Pakistan bomb: Rivals ‘kill five Taliban’ in Waziristan

At least five Pakistan Taliban fighters have been killed in a bombing in the South Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border, local officials say.

A commander of the Sajna group was among those reported killed when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb, believed to have been planted by rivals.

More than 40 militants have been killed in infighting that broke out in the Pakistan Taliban in early April.

It is the first such incident since a recent ceasefire between factions.

The blast occurred on Tuesday night in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan.

"A local commander of the Sajna group and his four associates have been killed, they died on the spot," a local intelligence official told AFP news agency.

The feud is part of a split in the Pakistan Taliban, which worsened after its leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike late last year, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad reports.

India election: Modi votes as millions go to polls in seventh phase

India election: Modi votes as millions go to polls in seventh phase

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Oklahoma inmate dies after ‘botched’ lethal injection

Oklahoma inmate dies after ‘botched’ lethal injection

New clashes in Rio over dancer death

Brazilian police have clashed with residents of a Rio de Janeiro shantytown that was hit by deadly protests on Tuesday.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse dozens of angry protesters from the Pavao-Pavaozinho favela.

The protesters were returning from the burial of a man whose death – allegedly at the hands of police – triggered the earlier clashes.

Authorities say they will investigate the death of TV dancer Douglas Pereira.

Rio’s public safety director, Jose Maria Beltrame, said they would proceed “with the utmost rigour and transparency”.

Ukraine crisis: US troops land in Poland for exercises

The first contingent of US troops has landed in Poland for military exercises amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

An initial 150 soldiers are to be followed by a further 450 within days.

US President Barack Obama has warned Russia it faces new sanctions if it refuses to implement an agreement to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine.

Reports are coming in of violent incidents overnight between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian forces in Mariupol and Artemivsk.

Mr Obama accuses Russia of flouting last week's deal on Ukraine while Moscow has warned it will respond to any attack on its "interests" in Ukraine.

Speaking on Russian state TV channel RT on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew a parallel with the 2008 Georgian war, saying that if "the interests of Russians have been attacked directly.... I do not see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law".

Mr Lavrov also accused the US of "running the show" in Ukraine, and that it was "quite telling" that Kiev had re-launched its "anti-terrorist" operation in the east on Tuesday during a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden.

US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed his comments as "ludicrous". "Our approach here is de-escalation. We don't think there's a military solution on the ground," she said.

'Security guarantee'

The 150 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in the Polish town of Swidwin from their base in Vicenza, Italy.

Stephen Mull, the US ambassador to Poland, said the US had a "solemn obligation in the framework of Nato to reassure Poland of our security guarantee".

President Obama told a news conference in Japan that Moscow had failed to halt actions by pro-Russian militants in Ukraine.

The US had further sanctions against Russia "teed up", he added.

The US troops are expected to be carrying out military exercises in Poland as well as in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia for the coming months.

There has been growing concern in those countries at the build-up of thousands of troops in Russia along its borders with Ukraine in recent weeks.

Elsewhere, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that Russian military aircraft had been identified approaching the north of Scotland, but they turned away shortly after fighter jets were scrambled to investigate.

Military officials in the Netherlands and Denmark confirmed they too had scrambled jets to escort the jets away from their airspace.

And in the seas around the UK, a Royal Navy warship is shadowing a Russian destroyer in what the MoD described as a "well established and standard response" as it sails past British territory.

The BBC visits Ukrainian soldiers on the border with RussiaBut the focus of the tension remains eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have taken over administrative buildings in at least a dozen towns in a bid to seek closer ties to Moscow.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced on Thursday that the city hall in Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov, had been "liberated" overnight without any casualties.

"Civic activists" played a major part in the operation, he said.

However, local news website 0629 reported that the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk was still claiming control over the mayor's hall after a struggle with attackers.

Mr Avakov also reported that Ukrainian troops in Artemivsk had fended off an attempt by dozens of pro-Russian militants to seize weapons from a military unit. One soldier was wounded, he said.

Unrest began in Ukraine last November over whether the country should look towards Moscow or the West.

Obama reaffirms commitment to Japan on tour of Asia allies

TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama assured ally Japan on Thursday that Washington was committed to its defence, including of tiny isles at the heart of a row with China, but denied he had drawn any new “red line” and urged peaceful dialogue over the islands.

Obama also urged Japan to take “bold steps” to clinch a two-way trade pact seen as crucial to a broad regional agreement that is a central part of the U.S. leader’s “pivot” of military, diplomatic and economic resources towards Asia and the Pacific.

U.S. and Japanese trade negotiators failed to resolve differences in time for Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to shake hands on a deal at the summit, but the two leaders reported progress and ordered their teams to keep working.

Obama, on the start of a four-nation tour, is being treated to a display of pomp and ceremony meant to show that the U.S.-Japan alliance, the main pillar of America’s security strategy in Asia, is solid at a time of rising tensions over growing Chinese assertiveness and North Korean nuclear threats.

“We don’t take a position on final sovereignty determinations with respect to Senkaku, but historically they have been administered by Japan and we do not believe that they should be subject to change unilaterally and what is a consistent part of the alliance is that the treaty covers all territories administered by Japan,” Obama said.

“This is not a new position, this is a consistent one,” he told a joint news conference after his summit with Abe, using the Japanese name for the islands that China, which also claims sovereignty over them, calls the Diaoyu.

“In our discussions, I emphasized with Prime Minister Abe the importance of resolving this issue peacefully,” Obama added.

INTERNATIONAL RULES

Obama also said there were opportunities to work with China – which complains that his real aim is to contain its rise – but called on the Asian power to stick to international rules.

“What we’ve also emphasized, and I will continue to emphasize throughout this trip, is that all of us have responsibilities to help maintain basic rules of the world and international order, so that large countries, small countries, all have to abide by what is considered just and fair,” he said.

Some of China’s neighbours with territorial disputes with Beijing worry that Obama’s apparent inability to rein in Russia, which annexed Crimea last month, could send a message of weakness to China.

Obama told the news conference that additional sanctions were “teed up” against Russia if it does not deliver on promises in an agreement reached in Geneva last week to ease tensions in Ukraine.

The two leaders also agreed that their top trade aides, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari would keep trying to narrow gaps in their trade talks.

Abe has touted the TPP as key to “Third Arrow” reforms needed to generate growth in the world’s third-biggest economy, along with hyper-easy monetary policy and fiscal spending.

Both sides have also stressed that the TPP would have strategic implications by creating a framework for business that could entice China to play by global rules.

But the talks have been stymied by Japan’s efforts to protect politically powerful agriculture sectors such as beef, and disputes over both countries’ auto markets.

Pointing to restrictions on access to Japan’s farm and auto sectors, Obama said: “Those are all issues that people are all familiar with and at some point have to be resolved. I believe that point is now.”

DIPLOMATIC CHALLENGE

The diplomatic challenge for Obama during his week-long, four-nation regional tour is to convince Asian partners that Washington is serious about its promised strategic “pivot”, while at the same time not harming U.S. ties with China, the world’s second-biggest economy.

Obama will also travel to South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The difficulty of Obama’s balancing act was underscored hours before he arrived on Wednesday night when Chinese state media criticized U.S. policy in the region as “a carefully calculated scheme to cage the rapidly developing Asian giant”.

China’s Xinhua news agency followed that on Thursday with a commentary that said: “…the pomp and circumstance Obama receives … cannot conceal the fact that Tokyo has become a growing liability to Washington’s pursuit of long-term interests.”

Abe – who repeatedly referred to the U.S. president as “Barack” during their news conference – and Obama were keen to send a message of solidarity after U.S-Japan ties were strained by Abe’s December visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.

Japan lobbied hard to get the White House to agree to an official state visit, the first by a sitting U.S. president since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Abe is trying to soothe U.S. concerns that his conservative push to recast Japan’s war record with a less apologetic tone is overshadowing his pragmatic policies on the economy and security.

“Seventy years ago, when the war ended, Japan gave grave damage and pain to many people, particularly people in Asia. Japan started taking post-war steps by reflecting on this. Japan and Japanese people have continued to take the path of peace for the past 70 years,” Abe told the joint news conference.

“Japan has strived to create a free and democratic country after the war. We have been building a country that respects human rights and the rule of law,” he said.

“I would like to gain understanding of the people all over the world by contributing to creating the world that is peaceful and prosperous.”

Body of Korean boy who raised ferry alarm believed found

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean boy whose shaking voice first raised the alarm that an overloaded ferry with hundreds of children on board was sinking has been found drowned in the submerged wreckage of the vessel, his parents believe, the coastguard said on Thursday.

The parents had seen his body and clothes and concluded he was their son, but he has not been formally identified with a DNA test.

More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers from the Danwon High School, are dead or missing presumed dead after the April 16 disaster.

The Sewol, weighing almost 7,000 tons, sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Investigations are focused on human error and mechanical failure.

Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers from the school in Ansan, a gritty suburb on the outskirts of Seoul, who were on an outing to Jeju.

As the ferry began sinking, the crew told the children to stay in their cabins.

Most of those who obeyed died. Many of those who flouted or did not hear the instructions and went out on deck were rescued.

But only 174 people were saved and the remainder are presumed to have drowned.

Classes at the school resumed on Thursday with banks of floral tributes surrounding photos of each of the victims, dressed in their school uniforms. Almost 250 teenagers and teachers at the school have died or are presumed dead.

Fellow students filed past, offering white chrysanthemums in sombre tributes.

In the classrooms of the missing, friends posted messages on desks, blackboards and windows, in the days after disaster struck, asking for the safe return of their friends.

“If I see you again, I’ll tell you I love you, because I haven’t said it to you enough,” read one.

The school provided therapy sessions for the children as they returned.

The first distress call from the sinking vessel was made by a boy with a shaking voice, three minutes after the vessel made its fateful last turn, a fire service officer told Reuters.

“SAVE US”

The boy called the emergency 119 number which put him through to the fire service, which in turn forwarded him to the coastguard two minutes later. That was followed by about 20 other calls from children on board the ship to the emergency number.

“Save us! We’re on a ship and I think it’s sinking,” Yonhap news agency quoted the boy as saying.

The fire service official asked him to switch the phone to the captain, media said, and the boy replied: “Do you mean teacher?”

The pronunciation of the words for “captain” and “teacher” is similar in Korean.

The ship, 146 metres (479 feet) long and 22 metres wide, was over three times overloaded, according to official recommendations, with cargo poorly stowed and inadequate ballast.

Moon Ki-han, an executive at Uryeon (Union Transport Co.), the firm that supervised cargo loading, told Reuters there were 105 containers onboard, some of which toppled into the sea as the ship listed.

Forty-five were loaded on to the front deck and 60 into the lower decks, Moon said. In total, the ship was carrying 3,600 metric tons of cargo including containers, vehicles and other goods, he said.

A member of parliament this week said the Korean Register of Shipping recommended a load of 987 tons for the Sewol.

Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, and other crew members who abandoned ship have been arrested on negligence charges. Lee was also charged with undertaking an “excessive change of course without slowing down”.

One crew member said on Thursday she and six colleagues were “under command” to abandon ship.

The unidentified crew member, speaking briefly to reporters on the way from court back into detention, was hidden behind a surgical mask and wearing a baseball cap with a jacket hood. She did not elaborate.

Another crew member was asked if there was any discussion about trying to save the passengers.

“At that moment, we were on the 3rd floor and except for the 3rd floor situation, we weren’t aware of anything else,” the crew member said.

The confirmed death toll from the ship on Thursday was 159, with many of those found at the back of the ship on the fourth deck.

Recovery work on Thursday was concentrated on the third and fourth decks at the front of the ship with about 700 divers, working in shifts, and an extra 36 fishing boats involved, an official told a briefing.

Helping divers were drones and a crab-like robot, called a “crabster”, which can feel for bodies along the seabed.

Divers have been swimming through the dark, cold waters in the ferry, feeling for bodies with their hands.

“We are trained for hostile environments, but it’s hard to be brave when we meet bodies in dark water,” said diver Hwang Dae-sik.

(Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho, Miyoung Kim, Sohee Kim an Ju-min Park; Writing by Nick 

FDA announces rules restricting e-cigarettes and cigars

Catharine Candelario, an employee at the newly opened Henley Vaporium, vapes, or inhales from an electronic cigarette, on December 19, 2013 in New York City.(Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)

As electronic cigarettes soar in popularity, the U.S. government Thursday is proposing historic rules to ban their sale to minors and require warning labels as well as federal approval.

Three years after saying it would regulate e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration is moving to control not only these battery-powered devices but also cigars, pipe tobacco, hookahs (water pipes) and dissolvable tobacco products. Currently, the FDA regulates cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless products such as snuff.

The proposed rules won’t ban advertising unless the products make health-related claims nor will they ban the use of flavors such as chocolate or bubble gum, which public health officials say might attract children.

“This is an important moment for consumer protection,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, noting tobacco remains “the leading cause of death and disease in this country.” The rules will require manufacturers to report their ingredients to the FDA and obtain its approval. They also ban free tobacco samples and most vending-machine sales.

“Some of these regulations will be very restrictive,” said Ray Story, founder of industry group TVECA (Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association), who added he obtained his own pre-release copy of the rules. He said they could be costly for smaller businesses and slow the growth of a product that advocates say has helped many smokers kick the habit.

Still, Story said, consumers might benefit, because “it provides them a product that will be consistent.” E-cigarettes contain varying ingredients and levels of nicotine that are heated into a vapor that users inhale in a practice known as “vaping.” Most look like conventional cigarettes but some resemble everyday items such as pens and USB memory sticks.

The rules come as e-cigarette sales, buoyed by TV ads with Hollywood celebrities , have soared in recent year and debate has risen about whether the devices are more apt to lure kids toward tobacco or help adults quit smoking.

An increasing number of states have cracked down by extending indoor smoking restrictions to e-cigarettes. Last month, U.S. poison centers reported a surge in illnesses linked to the liquid nicotine used in the devices.

While they don’t contain many of the harmful chemicals of conventional cigarettes, the FDA found trace amounts of toxic and carcinogenic ingredients in several samples in late 2008 when the e-cigarette market was just beginning in the United States. It sought to regulate them as drug-delivery devices, but in 2010, a federal judge ruled it could only do so if they made therapeutic claims. So in April 2011, the agency said it would regulate them as tobacco products, because the nicotine is derived from tobacco leaves.

“It’s taken more than three years to issue a proposed rule, which we think is inexcusable,” said Vince Willmore of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-smoking group. “It’s allowed a Wild West marketplace with irresponsible marketing and no control over the product.” He says the FDA should quickly finalize the rules, which face a 75-day public comment period and further review.

The proposed rules walk a narrow path. They will require tobacco products that weren’t on the market by Feb. 25, 2007 — a date set by a federal law — to apply for FDA review within 24 months after the rules are issued. The products can stay on the market pending FDA’s review, says Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, adding they can seek an exemption from additional reviews if minor changes are made.

Despite these requirements, the proposal doesn’t contain the marketing restrictions sought by some critics that were almost sure to trigger litigation. Craig Weiss, CEO of NJoy, a top-selling e-cigarette, said he supports “reasonable regulation” but would “respond very forcefully to any attempt to limit my free speech right to promote my product.”

Several dominant e-cigarette manufacturers, which now include the nation’s three largest cigarette makers — Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard — have embraced limited regulation such as a ban on sales to minors. Yet they’ve argued that their e-products shouldn’t be regulated as tightly as conventional cigarettes — an approach the FDA appears to be taking.

The FDA said the rule aims to bolster product safety. It said since e-cigarettes have not been fully studied, consumers have no way to know how much nicotine or other chemicals they contain and whether they’re safe or beneficial.

FDA’s 20-year road to regulating tobacco:

August 1996: FDA issues rules to ban tobacco sales to minors and its advertising near schools or playgrounds

March 2000: U.S. Supreme Court, in 5-4 decision, rules that Congress did not give FDA such authority

December 2008: FDA, after detaining import shipments of e-cigarettes, declares they’re unapproved drug delivery devices

April 2009: E-cigarette distributor Smoking Everywhere files suit against the FDA, joined a month later by Sottera (doing business as NJOY)

June 2009: Congress passes law granting FDA authority to regulate tobacco products

January 2010: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia bans FDA from stopping e-cigarette imports

June 2010: FDA issues final rules to ban the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors and to restrict their marketing

December 2010: U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, upholding lower court decision, rules e-cigarettes can be regulated as tobacco products but not as drugs/devices unless marketed for therapeutic purposes

April 2011: FDA says it intend to expand to its authority over tobacco products to include e-cigarettes

June 2011: FDA issues new graphic warning labels that will need to be placed on cigarette packs and ads by Sept. 2012

April 2014: FDA proposes rules to regulate e-cigarettes and cigars as tobacco products

Move to shut down Geo challenged in SHC

KARACHI: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, after hearing in detail a petition filed by the Independent Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. to challenge the arbitrary manner in which the federal government acting through ministries of interior and defence has complained to Pemra seeking cancellation of Geo News licence issued notices to both the federal government and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) calling for their comments here on Wednesday.

In its detailed order, the division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, issued notices to the federal government through the Ministry of Information and also to Pemra and has called for comments on Geo’s petition, fixing May 2 as the next date of hearing.

In its petition, the Jang Group had contended that all over the world, it is routine for victims’ families to express suspicions for the help of investigating agencies. In England, a non UK citizen Mohammad Al Fayed has been conducting more than a decade of court battles to prove that his son Dodi Al Fayed and Lady Diana were murdered by MI6 of the UK. On his request, various inquests have taken place and the media has routinely reported proceedings of the court. No one has questioned this allegation as damaging the respect of MI6.

In the petition, Geo Jang Group has contended that while on the one hand, the federal government got a judicial commission set up headed by Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali to look into the allegations of Hamid Mir’s family, on the other hand, without waiting for the findings of the judicial commission, it has reportedly filed a complaint with Pemra to cancel the Geo News licence.

In the petition, Geo has contended that on April 19, April 20 and also on April 21, no official of Pemra or that of the Ministry of Defence, contacted them to express unhappiness over the transmission and then without any prior communication, all of a sudden, the minister of interior and minister of defence filed complaints with Pemra.

In the petition, it has also been contended that the haste and arbitrariness that has been shown by the federal government when filing the complaint, the petitioner expects no fair, transparent and impartial adjudication on merit by Pemra, which has to-date never decided against the government of the day.

It was also pointed out that despite the worst kind of defamation that was conducted against the superior judiciary of Pakistan, to-date Pemra has not cancelled a single broadcasting licence.

Pemra may be used to victimise media

LAHORE: The media community, civil society and democratic forces will not accept any measures to curb the press freedom, said representatives of various organisations on Wednesday.

The promise came as representatives of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Lahore Press Club and South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) along with print and broadcast journalists met at the South Asian Media Centre and passed a resolution.

The participants condemned the heinous attack on Hamid Mir and threats to other journalists, and the campaign launched by various quarters to harass media persons. Alarmed by increasing tension between the media and security establishment, they rejected any move to gag the media houses and journalists.

The resolution said they were encouraged by the response of the media, working journalists, civil society, political parties and international media community in solidarity with Hamid Mir and other journalists under threat.

It also expressed concerns over the rivalries among various media houses that undermined the freedom of expression and solidarity and security of the journalists’ community.Noting the concerns expressed by the ISPR about the allegations levelled by Hamid Mir’s family members and colleagues indicating the alleged suspects behind the attack, the Safma appreciated the appointment of a judicial commission by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

It showed concerns about the current nominated structure of Pemra, which may be used to victimise one or other media groups. It called for caution and restraint from all sides to let the judicial commission and independent inquiry take its due course to a logical conclusion.

The resolution emphasised that right to life, freedom of expression, fundamental rights, accountability of all, observance of media ethics and security of journalists must be upheld and could not be compromised on any pretext whatsoever. Unity among all sections of media must be kept on issues like freedom of press/ expression and security of journalists, regardless of any kind of differences.

According to the resolution, restrictions and prohibitions on media and harassment of media persons is not to be condoned. A free media, independent judiciary, sovereign parliament and civil and political rights are the imperatives of modern-day nationhood, while civil-military and media-military relations are to be defined within the parameters of democratic values and constitutional framework.

The resolution demanded that an independent inquiry must be ensured and the judicial commission must investigate not only the Hamid Mir case but also all aspects of the conflict between media and security establishment to not only find the real culprits but also propose such measures as could ensure the security of journalists from various quarters. Findings of the judicial commission must be made public and implemented.

It further demanded that all media houses must observe media ethics and demonstrate solidarity on the issues of media freedom and security of media persons, instead of indulging in mudslinging against each other. The media must avoid casting aspersions against any segment of national institutions, while all state institutions must respect right to life and fundamental rights, including press freedom. No measures to curb press freedom will be acceptable to the media community, civil society and democratic forces.

Restraint and caution must be observed by all sides and no interference be allowed in the affairs of the media by various arms of the executive, it said, adding that media should evolve its code of ethics and observe it diligently and Pemra should be reconstituted making it a representative body.Prominent journalists including Imtiaz Alam, Hussain Naqi, Khawar Naeem Hashmi, IA Rahman and Arshad Ansari spoke on the occasion.

Pemra issues notice to Geo

ISLAMABAD: The Geo TV management on Wednesday received a show cause notice from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (Pemra) wherein it had been asked to immediately stop airing any content in violation of the Pemra rules.

In the notice, the Pemra directed chief executive officer (CEO) of Geo News to appear before it for personal hearing on May 6 at 11:00am at its headquarters here.

The Pemra said in the notice that a complaint was received on Tuesday from the Ministry of Defence, initiated by the Directorate General ISI with CDs (video recording) and a copy of transcript.

It said that after firing on the car of anchorperson Hamid Mir, the channel launched a “malicious campaign” airing “false accusations” against the ISI and its senior officers.The notice said it had been further alleged by Deputy Director General ISI that the “reporting made and programmes aired can’t be viewed as a single event. GEO Network had a history of acting illegally in furtherance of anti-Pakistan agenda.”

The Pemra noted in the notice that “whereas the content of the complaint and video recordings provided by the complainant appear to be in violation of the Section 20 of the Pemra Ordinance, Rule 15 of Pemra rules, 2009 read with clause (d) (e) (g) (h) and (j) of Pemra Code of Conduct as well as Regulation 18 (i) (c) of Pemra (Television Broadcast Station Operation Regulations), 2012 and clause 29 of the terms and conditions of the licence, you had signed.”

Geo, The News, Jang blocked illegally in cantonments

ISLAMABAD: Geo TV has been blacked out in all cantonment areas and hawkers are not being allowed to distribute daily Jang and The News to subscribers.

It appears as if the ghost of General Ziaul Haq is still haunting the freedom of the press like it had done during the worst dictatorship during the late ’70s and ’80s.Geo TV invited the wrath of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) by airing the apprehensions of senior journalist Hamid Mir through his brother, that too after the near fatal attack on the senior anchorperson.

Instead of using legal means, some forces have directed all the defence institutions and cantonments to black out Geo TV from cable, and the order was complied with in no time. The hawkers in the Cantt areas have also been directed not to supply daily Jang and The News in cantonments all over Pakistan.

The forces who only know how to use muscle instead of reasoning and logic did not wait for the decision of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) where the ISI has lodged a complaint against the Jang Group and instead started implementing the contents of this complaint in the cantonments and defence institutions.

Adoption of legal battle to achieve a remedy against a wrong is always appreciated but, despite knowing the fact that only Pemra can order closure of any channel, these forces have themselves assumed the job of the regulator and have ordered cable operators in Cantt areas not to air Geo TV, which by no means is legal.

However, the poor cable operators have no other choice but to bow before the all-powerful men in boots.Importantly, 95 percent population of cantonments is civilian but they too are forced to bear the consequences of the illegal order originated out of garrisons of blacking out Geo TV and not letting the hawkers to sell/ distribute ‘Daily Jang’ and ‘The News’ in the areas controlled by the Pakistan Army.

Every institution has its jurisdiction and it must remain within the ambit of its jurisdiction otherwise things get worse. If any institution has any issues with Geo TV, there are proper forums where such issues could be addressed. For instance, there is the forum of Pemra and also the courts but some forces only know to use force instead of application of laws.

It is not the first time that the Jang Group has been subjected to such censorship as the subscribers have not forgotten the 1997 and 2007 blackouts by the powerful governments but in the end, it was sanity that prevailed and not the senseless power.

The Jang Group has always been adopting the legal means to fight the wrongs done with it and still many cases, including defamation, are pending before the courts.In the present case, despite adopting the legal channel of action against Geo TV through a complaint lodged with Pemra, the forces, without waiting for the outcome of the complaint, have illegally imposed censorship on Pakistan’s most popular media group. However, the Jang Group lives in the hearts of people; it can be blacked out on cable, hawkers can be stopped from selling its newspapers but how can someone remove Geo/Jang/The News from the hearts of millions of Pakistanis?

Saudi health minister sacked as Mers death toll rises

The Saudi health minister has been sacked without explanation, as the Mers coronavirus death toll there climbed to 81.

Abdullah al-Rabiah was dismissed just days after visiting hospitals in Jeddah to calm a public hit by panic over the spread of the respiratory virus.

Saudi has registered the largest number of infections of Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

The ministry said it had registered 261 cases of infection across the kingdom.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has been informed of 243 laboratory-confirmed cases worldwide, including 93 deaths since the virus was first discovered in September 2012.

The WHO, which has been monitoring the global situation, says there is currently no reason to impose any travel restrictions because of the virus.

Public Health England said the recent rise in the number of Mers infections in Saudi could be the result of a number of factors: a change in the virus itself, a consequence of more active surveillance or some sort of, as yet unexplained, seasonality.

Pakistan USA Relations: Giant portrait in Pakistan gives face to drone vic...

Pakistan USA Relations: Giant portrait in Pakistan gives face to drone vic...: Artists are giving a face to drone strike victims in Pakistan with a giant portrait of a young girl. The portrait is part of a project...

Conflicting Tales Of A School Shooting In ‘The Library’

n the new play The Library, Chloë Grace Moretz is a teen who survives a school shooting, only to discover she’s been accused of aiding the shooter.

Joan Marcus

The Library, a new play at New York’s Public Theater, tackles an uncomfortable contemporary topic head on: It looks at the aftermath of a school shooting and peers into the shattered lives of the survivors, and the stories they tell. The play is written by Scott Z. Burns and directed by Steven Soderbergh, who’ve collaborated on three films; most recently, the thriller, Side Effects.

And even before the play begins, Soderbergh and Burns make the audience uneasy. When you enter the theater, a young woman in a hospital gown lies center stage on what could be a table or a bed or a slab in the morgue, Burns says. “People start having to invent a story, you know, which is: Is she alive? Is she not alive? And so they’re already, before we’ve said anything, experiencing what the play is about, which is, you know, you start assembling facts and truths into stories that support your belief set and allow you to keep going.”

Once the play starts, the audience discovers that the young woman onstage is a high school sophomore named Caitlin Gabriel, and although she’s survived a violent massacre, one of the other survivors has gone on TV and accused her of telling the gunman where several victims were hiding.

12 gold bars found in man’s stomach

New Delhi, India (CNN) — When a team of Indian surgeons opened up the stomach of a patient complaining of abdominal pain, they had no idea they’d extract a fortune.

The patient, whose name was not released, was hiding 12 gold bars in his belly. He apparently smuggled them into India to evade import duty, police and doctors said Tuesday.

Each bar weighed 33 grams, said C.S. Ramachandran, who conducted the surgery at a hospital in New Delhi on April 9.

The 63-year-old patient, an Indian citizen, visited the hospital a day before with severe stomach pain and nausea.

“He told us he had accidentally swallowed the cap of a plastic bottle,” Ramachandran said.

Tarantino loses first round of lawsuit

(CNN) — A lawsuit filed by Academy Award winning screenwriter and celebrated director Quentin Tarantino against the Gawker website for linking to a script for a future movie project was dismissed Tuesday by a federal judge.

In January, Gawker posted links to the script for “The Hateful Eight,” an unproduced Western. Tarantino failed to prove that was an act of direct copyright infringement, said Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California.

The judge said he would allow Tarantino’s attorney to amend arguments and refile the complaint by May 1.

Although Gawker did not post the script to its own site, Tarantino’s attorney charged the script would not have been widely accessible if Gawker had not linked to it.

Gawker turned down repeated requests to remove links to download the script, Tarantino’s complaint charged.

Tarantino told the gossip site Deadline that he had given the script to only six people, including actors Michael Madsen, best known as the killer in “Reservoir Dogs,” as well as Bruce Dern and Tim Roth. “Reservoir Dogs” was Roth’s breakthrough film.

Somehow, the script leaked. It was posted through a site that lets users anonymously upload and download files.

CNN’s attempts to reach Tarantino for comment on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Gawker didn’t mention the decision on its website.

According to CNN affiliate KTLA, Tarantino held a three-hour reading of the script over the weekend and told audience members he was working on changes to it. Although Tarantino had spoken of shelving the project when the links to the script were posted, he said making the film is still possible.

EU in slow progress on deficit cuts

New figures from the European Commission show that EU governments are gradually making progress with their financial problems.

The budget deficit - the amount of new borrowing they undertake - came down last year.

For the whole EU, it fell from 3.9% of GDP in 2012 to 3.3%. For the eurozone, the decline was from 3.7% to 3%.

But they are still borrowing substantial amounts, so the total accumulated debt continued to rise.

That pattern affected both the eurozone and the European Union as a whole.

The eurozone figure is in line - just - with the upper limit that the EU expects member countries to meet.

Of course, there was a wide variation within the eurozone, with some countries borrowing a lot less than maximum.

Germany's government finances were close to being balanced: no new borrowing. Luxembourg managed a small surplus, which means it reduced its government debt slightly.

Others still couldn't comply with the 3% of GDP limit. France and Spain were the two big economies that went over that level, while Italy was just in line with it.

Greek 'milestone'

The figures for Greece tell an interesting story. A casual look suggests they got worse. But going beneath the surface, that was due to the costs of propping up the banks, a cost that isn't repeated year after year. Take that out of the picture and the figures look a good deal better.

If you also take out interest payments on government debt, then Greece has, so a European Commission spokesman says, reached an important milestone. It has achieved what's called a primary surplus in the government finances.

Critics say that the price of getting there, in terms of austerity and the wider economic damage it has done, is very high and unnecessarily so.

That debate will no doubt linger on and it applies more widely than just to Greece. All the countries that received bailouts have made some progress. They have all also suffered economically in the process.

While those nations have all reduced their annual borrowing needs, their burden of accumulated debt continued to rise.

In cash terms, the debts will rise as long as they have to continue new borrowing. But the burden is usually measured as a percentage of GDP. Strong economic growth could be enough to get that measure of the burden going down, even if they do still have deficits.

The eurozone has started to recover, including some of the bailed-out countries. Even Greece, where it all started, is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to see some, weak growth this year. But overall, Europe is not likely to grow strongly in the near future.

The Eurozone's financial repairs are far from complete. Unemployment is still painfully high in many countries. But these financial figures do show some signs of progress.

Obama pledges Japan islands support as Asian tour begins

US President Barack Obama has assured Japan that islands at the center of its territorial dispute with China are covered by a bilateral defense treaty.

In an interview ahead of his Asian tour, Mr Obama said the US would oppose any attempt to undermine Japan's control over the islands.

US officials have made such comments in the past, but this is the first time Mr Obama has given such explicit support.

He arrived in Japan on Wednesday ahead of stops in three other Asian nations.

China's foreign ministry has said it opposes the islands being covered by the defense treaty.

"The so-called US-Japan alliance is a bilateral arrangement from the Cold War and ought not to harm China's territorial sovereignty and reasonable rights," spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing during a regular press briefing.

Mr Obama is not going to Beijing, but relations with China are expected to dominate his meetings with regional leaders.

The trip was an opportunity to reinforce the importance the US placed on Asia, former US Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley told the BBC.

"Many traditional allies... [also] value a strong US presence in the region to balance against an assertive China," he said.

The visit comes amid a "period of very significant tension among American allies, and between American allies and China", he added.

'Clear position'

Mr Obama's trip - from 23-29 April - comes nearly seven months after he cancelled a visit to the region due to a government shutdown.

He will have a private dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as bilateral meetings with the South Korean, Malaysian and Philippine leaders.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing were expected to be high on the agenda as Mr Obama touched down in Tokyo on Wednesday evening.

Relations are severely strained over a raft of issues, including East China Sea islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China - that both claim.

Japan controls the islands but Chinese ships have sailed repeatedly in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters as Beijing presses its claim. Last year, China declared an air defence identification zone over the islands, drawing widespread criticism.

Ahead of his visit, Mr Obama said in a written response to Japan's Yomiuri newspaperthat the US opposed "any unilateral attempts to undermine Japan's administration of these islands".

"The policy of the United States is clear - the Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan and therefore fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security," he wrote.

How will US trade deal affect Japan's economy? Linda Yueh reports

Japan depends on the US for its security, under a decades-old alliance that dates back to the end of World War Two.

The US, however, is keen for Japan to take on greater responsibility for its own security - an area where Mr Obama and Mr Abe are likely to be in general agreement.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal which requires each country to strike an agreement with other prospective members.

A rift between Japan and the US over agriculture product tariffs has proved a major sticking point.

Mr Obama is also expected to have to balance bolstering US ties with each Asian ally with improving communication among them, particularly between South Korea and Japan.

The two Asian nations are at odds over a separate set of disputed islands, as well as historical issues linked to Japan's war history.

The Japanese prime minister's views on World War Two have poisoned relations to the point where Tokyo and Seoul are now barely on speaking terms, reports the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.

On Tuesday, Seoul accused Mr Abe of romanticising "Japanese colonialism and its war of aggression" after he sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's war dead - including convicted war criminals - are enshrined.

But the US - which last month brokered a meeting of the Japanese and South Korean leaders - wants the two to co-operate on North Korea, amid long-term deadlock in moves to end Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

On Tuesday, South Korea's defence ministry said that it had detected "a lot of activity" at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

North Korea could be planning to hold a "surprise nuclear test or just pretend to stage a nuclear test", a spokesman said.

Mr Obama arrives in Seoul on Friday. A state department spokeswoman said the US was "closely monitoring the situation". The test, if it went ahead, would be North Korea's fourth.

Novartis reshapes business via deals with GSK and Lilly

ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis announced a multi-billion dollar revamp on Tuesday, swapping assets with GlaxoSmithKline and selling its animal health arm in a bid to simplify its business and increase its focus on high-margin cancer medicines.

The overhaul is part of a major realignment in the global pharmaceuticals industry as it strives to cope with a clampdown in health spending by cash-strapped governments.

“The transactions mark a transformative process for us,” said Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez, who has been undertaking a strategic review of the once-sprawling business.

“They also improve our financial strength, and are expected to add to our growth rates and margins immediately.”

Novartis said it had agreed to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s oncology products for $14.5 billion (8.6 billion pounds), while selling to GSK its vaccines, excluding flu, for $7.1 billion plus royalties and creating a joint venture with GSK in consumer healthcare.

Novartis also said it had agreed to sell its animal health arm to Eli Lilly for approximately $5.4 billion.

The global pharmaceuticals sector has seen a flurry of deal-making recently as large companies seek to focus on a small number of leading businesses, while smaller speciality and generic producers seek greater scale.

Cancer is a particular focus for some drugmakers, thanks to novel medicines that show promise by boosting the body’s immune system. Tuesday’s deal will see Novartis strengthen its world No.2 position in cancer behind cross-town rival Roche.

A desire to boost its oncology business is seen as a key factor behind Pfizer’s reported interest in AstraZeneca. A weekend newspaper said Pfizer, which has also been spinning off assets such as animal health and baby food, had made a 60 billion pound ($101 billion) bid approach that had been rebuffed by the British firm.

“We reckon the real value of the deal should be searched for in the pipeline and the newly launched products, strengthening Novartis’ position in melanoma and haematology,” Vontobel analyst Andrew Weiss said of the cancer deal with GSK.

Cancer is an extremely competitive marketplace, however, and some analysts said it made sense for GSK to exit a field where it was only No.14 in the world.

As well as strengthening its vaccines business, GSK will take the lead in running a future consumer health business worth about $10 billion in annual revenue with Novartis. The British drugmaker will return 4 billion pounds to shareholders as well.

At 10.05 a.m. BST, Novartis shares were up 2.3 percent to 76.4 Swiss francs. GSK shares were up 5.4 percent to 1,643.5 pence.

PRICE TAG

Novartis’s Jimenez told reporters the deals would result in slightly lower overall sales for the Swiss group, but higher profit as it swaps lower-margin vaccines business for higher-margin oncology drugs.

Analysts at Swiss broker Notenstein said the new cancer drugs would help Novartis to navigate patent expiries on top-selling medicines more easily.

However, analysts at Barclays described the price tag for the oncology assets, which could rise as high as $16 billion if certain milestones are reached, as “rather hefty.”

Novartis said it would start a separate sale process for its flu business immediately, which was not part of the GSK deal.

Eli Lilly will have the world’s No.2 animal health business by revenue in the wake of its deal with Novartis. It said it would fund the transaction with $3.4 billion of cash and $2 billion of loans and expected cost savings of about $200 million per year within three years of closing the deal.

BofA Merrill Lynch advised Lilly, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc advised Novartis on the animal health deal. GSK said Lazard and Zaoui & Co. were acting as its joint financial advisers.

Complaint submitted to PEMRA against GEO News

ISLAMABAD- An application has been filed to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) against a private media group (Geo News) for violating PEMRA rules on April 19, 2014.

The complainant journalist Khushnood Ali Khan in his application stated that Geo News on April 19 violated PEMRA rules, after anchor person Hamid Mir was shot in Karachi. The TV channel and its employees without any concrete evidence blamed and held the Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Armed Forces of Pakistan responsible for the shooting and murder attempt of Hamid Mir.

The application further stated that ISI and Armed Forces of the state were vested with the task of safeguarding the security and integrity of the country and any attempt to falsely malign them was prejudicial to the security and integrity of Pakistan.

Media Development Society: Media Democracy

Media Development Society: Media Democracy: Media democracy is a set of ideas advocating reforming the mass media, strengthening public service broadcasting, and developing and parti...

Iran’s Rouhani urges women’s rights

Hassan Rouhani (second from right) made the comments on Iran’s Women’s Day

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged equal opportunities and rights for men and women, and condemned sexual discrimination.

In a speech marking Women’s Day, Mr Rouhani criticised “those who consider women’s presence society as a threat” and said Iran still had “a long way to go” to ensure gender equality.
Mr Rouhani, a religious moderate, was elected to office in June 2013.
Foreign activist groups argue that Iran’s laws discriminate against women.
Speaking on Sunday at the National Forum on Women Shaping Economy and Culture in Tehran, Mr Rouhani said: “We will not accept the culture of sexual discrimination.”

Mr Rouhani said women had an ‘impressive presence’ in all sectors of society

“Women must enjoy equal opportunity, equal protection and equal social rights,” he said in comments that were broadcast live on television.
“According to the Islamic rules, man is not the stronger sex and woman is not the weaker one,” he said.

‘Biggest mistakes’
However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, said in comments on Saturday that gender equality was “one of the biggest mistakes of the Western thought”.
“Justice is a right. But equality is sometimes right and sometimes wrong,” he said, according to his personal website.
He added that he did not oppose women’s employment, but that it should not conflict with “the main issue”, which was women’s role in the “family environment and household”.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in its 2013 report on Iran that women there “faced discrimination in law and practice in relation to marriage and divorce, inheritance, child custody, nationality and international travel”.
In May 2013 a constitutional body in Iran ruled that women could not run in presidential elections. However, women have served as lawmakers in parliament.
In 2012 several Iranian universities introduced rules banning female students from nearly 80 degree courses, drawing criticism from campaigners.

S Korea leader condemns ferry crew

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has condemned the conduct of some of the crew of the ferry that sank last week, calling it “akin to murder”.

Ms Park said that those to blame would have to take “criminal and civil” responsibility for their actions.
Divers are continuing to recover bodies from the ferry, as they gain access to more of the submerged hull.
The death toll now stands at 64, with 238 people still missing, most of them students from a school near Seoul.
Bodies are being brought two or three at a time back to Jindo, a southern island close to where the ferry sank.
Police, meanwhile, have been given access to hundreds of messages sent by passengers and crew so they can construct a detailed chronology of the ferry’s last hour.

Transcript released
Ms Park, whose government has faced criticism over its initial response to the disaster, told aides that the actions of the captain and some of the crew “were utterly incomprehensible, unacceptable and tantamount to murder”, the presidential office said.

Teams have been bringing bodies recovered from the sunken ferry ashore to Jindo island

President Park Geun-hye visited the site on Thursday

Bereaved relatives are desperate to have the bodies of their loved ones returned

It is not yet clear when the vessel could be raised, but specialist equipment has been brought in

Over the weekend relatives confronted police as they took part in a protest march

A total of 174 passengers were rescued from the Sewol, which capsized as it sailed from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju.
But there were 476 people on board – including 339 children and teachers on a school trip. Many were trapped inside the ship as is listed to one side and then sank.
Investigations are focusing on whether the vessel took too sharp a turn – perhaps destabilising the vessel – before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives.

Continue reading the main story

Sewol communications excerpt

Controller: “Please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing.”
Crew member: “If this ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?”
Controller: “At least make them wear life rings and make them escape.”
Crew member: “If this ferry evacuates passengers, will they be rescued right away?”
Controller: “Don’t let them go bare. At least make them wear life rings and make them escape… We don’t know the situation very well. The captain should make the final decision and decide whether you’re going to evacuate passengers or not.”
Crew member: “I’m not talking about that. I asked, if they evacuate now, can they be rescued right away?”

Details of the panic and indecision on the bridge emerged on Sunday, when the coastguard released a transcript of the last communications between the crew and controllers.

In the transcript, a crew member repeatedly asks if vessels are on hand to rescue passengers if evacuation is ordered.
The captain, Lee Joon-seok, has said he delayed the move for fear people would drift away.
Mr Lee, 69, was not on the bridge when the ferry began listing. It was steered by a third mate who had never navigated the waters where the accident occurred, prosecutors said on Saturday.
The captain and two other crew members have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.
Four more crew members were reported to have been detained on Monday over allegations they failed to protect passengers.
It has since emerged that Mr Lee appeared in a promotional video for the journey four years ago describing the ferry journey as safe as long as the passengers followed the crew’s instructions.
Over the weekend, there were angry confrontations between relatives of those on board and police, after a group began a protest march.
The relatives say they want more information both about what happened and about how soon the remains of their loved ones can be recovered.