NeWs

"Indispensable" and "Essential" UK’s PM David Cameron an official visit

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:18:06 PDT

Obama and Cameron were to hold one-on-one Oval Office talks, likely to be dominated by the showdown with Iran and strategic problems in Afghanistan, and hold a press conference and then join in the pageantry of a state dinner. The president and first Lady Michelle Obama welcomed the British leader and his wife Samantha with full military and ceremonial honors on the South Lawn of the White House on an unseasonably warm March morning. Obama said the long alliance, deepened in World War II, was "essential, it is indispensable to the security and prosperity we seek, not only for our citizens but for people around the world," Obama said. He also joked about one previous occasion when the British came to the White House -- sending a colonial army to burn it down in 1814. "It has now been 200 years since the British came here to the White House under somewhat different circumstances -- they made quite an impression -- they really lit up the place." Obama also tried out British vernacular, telling Cameron he was looking forward to a "good natter" and wanted to keep the US-British relationship in a "top notch" state. Cameron also praised what is popularly known as a "special relationship" between the two countries. "When the chips are down, Britain and America know that we can always count on each other," he said. "We are allies who are not just prepared to say the right thing but to do the right thing and do it in the right way," he said. The talks are likely to be dominated by the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, fears that NATO war strategyin Afghanistan may be unraveling and the failure to stop President Bashar al-Assad s crackdown in Syria. Cameron s visit is described as an official one and not a state one, as Britain s head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who hosted Obama s visit to London last year, is not attending. He and British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed not to "give up" the mission. A string of recent incidents, including a massacre of Afghan civilians by a US soldier on Sunday, and deep public fatigue with the war, have prompted speculation that the pace of troop withdrawals could be speeded up. But Obama, confirming that NATO planned to transition to a support role in Afghanistan in 2013, before a full withdrawal in 2014, said his existing plan -- to bring home an additional 23,000 troops this summer -- still stood. "I don t anticipate at this stage that we re going to be making any sudden additional changes to the plan that we currently have," Obama said at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden with Cameron. Obama promised a "robust" coalition presence in Afghanistan during this year s fighting season to stop the Taliban regaining momentum, but left open the option of looking at the size of the foreign troop footprint after that. Both leaders insisted the painful sacrifices endured by both their militaries had been justified by the rout of Al-Qaeda, which had prevented terror plots against their countries.

Swiss bus accident

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:08:05 PDT

28 people, including 22 children, returning from a skiing holiday died in a bus accident in Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais, the Swiss news agency SDA-ATS reported Wednesday. The children were travelling from Val d Anniviers and were returning to Belgium. The bus carrying the passengers was registered in Belgium, the news agency said. The bus was travelling towards Sion, and hit a wall on Tuesday night in the motorway tunnel running from east to west and exiting at Sierre. Valais cantonal police initially reported only injuries. The bus was carrying 52 passengers from the cities of Lommel and Heverlee in Flanders. The news agency said two drivers were killed in the accident. Four Valais hospitals were treating the injured, SDA-ATS reported.

Earthquake shook northern Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:04:48 PDT

A strong earthquake shook northern Japan on Wednesday evening, and a small tsunami was forecast for part of its Pacific coast. A tsunami of about a half-meter was forecast for Hokkaido island s central and eastern Pacific coast, and for Aomori and Iwate prefectures. Iwate prefecture, or state, was heavily damaged by last year s earthquake and tsunami. Thousands of aftershocks have shaken the region since then, nearly all of them of minor or moderate strength. The epicenter was about 146 miles (235 kilometers) south of Kushiro, Japan, on Hokkaido island. It was a relatively shallow 16 miles (26 kilometers) below the ocean floor. The quake was not felt in Tokyo, more than 450 miles (730 kilometers) away. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide wave.

Screening of Afghan forces

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:00:24 PDT

The alliance said step will prevent insurgents from infiltrating the army after a spate of killings of foreign troops by Afghan colleagues. An updated counter-infiltration plan designed by military commanders was adopted by NATO ambassadors Tuesday on a request from France in the wake of the killing by a recruit of four French troops in January. Nearly one in five NATO soldiers killed this year has died at the hands of their supposed allies -- six of them Americans who were killed by Afghan colleagues after the burning of holy Qrans at a US base.

Manchester City lost its top spot in the Premier League

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:26:58 PDT

Manchester City lost its top spot in the Premier League to rival Manchester United after a shock 1-0 defeat at Swansea on Sunday. Luke Moore scored with a powerful close-range header for the Welsh side in the 83rd minute as City, unbeaten in the league at home, lost its fourth away match this season. Man United beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 to move first one point ahead of City. City s Micah Richards had a goal called back for offside in the dying minutes of the game at the Liberty Stadium. Joe Hart saved a penalty from Scott Sinclair in the 7th minute after the England goalkeeper was judged to have brought down Wayne Routledge. Yaya Toure was caught in possession by Gylfi Sigurdsson and Swansea coolly put Routledge down the right to deliver a cross that Moore headed beyond Hart s despairing dive.The goal triggered all-out attack from City and Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm made an acrobatic save to deny a Kolo Toure effort. City thought it had salvaged a point when Richards headed in as Vorm came and failed to reach a cross, but the fullback was ruled offside. Sinclair almost added a second in added time as Swansea broke after Hart had gone up for a corner, but his strike from halfway came up short of the line as the keeper recovered.

US Soldiers Mean Act In Afghanistan

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:19:30 PDT

Once again American soldiers in Afghanistan have shown their real mean face killing 16 innocent people and injuring various others including men, women and children. No sooner did they show their hostile with the Muslims and the Holy Quran and burned it, they brutally killed the innocent people in Afghanistan who were in deep or sound sleep and were unaware of any danger! The coward or timid US soldiers have always been violating human rights and killing innocent people who are only punished because they are the Muslims! The soldiers equipped with modern or sophisticated weapons are mad or crazy as they think that none is more powerful than they are although they cannot face the real battle with Taliban in Afghanistan and have desire to negotiate with Taliban so that they can withdraw from Afghan’s soil peacefully! US forces are filled with such soldiers who are usually psycho patients and they are unable to face any battle and kill themselves or commit suicide in order to avoid battle! According to media, the soldiers killed the innocent people recently were laughing greatly and they were intoxicated. Is this humanity? I think the whole American nation is mad and perhaps none is sensible and everybody is foolish in USA because they are intoxicated with power as they are called Super Power but their deeds show their meannes and cruelty and they never learn a lesson from their badly failure in the past battles! Think if the same incident took place in any other country and a Muslim was involved in this kind of act, immediately all media and firstly American media would raise voice against this act whereas they all are so-called champions of human rights who just talk about non-Muslims’ rights and never try to save the Muslims’ lives! The whole Pakistani nation but all the Muslims condemn this cruel act by US soldiers and demand the concerned authorities to take serious steps to save the innocent Muslims’ lives in Afghanistan!

A man set fire to a mosque in Belgium

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:11:34 PDT

The attack left the imam dead in an act some linked to tensions betweens Shiites and Sunnis. As investigators sought to determine whether late Monday s arson attack was an isolated incident or a deliberate assault on the Shiite community, Interior Minister Joelle Milquet suggested inter-religious strife may be to blame. "This person went in (the mosque) hurling statements linked to the Syrian conflict. It appears to be a problem between Sunnis and Shiites," Milquet said, adding that investigators still had to confirm the motive. "Belgium will not tolerate this type of act and the importing of this type of conflict on its territory," she said, adding that the government would take "all necessary measures" in coming days to prevent attacks.

Agreement between Israel and militants in Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:05:23 PDT

The deal came after four days of violence in which 25 Gazans died and 200 rockets were fired at Israel. Under the agreement, which came into force at 1:00 am (2300 GMT on Monday), both Israel and militants from Islamic Jihad, who were responsible for the lion s share of the rocket attacks, agreed to hold their fire. More than 12 hours later, the nascent truce appeared to be largely holding, although Israeli police said eight rockets and mortar shells had landed, without causing injury or damage. And the skies over Gaza remained calm. Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad both confirmed that a deal was in place. "This morning the situation is relatively quiet, it may be that we find ourselves at the end of this round," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told reporters during a visit to an army headquarters in southern Israel. "There is an understanding, and we are following what s going on in the field," Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Israeli public radio. "Apparently things are calming down and this round of confrontations appears to be behind us." In Gaza, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said the radical group was willing to respect the deal if Israel would end its targeted killings of militants. "We accept a ceasefire if Israel agrees to apply it by ending its aggressions and assassinations," Daud Shihab told AFP. But both sides were quick to warn that the agreement would be short lived if the other side stepped out of line. "Any Israeli violation requires a strong response by all factions," said Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Gaza s Hamas rulers, who have been seeking Cairo s help to restore calm. The truce, he said, "was not meant to tie the hands of the resistance and its right to respond forcefully to the killings and attacks." Israel s top military officer took the same stance. "If the terrorists maintain the calm, we will do the same; if they fire, we will hit them. Everything depends on them," Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told the radio.

US drone strikes in Waziristan, Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:01:52 PDT

US drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan’s unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior commanders of the Pakistani Taliban, security and intelligence officials said. In the first strike, Pakistani warlord Maulvi Nazir’s loyalists, two of them commanders, were attacked in the remote Drey Nishtar area of South Waziristan along the Afghan border, part of the semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt that Washington considers a global hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. A total of eight suspected militants were killed in the attack. The targeted militants were supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan but not hostile to Pakistani authorities, local officials said. Pakistani warlord Maulvi Nazir s loyalists, two of them commanders, were attacked in the remote Drey Nishtar area in the first strike. "The target of the attack was fighters of commander Maulvi Nazir. A total of eight fighters were killed in this attack," one Pakistani official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Security officials said US drones fired up to four missiles into a vehicle travelling through the far-flung and mountainous area. "Informers told us that two senior commanders of Maulvi Nazir were among the dead. Both commanders, Amir Hamza and Shamsullah, were considered important for Nazir," the Pakistani official added. Another seven people were killed in a second US drone strike in Sara Khawra area near Shawal in South Waziristan.

Asia Cup 2012: India beat Sri Lanka by 50 runs

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:07:12 PDT

Virat Kohli (108) and left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir (100) scored centuries as India posted a challenging 304-3 before bowling Sri Lanka out for 254 in the day-night match. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (78) and Kumar Sangakkara (65) were the main scorers for Sri Lanka, while seamer Irfan Pathan bagged four wickets for India. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Vinay Kumar each took three wickets. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (78) and Kumar Sangakkara (65) were the main scorers for Sri Lanka, while seamer Irfan Pathan bagged four wickets for India. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Vinay Kumar each took three wickets. Brief scores: India 304-3 in 50 overs; Sri Lanka 254 in 45.1 overs

Qatar & Saudi Arabia responsible for the bloodletting in Syria

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:33:34 PDT

Both states are responsible for the bloodletting in the country, Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told AFP on Monday. "Some of the countries backing armed terrorist gangs, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are accomplices to the terrorism targeting the Syrian people... and bear responsibility for the bloodletting," he said.

Israeli warplanes pounded the Gaza Strip

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:18:43 PDT

The strikes killed four more Palestinians, as a teenager died in a mystery blast, raising the death toll so far to 23. The latest strike killed a man in his 60s and his daughter in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, a medical spokesman said. Several hours earlier, a teenager was killed nearby, just outside Beit Lahiya in what the Palestinians claimed was a drone strike. But the Israeli military said they had not mounted any strikes in the area since the early hours of the morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue targeting Palestinians for "as long as necessary" and several hours later, Israeli warplanes carried out at least eight strikes across the territory, targeting a weapons storage facility and five rocket-launching sites across Gaza. The first deaths were two militants who were killed in strikes around the southern city of Khan Yunis, both of them from the Islamic Jihad group, which identified them as Raafat Abu Eid and Hamada Suleiman Abu Mutlaq, both 24. Shortly afterwards, a blast killed 15-year-old Nayef Qarmut and wounded six other teenagers, two critically, near Beit Lahiya. "A drone strike hit a group of students who were walking by empty land on their way to school," emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP. But the Israeli military denied activity in the area at the time, and an AFP correspondent at the scene confirmed there was no sign of an air strike. "From an initial check, there were no air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip since the early hours of the morning," a military spokesman told AFP. The latest attack, which hit the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp, killed Mohammed Mustafa al-Hasumi, 65, and his daughter Faiza, 35, medics said. The latest deaths brought to 23 the Palestinian toll from a weekend of tit-for-tat violence that began with Israel s killing of a senior militant on Friday afternoon. Before the latest strike, Abu Selmiya said 73 people had been wounded in 36 Israeli air strikes across the tiny coastal territory.

Afgahanistan under worst winter in 30 years

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:14:59 PDT

At least 45 people were killed as they became latest victims in the country s worst winter in 30 years. Heavy snow blanketed 13 houses and blocked roads leading into a district of Nuristan province, near the border with Pakistan, preventing help from reaching avalanche victims, deputy provincial governor Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi said. An entire village in northern Badakhshan province was covered by an avalanche almost a week ago, killing at least 50 people. Though avalanches are common in the mountainous north and east, the latest deaths are particularly painful during a winter that has killed dozens in the capital Kabul and created further food shortages in one of the world s poorest countries.

Haqqani accepts contacts with Ijaz, denies memo talk

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:11:20 PDT

The former Pakistani envoy to the United States reiterated in his reply submitted to the memo Commission that he did not write or ask Mansoor to write the memorandum which had sought US intervention to avert any perceived military coup after the May 2 incident. The reply has been submitted to the Memo Commission by Haqqani’s counsel Sajid Tanoli. The counsel also handed in over 100 articles written by Mansoor Ijaz against Pakistan’s nuclear programme and sensitive agencies. Haqqani admitted having contacts with Mansoor Ijaz but denies ever discussing memo with him. The former envoy also said he had not been given access to records of evidence presented to the Memo Commission by Mansoor Ijaz as part of his testimony via video link from London. Haqqani has also submitted phone bills for May to November 2011.

Taliban statement on US soldier barbaric killed 16 Afghan

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:14:18 PDT

An American soldier killed 16 children, women and men in Panjwai district of Kandahar early Sunday. “In continuation of the past acts of terror by the American monsters, these cruel savages have once again resorted to committing a bloody crime in the Zangabad area of Panjwai District in Kandahar Province and have martyred, according to their own figures, more than 20 innocent villagers in direct shooting on defenceless civilians,” a Taliban statement said. “But in truth, the number of martyrs of the incident is much higher than this. Most of these innocent martyrs are children, women and elderly men who have lost their lives as a result of utmost ruthlessness of the American savages,” the statement on Taliban website said. Quoting eyewitnesses, the statement said the American savages carried out this barbaric attack on three families in a village in Zangabad area without any military or security reason as the martyred villagers did not pose any threat to them. “The American savages have described perpetrators of this barbaric calamity as suffering from mental and psychological illness in an attempt to acquit them from committing the crime”. “If the perpetrators of this criminal incident are really insane and suffering from psychological illness then from the military point of view it is another moral crime by the American invaders in Afghanistan to arm lunatics and people with mental problems with deadly weapons to use them on innocent Afghans,” the statement said. The statement asked as to which military regulation in the world allows lunatics to be armed and given the responsibility of maintaining peace and security? “While expressing condolences and Islamic sympathy to the victims of this barbaric incident, the Islamic Emirate assures survivors of the incident that it will, with Allah Almighty s assistance, avenge the martyrdom of each of the victims on the invading and beast-like murderers and punish them for their barbaric action”. The Taliban statement called on international human rights organizations and other institutions to help Afghans in preventing these unjustifiable crimes by the American invaders and fulfill their responsibility to bring them to justice.

Syrian violence

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:04:46 PDT

At least 34 people, almost half of the civilians, were killed across Syria on Sunday as peace envoy Kofi Annan held a second round of talks with President Bashar al Assad, a monitoring group said. The casualties comprised 15 civilians, 14 regular army soldiers and five rebel fighters, with most of the casualties occurring in the provinces of Idlib and Damascus and in the city of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Fierce fighting has been raging between deserters and regular army troops since morning in the Idlib province village of Al-Janudieh," the head of the Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP in Beirut. "A civilian and three regular troops were killed and a troop carrier damaged," in the northwestern province, he said. A soldier was also killed in a bomb blast in the Idlib village of Marehian and another by heavy machinegun fire in the village of Najiah, said the Britain-based Abdel Rahman. A woman and her son as well as two soldiers were killed in Ariha during clashes between regime troops and defector, while another soldier died in fighting in the Jabal al-Zawiya rebel stronghold, he added. In the city of Idlib four civilians were killed when they caught in the crossfire of clashes between deserters and army troops. Six regime troops and two deserters were also killed in clashes in the central city of Hama while four civilians died in the nearby province of Homs, three of them brothers killed when a rocket fell on their house. An ambush elsewhere in the Homs province killed an army officer and wounded five others. Clashes between deserters and army troops also killed three defectors in the Damascus countryside and a civilian was shot dead by security forces during a raid inside the capital itself. Earlier state news agency SANA said "terrorists" shot dead boxing champion Ghiath Tayfour, in the northern city of Aleppo, where monitors said a Kurdish women activist was shot dead at a security checkpoint at dawn. The Syrian army stormed Idlib on Saturday after shelling the city and province for days and massing troops to snuff out fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army, activists have said.

Asia Cup 2012: Pakistan won by 21 runs

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:13:07 PDT

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in opening match of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh. Pakistan scored a competitive 262-8 off 50 overs while Bangladesh could only score 241 runs all out at the Asia Cup one-day tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.

16 Afghans kill by US soldier

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:35:27 PDT

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday condemned as "unforgivable" the slaughter of 16 villagers in their homes by a rogue American soldier. "When Afghan people are killed deliberately by US forces this action is murder and terror and an unforgivable action," Karzai said in statement. Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, Afghan officials said, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk. One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies. Witnesses told they saw a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district at around 2 am, enter homes and open fire.

Asia Cup 2012: Pakistan set 263-runs target for Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:26:40 PDT

Pakistan scored a competitive 262-8 off 50 overs against Bangladesh in the opening match of the Asia Cup one-day tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday. Mohammad Hafeez (89) and Nasir Jamshed (54) hit half-centuries for Pakistan, while paceman Shahadat Hossain (3-53) and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan (2-41) were the main wicket-takers for Bangladesh in the day-night match.

Japan earthquake - personal thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:07:01 PDT

Japan marks one year since massive earthquake and tsunami

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:51:28 PST

With moments of silence and prayers, Japan on Sunday was remembering the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the nation one year ago, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world s worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century. At dawn in the devastated northeastern coastal town of Rikuzentakata, dozens of people from across Japan gathered to offer prayers in front of a solitary pine tree that stands amid the barrenness, a symbol of survival. Some returned to where their houses and those of friends once stood, and placed flowers and small gifts for loved ones lost in the disaster. Naomi Fujino, a 42-year-old Rikuzentakata resident who lost her father in the tsunami, was in tears recalling March 11, 2011. With her mother, she escaped to a nearby hill where they watched the enormous wave wash away their home. They waited all night, but her father never came to meet them as he had promised. Two months later, his body was found. "I wanted to save people, but I couldn t. I couldn t even help my father. I cannot keep on crying," Fujino said. "What can I do but keep on going?" Later on Sunday, memorial ceremonies to mark 2:46 p.m. the precise moment the magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit were planned along the northeastern coast and in Tokyo, where the emperor and prime minister were scheduled to speak at the National Theater. The quake was the strongest recorded in Japan s history, and set off a tsunami that towered more than 65 feet (20 meters) in some spots along the northeastern coast, destroying thousands of homes and wreaking widespread destruction. Today, some 325,000 people rendered homeless remain in temporary housing. While much of the debris has been gathered into massive piles, very little rebuilding has begun. Beyond the massive cleanup, many towns are still finalizing reconstruction plans, some of which involve moving residential areas to higher ground. Bureaucratic delays in coordination between the central government, prefectural (state) authorities and local officials have also slowed rebuilding efforts. "Differences of opinion between central and local governments and even among the populations affected" has contributed to delays, Tadateru Konoe, president of the Japan Red Cross Society, said earlier this week. "They couldn t reach any consensus. They still keep fighting with each other, looking for the best solution." Also, "it s not simply building back as it used to be. It s to build back better, and that requires a lot of consultations," he added. An anti-nuclear protest was also planned in downtown Tokyo on Sunday amid growing public opposition to atomic power in the wake of the disaster, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986. The government says the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where three reactor cores melted down after the tsunami knocked out their vital cooling systems, is stable and that radiation coming from the plant has subsided significantly. But the plant s chief acknowledged to journalists visiting the complex recently that it remains in a fragile state, and makeshift equipment some mended with tape could be seen keeping crucial systems running. Only two of Japan s 54 reactors are now running while those shut down for regular inspections undergo special tests to check their ability to withstand similar disasters. They could all go offline by the end of April if none are restarted before then. The Japanese government has pledged to reduce reliance on nuclear power, which supplied about 30 percent of the nation s energy needs before the disaster, but says it needs to restart some nuclear plants to meet Japan s energy needs during the transition period. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has acknowledged failures in the government s response to the disaster, being too slow in relaying key information and believing too much in "a myth of safety" about nuclear power. "We can no longer make the excuse that what was unpredictable and outside our imagination has happened," Noda told a group of reporters last weekend. "Crisis management requires us to imagine what may be outside our imagination." The phrase "soteigai," or "outside our imagination," was used repeatedly by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that runs the Fukushima plant, as the reason it was not prepared for the giant tsunami. Although some scholars had warned about such tsunami risks, both the utility and regulators did little to prepare for such an event, and kept backup generators in basements, where they could be flooded. "We can say in hindsight that the government, business and scholars had all been seeped in a myth of safety," Noda said of the oversights in the accident. "The responsibility must be shared." Enormous risks and challenges lie ahead at the Fukushima plant, including removal of the melted nuclear fuel from the core and the disposal of spent fuel rods. Completely decommissioning the plant could take 40 years. Meanwhile, some 100,000 residents who lived around the plant are in temporary shelters or with relatives, unsure of when they will be able to return to their homes. A 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone around the complex and an adjacent area remains off limits. Pilot efforts to make radiation-contaminated land around the plant inhabitable again have begun, using everything from shovels and high-powered water guns to chemicals that absorb radiation. But it is a monumental, costly project fraught with uncertainty, and experts cannot guarantee it will be successful. The Environment Ministry expects it will generate at least 130 million cubic yards (100 million cubic meters) of soil, enough to fill 80 domed baseball stadiums. In Rikuzentakata, 37-year-old Mika Hashikai, who lost both her parents in the tsunami, was going around leaving flowers at the former homes of her friends and neighbors. Her brother also lost his wife and daughter in the tsunami. "I only wish for my brother s happiness now that he s lost everything and is alone," she said. "Maybe one day he can remarry and have children again."

Suicide attack in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:48:03 PST

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral near the northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 30 others, police and hospital officials said. The blast took place in the Badaber area on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, nobody claimed responsibility for the blast but militants have carried out several attacks in the area. The blast went off after mourners had offered prayers for a local woman. Peshawar has a population of 2.5 million people and has long been on the frontline of violence blamed on an insurgency led by Taliban militants opposed to Islamabad’s alliance with the United States.

Coca Cola & Pepsi

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:14:37 PST

PEPSI and Coca Cola companies have decided to change the formulae to make their drinks or beverages or constituents to prepare PEPSI and Coca Cola in order to restrain from publishing a warning or caution on bottles about Cancer. PEPSI and Coca Cola have 90 per cent of shares in the market of fizzy drinks or carbonated beverages. The authorities of California, a US state, have said that a kind of matter or substance is used in the preparation of PEPSI and Coca Cola due to which the possibility or chance to create cancer is increased. According to the law of the state, these companies must publish a warning or caution about the mixing of the substance on the bottles or else they should change their formulae. Afterwards, these companies changed their constituents to prepare PEPSI or Coca Cola in California and now it is being implemented in the whole America. In new way of preparing drinks or beverages, the quantity of the matter or substance that is used to bring the real colour of PEPSI or Coca Cola will be reduced. According to a research, this matter or substance is proved to create cancer in mouses but it has not proved yet that it could cause to create cancer in human being as well. The American Food and Drug Administration has claimed that man will have to drink a thousands bottles of PEPSI or Coca Cola to reach the amount of the substance or matter that was given to the mouses to research. Representative of Coca Cola, Diana Garza told AP that they did not accept whether their beverages could put the public’s health at risk, adding that they decided to change the formula to prepare Coca Cola because they did not want to publish a warning message on their bottles. PEPSI and Coca Cola companies have claimed that despite changing the formulae of their beverages, the taste of the beverages will surely remain same!

Airstrikes killed 18 al-Qaida in central Yemen

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:09:15 PST

Separate strikes targeted militants in the south, officials said, as the military struck back at the group after it killed nearly 200 of its soldiers. The military offensive comes in response to an attack last week in which al-Qaida s militants sneaked across the desert at dawn to the back lines of Yemeni forces. Many of the troops were asleep in their tents when militants sprayed them with bullets. Their bodies, many of which were missing heads or mutilated, were later dumped in the desert. The bloody assault on the military in Abyan province revealed the magnitude of the Yemeni army s defeat after nearly a year of political turmoil across the country has left an emboldened al-Qaida in its wake. Yemen s new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, faces the heavy burden of trying to dislodge the militants. He was sworn-in as president Feb. 25 after taking over from Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled the country for more than three decades.

Peace proposals to Syrian president

noreply@blogger.com (Zulfiqar Shaikh) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:06:00 PST

International envoy Kofi Annan made several peace proposals to Syrian president. He also expressed "grave concern" to Syria s President Bashar al-Assad over the deadly crackdown on protests in talks Saturday, the United Nations said. Former UN secretary general Annan, acting for the UN and Arab League, made "several proposals" to stop the violence which has left thousands dead in the past year, the UN said in a statement. UN envoy Kofi Annan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday in Damascus during a high-profile international mission to mediate an end to the country’s yearlong conflict, even as activists reported fresh shelling by regime forces that sent families fleeing for safety in the northern province of Idlib. Thick black smoke billowed over the area. The state-run news agency SANA reported that talks between Assad and Annan had begun but there were no further details on the meeting, aimed at a halting violence that began with crackdowns on mostly peaceful protests but appears to be transforming into a civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the government was shelling the Idlib region after tanks moved toward the area in recent days. There was no independent confirmation, but smoke rose into the sky behind some apartment buildings, according to an Associated Press team in the area. Some families were seen fleeing the violence, clutching their belongings, or taking shelter. Military reinforcements have been pouring into Idlib for days, including dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers, activists said. There have been concerns Idlib would be the focus of an offensive following the government recapture of the rebel-held district of Baba Amr in Homs after a bloody, monthlong siege. The latest diplomatic mission to end the Syrian crisis has faced stumbling blocks even before it began, as the opposition rejected Annan’s calls for dialogue with Assad’s regime Friday as pointless and out of touch after a year of bloodshed. Annan, the former UN secretary-general, was appointed last month as the joint special envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League.