Wednesday, November 04, 2009 LAHORE: Pakistan downed hosts France in the World Cup qualifying round match at Lillie, France on Tuesday, Geo news reported on Tuesday.After having beaten Russia and Italy, it was being tipped as one of the toughest match for Pakistan and in this test the green shirts came out with a thumping 4-2 win. According to reports received here, Pakistan enjoyed upper hand right from the start and they went into 2-1 lead by the close of the first half. Though Pakistan was dominated most of the time, France displayed a bit of aggression after conceding the first goal. Sohail Abbas struck twice through penalty corner pushes while Akhtar Ali and Rehan Butt converted two field goals. FrTdTric Soyez and Arnaud Becuwe reduced the margin from France. Pakistan’s goals came in the 8th, 26th, 37th and 55th minutes of the match while France struck 23rd and 67th minutes. Earlier in the day, Japan beat Italy by three goals to nil. The led the match 1-0 at half time. Poland had to fight full throttle to beat Russia 2-1. Poland delivered all it has in store in the first session to go two-nil up but faced tough resistance in the second half in which Russia managed to convert one goal. Pakistan has now moved to the points table having nine points which are equal to Japan but its goal standing in much stronger than the latter. Pakistan will now face Japan today in an another tough match of the qualifying round and later tomorrow they will play Poland.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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