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All set for Pak, England warm up match NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan will take on South Africa in a warm up match in connection with the preparation of Twenty20 World Cup whereas defending champion India will face New Zealand and Australia meet Bangladesh.The match between Pakistan and South Africa will be started at 10:30. Dhoni ready to defend Twenty20 World Cup title LONDON: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is looking forward to uniting all the talents at his disposal during the World Twenty20 in England.India are the defending World Twenty20 champions after winning the inaugural edition in South Africa two years ago."Of course it is a pleasure representing your country after the IPL where you have limited talent in your side," Dhoni told reporters at Lord’s here."But here we have plenty of options and we have the cream of the IPL so there is less pressure on each and every individual.""The best thing is that our youngsters will know how to handle pressure, whe...

LONDON: Michael Jackson faces having to scrap MORE of his UK concerts so he can battle skin cancer, it emerged last night. The superstar, 50 — diagnosed last month — may have to undergo gruelling radiotherapy to beat the disease. Pals fear it means Jacko, who has already had to postpone the first four UK dates of his 50-show tour, could be left so exhausted that other July gigs will be hit. Specialists in California’s Beverly Hills have removed potentially lethal growths from his nose and arm.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 SYDNEY: A strong 6.5-magnitude quake shook Vanuatu in the South Pacific on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake struck at a depth of 39 kilometres (24 miles) about 45 kilometres west of the capital Port-Vila at 1:17 pm local time (0217 GMT), it said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said the quake was not expected to generate a destructive tsunami. A 5.1-magnitude quake hit earlier Tuesday in nearly the same location. Vanuatu sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

T uesday, June 02, 2009 PARIS: The search continued through the night for an Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic, but little hope remained Tuesday that any of 228 people on board would be found alive. Air France flight AF 447 disappeared early Monday four hours into its 11-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after the Airbus A330 encountered severe turbulence over the Atlantic and reported technical failures. A daytime search by eight Brazilian air force aircraft doing visual sweeps did not turn up anything in the area being searched: a zone 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) off its northeastern coast. The search was being continued overnight with a Hercules C130 fitted with equipment to try to detect the plane's emergency beacon, with another aircraft with onboard radar, and if weather conditions permit, infrared gear that could detect bodies in the water. Officials said there was little hope of survivors from what appears to be the worst air accident in over a de...

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 MOGADISHU: A roadside bomb and more fighting between insurgents and government forces have killed at least 38 more people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, a local rights group and residents said on Monday. In the worst fighting this year in the war-scarred coastal city, al Shabaab rebels have been battling Somali police and soldiers in mortar and machine-gun exchanges that have sent tens of thousands of residents fleeing Mogadishu. The battle to control the city is the biggest test to date for the new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed --himself a moderate Islamist -- which was formed in January under a U.N.-brokered reconciliation process in neighbouring Djibouti. The violence has drawn in several hundred foreign militants, experts say, as well as fuelling a humanitarian crisis, allowing piracy to flourish offshore, and perpetuating a cycle of civil conflict since the 1991 fall of a Somali dictator. In a favoured tactic of the rebels, a roadside bomb...

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 SAN SALVADOR: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she's impressed by the Pakistani army's assault on Taliban militants who had captured much of Pakistan's Swat Valley."I am incredibly heartened by the resolve shown the Pakistani people, government and military," Clinton said in an interview with USA TODAY. She was in El Salvador for the inauguration of President Mauricio Funes.Pakistan's army has attacked Taliban strongholds throughout the Swat Valley, which is on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.Members of the Taliban, the fundamentalist Muslim movement that ruled Afghanistan until its ouster in 2001, had moved into the Swat Valley and gradually taken control. In April, Clinton told a congressional committee that the Pakistani government of President Asif Ali Zardari "is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists."

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 SEOUL: South Korea has deployed its most sophisticated high-speed patrol boat armed with ship-to-ship missiles to near the tense western sea border with North Korea, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 BEIJING: China on Tuesday took up US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's call to work together in battling the financial crisis as the Asian giant tries to position itself as a major force on the global stage.Beijing was eager to deepen efforts with Washington on dragging the world out of the economic slump, Vice Premier Wang Qishan told Geithner in a Monday meeting, the foreign ministry said. But state media expressed opposition to the government's policy of buying massive US debt that they said could see the value of China's assets battered as the financial crisis continues.Wang, who is in charge of China's economy, was quoted by the ministry as telling Geithner: "We will send a message that China and the United States are cooperating substantively to get over the difficult times. "This will help boost confidence and promote global financial stability and world economic recovery."The two sides further laid the groundwork for the...

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 SYDNEY: Sixteen of the world's most wanted killers, sex predators, and fraudsters are hiding out in Australia, according to the police.International law enforcement agencies believe they are 120 internationally sought after criminals, and these 16 have entered Australia and may still be here.Countries with arrest warrants out range from Armenia to the US, China, Indonesia, New Zealand and Canada.Despite its isolation and tight border controls, Australia rates high on the list of countries believed to have attracted international fugitives, who have either already visited or may be in the country.Of the wanted criminals on the international list, the US had 60 believed to be within its borders, Canada about 20, the UK 20, and Australia close behind."I think that's because the country's sort of isolated geographically; I think that people think they may be able to hide here without being noticed," said Crime Stoppers Australia corporate affai...

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 NEW DELHI: Sources in the Indian Government reacted with dismay on hearing the news of the Lahore High Court ending the house arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed on Tuesday.Most of them described Saeed’s arrest by the Pakistani authorities for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 as eyewash.They said that the High Court’s view that there was just not enough evidence to continue the detention of Saeed certified that similar arrests made in the past have also ended in similar releases.They said the Lahore High Court order showed that Pakistan is back to backing terrorism from its soil again, despite the evidence supplied by New Delhi indicating Saeed’s clear role in 26/11.An official reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs is expected later in the day.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Pakistan has never showed seriousness and commitment over Mumbai attacks, Geo News reported Tuesday.Talking to journalists, he said the release of Jamatud Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed is not a setback to the Mumbai investigation.He said the development again showed Islamabad was not serious about bringing perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. He however added that Saeed’s release would not affect the Mumbai terror probe being conducted by Indian investigation agencies.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 KABUL: A bomb blew up a vehicle northeast of the Afghan capital Tuesday and killed six Afghan civilians including two children, the interior ministry said.It was not immediately clear if the bomb was planted in the road, which runs past the largest US military base in Afghanistan, or was fixed to the vehicle, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. "Two men and two women and two children are killed," he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for attack. Such blasts are usually directed at the Afghan or foreign security forces that are trying to put down an insurgency led by the Taliban. It comes a week after another bombing in the same area killed three US troops serving with a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as well as three Afghan civilians. Insurgents have stepped up bomb attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks after vowing in April to widen their campaign against the government. Four US soldiers from IS...

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 PARIS: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday in Paris for talks on the dispute over Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 LIMA: A collision between two trucks and a bus carrying 50 people has left at least 15 people dead and 20 injured near Peru's capital, authorities said Tuesday.The trucks, one of which was loaded with alcohol, crashed in Pasamayo, north of Lima late Monday, triggering a massive spill that caught fire, charring the bus, said firefighters spokesman Jorge Vera.It was the second major highway accident in Peru in less than a week. On Friday, a bus plunged into a ravine in Sayapuyo, La Libertad department, killing 23 people.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 BRASILIA: Brazilian air force aircraft searching the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday for a missing Air France flight that had been carrying 228 people have found debris from a plane, an air force spokesman said.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 WASHINGTON: A resumption of direct talks between the United States and Cuban on migration issues and a direct mail service is in both countries' interest, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.Gibbs said President Barack Obama was pleased that Cuba had agreed to the talks."Obviously, it's in the interest of both governments," he said. "Obviously, I think direct mail would increase the ability for the president's initiative to be able to reach out directly to the Cuban people."Though its interest section in Washington, Cuba on Saturday accepted the US invitation to resume talks on migratory issues, which have been suspended since 2003.Mail between the two countries currently goes through third countries.The latest move to thaw relations followed Obama's decision in April to authorize travel and money transfers to the island by US nationals of Cuban descent.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 NICOSIA: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said Tuesday that Muslims had heard Barack Obama's "bloody messages" ahead of the US president's trip to the Middle East, according to a US monitor of Islamist websites. "His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words," Zawahiri said in an audio speech, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.