GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday launched its biggest appeal for relief funds, saying it needed 7.4 billion dollars in 2011 to provide urgent humanitarian aid to over 50 million people in 28 countries. “On behalf of the millions of people needing urgent help and the hundreds of organisations that have come together to devise these plans, I appeal for 7.4 billion dollars to help some of the most vulnerable people in the world survive...

LAHORE: Pakistan has dropped under-suspicion wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf from the Twenty20 and Test squads announced Tuesday for next month’s tour of New Zealand. Shahid Afridi will lead the Twenty20 team while Misbah-ul-Haq was retained as Test captain. Akmal, who was ruled out of Pakistan’s recent series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates after surgery for appendicitis, has been at the...

KARACHI: The government started securing the attacked websites on Tuesday, shortly after a group of hackers calling themselves the ‘Indian Cyber Army’ gained root access to a main server hosting important Pakistani government websites. In an email sent to media outlets earlier, the hackers’ group claimed to have gained root access to the server hosting the websites. Meanwhile, a report said the government’s experts claimed the cyber...

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday accused Pakistan of not doing enough to punish the men who plotted the 2008 militant attacks on Mumbai, as the city prepared to mark the second anniversary of the bloodbath. A senior Pakistan diplomat confirmed to AFP that an official diplomatic message was delivered to the embassy in New Delhi urging Pakistan to “fulfil its obligation and commitment” to bring the plotters to justice. Ten gunmen launched coordinated...

GUANGZHOU: Pakistan bagged its third gold medal of the 2010 Asian Games when it defeated Malaysia 2-0 in the final in Guangzhou, China on Thursday. Fired-up Pakistan annexed the Asian Games men’s hockey gold medal after 20 years with the final win. Specialist drag-flicker Sohail Abbas gave Pakistan the lead in the 28th minute when he converted from a penalty corner. Abbas slammed home the ball in the top right corner in Pakistan’s second...

GUANGZHOU: Pakistan created history Friday in crushing Bangladesh by 10 wickets to win the first-ever Asian Games women’s cricket tournament.The victory handed Pakistan their first gold of the Guangzhou Games and prevented Bangladesh from claiming their country’s first ever at an Asiad.The win comes as welcome relief at a time of major problems for the men’s game in Pakistan, which has been embroiled in spot-fixing and disciplinary issues...

TORONTO: Two glasses of tomato juice a day strengthens bones and can ward off osteoporosis, say scientists.The key ingredient is thought to be lycopene, the antioxidant already credited with cutting the risk of prostate cancer in men and protecting against heart disease.Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada asked 60 post-menopausal women, aged 50 to 60, to cut out all tomato products from their diet for a month.This led to...

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano has killed 283 people since it began erupting late last month, with more than 270,000 people still living in makeshift camps, an official said Saturday. “The Merapi death toll has reached 283 people. More than 270,000 people are still living in temporary shelters,” disaster management official Ratnasari said, updating the previous toll of 275 dead. “Some people under treatment have died and more...

WASHINGTON: The United States is seeking to expand the areas inside Pakistan where Central Intelligence Agency drones can operate, The Washington Post reported late Friday.Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said US officials were eyeing areas surrounding Quetta, where the Taliban leadership is believed to be hiding.But the request also seeks to expand the boundaries for drone strikes in the tribal areas, the report...

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WASHINGTON: The United States should seek Pakistan’s membership or at least observer status in major international forums, such as the Group of Twenty, a US task force recommended on Friday. The panel – led by Richard Armitage and Samuel Berger, top aides to former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton – notes that Pakistan’s presence in such groups would enable it “to connect with new power structures and familiarise it with emerging...

NEW YORK: When we consider purchasing the best makeup, we often take into account several different factors like price, ingredients, whether or not the product is tested on animals, packaging, and skin type designation.However, once the purchase has been made, just as with other products, we have a tendency to think that the decision-making is over. What many do not consider is that taking care of our products is just as important in maximizing...

MADRID: Spain's press reacted with alarm Wednesday to news that a 10-year-old girl had given birth. Newspapers expressed shock at the delighted reaction of the mother of the girl, who reportedly moved from Romania to the small southern Spanish town of Lebrija three weeks earlier. Photographed smiling outside their modest apartment block, the baby's grandmother, identified only as Olimpia, was quoted telling reporters that she and her only...

DUBAI: Pakistani cricket team wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider went missing from hotel room in Dubai this morning, as the situation takes a surprise turn, Geo News reported Monday. The wicketkeeper Haider is missing from his hotel room since 6am this morning. Sources said he was last seen at 630am while leaving his room. A Source said Shahid Aslam saw the wicketkeeper leaving his room at around 6am; he intercepted Haider, who told he is...

NEW DELHI: President Barack Obama pledged Monday to work more closely with India to combat global terrorism and offered to help India and Pakistan resolve their long-standing dispute over Kashmir, without intervening directly. Speaking at a news conference alongside India’s Prime Minister Manmoham Singh, Obama said that while both India and Pakistan have an interest in reducing tensions in the region, the US, “cannot impose a solution to...

KARACHI: Pakistan went down 6-0 to Thailand in one of the six opening-day tussles of the 16th Asian Games Football Tournament at the Huangpu Sports Centre in Guangzhou, China on Sunday. The U-23 football event kicked off five days prior to the actual opening of the games. The Group ‘F’ encounter between Pakistan and Thailand saw the latter on constant attack from the word go (Pakistan got one shot at the goal while Thailand 16) while a...

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reiterated that Pakistan was willing to talk to India and was committed to eliminating terrorism and dismantling any networks operating from the country. “We condemn terrorism. We do not and will not allow Pakistani soil to be used against anyone and that includes India,” he told India’s CNN-IBN news channel. “We have taken considerable steps in the last two years to deal with this situation.”...

DUBAI: Pakistan tail-end batsman Zulqarnain Haider and Wahab Riaz pulled off a sensational one wicket win for their team over South Africa in the fourth one-day match after Younis Khan’s fifty here on Friday.Younis’s sedate 73 built Pakistan’s run-chase but they owed it to their tail-enders Haider (19 not out) and Riaz (18) as they put on 28 runs for the ninth wicket to help their team chase down a challenging 275-run target. Fit-again...

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber struck a mosque frequented by anti-Taliban tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan during afternoon prayers Friday, killing at least 67 people in one of the deadliest attacks this year.Later in the day, three grenade blasts killed three people at a mosque in another northwest area where an anti-Taliban militia was active.The blasts were the latest to hit religious gatherings and underscored the relentless security...

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ABU DHABI: Abdul Razzaq’s dazzling 109 helped Pakistan edge to a morale-boosting one-wicket win over South Africa in the second one-day international at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Pakistan, which lost the opening one-dayer and both Twenty20 matches against South Africa, was staring at another defeat when Razzaq belted 10 sixes and seven boundaries for a 72-ball innings of 109. Razzaq scored 63 of the last 65 runs and hit the final...

DUBAI: Pakistan players Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt must wait to learn if their suspensions over spot-fixing allegations will be lifted after an International Cricket Council (ICC) hearing was extended on Saturday. Officials from cricket’s governing body said the hearing would now conclude on Sunday. “The hearings went on all day,” Butt’s lawyer Khalid Ranjha told reporters after the eight-hour session. “It will continue tomorrow. I can’t...