No reason for Gilani to remain as PM: Imran Khan

 

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief said that Gilani should resign as the Prime Minister after being indicted in the contempt of court case instead of putting pressure on the Supreme Court.

 

He said this on the ceremony arranged for joining of PML-N member Hafizuddin’ the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf.

He said that in Karachi“Contempt was committed to safeguard the Rs5 billion of Asif Ali Zardari. Yusuf Raza is disrespecting the courts to protect this money” Khan said.

He said that PM Gilani has not breached rule of law for the national interest; rather he has broken law to secure President Zardari heavy amount in Swiss banks.

He sarcastically said that how the violator of law can bring justice and fair play.

He said that the he would endeavour to make the PTI more strong with the passage of time as there is no chance of alliance with any other party.

Commenting on current situation, he said that if Pakistan stops fighting the war on the part of the US, peace may be restored within 90 days. This is why I suggested during a meeting with the ISI chief. He said that his party is ready to have a dialogue with the armed groups.

New Maldives President expands cabinet

 

The new president of the Maldives is expanding his Cabinet to strengthen the coalition government ruling the Indian Ocean nation.

 

A presidential spokesman says six members from four political parties will be sworn in Sunday as ministers in the government led by President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

 

Former president Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party, however, has not responded to an invitation to join the Cabinet.

 

The Maldives has been rocked by political turmoil for nearly a week, since Nasheed resigned and was replaced by his vice president. Nasheed claims he was ousted in a coup, a charge the new president denies.

 

A senior U.S. diplomat who met with Maldivian leaders on Saturday said the Maldives wasn’t ready for early elections as a way out of its political crisi

Syria uprising intensifies, spills into Lebanon

 

Syrian armour moved against protest flashpoints and a general was gunned down in Damascus on Saturday as the bloodshed showed no signs of abating, even spilling over into Lebanon.

 

The Syrian National Council, or SNC, said Arab recognition of the opposition umbrella group was imminent, ahead of key talks on the crisis in Cairo on Sunday.

 

In Aleppo, tensions escalated as President Bashar al-Assad s forces stepped up security after twin car bombs killed 28 people and wounded 235 in Syria s second city on Friday, activists said.

 

Thirty-one people were killed across the country on Saturday, mostly civilians, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

 

Tank shelling killed 10 civilians in Homs, nine of them in the rebel stronghold neighbourhood of Baba Amr, Abdel Rahman told AFP. Dozens were wounded.

 

Assad s forces have waged a brutal week-long onslaught on the central protest city of Homs that has killed at least 500 people since February 4, Abdel Rahman said.

 

In Lebanon, a 17-year-old girl was among three people killed and 23 were wounded in clashes between Sunni Muslims hostile to Syria s regime and Alawites who support it, a security official said.

 

Ten of the wounded were Lebanese soldiers, including a sergeant in critical condition.

 

The rival factions in Tripoli fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the bloodiest clashes since June, when six people died in the wake of demonstrations against Syria s government.

 

In recent years Tripoli has been rocked by intense clashes between members of its Sunni-majority community and Alawites — the community from which hails the Syrian president.

 

Syrian state media, meanwhile, blamed “terrorists” for Friday s double car bomb attacks on security posts in Aleppo.

 

The rebel Free Syrian Army accused the “criminal” regime of launching the attacks “to steer attention away from what it is doing in Homs, Zabadani and elsewhere.”
 

Mathews fireworks prompt Australia rethink

PERTH: Australia will revisit their bowling plan for Angelo Mathews after the powerful Sri Lankan almost engineered another remarkable comeback win for his side at the WACA Ground on Friday.

Mathews, who famously combined with Lasith Malinga for a 132-run ninth-wicket stand to help Sri Lanka beat Australia in Melbourne in November 2010, threatened to perform similar heroics on Friday, before falling just six runs short of the victory target.

Number seven Mathews and number 11 Dhammika Prasad came together with 52 runs required, chasing a victory target of 232.

The pair still needed 18 off the last over to snatch victory, which became just eight off four balls when Mathews hit Mitchell Starc’s first two balls for four and six.

But with six needed off two balls, Mathews was caught on the boundary trying to hit the winning runs, ending his innings on 64 from 76 balls.

Australia skipper Michael Clarke said his side needed to find a way to curb the right-hander’s clean hitting.

“He continues to make runs against us. He is that type of player and if he gets past 20 he is unstoppable. He strikes the ball as clean as anybody,” Clarke said.

“We need to keep working on our plans to him and probably be a bit more disciplined early to him to try to get him out for less than 20 more often, because he is a very good striker of the ball.”

Mathews averages 41.50 in one-dayers against Australia, well above his career average of 33.45, and he said he was not surprised by news the Australians would place more focus on his wicket in future matches.

“They have a idea of me, so I have to think a bit ahead,” he said.

The 24-year-old said memories of his MCG heroics were in his mind late in the chase.

“We were almost there. The MCG game was at the back of my mind, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it through,” he said.

Mathews, who also claimed two wickets with the ball in the Australian innings, said he would welcome any opportunity to bat further up the order in future one-day internationals.

“Obviously yes, but the team needs me finishing off the game,” he said when asked if he would like a promotion in the batting order. AGENCIES

NZealand beat Zimbabwe in Twenty20 in first T20

AUCLAND: Martin Guptill continued his rich vein of form against Zimbabwe as he scored 91 not out to help New Zealand beat the visitors by seven wickets at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday in the first of their two Twenty20 internationals.   

Guptill, who scored 232 runs in the three one-day internationals at an average of 77, blasted five boundaries and six sixes as New Zealand made 160 for three off 16.5 overs after Zimbabwe had scored a credible 159 for eight from 20 overs.   

 Kane Williamson (48) combined with Guptill in a 137-run partnership after Kyle Jarvis had taken two wickets in the second over to put New Zealand under some pressure for the first time on their tour.   

 Jarvis had been belted for two boundaries off his first two balls but then bounced back to bowl Rob Nicol with his third delivery of the over.    

Jarvis then bowled a wide before having Brendon McCullum caught off the fourth legitimate delivery for a duck. He finished the eventful over by bowling another wide, conceding a single and then a dot ball.   

Guptill, who was dropped on the boundary on 20, and Williamson, however, set about ticking off the runs with Guptill the aggressor while Williamson kept rotating the strike and ensured New Zealand achieved the total with 19 balls to spare.    

The visitors had finally displayed some of the batting talent that has been hinted at with Hamilton Masakadza blasting three boundaries and three sixes to top score with 53 off 36 balls.    

Elton Chigumbura also cleared the fence four times and hit three boundaries as he scored 48 from 24 deliveries at the end of the Zimbabwe innings.   

Left-arm seamer Michael Bates, who bowled Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor in his first over, grabbed two wickets in the 20th over to finish with innings best figures of three for 31.   

Zimbabwe’s tour concludes after the second Twenty20 international at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Feb. 14. AGENCIES

New clashes in eastern Saudi kill one

RIYADH: Saudi police exchanged fire with “masked gunmen” at a protest in the Shiite-populated east, killing one of them, state reported early Saturday, in the second fatal clashes in the oil-rich region in 24 hours.

“Security forces following an unauthorised gathering in the (Shiite) town of Al-Awamiya in Qatif district came under fire from masked gunmen,” the official SPA news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Police “responded, sparking an exchange of fire that resulted in the wounding of one of them, who died later.”

An activist told AFP that Said was “shot dead by security forces as they dispersed a protest against the killing of another man” on Thursday.

“Eight armoured vehicles belonging to Saudi security forces intervened to disperse the protest,” the activist said.

Munir al-Medani, also 21, died of his wounds on Thursday after being shot by security forces in the Al-Shwaika neighbourhood of Qatif during a Shiite demonstration for reform in the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom, activists said.

Saudi authorities said that Medani too died in an exchange of fire between security forces and “masked men.”

Demonstrators also took to the streets of another Qatif town — Al-Rabieya — on Friday to protest against Medani’s death, activists said.

“Hundreds of demonstrators waved pictures of those killed and detained as they condemned the shooting (by Saudi security forces) on peaceful protests,” one activist told AFP.

Activists and witnesses said that Medani’s death came when security forces opened fire on a Shiite procession marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed — a celebration forbidden in Saudi Arabia — which turned into a demonstration for reform and the release of Shiite detainees.

Said’s death raises to seven the number of protesters killed since demonstrations erupted in the Eastern Province last March.

Prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Hasan al-Saffar criticised the use of force against protesters saying: “This will not solve the problem but will only further complicate it,” in a speech published on a Shiite websites.

“Blood in Muslim states has become cheap and human rights are violated as blood runs in several countries. Prisons are filled with detainees and torture is still practised against prisoners in most Islamic states,” Saffar said.

The region has been rocked by a series of uprisings that unseated autocracts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in 2011.

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh is due to quit on February 21 under a transfer of power deal while pressure is mounting on the Syrian regime to end its deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protest.

The immediate trigger for the protest movement among Saudi Shiites was a Saudi-led military intervention in neighbouring Bahrain to help its Sunni rulers crush Shiite-led pro-democracy demonstrations last March.

Activists say that Saudi authorities have arrested nearly 500 people since the protests started. Many have been released but dozens remain in custody, among them human rights activist Fadel al-Munasif and writer Nazir al-Majid.

In January, Saudi authorities published a list of 23 men wanted on suspicion of involvement in the disturbances.

Later the same month, the interior ministry announced that security forces had arrested nine people suspected of involvement in the wounding of three policemen in the Eastern Province.

Most of Saudi Arabia’s estimated two million Shiites live in the province, where the vast majority of the OPEC kingpin’s huge oil reserves lie. They complain of marginalisation in the Sunni-dominated kingdom. AGENCIES

Iran vows to reveal nuclear achievement

 

Iran is “to inaugurate important nuclear projects in the next few days,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday, adding that his nation “will never yield” to Western coercion aimed at stopping its atomic activities.

 

Ahmadinejad, giving an anniversary speech in Tehran marking the 33rd year of Iran s Islamic revolution, gave no details of the nuclear projects.

 

But he railed against Western economic sanctions imposed to force Iran to give up its controversial nuclear programme, and at threats of possible Israeli and US military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.

 

“If the language of bullying and insult is used, the Iranian nation will never yield,” he said.

 

“The only path is to adhere to justice and the respect of Iran s (nuclear) rights and to return to the negotiating table,” he said. Otherwise, the West will continue to face “defeat” on the issue, he said.

Fire erupts at Hall Road

 

According to reports, fire erupted in an electronics shop at the ground floor of the building due to short circuit.

 

Goods worth millions of rupees were gutted in the incident.

 

Rescue teams and fire brigades reached the spot and contained the fire.
 

Al-Qaeda carried out recent blasts in Syrian: report

 

The Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda carried out two recent bombings in Damascus and was likely behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the Syrian city of Aleppo, McClatchy Newspapers reported.

 

Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper chain said the incidents appeared to verify Syrian President Bashar Assad s charges of Al-Qaeda involvement in the uprising against his rule.

 

The Syrian opposition has claimed that the Assad regime had staged the bombings to discredit the pro-democracy movement, the report said.

 

The first Damascus attack occurred on December 23, when suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives outside intelligence agency compounds, killing at least 44 people.

 

On January 6, at least 26 people were killed and dozens injured in a bombing against a second intelligence agency compound.

 

The Al-Qaeda presence in Syria also raises the possibility that extremists will try to hijack the uprising, McClatchy Newspapers said.

 

US intelligence reports indicate that the bombings came on the orders of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian who assumed leadership of Al-Qaeda after the last year s death of Osama bin Laden, the newspaper chain noted.

 

US officials said that Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) began pushing to become involved in Syria as Assad s security forces and gangs of loyalists launched a crackdown on opposition demonstrations, igniting large-scale bloodshed, the report said.

 

Zawahiri finally authorized AQI to begin operations in Syria in what s believed to be the first time that the branch has operated outside of Iraq, McClatchy Newspapers pointed out.

 

Judges restoration through executive order challenged

 

A writ petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court, challenging the restoration of judges including Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry through an executive order.

 

The restoration has been challenged under Article 199.
 

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