ISHRAQ NEWS

House team in Banke to inspect diarrhea-hit areas

2010-08-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Himalayan - parliamentary team, which arrived here on Saturday for an on-site inspection of areas affected by cholera, on Sunday collected information about the efforts made for the treatment and control of cholera and diarrhea in Banke district.

Chief of the District Public Health Office Dhir Jung Shah briefed the team on the progress of the measures applied for the treatment and control of the diseases in various parts of the district.......... read more>>

Finding New Life (and Profit) in Doomed Trees

2010-08-08T06:23:00.001-07:00

Nytimes - THE wooden kitchen bar in the suburban home of Richard and Donna Majer has a canyonlike crack ripping right down its middle, which is exactly what the couple cherish most about it. It’s not just furniture — it’s a story, complete with a moral.

“As I spend time with it, I see the beauty of the hard life the tree had,” Mrs. Majer says. “And it helps me find the beauty in my own life’s scars.”

The crack occurred three years ago in a storm that mortally wounded the towering oak in the Majers’s backyard. It was a family member; Mr. Majer had planted it with his father 53 years earlier. Devastated, the Majers consulted an arborist, who said....... read more>>

Radwanska tops Hantuchova to reach Carlsbad finals

2010-08-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Khaleej Times - Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland reached her first final in 10 months with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova at the Mercury Insurance Open.

Radwanska, ranked 10^th in the world, used Hantuchova’s double fault in the seventh game for the only break of the first set. She then used her counterpunching game to capture the second set, which included a 20-minute seventh game in which Hantuchova saved seven match points.

“I was feeling good here and everything is working,” Radwanska said. “I’ve played some good matches against some good players. Now, just one more.”......... read more>>

Saudi Arabia delays BlackBerry ban as talks continue

2010-08-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Gulf News - Dubai Saudi Arabia delayed suspending Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry instant messaging until Monday as they worked to resolve the country’s concerns over the service, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

The Saudi government had earlier said they would ban the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service in the kingdom from Friday, August 6. But it extended the deadline to test proposed solutions as wireless operators in Saudi Arabia attempt to comply with regulatory requirements, the SPA said, citing a statement from the country’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).......... read more>>

Milk to stay free for under-fives as David Cameron makes policy U-turn

2010-08-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Guardian - Coalition plans to remove free milk for the under-fives were summarily dropped by David Cameron today amid fears it would remind voters of the "Thatcher milk snatcher" episode of the 1970s.

Cameron moved so quickly that David Willetts, the higher education minister, was on live television defending the idea of removing free milk when the prime minister announced the U-turn, leaving broadcasters to tell Willetts of the change.

The idea of removing free milk had been the brainchild of the junior health minister, Anne Milton. The government expected opposition to the measure from the media, parents, nurseries, childminders and the dairy sector........... read more>>

'A hundred rockets a day was a good day,' doctor's widow says

2010-08-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

(CNN) -- Risking their lives to help disadvantaged Afghans became almost a norm for Tom and Libby Little.

"We raised our three daughters through what was, at times, just hell," Libby Little said. "A hundred rockets a day was a good day."

Family members lived underground to avoid bombings, she said. Yet they stayed out of a love for the people and a passion for providing eye care for the needy.

But violence prevailed on Thursday.

Tom Little, a New York optometrist, was among 10 people killed by gunmen in Badakhshan, a remote northeastern region of the country. The mostly foreign members of a medical team were robbed and shot one-by-one on a remote road. Their bodies were transferred to Kabul early Sunday, authorities said.......... read more>>

Rains hammer flood-hit Pakistan

2010-08-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Al Jazeera - Torrential rains in flood-hit Pakistan have hampered aid efforts and are threatening to deepen a crisis affecting 14 million people across the country.

Helicopters were grounded by the weather in the northwest, the hardest-hit region, while rescuers rushed to evacuate families in the poor southern farming belt of Sindh on Sunday.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Hyderabad, said at least two million people have been affected in Sindh province......... read more>>

UAE confirms oil tanker attack

2010-08-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

Al Jazeera - A Japanese oil tanker damaged in the Strait of Hormuz off Oman last month was hit by an explosives-laden dinghy, the Emirati state news agency has said.

The report on Friday was the first official confirmation that the incident that left a large dint in the hull of the M.Star was an attack.

An al-Qaeda-linked group said on Wednesday that one of its suicide bombers had hit the tanker to avenge the plunder of Muslim wealth.......... read more>>

Four million Pakistanis bear the brunt of floods, says UN

2010-08-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

The Hamalayan - GENEVA; Pakistan’s worst floods in generations brought on by torrential monsoon rains have affected more than four million people and killed some 1,600, the United Nations estimated today.

“Altogether, more than four million people are in a way or another affected,” said Manuel Bessler, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan.

“What we are facing now is a major catastrophe,” added the UN official who was speaking from Islamabad at a teleconference with journalists in Geneva......... read more>>

Howls of protest at dog killings

2010-08-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

iol.co.za - Dog pounds in the Philippines are being allowed to kill stray dogs with vehicle exhaust fumes, local animal welfare groups said on Friday, a practice they claim is cruel and inhumane.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and two other groups called for the government to reverse an agricultural department ruling in June that approved the gassing method to kill dogs.

"If we need to put a dog to death because he cannot be cared for, the least we can do is send him off as painlessly and as humanely as possible," PAWS programme director Anna Cabrera said........ read more>>

iPad Helps Stanford Medical Students Ditch the Books

2010-08-06T05:21:00.000-07:00

Irish Tims - MLNET, THE provider of wireless broadband to corporate clients, has “turned a corner”, according to its backers, and has signed up a significant number of clients in recent months, including magazine publisher Harmonia.

John Earley, strategic development director of Metronet UK, which offers similar services in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds, is one of the main shareholders in MLNet along with local managing director Martin Smyth and technical director Carl Grice......... read more>>

Roddick ousted at Washington tennis

2010-08-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

The Himalayan - WASHINGTON US second seed Andy Roddick was eliminated by France's Gilles Simon while Czech top seed and Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych struggled into the ATP Washington Classic quarter-finals on Thursday.

Simon, sidelined nearly three months by a right knee injury, ousted Roddick 6-3, 6-3 from the US Open tuneup event in 69 minutes, winning 21-of-23 points on his first serve and 14-of-21 off the second serves of 10th-ranked Roddick......... read more>>

PM agrees to all-party meet on Kashmir

2010-08-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Economic Times - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to BJP’s demand for convening an all-party meeting to discuss the situation prevailing in the Kashmir Valley and steps taken by the Centre to restore peace and normalcy.

A delegation of BJP leaders, comprising 10 of its 11 MLAs from Jammu and Kashmir, met the prime minister here on Thursday under the leadership of former deputy prime minister L K Advani. Leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses of Parliament, Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Arun Jaitley too joined the contingent, which submitted a memorandum......... read more>>

Pregnant moms who overeat could make obese babies

2010-08-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

Zeenews - London: Women who gain too much weight during pregnancy have big babies, putting their children at risk of becoming heavy later on, a new study says.

American researchers followed all births in Michigan and New Jersey between 1989 and 2003. They then focused on women who had more than one child, to exclude the possibility that women who were genetically predisposed to be obese were simply passing those genes onto their babies.

Among the more than 513,000 women and their 1.1 million infants studied, scientists found that women who gained more than 53 pounds (24 kilograms) during their pregnancy made babies who were about 150 grams (0.3 pounds) heavier at birth than infants of women........ read more>>

Surging wheat price fuels trade, inflation fears

2010-08-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

Guardian - SINGAPORE, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Suppliers of Russian wheat to Asia are edging nearer to cancelling contracts after Moscow's ban on grain exports, forcing buyers to turn to alternative origins as U.S. wheat futures soar to a 23-month high. There was no immediate panic reaction from top Asian importers because global stockpiles were ample, but the rally could stoke fears of food inflation in key buyers with a near doubling of prices on the Chicago Board of Trade since lows in June, analysts and traders said on Friday.

U.S. wheat futures jumped more than 6 percent, taking this week's gains to more than 26 percent in a buying frenzy sparked by the move to temporarily halt grain shipments from Russia, the world's third-largest exporter......... read more>>

Soni comes out on top at U.S. Championships

2010-08-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

IRVINE - On most mornings, Trojan Swim Club teammates Rebecca Soni, the World 100-meter breaststroke champion, and Jessica Hardy, the event's world-record holder, train on opposite sides of USC's swim facility.

"I'm on the distance side," Soni said, "she's on the sprint side."

Soni and Hardy finally lined up side-by-side for the USA Swimming National Championships 100-meter breaststroke Thursday night and one of the meet's most anticipated showdowns.

By the end of the race the gulf between them had been restored........ read more>>

Cameron and Zardari holding talks

2010-08-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Guardian - David Cameron and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari are set to meet for formal talks as the two leaders attempt to smooth relations following a diplomatic spat between Britain and Pakistan.

The Prime Minister will pledge Britain's support for "stability, security, democracy and prosperity" in the country during the talks between the pair at Chequers, Downing Street said ......... read more>>

Lady Gaga inspired by gay marriage ruling

2010-08-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

m&c - Singer Lady Gaga has been inspired to write new music after hearing about the new Prop 8 ruling.

Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, was thrilled to hear about yesterday's overturning in California of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.And the 24–year-old, who is a vocal fan of the gay community, was so happy about the ruling that she 'instantly' decided to write new music about it......... read more>>

Hiroshima anniversary brings U.N. head's call for disarmament

2010-08-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

CNN -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used an appearance at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial ceremony in Japan to advocate for his five-point plan for worldwide nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

August 6 marks the 65th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States at the end of World War II on Hiroshima. Another was dropped a few days later on Nagasaki. The bombs devastated both cities and killed more than 200,000 people. Thursday was the first time a U.N. secretary-general took part in the ceremony......... read more>>