ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt has lodged an appeal against the 30-month jail sentence he was handed for his role in a fixing scandal at last year’s Lord’s Test, his lawyer said Wednesday.

“I can confirm that Butt has lodged an appeal against the sentence,” Butt’s lawyer Yasin Patel told AFP from London.

As part of the same scandal, paceman Mohammad Asif was handed a 12-month sentence, Mohammad Aamer six months and their agent Mazhar Majeed 32 months.

Butt and Asif were found guilty of deliberately bowling three no-balls during the Lord’s Test in August 2010 as part of a “spot-fixing” betting scam uncovered by Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World.

Aamer and Majeed had already pleaded guilty to involvement in the scam.

SOURCE

Two U.S. publications, The Atlantic and the National Journal, citing unnamed sources, last week said Pakistan had transported nuclear weapons in low-security vans on congested roads to hide them from U.S. spy agencies.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that the United States was not persuaded that safety had been compromised.

“We have confidence that the government of Pakistan is well aware of the range of potential threats to its nuclear arsenal and is accordingly giving very high priority to securing its nuclear weapons and materials effectively,” Toner told reporters. “We continue to have confidence… that they’re taking appropriate steps,” he said.

Pakistan at the weekend rejected as “pure fiction” the report’s assertion that transporting the weapons in such a manner had made them more susceptible to theft by Islamist militants.

SOURCE

SHARJAH: Paceman Chanaka Welegedara took two wickets with the second new ball, including that of centurion Younis Khan, to give Sri Lanka the edge in the third Test against Pakistan at Sharjah stadium here on Saturday.

The 30-year-old left-arm paceman dismissed Younis (100) with the first delivery of the second new-ball and then had Asad Shafiq (16) in the same spell to leave Pakistan at 282-6 at the close on the third day.

Sri Lanka, who scored 413 in their first innings, still lead by 131 runs and are seeking a big first innings lead to give them a chance of levelling the series after losing the second Test by nine wickets in Dubai.

The first Test in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw.

With just two overs to go left-arm spinner Rangana Herath removed Adnan Akmal, leg before wicket for seven to leave Sri Lanka on top.

At close, skipper Misbah-ul Haq, who reached his 13th half-century in the penultimate over, was unbeaten on 50 and with him Abdul Rehman on three not out.

The first two sessions had belonged to Pakistan as Younis added 98 for the third wicket with Azhar Ali (53) and another 100 with Misbah for the fourth wicket but Welegedara’s double strike slumped Pakistan from 233-3 to 258-5.

Younis had completed his 18th Test hundred with a sharp single off Welegedara in the last over before tea, taking 188 balls studded with eleven boundaries and a six.

Misbah was mostly blocking before hitting the 53rd delivery he faced for his first boundary, ensuring Pakistan didn’t lose sight of winning 2-0 if they want to replace Sri Lanka at number five and jump one place up the current Test rankings.

After tea, both the batsmen upped the tempo as Younis hit a boundary and six off Herath to take Pakistan past the follow-on mark of 213, before notching another four off a reverse sweep as Sri Lanka delayed the second new ball until the 91st over.

The new ball was effective as Welegedara struck with the first delivery, bowling Younis with a sharp incoming delivery. Younis hit 12 boundaries and two sixes during his 211-ball knock.

Welegedara, who finished with 3-62 off 25 overs, then had Shafiq caught behind.

Earlier in the morning, Sri Lanka were a bowler short after frontline paceman Dhammika Prasad injured a muscle and was unable to bowl after Pakistan resumed at 35-2.

That helped Ali, who scored his maiden hundred in the last match in Dubai, and Younis to bat out the first session taking Pakistan to 126-2 by lunch.

Younis, on 30, survived a close leg-before shout against Herath who extracted some spin out of an otherwise batting-friendly pitch.

Ali reached his 11th Test fifty soon after lunch but was bowled by medium pacer Kosala Kulasekara’s delivery in the sixth over after lunch, for the debutant’s first Test wicket. (AFP)

SOURCE

The Arab League condemned the violence and warned of a crisis in the region if the Syrian government does not comply with an agreement made Wednesday with the group to “stop all violence” and allow outside observers into the country.

Opposition groups reported explosions, shelling, and heavy machine-gun fire Saturday in the western Syrian city of Homs, a hotbed of anti-government sentiment and government-led crackdowns. At least 23 people died there, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another activist group, put the Homs death toll at 11 earlier in the day.

Demonstrations were taking place Saturday in several cities, including Idlib, Daraa, Deir Ezzor, and a suburb of the capital of Damascus, the LCC reported. At least four people were killed in Idlib and one in Hama, the LCC said.

The LCC said Friday that more than 3,800 people have died in Syria since anti-government protests erupted in March, amid the Arab Spring movements that have rocked the Middle East and North Africa. President Bashar al-Assad and other Syrian officials have blamed violence on outside forces attempting to undermine the 40-year rule of the president’s family.

A resident of Homs, who asked that his name not be used to protect his security, said the heavy gunfire began Friday and continued with the military flying over Bab Amr, a nearby town. He said he could hear the activity from his home and was afraid to go into the street.

Massive explosions and intense shelling from tanks and artillery shells were also taking place in Homs, according to the LCC, an opposition group that organizes and documents protests.

The violence is the latest in a nearly eight-month uprising in Syria. It began with calls for elections and an end to abuses by security forces but turned into widespread and persistent calls for the ouster of al-Assad as the government’s crackdown and demonstrations intensified.

The reports of violence came a day after a Homs doctor said 126 bodies had been taken to a hospital there in recent days. The doctor did not want to be identified out of fear of retribution by government forces.

The bodies, eight of which were burned, are unidentified. The doctor said their deaths have not been reported by the state-run news media.

The doctor’s report was largely supported by LCC member Saleem Kabbani. Kabbani, who has provided CNN with reliable information in the past, cited three sources as having told him that approximately 100 unidentified bodies had been taken to the hospital in recent days.

Kabbani said his sources included a person who was involved in the transport of the bodies; a witness who saw the bodies in the location where they were found; and a witness inside the hospital.

He would not say where the bodies were found out of fear that doing so could lead to sectarian violence.

The government-run Syrian Arab News Agency said 22 slain people were taken from military hospitals for burial. The victims — a civilian and personnel from the army and security forces — were killed by “armed terrorist groups in Homs, Damascus countryside and Daraa while they were on duty,” SANA said on Saturday.

Syria also announced the release of 553 detainees “with no blood on their hands,” SANA said. The move coincides with Eid al-Adha, the celebration marking the climax of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage.to Mecca.

CNN could not independently verify the accounts.

The Syrian government pledged Wednesday to the Arab League that it would pull back its forces, release prisoners and allow outside monitors into the country, but opposition activists said security forces fanned out in force after Friday prayers, surrounding mosques to prevent demonstrations and using gunfire to disperse crowds.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby met Saturday with member states to discuss future steps regarding the ongoing conflict.

Arab League ministers said the group would moderate a “national dialogue” after two weeks.

Syria has made previous pledges to withdraw armed forces from civilian areas, but in some of those cases, it withdrew only armored units and left infantry in place, or returned after a brief pullout. It also has made other moves aimed at defusing the protests, including plans to draft a new constitution, but they have failed to appease demonstrators.

SOURCE

SOURCE

Rescuers pulled a teen and a teacher from collapsed buildings early Wednesday, nearly three days after a massive earthquake left heaps of twisted metal and concrete chunks in eastern Turkey.

The quake and its aftermath killed at least 461 people and left 1,352 others injured, according to state media.

In the latest rescue, emergency crews pulled a 27-year old woman from debris 67 hours after the quake hit, Anadolu reported.

The teacher, Gozde Bahar, suffered brief breathing problems, but was undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Source