quick to respond, right-back Joey OBrien almost crowning his first start since July by slamming a shot against the post.The pace was sedentary but the game was open and the woodwork was rattled again at both ends -- Coutinho for Liverpool, Payet with a free-kick for West Ham -- before the hosts took the lead in first-half injury time.Enner Valencia wriggled his way to the byline on the left and dug out a cross to the back post, where Antonio leapt to meet it with a crisp side-foot volley that flashed past Simon Mignolet.Klopp sent his side out early for the second half and within four minutes they were level, Coutinho deviously stroking a 20-yard free-kick beneath the wall and in after Pedro Obiang was deemed to have fouled Benteke.Klopp sent for fit-again strikers Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi, while injuries to Winston Reid and Cheikhou Kouyate obliged Bilic to bring on James Collins and Andy Carroll, the former Liverpool striker.Valencia appealed in vain for a penalty when Tiago Ilori appeared to tug him back as he attempted to convert Antonios low cross.The teams continued to exchange chances -- Randolph parrying from Benteke and Sturridge, Valencia heading over and Mark Noble testing Mignolet -- but they could not be separated in normal time.Noble also worked Mignolet in extra time, but the best chances fell to Benteke.Twice within a minute he should have scored, first volleying wide with the goal at his mercy and then shooting tamely at Randolph in a one-on-one, and Ogbonna made him pay.

Tennis: Top seed Gasquet quits Rotterdam with groin injury

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ROTTERDAM (AFP) - Richard Gasquet handed the Rotterdam World Tennis tournament another box office body blow as the top seed quit on Tuesday a day before his opening match with a groin strain.The pullout came a week after Roger Federer was unable to play after undergoing knee surgery which will keep him off the ATP for at least a month.Frenchman Gasquet said that he felt his pain the day before winning the Montpellier tournament for the third time at the weekend.The 29-year-old ranked 13th came to Rotterdam in hopes he could heal but said that he is also now feeling ill and had no choice but to quit the indoor event.Marin Cilic, the second seed, now takes the role of favourite at the tournament where he finished runner-up in 2014.Gasquet said that he hopes to be able to play in the Marseille event later this month.Of course Im disappointed, I wanted to play here, Gasquet said. Its impossible for me to play.If I dont feel 100 percent, it is better to quit. This is a big event for me, Im sad not to be able to play here. Its tough for me but I had no choice.I need to rest, said the player whose season only began last week after missing the Australian summer campaign with back pain. I played four matches last week and maybe my body was not ready.On court, Luxembourg veteran Gilles Muller rallied to defeat Andreas Seppi 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, setting up his first career meeting with Cilic.Muller, 32, had suffered three defeats at the hands of the Italian but turned the tables in slightly more than two hours at the Ahoy stadium.Muller will be keen to take on second seed Cilic for the first time after the 2014 US Open winner led a three-man Croatian waver into the second round in Rotterdam.Cilic is one of the few guys Ive not played, sometimes it happens like that, said Muller, losing quarter-finalist at the event a year ago to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka.It will be exciting, a tough match, I hope to recover well and be ready for him.Mullers big serve accounted for 19 aces against Seppi, who dropped to 4-5 in 2016 as he played Rotterdam for the ninth time.It was a close match, it could have gone either way at the end, Muller, a semi-finalist last weekend in Sofia, said. We were both fighting very hard.The first round of a tournament is always difficult, I also got to Rotterdam late which did not help.Its a match Im glad I won, but I can play better than this.Crowd-pleaser Marcos Baghdatis ended an upset of fourth seed David Goffin by winning a 41-shot rally as the Belgian fired a forehand long in a 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) loss.Baghdatis was joined in the second round by French fifth seed Gael Monfils, a 6-4, 6-4 victor over qualifier Ernests Gulbis.South Koreas Chung Hyeon advanced past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 while Germanys Philipp Kohlschreiber easily eliminated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4.

Tennis: Sharapova to miss Fed Cup tie with Belarus

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MOSCOW (AFP) - World number six Maria Sharapova will skip her countrys upcoming Fed Cup play-off tie against Belarus, Russias tennis federation said Tuesday. Sharapova will definitely not play, R-Sport agency quoted Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpischev as saying. She will be busy with tournaments in the US.Sharapova remained on course to compete at this summers Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games after being named to Russias doubles team for the countrys Fed Cup first-round tie with the Netherlands last week. The five-time Grand Slam champion was warned by Tarpischev earlier this month that she risked missing out on Rio if she failed to turn out for the Fed Cup tie, which Russia lost 3-1.Russia will now host Belarus -- which defeated Canada in World Group II last week -- on April 16 and 17 to avoid relegation from World Group I.

Cycling: Kristoff wins stage, Cavendish keeps Qatar lead

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DOHA (AFP) - Norways Alexander Kristoff edged British ace Mark Cavendish in a bunch sprint to clinch Tuesdays second stage of the Tour of Qatar.Dimension Data rider Cavendish nonetheless maintained his overall race lead by 5sec from Katushas Kristoff with Italian Sacha Modolo third at 14sec.It was close and Cavendish is very strong, so Im happy with this victory, said the Norwegian, for whom the shallow climb to the finish was ideal despite seeing two of his lead-out train, Andrea Guardini and Soren Kragh Andersen, crash on the home straight.For the second day, the 135km stage was around the campus of the University of Qatar taking in the 15.3km circuit of the artificial island The Pearl, on a course prepared for the world road race championships in October.Kristoff had managed to sneak into a breakaway group that stretched to a 1min 20sec lead running into a headwind before Cavendish galvanised the peloton to reel in the group of twenty riders.There was a second attempted breakaway by Belgiums Preben Van Hecke and the Latvian Gatis Smukulis, who were also reeled in.Wednesdays third stage of five will be a 11.4km individual time-trial on the Lusail motor-racing circuit, north of Doha.

Twitter looks to outside help in fighting abuse

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SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Twitter on Tuesday announced that it is pulling together a council of outside experts and organizations to battle abusive behaviour at the one-to-many messaging service.With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power, head of global policy outreach Patricia Cartes said in a blog post.It requires a multi-layered approach where each of our 320 million users has a part to play, as do the community of experts working for safety and free expression.More than 40 organizations and experts from 13 regions are joining as inaugural members of Twitters freshly-created Trust and Safety Council, according to Cartes.The list of members included The Anti-Defamation League; Center for Democracy and Technology; EU Kids Online, and Feminine Frequency.We are taking a global and inclusive approach so that we can hear a diversity of voices, Cartes said.Twitter announced the new council on Safer Internet Day, and the heightened focus on preventing bullying, harassment and other abuses came as the San Francisco-based company strives to promote use of its platform.We are thrilled to work with these organizations to ensure that we are enabling everyone, everywhere to express themselves with confidence on Twitter, Cartes said.Twitter last week announced that it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to the Islamic State group, as part of increased efforts to eradicate terrorist content on the global messaging platform.The accounts frozen since mid-2015 were targeted for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, said Twitter, which is under pressure from governments to act but is also keen not to be seen as effectively censoring free speech.At the close of stock markets in New York City on Wednesday, Twitter is to report its earnings for the final three months of last year.Investors will be watching to see whether use of Twitter is healthy or anemic.Twitter shares were down about 3.4 percents to $14.40 at the end of official New York Stock Exchange trading on Tuesday.

Oil sinks as IEA warns of falling prices; WTI below $28

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices sank again Tuesday as the International Energy Agency warned prices could fall further on a growing oversupply and weakening global demand growth.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery dropped $1.75 (5.9 percent) to $27.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April, the European benchmark for crude oil, dived to $30.32 a barrel, shedding $2.53 (7.7 percent) from Mondays settlement.Both WTI and Brent had fallen more than three percent Monday.The IEA, in its monthly report Tuesday, forecast the global oil surplus would be larger than previously expected in the first half of 2016.It noted that OPEC was responsible for the supply glut hitting the market, adding that Saudi Arabia, Iraq and sanctions-free Iran had all turned up the taps in January.With the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term, it said.In these conditions the short-term risk to the downside has increased.The IEA maintained its view that global demand growth will ease back considerably in 2016 to 1.2 million barrels a day from 1.6 million barrels a day in 2015.Late last month, prices rallied briefly on speculation that Russia -- the largest global oil producer -- and the 13-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel could discuss coordinated output cutbacks.But the IEA said that the likelihood of coordinated cuts is very low.Matt Smith of ClipperData noted that the US Department of Energys short-term outlook report, also released Tuesday, gave a similar picture of the market.So the combination of both these reports might be sending crude charging low into the $20s again, he said.WIT in January fell below $28 a barrel for the first time since September 2003.

Dollar dips ahead of Yellen testimony to Congress

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NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar broadly weakened Tuesday as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellens testimony to Congress this week for signals on future interest rate increases.Yellen, who is scheduled to give the central banks twice-yearly accounting on monetary policy to lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday, will be closely watched to see if she deviates from the Feds plan for four rate hikes this year.Markets have been pricing in one or two increases, for the second half of 2016. Few analysts expect the Fed will raise rates at the next policy meeting in mid-March. The Fed lifted the benchmark rate by a quarter-point in December, after keeping it pegged near zero for seven years.Sliding world stocks and prospects for global growth have many staking bets that Fed chair testimony... might acknowledge new threats to US growth and play down prospects for higher US interest rates, said Joe Manimbo, currency market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions.Uncertainty over how global weakness would impact the US economy has caused the dollar to lose some of its safe-harbor sheen.The dollar dropped against the euro, to $1.1293 per euro around 2200 GMT, from $1.1193 at the same time Monday. The greenback fell 0.6 percent against the yen at 115.14 yen.Yellens testimony comes as concerns about the US economy and Fed policy have contributed to the stock markets sharp decline so far this year and the dollars recent selloff.Theres a lot weighing on Yellens shoulders tomorrow because now more than ever, investors are looking for her guidance, said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.A number of central bank officials have suggested that rates could remain steady next month and the big question is whether the Fed chair shares these views.
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