BAGHDAD: An Al-Qaeda front group Tuesday claimed brazen assaults on Iraqi prisons that freed hundreds of militants including top leaders, killed over 40 people and threatened to erode confidence in the government. The attacks on the prisons in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and Taji, north of the capital, illustrate both the growing reach of militants and the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. Spiralling violence in Iraq has killed more than 620 people so far in July, making it the deadliest month of a year in which over 2,800 have died in unrest, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources. “The mujahideen (holy warriors), after months of preparation and planning, targeted two of the largest prisons of the S...
July 24, 2013 at 2:03 am | News Desk
The triumph of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party could lead to a shift in focus from the economy to foreign policy—and moves to counter China Click here for more information Businessweek.com -- Most Popular
July 23, 2013 at 7:20 am | News Desk
ZURICH: Swiss banking giant UBS said Monday it had settled a lawsuit linked to US subprime housing mortgages which sparked the 2008 global financial crisis. The bank did not specify how much the settlement amounted to, but said it had set aside 865 million Swiss francs ($922 million, 700 million euros) in the second quarter to meet litigation costs including the case. “The full cost of the settlement is covered by litigation provisions established by UBS during the second quarter of 2013 and in prior periods,” Switzerland’s biggest bank said in a statement. UBS and 17 other financial institutions were sued by the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in September 2011 for violating federal securities laws when selling...
July 23, 2013 at 2:05 am | News Desk
LONDON: Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge has given a birth to a baby boy, the future heir to the British throne, at St Mary’s hospital in London. The boy and his mother Kate Middleton are doing well. She will be spending the night in hospital. The former Kate Middleton gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son, on Monday afternoon. The birth was announced via a formal press release issued by Kensington Palace The full statement from Kensington Palace: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm. The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth. The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of bot...
July 23, 2013 at 2:05 am | News Desk
LONDON: Britan Royal Family including Prince William and his wife Duchess of Cambridge Catherine (Kate) Middleton has been gifted by a ‘baby boy’ on Monday, at 4:24pm (London Time). The boy and his mother Kate Middleton are doing well but she will be spending the night in hospital. The former Kate Middleton gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son, weighing 8lb 6oz, at 16:24 BST at St Mary’s Hospital on Monday afternoon. The birth was announced via a formal press release issued by Kensington Palace. Prince William will not, of course, be able to share the joy of his newborn child with his own mother, Diana, princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Prince Charles has issued his first ...
July 23, 2013 at 2:05 am | News Desk
DUBAI: A Norwegian woman sentenced to prison in Dubai after reporting she was raped was set free with a full pardon on Monday after her case sparked an outcry. Marte Dalelv, 24, expressed relief at the end of a four-month ordeal which had seen her prosecuted and convicted for extramarital sex, perjury and consuming alcohol without a licence, after she lodged the complaint against her boss. The convictions could have seen her serving a 16-month jail term in the United Arab Emirates but Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum pardoned her on all counts. The boss, against whom she lodged the complaint and who had been sentenced to 13 months for alcohol consumption and sex outside marriage, was also pardoned, her lawyer Mahmoud Azab...
July 23, 2013 at 2:05 am | News Desk
WASHINGTON, District of Columbia: More than 125 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, and 30 million more girls are at risk in the next decade, UNICEF said Monday. Although genital cutting is on the decline, the practice remains “almost universal” in some countries, said the UN Children Fund’s report that spans 20 years of data across 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The tradition involves removal of some or all of a female’s external genitalia. It can include cutting out the clitoris and sometimes sewing together the labia. Laws are not enough to stop the practice entirely, and more people must speak out in order to eliminate it among certain ethnic groups and com...
July 23, 2013 at 2:05 am | News Desk
ENTREPRENEURSHIP is the modern-day philosopher’s stone: a mysterious something that supposedly holds the secret to boosting growth and creating jobs. The G20 countries hold an annual youth-entrepreneurship summit. More than 130 countries celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. Business schools offer hugely popular courses on how to become an entrepreneur. Business gurus produce (often contradictory) guides to entrepreneurship: David Gumpert wrote both “How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan” and “Burn Your Business Plan!”.But what exactly is entrepreneurship (apart from a longer way of saying “enterprise”)? And how should governments encourage it? The policymakers are as confused as the ...
July 22, 2013 at 10:16 pm | News Desk
DOTCOM mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete. Meanwhile, the MOOCs have multiplied in number, resources and student recruitment—without yet having figured out a business model of their own.Besides providing online courses to their own (generally fee-paying) students...
July 22, 2013 at 10:15 pm | News Desk
“GSK shares the desire of the Chinese authorities to root out corruption.” So declared GlaxoSmithKline, a British drugs giant, this week as it struggled to respond to a scandal in China. Four executives, all Chinese nationals, have been arrested on accusations of, among other things, paying nearly $500m in bribes to doctors and officials to boost sales of the firm’s treatments. Chinese state television broadcast an interview in which one of the arrested executives gave details of the alleged bribery scheme. Another executive, who is British, has been told not to leave China. GSK said it would co-operate with the investigation.Scandals involving the marketing of medicines are not just a Chinese phenomenon. Big Pharma&rsqu...
July 22, 2013 at 10:14 pm | News Desk
Ahead of Apple’s release of next range of products including iPhone 6, iPhone 5S and tablets, the hacking of developer site of Apple was shocking for the tech savvies. Claiming to be leader of tech and mobile devices, Apple was considered to have some of the best Internet security around its empire. But even a Turkish security analyst managed to breach into Apple’s empire and tens of thousands of developers are now in safe hands. Following is an email from the Cupertino firm over the issue Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the ...
July 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm | News Desk
MUMBAI: Ramadan is a holy month where peoples forget their enemies and spread brother hood. MLA Baba Siddique organized an Iftaar party where many Bollywood and political personality was seen in the party. The Iftaar party has seen a miracle when superstars Shahrukh Khan hug his old friend Salman khan which finally ends their five year old rivalry due to the efforts of Baba Siddique and his friends Madhur Bhandarkar, Sohail Khan, Salim Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Boney Kapoor, Parvez Lakdawala and Nadeem Lakdawala who were also seen at the remarkable event and witnessed the “hug”. Parvez Lakdawala said, “I am quite happy that two megastar ends their cold war at holy month of Ramadan. It’s double celebration for Bollywoo...
July 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm | News Desk
GULLANE, United Kingdom: British Open champion Phil Mickelson has his eyes firmly set on joining the elite list of golfing legends who have won all four of the majors. (more…)
July 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm | News Desk
The attack on the young Malala Yusafzai has morphed in to a debate about the future direction of Pakistan. Such debates are healthy for a society which is marred in all sorts of problems and issues and hence any such initiative about discussing ideas and solutions to the problems felt by the society should be encouraged. But before we enter in to debates and discussions about ideas we need to agree to some fundamental rules about debates. Ideas need to be stated clearly and explicitly. You cannot deceive someone in to accepting ideas. Secondly the debate needs to be real. Being real means a few things. It means that both sides should be heard and given a fair chance at explaining themselves. This is important because if an idea has taken ...
July 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm | News Desk
LONDON: Manchester United manager David Moyes on Monday revealed he has stepped up his pursuit of Cesc Fabregas after making a second bid for the Barcelona midfielder. (more…)
July 22, 2013 at 6:31 pm | News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has called consultative session on July 23 for finalising name for the presidential candidate. PPP has decided to called special consultative session for resolving matters over naming Raza Rabbani as candidate in presidential election. Prominent leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim will chair the session while top leadership and current PPP parliamentarians, sources said. Raza Rabbani’s nomination papers for upcoming election will be submitted on July 24 after collecting recommendations and suggestions from the session. It is pertinent to note, senior leader of the political party Aitzaz Ahsan outraged over PPP leadership on always selecting him and Raza Rabbani in specific situations whenever t...
July 21, 2013 at 6:24 pm | News Desk
Saint Lucia: Pakistan on Sunday won the toss and invite West Indies to bat first in the fourth One Day International (ODI) played at Beausejour Cricket Ground. The five ODI matches series is still level with 1-1. Now both teams are aiming to get lead in the series. West Indies replace Kieron Pollard with Devon Smith while Pakistan haven’t made any change in the team. This match will be house full, according to organizers. Fans are hope full to see tough competition between the two grate cricket nations. Pakistan have played 5 matches at this vanue and won 4 of them and one match drawn. West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles (wk), Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo (capt), Devon Smith, Darren Sammy, Ke...
July 21, 2013 at 6:24 pm | News Desk
LOS ANGELES: Superman and Batman are to team up in a new film, its director and the studio behind this year’s blockbuster “Man of Steel” announced on Saturday. The new movie was announced by director Zack Snyder, widely praised for rebooting the Superman franchise last month, with Briton Henry Cavil proving his mettle in the title role. Batman has yet to be cast, after Christian Bale said he had hung up his cape after the third and final “Dark Knight” movie last year. The superhero double-act could be seen as an attempt by studio giant Warner Bros to emulate the record-breaking success of last year’s “Avengers” mega-hit, featuring Marvel characters. “I’m so excited to begin wor...
July 21, 2013 at 6:24 pm | News Desk
London: England on Sunday lead by 582 runs after declaring its 2nd inning at the total of 349 on loss of 6 wickets against Australia in the second test of The Ashes played at Lord’s. England starts its second Innings having lead of 233 runs. England loss three wickets early but Joe Root and Tim Bresnan came with a rescue. Bresnan after making 38 become the victim of James Pattinson at the total of 129 runs. Joe Root continue his inning along with Ian Bell who made 74 runs while opener complete his century to lead England to 333 for 5 at stumps Day 3. In the first hour of play England loss another wicket in shape of Jonny Bairstow while Joe Root after making 180 become the victim of Ryan Harris at the total of 349 runs. Englan...
July 21, 2013 at 6:24 pm | News Desk
BRUSSELS: Albert II abdicated Sunday after 20 years as ‘King of the Belgians’ in favour of his son Philippe, who becomes the seventh monarch of a country deeply divided between its French- and Flemish-speaking halves. (more…)
July 21, 2013 at 6:23 pm | News Desk