Geo News 4th June 2012 - Latest Geo updates 4th June 2012 Live
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Geo News Pakistan
KOHISTAN: Four women, who were sentenced to death in Kohistan for singing and dancing at a wedding, are reportedly killed, Geo News reported.
Muhamamd Afzal, brother of one of the convicted men, has claimed that four women have been murdered.
Four women and two men had been sentenced to death in Kohistan for singing and dancing at a wedding.
Clerics had issued a decree after a mobile phone video emerged of the six enjoying in a remote village in the mountainous district of Kohistan.
It was decided that the men will be killed first, but they have run away.
Meanwhile, DPO Tahir Rehman has said that he has no information about the killing of four women.
ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of alleged killings of women in Kohistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday ordered judicial inquiry into the incident in which 4 women were reported to be killed as a punishment for dancing at a wedding in Kohistan.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Social Welfare Sattar Ayaz talking to Geo News denied the report, saying the women who danced at the wedding ceremony were not killed.
The Interior Minister said a judicial commission would conduct investigation into the incident.
It was reported that a Jirga in Kohistan had announced death sentences for 4 women and 2 boys for dancing at a wedding.
Geo World
CAIRO: Hundreds of Egyptians occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday after a night of rage against what they feel were lenient sentences handed down to ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak and his security chiefs.
A judge sentenced Mubarak, 84, and his interior minister Habib al-Adly to life in prison on Saturday for involvement in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that ousted them from power last year.
Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock, could have been sent to the gallows as demanded by the prosecution. He was also cleared of graft charges.
Six police chiefs were acquitted, and Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal had corruption charges against them dropped on a technicality, prompting protesters to take to the streets in Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities.
Both the toppled dictator's defence team and lawyers representing his victims said the life sentence verdict could easily be appealed, triggering fears among protesters that he could be ruled innocent.
Around 20,000 people took to Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Saturday after the verdicts were issued.
Some of the demonstrators slept in tents or out in the open overnight on the vast intersection, epicentre of the 18-day revolt that forced Mubarak to resign on February 11 last year.
"We intend to stay today and possibly tomorrow. We expect a lot more people to come during the day," said Omar Abdelkader, a young protester in Tahrir on Sunday.
"Many people had the feeling while listening to the verdict that we were back in the days of the old regime," said student Feda Essam, another protester in the square.
The demonstrators erected a memorial depicting a miniature cemetery made of gravestones and sand in tribute to the "martyrs" of the revolution.
"Martyrs, we will not abandon you to the conspiracies of the old regime. In the name of your blood, there will be a new revolution," said a banner.
Egyptian stocks dropped 2.4 percent within half an hour of opening with the main EGX-30 index sliding to 4574.17 points.
"The street's lack of acceptance of the verdicts has cast a shadow over the Egyptian stock exchange, with individual investors selling," said financial analyst Walid Abdeen.
Early on Sunday, offices of presidential candidate Ahmad Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, were attacked in two provincial towns, a security services official said.
Shafiq's campaign headquarters in Cairo had already been attacked last Monday.
On Saturday after the verdicts were passed, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi said the revolution must continue.
"All of us, my brothers, must realise in this period that the continuation of the revolution, and the revolutionaries' staying put in their positions in the squares, is the only guarantee to achieve the goals," he told reporters before joining the crowds in Tahrir Square for around 15 minutes.
A tearful Mubarak, who enjoyed near absolute power for three decades, was flown by helicopter to Tora prison on Cairo's outskirts after the verdict but then refused to leave the aircraft.
A security official said Mubarak "suffered from a surprise health crisis" but was finally convinced to go to his cell.
Chants of "Void, void" and "The people want the judiciary purged" erupted after the sentencing.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood said it had called for mass protests nationwide, while other groups including the pro-democracy April 6 movement announced they would also hold demonstrations.
There were similar protest rallies in Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast, and other parts of Egypt, where many were in shock at the police chiefs' acquittal.
Rights groups also slammed the verdict.
Mubarak's sentence "is a significant step towards combatting long-standing impunity in Egypt" but the security chiefs' acquittal "leaves many still waiting for full justice," Amnesty International said.
"Many see the acquittal of all the senior security officials as a sign that those responsible for human rights violations can still escape justice."
Mubarak's defence team said it will appeal against the verdicts.
"We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle," Yasser Bahr, a senior member of the defence team, said. "We will win, one million percent."
Saturday's verdict comes just two weeks before a presidential election run-off that will pit Shafiq against the Brotherhood's Mursi in a highly polarised race.
It is the first openly contested presidential election in any of the Arab countries swept by protests and uprisings since 2011 challenging decades of autocratic rule. (AFP)
LONDON: Loyal subjects and curious onlookers refused to let the rain dampen their spirits on Sunday as they lined the Thames under umbrellas waiting to watch Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee river pageant.
In a spectacle not seen on such a scale for 350 years, more than 1,000 boats of all shapes and sizes were to sail downstream through central London to mark the queen's 60 years on the throne.
The monarch was to take her place on a sumptuous royal barge for the highlight of the four-day public holiday weekend to mark the jubilee, with ships filling the horizon.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered along the river, but the heavy rain and London fog that descended overnight was making it a challenge to see very far at all.
By early morning, a few hundred people had made it on to Westminster Bridge to secure a prime spot -- not that they could see very much: the Houses of Parliament's famous Big Ben clock tower was barely visible on the north bank.
Tenille Wong, a 30-year-old Australian who works for the EMI record label, said: "It's such a historic occasion and even the weather can't dampen our spirits.
"The achievement of anyone doing their job for 60 years is impressive. I don't have any particular royal leanings, but I think it's a great opportunity to be among loads of people in London when everyone's happy -- because Londoners can be a bit grumpy!"
Wong, who was wearing an Australian flag baseball cap, added: "I just love the idea that one day my grandkids might be doing a school project on the British monarchy, and I can say I was here."
Westminster Bridge was a favourite spot for tourist photographs, with parliament at one end and the London Eye observation wheel on the other.
But the London skyline was barely perceptible through the dank mist -- with many spectators joking it was the traditional weather for a British public holiday weekend.
Plumber Dave Tong, 48, said he had made the journey from Lancashire in northwest England, because the queen "has been around all my life".
"She's one of the things that makes Britain great."
He and his wife Carmel, who was wearing a miniature Union Jack top hat, were looking forward to their large supply of "wet sandwiches" for lunch.
"It's too easy to watch it on telly," he said, laughing. "You've got to come down here and be wet. It's the Dunkirk spirit."
Harking back to the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk, the phrase has come to sum up defiant courage and solidarity in the face of adversity.
Although it was a military defeat, the massed flotilla of little ships -- much like that on show Sunday -- which rescued Britain's surrounded troops from continental Europe was a key moment in the country's psyche.
Dozens of the boats that took part in Dunkirk will sail as part of the flotilla on Sunday.
At the river, people waved at barges heading upstream to the mustering point between Hammersmith and Battersea.
Nicola Holder, a retired community worker from Devon in southwest England, had camped out overnight to be certain of her spot and was cloaked in a black anorak against the dismal weather.
"It's been really miserable," she said, laughing. "My bivvy-bag leaked, and I had a down sleeping bag inside. You can wring it out -- it's horrible," she said.
But she wanted to be there to see the queen because "as a nation we owe her a huge debt. I wouldn't like her job at all".
"That's why we're here -- and for the fun of it too. Because, although we're wet and cold, it is good fun." (AFP)
GEO Business
RAWALPINDI: President of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Javed Akhtar Bhatti on Friday termed the federal budget 2012-13 a 'balanced one'.
Addressing a press conference here, the RCCI President said, "The government has announced a business friendly budget despite economic the crunch and a number of domestic and international challenges on different fronts. It is a balanced budget".
He welcomed the allocation of Rs873 billion in the PSDP for various ongoing and new development schemes.
He appreciated the government for announcing 20 percent increase in pay and pension of the government employees.
He said it was a 'welcoming step' that the government had allocated Rs183 billion for the energy sector to steer the country out of prevailing situation.
He said that the power sector should be given more attention to meet the shortfall.
The RCCI President also hailed the government for its palns to impart training to the youngsters, making them useful citizens of the society.
He welcomed the proposal of setting up 2,000 new utility stores and added that the quality of items at these stores should be improved.
He hailed the budget proposal regarding income tax exemption limit up to Rs400,000. Reduction in tax rate on business turnover from 1
to 0.5 percent is a welcoming step, he added.
He also welcomed enhancement of withholding tax ceiling for cash withdrawal from banks from Rs25,000 to Rs.50,000.
"Abolishment of Federal Excise Duty on 10 items will provide relief to the masses," he said.
RCCI Vice President Raja Amir said that the government had announced a "business and people friendly budget".
He said reduction in customs duty from 10 per cent to 5 per cent on 88 raw materials of pharmaceutical industry, which was a good omen, and it would help strengthen the sector.
He said repayment of $ 1.2 billion of loans to the International Monetary Fund indicated that the country's economic position was stable.
He also welcomed reduction of sales tax rate from 17 per cent to 16 per cent. (APP)
ISLAMABAD: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) on Friday appreciated the federal government's reformative steps in the budget to facilate business sctor, terming it helpful in boosting economy.
The enhancement of tax exemption limit to Rs 400,000, the reduction of 0.5% in turnover tax, the limit of bank cash withdrawal exemption from Rs 25000 to Rs 50000, the reduction of custom duties on raw materials for medicines, increase in salaries of government servants by 20% and rationalization of federal excise duty, sales tax and custom duties on some items was highly appreciated by the union.
In a press release the President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said some of their demands have been accepted for which they are thankful that the finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.However he said the SME sector expected that an economist like Dr Hafeez Shaikh would think beyond this and bring about dynamic changes to stimulate the economy.
He said that the SME sector expected a budget giving incentives for investment to resolve the unemployment issue, and reduction of inflation.
He said the country is importing items which can be manufactured in Pakistan and the FM should have given incentives for the manufacture of import substitution items, facilities for setting up alternative energy systems, encouragement for agri based industries and increasing exports of non traditional items.
It was also expected that as an economist he would envisage measures for the appreciation of the Pakistani rupee, industrialization, green revolution and announce schemes for the promotion and development of the economy. (APP)
GEO Sports
HAMBANTOTA: Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 23 runs in the second Twenty20 International here at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing an easy target of 123, Sri Lanka were bundled out for a mere 99 runs in 19.2 overs as no none of their batsmen could resist against an accurate bowling from Pakistan side.
Fast bowlers Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat captured three wickets for 16 and 18, respectively while leg-spinner Shahid Afridi took two wickets for 17 runs.
Afridi was later adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his impressive allround performance as he smashed an unbeaten 52 from 33 balls with five fours and a six. after his captain Mohammad Hafeez won the toss
He and Shoaib Malik (27) added 68 runs –Pakistan’s highest fifth wicket partnership against Sri Lanka in this format of cricket.
Hafeez also scored a useful 24 whereas other batsmen could not make any significant contribution.
For Sri Lanka, paceman Nuwan Kulasekara and leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi claimed two wickets each for 13 and 31, respectively.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is not playing today and his deputy Angelo Mathews is leading the side.
Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has also been rested Thus, Chamara Kapudegedara and Isuru Udana replaced them
Pakistan made one change, replacing Umar Gul with Yasir Arafat.
Sri Lanka lead the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first game by 37 runs on Friday.
HAMBANTOTA: Pakistan failed again to make a sufficient score despite Shahid Afridi’s brilliant unbeaten half-century against Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 International here at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Winning the toss, captain Mohammad Hafeez decided to bat first but his batsmen could not succeed to reach a respectable total and were restricted to 122 for six in the allotted 20 overs.
Allrounder Shahid Afridi remained not out on 52, made off 33 balls with the help of five fours and a six.
He and Shoaib Malik (27) added 68 runs –Pakistan’s highest fifth wicket partnership against Sri Lanka in this format of cricket.
Hafeez also scored a useful 24 whereas other batsmen could not make any significant contribution.
For Sri Lanka, paceman Nuwan Kulasekara and leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi claimed two wickets each for 13 and 31, respectively.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is not playing today and his deputy Angelo Mathews is leading the side.
Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has also been rested Thus, Chamara Kapudegedara and Isuru Udana replaced them
Pakistan made one change, replacing Umar Gul with Yasir Arafat.
Sri Lanka lead the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first game by 37 runs on Friday.
Geo Entertainment
LOS ANGELES: "Snow White and the Huntsman" was the fairest of them all at the North American box office over the weekend with a $56.3 million debut, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The film starring Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart of "Twilight" fame, which offers a new twist on the classic fairy tale, knocked the sci-fi comedy sequel "Men in Black 3" off the top of the charts.
The reunion of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as secret agents battling aliens living on Earth, which topped the box office charts last weekend, took second place with $29.3 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.
"Men in Black 3" has total takings of $112.3 million so far.
In third place was comic book superhero blockbuster "The Avengers," pocketing $20.3 million. It has so far taken in $552.7 million in North America.
The film has become the highest-grossing movie in Walt Disney Studios' history with global earnings so far of almost $1.4 billion, the third-highest total of all time.
"The Avengers" maintained its lead over the big-budget but critically panned "Battleship," which dropped to the number four spot in its third weekend with $4.8 million in box office receipts.
In fifth was comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator," at $4.7 million.
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," a comedic drama about British retirees in India, took in $4.6 million for sixth place.
Keeping its seventh place was romantic comedy "What to Expect When You're Expecting," about five interconnected couples sharing the experience of having a baby, with $4.4 million.
Next was Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" reboot starring Johnny Depp, in eighth place with $3.9 million.
Ninth place went to horror flick "Chernobyl Diaries." The tale of a group of tourists taking a disastrous tour of the ghost town of Pripyat in Ukraine, abandoned after the 1980s nuclear disaster, made $3 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was "For Greater Glory," a chronicle of the Cristero War of 1926-29, an uprising against the Mexican government also known as the Cristiada. It took in $1.8 million on its debut weekend.
Final figures were due out on Monday.
MIANWALI: Well-known folk singer Attaullah Esa Khelvi performed at a musical night, organised for the employees of Pakistan Air Force on the occasion of Youm e Taqbeer in Mianwali.
A large number of PAF staff along with their families attended the show.
GEO Health
NEW YORK: Sweet drinks have been linked to a slightly higher risk of developing high blood pressure, but a US study finds that fruit sugar may not be the culprit as found in earlier research.
Researchers followed more than 200,000 men and women for up to 38 years and found that regularly consuming sweetened drinks, either containing sugars or artificially sweetened, was associated with a rise of about 13 percent in the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Carbonated and cola drinks were most strongly linked to a risk for hypertension, but fruit sugar, or fructose, in drinks did not stand out as a driving factor, the group reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
"We don't know what causes the increased risk in artificial-or sugar-sweetened beverages," said Lisa Cohen, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
"It's hard to say that from the fructose itself you're increasing your hypertension risk."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week proposed a ban on large-size sugary sodas, the latest in a string of public health initiatives that include a campaign to cut salt in restaurant meals and packaged foods.
Earlier studies had implicated fructose as a factor related to a risk of high blood pressure, but Cohen noted that those have only taken a snapshot in time and could not determine which came first, the high blood pressure or taste for sweet drinks.
Cohen and her colleagues looked at data from three massive studies, including nearly 224,000 healthcare workers, whose diet and health were tracked for 16 to 38 years. No participants had diagnosed high blood pressure at the start of the study.
Over time, those who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a 13 percent increased risk of developing hypertension relative to those who only had a sweet drink once a month or less.
Similarly, people who drank at least one artificially-sweetened drink a day had a 14 percent increased risk of developing hypertension relative to those who had few or none.
To see if it was the fructose that was responsible, researchers also looked at people who had high levels of fructose in their diets from other sources, such as fruits.
Among people who consumed 15 percent of their calories from fructose sources other than drinks, the risk of developing hypertension was either lower or the same as people who ate very little fructose.
"You would think if fructose were the causative factor, then eating a lot of apples (for example) would also increase your risk of hypertension," Cohen told Reuters Health.
The "markedly" stronger link between carbonated sweet drinks and increased hypertension risk might be explained by the larger serving sizes associated with sodas, or some other unknown ingredient common to all of them, the researchers said - but further research is needed. (Reuters)
PARIS: The meteoric rise of a natural, healthy alternative to sugar - a holy grail for the food industry - might just be a little too good to be true.
In two years stevia, a plant used for centuries by Paraguay' s G uarani Indians, has shot to prominence in products by Coca-Cola, Danone and Merisant.
Encouraged by distrust of artificial sweeteners and demand for natural products, they have turned to extract of stevia, which is up to 300 times sweeter than traditional beet or cane sugar.
The problems are the aftertaste, the cost, and possible hurdles in defining it as natural in some European Union markets.
Initial sales and projections are impressive but the plant's extracts have a strong aftertaste, often compared to liquorice, and are far more expensive than artificial sweeteners including aspartame, saccharin and sucralose.
To ease stevia's taste products like French sugar maker Tereos' Beghin-Say and Coca-Cola's Fanta Still - trialed with stevia - still include sugar in their recipe
Tereos PureCircle said that out of the 604 new products containing extracts of stevia launched worldwide in 2010 - up from 373 in 2009 - 60 percent still contained sugar.
Poor consumer feedback also led dairy giant Danone to work on a new recipe for its stevia yoghurts marketed under its leading low-calorie brand Taillefine in 2010.
"We are trying to find solutions to erase this liquorice taste but it's not easy," Marilise Marcantonio, communication director for Danone Fresh Products, said. "Consumers are looking for natural products - but not at any price."
Some scientists also note that a technique to extract Rebania-A, derived from stevia leaves, through ethanol, rather than water, to obtain purer and sweeter products could mean stevia may not be able to be marketed as "natural" in some EU countries, undermining the current marketing strategy.
"They are advertising stevia as a miracle," marketing consultant Sam Waterfall said. "If consumers begin to feel they are misled, this could be a real disaster."
KEY FRENCH MARKET
France is keenly watched as a testing ground for Europe, having cleared stevia-based products in late 2009. New checks and administrative hurdles delayed its approval at EU level until November 2011.
Stevia has been used for decades in Japan and has spread in the United States since 2008, where sales rose over 60 percent in 2011.
Since early 2010 its extracts have been used in France in low-calorie products ranging from soft drinks to yoghurts, jam and tabletop sweeteners, with some products recording triple-digit rises in sales last year.
"It's a revolution. In two years an ingredient has been able to turn the sweetener market upside down," said Olivier Badinand, marketing director for Europe of Merisant, maker of Canderel, leader in France's tabletop sweeteners market.
Stevia's market share among high-intensive sweeteners is still less than 1 percent but growth rates are impressive. Volumes jumped over 50 percent in France last year, and are expected to more than double in 2012 and quadruple by 2014.
"We are in a market that is really taking off," said Michel Laborde, head of sales and marketing at France's largest sugar maker, growers-owned Tereos, which has stepped into the stevia market through a joint venture with the world's leader PureCircle.
Paris will host on Thursday the World Stevia Organisation's fourth conference, gathering academics, industrials and sellers.
NEW PRODUCTS
Despite taste and cost misgivings, the surge in sales to date, EU clearance and growing demand for low-sugar products correlated with a rise in obesity, has prompted food giants to launch new products.
Coca-Cola's flagship drinks Sprite and Nestea's recipes have been modified to include stevia in a bid to cut the sugar level by up to 30 percent and will soon be available in French stores, Claire Meunier, nutrition manager at Coca-Cola France said.
The world's main producers of compounds from stevia's leaves like Rebaudioside A (Reb A) are Malaysia's PureCircle and U.S. agrigiant Cargill.
Tereos PureCircle Solutions, created in late 2010, sells stevia-based sugar products to food and drink makers in several EU countries including Belgium, Italy and Spain.
Tereos also replaced aspartame with stevia in some of its low-calorie tabletop sugar Beghin-Say Ligne and sales trebled in the year to March, Laborde said, adding that the firm was in the process of launching a stevia powder sugar in France.
"The French market was absolutely key. In light of the success, we had a model to apply, time to look at the results and adapt our strategy to other countries," Merisant's Badinand said. The firm has now deployed stevia in around 20 EU states.
Merisant sells a stevia version of its flagship product Canderel and created a separate brand, PureVia, whose products - powder and cubes - look like sugar but contain none.
PureVia sales grew by 81 percent and Canderel Stevia by 115 percent in the year to end-February to a total of 14.7 million euros and Merisant targets 20 million in 2012, Badinand said. (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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