Karachi: ASI killed while chasing after dacoits

TrendPK.com

KARACHI: A police ASI was killed on Wednesday when he was chasing after three dacoits at Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi, TrendPK reports.

Police said three muggers were busy in looting people traveling in their vehicles at Shahrah-e-Faisal near FTC building when the ASI, Abdul Jabbar, reached there along with his police party.
 
This prompted the dacoits to flee from the scene; however, Jabbar went after them to capture the gang. But the fleeing bandits fired shots on him, killing him on the spot. Officials said he was immediately taken to Jinnah hospital but could survive.

Police, by the help of area people, later captured the three dacoits. Two of them were badly injured when people gave them a good hiding. TrendPK

Pro-Putin, opposition rallies in Russia

 

According to police 90,000 people were taking part in a rally in support of Vladimir Putin in Moscow while 23,000 had shown up at a rival protest march challenging his rule.

 

“Between 87,000 and 90,000 are attending the (pro-Putin) rally that has started at Poklonnaya Gora” in western Moscow, capital city police said in statement. “Around 23,000 are taking part in the (opposition) march.”

 

On the other hand, police units were deployed across central Moscow on Saturday ahead of a large rally calling for a rerun of disputed December parliamentary elections and an end to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin s rule.

 

Police buses and vehicles were amassed near Red Square and the iconic Bolshoi Theatre, with troops ready to be dispatched along a procession route and at Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow, where about 28,000 people are expected to rally, after signing up on social media sites.

 

On March 4, Putin is expected to retake the presidency that he held from 2000-2008, and the Russian public research group the Levada Centre has said 78 percent of Russians expect Putin to win the poll.

 

A counter rally for Putin supporters in a northern Moscow park is also planned for this frosty Saturday, and another rally for supporters of nationalist presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky took place in central Moscow.
 

Sri Lanka raises interest rate after 5 years

 

Sri Lanka s central bank on Friday raised its key interest rate for the first time in five years and asked commercial banks to reduce lending in the face of a worsening trade deficit.

 

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka hiked its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 9.0 percent, the first rise since February 2007 when the rate was upped to 12.0 percent from 11.50 percent.

 

The bank also asked commercial banks to rein in lending, arguing that much of it financed the country s surging import bill, owing to higher oil costs and cheap credit that drew a flood of foreign-made vehicles into the country.

 

The Indian Ocean nation s trade deficit hit a record $8.83 billion in the first 11 months of last year, shrinking its foreign currency reserves.

 

The bank has spent more than $2 billion in recent months in direct market interventions to buttress the Sri Lankan rupee against the dollar as the trade deficit heaped pressure on the local currency.

 

The bank said Sri Lanka s foreign currency reserves fell to $5.9 billion at the end of 2011, compared with $8.1 billion in July 2011.

 

Among measures to discourage imports and encourage exporters, the country devalued its currency by 3.0 percent in November.

 

Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said earlier this week that the bank misjudged the credit expansion, as well as Sri Lanka s growing trade deficit.

 

“Imports were bigger than we expected and the credit growth was also something that we did not anticipate,” Cabraal told reporters Tuesday.

 

The latest interest rate increase came despite the government announcing that inflation had moderated to 3.8 percent year-on-year in January, compared to 4.9 percent a month earlier.

 

Three years ago, the government was forced to negotiate a $2.6-billion bailout by International Monetary Fund at the end of the country s bloody decades-long civil war.

 

The government has since drawn down $1.8 billion, but announced earlier this week that it did not need the final tranche.
 

Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive

 

Biden spelled out a blunt reelection message for his boss President Barack Obama on Tuesday — “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”

 

Biden s comment at a Texas fundraiser came as Obama stepped up his drive to claim credit for rescuing the iconic US car industry, as he took a spin around the Washington auto show and declared “the US auto industry is back.”

 

The vice president boiled down Obama s State of the Union message into some pithy sound bites at a fundraiser in Fort Worth expected to raise more than $150,000 dollars for the reelection campaign.

 

Biden hailed Obama as a champion of America s hard-pressed middle classes as they emerge from the deepest recession since the 1930s and said the president had kept his promise to pull US troops out of Iraq.

 

“But the best way to sum up the job the president has done — if you need a real shorthand — Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,” Biden said, adding that he was passing on a line suggested to him by a supporter.

 

Biden also suggested that the bitter race for the Republican nomination was helping his and Obama s chances in November s presidential election.

 

“For the first time, the Republicans are not hiding the ball. … They are saying what they believe, God love them. They are not even pretending.”

 

“This is going to be one heck of a race. I think we are doing better and better every day, … in no small part because they are making it clear what they are for.”

 

Obama earlier made a more prosaic attempt to claim credit for an auto bailout which is credited with saving General Motors and Chrysler from going bust, as he toured a selection of gleaming new hybrid vehicles at the Washington auto show.

 

The bailout plan featured prominently in his annual address to Congress last week, along with the US special forces raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader bin Laden last year and bolstered Obama s national security credentials.

 

“When you look at all these cars, it is testimony to the outstanding work that s been done by workers — American workers, American designers,” Obama said.

 

“The fact that GM is back, number one, I think shows the kind of turnaround that s possible when it comes to American manufacturing,” said the president, who favors using government to create conditions for jobs growth.

 

“It s good to remember that … there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die. Because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world.”

 

Obama s comments appeared to be a swipe at Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney over his initial criticism of the idea of shoring up iconic auto giants General Motors and Chrysler with federal funds.

 

The president argues that his federal funding and bankruptcy plan for the two firms, inherited from former president George W. Bush, saved the US auto industry.

 

Romney, apparently seeking to capitalize on public fatigue with bailouts, argued that the firms should have gone through bankruptcy — which they later did — without a prior cash injection which eventually hit $82 billion.

 

Obama signed off on the risky and unpopular bailout, seeking to save thousands of jobs, after concluding that if GM and Chrysler had failed, the entire auto parts support industry, as well as a third firm, Ford, could have also gone under.
 

Suicide attack kills 3 in Afhganistan

 

A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO armoured vehicle in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah on Thursday, killing at least three civilians and wounding 31 others, an official said.

 

“A suicide attacker detonated his Toyota sedan vehicle loaded with explosives on an armoured vehicle,” Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor said.

 

The bomber struck near the education department in the capital of Helmand.

 

A child was among the dead and several women and children were wounded, he said, adding that the death toll could increase.

 

The commander of the Afghan forces coordination center in the province, Mohammad Ismail Hotak, said “30 Afghan civilians have been taken to hospital in Lashkar Gah.

 

“At the site of the blast, some vehicles were destroyed and some others caught fire,” he said.

 

British and Danish troops with NATO s 130,000 strong International Security Assistance force operate in Helmand, a focus of attacks by Taliban insurgents.
 

NASA to hire space taxis

But NASA is well aware that American astronauts can’t keep hitching a ride on Russian spacecraft for the rest of the ISS s projected 9 year lifespan. In a draft solicitation issued by the government on Monday, NASA announced that the agency will be accepting bids from private companies to act as extraterrestrial taxis.

NASA is offering $1.6 billion in federal funding to help the company or companies develop a complete system, from mission control to launch structures to the vehicles themselves. Currently NASA funding helps support four privately-owned companies: Boeing, SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos  company, Blue Origin.

At the moment, the Russian spaceflight program is a glaring single point of failure for the ISS, as highlighted last month when a cargo ship failed to reach orbit in a launch accident. Such incidents cause NASA s commercial spaceflight development director Phil McAlister to worry “Every year we do not have a commercial crew capability, the station is at risk.”

Multan may be flooded as Chenab continues to swell

Lower areas of the city are likely to be inundated by tremendous flow of water.

As per details, about 127,000 cusecs water has been released from Tarimu Headworks on Chenab which would enter Multan in 24 hours.

According to the Metrological Department, the level of water is rising with the passage of time which may flood the lower areas in Multan.

According to Flood Control Department, the flow of water may be raised by 150,000 cusecs.

As a precautionary measure, bunds and dykes on both sides of Chenab are being monitored.

Sialkot lynching case: Court reserves verdict

The incident took place in Sialkot Sadar police station limits on 15 August 2010 when two brothers, Muneeb and Mughees were publicly lynched and killed by a mob while police officials stood by and watched.

Sialkot Saddar police station lodged two FIRs, the first was lodged on 15 Aug, in which the two brothers were accused of murder and robbery.

While, the second FIR was lodged after the video of the lynching was played on news channels leading to a suo moto notice by the Supreme Court. The FIR was lodged against 28 including former DPO Sialkot and other police officials.

The accused were charged on November 3, 2010 and the statements of 31 witnesses were recorded.

Karachi: Suicide blast at SSP CID residence kills 8

A powerful blast occurred in front of the residence of SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam near Darakhshan Police Station in Defence area of Karachi, killing eight people including five police officials and wounding several others.

The blast was so severe that it created an eight feet crater at the site. Several vehicles were also damaged in the blast.

Police and rescue teams have reached the spot and started rescue operation. The security officials have cordoned off the area.

 

Nissan develops cheaper, smaller charger for EVs

The basic model of the revamped charger will cost about half the price of the current model. Nissan has developed a charger for electric vehicles that s smaller, about half the price, and easier to install.Nissan Motor Co., Japan s No. 2 automaker, said the new charger will go on sale in November

in Japan and is planned later for the U.S. and Europe, although dates are not set. The basic model of the revamped charger will cost about half the price of the current model, which is stockier and has more parts, and costs 1.47 million yen ($19,000). The higher-grade model for outdoors will also be cheaper and cost under 1 million yen ($13,000), according to Nissan.

Yokohama-based Nissan, which makes the Leaf electric vehicle, is targeting sales of 5,000 of the new chargers in Japan by the end of March 2016. Zero-emission electric vehicles are drawing attention amid concerns about global warming and the environment. The Leaf is among the pioneering models in the technology.

But electric vehicles still make up a niche market. They have to be recharged, and recharging stations aren t that plentiful. Owners generally have to go through the trouble of installing a recharger in their homes. Right now, Leafs are being sold to mostly local governments rather than regular consumers.

The difficulty of installing chargers, which look like the filling machines at gas stations, is another reason. Nissan is hoping to sell the new chargers to highways, airports, shopping centers, convenience stores and gas stations, it said. Nissan has sold more than 13,600 Leaf cars around the world since they went on sale in December 2010. There are now 619 chargers throughout Japan, 32 percent, or 196, in the Nissan group, while the rest are with local governments, highways and other companies that promote EVs.

Competition in electric vehicles is likely to intensify in coming years as others, such as Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp., enter the sector.
Toyota already offers plug-in hybrid cars, which run partly as EVs but switch to become regular hybrids with gas engines when they run out of the electric charge.

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