ISLAMABAD: The government has agreed to hike price of power by 2 percent and to enforce 15 percent flood surcharge during the talks with IMF.

During the third round of talks with IMF in Islamabad, government agreed to enforce flood surcharge from April 1, finance ministry sources said.

The government also agreed to increase excise duty from 1pc to 2.5pc and to pass Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) in upcoming budget.


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LONDON: Escalating violence in Libya risks widespread disruption to global oil supplies that could send crude prices to record highs above $200, according to analysts.

This despite Saudi Arabia insisting that the current amount of crude available on the global market is "very adequate".

Libya's air force stepped up air strikes and heavy shelling was heard Tuesday on the front line, as the revolt against Moamer Kadhafi's regime entered its third week amid mounting calls for a no-fly zone over the country.

"As the violence rages in Libya, there are mounting fears that the country's supply disruptions will be prolonged and that other producers in the immediate vicinity will suffer similar outages due to political unrest," analysts at Barclays Capital wrote in a research note this week.

"The foreign companies that have evacuated their employees and halted their operations may be reluctant to restart production if the political and security environment in Libya remains unsettled," they warned. (AFP)


http://www.geo.tv/3-9-2011/79113.htm

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks third in negative influence in the world, according to a survey conducted by a British media outlet.

According to the survey, Iran is the country seen as having the most negative influence in the world, according to an annual survey of the broadcaster.

The Islamic Republic was followed by North Korea and Pakistan in the survey of negative and positive views of people in 27 countries based on events in 2010.

Germany was the most positively viewed nation, but Brazil was the big winner as its status as an emerging power was confirmed with a positive rating which rose from 40 percent to 49 percent, leaving it ranked seventh in the positive stakes.

In the year when it hosted the football World Cup, the proportion who rated South Africa positively rose to 42 percent from 35 percent last time.

Israel was ranked as the fourth most unpopular country.

The pollsters said that while views of Israel overall have not changed substantially over the past year, there had been "significant increases" in negative views of the country among Americans and Britons.

A total of 28,619 people were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone in December last year and on February 4 this year, meaning the survey was done before the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

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Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake


A massive earthquake has hit the north-east of Japan, triggering a tsunami that has caused extensive damage. Japanese television showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away by a vast wall of water after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

Officials said the wave could be 10m (33ft), and numerous casualties are feared.The quake struck about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles, shaking the capital.The tremor at 1446 local time (0546 GMT) was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks.Seismologists say it is one of the largest earthquakes to hit Japan for many years.

The tsunami warning was extended to the Philippines, Indonesia and the Pacific coast of Russia. Tsunami waves hit Japan's Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, officials said. Japan's NHK television showed a massive surge of water sweeping away buildings, cars and ships.

The earthquake also triggered a number of fires.There were reports of about 20 people injured in Tokyo after the roof of a hall collapsed onto a graduation ceremony.There were also reports of injuries in Tokyo after.

BBC News - Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

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TOKYO: A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan on Friday, causing many injuries, fires and a four-metre (13-ft) tsunami along parts of the country's coastline, NHK television and witnesses reported.

There were several strong aftershocks and a warning of a 10-metre tsunami following the quake, which also caused buildings to shake violently in the capital Tokyo.

TV pictures showed a vast wall of water carrying buildings and debris across a large swathe of coastal farmland.

Public broadcaster NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama's Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.

Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in the city of Sendai in the northeast.

"The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks," Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.

"It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago."

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers' hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, "They're still shaking!", "Are they going to fall?"
Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.

"The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn't believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo."

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.8.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

The Tokyo stock market extended its losses after the quake was announced. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Japan's northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. (Reuters)

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Saturday sought details relating the strike observed in Sindh province to protest the apex court’s ruling that removed Justice (Retd) Deedar Hussain Shah as chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Geo News reported.

According to sources, the SC sought the details in connection with the strike in Sindh from the Chief Secretary of the province.

The SC said the record of resolution passed in Sindh Assembly and the speeches made there be presented to it. The apex court also sought details from PEMRA Chairman.

The SC ordered the Sindh Chief Secretary, Secretary Sindh Assembly and Chairman PEMRA to present the report by March 14.

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"MAST TAUKALI ae DUA"

FIA arrests Hamid Kazmi from court

RAWALPINDI: The Federal Investigation Agency arrested the Former minister for religious affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, on Tuesday in Haj corruption case.

The interim bail given to Hamid Kazmi was cancelled.

FIA arrests Hamid Kazmi from court | Latest-News | DAWN.COM

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Bahrain declares martial law, Saudi troops arrive

MANAMA:
Bahrain declared martial law on Tuesday, a day after Saudi forces arrived in the Sunni-ruled kingdom to help restore calm following the weeks of protests by the island’s Shia Muslim majority.

Bahrain TV said that the king “authorised the commander of Bahrain’s defence forces to take all necessary measures to protect the safety of the country and its citizens.”

The royal order was due to came into force on Tuesday and would apply to all parts of the Gulf state, a regional oil and banking hub, with the country’s security forces taking charge for the next three months, television said.

It was not clear if a curfew would be imposed or whether there would be any clampdown on media or public gathering.

On Monday, more than 1,000 Saudi troops rolled into the kingdom in a long convoy of armoured vehicles at the request of Bahrain’s Sunni rulers, flashing victory signs as they crossed the causeway connecting Saudi Arabia to the small island.

The United Arab Emirates said it would also send 500 police.

Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia that concessions by the country’s monarchy could inspire the conservative Sunni-ruled kingdom’s own Shia minority.

Bahrain has been gripped by its worst unrest since the 1990s after protesters took to the streets last month, inspired by uprisings that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

Unlike those countries, where the mainly Sunni populations united against the regime, Bahrain is split along sectarian lines, raising the risk of a slide into civil conflict.

Sectarian clashes broke out in different parts of Bahrain overnight, with Sunnis and Shias trading accusations in the media that they had been attacked by gangs of youths.

Violent clashes between youths wielding clubs, knives and rocks have become daily occurrences, forcing Bahrain University and many schools to close in order to avoid further trouble.

In a sign that Bahrain is heading for prolonged unrest, demonstrators camped out at Pearl roundabout, the focal point of weeks of unrest, remained defiant on the Saudi intervention.

“We reject this intervention and we consider it occupation. Any foreign intervention to crush the people is occupation,” said Akeel Jaber, an activist at the roundabout.

Iran condemns

Over 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shias who complained of discrimination at the hands of the Sunni royal family. Calls for the overthrow of the monarchy have alarmed the Sunni minority, which fears that unrest could serve non-Arab Shia power Iran.

Iran, which sits across the Gulf from Bahrain, sharply criticised the Saudi intervention.

“The presence of foreign forces and interference in Bahrain’s internal affairs is unacceptable and will further complicate the issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference in Tehran.

The United States has urged Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and a key U.S. ally in the Gulf Arab region, to show restraint, though analysts said the escalation showed the limits of U.S. influence when internal security was threatened.

In a sign that security in Bahrain could deteriorate, the U.S. State Department advised against all travel to the island due to a “breakdown in law and order.”

Source: Bahrain Martial Law

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Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga

TOKYO: Japan’s prime minister said on Tuesday that radioactive levels had become high around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant after an explosion there, and there was a risk of radiation leaking into the atmosphere.

Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km of the facility north of Tokyo to remain indoors and the French embassy in the capital warned in an advisory that a low level of radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within 10 hours.

Tuesday’s explosion was the third at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

Authorities have been trying to prevent meltdowns in all three of the Fukishima Daiichi complex’s nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool them down.

As concern about the crippling economic impact of the double disaster mounted, Japanese stocks plunged 7.0 per cent to their lowest level in nearly two years, compounding a drop of 7.6 per cent the day before.

The full extent of the destruction wreaked by last Friday’s massive quake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

Kan has said Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world’s third-biggest economy back into recession.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world’s fourth most powerful since 1900.

Car makers, shipbuilders and technology companies worldwide scrambled for supplies after the disaster shut factories in Japan and disrupted the global manufacturing chain.

“Not Chernobyl”

The fear at the Fukushima complex, 240 km north of Tokyo, is of a major radiation leak after the quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. The complex had already seen explosions at its No. 1 and No.3 reactors.

Jiji news agency said Tuesday’s explosion had damaged the roof and steam was rising from the complex. It also reported some workers had been told to leave the plant, a development one expert had warned beforehand could signal a worsening stage for the crisis.

The worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 has drawn criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and revived debate in many countries about the safety of atomic power.

Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany said it was scrapping a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations. The White House said US President Barack Obama remained committed to nuclear energy.

Whilst the Fukuskima plant’s No.1 and No.3 reactors both suffered partial fuel rod meltdowns, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had earlier said the No. 2 reactor was now the biggest concern.

A sudden drop in cooling water levels when a pump ran out of fuel had fully exposed the fuel rods for a time, an official said. This could lead to the rods melting down and a possible radioactive leak.

TEPCO had resumed pumping sea water into the reactor early on Tuesday.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl,” Murray Jennex, a nuclear expert at San Diego State University, said earlier. “At Chernobyl you had no containment structure — when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

An explosion at the Soviet Chernobyl plant sent radioactive fallout across northern Europe.

US warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation.

The US Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

France’s ASN nuclear safety authority said the accident could be classified as a level 5 or 6 on the international scale of 1 to 7, putting it on a par with the 1979 US Three Mile Island meltdown, higher than the Japanese authorities’ rating.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency has rated the incidents in the No.1 and No.3 reactors as a 4, but has not yet rated the No. 2 reactor.

Towns flattened

About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co.said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened,” said the Red Cross’s Fuller in Otsuchi, a town all-but obliterated. “The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population, could have died and I do fear the worst.”

Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.


Japan warns radioactive levels high around plant after blast | Scitech | DAWN.COM

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Raymond Davis released: Rana Sanaullah

LAHORE:
US national Raymond Davis, the accused in the double-murder case in Lahore has been released, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed on Wednesday. The Punjab government claims it played no part in the release of Davis.

Sanaullah added that the families of the victims in the Lahore shooting pardoned Davis, and have signed pardon papers in this regard.

“The court first indicted him but the families later told the court that they have accepted the blood money and they have pardoned him,” Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told Reuters.

“The court acquitted him in the murder case.”

The minister said the case had been settled with blood money, or “diyat” — a provision commonly used under Islamic sharia law in which compensation can be paid to relatives of those killed to secure a pardon.

Questionable pardon

Lawyers of the victims’ families claim the families were forcibly taken to Kot Lakhpat Jail by unidentified men and made to sign papers pardoning Davis.

Another laywer for the families, Nauman Atiq, confirmed the lawyers were held at the court and ordered not to speak to media.The Davis case had sparked angry protests by religious groups who had called for the American to be hanged for double murder.

No contact has been made with any members of the family as yet.

Initial reports from sources state that Davis has been flown to London.

Court reversal

Earlier in the day, a sessions court judge in Lahore had formally indicted US national Davis.

According to Express 24/7 correspondent Muhammad Rizwan, in the hearing that took place at Kot Lakhpat jail, Davis’ counsel Zahid Hussain Bokhari tried to stall the ruling saying he did not trust the investigation process. However, the judge ignored his statement and formally indicted the accused.

Davis was only indicted for double murder and not for other charges like espionage.

Davis was arrested after he killed two Pakistanis, Faizan and Faheem, in Lahore’s Mozang area, on January 27, 2011.

In the last hearing, Davis had refused to receive any documents or sign the charge-sheet. His attorneys had said they had received it on his behalf and had asked the court to include it in its orders. According to sources they had sought further time to prepare for the trial.

Charge-sheet

Earlier, on February 15, 2011, the police had submitted a 25-page charge-sheet in the court declaring that Davis had murdered two people and was not acting in self-defence.

The charge-sheet stated that Davis’ self-defence plea was false as it was intentional murder. It read that the guns recovered from the possession of the deceased were not loaded and they had also not pointed a gun at Davis. Fingerprints were found on the pistols’ triggers and on bodies of the deceased and tests show that the bullets remained in the magazines of their guns, not the chambers.

The charge-sheet also stated that the police had recovered a GPS tracker, mobile phones, wireless sets, a survival kit and photographs from Davis’ car. The accused, it says, is uncooperative with the police during investigation.

The charge-sheet also contained the statements of 47 witnesses, who have said that Davis did not shoot the men in self-defence. They also said that Davis had shot directly at the two boys and kept shooting even when one of them tried to flee.

Immunity

The Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled on Monday that the matter of immunity for Davis will be decided by the trial court, and disposed of all petitions challenging his diplomatic status in Pakistan.

Source: Raymond Released

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Raymond Davis saga: Victims' families leave country say sources

LAHORE:
Initial media reports surrounding the release of Raymond Davis suggest that the families of the victims killed in the Lahore shooting have left the country on a second plane. Their neighbours say they haven’t seen the families in two days and that their homes are empty and locked.

Sources say an aircraft carrying more than 10 people left Lahore airport and is headed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. They also say the families have been given Green Cards and homes in New York state and Washington DC.

Source: Victims' Families Leave Country

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