According to the foreign media reports, Russia and China, who vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, voted against the resolution.
"Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message of the people of Syria: the world is with you," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. Assad "has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come."
Earlier on Thursday, senior Russian diplomat Gennady Gatilov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the draft is very close to the U.N. Security Council resolution that Russia and China vetoed on Feb. 4.
At the time, Russia had expressed concerns about the draft text, saying it feared the resolution would lead to the kind of military intervention and regime change seen in Libya after last year’s council action intended to protect civilians from attacks by forces loyal to long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi.
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| President Barack Obama last month confirmed for the first time that US drones attacked Taliban and Al Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil. - photo: Dawn.com |
According to sources, six people were killed and two others injured when two missiles slammed into a compound in the village of Spilga near Miramshah. The identities of the persons who died could not be ascertained.
Hours later, another drone attacked a moving vehicle on the Zekerkhel-Khaisur road in Mirali tehsil.
Official sources said 15 members of a militant group were killed. Their bodies were charred.
Local people rushed to the place and carried out rescue work.
Unmanned planes kept flying over the area throughout the day.
AFP adds: A security official said Uzbek militants had been killed in the attack on the vehicle.
Those who died in the first attack belonged to Badar Mansoor and the Haqqani network, loyal to the Afghan Taliban, another official said. Last Thursday, officials said Mansoor, described as the “de facto leader of Al Qaeda in Pakistan” had been killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan.
The New America Foundation think-tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people over the past eight years.
According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in the tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 last year.
President Barack Obama last month confirmed for the first time that US drones attacked Taliban and Al Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil.
Source: Dawn.com
They said Kamal Chauhan, a disgruntled worker of the Hindu revivalist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteer Corp), was arrested on Sunday by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) from Noida near Delhi. Read Full Story at Dawn.com
The blast came just one day after the fourth anniversary marking the assassination of Hezbollah militant Imad Mugniyah.
Israeli Embassy spokesman David Goldfarb confirmed that an explosion took out an Israeli diplomat’s car and two persons were injured, but did not identify the victims. He added that the car was near the embassy when the blast took place.
Indian police said only that a car was on fire on the street outside the embassy.
The Foreign Ministry said that Israeli missions worldwide have been briefed on the event.
Explosives were also found near the Israeli Embassy building in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. The device was neutralized safely.
The incident followed reports by Azeri media, which suggested that the Israeli ambassador in Baku was the target of the plot.
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| Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani waves as he arrive at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on February 13, 2012. PHOTO: AFP |
A two-page charge sheet was read out by Justice Nasirul Mulk, who headed the seven-member bench hearing the case.
The charge sheet said that the prime minister had violated Article 204 of the Constitution by not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities as ordered by the court. It added that the prime minister also violated paragraph 178 of the court’s verdict in the NRO implementation case.
Gilani pleaded not guilty and sought more time in the case. But, the court ordered Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to prosecute the prime minister and present more documents and proof to the court.
Gilani’s lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan told the court that he will present his arguments on February 22, while Gilani was ordered to bring sufficient evidence by February 27.
The prime minister was exempted from further hearings while the hearing was adjourned till February 22.
Prime Minister Gilani was served a contempt notice in the NRO implementation case when the government did not follow the court’s orders of writing a letter to the Swiss authority to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan is serving as Gilani’s lawyer in the case.
The Supreme Court has said it will only drop the summons if Gilani obeys its order to write to the Swiss authorities, asking them to re-open the cases.
If convicted, Gilani faces six months in jail and disqualification from office in a case that has fanned political instability and may force elections within months.
Express Tribune / AFP
LOS ANGELES: Grammy-winning pop legend and actress Whitney Houston was found dead Saturday in Beverly Hills, police said. She was 48.The shock news came as the music industry gathered in Los Angeles for the annual Grammy awards show on Sunday, and a few hours ahead of a traditional pre-Grammys dinner in the hotel where Houston died.
Musicians took to Twitter to pay tribute to the singer, famous for songs including "I Will Always Love You," who had led a public battle with drugs.
"Heartbroken and in tears over the shocking death of my friend ... She will never be forgotten as one of the greatest voices to ever grace the earth," wrote Mariah Carey.
Police confirmed her death in a brief statement outside the Beverly Hilton hotel, where stars were gathering for an annual pre-Grammys dinner hosted by veteran producer Clive Davis.
"At 3:55 pm, Whitney Houston was pronounced dead at the Beverly Hilton hotel," said Mark Rosen, a police spokesman.
Rosen said police received an emergency call from someone in her entourage and found Houston on the floor of her room on the hotel's fourth floor as attempts were being made to resuscitate her.
"There were no obvious signs of criminal intent at this time, and it is being investigated by the Beverly Hills police department," the police spokesman added.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
A mobile crime laboratory and a number of police cars were stationed outside the hotel, while inside guests watched live television coverage about Houston's death in the bar and lobby areas.
Condolences poured in on Twitter from shocked fans and from the famous, as
sadness over the news spread through the entertainment world.
"We have lost another legend. Love and prayers to Whitney's family. She will be missed," said Christina Aguilera, while Rihanna wrote simply: "No words! Just tears #DearWhitney."
Grammys organizers the Recording Academy are scrambling to include some kind of tribute to Houston in Sunday's show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, according to CNN.
With a ferociously powerful voice and a dazzling range, Houston achieved stardom as a pop-soul singer known as "The Voice" and the "Queen of Pop."
She also appeared in hit movies like "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Bodyguard."
From a musical family that included mother Cissy Houston, a gospel star, and Dionne Warwick, her cousin, Whitney Houston started out as a teen model and then made a dazzling segue to music.
Her hits included "How Will I Know," "Saving all My Love for You," and "I
Will Always Love You."
Houston's trove of six Grammy awards included one for record of the year -- for a soaring cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," and another for album of the year for "The Bodyguard."
Houston, who grew up in New Jersey, was also a supporter of the anti-apartheid movement and South Africa's Nelson Mandela, on whose behalf she campaigned during his imprisonment.
She struggled with substance abuse, which took a toll on her health and career.
Houston has sold more than 170 million records worldwide but suffered a major career setback after admitting drug use during an abusive relationship with ex-husband Bobby Brown.
Brown was one of the hottest rhythm and blues singers in the late 1980s and early 90s, but became better known as the husband of Houston and for his frequent brushes with drugs and the law.
The pair, who were divorced in 2007, starred in a television reality series, "Being Bobby Brown," that featured their marriage, warts and all. They have a daughter Bobbi Kristina.
Brown was detained in Atlanta in 1993 for lewd conduct and for brawling in 1995. He was arrested for drunk driving in 1996 and for alleged battery of Houston in late 2003. (AFP)
Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen said Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. in her room on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton. A Los Angeles County coroner's official said the body remained in the building late Saturday.
"There were no obvious signs of any criminal intent," Rosen said.
Houston's publicist, Kristen Foster, said the cause of death was unknown.
Rosen said police received a 911 call from hotel security about Houston at 3:43 p.m. Saturday. Paramedics who were already at the hotel because of a Grammy party were not able to resuscitate her, he said.
Houston's death came on the eve of music's biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It's a showcase where she once reigned, and where she will be remembered Sunday in a tribute by Jennifer Hudson, organizers said.
Her longtime mentor Clive Davis went ahead with his annual concert at the same hotel where her body was found. He dedicated the evening to her and asked for a moment of silence as a photo of the singer, hands wide open, looking to the sky, appeared on the screen.
Houston was supposed to appear at the gala, and Davis had told The Associated Press that she would perhaps perform: "It's her favorite night of the year ... (so) who knows by the end of the evening," he said.
Houston had been at rehearsals for the show Thursday, coaching singers Brandy and Monica, according to a person who was at the event but was not authorized to speak publicly about it. The person said Houston looked disheveled, was sweating profusely and liquor and cigarettes could be smelled on her breath.
Two days ago, she performed at a pre-Grammy party with singer Kelly Price. Singer Kenny Lattimore hosted the event, and said Houston sang the gospel classic "Jesus Loves Me" with Price, her voice registering softly, not with the same power it had at its height.
Lattimore said Houston was gregarious and was in a good mood, surrounded by friends and family, including daughter Bobbi Kristina.
"She just seemed like she was having a great night that night," said Lattimore, who said he was in shock over her death.
Aretha Franklin, her godmother, also said she was stunned.
"I just can't talk about it now," Franklin said in a short statement. "It's so stunning and unbelievable. I couldn't believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen."
The Rev. Al Sharpton said he would call for a national prayer Sunday morning during a service at Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
"The morning of the Grammys, the world should pause and pray for the memory of a gifted songbird," Sharpton said in a statement.
In a statement, Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow said Houston "was one of the world's greatest pop singers of all time who leaves behind a robust musical soundtrack spanning the past three decades."
At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful and peerless vocals rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.
Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."
She had the perfect voice and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.
She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.
But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.
"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.
It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.
She seemed to be born into greatness. In addition to being Franklin's goddaughter, she was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick.
Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.
"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."
"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.
Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with "Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know," ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.
Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."
The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."
Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.
"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."
Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image and already had children of his own. (The couple only had one daughter, Bobbi Kristina, born in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.
But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.
"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."
Brown was getting ready to perform at a New Edition reunion tour in Southaven, Miss., as news spread about Houston's death. The group went ahead with its performance, though Brown appeared overcome with emotion when his voice cracked at the beginning of a ballad and he left the stage.
Before his departure, he told the sell-out crowd: "First of all, I want to tell you that I love you all. Second, I would like to say, I love you Whitney. The hardest thing for me to do is to come on this stage."
Brown said he decided to perform because fans had shown their loyalty to the group for more than 25 years. During an intermission, one of Houston's early hits, "You Give Good Love," played over the speakers. Fans stood up and began singing along.
It would take several years for the public to see the "down and dirty" side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America's sweetheart.
In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with "The Bodyguard." Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.
It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy's record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the "Bodyguard" soundtrack was named album of the year.
She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife." Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, "My Love Is Your Love," in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut "It's Not Right But It's Okay."
But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009, she said by the time "The Preacher's Wife" was released, "(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. ... I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself."
In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.
Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2009. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.
She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown's reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared "crack is whack," was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.
Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album "I Look To You." The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.
Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on "Good Morning America" went awry as Houston's voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.
A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.
Houston was to make her return to film in the remake of the classic movie "Sparkle." Filming on the movie, which stars former "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks, recently wrapped.
___
Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report
Source and Posted at Yahoo.com
He is being accompanied by a documentary production team to tape the carcass. On Thursday, Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) officials, after weighing the carcass at Weigh Bridge, moved it to the site of a former zoological museum inside the harbour to preserve it for research.
KFHA officials said the exact weight of the whale shark was 14.5 tons. They said a four-member team of British experts from the 'Windfall Films' production company, along with a scientist who specialises in whale sharks, was arriving today (Friday) to conduct the dissection of the dead marine mammal and ascertain the cause of its death.
Producers from Windfall Films, which is known for producing documentaries and films on science fiction, contacted KFHA officials and had shown interest in documenting their investigation into the cause of death of the whale shark.
Fisheries authorities said some experts from Marine Fisheries Department and the Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, also visited the Fish Harbour, and collected samples of the whale shark.
Meanwhile, KFHA authorities approached the director general of the National Museum to request him to preserve the whale shark.(The News pk)
Romney’s razor-thin, eight-vote margin of victory came out of a total 122,255 votes cast on Tuesday, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said.
Romney won 25 per cent of the vote, or 30,015 votes, in the first contest in the state-by-state battle for the Republican presidential nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama on November 6.
The Republican candidates now head to the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday, where Romney holds a commanding lead in the polls.
Santorum vaulted from the back of the pack to emerge as the latest conservative contender in a Republican race that has been marked by volatility. Ron Paul, a US congressman from Texas with libertarian views and an antiwar stance, came in third place with about 21 per cent of the vote.
Romney is a favourite of the party’s business wing, while Santorum appeared to be consolidating the state’s large bloc of Christian conservatives.
Voters gathered in public meetings at hundreds of sites around Iowa such as schools, libraries and churches, listening to speeches touting the various candidates before casting their ballots.(Reuters)
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| President Barack Obama announces the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Manuel Balce Ceneta/The Associated Press |
A Senate vote to move the nomination forward failed Thursday. Sixty votes were needed to end debate on the nomination of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray. Fifty-three senators voted in favor while 45 senators — all Republicans — were opposed. The only Republican to vote in favor was Sen. Scott Brown of Massachussetts.
Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said they will continue to block Cordray, who is currently serving as the agency’s enforcement chief, unless the law is amended to make the bureau more accountable.
“"No bureaucrat will have more power over the daily economic lives of Americans than this director,"” Shelby said from the floor of the Senate, shortly before the vote. Without more oversight, CFPB actions will lead to bank failures, he said.
The Republicans want a board of commissioners rather than a single director to oversee the agency and more control over the agency’'s purse strings - moves that would weaken the bureau, consumer advocates say.
The consumer agency, created by the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, needs a director to have the authority to make or enforce rules governing certain “non-bank” financial companies, including payday lenders, mortgage brokers, and private student loan companies, which are currently not subject to federal regulatory oversight.
The Republicans’ position matches that of Washington’s most prolific lobbying force, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is pushing a House bill that would replace the director with a five-member commission. A total of 34 industry groups list the bill as a lobbying priority, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of federal records, representing 183 industry lobbyists. At least 86 once worked for the government.
The House bill and a similar bill in the Senate would replace the director with a five-person commission, nominated by the president, and subject to Senate confirmation. The Senate bill, which is also supported by industry, would fund the commission through the congressional appropriations process, something Senate Republicans also favor.
The Chamber spent nearly $30 million in lobbying in the first three quarters of 2011 on financial regulation and a host of other issues. It tasked 21 lobbyists to work bills that would restructure the agency. In addition to the chamber, the most active opponents of the bureau’s current structure include the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Independent Community Bankers of America and the Consumer Bankers Association.
Among the most notable lobbyists are former Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., representing the Financial Services Center of America Inc., an association that represents payday lenders; former Rep. Deborah Price, R-Ohio, representing the Consumer Credit Industry Association; and former Rep. Steve Bartlett, R-Texas, president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, whose members include the nation's largest banks.
Jonathan Graffeo, a spokesman for Shelby, said that Republicans are seeking “common sense” reforms. “Not any of the proposed amendments would strip any of the bureau’s new or existing authority to protect consumers,” he said. “It is a myth to say that Republicans want to destroy the agency.”
But Republicans, including Shelby and industry groups, have called for an outright repeal of Dodd-Frank, which would eliminate the consumer bureau.
Shelby’s spokesman said that bank lobbying had nothing to do with his efforts to reform the agency. “He said from the very beginning that [the structure] vests unprecedented power in one person without any checks and balances.”
In a press conference on Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the bureau has an “unprecedented set of accountability provisions.”
The bureau must consult with other bank regulators before issuing rules, it must assess what those rules might mean to small businesses and any rule that threatens the safety and soundness of the banking system can be spiked by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, Carney said. The CFPB is also the only agency with a funding cap, Carney said.
Consumer groups say the holdup is more about protecting industry than accountability.
“The fight over the confirmation over a director is a symbolic contest about who in the Senate wants to protect Main Street and who continues to serve Wall Street paymasters," said Bart Naylor, a consumer advocate at Public Citizen.
Shelby, the ranking Republican member on the powerful Senate banking committee, has raised about $2 million since 2008 from finance industry employees and political action committees. Top contributors include JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Travelers Group.
This isn't unusual. Both Democrats and Republican leaders typically reap big hauls in campaign cash from the financial sector.
The abuses of big banks have gotten plenty of attention in recent years, but the actions of non-bank lenders often escape serious scrutiny.
Over the past year, iWatch News has reported on how some nontraditional lenders are accused of exploiting gaps in existing laws to make predatory and confusing loans.
Some online payday lenders have partnered with Indian tribes to provide their business the cloak of tribal sovereign immunity; companies that accept military pensions as collateral for quick cash; and about a debt settlement company accused of landing its clients in deeper financial hot water than they were before.
Other federal regulators have had supervisory and examination authority over other parts of the agency’s portfolio, which includes rule-making and examination authority over financial institutions with assets over $10 billion.
Keep Reading this Story at Iwatchnews.org
The singer's second studio opus 21 leads the Billboard 200 album chart for 2011 after selling over 4.8 million copies in the US.
The star has also topped the Hot 100 end-of-year chart with her single 'Rolling In The Deep', which has sold over 5.6 million units.
This makes Adele the first UK artist in 23 years to achieve a US chart double since George Michael's album Faith and its title track led the lists back in 1988. Read more at Digital Spy uk
This sense was communicated to Ambassador Cameron Munter when he called on Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss what was officially described by the Foreign Office as “the current status of bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US”.
Ambassador Munter was further told that the government was undertaking the review process with an open and positive mind; and that it firmly believed the relationship was critical for both countries.
The government, he was informed, did not want the trough in relationship to extend.
A source quoted Ms Khar as having told the US envoy that the government saw the situation arising out of the Nov 26 border post attacks as an opportunity for putting the temperamental ties on a mutually acceptable basis.
The government had instituted a process to review cooperative arrangements with the US following the Mohmand incident last month in which 24 troops lost their lives. The review task was assigned to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which has been framing recommendations to be tabled before a joint session of both houses of parliament.
The process had given the impression that the government, in view of the prevalent anti-Americanism in the country, might go for lowering the level of cooperation.
However, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, and subsequently the Foreign Office, emphasised the criticality of the relationship, lowering talk of a major shift.
Broader contours of the revised America policy would be revealed at the upcoming envoys’ conference next week. Prime Minister Gilani is expected to give a policy statement at the conclusion of the conference, which will be attended by Pakistani envoys from selected capitals.
Expressing US interest in getting past the Nov 26 tragedy at the earliest, Ambassador Munter said the probe into the attacks would be expedited — essentially meeting one of the earlier demands of the military that the investigations be completed at the earliest.
The US-led investigation into the Nato air strike was earlier expected to report its initial findings by Dec 23.
“The US ambassador assured the foreign minister of an early conclusion of the investigation into the tragic incident of Nov 26 and to work together with the government of Pakistan to normalise the relationship at the earliest,” a Foreign Office media release said. Via Dawn News pk
Photo: Photo by PPI
Alam Zaib Khattak, brother of Uzma Ayub, arrived at the local court of Takht Nasrati for hearing when unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fire, killing him on the spot.
According to police, the culprits managed to escape under the cover of firing.
Police have cordoned off several areas in search of the perpetrators but there arrests have been made yet.
It may be noted here that case of gang-raped victim Usma is under hearing at the local court. Read more / Geo Tv
Staff at the wildlife park turned to the country’s half a billion web users for advice after the deer and the ram – whose Chinese name Changmao means Long Hair – began their unconventional liaison. Read more
Famous Washington lawyers, Attorneys Barentzen and Webster will be representing Haqqani in matter arising from false media claims about his prior knowledge of US OBL raid.
The Daily Beast published an article written by US based businessman Mansoor Ijaz claiming that Haqqani knew about the Abbottabad operation to target Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Ijaz, in his article, also alleged that the then ambassador Husain Haqqani was also involved in the controversial memo sent to Adm Mike Mullen.
Haqqani, in a letter sent to the editor of Newsweek/Daily Beast, rejected all the allegations levied against him by Mansoor Ijaz and termed them as “reckless, baseless and false”.Via Geo.tv
It took Darren Sammy and Andre Russell 5.4 overs of mayhem to undo an afternoon of impressive work from India, and leave the hosts chasing a tricky 261 to take the series.
The pair came together after Ravindra Jadeja pulled off an outfield catch for the ages to remove Kieron Pollard, West Indies’ most dangerous batsman on paper.
Sammy and Russell proceeded to test that assumption with a partnership of delightful ferocity that yielded 79 in all, and 52 off the last three overs, giving West Indies a chance to win their fourth win in five visits to Ahmedabad. (ONLINE NEWS PK)