Geo News 21st May 2012 - Latest Geo updates 21st May 2012 Live
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Geo News Pakistan
QUETTA: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will resume hearing of the Balochistan missing persons case today, Geo News reported.
Moreover, on Monday Chief Justice would also be accorded guard of honour upon his arrival at the Supreme Court's Quetta Registry.
LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari Sunday met Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the sidelines of a key Nato summit underway in Chicago, Geo News reported.
According to sources, both leaders exchanged views on various bilateral issues.
President Zardari during the meeting focused on the prospects of increasing mutual trade and cooperation between Pakistan and Australia,the sources added.
Earlier, in Lahore, Australian High Commission to Pakistan, Tim George had said, that there is wide scope for cooperation between Pakistan and Australia in agriculture, education and health sectors and there have been tremendous achievement of close cooperation in these sectors.
He said many Australian firms are engaged with Pakistani counterparts in agriculture sector to improve different crops and enhance dairy development. He said there is also scope for joint ventures in different fields in agriculture sector.
He said Pakistan and Australia have been cooperating in different fields adding that Australia is fifth largest contributor to Pakistan. He said the major areas of cooperation are education, health, agriculture, good governance, humanitarian assistance and capacity building.
George especially mentioned the establishment of high-level Pakistan-Australia Joint Working Group on border management and transnational crime in 2010 which meeting annually.
The High Commissioner said under the strategic dialogue between the two countries, a comprehensive training programme for security officials is also under progress. He appreciated the legal migration to Australia and added that a large number of Pakistanis is getting education at a number of Australian universities.
He said he was privileged to serve as High Commissioner during a period of strong growth in Australia’s relationship with Pakistan. Tim said, “I particularly welcome the deepening of our engagements, which is based on a productive, friendly and mutually beneficial partnership.”
Geo World
TEHRAN: The UN nuclear watchdog chief, Yukiya Amano, arrived in Tehran Monday to demand more cooperation from Iran on its nuclear activities, as Tehran prepares to engage with world powers in crucial talks in Baghdad over its controversial nuclear programme.
The visit is Amano's first to Iran since taking up the top post at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Amano said Sunday that he was adopting a "constructive spirit" and positive attitude as he headed to Tehran.
"Nothing is certain but I stay positive and I go there with constructive spirit," said Amano at Vienna airport before boarding his flight for Iran.
"There has been good progress during the recent rounds of discussions between Iran and IAEA. So I thought that now is the right time ... to visit Iran and have direct talks with high officials of Iran," he added.
But he added: "This visit is very short, and I'm not an inspector".
The IAEA chief, accompanied by his chief inspector Herman Nackaerts and number two Rafael Mariano Grossi, was expected to meet Iran's atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
Iran hopes the visit will lead to an accord on how to resolve disputes over the IAEA monitoring nuclear activities and draw up "a new modality to answer (IAEA) questions and clear up ambiguities", Salehi said.
Salehi was quoted Sunday as welcoming the visit as a "good omen", saying it presented an opportunity for Iran to reset relations with the IAEA, which are regularly marked by controversy over Tehran's alleged lack of cooperation.
Insisting its programme is purely civilian, Iran says it fully cooperates with the agency and has accused the Vienna-based IAEA of being manipulated by Western intelligence services.
Amano has been accused by Iran of being "biased" and "unprofessional".
The IAEA, which monitors most of Iran's nuclear activities, has fueled for several years Western suspicions over a possible military dimension to Iran's atomic programme, a doubt magnified by Iran's turbulent ties with the agency.
Amano's one-day visit follows two days of "positive" talks between Iran and the IAEA last week in Vienna, reopening dialogue after two fruitless visits by IAEA experts to Tehran in January and February.
The visit also comes just two days ahead of talks in Baghdad between world powers and Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions, which marks the second round of talks revived in April in Istanbul after a 15-month impasse.
A reconciliation between Iran and the IAEA on new rules of cooperation and more transparency on Iranian nuclear activities could send a positive signal to the Baghdad meeting.
The five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, or the so-called P5+1, have demanded from Iran concrete gestures to show its willingness to reach a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue.
Iran's nuclear programme has been condemned by six UN Security Council resolutions, including four with sanctions unilaterally later strengthened by the West.
The Islamic republic's arch-foes, Israel and the United States have threatened to use a military option against Iranian nuclear installations if diplomacy fails.
The leaders of eight leading industrialised countries, the G8, called on Iran Saturday to engage in "detailed discussions" in Baghdad that could "lead towards a comprehensive negotiated solution which restores international confidence that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful". (AFP)
CHICAGO: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday voiced concern about violence in Syria, but said the alliance has "no intention" of taking military action against the regime.
"We strongly condemn the behavior of the Syrian security forces and their crackdowns on the Syrian population and we urge the Syrian leadership to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he told a news conference during an alliance summit in Chicago.
"But again NATO has no intention to intervene in Syria."
NATO governments have come under criticism for backing an air war in Libya but ruling out military intervention in Syria, where opposition demonstrators and badly outgunned rebels have been hammered by heavily-armed regime forces.
Rasmussen spoke a day after G8 nations said a "political transition" was needed to end the crisis in Syria, where monitors say more than 12,000 people have died in a government crackdown since March 2011.
The NATO secretary-general urged the Syrian regime to comply with a UN ceasefire and peace plan, saying it was "the best platform for finding a solution in Syria."
The United States is supplying communication equipment and night-vision goggles to Syrian rebels, but so far has stopped short of openly arming the rebels.
US media have reported Washington has started to coordinate deliveries of weapons to rebels financed by Gulf states.
In Syria, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near a team of UN observers in a Damascus suburb Sunday, the military said, as dozens of people were killed in violence while clashes raged between regime troops and armed rebels. (AFP)
GEO Business
SAN FRANCISCO: The historic initial public offering of Facebook Inc did not go as planned on Friday, as the social networking company's sky-high valuation combined with trading glitches left the stock languishing near its offering price at the market close.
Facebook shares began trading late Friday morning and opened 11 per cent above the $38 offering price, but after peaking at about $45 slid rapidly at the end of the day to close at $38.23. The IPO was the third-largest in US history and valued eight-year-old Facebook at $104 billion.
The surprisingly weak debut of a stock that analysts had predicted would climb between 10 and 50 per cent is not likely to dent the business prospects of Facebook, which boasts 900 million users and is upending business practices and social relationships around the world.
But the unexpected developments were a clear setback for Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, which sources said was forced to defend the $38 price level by buying shares on the open market. Many market participants said they expected the stock to remain under pressure next week.
The offering also proved an embarrassment for the NASDAQ: the opening was delayed as the exchange struggled with a huge volume of orders, and for much of the day there were long delays in order confirmation. The SEC said late Friday that it was reviewing the situation.
Social media companies and Internet companies that had hoped to benefit from a Facebook halo effect were instead dragged down Friday, with social gaming giant Zynga dropping almost 15 per cent.
Analysts said Facebook may simply have over-reached in raising the IPO price range, pricing at the top of the range and increasing the size of the offering earlier in the week.
"The underwriters got greedy on behalf of selling shareholders and bumped the price high enough that they didn't get much of a bump on the first day," said Bill Smead, chief investment officer at Smead Capital Management, which did not buy Facebook shares in the IPO. "They increased the size of the deal and that really did a number on it."
Skeptics have argued all along that a valuation of more than $100 billion - about equivalent to Amazon.com Inc and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined - was far too high for a company that posted $1 billion in profit and $3.7 billion in revenue in 2011.
Concerns about Facebook's earnings potential were highlighted by General Motors' announcement this week that it would no longer buy paid advertising on Facebook.
GEO Sports
HYDERABAD: Deccan Chargers shocked Royal Challengers Bangalore with a nine-run win in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal on Sunday.
Now, this defeat ousted the Royal Challengers from the tournament and placed Chennai Super Kings in the last four.
Chasing an easy target of 133, Bangalore could not resist against accurate bowling and alert fielding by Deccan and were restricted to 123 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.
South African fast bowler Dale Steyn bagged three wickets for just eight runs and medium-pacer Ashish Reddy also took three for 25.
The main scorers for Bangalore were Virat Kohli (42), Saurabh Tiwary (30) and West Indian Chris Gayle (27).
Earlier, Bangalore captain Kohli won the toss and put Deccan into bat who made 132 for seven in 20 overs.
South Africa’s Jean-Paul Duminy smashed 74 runs from 53 balls and struck five sixes and four boundaries.
For Bangalore, seamers Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan captured three for 22 and two for 30, respectively.
Pakistan’s premier sports tv channel Geo Super showed this low-scoring match live from Uppal, Hyderabad.
MUNICH: Chelsea beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties to win the Champions League on Saturday after the two sides had been locked at 1-1 at the end of extra-time.
German international Thomas Mueller had headed Bayern into a deserved lead in the 83rd minute from a left wing cross before Didier Drogba levelled with a bullet header with just two minutes remaining of normal time.
Drogba conceded a penalty in the third minute of extra-time for a clumsy foul on Franck Ribery, but former Chelsea player Arjen Robben saw his penalty saved by Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.
In the shootout, Drogba was the hero when he buried the winning penalty. (AFP)
Geo Entertainment
LOS ANGELES: The Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry says she will go directly to President Obama to seek help passing laws to protect children from paparazzi after an incident last week in which she lost her cool when photographers came uncomfortably close to her daughter, Nahla.
The Hollywood actress was caught on camera as she lost her temper outside a school, yelling at photographers, "I'm doing something honorable. I'm not harassing people."
Berry, 45, has since said that she regrets losing her temper, but also revealed her new plan to take her plight straight to the top of the federal government.
"There are no laws here that protect our children and, as a mom coming to the school ... not only my child, but all the children that are there. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong," Berry told "Extra."
"You know, I think I'm going to call Obama and say, 'Look, can you help us? I know this seems like a little issue right now, but it's a big issue in our lives and our lives at the school and our children being protected,'" she added
CANNES: The Cannes film festival took time out from the movies to raise money for Haiti on Friday night, with Sean Penn at the helm pleading the humanitarian cause at a celebrity gala.
"Okay, room. Haiti is watching us tonight like you cannot believe," Penn told the black-tie crowd who had paid up to $100,000 for a table at the "Carnival in Cannes", just steps from the famous red carpet.
Three people paid $100,000 each in an auction to accompany Penn on a three-day trip to Haiti where the actor, a two-time Academy Award winner, has been active since the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.
In an expletive-laden yet impassioned speech, Penn exhorted guests to give generously and not turn their backs on Haiti. Celebrities included members of the Cannes jury - actors Ewan McGregor and Diane Kruger and designer Jean Paul Gaultier.
Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, voice stars of animation blockbuster "Madagascar 3" also attended, and designer Giorgio Armani, an event sponsor, made an appearance at the event co-hosted by model Petra Nemcova and "Crash" director and screenwriter Paul Haggis.
President of the Cannes jury four years ago, Penn was named "Ambassador at Large for Haiti" by new President Michel Martelly this year. In the days following the earthquake, Penn started the J/P Haitian Relief Organization with a goal of getting displaced people back into permanent homes.
"There's this very tangible success story that Haiti can be that could be a domino effect throughout the world," Penn told a news conference on Friday.
It was only the third time in its 65-year history that Cannes has lent its name to a fundraising cause, but this time the gala for Haitian relief was not tied to any festival film. In the 1980s it helped raise funds for the Pasteur Institute and in the 1990s for a Venice opera house destroyed by fire.
Penn said the event came together after Thierry Fremaux, the festival's general delegate, "called and asked how he could help".
Rebuilding Haiti will depend on private funding and collaboration between donors, Penn said, citing the non-profit groups of Nemcova and Haggis - the Happy Hearts Fund and Artists for Peace and Justice - both of which have focused on schools.
WINNING BID
Penn lashed out at the media, however, for parachuting into Haiti but then not following through to keep reporting on the zone during its rebuilding.
"It's not only celebrities that just went for the day. It's the whole ... world. It's the entire media. It's all of you," he told the press. "The reason people get Haiti fatigue is because they never committed in the first place."
Singer Lyle Lovett gave a short concert before Haitian band RAM performed and waved the country's blue and red colors on what was Haitian Flag Day.
Martelly, elected president in 2011, appeared on pre-recorded video from Port au Prince, playing the piano, singing and calling Penn "a friend and an inspiration for our country."
Haggis, who took his first trip to Haiti two years before the quake, tried to incite higher bidding on the auction items, announcing a "Golden Globes Weekend" package would also include a date with the Scottish actor Gerard Butler, whom he pulled up on to the stage, to the actor's embarrassment.
A man suddenly leapt up, yelling: "100,000 euros without Gerard Butler!" to seize the winning bid.
Speaking at the news conference, Haggis said the world had largely washed its hands of Haiti throughout its troubled history.
"Honestly, until the quake, no one really gave a damn about Haiti," said Haggis, adding: "Like Sean said, 'Give these people a shot that they've never had'." (Reuters)
GEO Health
LONDON: An 83-year-old British man who has donated blood 57 times has shown further altruistic concern by giving up a kidney to a stranger, making him the oldest Briton to do so, according to a kidney donation charity.
Nicholas Crace, a former charity director from the leafy English county of Hampshire, decided to donate a kidney to Britain's National Health Service following the death of his wife in 2011, when he found he had more time for voluntary work.
"I've had an easy, comfortable life... I thought it was about time I paid back some of my good fortune. I was fit, I had no dependents and plenty of time," Crace told Reuters.
Crace decided to donate a kidney because he was too old to give blood or bone marrow and was surprised to discover that not only was he the oldest living Briton to donate a kidney but also that he had the kidneys of a 40-year-old. "I think I probably chose my parents carefully," he joked.
Almost 7,000 British people are waiting for a kidney andaround 300 die each year waiting for one, according to Britain'sGive A Kidney charity.
Altruistic kidney transplants have taken place in Britainsince 2007, and Crace is one of nearly 100 people to havedonated a kidney to a stranger since then
LONDON: Scientists have mapped the complete genetic codes of 21 breast cancers and created a catalogue of the mutations that accumulate in breast cells, raising hopes that the disease may be able to be spotted earlier and treated more effectively in future.
The research, the first of its kind, untangles the genetic history of how cancer evolves, allowing scientists to identify mutational patterns that fuel the growth of breast tumors, and start to work out the processes behind them.
"These findings have implications for our understanding of how breast cancers develop over the decades before diagnosis in adults and might help to find possible targets for improved diagnosis or therapeutic intervention in the future," said Mike Stratton, who led the research team.
Breast cancer kills more than 450,000 women a year worldwide and is the most common cancer among women, accounting for 16 percent of all cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A study last year by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in the United States found that global breast cancer cases have more than doubled in just three decades, from 641,000 cases in 1980 to 1.6 million cases in 2010 - a pace that far exceeds global population growth.
"This is the first time we've been able to delve fully into breast cancer genomes in such a thorough way," said Peter Campbell, head of cancer genetics and genomics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, where the studies were led.
The work had given scientists "a full panoramic view of the cancer genome" and helped them identify "mutational patterns rather than individual mutations in specific genes", he added.
DNA MUTATIONS
"We've known for many years now that all cancers are due to abnormalities of DNA...that occur in every single cell of the body over the course of a lifetime," said Stratton.
"But although we've known that, it's remarkable how rudimentary our knowledge is about what the processes are that cause these abnormalities, these mutations in our DNA."
Stratton's team sequenced the genomes of the 21 breast cancers and catalogued all the mutations. They found five major processes that cause one letter of code to be changed to another letter. Genetic code comes in four DNA letters, A,C,G and T.
Stratton said one of the most exciting findings was that one of these processes is characterized by small pockets of massively mutated regions of the genome.
This sudden "storm" of mutations is often seen in breast cancers, he explained in an audio briefing.
While his team don't fully understand the process behind these storms, they think it may be down to components of the cell whose normal function is to edit, or mutate, DNA.
"What we believe...is that sometimes in normal cells...this stops functioning properly and over-functions. It causes too many mutations and the accumulation of those mutations pushes the cell along the line to become cancer."
The team found that these and other mutations accumulate in breast cells over many years, initially slowly, but picking up greater momentum as genetic damage builds up.
By the time the breast cancers are large enough to be diagnosed, they are made up of a number of genetically related families of cells, with one family dominating the cancer, Stratton explained.
Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust which helped fund the work, said the results showed how scientists are starting to see the landscape of mutations in breast cancer "in something approaching its full complexity".
"As this work continues, we can hope to understand how breast cancer develops and thus how it might be treated more effectively," he said in a statement. (Reuters)
GEO Amazing and Interesting
TOKYO: A Japanese man astonished the people by eating 32 boiled eggs in one minute.
The 33-years old Takeru Kobayashi also holds the world record for hot dog eating for six years.
NEW DELHI: At least 430 people, mainly children, have died from an outbreak of encephalitis in a deeply neglected region of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Saturday.
K.P. Kushwaha, chief paediatrician at the BRD Medical College in the state's hardest-hit Gorakhpur district, said it was one of the worst outbreaks of encephalitis in the impoverished region, which borders Nepal.
"The situation is grim and the epidemic is worse than previous years and with so many patients there are no empty beds at the hospital," Khuswaha said.
"We count such cases since January but most of these casualties have occurred since July."
He said more than 2,400 patients have been admitted to government hospitals in the region so far this year of which at least 430 have died.
"Until Saturday, 336 children and 94 adults have died," Kushwaha told from the overcrowded hospital where patients were lying two to a bed.
He said 262 patients were undergoing treatment in the state-run facility.
"Everyday between 30 and 40 patients are being brought in for treatment," he said.
Some 215 people, a majority of them children, succumbed to encephalitis in Gorakhpur last year while the death toll from the disease in 2005 was more than 1,400 in Uttar Pradesh.
Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh are ravaged by encephalitis each year as malnourished children succumb to the virus, officials say.
Encephalitis causes brain inflammation and can result in brain damage. Symptoms include headaches, seizures and fever.
Health experts say 70 million children nationwide are at risk of encephalitis.
Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, has been struggling for years with an encephalitis prevention programme, vaccinating millions of children against the virus. (AFP)
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