Text messages help quitting smoking

A new study found that text messages are a very convenient way for smokers to receive support to quit.

People trying to quit smoking are twice as likely to give up if they receive a text message encouraging them. Smokers described text to stop smoking like having a friend encouraging them. It helps people resist the temptation to smoke. British doctors recruited 5,800 smokers and randomly assigned them either to a group that received specially-tailored SMS. Smokers in the control group received bland SMSes every fortnight whereas the other group received encouraging messaging to quit smoking. After six months, 10.7 percent in the SMS support group had been continuously sober, but this was only 4.9 percent in the control group. Thus the study concluded that encouraging texts can be very helpful for the smoker to quit.

HIV-infected patients in Kenya who received text reminders about taking daily AIDS drugs were 12 percent likelier to achieve full adherence to their drug as compared to their counterpart.

China agrees to control Gwadar Port, Raisani rejects decision

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said that China and Pakistan have agreed to work jointly to establish peace in the region. China will be handed over the control of Gwadar Port when Singapore Auhtority’s tenure would come to an end.

He revealed that China has also decided to give FC-20 jets to Pak Air Force while Pakistan had requested China to give a frigate of 44,000 tonnes weight on credit.

On the other hand, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawaz Aslam Raisani has rejected the decision of handing over the Gwadar Port to China because the federal government did not take the provincial government into confidence. He said that Balochistan government has ability to handle the port.

NATO leaders endorse 2014 Afghan exit plan

NATO heads of the states have endorsed the repatriation plan of the coalition forces from Afghanistan till 2014. The Secretary General of NATO Andre Rasmussen has said that there are no more safe hide-outs of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan but even then the coalition forces would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Addressing a press conference alongwith UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Lisbon after the meeting, Rasmussen said that the process of giving the control of Afghanistan to the Afghan security forces has been initiated. He also said that the Afghan forces would start leading the security operations by next year and would take complete control of their country by 2014. Rasmussen told the media that Taliban should not dream of regaining power in Afghanistan as the coalition forces would remain inside Afghanistan even after 2014.
More or less 130,000 ISAF personnel are present in Afghanistan right now and of them most belong to the USA.

Plane with 68 onboard crashes in Cuba

HAVANA: A plane carrying 68 people crashed in central Cuba on Thursday night, the Cuban national television reported.

The ATR-72 turboprop plane of the state-run Aero Caribbean airline crashed near the village of Guasimal, 355 km east of Havana, in the central Sancti Spiritus province, the Civil Aeronautics Institute of Cuba (IACC) said.

There were no reports on the casualties so far.

The plane, with 61 passengers and seven crew members including 28 foreigners onboard, was flying to Havana from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba at 4:45 p.m. (2145 GMT).

The plane lost contact with the control tower at 5:42 p.m. local time (2242 GMT).

An emergency committee has been formed to investigate the accident. An Il-18 plane of the Aero Caribbean airline crashed in mount Isabel de Torres in the Dominican Republic in 1992, killing all 34 people

Afghan governor says district captured from Taliban

KABUL: An Afghan governor said Monday that security forces had recaptured a remote southern district that had been overrun by Taliban guerrillas.

Rebels stormed Khogyani district in the troubled province of Ghazni late Sunday, seizing the local administration, provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada told reporters.

“This morning our national security forces — police, army and intelligence — mobilised and took back the control of the district,” he said in Ghazni, the provincial capital.

“Our security forces are stationed in the district. They are in control now,” he said, declining to give further details.

He said Afghan officials were investigating possible casualties among the local administrators and a small police contingent based in the district.

The Taliban are waging a war against President Hamid Karzai’s Western-backed administration

NRO beneficiaries resign voluntarily; no threat to govt: Gilani

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani once against has asked National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) beneficiaries including Interior Minister Rehman Malik to resign voluntarily, adding that there is no threat to the present democratic set up.

During his meeting with anchor persons on Sunday, he said that those who talk against the democracy would be discouraged. He also said that no one has right to re-write the constitution.

PM Gilani said that the army is under the control of the center.

In his unusual gesture with confidence, PM Gilani said he would appear before the court, if called.

He informed the media anchors that Swiss cases against President Zardari couldn’t be opened. The government is not doing unconstitutional works.

PM Gilani said that he felt nothing for being removed. The parliament

Boss Engira Baskaran

The Arria – Nayanthara film ‘Boss Engira Baskaran‘ has been ratified by the film can be watched by people of all ages. The film won, who went to the control on a clean U certificate. Proposals is a romantic comedy directed by Rajesh of the ‘sword Manasula Sakthi’. The film is released on Sept. 10. Red Giant, who has a track record of very decent to make a movie with the successful promotion of the marketing of this movie as well.

‘Boss Engira Baskaran’ waiting for many reasons. Arya is one for the first time I have done comedy. Another reason for that was not good that is speculated this film to be the final film of Nayanthara in Tamil. Nayanthara but did not say anything about plans for her retirement.

‘Islamabad is not an easy destination to fly into’

KARACHI: The captain of the passenger jet that crashed in the hills of Islamabad on Wednesday was a top professional flying into one of the most testing airports for pilots, a colleague said.

“Islamabad airport”s location is not an easy destination to fly into,” Hashim Raza Gardezi, a former colleague of Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry who piloted the doomed Airbus A-321, said.

The craggy Margalla Hills to the north of the capital and unpredictable wind patterns can make an approach extremely difficult he said, going so far as to describe Islamabad as “one of the worst weather conditions in the world”.

“Irregular wind systems surround the Margalla Hills often make it difficult for the pilots while in the air,” Gardezi, a pilot for state Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), said.

Flight 202 from Karachi was coming into land at Benazir Bhutto International airport when witnesses saw a jet flying at unusually low altitude then heard a loud boom.

Gardezi said that Chaudhry, was a true professional.

“Chaudhry was one of the finest professionals in this field… who never took unnecessary risks during his professional career.”

Procedures for safe landing at Islamabad advise pilots not to descend lower than 1,000 feet (300 metres) unless they have full visibility of the runway.

Gardezi said half an hour before the crash, a PIA flight was diverted to the eastern city of Lahore owing to poor weather conditions.

“With the experience Chaudhry had, I suppose the weather had got better by then prompting him to go for landing,” he told Geo television.

Pakistan”s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the pilot had been in contact with the control tower at the airport until just before the crash.

“In the last conversation with the control tower, the pilot had been given landing clearance and the plane was proceeding normally for landing before it crashed into the hills,” said Riaz-ul-Haq, the authority”s deputy director.

The civil aviation authority said all possible causes would be investigated, including terrorism and bad weather, although officials gave no indication that an attack might have been to blame.

Airliner crashed in Margalla Hills

ISLAMABAD: An airliner carrying 159 passengers and crew members lost contact with the control tower of Islamabad airport and crashed in Margalla Hills near here on Wednesday.

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Airliner crashed in Margalla Hills

Airplane carrying 150 crashed in Margalla Hills

ISLAMABAD: An airliner carrying 159 passengers and crew members crashed in Margalla hills after losing contact with the control tower of Islamabad airport.

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Airplane carrying 150 crashed in Margalla Hills

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