Australia will rise from ‘ashes of despair’

MELBOURNE: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday vowed the country would rise from the ‘ashes of despair’ as the nation paused to remember more than 200 people killed by wildfires.Rudd — along with Britain’s Princess Anne — joined mourners in Melbourne’s 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Ar ...
Full story

Blast in China coal mine kills 74

BEIJING: A blast in a coal mine killed 74 miners in China’s Shanxi province on Sunday and scores more were rescued after being trapped underground for hours, Xinhua news agency reported.The agency said 436 miners were working underground when the accident occurred at Shanxi Jiaomei Group’s T ...
Full story

North Korea rejects UN envoy’s trip

SEOUL: North Korea has rejected a proposed trip by a United Nations envoy next month amid rising tensions over a possible missile test by Pyongyang, a news report said on Sunday.Yonhap news agency, quoting an unnamed US diplomatic source, said Lynn Pascoe, the UN’s undersecretary general for ...
Full story

Pentagon report defends Guantanamo

WASHINGTON: The Guantanamo Bay prison meets the standard for humane treatment laid out in the Geneva Conventions but could use some changes in how it handles its more dangerous or less compliant prisoners, according to a Pentagon report. The report was prepared for President Barack Obama, ...
Full story

PPP, PML-Q rift widening

ISLAMABAD: The rejection of nomination papers of a candidate for Senate elections from the NWFP has created an apparent rift between the PML-Q and the ruling PPP. PML-Q sources told The News that the par more

NWFP to arm 30,000 civilians to counter crime

PESHAWAR: The NWFP government would arm 30,000 civilians in an attempt to counter criminal gangs operating across the province as authorities formally approved the setting up of an Elite Police Force (EPF) by s more

No news on police inquiry into Nisar Shaheed Park incident

One week after an inquiry was launched into the violent incident on Valentine’s Day in Nisar Shaheed Park by Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Waseem Ahmed, there is still no news over its progress. Investigations conducted by The News reveal that key players in the incident have st ...
Full story

Helicopter stops play in Indian match

MUMBAI: A helicopter stopped play in a domestic cricket game in India after the pilot mistook the pitch for a landing pad, local media reported on Sunday.Players were forced to abort Saturday’s one-day game and scurry for cover when the hapless pilot set the chopper down on the letter ‘H’ pa ...
Full story

Younis to dicuss pitch issue with Butt?

KARACHI: Pakistan captain Younis Khan has expressed his displeasure about the placid pitch, which is lacking any tinge of green at National Stadium — venue for the opening Test against Sri Lanka. Sources close to Younis said that the captain fumed when he saw the pitch on the first day and h ...
Full story

Pietersen lost cash to ‘sleazebag’ billionaire

LONDON: Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen admitted in an interview published on Sunday that he too had lost money in torn-up contracts with alleged fraudster Allen Stanford.Pietersen, who did not specify the value of the contracts he had signed with Stanford to be a cricket amba ...
Full story

ECB chief will not resign over Stanford

LONDON: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive David Collier said on Sunday he would not resign over the Allen Stanford scandal.Collier and ECB chairman Giles Clarke have come under fire in the media and from within the game over English cricket’s association with Texas billio ...
Full story

Netherlands take first A1GP victory

GAUTENG, South Africa: Jeroen Bleekemolen took the Netherlands’ first victory in Season Four of A1GP sprint race here on Sunday. Bleekemolen drove a faultless race around the 2.65-mile Kyalami circuit to win by 4.407-seconds from Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque.Switzerland’s Neel Jani ...
Full story

Iran cooperates after understating uranium stocks

VIENNA: Iran is cooperating well with UN nuclear inspectors to help ensure it does not again understate the amount of uranium it has enriched, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday. The IAEA statement seemed aimed at quashing any impressions raised by its watchdog report o ...
Full story

Pressure grows on Irish govt after huge protest

DUBLIN: The Irish government on Sunday faced mounting pressure over its response to the economic crisis, after some 120,000 people staged one of Dublin’s biggest protests in living memory over spending cuts. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s government has been at record lows in opinion ...
Full story

Four die in Gaza

GAZA CITY: Four Palestinians were killed on Sunday when a tunnel used for smuggling between the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed on top of them, medics said. The victims were between the ages of 17 and 25, they said. The tunnels were thought to have collapsed after torrential downpours that hit th ...
Full story

Russian police kill five militants

MAKHACHKALA: Russia: Government forces killed five militants in three separate apartment sieges during a two-day operation against suspected insurgents in southern Russia’s violence-plagued Dagestan province, police said on Sunday. One of the alleged militants was killed on Sunday when po ...
Full story

Indian doctors held over hepatitis B outbreak

NEW DELHI: Police in India on Sunday arrested two doctors on homicide charges for spreading hepatitis B by injecting patients with used needles, officials said. At least 34 people have died in an outbreak of the disease in the town of Modasa in western Gujarat state, the Press Trust of India new ...
Full story

ME arms show defies cash crunch

ABU DHABI: The Middle East’s biggest arms show opened on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, covering a larger area than ever in defiance of the global credit crisis that has hit the weapons-buying power of Gulf states. From handheld stun and smoke grenades to fearsome armoured vehicles, a full range of ...
Full story

Jade Goody marries as cameras roll

LONDON: Reality TV star Jade Goody married her fiance on Sunday, the latest installment in her very public fight with terminal cancer which has enchanted and unnerved Britons in near equal measure.Goody, 27, who found fame after appearing in the show ‘Big Brother’ in 2002, wed fiance Jack Tw ...
Full story

Afghans face environmental disaster

KABUL: Severe air pollution in Afghanistan’s major cities will lead to an environmental disaster unless measures are taken to avert the looming crisis, a senior official said on Sunday. Three decades of war and severe drought have already damaged the country’s environment with widespread ...
Full story

Fehmida asks all political forces to strengthen parliament

BADIN: Acting President and Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza has called upon all political forces to unite on one platform by strengthening parliament in order to bring Pakistan out of internal and external threats.She said this while addressing as the chief guest at a joint ceremo ...
Full story

Money exchange firm found involved in Hundi business

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency, Lahore, on Sunday booked the owner, directors and associates of the Zarco Exchange Company on the charge of involvement in illegal business of Hundi.In a statement issued here on Sunday, Deputy Director, Crime Circle, FIA Lahore, Azhar Mahmood, said ...
Full story

Nawaz, Chaudhrys may team up against President Zardari

GUJRAT: Senator-elect Ch Shujaat Hussain got a new lease of political life for another six years on Saturday when PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, stepping up his rhetoric against President Asif Ali Zardari, decided to keep the former interior minister on his side. After the ouster of President Pe ...
Full story

Qureshi to meet Hillary on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi embarked on a four-day trip to Washington on Sunday evening to discuss policy options with key members of the Obama administration as it undertakes a vital strategic review of the US war on terror strategy, focussing largely on Afghanistan and Pakista ...
Full story

Roadside bomb kills 2 civilians, wounds 6

BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials say a roadside bombing in central Baghdad has killed at least two civilians and wounded six. Police and hospital officials say Monday's blast was aimed at a police patrol but missed its target on the busy Nidhal Stree.....more

Sri Lanka rejects Tamil Tiger truce call: military

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's military on Monday demanded complete surrender of the Tamil Tigers, rejecting rebel calls for an immediate ceasefire.Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the government could not accept a conditional truce from the cornered Tamil Tigers and insisted that the guerrillas should unconditionally lay down arms first. "Our position is that they must lay down arms and surrender," Nanayakkara said. "There is no shift in our position."

Over 70 US military advisers work in Pakistan: report

The US military advisers provide the Pakistani army with training and intelligence, a New York Times report said. Full Story

FBI team interrogates Indian suspects

The team questioned for several hours Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin, Indians suspected to be involved in the attacks.

Provincial secretary, driver hurt in Quetta firing

QUETTA: Provincial secretary mines and minerals and his driver shot and injured at Zarghon Town here on Monday.According to reports, unknown persons opened fire on a car of provincial secretary mines and minerals Jan Mohammad Dashti at Zarghon Road injuring him and his driver. The attackers were managed to flee from the scene. Dashti and his driver Mohammad Ali were shifted to hospital.

Pak delegation leaves for US

WASHINGTON: A high level Pakistani delegation headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Qureshi has left for US.The Pakistani and Afghan delegations have been invited to meet with US officials to give their input to the comprehensive review ordered by President Barack Obama. The US, Pakistani and Afghan officials will also hold a trilateral meeting for review consultations. Qureshi will have discussions with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, National Security Adviser James Jones and chairman of the White House review panel, Bruce Riedel.

Pakistan struggles to save follow-on on 3rd day of Karachi test

KARACHI: The third day play of the first test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is underway at the National Stadium here.Pakistan batsmen today resumed their batting at 44 for the loss of one wicket, when the bell was drawn at the end yesterday. Sri Lankan spinner, Mendis at the very outset of the third day game further consolidated his team’s position by sending Khurram Manzoor to the pavilion at 27 runs and adding to the miseries of the host team. .... Full Story

European economies agree to double IMF funding

BERLIN: The heads of Europe's largest economies agreed Sunday on the need for greater regulation of financial markets and to double IMF funding to avoid a repeat of the global economic crisis.The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands met in Berlin to hammer out a joint European stance for the Group of 20 meeting of developed and developing countries in London on April 2.They agreed that "all financial markets, prod .... Full Story

Slumdog bags eight Oscars including best picture

LOS ANGELES: "Slumdog Millionaire" scooped up eight Oscars on Sunday, the most of any movie this year, including best motion picture. Among the "Slumdog" honors, Briton Danny Boyle was named best director for the often dark but ultimately hopeful talea bout a poor Indian boy who competes for love and money on a TV game show, and writer Simon Beaufoy won adapted screenplay. "Slumdog" was the big winner, also earning Oscars for best cinematograp .... Full Story

Zardari seeks China’s help against terrorism

BEIJING: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked China to help Pakistan in war against terrorism.In a comprehensive write up by him covering all aspects of Sino-Pak friendship that appeared in today’s mass circulated English language “China Daily”, President Zardari said that Pakistan-China friendship is higher than the peaks of Himalayas is now a truism without exaggeration. Perhaps no relationship between two sovereign states is as unique and dura .... Full Story

Unknown persons claimed killing of abducted UNHCR

QUETTA: The unknown persons claimed killing of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) provincial head John Solecki.According to reports, unknown persons phoned in Quetta Press Club on Monday and claimed that John has been killed and his body will be found after two hours. However, government and independent sources could not confirm the reports of John’s killing.John Solecki was kidnapped in Quetta on Feb ... Full Story