Passenger bus, oil tanker collide; 32 killed

JAMSHORO: Fire broke out when the passenger bus collided with oil tanker at Super Highway near Nooriabad late on Saturday, killing at least twelve people and injuring several others, rescue sources said. According to the report, accident took place when over speed bus, moving from Karachi to Sukkur, got out of control and collided with the oil tanker, standing on the roadside after which both the vehicles caught fire. More than 40 passengers including women and children were travelling out of which several injured passengers have been taken out who were taken to Jamshoro hospital.

Pakistan bundled out for 124 against Kiwis

WELLINGTON: Brendon McCullum made animpressive return to wicket-keeping duties with five catches while Tim Southee took five wickets as New Zealand bowled Pakistan out for 124 in their first one-day international at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.

It is the fourth time McCullum, who has relinquished the gloves in Tests matches in an effort to prolong his international career, has taken five catches in a one-day innings.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, the visitors never looked comfortable on the drop-in pitch, with New Zealand's pace bowlers getting good bounce, shape and movement away from the batsmen, causing them to prod at deliveries.

Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder also took catches behind the wicket as Pakistan failed to build any meaningful partnerships, with both Hamish Bennett and Jacob Oram flirting with hat-tricks.

Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-haq was again the mainstay of his side's batting effort top scoring with 50 as he took to the New Zealand attack when last man Shahid Afridi joined him at the crease while Younus Khan was next best with 24.

Southee finished with career-best five for 33 off 9.3 overs, while Bennett took three for 26.

New Zealand have lost their previous 11 one-day internationals.

Nawaz concerned over govt delay on ‘reforms agenda’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said a delay on the government’s part in the implementation of the PML-N’s 10-point ‘reforms agenda’ would only aggravate the public’s problems.
No plan succeeds without a proper time frame of implementation, said Nawaz, expressing his concern over the absence of an implementation timeline from the government’s side.
Addressing a high-profile meeting of his party in Islamabad, Nawaz said the country was in an extraordinary state of circumstances which was the why the government needed to act quickly.
Of the 10 points, the government can implement some within 45 minutes, Nawaz said.

Police baton charge students

LAHORE: The police baton charged a large number of students of the University of Education (UoE) on Wednesday protesting against removal of two senior faculty members. They chanted slogans on second day of their campaign against the acting vice chancellor of the university and demanded her restore the teachers, Dr Muhammad Anwar-ur-Rehman Pasha, professor of computer sciences, Division of Science and Technology and Dr Shaheen Pasha, assistant professor of Special Education, whose services were terminated on Monday. The police baton charged the protesting students who marched from university to Akbar Chowk. Media was also not allowed to cover the incident. The varsity management has made it clear that the teachers would not be restored. The students boycotting classes and examinations scheduled for Wednesday also clashed with the police in protest against the decision.

Cold wave grips upper parts of the country

SLAMABAD: The upper parts of the country are in the grip severe cold owing to snowfall. The wave of snowfall started last night is continue in Abbottabad, Swat, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Chitral, Skardu and other parts. Abbottabad-Marri road has been closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snow. In tribal areas including Kurram Agency, South and North Waziristan and others are also in grip of cold due to snowfall. These areas are facing shortage of fuel adding miseries to the masses. Prices of gas cylinder and wood have also been hiked. Routine life had been badly affected owing to this severe cold. Children are among the most affected.

Cold wave grips upper parts of the country

SLAMABAD: The upper parts of the country are in the grip severe cold owing to snowfall. The wave of snowfall started last night is continue in Abbottabad, Swat, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Chitral, Skardu and other parts. Abbottabad-Marri road has been closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snow. In tribal areas including Kurram Agency, South and North Waziristan and others are also in grip of cold due to snowfall. These areas are facing shortage of fuel adding miseries to the masses. Prices of gas cylinder and wood have also been hiked. Routine life had been badly affected owing to this severe cold. Children are among the most affected.

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Gilani accepts 10 demands made by PML-N

In a climb down to prop up his fragile government, Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani accepted key 10 demands of the main opposition PML-N, including investigating graft charges.

The two parties have also reached an agreement on continuing the alliance between the PPP and PML-N in Punjab, the country’s most populous and politically crucial province, Mr. Gilani said.

People’s Party-led government had already rolled back an unpopular fuel price hike due to pressure from the PML-N and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which recently pulled out of the ruling coalition but subsequently returned to it last week.

Mr. Gilani told a news conference yesterday that he and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and reached an agreement on implementing the opposition party’s 10 demands.

The government will work with a committee headed by senior PML-N leader Ishaq Dar to reach consensus on implementing the 10-point agenda.

A statement issued by Gilani’s media office said the premier had telephoned Sharif and “conveyed a positive response to his 10 points“.

Mr. Sharif appreciated Mr. Gilani’s “political acumen and maturity”, the statement said.

The PML-N heads the government in Punjab.

The premier said he had consulted PPP chief and President Asif Ali Zardari and leaders of the PML-Q and MQM before speaking to Mr. Sharif to forge consensus on key issues confronting the government.

The PPP will work with all political forces to strengthen institutions, tackle corruption, revamp state-run enterprises and improve law and order, Mr. Gilani said.

Observers said Mr. Gilani’s latest decision reflected the fragile government’s willingness to compromise to stay in power.

After the MQM withdrew support earlier this month, analysts had feared that Gilani would not have been able to survive a trust vote in parliament as the coalition was 12 seats short of a simple majority.

The PML-N had demanded that the government should investigate corruption allegations, cut spending by 30 per cent and implement a Supreme Court order scrapping a graft amnesty that benefited over 8,000 people, including Zardari and his aides.

The PML-N gave the government 45 days to implement its demands. However, Mr. Gilani contended that the PML-N had not delivered an “ultimatum” to his government.

The government, its allies and opposition parties will pursue a common national agenda to overcome economic and political challenges and the PPP and PML-N will try to find common ground, Mr. Gilani said.

He said Mr. Sharif told him that a deadline would not be an issue if the PML-N saw progress on the issues raised by it.

The premier also said that his government had “no intention” to amend the controversial blasphemy law.

A police guard gunned down Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer for criticising the law.

The U.S. and Western donors have criticised the Pakistan government for rolling back the fuel price hike and failing to implement tax reforms to increase revenues.

750,000 dead birds BBC News

It all started when residents of Beebe, in the US state of Arkansas, woke to find thousands of dead blackbirds strewn across roads on 1 January. Then, in Louisiana, about 500 birds - including starlings, cowbirds and redwing blackbirds - rained down from the skies. Only days later, news outlets once again became excited by the discovery of dozens of unfortunate jackdaws who had met their fate over Falkoeping, in Sweden.
Other bird and fish die-offs - as these mass deaths are called - were also reported as far away as Japan, Thailand, Brazil.
Conspiracy theorists have rushed to conclude that the apocalypse is nigh, while other people have mooted the idea of collisions with UFOs, or government testing of satellite-powered energy weapons.
But experts insist that what is going on is not that unusual and that the incidents are unconnected.
Poison?

Such events are usually blamed on bad weather, disease and poisonings.

On Friday, Italian scientists were investigating the deaths of the 400 turtle doves, whose bodies appeared in the days after New Year. The initial focus of the investigation was on known diseases, epidemics and viruses.
In the case of the Arkansas blackbirds, it was initially thought that the deaths were caused by some weather phenomenon - a microburst, or strong downdraft of wind, perhaps.
But the die-off, which took place on New Year's Eve, was most likely caused by fireworks, local experts say.
Scientists from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said the red-winged blackbirds probably flew low to avoid the turn-of-the-year fireworks and collided with objects.
An investigation is continuing.
But Grahame Madge, conservation spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), describes the Arkansas case as "bizarre and mysterious", and says that it would be "almost unique" in the UK.
He suggests that the birds may have in fact been poisoned, arguing that it was a strange coincidence that the mass deaths involved the red-wing blackbird, which is considered an "agricultural pest".
"It is intriguing that the bird at the epicentre of this particular incident is also the most hated," he says.
He says they are sometimes targeted with a poison that affects the water repellency of the birds. As a result, they get wet and cold and develop pneumonia.
"If they took flight and were experiencing extreme cold or suffering the effects of the poison, it is possible that that brought them down," he adds.
Arkansas officials said preliminary testing showed no sign of disease in the dead birds and that they died of "acute physical trauma".
But Mr Madge says this could have occurred when they came into contact with buildings or the ground.
'Disorientated'
Martin Fowlie from Birdlife International says the firework explanation is a plausible one.
"If they were roosting at dark, one could imagine large-scale fireworks could put them up in the air and they become disorientated and they fly into something or into the ground," he says.
"But I also heard some reports that some birds were acting drunkenly - which would imply poisoning."
Mr Fowlie said because die-offs usually occurred in smaller numbers, many of them go unreported.
It could be that the size of Arkansas incident, combined with the fact that it took place at the turn of a new year and was followed shortly after by another die-off, prompted wider reporting of the subsequent incidents, as people tried to join up the dots.
'More research' Kristen Schuler, a scientist at the US Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center, told the Associated Press that the incidents of the past week were "not that unusual".
"There is nothing apocalyptic or anything that is necessarily out of the ordinary for what we would see in any given week," she says.
The USGS tracks mass deaths among birds, fish and other creatures. It says they range in size from the dozens to the thousands.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP), however, has called for more research into animal deaths in general.
"Science is struggling to explain these things. These are examples of the surprises that nature can still bring," said Nick Nuttall, a spokesperson for UNEP.
"More research is needed."
The RSPB's Grahame Madge says there has been some degree of hysteria after this week's bird incidents.
"I think there are people trying to join the dots. There is a great deal of speculation about whether it is a global phenomenon.
"What we are dealing with is separate incidents, which have different reasons. We are not undergoing a mass wipe-out of birds."

Israel soldier killed in 'friendly fire' at Gaza border

The incident happened while the soldiers were involved in a clash with Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The army said the group had been trying to plant explosives underneath the security fence along the border.
The clash follows a month of increased tension along the Gazan border with frequent exchanges of fire.
Witnesses in Gaza earlier told news agencies they had heard loud explosions close to the border, a short distance from the Nirim kibbutz on the Israeli side.
The Israeli military initially said four soldiers had been injured.
But they later said the men, who were part of a group patrolling the border, had been hit by Israeli fire. It also said one had died.
"The soldiers were hit by a stray mortar shell fired by Israeli forces as they engaged with Palestinian militants along the border," an army spokesman said.
The army said it was investigating the incident.