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Tuesday, June 09, 2009 LORD’S: Pakistan reached the second round of Super Eight by defeating the Netherlands by 82 in Group B match of ICC World Cup at the Lord’s on Tuesday.None among the Dutch batsmen could make a winning score; however, Kervezee was the highest scorer who hit 21 runs with one four.The most successful bowler from Pakistani side was Shahid Afridi who took four wickets off 10 runs, followed by Saeed Ajmal who took three wickets. Sohail Earlier, Pakistan gave 176-run target to Netherlands.Pakistan scored 175 for five wickets against the Netherlands with quite dismal action on ground. Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.Pakistan needed at least 25 runs to qualify for the Super 8 second round. However, Pakistan succeeded in winning by a large margin of 82 runs.Kamran Akmal was the highest scorer who hit 41 from 30 balls with the help of two sixes and three fours, followed by Younis Khan who made 36 runs with three sixes.The most successful Dutch bowler was ...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 PESHAWAR: At least 12 persons including three foreigners were killed while over 60 others sustained injuries when militants blew up their explosives-laden vehicle after storming into the compound of a five-star hotel situated on the Khyber Road here Tuesday night, police and witnesses said.The witnesses said that the attackers first opened fire at the security personnel guarding the main entrance of the Pearl Continental Hotel to clear their vehicle’s entry into the building. They took the vehicle to the parking lot of the hotel close to the mosque and blew it up killing 12 people including three foreigners and wounding 60 others, several of them foreigners. A portion of the hotel was razed to the ground while around 50 vehicles in the parking lot were damaged.The number of casualties could rise as some of the persons were reportedly trapped inside the debris, the eyewitnesses said.An eye-witness said that first he heard firing and then there was a loud bang, ...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, expressing grief and sorrow over the targeted killings in Karachi, has said that Karachi is facing more political problems instead of administrative.This PM Gilani said to a press conference chaired jointly with Governor Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah.Premier said all coalition political parties will form peace committees to abolish target killings from Karachi while after the review of a report from law enforcement agencies on Karachi violence, the CM will consult with coalition partners.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 LONDON: Junior Justice Minister Shahid Malik, who stepped down after he was drawn into a controversy over his parliamentary expenses, was cleared of wrongdoing on Tuesday and appointed to a new government post. Malik stepped down temporarily last month pending an inquiry into allegations by a newspaper that he paid below-market rent for a house, breaching the ministerial code. The Daily Telegraph made the allegation as part of a series of reports about MPs' expense claims that have angered voters and rocked Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government. But Philip Mawer, Brown's adviser on ministerial interests, concluded that Malik had not broken the ministerial code, the prime minister's spokesman said. "He (Mawer) has confirmed that the rent said to have been charged is reasonable in the light of market and other commercial considerations," the spokesman said. The government announced that Malik was being appointed to a new junior ministe...

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Sohail Ahmed said the government directed all the regulations regarding tax should be implemented.Addressing a seminar at Lahore Chamber of Commerce here, he said the board would meet its targets and goals without causing any harassment or embarrassment to the tax defaulters.The FBR chairman said the agri-tax is a sensitive issue and it is only for the parliament to take decision on it.He said the plan is in progress to bring down the inflation from 15 to 9 percent.Sohail Ahmed said the success or failure of Pakistan depends on whether the businessmen pay their tax willingly or unwillingly, adding he called upon the traders to deem the FBR their partner not a rival.The FBR chief said the blood in the body of the country is Rs1100 billion collected by the FBR.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 LONDON: South Africa defeated New Zealand by just one run on the final ball in an exciting finish in their final Group D match of the ICC World Twenty20 here at Lord’s on Tuesday.Set an easy winning target of 129 runs, South Africa succeeded in restricting New Zealand to 127-5 in the allotted 20 overs.Brendon McCullum was looking dangerous, hitting 57 from 53 balls with six fours and he was in a position to take his team to victory but after he departed at 93 in 17 overs, Ross Taylor (22) and Jacob Oram (24) batted brilliantly but could not achieve the target by just two runs.For South Africa, Rvd Merwe claimed two wickets for only 14 runs from his four overs while Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis took one wicket each.Earlier, New Zealand bowlers restricted South African batsmen to 128 runs for seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs.After New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to field, South Africa batted cautiously as their openers captai...

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India want peaceful relations with Pakistan and optimistic that Pakistan would play its role for peaceful environment.Talking to media here, Indian premier said Pakistan should take action against terrorists and eliminate their network. Pakistani government is capable of eliminating terrorism and India will welcome measures that would be taken to root out terrorism. Manmohan said India would continue its cooperation with neighboring countries as unrest in neighboring countries affects India’s progress.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 DONETSK: Two miners were killed and 10 reported missing Monday in a coal mining accident in eastern Ukraine, a government official said, as relatives kept a tearful vigil at the mine."Two bodies were found," a spokesman for the ministry, Igor Krol of the country's emergency situations ministry told media. Out of 51 miners working in the mine at the time of the accident, 38 had able to escape to the surface, he said. "One injured person was brought back to the surface by rescue workers and the fate of 10 miners remains unknown," Marina Nikitina, a spokeswoman for the State Committee on Workers' Safety, said earlier. She indicated there seemed to have been an eruption of methane gas three times above the accepted safety norm. Some of the other escapees had been hospitalised and all work at the mine had been suspended, she added. Earlier reports had spoken of 53 miners and 12 missing, and rescue workers at the entrance to the mine told me...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 SEOUL: North Korea sentenced two female US journalists to 12 years in a labour camp Monday for illegal entry and an unspecified "grave crime," further fuelling tensions with Washington after testing a nuclear bomb. US President Barack Obama was "deeply concerned" about the sentences handed down to Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and his government was using "all possible channels" to obtain their release, the White House said. A five-day trial "confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the official Korean Central News Agency said, without explaining the crime. The Central Court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday the charges against the pair were baseless and they should be allowed to return home. Clinton also said the United States was considering putting North Korea back on its terroris...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday it was open to talks on keeping a US military presence on its territory, in a possible softening of line over the eviction of a base key for coalition operations in Afghanistan."Kyrgyzstan is prepared to discuss the question of the use of its territory for assisting anti-terrorism coalition forces in Afghanistan with all interested sides," Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbaev told state news agency.The Kyrgyz government had announced it was evicting the US military from the airbase at Manas after Moscow agreed to provide over two billion dollars worth of loans and aid to the impoverished former Soviet republic.Since the closure was announced, Washington has secured transit routes for non-lethal cargo through several other Central Asian states, but the agreements do not address the problem of troop and military material transport.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 DONETSK: Rescue teams on Tuesday pressed on with efforts to find seven miners missing deep underground in Ukraine's Donbass coalfield more than 24 hours after an accident that killed six of their comrades.Rescue workers have conceded there is little chance of finding the missing men alive at the Skochynsky colliery, with gas levels still high and underground temperatures of 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). Thirty-one teams of rescue workers and medics have been dispatched to the mine in Donetsk, the coalfield's main centre.Officials say the accident, 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below the surface, was caused by a release of methane and a rock fall during maintenance work at the pit, equipped with some of Ukraine's most sophisticated safety equipment.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 ASADABAD: A blast near a U.S. troop convoy in Afghanistan killed at least one child and wounded 34 civilians on Tuesday, officials said, but witnesses blamed a U.S. soldier for throwing a grenade into a crowd. Abdul Jalal, chief of police in Kunar province, said officials were investigating whether the blast in the provincial capital Asadabad caused by a grenade thrown by U.S. troops or by an insurgent attack.A U.S. military spokesman in Kabul said he was checking the reports. Several of the wounded and other witnesses told a U.S. soldier had thrown a grenade after the military convoy had stopped because a vehicle's tyre had burst.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 WASHINGTON: The White House has expressed confidence in getting Congressional approval for a $100 billion Afghanistan and Iraq wars spending bill also containing funds to assist Pakistan meet its “critical needs” in economic, humanitarian and security areas. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday afternoon that the White House is working to get the congressional endorsement for the funding bill within four weeks before President Barack Obama attends G-8 Summit on July 8-10.Besides, seeking around one billion in economic and security assistance for Pakistan, President Obama last week asked Congress for additional $200 million in humanitarian assistance to help Islamabad deal with humanitarian crisis following displacement of more than 3 million people from Malakand conflict region. “I think the administration believes that we can work with Congress to ensure the necessary and important funding is there for our missions in Afghanistan and Iraq; that mon...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 BARCELONA: Gabon announced the death of President Omar Bongo Ondimba, Africa's longest-serving leader, whose rule was tainted by corruption, and locked its borders as thoughts turned to succession. After Bongo's prime minister confirmed news of the 73-year-old's death in a private clinic in Barcelona, Spain, officials in the west African nation announced 30 days of national mourning, with all flags flown at half-mast. Bongo's body is to be repatriated to Libreville on Friday, so a ceremony can be held in Spain, a Gabon official told foreign news agency in the Spanish port city. The official funeral will be held in Gabon between Friday and June 15, he added.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 NEW YORK: Pakistan's politicians and armed forces are showing more cohesiveness in the fight against Islamic extremists and public opinion is increasingly on the government's side, the U.S. envoy to the region said on Monday. "Public opinion is solidifying behind the government. People are really fed up with what the Taliban and the other extremists have done," Richard Holbrooke told shortly after arriving in the United States from Pakistan. Pakistan's military has been fighting the Taliban in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, for more than a month after the militants took advantage of a peace pact to conquer new areas in the region. It remains "critically important" that the campaign against the Taliban and other extremists should succeed and that an estimated 2.5 million refugees displaced by fighting should be able to return home securely, he said."So this is far from over," Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy f...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 LONDON: British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown faced down critics in his Labour party Monday, admitting weaknesses but pledging to change in a confrontation likely to win him some respite after a week of turmoil.After seven turbulent days which saw the resignation of 11 ministers, reports of an attempted coup and historic drubbings in local and European elections, Brown promised to fight on but said Labour must reunite. "I have my strengths and I have my weaknesses. I know there are some things I do well, some things not so well," he told a weekly meeting of Labour MPs.But he said: "You solve the problem not by walking away but by facing it and doing something about it." Labour was beaten into third place in Thursday's European elections, behind the main opposition Conservatives and the once fringe anti-Europeans the UK Independence Party (UKIP), in a humiliating defeat for the ruling party.The closed-door meeting on Monday night was the fir...

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 LONDON: Gordon Brown faces renewed pressure on his leadership after Labour came third behind the Conservatives and UKIP in the European elections.During a night of unremitting gloom for Downing Street, the British National Party won its first two European seats.With Labour garnering just 15% of the vote, it is the party's lowest share since the First World War - and below supporters' worst expectations.Deupty party leader Harriet Harman told media, "This was a very, very big defeat for the Labour Party, what it should tell us is we have to sort out the economy so people feel secure in their financial future."But she defended the Prime Minister saying: "It is not his fault that there is a global financial economic crisis."She added, "His expertise and understanding of the economy will see us through."In the South East, Labour ended up fifth in terms of the share of the vote - behind the Conservatives, UKIP, Liberal Democrats ...

Abdul Qadir has resigned as Pakistan's chief selector, barely six months into his stint. The move comes the morning after a dispiriting defeat to England in the ICC World Twenty20 in England, but it is believed that was not the spur for the decision. "Abdul Qadir has handed in his resignation to the chairman of the board and it has been accepted," Salim Altaf, chief operating officer PCB, told Cricinfo. "No reason has been given to us by Qadir." Wasim Bari, the board's HR head, also confirmed that no reason had been provided by Qadir. "All we know is that he handed in his resignation and it was accepted," he said. The status of the other members of the three-man selection committee, ex-Test cricketers Salim Jaffer and Shoaib Mohammad, is for the moment unaffected. "Only Qadir has handed in his notice," Bari said. Cricinfo understands, however, that differences had arisen between the chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt, and Qadir. In particu...

LONDON: Pakistan will face Netherlands in a crucial T20 World Cup cricket tournament match today.After a disappointing performance of Younis Khan XI against England, today’s match is vital for Pakistan, as green shirts should beat Netherlands with a big margin to get entry into super-eight stages. . In the second match, South Africa meet New Zealand at 10:30 PST.