Soldiers Close In On Taliban Nerve Centre

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani soldiers closed in on two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan on Saturday, officials said, as government jets pounded insurgent hide-outs and the prime minister said the country had no choice but to defeat the militants.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani soldiers closed in on two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan on Saturday, officials said, as government jets pounded insurgent hide-outs and the prime minister said the country had no choice but to defeat the militants.

‘We are at war,’ Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a press conference in the city of Peshawar, where a militant car bombing a few days ago killed more than 115 people. ‘Our civil leadership, our military leadership and political leadership … we are on the same page that we have to fight the militancy. We do not have any other option because their intentions are to take over’ the country.

Pakistan is currently involved in an escalating fight with the militants. Two weeks ago, the government launched the offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region, viewed as the main stronghold in the country of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The offensive has drawn retaliatory militant attacks across Pakistan.

In South Waziristan, the army said it had surrounded the key Taliban stronghold of Sararogha on three sides and had reached the outskirts of Makeen, which it called ‘the nerve center’ of the Pakistani Taliban.

Government soldiers had killed a total of 33 militants over the past 24 hours, discovered a factory for making roadside bombs and seized a handful of weapons, the army said in its Saturday statement.

Pakistani forces were facing stiff resistance in the village of Kaniguram, with soldiers fighting house to house and taking mortar and sniper fire as they searched for more militants.

Four Pakistani soldiers had been injured in fighting in South Waziristan over the past day, the report said.

On Saturday, seven paramilitary soldiers driving through the Khyber tribal area were killed in a roadside bomb planted by suspected Taliban militants, said local official Ghulam Farooq Khan. The area is famed for the Khyber pass, the main route for ferrying supplies to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

That attack came as Pakistani jets bombed three hide-outs of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the Orkazai tribal region, killing at least eight militants and wounding several others, intelligence officials said. Another airstrike, about 70 kilometers from the first and near the Afghan border, killed seven militants in the Kurram tribal region, the officials said.

The veracity of the reports could not be confirmed. Authorities have effectively sealed off the tribal areas, semiautonomous regions where the central government in Islamabad has long had only minimal authority, and it is all but impossible to independently verify such claims.

Pakistan appears eager to prove that it is moving aggressively against the militants after a three-day visit earlier this week by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton said she found it ‘hard to believe’ that no one in Pakistan’s government knew where Al Qaeda leadership was hiding and warned that once the current offensive is finished, ‘the Pakistanis will have to go on to try to root out other terrorist groups, or we’re going to be back facing the same threats.’

In Karachi, police arrested three suspected militants Saturday and seized 30 kilograms of explosives and other weaponry. The men were involved in kidnappings for ransom and bank robberies to help fund the Taliban, said senior police officer Fayyaz Khan.

In North West Frontier Province, the local government said it was reopening schools starting Monday, two weeks after schools across the country closed when the offensive set off a string of retaliatory attacks.

‘There are (general) security threats, but we will fight back,’ Mian Iftikhar Husain, the provincial information minister, told reporters in Peshawar. Most of Pakistan’s schools reopened last week.

India Outclass Australia To Take 2-1 Lead In ODI Series

NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit impressive half-centuries to steer India to a six-wicket victory in the third one-day international against Australia here on Saturday. Yuvraj top-scored with 78 while Dhoni hit an unbeaten 71 as India surpassed the 230-run target with 10 balls to spare in the day-night encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. The duo put on 148 runs for the fourth wicket off 173 balls on a challenging track to pull India out of trouble after they were reeling at 53-3 in the 16th over.

NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit impressive half-centuries to steer India to a six-wicket victory in the third one-day international against Australia here on Saturday.

Yuvraj top-scored with 78 while Dhoni hit an unbeaten 71 as India surpassed the 230-run target with 10 balls to spare in the day-night encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

The duo put on 148 runs for the fourth wicket off 173 balls on a challenging track to pull India out of trouble after they were reeling at 53-3 in the 16th over.

Yuvraj, named man of the match, smashed eight fours and two sixes in his 96-ball knock before being trapped leg-before by one-day debutant Moises Henriques in the 44th over.

Dhoni then guided his side to victory and a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series.

‘India definitely outplayed us today,’ Australian captain Ricky Ponting said.

‘We were in a good position when we reduced them to 53 for 3. We needed to take a couple of wickets in the middle of the innings but Yuvraj and Dhoni were superb. We had our moments but did not capitalise.’

Led by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (2-41), India’s slow bowlers did well to restrict the world champions to 229-5, built around a fine 82-ball 81 by middle-order batsman Michael Hussey.

Ponting, opening the innings, scored 59 while Shane Watson contributed 41 at the top of the order.

‘On this wicket, I think everybody bowled well,’ said Dhoni. ‘If there was no dew, 220-230 could have been difficult to chase.

‘But with Yuvraj at the other end it is always easy. We wanted to play out their best bowlers and go after their part-timers. All in all, it was a great team effort.’

Australia began their defence on a promising note, dismissing Virender Sehwag (11), Sachin Tendulkar (32) and Gautam Gambhir (six) inside 16 overs but lost their way thereafter.

Sehwag was bowled through the gates off left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson (1-43) after he was hit on the foot in the previous over by fast bowler Peter Siddle.

Tendulkar (32) was run out by a direct throw from Johnson from mid-off while Gambhir fell to off-spinner Nathan Hauritz (1-48).

Earlier, Hussey hit his third half-century of the series and shared 56 runs with Ponting after the world champions won the toss and elected to bat.

Watson made up for his disappointing batting in the first two matches, stroking a fine 41 off 59 balls with five fours and sharing 72 runs for the opening wicket with Ponting off 98 balls.

The Australian captain, taking the opener’s role for only the second time in his 327-match one-day cricket career, completed his 72nd one-day half-century off 74 balls before falling to Jadeja.

Ponting tried to clip the spinner across the line but the ball hit the base of the pads right in front of the stumps. He hit four fours in his measured 92-ball knock.

Hussey, who scored 73 at Vadodara and followed it up with a 53-run knock at Nagpur, accumulated his runs through some hard running between the wickets. He hit just three fours and one six, that too in the 50th over.

The fourth match will be played in Mohali on Monday. — AFP

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half: Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), India’s No. 2 mobile operator, said quarterly net profit fell more than half, as network expansion costs, derivative losses and low-paying users weighed. India’s mobile industry, the world’s fastest-growing major market, is becoming increasingly competitive, with existing players cutting rates to attract subscribers before four new firms start operations this year.

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half:Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), India’s No. 2 mobile operator, said quarterly net profit fell more than half, as network expansion costs, derivative losses and low-paying users weighed.

India’s mobile industry, the world’s fastest-growing major market, is becoming increasingly competitive, with existing players cutting rates to attract subscribers before four new firms start operations this year.

The Mumbai-based firm, which trails market leader Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), said net profit fell 51.7 percent to 7.40 billion rupees ($158 million) for its fiscal second-quarter ended in September, from 15.31 billion a year earlier.

The company had to provide for foreign exchange losses of 2.83 billion rupees for the quarter, excluding which net profit would have been 10.23 billion rupees, it said in its earnings statement issued late on Saturday.

Reliance Communications in October cut all call charges to a flat 50 paise (1 U.S. cent) a minute, reacting to competition from rivals such as Tata Teleservices [TATASL.UL] that added more subscribers than market leaders during the September quarter with its new per-second bill plan.

Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani said the sector was going through a “challenging” phase in the wake of competition and price cuts, and that a market-driven industry consolidation would help.

Reliance Communications said it “fully recovered” the forex losses in October, due to subsequent favourable exchange rate movements.

Revenue for the September quarter rose 1 percent to 57.03 billion rupees from a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the company to post net profit of 12.17 billion rupees on revenue of 63.22 billion.

Reliance Communications, the majority of whose subscribers are on CDMA, earlier this year expanded its smaller GSM business to all of India with a $2 billion investment. It has said capital expenditure for the year to March would be lower by a third from its previous guidance.

The company’s shares have fallen about 43 percent in October in face of the price war. The shares had risen 6.2 percent during the September quarter, but underperformed the broader market.

source:http://www.reuters.com

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented :U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction — a position clearly at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented:U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction — a position clearly at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view.

Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it halts all settlement building on lands they claim for a future state, and they believe Israel has blatantly defied a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, Clinton said Israel is putting significant limits on settlement activity.

“What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements … is unprecedented,” she said.

The issue of settlements has become the biggest sticking point in getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Clinton made it clear that she wasn’t pleased with Israeli settlement construction but that it was no reason to hold up talks.

“There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized,” she said.

Clinton also agreed with a statement by Netanyahu that Palestinians had never demanded a settlement freeze in the past as a condition for sitting down with Israel.

Her comments appeared to represent a significant departure in tone from her previous statements demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze without exception. Israel has been resisting that demand for months, and has given no indication it would be willing to call a total freeze.

Clinton’s main aim during her one-day visit to Israel was to resuscitate the Obama administration’s flagging Mideast peace push by persuading the two sides to return to talks.yahoo news

When Do We Set Our Clocks Back 2009,Daylight Savings 2009

When Do We Set Our Clocks Back 2009,Daylight Savings 2009: Daylight savings ends November 2nd and it’s time again to move your clocks backward one hour.  You’ve heard that every six months when you “fall backwards”, it’s a good time to change the batteries in your smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, flip your mattresses and replace screens with storms windows. Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m.

When Do We Set Our Clocks Back 2009,Daylight Savings 2009:Daylight savings ends November 2nd and it’s time again to move your clocks backward one hour.  You’ve heard that every six months when you “fall backwards”, it’s a good time to change the batteries in your smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, flip your mattresses and replace screens with storms windows.

Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).

Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight time. In particular, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use it. Indiana adopted its use beginning in 2006.

In 2006, daylight time begins on April 2 and ends on October 29.
In 2007, daylight time begins on March 11 and ends on November 4. [New law goes into effect.]
In 2008, daylight time begins on March 9 and ends on November 2.
In 2009, daylight time begins on March 8 and ends on November 1.
Many other countries observe some form of “summer time”, but they do not necessarily change their clocks on the same dates as the U.S.

Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX – Standard Time.

History of Daylight Time in the U.S.
Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 30 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

During the “energy crisis” years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

For a very readable account of the history of standard and daylight time in the U.S., see

Ian R. Bartky and Elizabeth Harrison: “Standard and Daylight-saving Time”, Scientific American, May 1979 (Vol. 240, No. 5), pp. 46-53.

Jeremiah Masoli

Jeremiah Masoli: Born Jeremiah Taeatafa Masoli on August 24, 1988 in San Francisco, Calif. Parents: Kennedy and Linda Masoli. Family: Two brothers, one sister

Jeremiah Masoli:Born Jeremiah Taeatafa Masoli on August 24, 1988 in San Francisco, Calif. Parents: Kennedy and Linda Masoli. Family: Two brothers, one sister. High School: St. Louis (Hawaii) 2006. Junior College (Head Coach): City College of San Francisco (George Rush) 2008. Major: Undeclared.

Returned from brief hiatus, which forced him to miss the win at UCLA, to run for pair of touchdowns and throw for a third in win over Washington . . . His 54 rushing yards vs. the Huskies was surpassed only by his season-high 84 yards against Purdue . . . Has run for touchdowns in five of six games in which he played, and has thrown for scores in all three of his Pac-10 appearances . . . Turned in his most impressive showing of the year and one of his best of his young Oregon career, completing 84 percent of his passes for three touchdowns and no interceptions against California . . . Successful on 21 of 25 passes for 253 yards one week after completing only four of 16 attempts for 95 yards and one interception vs. Utah . . . Completed 14 of 18 passes for 116 yards and one score in less than a half vs. Washington State . . . Witnessed his string of consecutive games running for at least one touchdown snapped at six against the Golden Bears, yet still has done so 11 of his last 13 games . . . Has been victimized by interceptions only twice in 129 attempts this year, with his unblemished string extending to 65 attempts . . . Rushed for 47 yards and two scores vs. Utah – the third time in his career he has run for more than one score in the same game . . . His 27 pass attempts in a losing effort at Boise State in the season opener was third only to his 32 aerials in 2008 Holiday Bowl win over Oklahoma State and 29 at USC . . . Ranked eighth in the Pac-10 in total offense (196.2 ypg) and sixth in the league in passing efficiency, while also standing fifth in points accounted for (12.0 avg.). more info