West offers words, only, as Syria killing rages

AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian government artillery barrages killed dozens of civilians in Homs on Thursday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad, bolstered by Russian support, ignored appeals from world leaders to halt the carnage.

The United Nations secretary-general condemned the “appalling brutality” of the operation to stamp out the revolt against Assad, and Turkey’s ambassador to the European Union warned of a slide into civil war that could inflame the region.

Diplomats from Western and Arab powers, lining up meetings that could mean some decisions soon, condemned Assad in strong language. But having ruled out military intervention, they were struggling to find a way to convince him to step down.

Syria’s powerful ally Russia, meanwhile, said no one should interfere in the country’s affairs.

In Homs, witnesses said makeshift hospitals were overflowing in besieged opposition areas with the dead and wounded from nearly a week of government bombardments and sniper fire.

Medical supplies and food were running out and, in the streets, some of the wounded had bled to death as it was too dangerous for rescuers to bring them to safety.

The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group in Homs, put the death toll on Thursday alone as high as 110 by nightfall, though it remains impossible to verify such accounts:

“This number includes three families whose bodies were dug up from under the rubble of their homes, bodies brought to field hospitals and people who died their from their wounds today,” the group said in a statement sent to Reuters.

A Syrian doctor, struggling to treat the wounded at a field clinic in a mosque, delivered an emotional plea via YouTube video. Standing next to a bloody body on a table, the man, named only as Mohammed, said to the camera, and to the outside world:

“We appeal to the international community to help us transport the wounded. We wait for them here to die in mosques. I appeal to the United Nations and to international humanitarian organizations to stop the rockets from being fired on us.” AGENCIES

PM Gilani’s contempt case hearing underway

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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s intra-court appeal against the court order to indict him on February 13, is being heard at Supreme Court (SC), TrendPK reports Friday.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aitezaz Ahsan, who is counsel of the PM Gilani in the contempt case, is to finalize his arguments before the eight-strong bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry.

The bench includes Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Tariq Pervez, Justice Amir Haani Muslim, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. TrendPK

Memo commission resumes proceeding

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ISLAMABAD: The commission tasked with probing the alleged memo scandal has resumed its proceeding in Islamabad High Court today (Friday).

Barristar Zafarullah said “Mansoor Ijaz is a proclaimed offender in two civil suits in the top court of America.”

Mansoor Ijaz will not come to any Pakistan high commission abroad, he asserted. The high commission, he said, is Pakistani space.

In his argument, he said security situation is not too good in the US where the 9/11 happened. 

Zafarullah said it would be an insult to the commission if it decides to go abroad to record Mansoor Ijaz’ statement. TrendPK

Tri-series: Sri Lanka win toss, elect to bowl

SYDNEY: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bowl against Australia in the third match of the ODI tri-series here today.

Australia have not made any change to the side that beat India in their previous match.

For Sri Lanka, Sachithra Senanayake has replaced Thisara Perera.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Sachithra Senanayake, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Thirimanne

Australia: Michael Clarke (c), David Warner, Matthew Wade, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, David Hussey, Dan Christian, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty. AGENCIES

Great painter Sadequain’s anniversary today

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KARACHI: Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi, who is also often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, or just Sadequain is being remembered on his death anniversary today (Friday).

The great painter of Pakistan, Sadequain was born in 1930 in Amroha, UP, India. At the age of 31, his work won recognition at the 1961 Paris Biennale.

Sadequain had a prolific career and much of his work is displayed in public places. During his life, Sadequain became a cult figure with a large following from all walks of life. The content of his work has wider appeal, and the early works addressed social evils. In the later decades, Sadequain used the unifying spirit of calligraphy to appeal to the masses.

Sadequain was responsible for the renaissance of Islamic Calligraphy in Pakistan. He was one of the greatest calligraphers of his time who transformed the art of calligraphy into eye-catching expressionist paintings.

In Pakistan, the art of calligraphy was relegated to a second class status until Sadequain adapted this medium in the late nineteen sixties.

Sadequain also painted in bold form the poetic verses of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz, which illustrate his love for classical literature. He belonged to the school of thought, which enriched realism with lyricism.

Sadequain wrote thousand of quartets and published them. Sadequain is the only painter who has been copied openly and widely by many painters and even the copies fetch large sums to the copiers, an irony since the artist himself hardly ever sold his works in spite of offers coming from the royals and the common public. As an example his masterpiece rendition of Sureh-e-Rehman has been copied widely by many known painters of the modern era.

The brush strokes stopped on February 10, 1987 in Karachi, when the greatest of the painters and calligraphists was just 57. Many have imitated his work since then, but he remains to this date a very class of his own, which cannot be imitated, copied or reproduced. TrendPK

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Australia lead China 2-0 in Davis Cup

SYDNEY: Straight sets wins for Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic on Friday gave Australia a 2-0 lead over China in their best-of-five Davis Cup tie.

Veteran two-time grand slam winner Hewitt beat China’s top-ranked men’s player Zhang Ze, while Tomic saw off rising youngster Wu Di in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I first round tie.

“One day I hopefully can win the Davis Cup,” said Tomic, 19, after his 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over world number 502 Wu at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club.

Seasoned Davis Cup campaigner Hewitt, who reached the fourth round of last month’s Australian Open along with Tomic, said Wu’s form was better than his ranking.

“Wu is the best 500 player I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Hewitt defeated Zhang 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) and will now hope to win the tie when he partners Chris Guccione in the doubles on Saturday. AGENCIES

SC directs spy agencies to produce missing persons today

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ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) Friday directed the intelligence agencies to present to the court the people went missing from Adiala Jail.

Hearing a case relating the missing persons, the apex court directed Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) to bring to the court by 3PM today the persons, who went missing from Adiala Jail.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry said, “Bring the prisoners even on board helicopters. We are sitting today for the purpose.” TrendPK

Ijaz statement can be recorded via audio/video link: Justice Essa

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ISLAMABAD:  Memo Commission head Justice Qazi Essa has proposed that statement of Mansoor Ijaz can be recorded through an audio or a video link under Article 164 of the law of testimony.

Ijaz counsel Advocate Akram Sheikh said his client is ready to submit an affidavit to appear before Pakistan High Commission to record his statement.

On this, Haqqani’s counsel Advocate Zahid Bokhari said Mansoor Ijaz is a fugitive in four cases in the United States. He said Mansoor Ijaz cannot enter the United States.

Justice Qazi Essa said a senior officer could be appointed in Pakistani High Commission in London to identify Mansoor Ijaz. He proposed that Ijaz statement could be recorded under Article 164 of the law of testimony.

Bokhari said he personally doesn’t agree with the proposal. But he said he would consult his client. TrendPK

Lahore rescue operation at collapsed factory ends

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LAHORE: The death toll from a factory collapse in Lahore reached 26 while 16 injured persons were rescued alive.

The three-storey factory had crumbled to the ground on February 6 after a gas explosion.

Taking notice of the unfortunate incident, Supreme Court had summoned Punjab Chief Secretary, IGP and District Administration to appear before it.

Rescue teams today completed operation which continued for five days.

One aged lady was pulled alive after 31 hours while another man was rescued after 47 hours. However, he succumbed to his wounds at a hospital.

Rescue Officer Ahmed Raza said operation took long time to complete in a bid to save lives. TrendPK

Nokia to axe 4,000 jobs, move assembly to Asia

HELSINKI: Struggling Finnish phone maker Nokia plans to cut 4,000 more jobs at its plants in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it seeks to cut costs by moving smartphone assembly work to Asia.

The cuts of 8 percent of the phone business workforce bring total planned job cuts at the group since Stephen Elop took over as Chief Executive in September 2010 to more than 30,000.

Nokia said in a statement the job cuts would take place in phases through this year. It has been reviewing the operations since unveiling the closure of its Romania plant last September.

“This was inevitable. It was a surprise it took so long for the decision to be made,” said Steve Brazier, chief executive of technology research firm Canalys. “Stephen Elop may be a polarizing figure, but he is proving effective at driving the change and he should be credited for that.”

Nokia’s recent business results have underscored the need for drastic cuts. Late last month it reported a 73 percent fall in quarterly earnings as sales of new Windows Phones failed to dent the dominance of Apple Inc’s iPhone or compensate for diving sales of its own old smartphones.

Its fourth-quarter smartphone sales shrank 31 percent from a year ago and the business made a steep loss for the quarter.

NO MORE PHONES BUILT IN EUROPE

Nokia said it would cut 2,300 jobs in Hungary, where it is a major exporter, some 1,000 in Finland and 700 in Mexico. It will continue to tailor models for specific operators at all sites.

Its Finnish factory in Salo, which was the cornerstone for its success in 1990s, has been the last remaining major phone assembly plant in the Western Europe for some time. Most rivals have moved their production to Asia.

The Hungarian government said it regretted Nokia’s decision.

Analyst Gergely Suppan at Takarekbank in Budapest noted the highest value-added activities would stay in Hungary.

The move comes only months after Nokia closed its plant in neighboring Romania, laying off some 2,200 people there.

Finnish unions demanded hefty cash payments to laid-off staff and Antti Rinne, chief of union Pro, said the announcement was damaging for Finland’s employment outlook.

“Raising the employment level and prolonging working careers is impossible if there are no jobs in Finland,” Rinne said in a statement.

Finland has pushed for years to prolong working careers as the Nordic country struggles with a shrinking work force and sluggish economic growth.

Nokia announced in April last year it would cut 7,000 jobs and unveiled a further 3,500 job losses in September. Its network arm Nokia Siemens announced cuts of 17,000 in November.

The group had 130,000 staff at the end of 2011, including Nokia Siemens.

Shares in Nokia were 1.2 percent higher at 3.93 euros, slightly outperforming the technology share index which rose 0.3 percent, by 5:53 a.m. ET. AGENCIES

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