Karachi project: LNG terminal poses health hazard

ISLAMABAD: Alarm bells are ringing in Islamabad over a $160 million dollar project to develop a floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal adjacent to Karachi.

As the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) starts public hearing on the project from Tuesday, certain officials feel that safety measures for such a project would need to be extra tight. The hearing seeks to give formal approval to Pakistan Gasport Limited (PGL) to set up the LNG terminal.

This multi-million-dollar deal was approved in 2007. Ogra granted a provisional licence to PGL on May 14, 2009, to complete the formalities for importing LNG. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) also immediately gave its ex-post facto approval to the implementation agreement.

After three years, the project is being launched and Ogra has announced that it will conduct a public hearing today. However, Ogra has advertised the announcement about the hearing in only one English newspaper.  An official said that this could be an attempt to avoid public debate on this sensitive project as the paper in which the advertisement appeared was not widely read in Karachi. He said that many people in Karachi would be unaware that their fate was being decided in Islamabad at a public hearing.

Food As Medicine

HEADACHE? EAT FISH!
Eat plenty of fish — fish oil helps prevent headaches.
So does ginger, which reduces inflammation and pain.

HAY FEVER? EAT YOGURT!
Eat lots of yogurt before pollen season.
Also-eat honey from your area (local region) daily.

TO PREVENT STROKE DRINK TEA!
Prevent buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls with regular doses of tea. (actually, tea suppresses appetite and keeps the pounds from invading….Green tea is great for our immune system)!

INSOMNIA (CAN’T SLEEP?) HONEY!
Use honey as a tranquilizer and sedative.

ASTHMA? EAT ONIONS!!!!
Eating onions helps ease constriction of bronchial tubes. (onion packs place on chest helped the respiratory ailments and actually made breathing better).

ARTHRITIS? EAT FISH, TOO!!
Salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines actually prevent arthritis. (fish has omega oils, good for our immune system)

UPSET STOMACH? BANANAS – GINGER!!!!!
Bananas will settle an upset stomach.
Ginger will cure morning sickness and nausea.

BLADDER INFECTION? DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE!!!!
High-acid cranberry juice controls harmful bacteria.

Eid-ul Fitr on Saturday

KARACHI: Chairman Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Munibur Rehman has announced that Shawwal moon has not been sighted and Eid-ul Fitr will be celebrated on Saturday.

He made the announcement while addressing the media after the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee meeting for the sighting of Shawwal moon.

The meeting was held at the Pakistan Meteorological Department Building in Karachi. Zonal and District Ruet-e-Hilal Committees also held meetings in their respective areas.

Saudi Arabia to celebrate Eid on Friday

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon are set to celebarte Eid-ul Fitr on Friday. The Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia ruled that since the Shawwal moon was not sighted on Wednesday, Eid would fall on Friday.

Most of the Gulf countries follow the lead of Saudi Arabia to set the day of the Eid feast.

Egypt’s Darul-Ifta, the body that issues Islamic edicts, also announced Thursday to be the end of Ramazan for the country.

Following suit, Lebanon’s Dar al-Fatwa, the country’s highest Sunni authority, likewise said that Eid-ul Fitr would be celebrated in Lebanon on Friday.

Christian community protests burning of the Holy Quran

GAINESVILLE: The Christian community in Lahore protested against the proposal of a Florida church to burn copies of the Holy Quran.

Hundreds of Christians gathered outside the Lahore Press Club on Thursday and staged a protest against the plan.

They raised slogans against the authorities of the church and burned an effigy of the pastor.

Addressing the protestors, leaders of the Christian community said the Holy Books have descended from God and show the right path to humanity, it is the moral duty of every person to protect the Holy Books and pay respect to them.

The leaders said they will support Muslims in raising their voice for the honour of the Holy Quran.

Church defiant

The Church shrugged off global outrage and vowed to go ahead with a Quran burning ceremony amid growing fears it will ignite a wave of Islamic rage.

Condemnation rained down from top US officials, the military, the Vatican and other religious and world leaders, but the church refused to halt plans to torch the Islamic holy book on Saturday’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“As of this time we have no intention of canceling,” Pastor Terry Jones told a press conference here Wednesday, adding his evangelical church, the Dove World Outreach Center, had received numerous messages of support.

Jones had indicated he was praying for guidance on whether to go ahead with the incendiary event after warnings from US Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus that US and allied troops could be targeted in revenge.

“We understand the general’s concerns and we are still considering it,” Jones said, but swiftly added he had been contacted by a special forces soldier who told him “the people in the field are 100 percent behind us.”

Help Pakistan – drop the debt

Dear Friends,

As Pakistan struggles to rescue families from flood waters and fend off disease and starvation before winter sets in, it is scrambling to pay out a shocking 30% of its annual budget revenues to foreign creditors on debt incurred by previous dictatorships.

If Pakistan is obliged to make these debt payments, rescue efforts for tens of millions of people whose lives have been devastated could be crippled. Earlier this year, we persuaded creditor governments to drop Haiti’s debt after it was devastated by an earthquake — and now we could do the same for Pakistan.

Right now international financial institutions and donor countries are assessing how to assist Pakistan. Let’s come together and call for life-saving debt relief for the people of Pakistan. Sign the petition below to stop these stifling debt payments and let Pakistan rebuild, and it will be delivered directly to ministers and senior officials attending the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_cancel_the_debt/98.php?cl_taf_sign=sNJfJd6N

Pakistan’s staggering $55 billion debt burden comes from decades of reckless spending by its autocratic ruling elites, matched by irresponsible lending on the part of Western creditors and banks.

Love, donkeys and Pakistani cricket

Following the accusations of suspected match-fixing hurled at Pakistan’s cricket team, a plethora of explanatory theories have been put forth. Some, like the Pakistan Team Manager Yawar Saeed, discount the view that the cricket team is ‘institutionally corrupt’ whilst the more diehard of enthusiasts have instantly suggested that it is merely an Indian-manufactured conspiracy. Furthermore, some – who have been disillusioned by the team’s objectionable conduct – have resorted to leading a procession of donkeys through the streets of Lahore and pelting them with shoes. Of course, there are some, like Veena Malik (Mohammad Asif’s ex-girlfriend) who have capitalized on this opportunity just to unleash a personal vendetta.

Unfortunately, the core issue – of the team’s fraudulence – cannot be rectified by tossing rotten tomatoes at innocent donkeys. There must be a more instructive response to this debacle which, in this context, can only be reaped through the ICC Cricket Code of Conduct. This essentially outlines a set of regulations that govern the conduct of ‘professional players in the sport of cricket’ and indicates that the players may be eligible to the following punitive actions in the event of match-fixing:

a)     Fined a percentage of their salary

b)    Banned from a number of matches or

c)     Banned for a number of years or for life.

9 reasons why I am not a Twilight fan

A seventeen year old high school student with a centuries old man. Pedophilia, anyone?

1. The length: One fine morning Stephanie Meyer woke up from a nightmare and told herself she could write. The product was the Twilight series. Inundated with horrible grammatical errors and overused adjectives the plot (or lack thereof) has been extended over four books. It  is excruciating.

2.Pedophilia: If it isn’t a seventeen year old falling in love with an old vampire, it is a werewolf falling for an infant. The author needs therapy for her convoluted imagination.

3. The hype: The frenzy around the books is inexplicable. What I fail to understand is how and when the human brain stooped so low as to obsess over a trashy piece of literature that is nothing but an assortment of clichéd themes. It is amazing how Twilight fans go rabid over the mere mention of the fact that the books totally suck.

4. The films: As if the books were not enough to torture the masses, some intelligent people thought it’s best to make movies out of them too and exploit teenage minds further

Former DPO Waqar Chauhan to appear in court

SIALKOT: The former District Police Officer Sialkot, Waqar Chauhan was arrested on Tuesday and is expected to appear in court tomorrow in connection to the Sialkot lynching case.

Five other police officials will also be presented in court along with the former DPO. However, prime accused in the lynching of two brothers, SHO Rana Ilyas, has managed to evade custody along with one other police officer involved in the brutal killing.

Earlier, Justice (retd) Kazim Malik, who was given the task to conduct an inquiry into the lynching stated that the Supreme Court would start its hearing of the case on September 1. Justice Kazim added that statements of 101 people, who were directly or indirectly linked to the case, have been recorded. He added that it would be upto the apex court to decide on whether they want to make the report public or not.

Govt seeks to be part of investigation

ISLAMABAD: The spot-fixing scandal allegedly involving Pakistan’s cricketers continued to create waves on Monday, with the government scrambling to get involved in the matter. With a three-member team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) preparing to fly out to London, Pakistan has officially asked Scotland Yard to allow it to be part of the investigations into the scandal.

“Scotland Yard has been requested to make Pakistan a part of the investigation process,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told The Express Tribune.

The request has been made through the Pakistan High Commission in London, the spokesman said. “We are  waiting for their (Scotland Yard) response,” he added.

The government had already announced that it would send a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team to London to examine the allegations that some Pakistani cricketers were involved in spot-fixing. The team, which will be headed by by FIA director Altaf Hussain, who will be accompanied by Inam Ghani and Inspector Tahir, have applied for UK visas, and will proceed to London as soon as their documents come through.

Officials said the FIA team will study claims that Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif deliberately bowled no-balls during the final Test against England at Lord’s.

DPO held under house arrest, Rescue 1122 pleads innocence

SIALKOT: Former Sialkot district police officer Waqar Ahmed Chohan has been placed under house arrest here for 30 days.

He was detained by the Sialkot police on Monday on charges of negligence and for failing to stop the merciless lynching of the teenage brothers on August 15. According to reports, the new DPO is residing in the civil rest house in Sialkot.

The inquiry commission constituted to probe the barbaric incident of lynching of two brothers in Sialkot will submit its report to the Supreme Court (SC) today (Thursday).

Meanwhile, Director General Rescue 1122 Punjab Dr Rizwan Naseer claimed that the rescue centre is not responsible for negligence, as they tried to contact the police but they did not arrive promptly.

While speaking at a press conference in Sialkot, Rizwan Naseer said that the rescue team had put their lives on the line to protect the two brothers who were killed by the mob.

The Director General said that a cleric had brought the two teenagers to his office and were given full protection. He also claimed that the two boys had demanded that they be handed over to the police.

JI, PTI announce demonstrations