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Hameed Gul, Qureshi discuss US move regarding ISI

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:07:00 +0530

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met former ISI Director General Lt. General Hameed Gul on Thursday, and is reported to have assured him that the government would seriously look into the issue of Washington’s move to include the names of ex-ISI officials in the list of international terrorist through UN’s Security Council.

The News quoted a source as saying that both Qureshi and Gul discussed the idea of convening an immediate session of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) where Russia and China should be invited as observers to discuss the challenges confronting Pakistan, including the latest anti-Pakistan and anti-ISI campaign launched by India.

Gul said that he had suggested to the foreign minister that such a diplomatic initiative on behalf of Pakistan would help neutralize the atmosphere in favour of Pakistan.

Gul said he told the minister that it is the prime responsibility of the government to defend its individuals as well as the institutions from foreign powers inimical to its interests. (ANI)

Pakistan demands Chenab water compensation from India

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:07:00 +0530

Pakistan has demanded compensation from India for the latter allegedly stopping the flow of water of the Chenab River.

Pakistan’s Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf told journalists after the 32nd Annual Convention of Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers of Pakistan, that New Delhi must compensate Islamabad for the misuse of water flows.

The Daily Times and The News quoted Pervaiz as saying that Pakistan had registered its protest with India at every level, including the offices of the prime minister and the president, and had made it clear to New Delhi that it wanted water in compensation, adding, “We are waiting for India’s reply.”

Pakistan accuses India of violating a 1960 treaty by reducing the flow of water down the river, which flows from the Indian side of the Kashmir region into Pakistan.

India is building a dam on its part of the Chenab and Pakistan fears a shortage of water for irrigation as a result.

"We should see a mechanism is available and we should avail that mechanism to address this issue," Pakistan''s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters last month.

"I am reassured that the Indian leadership is conscious of respecting the Indus Water Treaty in letter and spirit," he was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying then.

The treaty divides up control between India and Pakistan of several rivers draining into the Indus river basin.

A World Bank team of experts conducted an inquiry into the dispute in 2005 but did not make its findings public. (ANI)

Pakistan is capable of launching nuclear missiles within ten minutes

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:07:00 +0530

Nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand has said that Pakistan is competent to launch nuclear missiles at a short notice of ten minutes in case India attacks Pakistan.

"Pakistan''s long-range Shaheen nuclear missiles were more accurate than comparable Indian missiles. No city in India was beyond the reach of Pakistan''s missiles," Samar told to a private TV channel.

Samar, a member of the team of scientists that conducted Pakistan''s nuclear tests in 1998, said that before Pakistan conducted the missile tests that equalised the ratio, India had been superior to Pakistan by a ratio of 3.5 to 1.

Talking about the payload capacity, Samar said, "The nuclear missiles tested by India had a payload capacity between eight to ten tons, while Pakistan missiles have 25 to 30 tons."

Urging political leaders not to be flexible in the face of India''s allegations, he said, the Dawn quoted him as saying, "We would have to live with respect in the region. Our weakness would strengthen our enemies." (ANI)

Names of ''bigwigs'' figure in Pak money scam: Pak PM''s interior adviser

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:06:00 +0530

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani''s Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, has said that the government would disclose the names of all ''bigwigs'' involved in the country''s biggest financial scam.

"Names of some important personalities are also coming up in investigation and they will also be disclosed when time comes," Malik said.

Pointing that some top politicians and bureaucrats might be involved in sending money aboard through illegal channels, he said, "Anyone involved in the scam will be taken to task."

He further said that eleven cases had already been registered - two each in FIA''s Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi zones and five in the Peshawar zone.

All the accused, including Rustam Ali Khan, Tariq Mehmood, Javed Khanani and Munaf Kalia were remanded in judicial custody, he added

The financial scam, in which over Rs104 billion has been sent abroad through Hawala, was exposed when Khanani and Kalia offices were sealed and their heads were arrested.

For links with Khanani and Kalia, Niyamat Mirza, the owner of Duniya Enterprises in Gujranwala, was also arrested.

As per investigation, so far Rs104 billion had been transmitted through Hawala in 543,510 transactions at Karachi from 2005 to 2006.

Giving credit to the FIA team for deciphering information from a computer, he said that due to the action by the FIA the flow of foreign exchange had swelled by millions through official channels during the past month and the rupee had appreciated against the US dollar.

"The deciphering of a computer server by forensic experts pertaining to June and July 2008 had revealed that 34,821,427 dollars, 678,809 pounds sterling, 1,896,399 yens had been sent abroad," Dawn quoted Malik as saying.

He said that foreign currency sent illegally out of Pakistan during the period amounted to 45 million dollars. (ANI)

Priests sign 1.4M pounds record deal

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:05:00 +0530

Three middle-aged Irishmen who called themselves the Priests, and signed a 1.4million pounds record deal, released their self-titled debut album in Britain two weeks ago.

The album by Eugene O''Hagan, his younger brother Martin, and their long-time friend David Delargy has entered the charts at No5, and it was released in Australia this week.

O''Hagan, who runs his parish of Ballyclare and Ballygowan in Northern Ireland, is very humble with the prospect of landing at the top of the British album charts.

“If that happens it will be another little miracle,” the Australian quoted him as saying.

“We''ll live with it if we are and we''ll live it if we''re not. We''ll just be happy if people enjoy the record.

“It''s a bit unusual and unexpected,” O''Hagan said of their sudden fame.

“It''s exciting and bewildering, too. It''s not something we do every day of our lives but we''re getting used to it,” he added. (ANI)

Parents sue school over cheerleaders’ nude photo suspension row

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:05:00 +0530

Parents of cheerleaders from two Seattle-area high school have launched a legal attack against the district for suspending the girls from the squad after nude photographs of them circulated via text message.

According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the families of two minor girls are suing Northshore School District for suspending them, and insist that the district violated girls'' due process rights.

In the lawsuit filed on November 17, the families allege it was unnecessary for school officials to share the photos with other staff members, and claim they were negligent in failing to report the matter to police as a potential case of child pornography.

Matthew King, the attorney representing the families claims that it was unfair to punish the cheerleaders but not the other students who received or forwarded the photos.

"We''re not technically challenging the sanctions as being too strict, we''re saying they weren''t evenly enforced across the school," Fox News quoted King as saying.

"There should have been some punishment meted out to those who were in possession of the photos. ... It seems like the girls are getting the brunt of it," he added.

King said he wants the disciplinary action expunged from the girls'' school records, the suspensions waved and an apology issued by the school.

However, Northshore School District attorney Mike Patterson dubbed the legal action “frivolous."

"It should never have gone to court and they (the families suing) should recognize that what happened here was created by their own doing," he said.

One of the pictures was taken three years ago and sent to the teen''s then-boyfriend. The other was snapped in June.

The lawsuits allege that the girls believed they had deleted the photos, but accidentally sent them to members of the football team. (ANI)

Emirates Airbus A380 ‘too quiet’ to allow sleep to pilots!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:47:00 +0530

Emirates Airbus A380 pilots are finding it difficult to sleep during rest breaks in the crew rest area – because the aircraft is “too quiet”.

The pilots are complaining that they cannot sleep in the crew-rest area in the rear of the main deck for they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers.

The lack of engine noise in the A380''s cabin compared with other long-haul airliners means they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers, such as crying babies, flushing vacuum toilets and call bells.

Sometimes, passengers also mistake the rest area for a lavatory, and pull the door handle.

Emirates senior vice-president, fleet, Capt Ed Davidson said that the have has asked Airbus for a solution. They have ruled out insulating the walls of the rest area, situated at the rear of the all-economy main deck.

"We are expecting to hear back from them by the middle of the month," Flightinternational.com quoted Davidson as saying.

He said that one option could be installing lightweight generators to create ambient noise.

"We''re getting a lot of complaints. It''s not something we expected.

"On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs but the cabin noise goes straight through them," he added. (ANI)

Gordon Ramsay''s alleged mistress Sarah Symonds sacked for being too indiscreet

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:46:00 +0530

Brit chef Gordon Ramsay''s alleged mistress Sarah Symonds has reportedly been sacked from her job for having been too indiscreet about her affair with him.

Symonds was working as the spokesperson for Ashley Madison Agency, an infidelity website specialising in hooking married people up behind their partner''s backs, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But, according to entertainment website TMZ.com, the 38-year-old was recently fired allegedly because she was not discreet enough.

Symonds came into the spotlight after she made claims of a seven-year affair with Ramsay, and is currently at her family home in Newport, Gwent, to escape the furore over her kiss and tell allegations. (ANI)

STD without operator’s help completes 50 years today

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:46:00 +0530

On December 5, 1958, the Queen made the first long-distance phone call without the help of an operator, making today the 50th birth anniversary of Subscriber Trunk Dialling or STD.

The Queen made the first STD call from the central telephone exchange in Bristol to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and began by saying: "This is the Queen speaking from Bristol. Good afternoon, my Lord Provost,” reports The Telegraph.

And now, to commemorate the golden anniversary of STD, some of the original engineers are returning to the exchange to re-enact the call with Richard Pyle, deputy Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, who was a telecoms engineer at the time of the first call.

But this, time the engineers would not be using a traditional dial phone as used by the Queen, but instead they’ll use video-conferencing technology to see, as well as talk to, Edinburgh.

Brian Fox, a fresh faced engineer who had only finished his apprenticeship three months before, has revealed that he stood only a feet away from the Queen when she made that historic call.

He said: "It was one of the most important days ever in telecommunications history and a huge amount of work went into making sure the day went without a hitch. The walkway from Telephone Avenue was tented and full of flowers and a powder room for the Queen was hastily provided in a converted control room.

"We stood between rows of equipment as close as we could get and watched Her Majesty dial the number. When it was all over and the Queen was leaving the Duke of Edinburgh remarked, ''you can relax now chaps, it all works''!"

The Queen’s call is considered a major milestone in the history of communications.

While STD allowed Bristol customers for the first time to dial many other parts of the UK without an operator, International subscriber dialling or ISD was introduced in March 1963, when London subscribers were able to dial Paris numbers directly. (ANI)

Consumers don''t go by the hype surrounding a gadget

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:38:00 +0530

No matter how much hype surrounds a gadget, consumers’ opinions of the device would not be affected by the claims made by its creators, reveals an Aussie survey.

The survey conducted by PC Authority magazine involved 20,000 customers and ranked several hyped items last for reliability and service.

The survey, which lasted for a year named Sony mp3 Walkmans as the best music players, followed by iRiver and Samsung units.

However, despite all the hoopla surrounding Apple''s iPod range, it did not feature in the top three consumer favourites.

Apple had launched a massive marketing campaign promoting the 4th generation iPod nano, but still Sony''s mp3 players, with forgettable names such as "NWZE436FR", were favoured for their cheaper prices.

PC Authority editor Zara Baxter said the latest iPods were rated highly for reliability, but consumers were cunning enough to realise that other music players could do the same job for less money.

In fact, Apple''s much-hyped iPhone also missed out on the best Smartphone/PDA award, which was in turn given to Asus, followed by the BlackBerry the runner-up.

However, Apple was applauded for its MacBook laptop and PC range, with consumers happy with customer support and reliability.

Nikon won the award for best digital cameras, followed by Panasonic and Canon.

The best internet service provider award went to the relatively unknown Westnet, followed by Internode. (ANI)