Monday 5 December 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Ferozewala: Three dacoits killed in police encounter

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FEROZEWALA (Dunya News) – According to details, five dacoits boarded a Lahore-bound van from Sialkot on Monday. The dacoits took out their arms when the van reached near Kala Shah Kaku and started looting cash, gold ornaments and mobile phones from the passengers.In the meantime, a police mobile reached the spot upon the dacoits opened fire at the police. Police returned the fire due to which three dacoits were killed while two of their accomplices managed to escape.Police have shifted the bodies of the dacoits to hospital in Sheikhupura for autopsy. The identity of the dead dacoits is not yet known.

Football: Blatter suffers one last defeat over FIFA misconduct

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LAUSANNE (AFP) - Sports highest court on Monday rejected the appeal of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter against a six year ban signalling the end of his efforts to clear his name.The 80-year-old former football powerbroker was ousted over a two million Swiss franc ($2 million/1.8 million euro) payment to UEFA boss Michel Platini which the Court of Arbitration for Sport called an undue gift that could not be justified.Blatter called the verdict incomprehensible but also acknowledged that he has come to the end of the road in his fight to clear his name.I will not be appealing in a Swiss court, he told AFP, turning his back on what would have been his last legal recourse.Earlier, however, he maintained that guilt had not been proven.It is difficult to follow it, because the principle of jurisdiction -- culpability has to be proven by prosecution -- was not applied, Blatter said in a statement.Nevertheless I look back with gratitude to all the years, in which I was able to realise my ideals for football and serve FIFA, added the Swiss official widely condemned by critics during his 18 years as head of the world football body.The payment made to Platini in 2011 for work carried out a decade earlier without any contract led to the downfall of both men. Platini had been expected to take over from Blatter, but has also seen multiple appeals rejected by tribunals and courts.Blatter could face more trouble as he remains under investigation by Swiss prosecutors over the payment and for the way in which the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar, respectively.Blatter and Platini said they had an oral contract for the payment. This was firmly dismissed by the CAS which also said Blatter must pay a 50,000 Swiss franc fine.The tribunal ruled that a written employment contract established between Platini and FIFA in 1999 voided any oral agreement concluded between Blatter and Platini in 1998 allowing for a one million Swiss franc a year salary.Accordingly, by approving a payment of two million Swiss francs to Mr Platini in 2011 for the balance of work carried out under the alleged oral agreement, Mr Blatter breached the FIFA code of ethics.It said the payment amounted to an undue gift as it had no contractual basis.The panel further found that Mr Blatter unlawfully awarded contributions to Mr Platini under the FIFA executive committee retirement scheme which also amounted to an undue gift.Blatter, who still uses his FIFA limousine, and Platini have now both had all appeals rejected by FIFAs ethics court and CAS. Blatters suspension has been reduced from eight years to six and Platini from eight to four years.French football legend Platini has taken a case to the Swiss courts and Blatter could have done the same. But the civil courts are reluctant to get involved in international disputes, according to experts, and Blatter has decided against that option.FIFA and UEFA meanwhile have launched campaigns to cleanse their tainted images under new leaders who have promised reform.FIFA is now led by Gianni Infantino who has embarked on major changes at the world football body including replacing many staff employed in the Blatter era.FIFA said only that it had taken note of the CAS verdict. Aleksander Ceferin has taken over at UEFA also promising a new era of transparency.The air of corruption has not completely cleared however.More details of the commercial underbelly of sport are expected when US courts start sentencing 39 football and marketing officials accused of involvement in more than $200 million of bribes for television and other commercial contracts.Blatters air of invincibility ended when Swiss police raided a Zurich hotel in May 2015 to detain seven FIFA officials who are now among the defendants in the United States. The arrests came on the eve of his reelection as FIFA president and he was suspended months later.

Ex-world kickboxing champion Dridi shot dead

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MONTPELLIER (AFP) - Former world kickboxing champion Mohamed Dridi, who once described how the sport had saved him from a life of crime, has been shot dead, prosecutors in Montpellier said on Monday.The 48-year-old, nicknamed Momo the turbulent during his career which ended in 2011, was discovered by his son in an apartment in Palavas-les-Flots, six km south of Montpellier, the Midi Libre newspaper reported.Prosecutors in the southern French city confirmed that a murder enquiry had been opened into the death of former Franco-Tunisian boxer.In his 2004 autobiography, entitled Momo the turbulent - from thuggery to the jet-set, Dridi described how he had figured in the Top 10 of organised crime but had been saved by boxing.During his career he was a four-time world champion -- winning all his 77 bouts including 76 by KO.Dridi also pursued an acting career and had several roles in television series.

England bid to keep India series alive

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MUMBAI (AFP) - England are bidding to keep the India series alive with victory in this weeks fourth Test in Mumbai but defeat will raise further questions about Alastair Cooks future as captain.The visitors must win at the Wankhede Stadium to stop top-ranked India from sealing the five-Test series with a match to spare following two consecutive defeats.Virat Kohlis side won by eight wickets in Mohali last week to take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead after victory in Viskhapatnam followed a draw in the first Test at Rajkot.Anything less than a victory for England would see India exact revenge for their 2012 home series loss to Cooks men and add to uncertainty surrounding the English skipper.His future as captain has been in doubt since he admitted just before the tour that he could quit at the end of the Test series because he was finding it hard to be apart from his family for long periods. After becoming a father for a second time last month, the 31-year-old left-handed opener said he found the long England tours difficult, while insisting he remained deeply proud of captaining his country.Despite Englands travails in India, coach Trevor Bayliss said he expected Cook to be in charge for the Ashes tour at the end of 2017.Hes talking about the next Ashes series and being out in Australia, Bayliss told BBC Sport.Sometimes there are little comments made along the way and they get blown out of all proportion. Hes certainly up for the fight. I havent had any discussion with him any other way and thats what weve been working towards, the Australian coach added.Cook also received the backing of batsman Joe Root who hailed his skipper as a brilliant leader.Hopefully, we get these results we want in the last two games and we can put right what has been quite a frustrating last couple of weeks, Root, 25, told reporters last week.Englands chances of salvaging the series were dealt a blow however when teenage batting sensation Haseeb Hameed was ruled out of the remaining two matches after injuring his hand during the Mohali match.The 19-year-olds absence could mean a Test debut for opener Keaton Jennings. The 24-year-old South Africa-born left-handed batsman has been called up as Hameeds replacement.All-rounder Liam Dawson is also in contention for a place after being drafted in to replace left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari, who is struggling with a back injury he sustained in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.England will be boosted by the likely return of fast bowler Stuart Broad who has recovered from a strained tendon in his foot. India are expected to be able to call upon the services of opener Lokesh Rahul who has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Mohali Test, according to India media reports.His return threatens the involvement of Karun Nair who endured a disappointing Test debut in Mohali. Wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who impressed with both bat and gloves in Mohali after eight years in the Test wilderness, is expected to keep his place as Wriddhiman Saha has yet to recover from a thigh strain.Former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag expects India to be too strong for England but believes the visitors will not give up the series without a fight.I think we will win 3-0 as I expect England to show some resistance and thats why I wont predict 4-0, he told the Press Trust of India news agency.The final Test begins in Chennai on December 16.India (from): Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Bhuvenshwar Kumar.England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Keaton Jennings.

Karachi: Rangers, police arrest two accused

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – Crackdown against criminal elements under National Action Plan (NAP) continues in Karachi as two more accused were taken into custody during Ranger and police operation in different parts of the city on Monday, Dunya News reported.According to details, Rangers carried out a targeted operation in Shah Faisal Block-1 and arrested a suspect. Sources said that the arrested person belonged to a political party. The arrested person was shifted to some undisclosed location for further investigation.On the other hand, police conducted a raid in Iqbal Market area of Orangi Town and arrested an extortionist. Police sources said that the arrested accused was identified as Abdur Rahim and was involved in several cases.

Weather to remain cold and dry in most parts of country

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ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Meteorological Department of Pakistan has predicted mainly cold and dry weather in most parts of the country during the next 24 hours. According to Met Office, foggy conditions are likely to prevail over plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning hours.Weather in most parts of the country remained cold and dry in the past 24 hours. Skardu remained the coldest city in the country with -05°C temperature followed by Hunza -04°C, Gilgit -03°C and Astore -01°C.

Attended Heart of Asia conference for lasting peace in region: Fatemi

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WASHINGTON (Dunya News) - Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi has said that Pakistan attended the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in India for lasting peace in the region.Tariq Fatemi, who is on an official visit to the US, said this during a meeting with local media in Washington on Monday.Tariq Fatemi said Pakistan attended the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar, India despite the fact that India constantly violating ceasefire on Line of Control (LoC) while Indian forces are committing human right violations in the Occupied Kashmir and over 16,000 Kashmiris were wounded in the past few months.He said that Pakistan highly values Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process and said that Islamabad wants cordial relations with all countries in the region. He further said that Pakistan will continue to play its role for the lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Efforts being made to restore the DSP involved in china cutting

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - Efforts are being made to restore Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Javed Abbas, who was involved in china cutting, reported Dunya News.DSP Javed Abbas returned from Bangkok, Thailand after many months and according to sources, some key personalities are putting pressure on higher police officials to restore him.DSP Javed Abbas has been named in reports of different JITs whereas there are witnesses against the accused in Surjani Town China cutting.

Panama Leaks case: SC to resume hearing today

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ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) -A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, will resume the hearing of Panama Leaks case today (Tuesday), reported Dunya News.Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Naeem Bukhari will give arguments today. He was giving arguments last time when the hearing was postponed.Naeem Bukhari had said that Dubai Steel Mill was going in loss, then how did Sharif family buy London apartments? Hussain Nawazs lawyer Akram Sheikh presented documents regarding the apartments, which would be checked by court today.

Trump can use his 'deal-making skill' to resolve Kashmir issue: Pence

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WASHINGTON (Dunya News) - US vice-president-elect Mike Pence in an interview with US media said that president-elect Donald Trump can use his extraordinary deal-making skills to resolve the Kashmir issue.Pence also said the new US administration intends to be fully engaged in South Asia and with India and Pakistan on issues such as Kashmir to promote peace and security.Trump will show energetic leadership in engaging with foreign nations and look for ways that he can bring those extraordinary deal-making skills to bear on lessening tensions and solving problems in the world, Pence said.Well, clearly theres been great tension between India and Pakistan in recent days, which resulted in violence along the Kashmir region. And I think what the president-elect expressed in conversations with leaders from both countries was a desire for continued US engagement on building the relationship with both of those countries, Pence said.Further asserting that Trump recognised India, Pakistan as nuclear powers, Pence added that US intends to be fully engaged in the region and fully engaged with both nations to advance peace and security.

Syria rebels reject Aleppo exit as army advances

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ALEPPO (AFP) - Russia said Monday it would hold talks with Washington on a total rebel withdrawal from Syrias Aleppo, where the army has made sweeping advances, but opposition factions rejected any evacuation.President Bashar al-Assads forces have seized two-thirds of the former rebel bastion in east Aleppo since they began an operation to recapture all of the battered second city in mid-November.The assault has raised an international outcry, but Russia and China Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the city.Tens of thousands of east Aleppo residents have fled to other parts of the city from the fighting, which has raised widespread international concern.The rapid regime gains have left opposition fighters reeling, and earlier Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said talks would be held on a rebel evacuation.During the Russian-American consultations the concrete route and timeframe for the withdrawal of all fighters from eastern Aleppo will be agreed upon, Lavrov said, adding the discussions in Geneva would probably start on Tuesday or Wednesday.As soon as these routes and timeframes are agreed on, a ceasefire can come into effect, Lavrov said.But rebel groups swiftly rejected any talk of an evacuation.Yasser al-Youssef of the Nureddine al-Zinki faction, a leading rebel group in Aleppo, described any such proposal as unacceptable.It is for the Russians to leave, he told AFP.Moscow is a close ally of Assads government, and launched a military intervention in support of Damascus last year.Government troops have also been bolstered by Iranian forces, fighters from Lebanons Shiite Hezbollah movement and Shiite fighters from other countries.The revolutionaries will not leave Aleppo and will fight the Russian and Iranian occupation until the last drop of blood, said Abu Abdel Rahman al-Hamawi of the Army of Islam, another smaller rebel group active in Aleppo.Rebels have been forced to evacuate several of their strongholds in Syria during the conflict, including a string of areas near Damascus in recent months.In many instances, they have reached deals with the government after months of army siege and fierce fighting, agreeing to lay down their arms in return for safe passage to rebel territory elsewhere.Among the most well-known evacuations was the 2014 exit of rebels from the Old City of Homs after a two-year government siege.But if Washington and Moscow were to agree a deal for a rebel evacuation from Aleppo, it would mark the first time that the two powers, which back opposing sides in the war, have negotiated the withdrawal of opposition forces.Estimates for the number of rebels in east Aleppo vary, with the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor putting the figure at 15,000 before the current assault began.The UNs Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in October put the number at 8,000 rebels, saying around 900 of them belonged to the Fateh al-Sham Front, Al-Qaedas former Syrian affiliate previously known as Al-Nusra Front.The loss of Aleppo would be the biggest defeat yet for opposition forces in Syrias five-year civil war. Russia is a staunch ally of Syrias government, and began a military intervention in support of Damascus in September 2015.It says it is not involved in the current offensive in Aleppo, which has seen the army advance quickly as it pounds the east with air strikes, barrel bombs and artillery fire.But Moscow has sent field hospitals to the city, and said Monday one of the facilities was hit by rebel fire, killing two Russian army medics and wounding another.On the ground in the east, Syrian troops battled rebels in the Shaar district, which the army has almost completely encircled after advancing overnight.The army on Monday pounded remaining rebel territory with incessant strikes and artillery fire that sent up plumes of smoke visible from across the city.The Observatory says at least 324 people have been killed in east Aleppo during the offensive, including 44 children.Rebel fire into the government-held west of the city has killed 73 people, including 29 children, in the same period, the monitor says.On Monday, state news agency SANA said eight people had been killed in rebel fire on west Aleppo, and an AFP correspondent in the west reported heavy incoming rocket fire that shook buildings.

IS loses Libya bastion in major blow to jihadists

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TRIPOLI (AFP) - Forces loyal to Libyas UN-backed government said Monday they had seized full control of Sirte from the Islamic State group, in a major blow to the jihadists who fought for months to retain their bastion.The battle for the coastal city, which was the last significant territory held by IS in Libya, cost the lives of hundreds of loyalist troops and an unknown number of IS fighters. The offensive was backed by a US bombing campaign launched in August, which as of December 1 had seen American warplanes, drones and helicopters carry out 470 strikes.Our forces have total control of Sirte, Reda Issa, a spokesman for pro-government forces, told AFP. Our forces saw Daesh (IS) totally collapse.Our forces are combing the last pockets and carrying out a major operation to trap those trying to flee, said the spokesman, adding that around 30 jihadists had surrendered.Issa said a public announcement of the liberation of Sirte would follow within hours once the last jihadist has been wiped out.Forces allied with the countrys unity government began the offensive to retake Sirte on May 12, quickly seizing large areas of the city and cornering the jihadists.But IS put up fierce resistance with suicide car bombings, snipers and improvised explosive devices.Daesh has totally collapsed and dozens of them have given themselves up to our forces, said a statement on the loyalist forces official Facebook page.The capture of Sirte boosts the authority of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which was launched in Tripoli in March but whose legitimacy is contested by a rival administration based in eastern Libya.The country descended into chaos following the NATO-backed ousting of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations emerging and well-armed militias vying for control of its vast oil wealth.The infighting and lawlessness allowed extremist groups such as IS to seize several coastal regions, giving the jihadists a toehold on Europes doorstep.The fall of Sirte -- Kadhafis home town located 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli -- is a major setback for IS, which has also faced a series of military defeats in Syria and Iraq.Iraqi forces are advancing on the IS stronghold of Mosul, while a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance last month launched an offensive to retake Raqa, the Syrian capital of the caliphate the jihadists proclaimed in 2014.Losing it (Sirte) could cause a momentary loss of traction, but a lot will depend on what happens in Syria and Iraq and whether the ungoverned spaces in Libya will remain such, said Mattia Toaldo, a Libya expert with the European Council of Foreign Relations.Toaldo said ISs failure to hold Sirte was due in part to its lack of resources in Libya.They didnt manage to seize any considerable source of revenue, he said. What they found in the banks in Sirte was not comparable to what they found in Mosul, nor was there an equivalent weapons stockpile.The fight for Sirte took far longer than originally planned, but signs emerged in recent days that IS was about to capitulate.The Pentagon last week said that IS holdouts were staging a last stand in their former stronghold.And pro-GNA forces Sunday said they had detained several jihadists trying to swim to safety.Almost seven months of fighting have left nearly 700 GNA fighters dead and 3,000 wounded.Issa said in November that the final assault was held up mainly because it would result in very intense street fighting and Daesh is determined to defend its positions right down to the last square metre.Claudia Gazzini, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank, said jihadists who escaped from Sirte had probably moved south to Sebha, closer to Libyas borders with Algeria and Niger.Others from the group are believed to be operating in second city Benghazi and possibly in and around Tripoli.Despite the demise of IS in Sirte we cannot rule out that they will continue to have cells in other parts of the country, Gazzini said.The GNA is the centrepiece of Western hopes to stem the upsurge of jihadism in Libya, as well as to halt people trafficking across the Mediterranean that has led to thousands of drownings.But the unity government headed by Fayez al-Sarraj has struggled to replace two rival administrations.

Kerry warns of 'anxieties' driving Western politics

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BERLIN (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday that anxieties were sweeping Western democracies and stressed the need for strong transatlantic ties as Europe nervously awaits Donald Trumps start in the White House.Anxieties are building up in a lot of places and theyre manifesting themselves in the politics day to day all over the world, said the top American diplomat.Kerry was speaking in Berlin at the start of his European farewell tour, six weeks before he and the rest of President Barack Obamas administration hand over to the Trump team on January 20.The populist billionaire has vowed to rip up key diplomatic achievements reached under Kerry -- from the Iran nuclear deal to a trans-Pacific trade pact -- and is now looking for a successor at the helm of the State Department.Kerry did not mention Trump but alluded to the US election and pointed to other political upheavals: Brexit, Sundays Italian referendum that cost Prime Minister Matteo Renzi his job, and the Austrian presidential vote where a far-right candidate came in a strong second.You see it in the anxieties of Italy voiced yesterday or the anxieties of Austria, where the election came out a different way but the anxieties were there, said Kerry. You see it in Brexit, he said on Britains shock vote in June to leave the EU. There was a widespread feelings that somethings not connecting ... Governance is at risk and challenged, said Kerry.But Kerry added confidently, as he accepted the German Cross of Merit from his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that this was no time to put your head in the sand and added: We are gonna to be ok.For seven decades our alliance has helped move this continent and our planet toward greater peace, security, and freedom, he said.This had been true regardless of partisan political affiliations on either side, and that cannot, and must never, change.Kerry from Tuesday joins a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels which, a US diplomat said, aims to help strengthen NATOs security .. and to strengthen NATO-EU cooperation.Yet partners will also seek clarity after Trump has suggested Washington might think twice about coming to the rescue of a NATO ally under threat if it had not paid its dues to the alliance.On Wednesday Kerry will travel to the northern German city of Hamburg for a foreign ministers meeting of the 57-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.Also there will be Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kerrys counterpart amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict and the Syrian war, where Moscow backs the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.Meanwhile, back in the United States, Trumps team was searching for a candidate to replace Kerry, as the president-elect has been firing off diplomatic broadsides on Twitter, including one accusing China of military expansionism and currency manipulation.Whoever becomes the nominee to succeed Kerry, said Trumps senior aide Kellyanne Conway, must be ready to implement and adhere to the president-elects America First foreign policy, if you will, his view of the world.Kerry at the weekend said he was working to stay a thousand miles away from the Trump transition and the process.Asked whether the Trump team had sought State Department input so far as it has made contact with foreign leaders, Kerry said we have not been contacted before any of these conversations.In Europe, some fear the worst if Trump, as promised, steers the superpower toward an isolationist nationalism.Germanys former foreign minister Joschka Fischer wrote Monday that Europe is far too weak and divided to stand in for the US strategically, and, without US leadership, the West cannot survive.Steinmeier, in his speech, sent a direct a message to the Trump team: We want to sit down and have a conversation. Its important, and its urgent.

Two Muslim NY women subject to hate crimes: officials

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Two Muslim women working for authorities in New York suffered hate crimes just 36 hours apart, officials said Monday, following an explosion in such incidents across America since Donald Trumps election.A uniformed city transit employee was taken to hospital with injuries to her knee and ankle after being pushed down the stairs at Grand Central, the bustling rail hub in the heart of Manhattan, en route to work Monday.A male suspect allegedly pushed the station agent and called her terrorist, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.On Monday, another man was held on a $50,000 bail on a hate crime charge after an off-duty Muslim police officer was harassed in Brooklyn while out with her 16-year-old son Saturday evening, prosecutors said.Cuomo said a subway train was also found vandalized with swastika graffiti on Saturday and that Ku Klux Klan fliers and business cards were distributed at two stations on the Long Island Rail Road last week.The Democratic governor, an ally of Trumps opponent Hillary Clinton, said hate crimes would be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.The work of the Hate Crimes Task Force has never been more urgent and we will continue to crack down on this type of criminal behavior, Cuomo said.The hijab-wearing police officer and her son were subject to ugly acts of hate, including threats of violence, simply because they are Muslim, said acting Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez.Those who commit hate crimes will be held accountable for their reprehensible and offensive actions, he added.New York is Americas largest city and one of its most diverse with more than three million of its 8.55 million population foreign-born.Nearly 900 incidents of hate and intolerance were recorded across the country in the first 10 days after Trumps election, many by assailants apparently emboldened by his victory, an advocacy group reported last week.Trumps shock November 8 defeat of Clinton, who was bidding to become Americas first female president, was cheered by white supremacists and others fired up by his rhetoric disparaging immigrants, Muslims and women.

'Butcher of Bosnia' Mladic led campaign to make Muslims 'vanish'

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THE HAGUE (AFP) - Former Serb commander Ratko Mladic led a relentless military campaign during the 1990s Bosnian war to ensure Muslims vanished from the territory, UN prosecutors said Monday.At the height of the war triggered by the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, Mladic told the Bosnian Serbs they had an opportunity to create not only any kind of state, but an all-Serbian state.His concern was not that Muslims might create a state, his concern was to have them vanish completely, prosecutor Alan Tieger told judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).Mladic, 74, has denied 11 charges including two of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody 1992-95 Bosnian conflict in which more than 100,000 people died and 2.2 million others were left homeless.Prosecutors are wrapping up their case in three days of closing arguments in Mladics trial, which began in May 2012, and are likely to ask for a long jail term. The defence will follow on Friday, but a verdict is not expected until next year.The UN prosecutors poured scorn on defence claims that Mladic was not to blame for some of the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II -- including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.Mladic had command and control over the Bosnian Serb forces, said another ICTY prosecutor Arthur Traldi, adding that in carrying out the ethnic cleansing campaign, his... forces committed a constant pattern of crimes throughout Serbian-claimed territory.It was Mladic who was in charge, who called the shots, Tieger added, arguing Mladic had even bragged about his exploits. And he denounced the defence bid to transform Mladic into a benign but ineffective officer who sought to protect Muslims.Mladic even took credit for a plan which radically altered the demographic picture of the portions of Bosnia claimed by the Bosnian Serbs.As the fighting ignited first in Croatia and then in Bosnia Ratko Mladic was a key figure on that highway to hell, Tieger added.Dressed in a grey suit and a blue and white tie, Mladic appeared sombre but in good health Monday, after his trial has been dogged by his ill-health.The brutish military commander came to symbolise a barbaric plan to rid multi-ethnic Bosnia of Croats and Muslims to establish an ethnically pure Greater Serbia.He is notably accused of being behind the punishing 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, which claimed an estimated 10,000 lives in a relentless campaign of shelling and sniping.Mladic is also charged with his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys, who were rounded up and shot when his forces overran Dutch UN peacekeepers in the enclave.Families of the victims are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the case, the last from the former Yugoslavia being heard before the ICTY, which is wrapping up after being set up at the height of the conflict to try perpetrators of atrocities.Munira Subasic, who heads the Mothers of Srebrenica group, attended the hearing on Monday on what would have been the 42nd birthday of her son who was killed in the genocide in 1995.Subasic has said it was unfortunate that justice had been so long coming. Those who still believe (Radovan) Karadzic and Mladic are heroes would perhaps have thought differently today if they had been sentenced very quickly after the war, she told AFP recently.Karadzic, sentenced to 40 years in March, and Mladic remain the highest-profile actors from the wars to see their trials completed after former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in his UN detention cell in 2006. Indicted in July 1995, Mladic evaded capture for some 16 years. Finally captured in May 2011, he was transferred to a UN detention centre in The Hague where he remains behind bars.
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