Dunya TV

Pakistan aims to reach deal on supply routes: Zardari
NATO traces path out of Afghanistan
NATO believes Pakistani supply lines to open soon
Nadal wins Rome Masters title
Pakistan beat India to win Three-Nation Touch Ball Tournament
Obama: US making 'diligent progress' on Pakistan
Obama, Zardari meet briefly on sidelines of NATO summit
MQM invited to attend Balochistan conference
Malik meets with Fazlur Rehman
West Indies: Slow overrate penalty adds insult to injury
Pakistan considering venues for Australia series
Facebook's stocks tumble after IPO
Germany, Finance offer help to eurozone in tact
Tamil prisoners on hunger strike in Sri Lanka
Moving in right trajectory with Pakistan: White House

Pakistan aims to reach deal on supply routes: Zardari

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The Pakistani government has ordered officials to reach a deal with the United States on reopening its border to NATO supply convoys, President Asif Ali Zardari told NATO leaders Monday. Pakistani officials have "decided to direct the relevant officials to conclude negotiations for resumption of the Ground Lines of Communication," Zardari told a special summit focusing on Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed to NATO after a US air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

NATO traces path out of Afghanistan

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NATO leaders mapped a path out of the unpopular war in Afghanistan on Monday, backing plans to hand Afghans the combat lead from mid-2013 while vowing to stick by them as they seize their own destiny. In a Chicago summit declaration, US President Barack Obama and his NATO military allies ratified an "irreversible" roadmap to "gradually and responsibly" withdraw 130,000 combat troops by the end of 2014. But they also ordered military officers to begin planning a post-2014 mission to focus on training, advising and assisting Afghan troops to ensure the government can ward off a resilient Taliban insurgency. "As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone," Obama told the gathering of more than 50 world leaders, focused on ending a decade of war that has left over 3,000 coalition soldiers and tens of thousands of Afghans dead. British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose country provides the second biggest contingent after the United States, declared: "We will not desert them." But in a sign of growing frustrations with the dragging conflict, France s new President Francois Hollande said his country had done "more than its duty." And a row over re-opening Pakistan supply routes into Afghanistan to NATO convoys also lingered, although Obama and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said they were optimistic the issue would be resolved. "We are actually making diligent progress on it," Obama told journalists at the final press conference ending the two-day unprecedented summit. French officials said a calendar for withdrawing French troops by the end of 2012 -- a year early -- would be drawn up within the next 10 days, while Hollande signalled reluctance to stump more cash for the Afghan security forces. "In principle we can look at it, but we haven t fixed a sum, and we are not bound by what Germany and other countries may do," he said. NATO allies are being asked to contribute towards the $4.1 billion annual costs to help support the Afghan security forces. The 28 NATO leaders and their 22 partners in the war, as far afield as Australia, Georgia and South Korea, issued a final statement saying Afghans will be in "lead for security nationwide" by mid-2013. Though NATO troops will gradually shift focus to training and support, alliance officials stressed that foreign soldiers would still participate in combat operations when needed until late 2014. The summit gave Obama a platform to show a war-weary American public that he has global support for his plan to end the war ahead of a tough re-election campaign against Republican Mitt Romney in November. With the Taliban still resilient after a decade of war, NATO leaders sought to reassure Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the international community would not abandon his country after combat troops are gone. The 50 nations involved in the war endorsed a US plan to provide $4.1 billion in annual security aid to Afghanistan and reduce the size of Afghan forces from a peak of 352,000 to 228,500. The United States has offered to pay half the bill while the international community is expected to stump up the rest. But the summit declaration makes clear that the security aid will not last forever. The declaration says the Afghan government s share of the bill will increase progressively from $500 million in 2015, "with the aim that it can assume, no later than 2024, full financial responsibility for its own security forces." Canada agreed to continue funding Afghan forces until 2017, officials said, contributing some $108 million annual for three years after the troops withdraw. "Canada will honor its commitment and complete its current training mission but our country will not have any military mission in Afghanistan after March 2014," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

NATO believes Pakistani supply lines to open soon

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NATO s top official says he was optimistic that Pakistan will re-open key transit routes to Afghanistan in the "very near future." NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the closure of the routes in November have not had a major impact on alliance operations in Afghanistan. But he says NATO will face logistical challenges as it draws down its forces from Afghanistan and will need a number of transit routes. Pakistan closed the supply routes in November in response to a U.S. airstrike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. The U.S. and Pakistan have been negotiating the reopening of the routes, but those talks are stalled. Pakistan s president attended the NATO summit and met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but not with President Barack Obama.

Nadal wins Rome Masters title

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Rafael Nadal won his sixth Rome Masters title in a rain-postponed final against Novak Djokovic here on Monday, defeating the world number one 7-5, 6-3. It was sweet revenge for a straight sets loss to the Serb in last year s final and the win means that he will move back ahead of Roger Federer at number two in the world rankings. It was also the perfect preparation for the defence of his French Open title with the tournament due to get underway in Paris on Sunday and takes his career head-to-head with his rival to 18-14 in his own favour. It meant that Nadal won claycourt titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome with his only loss coming in Madrid where he went down to compatriot Fernando Verdasco. Djokovic failed to win a claycourt title as he prepares to go into Roland Garros where he is aiming to make it four Grand Slam titles in a row after winning Wimbledon and the US Open crowns last year and the Australian Open early this year. In a final held over from Sunday because of rain, Nadal immediately pounded out two break points on the opening Djokovic serve, but the Serb saved both with powerful backhands. There were two more break points for the Spaniard in the fifth game as Djokovic made a mess of an overhead smash and Nadal converted the second of these, easily running down a poorly-executed Djokovic drop-shot. But just as Nadal seemed to be taking command, Djokovic earned his first break point of the match in the following game which he took as an out-of-position Nadal flopped a forehand into the net. And two games later he had Nadal back-pedalling again with a series of punishing drives from the baseline only for a bad line-call to rob him of a first set point. Nadal levelled at 5-5 and then, on the back of some stupendous defending, he grabbed a second break of serve and made good on it by outgunning Djokovic in a thrilling exchange of shots at the net. Still riled by the line-call, Djokovic smashed his racquet at the exchange of ends and was warned by the umpire before Nadal comfortably served out to pocket the first set in 76 minutes. Nadal took up in the second set where he had left off in the first and he had the Serb scrambling from side to side in a failed attempt to prevent the five-times champion from grabbing an early break. Djokovic had an immediate chance to get back on level terms in the set but he failed to capitilise on four break points in the next game allowing Nadal to move 2-0 ahead. The defending champion stopped the rot by holding serve to make it 2-1 and he had two break-back opportunities in the next game only to squander both with unforced errors. He was made to pay the price for those missed opportunities as Nadal slammed shut the door on his following serves and then broke again to become the first player to win six Rome titles.

Pakistan beat India to win Three-Nation Touch Ball Tournament

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The final of the Three-Nation Touch Ball Tournament was played at the Punjab Stadium Lahore. The Pakistni team dominated the match from the start and were leading 3-0 at the breather. In the second half, both the teams scored one goal each. Shahbaz scored two goals for Pakistan while Khurram Ali and Aslam added one goal each. Anand Kumar was the lone scorer of the Indian side.

Obama: US making 'diligent progress' on Pakistan

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President Barack Obama says the US is making diligent progress on re-opening supply routes from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Obama and Afghanistan s President Hamid Karzai spoke briefly with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the NATO summit Monday. U.S. officials had indicated Obama would not hold a formal bilateral meeting with Zardari as long as the supply route matter remained unresolved. The U.S. and Pakistan are in a dispute over Pakistan s closure of key trucking routes used to send supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the supply lines after a U.S. airstrike killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. Obama says Zardari told him these issues could get "worked through." Obama says NATO is unified on a plan to responsibly wind down war in Afghanistan.

Obama, Zardari meet briefly on sidelines of NATO summit

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With the US pushing Pakistan to reopen a critical supply route into Afghanistan, President Obama and Pakistan s President Asif Ali Zardari chatted briefly on the margins of the NATO summit this afternoon, according to the White House. With the NATO summit set to wrap up later today, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance won t complete a deal with the Pakistanis to reopen critical supply routes into Afghanistan before the close of the international conference. "We didn t expect an agreement on the Pakistan transit route to be reached at this summit — that was not planned," Rasmussen said. The Pakistanis closed the U.S. military supply routes into Afghanistan as retribution after a cross-border strike by NATO last November left 24 of their soldiers dead. Zardari accepted an invitation last week to attend the summit, raising speculation that a deal might be in the works. The White House said Obama and Zardari — along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai — spoke briefly before summit participants gathered for a family photo. The Obama administration has reportedly chafed at Pakistan s call for the U.S. to pay $5,000 for every truck that the U.S. military wants to send through Pakistan into Afghanistan. It s a steep price, but the Pakistanis have argued that it s cheaper than continuing the practice of NATO using alternative, longer routes through Central Asia. Although the White House stressed, ahead of the start of the conference, that they didn t expect a resolution on the impasse during the Chicago summit, negotiations with the Pakistanis on the matter have loomed large. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat down with Zardari on the sidelines of the conference on Sunday.

MQM invited to attend Balochistan conference

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Talking to media at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) main office at Nine Zero, the president of Supreme Court Bar Association Yasin Azad said that other political parties will also be invited to the Balochistan conference. Speaking on the occasion, member of MQM Coordination Committee, Shahid Latif’ said that Altaf Hussain’s stance on Balochistan is very clear.

Malik meets with Fazlur Rehman

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The Interior Minister Rehman Malik called on chief of Jamiat Ulemai Islam-F (JUI-F) Moulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad. Both the leaders exchanged views on various issues including the law and order situation of the country and Karachi. The interior minister asserted that the government was seriously striving to amend the law and order besides the security situation of the country, while all the resources would be utilized in this regard, he added. Meanwhile, the interior minister met with the Secretary General of UK Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries Abdul Majeed Shaheen and discussed with him the issues faced by UK-based Pakistani business community. Rehman Malik said that Pakistan is a suitable country for foreign investment and due to its effective investment policy the ratio of foreign and domestic investment is increasing day by day. He assured the government of Pakistan would provide full security as well as an extensive opportunity to the UK-based Pakistani business community to invest in Pakistan.

West Indies: Slow overrate penalty adds insult to injury

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If they infringe again during the second Test at Trent Bridge starting Friday, all-rounder Sammy could be banned from the third and final Test of the series at Edgbaston. An International Cricket Council statement issued after close of play said match referee Roshan Mahanama of Sri Lanka had ruled the West Indies were four overs short of their target when time allowances were taken into consideration. Under the ICC code of conduct, players are fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount. As such, Sammy was fined 80 percent of his match fee while his players received 40 percent fines. The ICC statement added: "If Sammy is found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence in Tests over the next 12 months, he will receive a one-match suspension as per the provisions of the ICC code of conduct." West Indies  team at Lord s had no specialist spinner although Sammy said afterwards that occasional off-break bowler Marlon Samuels had been pressed into service in part to speed up the over-rate. The second Test starts on Friday.

Pakistan considering venues for Australia series

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The PCB s director of international cricket, Intikhab Alam, said Monday that Malaysia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are the other contenders. Pakistan has to look for an alternative venue after Sri Lanka last week pulled out of hosting the series because it is organizing the Sri Lanka Premier League in August. "They (Sri Lanka) had their own problems so we have to look for alternative venue," Alam told The Associated Press. The PCB is planning to host the five ODIs and three T20s against Australia close to the World Twenty20 to be hosted by Sri Lanka in September. Alam said that PCB might schedule the series against Australia for after Ramadan, which ends the third week of August. "We are looking into it, but the venue will be finalized by the end of this week." The PCB has been forced to organize its home series at neutral venues after foreign teams refused to tour Pakistan because of security concerns since 2009 when gunmen attacked Sri Lanka team bus at Lahore. Pakistan has organized its home series against South Africa, Sri Lanka and England in the UAE over the last three years.

Facebook's stocks tumble after IPO

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By early afternoon, the stock fell more than 11 percent to $33.81. Investors and technology industry watchers are closely tracking the Menlo Park, California-based company s shares. The world s largest online social network was one of the most anticipated initial public stock offerings ever, and now serves as a bellwether for other social media companies. "There must have been some sober second thoughts about this," said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a "Sell" rating on Facebook s stock. It s not that he thinks Facebook is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it s just too expensive for the amount of risks associated with what s still a young company with an unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or "target price," is $30. Facebook s market debut Friday suffered some hiccups, with trading on the Nasdaq delayed for a half hour and issues with traders  orders. The stock closed Friday just a few cents above where it priced Thursday night, when many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop. The shares opened Friday at $42.05, and fluctuated throughout the day before closing at $38.23. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an "Outperform" rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he thinks the underwriters overestimated demand for the company s stock. Last week, the underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, increased the offering price range. On Wednesday, Facebook s early investors and other stockholders increased the number of shares they were selling in the IPO. Both had seemingly been signals that there was strong demand for shares. "The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price," Pachter said in a note to investors. On Monday, Facebook Inc. s stock fell $4.20 to $34.03 in late morning trading. Shares dropped as low as $33 earlier. Shares of some related social media companies also declined Monday. Zynga Inc., which makes FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars, and gets the bulk of its revenue from Facebook users, fell 4 percent to $6.87. The stock earlier touched as low as $6.36, its lowest level since the San Francisco company s December IPO. LinkedIn Corp., a network for professionals, dropped 2 percent to $96.97.

Germany, Finance offer help to eurozone in tact

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With new elections looming next month in Greece and Spain s crippling recession showing no sign of abating, the eurozone crisis dominated talks in Berlin between German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his new French counterpart Pierre Moscovici. "We agreed that we have to do everything to keep Greece in the euro club," Schaeuble told a joint press conference. "We both believe that Greece has its place in the eurozone," Moscovici said, adding that "the commitments undertaken had to be respected" in reference to reforms demanded in return for huge bailout packages. Europe has to support investment and economic growth in Greece "at a time when it is going through a violent recession," the French minister added. The pair sought to present a united front ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Wednesday in Brussels, after a weekend G8 meeting left Berlin looking increasingly isolated with its austerity-driven solution to the crisis. But they did not shy away from the main topic that divides them, with Moscovici reiterating his support for eurobonds -- the pooling of eurozone debt to enable indebted countries to borrow more easily on the financial markets -- which Berlin vehemently opposes. Moscovici said that new French President Francois Hollande, who last week met German Chancellor Angela Merkel just hours after his inauguration, wanted to "put everything on the table, even topics that not everyone agreed on." Eurobonds are a "strong idea," he said. He stressed Europe had to come up with concrete results by a June summit. Schaeuble said Germany "would participate in all constructive ideas to strengthen sustainable growth" but cautioned that budgetary consolidation was "a necessary precondition" for bolstering this growth. Moscovici also insisted that France would play its part in reducing its own budget deficits, pledging: "The commitments made by President Francois Hollande during his campaign on public finances will be kept to." France aims reduce its deficit to below the EU limit of three percent of gross domestic product by 2013 and balance its budget by 2017. World leaders at the G8 summit Saturday stressed their unity on keeping Greece in the eurozone but acknowledged that "the right measures are not the same for each of us" -- a sign of growing opposition to German-led austerity. EU leaders will seek to bridge their differences at an informal summit on Wednesday, aiming to lay foundations for a new "growth" strategy and agree cross-border borrowing to kick-start targeted investment. And in a reminder that the crisis was not limited to Greece, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos predicted that Spain s economy, already mired in recession with record-high unemployment, would shrink again in the second quarter. Madrid already unsettled markets by revising higher its 2011 public deficit on Friday, projecting 8.9 percent of gross domestic product instead of 8.51 percent as reported earlier. Schaeuble said he was "completely confident that Spain will take the necessary decisions to put it back on the right path and regain the confidence of the financial markets." The French minister dodged a question about whether Paris would support Schaeuble as president of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers when Jean-Claude Juncker s term ends in July. He said the decision would be made as part of a "package" of personnel choices, which includes appointing a new member of the European Central Bank s Executive Board. There was certainly nothing personal against Schaeuble, Moscovici stressed, going out of his way to express admiration for the veteran German politician and his "European commitment." Debate is currently raging over whether the EU s new fiscal pact, a treaty pushed through by Merkel to enshrine greater budgetary discipline, is enough to chart Europe out of its troubles. Hollande has said he wants to renegotiate the pact to include more measures to boost economic output. With markets still on edge as they wait for signs at Wednesday s informal EU summit that leaders are getting to grips with the crisis, Berenberg Bank analyst Holger Schmieding cautioned that time was short. "Merkel and Hollande know that they cannot afford to argue for long," he said in a research note. European stock markets mostly rebounded on Monday as G8 support for Greece to remain in the eurozone boosted sentiment after last week s sharp sell-off, traders said. London s benchmark FTSE 100 index closed up 0.70 percent to 5,304.48 points after tumbling by five percent last week. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 added 0.95 percent to 6,331.04 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.64 percent to 3,027.15 points.

Tamil prisoners on hunger strike in Sri Lanka

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Inmates of three prisons, located in Colombo city, Kalutara town and in Vavuniya town, are demanding that they be charged for their crimes or be released, Xinhua reported. The fast began last week with the participation of 80 inmates of the Colombo prison but the number rose to 234 over the weekend with prisoners from two other prisons joining the protest. Most of the prisoners have been in jail for over three years without being charged, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) legislator M.A. Sumanthiran, adding that a discussion will be held Monday with prison authorities regarding the long-term detainees. The European Union had earlier this month called for a fair trial for long-term detainees in Sri Lanka. Jean Lambert, chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with countries in South Asia, has said that the EU Parliament s position on long-term detainees in Sri Lanka is that they should be either charged or released. Hundreds of suspected Tamil Tiger rebels and other political prisoners are in Sri Lankan prisons, some of whom have not faced trial or a charge for years or months since being arrested, according to minority Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka. Most of the prisoners were arrested while emergency regulations were in place during the war between the Tamil rebels and the military. The war ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebels. Most of the emergency regulations were also subsequently lifted.

Moving in right trajectory with Pakistan: White House

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Exuding confidence on the reopening of closed NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, a top aide of President Barack Obama has said that the US is moving in the right trajectory with Pakistan on the issue. "We re moving in the right trajectory and that we can accomplish what is now a shared objective with the Pakistanis at reopening the supply lines," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters in Chicago. The remarks by the White House official came hours after the meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. "What I will say on the supply lines, for instance, is you ve seen very positive statements out of Islamabad about wanting to get this done. We, of course, have made positive statements as well by wanting to get this done. So now we re in a process of our teams working with through the issues associated with the reopening of the GLOCs (ground lines of communication)," he said. "We are confident that we re going to be able to accomplish this objective. It s a positive sign that after a difficult period in our relations and a parliamentary review of the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, that we re not sitting down at the table and working through difficult issues like the ground supply lines," Rhodes said. Appearing at the same press conference, General John Allen, Commander of the NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, said that the closure of the supply routes did not had any impact on their operations in Afghanistan. "With regard to the ground line of communication, it has not, in fact, negatively affected our prosecution of the campaign. Indeed, in some manner, some ways in which we measure our stockage, if you will, of certain capabilities in the battle space, they’re higher today than they were when the ground line of communications were closed," he said. "But there have been some very positive indications of late with the government in Islamabad about an interest in entering into negotiations, which I think you re all aware of, to open the ground line of communications. I can t tell you when that will occur -- obviously sooner is better than later -- but I can t tell you when that will occur," Allen said. One of the important realizations of that is that, in fact, the two countries are now talking about it. "That, we view as being positive. We think it s a good indication indicator of an improvement in the relationship. We hope to see that improve even more," said Allen who recently met Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. "I think that the trending right now is in a positive direction with respect to a variety of the conversations between Islamabad and ISAF, and Islamabad and Kabul, and Islamabad and the United States," he said.