ISI denies role in Saleem Shahzad killing

KARACHI: Pakistan’s main intelligence agency issued a rare media statement Wednesday to deny it was behind the abduction and killing of a journalist who was investigating terrorism. Speculation that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was linked to the slaying of Syed Saleem Shahzad has added to pressure on the agency, already facing international suspicions that elements [...]

Britain welcomes Saleem Shahzad killing probe

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed his shock Wednesday over the abduction and killing of Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad and called for a transparent investigation. A 40-year-old father of three, Shahzad, vanished after leaving home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue [...]

Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. – Louis Pasteur

Syria frees hundreds of political prisoners

DAMASCUS: Syria freed hundreds of political prisoners on Wednesday, one day after President Bashar al-Assad decreed a general amnesty, a rights activist said. "Under the amnesty, hundreds of people have been released. Fifty of them are from Banias, including the 76-year-old poet Ali Derbak," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for [...]

‘Biomarker’ research is often exaggerated: study

WASHINGTON: The search for genetic or blood-based clues that point to a range of diseases has generated much excitement in recent years, but a study out Tuesday says much of that research is exaggerated. Popular studies that have been widely cited in leading medical journals were among 35 analyzed by John Ioannidis of Stanford University [...]

US should delay Pakistan aid: study

WASHINGTON: The United States should delay much of its multibillion-dollar package to Pakistan pending economic reforms as the aid has led to official inaction and public resentment, a study said Wednesday. The report by the Center for Global Development, a private Washington think-tank, comes as more US lawmakers question aid to Pakistan after US forces [...]

Ex-India policeman to head ICC anti-corruption unit

LONDON: A former Indian policeman with experience of tackling corruption is to be the new head of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), it was announced Wednesday. Yogendra Pal Singh, 55, takes over from Ravi Sawani, who is retiring having headed up the ACSU since November 2007, the ICC, cricket’s global governing [...]

Afridi accepts code violation: PCB

KARACHI: Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi, who is locked in a dispute with the sport’s administrator in the country, has admitted breaching its code of conduct, an official said Wednesday. The 31-year-old all-rounder abruptly announced his retirement from international cricket on Monday following a spat with coach Waqar Younis, accusing the leadership of the [...]

Does work interfere with breastfeeding?

NEW YORK: The sooner a new mother goes back to work after giving birth, the less likely she is to breastfeed her baby, according to a US study. Mothers in the study, published in Pediatrics, who went back to work within six weeks were less likely than other women to start breastfeeding — and when [...]

Indo-Pak Express derailed at French Open

In a thrilling three-set match that stretched over two days, the world's top men's doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna to enter the semi-final of the French Open on Wednesday. In a repeat of their triumph over the Indo-Pak Express at last year's US Open final, the Bryan [...]

How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?

'World No Tobacco Day' is observed on May 31 to encourage a one-day abstinence from all kinds of tobacco, as smoking is the second biggest cause of death globally. According to the World Health Organization, smoking kills more than 5 million people every year, including some 600,000 non-smokers who died from exposure to tobacco smoke. [...]

‘Pakistan risks becoming a polio transmission reservoir’

KARACHI: The continued transmission of polio in Pakistan has itself become a national emergency as the country risks becoming the last remaining reservoir of endemic polio transmission in the world. This was said by Director, WHO Polio Eradication Initiative for Sindh, Dr. Jamil Youssef while talking to APP here on Wednesday. While appreciating the adoption [...]

Federer earns a chance to end Djokovic’s streak

PARIS: Roger Federer was the last man to beat Novak Djokovic on a tennis court, and he can be the next one as well. The 16-time Grand Slam champion set up a delectable semifinal match against the second-seeded Serb by defeating Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3) Tuesday at the French Open. If he beats [...]

Slain journalist Saleem Shahzad laid to rest

KARACHI: Hundreds are mourning a Pakistani journalist slain this week after he reported being threatened by intelligence agents. Syed Saleem Shahzad wrote about terrorism and security for the Asia Times Online and other publications. Police said the 40-year-old’s body bore signs of torture when it was found Tuesday after he had been missing for two [...]

Shahrazad in the Capitol of Cool

G8 leaders were recently hard at work, trying to form consensus on the on-going conflicts and revolutions in the Middle East. Among the issues they pondered over was the financial support needed to sustain the struggle for democracy in Tunisia and Egypt; their continuing commitment to the fight against despotism in Libya and Syria; and [...]

Dubai police face charges in prisoner abuse case

DUBAI: Local media say Dubai prosecutors have charged 13 police officers with beating a Pakistani prisoner so badly that he later died. The National and Gulf News newspapers reported the allegations on Wednesday after they were made public during a court hearing the previous day. The officers reportedly face multiple charges including abuse of power, [...]

Coachella music festival doubling in 2012

LOS ANGELES: The Coachella music festival, the biggest annual gathering of its type in the United States, will expand to two weekends next year, its promoters said on Tuesday. The event, marking its 13th year, will take place in the southern California desert 130 miles (209 km) east of Los Angeles on April 13-15 and [...]

Lady Gaga album sells 1.1 mln copies in first week

LOS ANGELES: Flamboyant pop star Lady Gaga has sold more than one million copies of her new album to top the US pop chart for the first time, according to sales data published on Tuesday by Billboard magazine. Fans scooped up 1.11 million copies of her much-hyped release "Born This Way" during the week ended [...]

Pakistani journalist was tortured to death: police

KARACHI: Grief-stricken relatives demanded Wednesday that Pakistan investigate the torture and murder of an investigative journalist whose disappearance was blamed on the country's shadowy intelligence services. Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, vanished after leaving home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between [...]

Afghanistan discusses defence ties with India

NEW DELHI: Afghanistan’s defence minister is holding talks with Indian officials about increasing defence cooperation as his country prepares to handle its own security by 2014. Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters before Wednesday’s talks that his country would welcome help from India. A statement from India’s Defence Ministry says bilateral cooperation and [...]

Blatter set for re-election after FIFA storm

ZURICH: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to be re-elected as head of world football here Wednesday after struggling through the worst crisis of his career following weeks of damaging corruption allegations. Despite mounting calls for reform from key sponsors and demands for the vote to be postponed, Blatter is expected to earn another four-year [...]

Romanian “sound” takes over dance music scene

BUCHAREST: Like dancing and looking for new club music? Move over London and Ibiza, it’s time to check out…. Romania. Artists from this eastern European state have inched their way onto the international scene to beat out Lady Gaga for a big US dance song award, score millions of views on YouTube and sell hundreds [...]

Five killed as militants attack Pakistani checkpoint

PESHAWAR: Some 200 militants streamed over the border from Afghanistan and attacked a nearby Pakistani checkpoint on Wednesday, killing at least five security troops, police said. The incident in Upper Dir district underscores the dangers posed by the porous nature of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which both countries have struggled to control as a means of [...]

Doctor recalls treating kids from bin Laden house

ABBOTTABAD: For pediatrician Mehar Dil Wazir, they were a normal bunch of kids, like the dozens of others he treats daily for tummy upsets, coughs and colds. He thought the same about the two men who brought them to his simple clinic, a well-dressed pair who said they were cousins. But a few days after [...]

UK delays release of anti-terror cartoon movie

LONDON: It was supposed to be a warning about the perils of joining the international jihad. But those behind "Wish You Waziristan" a cartoon take on two young Britons’ tortured journey to the heart of the Taliban insurgency say officials have put the brakes on their government-funded counter-extremism project after being spooked by negative [...]

Headley: Militant had targeted Lockheed Martin

CHICAGO: An American admitted terrorist who is the US government's star witness in the trial of a Chicago businessman accused in the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks said Tuesday that another militant with ties to al Qaida had once plotted to attack US defense contractor Lockheed Martin. David Coleman Headley, who has pleaded guilty to laying [...]

Clinton, citing Syrian boy, sees ‘total collapse’

WASHINGTON: The reported torture of a Syrian boy shows the "total collapse" of Syrian authorities’ willingness to listen to anti-government protesters, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday. In some of her harshest comments about Syria’s crackdown on the protests, Clinton suggested the Assad government’s hold on power was weakening, while a US [...]

Japan PM faces party rebellion as no-confidence vote looms

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces a rebellion in his party, media said on Wednesday, that while not enough to unseat him in a no-confidence motion will weaken his struggle to cope with the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. Analysts have said Kan should survive the vote in parliament, expected to be [...]

US files new charges against Sept. 11 accused

MIAMI: US military prosecutors filed new conspiracy and murder charges on Tuesday against five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and asked that they be executed if convicted in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals. Self-described 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators were charged with conspiring with al Qaeda [...]

`Headless` NAB comes to a virtual halt

LAHORE, May 31: The National Accountability Bureau has neither been able to arrange any voluntary return and plea bargain nor filed reference of any mega scam since removal of its chairman, the former chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Deedar Hussain Shah (retired), about three months ago, Dawn has learnt. The opposition in the National [...]