Oct
31
Pakistan official: Quake deaths likely to top 300
Filed Under Most Pepular, News, Pakistani News, World News | Leave a Comment
ZIARAT, Pakistan – Doctors said Friday they were running out of drugs and artificial limbs for victims of the earthquake in southwestern Pakistan amid fears that the death toll would climb beyond 300.The 6.4-magnitude quake hit a poor mountainous region near the Afghan border before dawn Wednesday. It destroyed 3,000 houses and made about 15,000 people homeless.
Troops and relief agencies have scrambled to help communities in remote valleys, from where provincial minister Zamrak Khan said reports of fatalities were still arriving.
Khan said the bodies of 215 people killed had been buried so far. However, he said reports from four badly hit districts indicated that others had been interred without informing authorities and that the real toll was “somewhere above 300.”
Authorities are distributing thousands of tents, blankets, coats and food packages to keep people alive as nighttime temperatures fall to the freezing point. Many in more distant valleys have already spent two nights without shelter and doctors said children were falling ill.
At a small clinic in the devastated village of Kawas, Dr. Nek Mohammed said he had treated 300 minors since Thursday and that he hoped medicine would arrive soon.
“Most of them are developing the symptoms of pneumonia and that is inevitable given the serious cold they are exposed to,” Mohammed said, as scores of people squatted outside waiting for a consultation.
Those seriously injured when their houses fell down around them have been taken to the regional capital, Quetta, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Even there, doctors said they were stretched.
Zainullah Kakar of the city’s Bolan Medical College said it had 90 trauma patients.
“We are running short of antibiotics and other drugs. We need artificial limbs. We need metal plates and rods to treat broken arms and legs,” Kakar said.
The relief effort for the survivors began in earnest on Thursday. There is concern that the tents delivered so far will prove too light to keep people going through the impending winter, when much of the affected area will be covered in snow.
In Wam Kotal, a village in the shadow of a towering mountain, one family decided that they would be fools to wait.
Haji Abdul Latif, a turbaned 60-year-old, watched as a son and a nephew began clearing the rubble of their house with the intention of rebuilding as soon as possible.
A can of pesticide used to keep insects off the area’s ubiquitous apple orchards was recovered and set aside.
“We have no option except to help ourselves. Snow will start falling soon and we have no place to live,” he said, dismissing the tent where 10 of his family members crammed in to sleep.
The need for shelter has been swelled by villagers too scared by frequent aftershocks to sleep in the houses spared by the earthquake.
Amjad Aziz, a 42-year-old teacher, said he was sleeping in his car while his wife and six children bedded down at night in a rented tent pitched near their house in Ziarat, the main town in the affected area.
“I know these are aftershocks and not new earthquakes, and I also know these tremors may continue for a while, but it is hard to convince children that they will be safe,” Aziz said.
A poorly managed aid effort in Baluchistan could add to anti-government sentiment as the country’s new leaders battle violence by Islamist extremists and try to fix mounting economic problems.
The affected area of Baluchistan province is inhabited mainly by Pashtuns, the same ethnic group from which the Taliban draws most of its strength. However, the region has been spared the level of militant violence seen in other tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Members of hard-line Islamist political parties and groups, including one listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, were among the first to aid quake victims.
The same groups helped out in the aftermath of a quake that killed 80,000 people in Kashmir and northern Pakistan in 2005, something analysts say gave them added legitimacy.
Oct
31
SYDNEY, Australia – A German doctor hoping to gain permanent residency in Australia said Friday he will fight a decision by the immigration department to deny his application because his son has Down syndrome.Bernhard Moeller came to Australia with his family two years ago to help fill a doctor shortage in a rural area of Victoria state.
His temporary work visa is valid until 2010, but his application for permanent residency was rejected this week. The immigration department said Moeller’s 13-year-old son, Lukas, “did not meet the health requirement.”
“A medical officer of the Commonwealth assessed that his son’s existing medical condition was likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community,” a departmental spokesman said in a statement issued Thursday by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
“This is not discrimination. A disability in itself is not grounds for failing the health requirement – it is a question of the cost implications to the community,” the statement said.
Moeller said he would appeal the decision.
“We like to live here, we have settled in well, we are welcomed by the community here and we don’t want to give up just because the federal government doesn’t welcome my son,” he told reporters.
Moeller has powerful supporters. Victorian Premier John Brumby has pledged to support the family’s appeal, and federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Friday she would speak to the immigration minister about the case.
Roxon said the case must go through proper channels – an appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal and then the immigration minister – but that “there is a valid reason for this doctor and his family to be eligible to stay here in Australia.”
“As a government, we understand the importance of having doctors working in our rural and regional communities and we support them in many ways and continue to do this,” Roxon said.
Don McRae, director of clinical services at Wimmera Health Care Group, said the hospital had invested a lot of time and energy in recruiting the German specialist to Horsham, about 100 miles northwest of Melbourne.
“We were very surprised by the decision,” he said of the immigration department’s rejection. “It’s distressing for Dr. Moeller’s family and distressing for the community who have welcomed him and relied on his medical services.”
Immigration Minister Chris Evans has no power to intervene in the case until the review tribunal or a court upholds the department’s decision.
The immigration department said it appreciates Moeller’s contribution to the community but said it must follow the relevant laws in considering residency applications.
“If we did not have a health requirement, the costs to the community and health system would not be sustainable,” the statement said.
More than 150,000 migrants settled in Australia in 2007-08, the department said.
Shortages of medical practitioners in rural parts of Australia have led a number of recent government initiatives to boost the numbers of doctors and nurses nationwide.
Oct
31
Stocks open lower following week’s big gains
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Slideshow: Stock Markets Play Video Video: IMF’s offer for struggling economies Reuters Related Quotes Symbol Price Change
^DJI 9,143.17 -37.52
^GSPC 947.39 -6.70
^IXIC 1,678.77 -19.75Reuters – Traders look at television monitors on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange October 29, 2008. (Shannon … NEW YORK – Wall Street tried to lock in some of the week’s big gains Friday following a report that showed worried consumers are cutting back on their spending.
Investors sold off modestly, looking to put the worst month for the market in 21 years behind them. Heading into the session, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 18.2 percent for October; the index fell 21.8 percent in October 1987.
The Commerce Department said personal spending fell by 0.3 percent last month, the biggest decline since June 2004. Combined with flat readings in both July and August, it led to the worst quarterly performance in 28 years.
However, Wall Street’s reaction to the data was not frantic – given this week’s readings on flagging consumer confidence and shrinking gross domestic product, investors have largely discounted the fact that Americans are fearful about the economy and their shrinking investment portfolios.
Moreover, some profit-taking was to be expected with the major indexes up 8 percent for the week.
In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.45, or 0.48 percent, to 9,136.24.
Broader stock indicators also declined. The S&P 500 index fell 8.05, or 0.84 percent, to 946.04, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 19.55, or 1.15 percent, to 1,678.97.
Oct
31
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday.Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital, Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday, conservation manager Rouen Epson said.
“The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding,” Epson said. “It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don’t know of.”
Tuatara, dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 32 inches, are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.
They have unique characteristics, such as two rows of top teeth closing over one row at the bottom. They also have a pronounced parietal eye, a light-sensitive pineal gland on the top of the skull. This white patch of skin – called its “third eye” – slowly disappears as they mature.
A native species to New Zealand, tuatara were nearly extinct on the country’s three main islands by the late 1700s due to the introduction of predators such as rats. They still live in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators.
A population of 70 tuatara was established at the Karori Sanctuary in 2005. Another 130 were released in the sanctuary in 2007.
The sanctuary, a 620-acre wilderness minutes from downtown Wellington, was established to breed native birds, insects and other creatures securely behind a predator-proof fence.
Empson said that the four eggs – the size of pingpong balls – were unearthed Friday but that there were likely more because the average nest contains around ten eggs.
The eggs were immediately covered up again to avoid disturbing incubation.
If all goes well, juvenile tuatara could hatch any time between now and March, she said.
Oct
31
RUMSON, N.J. – Bruce Springsteen has a Halloween treat for his fans.The rocker has posted a free download of a new song, “A Night With the Jersey Devil,” on his Web site. The song has a blues beat, and Springsteen sings about “16 witches casting 16 spells.”
Writes Springsteen: “If you grew up in central or south Jersey you grew up with the ‘Jersey Devil.’ Here’s a little musical Halloween treat. Have fun!”
There’s also a video showing Springsteen as the legendary Jersey Devil.
Earlier this week, Springsteen announced that he and his wife would not hold their annual elaborate Halloween display at their Rumson mansion. The couple said they were worried about people’s safety because the event attracted too many visitors.
Oct
31
LG CU500 Cell Phone
Filed Under Audio Accessories, Mobiles, News | Leave a Comment
The LG CU500 Cell phone is small amount bit thicker and heaver through its judged size 3.8 x 1.95 x 0.76 inches and 3.7 ounces weight, and comes in black, few silver and chrome accents inside and outside of the cell phone, and it is moreover feel comfy for hearing a call. On the top of the LG CU500 mobile there is a camera lens such a can be rotate at 180 concentrations and you can furthermore take pictures yourself due to self-portrait mirror. Below their there is 1.2 inches diagonally exterior screen rating the present reinforces 65,000 colors, that presents LG CU500 theme, graphic and text outstandingly nicely and as well tells up time, battery life, date, indication strength as decently as caller ID for incoming calls. Blow the score there is music controls this kind of as; play/pause, submit and rewind buttons; so you can simply use these types of joysticks for fidgeting a song as an sustainable of going out inside the menus.
On the left surface of the LG CU500 cell phone there is volume rocker, headset jack and dedicated manager button the current improve the ability of you to multitask between dissimilar applications. On the interior portion of the region LG CU500 you might provide the 2 inches internal score score that as well aides 65,000 colors, so you can change the backlight opportunity and font size for dialing, but dissimilarity and brightness are not changeable. Underneath the display there are five ways navigational control keys helpful to directly entrance for text messaging, the address book, time messaging, and the My Stuff folder; dedicated keys to the music player and the camera; traditional Talk, End/power and basic buttons are located ideal above the high amount keypad. The numeric keypad is not flush provided the exterior of the LG CU500 cell phone; therefore feel too easy to dial a call.
The LG CU500 cell phone arrives amid the common kit, that includes useful LG CU500 accessories these kinds of as; cell charger, user guide, mobile battery as decently as hand free; so you can entrance all of such marvelous LG CU500 accessories at the minute of real estate deal LG CU500.
Oct
30
Filed Under ASIA News, Most Pepular, News, Pakistani News | Leave a Comment
WAM, Pakistan – Desperate villagers clawed through piles of mud and timber looking for victims of an earthquake that collapsed thousands of homes in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 215 people.
As rescue workers resumed their search Thursday morning, officials said hopes of finding more survivors in the debris left by the 6.4-magnitude quake had dimmed.
“Almost all the rubble had been cleared by last night,” said Shaukat Ali, the home secretary of the province of Baluchistan, where the quake occurred. “We don’t know if anyone is still buried in the debris.”
Army planes flew in tents, medical supplies and blankets to the quake zone in the province, erecting between 8,000 and 10,000 tents for some 15,000 homeless people in the impoverished region. Temperatures fell to around freezing overnight – a grim test for those forced to sleep in the open.
“I have lost everything,” said Haji Shahbaz, mourning the deaths of 17 relatives in Wam, a hard-hit village. “Nothing is left here, and now life is worthless for me,” he added, then wailed in despair, tears streaking his dust-caked face.
Pakistan is no stranger to natural disasters, but the quake comes at an especially precarious time for the Muslim country, with the civilian government battling al-Qaida and Taliban attacks while grappling with a punishing economic crisis.
As the army and other government agencies rushed to provide help, at least three hard-line Islamic organizations also were quick to aid quake survivors, according to an Associated Press reporter who toured the area.
Among them was Jamaat-ud-Dawa, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government for its links to Muslim separatists fighting in India’s portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The group set up relief camps and won friends among survivors of a 7.6-magnitude quake that devastated Kashmir and northern Pakistan in October 2005, killing about 80,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Baluchistan is home to a long-running separatist movement, but has so far been spared the level of militant violence seen in the northwestern tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, where Muslim extremists are strong.
Wednesday’s quake hit before sunrise as most people slept. Witnesses reported two strong jolts about an hour apart, saying the second at 5:10 a.m. caused the destruction, collapsing the flimsy mud-brick and timber houses common to this poor region.
“We were awoken with a big thundering noise and a tremor and we came out of our home and started reciting prayers,” said Malik Abdul Hasmat, a 35-year-old teacher. “We went back inside because of the cold and then came the second and bigger jerk and all the homes collapsed.”
As he spoke, excavators dug mass graves and villagers hacked away at the holes with spades. Over a loud speaker, a rescue official announced a grim find in the remains of one house: the body of young boy, believed to be around 1 year old.
The worst-hit area was the Ziarat valley, where hundreds of houses were destroyed in at least eight villages, including some buried in landslides triggered by the quake.
Provincial government minister Zamrak Khan said Thursday that 215 victims had been buried. Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the hilltop town of Ziarat, said 375 people were injured and around 15,000 left homeless. Ziarat itself, a popular summer resort since the days of the British empire, was spared major damage.
In the village of Sohi, a reporter for AP Television News saw the bodies of 17 people killed in one collapsed house and 12 from another. Distraught residents were digging a mass grave.
“We can’t dig separate graves for each of them, as the number of deaths is high and still people are searching in the rubble” of many other homes, said Shamsullah Khan, a village elder.
Hospitals were flooded with dead and injured. One patient at Quetta Civil Hospital, Raz Mohammed, said he was awakened by the sound of his children crying before he felt a jolt.
“I rushed toward them but the roof of my own room collapsed and the main iron support hit me,” he said. “That thing broke my back and I am in severe pain, but thank God my children and relatives are safe.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country was offering $310,000 in immediate aid, but the head of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said an international relief effort was not needed.
“God has been kind, it has been a localized affair,” said Farooq Ahmad Khan. “I think we can manage it.”
Pakistan is prone to seismic upheavals since it sits atop an area of collision between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, the same force responsible for the birth of the Himalayan mountains. Baluchistan’s capital, Quetta, was devastated by a 7.5-magnitude temblor in 1935 that killed more than 30,000 people.
Oct
30
MINNEAPOLIS – Delta Air Lines completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Northwest Airlines on Wednesday, turning two of America’s most storied airlines into the world’s biggest carrier.
Delta and Northwest closed the deal just hours after the Justice Department said it had no antitrust objections.
The company will keep Delta’s name, Atlanta headquarters, and chief executive Richard Anderson, who used to run Northwest. Delta executives said travelers will see no differences right away. New uniforms will be phased in next year, and Northwest’s fleet with its signature red tail will be repainted over the next two years, the companies said.
“I will tell you from a customer perspective and a frequent-flier perspective it is business as usual,” Anderson said.
The combined airline would carry more traffic than either Air France-KLM (currently the world’s largest) or American Airlines, the biggest U.S. carrier. But antitrust regulators rejected worries that the new Delta would hurt consumers, or competition.
Federal regulators wrote in a statement that “the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition.”
It noted that other carriers also offer flights on most of the routes where Delta and Northwest compete with each other. The Justice Department also said consumers should benefit from savings on expenses for airport operations, technology, and suppliers. The companies have said they can cut $2 billion a year in expenses once they combine.
The decision caps a six-month Justice Department investigation, which was closed without objection to the deal from the department.
Also Wednesday, an attorney for 28 air travelers who had sued to block the deal said the case had settled. The attorney, Joseph Alioto, declined to release terms of the settlement, which he said was worked out on Friday and finalized over the last few days.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said the merger will mean higher fares and fewer connections between mid-size cities and business centers. He said he was concerned about an enlarged Delta and other possible airline combinations and joint ventures.
“A first priority of the new administration should be to reconsider the rationale behind antitrust-immunized alliances and the market power they can exercise to the detriment of consumers,” said Mitchell, who testified before Congress in April against airline mergers.
When Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. announced their deal in April, it was widely thought that they were looking for government approval before a new President took office. Shareholders approved the merger on Sept. 25.
It was also expected to be the first of a wave of airline mergers. That never happened, despite talks between most of the big carriers. Two of the most vociferously pro-merger airlines, UAL Corp.’s United and US Airways Group Inc., backed away from a potential deal in May. Before that, Continental Airlines Inc. had considered, but rejected, pursuing a deal with United.
Still, American Airlines and British Airways are sure to point to Wednesday’s approval for Delta as they seek antitrust immunity for their own proposed alliance, which would let them work together on pricing and scheduling for flights across the Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic Airways has opposed the request, saying it would hurt competition. BA and American also want to add Iberia to the deal.
Tim Smith, a spokesman for American, said the Delta-Northwest combination “changes the landscape of the industry, as well as the challenges we face in the months and years ahead.”
American believes its deal with BA would “provide the same type of consumer benefits by by allowing us to compete more effectively with other alliances that already have such immunity,” Smith said.
American’s pilots are lobbying Congress to block the deal with BA.
“Capacity-sharing arrangements such as what American Airlines is seeking to enter into are actually a form of industry consolidation, potentially resulting in yet more hard-working Americans’ jobs being eliminated,” said Lloyd Hill, president of the pilots’ union at American.
Continental Airlines Inc. is seeking approval to join a trans-Atlantic partnership of several airlines including United and Lufthansa, which already have antitrust immunity to work together on trans-Atlantic prices and schedules. Continental officials declined to comment.
Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl said that while airline mergers “never initially work out as planned,” this combination appears to be clear for completion as many details have already been dealt with.
“Many of the snags such as pilot integration, labor and (technology) have already been addressed, so by airline standards, this should run fairly smoothly,” he said by e-mail. “But a lot depends on (executives) managing the process.”
“The biggest challenge is getting the two cultures – management and labor – of each airline to work together from the beginning,” he added.
Delta President Ed Bastian is taking over as Northwest Chief Executive immediately, the airlines said. Outgoing Northwest CEO Doug Steenland will be on Delta’s board. In a statement, he said the new combined carrier will “better weather the current economic challenges and provide greater stability and job security for our employees.”
Northwest’s labor issues are well-known, while Delta’s only large union is its pilots. Pilots at both airlines have agreed on a joint contract, but the stickiest issue, their seniority, is being arbitrated. The two sides have agreed to abide by the arbitrator’s ruling. Negotiations are continuing between the two groups as well, Delta pilot union chairman Lee Moak wrote in a letter to pilots on Wednesday.
Oct
30
SAN FRANCISCO – A California man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sending hoax letters labeled “anthrax” to scores of media outlets, the FBI said Wednesday, warning that many of the threats may still be in the mail.
Marc M. Keyser, 66, sent more than 120 envelopes containing a compact disc that had a packet of sugar labeled “Anthrax Sample” along with a biohazard symbol, the FBI said in a news release. The CD was titled “Anthrax: Shock & Awe Terror.”
Keyser was taken into custody without incident at his home in Sacramento on three counts of sending a hoax letter, the FBI said. At least some of the packages had Keyser’s return address on them, said FBI agent Steve Dupre.
Keyser is being held at the Sacramento County jail and is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday. It wasn’t known Wednesday evening whether he had a lawyer.
None of the packets has so far tested positive for hazardous material, the agency said. Authorities did not say what was on the CD.
More mailings will probably be received over the next few days; recipients should contact their local FBI office, Dupre said.
The investigation began after The Atlantic magazine received a letter Monday, Dupre said. The Charlotte Observer newspaper in North Carolina received an envelope Tuesday.
The letters were received Wednesday by at least one Sacramento television station, The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper and the office of Republican Congressman George Radanovich in Modesto. A McDonald’s restaurant in Sacramento also received a package.
Radanovich’s office was evacuated early Wednesday after a staffer opened the mailing. Some employees went to a hospital for precautionary examinations and were released with a clean bill of health.
Radanovich spokesman Spencer Pederson said the congressman was at a meeting in Fresno when the package was opened. Pederson said later Wednesday that the office had been cleaned as if the substance were anthrax.
One entrance to the Union-Tribune was closed for part of the afternoon after a large envelope labeled “anthrax” was opened in the newsroom.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer newsroom was evacuated briefly Wednesday after an editor opened a package that the FBI says appears to be connected to the other mailings.
Members of a hazardous materials team, all wearing full protective suits, went into the building to test the package. The Associated Press office in San Diego is also in the building but did not receive a threatening mailing.
Dupre said the arrest is not connected to another series of bogus mailings containing a white powder that were sent to financial institutions and announced by the FBI last week.
Oct
30
Obama goes prime-time; McCain goes after Obama
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SUNRISE, Fla. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plunked down $4 million for a campaign-closing television ad Wednesday night and summoned voters to “choose hope over fear and unity over division” in Tuesday’s election. Republican John McCain derided the event as a “gauzy, feel-good commercial,” paid for with broken promises.
“America, the time for change has come,” Obama said in the final moments of the unusual ad, a blend of videotaped moments and a live appearance before thousands in Sunrise, Fla.
“In six days we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates jobs and fuels prosperity starting with the middle class,” Obama said.
The 30-minute ad, aired on CBS, NBC, Fox and several cable networks, came days from the end of a race in which Obama holds the lead in polls nationally and in most key battleground states as he bids to become the first black president.
And while it is unusual for candidates to acknowledge the possibility of defeat, Republican running mate Sarah Palin said she intended to remain a national figure even if the ticket loses next week. “I’m not doin’ this for naught,” she told ABC News in an interview.
Republicans and even some Democrats said the race was tightening as it neared the end. Although Obama made no mention of McCain in his paid television ad, both men sharpened their rhetoric during the day.
McCain, in Florida, argued that Obama lacks “what it takes to protect America from terrorists” as he sought to shift attention away from the economy.
“The question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to protect America from Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the other great threats in the world,” he said. “He has given no reason to answer in the affirmative.”
Obama, in North Carolina, said if, “Sen. McCain is elected, 100 million Americans will not get a tax cut … your health care benefits will get taxed for the first time in history … we’ll have another president who wants to privatize part of your Social Security.”
For weeks now, the race has tilted Obama’s way as the two men traverse traditionally Republican states – Obama angling for a sizable triumph and McCain hoping to win the White House in a close finish.
Associated Press-GfK polls taken within the past several days showed Obama ahead in four states that supported President Bush in 2004 and essentially even with McCain in two others. A separate survey suggested even McCain’s home state of Arizona was not safely in his column.
The 30-minute campaign commercial, purchased at a cost that campaign aides put at roughly $4 million, not only marked Obama’s attempt to seal his case with the electorate, but also underscored his enormous financial advantage in the race. He has outraised McCain by far after first committing – and then reneging – on a pledge to limit spending to the $84 million available under federal matching funds.
Obama used his commercial to pledge a rescue plan for the middle class in tough times. “I will not be a perfect president,” he said. “But I can promise you this – I will always tell you what I think and where I stand.”