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AFP

  • Pakistan probes ‘$100 ID cards for militants’ scam

    The country’s main spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) uncovered the alleged corrupt practices at the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) during ongoing anti-terrorism operations, according to official documents.

    “It has been found that many NADRA officials are involved in facilitating miscreants and terrorists in obtaining fake identity,” said ISI correspondence seen by AFP.

    Adnan El Shukrijumah, a senior Al-Qaeda leader wanted by the US over a 2009 plot to attack the New York subway system, was among those who obtained a Pakistani ID card by bribing officials, the documents said.

    Shukrijumah, who was born in Saudi Arabia and spent some years in the United States, was killed in December 2014 during a Pakistan army operation in South Waziristan tribal area close to Afghanistan.

    He was described by the FBI as “one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda’s external operations program” and had a $5 million bounty for information leading to his arrest.

    ‘50,000 fake ID cards’

    The ISI investigation also found that three Uzbek nationals who were arrested in Qatar for robbing a bank also carried Pakistani identity papers.

    Several dozen Chinese nationals and Maldivians were also issued Pakistani ID cards, with NADRA officials taking bribes of 10,000 to 20,000 rupees ($100-200) in return.

    The intelligence probe has named about 40 NADRA officials involved in issuing the fake paperwork in Karachi, including a retired army brigadier and a retired colonel.

    Sources said that NADRA offices in other cities had also issued ID cards corruptly, including Lahore, in the east, and Dera Ismail Khan, which is close to the tribal areas on the Afghan border and has long had a reputation as a staging post for militants.

    Foreign militants flocked to Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas in the wake of the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan to take part in the “jihad” against American forces across the border.

    Corruption is rampant in Pakistan, with backhanders regularly paid to officials of all ranks to grease the wheels of bureaucracy.

    But the computerised ID system introduced several years ago was supposed to be a key plank in the fight against terrorism and make it easier to catch foreign fighters, so the cards for cash scam represents a major security breach.

    In its own investigation into the racket, the Federal Investigation Agency found more than 50,000 national identity cards had been issued to illegal immigrants, most of them Afghans.

    Last year Pakistan launched a major crackdown on militants after suffering more than a decade of bomb and gun attacks by homegrown Islamist extremists.

    A military offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts in the northwest has been accompanied by what the authorities have called “intelligence-led” operations in cities around the country.

  • ICC lifts sanctions against Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif

    The duo along with paceman Mohammad Amir was banned in 2011 over a spot-fixing case which shook the cricket world when it was revealed by the now defunct British tabloid News of the World in August 2010.

    The trio along with their agent Mazhar Majeed arranged deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England in 2010 in return for money in a deal with an undercover reporter of the tabloid.

    The ICC said both Butt and Asif have completed their rehabilitation.

    “Both are eligible to play in domestic and international levels, on 2 September 2015 after fulfilling the specific conditions laid down by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal,” the ICC said in a press release.

    Amir’s five-year ban was relaxed in January this year after the ICC amended its anti-corruption code, which allowed him to play domestic cricket in Pakistan six months before his ban expired.

    Butt received a five-year suspended suspension and Asif two.

  • Turkey’s PM formally gives up on coalition; polls loom

    In line with procedure, Davutoglu was to return to Erdogan the mandate he received from the president on July 9 to begin coalition talks with opposition parties, the official Anatolia news agency said.

    Their closed-door meeting began at 1700 GMT at Erdogan’s presidential palace in Ankara, NTV television said. With all possibilities exhausted before a August 23 deadline to form the new government, Turkey is now facing snap new polls and entering uncharted political territory.

    In a major setback for Erdogan, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in the June 7 legislative polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

    Davutoglu held coalition talks with the second-placed Republican People’s Party (CHP) and third-placed Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) but failed to broker a deal with either.

    According to the constitution, the AKP will be able to continue as a minority government until elections if a majority in parliament votes in favour of holding the early polls.

    If however Erdogan uses his right to call the polls himself, a so-called “election government” will be formed until the polls, consisting of members from all four parties represented in parliament.

    “Now all paths lead to the ballot box,” pro-AKP columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in the Yeni Safak daily.

    It will be the first time in Turkey’s political history that the largest party has failed to form a coalition and repeat elections need to be held. The AKP prides itself on providing Turkey with almost 13 years of stable one-party rule that have been a marked contrast to the chaotic coalitions and coups that marked political life before.

    ‘Ignoring the outcome’ This would mean that the polls could be held in the wake of Turkey hosting the G20 leaders’ summit in Antalya from November 15-16.

    Confusing matters further, the election commission ruled Tuesday that this period should be shortened if necessary, meaning polls could be held as early as October.

  • Disputed Benteke goal helps Liverpool beat Bournemouth

    The teams’ first ever league meeting was settled by £32.5 million ($50.8 million, 45.8 million euros) striker Benteke’s 26th-minute strike in front of the Kop, but Bournemouth felt that in attempting to play the ball before it reached his team-mate, Philippe Coutinho had been offside.

    Having previously won 1-0 at Stoke City in their opening game, Brendan Rodgers’s Liverpool moved level on points with Manchester City, Leicester City and Manchester United at the top of the two-game table.

    “Thankfully the goal counted and we’re happy to get the win,” said Rodgers.

    “I’m pleased we’ve got two wins, six points and two clean sheets. The defensive organisation has been good. There’s a lot of players coming into the club and it’ll take them a wee bit of time to bed in.”

    As well as Benteke, who later hit the crossbar, Rodgers also gave home debuts to Nathaniel Clyne, James Milner, Joe Gomez and substitute Roberto Firmino, but lost new captain Jordan Henderson to a foot injury early in the second half.

    Bournemouth have lost both of their first games, but manager Eddie Howe will have been heartened by the pluck and enterprise shown by his side, who also had a goal by captain Tommy Elphick disallowed.

    “It is hugely frustrating for us,” Howe told Sky Sports. “We were in the game and the big decisions have gone against us.

    “The new offside rule is a grey area. Under the new rules, that is clearly offside. Our goalkeeper was affected by the player in front of him.”

    The last time Bournemouth had played at Anfield, in an FA Cup replay in January 1968, it was under the banner of Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, but they were quick to make themselves at home.

    It was the away fans who made all the noise in the early stages and in the fifth minute they thought they had a first ever top-flight goal to celebrate, only for Elphick’s header to be ruled out after he was adjudged to have used Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren for leverage.

  • Anwar Ali, from child labourer to Pakistan’s latest star

    Ali smashed a 17-ball 46 with four towering sixes and three fours to help Pakistan clinch a last-gasp over win in the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in their recently concluded tour, prompting fans to hail him as the second coming of talismanic all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

    “I am thankful to Almighty who helped me reach this point,” Ali, 27, told AFP. “My life was once very tough as I used to work in a sock-making factory but I clung to the dream of playing for Pakistan.”

    Ali migrated as a child from the small village of Zaka Khel in the militancy-wracked Swat Valley that is also home to Nobel peace prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai.

    His family was amongst those who left after Islamist extremists began a campaign to rule the valley under their harsh interpretation of Sharia law.

    The family made their base in a rundown industrial area of Karachi, where Ali, who lost his father when he was still young, began working as a child labourer for a meagre 150 rupees ($1.50 in current terms) per day.

    “Those were very tough days, we came to Karachi in search of peace and safety and as one of the boys of the family I was required to earn and not play,” said the broad-built Ali.

    While on the way to the factory, Ali would watch boys play in the street, spurring his dreams of one day making it to the national stage.

    “I requested my boss to put me in the night shift so that I could play cricket in the day and he very kindly obliged,” recalled Ali.

    Ali got his lucky break when he was spotted by local coach Azam Khan, who he now calls his mentor and guide.

    “I found him enormously talented and asked him to come for the trials,” recalled Khan. “Initially he excused himself because he would have lost his daily wages in case the trials ran later than scheduled. So, I promised to pay him the 150 rupees if he comes.

    “The next day he came and he conquered the trials and everyone was amazed at his bowling,” said Khan. “But… I couldn’t keep paying him. Luckily Ali got a job in the Karachi Electric team and from there he never looked back.”

    Ali said: “My late father was against my playing cricket but his opinion changed once I made my mark and started earning from it.”

    Promising start 

    Ali was later picked for the Pakistan Under-19 team which won the Junior World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006.

    It was his banana-swing bowling which turned the tables on arch-rivals India in the final at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.

    Defending a paltry target 109, Ali made the ball turn corners as he finished with figures 5-35, shooting India out for 71.

    His victims included Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindar Jadeja — all of whom have made their mark for India in international cricket.

    Two years later Ali made an inauspicious international senior debut, in a Twenty20 match against Zimbabwe in Canada. Figures of 0-19 in two overs meant he was instantly discarded from the team which had Abdul Razzaq as its main all-rounder.

    Cast into the wilderness for the next five years, he made it his goal to lift his family from poverty and build them a modest house.

    He set about playing in England’s Lancashire league and all but gave up on his international goals. But finally, his hard work paid off.

    “I worked on my bowling, on my batting and, above all, my fielding and that brought me back in the Pakistan team in 2013,” he said.

    Ali and Bilawal Bhatti, another promising all-rounder, made their one-day debuts memorable by helping Pakistan record a history-making series win in South Africa in November 2013.

    But it was the recent tour of Sri Lanka that established Ali’s place in the Pakistan team after years of inconsistency saw his bowling average balloon to 58.

    “It would not be wrong to say that Ali has finally come of age on this Sri Lanka tour,” said coach Waqar Younis. “His fielding is extraordinary and he has improved as batsman as well as bowler. If he keeps working hard he will be our main all-rounder.”

    For his part, Ali hopes that he can continue to knock the socks off every opponent.

  • Pakistani, Indian arrested over Italy pizza slaying

    ROME: A Pakistani and an Indian have confessed to killing the elderly owners of a Brescia pizzeria in a mafia-style slaying that shocked Italy and threatens to inflame racial tensions in the northern city.

    Prosecutors said Pakistani national Mohammad Adnan and Indian Sarbjit Singh had admitted to carrying out the August 11 attack in which Francesco Seramondi, 65 and his wife Giovanna Ferrari, 63, were shot repeatedly with sawn-off shotguns inside their takeaway.

    The execution and the killers’ getaway on a moped was captured on CCTV and police said Singh’s fingerprints had been found at the scene.

    Adnan is the owner of a failed similar pizza and snacks outlet he bought from Seramondi. Hours after the attack the 32-year-old appeared on television complaining that the neighbourhood had become “disgusting” and that the police had been sleeping.

    According to prosecutors, Adnan has claimed he organized the murder with the help of his friend Singh, 33, in frustration and anger over being unable to compete with the slain couple’s popular business.

    But investigators are sceptical about whether the case is actually that straightforward in a city known for the involvement of organised crime in extortion rackets and the drugs trade.

    “Now the difficult phase of the investigation begins, in which we will try to establish if the suspects simply adopted the methods of organised crime of if there is more to it,” Brescia prosecutor Pierluigi Maria Dell’Osso told a press conference.

    The case threatens to affect already-delicate community relations in Brescia, where immigrants from South Asia and North Africa account for more than a sixth of the population, high by Italian standards.

    An angry mob gathered to greet Adnan and Singh on their arrival at the city’s police headquarters for questioning and the case was seized upon by Matteo Salvini, the populist leader of the anti-immigration Northern League who has emerged as the most prominent figure on the right of Italian politics.

    The son of the slain couple, Marco Seramondi, appealed for calm, writing on his Facebook page: “We want justice to be done, not a vendetta.”

  • Murray wins Montreal Masters as coach Mauresmo gives birth

    The Scotsman, who moves to second in the ATP rankings on Monday, revealed the news from his French mentor, the only woman to coach a major men’s player.

    Murray dedicated the win to Mauresmo, and said he and his team saw a picture of mother and child.

    “I would imagine she’s quite tired. Probably me and my tennis are the last thing on her mind just now, which is totally understandable. But, glad she’s OK and everything went well,” Murray said.

    With assistant Jonas Bjorkman watching from the player box, Murray turned in a fighting performance over three hours to finally beat Djokovic for the first time in more than two years, the first time since he won the 2013 Wimbledon final over the Serbian.

    “To win this one was nice, especially the way the match went as well,” Murray said. “It would have been easy for me to let that one slip away but I fought well and stayed calm in the important moments of the third set.”

    Murray and the world number one took an hour per set to settle their score in Quebec as Murray completed a Canadian title hat-trick after trophies in 2009 and 2010.

    “You never like losing, but any streak comes to an end,” said Djokovic, who said he received treatment this week on a right elbow niggle which has been bothering him recently.

    “I just did some tests. They were good. They were positive. I hope for the best.”

    Murray now owns 11 Masters 1000 titles and 35 over all. He denied Djokovic the chance at a 25th Masters trophy.

    “I lost to a better player today. I lost to Andy, who I know very well. I did fight till the last point and did try my best. That’s something that I take as a positive from this week,” Djokovic said.

    “Andy deserved the win. He stepped in, played some great shots. Most of all the moments when he needed to, he served very, very well. He just came up always with big serves, so I couldn’t do much.”

    Murray won his fourth title of 2015 and lifted his record on the season to 53-8.

    “Novak made it extremely difficult out there,” said Murray, who needed five match points to win as the Djokovic defence came to life.

    Djokovic said he hopes to carry his form into Cincinnati next week and the US Open, which starts on August 31 in New York.

    “When I reflect on the week, of course it’s positive,” Djokovic said. “I’m playing better as the tournament progressed, and hopefully I can continue in the same style in Cincinnati.”

  • Four killed in string of gorings at Spanish bull runs

    The young man, who was wounded on Sunday during a bull festival in a village near the northern city of Pamplona, died as he was being taken to hospital, an official from the regional Navarra government told AFP.

    He brings to four the number of people killed since Friday during traditional bull festivals, which see crowds of people run ahead of herds of bulls in towns and villages across the country.

    In total, at least seven people have lost their lives atbull festivals since the beginning of July, including at least one who was gored in the neck earlier this month while filming the run on his mobile phone.

    A number of people were also injured during the annual running of the bulls at Pamplona’s famed festival in July. –

  • Toy Story turns love story as Disney unveils new movies

    John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, introduced clips from several of the new films at Disney’s D23 Expo in California, in front of an audience of nearly 8,000 people.

    The new Jack and the Beanstalk film, “Gigantic,” is set for release in 2018 and will feature music from songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who penned the hit “Let it Go” from the movie “Frozen.”

    “We’re taking parts of the story we all remember and adding twists and turns, emotion and humor,” director Nathan Greno said.

    The film follows the adventures of Jack and Inma, a 60-foot-tall, 11-year-old girl.

    Lasseter also announced “Coco,” inspired by Mexico’s Day of the Dead. He said the story follows Miguel, a fearless 12-year-old boy.

    The fourth film in the “Toy Story” series this time will focus on a love story between the characters Woody and Bo Peep.

    “It’s the 20th anniversary of the original ‘Toy Story,’” Lasseter said. “I’m sorry to make you feel old.”

    Disney delighted fans at the convention center with clips from the new film “Zootopia,” which comes out in February and features the singer Shakira voicing one of the film’s characters, a gazelle pop star.

    Shakira made the announcement in a taped message.

    Dwayne Johnson, the actor and former wrestler also known as The Rock, will voice mighty demi-god Maui in Disney’s “Moana,” which tells the story of a young Polynesian princess who embarks on a daring journey to prove to the world that she is a great explorer.

    Along the way, she befriends Maui, a half-man, half-god played by Johnson. The film is set for release in November 2016.

    The audience seemed to approve of a clip played on Friday, which showed a baby Moana playing in the crystal waters of her island.

    “I’m half Samoan, half black, so to tell a story inspired by the South Pacific is a great honor,” said Johnson, whose mother comes from the Samoan Islands.

    The audience at the D23 Expo, which runs through Sunday, also caught an early glimpse of Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur,” which follows Arlo, an Apatosaurus, and Spot, his unlikely human friend.

    Disney also unveiled “Riley’s First Date?” — a short film about the first date of the star of this year’s critically acclaimed “Inside Out.”

  • Hundreds of flights delayed, canceled in US over air traffic glitch

    Flights at Washington’s Dulles International Airport, Reagan National Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) were among those affected, as well as those at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.

    Tracking service FlightAware reported that at one point, more than 400 flights had been delayed or canceled across those airports.

    Some flights at BWI were pushed back more than three hours, while a number of travelers at Dulles were told to expect delays of more than an hour.

    “An FAA automation system that experienced problems earlier today is back in service,” the Federal Aviation Administration said, announcing that operations were returning to normal.

    “FAA is continuing root cause analysis to determine what caused the problem & is working closely w/airlines to minimize impacts to travelers.”

    It identified the glitch at an air traffic control center in Leesburg, Virginia, just south of the US capital Washington.

    The FAA had earlier directed high altitude traffic around the affected airspace.

    The affected airports are among the country’s busiest.

    The delays had nothing to do with accidents or hacking, an aviation official said.