Qatar leader says Arab troops should go to Syria
The leader of Qatar says Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop a deadly crackdown that has claimed the lives of thousands of people over the past 10 months.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani's comments to CBS "60 Minutes," which will be aired today, are the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of troops inside Syria. They come amid growing claims that a team of Arab observers dispatched to the country to curb the bloodshed has failed in its mission.
Asked whether he is in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Sheikh Hamad said that "for such a situation to stop the killing some troops should go to stop the killing." Excerpts of the interview were released by CBS on Saturday.
Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of the 10-month crackdown by President Bashar Assad.
Arab League observers began work in Syria on Dec. 27, to verify whether the government is abiding by its agreement to end the military crackdown on dissent.
But far from bringing a halt to the violence, the mission has coincided with an apparent increase in killings. A U.N. official said Tuesday that about 400 people have been killed in the past three weeks alone, on top of an earlier estimate of more than 5,000 killed since March.
Opposition and army defectors meanwhile have increasingly been taking up arms to fight back against government forces.
On Saturday, Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported that terrorists detonated an explosive device that derailed a fuel train, setting it ablaze in the northwestern province of Idlib. SANA said three people who were in the train were wounded.
Pakistan army chief visits president amid rift
Islamabad --
Pakistan's army chief paid a visit to the country's president Saturday in a meeting that may signal a willingness for reconciliation between the military and the civilian government after a week of escalating tensions and rumors of an impending coup.
Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and President Asif Ali Zardari discussed the "current security situation," according to the state-run news agency.
Friction between the military and the government has spiked after an unsigned memo was sent to Washington last year asking for its help in heading off a supposed coup. The note enraged the army, which was still smarting from the humiliation of last year's covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad.
Zardari's office welcomed the meeting with Kayani and said it should help relations.
The army has staged at least three coups in Pakistan's six-decade history and still considers itself the true custodian of the country's interests. On Wednesday, it warned of "grievous consequences" for the country in an unusual statement, raising fear it might try again to oust the government.
The nuclear-armed country is facing a host of problems, among them near economic collapse, a virulent al Qaeda- and Taliban-led insurgency, and a crisis in its relations with its key ally, the United States, after NATO air strikes in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border.
That attack has prompted Islamabad to review its coordination with U.S. and NATO forces, and on Saturday Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani vowed to protect Pakistani sovereignty in new rules being drawn up to regulate such coordination.
"Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not negotiable," Gilani said at the opening of a special committee to discuss the fallout over the air strikes.
United knock City out of FA Cup in derby thriller
LONDON: Manchester United knocked holders Manchester City out of the FA Cup with a 3-2 third round win in an incident-packed derby at Eastlands on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney scored twice, netting either side of the controversial sending off of City captain Vincent Kompany, with Danny Welbeck also on target to make it 3-0 before the break for the visitors
But City pulled a goal back early in the second half when Aleksandar Kolarov bent a free-kick round the wall from the edge of the box.
And 10-man City struck again when Sergio Aguero made it 3-2 in the 65th minute following a mistake by 37-year-old United substitute Paul Scholes, summoned out of retirement by manager Sir Alex Ferguson following an injury crisis.
Premier League leaders City, three points in front of champions United at the top of the table, pressed for an equaliser, with Kolarov going close from a second free-kick in stoppage time, but Ferguson's men held on.
United were later handed another difficult tie in the fourth round, a trip to bitter rivals Liverpool where the fall-out from the Luia Suarez-Patrice Evra race row will dominate the build-up.
City boss Roberto Mancini, clearly unhappy with the red card shown to Kompany by referee Chris Foy, praised his team's character after going 3-0 down.
Rooney gave United the lead against the run of the play in the 10th minute when, after spreading play wide to Antonio Valencia, he powered in a header off the crossbar from the winger's cross.
And, two minutes later, City -- three points in front of champions United at the top of the table -- were down to 10 men.
Kompany appeared to win the ball cleanly from Nani, who played on, after sliding in on a wet pitch but the City defender had gone in two-footed and Foy produced a red card.
Welbeck made it 2-0 with a brilliant volley from the edge of the box in the 30th minute and 10 minutes later he forced a penalty after he was brought down in the box by Kolarov.
Rooney's spot-kick was well saved by Costel Pantilimon, only for the England striker to head in from the rebound as United look to avenge their 6-1 league defeat by City at Old Trafford in October.
Wings dump rival Blackhawks and take division lead
LOS ANGELES: Pavel Datsyuk scored the overtime winner from a tough angle as the Detroit Red Wings handed the reeling Chicago Blackhawks a fourth straight loss and moved into first place in the National Hockey League's Central division.
Datsyuk gathered a rebound and lifted a wrist shot from the goal line into the Chicago net with under two minutes to play as the Red Wings rallied for a 3-2 win over their division rival.
Chicago led 2-0 on goals from Dave Bolland and Patrick Sharp early in the first period but they could not hold on and are now stuck in their longest losing skid since dropping five straight in 2009.
Detroit's Valtteri Filppula cut the deficit to 2-1 in the first, where the score stood until Daniel Cleary tied the game with just under five minutes left in regulation.
With the win, Detroit (26-14-1) moved into a three-way tie atop the division with St. Louis and Chicago. (Reuters)
China to host Snooker World Open
LONDON: The Chinese city of Haikou will stage the World Open for the next five years, World Snooker announced Monday.
The event, which will be known as the Haikou World Open, will become the third major snooker tournament after the China Open and the Shanghai Masters to be staged in the country -- a sign of the sport's rising popularity in China where players such as Ding Junhui now have a huge following.
World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn told the governing body's official website: "We are delighted to announce the staging of the World Open in Haikou for the next five years.
"The popularity of snooker in China continues to grow at a phenomenal rate and we have capitalised on that by establishing a third full ranking event, alongside the China Open and Shanghai Masters.
"We expect to make more announcements about events in China in the coming weeks," added Hearn, who made his name in snooker as the manager of former world champion Steve Davis, the sport's leading player in the 1980s.
Haikou is on Hainan Island in south China and Hearn said: "Hainan Island is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and an ideal place to stage one of our world ranking tournaments.
This season the event will run from February 27 to March 4. All the world's top 16 players are automatically seeded into the event, to be joined by 16 players who come through the qualifying rounds.
There will also be eight wild cards at the final venue.
All matches up to and including the quarter-finals will be best of nine frames. Total prize money is #400,000 ($617,962) with the winner to collect #75,000 ($115,879).
The World Open, formerly known as the Grand Prix and LG Cup, adopted its current name in 2010, when Australia's Neil Robertson won the title in Glasgow. (AFP)
Son gets ticket to Mirza vacated seat
KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to grant a party ticket to Zulfikar Ali Mirza’s son Barrister Husnain Mirza for the seat lying vacant after the resignation of the former, Geo News reported.
According to sources party’s top brass has selected Dr Mirza’s son to succeed him after due deliberation.
Since Zulfiqar Mirza’s opting out of electoral politics, speculation were already rife that his dashing young son would replace his father in the upcoming by-polls to the Badin provincial assembly seat which fell vacant after Mirza’s resignation as an MPA.
China warns U.S. to be "careful" in military refocus
BEIJING: China's Ministry of Defence warned the United States on Monday to be "careful in its words and actions" after announcing a defence rethink that stresses responding to China's rise by shoring up U.S. alliances and bases across Asia.
The statement from the ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng was Beijing's fullest reaction so far to the new U.S. strategy unveiled last week. It echoed the mix of wariness and outward restraint that has marked China's response to the Obama administration's "pivot" to Asia since late last year.
"We have noted that the United States issued this guide to its defence strategy, and we will closely observe the impact that U.S. military strategic adjustment has on the Asia-Pacific region and on global security developments," Geng said in a statement issued on the ministry's website (www.mod.gov.cn).
"The accusations leveled at China by the U.S. side in this document are totally baseless," said Geng.
"We hope that the United States will flow with the tide of the era, and deal with China and the Chinese military in an objective and rational way, will be careful in its words and actions, and do more that is beneficial to the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries."
The new U.S. strategy promises to boost strength in Asia in an attempt to counter China's growing ability to check U.S. power in the region, even as U.S. forces draw back elsewhere across the globe.
Under the new strategy, the United States will maintain large bases in Japan and South Korea and deploy U.S. Marines, navy ships and aircraft to Australia's Northern Territory.
The strategy calls for countering potential attempts by China and Iran to block U.S. capabilities in areas like the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
China has sought to balance voicing its wariness about the U.S. moves with its desire for steady relations with Washington, especially as both sides grapple with domestic politics this year, when President Barack Obama faces a re-election fight and China's ruling Communist Party undergoes a leadership handover.
So far, Beijing officials have avoided the usual high-pitched assertions that Washington is bent on encircling China, a view widely echoed by popular Chinese newspapers and websites.
GROWING CONCERN
The expanded U.S. military presence in Asia is based on a miscalculation of Beijing's intent to modernize its military defenses, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"The accusation targeting China in the document has no basis, and is fundamentally unrealistic," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular news conference, in response to a question from state media about whether China poses a threat to U.S. security.
"China adheres to the path of peaceful development, an independent and peaceful foreign policy and a defensive national defence policy," Liu added.
Still, there is growing concern in the United States and Asia about China's military developments in recent years.
China has been expanding its naval might, with submarines and a maiden aircraft carrier, and has also increased its missile and surveillance capabilities, extending its offensive reach in the region and unnerving its neighbors.
The disputed ownership of oil-rich reefs and islands in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion dollars in trade sails annually, is one of the biggest security threats in Asia.
China is seen by many neighbors as increasingly assertive on the high seas, with several incidents in the past year in the South China Sea, waters claimed wholly or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
But Chinese President Hu Jintao has made clear he wants to avoid repeating the rifts that soured ties with Washington in the first half of 2011. Hu retires from power late in 2012 and his almost-certain successor, Vice President Xi Jinping, is likely to visit the United States in coming months. (Reuters)
Angry Birds, Facebook most downloaded apps in 2011
Craig Palli, a vice president at Fiksu, a marketing company for app developers, explained that this year's top apps incorporate three main trends: the ability to connect with friends, discovery and games that let users past the time and pick up where they left off.
The top app in the social networking category was Facebook. But Palli said the trend of connecting with friends extends further.
"It also encompasses Skype, all the free texting apps and even Bump. These are all apps that lend themselves to enriching our lives through an easier and greater amount of communication and connections with friends," Palli explained.
In the music category, Pandora, which generates personalized radio stations for its users based on their music preferences, was the top app.
"Pandora is such a good app that they don't really need to spend money in marketing. They just get user after user because it's such a compelling experience," Palli said.
TuneIn Radio Pro, which provides access to over 50,000 local and global stations, was another popular music app.
In the games category, Words with Friends, a multi-player game, and Angry Birds were the most downloaded apps. Games captured nine of the top ten spots on the paid apps list.
"They fill those five minutes of time that we were otherwise waiting for a train or appointment," explained Palli.
He added that phones are beginning to replace cameras, which explains the success of apps in the photo and video category.
"First it was the Polaroid camera, then it was the in-the-pocket digital camera. It's now just your phone."
Instagram, also named Apple's iPhone app of the year, topped the camera category. It allows users to take photos, add filters and share them with friends. Camera+, which extends the iPhone's camera with features like zoom, also made the list.
In the health and fitness category, Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker and Nike+ GPS, an app for tracking runs and workouts, were winners. But Palli said the category has fewer downloads than others.
"The volume of downloads that occur in this category is less than one tenth of the other categories," he said, but he predicts that this category will grow in 2012 as people become more health-conscious and apps "augment the actual device itself with something physical."
Groupon, the daily deal service, and Pimp Your Screen, which lets users customize their device with backgrounds and other visual features, were the top apps in the lifestyle category.
Netflix, the video streaming service, was the top app in the entertainment category, along with FatBooth, which lets users visualize how they might look with a few extra pounds.
Palli said free apps generally receive more downloads, and many more developers are starting to offer free versions.
"During 2011, we saw a big shift in strategy from a lot of paid app developers, which was to migrate from a straight paid app experience where you pay for the app up front to an in-app purchase or upgrade experience," he explained.
"This way it's really compelling for the consumer because you can get started with the app and when they experience how good the app is, they can take the wallet out of their pocket and make the extra two taps to get the full features." (Reuters)
Magpies and bears mourn North Korea's "Dear Leader"
SEOUL: The passing of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il has been marked by plunging temperatures, mourning bears and now, according to North Korean state media, by flocks of magpies.
Kim, who died in December aged 69 years after 17 years running the world's most reclusive state, was reputed to be able to control the weather, as well as to have scored a miraculous 38 under par round of golf.
"At around 17:30 on December 19, 2011, hundreds of magpies appeared from nowhere and hovered over a statue of President Kim Il Sung on Changdok School campus in Mangyongdae District, clattering as if they were telling him the sad news," state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.Kim's death was announced on December 19, although he was reported by official media to have died on December 17 on a train journey to give guidance to his subjects.
He has been succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who will become the third of his line to head the world's only hereditary totalitarian Stalinist state. Mythmaking is a key part of the personality cult that surrounds the family of founding father Kim Il-sung.
KCNA reported last week that a family of bears who usually hibernate through the fierce Korean winter had been seen lamenting Kim Jong-il's death.
"The bears, believed to be a mother and cubs, were staying on the road, crying woefully," it said.
Mythmaking for Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, has already started. He is portrayed as the spitting image of his grandfather and has been dubbed the "genius of geniuses" in military affairs despite having no known military experience. (Reuters)
To optimize exercise, heed your heart rate training zone
NEW YORK: Whether you're interested in running a marathon or staving off the chronic diseases of ageing, to reap the rewards of your efforts getting into the zone is essential.
Experts say knowing and staying within your heart rate training zone is an easy way to pace the intensity of your workout.
"Exercisers need to get to at least a moderate level of physical activity in order to reap the benefits," said Dr. Adrian Hutber of the American College of Sports Medicine. "Your goal is to get to a stage where you're fit enough to exercise within your heart rate training zone."
Your heart rate training zone, or target heart rate, is based on your maximum heart rate (MHR), which is roughly calculated as 220 minus your age.
"It's not exact but it doesn't need to be," said Hutber. "It's a really good indicator."
For moderate-intensity physical activity, a person's target heart rate should be 50 to 70 percent of MHR, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vigorous exercisers should aim for 70 to 85 percent.
A 62-year-old woman has an estimated target heart rate zone of 111-134 beats per minute. An 18-year-old boy has a range of 141-172.
Science tells us you need at least 150 minutes of moderate-level physical activity per week to be healthy, said Hutber, quoting U.S. government guidelines.
Heart rate is a user-friendly way to track intensity level, according to Hutber. METS (Metabolic Equivalent of Task), which measures energy consumption, is another and VO2, which measures oxygen uptake, is a third.
"But for the public it's easier to talk about percentage of maximum heart rate," he said.
So short of wearing a heart monitor, how can you be sure you're training in the zone? Most modern treadmills, elliptical trainers, and other cardio machines will tell you if you feed it your correct age. And experts say you should.
"For the beginner who wants the most benefits and results, getting in that range is more important than worrying about calories burned," said Deborah Plitt, a trainer with Life Fitness, the equipment manufacturer.
She said the training zone is tied to age because as the heart gets older and becomes less efficient, it beats faster.
But as you become more fit your heart muscle recovers from exercise more quickly, returning sooner to the resting heart rate.
"Your resting heart rate becomes lower than it was because the same workout is getting easier," she explained. "The heart is a muscle and as it gets stronger it doesn't have to pump as many times ... It becomes more efficient."
People can check their heart rate any time simply by taking their pulse for 15 seconds and multiplying that number by four to calculate beats per minute.
A less disruptive way to check the intensity of your workout is the sing-talk test.
"It's a very approximate but very good litmus test for moderate physical activity," Hutber said. "If you're exercising hard enough that you can still carry on a conversation but you couldn't sing, that's moderate intensity. If you can't talk you're moving into vigorous."
And if you're able to both chat and carry a tune?
"Then you haven't brought your activity up to a moderate level," he said. "That shouldn't be your goal." (Reuters)
PPP MNA Azeem Khan dies in road accident
VEHARI: Pakistan People’s Party’s MNA, Mian Azeem Khan Daultana, Monday night met with a fatal accident on his way to Vehari, Geo News reported.
According to sources Azeem Khan’s car ran off the road and turned upside down on Kot Wali Bridge near Luddan.
His driver died on the spot, while, Daultana succumbed to his injuries while he was being rushed to the hospital.
Daultana was a nephew to Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Tehmina Daultana.
He was also serving as federal parliamentary secretary for information & broadcast.
According to sources in the family, he was due to get married in two weeks.
