web analytics

ARY NEWS

Reuters

  • India, Pakistan to join China, Russia in security group

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, meeting in the Russian city of Ufa a day after the BRICS emerging economies held a summit there, said the invitation to the two Asian nations showed a “multi-polar” world was now emerging.

    Those words will have pleased Putin, who says the United States has an outdated vision of a “uni-polar” world dominated by Washington and wants to show Russia has not been weakened by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis.

    “The evolution of the SCO is taking place at a complicated stage in the development of international relations and amidst the emergence of a multi-polar world,” the group said in a declaration after the meeting.

    “These processes are accompanied by increasing security challenges and threats, increasing uncertainty and instability in various regions of the world.”

    The SCO, which also includes the Central Asian former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, is widely seen as a platform for Moscow and Beijing to project influence in the region.

    Until now it has not been a big force and relations between China and Russia have not developed as quickly as Moscow would like, despite agreement on a major gas supply deal last year.

    But Putin saw the signs of unity in the SCO and the BRICS – Brazil, India, South Africa, China and Russia – which agreed to coordinate efforts to keep their economies stable, launched a development bank and agreed on a currency pool.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the expansion of the SCO should serve a “springboard” for the organisation to become one of the most dynamic in the world.

    “The time has come to reach out across the region,” Modi said. “We have everything we need to succeed.”

    Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said: “President Putin’s efforts will enhance the political and economic scope of the Eurasian belt.”

    ENERGY PRODUCERS

    The addition of Pakistan and India, two nuclear-armed neighbours who have years of tensions between them, could also lead to easing the conflicts between New Delhi and Islamabad.

    The two leaders agreed in a separate meeting in Ufa that Modi would visit Pakistan next year.

    Joining a group that includes energy producers such as Kazakhstan and Russia may have been a strong incentive for the two countries to join.

    “India is particularly interested because it lacks direct access to Central Asia, and it sees SCO membership as a way to get a better foothold on the region. SCO membership could better position India to benefit from Central Asia’s gas riches,” said Michael Kugelman, senior programme associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Wilson Centre in Washington.

    But he added: “In (the) SCO, India and Pakistan wouldn’t be dominant powers – China and Russia would retain that title.”

    The SCO did not invite Iran to join, although it has long sought membership. The group says Iran can join only after reaching a deal with big powers on its nuclear programme.

    With the addition of Iran, the group would control around a fifth of the world’s oil and represent nearly a half of the global population. The BRICS account for a fifth of the world’s economic output and 40 percent of its population.

  • Thousands celebrate Greece's 'No' vote despite uncertainty ahead

    Officials counting the votes that were casted in the referendum

    But on Sunday night, thousands rejoiced at the outcome of a referendum that they said slapped down the architects of a five-year austerity drive that has ravaged the economy of this southern European nation.

    In a result that was more definitive than polls had predicted, 61 percent of voters rejected creditors’ demands for Greek tax hikes and pension cuts.

    At Syntagma square in central Athens, several thousand people waved “No” banners and chanted, “they will never win,” as the results of the referendum trickled in. Families wrapped themselves in the Greek flag and danced to traditional tunes, while others set off fireworks above the square’s blue-tinted fountain.

    “The ‘No’ message is that we’re not scared after all the pressure that have we have faced from both Europe and inside our country,” said Stathis Efthimiadis, a 47-year-old schoolteacher.

    Like other “No” voters, Efthimiadis said he did not believe warnings by European and some Greek officials over the past week that a “No” vote would set off a cascade of events that would usher Greece out of the euro.

    Instead, he and others said they looked forward to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras returning to the negotiating table and extracting less grueling conditions for Greece in exchange for a new bailout package.

    “Next week, the Greek government has the opportunity with this ‘No’, to expect from the Bruxelles’ technocrats a negotiation based on the values of democracy and equal rights in European Union,” echoed Konstantinos Petras, a 65-year-old retired mechanic.

    Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsiparis casts his vote in the referendum

    Tsipras, who sprang the referendum on his country on June 26th after talks with creditors broke down, urged Greeks all week to vote no. In an address on Sunday night, he said that by heeding his advice, Greeks had now given him a strong mandate to reach a “viable solution” with European partners.

    A woman casts her vote in the referendum

    But European officials have said it would be difficult to sit down with Tsipras after a ‘No’ vote that they would interpret as a hostile act.

    In the interim, Greeks are suffering through capital controls – restrictions on their financial lives imposed by the government to prevent a breakdown of the banking system.

    Banks are expected to stay closed at least until Tuesday. Greeks also cannot take out more than 60 euros ($66) from cash machines and will not be able to withdraw cash from safety deposit boxes. Pensioners, meanwhile, face the uncertainty of whether they can cash in their retirement benefits.

    Michalis Tsatsakis, a 35-year-old bank employee who was celebrating in Syntagma, said he has faced difficult moments over the past week, telling many clients that they cannot access the money in their deposits. Tsatsakis also said that if banks stayed closed for days to come, he expected cash machines to run out of money soon.

    Still, he said Greeks would be resilient in the face of the financial squeeze.

    “I believe there will be some problems in the banking sector, but we should be able to handle them,” he said. ‘I want Mr. Tsipras to insist. He should be firm. We trust him.”

    Petras, the pensioner, whose retirement benefits have been cut over the past few years, said that he thought the banks would be operating again soon. “We can use a card anyway and buy whatever we want, we don’t need cash. And I don’t think that banks will block cards,” he said. “I hope not.”

    Sunday’s vote would have been a difficult choice for any country. In Greece, people headed into the vote tired and angry after five years of cuts to wages, pensions and public services – a toxic combination of austerity that has reduced household incomes by a third and left one out of four out of a job.

    Yet on Sunday evening, many said that the country had united around the referendum, in which 62 percent of the voting population had cast a ballot.

    “‘No’ means we can all agree, and this verdict unites us around something,” said Odysseas Konstantinou, a 25-year-old actor. “Big changes need big sacrifices. Now we need to keep calm.”

  • Screening teens for obesity may not help them lose weight

    With obesity rates soaring among Arkansas teenagers, the state implemented a screening program in schools in 2003, with alerts sent to parents of kids with weight problems. But kids screened by the program in early high school and again in their junior and senior years did not seem to benefit compared to kids exempt from screening, the study found.

    While the screening and reporting measures in Arkansas have been both popular and controversial, there is no evidence to support their use, said study author Kevin Gee of the University of California, Davis School of Education, in email to Reuters Health.

    Rates of teenage obesity have more than quadrupled in the last 30 years and now more than one in five teens is obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Schools play an increasingly important role in addressing child health issues because of their control over what kids eat and their activities throughout the day, Gee writes in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

    But it isn’t clear which parts of school-based interventions are most helpful and cost-effective, he notes. Gee wanted to assess the effects weight screenings intended to alert parents that their child has a problem, in the hope that will lead to changes in behavior.

    The data came from nearly 1,100 students who participated in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which was administered annually between 2003 and 2009. The students answered questions and estimated their own height and weight, allowing for calculation of their body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height.

    The survey also asked students about their exercise habits and their diets.

    Gee analyzed how students’ weight and health habits changed between 10th grade and 12th grade, among kids who had BMI screenings in 10th, 11th and 12th grades. He compared this change to the pattern of weight changes among students who opted out of the screening over the same period.

    More than half of all teens were a healthy weight in both groups. The percentage of obese teens decreased and the percentage of overweight teens increased over the two years.

    The changes in the two groups were not significantly different for weight gain, exercise level or dietary habits.

    Overall, most teens did not eat one or more servings of fruits or vegetables per day.

    Dominique Ruggieri, a faculty fellow for the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Public Health Initiatives, noted that childhood obesity is a serious health condition that can cause many other health problems.

    “Moreover, children who suffer from weight health issues are significantly more likely to suffer from obesity in adulthood,” Ruggieri said in an email.

    Although screenings did not have a significant effect on weight in this study, Gee said that they may be useful to parents who do not have access to health checkups for their children.

    Ruggieri also said that BMI screenings can be useful because most parents tend to underestimate their child’s weight status. She added that the screenings could be improved by telling parents, “why and how the measurements were taken, what parents can do to help their children, and what the schools are doing to help their children.”

    Gee noted, however, that BMI information alone may not be enough to help parents in high poverty areas where fresh produce and safe playgrounds to encourage exercise may not be available.

    He cautioned that screening and reporting alone is not enough to make a dent in the problem of teenage obesity and recommended a more holistic approach. “We need to consider ways to have communities, parent groups, youth groups, churches, hospitals, etc. work in tandem,” he said.

  • Du Plessis leads South Africa to easy win in Bangladesh

    Opting to bat first, the visitors lost their talisman AB de Villiers in the very first over but du Plessis struck an unbeaten 79 off 61 balls to power the Proteas to 148-4.

    Their bowling attack contained more firepower than Bangladesh could handle and the Proteas shot out the hosts for 96 inside 19 overs to cruise to an easy victory.

    “It’s the beauty of the team,” du Plessis, adjudged player-of-the-match, said in a pitchside interview.

    “We’ve got world class players like AB but we don’t rely on one. There are so many other players in the team who can be match-winners.”

    Arafat Sunny gave Bangladesh a rousing start, dismissing de Villiers in the very first over and the left-arm spinner sent back JP Duminy as well as South Africa kept losing wickets regularly to find themselves in trouble.

    Du Plessis hit eight fours in his unbeaten knock and found an able ally in Rilee Rossouw (31 not out), adding 58 runs with him in 6.4 overs to take the team close to the 150-run mark.

    Defending the total, the South African spinners got more purchase from the wicket and did not allow any partnership to prosper, frustrating the hosts who were hoping to replicate their limited-overs form having beaten Pakistan and India in recent home series.

    Kyle Abbott dismissed Tamim Iqbal in the first over to draw first blood and the hosts capitulated, failing to withstand the relentless hostility.

    Shakib Al Hasan topscored for them with 26, while debutant Litton Das managed 22 as only three Bangladeshi batsmen managed double digits.

    Duminy, David Wiese and Kagiso Rabada claimed two wickets apiece for South Africa.

    “Our batters played too many shots but it’s not a worry. We can fix it in the next match,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said.

  • Prince Harry says he’s waiting for the right woman

    (more…)

  • Most ‘unpredictable’ UK vote today

    (more…)

  • Father says someone coerced Soofi into committing the crime

    (more…)

  • Convert, pay tax, or die, ISIL warns Iraq’s Christians

    The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month’s lightning assault to capture swathes of north Iraq, and seen by Reuters, said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday.

    It said Christians who wanted to remain in the “caliphate” that the Islamic State declared this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a “dhimma” contract – a historic practice under which non-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy known as “jizya”.

    “We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword,” the announcement said.

    A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques.

    It said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which the group has now named Caliph Ibrahim, had set a Saturday deadline for Christians who did not want to stay and live under those terms to “leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate”.

    “After this date, there is nothing between us and them but the sword,” it said.

    The Nineveh decree echoes one that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the former name for the Islamic State, issued in the Syrian city of Raqqa in February, demanding that Christians pay the jizya levy in gold and curb displays of their faith in return for protection.

    The concept of dhimma, governing non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, dates back to the early Islamic era in the seventh century, but was largely abolished during the Ottoman reforms of the mid-19th century.

    Mosul, once home to diverse faiths, had a Christian population of around 100,000 a decade ago, but waves of attacks on Christians since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein have seen those numbers collapse.

    The resident of Mosul who saw the Islamic State announcement estimated the city’s Christian population before last month’s militant takeover at around 5,000. The vast bulk of those have since fled, leaving perhaps only 200 in the city, he said.