2 killed, 28 injured in blast in NW Pakistan

A bomb blast, targeting a police center, killed at least two persons and injured 28 others in northwest Pakistan, police and reports said.The bomb exploded near a police mobile van, which also …

Stop entry of polythene, check automobile workshops in Kashmir

Srinagar, Mar 1: Expressing concern over the haphazard cropping up of automobile workshops in various parts of the Valley, Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir Asgar Hassan Samoon today directed the …

Gaddafi loses control of east Libya, mass exodus

TOBRUK: Moamer Kadhafi’’s regime has lost vast swaths of Libya’’s east to an insurrection, it emerged Wednesday, as the West braced for a mass exodus from a “bloodbath” in the oil-rich African state. As Kadhafi sought to cling on to his four-decade grip on power, US President Barack Obama condemned the Libyan leadership’’s blooody crackdown on anti-regime protests and orders to shoot protestors as “outrageous”. Thousands of Libyans and foreigners fled the north African country, leaving Kadhafi increasingly isolated as estimates suggested that 640 to more than 1,000 civilians were killed in the backlash by his forces. Europe readied sanctions and warning it would hold to account those responsible for the bloody crackdown. At London’’s Gatwick airport, Britons airlifted to safety said Tripoli had descended into war-like scenes. “Last night I”ve never been so scared in all my life,” said Jane Macefield, an expatriate teacher. Oil sold in New York crossed the symbolic $100 a barrel level, hitting prices not seen since 2008, amid fears over supplies from Libya. On the ground, Kadhafi opponents appeared in control of Libya’’s coastal east, from the Egyptian border through to the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi, with government soldiers switching sides to join the uprising. Tobruk is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border and Benghazi, the epicentre of protests, some 400 kilometres further west — both in the Cyrenaica region. Journalists saw regime opponents — many of them armed — all along the highway that hugs the Mediterranean coast. Soldiers were declaring their support for the uprising, residents said, but the regime asserted it was still in control via a text message sent on the Libyan national mobile telephone network. “God give victory to our leader and the people,” the message said, promising a credit in cellphone time if it were forwarded to other mobile telephone users. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said “Cyrenaica is no longer under the control of the Libyan government and there are outbreaks of violence across the country,” using the name for the province covering the eastern half of the country. In the country’’s third city of Misrata, Kadhafi loyalists fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at demonstrators, killing several people with fears that they could attack again, witnesses said. Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Khaim said Al-Qaeda had set up an Islamic emirate in Derna, between Tobruk and Benghazi, headed by a former Guantanamo Bay inmate. But local residents dismissed the reports as the Libyan government trying to “scare Europe.” In the capital Tripoli, streets were mainly empty, barring a few dozen Kadhafi backers, despite his nationally televised call on Tuesday for a show of popular support. Only Green Square — a Kadhafi stronghold since the revolt against his four decades of iron-fisted rule broke out on February 15 — pulsed with activity as pro-regime supporters staged a demonstration. Libyan authorities said food supplies were available as “normal” in the shops and urged schools and public services to restore regular services, although economic activity and banks have been paralysed since Tuesday. “The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable,” Obama said at the White House, saying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would attend a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In an angry rambling speech on Tuesday, Kadhafi, 68, threatened to purge opponents “house by house” and “inch by inch.” The International Federation for Human Rights said at least 640 people although Kadhafi’’s former protocol chief, Nouri el-Mismari, said the death toll had surpassed 1,000. “This is the end of Moamer Kadhafi,” he told AFP. “Moamer Kadhafi does not even have five percent of the country behind him,” he said. Libya’’s bar to the entry of foreign news media has complicated the chronicling of events there, but several correspondents have entered the east of the country from Egypt. Kaim declared that they were “outlaws” and said they would be arrested if they did not turn themselves in. Libyans are fleeing, with a UN spokesman saying about 5,000 people have arrived at the border with Tunisia and 15,000 at the border with Egypt. China, the European Union, France, India, South Korea and the United States, among others, scrambled to evacuate people from the turbulent nation, as the international community expressed outrage at the crackdown. UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded international action against attacks on civilians and warned that Libya was now at a dangerous juncture, welcoming moves by to set up a “possible international inquiry into events in Libya.” Army, police and militias have killed unarmed demonstrators indiscriminately, even to the point where air force planes strafed civilians, according to widespread reports. In response, Peru suspended diplomatic ties with Libya, the first nation to do so, and numerous ministers, diplomats and military officers have announced their support for the rebellion. The turmoil in Libya, which has Africa’’s largest oil reserves, is the continent’’s fourth-largest producer and where many Western oil companies have suspended operations, has sent crude prices soaring. (AFP)

From the Editor: Introducing ESPNcricinfo’s iPhone app

Mubarak loses control of state media

CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak’’s control of Egypt’’s state media, a vital linchpin of his 30-year presidency, has started to slip as the country’’s largest-circulation newspaper declared its support for the uprising against him. Hoping to sap the momentum from street protests demanding his overthrow, the president has instructed his deputy to launch potentially protracted negotiations with secular and Islamist opposition parties. The talks continued for a second day on Monday without yielding a significant breakthrough. But Mubarak was dealt a significant setback as the state-controlled Al-Ahram, Egypt’’s second oldest newspaper and one of the most famous media publications in the Middle East, abandoned its long-standing position of slavish support for the regime. In a front-page leader, the newspaper’’s editor-in-chief, Osama Saraya hailed the “nobility” of what he described as a “revolution” and demanded that the government embark of irreversible constitutional and legislative changes. “The state and all its denizens, the elder generation, the politicians and all other powers on the political stage must humble themselves and rein themselves in to understand the ambitions of the young and the dreams of this nation,” he wrote. There was no call on the president to resign and while it may yet prove that Al Ahram’’s editorial shift may be tactical rather than genuine, opposition supporters expressed astonishment at the development. Mr Saraya built his reputation as a dependable apologist for the president. Last year, he became the subject of opposition mockery after Al-Ahram doctored a photo to show Mr Mubarak striding in front of President Barack Obama and other world leaders at the White House, when in fact he was at the rear. Caught out, Saraya defended the deception as legitimate “expressionism”. Saraya’’s change of heart comes amid growing anger among state journalists following the killing of Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud, a reporter for an affiliate of Al-Ahram, which was founded in 1875. Mahmoud, who died last Friday, was shot dead, allegedly by a secret policeman, as he filmed opposition protests from the window of his office with his mobile telephone. On Monday over 200 Egyptian journalists, many from state controlled publications, marched through Cairo’’s streets chanting anti-Mubarak slogans and holding aloft a model coffin. Highlighting the depth of the rebellion, the reporters had earlier surrounded Makram Mohamed Ahmed, the powerful head of Egypt’’s press syndicate and an ardent regime loyalist, chanting: “killer! killer!” and “down with the mouthpiece of the regime”. Like Al Ahram, which initially dismissed the protests as a non-event, state television has also been forced to modify its coverage of the uprising after a senior anchorwoman and a leading reporter resigned in protest. Having repeatedly insisted that the demonstrations had drawn no more than 5,000 people, most of them in the pay of foreign media outlets, government broadcasters have for the first time acknowledged a major presence in Cairo’’s Tahrir Square. But even as the protesters express their determination to remain in the square until Mubarak goes, the president remains defiant. A senior Israeli politician with deep ties to Egypt said on Monday that he had spoken to Mubarak four nights ago and that the president remained as determined as ever to stay on. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who very recently quit as trade minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’’s government, told The Daily Telegraph that Mubarak had told him: “This is not Beirut and this is not Tunis. I am sure that things are under control and don”t worry.” But Mr Ben-Eliezer added that he thought Mr Mubarak would still leave if a way was found for him to exit with dignity. He said the army was still backing the battled president.

Inspector killed, 4 police hurt in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: An inspector police was killed while another four personnel were inured in an attack launched on a police checkpost and a police mobile van by unknown gunmen in Mathra area in the outskirts of Peshawar on early Tuesday, Geo News reported. The police checkpost had turned ruined in the attack while the mobile van received huge damages. Police sources said that unidentified gunmen attacked on a police checkpost Pachayanu Garhi first and later blew up a remote-controlled bomb planted on the way of a police mobile van, killing one police inspector, Rasool Shah, on the spot while four others sustained injuries. Injured and dead have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital for medical attainment and medico legal procedure. Wounded have been declared out of danger. Security in the area has been beefed up, sources told Geo News.

Bangladesh old cars get W. Cup notice

DHAKA: Bangladesh ordered owners of old cars to spruce up their vehicles ahead of the cricket World Cup Thursday, warning that they will be targeted by mobile courts, an official said. Old and worn-out cars and buses in Dhaka and the southeastern city of Chittagong must “get fit, smarter and painted”, Abu Naser, spokesman of transport ministry, told. Roadworthiness rules will be used to enforce the decision, he said. “The transport minister passed the order to give the two cities a better image during the World Cup. A lot of tourists will visit Bangladesh at that time and we want to show them the best face of our cities,” he said. Mobile courts led by magistrates will hit the roads to hand out instant punishment to errant owners, he said, adding “there is no way old, worn-out and clunky vehicles will be allowed to move.” Cricket-mad Bangladesh is a co-host of the World Cup, which starts February 19, and Dhaka is keen to present a new image of the poverty-stricken country during the six-week long competition. “As part of the sprucing up drive, state-owned buses will be painted with faces of its national cricketers, monuments and tourism spots,” Naser said. The national side, captained by superstar all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, have enjoyed a recent improvement in form and hopes are high for success in the group stage matches against major teams such as India and England. After the opening ceremony in Dhaka, the capital will host six games and two will be held in Chittagong. India and Sri Lanka are the other co-hosts.

3 die, 600 hurt in fresh Cairo clashes

CAIRO: Another two persons died in clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters in the Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, bringing the death toll to three, Egypt’’s health ministry said. More than 600 people were injured in the violence, it added. A member of the security forces died in clashes between pro- and anti-regime protesters in the square, the epicenter of the demonstration, according to Egypt’’s state TV. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahine told the state television that one conscript was killed, adding all the injured had been sent to hospitals. “To all, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, to all Egyptian citizens, we urge you all to keep the security of our country, homeland is lasting forever but people always die,” military forces said in mobile messages to all citizens. “The army is with the people”, protesters hailed in the Tahrir Square, while a senior military officer drove into the square and started to make a public speech, according to media. Egyptian authorities ordered the public to leave the Tahrir Square to prevent more bloodshed after many people were injured in the clashes, according to Egypt’’s state TV.

'Pakistan advice' days before 7/7

The ringleader of the 7/7 attacks received bomb-making guidance in phone calls from Pakistan in the days before, the inquests have heard. Mobile phone records analysed after the bombings on 7 July …

Jammu Kashmir Admin asks mobile companies to help clear snow

Srinagar, Jan 19 : In view of forecast for more snowfall because of approaching Western Disturbances (WD), the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, has sought the support from mobile phone companies for