Protesting pensioners march on Greek parliament

They were briefly blocked by riot police vans and security officers close to the prime minister s office, but the vans then parted and let them continue their protest. At one stage an elderly protester fainted, collapsing on the ground and having to be helped by fellow protesters. “Disgrace” and “Shame to those who govern us” shouted the several hundred senior citizens, many saying they were living off pensions as low as 400 euros, making living conditions difficult. They were also protesting planned cost cuts to the country s health care system, to be initiated following the passing of a health care reform bill on Wednesday. As part of economic reforms that were introduced in March, the government has slashed pension supplements and frozen pension rises in order to cut state costs. It has also merged several social security programs together into just a few.

ICC Rejected Extension Request Of KolKata

ICC has rejected the extension request from Kokatta for 10 days. BCCI has moved the request from The Cricket Association of Bengal to ICC to extend the deadline to Eden Garden for 10 more days. The request of BCCI about the rejection has been rejected by the ICC. The match of 27th February between India and England has been ruled out by ICC after they found construction work of the venue incomplete.

BCCI’s chief has forward the letter to ICC’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat and request to hold the match at Eden Gardens. Haroon Lorgat said that he has informed BCCI chief that there is too much planning and logistic involved in it so they could not act on his request.

In the request moved by The Cricket Association of Bengal the have ensured that the ground will be ready to play till the date of the match. ICC has strong stance on the issue and said that it should be ready on the schedule time. ICC has already given extension after the first extension. Now after on the deadline the ground is still not complete so they have cancelled the match between India Vs England on the venue. The new venue still not decided.

Leaks Show Palestinians Giving Much Ground to Israel

Breaking News

JERUSALEM: Palestinian negotiators secretly told Israel it could keep swathes of occupied East Jerusalem, according to leaked documents that show Palestinians offering much bigger peace concessions than previously revealed.

The documents, obtained by the Al Jazeera television channel, could undermine the position of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose public declarations about Jerusalem are at odds with what his officials were promising in private.

Equally sobering for the Palestinian people, who want to create a state on land Israel seized in a 1967 war, is the fact that Israel offered nothing in return for the concessions and turned down their offer, saying it did not go far enough.

The leaked minutes of a 2008 meeting between Palestinian, U.S. and Israeli officials showed a senior Palestinian proposing that Israel annex all but one of its major Jerusalem settlements as part of a broad deal to end their decades-old conflict.

Al Jazeera said Sunday it had other documents that it would publish shortly showing the Palestinians were also ready to make other massive concessions on the hugely sensitive issue of the right to return for Palestinian refugees.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat went on the defensive, dismissing the documents as “a bunch of lies” during an appearance on Al Jazeera shortly after they were released.

In a heated exchange, Erekat was confronted by critics including Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al -Quds al-Arabi newspaper, who asked him who had authorized him or the Palestinian leadership “to give up Islamic holy sites.”

One document quoted Erekat as telling an Israeli official: “It is no secret that …we are offering you the biggest Yerushalayim in history.” He used the Hebrew word for Jerusalem.

Ahmed Qurie, the lead Palestinian negotiator in 2008, was quoted as proposing that Israel annex all Jewish settlements in Jerusalem except Har Homa. He also said Israel could keep control of a part of the Old City of Jerusalem.

“This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition,” the document quoted Ahmed Qurie as saying.

He added that the Palestinians had refused to make such a concession during negotiations led by the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 2000.

Fire at Hafeez Centre reduces valuables to ashes

Valuables worth millions of rupees burnt to ashes in a fire that0 broke out at Hafeez Centre, trendpk.Com reported on Thursday.

The fire broke out at Bismillah Mobile Shop at the ground floor of Hafeez Centre. However, the adjacent shop owners managed to extinguish the fire before fire fighters arrived. The shop owners were seen running out of the Center to save their lives while Rescue 1122 teams also reached the site.

The fire fighters managed to douse the fire. The cause of fire was said to be short-circuiting.

Dilshan’s double strike puts Sri Lanka on top

COLOMBO: Part-time bowler Tillakaratne Dilshan snapped up two West Indies wickets within the space of three balls to tilt the balance of the second test in Sri Lanka’s favour on the third day on Thursday.

At the close West Indies were 165 for five in reply to Sri Lanka’s 387 for nine declared with play ending 52 minutes after tea due to bad light. West Indies trail by 222 runs.

Dilshan, bowling his off-breaks, first broke a threatening fourth wicket partnership of 83 between Darren Bravo and Brendan Nash. He trapped Nash lbw for 29 with a straight ball which the batsman played for the turn.

Two balls later Bravo, who had been batting confidently, played a loose drive and spooned the ball to cover point where Rangana Herath made a lot of ground and took a spectacular catch inches off the ground. Bravo hit a test best 80.

“That was a fantastic effort.

Zulqarnain reportedly goes missing

Staff Report

DUBAI: Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has reportedly gone missing and has not arrive with the team at the ground for the deciding One Day International (ODI) against South Africa.

Pakistan Cricket Board has contacted Dubai administration over Zulqarnain’s disappearance.

Team manager Intikhab Alam said: “I can’t make much comment on this, but I can only confirm that Haider did not come with the team to the ground and we are looking for him.” A cryptic message left as a status update on the player’s Facebook page said: “leaving pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game.”

It is not clear whether Haider has left the UAE because, generally, the passports of players are kept with management officials.

Television channels spoke to Haider’s relatives, including his brother Aqil, but they

US sentences Pakistani scientist to 86 years

NEW YORK: Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison on Thursday by a U.S. judge for shooting at her American interrogators.

Siddiqui, 38, was convicted by a U.S. jury in February on charges she grabbed a U.S. warrant officer’s rifle while she was detained for questioning in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province and fired at FBI agents and military personnel as she was wrestled to the ground.

Her conviction was widely criticized in Pakistan, where Siddiqui is believed to have been innocent and mistreated in U.S. detention.

Siddiqui was arrested in July 2008 by Afghan police, who said she was carrying containers of chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks. AGENCIES

Chilean illusionists stage amazing levitation record

CHILE: A pair of Chilean twins have broken the world levitation record by hovering above the ground for an extraordinary 200 minutes.

Nicolas Luisetti and John Paul Olhaberry staged the event in Chile’s capital Santiago to mark the country’s 200th anniversary.

The magic twins stunned thousands of passers-by as they floated above the city’s streets.

Their only visible support was a post which each had one hand placed on.

The feat, which involved the pair levitating seven metres above the ground, was broadcast on a giant screen as traffic was brought to standstill.

The crowd gathered below suggested a number of different explanations for how the twins may have carried out the stunt, including having some sort of iron bar through their clothing and attached to the pole.

The twins are already considered the most famous illusionists in

President Zardari, PM Gilani chair Sindh cabinet meeting

Staff Report

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani have chaired a meeting of the Sindh cabinet on Sunday.

The officials of the Sindh Irrigation Department briefed President Zardari and PM Gilani about the damages and devastations caused by the recent floods in the province.

The irrigation officials, contradictory to the ground realities, informed the participants of meeting that no dyke has been breached deliberately.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presented a road map of the rehabilitation of flood victims and also gave a detailed briefing on the post flood situation in Sindh. SAMAA

Conditions will set pace of Afghan pullout: Obama

WASHINGTON: The pace of a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will be determined by the conditions on the ground, US President Barack Obama said Tuesday in a landmark address to the nation.

As Obama formally declared an end to the US combat mission in Iraq, he vowed American forces fighting a Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency in Afghanistan would begin “a transition to Afghan responsibility.”

Amid growing unrest in Afghanistan, the US commander-in-chief reaffirmed US forces would begin handing over to Afghan forces next year, but appeared to temper an earlier pledge that a troop withdrawal would start in 2011.

“Next August we will begin a transition to Afghan responsibility,” Obama said in his Oval Office address, although the prepared remarks released by the White House ahead of the speech initially referred to “next July.”

He warned: “The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure.”

“But make no mistake: this transition will begin because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people”s.”

There are fewer than 50,000 troops in Iraq now, as Obama switches his focus to hunting down Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In a major speech in December unveiling a new fast-track war strategy, Obama announced he was pouring 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan, as he groped for an exit from a conflict seen by many as a Vietnam-style quagmire.

But Obama also told cadets at the West Point military academy that the American forces would start coming home from Afghanistan in July 2011.

“Within Afghanistan, I have ordered the deployment of additional troops who — under the command of General David Petraeus — are fighting to break the Taliban”s momentum,” Obama said Tuesday.

“As with the surge in Iraq, these forces will be in place for a limited time to provide space for the Afghans to build their capacity and secure their own future.”

US troops will begin training and advising Afghan security forces with the aim of handing over responsibility for defense matters.

“But as was the case in Iraq, we cannot do for Afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves,” Obama said.

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