On the occasion of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's sixty-first death anniversary presents an oral history in which the first generation of Pakistani citizens recall encounters with the pathbreaking leader of their new nation. The memories and stories of those who knew Jinnah comprise the most vital account of what the Quaid was like both as a friend and a head of state - they sift through the politics and convey a sense of the person....

QUITO: Fishermen have found a dozen bombs believed to be from World War Two buried on the Galapagos Islands, a local government official said on Tuesday. The bombs were found on Bartolome Island, one of the Galapagos group located about 600 miles (966 km) off South America’s northwestern coast. The islands are a province of Ecuador, which let the United States set up a military base on one, Baltra Island, during World War Two due to...

MOSCOW: It is a typical Friday scene – worshippers kneeling in the rain outside Moscow’s biggest mosque, forced to use their shoes to anchor their prayer rugs to keep them from blowing away in the autumn winds.The scramble for a place inside is a weekly headache for Muslims in the Russian capital, a city with one of the biggest percentage of Muslims in Europe but with only four mosques. And their plea for more space to worship is stirring...

GUJRAT: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday declared that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had made a blunder in its first government in 1972 by nationalizing tens of thousands of schools and colleges in the country. “Yes it was a wrong move, and we cannot move forward without admitting our mistake”, the prime minister said about the decision of the party’s founding leader late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Gilani in his remarks also...

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ABU DHABI: Paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe and off-spinner Johan Botha took three wickets apiece to help South Africa beat Pakistan by six wickets in the first of two Twenty20 matches here on Tuesday.Tsotsobe, with a career-best 3-16, and skipper Botha (3-31) led a spirited South African bowling to restrict Pakistan to a paltry 119 at the Abu Dhabi Stadium in a match whose income will go to flood victims in Pakistan. Jean-Paul Duminy hit...

KARACHI: The country may not be performing well in several fields but it has moved up the corruption ladder, from the 42nd rung in 2009 to 34th this year.According to Transparency International’s report for 2010, Pakistan is more corrupt today than it was last year.The report released here on Tuesday by TI Pakistan’s chief Adil Gilani and in Berlin by its president Huguette Labelle said that on a list of 178 countries Pakistan fared...

LONDON: The sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has converted to Islam following a visit to Iran, claiming she is a “proud member” of the Muslim community.Lauren Booth has given up alcohol and pork, prays five times a day and has not ruled out wearing a burqa in the future, she told The Mail on Sunday newspaper.The 43-year-old journalist and reality television contestant underwent the religious conversion on her return...

ABU DHABI: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi hoped his beleaguered side is focused enough to counter a spirited South African team in the back-to-back Twenty20 matches starting here on Tuesday.Pakistan's recent tour to England was rocked by spot-fixing allegations which prompted a Scotland Yard investigation and the suspension of three of their players by the International Cricket Council.Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad...

A bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded at the gate of the famous Baba Farid Shakar Ganj sufi shrine in central Pakistan’s Pakpattan district during morning prayers Monday, killing at least five people, officials said.The blast at the shrine in Punjab province was the latest in a string of attacks targeting Sufi shrines in Pakistan.The dead from Monday's blast included at least one woman, said Maher Aslam Hayat, a senior government official...

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PORT-AU-PRINCE: A sudden cholera epidemic has killed more than 208 people, officials said Saturday as Haiti scrambled to contain a wider outbreak 10 months after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation. A few days after the first cases appeared in the north, the outbreak looked to be moving closer to the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is heavily populated by homeless residents in tent cities where sanitation is poor. "We have recorded...

PAKISTAN (LAHORE): At least seven people were killed in two different incidents of firing here on late Saturday.According to police sources, the first incident took place near Harbans Pora Lal Bridge when two groups opened fire at each other, killing three persons on the spot. It was an old family dispute which led to shootout, police said while those killed were identified as Ashraf, Murtaza and Sarfaraz.Another man Shahid Khan suffered...

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The NHK Trophy is held in Nagoya, central Japan and is the first event of the six-stage ISU figure skating Grand Prix series. Here is a look at the skating eve...

PARIS: The International Cricket Council said Friday that Pakistan’s fast bowler Mohammad Asif had withdrawn his challenge to the provisional suspension handed down last month for alleged match-fixing. Teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir have appealed against their own provisional suspensions and their hearings are still set for Dubai on 30 and 31 October. “Mohammad Asif confirmed earlier today that he has withdrawn his challenge...

HERAT: Three suicide bombers wearing police uniforms and burqas on Saturday attacked the United Nations office in the western Afghan city of Herat, senior police and UN officials said. There were no casualties among UN workers, Delawar Shah Delawar, deputy police chief of Herat province, told AFP after the raid, which was claimed by the Taliban. “One of the suicide attackers drove his explosives-packed vehicle into the rear gate of...

ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN): Following the International Cricket Council’s stern 30-day warning, Pakistan’s cricket authorities have formed an anti-corruption committee, reports in the local media said on Friday.Keeping in line with the instructions given by the ICC, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has formed a seven-member team which will monitor cricketers and officials linked with the board.PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt will head the committee, which...

WASHINGTON: Pakistan called Friday for President Barack Obama to intervene in its longstanding dispute with India over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, the cause of two of the three wars the nuclear-armed rivals have fought.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the unusually blunt appeal for Obama to seek a resolution of the dispute when he visits India next month, saying he should ''redeem the pledge'' he made as a candidate.The...

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday pledged two billion dollars in military aid to Pakistan and hailed its efforts to battle extremists, seeking to bolster an uneasy alliance with the frontline nation. The military package, keenly sought by Pakistan's leaders, marks the latest twist in the two nations' crisis-prone relationship but risks causing unease in India just two weeks before a visit to New Delhi by President Barack Obama.Secretary...

VISAKHAPATNAM: India defeated Australia by five wickets in the second one-day international on Wednesday.The first match was washed out, while the third and final international will be played in Goa on Sunday.Brief scores:Australia 289-3 in 50 overs; India 292-5 in 48.5 ove...

CALGARY: Canada has created history by electing its first Muslim mayor. Naheed Nenshi, a Harvard-educated Ismaili Muslim, defeated two white candidates to become the mayor of Calgary Monday night. A Conservative (right-wing) stronghold in Canada, Calgary is also the hometown of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Interestingly, the 38-year-old Nenshi defeated one of the candidates supported by the prime minister. A jubilant Nenshi told his...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recalled former captain Younis Khan for the series against South Africa on Wednesday while Mohammad Yousuf was ruled out of the Twenty20s and one-day internationals after rupturing his abductor muscles.Younis received an indefinite ban in March from the Pakistan Cricket Board for conflicting with Yousuf during the ill-fated tour of Australia at the start of the year.A PCB arbitrator lifted the ban in June, and manager...

WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners.Obama, meeting with a senior Pakistani delegation, said he would not visit when he travels to neighboring India next month. But he committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington.Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood...

HANOI: Flooding in central Vietnam has killed 41 people and left survivors destitute, officials said Tuesday, as relatives of at least 15 missing bus passengers watched rescuers scour a river for their loved ones. The heavy rains that began late last week have washed over three provinces: Nghe An, Quang Binh, and Ha Tinh. In Ha Tinh police said a bus had disappeared in the flood waters on the main north-south highway on Monday. State television...

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it was in talks with Pakistan about new military assistance as part of a partnership against extremism, in a step sure to trigger unease in India.The United States and Pakistan on Wednesday open their latest “strategic dialogue,” an initiative by President Barack Obama's administration to show Pakistan's skeptical public it is ready to take up its concerns.Frank Ruggiero, the US deputy special...

KARACHI: Former president of Pakistan, Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari at 70 years of age, passed away in Rawalpindi on early hours of Wednesday.Leghari had been a cardiac patient and was treated for the same in CMH Rawalpindi. He belonged to Dera Ghazi Khan District of North Punjab.Leghari was elected eighth President of Pakistan in 1993. He dismissed Benazir Bhutto’s government on allegations of corruption, lawlessness and extra-judicial-killings...

WASHINGTON: The United States acknowledged Monday that a wife of a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai attacks raised concerns about him months before the plot was carried out, but said the information was not specific.US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley added that the information about David Coleman Headley was forwarded to US government agencies and to the Indian authorities before the attacks that killed 166 people in November 2008.Crowley,...

KARACHI (PAKISTAN): At least eleven more people have been targeted killed here in metropolis amid incidents of violence within last 12 hours, taking the three-day death tally to 48. Meanwhile, police and rangers have claimed arresting more than 80 suspected miscreants who were allegedly involved in target killings, rampaging, torching vehicles, and triggering riots in city.At least 12 people have been killed within last 12 hours while...

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LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has begun working on implementation of the directives issued by the International Cricket council (ICC).The ICC had given 30 days to the PCB for improving its matters and the PCB’s high officials are discussing the ICC orders for their implementation.Initially, chief operating officer Wasim Bari, director National Cricket Academy Intikhab Alam and other officials have done paperwork for forming the...

LONDON: A toddler's life has been saved after a nurse spotted she had cancer by looking at a photo on Facebook.Nicola Sharp was browsing through friend Michele Freeman's profile when she saw a photograph of Michele's two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Grace.The flash photograph showed Grace with a white pupil in her left eye instead of the 'red eye' tint most people would have - a sign of eye cancer.Nicola, 42, who has worked in paediatrics...

KARACHI(PAKISTAN): The toll from the fresh spate of violence that erupted in the metropolis Saturday, has mounted to 24 people and over 50 others are injured; while, unidentified armed men forced shops in different areas to close.Meanwhile, five vehicles including a staff van of a private television channel have been reportedly torched in different areas during the violence-ravaged incidents.The violence spread in several parts of the...

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BRUSSELS: Pakistan said on Friday it was willing to assist talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and Nato confirmed its forces had helped ensure a senior Taliban commander reached Kabul.Nato and US officials have said they are ready to do more to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, but Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the talks must be led by Afghanistan itself.“We...

LAHORE (PAKISTAN0): Former Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt said Saturday he was eager to return to cricket and had not stopped practice despite his suspension on allegations of spot-fixing.Test skipper Butt, 26, fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were banned from all forms of the game after they were charged with various offences under the anti-corruption code of conduct on September 2.The charges followed revelations by British...

Industry tracker SearchIgnite said on Tuesday that Google has tightened its powerful grip on US internet advertising revenue but a Bing-Yahoo! alliance is fielding a viable challenge.Google's share of spending on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising at online search services grew to 80 percent in the third quarter of this year while Bing claimed 6.4 percent and Yahoo!'s portion slipped to 13.4 percent.Microsoft search engine Bing and Yahoo!...

DHAKA: Shakib Al Hasan put in a superb all-round performance on Thursday as Bangladesh enjoyed one of their biggest days in one-day cricket, beating New Zealand by nine runs in the thrilling fourth match to gain an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-game series.Bangladesh had earlier clinched one-day series against minnows Zimbabwe and a depleted West Indies, but it was their first series victory against a big team, thanks to skipper Shakib.Shakib,...

NEW DELHI: The curtain fell on the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Thursday evening with a closing ceremony that celebrated the end of 11 days of sport with a mix of relief and jubilation. In the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, a two-and-a-half hour show of traditional dance, Bollywood music and huge fireworks gave the finishing sparkle to an event that survived rocky preparations and daily operational hiccups. With many Indians pointing...

Hafiz Abdullah was killed in the police stati...

The first miner to be rescued was Florencio AvalosThe first nine of 33 miners trapped underground for more than two months in northern Chile have been winched to the surface amid scenes of jubilation. Florencio Avalos was first to be freed, at 0010 local time (0310 GMT).He was greeted by family and hugged by President Sebastian Pinera. Also to emerge were the only non-Chilean, Bolivian national Carlos Mamani, and the youngest and oldest...

TEHRAN: Eighteen people were killed in a fire at an ammunitions store in a Revolutionary Guards base in Iran, the Fars news agency quoted a commander of the elite force as saying Wednesday in the latest toll. "In yesterday's explosion at one of the Guards' bases in Lorestan (in western Iran), 18 people were killed and 14 wounded," commander Yadollah Bouali said. He said some of the casualties in Tuesday's blast were workers at the base but did not specify whether they included members of Guards. On Tuesday, Bouali said the explosion...

LONDON: The International Cricket Council ruled Wednesday there was no evidence of corruption in the third one-day international between Pakistan and England last month.A statement from the ICC concluded there was “no compelling evidence to suspect individual players or support staff” following an investigation into scoring patterns of the match at the Oval on September 17.“The investigation is now complete but if new and corroborating...

ISLAMABAD: (PAKISTAN): Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Wednesday remarked that the court’s decision on the NRO was not being implemented.The remarks came as the Supreme Court resumed the hearing the two cases pertaining to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).A 17-judge full court was hearing the cases regarding the implementation of the court's verdict on the NRO and the government’s review petition in this respect.Former...

NEW YORK: Eight sticks of military-grade explosives were found Monday at the New York City Marble Cemetery in the East Village of Manhattan, the police commissioner said.The explosives were dug up in May or June 2009 by a groundskeeper and laid aside, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters. A volunteer cleaning inside the cemetery found the bag on Sunday. Monday, he called police, Kelly said.The explosives were not set up or wired...

ISLAMABAD: A day before the hearing of the NRO implementation case in the Supreme Court tomorrow (Wednesday), the PPP government has now decided to move a new petition before the judges to straightaway challenge the implementation process of the NRO judgment of December 16, 2009.The new petition, probably to be filed today (Tuesday), is a bid to ease the mounting pressure on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to write a letter to the Swiss...

KARACHI (PAKISTAN) : The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reserved its judgment in a petition seeking to initiate a high treason trial against former president Pervez Musharraf for two days. The court will reveal its verdict on Thursday. A division bench of the court, headed by SHC Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, was hearing the petition by Maulvi Iqbal Haider.Haider in his petition had contended that a case should be filed against...