Malaysian polls open in pivotal election

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian polling centres opened on Sunday for the country's first election in history with a change of government at stake, as a decades old regime battles to hold off a reform minded opposition.

Polling centres opened at 8:00 am (0000 GMT) after a bitter campaign marked by numerous opposition accusations of electoral cheating and irregularities by the ruling coalition which it denies aimed at stealing the election.

Polling stations close at 5:00 pm with results expected to begin rolling out within hours. (AFP)

Obama back in US after trip to Mexico, Costa Rica

President Barack Obama is back in the US after a trip that took him to Mexico and Costa Rica over three days.

Air Force One arrived at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base, outside of Washington, about 6:45 EDT (2245 GMT) Saturday night. Obama had left the US last Thursday.

In Mexico, Obama cheered advances in that nation's economy and voiced his support for an overhaul of US immigration policies.

While visiting Costa Rica, the president urged leaders in Central American to integrate their economies, reduce their high energy costs and confront violence in the region. (AP)

India plans to relax Bollywoody censorship

India's all powerful censor board is planning a lighter approach to Bollywood after decades chopping tens of thousands of film scenes, from onscreen kisses to violent endings.

Set up by British rulers in the 1920s to block US movies with anti colonial sentiment, the board went on to cut Indian films as much for their supposedly racy content as for their political overtones.

But as the country rapidly modernises, the government must walk the tightrope of catering to a more liberal, youthful India without angering still deeply conservative strands of society.

"The rules are old. We have to write them with a modern and honest outlook. The Indian value system has changed hence censor rules must change," admitted R. Singh, joint secretary of the film department in New Delhi.

The government attempted to show its more open minded approach at the recent "Cut-Uncut" festival in the capital, which screened originally censored film clips for the first time as part of Indian cinema's centenary celebrations.

Directors such as Ramesh Sippy, who made the Hindi action blockbuster "Sholay" (Embers) in 1975, also had the chance to vent their anger at censorship culture.

Sippy said he was forced to change his film's plotline at the insistence of the censors, who decided it was too violent.

"The board said: 'We will tell you how to end the movie', and I was forced to shoot the ending again. I realised that if I keep fighting, my film's release will not be allowed."

K. Hariharan, a critically acclaimed filmmaker from south India, said he felt like "an anxious student waiting for his performance card" whenever censors watched his film.

He thinks it is time to disband the board, which he sees as a colonial remnant that restricts freedom of expression an idea that the government may slowly be agreeing with.

"This whole business of brutally chopping scenes or forcing the filmmakers to alter the climax will have to end," said Singh, who oversees the task of issuing certificates to all Indian movies.

A more relaxed approach is already allowing filmmakers to experiment.

Censors admit that regulating content is becoming an unwieldy job in a country of 1.2 billion, which has witnessed an explosion in its television and media industry along with growing Internet access.

In the last two decades, the country went from having two just state-run channels to nearly 400 private ones, and filmmakers are increasingly keen to get their work on the small screen to generate more revenue.

But as censor board chief Pankaja Thakur points out, they run a greater risk of being chopped on television.

"Television is a much more mass medium than the movie halls, so we have to ensure that content on TV is suitable," Thakur said. (AFP)

Mayweather beats Guerrero to keep WBC title

LAS VEGAS: World Boxing Council champion Floyd Mayweather extended his perfect record to 44 victories Saturday, beating Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision in their welterweight title fight.

Mayweather, who was defending his title for the first time since serving close to three months in jail last year after being convicted of domestic violence, dominated Guerrero for the majority of the fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

All three judges scored the 12-round fight 117-111 in favour of Mayweather.

In his first fight in a year, the 36 year old Mayweather also snapped Guerrero's 15-fight win streak dating back to 2005.

While Mayweather improved to 44-0 with 26 knockouts, Guerrero fell to 31-2-1 with 18 wins inside the distance.

Bomb kills five US troops in south Afghanistan: Officials

A huge roadside bomb killed five US troops in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, in the deadliest attack on Nato led forces this year.

“Five American soldiers were killed at about noon when their armoured vehicle hit a powerful roadside mine in Maiwand district,” General Abdul Razeq, Kandahar province’s police chief, told AFP.

The troops died in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack, Nato’s International Security Assistance Force confirmed in a statement without specifying the nationalities of the victims, in line with coalition policy.

The attack came four days after three British soldiers were killed in a similar blast in the neighbouring province of Helmand.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s deaths but Taliban militants frequently use roadside bombs against US led foreign troops and their Afghan allies.

The militants launched their “spring offensive” a week ago, opening a crucial period for Afghanistan as its security forces take the lead in the offensive against insurgents fighting to topple the US backed government.
All Nato combat missions will finish by the end of next year.

The 100,000 foreign troops deployed across Afghanistan have already begun to withdraw from the battlefield.

More than 11 years after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, efforts to seek a political settlement ending the violence have so far made little progress, but pressure is growing ahead of the Nato withdrawal.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday named James Dobbins as the new US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying Dobbins would “continue building on diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion”.

As NATO troops pull back, casualties are rising among the poorly trained and inexperienced Afghan soldiers and police tasked with bringing security to some of the country’s most volatile areas.

On Thursday eight Afghan police were killed in a Taliban bomb attack in Logar province outside the capital Kabul. (AFP)

ANP killings: Day of mourning being observed in Sindh

KARACHI: A day of mourning called by the Awami National Party (ANP) was observed across Sindh on Saturday against the killing of party leader Sadiq Zaman Khattak and his 4 year old son.

Businesses and transport in cities continued as usual, as the party had appealed to the masses to observe the day of mourning ‘peacefully’.

Black flags were hoisted at ANP offices and party members and supporters wore black ribbons in protest.

Khattak, 45, who was contesting a National Assembly seat (NA 254), was shot outside Rehmania Masjid in Bilal Colony of Korangi Industrial Area on Friday.

His 4 year old son Aimal Sadiq Khattak was also killed in the attack. Six people, including Khattak’s 15 year old son Shahid Sadiq, were also injured.

Khattak was associated with the ANP for the past three decades and was its Sindh council member and general secretary of District East.

The Taliban have directly threatened the three main parties in the outgoing government, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the ANP, which are often described as secular. (Tribune)

JI Orakzai Agency candidate survives bomb attack: Officials

PESHAWAR: Raj Mohummad, a Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) candidate for NA-39 constituency in Orakzai Agency, survived an attack on his vehicle on Saturday, officials said.

Muhammad was on his election campaign in the lower Orakzai Agency area when his vehicle hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

“Muhammad remained unhurt in the incident,” said an official of the political administration.

“Raj Muhammad was on his way from Chengana to Ferozkhel when a bomb planted on the roadside went off destroying his vehicle,” the official added.

In a separate incident, an election office of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) was attacked around 5:30am on the Pajjagi Road in Peshawar, a police official told Media.

“It was a timed device weighing around two kilogrammes that damaged the PTI office along with a few nearby shops,” the police official added.

“The gate and a few chairs were damaged in the blast but nobody was hurt because office was empty at that time,” Khalid Mehmood, a senior police official, told AFP.

This was the first attack on a PTI office in Peshawar.

Official reports state that there have been 48 bomb blasts in April across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), including three suicide attacks. “Sixty four people have been killed while 263 have been injured,” said the report.

Official sources also said that four schools have been destroyed, some of which were expected to serve as polling stations in the upcoming general elections. (AFP)

France to honour film director Wong in Hong Kong

PARIS: Chinese film director Wong Kar Wai will join one of the art world's most exclusive clubs on Sunday when he is appointed a Commander of France's Order of Arts and Letters.

The renowned filmmaker is to be presented with the medallion awarded to recipients of France's highest cultural honour by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the opening of the French May arts festival in Hong Kong.

Wong's work has long been acclaimed in France. He won the Best Director award at the 1997 Cannes film festival for "Happy Together" and picked up a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Oscar, in 2001 for "In the Mood for Love."

His induction into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres sees him follow in the footsteps of fellow stars from the film world Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery and Michael Caine, as well as other illustrious artists including the poet TS Eliot and singer David Bowie.

As well as honouring Wong, Fabius is due to sign a visa accord with the Hong Kong authorities intended to facilitate travel and business links between France and the territory, which is home to up to 20,000 French expatriates.

The foreign minister is also hoping to stimulate investment in France by Hong Kong business figures and will deliver a speech on Europe China relations at a lunch hosted by the Asia Society on Monday. (AFP)

Polling scheme for Lahore completed

LAHORE: Polling scheme for forthcoming elections in Lahore has been completed and deployment of 30,000 people for electoral duties is on final stages.

Talking to Media here in Town Hall Lahore, DCO Lahore Rizwan Mehboob said that 15,000 out of total number of polling staffers are from education department.

Polling scheme has also been finalized after which further steps would be taken to ensure holding of free and fair elections, he added. (Geo)

MQM will not boycott elections: Sattar

LAHORE: MQM leader, Farooq Sattar said Saturday that his party would not boycott the upcoming general elections.

Sattar said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), caretaker government and army should take notice of the attacks against the three main parities of Karachi.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Sattar added that the MQM wanted to see democracy strengthened in the country.

According to Sattar it was essential to create a national agenda on economic reform after the elections and the new elected government would have to reform the tax system.

Govt determined to hold peaceful elections: PM

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister, Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has categorically stated that the caretaker government is determined to hold peaceful, free‚ fair and transparent elections.

Chairing the federal cabinet meeting here Saturday, the prime minister said the government will not compromise on maintenance of peace throughout the country for holding free and fair elections in a secure environment. Security has been beefed up for sensitive polling stations‚ candidates and masses.

Khosa said the recent acts of terrorism are being carried out to create panic and fear among the masses. He directed the intelligence agencies to sharpen their intelligence-gathering techniques as timely intelligence can prevent many a disasters.

He said that the caretaker government would take all constitutional and legal steps to ensure impartiality‚ in collaboration with Election Commission for holding the general elections on May 11th.

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Jackson death doctor had huge debts, trial hears

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray was in dire financial straits when he was hired to care for the US superstar, a policeman testified Wednesday.

Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over Jackson's death, had tens of thousands of dollars in debts, including unpaid student loans, credit card bills and rent on his business, the policeman said at a trial over the late King of Pop's 2009 death.

Jackson's 82-year-old mother Katherine is suing tour promoter AEG Live over her son's death, accusing it of negligently hiring Murray and ignoring signs that the singer was deeply unwell, in their pursuit of profits.

Her lawyers say Murray's financial woes made him willing to do whatever Jackson wanted including giving him the drug that killed him because he desperately needed the $150,000 monthly salary on offer.

Detective Orlando Martinez, who investigated Jackson's death on June 25, 2009 days before the tour was due to start said Murray had debts in various places, including the US states of Nevada and Missouri, some of over $100,000.

"Does this substantiate your opinion that Dr. Murray was in dire financial straits?" Katherine Jackson's lawyer Brian Panish asked Martinez in the Los Angeles Superior Court, where the trial started Monday.

"Yes," replied Martinez.

The 50 year old singer died from an overdose of powerful sedative and anesthetic propofol, administered by Murray to help the "Thriller" legend deal with chronic insomnia.

At the time of his death, he was rehearsing for a series of 50 shows in London, organized with AEG, in an attempt to revive his career and ease his financial woes.

In opening statements Monday, Katherine Jackson's lawyer accused AEG of sacrificing the troubled star in a "ruthless" pursuit of profit in the months before his death.

But Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) lawyer Marvin Putnam argued the mega pop star had hidden the evidence of his addiction and health woes from everyone, including his family and the concert promoters.

Putman also said Jackson was some $400 million dollars in debt when he approached AEG in 2008 with the idea of putting on the London shows, which were to be followed by a global tour and a possible Las Vegas residency.

On Tuesday the first witness at the trial, paramedic Richard Senneff, testified that Jackson looked emaciated and like someone at the end of a chronic illness when he arrived at the scene.

Wednesday's court session was shortened because one member of the six-man, six-woman jury had to attend a family funeral. The trial continues Thursday, with detective Martinez due to take the stand again. (AFP)

Secret to longer life may be in the brain. study

PARIS: Scientists said Wednesday they had found a brain region that controls physical ageing, and could target it to manipulate the lifespan of lab mice.

The findings may be a step towards finding the holy grail of slowing human ageing, but have yet to be tested in human subjects.

The research, published in the journal Nature, implicates the hypothalamus a brain region that regulates growth, reproduction and metabolism, in the gradual and coordinated bodily deterioration we call ageing.

Though the brain has long been suspected of orchestrating the process, this is the first evidence to that effect.

The team said they could speed up or slow down ageing in mice by activating or inhibiting the brain signalling molecule NF-kB in the hypothalamus, which in turn affects levels of a hormone called GnRH that plays a role in the generation of neurons the data processing cells of the brain.

By stimulating NF-kB, they caused a decline in GnRH which led to impaired neurogenesis and ageing symptoms like muscle weakening, skin atrophy, bone loss and memory impairment.

NF-kB is generally responsible for regulating the body's response to inflammation, the New York-based team wrote.

The researchers could also slow ageing in mice by giving them the GnRH hormone.

"Our study provided interventional strategies to slow down ageing through targeting the hypothalamus," the study's senior author Dongsheng Cai, professor of molecular pharmacology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told AFP by email.

"It can help to slow down ageing, which is already a big breakthrough, as it can counteract against many ageing-related diseases," he said, while stipulating: "I don't think ageing could be completely stopped."

Cai said he believed the mouse results would translate into humans, "though it will need future efforts to develop safe and applicable approaches to humans."

Commenting on the research, Harvard Medical School experts Dana Gabuzda and Bruce Yankner said the results, if validated, may have important implications for treatment of age-related diseases particularly those linked to inflammation.

"The idea also raises the intriguing possibility that hypothalamic regulation could be therapeutically manipulated to have broad effects on the ageing process," they wrote in Nature. (AFP)

US report warns of crisis for Pakistan minorities

WASHINGTON: A US government appointed panel urged Washington Tuesday to step up pressure on Pakistan over religious freedom, warning that risks to its minorities have reached a crisis level.

In an annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom also raised concerns about what it called a worsening situation in China, as well as problems in Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and other nations.

The commission, which advises the government but does not make decisions, called for the United States to designate Pakistan as a "country of particular concern," meaning it could be subject to sanctions if it fails to improve.

Assessing the year through January 31, the commission said religious freedom violations in Pakistan "rose to unprecedented levels due to chronic sectarian violence" that targeted the Shia Muslim minority.

The government continues to fail to protect Christians, Ahmadis and Hindus, the report said, charging that blasphemy and other laws "are widely used to violate religious freedoms and foster a climate of impunity."

Sunni Muslim extremists over the past year have killed hundreds of Shias in Pakistan, especially Hazaras a community originally from Afghanistan that is known for its comparatively liberal attitudes.

"Pakistan is in a crisis right now with these particularly severe violations of religious freedom," said Knox Thames, the commission's director of policy and research.

The commission, whose members are appointed by President Barack Obama and Congress, said Pakistan faced the most serious violations of religious freedom among any country not already on the blacklist.

The State Department has not previously issued the designation for Pakistan, with which the United States has had a close but prickly relationship since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The designated countries of particular concern on religious freedom are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

Along with Pakistan, the commission urged the State Department to add Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam to the list.

The report said that religious freedom in China "deteriorated significantly" in the past year, especially for Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims, but also for followers of unauthorized churches and the banned Falungong movement.

The State Department said separately that two officials, Suzan Johnson Cook and Daniel Baer, raised concerns about religious freedom during a visit to Beijing last week.

The commission voiced concern over Myanmar, also known as Burma, where a recent Human Rights Watch study said at least 211 members of the Rohingya Muslim community were killed in religious violence since June 2012.

The violence comes as Myanmar undertakes democratic reforms and warms relations with the United States. The report urged Washington to maintain the leverage to reimpose sanctions to press Myanmar to address minority issues.

Set up under a 1998 law, the commission recently went through reforms initiated by senior Senator Dick Durbin who had voiced concern over charges of anti Muslim bias.

The latest report backtracked on the previous year's controversial call to blacklist close US ally Turkey over the Muslim-majority but staunchly secular state's treatment of Christians.

In a first, the report dedicated a chapter to Western Europe in which it raised questions about the ban in secular France and Belgium on Muslim women wearing veils in public.

The report does not cover the United States, where incidents last year included a massacre at a Sikh temple that left six dead. (Thenews)

ECP finalizes security plan for elections

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalized the security plan for the forthcoming general elections.

According to the plan‚ the military will remain on stand-by to act as quick response force. Security personnel on all polling stations throughout the country will be deployed on May 10.

PTI will put an end to military operation in Balochistan: Imran Khan

LORALAI: Chairman Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has said that if voted to power, his party would put an end to military operation in Balochistan forever.

Addressing a public gathering in Loralai on Wednesday‚ the PTI chief said that Pakistan will be made an Islamic welfare state where the basic rights of the masses will be safeguarded.

Imran Khan said the time has come to change of the system; therefore‚ he added masses must come out for this change.

He said PTI will focus on the resolution of the problems being faced by different provinces and particular attention will be paid to resolve the problems of the Baloch people.

Khan said utmost efforts are being made to bring honest people to represent the masses in the parliament.

"We will introduce new local bodies system and pay special attention for the uplift of the education sector," he added.

Later, addressing public meeting at Sibi Imran Khan said ‘professional politicians’ have plundered people of Balochistan by depriving them from their rights.

He said that if the people of Balochistan want to change their fate then they would have to struggle.

Imran khan urged people to vote not on the basis of personality‚ sectarian or ethnic basis but for the ideology.

5.7 magnitude quake jolts parts of Punjab, KP

ISLAMABAD: An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter Scale was felt in parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

According to Metrological Department‚ the epicenter of the earthquake lies about 88 km in east of Jammu.

No report of human or material losses was received from any part of the country.

PML-N agenda is to steer Pakistan out of crises: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that the agenda of his party is to steer the country out of crises.

Addressing traders here on Wednesday‚ Nawaz Sharif said that his services for the nation are well known to the people.

He said that the PML-N would make efforts for controlling terrorism and shortage of power.

He said that Pervez Musharraf gifted loadshedding during its tenure while the Pakistan Peoples Party increased the duration of loadshedding.

If voted to power, Nawaz Sharif pledged that his party would form economic policies of the country with the consultation of traders and industrialists.

World Labour Day being observed in Pakistan also

KARACHI: Like other parts of the globe, International Labour Day is being observed across the country including the mega metropolis city here on Wednesday today to renew pledge for protecting rights of workers.

All government and private organisations, educational institutions and markets remained closed to observe Labour Day.

Different political and labour organizations‚ particularly the labour wings of political parties and professional bodies have organized programmes to highlight significance of the day and rights of the workers.

Seminars and rallies will be held in different cities to pay tribute to those who laid down their lives in Chicago in 1886 for the rights of the labourers.

The President and the Prime Minister in their messages have pledged to uphold the rights of the working class.

In his message‚ President Asif Ali Zardari said during the past few years a number of steps were taken to improve the condition of the workers.

Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso in his message said government is committed to improving the living standard of labourers and workers.

Struck deal with Benazir before elections 2008

ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has revealed that he had struck deal with Benazir Bhutto before elections 2008 and some key countries and personalities were guarantors of it.

Recording his first statement before joint investigation team of FIA, former president said as per the agreement, Benazir Bhutto had to come Pakistan after general elections but she violated it.

Sources said Mushararf did not disclose the names of guarantors and said former interior minister Rehman Malik be asked in this regard.

To a question of FIA team, former dictator said Rehman Malik remained the only way of contact between them. (Geo)

Flash floods in Saudi kill 13: civil defence

RIYADH: Thirteen people have died and four more are missing in Saudi Arabia after downpours caused flash floods in several areas of the desert kingdom, the civil defence authorities said on Wednesday.

The official SPA state news agency quoted Colonel Abdullah al-Harethi as saying people died in several areas including in the capital Riyadh, Baha in the south, Hail in the north and in the west.

Harethi urged people to avoid wadi valleys and plains that have been flooded by heavy rainfall that began on Friday.

Television footage showed 4X4 cars stuck in the middle of wadis and people clinging to a tree to escape fast flowing flood waters.

The vast Arabian Peninsula country has not experienced such a high volume of rainfall for 25 years.

But around 10 people were killed in 2011 when flooding swept through the western city of Jeddah, where 123 people also perished in floods in 2009.

The inability of Jeddah's infrastructure to drain off flood waters and uncontrolled construction in and around the city were blamed at the time for the high number of victims.