Weekly CNG closure resumes in Punjab

Staff Report

LAHORE: A two-day weekly closure of CNG stations in Punjab will resume on Tuesday after a gap of two weeks.

A total of 1,800 CNG stations will remain closed across the province, ALL Pakistan CNG Association said.

The Sui Northern Gas Company (SNGC) had suspended the weekly CNG closure due to the recent petrol shortage in the province. However, it has decided to restore the previous schedule from this week due to normal petrol availability in Punjab.

From Attock to Sadiqabad, all 1,800 CNG stations will not open on Tuesday. SAMAA

Serena Williams Storms into Australian Open Second Round

Serena Williams Storms into Australian Open Second Round, Defending champion Serena Williams overcame fitness problems to storm into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The top seed advanced with an effortless 6-2, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska. Despite wearing a heavy bandage on her right thigh, Williams was far too powerful for the Polish teenager as she won in one hour and 13 minutes.
Williams is chasing her fifth Australian Open title after winning in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

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Serena Williams Storms into Australian Open Second Round was first posted on January 19, 2010 at 11:01 pm.

Asia Stocks Rise As China Growth Forecast Upgraded

Asian stocks recovered Wednesday after two days of losses as the World Bank upped its growth forecasts for China’s economy and stronger commodities prices lifted the region’s powerhouse resource companies.

Asian stocks recovered Wednesday after two days of losses as the World Bank upped its growth forecasts for China’s economy and stronger commodities prices lifted the region’s powerhouse resource companies.

Every major market traded in the green, with Hong Kong, South Korean and Indian shares leading the way with gains of about 2 percent. Oil prices held above $79 a barrel, while the dollar was little changed against the yen and the euro.

Investors’ moods were helped by more optimism about China as the World Bank boosted its forecast for the world’s third-largest economy from 7.2 percent to 8.4 percent, reflecting the country’s enormous stimulus measures.

The strength of China’s rebound also led the Washington-based bank to increase its growth forecast for developing East Asia by 1.3 percentage points to 6.7 percent.

Markets have become more choppy in recent days amid growing worries about the scope of the U.S. economic recovery and durability of this year’s stock rally.

But some analysts say tremendous liquidity brought about by looser government policies around the world could continue to underpin stock prices.

It doesn’t matter so much about the fundamentals at the moment,” said Ben Pedley, Hong Kong-based managing director of LGT Investment Management Ltd. “Zero interest rates mean the money has to go somewhere. At least for now, we can defy gravity for a bit longer.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 25.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 9,828.27, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 346.67 points, or 1.6 percent, to 21,586.73. Shanghai’s index traded up 0.6 percent.

In South Korea, the key stock measure advanced 1.6 percent to 1,574.40. India’s Sensex index jumped 2.1 percent. Markets in Australia, Taiwan and Thailand also gained.

Wall Street traded largely sideways in a volatile session Tuesday.

The Dow fell 17.53, or 0.2 percent, to 9,771.91, after being down as much as 86 points. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.53, or 0.2 percent, to 1,045.41.

U.S. futures pointed to a modestly higher open on Wall Street Wednesday.

Oil prices were slightly lower in Asia after a sharp rise overnight, with benchmark crude for December delivery down 20 cents to $79.40 a barrel. The contract gained $1.47 overnight.

Gold, meanwhile, was mostly flat at $1,084 an ounce after hitting a new high of $1,087 an ounce overnight.

The dollar ticked up to 90.34 yen from 90.30 yen. The euro was higher at $1.4722 from $1.4717.

source:yahoo news

Bollywood Star To Sing On Mumbai Attacks Tribute

Bollywood Star To Sing On Mumbai Attacks Tribute: Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is to lend his voice to a song commemorating those who died in last year’s Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai, a report said Wednesday. The actor, who has attained megastar status in his 40-year career in the Hindi-language film industry, said the song would be “on the spirit of Mumbai, its resilience and its character of being able to withstand all storms”

Bollywood Star To Sing On Mumbai Attacks Tribute:Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is to lend his voice to a song commemorating those who died in last year’s Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai, a report said Wednesday.

The actor, who has attained megastar status in his 40-year career in the Hindi-language film industry, said the song would be “on the spirit of Mumbai, its resilience and its character of being able to withstand all storms”.

“You may try to damage us, but you will never succeed in bending or breaking us,” the 67-year-old was quoted as saying by the Daily News and Analysis newspaper.

The city’s police, which lost a number of senior officers in the November 26-29 attacks, approached singer Sonu Niigaam to compose a “soulful” song that remembers the 166 people who were killed in the 60-hour siege.

“We all think it’s a lovely concept and wanted to do our bit for the cause,” Niigaam told the daily, adding that it was an honor having Bachchan involved.

About 14 other popular singers will contribute to the song, including Hariharan, Shaan and Kailash Kher, the newspaper said.

Gay-Marriage Law Reject,Maine voters

Gay-Marriage Law Reject,Maine voters : Maine voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed, dealing the gay rights movement a heartbreaking defeat in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage .

Gay-Marriage Law Reject,Maine voters:Maine voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed, dealing the gay rights movement a heartbreaking defeat in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.

Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its moderate, independent-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign.

With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the votes.

“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation,” declared Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the winning side.

Gay-marriage supporters held out hope that the tide would shift before conceding defeat at 2:40 a.m. in a statement that insisted they weren’t going away.

“We’re in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year — until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for,” said Jesse Connolly, manager of the pro-gay marriage campaign.

At issue was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.

The outcome Tuesday marked the first time voters had rejected a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians put a stop to same-sex marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.

Five other states have legalized gay marriage — starting with Massachusetts in 2004, and followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa — but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote. In contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have been on the ballot.

The defeat left some gay-marriage supporters bitter.

“Our relationship is between us,” said Carla Hopkins, 38, of Mount Vernon, with partner Victoria Eleftherio, 38, sitting on her lap outside a hotel ballroom where gay marriage supporters had been hoping for a victory party. “How does that affect anybody else? It’s a personal thing.”

The contest had been viewed by both sides as certain to have national repercussions. Gay-marriage foes desperately wanted to keep their winning streak alive, while gay-rights activists sought to blunt the argument that gay marriage was being foisted on the country by courts and lawmakers over the will of the people.

Had Maine’s law been upheld, the result would probably have energized efforts to get another vote on gay marriage in California, and given a boost to gay-marriage bills in New York and New Jersey.

Earlier Tuesday, before vote-counting began, gay-marriage foe Chuck Schott of Portland warned that Maine “will have its place in infamy” if the gay-rights side won.

Another Portland resident, Sarah Holman said she was “very torn” but decided — despite her conservative upbringing — to vote in favor of letting gays marry.

“They love and they have the right to love. And we can’t tell somebody how to love,” said Holman, 26.

In addition to reaching out to young people who flocked to the polls for President Barack Obama a year ago, gay-marriage defenders tried to appeal to Maine voters’ pronounced independent streak and live-and-let-live attitude.

The other side based many of its campaign ads on claims — disputed by state officials — that the new law would mean “homosexual marriage” would be taught in public schools.

Both sides in Maine drew volunteers and contributions from out of state, but the money edge went to the campaign in defense of gay marriage, Protect Maine Equality. It raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million for Stand for Marriage Maine.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, voters in Washington state voted on whether to uphold or overturn a recently expanded domestic partnership law that entitles same-sex couples to the same state-granted rights as heterosexual married couples. With half the precincts reporting, that race was too close to call.

In Kalamazoo, Mich., voters approved a measure that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Among other ballot items across the country:

• In Ohio, voters approved a measure that will allow casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Four similar measures had been defeated in recent years, but this time the state’s reeling economy gave extra weight to arguments that the new casinos would create thousands of jobs.

• Maine voters defeated a measure that would have limited state and local government spending by holding it to the rate of inflation plus population growth. A similar measure was on the ballot in Washington state.

• Another measure in Maine, which easily won approval, will allow dispensaries to supply marijuana to patients for medicinal purposes. It is a follow-up to a 1999 measure that legalized medical marijuana but did not set up a distribution system.Yahoo News

• The Colorado ski town of Breckenridge voted overwhelmingly to allow adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana.

Policeman Killed By Bomb Outside His Door In Iraq

RAMADI: A senior Iraqi police officer was killed on Wednesday by a bomb left outside the door of his house at Abu Ghraib , west of Baghdad, a police official in Anbar province said. Colonel Shalal al-Zubay , deputy head of Abu Ghraib police, was blown up as he left home to go to work, the official said.

RAMADI: A senior Iraqi police officer was killed on Wednesday by a bomb left outside the door of his house at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, a police official in Anbar province said.

Colonel Shalal al-Zubay, deputy head of Abu Ghraib police, was blown up as he left home to go to work, the official said.

Explosions in and around Baghdad on Wednesday also wounded 20 people.

Five people including two soldiers were hurt when a ‘sticky’ bomb attached to a car blew up near an army checkpoint in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Adhamiyah.

A blast at Iskan in the west of the capital wounded seven people, and the interior ministry said a bomb targeting a police patrol in the northern district of Qahira injured four people, including two police officers. Dawn News

Aisam Splashes by Beating Federer in Basel Open

Aisam Splashes by Beating Federer in Basel Open , In an astonishing yet convincing game , Pakistan’s top-seed Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner James Cerritani brushed aside tennis great and world number one, Roger Federer and his Swiss compatriot Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets at the Basel Open on Tuesday.

Aisam Splashes by Beating Federer in Basel Open, In an astonishing yet convincing game , Pakistan’s top-seed Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner James Cerritani brushed aside tennis great and world number one, Roger Federer and his Swiss compatriot Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets at the Basel Open on Tuesday.
Qureshi was at his serve-and-volleying best in the round-of-32 match as he and Cerritani cruised to victory against Federer and Chidudinelli 6-4, 6-3 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the $2.6 million ATP tournament.
Experts call it a great boost for Pakistani tennis which could prove a mile stone in Pakistan’s tennis history.
Playing in Federer’s hometown, Qureshi and his partner were in control of the match from the first game and although Federer and Chiudinelli produced moments of brilliance, the grit and powerful serve-and-volley game of Qureshi and Cerritani saw them through to the end. The Pak-Americanpair will now play tournament first-seeds Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) in the quarter-finals.

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Aisam Splashes by Beating Federer in Basel Open was first posted on November 4, 2009 at 3:25 pm.