News

 SYDNEY: Police broke up a Sydney protest camp inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in an early morning raid on Sunday, making dozens of arrests, police and protesters said.

The 'Occupy Sydney' protest against corporate greed and economic inequality in the Martin Place business district had been going on for a week, with a small group sleeping out in the square despite seizure of camping equipment, setting up solar panels to charge mobile phones.

The raid by about 100 officers came two days after police in Melbourne broke up a parallel protest there in violent scenes. New South Wales state police said they had made 40 arrests in Sydney on Sunday. Some protesters were expected to be charged with crimes, including assaulting police.

Protest spokesman who gave his name as Tim Davis Frank said about 70 people were in the area when the raid started around 5a.m. (1800 GMT Saturday), including some homeless people who had joined the demonstrators.

Police said protesters had originally had permission to protest for two hours, which they had exceeded more than a week ago, and had repeatedly ignored requests to leave.

Although inspired by the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement, the protests generally only attracted crowds of up to a few hundred, largely drawn from left-wing groups.

Australia's economy weathered the global economic crisis better than most developed nations, buoyed by its key resources exports, and currently has a low unemployment rate. (Reuters)

 DUBAI: Former chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and first lady, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, died at the age of 82 after protracted illness in Dubai on Sunday.

Begum Nusrat Bhutto was born in Isfahan, Iran on 23 March, 1929. She married to founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1951. After the death of her husband in 1979, she remained the chairperson of the PPP from 1979 to 1983.

She was allowed to leave Pakistan by the military government of Ziaul Haq in 1982 for London after she was diagnosed with cancer.

She was elected Member of National Assembly (MNA) from Larkana in 1988 and 1993.
Nusrat Bhutto had two sons Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Shahnawaz Bhutto and two daughters Benazir Bhutto and Sanam Bhutto.

The body of Begum Nusrat Bhutto will be brought to Sukkur from Dubai on a chartered flight on Sunday night.

She will be buried in Garhi Khuda Buksh in Larkana beside the grave of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The Pakistan People’s Party has announced 40-day mourning on the death of its leader.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani announced 10-day national mourning and public holiday on Monday and cancelled all his engagements.

The Federal Cabinet will also not hold its meeting on Tuesday.

 LAHORE: The killer Dengue fever claimed four more lives including that of two women in Lahore, Geo News reported Saturday.

In Lahore alone the total dengue death toll now has reached 236, whereas 265 deaths have been registered overall in Punjab.

With 242 more confirmed cases the tally of total patients, so far, has jumped to 18,300. On the other hand 199 more cases have surfaced in Lahore to take the figure for the city to 15,609.

At the moment, around 1,385 patients are under treatment in the heart of Punjab.

Doctors told Geo News that guidelines for the treatment of pregnant women suffering form the deadly disease have been devised. The patients coming in with hemorrhage/shock are being taken care at the high-dependency units.

Doctors add that patients returning to hospitals with a relapse or a new infection are the most critical.

 MUMBAI: Bollywood actors Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor enthralled the audience as they promoted their upcoming film 'Ra One' by dancing to the tunes of the movie's popular numbers 'Chammak Challo' and 'Criminal'.

Hundreds of audience gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars at an event in Mumbai.

Khan and Kapoor enticed the audience and distributed the film's merchandise such as tennis caps.

"I think she has been one of the biggest strengths in the film," said Khan.

Khan was all praise for the child actor Armaan Verma who essays the role of his son, Prateek Subramanium in the movie.

The story of Ra One revolves around Khan, who plays the lead protagonist, turning into a superhero in order to fulfill his son's expectations.

The movie takes a turn when Khan's character designs a videogame that has an impact on the lives of the characters, in both negative and positive ways.

Besides Khan and Kapoor, actors Dalip Tahil, Satish Shah and Shahana Goswami also essay key roles in the thrilling movie.

The music of the film is composed by musician duo Vishal-Shekhar.

The action-packed science-fiction film, directed by Anubhav Sinha, is slated for October 26 release. (Reuters)

 ABU DHABI: Kumar Sangakkara hit his eighth double hundred and Prasanna Jayawardene notched up a fighting century to thwart Pakistan's hopes of victory to salvage a draw for Sri Lanka in the first Test here on Saturday.

Sangakkara scored 211 during a marathon near eleven-hour stay while Prasanna made 120, for his fourth century, as Sri Lanka piled on 483 to frustrate Pakistan on the fifth and final day at Abu Dhabi stadium.

A cluster of wickets in the final session with Umar Gul taking 4-64 left Pakistan with an improbable target of making 170 in a maximum 20 overs, but they called it quits on 21-1 after 10 overs.

Sangakkara finally fell in the last over before tea, when he was trapped leg-before by the part-time leg-spinner Azhar Ali for his first wicket in Test cricket but not before he had frustrated Pakistan for almost two sessions.

Sangakkara batted for 651 minutes, faced 431 deliveries and hit 18 boundaries during an epic knock.

With just 25 overs remaining and the match heading towards a draw, Prasanna fell caught behind off paceman Aizaz Cheema but by that time he and Sangakkara had changed the course of the match.

Sangakkara flicked Cheema to fine-leg for his 18th boundary to reach his double hundred after 604-minutes of defiant batting, punching the air in delight.

Together with Prasanna, Sangakkara added 201 for the sixth wicket stand, erasing the previous best of 169 in Pakistan-Sri Lanka Tests for this wicket between Kamran Akmal and Yasir Arafat at Karachi two years ago.

Sangakkara, 33, has also achieved a personal landmark by scoring a double hundred as he is now third behind Sir Donald Bradman (12) and West Indian Brian Lara (nine) in terms of scoring Test double hundreds.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq employed all possible means but the Sangakkara-Prasanna pair did not served up any chances in the first three hours. Prasanna reached his hundred with his 11th boundary, an uppish drive off spinner Saeed Ajmal.

In all Prasanna hit 12 boundaries during his 273-ball knock.

Resuming at 298-5 Sri Lanka survived the morning session unscathed as the overnight pair of Sangakkara and Prasanna kept Pakistan's three-pronged pace attack at bay to take their team to 364-5 at lunch.

Prasanna, dropped by substitute Wahab Riaz off Gul on 11 -- one of six catches Pakistani fielders dropped on Friday -- hit Aizaz Cheema and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for consecutive boundaries to help Sri Lanka erase the deficit.

Sangakkara, whose wicket was crucial for both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, then came into his own hitting Ajmal for an exquisite cover drive to the ropes and gave no chance to bowlers.

Pakistan used all five bowlers but were left to rue the missed chances of Friday which spoiled their chances of taking the lead in the three-Test series.

The second Test starts in Dubai on October 26, while the third will be played in Sharjah from November 3.

 ISLAMABAD: Prices of milk, beef and mutton have risen by 18 percent while cooking oil has also become expensive by 26 percent during the week ended on October 20 compared to the same period last year, Geo News reported on Saturday.

According to figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), during the week ended on October 20, 2011 the Sensitive Price Index reflected an overall increase of 8.24 percent compared to the prices in the corresponding period last year.

Prices of red chili and powdered milk have recorded increase of 60 and 21 percents respectively in the period in question. Rates of Kerosene oil rose by 28 percent, petrol 33 percent while diesel increased by 27 percent.

According to economic experts, the country whose poor segments of society are forced to spend about 70 percent of their income on food, its government seems to be unmoved as no measures to control prices are in sight.

 KABUL: US and coalition forces have completed an operation against militants in eastern Afghanistan.

According to the US Army, Operation Nike IV was launched on October 13, in the mountains of Musa Khel at the border of Khowst and Paktya provinces, adding that it was completed on Oct 18.

The US Army has claimed that the operation has reduced the ability of extremists to launch attacks against Afghan and ISAF forces.

Eleven militants have been apprehended and arms have been seized during the operation, the US Army added.