Geo News 12th June 2012 - Latest Geo updates 12th June 2012 Live
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Geo News Pakistan
KARACHI: The real estate tycoon and central character of Familygate, Malik Riaz's plane has departed for Islamabad from Karachi after getting a fuel refill, Geo News reported Monday.
Earlier, Malik Riaz arrived in Karachi from Dubai in his private plane called Bahria Town-1, following Supreme Court's orders to record his statement in Dr Arsalan Iftikhar's suo motto case.
Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Malik Riaz, speaking in Geo News programme 'Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath' said that his client will appear before the Supreme Court on Tuesday with 'explosive evidence'.
He said Malik Raiz is in possession of very important documents and other evidence which he would present before the court tomorrow.
Bukhari said his client was under medical treatment in London where doctors had advised him not to travel but the business baron decided to return so that he could record his statement before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a suo motto case regarding allegations of shady deals between Dr Arsalan Iftikhar case, son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and Malik Riaz.
Earlier today, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar told the Supreme Court that his and Malik Riaz’s name should be placed on the Exit Control List and they should be sent to prison. However, the apex court warned that he should desist from using such expression.
KARACHI: Malik Riaz, the real estate tycoon and central character of Familygate arrived in Islamabad today to record his statement before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Geo News reported Monday.
Talking to media persons at Islamabad airport, Malik Raiz only said: "I would Inshahllah record my statement before the Supreme Court tomorrow".
He refused to answer the queries of the reporters, saying the court had directed him not to speak to media.
Earlier, Malik Riaz arrived here from Dubai via Karachi in his private plane called Bahria Town-1, following Supreme Court's orders to record his statement in Dr Arsalan Iftikhar's suo motto case.
Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Malik Riaz, speaking in Geo News programme 'Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath' said that his client will appear before the Supreme Court on Tuesday with 'explosive evidence'.
He said Malik Raiz is in possession of important documents and other evidence which he would present before the apex court tomorrow.
Bukhari said his client was under medical treatment in London where doctors had advised him not to travel but the business baron decided to return so that he could record his statement before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a suo motto case regarding allegations of shady deals between Dr Arsalan Iftikhar case, son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and Malik Riaz.
Earlier today, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar told the Supreme Court that his and Malik Riaz’s name should be placed on the Exit Control List and they should be sent to prison. However, the apex court warned that he should desist from using such expression.
Geo World
TAIPEI: At least four people died and one was injured when mudslides triggered by torrential rains hit two areas in central Taiwan, rescue officials said Tuesday.
Schools were suspended in several large cities, as Taiwan faced the most serious flooding since Typhoon Morakot lashed the island in 2009, triggering massive mudslides that killed more than 600 people.
Two were killed and one was wounded when a makeshift shelter in a mountainous area of Nantou county was buried by mudslides, said the national fire agency, adding downpours also damaged roads and disrupted electricity.
Two men who worked for the forestry bureau in Taichung city were rushed to a clinic Monday with severe injuries caused when a mudslide crushed their office, but despite efforts to save them they died later in the day, the agency said.
In northern Taoyuan county, 20,000 chickens were drowned when a farm was submerged by a flash flood, officials said.
Massive flooding was reported across the island since late Monday, with more than 700 millimetres of rain (27 inches) in some areas while Taiwan's central weather bureau warned of more heavy rains this week.
As of mid-morning Tuesday, Taipei and three other large cities had suspended classes and work in government offices.
SEOUL: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was named Tuesday as the winner of this year's Seoul Peace Prize, the prize foundation said.
Ban was chosen for promoting the rights of women and children, efforts to eliminate poverty in developing nations, and contributing to the democratisation of Middle Eastern countries, the foundation said.
He is the first South Korean to receive the biennial award, which was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 1988 Seoul summer Olympics. Ban, who was elected to a second five-year term as UN chief in 2011, is the 11th recipient of the award, which recognises people who devote themselves to transcending race and ideology to build world peace.
Previous winners include the then-International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the then-UN secretary general Kofi Annan and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. The winner receives a diploma, plaque and a $200,000 payment.
GEO Business
KARACHI: The rupee continues to lose ground against the US dollar which was trading at Rs96 in the open market on Monday. During the current fiscal year the dollar has increased by 10 rupees.
According to currency dealers, the rising rate of the dollar has increased its demand. The inter-bank buying rate of the dollar is Rs94.20 while the selling rate is Rs94.34
Experts say the devaluation of the rupee is increasing the prices of imported items and the amount owed on foreign loans has increased.
KARACHI: The annual budget of Sindh for the fiscal 2012-13 will be presented today, Geo News reorted.
Sindh Minister for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah would present the budget, at four p.m. in the Sindh Assembly.
He will also address a post-budget press conference on June 12 at 11 a.m.
GEO Sports
BIRMINGHAM: Tino Best's dramatic 95, the highest-ever Test score by a No 11 batsman, saw West Indies stun England in their series finale at Edgbaston here on Sunday.
West Indies were 426 all out at lunch on the fourth day after fast bowler Best, playing his first Test in nearly three years, helped see Denesh Ramdin, who finished on 107 not out, to a century with the wicket-keeper only on 63 when the last man came to crease.
Best's innings surpassed India paceman Zaheer Khan's 75 against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2004 as the highest Test score by a No 11.
And his partnership of 143 with Ramdin was a West Indies' record for the 10th wicket in Tests, overtaking the 106 shared by Carl Hooper and Courtney Walsh against Pakistan at St John's in 1993.
It meant England would now need 277 to avoid the follow-on.
England, who'd controversially rested new-ball duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad, having already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in this three-match series, saw their attack treated with disdain by Best, whose shots were worthy of a top-order batsman.
West Indies resumed on 280 for eight after losing the toss.
Ramdin was 60 not out after Marlon Samuels, following up his hundred in England's nine-wicket second Test win at Trent Bridge, had made 76.
England needed just three balls Sunday to take West Indies' ninth wicket when Steven Finn, brought in alongside fellow paceman Graham Onions in the absence of Anderson and Broad, had Ravi Rampaul caught behind.
But Best promptly off-drove Finn for four and then held the pose just to ram home to his opponents how good a shot it had been.
And Onions, who'd taken three wickets Saturday, also came in for the Best treatment when a half-volley was driven wide of mid-off for four.
When the 30-year-old Best steered Onions through the slips for four, he surpassed his previous highest Test score of 27, made against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2005, with this just his 15th match at this level.
Ramdin was almost out when, on 69, he cut hard at Finn and Kevin Pietersen failed to hold a sharp, head-high, chance at gully.
England captain Andrew Strauss brought on off-spinner Graeme Swann in a bid to break the stand.
But when Swann dropped short with successive balls, Best twice expertly cut him for four.
There was no stopping Best, who greeted seamer Tim Bresnan's third ball Sunday by lofting him over mid-on for four to go to 49.
A single off Bresnan saw Best -- only called up to this tour as a replacement for injured fast bowler Shannon Gabriel -- to fifty in 44 balls.
Ramdin's single off Bresnan, after which he nearly hit the bowler's head as he waved his bat in celebration, saw the keeper to a hundred in 160 balls with nine boundaries.
Ramdin produced a piece of paper from his pocket with the words "Yea Viv, talk nah" written on it, after West Indies great Vivian Richards had criticised him for failing to deliver on his promise after the second Test.
It was Ramdin's second hundred in 45 Tests following his 166 against England at Bridgetown three years ago.
And when Best uppercut Bresnan over the slips for yet another boundary he surpassed Zaheer's record and, soon afterwards, Best drove Bresnan for a stunning straight six.
Lunch was delayed by 30 minutes, technically to allow England extra time to take the last wicket, although it also gave Best a chance to complete a hundred.
But he fell just short, skying Onions to Strauss at first slip, having faced just 112 balls with a six and 14 fours. (AFP)
(AFP)
second one-day international here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts, who scored a challenging 280-4, bowled Pakistan out for 204 in the day-night match despite an impressive 96 by opener Azhar Ali to level the five-match series 1-1
Opener Dilshan top-scored with an unbeaten 119 for his 13th one-day hundred, hitting one six and 11 fours in his brilliant 139-ball knock to help his team set a stiff target.
Azhar, playing only his sixth one-dayer, looked set to complete his maiden one-day hundred before he was bowled by paceman Nuwan Kulasekara. He cracked 12 fours in his 119-ball knock.
Man-of-the-match Perera got his first wicket when he held a superb one-handed return catch to dismiss Mohammad Hafeez (14) before removing Younis Khan (four) and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (27) to reduce Pakistan to 127-3.
He took three more wickets to complete his third haul of five or more wickets in an innings.
Sri Lanka earlier rejigged their batting order after losing the opening one-dayer by six wickets on Thursday, with Upul Tharanga returning as an opener and skipper Mahela Jayawardene coming in at number five.
The hosts batted steadily after winning the toss as Dilshan added 70 runs for the third wicket with Dinesh Chandimal (32) and 86 for the next with Jayawardene (53), who opened in the last game.
Dilshan reached his century in the 43rd over when he pulled paceman Umar Gul for a single and then hit fast bowler Sohail Tanvir over mid-wicket for the first six of the match.
Sri Lanka scored 56 runs in the last six overs, with Perera smashing two sixes and as many fours in his unbeaten 24 off just 14 balls.
Jayawardene was bowled by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal soon after completing his half-century, hitting eight fours in his brisk 45-ball knock.
Off-spinner Hafeez, Tanvir and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi were the other wicket-takers for Pakistan.
Tanvir struck in his fourth over when he had Tharanga (18) caught behind and then Hafeez held a return catch to remove Kumar Sangakkara (18) with his first delivery.
But there was no stopping Dilshan, who continued to gather runs comfortably and completed his half-century with a four off Afridi.
Pakistan made one change from the team which won the first match as they brought in debutant paceman Rahat Ali in place of injured Mohammad Sami, while Sri Lanka retained the side.
The third one-dayer will be played in Colombo on Wednesday. (AFP)
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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