Wednesday 13 April 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Kerry urges all to abide by Syria cessation of hostilities

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All sides in Syrias five-year-old civil war should stick to a cessation of hostilities and give United Nations-led peace talks that resumed on Wednesday a chance, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.We urge all of the participants on one side or the other, all of the combatants, the regime, others, to adhere to the cessation of hostilities, Kerry told reporters in the face of a flare-up in fighting.U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura opened a new round of peace talks in Geneva on Wednesday, saying that senior officials in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman, had signaled support for a discussion aiming at a political transition in Syria.We strongly urge all of the combatants to give Staffan de Mistura and his team an opportunity to do their work in the next hours and days in Geneva, Kerry said in Washington while presenting the annual U.S. State Department report on human rights around the world.Kerry also repeated the Obama administrations opposition to torture.I want to remove even a scintilla of doubt or confusion that has been caused by statements that others have made in recent weeks and months, Kerry said, without specifying whose statements he was referring to. The United States is opposed to the use of torture in any form, at any time by any government or non-state actor.Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said he would seek to end President Barack Obamas ban on water boarding - an interrogation technique that simulates drowning denounced by human rights groups contend as illegal under the Geneva Conventions - and to bring back a hell of a lot worse if he is elected.

Over 100 killed in upsurge in Syria's Aleppo: monitor

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BEIRUT (AFP) - Over 100 troops, pro-regime militia, jihadists and rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting on a strategic front of Syrias Aleppo province, a monitoring group said Wednesday.Since Sunday, fighting around Al-Eis and Khan Tuman in Aleppos southern belt has killed 61 rebels and members of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and 50 troops and pro-regime militia, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.In the past 24 hours alone, 42 rebels and Al-Nusra members died, as well as 34 regime loyalists, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.Regime troops are trying to recapture Al-Eis, held by Al-Nusra and rebel allies, which in turn have launched an offensive to take over nearby Khan Touman from the regime.The fighting came as UN-brokered indirect talks resumed in Geneva, threatening to break a fragile six-week truce that was brokered by the United States and Russia.Neither Al-Nusra nor the jihadist Islamic State group are included in the truce, but the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked concerns over its durability.Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to more moderate factions, and cause the truce to collapse and derail the peace efforts.The area where the fighting is focused is important because it is located near the highway linking Damascus to war-ravaged Aleppo city, the Observatory said.It is also key because it is near the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in neighbouring Idlib province, which are under siege by opposition forces.Most of the regime loyalists killed were militia fighters from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, Abdel Rahman said.For them, this is an ideologically-driven battle to break the siege on Fua and Kefraya, he told AFP.Abdel Rahman said the fighting shows that neither President Bashar al-Assads regime nor the opposition represented at the Geneva talks calls the shots in fighting on the ground.The real decisions are made by (regime backers) Iran and Russia on one side, and jihadist factions and opposition backers on the other, he said.Syrias war began as a popular anti-regime revolt but later morphed into a brutal civil war after Damascus unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Device harnessing thoughts allows quadriplegic to use his hands

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An Ohio man paralyzed in an accident while diving in waves can now pick up a bottle or play the video game Guitar Hero thanks to a small computer chip in his brain that lets his mind guide his hands and fingers, bypassing his damaged spinal cord.Scientists on Wednesday described accomplishments achieved by 24-year-old quadriplegic Ian Burkhart using an implanted chip that relays signals from his brain through 130 electrodes on his forearm to produce muscle movement in his hands and fingers.Burkhart first demonstrated the neural bypass technology in 2014 when he was able simply to open and close his hand. But the scientists, in research published in the journal Nature, said he can now perform multiple useful tasks with more sophisticated hand and finger movements.The technology, which for now can only be used in the laboratory, is being perfected with an eye toward a wireless system without the need for a cable running from the head to relay brain signals.This study marks the first time that a person living with paralysis has regained movement by using signals recorded from within the brain, said bioelectronic medicine researcher Chad Bouton of the New York-based Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, who worked on the study at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio.Burkhart said the technology lets him function like a normal member of society.The technology potentially could help people not only after spinal cord injuries but after strokes or traumatic brain injuries, Bouton added.Burkhart, a former lacrosse goalie, suffered a broken neck and spinal cord damage at age 19 diving into a wave at North Carolinas Outer Banks in 2010, causing paralysis of his arms and legs. Such injuries disrupt nervous system signal pathways between the brain and muscles.Surgeons implanted the pea-sized chip into his motor cortex, which controls voluntary muscular activity. The chip, connected to a cable running from his head to a sleeve containing the electrodes wrapped around his forearm, sends brain signals that stimulate muscles controlling the hands and fingers.Burkhart, with six wrist and hand motions, could rotate his hand, make a fist, pinch his fingers together, grasp objects like a bottle, spoon and telephone, swipe a credit card and play the video game simulating guitar strumming.Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center neurosurgeon Ali Rezai called the results a milestone in the evolution of brain-computer interface technology.Things are kind of moving along better than I imagined, Burkhart said.

Turkey expects more Syrians to return from Greece under EU deal

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ATHENS (Reuters) -Turkey has begun taking back Syrians from Greece under an agreement with the European Union aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into the continent, and it expects the number of Syrians returning to rise soon, it said on Wednesday.Two Syrians were brought back to Turkey in the two first rounds of returns by ferry carried out under the deal, which took effect last week, Turkeys European Union Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir told Reuters.The reason Turkey had not taken back more Syrians was that it granted Syrians a protected status but not as refugees; they lost that status if they left the country and came back, Bozkir said, adding that those rules had just been changed.We issued a government decree which gives this status back again even if they come back, he said on the sidelines of a talk at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.So now in the second wave and third wave you (will) have more Syrians than Pakistanis and Afghanis, he said, referring to nationalities that were among the most common in the two rounds of returns last week, of about 340 people.Turkeys cabinet approved the change last week, and it took effect on Thursday.We now have new lists from Greece where they are checking everybody and fingerprints are being sent to us, and then we’ll get Syrians now as well, he told Reuters.The number of people making the perilous crossing of the Aegean Sea to Greek islands from Turkey had fallen dramatically in recent months, he said during a question-and-answer session with academics and students.(In) October every day 5,000, 6,000 irregular migrants were reaching Greece, he said. The latest figure is 75, 11th of April, zero, 10th of April, 59, 9th of April, so we went back to two digits and even those will be back and well reach zero.

Russia jets make 'simulated attack' passes near U.S. destroyer: U.S.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said on Wednesday. The planes carried no visible weaponry, the official said.A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70 nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between Lithuania and Poland.They tried to raise them (the Russian aircraft) on the radio but they did not answer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding the U.S. ship was in international waters.The U.S. military on Wednesday released photos and videos of the incidents. In one photograph, an SU-24 appears to pass at extremely low altitude over the Donald Cooks bow.The events were reminiscent of the Cold War, when a series of close calls led to a bilateral agreement aimed at avoiding dangerous interactions at sea that was signed in 1972 by then-Secretary of the Navy John Warner and Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov.The agreement prohibited simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them. The accord can be seen here: www.state.gov/t/isn/4791.htmWhite House spokesman Josh Earnest said, This incident ... is entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international water and international airspace.The incident came as NATO plans its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance, and in particular the three Baltic states and Poland, consider to be a more aggressive Russia.The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, have asked NATO for a permanent presence of battalion-sized deployments of allied troops in each of their territories. A NATO battalion typically consists of 300 to 800 troops.Moscow denies any intention to attack the Baltic states.We cannot treat this as anything else than provocation, yet another example of aggressive intentions towards NATO, towards the United States, towards Poland, Polands Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told private radio RMF.The USS Donald Cook had just wrapped up a port visit in the Polish city of Gdynia on April 11 and proceeded out to sea with a Polish helicopter on board.The first incident took place on April 11, when two SU-24 jets flew about 20 passes near the Donald Cook, coming within 1,000 yards (meters) of the ship, at about 100 feet (30 meters) in altitude.That was followed by even closer passes by the SU-24s the following day and the passes by the Russian helicopter.The U.S. defense official said the commanding officer of the Donald Cook believed that Tuesdays incident was unsafe and unprofessional.The U.S. militarys European Command said in a statement that U.S. officials are using existing diplomatic channels to address the interactions, while the incidents are also being reviewed through U.S. Navy channels.These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death, it said.U.S. Representative J. Randy Forbes, who chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower, said in a statement that U.S. naval activity in Europe must be expanded accordingly to address the threat posed by Russias international behavior.

Assad holds parliamentary election as Syrian peace talks resume

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DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate.The election went ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at ending the five-year-long war. A second round of talks began in Geneva on Wednesday but an upsurge in fighting has darkened the already bleak outlook for diplomacy.The government said the vote was held to comply with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies.The opposition, which wants the new peace talks to focus on a political transition, said the election was meaningless, while Britain and France called it a flimsy facade and a sham.Voters were electing 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syrias presidential system. The state rallied them with the slogan Your vote strengthens your steadfastness.Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him, said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syrias infrastructure but not Syrias social structure, the national identity.Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. dismissed the polls: They are illegitimate - theater for the sake of procrastination.The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.CEASEFIRE PLEASThe Damascus government controls around one third of Syria, including the main cities in the west, home to the bulk of Syrians who have not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of Syrian refugees abroad at 5.8 million.With parliament elected every four years, it is the second parliamentary election held by the government in wartime. Assad was re-elected head of state in a presidential election in 2014.The government said it would not take part in peace talks until after the election. It is expected to participate from Friday while the opposition delegation met U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday.De Mistura said senior officials in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Amman backed the idea of discussing a political transition but that he wanted to see a renewed pledge to uphold a truce he said had seen serious incidents, but not a bushfire.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged all sides to adhere to what the U.N. describes as a cessation of hostilities.Agreed in February, the partial truce, which does not include Islamic State or al-Qaeda-linked groups, had helped bring the sides to Geneva.But fighting south of Aleppo has strained it to breaking point and Damascus had ruled out discussing the presidency ahead of the first round of talks last month.Each side has blamed the other for ceasefire violations. The head of the opposition delegation said the government had dropped 420 barrel bombs - oil drums packed with explosives - last month alone. The government has denied using such weapons.Foreign states opposed to Assad said the election was out of line with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, said it is in line with the constitution.The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy, said a spokesperson for the British government.France said the elections were a sham organized by an oppressive regime.Russia, one of Assads main foreign allies, said however that the election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum.There is understanding already that a new constitution should emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which new, early elections are to be held, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing.But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any vacuum in the sphere of executive power.Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the election showed that the Syrian people is the one that decides its fate.Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote.We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections, said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus. Now, we are no longer obliged to.Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the election was good for Syria.We hope they bring people together, she said. We support Assad and these elections are a boost for him.

Lahore: Traffic warden brutally thrashes motorist, breaks nose

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Another incident of brutality by traffic warden was seen Wednesday as a warden in Shera Kot area of Lahore violently thrashed 55 year old mini-truck driver, Tariq Javed.According to the details, Javed was rushed to the Emergency department of the Services hospital. Javed family strongly protested against the beating while an application has also been filed against the warden in Shera Kot police station.The warden who struck Javed has yet to be identified. Javed has also accused that the concerned police officials are pressurizing him for reconciliation.

Oil slips but remains near 2016 highs

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NEW YORK (AFP - Oil prices fell roughly one per cent on Wednesday but remained close to 2016 highs as traders weighed a jump in US crude inventories and a fall in US production.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May finished 41 cents lower at US$41.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.In London, Brent North Sea crude for June delivery, the international benchmark for crude oil, fell to US$44.18 a barrel, down 51 cents from Tuesday.The market reacted only slightly to the US Department of Energys latest weekly petroleum report, which showed commercial crude stockpiles jumped by 6.6 million barrels last week, more than six times as much as analysts expected.A week ago, WTI prices had climbed sharply following a smaller decline in the stockpiles.Market watchers said the resilience in prices came from a fall in US gasoline supplies and a fall in US oil production to below nine million barrels per day for the first time since October 2014.The sharp drawdown of gasoline stocks kind of offset the headline increase (in crude), but ahead of the Russia-OPEC meeting I would expect to see some profit-taking, said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index trading group.Prices should drop far more than this said James Williams of WTRG Economics. The crude oil market is not trading on fundamentals.On Tuesday, prices shot to 2016 highs as reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia had reached a consensus on freezing output that boosted expectations of a wider deal a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers in Doha on Sunday.But the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday warned that the world remains awash with crude.Positive market sentiments continue to arise from the output freeze plan being considered by major crude exporters, as well as an expected fall in output in the United States and elsewhere, OPEC said. Nevertheless, hurdles prevail as oversupply persists and inventories remain high, the cartel cautioned.

Dollar bolstered by strong stocks, positive Chinese data

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar climbed to a two-week peak against the euro and a one-week high against the yen on Wednesday, as gains in global stock markets and improved export numbers out of China drew investors into riskier bets than low-yielding currencies in Europe and Japan.The euro and yen have gained strongly against the dollar in recent weeks as investors sought traditional safe havens given a darkening outlook for banks and economic growth, underlined again by downgraded forecasts from the International Monetary on Tuesday.Softer-than-expected U.S. producer prices and retail sales numbers last month briefly pushed the dollar lower, but Wednesdays dollar uptrend remained intact.The weak retail sales and PPI (producer price index) data had virtually no impact on the dollar, and its probably because there are portfolio flows going into U.S. equities, said Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Deutsche Bank in New York. This is giving the dollar a bit of a bid.Still the outlook for the dollar stayed weak. After gaining steadily for 1-1/2 years amid U.S. interest rate hike expectations, the dollar has hit a wall and many in the market believes the greenbacks long-term rally is on its last legs.Expectations of a deal to stabilize oil output, and what seems like a bottoming out of expectations for U.S. interest rate rises, have also helped the dollar.The dollar index was up 0.8 percent at 94.730, gaining for the first time in four days.The euro fell 0.9 percent against the dollar to $1.1284 . It fell as low as $1.1234, a two-week low. Against the yen, the euro was down 0.3 percent at 123.26 yen.The dollar, meanwhile, rose 0.6 percent to 109.21 yen , up from lows of 107.61 hit on Monday.Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX strategy at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in London believes that the latest yen rally may be running out of steam. He said that the Japanese currencys recent strength reflected concerns about excessive undervaluation.These concerns have abated considerably, with dollar/yen now trading closer to its fair value implied by the purchasing power parity or the long-term valuation model. That long-term fair value for the dollar is 105 yen, he added.

Sargodha: Stolen govt hospitals' medicine worth Rs.10 million recovered

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SARGODHA (Dunya News) – In a raid conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Health department in Sargodha, officials recovered stolen medicines of government hospitals worth more than Rs.10 million while the head of the group was also apprehended.According to the details, FIA and health department officials had received information that medicines of the government hospitals, the sale of which is prohibited, were, after stealing or changing the labels by collusion, being sold to the general consumer market on high prices in various cities including Lahore, with many of them expired.The officials also received information that these pharmaceuticals had been stocked in large quantities in Sargodha’s area of Kot Fareed. The officials conducted a joint raid at the warehouse and arrested the owner of the warehouse, Rana Ashfaq.Executive District Officer (EDO) Health Dr. Nazir Aqib Nekokara has stated that stolen medicines of various government hospitals including Lahore’s Mayo, Ganga Ram, Services and General hospitals along with Defence hospitals of different cities, were also recovered.Further raids are being conducted for the arrest of other members of the group.

Study: Brain implant lets paralyzed man regain use of hand

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NEW YORK (AP) - A paralyzed 24-year-old man has regained some use of his right hand, controlling it with signals relayed from electronic sensors in his brain.Ian Burkhart of Dublin, Ohio, can grasp a bottle, pour its contents into a jar, pick up a stick and stir the liquid. He can grab a credit card and swipe it through a reader. He can move individual fingers and hold a toothbrush.But he can do these things only for a few hours a week, in a laboratory where he is hooked up to an experimental device that interprets his brain signals and stimulates his muscles with electrodes on his forearm. With improvements, researchers hope the system will eventually aid the everyday lives of people like Burkhart with spinal cord injuries, and perhaps others with stroke or traumatic brain injury.If and when the device can be used at home, it will really increase my quality of life and independence, said Burkhart, who is paralyzed over most of his body.Burkharts case is described in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature. Its the latest report from research that has let paralyzed people operate robotic arms, computers and other devices with signals picked up by brain implants, or regain use of paralyzed muscles by sending signals from other muscles they still control.In contrast, the new report demonstrates that a patient can use a brain implant to stimulate his own paralyzed muscles.Burkhart was a college freshman when he broke his neck about six years ago. He dove into an ocean wave and was slammed into a sand bar. As a result, he is paralyzed from the middle of his chest down, with no use of his arms below the elbow.For the experimental treatment, surgeons in 2014 placed a tiny device on his brain that includes 96 electrodes that penetrate just below the surface. It monitors a relatively small population of brain cells in the region that controls movement of his right hand, sampling the activity 3 million times a second.Were really just eavesdropping on a few conversations between those neurons and were trying to figure out what theyre talking about, said Chad Bouton, an author of the Nature paper who worked on the project while at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He is now at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York.When Burkhart is in the lab, a cable is attached to a small projection from his skull to carry signals from the sensor to a computer, which interprets what movement he is trying to accomplish. Then it sends commands to an array of up to 160 electrodes strapped to his forearm. Electrical stimulation from those electrodes activates his hand and finger muscles.This is taking ones thoughts and, within milliseconds, linking it to concrete movements, said Dr. Ali Rezai, a study author and neurosurgeon at Ohio State University.Burkhart said the stimulation feels like a slight tingle or buzz, noting that he has only a little sensation in his arm because of his injury. He also said his muscles tire after a while.During the first few months, he became mentally worn out from concentrating on exactly what muscles he needed to move, he said. Now its gotten much easier, he said in an interview.But if he faces a new task or one he has not done for a while, I kind of have to think about it a little bit beforehand, and really think through what Im trying to accomplish.Rezai said Burkhart is getting faster and more fluid in his movements as he and the computer system learn from each other.Burkhart said hed like to participate someday in testing a next-generation version of the system that could be used outside the lab.Researchers said they hope to improve the technology by such steps as making the connections wireless, perhaps placing electrodes on or beneath the scalp rather than in the brain, and replacing the strapped-on forearm electrodes with implanted ones.Experts who werent involved in the project said the results hold promise.Lee Miller of Northwestern University, who has done similar research in monkeys, called the results an important step toward developing a tool for helping patients. He agreed that the forearm electrodes would probably have to be implanted, but he said the current approach is clearly a good starting point.Chet Moritz of the University of Washington called the findings exciting. Direct stimulation of muscles can quickly lead to fatigue, he noted, but that might be avoided by stimulating the spinal cord to move the muscles instead.P. Hunter Peckham, a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said the work is valuable in showing that a brain implant can be used to control several muscles at a time.Peckham said many paralysis patients are already doing impressively well at home with a system that lets them stimulate hand movements with signals generated by other muscles. But the brain implant approach could be useful for people with more severe injuries who cant control those other muscles, or who need a more complex signal to make particular movements, he said.

Inky the octopus makes great escape from New Zealand aquarium

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NAPIER (AFP) - An octopus the size of a rugby ball made an audacious escape through a narrow pipe at New Zealands National Aquarium, reports said, with the great escape artist returning to the ocean.Inky the male octopus, given to the Napier aquarium two years ago after being rescued from a crayfish pot, made a dash for freedom by slipping through a small gap in his enclosure, sliding across a wet floor and squeezing through a 150-millimetre-diameter (5.9 inches) pipe, Fairfax New Zealand reported Tuesday.Octopus are really intelligent animals, very inquisitive, and they also tend to explore whenever they get the chance, aquarium manager Rob Yarrell told MediaWorks Newshub Wednesday.Giving him just a little gap was enough for him to get out and we noticed the wet trail across to one of our drains.The reports did not state when Inky made his getaway, reportedly the first-ever at the aquarium.They are great escape artists, Yarrell told the New Zealand Herald, saying staff would be closely watching the remaining octopus in the enclosure.While Inky was the size of a rugby ball he could stretch to extremes and squeeze through tiny spaces, Yarrell said.As long as its mouth can fit, he told Fairfax. Their bodies are squishy but they have a beak, like a parrot.

Wisden Cricketers of the Year named

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LONDON (Agencies) - New Zealands Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson, as well as Australia captain Steven Smith, have been chosen among the Wisden Almanacks Five Cricketers of the Year announced Wednesday.The quintet is completed by the England duo of all-rounder Ben Stokes and Jonathan Bairstow.In the personal gift of the editor of crickets bible, which has been published annually since 1864, a player can only be named as a Cricketer of the Year once in his career.Generally, the award is decided on players performances in the previous English season and Australias Smith was included when, despite his side being beaten 3-2 in the Ashes, he emerged as the series leading run-scorer with a double century at Lords and 143 at The Oval in the visitors two wins.The 2016 edition also saw New Zealand batsman Williamson named as the Leading Cricketer in the World after his 2,692 international runs across the formats in 2015 - the third-highest annual aggregate ever.McCullum, who retired this year, was included as much for his bold captaincy as his aggressive batting, with New Zealands dynamic approach widely reckoned to have helped transform Englands play in both Test and one-day cricket as well.Williamson and McCullum were not the only New Zealanders honoured by Wisden, with compatriot Suzie Bates chosen as the womens Leading Cricketer.Stokes was one of the stars of Englands Ashes success, while wicketkeeper/batsman Bairstow also played his part as well as helping Yorkshire win the County Championship.During Englands recent tour of South Africa, the pair shared a monumental stand of 399 which featured Stokess blistering 258 and Bairstows maiden Test century.Wisden editor Lawrence Booth praised England for their revival after their embarrassingly early exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.“There would be rapids down river, but the players were now approaching them head on, not paddling round the edge, quoting the percentage chance of falling in,” he wrote.“Records fell like confetti. England passed 400 for the first time in a one-day international, and knocked off 350 in another. They made their highest one-day score overseas, in Dubai (355 for five), then smashed it a few weeks later, in Bloemfontein (399 for nine). Jos Buttler scored a hundred off 66 balls, then - as if to make up for his tardiness - off 46.“Stuart Broad took eight for 15 as Australia were demolished for 60 at Trent Bridge, then six for 17 to skittle South Africa for 83 at Johannesburg. The two most resonant national records fell one after the other: in Antigua, Jimmy Anderson overtook Ian Bothams Test-wickets haul, and went on past 400; at Leeds, Alastair Cook surpassed Graham Goochs Test-runs tally, and approached 10,000...It was the most uplifting story in international cricket all year, the more so for being utterly unexpected.”

Karachi: Two accused apprehended during police operation

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – Police conducted an operation in Orangi Town area of Karachi on Wednesday and arrested two accused, Dunya News reported.According to SSP West, the arrested accused have been identified as Faheem alias Chota and his accomplice Babar Pathan who were wanted in more than 200 cases of street crime.Police sources said that a Triple Two rifle, a TT pistol along with dozens of bullets and a stolen motorcycle were recovered from the arrested accused.On the other hand, police arrested two dacoits after an encounter in Landhi area and recovered arms, stolen mobile phones and motorcycle from their possession.

Not one man, whole nation wants details of PM's family's assets: PTI

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) Thursday responded to earlier criticisms of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif. PTI retaliated saying that not one person but whole nation is demanding the details of PM’s family’s assets. The party has also stated that PM should get well and then answer to the questions of hiding assets, corruption and money laundering.Responding to the criticism, PTI’s Spokesperson stated that PM’s address to the nation on Panama Leaks has been rejected by the nation. He added that the PM, during his talk with media in London, has failed to give clear answer to any of the questions being asked.The PTI Spokesperson further stated that the PM had only tried to tarnish the character of the Opposition leaders through his courtiers. The PTI Spokesperson prayed that the PM gets well soon and then gives clear answers to the questions being asked by the nation.Earlier PM Nawaz while addressing the media outside his residence stated that he had come to the United Kingdom (UK) for a medical checkup. In an answer to a question regarding the hotly debated Panama Leaks issue PM Nawaz had stated that nobody will be allowed to stand in the way of progress of the country.Without naming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, PM Nawaz had stated that certain individuals keep on looking for incidents or happenings to criticise the government, reported Dunya News.
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