April 2012 | Dhoom 3 Hindi Full Movie Watch Online

Syria ceasefire: Security forces 'fire at protesters'

Fiyaz Kawish | 15:36 | World

Several people have been shot dead during protests in Syria, activists say, as the UN considers deploying monitors to oversee a peace plan.

Security forces fired into the air to disperse crowds in several locations. But in some, protesters were shot dead.

The demonstrations were seen as a major test of the ceasefire, in place since Thursday as part of UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace initiative.

Diplomats in New York have worked out a revised text to the Security Council resolution, after disagreements between Russia and the US over the wording delayed a planned vote on Friday.

The text will be sent to governments for approval overnight, and a vote is now expected at 11:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Russia's permanent representative, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters that he was not satisfied with the talks but would send the revised text to Moscow.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has authorised an increase in US aid for Syria's "non-violent, political opposition", including communications equipment and medical supplies, officials say.

'Lying'

In Syria, anti-government demonstrators poured out of mosques after Friday prayers in many areas, amid tight security precautions.

Activists published videos online showing large protests across Syria

Screengrab of video purportedly showing protest in Damascus suburb of Douma (13 April 2012)

Activists said security forces fired into the air in many places to prevent or disperse protests. But in others, protesters were killed by gunfire.

Two people were killed as demonstrators attempted to reach the main square in the central city of Hama, they added.

"We tried our best to reach Assi Square in order to show the world the truth about the regime - they are lying and will not allow us to have big, peaceful demonstrations," Mousab Hamadee, an activist in Hama, told the BBC.

"As we approached Assi Square, they started opening fire on us. Two of my colleagues were martyred," he added.

Two other people were shot dead after Friday prayers in the town of Nawa, in the southern province of Deraa, while a fifth died in the town of Salqin, in the north-western province of Idlib, activists said.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist network, said security forces had killed 13 people across the country, including three each in Deraa and Hama, and two each in Idlib and Hama, it added. One person also reportedly died in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Apart from the demonstrations, activists reported that shelling by tanks and mortars had resumed on some quarters of Homs and elsewhere, though not at the same level as before. There were also some skirmishes between security forces and rebel fighters from the Free Syrian Army.

Opposition groups also complained that there had been of raids on houses and detentions of suspected activists.

The state news agency, Sana, said an army officer had been killed and 24 others injured when a bomb exploded next to a military bus in Aleppo, and that a Baath Party official had been shot dead in al-Mazarib, in Deraa province.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the overall casualty figures for Friday, though they may be revised upwards, were very much lower than many had feared.

That is in tune with the overall state of the ceasefire itself, our correspondent says.

It has brought a sharp drop in the general level of violence and deaths but, with troops, tanks and heavy weaponry still deployed in and around population centres, it is still very fragile, he adds.

Getting the army back to barracks is one of Mr Annan's priorities, as is getting an advance party of observers onto the ground to monitor the ceasefire, which began at 0600 (0300 GMT) on Thursday.

'Standing by'

Mr Fawzi said the former UN secretary general's six-point peace plan had so far been "relatively respected" by both the government and armed opposition, but that he was "aware that we don't have a perfect situation".

"There are detainees that need to be released, humanitarian corridors need to be opened," he told reporters.

In addition to a ceasefire, Mr Annan's initiative calls for the withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from cities, the release of prisoners, delivery of humanitarian aid and free movement for journalists.

Mr Fawzi said the advance team of 10 to 12 observers were "standing by to board planes and to get themselves on the ground as soon as possible". They could be followed by a larger mission of 250 observers, subject to UN Security Council approval.

The UN estimates that about 9,000 people have died since pro-democracy protests began in March 2011.

In February, the Syrian government put the death toll at 3,838 - 2,493 civilians and 1,345 security forces personnel.

'Standing by'

"There are detainees that need to be released, humanitarian corridors need to be opened," he told reporters.

The UN estimates that about 9,000 people have died since pro-democracy protests began in March 2011.

In February, the Syrian government put the death toll at 3,838 - 2,493 civilians and 1,345 security forces personnel.

Amitabh Bachchan falls ill after abdominal surgery

Fiyaz Kawish | 19:57 |

MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan has fallen ill two months after his abdominal surgery. The Bollywood icon will have a CT scan at a Mumbai hospital on Tuesday.

On Monday night, Amitabh complained of the pain he was experiencing on his blog. Big B underwent abdominal surgery in February.

Microsoft counting down to the end of Win XP

Fiyaz Kawish | 19:54 |

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is counting down the days until it is through with the Windows XP operating system for personal computers.

The US software titan used a blog post to remind the world that in two years it will no longer support the generations-old operating system that people have clung to despite the releases of successors Vista and Windows 7.

"We want to acknowledge the two-year countdown to the end of Windows XP and Office 2003 support," said Microsoft marketing director Stella Chernyak.

"Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases for their time, but the technology environment has shifted."

She advised computer users, particularly businesses, to begin "migrating" machines to the latest versions of the programs well before Microsoft puts XP to rest on April 8, 2014.

JAM Honors Frank Sinatra, His Activism

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:20 |

Frank Sinatra is the entertainer featured on the 2012 Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) poster for this April’s global celebration.

April has been designated Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) in the United States since 2002. The celebration is meant to recognize that jazz has influenced life in America for so many years. In fact, one way or another, every music genre in America in the 20^th century has been influenced by jazz. The music genre has also influenced Hollywood movie makers, artists, poets, novelists and painters. This year’s JAM theme is activism.

Legendary singer Frank Sinatra is featured on JAM’s 2012 poster. The group plans a global celebration of his life and legacy during Jazz Appreciation Month. The iconic singer was chosen for his courageous support for human rights in 1945. That year, Sinatra used a song and a short film to promote respect for others as an ideal of American freedom and civil pride. The song “The House I Live In” became a battle cry pulling America together during World War II. The hit song and a 10-minute Hollywood film, earned Sinatra an Honorary Academy award (Oscar) and a special Golden Globe award in 1946.

In the film, which included the song, Sinatra appealed for religious tolerance, unity and freedom after World War II – a time during which many African-American soldiers were angry that they were returning home to “Jim Crow” conditions, the practice of segregating blacks and treating them as second-class citizens.

The Library of Congress (LOC) selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2007. LOC described it as “significant” culturally, historically and aesthetically.

Sinatra took his bold stand nine years before Rosa Parks, an ordinary African-American seamstress in Alabama, who refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger during racial segregation years in America. That defiant decision catalyzed the civil rights movement and touched off the Montgomery Bus Boycott and inspired a young Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to take action.

Throughout April, the Smithsonian‘s National Museum of American History which sponsors the annual JAMevents is hosting a series of performances, talks, and tours around Washington. All American jazz stations will join the celebration by broadcasting all or some of concerts and performances, not only to an American audience, but also to a growing global jazz audience on the Internet.

In 1996, I produced a special show about jazz radio stations across the United States, that were trying to use jazz music to cross borders and cultures via the World Wide Web. All stations played a variety of classic, modern, and new age jazz for a growing Internet audience to enjoy. Here’s the show (download here), which includes music by saxophonist Kenny G, and two jazz piano legends who helped enrich jazz music in America: Nat King Cole andHerbie Hancock.

At the end of JAM’s festivities, Hancock, who is UNESCO’s Goodwill Cultural Ambassador, will launch International Jazz Day. This annual, UNESCO-endorsed initiative will use jazz and intercultural discussions to help foster unity, dialogue and intercultural understanding among the world’s youth.

The National Museum of American History selected April as Jazz Appreciation Month because so many seminal people were born this month, including jazz icons Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus,Tito Puente and Herbie Hancock.

For more on jazz music, listen to VOA’s Jazz America

Johannesburg's 'No-Go' Zone Experiences Revival

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:16 |

General view of buildings in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, March 3, 2010.

Photo: Reuters

General view of buildings in the Central Business District of Johannesburg (March 2010 file photo).

Long labeled a "no-go zone," downtown Johannesburg - known as the CBD or Central Business District - is experiencing something of a revival. After decades of urban decay and high crime, galleries, restaurants and markets are opening again, and suburbanites are coming back to enjoy the city life.

Revival

Every weekend, this food market is packed. Two floors up, in a building on a main street in Johannesburg city center, this place is bustling with young adults and families, eating and drinking with a view on the street life. In a few weeks, they will be able to go visit a new museum, located just one street away.

In many cities, this is ordinary. But in Johannesburg, it's a little revolution; a sign that the inner city is becoming attractive again, after decades of abandonment.

As she walks amid the debris in a derelict office building, Angela Rivers checks on progress. Soon, it will be a residential building.

"It was very badly hijacked," she explained. "This area in particular was offices. And you'd have four-five people staying in each partition. On one floor, you could have anything between 150 to 200 people."

Apartheid and business exodus

Rivers works for AFHCO, a pioneer company specializing in affordable housing. Office buildings like this one are numerous in the inner city, also known as the CBD, the Central Business District.

In the 1980s, during the apartheid era, many businesses and residents left the congestion of the city-center and relocated to the suburbs. Black South Africans - who had been segregated - started to occupy the vacant buildings, because of the dramatic lack of decent housing.

Development Agency

Over the years, without government or policing action, the area fell prone to decay and crime.

Urban analyst Tanya Zack says that all began to change with the creation of the Johannesburg Development Agency.

"One of the big shifts has been residential development in the inner city, especially from the early 90s," said Zack. "The core CBD was a business center. What happens now, with the conversion of office blocks into residential development, is that we have people living here. That opens up the possibility of restaurants, shops."

And this has a direct effect on the crime, according to Zack.

"As the city becomes inhabited, and as more economic activity is possible and is generated in the city, there are more eyes on the streets, there is more vigilance. It does feel like a safer place," she said.

Safe streets, in turn, promote shops, trendy restaurants, libraries, and a vibrant cultural life.

As he prepares some tea, Lester Adams looks out the unobstructed view of the city from the window. This project manager and freelance curator has been living in the Joburg CBD for 2 and a half years.

"I lived in the west side of the city, in the suburbs, and I've always wanted to live in the city. It's a bit faster, more interesting, more exciting, more diverse," he said.

The new face of the inner city is slowly attracting more people like Lester - young and trendy people to more wealthy households attracted by the cheap price of accommodation.

Challenges ahead

But as more people move into the CBD, new challenges emerge, says AFHCO affordable housing CEO Renney Plit.

"With the increase of residential, there is an increased need for schooling, for parks, for public open spaces, and the city unfortunately has not come to the point with that, and that's something we're going to have to focus on going forward," said Plit.

Along with residential buildings, private investment is also doing well, thanks to an encouraging tax policy. Major companies such as Anglo Gold Ashanti have already moved their head offices into the CBD.

And more change is underway. To tackle the traffic congestion, the city is developing public transport with a new bus network. And soon, a high-speed train will connect the inner city with other hubs like the capital, Pretoria, and other business districts.

Younger Students Join Online Learning Trend

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:15 |

Online education is growing, not only at the university level, but also in secondaryand elementary grades.

Distance learning has helped students in rural areas take classes that otherwise would not have been available for many years. But the virtual classroom has also come to cities like Washington, D.C., where all students at one public school are learning online.

Lovell Walls, 11, and his brother Zachary, 7, are both enrolled in the Community Academy Public Charter School Online (CAPCS). The basement of their Washington home has been transformed into a classroom, with educational posters, shelves of books and bins of school supplies. At one end of the room, two computers sit side by side.

Lovell wears headphones to take a math class on the computer. His teacher is 40 kilometers away at her own computer, and his classmates are in their homes on computers, listening to and following along with what the teacher displays on the computer screen, a modern-day version of a blackboard.

Lovell has been taking classes like this since he was five, says Anita, his mother.

“We had been attending a Montessori school for a year and a half, and that wasn’t working out for him,” she says. “He was so far ahead of the other students. And because he was so far ahead, he was having difficulties in the classroom, because now he wants to jump and play.”

Walls, who decided to homeschool her son, was relieved to find CAPCS, a Washington public school designed specifically for online learning. The school provides online teachers and a curriculum.

VOA - A. Greenbaum

Lovell Walls, 11, takes an online math class through the Community Academy Public Charter School Online (CAPCS).

Lovell can work at his own pace. Science and math are his favorite classes, and he always works ahead in those.

His schedule is also more flexible, so he can participate in a number of activities including fencing, karate and speed skating.

While Lovell is old enough now that he does a lot of his work independently, his mother still serves as his “learning coach,” reviewing assignments with him.

Her younger son, Zachary, requires more hands-on assistance.

“When your child is in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, it is all hands on for you,” she says. “You have to be with your child. You have to instruct your child. You have to help them learn to write, learn to read, learn to understand the instructions that they are reading.”

Because it requires parental involvement, online learning is not for everyone. But it's growing in popularity.

“In the country, there are over 250,000 students that are doing online school full time,” says Jeff Kwitowski, a senior vice president with K12, the company which provides online lessons and learning materials to schools across the U.S., including the one Lovell and Zachary attend.

K12 also furnishes instructors. Lovell’s teacher, Suzanne Conway, taught in a traditional classroom before joining the company.

“Often in a brick and mortar class, a teacher will have to deal with so many issues, bullying, and personalities," she says. “In the online classroom, your focus is really on the objective, on the learning objective, so we really are able to get a lot done.”

But some educators have concerns about online schooling. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, is among them. “I think that face to face interaction is absolutely essential, especially with the lower grades,” he says.

Van Roekel believes online learning will continue to grow, and may often be the right approach, but he says, “When they are talking about doing it all of the time or none of the time, it is the wrong question. We have to focus on the student.”

While he suggests more research needs to be done, Anita Walls is already convinced. Experience has taught her online schooling works best for her sons.

North Korea Launches Rocket Over Pacific

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:13 |

Photo: AFP

File photo of the North Korean rocket before its launch

North Korea launched a three-stage rocket into space early Friday, in defiance of United Nations resolutions and warnings from the United States and other nations of repercussions.

South Korea's Defense Ministry says the launch has failed.

Pyongyang said the rocket was placing a satellite in orbit. But Washington and its Asia allies, South Korea and Japan, suspect it is merely a cover for testing Pyongyang's ballistic missile capabilities.

The U.N. Security Council will discuss the situation in North Korea and possible response to the defiant act in a session on Friday.

The Group of Eight leading industrialized nations earlier Thursday ordered Pyongyang to cancel the launch. The group issued a strong statement after a meeting in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the U.N. Security Council will take further action if Pyongyang goes ahead with a rocket launch, which many believe is a ballistic missile test.

Speaking in Washington after meeting with her counterparts from the Group of Eight, Clinton also said that North Korea could choose between isolation and closer ties with the international community.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also urged North Korea to heed the call of the international community and cancel the upcoming rocket launch.

Mr. Ban spoke Thursday in Geneva, as North Korean engineers prepared to launch a rocket that Pyongyang says will carry a weather satellite into space. Western nations and regional neighbors accuse the North of using the launch as a ploy to test a ballistic missile that could later be fitted with a nuclear warhead.

The U.N. chief repeated warnings that the launch, which is set to take place sometime between Thursday and Monday, will raise tensions in the region. He also said it "clearly" violates a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Meanwhile, military forces in South Korea and Japan have been on high alert since Thursday on what the North had said was the first day of a five-day window for the launch.

South Korea threatened to shoot down the rocket if it appears likely to crash into South Korean territory. The Philippines, located near the planned splashdown site of the rocket's first stage, has diverted airline flights and ordered fishermen to avoid the area.

Paek Chang Ho, chief of North Korea's launch command center, told reporters Wednesday that fuel was being loaded into the rocket in one of the final steps before launch. The journalists, including a reporter with VOA's Korean service, were able to view the activity by video, which was fed live to the remote command center.

U.S. officials fear that Pyongyang may be planning to follow the launch with what would be its third underground nuclear weapons test. Satellite intelligence photographs made available to VOA and other news organizations this week show evidence of preparations for such a test.

North Korea's launch plan has derailed a recent agreement with the U.S., under which Pyongyang agreed to suspend its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The U.S. was to have delivered 240,000 tons of badly needed food aid to the North

India downgrades tsunami warnings after Indonesia quake

Fiyaz Kawish | 11:59 |

A powerful 8.6 magnitude earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, sending people scurrying from buildings as far away as southern India, but there seemed little risk of a disastrous tsunami as in 2004.

India withdrew a national tsunamalert issued after huge earthquakes struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, the Indian tsunami warning centre said.

"Thankfully, the danger has passed," a scientist at the centre told Reuters.

Disaster officials had earlier warned waves as high as 3.9 meters could hit parts of Andoman and Nicobar islands.

A few thousand people were evacuated from the more vulnerable islands, a police official said.

Indonesia said it was checking for damage and casualties but remarkably, no such reports had been received for several hours after the quakes, including in Aceh, the closest province and the area decimated by the disaster eight years ago.

However, some areas close to the epicentre are remote so it could take some time to find out if there was any damage.

Many people were frightened of further tremors.

"It's dark out here but I am scared to go home," said Mila, a 41-year-old woman taking refuge in the grand mosque in the town of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.

"I just want to stay alert because I fear there will be more quakes coming. We are human, it is only natural that we have fear, but I really wish we will all be safe."

Waves of up to one metre (3.3 feet) high were seen near islands off Aceh, but Indonesia cancelled a warning for fresh tsunamis. It said the worst-hit area was the thinly populated island of Simeulue, off Aceh's southern coast.

The first quake struck at 0838 GMT and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock just over two hours later, at 1043 GMT. Two more strong aftershocks hit later.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also withdrew tsunami warnings for the entire Indian Ocean after keeping them in force for several hours.

"Level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas," the agency's bulletin said.

Thailand and India also withdrew tsunami warnings.

Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were all badly hit in 2004. At least 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in the Boxing Day disaster that year, including 170,000 in and around Aceh alone.

Last year, an earthquake and tsunami off Japan's northeastern coast killed at least 23,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years after waves battered a nuclear power station.

On Wednesday, people near the coast in six Thai provinces were ordered to move to higher ground. Authorities shut down the international airport in the Thai beach resort province of Phuket.

The quakes were about 300 miles (500 km) southwest of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the US Geological survey said. The first was at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km).

Indonesia's disaster management agency said power failed in Aceh province and people were gathering on high
ground as sirens warned of the danger.

"The electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground. Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," said Sutopo, spokesman for the agency.

"The warning system worked," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

Warning sirens also rang out across the Thai island of Phuket, a tourist hotspot that was one of the worst hit areas in the 2004 tsunami.

"Guests from expensive hotels overlooking Phuket's beaches were evacuated to the hills behind and local people were driving away in cars and on motorcycles. Everyone seemed quite calm, the warning had been issued well in advance," freelance journalist Apichai Thonoy told Reuters by telephone.

Out on the streets
Indonesian television showed people gathering in mosques in Banda Aceh. Many others were on the streets, holding crying children.

In the city of Medan, a hospital evacuated patients, who were wheeled out on beds and in wheelchairs.

Wednesday's quakes were felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern India, hundreds of office workers in the city of Bangalore left their buildings while the port of Chennai closed down because of tsunami fears.

The quakes were in roughly in the same area as the 2004 quake, which was at a depth of 18 miles (30 km) along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.

Experts said Wednesday quakes were a "strike-slip" fault, meaning a more horizontal shift of the ground under the sea as opposed to a sudden vertical shift, and less risk of a large displacement of water triggering a tsunami.

"The nature of the sideways rupture and sideways movement is not predisposed to cause a bad tsunami, so almost certainly, the crisis has been avoided," said David Rothery, an expert at the Open University in the UK

The quakes were also felt in Sri Lanka, where office workers in the capital, Colombo, fled their offices.

Mahinda Amaraweera, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management, called for calm while advising people near the coast to seek safety.

"I urge the people not to panic. We have time if there is a tsunami going to come. So please evacuate if you are in the coastal area and move to safer places," Amaraweera told a private television channel.

In Bangladesh, where two tremors were felt, authorities said there appeared to be no threat of a tsunami.

Australia also said there was no threat of a tsunami there.

Actress Mishi Khan accused of burglary

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:39 |

ISLAMABAD: A known businessman of the federal capital has lodged a complaint with the Shalimar Police Station against popular television and film star Mishi Khan, alleging that she stole cash, gold ornaments and other valuables from his F-10 apartment several days back, police sources told.

In his complaint, Jawad Safi Khawaja, son of Khawaja Safi, said: "I am living in Flat-68, Park Tower, F-10 Markaz, Islamabad, and running a business in Blue Area."

He alleged that on April 4 at about 4.15 p.m., the watchman of the building informed him that doors of his flat were open. He said he rushed to the flat and found that the cupboards and other items in the room had been ransacked. Upon investigation, it was discovered that Rs500,000 in cash, a two-tola gold bracelet, three rings and a Rado wristwatch were missing from the businessman's personal belongings.

The two watchmen, Banaras and Hayat Khan, told him that they had seen Mishi Khan emerging from his flat earlier with two shopping bags in her hands.

The complainant said in his application that Mishi Khan, who frequently visited his flat, had been with him on April 3 when he placed the cash in his cupboard. He said when he contacted Mishi Khan, she used filthy language against him and threatened him of dire consequences. After mediation by his friends, he said, she however confessed to have stolen the above-mentioned items and cash, and promised to return the items in the presence of two common friends.

SP (Saddar Zone) Sajid Kiani, when contacted, confirmed that the Shalimar Police had received a complaint from Jawad Safi Khawaja against Mishi Khan, and that legal action would be taken against her if the complainant wanted to proceed. A copy of the complaint against Mishi Khan is available with this correspondent.

When contacted, Mishi Khan however denied the allegation leveled against her, saying it has become a fashion to use the name of any famous actress for getting fame. She said some publicity mongers even claim to gain cheap exposure that they got married with any actress. She said that she did not even know the person by the name of Jawad Safi Khawaja, who had lodged the complaint against her. "God has blessed me with everything and I need nothing else. Why I will get so meagre amount from anybody," she remarked.

End.

PM son served notice in Chemical case

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:37 |

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has served notices to Ali Musa Gilani, the Prime Minister's son, and two federal secretaries in Ephedrine quota allotment case and ordered the probe into the case to be continued after staying the transfers of Brig Fahim and Abid Zulfiqar, members of the investigation team.

A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case of allotment of Ephedrine, a chemical used in medicines, in excess to the allowed quota.

During proceedings of the case, Brig Faheem of ANF, who was removed from the investigating team, appeared before the court along with his team.

The Chief Justice enquired as to why changes had to be made to the investigative team, saying 'perhaps a VIP is involved in the case'.

Brig Faheem told the court that former secretary health Khushnood Lashari, who is now the principal secretary of the Prime Minister, had allotted Ephedrine in excess to the allowed limit.

He said the ANF had issued summons for Lashari and Ali Musa Gilani, after which Lashari invited him (Brig Faheem) for a meeting in PM House.

In the affidavit, Brig Faheem said Khushnood Lashari had in a threatening tone informed him that Ali Musa Gilani's father was upset over his summoning by the court.

"Cooperation would be extended in the case to the ANF, if it keeps its focus on only two pharmaceutical companies, leaving others aside," Faheem quoted Khushnood as saying.

Khushnood Lashari, he continued, further said: "You know, the civil-military relations had only recently seen some improvement and it is you who can pre-empt a fresh stand-of from taking place. It is a matter of national interest. Ali Musa Gilani be kept out of it."

Brig Faheem further informed the court that the law secretary along with entire state machinery were trying to save Khushnood Lashari and Ali Musa Gilani in this case.

The court issued notices to Ali Musa Gilani and Khushnood Lashari, ordering them to present themselves for ANF's investigation and also record their statements.

It issued notices to secretary anti-narcotics, acting health secretary besides the two concerned companies.

Later, the court adjourned its proceedings till April 20.

Pakistan eyes T20 league

Fiyaz Kawish | 18:35 |

KARACHI - Deprived of hosting international matches since a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team bus three years ago, Pakistan hopes a high-profile new Twenty20 league can lure back overseas players.
No international team has played in Pakistan since the March 2009 attack in Lahore, which left eight people dead and several visiting players wounded, and the national team has had to play its "home" matches abroad, mostly in the United Arab Emirates. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is still waiting for Bangladesh's response to an invitation to play a limited-overs series later this month.
If Bangladesh are reluctant to come, it is inevitable that bigger-name teams like Australia, India, England and South Africa will continue to stay away while any doubts linger over players' safety.
Passion for cricket in Pakistan remains undiminished, however, and corporate interest has reignited the PCB's efforts to start a Pakistan Premier League (PPL), modelled on the megabucks Indian Premier League.
Nine teams are competing in this year's IPL, the fifth edition of the tournament, with defending champions Chennai Super Kings led by Indian captain M.S. Dhoni again emerging as one of the sides to beat.
But Pakistani players, who are usually a major draw in India, have been kept out of the tournament since the second edition, reportedly due to security fears.
Four companies, including one from India, are expected to give a presentation to the PCB this week on how to stage the PPL, with a UAE-based bank and two telecoms companies interested in taking up team franchises.
"It's exciting to have a very good initial response from corporate companies on the PPL," PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed told AFP.
"We are looking at the viability of a Twenty20 event involving some foreign players, and it would be great if it comes about," he said.
A British Universities team played two limited-overs games in Lahore last week -- at the Gaddafi Stadium that hosted the fateful Sri Lanka Test in 2009 -- and Ahmed said the visit should encourage other foreign sides to follow.
"The security situation has improved and is improving. That is why the British Universities team toured Pakistan, and we have stringent security plans for the safety of the foreign players."
But convincing foreign players to come to a country still battling Islamist militancy will be no easy task -- particularly with the IPL on the doorstep offering huge salaries and reliable safety.
Ehsan Mani, a Pakistani who was International Cricket Council (ICC) president from 2003 to 2006, admits there is a lot of work to do and warns it will take time to persuade overseas players it is safe to come to Pakistan.
"The PCB should have a strong security plan and engage the ICC, ask them on what benchmarks of security they will send their officials," he said. "They should start a league in which very few overseas players come initially, and confidence should be built gradually."