Lahore: Dengue takes life of Secretary PUNJMIN Ataullah Siddiqui

Punjab government’s Secretary Punjab Mineral Development Corporation (PUNJMIN) Ataullah Siddiqui passed away due to dengue fever.

Dengue epidemic is getting out of control of Punjab government as a provincial Secretary PUNJMIN Ataullah Siddiqui lost his life due to dengue fever. The number of deaths in Lahore has reached 12 due to dengue fever.

According to unofficial estimates, more than 6,000 people are infected by dengue virus in Lahore. In the past 24 hours, 486 new cases of dengue virus were reported in different hospitals of the city.

Meanwhile, Army also established medical camps in Cantt Area and defence Housing Authority, Lahore to provided medical treatment to dengue patients.

In Multan, the number of dengue patients brought to Nishtar Hospital has reached 40.

In interior Sindh, 26 cases of dengue virus were reported. One dengue case was confirmed in Ghotki while there was confirmation of dengue cases in Hyderabad, Benazirabad and Tando Muhammad Khan. In Karachi, the number of dengue cases has reached 24

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the number of patients suffering from dengue fever has reached 55 while four of the victims have lost their lives.

Karzai admits holding talks with Taliban

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed in a US television interview that his administration has been holding unofficial talks with the Taliban “for quite some time” to try to end the nine-year war.

“We have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman, talk in that manner,” Karzai told CNN’s Larry King when asked about a Washington Post report on secret high-level talks between the two sides.

“Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address but rather unofficial personal contacts have been going on for quite some time,” he said in excerpts of the CNN interview to air in full Monday.

Last week the Washington Post said the secret talks were believed to involve the Afghan government and representatives authorised by the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban group based in Pakistan, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

The

Karzai confirms holding unofficial talks with Taliban

Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed holding unofficial talks with the Taliban and said that we have been talking to the Taliban in order to end this war in Afghanistan.
Talking to CNN in an interview, President Karzai said that we have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman, talk in that manner. Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address but rather unofficial personal contacts have been going on for quite some time, he added. The Afghan leader said there had been no official contacts with a known entity that reports to a body of Taliban and that comes back and reports to us regularly. That has not happened yet and we hope we can begin that as soon as possible, he added.

England set Pakistan 275 to win

CHESTER-LE-STREET: Openers Steve Davies and Andrew Strauss combined well as England made a positive start to the NatWest Series against Pakistan.

The duo helped the hosts race to 98 for one in 15 overs of a match reduced to 41 per side at Chester-le-Street.

Cloud cover after heavy overnight and morning rain raised the prospect of some morale-boosting gains for Pakistan’s bowlers at the start of this five-match series. It was not to be, however, as Strauss immediately hit debutant Mohammad Irfan out of the attack – cutting, pulling and driving three fours in the 7ft left-armer’s opening over.

With Davies (54no) also having taken three off the first ball, Irfan conceded 15 runs and was promptly replaced at the Lumley end by Umar Gul.

After a wide with the first ball of the match, Shoaib Akhtar bowled impressively and economically, but Strauss was intent

Karachiites suffer unscheduled load shedding

KARACHI: The Karachiites have been suffering on account of unannounced electricity load shedding while KESC sources said the Korangi Combined Cycle Plant which generates 220 megawatt electricity has shut down due to low gas pressure, Geo news reported Sunday.

Many people living in areas including Defense, Korangi, PCSH Society, Jamsheed Road, Jahangir Road, Liaquatabad, Malir, Gulshan, Gulistan-e-Johar and Saeedabad have complained of havocs caused by hours long and unscheduled load shedding.

Meanwhile, residents of Saeedabad and others staged protest against and set tires on fire, sources said.

Citizens have said their complaints in concerned departments of KESC are going unnoticed.

PPP’s Dasti, Jatt win NA by-polls

MUZAFARGARH: PPP candidates Jamshed Dasti and Asghar Jutt have won by elections on the National Assembly seats.

According to the unofficial results, Jamshed Dasti from NA-178 secured 52,624 votes while Pakistan Democratic Party’s candidate Iftikhar Ahmad Khan remained second who grabbed 46,235 votes. Thus according to the unofficial results, Jamshed Dasti won the by-elections with a lead of six thousand votes.

From NA-167 Vehari, PPP’s candidate Asghar Jatt outclassed his rival by taking 63,183 votes. Awami Ittehad’s candidate Nazir Ahmad stood second by securing 40,429 votes.

Meanwhile, independent and PML-N candidates have succeeded in their respective constituencies of PP-259 of Muzaffargarh and PP-63 of Faisalabad.

According to unofficial results, the independent candidate from PP-259 of Muzaffargarh, Makhdoom Basit Bukhari won with an outstanding vote output of 32, 512 against his rival PPP’s Sami-ullah Bukhari with 30,247 votes.

Meanwhile PML-N’s Ajmal Asif took lead in PP-63 of Faisalabad with 31,173 votes as against 22,233 of his PPP rival Rana Aftab.

Our correspondent adds from Faisalabad: By-elections were held in two National Assembly and two Punjab Assembly constituencies, including NA-167 (Vehari), NA-178 (Muzaffargarh), PP-259 (Muzaffargarh) and PP-63 (Faisalabad) on Saturday.

Scuffles in different constituencies of Faisalabad and Muzaffargarh claimed two lives. A man was killed and over a dozen others received injuries when a scuffle broke out between the supporters of two main contestants at polling station No 49 in Faisalabad.

A schoolteacher, Mohammad Din, fainted during the scuffle and died on his way to a hospital. Later, the police reached the polling station and controlled the situation.

According to the Election Commission, 110 polling stations were established in PP-63 constituency and eight candidates, including Rana Aftab Ahmed of the PPP and Mian Muhammad Ajmal of the PML-N are contesting for the seat. The official said unofficial results could be compiled by Saturday midnight. The turnover remained around 35 to 40 per cent and the total number of registered voters in the constituency is about 110,000.

Our correspondent adds from Vehari: Polling for by-election in NA-167 constituency was held here on Saturday. The police took six Frontier Constabulary officials, including Rahim Bakhsh, Munawar Khan, Munir Khan, Muhammad Javed, Nusrat Khan, Nizam Din and Muhammad Sadiq into custody for interfering in the electoral process. The turnout remained 30 to 40 per cent, said an official. The main contestants for the seat are Asghar Ali Jatt, Syed Shahid Mehdi Naseem and Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad Arain. Minor incidents of brawl were reported in Chak No 249/EB. Police allegedly tried to manipulate voters and former MNA Nazir Ahmad Jatt slapped a policeman. The police also misbehaved with media persons in Chak No 253/EB. Three persons were reported injured in the incident in Chak No 493/EB, 175/EB, E-Block, Habib Colony and polling remained suspended after the scuffle.

Returning Officer Masood Ahmad Malik didn’t allow media persons to witness the polling process inside polling stations. According to initial results of 26 polling stations, Asghar Jatt of the PPP got 7,001 votes, Nazir Ahmad Arain of the Awami Ittehad got 6,824 and PML-N’s Syed Shahid Mehdi Naseem got 2,867 votes.

Our correspondent adds from Muzaffargarh: One Nasir Ali Ansari, 22, an activist of Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan, was shot dead allegedly by one Jugnu, son of Fazal Din, in the Shah Jamal area of Muzaffargarh. The accused snatched the pistol of an ASI, Sultan Ahmed, and used it to kill his opponent. Police said Jugnu asked a voter, Nasir, whether he will cast his vote in favour of Jamshed Dasti of the PPP or Nawabzada Iftikhar. When Nasir said he was a staunch supporter of the Nawabzada, the accused snatched the pistol of the ASI and shot him dead.

Later, the relatives and activists of the PDP blocked the road and staged a sit-in. Muzaffargarh DPO Manzoor Sarwar reached the spot and assured the protesters that the culprit would be held very soon. The protesters were demanding the arrest of PPP candidate Jamshed Dasti.

In another incident, three persons sustained injuries when the PPP supporters allegedly opened fire in the Mehrpur area.

A clash took place in Kot Ratta (PP-259) between two rival groups in which three persons received injuries. DCO Muhammad Aslam Wazir called out the rangers to control the situation. The DCO said: “Polling was delayed for one to two hours at different places due to scuffle between the rival groups on petty issues.”

These seats were vacated after lawmakers elected from these seats resigned for having fake educational degrees.

Our correspondent adds from Lahore: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah said on Saturday the deployment of the FC in by-election was unconstitutional. The FC men have been deployed on the orders of the interior minister and a case would be registered against him. He asked the interior minister to take notice of the situation instead of further aggravating it. He said the prime minister should call back the FC personnel and take strict action against them.

Burlington Northern,Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Burlington Northern,Burlington Northern Santa Fe : Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to acquire the 77.4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. it doesn’t already own for $26 billion in cash and stock.

Burlington Northern,Burlington Northern Santa Fe:Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to acquire the 77.4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. it doesn’t already own for $26 billion in cash and stock. The deal would mark Berkshire’s largest acquisition ever.The transaction values all of Burlington Northern at $34 billion. The $100 a share Berkshire is paying is a 31% premium to the railroad’s closing price Monday. Berkshire also will assume $10 billion of outstanding Burlington Northern debt.

The bid comes after a five-year “rail renaissance” that saw volume and pricing soar, ended as the recession cut deeply into traffic and profits. Railroad operators have used the slump to boost efficiency, but future investment hinges on a slew of tax credits and other measures being pushed in Congress by industry executives.

“Berkshire’s $34 billion investment in BNSF is a huge bet on that company,” Berkshire Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Buffett said in prepared statement.

“Most important of all, however, it’s an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States,” Mr. Buffett said. “I love those bets.”

Mr. Buffett’s move appears to be a bet that the freight industry is poised for recovery, though it hasn’t shown much of a rebound yet. The best that most rail executives have said about freight volume is that it seems to have bottomed. Mr. Buffett has said that he uses weekly railroad carload data as a proxy for the economy’s health.

Burlington is viewed as one of the best-managed U.S. railroads, though it has recently underperformed rivals and last month cut its fourth-quarter forecast.moreinfo

Ohio Voting Issues

Ohio Voting Issues: Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. today and so far, things have been “a little busy but pretty good,” Huron County Board of Elections Director Sharon Locke said. She added there haven’t been any problems.

Ohio Voting Issues:Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. today and so far, things have been “a little busy but pretty good,” Huron County Board of Elections Director Sharon Locke said. She added there haven’t been any problems.

Locke said her guess is based on the turnout during past elections, the number of opposed and unopposed races and the number of issues on the ballot.

Locke said the last, similar election occurred two years ago and the turnout was 27-percent.

Issues and races featuring opposition tend to attract more voters, Locke said. Voters will decide on 22 local issues as well as a number of state issues in today’s election. Two years ago, there were local and state issues as well.

For many areas in Ohio, officials are predicting lower voter turnouts than last year’s general election, which included a presidential race, according to Jeff Ortega, spokesman for the state secretary of state’s office.

The number of absentee ballots in Huron County tripled from two years ago, Locke said. In 2007, the number was about 700 and is more than 2,100 this year. People had until 3 p.m. Monday to vote in the office and have until 7:30 p.m. today to turn in absentee ballots.

“Everyone’s getting more and more interested in them,” Locke said.

She said prior to 2006, people had to meet a number of criteria to vote absentee. They included being older than 62, absent from the county on election day or sick.

In 2006, Ohio’s election system launched no-fault absentee ballots. Under the system, anyone can vote absentee.

“It really became popular last year with the presidential campaigns,” Locke said.  “After last year people found it’s easy (and) more convenient.”

Locke said county election officials will count absentee ballots with the unofficial results after the polls close at 7:30 p.m. more info

All Rounder Abdul Razzaq Want Permission To Play In IPL From PCB

KARACHI: All-rounder Abdul Razzaq informed the Pakistan Cricket Board that he has received an offer from Kolkata Knight Riders and sought permission to play in the third edition of the Indian Premier League.

Razzaq recently met PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt in Lahore to tell him about his chances of playing for the ShahRukh Khan-owned team.

“I have informed the board in advance as obviously the board can only give me or get me permission to go and play in the IPL,” Razzaq said.

The all-rounder said he was keen to play in the IPL, which he described as a big happening in international cricket.

Razzaq returned to the Pakistan team in June during the Twenty20 World Cup in England after resigning from the unofficial Indian Cricket League.

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All Rounder Abdul Razzaq Want Permission To Play In IPL From PCB was first posted on September 8, 2009 at 3:10 pm.
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