Multan: PML-N workers protest against leadership

Protestors also set a hunger strike camp in Ganta Ghar Chowk while binding black ribbons on their arms. A large number of party workers gathered on the point and also shouted slogans for their rights.

 

They were of the view that party leadership has rejected the senior leader Ashiq Ali Shajra and appointed Bilal Butt as district president while Tariq Rashid has been nominated as party candidate from NA 149 by sidelining the former federal minister Saeed Qureshi.

 

Protestors were of the view that if Nawaz Sharif stops preferring Zulfiqar Khosa in political affairs, party may be secured from rift in Multan.
 

SC bars PM taking car inside court’s premises

 

Supreme Court has barred Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from taking his car inside the premises of the apex court during his arrival for hearing in contempt case on Monday.

 

The Supreme Court is all set to frame charges against the Prime Minister in contempt case tomorrow for not implementing the SC verdict on NRO despite several warnings.

 

The Prime Minister has been asked by the apex court to park his car in the parking area and then walk to the court room where proceedings are to take place.
 

Pakistan, England first ODI in Abu Dhabi today

 

Pakistan insist England remain a formidable cricket side and will treated as such in their upcoming one-day series in the United Arab Emirates despite recording three resounding triumphs in the Test matches.

 

Misbah Ul-Haq s team completed a 3-nil sweep of England in the Test matches and the teams now face each other in four one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals.

 

Pakistan are high on confidence after their successes in the longer format but Misbah was adamant England were as dangers as ever.

 

“I think they are a good team, even in the one dayers. If they lost 4-0 it doesn t mean they are not a good side,” Pakistan s captain said.

 

“They are a good side and they can perform very well on their day. So we have to be aware of that and I think we have to really play good, hard cricket to beat them.”

 

Pakistan will be expected to do well but Misbah said that did not create any extra pressure on his team.

 

“Pressure is always on every player, every team whenever you play international cricket,” he said.

 

“I think it doesn t mean if you are winning it s an added pressure on you. I think it s better to take every game one by one that s what we doing and I don t think we have an added pressure.”

 

For England, the series represents the chance for some redemption after being well beaten in the test matches.

 

Captain Alastair Cook told reporters the one-dayers gave his players the chance to express themselves.

 

“Certainly the one-day game dictates that you have to be positive and we are not going to have men around the bat all the time at all. So it certainly changes your mentality as a batter, it does free you up,” he explained.

 

“And we ve got a good record against Pakistan, when we ve played against them. So certainly we have had success against these bowlers before in one day cricket, so hopefully we can, not talk of banishing memories of the test matches, but we have to free up a little bit and you have to attack and hopefully that will help us.

 

Cook added: “Obviously the test tour didn t go to plan and we didn t play very well.

 

“So a new format – the squad has introduced six fresh faces and that s brought fresh enthusiasm to the side and (it s now) a squad which over the last couple of days has trained very well, played well against the Lions, and the are very keen to start well tomorrow.”

 

England s top order came under a fire of criticism for their performances in the test matches but Cook was confident they were only one good innings away from being back to their best.

 

“You always know when you play for England it s amazing how quickly it turns around, both when you re doing well and when you re doing bad.

 

“We haven t become bad players over a two months period. Yes, our results, we haven t play well enough at all but we don t become bad players.

 

“If we can get a good performance and get our confidence back, then hopefully we can show people what we’re made of.”
 

Calm Dhoni takes India home after Gambhir heroics

ADELAIDE:  Gautam Gambhir’s 92 at the top and some smart batting by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the finish helped India chase down a 270-run target against Australia in Adelaide on Sunday for their second win in the triangular series.  

The visitors, needing 13 runs in the last over, reached the

mark with four wickets in hand and two balls to spare, aided by a huge straight six by Dhoni who remained unbeaten on 44 to see India through.  

Clint McKay, the most successful bowler for Australia on Sunday with three for 53, made it easier for the Indians by bowling a no-ball in the last over.  

Gambhir, who was rested against Sri Lanka in India’s last match, was drafted in for Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday as part of India’s rotation policy.  

Left-handed Gambhir laid the foundation for India, stitching together two fifty-run stands with fellow opener Virender Sehwag (20) and later with Rohit Sharma (33) for the third wicket.  

Suresh Raina (30-ball 38) and Dhoni then added 61 runs for the fifth wicket before Raina fell with India still needing 31 runs for victory.  

Ravindra Jadeja also departed soon but Dhoni, known for his calm demeanour on the field, stayed till the end to ensure there were no further hiccups.  

Earlier, solid half centuries from David Hussey (72) and debutant Peter Forrest (66) took Australia to 269 for eight after captain Michael Clarke opted to bat after winning the toss.  

The hosts, who had won both their earlier matches in the tournament, lost openers Ricky Ponting and David Warner within the first 10 overs.  

Clarke was also dismissed trying to boost the run rate after making a brisk 38, which reduced Australia to 81 for three wickets.  

Forrest and Hussey then added 98 runs for the fourth wicket to lay a solid foundation and Australia looked set for a 300-plus score from there.  

But India pulled things back with some tight bowling and quick wickets in the last 10 overs to restrict Australia to a smaller total.  

All-rounder Daniel Christian’s run out, one of the three in the innings, in the 48th over also robbed Australia of some vital momentum in the closing overs.  

India play Sri Lanka at the same venue in the fifth match of the triangular series on Tuesday. AGENCIES

Tri series: India beat Australia by 4 wickets

 

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni again proved the man for the occasion as he lifted his side to an extraordinary win over Australia by four wickets in their tri-series one-day international in Adelaide on Sunday.

 

Australia made 269-8 after winning the toss and electing to bat, but India replied with their best ever run chase at the Adelaide Oval to win with two balls to spare.

 

The Indians looked beaten when they needed 13 off the last over and managed just a single from the first two deliveries from paceman Clint McKay, who had been the best of the Australian bowlers.

 

Dhoni turned down the opportunity of a second run from the second ball of the over, wanting to be on strike.

 

He lived up to his confidence when he hit a massive six down the ground from the next ball to suddenly slash the target in half with three balls remaining.

 

Dhoni was caught on the mid-wicket boundary from the next ball, but it was called a no-ball for being a full toss above waist high, the Indian batsmen running two and collecting a third run for the sundry.

 

With three balls still remaining, Dhoni flicked the next ball into the leg side for the winning three runs to cap a remarkable comeback and their best performance of a generally disastrous tour.

 

Dhoni, also the hero with the bat in last year s World Cup final win, had barely taken a risk until the last over as he tried to be the anchor for the late run chase, and finished with 44 not out from 58 balls.

 

While Dhoni got India home, opener Gautam Gambhir — recalled at the expense of champion Sachin Tendulkar — laid the foundation with 92 from 111 balls.

 

He was unlucky to miss a century as he looked unfortunate to be adjudged leg before wicket to McKay.

 

Tendulkar was rested under India s rotation policy, denying the 38-year-old another chance to score his long-awaited 100th international century.

 

Australia was left rueing a host of missed run out opportunities during an unusually sloppy fielding performance.

 

The missed run outs included a regulation chance to remove Dhoni in the 48th over squandered by captain Michael Clarke, who appeared to be hampered by a right hamstring injury in the last 10 overs of the Indian innings.

 

Clarke left the field for the 43rd over and regularly clutched at his hamstring when he returned, placing him in doubt for the upcoming matches.

 

In the Australian innings, there were half-centuries for David Hussey (72) and debutant Peter Forrest (66).

 

Young Umesh Yadav was the best of the Indian bowlers, picking up two wickets at a cost of 49 runs from his 10 overs.
 

South African bank notes to bear Mandela’s image

PRETORIA:  Nelson Mandela’s face will feature on all South Africa’s bank notes to honor the former president’s role in fighting apartheid, President Jacob Zuma  said Saturday.

The announcement coincides with the 22nd anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison after serving 27 years in jail for his opposition to white-only rule.

“It is a befitting tribute to a man who became a symbol of this country’s struggle for freedom, human rights and democracy,” Zuma said.

“With this humble gesture, we are expressing our deep gratitude as the South African people, to a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity worldwide.”

News Friday that Zuma would make an announcement of “national importance,” along with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus, spooked the market and sent the rand tumbling as much as 2.6 percent on the day. Marcus apologized for the confusion.

The new notes featuring Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994, will be in circulation by the end of the year.

The frail 93-year-old has not been seen in public since the closing ceremony of the Soccer World Cup in Johannesburg in July 2010.

Communist world back in new German film

BERLIN: The oppressive world of Communist East Germany was brought back to life in a haunting new film called “Barbara” at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, the first of three German productions in the main competition.

A fictional tale of a young doctor banished to the East German provinces because she requested to move to West Germany, the film set in 1980 is a sedate portrait of the Communist country nine years before it imploded when the Berlin Wall fell.

The film by Berlinale veteran director Christian Petzold, teaming up with actress Nina Hoss for a fifth time after she won Berlin’s Silver Bear best actress award for “Yella” in 2007, has none of the stirring moments or heart-breaking scenes as in other films about East Germany such as “The Lives of Others.”

But “Barbara” nevertheless gave the festival’s audience a harrowing reminder of what life was like two decades earlier behind the Iron Curtain and Berlin Wall that stood just a few meters to the east of theatres where the Berlinale is based.

“It was a tremendous challenge for me to try recreate that East German atmosphere of 1980,” said Hoss, 36. “I didn’t grow up in East Germany and didn’t know how it felt to always be on guard like that, to always be mistrustful of other people.”

The heavy-handed Stasi security police in East Germany with a myriad of informants kept close watch on the country’s 17 million people, especially the many thousands who applied to leave to the West or were otherwise deemed enemies of the state.

The film by Petzold, whose parents fled East Germany to West Germany, shows how suffocating that world was where people had to deal with the omnipresent fear their neighbors, co-workers, friends and even spouses might betray them to the Stasi.

“It’s not a film about East Germany, it’s a film about how people survive in a country that was on its way out,” said Petzold, who added that he, like many other Germans, are fascinated by stories about East Germany.

The doctor played by Hoss is a target of Stasi persecution, including regular body cavity searches, because she wants to leave the East to be with her West German lover. But while preparing to flee via the Baltic, she starts to fall in love with an East German doctor whom she is not sure she can trust.

The other two German films competing for Golden Bears in Berlin are “Was bleibt” (Home for the Weekend), a family drama by Hans-Christian Schmid, and “Gnade” (Mercy), a drama set in Norway by Matthias Glasner. AGENCIES

7 killed, 3 injured in blast in Peshawar

 

According to police, explosive material planted in a TV set in a house in Bashikhel area of Peshawar exploded, killing seven people and injuring 3 others.

 

Police have cordoned off the area and started search operation. The rescue teams have shifted the dead and injured to a nearby hospital.
 

Military court formally indicts Brig Ali Khan

 

Brig Al Khan was taken into custody from the GHQ 6 months ago on charges of ties with defunct organization Hizb-ul-Tehreer.

 

A report said the military officer was indicted during the current week as summary of evidences was completed against him.

 

But on the other hand, ISPR has neither confirmed nor denied the news.

 

However a retired officer of Judge Advocate General (JAG) department of Pak Army and expert of court martial cases , Col(R) Muhammad Akram told foreign media organization that the family members of Brig Ali contacted him to plead his case in the military court.

 

According to the military law, after framing the charges against any official, the process of court martial is started within few days.

 

The court indicted Brig Ali Khan under the charges that he was in contact with Hizb-ul-Tahreer and he made pledges with the high command of the banned organization to help them in their designs.

 

According to charge sheet, he not only tried to implement their terms in GHQ but also made efforts to take several officers into confidence in this regard.

 

Sources said anyone found involved with Brig Ali Khan would also be tried in the military court. –Online
 

Kadhafis son says he will return to Libya

 

Saadi Kadhafi, one of the sons of Libya s former leader Moamer Kadhafi, has promised to return to his country where he said a nationwide rebellion was brewing against its new rulers.

 

“I will return to Libya at any time,” Saadi Kadhafi told Al-Arabiya television by telephone from Niger where he took refuge after the fall of Tripoli which ended his father s 42-year iron-fisted rule.

 

“Seventy percent of Libyans are not satisfied with the current situation,” he said in an interview Friday, adding that “the Libyan people are ruled by gangs.”

 

Kadhafi said that “there is a rebellion that is going on day after day, and there will be a rebellion in the entire country.”

 

Asked about the ruling National Transitional Council, which took over the country after the fall of the regime last year, Kadhafi said: “There will come a day when the Libyan people will be capable of wiping out these gangs.”

 

When he returned, “I will try to make sure that there are no reprisals or revenge operations,” he promised.

 

The uprising that ousted Moamer Kadhafi erupted on February 17, 2011 in the eastern city of Benghazi and later spread across the entire country.

 

The bloody conflict ended with the capturing and killing of the former Libyan leader in a fierce battle in his hometown of Sirte on October 20.

 

Saadi, 38, took refuge in Niger last August. The African country has refused to extradite him despite repeated requests from the new Libyan authorities.

 

They accuse him of having “taken goods by force and intimidation when he led the Libyan football federation” according to international police federation Interpol, which issued a “red notice” for his arrest.

 

Niger s President Mahamadou Issoufou said on November 11 his country had granted political asylum to Saadi Kadhafi on “humanitarian grounds.” 

 

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